Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

Lee Han desperately tried to escape.

He had wanted to receive the map and get through this semester’s summoning magic lecture comfortably. He did not want to raise the difficulty level in his spare time.

If it’s a relic Brother was looking for, there’s no way it’s a normal object.

Arsil was a collector from House Wardanaz.

A collector from some other house might gather peaceful, beautiful works of art and laugh happily over them, but a collector from House Wardanaz gathered bizarre objects from worlds beyond and appreciated the sound of KIEEEEK.

The things he gave me before were like that too.

The gifts Arsil had given him in the past had been utterly horrifying.

When Lee Han had first received them, he had even wondered, Is this part of some House Wardanaz power struggle to keep a newly born younger sibling in check?

But surprisingly, Arsil had possessed no malice whatsoever. He simply had no idea what a younger brother, one with such a huge age gap, would like.

Of course, Lee Han did wonder whether giving someone an evil dimensional scalene polyhedron or a bizarre fused devil was so bad that malice would have been preferable…

Fortunately, Arsil had improved a great deal lately.

That was thanks to Arsil, who had continued giving his younger brother gifts, realizing, Ah, perhaps an evil dimensional scalene polyhedron or a bizarre fused devil might be a bit too much of a gift for a younger brother who hasn’t even turned a hundred.

But this was not a gift Arsil had prepared. It was a relic he had been searching for.

Lee Han might end up glimpsing Arsil’s pure madness, which he had forgotten for a while.

“I’m really fine.”

Arsil firmly shook his head, pointed at the scroll, and said something.

Salco asked cautiously.

“What is he saying?”

“He says if I’m not going to look for the relic, he’ll take the scroll back. He says he can’t take a learning opportunity away from us.”

“Wardanaz. Tell him we are already learning enough! Getting a map from someone else is also a mage’s ability!”

“Brother isn’t from Einroguard, so that argument probably won’t work on him…”

A mage from Einroguard would say, “Stealing and taking a map is also a kind of learning. I acknowledge that,” but Arsil was not from Einroguard.

Outsiders did not understand Einroguard’s aesthetics.

As expected, Arsil spoke again.

We believe you can become a greater mage than Gonadaltes, Lee Han.

“I think your faith is excessive…”

He could not even catch up to the siblings in his family who were older than him by centuries. How was he supposed to catch up to the Skull Principal, who was older than him by millennia?

Lee Han pointed out reality, but Arsil ignored him, pointed out several places on the map again, and told him to make sure he checked them.

“…Yes. I’ll try.”

Once Arsil had said that, there was nothing Lee Han could do. The butterfly spirit beside him fluttered its wings as if telling him to work hard.

Annoying little bastard.

Lee Han cursed the butterfly spirit inwardly.

The high-ranking spirit trying to stop the beating was always more annoying than the older brother doing the beating.

Arsil smiled, encouraged Lee Han, then gathered his friends. Then he began taking gifts out of his old backpack one by one.

“Gainando. He says you already received one last time, so he’ll give you one next time.”

“N-no way…! Is it because I lost at Mage Cards?!”

“I don’t think that’s it.”

While Lee Han lined up his friends and translated his brother’s words, Arsil talked with the spirits and considered what kind of gift would suit each person.

Then, perhaps because there was a difference of opinion, he spoke intently with the butterfly spirit before calling Lee Han over.

“Yes, Brother. Uh… I think that would be a little dangerous. Wouldn’t it destroy the dormitory?”

Arsil let out a faint sigh of relief, as if glad he had asked his younger brother. The butterfly spirit glared at Lee Han for interfering with its choice.

“That spirit is arrogant!”

“I think so too. But it’s much stronger than you, so only think that to yourself.”

Lee Han soothed the baby basilisk and called his friends.

The friends approached hesitantly, filled with fear and awe, and carefully accepted the gifts Arsil took out.

“Th-thank you!”

