Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

Chapter 494

It wasn't because the 3rd-year student Balpatan was extravagant or had a severe spending habit that this happened.

Magic was fundamentally a very costly discipline.

No matter how much the Emperor provided support, and even if the skull principal went beyond investment and support and occasionally poured in his own private funds, this limitation could not be structurally overcome.

They couldn't even ask the Empire for more budget. Even now, the officials under the Imperial Treasurer clutched their chests and complained of breathing difficulties at the mere mention of Einroguard.

-Are you telling me to sprinkle more gold coins on those crazy bastards? I'd rather you step on me and go! If there are gold coins for that, please build the poor house that was postponed due to budget shortage!-

-You know well how much of the Empire's gold and treasures those robbers from Einroguard are taking away even now! I will never forget the incident where they wasted the golden pillar of the square, donated by Your Majesty's order, as an experimental platform for burning gold!-

-It's not satisfying even when we impose fines and claim restoration costs every time these shameless mages cause accidents outside! Every time I hear the name Einroguard, my teeth chatter and my blood surges in reverse!-

...Anyway, no matter how much budget they brought in and distributed to each school, there were bound to be times when money ran out while conducting research.

Einroguard students diligently saved up what they considered a substantial amount of money in their own way for such times, but...

...That amount of money was at a level that disappeared like snow melting in just a few magic experiments.

In the end, there were bound to be students like Balpatan who left their family's sword as collateral and borrowed necessary reagents.

Knowing this, Professor Uregor felt embarrassed and heartbroken.

"Student Balpatan is not particularly lazy or has a spending habit."

"We know that too. Don't worry."

The people from the Maykin family smiled benevolently.

"Isn't gold, not intelligence or emotion, what is truly needed for magic?"

"...Haha."

It was a self-deprecating joke circulating among mages. Professor Uregor had no choice but to smile bitterly.

"Indeed..."

Yi-Han, who was listening next to him, spoke with a genuinely moved expression. Professor Uregor's face turned serious.

"What do you mean indeed? What?"

For some reason, it seemed like this boy from the Wardanaz family understood it in a different sense.

—

"Wardanaz. Calm down the wyverns a bit."

Professor Bungaegor, who was checking the safety equipment in preparation for departure, instructed Yi-Han.

The wyverns should have been calmly waiting by now, but they were rolling around on the grass, playing with each other, perhaps because they got excited while playing among themselves.

"Understood."

Yi-Han nodded and stood up from his seat.

As he had been studying monsters separately with Professor Bungaegor, he knew a thing or two about wyverns.

When they play like that, sternly, in a way that doesn't back down...

"?"

"??"

Yi-Han's friends sitting next to him raised question marks on their faces and looked at Professor Bungaegor.

"Professor. Even if Yi-Han is good at his job, wyverns are..."

"Good boy, good boy."

"!?"

Before they could even speak, Yi-Han separated the wyverns that were playing, patted their heads, and comforted them.

The ones that had been destroying the grass until just now bowed their heads like docile sheep.

"...H-How did you do that?"

"I told you to read some books. Bartreck. First, don't avoid the wyvern's eyes and..."

"No, if they can be handled that way, why would anyone get bitten by a wyvern?!"

"Well, I got close to them during this trip."

Yi-Han spoke as if it was natural.

Of course, as Bartreck said, it wasn't possible to handle a wyvern right away by following the methods in the book. Wyverns were not such easy monsters.

However, Yi-Han had built a rapport with the wyverns during the trip.

Taking care of the wyvern's food, cleaning their scales, covering them with a blanket so they could sleep well, and even standing guard next to their heads while listening to Professor Bagrak's nagging...

'The last one is canceled.'

Come to think of it, the last one seemed closer to annoyance than rapport.

Anyway, since such things had happened, it was clear that the wyverns were also familiar with Yi-Han, although not as much as Professor Bungaegor.

In fact, they were listening to him so well!

"..."

Nillia thought to herself.

'No matter how you look at it, they seem scared...'

Every time Yi-Han turned his head, the wyverns glanced at him and looked at his mood, which was the typical appearance of a monster that was scared and following.

"Really? How did you become close so quickly?"

"It's affection. Bartreck. You should also join me next time when I take care of their meals."

"Ah, no... Why... It's scary."

"I told you it's not scary. Right? You're not scary, are you?"

When Yi-Han turned his head and asked the wyvern, the wyvern, which had been slouching until just now, suddenly raised its head, made a very hypocritical gentle expression, and nodded.

"See. There's a reason why they say wyverns are easier to tame than griffins. They're all nice."

"..."

Nillia decided not to say anything.

—

-Mission successful, arriving within the expected time.-

“Hmm.”

The skull principal nodded satisfactorily at the communication that flew in from the port city.

'I was worried, but they handled it well.'

He had no doubts about the abilities of the participating professors and students, but it was also true that the situation was a bit complicated.

Since they were conflicts that had accumulated for a long time, he thought it could take quite a while if things got twisted...

It seemed to have been handled well.

Some current students spread absurd slanders like 'The principal is addicted to stimulation, he goes crazy from boredom if there's no accident in a day,' but there were few peace-loving people like the skull principal.

He was a person who always earnestly wished for all matters to be concluded without any problems.

