Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

Feeling all those eyes on him, Agdung hurriedly changed the subject.

“Then shall we all head out to the mushroom field together? Haha! Lovely weather, isn’t it?”

“There’s no sunlight here.”

It was Gainando’s first time hearing someone call the weather lovely anywhere near the Dark Hall.

Even cheerful people usually came near the Dark Hall and said the place made them feel gloomy…

“It’s lovely by dark magic standards!”

“???”

“Let’s go! Let’s go!”

As Agdung ran ahead in the lead, Gainando whispered to Lee Han while staring at his back.

“Lee Han. I think the people from Kalarogard are a little strange.”

“That may be true…”

*****

Yonair and Siana, who had finished the potion and were waiting, were startled by the arrival of the Kalarogard student.

“You scattered spores here in the mushroom field eleven years ago?!”

“Shouldn’t we be asking first about the fact that this person’s a skeleton…?”

Siana muttered that, but the topic quickly moved on.

“That’s right. Back then, my professor and the older students were looking around for a suitable place and discovered that mushroom field.”

At the words of an upperclassman from another magic school, Lee Han and his friends began whispering among themselves.

“In that case, doesn’t ownership of this field practically belong to them?”

“Will the upperclassmen listen?”

“He’s a guest from another magic school. Surely they won’t just dig in and refuse. He even has evidence.”

Lee Han pointed to the scroll Agdung had brought.

It recorded the mushroom field’s location, the kinds of mushroom spores that had been scattered there at the time, the date, and so on.

“We went to all the trouble of finishing <Arlekan’s Ferocious Beast Potion>. Why don’t we use it? If we don’t use it today, the effect wears off.”

Siana seemed reluctant to let it go, likely because she hated the idea of not using a potion she had worked so hard to complete.

But her friends, Yonair included, all agreed that they should try peaceful negotiations first. Siana grumbled,

“You people talk like you have no idea how hard it is to make a potion!”

“I’m really sorry, Priest Siana of the Flameang Order. But he came as a guest from Kalarogard, and I’d like to avoid a fight if possible. The potion you made really does look amazing, so I’d love to test it once, but…”

“Well, if you put it that way.”

Siana forgave him almost immediately at the compliment. Listening nearby, Yonair asked curiously,

“Do Kalarogard’s rules have something like ‘no fighting with other magic schools’?”

“Ah. Nothing like that. It’s just that if you fight students from Einroguard, you usually get destroyed.”

“…”

“…”

Lee Han and his friends suddenly felt apologetic for the atrocities committed by the upperclassmen above even their own upperclassmen.

“W-we’re sorry.”

“What are you apologizing for? It’s not like you were the ones who did it!”

Agdung waved it off and stepped forward. Following behind, Yonair said,

“He seems kind, despite the way he looks.”

“That’s what it seems like. Though his attitude is a little different only when it comes to me. I think something bad must have happened between him and House Wardanaz.”

“That’s unfortunate. It would be nice if you got a chance to talk it out.”

Lee Han nodded at Yonair’s words.

If he could just get the chance to speak honestly, he was confident he could clear up the bad reputation of House Wardanaz.

After all, that devil was really just acting as a porter…

“What is this? Why are there so many of…?”

The upperclassman guarding the mushroom field looked slightly flustered at the sight of the students coming in a crowd.

One of them even appeared to be from another magic school.

“Could it be from Kalarogard?”

“Yes. My name is Agdung, from Kalarogard.”

“Ah… pleased to meet you. Judging from your appearance, it seems you’re researching how to turn the human body into undead.”

“?!!”

Lee Han’s friends were appalled.

That was famous enough for someone to recognize it just by looking??

“That’s right. I’m glad you recognized it.”

“I read about it in the Imperial Magic Journal. But what brings you here?”

“The truth is, we came because of this mushroom field.”

Like a courteous skeletal gentleman, Agdung presented the documents he had brought as evidence and explained his claim.

