Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 847

“Professor? Professor?”

Lee Han eyed Professor Kirmin suspiciously.

No matter how he looked at it, the professor seemed to have stopped listening halfway through and drifted off into his own thoughts.

“Oh? What is it, Wardanaz?”

“You are listening to me, right?”

“Of course I am. I heard everything. Why would you ask such a thing?”

Professor Kirmin answered without the slightest change in expression.

As expected of a professor from the illusion magic school, he was exceptionally skilled at controlling his reactions even in the face of shocking revelations.

“My apologies. It looked like you were thinking about something else.”

“Not at all, Wardanaz. In any case, thanks to those incidents, you became capable of perceiving souls, correct?”

“Yes. That’s right. It wasn’t Professor Voladi Bagreg’s fault.”

“Then there’s no reason for «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» you to attend this lecture.”

“…Pardon?”

“The first-semester objective of this lecture is soul perception.”

Professor Kirmin calmly explained the purpose of 【Advanced Illusion Magic and Soul Theory】 during the first semester.

The class covered all sorts of illusion spells, exercises, and experiments, but ultimately everything revolved around a single goal:

Perceiving the souls of others and recognizing one’s own soul.

“…Then what am I supposed to do now?”

“Whatever you like. There’s no need for you to attend the lectures.”

The statement was so unexpected that Lee Han froze in confusion.

“No, but still… not attending the lecture hall at all…”

“Lectures exist so students can learn, Wardanaz. If you already know everything, why waste your time? You could go to Professor Voladi Bagreg instead and practice magical combat.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“That was a joke. My apologies.”

The moment he saw the cold look in Lee Han’s eyes, Professor Kirmin apologized immediately.

No matter how much free time a person had, voluntarily going to Professor Voladi Bagreg for combat training was never a wise decision.

…Is this actually a good thing?

Once the initial confusion faded, Lee Han carefully reconsidered the proposal.

At first, he had been startled by the idea of no longer attending class, but objectively speaking, extra time was always valuable.

Of course, losing a single lecture would not suddenly make Lee Han relaxed and carefree, but still—

Having spare time certainly wouldn’t hurt.

“Professor. Even so, I’m worried I might miss something important if I stop attending. I still have exams too.”

“The exams are entirely related to soul perception, so that doesn’t matter. We can skip them. As for missing content… hmm.”

Professor Kirmin tapped the desk thoughtfully.

The exams were easy enough to waive, but there were indeed a few things from the lectures that Lee Han might miss.

Specifically, several illusion spells related to soul perception.

“First, take this.”

Professor Kirmin pulled a small book from the pocket of his gray linen vest and unfolded it.

The moment it opened, the tiny volume rapidly expanded, growing thicker and larger.

“【Advanced Illusion Magic and Soul Applications】?”

“As I said before, once you can perceive and manipulate souls, the domain of illusion magic expands dramatically. This is a grimoire intended for illusion mages who have already begun perceiving souls. It contains quite a few useful spells.”

“Thank you, Professor. Are these the spells covered in this semester’s lectures?”

“What are you talking about? This is a grimoire for illusion mages who have already entered the realm of soul perception. There’s no way students would learn this material during first semester. The entire purpose of this semester is simply reaching soul perception in the first place.”

“…?”

Lee Han tilted his head, unable to follow the professor’s logic.

Then why give him the grimoire?

“Then why are you giving me this?”

“I thought you might get bored with nothing left to study.”

“…”

Lee Han stared at him in disbelief.

How exactly did someone arrive at that conclusion?

If there’s nothing left to study, wouldn’t that make life peaceful and wonderful instead of boring…?

While Lee Han silently cursed inwardly, Professor Kirmin pulled out a sheet of paper and rapidly scribbled something onto it.

“There. Take this too, Wardanaz.”

“What is it?”

“These are the spells specifically taught during this semester’s lectures. To be honest, you don’t particularly need them anymore, but they’re still decent spells.”

Lee Han looked back and forth between the enormous grimoire and the single sheet of paper.

Wouldn’t the paper alone have been enough?

***

Although Professor Kirmin casually exempted him from lectures, exams, and assignments, he did not completely abandon Lee Han.

Even at Einroguard, only Professor Verdus would truly neglect a student simply because the student was already capable.

Instead, Professor Kirmin summoned a senior student from the illusion magic school.

“Sebius. If Wardanaz has any questions related to illusion magic, could you answer them for him?”

Outside lecture hours, Professor Kirmin could explain things personally, but during class he naturally had to teach.

Sebius—a fourth-year hamster beastkin from Black Turtle Tower—nodded, though curiosity quickly appeared on his face.

“Understood, Professor. But may I ask something first?”

“What is it?”

“…Why isn’t he attending lectures and instead coming separately to ask about magic?”

It was an entirely reasonable question.

From Sebius’s perspective, a second-year student who should have been attending class with the third-years had instead appeared beside the professor asking for private instruction.

“Ah. There are complicated circumstances behind that. Would you prefer the short explanation or the long one?”

“The short version, please.”

At that answer, Professor Kirmin immediately brightened, as though he had been waiting for this exact opportunity.

When else would he get the chance to tease his troublesome disciple?

“Wardanaz already mastered all the first-semester material in advance.”

“…Could I hear the long version instead?”

