Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 888

“How much progress have you made?”

-I’m working as hard as I can, Mage sir!

“Good. Hurry it up.”

A few moments later—

“How much progress now?”

That son of a bitch.

Sarataan cursed viciously to itself.

It had clearly explained that the work would take about a full day, yet the mage had already come back to check after barely walking a few steps away.

Mages really were all bastards.

-I’m doing my best! But it’ll still take a day…

“Hm. You’re not trying to trick me, are you?”

Lee Han muttered suspiciously.

Sarataan immediately forced a servile smile onto its face—though the mage couldn’t see it—and answered nervously.

“Should I summon the Thunder King to supervise you?”

“Calling a high-ranking spirit over something like this seems excessive.”

“Really? This staff spirit seems awfully sly…”

-…!

The moment Sarataan heard the boy casually suggest bringing in the Thunder King to oversee the work, it frantically began producing new empowered shoots at full speed.

***

Flash!

Late that night, Jowrin quietly opened her eyes.

She glanced around the common room. Not a single student was in sight.

Hehe. Jowrin is smart.

Even Lee Han—who normally stayed by the fireplace reading until dawn—had been successfully chased upstairs earlier.

-Lee Han must sleep!

“What? Why are you suddenly saying that?”

-Hurry!

“I still have a lot to do, so suddenly going to sleep is a little…”

-If you don’t go upstairs, Jowrin will send letters to all the Empire’s noble families saying Lee Han studies so much he can’t even sleep!

“…Your Majesty. You haven’t been reading strange books again, have you?”

Lee Han had resisted, but Jowrin stubbornly insisted until he finally went upstairs and climbed into bed.

And honestly, he was tired.

Einroguard students possessed the terrifying ability to fall asleep the instant their heads touched the floor, even without magic. Lee Han was no exception.

Jowrin will solve Lee Han’s test!

Just as Jowrin was sneaking out of the empty common room, the baby basilisk’s voice rang out beside her ear.

-What are you doing?

…

Only then did Jowrin remember.

Tonight, the baby basilisk had been sleeping curled up in her arms instead of beside Lee Han.

Jowrin paled and hurriedly waved her front paws.

Shh! Shh! Quiet!

-I-I am being quiet! Save me! Save me!!

The baby basilisk realized Lee Han wasn’t nearby and instantly panicked.

There was nobody here to stop the dragon from eating it.

I said be quiet! …Sniff…

Jowrin’s eyes began to water.

At this rate, the baby basilisk would ruin her carefully prepared plan.

The basilisk panicked even harder.

-W-Why are you crying?!

Because of the basilisk, Jowrin’s going to get caught… sniff…

-N-No you won’t! Nobody’s here! I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but—

But Jowrin worked really hard on this plan!

-It hasn’t failed yet!

The baby basilisk desperately tried to comfort her.

Thanks to that encouragement, Jowrin barely managed to stop crying.

R-Really? Jowrin’s plan hasn’t failed yet…?

-That’s what I’m saying! But what is the plan?

Hm. Jowrin is going to…

Jowrin proudly explained her grand scheme.

She planned to sneak into the greenhouse at night and fire her breath attack at the mandragon Lee Han was growing in order to accelerate its growth.

Unfortunately, the baby basilisk was not a mage.

As long as the plan didn’t involve eating it, any plan sounded impressive.

-That sounds like an amazing plan!!

R-Really?

-Yes! Yes yes yes!

Jowrin immediately stopped crying and giggled happily.

The encouragement had restored her confidence.

Then let’s depart again!

-Yes!

Jowrin placed the baby basilisk on top of her head.

Only then did the baby basilisk realize it was apparently coming too, but it didn’t dare ask to be left behind.

-…Am I coming too?

Hm?

-N-Nothing! Let’s both do our best!

Let’s do that!

Jowrin transformed into an eagle and swiftly flew toward the common room window.

At that exact moment, Professor Bendozol—who had been sleeping on the floor nearby—snapped awake and shot upright.

Jowrin and the baby basilisk nearly died of fright.

