Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy Chapter 1093

Chapter 1093

Gonadaltes: How did you know?

“……”

Ilendil thought to herself that he must be crazy.

Just how many dragons were leisurely roaming the Empire, visiting Einroguard just for sightseeing?

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: Just… a hunch…

Gonadaltes: Oh. As expected of you, Senior.

‘There are few compliments in the world that feel this unpleasant.’

Even receiving praise from this junior left Ilendil feeling uneasy.

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: So basically, the dragon’s coming to see you?

Gonadaltes: What nonsense is this slander? Of course, I am indeed a dragon’s contractor. But Princess Jourin is coming to tour the scenic spots of Einroguard. Please do not misunderstand.

Yi-Han strongly denied it.

If he slipped up here, all responsibility for the dragon’s visit would fall on him.

Prince Uman’s visit was because of the skull principal, and Princess Jourin’s visit might be partly his fault, but strictly speaking, the entire Einroguard bore that responsibility.

After all, she was coming because Einroguard looked interesting.

‘I am completely innocent in this matter. I’m just a victim.’

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: Contract?

‘Ah, damn.’

Yi-Han realized his mistake.

He’d grown accustomed to professors popping up all around him and had forgotten that the fact he’d contracted with a dragon was still a classified secret. Only a few bureaucrats and family heads knew.

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: Chosen by a dragon?!

Gonadaltes: If this leaks out, I will write down every alias you’ve ever used and every statement you made under those aliases on every noticeboard in Einroguard.

“……”

Though the junior could not see her face, Ilendil’s expression turned pale.

W-Wasn’t this too much?!

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: Y-You were the one who mentioned it first…

Gonadaltes: Hmph. Keep your mouth shut.

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: I’ll never tell. I swear…

Gonadaltes: By the way, if a dragon inspector comes, will the academy change a lot?

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: Of course it will.

As a fourth-year, Ilendil had once seen an inspector come to the academy a few years ago.

Of course, that inspector had been an ordinary imperial bureaucrat elf, not a dragon, but it was enough to shake the academy.

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: Indeed. There was a time when students who had been caught attempting to run away and locked in the punishment room were all released. After seeing that, everyone tried to run away again.

Gonadaltes: Oh.

Yi-Han’s eyes gleamed.

What wonderful advice.

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: And after the inspector left, they were all dragged back into the punishment room…

Gonadaltes: ……

‘Not particularly helpful.’

“Are you there?”

The butler called Yi-Han from outside.

He had been resting alone in the parlor under the pretense of recovering, but perhaps he had taken too long. Worried, the butler had come to check.

“Should I call someone?”

“Oh. No need. I’ve fully recovered.”

Yi-Han closed the book and stood up.

He hadn’t really needed to recover at all.

All the difficult parts had been handled by the young prince, and even the battle midway had only cost him some mana.

‘Maybe I should have pretended I was more exhausted?’

He could have left earlier, but the reason he waited was to receive a return gift as per etiquette.

Among nobles, there were often rules dictating how one should behave in specific situations.

Since he, a guest visiting their estate, had helped them, they were obliged to give him a gift in return. If he left without accepting any token, rumors would spread that they were rude.

The problem was that Yi-Han didn’t really want anything.

He had come uninvited, dug up an ancient artifact from their basement, and now if he also accepted a gift, even an Einroguard student would feel a twinge of conscience.

‘I feel guilty receiving a reward when it wasn’t even hard.’

Yi-Han looked around furtively.

Maybe he could offer some magic-related teaching instead?

‘Ugh. If only I’d studied a bit harder.’

If he were truly a high-year student, he could have gracefully offered some magical guidance!

“Thank you so much for today. Please accept this as a token of our gratitude!”

Irendi handed him a scroll carefully stored in a wooden box. Yi-Han sighed in relief inwardly.

‘A magic scroll wouldn’t be too expensive.’

Of course, some scrolls could be very expensive, but judging by the paper, it was made of white-flower paper. Such paper couldn’t hold very powerful magic.

As Yi-Han examined the rolled scroll, he noticed something odd.

‘Strange… I don’t feel any mana.’

A magic scroll, no matter how well sealed, should leak a faint trace of mana.

But this scroll showed no hint of mana.

Could it be a cleverly made magic scroll that fooled his senses?

“What kind of magic scroll is this?”

“Huh? It’s not a magic scroll.”

“Haha. As expected of you, Master Wardanaz. You never cease to show interest in magic.”

Irendi and the butler laughed. Yi-Han did not.

‘If it’s not a magic scroll, then what is it?’

“What is it if not a magic scroll?”

Without answering verbally, the butler opened the scroll.

[…This document certifies that the bearer has ownership of the Oak Ranch and its surrounding lands in Illeinas City, in the Empire’s western region…]

“???”

Yi-Han froze as if he had been hit by a petrification curse.

He stammered, barely managing to speak.

“Is this… a land deed?!”

“Specifically, it’s documentation proving the ownership of a ranch and the nearby land. We purchased it recently, and we thought it would make a splendid gift for you, Master Wardanaz.”

The butler smiled as he explained.

Even he agreed that Irendi’s chosen gift was refined and tasteful.

Not too expensive, not too vulgar, and symbolically elegant—a beautiful ranch.

If it had been a mine or a workshop ownership document, it would have seemed greedy. A ranch, however, had a pleasant symbolic charm.

Thud!

Yi-Han staggered and collided with a chair. Both Irendi and the butler were startled.

“Are you all right?!”

“I-I’m fine. Just… aftereffects from the earlier battle.”

“As expected! I must call someone!”

“No, really. I’m fine. Truly.”