“He says it’s an amulet that reduces the approach of enemies when traveling through dimensions and warns you of danger ahead of time. But it needs to receive enough moonlight whenever the full moon rises.”

“This is…?”

“That’s an emblem of weight reduction. If you attach it to a backpack, it reduces the weight. But if you trust it too much and stuff too much inside, the emblem might break…”

The students, having received gifts one by one, were startled by how normal and useful the gifts were.

They had been worried because he was a person from House Wardanaz, but he was much kinder and gentler than they had expected.

“Wardanaz. Sorry. I thought he would be frightening.”

“He is terrifying. He controls spirits however he pleases.”

“Well, someone so loved by spirits couldn’t be a bad person.”

“Did you not hear what I just said?”

“?!”

While Lee Han grumbled, Adenart, who had been standing at the end of the line, received a gift.

Seeing Arsil give her a bowl that increased the amount of liquid placed inside it once a day, Lee Han nodded.

“You chose well. Members of the Imperial Family are gluttons, so an artifact like that will suit her.”

?

Arsil and the butterfly spirit tilted their heads.

They had given her an alchemy-related item because she was an excellent alchemist…?

*****

Professor Milei, who had been holding a pocket watch in one hand and checking the time, rose from the seat and swung a staff.

The dimensional magic circles in the classroom all activated at once and began calling the students back.

FLASH!

Just as fishermen who dived deep into the water tied ropes around their waists before going in, mages entering other dimensions often used such safety devices.

Professor Milei raised an eyebrow slightly, curious about the students’ reactions.

What kind of expressions would they return with?

Having taught students at Einroguard for quite a long time, Professor Milei could roughly predict their reactions.

First, there were students who returned half out of their minds.

That was a reaction often seen in years that could not cooperate with one another and were lacking in preparation.

That isn’t necessarily bad.

Summoning mages who had once suffered harshly tended to become far more cautious afterward. If the point was to teach such a lesson, it was not bad.

There were also students who came back having performed fairly well from the start.

That was often seen in years blessed by luck or when preparations fit together well.

Even then, however, when told about the ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) remaining regions of the map and informed that they had to work on it throughout the semester, they usually became greatly discouraged.

It could not be helped.

Magic was not completed through a momentary flash of inspiration or quick wit. It was completed through steady investigation and practice.

It will likely be the latter.

Professor Milei rated this year’s students highly.

Not only did they cooperate well with one another, but their preparation was also excellent, so even if they were dropped into an unfamiliar dimension, they were likely to endure quite well.

“…?!”

However, the students’ expressions looked troubled and complicated.

At that sight, Professor Milei’s posture, which had been upright, wavered slightly.

“Everyone, good work. How was the exploration?”

“It was difficult, but we achieved quite a bit.”

“We all gathered and built a campsite.”

“…!”

At the students’ reports, Professor Milei was surprised again.

This was an achievement high enough to be counted among the best. To progress this far on the first day.

“…Well done. All of you did better than I expected. But why do you look like that?”

“We found Frost Giants who came to search for a relic.”

“Sigh… How are we supposed to deal with them…”

Seeing the students sigh and discuss how to seize the Frost Giants’ relic, Professor Milei’s pupils trembled.

Professor Milei had not realized this year was this enterprising and daring!

*****

When the short cat beastkin student strode over, Gainando, who had been lying on the grass in the seventh-floor student village while looking through his Mage Card deck, tilted his head.

Who is that? An upperclassman?

“A fine day, junior.”

The cat beastkin upperclassman greeted him with manners more excellent than even Gainando, a member of the Imperial Family. Seeing the polite way the upperclassman removed a hat and spoke, Gainando hurried to return the greeting.

“Uh… um… May the spirit of sleep welcome you!”

“That sounds like an evening greeting…? More importantly, do you know where Lee Han of House Wardanaz is?”

“!”

An alarm rang in Gainando’s head as he desperately tried to remember the correct etiquette.

An upperclassman looking for Lee Han.

