Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

“...Why in the world did you make a plan like that? Wait. More importantly, which evil-god worshipers are you talking about? Frahgal?”

Giselle knew that the priests of that wicked order of excessive life had long held a grudge against Wardanaz.

Was he finally planning to draw his sword against them?

“What? No.”

“Then Ksaksarigol?”

“Of course it is Sanguros. No, why do you and Senior Caten both keep bringing up other evil-god worshipers?”

“......”

“You even subjugated them with me during the break, Moradi.”

“Yes. Sorry I failed to guess.”

Giselle spoke sarcastically.

“I accept your apology.”

“......”

“In any case, Professor Bagreg disappeared because of those bastards.”

“Professor Bagreg was kidnapped?!”

Giselle showed exactly the same reaction Senior Caten had shown.

A professor of Einroguard had been kidnapped...

“No. Professor Bagreg went missing in order to attack the order. More importantly, Moradi, did you not know that the professor had disappeared?”

“No.”

“Is White Tiger Tower not too heartless? To have so little interest in other people.”

“...Enough. Explain the rest.”

Suppressing the urge to hit him, Giselle tried to listen to her friend’s explanation.

For now, what she needed was information.

A short while later.

When her friend finished explaining, Giselle gave a small nod.

’I see.’

Once she had heard everything, it made sense.

Because Wardanaz was so good at acting as everyone’s caretaker, he looked like a kind and good-natured mage, but inside him lurked an untamable, ferocious beast.

A bastard who said whatever he wanted without showing the slightest fear even before kings from other dimensions or the Skull Principal’s insane duplicate had no reason to shrink back from evil-god worshipers.

The other side had effectively slapped Wardanaz, who had been trying to remain still, several times across the face...

Lee Han spoke in a slightly worried voice.

“This is different from an ordinary commission, after all. I do not know how they will take it.”

“That is certainly true.”

Giselle, who had been agreeing, suddenly stopped.

Wait.

’Hold on. Did this bastard assume I would accept without question?’

Of course, Giselle, who came from a knightly house, would not refuse something like the subjugation of evil-god worshipers, but for some reason she felt strangely indignant.

It was irritating that he had not explained it in advance, and even more irritating that his prediction had been right despite not explaining it.

“Hmm. No. It would be better to tell them honestly.”

“What else have you been hiding?”

When Giselle asked irritably, Lee Han waved his hand in denial.

“Not from you, Moradi. From the other White Tiger Tower friends. If I tell them the truth, they will withdraw on their own.”

“Wai—”

“Everyone, gather around! I have something to tell you!”

Giselle tried to stop him, but Lee Han had already called over his friends. The White Tiger Tower students, who had already been waiting, quickly gathered.

“In truth, this commission has a hidden purpose. We are going to subjugate evil-god worshipers.”

“!”

A quiet shock spread among the students.

“So even now, you can still withdraw—”

“If you intend to leave me behind for something like this, cut me down first, Wardanaz!”

Anglago shouted with his eyes wide open. Giselle, standing behind him, let out a deep sigh and said,

“...I was trying to tell you it would have the opposite effect.”

***

When one lived in Blue Dragon Tower, it was easy to fall into the illusion that students from the other towers lived in much the same way.

But that was not true. Their races and backgrounds were all different, so naturally their patterns of behavior were bound to differ as well.

For example, if one asked Gainando, “We are going to subjugate evil-god worshipers. Do you want to come?” there was a high chance Gainando would burst into tears, which was why Lee Han had not even asked.

And it was not only Gainando. Among the Blue Dragon Tower students, there were few who would show interest or come running in alarm at the words subjugation of evil-god worshipers.

However, the White Tiger Tower students were different.

Since most of them came from knightly houses, to the White Tiger Tower students, a subjugation like this was an honor they could not afford to miss.

“I see. So that is what happened.”

Caten looked at the White Tiger Tower juniors gathered behind Lee Han with an expression of understanding.

Indeed, for those from knightly houses, it would be difficult to stand by and let an opportunity like this pass.

How strong and dangerous the enemy was did not matter. If anything, the greater the danger, the greater the honor of the achievement in opposing them.

’I really have been distracted lately. To think I would make such a basic mistake.’

Lee Han reflected on himself.

He had unconsciously treated his White Tiger Tower friends as though they were Blue Dragon Tower students.

“Even so, you made a good decision, Junior. To give the other juniors an opportunity like this.”

Caten looked at his junior with gratitude.

Having a capable friend was certainly helpful in many ways. Had Caten not managed to learn this much magic precisely because he had friends like Diret and Ileg?

“A gift?”

The White Tiger Tower students behind him muttered.

The price they had paid was far too harsh for it to be called a gift.

***

-Oh... I see.

Only after Giselle pointed it out did Lee Han realize it.

There was no point in telling the White Tiger Tower students that it was dangerous.

-Wardanaz! If you intend to leave me behind too, cut me—

-All right.

-Y-You were really trying to cut me, you bastard!

-You dodge well.

Lee Han muttered as he watched Anglago retreat.

Lately, he often felt that his friends’ magical skills had improved far more than expected.

In the case of the White Tiger Tower students in particular, many of them habitually kept two or three reinforcement spells active, so if Lee Han wanted to catch them and assign them some work, even he had to brace himself.

In truth, one major reason for the rapid improvement in the magical abilities of the current Einroguard second-years was that a single mad mage in their year relentlessly drove them forward without pause, but Lee Han had not realized this at all.

Having quickly widened the distance, Anglago shouted to his friends.

