Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy Chapter 881

Chapter 881

Though puzzled, Yi-Han nodded for now.

Surely the mad doppelganger would know more about giants than he did.

All Yi-Han knew about giants was from meeting them after entering Einroguard, while the mad doppelganger would have met countless giants in his lifetime...

"Let's go, Lord Yi-Han of the Wardanaz family."

Intarendals, an ancestor of the Dargard family and a noble from the old Three Kingdoms era, walked out from the workshop after finishing preparations.

Behind him, several self-moving carts were waiting. They seemed to be the negotiation price to give to the giants.

-Jourin wants to go too!-

"Descendant of noble blood. The giants are rough and fierce beings."

-Then why is Yi-Han going?-

"...Shouldn't a disciple be able to handle this much?"

It was truly a rare sight to see the mad doppelganger, who maintained an arrogant attitude without breaking a sweat even in front of the skull principal himself, flustering like this.

Yi-Han was about to follow Intarendals but stopped to watch. When else would he see something like this?

"What are you doing?"

"I was checking the items in the carts."

Yi-Han quickly made an excuse. At that excuse, Intarendals looked at Yi-Han with a pleased expression.

As expected of a mage chosen by Gonadaltes as a disciple, he was extraordinarily meticulous.

-Jourin wants to go too! Jourin wants to go too! Jourin wants to go too!!-

"Depart."

As Jourin prepared to perform a left and right rolling motion, the mad doppelganger hurriedly gave orders to his disciple.

Taking advantage of the confusion, Eandurde cautiously asked.

"Can I go along too..."

"What nonsense are you talking about? No. It's dangerous."

"..."

Eandurde was dumbfounded.

Then why was he going so readily?

  *

"Are the giants that dangerous?"

"Ah. The giants... I suppose you could say so. Lord Yi-Han of the Wardanaz family."

Intarendals let out a sigh as if old memories had come back to him.

During the Three Kingdoms era, giants were a mercenary race that appeared wherever destruction and plunder were needed.

Giants who had smashed castle walls on the siege side yesterday would smash siege weapons on the defense side today.

As long as they were given gold, giants faithfully carried out any request, and sometimes it seemed like they wished for this war to last forever.

"...The giants in the mountains don't seem that bad though...?"

Yi-Han was taken aback by the giants' past, which was more brutal than he had thought.

Of course, those giants would be the ancestors of the ancestors of the ancestors of the current mountain giants, but it was still shocking.

"Of course. As time passes, kingdoms decline and heroes age, everything changes. It's not strange that the giants' anger has been somewhat tamed. But Lord Yi-Han of the Wardanaz family. You must not forget. That embers sleep in the giants' hearts. The moment those embers flare up fiercely, the giants..."

-Did you find us?-

"!"

A huge head suddenly popped out from behind a peak. It was the giants.

Intarendals cleared his throat once and then gestured. The cloths covering the carts behind him scattered, revealing dazzling gold to be offered to the giants.

Yi-Han stared at the light emitted by that gold as if entranced.

'No. How much of their heritage did the Dargard family lose?'

The mad doppelganger wouldn't have secured assets in the meantime, so it must be gold that only Intarendals brought.

From the Dargard family's perspective, it must be very unfair.

Instead of passing down heritage to their descendants, their ancestor was investing in a strange ancient great mage...

-What is this?-

"?!"

However, the giants were indifferent. Taking a bite of cheese made from mountain-destroying goat milk, the giants said.

-Mages like shiny gold. We're not that stupid.-

"No...!"

Intarendals was flustered by the giants' reaction, which was so different from the past.

Giants indifferent to gold?

It was as unrealistic and unbelievable as demons who became servants deceived by humans instead of deceiving humans.

-Wardanaz!-

The giants, who were about to gruffly drive away the strangers, opened their eyes wide upon discovering Yi-Han.

-Why did you come after so long!-

-We missed you! We thought the mages had locked you up!-

The giants all welcomed Yi-Han with smiles.

-We heard Wardanaz was kidnapped. Those mages are pathetic.-

-We are strong. We don't let even the goats we raise get kidnapped.-

"Have you been kidnapped before?"

Intarendals spoke to Yi-Han in a voice of disbelief. Yi-Han looked at him as if dumbfounded.

Who else but the master Intarendals served would have kidnapped Yi-Han!

"...More importantly, I came because I have a favor to ask."

-Follow us! We'll guide you.-

-It was just mealtime.-

"I've already eaten and am full."

Yi-Han, who knew the giants' food, answered immediately. The giants were very pleased at this.

-As expected of Wardanaz, so polite!-

-The most hated mage comes and asks for food! Follow us!-

As the giants stomped ahead, Intarendals finally seemed to recover from the shock and opened his mouth again.

"The giants have truly changed a lot... Even though time changes all things, to think it would be to this extent."

"Hmm. Is that so?"

Yi-Han, who had been listening to the story, suddenly became curious and asked.

"Were demons more evil in the past?"

"More evil?"

"I mean... Many of the demons I know are working as slaves in the territory, deceived by contracts. But when I look at history books, they give a much more evil impression..."

"Ah. I see what you mean. I was greatly surprised too when I visited Einroguard."

Intarendals nodded as he realized what Yi-Han was talking about.

It wasn't just kingdoms and giants that changed over time. Demons had changed a lot too.

