Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

Just as herbivores instinctively sensed the approach of predators, Lee Han instinctively sensed a sinister scheme from the professor.

At first glance, a professor at Einroguard worrying about Lee Han might have sounded considerate.

In reality, it almost never ended well.

“What kind of concern? Worrying about how to creatively torment me?”

“Oh. How did you know, Junior?”

“…”

Lee Han had spoken in hopes of hearing a denial.

When Catten immediately agreed instead, he let out a sigh full of despair.

Jowrin spoke in a sympathetic voice.

Lee Han. Should Jowrin submit a petition to the Empire’s nobles…?

“It’s fine. No, more importantly, Professor Ingledel is finally showing his true colors. I thought he was one of the few decent professors at Einroguard!”

Professor Voladi gave a sympathetic nod at his disciple’s outcry.

Considering how few decent professors there actually were at Einroguard—and naturally including himself among them—it was only understandable that his disciple would react this way.

“Junior.”

“Yes?”

“I heard that you took your friends into the Spirit King’s domain just to solve a simple assignment from class…”

“That’s a misunderstanding.”

Lee Han answered without changing expression in the slightest.

Visiting the Gwangmok King’s domain had happened because several accidents overlapped together, not because he had deliberately aimed for it.

Jowrin looked at Lee Han strangely.

Lately it keeps feeling like Lee Han brings these things upon himself… Gasp! Maybe Einroguard’s magic is corrupting Jowrin’s judgment!

Jowrin shook her head violently.

The powerful magic permeating Einroguard seemed to be clouding her thinking.

“Hmm. In any case, Professor Ingledel says he’s worried. He’s wondering whether he’s interfering too much…”

“No. Professor Ingledel would never think that way. Let’s go ask him ourselves!”

Lee Han spoke with a heart overflowing with the desire to interfere.

Whatever Professor Ingledel was plotting, Lee Han intended to uncover it first and sabotage it if possible.

***

“This truly is difficult.”

The elf professor, his artificial arms and legs quietly creaking, voiced his concerns to the visiting knights.

Contrary to Lee Han’s suspicions, Professor Ingledel was not thinking:

How dare that Wardanaz boy clear my assignment so easily? I’ll make him suffer during the exam.

Instead, he was genuinely 고민ing over an exam suitable even for Lee Han.

A truly deranged professor at Einroguard would simply have decided:

Then I’ll just give the Wardanaz boy a separate exam.

Professor Ingledel had not yet reached that stage.

If he kept the difficulty at a normal level, it would be too easy for Lee Han.

But if he raised the difficulty, it would no longer suit the other students.

“Who could have imagined teaching would be this difficult?”

“You are admirable, Professor Ingledel.”

“We support you, Professor.”

Knights and swordsmen from groups friendly with Professor Ingledel—including the White Birch Knights, Fire Watch, and Cross Brothers Swordsmen—encouraged him enthusiastically.

Naturally, they also offered a variety of creative suggestions.

“How about a large group duel? Then the knights gathered here can quietly attack that one student separately in the middle of the chaos. He won’t even notice.”

“I’ll put a potion in the water that student drinks before the exam. It’ll make his limbs heavy. Appropriate training, I’d say.”

An endless stream of ingenious ideas poured out—ideas that would have made Lee Han immediately order Jowrin to file a complaint with the Emperor.

Professor Ingledel seriously wrote every suggestion down and contemplated them earnestly.

How could {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} he create an exam suitable for every student?

“Professor!”

“What brings you here?”

When Balpatan of House Moradi and Palga of House Ukim burst in urgently, Professor Ingledel looked puzzled.

It was rare for upperclassmen from White Tiger Tower to come looking for him in such haste.

“Is this about the exam? But the two of you are in different years…”

“That’s not it. Could you help us? We’re tracking intruders from outside, but these bastards are absurdly fast.”

“!”

Several of the Empire’s warriors inside immediately frowned.

The fact that outside intruders had entered was surprising enough.

The fact that students were personally chasing them down was even more astonishing.

A knight from the Fire Watch, unfamiliar with Einroguard, shouted in disbelief.

“There are intruders inside Einroguard? Then why is everything so calm?”

“Huh? Ah, well…”

Balpatan looked embarrassed by the reaction instead.

Einroguard was originally a place where outside intruders periodically appeared and periodically disappeared.

“…But who exactly are these people?”

“They’re from the Fire Watch.”

“I see. …What?? The Fire Watch?!”

Balpatan nearly jumped at the name of the famous Imperial knight order.

Under normal circumstances, it might not have mattered.

But this was exam season.

Einroguard students were the type to see a falling leaf and think:

That leaf is foreshadowing my grades.

Naturally, they reacted sensitively whenever outsiders visited around this time.

“I’m from the Cross Brothers Swordsmen.”

“And I’m from the White Birch Knights…”

“P-Professor. Did we do something wrong? Why are all these people here?”

Balpatan genuinely wondered what Professor Ingledel was planning.

Wasn’t the exam supposed to involve hunting giant chimeras armed with petrification curses, spatial movement, and freezing poison?

Had some secret exam been added without Balpatan knowing?

“Ah. Don’t worry, Moradi. They’re not here for the fourth-year exam.”

This time Palga, the third-year student, clutched his chest instead. His complexion turned deathly pale.