-Everyone, be careful. Wardanaz’s attack patterns mainly include telekinesis, lightning, fire, water orbs, flying swords, spatial movement, evil-eye curses, and undead summons! Do not forget that he also uses swordsmanship if you get close!

-...Thank you, Anglago! Thanks to you, courage is welling up inside me!

-Let us resolve this through dialogue, Wardanaz! Violence is not a method befitting a mage!

Although they were the students among the four towers who revered violence the most, whenever they faced Lee Han, they transformed into people who preferred formality and manners even more than Blue Dragon Tower.

At the shameless claims of the White Tiger Tower students, Lee Han shouted in disbelief.

-You came along on someone else’s commission without permission, and now you want to resolve it through dialogue?

-Wardanaz. Think about it! Would having dependable frontliners like us not help your magic?

-Senior Caten is there, and Moradi is there, so I am fine.

-...Two are not enough. There should originally be more frontliners. Do you not know how knight orders protect mages on the battlefield?

-Hmm.

It was an argument they had hastily improvised, but the White Tiger Tower students’ claim sounded fairly plausible.

It was certainly not a bad thing to have more people capable of fighting.

-Then... How about only those who can defeat me one-on-one get to go?

-......

-...You might as well just tell us not to come, you bastard.

The White Tiger Tower students angrily booed him. Even Dergeu shook his head.

That was going too far!

Slightly flustered, Lee Han revised the condition.

-All right. Fine. Then... How about only those who can use aura get to go?

-......

-...Are you not seriously being too cruel?

Faced with continued opposition, Lee Han put his head together with his friends and searched for a compromise.

Two against one, three against one...

After fierce negotiations, and duels even fiercer than those negotiations, the White Tiger Tower {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} students finally managed to obtain permission to accompany them.

The students who had received permission gritted their teeth as they endured the pain rising from having been beaten.

And inwardly, they thought,

’You evil-god-worshiping bastards. We will never forgive you...!’

***

“The eyes of the juniors are overflowing with vigor, and an intense presence flows from their entire bodies as though they have just returned from battle.”

Caten praised the juniors.

Ordinary second-year students would usually become excited and let their guard down when given a chance to go outside, but today, the White Tiger Tower students carried the air of knights who had just finished fighting.

“Th-Thank you.”

The White Tiger Tower students did not know how to respond to the praise of a senior they revered as though he were the sky itself.

This senior from House Jahan was something of a legend within White Tiger Tower.

Fifth-years were difficult to encounter in the first place, but Caten was special even among them.

Most fifth-years were either in the punishment room or wandering through Einroguard’s remote mountains and deep valleys...

And the few students who knew the truth quietly remained silent because they did not want to tarnish Caten’s mysterious image.

They wanted Caten to remain the mysterious swordsmanship genius of White Tiger Tower.

“But how are you planning to carry out the subjugation of the evil-god worshipers? Do you at least know where they appeared?”

“I am planning to use the method we used during the previous commission.”

At Lee Han’s words, Ibinta, who was driving the carriage ahead, flinched.

He intended to use that mad method of total devastation again?!

’Insane.’

On the way north, they would inevitably stop at one or two cities and four or five villages. If a subjugation like the previous one took place in every single location...

Without realizing it, Ibinta rubbed his neck. Even after this matter ended, it seemed he should avoid visiting the western or northern Empire.

Everyone from thieves to mercenaries would place a bounty on his head!

’Once I am released, I should flee to the far eastern end of the Empire and never return.’

“It was quite effective. Was it not, Mr. Ibinta?”

“Ah... Uh... Yes... Yes! It was.”

With moist eyes, Ibinta looked at the Death Knights riding beside him.

It was a desperate plea for help.

However, the knights coldly shook their heads.

’This is not a matter for us to intervene in.’

After the previous commission ended, what had surprised the knights most was that the Skull Principal, upon hearing the shocking news, had unexpectedly shown no reaction.

The Skull Principal had merely asked a few questions.

-The officials let it pass without objection?

-Yes.

-Those despicable bastards. If I do it, it is a shameless act that shakes the laws of the Empire, but if Wardanaz does it, it becomes an act of justice? Understood.

-...Do you have nothing else to say?

-I do not. Did you want me to say something?

-N-No.

At the very least, some of them had expected to be sent to the punishment room on the grounds that they had failed to properly assist Lee Han and allowed him to run wild, but when every one of them was released unharmed, the knights became puzzled instead.

Why?

There was no way to know the answer, and because of that, several conspiracy theories had even begun to circulate among the knights.

Their master had actually provoked it, perhaps their master had even recruited the evil-god worshipers, perhaps their master was still in contact with Professor Bagreg, and so on.

Wicked slander that would have sent them straight to the punishment room had the Skull Principal heard it flowed without pause.

In any case, since they had not received an answer, there was only one course of action the knights could take.

’It must mean there was no problem, so we can do exactly the same thing again.’

If the chaos they had caused last time had truly been a problem, the Skull Principal would certainly have said so.

Since the Skull Principal had simply let it pass, the knights took that as permission.

“So what method did you use during the previous commission? Did you create a spy and send one inside?”

“It was a little different. First...”

While Lee Han was speaking, a group of people appeared at the far end of the road, hurriedly riding their horses toward them through a cloud of dust.

“Have you come from Einroguard?!”

“We have.”

“We captured the suspicious people first! Please, show mercy, and do not repeat what happened in the city of Vepaim...!”

“......”

Giselle was horrified.

’What in the world did he do in the city of Vepaim?’

What had he done for the city of Vepaim to become a symbol of terror to suspicious criminals?