Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

Chapter 616

"That's right. If you hate fighting, wouldn't a mage suit you better than a knight?"

Unaware of Yi-Han's inner thoughts, Alcicle persuaded him as if it was a good thing.

As expected of someone who had never attended Einroguard, he confidently spoke nonsense.

"Knights spill blood and sweat every day, wielding iron. In contrast, mages can do research in their workshop as much as they want if they desire."

"Hmm."

"??"

When Yi-Han let out a groan instead of agreeing, Alcicle looked at him as if to ask why.

"Is a mage really a suitable profession for someone who hates fighting?"

"!?"

Alcicle was flustered by Yi-Han's sudden perplexing words.

"Wh-why are you saying that? Aren't we supposed to persuade him?"

"That's true, but I'm wondering if Einroguard is a suitable place for someone who hates fighting."

"Even so, how much fighting could there be! Hey, look here. You'd only meet monsters every weekend!"

"At Einroguard, you'd meet monsters every other day..."

"..."

Alcicle was at a loss for words.

What...?

Yi-Han, who had been pondering, asked the prospective junior.

"Are you interested in magic?"

"Well... about that..."

"You can be honest. I don't intend to force you to come."

"I am interested."

Ulgan spoke while glancing around nervously.

They looked like amazing mages, so he wondered if it was okay for a lumberjack like him to say he was interested in magic.

However, neither Yi-Han nor Alcicle scolded or mocked him. Rather, they asked as if it was a good thing.

"Oh, really? If you're interested, that's great. What kind of magic are you interested in?"

"You know those mages who cast magic on axes or limbs, right?"

"Enchantment magic... Specializing in enhancement, I suppose."

"It's traditional. I heard White Tiger Tower graduates are usually good at that school?"

Yi-Han and Alcicle conversed with interest.

Encouraged by this, Ulgan spoke more.

"There's more besides that."

"Good. Tell us anything."

"Spirits..."

"Do you want to contract with spirits?"

"No. I also want to learn spirit extermination magic. It interferes with logging. And I want to make potions that kill trees all at once. Sometimes the trees that walk around are annoying..." ŕ

"..."

"..."

'We must never let him meet Senior Ilendil.'

Yi-Han inwardly vowed, seeing the potential of this junior who might devastate Einroguard's forests.

"Ulgan. I'll tell you honestly as someone who attends Einroguard. Einroguard isn't an environment where you won't fight. It's as vast as these mountains, so monsters roam around."

"Ah. I've heard about that."

Ulgan nodded.

He knew about Einroguard's rumors from the patrol hunters who occasionally visited.

"I heard it's incredibly vast!"

"That's right."

"I heard there's a senior from the Shadow Patrol hunters who's the top student, popular, and all the professors want him as their disciple!"

'Was there such a person?'

Yi-Han wondered.

"Sorry. I don't know all the seniors. Anyway, because it's so vast, you can't completely avoid fighting. You might encounter monsters while digging for alchemy materials in the mountains. Sometimes the principal attacks too."

"I see... Huh?"

Ulgan thought he had misheard.

Or maybe it was a senior's unique joke.

"I understand. Thank you for telling me. Of course, I hate fighting!"

Ulgan clenched his fists.

Alcicle and Yi-Han unconsciously leaned back slightly.

"But I won't run away from unavoidable fights. A northern lumberjack is not a coward!"

"Well thought, well thought!"

Alcicle clapped with his flippers.

Seeing this young mage's determination, persuasion seemed like it would be easy.

"If that's the case, Einroguard will welcome you!"

"That's right. I said it like this, but there are ways to avoid fighting in Einroguard. If you focus only on your research, you won't have many occasions to fight. Actually, I don't like fighting much either."

Eandurde, who had been dozing off while listening, looked with surprised eyes, but Yi-Han didn't notice.

"I see. So you don't like fighting much either, senior."

"I'm a complete pacifist."

"Uh, aren't you Bagrak's... never mind."

Alcicle was about to say 'Aren't you Bagrak's disciple?' but stopped.

It wasn't polite to bring up such a topic in front of others.

Crack!

"!"

At the loud noise from afar, Yi-Han immediately drew his staff and chanted a spell.

"Feet, grasp the earth!"

Simultaneously, he threw his body sideways and rolled. It was to disrupt the aim in case the opponent was making a ranged attack.

"..."

Alcicle made a complicated expression seeing Yi-Han react so much to the sound of a tree breaking.

"It's just a tree breaking."

"Is that so? I thought..."

Yi-Han got up, dusting himself off.

His attitude suggested this was as natural as breathing.

"No! It's really a monster!!"

Ulgan shouted urgently and grabbed his axe.

A ghost tree had appeared behind the broken tree.

Ghost trees, monsters where evil spirits moved in a form combined with trees rather than spiritual bodies, were always a threat to lumberjacks.

The act of cutting trees itself disturbed the order and balance of the forest, inevitably causing such monsters to appear.

"I'll stand in front. Please support me from behind!"

At Ulgan's words, Yi-Han shook his head and said,

"No. I'll stand in front, so Mr. Alcicle, please support from behind."

At Yi-Han's words, Eandurde shook her head and said,

"Me! I'll stand in front!"

"???"

