Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

Chapter 615

'Phew. It passed.'

Yi-Han breathed a sigh of relief.

He had forged the principal's signature to allow Nillia to escape from the Shadow Patrol during the vacation.

Fortunately, the principal's attention seemed to be focused on the knights below.

"Anyway, they're such useless guys..."

"If you order us to shoot, we'll shoot them secretly."

The skull principal shook his head at the subtle words of the Shadow Patrol hunters.

"Forget it. Let's be satisfied with what we shot last time."

"..."

Yi-Han was shocked by the conversation happening next to him.

Of course, it was difficult for the hunters of the northern mountains and the knights below to get along.

From the perspective of the hunters who risked their lives going in and out of the deep parts of the mountains for reconnaissance, the knights were just arrogant guys who were of no help and only made a fuss.

In contrast, from the perspective of the northern knights, the hunters were barbaric guys who complained for more while taking away all the resources from the already barren family.

'Still, shooting arrows was a bit too much.'

***

The northern knights sat in front of the log cabin, waiting for the owner to return.

A young squire who couldn't wait any longer got slightly angry.

"No matter what, is it right to keep the honorable knights of the north waiting like this? They clearly said they would come today!"

For a mere squire to get angry first while the godlike knights were quietly waiting.

Normally, a club would have flown, but the old knight teaching the squire smiled and said,

"Oh ho. When the lumberjacks return, why don't you try saying something?"

"Is it really okay to do that?"

"Of course!"

The other knights who were about to get angry stopped their actions and smiled at the old knight's words.

The young squire, unaware of the situation, nodded while huffing.

"I understand. How dare they!"

Not long after, a group of lumberjacks came up from below.

They were the local lumberjacks returning after finishing their work.

The lumberjacks of the northern mountains, composed of various races, walked with large bodies and axes that seemed small compared to those bodies. Every time they exhaled and took a step, steam puffed out from their heated bodies.

"..."

The squire's mouth gaped open at the sight of the lumberjacks, which was different from what he had expected.

The knights chuckled at this sight.

The freemen around these northern mountains were different from those in other regions.

Just living and surviving in this harsh region was difficult without considerable strength and courage.

Especially the lumberjacks here were famous among them.

They were composed of those who boasted innate strength, and they could clear out ordinary monster groups without requesting help!

"H-h-how dare you keep the knights waiting like this!"

The squire, unable to back down due to pride, shouted.

At that shout, the lumberjacks looked at the squire as if he were an idiot.

"What is it, knight lords? Did you come to pick a fight?"

"H-how dare! How dare...!"

"I'm sorry. Please understand. He's still young, that's why."

The old knight smiled and covered the squire's mouth.

"You know well why we came, don't you? It's because the talent is too precious."

At those words, the lumberjacks scratched their cheeks.

In fact, they already knew.

The young lumberjack, Ulgan.

He was famous among the lumberjacks for his large body and strong strength.

Naturally, such fame had also reached the ears of the surrounding knights.

"But the kid doesn't like it. He already ran away."

Surprisingly, Ulgan had trained as a squire a few years ago.

As he had been famous since a few years ago, the knights had come and recommended it from that time.

At their earnest recommendation, Ulgan had followed the knights and trained as a squire, but not long after, he lost interest and returned to the lumberjacks.

"We don't really understand the reason either. He was well-evaluated even among the squires."

"We know the reason. He chose to live as a free lumberjack rather than a stuffy knight."

The lumberjacks chuckled at their companion's words.

Some knights flared up, but the old knight extended his arm to stop them.

"Let's hear the story. I want to hear what he didn't like."

"Maybe the other squire bastards ostracized him?"

"That's not it."

"How can you be sure?"

"Because Ulgan beat up all the other squires..."

On the first day at the dormitory, Ulgan had beaten up all the other squires and reigned as their leader.

It was said that everyone even pretended to die at just one word from Ulgan, so there was no way he could have been ostracized.

"Ha! That's Ulgan for you."

"Maybe he quit because it was boring?"

Despite the lumberjacks' exclamations, the old knight didn't lose his composure.

Although he had been a knight coming and going in this northern region for quite a long time, there were few prospects as promising as Ulgan.

-This guy was born to be a knight!

Large body and powerful strength, excellent reflexes, and even innate supernatural abilities.

He thought that if raised well, a legendary knight might be born in the north.

It wasn't that he looked down on lumberjacks, but Ulgan was too precious to end up as just a lumberjack.

'I'll persuade him somehow and bring him to the knight order.'

This time, since he was a bit older, he would take him around and teach him personally.

"Knights are boring."

"???"

"But mages are not boring!"

"...?!"

The northern knights turned their heads, thinking some crazy foreigner was picking a fight, but when they saw the face, they were shocked.

The guardian of the empire's magic barrier was walking over, leading the Shadow Patrol.

"Y-y-y-y-your..."

"Keep stuttering 'your'. It's quite good."

"Wh-what brings you here!?"

The northern knights were flustered.

Usually, when Gonadaltes came to this barren land, it was when a big problem had occurred.

Like when the magic hanging on the patrol fortress in the mountains was destroyed, or when a large army of monsters appeared...

Among them, the old knight glimpsed another possibility.

"Could it be that Ulgan was chosen as a student of Einroguard?!"

"That's right."

"Im-impossible!"

"Why. Can't someone with a big body do magic?"

