Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

I’d better pretend I don’t know them.

Instinctively, Lee Han turned his body and lowered his head.

Now that he had already been enrolled in the Stonemason Club, he was bound to run into the upperclassmen eventually, but he did not want that meeting to happen today, at the very scene where they were knocking down a workshop.

Maybe some instinct deep inside him, desperate for even a little rest on the weekend, had appealed to him without his knowing.

FWOOSH!

The moment Lee Han grew anxious, <Vagni’s Flame Bull> wavered and spat out fire.

Seeing that, the upperclassmen spoke cautiously.

“Junior. We normally don’t interfere in other people’s business one by one, but I think you should probably get that curse removed.”

“It looks a little dangerous.”

At Einroguard, students usually did not comment even if someone was walking around half-turned to stone, or if a basilisk had its teeth sunk into somebody’s head and was hanging there.

After all, the person in question probably knew best.

If it was painful and difficult, that person would handle it.

More importantly, there were also quite a few students who wandered around like that on purpose for magical research.

They might be testing petrification magic on themselves, or trying to figure out which part of the head a basilisk preferred to bite, so the other students generally did not interfere.

But the junior from House Wardanaz looked far too dangerous to dismiss as mere individuality.

“It’s not a curse. It’s magic practice.”

“What kind of magic practice? What lunatic casts a curse on himself just to practice magi—”

“Wardanaz!”

When everyone’s attention gathered because of the flames surging up around Lee Han, one of the Stonemason Club members recognized him.

It was Alde of House Markang, freshly released that very morning.

“So it really is Wardanaz. Good to see you! Guys, see this? This junior is the one I was talking about. The one who came to the punishment cells!”

“……”

“……”

The Stonemason Club members all wore complicated expressions, as if they could not decide whether they should believe Alde or not.

They already knew the junior was exceptional, what with taking lectures in every school and joining every club, but visiting the punishment cells was a bit…

Isn’t that too much?

Markang’s exaggerating.

No matter how they thought about it, it sounded suspiciously like he had sweet-talked some naive junior and manufactured an artificial heartwarming story about himself as a “respected upperclassman.”

Wasn’t it the same sort of thing as the sentimental fluff the Skull Principal occasionally got printed in the imperial newspapers?

Seeing that his companions did not believe him, Alde flared up.

Considering that nobody had believed him either inside the punishment cells or outside them, it was only natural for him to get angry.

“I’m telling you, it’s true! Junior. You answer them. You came to the punishment cells, didn’t you?! To help me!”

“Yes. I went because Senior had helped me before.”

“Tell them how you got in too!”

“I persuaded the Death Knights and asked the spirit in the punishment cells to let me pass through for a little while.”

“…Hey. Try explaining it in a believable way.”

Alde whispered in a fluster, because even to his own ears it sounded # Nоvеlight # unbelievable.

“But that is how I got in.”

“What? That’s ridiculous… no, forget that. Haven’t you got anything more plausible? Nobody believes me!”

The Stonemason Club members shook their heads and dragged Alde away.

“Markang. Fine, we believe you. You’re so impressive that a junior would come all the way to the punishment cells to see you.”

“I’m telling you, Blue Dragon Tower people are shameless. Is honor really that important to them?”

“It’s true, you bastards!”

The Stonemason Club members brought up the matter they actually cared about.

“You’re Lee Han of House Wardanaz, right? We don’t care much about punishment-cell visits. We care about club activities. Do you know what the Stonemason Club does?”

“Build buildings… doesn’t it?”

Einroguard had a surprising amount of demand for construction.

There were students’ hidden storehouses and huts scattered all over the territory, magical research workshops, assorted fortresses, and more.

“Right. Building structures is our most visible activity. But that isn’t all.”

“You also need to be able to tear them down. If people don’t pay, or try to change the terms, you have to tear them down. Fast.”

“And sometimes you need to stop other people when they show up trying to tear buildings down.”

“And you’re a talent specialized for all of that. Looking forward to working with you, junior.”

“Pardon?”

Listening to them, Lee Han was startled by the upperclassmen’s sudden expectations.