Only after Professor Kirmin explained that Wardanaz had been forcibly taught magic by an evil ancient being of Einroguard did Sebius finally begin to understand.

“I see… so that’s what happened.”

“Quite an interesting situation, isn’t it?”

Can magic really be learned just because someone forces you to learn it?

Sebius wondered inwardly.

If magic worked that way, life would be vastly easier.

Fourth-years suffering through graduation requirements would certainly appreciate it.

But somehow, Wardanaz had genuinely learned everything simply because someone told him to.

“Then I’ll leave him in your care.”

“Yes, Professor. Though I suspect the third-years are going to suffer because of this.”

“They absolutely should! The moment I return, I intend to lecture them properly. Imagine moving this slowly when a second-year can already do everything ahead of you.”

Sebius silently mourned the unfortunate third-years who were about to suffer simply because an absurdly talented underclassman existed.

Still, there was nothing anyone could do about it.

Einroguard was a place where unreasonable disasters constantly descended upon innocent people.

…Ah.

After Professor Kirmin left, Sebius suddenly remembered something.

He had another appointment scheduled for today.

“…Junior. Sorry about this. I’ll make it up to you later, but could you leave for today?”

“Pardon? That’s fine, but… do you have somewhere to be?”

“I have an appointment.”

“Would that appointment happen to involve the <Teleportation> Club?”

“…It does, yes.”

The moment Lee Han looked at him with sparkling eyes, Sebius felt dumbfounded.

Why were Blue Dragon Tower students so obsessed with theft?

“You’re not planning to come with me, are you?”

“Professor Kirmin told me to learn from you…”

Lee Han deliberately sounded disappointed.

Naturally, Professor Kirmin had meant for Lee Han to study illusion magic with Sebius—not accompany him on suspicious relocation activities—but that distinction hardly mattered now.

“Tch. Fine. Then follow me.”

Though Sebius grumbled irritably, he ultimately allowed Lee Han to come along.

After all, they both belonged to the same <Teleportation> Club and Library Club, and abandoning a junior after the professor personally requested otherwise would feel awkward.

“Thank you, Senior.”

“Whatever. I’m only allowing it because the professor asked.”

“Even when professors ask, there are seniors who kick people out if they dislike them.”

“What? Who would do something like that?”

“Princess Yukbeltire.”

“…”

This guy’s pretending he didn’t hear that.

Sebius deliberately ignored the comment and kept walking. Then, changing the subject, he asked:

“Do you know where we’re headed?”

“Not really.”

“…Then why did you insist on following me?”

“Since it’s somewhere you’re going, Senior, I assumed there was profit involved.”

“…”

An awkward silence fell between them.

After clearing his throat, Sebius began explaining.

“You know about the Empire’s magic academy, Valdrogard, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then you also know several Valdrogard mages came to visit this week?”

“I know that too.”

“Did you know Valdrogard mages once stole something from Einroguard?”

“…?!!!”

Lee Han was more shocked than when he had been kidnapped by the Skull Principal’s insane duplicate.

Valdrogard mages had stolen from Einroguard?

“What did you just say? Valdrogard mages stole from Einroguard?!”

“You really didn’t know? Yes. It happened before.”

“That’s unbelievable. How did they steal it?”

Sebius turned a corner at the end of the northern corridor and summoned a staircase upward.

As they climbed, he continued the story.

“Einroguard students occasionally conduct joint research projects with Valdrogard students. The Valdrogard side provides the funding, while the Einroguard side handles everything else—ideas, theory, experiments, verification, reports, all of it.”

That doesn’t sound like joint research at all…

At that point, weren’t they basically just sponsors?

“One of my senior’s seniors supposedly worked on a project like that. Apparently they desperately needed research funding.”

“That does sound plausible.”

“The research took place outside the academy. But when the project was nearly complete, a Valdrogard student who coveted the finished artifact committed a truly vile betrayal.”

Lee Han swallowed nervously.

What sort of betrayal could that have been?

“He anonymously reported the Einroguard student to the Skull Principal for violating school rules by leaving the academy grounds. The student got caught immediately.”

“…”

Lee Han hesitated.

It was evil, certainly, but not in the way he had imagined.

“I… see.”

“Once that senior got dragged away, the Valdrogard student monopolized the nearly completed artifact and kept it. After graduation, it was passed down through generations of juniors. And among the visiting students this time, one of them apparently brought the artifact along.”

The stolen Einroguard artifact had circulated through Valdrogard for years before finally returning like this.

Naturally, Sebius considered the rights to the item to belong to Einroguard.

…Aren’t they making too much of an old grudge?

Lee Han felt slightly conflicted.

Of course, he didn’t particularly like Valdrogard students either, but robbing visiting guests still felt excessive.

The current owners likely had no idea the artifact had originated from Einroguard in the first place.

They probably don’t know anything about it…

“Now that I think about it, what kind of research was it?”

“Research on improving space-expansion backpacks. It turned into quite an impressive artifact. Apparently several seniors coveted it.”

“Senior. Hearing that those filthy bastards from another academy shamelessly stole Einroguard’s traditions and legacy fills me with unbearable rage and sorrow. We must reclaim it immediately.”

At moments like this, he really is pure Blue Dragon Tower.

Sebius thought so inwardly as he watched Lee Han suddenly begin speaking passionately about honor and tradition.