Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Lee Han found it strange that Antagondals kept staring at him through the silver mask.

Then he casually covered his plate with one hand. There was nothing left to share now.

“…I’m not taking it. Do I look like I care about feed like that?”

“Ha! Mages always say things like that.”

Antagondals realized that the boy from House Wardanaz possessed yet another talent.

That boy had a talent for making people furious.

Whether the magical criminal fumed inwardly or not, Lee Han focused on eating.

If he was going to escape, he needed to fill up properly first.

As Lee Han took a bite out of the hot toast stacked with fried egg and bacon, Antagondals shook the head.

A brat calmly eating a meal in front of an insane duplicate and an Imperial magical criminal.

“Live long enough, and you really do see the most wretched things…”

“Are you talking about Einroguard?”

“No.”

Antagondals wanted to explain just how dangerous it had been for Lee Han to serve a meal to the insane duplicate, and how astonishing it was that the insane duplicate had accepted it without getting angry.

But there was no way to say that. The insane duplicate was right there beside them.

There was no telling what would happen if Antagondals said the wrong thing.

In the meantime, the insane duplicate finished eating, neatly wiped the mouth and hands, then lifted Antagondals and slammed Antagondals into the wall.

“You chatter too much during meals, trash. Do you have no manners?”

—I… apologize, Master.

Only then did Antagondals realize that the only reason there had been no beating was because the insane duplicate had been eating, and regretted it inwardly.

While the insane duplicate had been eating, Antagondals should have stepped outside for a while…

“That was food fit for slaves. Filth. Next time, prepare a meal with more dignity.”

“Ah, yes.”

Lee Han bowed politely, but cursed inwardly.

It had eaten every last bite and was saying that? Even Gainando was not this bad.

—Master. Do you require an offering to satisfy your tongue?

Antagondals asked the question politely from inside the wall.

If the insane duplicate really did enjoy fine food, that would be extremely valuable information.

For Antagondals, who had to somehow flatter and appease this evil being, it was a whole new path opening up.

“Ha! I have no need for filth touched by garbage.”

At those words, Lee Han and Antagondals both cursed inwardly at the same time.

You probably wouldn’t even be able to tell who prepared it, so why not just make someone do it?

So it really is favoritism because the boy is a disciple.

Antagondals’s curse was a little different from Lee Han’s.

Because Antagondals knew far more about the insane duplicate, it was possible to judge the situation more objectively.

By the customs of the ancient kingdom, a disciple could prepare meals and attend to a master.

Anything beneath that, however, was not even qualified to do so.

In other words, the insane duplicate’s answer just now came very close to saying that the boy from House Wardanaz was recognized as a proper disciple, while Antagondals never would be.

What exactly is the difference?

Antagondals carefully analyzed just what method that young boy had used to win the insane duplicate’s favor.

No matter how talented Lee Han was, this pace was too abnormal.

But the more Antagondals analyzed it, the more it felt like wandering deeper into a maze.

Do I need to keep insolently talking back? Is that it? Should I have approached in a younger body?

“I’ll have to go gather songs from the mountain ridges.”

After checking the time, the insane duplicate prepared to leave.

Although it looked as though the insane duplicate had holed up in the vast mountain range of Einroguard just to torment Lee Han and Antagondals, the insane duplicate was in fact quite busy maintaining the grand spell spread through the territory and extending its own lifespan.

For a magical thought-form rejected by the world to resist inside another great mage’s domain was no easy task.

Antagondals, who had some sense of that daily routine, asked in puzzlement.

—Master. Do you need songs from the mountain ridges?

“They’re necessary for that lowborn thing’s magic. The noises it was coughing up and calling magic were like something strangling to death.”

Lee Han had no idea what that meant at first, but quickly realized it.

The insane duplicate was talking about Music Magic.

It wasn’t that bad, was it?

Lee Han still had enough of a conscience not to ask whether his Music Magic had not been decent, at least in front of a great mage like the insane duplicate.

Instead, Lee Han waited until the insane duplicate had gone out, then asked Antagondals, “What does it mean to go up to the mountain peaks and gather songs?”

“I don’t know exactly either. Too much ancient magic has been lost in practice… Perhaps it’s something like a swan song.”

Now that Antagondals had slipped out of the wall, even Antagondals looked curious.

Among the materials used in some spells, there were the beautiful final cries left behind by birds just before death.

Such reagents possessed fickle yet destructive power, so they were the sort of thing ancient magic might well use.

“If it’s a reagent that powerful, wouldn’t it also rapidly improve the study of Music Magic?”

“It would. If you survive.”

“What?”

“Brat. Do you seriously not know that if you mishandle a swan song, it can cut off a mage’s breath on the spot as a deadly poison?”

“I don’t know that, no.”

“……”

Only then did Antagondals remember again that the person in front of Antagondals was a second-year.

Things that were common knowledge to older mages might not be common knowledge to the other side.

“…The more beautiful and precious something is, the more vicious and lethal it is. Because it was left behind at the end, it is vicious. Because it is the most beautiful, it is lethal. Isn’t that how it goes?”

“Will the music the insane duplicate is trying to gather from the mountain peaks now be that dangerous too?”

At the obvious question, Antagondals nodded as if asking why Lee Han even needed to ask.

Not that dangerous—far more dangerous. If it were only something on the level of a swan song, there would be no reason for the insane duplicate to go in person.

Lee Han said firmly, “I really have to get out now. Prepare it.”

“?!”

Lee Han had absolutely no intention of finding out with his own body what a reagent far more dangerous than a swan song was like.