He became certain that it could not possibly be anything good.

“Eehan of House Woadanaz? I-I’ve never heard of him.”

“Lee Han of House Wardanaz, junior.”

“I’ve never heard of House Wardanaz either, and I’ve never heard of Lee Han.”

“You’ve never heard of House Wardanaz either?”

“Yes.”

“Junior… are you perhaps under a memory-loss curse?”

The cat beastkin upperclassman tilted the broad-brimmed fedora in hand and gave him a worried look.

If an Imperial citizen, and on top of that someone enrolled in Einroguard, could not remember the name of House Wardanaz itself, there was a high chance something was wrong with the head.

Gainando belatedly realized his mistake too.

Oops. I should have said I knew the house.

“…I often get hit with memory-loss curses… because I’m in the dark magic school…”

“Ah. So that was it. I envy your talent, junior.”

“I’m in the dark magic school, though?”

“I have no school.”

“What?”

While Gainando tilted his head at what he had just heard, a second-year White Tiger Tower student passed by.

Caten called the junior over.

“C-Caten of House Jahan!!!”

“Junior, do you happen to know where Lee Han of House Wardanaz is?”

“Gainando over there is close to that guy!”

“……”

When Caten stared at him, Gainando said tearfully,

“…Th-the memory-loss curse just lifted.”

“That is good. Tell me.”

Gainando’s shoulders drooped as he led Caten to where Lee Han was.

Lee Han, who had been smoking food with the Kitchen Club upperclassmen in his spare time, fortunately did not scream or flee when he saw Caten. Gainando let out a sigh of relief.

“Ah. Caten. Please come this way. Would you like a choripán?”

The dish, completed by putting a piece of meat dripping with juice between soft bread, was something sold outside at city stands or street stalls, but inside Einroguard, it was food fit for kings and nobles.

“I am fine, junior.”

“Wardanaz. Caten of House Jahan can survive on dew alone!”

“Not quite to that extent… I do it to give my body hardship and stimulus. Junior. Mm. I think it would be good for you to try it as well?”

Is this a new kind of harassment?

Lee Han was baffled by Caten’s suggestion that they eat only dew and fast after he had gone to the trouble of smuggling food in.

The White Tiger Tower student beside them glared at Lee Han as if dying of envy.

“Wardanaz. Grr…! Just you wait. I’ll make sure Caten acknowledges me within this year too!”

“Aren’t you misunderstanding something?”

The White Tiger Tower students thought Lee Han had been chosen by Caten because of swordsmanship, but in truth, Lee Han had been chosen for his ability to teach magic.

“You mean within this year is impossible? Then next year… No, even if I can’t, Moradi or Choi will be acknowledged within this year! Definitely!”

Lee Han, who had been about to clear up his friend’s misunderstanding, paused.

“Do Moradi and Dergeu want to learn under Caten too?”

“They do.”

“Oh… Well, Caten’s teachings are truly astonishing and fresh. It’s a shame that I’m the only one who can receive such teachings.”

“Th-that much is…”

Caten, standing beside him, cleared his throat, perhaps embarrassed by the junior’s praise.

“I would be glad if Moradi and Dergeu could learn too. Would that be all right, Caten?”

“Mm. Junior. As you know, I have much to learn, so I cannot spend too much time teaching. Teaching swordsmen at different levels would be…”

“Those two are at a similar level to me! You should be able to teach them exactly the same way you teach me!”

“Is that so? If they are at that level…”

“He says it’s possible! Why don’t you hurry and bring Moradi and Dergeu? If you’re late, Caten might change his mind!”

“R-right!”

The White Tiger Tower student, who had been listening beside them, nodded, then turned hurriedly and ran off. Then the student suddenly stopped.

Lee Han, who had been smiling contentedly, thought, Oops.

Was I caught?

“Wardanaz.”

“…What is it?”

“Thank you. For asking on behalf of my friends.”

“…It’s nothing to thank me for. Haha.”