Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

“Oh. Professor.”

Lee Han spotted Professor Bendozol and greeted him.

Professor Bendozol immediately responded warmly to his disciple.

“You insolent, shameless, wicked, arrogant little idiot! Get down from there right now!! Putting weight on a dragon that hasn’t fully matured yet can dull the scales and cause stress!!”

If Lee Han had been standing in front of him instead of sitting atop the dragon, Professor Bendozol looked ready to strangle him on the spot.

Still, Lee Han wasn’t particularly bothered by the threats. In fact, he thought the situation worked out well.

Honestly, he’d already felt uncomfortable riding Jowurin in the first place.

“See, Your Majesty? Even Einroguard’s foremost expert says it’s dangerous. You could get hurt.”

…Waaah! But Jowurin is fine!!

Jowurin had been happily playing until some awful mage interrupted, and the unfairness of it all immediately brought tears to the dragon’s eyes.

Professor Bendozol clutched his chest again.

“Ghk!”

“Professor. Are you alright?”

“Stop… stop the dragon from crying!”

“Ah. It’s fine.”

Lee Han answered casually.

Children cried over trivial things all the time when they were young. Just earlier, Jowurin had cried because Lee Han wasn’t in the common room.

Unfortunately, that logic had absolutely no effect on Professor Bendozol.

“…Stop the dragon!”

Professor Bendozol roared with a face like a demon. Lee Han grumbled under his breath before turning to comfort Jowurin.

“Alright, Your Majesty. Let’s keep playing together. What were we doing again?”

At Lee Han’s words, Jowurin instantly stopped crying and beamed brightly.

Wardanaz shall play Saint Iactus! The servant will play the evil dragon!

“…”

Gainando’s face was hidden beneath the evil dragon mask, but the sheer resentment radiating from his body was impossible to miss.

“Grrrr. I am the evil dragon… Lee Han. Sob. Can’t we make White Tiger Tower students do this instead?”

“Quiet. I am Saint Iactus. I shall defeat the evil dragon.”

Wow!

Jowurin clapped his forepaws together excitedly.

At that moment, the dragon genuinely felt like the legendary dragon who once fought beside Saint Iactus.

“What happens next?”

Hmm! There were evil mages helping the dragon too!

“The Principal?”

Gonadaltes helps Saint Iactus! Oh! That mage over there should play the role!

Jowurin pointed directly at Professor Bendozol.

With how eccentric he was and how much he loved interfering, he truly did seem perfect for the role of Gonadaltes.

“No. No matter how annoying Professor Bendozol is, making him play the Principal is too cruel…”

“Shut up! Quiet already. Leave it to me!”

“…”

Professor Bendozol immediately cursed at his disciple for daring to oppose the dragon’s wishes. Jowurin’s eyes widened in shock.

Did… did he just curse at Lee Han??

“…No, I didn’t! It’s… it’s an expression of friendship!”

“?”

Lee Han nearly asked what kind of nonsense that was, but stopped when he saw Professor Bendozol desperately pleading with his eyes.

Who would’ve thought a professor could look that pitiful?

—Help me! Please!

“…Ah. Right. We’re close, so that’s why.”

Ah! Like how you were close to Professor Bagreg and always got beaten up?

“…”

Lee Han immediately regretted telling Jowurin random stories about Einroguard.

“That’s… slightly different. But yes. We’re close.”

“Yes! Very close!”

Professor Bendozol threw an arm around Lee Han’s shoulders and forced out the most unnatural smile in the Empire. Lee Han looked visibly disgusted.

Hmm. I understand! Then Gonadaltes’ role is decided too… next is Armergenh!

Weren’t those people from completely different eras?

Yonair silently wondered.

Armergenh was a legendary marksman from the old Seven Kingdoms era, famous for defeating a rampaging sun spirit.

But Jowurin valued fun far more than historical accuracy.

Without hesitation, the dragon scooped Nillia up with a forepaw and plopped her onto the dragon’s back. Nillia’s scream echoed through the room.

“Wow, Nillia. Impressive. His Majesty is picky about people. As expected of the Shadow Patrol.”

“Heeelp! I promise I’ll never doubt my friends again!”

“Sorry. I got dragged into this too.”

Watching the scene unfold, Professor Bendozol wept tears of blood.

Ungrateful little bastards!

***

After Jowurin’s theatrical reenactment finally ended, Professor Bendozol received a detailed explanation from the second-years.

You idiots should’ve stopped the dragon properly before this happened!

That sentiment was fully visible in the murderous glare he directed at Lee Han.

Lee Han responded immediately.

“Your Majesty. Please look at that professor over there.”

Huh?

“…”

Professor Bendozol instantly relaxed his expression and flashed a foolish grin instead. Jowurin recoiled.

Eww! That’s creepy!

“I apologize, Dragon. Humans are naturally an ugly species.”

N-no! That’s not what Jowurin meant! Lee Han, I didn’t mean it like that!

Afraid she might sound like a dragon who looked down on humans, Jowurin panicked and fidgeted anxiously.

“More importantly, Dragon, that’s not the issue right now. The Dragon’s safety comes first. You bronze-headed fools! Protect the Dragon with your lives if necessary! Understood!? Not a single second without guards around the common room!”

“…We have exams next week.”

“And classes to attend.”

The second-years stared at Professor Bendozol like he’d lost his mind.

Professor Bendozol looked ready to explode, but managed to restrain himself for Jowurin’s sake.

“Don’t you understand which is more important? The greatest and most beautiful life-form ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ in the Empire, or Einroguard lectures—”

T-that sounds excessive.

Even Jowurin looked horrified.