No matter how much overwhelming magical power had allowed him to resist every poison so far, he could not be certain he would survive the insane duplicate’s biological experimentation as well.

Antagondals could not understand the boy in front of Antagondals.

“Do you not understand what a precious opportunity this is? Aren’t you curious how valuable the magic that monster is about to prepare with an ancient secret method will be?”

“I’m not curious.”

Is this brat really a mage?

Antagondals stared at Lee Han with a gaze full of shock and contempt. Of course, with the silver mask in place, it was invisible, so Lee Han did not care.

In truth, even if he could see it, Lee Han would have ignored it.

If it’s that valuable, then do it yourself.

If Antagondals were the one taking in the songs from the mountain ridges, Lee Han would have been perfectly happy to watch from the side with great interest.

“You might comprehend one syllable—no, one phrase—of word-command magic. And you still really intend to run now?”

“Then why don’t you do it?”

“If I could, I would have! You brat—disgrace of mages!”

That answer only made Lee Han more suspicious.

That kind of evasive talking was usually what shady people did.

At best, he might comprehend word-command magic.

At worst, he would die.

And to Lee Han, the odds of the worst-case outcome looked much higher.

“Stop trying to lure me into traps and just make the preparations.”

“……”

Just then, <Whispers of Einroguard> called for Lee Han.

—Junior. We’re ready. We’ll start as soon as you are.

—I’m ready too. Please start right away!

At Diret’s message, Lee Han was overjoyed.

Relying on Antagondals alone had been hard to trust, but in the end, a senior really had come to help.

“They say they’re done preparing outside.”

“Really? And you believe that? Think again.”

“Are you saying this because you just don’t feel like doing it now?”

“To be honest, it is hardly a task I relish. But that does not make what I said false. Do you truly believe a fifth-year student can shatter the grand spell covering this mountain range? Truly?”

“Ha. That’s what you say because you don’t know my senior. My senior isn’t the type to say pointless things.”

“Really? I did warn you.”

Antagondals stopped trying to talk him out of it.

It was not Antagondals’s problem anyway, and watching the boy from House Wardanaz get caught while trying to escape also sounded rather entertaining.

“You won’t betray my name if you get caught, I assume. You are an Einroguard student who knows honor.”

“If you keep asking questions like that, I just might.”

“……”

Once Antagondals had finished the preparations, Lee Han quickly scribbled out a letter.

It was not a message for Diret.

It was a note to leave behind for the insane duplicate.

To Master.

I am leaving briefly to study magic.

Your disciple.

It was an excuse prepared for later.

The contents were a little short, but Lee Han had no time, so it could not be helped.

—Junior. Are you ready?

—Yes!

—Good. Five, four, three, two, one…

KWA-AAAAAAANG—!

A collision of magical power so powerful that any mage could feel it shook the entire mountain range.

It was the kind of shock that felt as if one world had slammed into another.

Antagondals, who had been sneering inwardly, was startled.

What?!

Unbelievably, cracks had opened in the grand spell the insane duplicate had cast over the mountain range.

As collapse spread rapidly through those openings, the insane duplicate transformed into black magic power and shot upward into the air.

Judging by those urgent movements, even the insane duplicate had not expected this situation.

In that case!

Antagondals moved as promised to the boy from House Wardanaz.

If Antagondals could get this disciple removed from the scene, that was to Antagondals’s advantage.

With a fierce surge of magical power, light blazed out from between the slits of the silver mask.

When that glare struck the already cracked grand spell, new fissures opened.

One, two, three…

It’s coming!

Antagondals realized that the insane duplicate was flying back, suspicious of this interference and intent on seizing Antagondals.

“So this is farewell, mage. Let us meet again upon the road of evil!”

Flash!

As Antagondals cast several movement spells and tried to leave the area, the insane duplicate used one side of its power to seal the cracks in the spell and the other to try, somehow, to seize Antagondals.

Lee Han did his best not to let his eyes get stolen by the dazzling motions unfolding overhead, then bolted out at full speed.

…Finally!

If he missed this chance, he really could remain trapped inside the workshop until the semester ended. Lee Han ran with desperate determination.

*****

“A-a relic with this much force…?!”

“Well, of course, Saint Iactus’s— mmph.”

“Student Diret. Where is Student Lee Han right now?”

“His current location is…”

“Mmph? Mmph-mmph?”

“Professor Bivle. This is not the time for jokes, all right? Be quiet!”

Professor Garcia, nerves frayed, threatened Professor Bivle while radiating killing intent.

Professor Verdus shrank back, reading the room.

“…I’m sorry. What is it?”

“That griffin that flew over there looks like Wardanaz’s griffin…”

“Why are you only saying that now?!”

“Kgh. Kghk.”

Shaking the fellow professor up, down, left, and right, Professor Garcia belatedly remembered Lee Han’s griffin.

Come to think of it, even in a situation like this, there was a savage beast that could find its master faster than anything else.

“You saw it, right?! You saw it?! I told you, if we had a griffin, we could break through!”

Gainando shouted in triumph from atop the griffin.

But the other friends all looked tense.

No matter how they thought about it, there was no way a griffin alone could have broken through magic of this level.

“Why did the spell crack in the first place?”

“No idea. Did the Skull Principal come?”

“…Everyone, shut up. What good is standing around worrying about that right now? Just focus on finding that Wardanaz bastard and dragging him out!”

“M-Moradi, the sky over there is melting—”

“This is Einroguard! Sometimes the sky melts! Shut up and keep looking!”

“O-okay…”

The second-years kept their heads lowered, pretending not to see the surreal sight of the sky melting and magic scattering in every direction, and stared only at the mountain range.