Ulgan was flustered by their excessive preference for the vanguard position for mages.

Weren't mages generally supposed to support with magic from behind in battle?

"Stay in the back, junior."

"Hmph."

"What's with the 'hmph'. You'll meet ghost trees again when you go to Einroguard anyway, so fight then. Leave this to me for now."

As the senior, Yi-Han couldn't let his juniors take the lead.

He cast and , and even chanted .

"Space, be perceived..."

"...Do you usually cast all those spells when fighting?"

"Don't I?"

Yi-Han didn't understand why Alcicle was asking.

Why would a lion use all its strength to catch one rabbit?

The answer was 'because you never know what an Einroguard rabbit might do'.

Since the rabbit might teleport, spew deadly poison, or cast an evil curse, it was right to prepare as much as possible.

'Those with a lot of mana are on a different level!'

Alcicle inwardly clicked his tongue.

He was newly amazed to see Yi-Han casually committing what other mages would have been appalled at as waste.

Wouldn't this ability receive high praise if he participated in the battlefield as a battle mage?

As the ghost tree approached, Yi-Han lightly threw a water bead.

With a dull sound, the ghost tree staggered. The spinning water bead had given a shock all the way inside with a vicious sound.

Simultaneously, Yi-Han gripped Morning Star in one hand and charged. As the black-purple stone sword slashed once, the evil spirit inside the tree wailed in pain.

'Mana absorption!'

Alcicle was surprised to see Morning Star's blade tearing mana from the opponent monster.

And he was surprised once more when he realized Yi-Han was wielding Morning Star.

'Why does a mage have such an artifact...'

Mana absorption equipment was almost taboo for mages.

Many mages didn't even use items that affected mana flow because they found them unpleasant, let alone mana absorption equipment.

The ghost tree attempted a counterattack with a chilling sound. Long branches undulated like whips and threatened Yi-Han.

However, when the counterattack came, Yi-Han had already created distance.

With divination magic and spatial perception magic, the opponent's simple movements were like on the palm of his hand.

Thud!

Yi-Han quickly finished off the ghost tree without giving Alcicle a chance to support.

Aiming at the balance disrupted by the counterattack, he threw a water bead and then delivered a final blow to the fallen opponent.

Yi-Han, who returned after sheathing Morning Star, spoke in a pleased voice when he saw Ulgan staring at him intently.

"You said you were interested in enhancement magic, right? You must have liked the magic you just saw."

However, the junior spoke in a cowed voice.

"Seeing you fight, senior, I'm worried if I'll be able to adapt well in Einroguard..."

"?!"

Seeing even a pacifist senior who didn't like fighting much have such skills, he suddenly became worried if someone like him could endure well.

***

"And that's how I succeeded in getting funding for ."

"A-amazing, sir."

'He's exaggerating too much.'

The skull principal was telling his recent heroic tales while talking with the knights in front of the log cabin.

The knights pretended to respond positively, but inwardly they were skeptical.

No matter how they thought about it, it was too far-fetched.

Getting funding for ...

He probably inflated some other funding.

"I'm not just saying this because he's my disciple, but he truly deserves the title of bureaucrat annihilator. You should raise such talents too, it would be easier to get support."

"...W-we will compete with our skills."

The knights were envious but didn't show it. Showing it here would hurt their pride.

"Talking about skills. How much has Einroguard devoted itself to the empire? But those bureaucrat bastards only think about snatching gold coins."

'Aren't you thinking about the damage Einroguard has done to the empire?'

'If you really got funding for , you shouldn't be saying such things!'

"That's right. Those bureaucrat bastards!"

Although they had different thoughts inwardly, the knights agreed for now.

They too had many bad memories about the empire's bureaucrats.

Especially for knights who often had to fight monsters in harsh environments like the north, the stinginess of bureaucrats was always a target of resentment.

"Last time, we held out for nearly half a year at the fortress, and these bastards didn't support us once. They said we could endure with the stored supplies!"

"That's right."

"When we requested because we lacked mages, they said they had to prioritize a magic criminal who had escaped!"

"Hmm. The bureaucrats must have had their reasons."

"!?"

The knights were flustered by the skull principal's sudden change in attitude.

"Your Excellency."

The old knight, who had been watching for an opportunity, interjected when the conversation paused briefly.

No matter how he thought about it, he couldn't understand the skull principal's intention.

"May I ask why you are sharing such wisdom with us?"

'Wisdom?'

The knights nearby thought, what wisdom is this, but couldn't voice it out loud.

With His Excellency Gonadaltes' power, even nonsense becomes wisdom.

"We are too dull to understand Your Excellency's intentions, so I'm curious why you keep bestowing this upon us."

"Hmm. Perhaps it's time I tell you."

As the skull principal nodded, the old knight listened intently.

What on earth was the meaning behind this conversation?

At that moment, Yi-Han's group came up from below with Ulgan.

"Principal. The junior said he'll enter Einroguard."

"Well done, bureaucrat annihilator."

"Please don't call me by that nickname."

"Everything's done, so let's be on our way. It was a pleasure talking with you all."

The skull principal lightly stood up, encouraged the knights, and cheerfully left with Yi-Han's group.

The knights stared at their retreating figures with eyes full of shock.

'We've been had!'

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