Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

“You’re not… joking, are you?”

“I don’t joke about Einroguard.”

“Come to think of it, I heard the principal is rich.”

“He does have a lot of gold. But I don’t recommend robbing him. You’ll go straight to prison if you’re caught.”

“Oh, do they send you to an outside prison if you’re caught?!”

“No. The underground prison inside the school. There’s a place called the punishment room. You go there if you’re caught stealing, or if your grades are bad.”

“…”

Carre had to seriously consider whether this senior was really not messing with him.

However, the senior’s expression was very serious. It seemed like no one would think words spoken with such a face were lies.

“As I said earlier, if you learn magic, your thinking might change. You might come up with better ways to become rich than stealing.”

“Bigger thefts?”

“That could be a better method too. Anyway, the point is to endure for a bit to learn magic. To take two steps forward, you need to be able to take one step back.” �

Carre fell into thought.

Unlike the unrealistic advice from other priests to abandon greed and cultivate faith, he liked how practical this senior’s advice was.

He still couldn’t quite imagine what kind of place Einroguard really was, but he could endure for a while to enter.

“Alright! I’ll try to endure. Should I go tell the bishop?”

“Yeah. You thought well. Actually, I was thinking of advising you to not get caught even if you steal, but that seemed too much for your skills.”

“…?!”

Carre was shocked.

Even though this senior exuded a noble aura, this was not something he could just let slide.

“Wh-wh-what did you say? I must have heard wrong, right? Senior??”

“You heard correctly. The bishop knows, doesn’t she? Then you’ve been caught. That’s not how you steal.”

“What do you know, senior! I just didn’t hide it?! I could have hidden it as much as I wanted…”

While Carre was jumping up and down, insisting in frustration, Yi-Han slowly raised his fist and then opened his palm.

On that palm was Carre’s pouch of silver coins.

It was something he had swiped earlier when telling him to sit down.

“You didn’t notice, did you? This is how you steal.”

“?!?!?!?!”

“I combined the technique I learned from my friend with magic. You can steal this cleanly.”

If you move after casting enhancement magic and divination magic in advance, you can do even the same pickpocketing much more subtly and accurately.

The technique Ratford had taught was blooming like this even outside Einroguard when combined with magic.

Carre was completely speechless.

His pride as a thief was completely shattered, so his heart was full of frustration, but at the same time, awe was welling up.

He wanted to learn!

Yi-Han, thinking he had properly persuaded his junior, returned the pouch and said,

“I understand you’re confident, but don’t be overconfident until you reach a truly excellent level. I believe you understood well.”

“I understood perfectly, senior.”

Carre nodded and then looked straight at Yi-Han. Determination sparkled in his eyes.

“I’ve decided. I won’t steal anything outside until I’ve built up enough skill to steal senior’s pouch! Just watch!”

“Good. By the way, my name is Gainando.”

“Yes! Senior Gainando!”

Yi-Han was about to tell Carre that ‘first-years can’t meet seniors’ but stopped.

He didn’t want to dampen his enthusiasm when he had persuaded him so well.

‘He’ll probably learn a lesson when he finds out it’s a fake name someday.’

The lesson of not trusting seniors was a more important lesson than one might think.

Yi-Han felt proud of giving his junior an important lesson.

“By the way, senior.”

“Hmm?”

“Senior, are you perhaps from a thieves’ guild rather than a noble family?”

Carre asked cautiously.

At first, he thought he might be from a noble family just by looking at his statue-like appearance, but no matter how he looked, he exuded an aura similar to his own kind.

***

“Bishop. I’ve reflected. From now on, I won’t steal and will devote myself to magic!”

“…!”

Bishop Ines was truly surprised. She asked the skull principal,

“Is this what you meant by getting things done while grumbling?”

“That’s right. What did I tell you?”

“?”

Yi-Han, who had been listening to the conversation from the side, asked curiously.

“What conversation did you have?”

“I said it’s your hobby to get everything done while grumbling.”

“…”

Yi-Han considered whether he should swing the chair he had almost swung earlier now.

After Carre bowed and left, the bishop expressed her sincere gratitude.

“Thank you so much.”

“It’s nothing.”

“I’m talking to Mr. Wardanaz, not Lord Gonadaltes.”

“I know that too.”

The bishop decided to just ignore the skull principal. She looked at Yi-Han again and said,

“To think you could persuade Carre like that.”

“Well, Bishop. Actually, I didn’t completely reform Carre.”

Yi-Han spoke carefully, afraid the bishop might misunderstand.

However, this old bishop wasn’t very surprised.

“I know. How could a person change completely at once? What I’m grateful for is that you’ve instilled an interest in magic in Carre.”

The bishop didn’t expect Carre to reform in an instant.

She just wanted him to not focus solely on stealing, but to experience various things and expand his interests.

And if that was magic, it would truly be reassuring.

Carre’s determination just now was real. His will to quit petty thefts and study until entering magic school was clearly felt.

“I thank you once again. Please take good care of Carre.”

“First-years can’t meet second-years.”

The bishop and Yi-Han collectively pretended not to hear. They understood each other’s hearts without needing to speak.

As they said their goodbyes and came out of the temple, the skull principal asked in a curious voice.

