Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

But how am I supposed to distract him?

Eandurde sank into thought.

Whether she was fighting in the old underground fighting pits or fighting other tower students now, her basic attitude of I’ll kill you first—kyaaak! hadn’t changed much.

But after entering Einroguard, the way she viewed situations and thought through problems had changed dramatically.

The world was vast, and there were many powerful people in it. In the cramped fighting pit, she had been able to defeat opponents through her gorgon bloodline alone, but outside, that wasn’t enough.

The boy from House Wardanaz, currently tormenting his classmates, was one of those powerful people.

“You bastard. Why haven’t you cleaned this up yet?”

“I-I was going to clean it up later. I was busy studying.”

“What studying? I saw you playing Mage Cards with Gainando earlier.”

“How the hell did you see that?! Wardanaz, you weren’t even looking this way! We even hid it with an illusion!”

When night fell, Lee Han drove away the students who had been playing around and organized the common room for those who wanted to study.

The students who had tried to play chess or marbles were slapped on the back and kicked in the rear by Lee Han.

“Study! Just study!”

“Wardanaz, you bastard. What are you going to do if we score better than you on the exam?”

“…Hey. Even if you’re angry, don’t say things that make no sense.”

Lee Han brewed coffee in large batches with the alchemy students.

Hot water rose from the kettle on the fireplace and flew straight into each person’s cup.

“Amazing control!”

“When I told the upperclassmen about Wardanaz’s coffee magic, they didn’t believe me. They said no sane person would waste magic on that…”

Yonair measured sugar on a balance scale before adding it to the ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) coffee of each student in line.

Sugar was a precious resource. It could not be wasted.

“I trust none of you are like Gainando, secretly taking extra sugar to eat at night.”

“…Hey!”

“Sorry. I meant ‘student,’ but Gainando slipped out.”

Normally, students scattered at night to take walks or hole up in their private rooms. But gathering together in the year’s common room as exams approached was a distinctive second-year custom.

There were many reasons for it, but the biggest one was probably the nanny from the Wo Mor family.

“Eandurde. You should have some coffee too.”

“Thank you!”

“Are you preparing well for midterms?”

“Uh… yes.”

Eandurde blinked at Yonair’s question and slightly averted her gaze.

In truth, Eandurde was normal. Most first years only showed enthusiasm for a few lectures they liked, and approached the rest with the attitude of ugh, I don’t want to attend this.

“Tell me your grades during vacation later. I’m worried you might be losing study time because of Prince Jowrin.”

“It’s fine! I’m only studying what’s necessary!”

“…Eandurde? Eandurde??”

After receiving her coffee, Eandurde quickly escaped.

Yonair could be strict about things like this, and probably wouldn’t approve of hearing that a junior was “studying efficiently.”

Please hurry!

From the windowsill, the baby basilisk wagged its tail desperately at Eandurde.

Eandurde made a small gesture telling it to wait.

It was easy to forget while watching Lee Han make coffee and serve snacks, but her senior was a terrifyingly powerful person.

To distract someone like that, she needed an extremely clever and ingenious strategy…

“Eandurde. What are you doing over there?”

“Eek!”

“?”

Lee Han looked puzzled when his junior jumped in fright.

“I’m worried you might be staying here too late because of His Majesty. I’ll pack you some snacks, so why don’t you head back soon?”

“I’ll stay a little longer.”

“Why?”

“…”

Eandurde desperately racked her brain.

Then, at that moment, inspiration struck.

“His Majesty can’t sleep if I’m not nearby!”

“Oh dear. You’ve got it rough.”

If the dragon by the fireplace had heard that, Jowrin would have gotten angry and shouted, How could you make Jowrin sound like a complete fool?!

Fortunately, Jowrin did not hear.

Eandurde felt no guilt whatsoever.

After all, she was saying it to help Jowrin’s plan.

The baby basilisk on the windowsill seemed to agree, sending a signal of approval.

A clever and ingenious strategy. A clever and ingenious strategy…

While Eandurde pondered, Lee Han asked another question.

“Do you have any questions about your lectures? Professor Bagreg’s lectures, Professor Bagreg’s exams, Professor Bagreg’s assignments…”

“???”

“Sorry. I meant to mention other professors, but that came out by reflex.”

Seeing Lee Han apologize, Eandurde had another flash of inspiration.

Come to think of it, there was no better way to draw his attention than this.

“I have a question!”

“Oh. Really? Go ahead.”

Lee Han personally brought over a chair and told her to sit.

Behind him, Gainando approached with a tearful expression, drooping miserably.

“Lee Han…”

“Remove the ankle-biting poison, Gainando. Your skeleton won’t be affected much by the poison right now, and it’ll have trouble enduring the strain.”

“Thanks!”

Magic?!

Eandurde froze in shock on the chair.

How had he answered that without even turning around or asking what had happened?

The top student of the year really is amazing…!

Eandurde thought of the penguin beastkin student in her own year.

Unlike the other Blue Dragon Tower students, who wandered around during breaks, that student devoted every waking moment to magic, even cutting down on sleep. Whenever people talked about the top student of their year, the penguin beastkin’s name always came up.

Would Pengerine be able to do something like this after only a year?

Impossible…!

“Now then, Eandurde. Professor Bagreg’s magic is extremely wicked and vicious…”

“…?”

Eandurde tilted her head at the strangely emotional lesson, but listened attentively for now.

Meanwhile, the baby basilisk began moving stealthily.

Its target was the reagent pouch hanging at Lee Han’s waist.

Here I go!

The baby basilisk leapt from the windowsill onto the bookshelf.

