Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

After sending his friends ahead, Lee Han picked up the box containing cloth that scattered pitch-black darkness.

Since he went out several times more often than the other students, he could not help but be conscious of the professors' reactions. He had to give them gifts whenever he had the chance.

"But what kind of cloth is this? It seems like a composite material..."

"Right? It does not look like something sold on the market, and did they take something made by students at Einroguard outside to use? There cannot be many places besides the dark magic school that make darkness cloth like this."

Diret seemed to have thought the same thing and looked puzzled.

The enchantment magic school often placed this kind of enchantment on cloth, but the darkness element was quite an alien element even among the elements.

Unless they belonged to the dark magic school, there were not many people who would deliberately handle such an element, so why?

'Was it cloth made by graduates long ago and then left abandoned?'

"I do not think it was made by former graduates."

"Why?"

When the junior naturally denied the thought Diret had just come up with, Diret asked again in surprise.

"If the graduates had made it, they would definitely have used it. The circumstances of the dark magic school could not have been comfortable enough for them to leave something they made abandoned."

"...W-we can leave things abandoned sometimes too, why..."

Diret argued back, but the voice unconsciously grew quieter.

Honestly, the circumstances when the seniors had been there were probably worse if anything, not better.

'These little whelps!'

The Ninth nearly shouted without realizing it while still in the form of a box.

The dark mages who were supposed to lead Einroguard's dark magic school were behaving with so little spirit.

The Ninth wanted to thunder at them immediately.

A dark mage ought to be able to slap the cheek of someone who bumped shoulders with them while passing by and boldly take a corpse from the other person's family grave.

In any case, the Ninth could not understand why all the young ones these days were so timid and weak.

'Do not worry. I shall soon impart my teachings.'

The Ninth prepared to reveal the truth the moment the young one of House Wardanaz was left alone.

The Ninth had not expected to end up inside Einroguard, but a great dark mage knew how to make skillful use of coincidence as well.

"But Junior. Do you have no intention of using this cloth yourself? There should be many places where you could use cloth like this."

At those words, the Ninth nodded a nonexistent head in satisfaction.

Who had made this cloth?

The Ninth personally had.

In a way, it was only natural for that sort of reaction to come out.

"That may be true, but it also feels a little wrong to return from outside and visit the professor empty-handed."

"I see... What? What kind of nonsense is that?"

Diret was about to let it pass, but reacted violently in an instant. Lee Han gave the respected senior a bewildered look after being verbally abused.

"Did I make some kind of mistake?"

"A mistake? Other than entering the dark magic school, Junior? None. More importantly, why are you watching the professor's mood? Hand it over. The gift for the professor is canceled."

Realizing that the junior was trying to give the gift with such an absurd mindset, Diret snatched the box away.

Startled, Lee Han snatched it back and said,

"No, that is not the only reason. There is also the fact that I have no immediate use for it."

Diret snatched it away again.

"Then you can think of one now."

Lee Han swiftly reclaimed the box using the mana-control methods used by knights. Then he said,

"I will ask for some later if I need it. You just said the professor needed cloth like this."

"That was a lie. ...Hey. Use magic only! That is underhanded!"

Diret grew angry when the junior underhandedly evaded the attempt using the knights' methods.

The Ninth, who had been shaken this way and that, cursed the two of them inwardly.

'Dark mages are fighting over such pathetic reasons.'

Fortunately, the quarrel soon ended. Diret had ultimately lost to the junior's stubbornness.

"Do not give all of it to the professor. You have to keep your own share."

"......"

Lee Han thought inwardly, 'Should you not follow that advice yourself first, Senior?'

"You just thought, 'Senior should take care of that properly first,' did you not?"

"?!!!"

"...I am telling you to do better, Junior, precisely because I could not!"

Diret wielded the privileges of a senior.

Namely, being unreasonable toward a junior. Lee Han grumbled inwardly.

He fully intended to repay the exact same thing to his own juniors later.

"Professor. We are ba..."

"Cough, welcome back."

"......"

"......"

Lee Han and Diret, who had opened the door to the first floor of the Black Dark Hall, were rendered speechless by the luxurious appearance inside the tower.

Lights had been lit lavishly everywhere as though for a festival, and all kinds of food had been piled high on the table. The sight was truly surreal.

Of course, if one looked closely, it was still possible to tell that this was the usual Black Dark Hall.

The lights were candles lit inside skulls that normally rolled around carelessly, and judging from the dark and murky color of the round table piled with food, it had originally been the table where various poisons were stacked until they were just barely unstable.

"Senior Diret, did you perhaps say that you were transferring to another school?"

Unable to understand, Lee Han asked.

Where had Professor Mortum gotten the money to prepare something like this?

And that question finally made Diret explode.

"...It is you! You! I am talking about you! Junior, you! I am a fifth-year, so why would I transfer to another school! Who transfers to another school after reaching the fifth year!!"

"I-I am sorry."

After belatedly coming to senses, Diret froze.

Diret was the one who had done something embarrassing in the north, yet was now taking anger out on the junior.

"But Senior."

"...What?"

"Even if another school would be difficult, you could still go to another dark-mage organization."

"......"

"Cough. Wardanaz. Diret has a sense of responsibility to carry on Einroguard's dark magic school, so Diret would not do that."

"Come on. You go if the conditions are good. I heard the Obsidian Magic Tower has that much money."

Lee Han answered without batting an eye.

The kindhearted students of the dark magic school had a habit of strangely wanting to help other people escape even if they could not escape themselves.

Professor Mortum quickly intervened, afraid that an attempt to protect a future talent might cause the loss of a present talent.

"Cough! Our school is no longer that far behind!"