“So how did you persuade him? He seemed quite stubborn.”

“Well. I persuaded him by saying things like, ‘If you want to steal, steal at Einroguard, you’re not skilled enough to steal outside yet’.”

“…”

The skull principal looked at Yi-Han as if he was looking at trash.

***

[…I received your last letter well, Wardanaz. And I might have accidentally mentioned overlapping content from the letter while talking with Yonaire. Sorry! It really just came out somehow. You’re not not sending letters because of this, right? I’m really sorry!]

[I heard you visited the northern mountains. Thanks for putting in a good word with the patrol hunters. The hunters were saying you’re close with Moradi. I don’t know how such false rumors spread. There’s no way that could be true. But you’re really not not sending letters, right?]

[The Maykin family mansion is really comfortable. I bet the tablecloths used here are more luxurious than the bedding in my original lodgings. I’m still not used to the maids changing my clothes… You’re not not sending letters because of what I said last time, right?]

[Oh right. I met Yonaire’s older sister. In my opinion, it might be better to avoid her for a while. Oh right. You’ll send a letter, right?…]

‘…I should write back right away.’

Yi-Han felt sorry when he saw Nillia’s crooked letter.

[…I believe you too are shedding good sweat drops. Wardanaz. These days I’m carving and refining an obelisk with the guild’s excellent craftsmen. It pleases me that the magic I learned at school wasn’t in vain.]

[I want to build the greatest structure in the empire someday. I would be glad if you could lend a hand when building that structure…]

‘Salko. To build a great structure, you need to find investors.’

As soon as he heard his friend’s dream, Yi-Han started calculating in his head.

Someone had to be realistic, right?

[…Today there was an event for nobles in the capital I was reminded of this anecdote seventy-seven years ago Imperial Chancellor Baldante said…]

“?”

Yi-Han checked who the letter was from, thinking he might have seen wrong.

Who sent this?

Surely Adenart wouldn’t have sent more in the meantime, and he didn’t have another friend who wrote so much in letters…

-Imperial bloodline, Adenart

“…”

It was indeed more from Adenart.

‘Is she perhaps bored?’

[…The bouillabaisse I ate there was truly exquisite I want to treat Wardanaz to it someday Your previous letter arrived but I’m a bit puzzled that a reply hasn’t come yet Something must have happened right? My friends don’t send letters I’m not disappointed I’m glad Wardanaz sends them…]

‘I should contact the followers and tell them to send letters right away.’

The followers’ thoughts were obvious. They probably thought they couldn’t rudely send letters first, so they were just staying still.

If left like this, a letter bomb would fly in!

“Wait here for a moment.”

“Yes.”

The carriage stopped and the skull principal flew off outside, but Yi-Han wasn’t very surprised.

This wasn’t the first or second time this had happened on this trip.

Alcicle asked while yawning,

“Wardanaz, are you going to your family mansion now?”

“Yes. After greeting them and inviting friends who can come, I’m going to do my work.”

“Your work, you mean magic research?”

“No. I’m going to take missions.”

“Adventurer missions? Why? Do you need reagents for magic?”

“Because it makes money?”

“I… I see.”

Alcicle was horrified. The reason was more direct than he expected.

‘Ah. Is that not it? Is he trying to gather money needed for magic research?’

Well, come to think of it, for someone like Wardanaz, even as a second-year, the scale of magic research or experiments he aimed for would be on a different level.

Then naturally, the costs involved would be different in order of magnitude too.

It made sense that he was working hard to save from now.

“…Work hard! I’ll cheer for you!”

“Thank you.”

Not long after, the skull principal returned.

The skull principal, who came back nonchalantly, was holding a human-sized bundle.

“What’s that? It looks just like a person.”

“It is a person.”

The skull principal threw the bundle in the corner of the carriage. Then a familiar noble, tightly bound, popped out of the bundle. It was someone Yi-Han had met before too.

“Du… Duke Icaldoren!”

“What!? Who!?”

Alcicle was so surprised he almost dropped the canned sardines he was holding.

He knew the skull principal occasionally kidnapped people, but he didn’t know he would kidnap an imperial duke.

Duke Icaldoren looked at the skull principal while struggling.

“Mmph! Mmph!”

“Lord Gonadaltes. Is what Wardanaz said really true?! No matter what, you can’t just kidnap an imperial duke like this!”

“Don’t worry. That bastard has too many weaknesses to blab anyway.”

“But…”

“Think about it carefully, Pengerin. Is this the first or second time I’ve kidnapped someone? Would I have recklessly brought a duke without any assurance?”

‘He’s right!’

Alcicle was strangely persuaded.

Certainly, Lord Gonadaltes wasn’t someone who would do such a thing without any thought.

“Now. Wardanaz. Take this. You worked hard during this trip.”

The skull principal threw a heavy pouch of gold coins.

It was filled with more gold coins than Yi-Han had earned and saved with blood and sweat all year.

“…!”

“That should be more than enough.”

“Principal!”

“What?”

“Do you perhaps have any more dukes to bring into the carriage?”

At Yi-Han’s question, the skull principal looked at Alcicle and said,

“…Do you know that sometimes even I get chills from my disciple?”

‘Who do you think he learned it all from?’

Alcicle muttered inwardly.

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