Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 677
“Ah—no. Professor worked so hard to take care of you…”
Lee Han spoke in a flustered voice, and the Skull Principal replied flatly.
“That’s that, and this is this. Don’t expect a magical animal like a unicorn to have the same loyalty as a person.”
Professor Bendozol had taken care of it diligently, but the unicorn had a duty to choose the environment where it could raise its foal as well as possible.
After seeing the foal get frightened at the sight of Professor Bendozol earlier, it had no choice but to think carefully.
No matter how outstanding the magic was, no matter how great the devotion was, first it had to win the foal’s favor.
“Professor will be sad if he finds out.”
“No. Professor Bendozol will like it because it means the unicorn is smart.”
“……”
Lee Han had no choice but to accept that.
Professor Bendozol was the kind of person who would coddle a unicorn and like it no matter what it did.
The unicorn that had been thinking let out a low cry. The Skull Principal went “Hm,” and put a hand on the chin.
“What is it?”
“Nothing. It made a request. I’ll grant it. It’s not a difficult request.”
What kind of request is it?
When Lee Han asked in confusion, the Skull Principal kindly explained.
“It wants the reliable one—you—to take care of it. I said yes.”
“……”
Lee Han went speechless, then snapped back to the senses and spoke quickly.
“Why would I do that?!”
“Because you will anyway.”
“Yes?”
“Why are you pretending you don’t know? When next term starts, you’ll learn under Professor Bendozol, and if you learn under Professor Bendozol, you’ll take care of all the vicious monsters he raises. Then won’t you take care of the unicorn, too?”
“Professor could take care of the unicorn directly. And Professor doesn’t really like me.”
Lee Han resisted desperately.
But the Skull Principal answered coldly.
“Even if the professor tries to take care of it directly, the foal will dislike it, so he’ll call you. Regardless of whether Bendozol likes you or not, you’re someone with a knack for being loved by certain monsters.”
Gainando, hanging upside down with blood rushing to the face, asked.
“What kind of monsters?”
“Monsters that don’t get scared and run from having lots of mana—monsters that get greedy instead and come closer. You’re especially attractive to those.”
“……”
It wasn’t even a little pleasing.
It was also irritating for the nameless hunters beside them to nod along in agreement.
The Skull Principal asked, sounding puzzled.
“Did Professor Bendozol not praise you?”
“He kept cursing, saying he didn’t know why someone like me gets love.”
“That’s the highest praise there is!”
As the Skull Principal spoke, the Skull Principal tore out the unicorn’s entire surroundings and sent it into the pillar of black power.
Before leaving, the unicorn’s foal hesitated and let out a cry toward the Skull Principal.
The two unicorns traveled to Einroguard along the pillar.
“Professor Thunderstep. Looks like the matter’s finished—will you go to Einroguard together?”
“I would appreciate it.”
“And the hunters here?”
“If possible, they would like to return to their own mountain range…”
“Annoying, but it can’t be helped.”
Using the pillar of black power, the Skull Principal prepared to send Professor Thunderstep’s group back.
Before leaving, among the nameless hunters, the one who had matched steps with Lee Han this time approached.
“Thank you for helping.”
“I’m grateful as well. Take this.”
“?”
What the hunter held out was an old arrow.
“It’s a token of the nameless hunters. If there are nameless hunters in any mountain range, you’ll be able to ask for help.”
“Thank you!”
“Once you went out hunting together, you’re a hunter as well. There’s nothing to thank for. And if you have interest in oaths, listen to the words of the token.”
“What does that—”
The hunter didn’t seem to have any intention of explaining further, and left with the companions along the black pillar.
POP!
The Skull Principal gave a light yawn and asked.
“And you?”
“Please send us back to Plaher City.”
“Fine. I’ll see you next term.”
After sending the friends as well, the Skull Principal looked at Lee Han last.
“So. How do you feel?”
“Yes?”
At the sudden question, Lee Han tilted the head.
He couldn’t guess what was being asked.
“Mm, I feel more satisfied since we’ll catch the professor and get the bounty.”
“…Not that feeling…”
The Skull Principal seemed to debate hitting Lee Han once, then held it in and spoke.
“You said you faced Do Cheol?”
“Ah. Professor Bendozol did all the fighting, and I only blocked something like a duplicate. It’s a peculiar monster.”
“It’s a thing with several annoying attack methods. If you keep attending Einroguard, you’ll see more monsters like that.”
“……”
Lee Han didn’t know why attending Einroguard would mean seeing more monsters like that, but Lee Han stayed quiet and listened.
“Do Cheol probably couldn’t do much because its compatibility with you is terrible. At best, it would be curses or the darkness element.”
“That’s right.”
“But if its abilities had been more physical or more direct, you wouldn’t have dealt with it so easily.”
Lee Han agreed.
Do Cheol was a threatening, vicious monster, but most of Do Cheol’s means of attack happened to be methods that didn’t work on Lee Han.
Curses bounced back, and even trying to disable mana with the darkness element didn’t work…
From Do Cheol’s side, it must have felt like, What is this bastard?
“Seems like it.”
“If you wanted to subdue it more easily, what do you think you should do?”
“Hmm.”
It was an easy question and a hard question at the same time, and Lee Han thought.
“Based on the spells I’ve learned, shouldn’t I learn more high-circle spells? Spells that deal heavier damage to monsters like Do Cheol, or spells that bind the feet—”
“Half right. Not wrong. You’ll probably learn more high-circle spells this year.”