"Come on. What kind of ridiculous thing are you saying... If that made sense, there would not be much difference in wealth between Gainando's family and a beggar."

'You said you wanted to make a good impression on the professor...'

Diret thought inwardly.

For someone who had even brought a gift to make a good impression on the professor, Lee Han was far too bold.

However, Professor Mortum, who had many reasons to feel regretful, praised Lee Han instead of getting angry no matter what Lee Han said.

"Cough, your skill at jokes has improved just like your skill in dark magic."

"It was not a jo..."

"What is this?"

"Ah. I brought what was left over after using it outside this time. I thought you might need it, Professor."

"I see. Cough, I will take it to the basement storage room."

When Professor Mortum personally picked up the box, Diret was impressed.

Seeing someone who had done nothing but cough whenever physical effort was required throughout life act like that certainly made the sincerity feel genuine.

"How pretentious..."

"Junior. Never be fooled."

Of course, the juniors were not.

Diret reflected slightly.

After working under Professor Mortum for so long, Diret had begun to overrate even the smallest action.

Creak-

Pretending not to hear the disciples' harsh criticism, Professor Mortum quickly entered the basement storage room.

The demon Orlach greeted the professor warmly.

"Ah. Mage. Was everyone satisfied with the meal? What did the young master say?"

Lee Han did not know, but the one who had prepared today's banquet was this very demon.

Amazingly, Orlach had gone to the Inspector Uman to receive ingredients(the fact that it was hospitality for Lee Han was a major reason for the success)and had worked hard cooking while personally lighting the oven fire.

Naturally, it was not because Orlach found the dark mages of this Magic Tower endearing, but because of Lee Han.

If Orlach could gain the recognition of the favorite of House Wardanaz, the demon could prepare a banquet like this thousands upon thousands of times.

"Cough. Hm? Yes. He praised your skill."

Professor Mortum gave a vague answer.

As befitted a professor of the dark magic school, this mage had no conscience whatsoever.

Normally Orlach would not have been deceived, but blinded by greed, the demon was beside himself with joy.

"I-is that so! Specifically, how?!"

"He said he wanted to take you away and make you his personal cook. Cough. More importantly, that is not what matters. I have an important mission to entrust to you."

"What is it?"

"This chest is an extremely wicked dark mage in transformation, and you must never allow it to make contact with Young Wardanaz."

"!"

-!

The Ninth was horrified to realize that the disguise had been discovered and tried to return to the original form.

However, Professor Mortum had cast some kind of spell at some point, and the transformation would not come undone.

'Y-you little bastard!'

"An-an assassin?!"

"Cough, an assassin? ...Yes! An assassin! You may think of it as an assassin."

"Understood! I will ensure that no one can make contact with it!"

Orlach promised to mobilize all the Authority of a demon and perfectly imprison this wicked assassin.

The Ninth could do nothing but hurl curses while being dragged away along with the chest.

This was the heartless world of dark mages. Once one let one's guard down, recovery was impossible.

***

After returning and finishing organizing the ledgers and checking the maps from the knights, Lee Han immediately began preparing for the midterms.

What Lee Han had declared to Professor Garcia had by no means been empty words. He intended to finish everything necessary before the midterm period and then go out searching together with the knights.

"Hm..."

Seeing Lee Han sitting before the table with the list of lectures laid out and agonizing over the order in which to study them in advance, the students of Blue Dragon Tower passed by quietly without even breathing.

It felt as though their minds might be contaminated by madness merely from looking at that lecture list.

"There are quite a lot."

"......"

"......"

Yonair's eyebrows twitched while studying beside him.

Gainando gestured, asking, 'Should we not tell him to come to his senses?' but Yonair shook their head.

Yonair did want to say something, but at this level, it was still the usual 모습 of their friend.

"I do not know whether I can finish all of this before going out."

"......"

"......"

Adenart wrote on the paper, 'Should we not stop him?' Gainando clicked the tongue as though finding Adenart pathetic.

'What kind of...!'

Just as Adenart, angered by the rude younger brother, was about to make a sound, Lee Han rose from the seat.

The students of Blue Dragon Tower all lowered their heads at once and pretended to read their books.

Fortunately, instead of looking at his friends, Lee Han muttered to himself and headed toward the private room upstairs. It seemed he was extremely focused.

"Phew..."

-Gainando. Do not read the book upside down.

"......"

Gainando made a sickened expression at the voice coming from upstairs.

Sometimes, even though Lee Han was his friend, he could be frightening.

***

"Master."

-Ah. It has been a long time, Disciple.

The young prince who had been reading a book inside the painting greeted Lee Han warmly.

"If it is all right with you, may I ask you a few things about magic..."

-Disciple. Seeing you keep your distance by being so polite makes me sadder than if you were to bother me by asking even trivial things. Please ask anything comfortably. I would even be fine if you asked what you should eat for lunch today.

Neither the Skull Principal nor the insane duplicate was the sort to be kind about pointless questions, but the young prince was so kind that there was something about it that suffocated the person asking.

It created pressure that one must never trouble such a person with pointless questions.

-Did you bring that architectural design because you wanted ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) to ask about it?

"Pardon? Ah."

Lee Han looked at the thick book the senior dark mages had forced upon him. The amount was so thick that it was effectively a book.

"This is trash that I was forced to receive. You do not need to concern yourself with it."

Lee Han tossed the book into a corner. He wanted to ask about the lectures and could not waste time listening about the dark mages' useless magic.

-It seems like quite decent magic. Surely you are not hiding it because you are embarrassed, Disciple?

"Absolutely not."

-If that is so.

With a single gesture, the young prince moved the book into the painting. The prince intended to read it later and evaluate it.

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