“I don’t actually have that much experience building structures. I’m not from a guild, either…”

Last year, while following the Skull Principal around, he had helped with repairs around Einroguard and participated in fortress-construction plans, but he had never thought of himself as an expert.

What exactly had these upperclassmen seen that made them so certain?

“You’ve got a lot of mana, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Exactly. A lot of mana. That solves most of the problems we just mentioned.”

“……”

*****

Amazingly enough, the Stonemason Club members had been telling the truth.

Salco, who had joined first, nodded as if he had known Lee Han would come.

“There was no way you wouldn’t end up here, Wardanaz. There’s probably no club better suited to you than this one.”

“I was forced into joining, Salco.”

Salco went on as if he had not heard that.

“As you can probably tell, magical structures require you to cast countless spells the way one lays bricks. It’s work where endurance matters enormously.”

“I see.”

“It’s the same when you tear them down. Since you can’t break them in one blow, you have to peel them apart bit by bit with magic. So again, endurance matters enormously.”

In the end, endurance in magic was almost the same thing as the amount of mana you had.

There were mental concentration and other factors too, of course, but the moment your mana ran low, casting magic became vastly more difficult.

“Salco.”

“What is it?”

“I’m done.”

“…Wardanaz, you bastard! A worker like you belongs in the guild!”

Salco’s beard trembled as he shuddered at Lee Han’s speed.

He had expected a lot, but the reality far exceeded even those expectations.

As he gathered the wooden materials whose magical processing had been completed into one place, Lee Han asked:

“Salco. Did you join this guild because of construction after all?”

As they moved into the Stonemason Club’s area and worked, Lee Han could overhear the members talking.

Because there were occasional jobs involving demolitions or fighting, the Stonemason Club members were, at heart, people interested in making things.

Maybe because of that, there seemed to be quite a few students taking enchantment magic lectures. Enchanters could go into artifacts, of course, but they could also move into construction like this.

“When the next round of repair money comes in, I’m thinking of finishing the Turquoise Tower.”

“You think that’s possible? It’s already gotten so tall that monsters keep attacking it.”

“Heh. Once it’s finished, I could throw this in the Skull Principal’s face as my graduation work and still pass. It’s difficult, but worth doing.”

Since Salco took enchantment magic lectures and came from the Stonemason Guild, there was a good chance the reason Salco had joined the Stonemason Club was because there was some building Salco wanted to create.

“Hm? What are you talking about?”

“I was asking whether you joined the Stonemason Club because there was some building you wanted to make.”

“No. I just picked this place because the pay is good.”

Salco shrugged as if to say, What are you even talking about? Lee Han felt slightly embarrassed.

“…Don’t the other official clubs pay pretty well too?”

“Just the groundwork you finished a moment ago is worth thirteen Imperial gold coins. Wardanaz. As long as the commissions keep coming in steadily, there’s no club with better pay than the Stonemason Club.”

“Now that I think about it, my aptitude really does seem to fit the Stonemason Club.”

Accepting reality, Lee Han resolved that since he had already been enrolled in the Stonemason Club, he ought to fulfill his duties as a member to some extent.

Come to think of it, being enrolled in several clubs might actually be an advantage.

If the Stonemason Club did not have any expensive commissions, he could earn gold coins in the Jousting Club, and if the Jousting Club did not have any lucrative matches, he could move on to the Kitchen Club…

It sounds a little insane, but it may be worth trying.

Every time Lee Han heard how much the club commissions paid, he became a slightly more positive person.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

A bell mounted atop the Stonemason Club fortress rang out, and one of the members shouted:

“Emergency commission, emergency commission! Double day wages or more. Anyone participating, move to the area in front of the western Nightmare Echo Forest!”

“An emergency commission. Wardanaz. Coming with us?”

“What kind of emergency commission is it? The Nightmare Echo Forest doesn’t exactly seem like the easiest place to approach…”

“It’s a building that has to be completed faster for various reasons. Since there’s usually an added payment, there’s nothing to lose by taking part.”

“Let’s go!”

