Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 416

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 416

“What brings you here?”

“Ah. It’s because of a commission. Oh right. Let me introduce you. Hey. Everyone. This person is an Archmage. The one I mentioned before. Do you remember?”

“…”

“…”

When Gu Bon and Bijidek introduced Lee Han to the adventurers behind them, both Lee Han and Angrago froze.

“I’m not an Archmage…”

“Oh. You’re not?”

“You’re not… right?”

It was one thing for the adventurers to tilt their heads since they rarely met mages, but when even Angrago looked puzzled, Lee Han considered hitting him.

“Who are you talking about? Gu Bon, if you mean the mage you mentioned… Gasp!”

One of the adventurers widened his eyes as if he remembered. Gu Bon looked at his comrade with an expression that said ‘you finally remember?’

“You mean the one who joined the party and used magic to keep watch, used magic to light fires, used magic to summon water, used magic to cook, and used magic to conquer caves?!”

“I thought Gu Bon was looking down on me and talking nonsense…”

“…”

As the adventurers murmured among themselves, Gu Bon’s face turned bright red.

What kind of humiliation was this in front of the Archmage, no, the mage who was infinitely close to being an Archmage, to whom he owed so much?

“Why would I talk nonsense!! Are you looking down on me!?”

“Ah, no. Sorry. It just sounded too absurd.”

“I don’t know much about mages, but even I could tell that what you said was strange, Gu Bon.”

“Grr…! You idiots, in front of whom…! You must have heard about the mage who recently defeated the King of Ghouls! That’s this person!”

“The King of Ghouls?!”

The adventurers were even more shocked.

Adventurers who traveled around the Empire often heard rumors.

When they recently returned to Granden City, they had heard stories about the King of Ghouls several times in taverns, and that was him?

“But why would such a mage be with you, Gu Bon…?”

“I’m not disrespecting your skills, Gu Bon, but you’re not an adventurer capable of serving an Archmage, are you?”

“…”

As Gu Bon trembled with anger, Lee Han thought he should intervene to calm the commotion.

* * *

“Ah. So you’re from Einroguard. That explains it…”

The adventurers nodded and accepted the explanation.

Of course, not all students who attended Einroguard could display magic like Lee Han, but the adventurers didn’t know such details.

They simply accepted that since he attended a great magic school, he must be a great mage.

“As a student, I still have many shortcomings. And the subjugation story has been quite exaggerated.”

“Ah. So what Gu Bon said was also mixed with a lot of boasting?”

“That part is true.”

“…”

“…???”

The adventurers were confused but accepted it for now.

“More importantly, what commission brought you here?”

The reason Gu Bon and the adventurers came here was because of a recently received commission.

-Reports have come in of strange phenomena occurring repeatedly in the Black Rockstone Forest near Philone Village. It seems there have been changes in mana flow. Please check the forest and investigate thoroughly.

It wasn’t an extremely dangerous commission, but it wasn’t one that just anyone could handle either.

Mana scattered in nature flows and gathers, causing various changes, and sometimes phenomena occur that would surprise even veteran adventurers.

‘The connection to the Undead Realm last time was also such a phenomenon.’

It was work that required enough experience to observe and investigate the situation, and enough combat power to escape and report when something happened.

Gu Bon and the adventurers had such abilities, so they were recognized as qualified to carry out the commission.

‘Oh.’

Lee Han looked at the adventurers with slight respect after hearing about their commission.

Just from the explanation, he could feel that this wasn’t something anyone could do, but rather a commission that only quite experienced veteran adventurers could handle.

‘The reward must be good too. I should have taken such a commission.’

No matter how he thought about it, the commission he received during vacation was a big loss.

If he had known the King of Ghouls would appear, he wouldn’t have gone around that area collecting materials.

Lee Han also wanted to do commissions where he could just investigate and receive gold coins.

“But we’ve run into some problems… We’re debating whether we should withdraw or not.”

While investigating the Black Rockstone Forest, the adventurers realized that the forest’s terrain kept changing.

The gathered mana was creating illusions to confuse intruders.

Right now it was just the terrain changing, but if the illusions became more severe, their lives could be in danger.

The adventurers were pondering what to do.

“Ah. Could we ask for help from the mage? Since we’ve met like this, it must be fate.”

“Don’t say stupid things. Why would a mage be interested in such a trivial commission? It would be pocket change to him.”

‘That’s not true.’

Lee Han almost became serious.

The adventurers seemed to have too big a misunderstanding about mages.

“But last time he worked with Gu Bon…”

“That must have been because of the King of Ghouls. Gu Bon probably just played a guide role.”

Gu Bon was dumbfounded by his comrades speaking so openly while he was right there.

But he couldn’t refute it.

Because that’s exactly what his role was!

“…I’m not only interested in things like the King of Ghouls. I’m interested in any commission.”

“Really? Is that so?”

“But why…? It can’t be because of the gold coins…?”

“It must be for acquiring knowledge.”

“Ah.”

Instead of correcting the adventurers’ misunderstanding, Lee Han returned to the main topic.

“If it’s alright, I’d like to help. I do have a connection with Gu Bon here.”

Gu Bon looked touched.

“The reward is…”

“Please definitely accept it, mage!”

“That’s right. Of course, this level of reward might not mean much to you, mage, but this is a principle as adventurers. Since you’re helping with the work, you must receive compensation.”

