Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy Chapter 1025

Chapter 1025

However, after hearing the explanation, Alcicle could understand why Yi-Han got angry.

Who wouldn't get angry being told to just go try space-time magic that specifies desired spaces?

If Alcicle had heard such words, he would have thrown a sardine at their face.

"S-sorry."

"I was originally going to ask Professor Garcia, but thinking about it, she's probably busy. The principal would be better, right?"

"?"

"???"

The Black Tortoise Tower and Immortal Phoenix Tower friends beside them all had question marks on their faces.

Siana whispered to Tijiling.

"Does he usually ask the principal even when there's something he doesn't know?"

"Shh. Sister Siana. He'll hear everything..."

Alcicle spoke firmly to his junior.

"Asking Professor Kim is definitely better. I'll relay the message."

"Why? Ah. Come to think of it, the principal must be busy too..."

"No. I just don't want Lord Gonadaltes coming here."

"..."

Though it was a ridiculous reason, Yi-Han was overwhelmed because Alcicle was so serious.

Alcicle quickly wrote a letter.

Mages who exchanged paper birds over long distances usually carried separate artifacts that emitted mana resonance allowing them to fly to their location, then informed the other party of that mana pattern.

Since he regularly exchanged paper birds with Professor Garcia, Alcicle sent the letter without difficulty.

"Let's wait 3 days... no, 4 days! Wardanaz, you can go to the market during that time too!"

"Eh. There's nothing to buy right now, seems like a waste of time."

'You just told the priests to go sightseeing at the capital market...'

Salko was dumbfounded inwardly.

What a crazy magic addict!

"But alright. While waiting I'll check the remaining parts of the mansion..."

Whoosh-

"!"

The students were startled when a paper bird returned over the mansion so soon after Alcicle had sent one.

What was this?

"Is it a different paper bird?"

"No... it's definitely from Professor Kim? What is this? Is she in the capital?"

The penguin mixed-blood mage checked the letter with a surprised face.

[To Sir Alcicle of the Pengerin family!!

I heard from the principal!!!

Taking student Yi-Han along to track an other-realm monster, if other professors knew they absolutely wouldn't forgive…]

Whoosh!

Alcicle quickly burned the first page to destroy evidence. The students asked puzzled.

"Why did you burn it?"

"P-Professor Kim said to burn the first page."

Avoiding their gazes, Alcicle hurriedly read the next contents.

Fortunately, Professor Garcia had only vented her anger on the first page and written normal content after.

[...I am in the capital now for magic school business. If Yi-Han has something to ask, please tell him to come to the Rock Spirit's Apple Jam Cafe…]

"The professor says to come to the Rock Spirit's Apple Jam Cafe?"

"Oh. Thank you."

[...But is it really a problem Yi-Han can't solve? Just in case, please tell him to try once more before coming…]

'Better pretend I didn't see this.'

Alcicle burned the final postscript too.

If Yi-Han saw it, he might jump up and down with rage.

"Then I'll be going now, Sir Alcicle."

"Right. Have a good trip!"

After seeing Yi-Han off, Alcicle strongly felt he was missing something.

What was it?

'What is it? Why does this feel strange...'

Alcicle moved his feet to check if there was something strange in the mansion.

The mage ghost in the basement was still quiet, perhaps thanks to Yi-Han asking it to wait, and other areas were quickly regaining their original form thanks to the Einroguard students working together.

"Sir Pengerin! A guest has arrived!"

"Is it Lady Erindarbell? Really now. She should check once before giving mansions. Though it suits Wardanaz, that's still too much..."

"No. It's Professor Bagrak."

"...!!!!!!"

Finally Alcicle realized what he had been missing.

He had been keeping Yi-Han beside him because of Boladi Bagrak in the first place!

  *

"Wow. The flavor of this stone soup is really excellent!"

"Indeed."

The mages from Petroguard Magic School marveled at the stone soup's taste.

This plain-looking stone soup brought by the rock spirit had an unbelievably rich soul flavor.

Kikikik.

When the passing rock spirit acted shy, the mage whistled in praise.

"Over here, Professor Kim!"

"Hello everyone!"

Professor Garcia, who arrived at the cafe belatedly, politely greeted the guests from other magic schools.

Since she had called them because she needed something, her attitude had to be even more exaggerated.

"You seem thinner than when we last met."

A mage dressed like a typical imperial gentleman with a mustache, hat and silk vest spoke as if worried.

"Ah, no..."

"If Professor Kim collapses, we'll have no one left at Einroguard who we can talk to."

Another mage chimed in. Unlike his companion, this mage was dressed in free-style clothing.

Actually, calling it free-style was being very generous - to be precise, it was similar to Einroguard student attire.

Looking like a beggar with tattered patchwork draped like a cloak!

"What... That's even more not true. There are so many good professors at Einroguard."

"Who are you talking about?"

"Who?"

"..."

Professor Garcia subtly changed the subject.

"So you two. Have you thought about the exchange meeting or competition proposal?"

The empire's magic schools didn't frequently exchange with each other.

It wasn't because exchanges would be disadvantageous (though it was disadvantageous for certain magic schools), but because each magic school had their own circumstances.

In Einroguard's case, there was the surprising circumstance that most professors weren't interested.

And in Petroguard's case...

"The proposal is an honor, Professor Kim. But it seems our mages won't accept."

"I think so too."