***

The skull principal, who had occupied his disciple’s mansion without permission to hold a meeting, caught sight of his disciple returning outside.

–Hoo.

“?”

–Haah.

“???”

Normally unshaken even when Professor Verduus tormented him, the boy was now staring at the ground, sighing every three seconds.

The skull principal called Professor Garcia.

“Professor Garcia.”

“Ah, yes.”

Professor Garcia quickly halted the summoned creature she had been controlling remotely inside Einroguard’s private room, lifting her head.

She had been using a summon to manipulate artifacts from afar.

“Do you see Wardanaz over there?”

“Yes, he’s sighing every three seconds.”

“Why do you think he’s like that?”

“Doesn’t everyone get depressed at the start of a new semester?”

“That boy is an exception. He’d normally be happy to learn magic again.”

“Well… that might be true.”

Professor Garcia tried to refute but paused.

She enjoyed the start of a new semester. Perhaps her disciple was similar.

“Maybe it’s because a new inspector is coming?”

“A clever guess. He already knows that outsiders entering Einroguard can only mean trouble.”

The skull principal nodded in satisfaction.

Some second-year fools in the mansion held strange hopes for the inspector’s arrival, but that was a big misunderstanding.

“Or maybe he’s burdened by Princess Jourin’s upcoming visit?”

“...Don’t say that in front of Her Highness.”

The skull principal made a serious request.

It wouldn’t matter if Uman got a scratch on his pride, but Jourin was still very sensitive.

Hearing something like that might make her cry.

“Just go and ask him, Professor Garcia. If it’s because of Princess Jourin, tell him to put on a smiling face.”

‘Easier said than done…’

Professor Garcia tilted her head and walked towards the disciple, curious as to why he was sighing so heavily.

–So…

–Yes, I really regret…

–No, Yi-Han, you did well…

After a few words, Professor Garcia nodded and returned.

The skull principal looked intrigued.

“Well? What’s the reason?”

“He was given a land deed by a very generous noble and it was too burdensome, so he refused it.”

“What a foolish boy! What did he learn at Einroguard?”

The skull principal reproached Yi-Han sharply.

Who would have thought that Wardanaz would make such a blunder?

It was hard to believe.

“I heard that he regrets not just accepting it if it were at least near Baldurguard.”

“Take back what I said. The boy has dignity after all. He had no reason to accept such land.”

“You’re not worried he might transfer to Baldurguard, are you?”

“Of course not, Professor Garcia.”

“I see.”

Professor Garcia was relieved. It must have been her imagination.

‘Yi-Han has no reason to go to Baldurguard.’

“I am a bit worried he might run away and hide, though.”

“……”

While Professor Garcia stood dumbfounded, the skull principal called Yi-Han over.

Yi-Han approached, surrounded by a gloomy and depressed aura.

“What is it…?”

“Cheer up. If you want it so badly, you can always seize it by force later, can’t you?”

“Yes…”

The disciple’s condition seemed serious.

The skull principal wondered if a good smack would fix him and spoke again.

“The new semester will start soon, and I have a task for you.”

“?”

Yi-Han raised his head to look at the skull principal.

A task, right before the new semester?

“Are we returning late to the academy again?”

“Late? Someone might misunderstand if they heard that. Come out.”

At the skull principal’s command, an adventurer emerged cautiously.

Yi-Han recognized him. He was Ibinta, the thief leader who had settled in an underground fortress not far from the capital.

“You know him, right? This is Tin Pot Ibinta.”

“I-Iron Cloak…”

“What?”

“Nothing. Yes, Tin Pot…”

Even though he was a fearsome thief leader, before the ancient great mage, he was nothing but a mouse before a tiger.

Ibinta couldn’t even correct his nickname and remained silent.

“I remember him, but why is he here…?”

“You will use him as a minion throughout this semester.”

“???”

The skull principal’s words skipped several steps of logic, leaving Yi-Han more confused.

Use him as a minion?

“Do you mean kill him and summon him as undead?”

“……”

“...Didn’t you take <Basic Magic Character Education>? Apparently it didn’t sink in. Anyway, that’s not what I mean. You won’t use him as a servant inside the academy. I mean when you go outside.”

Ignoring Ibinta who trembled, the skull principal continued.

No doubt Yi-Han would be leaving the academy frequently for various requests in the second semester.

“It’s not certain yet. I might just take requests inside the academy…”

“Quiet. Don’t say nonsense.”

The skull principal dismissed that idea.

Outstanding students in Einroguard could be directly assigned requests by the third year, but the Wardanaz boy went beyond that.

Judging by the letters the principal had received, Yi-Han would never be confined inside the academy.

“You remember the evil god worshippers connected to Professor Boladi, right?”

“Yes.”

“He said he wouldn’t act rashly, but we can’t fully trust him. You keep watch on him.”

“Shouldn’t you trust the professor a bit more…?”

“I do trust him. If I didn’t, I’d have locked him in the punishment room.”

The skull principal said something that inspired no confidence at all, then pointed at Tin Pot Ibinta.

“This fellow knows a lot about rogues and mercenaries, and has extensive connections. He might spot suspicious individuals, and you can order him around for small tasks. If you suspect they’re evil god worshippers, report immediately.”

In other words, Ibinta would serve as a lookout and errand runner.

Yi-Han found something puzzling.

“But, Principal. The empire is vast. If I take on requests nationwide, the chances of encountering those evil god worshippers are too low. Are you suggesting they might approach Professor Bagrak?”

“Who knows.”

“?”

Yi-Han was even more confused by the answer.

Why prepare so thoroughly then?

“I’m not sure, but I have a feeling you’ll run into them somehow. Accidents tend to find you.”

“...”