It was a powerful argument, one that might overturn the mushroom-field ownership dispute at its roots. The upperclassman’s expression wavered.

“T-this…! To think there was such history behind it!”

“I trust you’ll make the wise choice.”

“I’ll need to speak with the other students first. Would you come with me?”

With a serious face, the upperclassman moved to gather the students waiting near the mushroom field.

It seemed they would need to discuss the ownership issue all over again.

“Yes. These juniors here as well—”

“That won’t be possible.”

The upperclassman refused firmly.

“How can that be?! If these students hadn’t guided me here, I never would have made it in the first place…”

“That’s a separate matter. Information about this mushroom field can’t be disclosed to outsiders.”

The upperclassman was thorough in a very Einroguard way.

Even if a student from Kalarogard could be allowed in as one of the involved parties, there was no reason to let unrelated juniors attend as well.

If they were let in, there was a very high chance they would comb through every detail about the mushroom field and later use it for theft, so there was even more reason not to let their guard down.

“What are you saying? No matter what, this is too much… I’ll be leaving once my business here is done anyway. After that, the dark magic school will assert our rights on our behalf and manage the mushroom field.”

“In that case, when the rights are transferred after today’s discussion, you may explain it separately then. Anyone without rights cannot attend.”

“What’s going on?”

Two or three upperclassmen from the mushroom field, having heard the commotion, approached in puzzlement.

Agdung appealed to them about the situation, saying the juniors who had helped him were not being allowed to attend.

“Does that really make sense?”

“Hmm. My apologies, but it’s difficult to let people without rights attend…”

“They could steal from us behind our backs, or launch an attack. How are we supposed to trust them?”

Sharp of them.

Several of Lee Han’s friends looked guilty.

That was exactly what they had been planning to do.

“Senior Agdung. It’s fine. You should go in and argue the rights yourself. We can settle our part afterward.”

Lee Han whispered from behind, but Agdung shook his head and refused to back down.

“Please.”

“I said no. We’re already dealing with theft and surprise attacks as it is.”

“But still!”

“No means no.”

Agdung kept pressing the matter so insistently that even Lee Han’s friends started to find it strange.

Why was he acting like this?

“Is there some reason we absolutely have to attend?”

“Who knows…?”

The repeated pleas seemed to be wearing down even the mushroom-field upperclassmen.

“You need to give us a reason. How can you just keep asking without one?”

“Th—”

“Th?”

“Do you even know who this person is?!!!”

“????”

“????????”

Lee Han and his friends all turned in unison to follow the direction Agdung’s finger was pointing.

The upperclassmen all turned too.

…That’s me?

Only belatedly realizing he was the one being indicated, Lee Han was horrified. The upperclassmen seemed similarly thrown.

“W-who is he?”

“Imperial royalty…?”

“What’s so great about royalty? There’s no way he’d make a scene over that.”

While the upperclassmen whispered among themselves, Lee Han hurriedly tried to stop Agdung.

“Agdung. What on earth are you doing right now?”

“Just wait a moment! I’ll persuade them.”

Having failed to get through, Agdung grew heated and loosened his tie before making his declaration.

Of course, Lee Han felt like he was dying just watching this.

Is he some kind of social assassin?

There was hardly a deadlier blow than stepping up in front of upperclassmen and shouting, Do you know this person is from House Wardanaz?!

From their perspective, the response would just be, So what?

“This person is the disciple of the Imperial Mage Marshal! And you’re still excluding him?!”

“…”

“…”

For a moment, the words were so far beyond everyone’s expectations that nothing but silence remained. Lee Han, too, fell silent in shock.

So it wasn’t because of House Wardanaz?

He had naturally assumed Agdung was behaving like this because of his house, but it turned out to be because of his relationship with the Skull Principal.

No. Both are equally disastrous!

Whatever the reason, there was no way this kind of spectacle in front of the upperclassmen could possibly be a good thing.

Lee Han moved to clean things up as quickly as possible.

