Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

Lee Han realized that the atmosphere was flowing in a strange direction.

The reason Lee Han gathered gold coins was solely to secure a stable life and to invest in a tremendous opportunity that would leave his name forever in the Empire’s commercial world.

It was never to make his senior feel deprived.

"I believe there has been a misunderstanding. Senior Jarun spends a great deal as well, in proportion to what he earns. Judging by the magic you prepared last time, your gold consumption seemed considerable."

"Junior. Saying that will only make Senior feel sadder. If you account for every little thing like that and console yourself, who in the world would not have some story to tell? A true miner does not ramble on with excuses. A true miner speaks through the gold gathered."

"...Get out!!"

Jarun trembled and shouted. It seemed rare for his pride to have been wounded this badly while talking with juniors.

"Senior. If you force us out now, you will become a true loser."

"Do you seriously want to die!"

"Both of you, please calm down. If you do not calm down, I will spread the location of this place to Professor Verdus, and I will entrust every animal under my care to Professor Bendozol."

"......"

"......"

The two seniors, who had been getting worked up and preparing to fight, froze as though cold water had been poured over them.

Then they stared at Lee Han with gazes filled with horror and shock.

To utter such a terrifying and murderous threat calmly without even thinking for a second???

'D-does that bastard have no human heart?'

'How can someone come up with a threat like that instantly?'

The threat was so lethal and precise that it sent chills down their spines.

If the place Jarun was mining became known to a greedy and shameless mage like Professor Verdus, interference would begin immediately.

Another professor might think, 'Still, this is a place my student discovered, so taking it would be a little improper,' but Professor Verdus would think, 'It would be more beneficial overall if I mined it instead of an inexperienced student.'

And what if all the rare animals currently under Lee Han’s care, nominally belonging to the Jousting Club, were handed over to Professor Bendozol?

There was a high possibility that they would never be allowed to participate in a jousting tournament. Given Professor Bendozol’s personality, would the professor send animals placed under the professor’s authority into such a dangerous place?

"U-understood. I have calmed down. You calm down too. Please do not tell Professor Verdus. Especially not someone beneath Professor Verdus like Senior Yukbeltire."

"What did Senior Yukbeltire do to you... No. Hearing about it will probably not help much."

"I have calmed down too, Junior. Please do not call Professor Bendozol. If Professor Bendozol manages them, the unicorn, griffin, and basilisk will all be sad."

-...I-I was included too!?

The baby basilisk was startled.

Lee Han was not only talking about the unicorn and griffin?!

Once the two seniors calmed down, Lee Han nodded. Lee Han had never intended to call the professors in the first place.

"If the two of you do not fight, I have no intention of causing unnecessary trouble either. In the first place, Seniors, are gold coins not something that come easily and disappear easily for a mage?"

A great deal came in from a single commission, and a great deal vanished with a single experiment.

Was that not the nature of a mage’s wealth?

'No.'

'That only applies to you. It is earned with difficulty and disappears easily.'

The two seniors thought inwardly.

There was a slightly incorrect part in what the junior had said.

It was true that gold disappeared easily, but it was not earned easily...

...To be precise, only the junior tended to earn it easily.

Of course it would be easy to earn if commission proposals came from all sorts of places like they did for you!

"Haha. I think you are right."

"Right. Right, Junior."

Although they found him extremely irritating, the two seniors gave insincere answers with smiling faces.

The earlier threat was still lingering in their minds.

"It sounds somewhat halfhearted... In any case, thank you for understanding. By the way, during this outing, I met a transformation mage named Garko of House Arjo. Do you happen to know him?"

"I do."

"An elf, right? With a terrible personality."

Since Karnella and Jarun belonged to the same school of magic, they understood immediately.

Lee Han was puzzled by their indifferent reactions.

Garko was somewhat fanatical and believed in strange conspiracy theories(such as claiming that Baquantalana was a transformation mage), but his personality had not seemed that terrible.

"A terrible personality? He did not seem like that kind of person."

"If someone keeps sending letters and bothering you, that person has a terrible personality."

"......"

Lee Han made an uncomfortable expression.

Seeing that someone who was not even an Einroguard graduate was sending letters to Jarun, who never left Einroguard, gave him two thoughts.

One was that Jarun possessed that much exceptional talent...

...And the other was that the people of Einroguard’s transformation magic school truly had no manners.

"Were insults written in the letters, perhaps?"

"No. That would have been entertaining, at least."

Jarun failed to notice the junior’s cold gaze and continued grumbling.

"How annoying do you think it is to be tormented with nothing but trivial stories about daily life, stories about transformation mages, and greetings asking how I am doing!"

"Honestly, it was somewhat annoying. Junior."

Karnella agreed as well.

Karnella was comparatively active outside among the members of the transformation magic school, but that did not mean Karnella enjoyed it.

It was only done for jousting. Ordinarily, it was more comfortable to stay separately and spend time with the animals being raised.

Lee Han could not hold back and said.

"Even so, how can you call someone’s personality terrible merely because of that? The reason I asked the two of you for help was because you were the most sociable people in the school."

"......"

"...????"

The two seniors opened their eyes wide.

It was the most shocking and astonishing thing they had heard all day. Even though they had watched the junior transform into a dragon, it was still more shocking.

"Who is what... what? Are you perhaps referring to an evil order? Junior. Even if I concede a hundred times that it applies to me, this senior here absolutely..."

"What? You bastard. Why does it only apply to you?"

Jarun flared up.

Of course, Jarun did not particularly want to be described as sociable.