Dragons really didn’t seem that magnificent.

“Professor. We need a more realistic plan.”

Lee Han stepped in to calm things down.

As the person effectively responsible for Jowurin now, he needed to approach the situation seriously.

Even if Professor Bendozol was insane, he was still the professor most likely to actively help.

“Right. A realistic plan. Put curse necklaces on those idiots. Tell them the curse activates if they disobey.”

Should I just exclude him entirely?

Thinking that, Lee Han pulled out a schedule.

The only people he could reliably trust right now were the second-years, a handful of professors, and a very small number of upperclassmen like Diret.

Naturally, the second-years formed the largest group, so they had no choice but to rotate guard shifts.

“We’re planning to divide the schedule like this and keep watch over the common room in shifts. That should minimize any gaps.”

“I’ll camp outside Blue Dragon Tower personally for now.”

The second-years looked horrified.

Some lunatic professor camping outside the dormitory tower for an entire week?

Professor Bendozol, however, remained completely serious.

“But aren’t there too few guards?”

“It can’t be helped. Everyone still has lectures.”

“Hmph. Those damned lectures.”

Professor Bendozol cursed under his breath, though he reluctantly accepted the arrangement.

The student guards might be few, but if he personally guarded the tower entrance, no crazed mage would dare attempt anything blasphemous.

Lee Han. Jowurin wants… to follow everyone around and watch too…

After carefully gauging the mood, Jowurin timidly spoke up.

Lee Han and the second-years froze in alarm.

“Y-Your Majesty. Wouldn’t that be dangerous?”

“Crazy upperclassmen could ambush you!”

Hng…

“Dragon!”

Professor Bendozol suddenly raised his voice. The students looked over hopefully.

Surely even he would prioritize safety over sightseeing.

“Do whatever you want!”

“…”

Lee Han stared at him in disbelief.

Professor Bendozol casually scribbled something onto a sheet of paper, signed it, and handed it over.

The above student is hereby guaranteed full marks in both the lecture and examination for due to personally caring for the Empire’s greatest and most beautiful life-form.

—Professor Bendozol

“You no longer need to attend lectures or exams, so devote yourself fully to caring for the Dragon!”

“…No. Skipping a single lecture doesn’t solve anything. And is this even allowed? Won’t the Skull Principal throw me into the punishment cells?”

The Skull Principal was surprisingly invested in professors’ teaching methods.

More specifically, he took special interest in problematic professors.

And Lee Han was absolutely certain Professor Bendozol ranked high on that list.

“Who cares?”

“…”

Right. Someone already on the Skull Principal’s watch list probably wouldn’t fear punishment cells anymore.

Lee Han slowly nodded.

“…Understood. Skipping even one lecture would help.”

“First, recruit more guards!”

Professor Bendozol immediately pointed out that the moment Jowurin started following Lee Han around, gaps in security would become unavoidable.

No matter how talented the Wardanaz heir was, sheer numbers still mattered.

“Guards? At Einroguard?”

“What ignorant nonsense… I mean the professors and upperclassmen you mentioned earlier!”

“Ah. I planned to ask them to guard the common room entrance.”

“That’s nowhere near enough. The Dragon wants to follow you everywhere.”

“Then what exactly am I supposed to do?”

“What kind of stupid question is that? They’ll follow you too, obviously!”

“…??”

Lee Han genuinely didn’t understand.

Surely the professor wasn’t suggesting—

***

That was exactly what he meant.

Lee Han shuddered as Professor Voladi Bagreg and Professor Garcia walked beside him through the corridor.

Did this mean he had to attend classes accompanied by professors and upperclassmen for the entire week?

No matter how long Einroguard’s history stretched back, surely no student had ever attended lectures under circumstances like this.

—Tsk. Their security is airtight.

—Professor Garcia himself as an escort… As expected of House Wardanaz. Clever bastards.

Upperclassmen whispered resentfully from every direction.

Meanwhile, Jowurin smiled happily, completely oblivious to Lee Han’s internal suffering.

“Student Lee Han. Stay strong. Of course this situation is extremely awkward and unusual, but you’re doing what needs to be done.”

Professor Garcia, having accurately guessed Lee Han’s thoughts, offered encouragement.

Naturally, if a student walked around Einroguard attended by professors, absurd rumors would spread everywhere.

Fortunately, House Wardanaz’s heir had already reached the point where no additional rumors could meaningfully worsen his reputation.

Professor Voladi Bagreg checked a pocket watch and asked,

“Professor Garcia, your next lecture is…?”

“Mine begins in two hours. What about Professor Bagreg’s—”

Professor Voladi Bagreg stared silently at Professor Garcia.

Lee Han also stared silently at Professor Garcia.

Jowurin joined in too despite having no idea why.

“?”

“Professor… that question is incredibly rude.”

Lee Han whispered quietly.

Professor Garcia blinked in confusion before finally understanding.

“O-oh. Well, having no lecture is actually convenient! It means you can continue protecting us!”

“Thank you.”

That really doesn’t sound convenient at all.

Lee Han sighed.

Thinking about it, this entire disaster existed because he wasn’t strong enough.

If he possessed power comparable to the Skull Principal’s, there’d be no need to drag professors into lecture halls as bodyguards.

Wardanaz. What class is next? Jowurin is curious!

“It’s . A dark magic lecture taught by an upperclassman.”

“Wow. That sounds fun.”

“It’s an excellent lecture.”

Professor Garcia and Professor Voladi Bagreg followed Lee Han into the classroom.

The moment a dragon and two professors entered together, Diret—who had been casually waiting for his junior—instantly snapped his wings rigid in alarm.