At Gonadaltes' words, the Shadow Patrol members burst into laughter behind him.

"Haha, the knight lords are full of prejudice!"

"That's right, that's right!"

"..."

The knights vowed to spit in the supplies sent to the Shadow Patrol next time.

"N-no. No matter how you look at it, Ulgan was born to be a knight."

"Wasn't his strength a bit unusual? Even considering his size? He probably has an innate sensitivity to mana. He can handle mana to some extent without learning. And he even has supernatural abilities, right? It's a common phenomenon shown by mages who haven't received proper education."

"Oh..."

The lumberjacks looked at the skull principal, intrigued by his words.

They knew he was quite an impressive person, but seeing him talk like this made him even more trustworthy.

An aura of nobility and intelligence, different from the knights, overflowed.

"No, both mana and supernatural abilities are necessary for knights too!!"

The knights desperately refuted as the atmosphere started to flow strangely.

Knights also needed to know how to handle mana to draw out aura, and supernatural abilities were even more useful for knights than mages.

Mages could produce the same results through study anyway, so why would they be obsessed with something like supernatural abilities?

You could tell just by how mages called supernatural abilities things like 'primitive magic'.

'Something's strange.'

The old knight felt suspicious about Gonadaltes' relaxed attitude.

That skull principal wasn't someone who would listen to the other party's words so leisurely.

What on earth was he up to?

***

"I hate mountains."

Alcicle, who was walking in front, panted and swung his staff. It was a typical appearance of a mage who had neglected physical training.

Eandurde looked at Alcicle as if she found it pathetic.

"Pathetic!"

"No. Originally, there are quite a few weak people among mages."

"?"

Eandurde looked Yi-Han up and down.

Feeling embarrassed, Yi-Han made an excuse.

"There are exceptions."

"Why don't they train?"

"Well, the convenience of magic is so excellent..."

"Laziness!"

"No. It's a bit different from laziness... Is it?"

The reason Yi-Han's group was going around separately was simple.

It was because of the skull principal's order.

-Seeing that the new student isn't here, he must be somewhere else. I'll distract the knight bastards, so find him.-

-What do we do after we find him?-

-Make him enter Einroguard.-

-Huh? How?-

-It's easy. Just like you usually do.-

-...No...-

Yi-Han was dumbfounded, but the skull principal had already left.

The remaining Yi-Han had no choice but to take Alcicle and his junior to search for Ulgan.

"Snow, show us the traces."

As Alcicle chanted the spell, snowflakes revealed footprints left on the ground.

Fortunately, as it succeeded, Alcicle breathed a sigh of relief.

This magic was for finding traces, but it wasn't omnipotent. If not used in the right place, the magic itself would fail.

He had been worried about failing because there were young mages watching from behind, but fortunately, it succeeded.

'Phew. That's a relief.'

"Wow. I didn't know there was such a method."

"It's not that difficult a magic. Shall I teach you later?"

"Thank you. I was wondering if I should use divination magic."

As Yi-Han put away the colorful stones he used for divination, Alcicle asked curiously.

"Divination magic? Wouldn't that be too burdensome here, since it's not a workshop?"

Usually, one would ask 'You already know how to use divination magic?', but Alcicle was now close enough to Yi-Han not to ask such stupid questions.

"Ah. I can somehow manage this much with mana."

"..."

Alcicle looked at the snowflake footprints he had scattered after hearing those words.

Swish swish swish-

"Why are you erasing it?!"

"Forget this!"

"No, why are you really doing this?!"

While stopping Alcicle, Eandurde sniffed and found a person's location.

"There, there!"

Eandurde pulled on Yi-Han's sleeve and pointed far away.

A human with a huge body was chopping trees with an ax, and the speed was surprisingly fast.

'That guy. If he enters Einroguard, we won't have to worry about firewood!'

Yi-Han was amazed at the discovery of a talent that might disrupt Einroguard's market balance.

Alcicle also marveled next to him.

"His body is like a warrior's, but he has quite a talent for magic? He's even using supernatural abilities."

"Supernatural abilities?"

"Yes. It seems like telekinesis. He's unconsciously using telekinesis on the ax right now."

"That's really amazing."

'You're even more amazing...'

Alcicle swallowed the words that were about to come out.

No matter how he thought about it, the boy from the Wardanaz family was much more amazing than such ordinary supernatural abilities.

"Where did you come from?"

Ulgan was startled when he discovered the mages.

"Could it be the knights...?!"

"No. We're mages from Einroguard. Ulgan."

Alcicle calmed the young lumberjack and spoke.

"Einroguard...?"

"Yes. We came like this because you have a talent for magic. Can we talk for a moment?"

Ulgan put down his ax and approached with a puzzled expression.

"Magic..."

"I heard you trained as a squire before. Can I ask why you quit?"

Ulgan's face darkened at Alcicle's question.

"Ah. If it's a difficult question to answer..."

"No. Actually, I should have answered properly. Well. I..."

As Ulgan made a determined expression, the other three looked at him intently.

They were curious about what reason he had to act like this.

Why on earth?

"...I hate fighting."

"..."

"..."

There was a moment of silence.

Alcicle, who came to his senses first, said,

"Then Einroguard would suit you even more!"

"D-do you think so?"

As Ulgan seemed interested, Yi-Han thought to himself.

'Is it okay to come to Einroguard if he hates fighting?'

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