However, Jarun did not want to hear this insane junior say, 'I am better than Senior.'

At the very least, Jarun believed there was little difference between Karnella and himself.

"I live aboveground, while Senior lives underground. Is the discussion not already over?"

"Other people listen to you because you drag monsters around behind you and they are afraid. Otherwise, they would not even speak to you!"

"Ha! You shamelessly spout complete nonsense. Senior, if you did not have magical skill, juniors would not come looking for you like this either! Rather than wasting time arguing about this, let us have the junior decide."

"Fine! Junior, which of the two of us is more sociable..."

Only then did the two realize that Lee Han had disappeared.

The junior had realized it too.

Now that he had already learned the magic, there was no reason to remain beside two pathetic seniors!

"......"

"......"

The two seniors reflected, just a little.

***

"By the way. Keep this secret from Jowrin."

-Why would I tell her? It is not as though you transformed into a basilisk.

The baby basilisk spoke in a gloomy voice.

Lee Han felt needlessly guilty and said.

"Once I become accustomed to transformation magic, I will definitely practice transforming into a basilisk first."

-Really?

"Of course. ...But keep it secret from Phoneig too."

It was like covering one promise with another, but there was no helping it. Lee Han decided that if he later transformed into a griffin, he would tell Phoneig then.

Lee Han climbed the ladder stretching through Einroguard’s underground and crawled up to the surface.

Just then, Professor Thunderwalk could be seen approaching from a distance.

"Ah. Professor."

"Yes."

"Have you perhaps recovered a little from what happened last time?"

"Would you be fine if you were me??"

Professor Thunderwalk spoke with an expression that suggested a desire to push the disciple back down the ladder.

How could the professor recover immediately after being tormented point by point by the young Skull Principal?

The professor wanted to storm into the principal’s office and spray dissolving potions everywhere.

"But Professor."

"What, why, what now?"

"You clearly said that an alchemist’s talent lies in continuing forward without becoming discouraged by failure or criticism..."

"......"

When the words the professor had thrown at students returned like a boomerang, Professor Thunderwalk was left speechless.

The professor did vaguely remember boasting while saying something like that when criticizing the students’ dreadful potions...

"Why did you come back up instead of remaining forever with the evil things beneath that pitch-black hole?"

'Is the professor talking about the seniors?'

Lee Han dusted off the dirt in puzzlement. He could not understand how Professor Thunderwalk had noticed Senior Jarun and Senior Karnella.

"I told you. I have to take my examinations early."

"Tsk, tsk. Do not torment the other professors too much."

"Yes."

Lee Han answered readily without changing his expression.

Professor Thunderwalk sent him an untrusting look. The professor was not certain whether this bastard had truly understood.

...Had Professor Thunderwalk known what Lee Han had just transformed into, the professor might have attacked him in fury.

No shameless mage could possibly be that brazen.

"You may torment Professor Verdus."

"......"

"What, why? You may use the Skull Principal’s wisdom to carve up my examination, but Professor Verdus should be forgiven because Professor Verdus is a cute beaver beastkin?"

"I have never even considered such a thing... No, more importantly, Professor Verdus’s examination is somewhat different."

Lee Han began to explain.

If there was one misunderstanding the students of Einroguard’s enchantment magic school hated hearing most, it was, 'Even if it does not look that way on the surface, deep down you actually respect your master.'

The moment they heard such words, even the calm and cold students of the enchantment magic school immediately hardened their expressions and drew their weapons.

Lee Han was not very different.

The stage where a beaver beastkin’s cuteness could have any effect had passed long ago.

"The examination is for <Magical Architecture and Its Materials>, and I have already prepared for it."

Since Lee Han had a conscience, he did not ask the noble great mage of ancient times every single examination question.

There was only one reason Lee Han had asked the young prince about Professor Thunderwalk’s examination.

The professor had made the examination so difficult that there was little possibility of overcoming it within the assigned time.

By comparison, this transformation magic examination and the enchantment magic examination were different. Lee Han had already prepared something and was confident he could pass without needing to ask.

In the case of the transformation magic examination, he had practiced steadily, and in the case of the enchantment magic examination...

"I received and completed an external commission, so I intend to submit that."

"......"

Professor Thunderwalk nearly staggered for a moment.

Could it be that the professor had suffered all that because the examination had been made too difficult?

Did heaven truly love only wicked students and not virtuous professors?

"Could that not be insufficient?"

"If this is insufficient, I am seriously considering reporting Professor Verdus to His Highness Uman..."

Lee Han made an uncomfortable expression.

If Professor Verdus found fault with the result of a commission that every northern knight and mage had accepted, then it was not a matter of persuading Professor Verdus. It was a matter of calling the Inspector.

'I suppose that is true.'

Professor Thunderwalk had no choice but to admit it.

This disciple was far too thorough to complete an external commission carelessly.

Had Lee Han completed it carelessly, he would never submit it for Professor Verdus’s examination.

"May I take a look?"

"One moment... Here it is."

"Why are there two books?"

"Ah. Ignore the one underneath. Insane mages forced it upon me."

Lee Han coldly uttered words that would have made the dark mages gathered in the north shed tears of sorrow.

Professor Thunderwalk accepted them without much thought, glanced through the book underneath, and the professor’s eyes lit up.

"With this... I can finish Professor Verdus!"

"Excuse me?"

"Ah, I misspoke. I meant that you can surprise Professor Verdus."

"For that to be the case, there seems to be far too much murderous intent in your eyes..."

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