Waaaaah?!

-Kyaaaaaah?!

“What bastard dares— …Oh. Your Majesty?”

Professor Bendozol, who had awakened after sensing movement, blinked in surprise when he saw transformed Jowrin instead of an intruder.

How had he recognized her?!

“I can distinguish the thought-wave patterns emitted by every species. Transformation magic doesn’t change that.”

…

-That’s creepy.

The baby basilisk whispered quietly enough that only Jowrin could hear.

Jowrin almost nodded in agreement before stopping herself.

J-Jowrin has somewhere to go. Please move aside.

“And where might that be?”

Professor Bendozol asked the obvious question in his role as guard.

Nighttime Einroguard was effectively a demon realm filled with evil students and slightly less evil monsters.

Naturally, Jowrin couldn’t answer immediately.

“Dragon sir?”

Uh… well… that is…

“???”

…Bah! Why are you asking so many questions?! How rude!

Jowrin threw a tantrum despite knowing full well she was being unreasonable.

The baby basilisk sighed internally.

The plan’s already doomed…

Unexpectedly, however, the tantrum worked wonders.

Professor Bendozol immediately threw himself flat onto the ground.

Thud!

“I have committed a mortal sin, Dragon sir! How dare a lowly mage question Dragon sir’s destination…!”

Bl-Blood is coming out?!

“It’s nothing serious.”

Professor Bendozol leapt back up and casually wiped the blood running down his forehead.

“Considering my disrespectful conduct, I deserve far worse.”

S-Stop…! Jowrin was wrong!

Unable to endure the madness any longer, Jowrin hurriedly confessed the truth.

Jowrin is going to the sixth-floor greenhouse to help the mandragon…

“Indeed! You plan to harvest the students’ mandragons and store them inside Dragon-nim’s treasury! I shall assist!”

Professor Bendozol shouted enthusiastically.

Really, the students should feel honored.

How fortunate they were that a dragon as noble as Jowrin wished to claim their mandragons.

…That’s not it. Jowrin wanted to help them grow…

“Indeed! Dragon-nim has taken interest in cultivating mandragons. Dragon-nim’s mercy is broader than the continent itself! I shall assist!”

No, Jowrin doesn’t care about growing mandragons. It’s just that Lee Han’s mandragon still doesn’t seem fully grown yet…

“…”

The instant he heard the reason, Professor Bendozol slowly turned toward the dormitory tower with murderous eyes.

The baby basilisk hurriedly whispered:

-L-Look at his eyes! Those are the eyes of someone who wants to kill master!

He’s glaring at Lee Han right now?!

“W-What nonsense are you saying? Absolutely not. Damn these eyes! These cursed eyes!”

Professor Bendozol immediately began punching himself in the eyes.

Jowrin cried out in horror.

J-Jowrin understands! You don’t hate Lee Han, right?

“…Of course not.”

-Make him swear that master is a cherished disciple.

The baby basilisk displayed the truly devious wisdom worthy of the king of snakes.

Jowrin repeated the suggestion exactly.

The moment she did, bloody tears began streaming from Professor Bendozol’s eyes.

…Eek!

“My apologies, Dragon-nim. I accidentally struck myself too hard just now.”

I-I see… Then the oath…?

“…”

Dozens of emotions twisted across Professor Bendozol’s face before he finally forced the words out through clenched teeth.

“I swear upon my love for animals that I shall regard that brat… no, the disciple of House Wardanaz… as a cherished disciple…”

-Can’t you make him leave his inheritance too?

The baby basilisk slyly added another suggestion.

Jowrin hesitated.

T-That seems a little excessive, even to Jowrin…

***

Professor Bendozol used every spell at his disposal to escort Jowrin to the greenhouse.

Upperclassmen wandering around under cover of darkness immediately scattered the moment they spotted him from afar.

-Aaaah! It’s the lunatic!

“What? Who?”

-The lunatic!

-…Ah. Professor Bendozol. Let’s go the other way.

At times like this, his reputation for madness was surprisingly useful.