“Yes. Some more third-circle spells—”
“Don’t talk nonsense about third-circle. Learn about ten fifth-circle spells.”
“?”
Lee Han wondered if he’d heard wrong.
Whether or not Lee Han did, the Skull Principal continued.
“At that level, you’ll be able to enter the realm of a Lesser World. Once you can use that, dealing with things like Do Cheol will become easy.”
“That seems difficult…”
“It’s fine. I’ll speak to Professor Bagreg.”
“I’ll do my best!”
Lee Han answered urgently.
He didn’t know what a Lesser World was, but first he had to live.
Still, the absurdity didn’t go away.
Is ten fifth-circle spells even possible?
Fifth-circle spells were normally the level that a fourth-year—or even among third-years, only the top few—learned in a limited way.
Being told to learn ten of them forced Lee Han to think of tricks along with disbelief.
Fill it with the easiest ones, then somehow say I learned them…
“Ah, Principal.”
“?”
The Skull Principal, about to move Lee Han into the pillar of black power, turned the gaze.
“What are the disciple and clone you mentioned earlier?”
“Anyone who lives long enough ends up with ungrateful disciples and clones born from severed emotions. Anyway, be careful. And don’t use the ring recklessly.”
“What does that even mea—”
The Skull Principal didn’t seem to have any intention of answering further, and moved Lee Han to the city.
The Skull Principal waving a hand as if saying goodbye was the last sight Lee Han saw in the Bitong Mountains.
*****
“Hng… hnghh.”
“Motion sickness… urgh.”
The students who fell onto a field near Plaher City staggered, suffering.
Dimension gate magic was a magic whose difficulty and cost increased exponentially the farther the distance became.
Sending them from the Bitong Mountains to here was an unbelievable level of difficulty, but the Skull Principal did it on the spot as if it were nothing.
Instead, the side effects came back to the students. A severe mana sickness.
For a mage who sensitively sensed mana inside the body, the feeling of mana shaking and moving wildly was hard to endure.
“L-Lee Han… save me.”
Gainando called to Lee Han while still hanging upside down. Lee Han somehow found the Skull Principal’s invisible telekinetic magic, then used counter-magic and released it.
“Lee Han, are you okay?”
“I think I’m fine. And Gainando. That’s not me. It’s a tree.”
When Gainando spoke while looking at a tree, Lee Han turned the trunk around.
It seemed he’d flown here avoiding the sickness thanks to resistance.
“For now, everyone go back to the estate and rest. We suffered in the mountains.”
Even with that, the friends were sprawled out and couldn’t get up.
Lee Han decided it would be better to borrow something rather than forcefully drag them.
“Could you please let us ride in your wagon? I’ll pay.”
“…Are you saying that seriously?”
On the road, the driver pulling a freight wagon looked at Lee Han with a dumbfounded expression.
A boy who looked like he came from a noble house was asking to borrow a shabby freight wagon.
“Yes.”
“Who will be riding…?”
“My friends back here.”
The driver glanced over cautiously.
Just looking at a few, it was obvious they were from noble houses.
Especially the dark elf «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» girl—despite staggering, she didn’t lose dignity, making it seem like she might be from a grand noble house.
After confirming, the driver answered firmly.
“Absolutely not.”
“What? Why?”
“Are you serious? This is… a freight wagon.”
The driver endured the dumbfoundedness and explained.
Putting noble heirs onto a freight wagon currently running with rough piles of hay—
It was the kind of thing that could bring down abuse later, and he didn’t know what kind.
“You’re saying this because you don’t know how rough and dirty it is.”
“No, we can ride. We’re from Einroguard.”
“What does being from Einroguard have to do with being able to ride a freight wagon? No! I’ll get punished badly!”
The driver didn’t fall for it.
He was afraid that if he took payment and let them ride, later the nobles would nitpick, shouting, “You put us in a filthy place!”
“We can even sleep on the street and camp in the mountains—”
“Even if you tell lies like that, no is no. Sorry!”
The driver answered and hurriedly ran off.
He was clearly scared that if he got held up, he might get put through something unpleasant.
Lee Han sighed and approached other wagons, but most freight wagons refused the offer just as sharply.
“S-sorry, Lee Han. For being born so noble…”
“Are you laughing right now?”
“N-no?”
Gainando spoke while trying to hold back a grin, then flinched. Lee Han was glaring.
“Looks like we’ll have to borrow a carriage, not a freight wagon. Not sure it’ll work.”
A carriage for outings that fit two or three people wasn’t enough for all of them. Lee Han looked around, waiting for a slightly larger carriage to appear.
At last, a carriage of a suitable size came into view. Lee Han hurriedly called out to the driver.
“Please, could I ask a favor? Could you let us ride in the carriage? When we arrive in Plaher City, I’ll reward you.”
“Do you even know who is inside this carriage when you say that?!”
The driver spoke in a small, frightened voice.
He looked afraid of how the person inside might react if they heard.
“Who is it?”
“A mage!”
“We’re mages too.”
—What is it?
An arrogant voice came from inside. The driver answered hurriedly.
“N-no. Someone asked to ride!”
—I’m a mage. Will you still ride with me?
“I’m a mage as well.”
At the unexpected answer, the mage inside the carriage fell silent for a moment.
Then spoke again.
—Which mage tower or guild are you from?
“We’re from Einroguard.”
BANG-KRAK-CLATTER!
From inside the carriage came the sound of someone falling, along with something breaking.
After a moment, an answer returned.
—C-come… come in!