From the bookshelf, it sprang again and landed on Adenart’s parchment.

Adenart gently placed the baby basilisk on her hand and returned it to Lee Han.

The baby basilisk, whose stealthy approach had failed immediately, sank into despair.

Pathetic creature.

Eandurde stared at it with contempt.

Jowrin, pretending to doze near the fireplace, also seemed to cast a scornful glance its way, though that might have been the baby basilisk’s imagination.

I-I meant to do that from the start.

The baby basilisk comforted itself and slowly crawled back out of Lee Han’s sleeve.

This time, it slid down toward his waist and tapped the string of the reagent pouch with its tail.

“What are you doing?”

“…”

The baby basilisk froze solid at Lee Han’s voice.

Even if it had been petrified by looking directly into its own evil eye, it probably wouldn’t have gone this stiff.

“Do you need this? Want to play with it? Here.”

Lee Han untied the reagent pouch and held it out to the baby basilisk.

He kept the truly important reagents separately, and this pouch only contained emergency supplies. It didn’t matter if the baby basilisk played with it.

“W-Waah!”

The baby basilisk accepted the reagent pouch as naturally as possible, pretending this had been its plan all along.

Lee Han and the other students watched warmly as it rolled around with the pouch.

“It really is still a baby.”

“Childish behavior aside, it’s cute.”

“…”

Trembling with humiliation, the baby basilisk barely managed to return to Jowrin.

“I’m never doing that again!!”

Well done. Jowrin shall praise you!

“I don’t need it…”

While the baby basilisk grumbled, Jowrin carefully took out the dragon stone.

The moment the golden icosahedral substance emerged from her mouth, radiant sunlight burst through the common room in waves.

“What the?!”

“Hey! Are you trying to claim the common room for yourself?! Which bastard was that?!”

“I don’t know who did it, but you ruined my concentration! Ah! I was just about to get a perfect score!”

Jowrin moved faster than she ever had in her life.

Her front paw shot out and covered the dragon stone. The sunlight disappeared.

“Wardanaz. We need to find the culprit!”

“Stop messing around and sit back down to study.”

“…Okay…”

Fortunately, the students did not begin hunting for the culprit.

Lee Han also didn’t seem especially suspicious, perhaps assuming that someone had made a mistake with magic.

Since not a single student had actually seen the dragon stone, that was only natural.

Phew.

Jowrin carefully lifted her front paw.

The dragon stone, now somewhat dimmed, revealed itself.

“Wow. That’s really amazing.”

The baby basilisk inadvertently voiced its admiration.

The power of dragons was truly magnificent enough that even the king of serpents had to show respect.

That powerful, complex force dwelling inside the ore…!

It’s inside. Now we just need to return it! Then Jowrin shall pretend to sleep.

I don’t think that’s going to work.

As the baby basilisk crawled along with the reagent pouch containing the dragon stone, it thought uneasily.

It’s a bit late to say this, but will he really fall for it?

***

Professor Thunderstep yawned.

The sun heralding morning symbolized the start of a new week.

The start of midterm exams.

And the start of student suffering.

“Professor.”

“!”

Professor Thunderstep flinched at the familiar voice of his disciple.

Is this an ambush?

Statistically speaking, Einroguard students began attempting ambushes on professors around their third year. Their success rate was close to zero, but rational judgment was difficult to maintain in Einroguard.

And considering the skill and audacity of the boy from House Wardanaz, it wouldn’t be surprising if he attempted one as a second year.

Highly likely. There’s no other reason for him to come now.

Midterm exams could devour the entire week and still leave too little time.

Even Wardanaz couldn’t possibly finish in one day.

Professor Thunderstep slipped a hand into his pocket and readied a potion.

Then he slowly turned around.

What? It’s not an ambush.

After seeing his disciple’s expression, the professor felt relieved.

There was no cunning scheme on Lee Han’s face.

Only darkness, despair, anger, grief, and several other bleak emotions.

An ordinary Einroguard student facing exams, in other words.

“What is it, Wardanaz? Did you come because you have a question?”

“No…”

“By the way, where is His Majesty?”

Professor Thunderstep looked puzzled when Dragon His Majesty, who usually followed Lee Han around like a baby bird, was nowhere to be seen.

Lee Han’s expression darkened even further.

“His Majesty is grounded.”

“…What? Grounded?”

“Yes.”

“Did His Majesty do something wrong?”

“Something like that.”

“Still, grounding His Majesty! Impressive.”

Professor Thunderstep was honestly amazed.

Who could treat Jowrin that sternly?

It would be impossible unless one were the boy from House Wardanaz.

There’s a reason they say monsters are defeated by monsters.

“No. I think I failed to look after her properly.”

Lee Han sighed deeply.

It was rare to see him look this bitter and weak.

Professor Thunderstep became slightly flustered.

“Why, why are you acting like this? Did something happen?”

“It’s just… His Majesty keeps acting on her own lately, and I’m wondering if it’s because of me.”

“Hahaha! What nonsense… Wait. Do you actually think that?”

Professor Thunderstep was genuinely taken aback.

“His Majesty is a growing dragon. Acting on her own is completely natural! Don’t you remember when she broke through the lecture hall wall last time?”

By that standard, Jowrin was growing very well.

She didn’t try to eat people, wasn’t interested in evil secrets, and didn’t steal other people’s belongings to pile up in a lair.

“But that happened because she came out looking for me too.”

“Stop talking. Why did you come here? Did you come to ask for a potion that reduces mischief?”

“Ah. No. I came to submit my exam.”

“…”

All the strength drained from Professor Thunderstep’s legs, and he nearly collapsed.