None /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ of the students even imagined that an invisible dragon was secretly following behind him.

Whenever anyone hesitated, Professor Bendozol bared his teeth and growled threateningly.

“Grrrrrr!”

“Aaaah! The crazy professor!”

“Who?! Verdus?”

“It’s nighttime!”

“Ah, Bendozol! Run!”

Once he had thoroughly cleared the route, Professor Bendozol wiped sweat from his forehead.

He had thought this before, but perhaps Einroguard really could reduce its student population to one-tenth of the current number.

And replace them with ten times more mysterious animals instead…

But how exactly does Dragon-nim intend to grow the mandragon?

Although Professor Bendozol specialized in animals, he was hardly incompetent in other fields.

Every Einroguard professor was fundamentally versatile.

From his perspective, accelerating a mandragon’s growth at its current stage would normally require several elixirs or secret medicines.

Something like 【Arlekan’s Growth Elixir】—

Or perhaps, more aggressively, 【Ahrak’s Purple Poison】.

If such ingredients were available, Dragon-nim could simply have commanded this Bendozol to handle it personally. Yet Dragon-nim chose to come in person… Wardanaz, you bastard…!

Professor Bendozol trembled with burning jealousy and resentment.

If he had been Wardanaz, he would have spent every waking moment drowning in gratitude.

That arrogant, ungrateful, evil, conceited bastard…

Jowrin will go inside for a moment and come back.

“Yes. Please proceed.”

The moment Jowrin entered the greenhouse—

Flash!!!!!

“?!”

Professor Bendozol’s eyes widened.

A sphere of light as brilliant as the sun itself flickered beyond the greenhouse glass.

…Could it be?!

There was one other method for rapidly growing mandragons besides elixirs and secret medicines.

Artificially recreating sunlight itself.

The idea was so absurd that he hadn’t even considered it possible—

But for a dragon, perhaps it wasn’t impossible at all.

“Dragon-nim!”

Professor Bendozol hurriedly threw open the greenhouse door and rushed inside.

The tiny artificial sun hovering in the air instantly vanished.

Jowrin coughed weakly.

She had forcibly drawn out her breath despite not being fully grown yet, and the backlash was severe.

Professor Bendozol nearly lost his mind from anger and guilt, but somehow restrained himself.

“Are you alright?!”

J-Jowrin is fine. Wh-What about the other… other mandragons…

“They’re unharmed. Your control was perfect!”

After releasing dragon breath and fixing it in place to create a temporary artificial sun, the most important part was control.

The power involved was catastrophically intense.

The moment control slipped, everything nearby would be annihilated.

And since the greenhouse was packed with plants, even the smallest mistake could have caused catastrophic destruction.

Of course, Professor Bendozol personally wouldn’t have cared in the slightest if that had happened…

“They’re perfectly fine. You concentrated the light solely onto that brat’s— no. Wardanaz’s mandragon.”

Hehe. Jowrin’s plan succeeded!

“As expected of Dragon-nim!”

-Um… excuse me?

The baby basilisk timidly interrupted the dragon and professor while they praised themselves.

Lee Han’s mandragon sprout, having absorbed the concentrated power directly, was growing.

…At an absurd speed.

—————!!!!!

Though it had not yet even emerged from the soil, the mandragon’s scream battered the ears of all three and shook their very souls.

Fortunately, dragon, basilisk, and professor were all naturally durable species.

Otherwise, they might have collapsed on the spot.

“Outside! Get outside!”

Professor Bendozol immediately hurled the two out of the greenhouse before slamming the doors shut and casting sealing magic.

Meanwhile, the monstrously overgrown mandragon continued shrieking inside.

Even through the seal, the vibrations shook the air outside.

I’ve never seen anything like this before…!

Even Professor Bendozol had never encountered a mandragon capable of producing such terrifying screams while still underground.

Jowrin’s face turned pale with tears.

Th-This is bad…! Wh-What do we do?! What do we do…?!

“Dragon-nim!”

Hm? Professor Bendozol has a solution?!

“Dragon-nim was never here tonight!”

…

-…