During the Three Kingdoms era, demons were truly symbols of terror and calamity.

When a demon appeared once, it didn't end with just subjugating it. There were demon worshippers deceived by the demon, and minions recruited by those demon worshippers.

It was no exaggeration to say that the entire region was contaminated.

However, now the mages of the continent, including Einroguard, were rather easily exploiting demons in reverse.

If the victims of demons from the Three Kingdoms era saw this, they would shed tears of emotion.

"It seems time declines kingdoms and ages heroes, but accumulates wisdom. Seeing how they handle demons like this."

"Could it be that the principal spread the secret method?"

Yi-Han cautiously threw out a question.

Though it was a hypothesis, it was quite a convincing one. There were few people who had lived since ancient times like the skull principal, and even fewer among such people who actively took action like that.

'And he's also the party benefiting the most from using demons.'

He didn't do it in the past, but now he was using dozens or hundreds of demon slaves, so no matter how Yi-Han thought about it, the skull principal seemed a bit suspicious.

Of course, as Intarendals served the mad doppelganger as his master and denied the skull principal himself, such questions had to be cautious. They could be perceived as praise.

"Hmm... I can't completely deny it. Of course, the current lord of Einroguard is presumptuously impersonating the master, but he's still the master's doppelganger, isn't he? Then it could indeed be called a truly great achievement..."

"Huh? You mean using hundreds of demons?"

"No, Lord Yi-Han of the Wardanaz family. That's not what I mean. I'm talking about spreading the secret method of dealing with demons to the continent."

"Ah."

Yi-Han felt slightly embarrassed.

'Well, that is... an achievement...'

Like developing and spreading a cure for an incurable disease, organizing and spreading a method to deceive demons could also be considered a high achievement.

In the process, he did command hundreds of demons himself, but still!

'Giants have changed, demons have changed, so much has changed. Though it's natural.'

Yi-Han newly felt the difference between the past and present that ancient figures like the skull principal spoke of.

And despite living for so long, the perseverance of the skull principal who still consistently caused mischief was also newly...

"Oh. Lord Intarendals. May I ask one more thing?"

"Ask anything."

"Is the star called Arna such a dangerous star?"

Basically, mages' contracts started with easily accessible spirits and ended with demons or races from other realms, not often going as far as stars.

Even the divination magic school only dealt with it in a limited way because of its high difficulty and danger, so there was no reason to forcibly contract with stars.

Therefore, there were relatively few books on this celestial magic, and Yi-Han didn't have a chance to study it in advance. It was hard to understand why they reacted like that just hearing the name Arna.

"Arna! It's a name I haven't heard in a long time. But why are you asking about that?"

Intarendals, who hadn't heard Yi-Han and the mad doppelganger's conversation earlier, asked for the reason.

"...I just happened to hear the name."

Yi-Han made an excuse, afraid a similar reaction might occur if he said he had contracted with it.

"Hmm. It's not a name you would hear by chance... Anyway, the guest star Arna is not a dangerous star. Rather, it's a star of glory."

"Ah. Is that so?"

Yi-Han brightened.

He had been uncomfortable as only negative reactions kept coming after the contract (though the mad doppelganger showed a positive reaction, it wasn't very helpful), but this was the first time he heard something good.

"Yes. It's the star of reformers, destroying kingdoms and melting crowns."

"..."

Yi-Han's face hardened.

For a brief moment, a headline that would be printed in large letters in the imperial newspaper flashed through his mind.

...Descendant of Wardanaz family, 'Shock' over charges of imperial rebellion... Revealed to have dreamed of a new imperial dynasty...

...An ambitious man who cleverly deceived the royals, revealing his true colors!...

"How is this not a dangerous star???"

"Huh? It's a star the master also contracted with. It's not a dangerous star, but a star of glory."

Intarendals spoke in genuine surprise.

From the perspective of ancient astrology and celestial magic, the guest star Arna was a star that appeared for heroes when the continent was in chaos and grief.

A star that helped the hero's path with the most intensely burning light!

The chosen hero also burned brilliantly like that star and threw himself for the continent. He did not betray the star's choice.

"..."

Yi-Han's face hardened as much as it could possibly harden. It seemed like even a petrification spell couldn't harden it this much.

"...If such a star appears and contracts with someone when the continent is stable and peaceful, what does that make that person?"

"Hmm. Well, that's a difficult assumption. But..."

Intarendals tried his best to make assumptions while searching his memory.

As contracts with stars were open to many interpretations, and many things could only be known after the results came out, it was quite difficult for Intarendals, who wasn't an expert.

But still, as his master's disciple was asking like this, he had to squeeze out his meager talents.

"Two things come to mind right now."

"I'd like to hear your esteemed opinion."

"First, one is that a great crisis is about to befall the continent, and you'll sacrifice yourself to prevent that crisis."

"...And the other one?"

"The continent may seem stable and peaceful, but it's actually slowly rotting away, so you might be a usurper trying to become emperor yourself."

"..."

Yi-Han suddenly ran to the side of the road and began shouting down into a deep valley.

The giants who had gathered to wait for Yi-Han were startled and ran out. Then they pointed at Intarendals.

-What did you say to Wardanaz! For that kind Wardanaz to curse like that!-

-By the way, who's the Yaksha King?-