Although he occasionally wanted to see the students suffering, that was just an exceptional case.

-Sea Serpents appeared, requested cooperation, exterminated with students, magic criminal contacted, arrested-

...?!?!

However, the skull principal was startled to see the next communication.

It was surprising that the magic criminal bastard had made contact, but it was even more surprising that he was arrested.

'What? Did a headless guy make contact?'

Usually, if someone was called a magic criminal, they rarely did clumsy things since they had built up a notorious reputation for quite a long time.

Even if they made contact, they acted cunningly, creating multiple escape routes for themselves before taking action.

To think they even arrested such a magic criminal.

Honestly, it couldn't help but be curious.

'I hope that bastard Bagrak didn't just stab anyone...'

The skull principal was slightly suspicious.

He suspected that Professor Bagrak might have stabbed a suspicious person passing by due to paranoia, and everyone else unanimously covered it up, saying, 'It can't be helped, let's just say he's a magic criminal!'

—

Fortunately, it wasn't the case.

“Do you... lack curiosity?”

After finishing the meeting with the returned Professor Uregor, the skull principal immediately called Yi-Han.

The story about the magic criminal Ianop was so surprising.

His aggressiveness was surprising, and it was surprising that he was caught, but the most surprising thing was...

"Why would you believe that?"

“...Are you really a mage?”

...The boy from the Wardanaz family who unhesitatingly called the professor right away.

Of course, thanks to that, the matter was neatly resolved, but for a mage to not show interest in such a situation.

"It's strange for a mage to accept such a proposal. In my opinion, I think an example should be added to the character education lecture that such suspicious contacts should be ignored."

“Don't you know I've tried it? It's a meaningless thing to do.”

The skull principal was indifferent.

Don't touch forbidden magic, don't associate with suspicious mages that appear from the outside...

Of course, it was the right thing to say and there was no problem with saying it.

However, students didn't listen as much as one might think.

When told not to touch forbidden magic, there were always those who heard it and went to check, thinking, 'Oh, there was forbidden magic? I'm curious.'

"Should we lock them in the punishment room for the entire vacation?"

“...”

The Death Knights next to him let out a gasp of horror.

It was a plan that was too cruel for a 1st-year student to come up with.

“I'll think about it once. By the way, you performed quite well…”

The skull principal said, recalling the report.

Although he thought Wardanaz would be helpful, he didn't expect him to be this helpful.

Resolving the animosity between various guilds and making them reconcile right away.

'Indeed, unlike the Wardanaz family, this guy has excellent social skills.'

It was something he had felt for a long time, but Wardanaz's easily overlooked strength was precisely this sociability.

Just being with Bagrak was enough to know how great his social skills were.

Considering the numerous senior students whose character was ruined, regardless of their social skills, this strength shone even more.

'When he becomes a 2nd-year, I should send him out with those character-ruined guys.'

Without Yi-Han's knowledge, the skull principal added tasks to assign him inwardly.

“What did you feel about magic?”

More important than the story about the mission was the story about magic.

The skull principal's voice became solemn.

As he considered Wardanaz as a disciple who would inherit his mantle to some extent, he couldn't help but be serious when talking about magic.

"I learned the points to be careful about when directly harvesting flowers. Originally, I could buy them with just silver coins, but after harvesting them myself, I felt like I knew exactly which ones were high-grade and which ones were low-grade."

“You understood well. There are mages who sometimes ignore such meticulous work, but they are the ones who can't become great.”

The skull principal was satisfied.

As a mage, one had to be able to persistently check every detail of magic.

A mage who arrogantly ordered servants or subordinates to make preparations never achieved greatness.

"Thanks to that, I think I'll be able to haggle the price better when I have to buy things in the future."

“...I wasn't curious about that... Alright. Anything else?”

The skull principal moved on to the next topic, not at all curious about the petty ambition.

"I was more surprised by the magic criminal's magic than I expected. It's hard for me to even imagine the seasoned combat mages."

“That's right.”

The skull principal was satisfied again.

It was similar to the previous context, but mages who were overconfident in their own strength did not have a good end.

Especially in magical combat, it was not a match of who could use more powerful magic with higher difficulty.

Magical combat was a match of who could cut off the opponent's breath with optimal efficiency first.

Even with the slightest carelessness or coincidence, a back-alley mage could take the life of a renowned mage, so an excellent combat mage had to prepare in multiple layers.

“The Ianop you caught was a subordinate of Antagondal.”

"You mean that Great Mage criminal?"

“What Great Mage!”

The skull principal immediately grumbled.

It was unpleasant in itself that a young, impudent magic criminal was called a Great Mage.

“He may have been taught by Antagondal and experienced ups and downs to some extent, so it may have been surprising to you.”

"That's right."

Yi-Han agreed.

The moment the wall flew away, he immediately activated the artifact to block the incoming attack, greatly enhanced his own physical abilities, and even prepared a separate means of attack.

It was a familiarity that seemed to require over a thousand training sessions to reach that level of proficiency.

“Then what did you think there?”

"I thought that from now on, I should take Professor Bagrak with me when going to suspicious places."

“...”

The skull principal glared at Yi-Han for the spiritless answer.

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