Lee Han was astonished by the gold-drenched commissions that came flowing into the Stonemason Club.

He could hardly believe there were people with so many gold coins rotting away that they would pile extra money on top just to have a building finished in such a rush.

*****

Anpagon, a member of Blue Dragon Tower and the enchantment magic school, frowned as Anpagon glared at the tower.

“It’s not as strong as I expected.”

“We definitely amplified it using the power of the Nightmare Echo Forest…”

“Has the forest’s aura weakened? Either way, we’ll have to draw power from somewhere else. It has to be finished today.”

Anpagon and the other members pulled out the blueprint for the nearly completed <Tower of Echoes> once again.

The students who had commissioned the tower were trying to create a new workshop for researching Music Magic.

Since Music Magic differed from ordinary magic in many ways, it required quite a few special features, but the Stonemason Club members, through their own particular wisdom and persistence, had steadily brought the building closer to completion as requested.

But construction always came with variables.

The spell that amplified sound within the tower by borrowing power from the Nightmare Echo Forest had turned out weaker than expected.

It was a kind of natural disaster, but the members made no excuses. Once they had taken the gold, they had to finish by the agreed date.

“Is everyone here? We begin now. From that patch of shade over there to the tower steps here, we’ll install additional magic circles and secure more mana!”

“Senior, that’s impossible!”

“No. It has to be done. Begin!”

At times like this, the iron-blooded temperament typical of the enchantment magic school could actually feel reassuring.

Anpagon was not exactly a well-liked senior within the club, but in the middle of such a bewildering and chaotic situation, seeing that cold, composed attitude helped calm the members.

CHUK-CHUK-CHUK—

Lee Han and the others, who had arrived late, were astonished by the massive construction project already underway.

“They’re planning to build an entirely new structure there and connect it?”

“Looks like it… I can’t believe they’re planning to finish this today.”

Lee Han and Salco whispered among themselves, but joined the work all the same.

The club members who had already been working welcomed the newly arrived juniors.

“Good timing! If it gets too hard, say so.”

“And don’t collapse on us for no reason!”

“Thank you, seniors.”

The members who had been watching to see whether the juniors would overexert themselves or make mistakes were startled by the speed of the work.

Salco was impressive enough, but the student from House Wardanaz working beside Salco was displaying a frightening pace.

“Is that him?”

“Must be.”

“The brawl was worth it, then.”

“Damn it. We should’ve monopolized him completely.”

Who knew how much time had passed.

When the added structure beside the tower was nearly complete, the club members let out cries of joy.

At this point, it was practically the same as success.

“That’s it, you lot! Once it’s done, go back to the dorms and get some proper rest.”

“Yes!”

Salco answered with a vigorous nod.

Truthfully, even if the upperclassmen had not said it, Salco had been planning to go back and rest. A construction job on this scale consumed an enormous amount of stamina even when one was not doing it alone.

Even a bastard like Wardanaz, with all that mana, would still need rest. Casting magic while doing construction wore down concentration and stamina far more than one might think.

“Wardanaz. Once this is over, how about not going to any other club today and getting some rest?”

Before Lee Han could even answer, applause sounded from behind them.

It was the students who had gathered for Music Magic research.

“It’s finished!”

“That’s the Stonemason Club for you. You really do get what you pay for.”

“Though it’s far too expensive.”

“So those twin towers resonate mana? Efficient.”

“Though it’s far too expensive…”

The bard Ipadur, who had been speaking with the other students, spotted Lee Han and waved.

“Student Wardanaz!”

“Ah. So you’re Wardanaz? We were just about to call for you.”

The students who had gathered for Music Magic research all swarmed over, grabbed Lee Han, and dragged him into the tower.

Salco stared blankly after him, then shook Salco’s head in pity.

“W-wait. Shouldn’t he be resting?”

“No. Wardanaz was probably planning to save time by going straight inside and starting magical research the moment the work here ended. What a stubborn bastard…”

At Salco’s words, the Stonemason Club members all looked toward the tower with renewed awe.

The madness of taking lectures in every school really was beyond anything they could have imagined.