“…It’s not for the third years either. I’m troubled over the second-year exam, so they came to offer advice.”

“…”

“…”

The two upperclassmen silently wondered what horrible crime the second-years had committed this year.

Even attempting to assassinate the Principal probably wouldn’t warrant punishment on this scale.

“More importantly, student. Please continue explaining the intruder situation. This hardly seems like the time to discuss exams calmly.”

One of the swordsmen from the Cross Brothers Swordsmen spoke gravely.

Outside intruders had infiltrated a place filled with fragile mages.

The entire territory should have been placed under emergency alert.

Students should only move in groups during the daytime and never leave their dormitories at night—

“Hmm. Einroguard doesn’t really operate that way.”

Professor Ingledel coughed awkwardly and explained to his friend.

“Doesn’t operate that way?”

“Well… ah… Einroguard gets a lot of intruders… and the students are all fairly strong…”

Even while saying it, Professor Ingledel felt vaguely inadequate.

Still, he did his best to explain the school’s logic.

Intruders appeared so regularly that nobody made a fuss over one or two.

“What?! You handle the Empire’s finest mages this carelessly?”

“Hmm. Ingledel’s explanation makes sense too. Isn’t it confidence in Einroguard’s magic and its students? The pride of mages who believe they can solve their own problems is admirable.”

“…”

“…”

The two students muttered inwardly:

No, the Skull Principal just forced these rules on everyone.

“I see. Even so, I worry Einroguard’s rules are too lax. What if the mages are attacked? How could someone as wise as Lord Gonadaltes establish rules like this?”

“Mmph. Mmph.”

“Look at these admirable students here. Didn’t they step forward first for the sake of their juniors? I don’t think you need to worry so much.”

The two students immediately stopped muttering and exchanged glances.

“Y-Yes. Every upperclassman at Einroguard takes responsibility for protecting their juniors.”

“Indeed. Even if the rules appear strange or lax, there must be reasons behind them… Still, Professor Ingledel, as a member of a swordsmen group, I can’t sit idle after hearing intruders have entered. I’d like to help the students.”

“Since the students requested help anyway, that works perfectly. Let’s go together. You said the intruders were fast?”

“Ah, yes… but…”

As Professor Ingledel and the Empire’s elite all rose at once, Balpatan and Palga hesitated.

Truthfully, the two had not come out of responsibility toward their juniors.

Greed!

That bastard got his hands on the Principal’s treasure. I absolutely can’t let someone else take it first…!

We have to catch him before anyone else does…!

There were fewer students at Einroguard obsessed with the Skull Principal’s treasures than outsiders imagined.

Anyone with common sense knew how dangerous and difficult such a thing was.

But if someone else had already stolen one?

Then every Einroguard student immediately became supportive.

After all, the treasure first had to leave the Skull Principal’s hands before anyone else could steal it back.

This intruder incident followed exactly the same logic.

The intruder was unforgivable.

But since the treasure had already been stolen, shouldn’t fellow students put it to better use?

With countless students thinking exactly that way, it was only natural that the White Tiger Tower upperclassmen had come seeking Professor Ingledel.

Ordinary methods would never suffice in such fierce competition.

“What’s wrong, you two?”

“…Ah, well. We stepped forward for our juniors’ sake, but we were wondering whether it’s truly right to accept help from outside guests…”

“Hahaha! What admirable seniors you are. The students of Einroguard must be proud to have upperclassmen like you!”

Professor Ingledel’s friends laughed heartily as they opened the door and headed outside.

Palga quietly whispered to Balpatan.

“Senior… aren’t we acting a little too much like Blue Dragon Tower students?”

“Shh. Quiet.”

***

Temporarily away investigating intruders

—Professor Ingledel

“!”

Lee Han stared at the notice on the door in surprise.

The intruders were almost certainly the adventurers who had infiltrated Einroguard to rescue Antagondals.

“But why would Professor Ingledel personally get involved?”

“Junior. I think the professor probably intends to use the intruders in the exam.”

“How does that make any sen—”

Lee Han stopped mid-sentence after glancing at Professor Voladi.

Someone who had already done something similar last year was standing right beside him.

“…Now that I think about it, that actually makes sense.”

Does it?

Jowrin tilted her head in confusion.

No matter how she looked at it, the logic seemed insane.

“Since it’s come to this, there’s nothing we can do. Junior, let’s just—”

“No. We’re following Professor Ingledel. We’ll catch up and interfere— I mean, ask him about the exam.”

“Is that really necessary?”

Catten didn’t understand at all, but he also couldn’t overcome his junior’s iron determination.

Lee Han immediately launched into all sorts of elaborate explanations about magical enlightenment and educational growth, insisting that finding Professor Ingledel now would surely help Catten’s magic improve later.

“A-Alright. If Junior says so…”

“Trust me. Though I still don’t understand. Why is Professor Ingledel personally chasing intruders when the other seniors could handle it?”

Einroguard’s professors were never idle.

Especially near exam season, they were busier than ever.

Even the Death Knights alone would already have their hands full.

It made no sense for Professor Ingledel to personally step in.

“Hmm. There is one possibility.”

“What is it?”

“I heard the intruder stole one of the Principal’s treasures. If it’s something important, it wouldn’t be strange for the professor to move personally…”

“…”

As the false rumor he himself had created came back around to stab him, Lee Han reflected deeply on his life choices.