“…Ah. Yes. Well.”

Lee Han was about to say ‘You must definitely give me the reward’ but felt embarrassed.

‘Not bad.’

To think he’d earn gold coins this easily. For the first time, Lee Han thought it was good to become a mage.

While other adventurers had to build up all kinds of experience and results, mages could participate just by name alone.

It was great to become a mage!

Moreover, traveling with adventurers would help avoid the attention of potential Einroguard pursuers.

“Hey. Wardanaz…”

Angrago, who had been listening from the side, whispered in a dumbfounded voice.

“We’re 1st year students. Are you confident you can handle this?”

“Angrago. Do you think I would bring this up without thinking it through?”

At Lee Han’s confident words, Angrago realized his mistake.

Come to think of it, although Wardanaz was the same 1st year student, he was a mage on a completely different level from Angrago.

‘Right. This guy is from the Wardanaz Family.’

Angrago nodded as if he understood.

“I asked a stupid question. Well, if you’re confident, it’s definitely better to accept in this situation. Traveling together will draw much less attention too. With your level of skill, it’s definitely enough…”

“Right. I’ll ask Baldoron to come with us.”

“…????”

Weren’t you going to solve it yourself?

* * *

Baldoron, the illusion mage of Philone Village.

He was close to being an ordinary mage with mediocre skills, the kind you might encounter once while traveling through various villages.

Those who had obtained magic books and taught themselves, or tried to learn by finding guilds or masters but had limitations in their abilities, would often stop like this and use magic as a means of livelihood.

Naturally, Baldoron had long since abandoned any desire to see the end of truth and the hidden side of the world through magic.

“…”

“Doesn’t the mage’s expression look a bit strange? Are you displeased?”

“Were we too rude?”

“…N-no.”

Baldoron quickly explained to the adventurers.

His frustrated emotions must have shown completely.

‘Why does an Einroguard student keep coming here…’

When someone knocked on the door, Baldoron had gone out without much thought, only to be shocked to the point where his heart sank.

The familiar Einroguard student had come to visit again.

-Baldoron. Could you possibly help us?

-…Why… no… I understand…

Baldoron couldn’t bring himself to refuse Lee Han’s pressure, no, request.

How could he refuse when he was doing business with magic in a village near Einroguard?

The students were being kind now, but who knew what kind of retaliation he might face later.

“Baldoron is not the type of person to act that way.”

Lee Han spoke firmly to the adventurers.

“We’re sorry. We misunderstood.”

“We’ve heard a lot that mages are all difficult to deal with…”

The adventurers apologized with sincere attitudes. Baldoron found that even more burdensome.

‘What if they get angry when we can’t solve the forest problem?’

Mages who came from places like Einroguard had a natural aura about them.

Even if such mages made mistakes, people of the Empire wouldn’t complain much.

-Ah, seeing that the mage failed, it must have been a really difficult task!

But mages like Baldoron didn’t have such an aura.

If he made even a small mistake in control, this kind of reaction would immediately follow.

-He failed? A mage? Is that mage really a mage? Isn’t he a quack?

At a glance, they seemed like experienced adventurers with considerable careers. Just thinking about what would happen if he failed made his stomach feel queasy.

“It’s an illusion.”

Lee Han warned first. He could feel an unusual flow of mana from the whitish fog.

“Oh no!”

“It’s reached the forest entrance… it’s expanded in the meantime.”

The adventurers frowned.

The range of the illusion’s influence had expanded all the way to the forest entrance.

It wasn’t a good sign.

“Baldoron. May I blow it away using the method you taught me last time?”

“Yes. …Yes?”

“Then I’ll blow it away.”

Baldoron, who had answered absentmindedly, was startled and tried to ask back.

‘What did he learn? I don’t remember teaching anything?’

However, having heard the answer, Lee Han didn’t hesitate and immediately swung his mana like a hammer to blow away the fog.

Instead of reading and interpreting the structure, it was a dispelling method that shattered the structure itself with intense impact.

“…”

Baldoron’s jaw dropped at that brutish solution.

‘He actually uses that????’

While it was theoretically possible, it was only used for very weak or small-scale illusion magic. He couldn’t even imagine how much mana would be consumed to blow away the entire fog surrounding the forest entrance.

The adventurers, who couldn’t grasp the situation, watched blankly before asking.

“Is it solved?”

“Yes.”

“Amazing!”

“…I didn’t do anything.”

“So modest too!”

“…”

Baldoron really wanted to go home.

* * *

After that, Baldoron and Lee Han broke through the forest’s illusions and found the correct path with excellent observation skills and amazing magic.

Baldoron did the observing, Lee Han did the solving.

When Lee Han asked questions, Baldoron reliably confirmed them.

The adventurers could only marvel at their perfect coordination.

“But why is that mage just standing still?”

“He’s conserving his mana.”

“…”

Angrago was also very conscious of the situation.

He wanted to help if he could, but…

‘I can’t understand it no matter how I look!’

From the outside, it just looked like he was brutishly swinging mana around to blow away the fog.

Of course, it probably wasn’t that kind of method, and there must be some extraordinary principle within it…

He just couldn’t figure it out.

When Lee Han blew away another fog, Angrago sighed deeply as if frustrated.

“Phew.”

And Baldoron also sighed deeply.

“Pheeew…”

“…???”

Angrago wondered why this great mage was acting like this.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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