The two mages answered apologetically.

Though they both had goodwill toward Professor Garcia as an outstanding mage, they couldn't arbitrarily decide inter-school matters.

"Could you perhaps tie up Professor Verduus tightly and send him to our school? Then we might really do anything. We could even make and send twice the magic items you requested last time."

"Th-that's a bit..."

Professor Garcia clenched her fist to avoid wavering.

One of the biggest temptations encountered outside Einroguard was the Verduus sale proposals from suspiciously wealthy imperial people.

-If you bring just Professor Verduus's head, I will bestow enough gold to fill an entire castle!-

And Petroguard Magic School was no exception.

Because Professor Verduus had tricked them several times before, Petroguard mages were still grinding their teeth.

"But this is really a good opportunity, everyone. You know how important it is to increase exchanges between magic schools and show what role mages play throughout the empire."

Professor Garcia wanted to increase the exchanges between various magic schools that had been cut off for a while.

Officially to show people (especially bureaucrats) of the empire what value magic schools had, and privately...

"His Majesty also said he would provide massive support."

"Hmm."

"We received that too."

Unlike bureaucrats who ground their teeth at the sight of magic schools, the emperor highly valued mages and magic schools.

As such, he consistently supported magic schools and tried to help them establish themselves in bright places in the empire.

The problem was that magic schools were disgustingly disobedient.

Just looking at Einroguard with Professor Garcia stepping up made it obvious.

'Lord Gonadaltes definitely pretended not to hear His Majesty's words and ignored them...'

Just now Petroguard had pretended not to see the letter asking them to consider exchanges or friendly competitions because they didn't need anything, so it was obvious how the even more outrageous mage administrator of Einroguard would have been.

"Can't be helped. Sigh. If it's hard to persuade Petroguard, other magic schools will be even harder..."

"No! Don't tell me those Baldurguard bastards refused!?"

The mage was enraged that Baldurguard had refused Einroguard's proposal, despite having refused himself.

Professor Garcia answered in bewilderment.

"Ah, no. The Baldurguard people always say yes."

"That's a relief. Of course they should!"

"..."

At the intense reaction, Professor Garcia thought inwardly.

Even so, wasn't this too harsh on Baldurguard?

"Anyway, I understand. Thank you both for coming out here today..."

"N-no, Professor Kim. We wouldn't have called you all the way here just to refuse, right? We have a proposal too."

"?"

Professor Garcia suddenly sent a wary gaze.

"We can't give you Professor Verduus."

"...That's not it!"

"No matter what, would we deceive Professor Kim and forcibly take Professor Verduus?"

The two Petroguard mages strongly protested. But Professor Garcia didn't let go of her suspicion.

Until now, people who wanted Professor Verduus's head had deployed all kinds of cunning schemes.

"Actually, there's a great mage at our Petroguard now."

"Oh! What kind of person?"

Professor Garcia was delighted.

Most great mages known in the empire had ambiguous activities.

Lord Gonadaltes and Lady Erindarbell were exceptional cases, and great mages usually moved mysteriously throughout the empire and beyond or across realms pursuing their arcane knowledge.

So having such a great mage at Petroguard naturally caught Professor Garcia's interest.

"Well... Their ability is definitely great mage level but... they're a bit suspicious."

"...A magic criminal?"

Professor Garcia tensed.

There were some great mages among magic criminals.

If so, they needed to approach carefully to ensure the Petroguard mages wouldn't get hurt.

"That's not it! No... since we don't know their identity, they could be a magic criminal...? Well... um... I'll be honest. We suspect they might be a former disciple of Lord Gonadaltes."

"What!?"

Petroguard was a wandering magic school that moved throughout the empire instead of having a fixed school territory.

Then one day, a mage visited such a Petroguard. That mage with extraordinary ability and aesthetic sense instantly captivated the Petroguard mages.

-Amazing! This magic I've never seen before...-

-It's nothing.-

-Lord Gonadaltes used magic like this, could there be a connection?-

-...Get out of my sight!?!-

Crash!

-???!-

A great mage who was suspiciously excellent at magic, proficient in ancient magic hard to find in the empire, and became very angry when Gonadaltes's name came up.

This was a magic criminal in the best case, and in the worst case, a former disciple of the skull principal.

"No matter how much we searched, there was no one matching among magic criminals. So we tried to subtly send them away but..."

"Did they refuse?"

"Yes. They said they would stay until they wanted to leave."

Because of this, the Petroguard mages were divided into two.

The 'Are you crazy keeping someone suspected to be the skull principal's former disciple?' faction and the 'It's not certain yet and they could be a magic criminal so can't we keep them at school a bit longer?' faction.

These two were naturally the former.

"At first we thought about calling Lord Gonadaltes, but it seemed like it would backfire."

"...That's true..."

Professor Garcia immediately understood.

If they were the skull principal's former disciple, in other words Professor Garcia's senior, they would likely become extremely angry just seeing the principal.

"But don't Lord Gonadaltes's disciples care for each other? Please, Professor Kim, persuade them! Then we'll do our best to implement your proposal too!"

"Well... seniors do pity juniors but... since I've already become an Einroguard professor, they'll probably treat me as the principal's lackey..."

As Professor Garcia trailed off, she spotted the Wardanaz family boy walking from far away.

If they really were a senior disciple, this was the skull principal school's youngest star disciple who they would most purely feel sorry for.