“Wai—!”

“Uh… were we the ones in the wrong?”

“!”

The mushroom-field upperclassmen’s momentum abruptly faded, and they began exchanging uneasy glances.

Einroguard mages generally did not care whether someone was royalty or the descendant of some great Imperial house, but there was one exception: anyone connected to the Skull Principal.

If this junior really was the Skull Principal’s disciple, then no matter how junior he might be, they could not just treat him however they pleased.

Not because the Skull Principal was frightening, but because they were afraid the disciple himself might retaliate someday.

If he was that person’s disciple, how vicious and nasty would he be?

He might remember even a trivial grudge like this for more than a hundred years and come back to settle it.

“Well. If he really is the Principal’s disciple… But is he really the Principal’s disciple?”

“Would someone from Kalarogard make a mistake about that? Wait. Isn’t he that one? The all-school lecture attendee?”

“…That actually makes sense!”

The mushroom-field upperclassmen talked among themselves and convinced themselves on their own.

If someone had simply said he was the Skull Principal’s disciple, they might have dismissed it as a false rumor. But hearing that he attended lectures from every school made it seem oddly plausible.

“Upperclassmen, there’s a misunderstanding. I may have walked around with the Principal a little, but strictly speaking, if you define what a disciple is—”

“You walked around with him?”

“I mean, by coincidence—”

The upperclassmen nodded at Lee Han’s words.

And simultaneously thought to themselves,

Definitely a disciple.

If the Skull Principal, with that impossible temperament, had kept him around and taken him places, then calling him a disciple was accurate enough.

It was truly astonishing.

“Come attend, junior!”

“I trust you won’t hold today’s matter against us, hahaha!”

“…”

Lee Han felt sick as he realized yet another rumor was about to be piled on top of the one about his taking lectures from every school.

“This is good… no, ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) I mean, this worked out well. Haha!”

Thinking he had solved one problem, Agdung laughed brightly, his bones knocking together.

He could hardly help feeling pleased. He had succeeded in getting the Imperial Mage Marshal’s disciple admitted into the discussion without damaging that disciple’s dignity.

Lee Han stared at Agdung with glacial eyes. The look made Agdung sense that something was wrong, and he flinched.

“…D-did it take too long?”

“…”

*****

In the end, Lee Han could not bring himself to get angry at Agdung.

He could not very well lash out at someone who was treating him kindly because of the Skull Principal’s terrible reputation.

Instead, he did his best to persuade him.

“So, like I said, I may have walked around with him a little, but rather than being his disciple…”

“…Isn’t that usually what a disciple is?”

Damn it. Even I can tell that sounds unconvincing.

Lee Han lamented inwardly.

To think even he would feel how unpersuasive his own words were as he said them.

Then again, even he himself felt, to some extent, that he was the Skull Principal’s disciple, so it was hardly surprising the explanation was not landing.

“Then we’ll consolidate the rights to the mushroom field and transfer them.”

Once the upperclassmen confirmed the evidence from the Kalarogard side and found no grounds to refute it, they finally gave up the ownership claim.

Lee Han asked cautiously,

“Are you sure? Won’t that be a loss for you…?”

“It stings, sure, but losses like this happen at Einroguard all the time.”

“That’s right. I scam people and sell things all the time myself. Whenever you buy something like this, you do it knowing the risks.”

“…”

Lee Han silently resolved that if any upperclassman ever sold him real estate in the future, he would inspect it a hundred times before buying.

“On Kalarogard’s behalf, the dark magic school will manage this place.”

At the mention of an unfamiliar school, the upperclassmen began murmuring.

“If the dark magic school manages it, what happens to mushroom prices?”

“Hmm. If the school has no money, they might raise them… They seem poor, after all.”

“…The prices will remain as they are. The dark magic school has plenty of money.”

“Oh!”

At Lee Han’s declaration, his friends from the dark magic school shot him baffled looks.

…Did it?