Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy
chapter-512

"Why didn't you help?"

Yi-Han exhaled the breath he had been holding while holding the Morning Star.

The basilisk tightly wrapped around his wrist rebuked his friends with its tail as if agreeing.

However, his friends ungratefully retorted.

"There was no time to help!"

"It would have been reckless even if it were you!"

"From my perspective, the time was a bit..."

The friends who were getting angry suddenly became curious and asked.

"But how did you defeat it in such a short time? Ah. I see."

Salko looked at the basilisk with a look of realization.

"You used this basilisk's evil eye. Am I right?"

-...-

The baby basilisk avoided eye contact in embarrassment.

Jijel, who was next to him, sighed and said.

"If it were the basilisk's evil eye, we would have felt it too. Tutanta. You're not a swordsman, so you don't seem to know, but look at what Wardanaz is holding."

Yi-Han was holding the Morning Star.

"I see."

"Yeah. He must have coated the sword with the basilisk's poison."

-...-

The basilisk just went into Yi-Han's coat.

Yi-Han patted its tail to comfort it and began to explain.

"It's not because of the basilisk, but because of the power of this sword. It's made of black purplestone, so it strongly absorbs mana."

The famous sword used by anti-magic extremists, the Morning Star, exhibited even stronger power in certain situations.

The ghost mage was originally not an opponent that Yi-Han and Adenart could easily defeat by themselves, but...

It just so happened to make the mistake of trying to cast a contact-type magic by getting close.

While other novice mages would have been flustered and dropped their staff in a situation where their distance was taken away as a mage, Yi-Han immediately drew the Morning Star when the opponent broke through the magic and approached.

The ghost mage, who had never expected Yi-Han, a mage, to carry a sword like the Morning Star, took heavy damage.

-Kwaaak...!? Why does a mage have this sword...!?-

"I was lucky."

"...No, really, why are you carrying such a sword?"

At Salko's question, the other friends also unconsciously nodded their heads.

Why would a mage carry such an artifact?

It was an item that would not only cause mana depletion but also adversely affect various magic castings.

And he was practicing magic while deliberately carrying that...!

"Think about it, Salko. At this school, would you have more occasions to fight with mages or with non-mages?"

"..."

At first, Salko tried to dismiss it as nonsense, but when he thought about it carefully, it seemed somewhat plausible.

'...Is that so?'

"Tutanta. I believe you're not stupid enough to fall for that nonsense right now. You're not that stupid."

Anyway, the students who had overcome the trial waited for a while instead of going up.

Poof!

The reward appeared in front of the students with smoke.

"Come to think of it, what did you guys get last time?"

"We got shock-absorbing armor."

When Anglago answered right away, Jijel glared at him as if he were pathetic.

'Anyone would think we're from the same tower.'

"Oh. That's a good item. I've never seen it, have you not taken it out yet?"

"...Last time when you hit me, I was wearing it inside..."

"..."

When the atmosphere became awkward, Yi-Han quickly changed the subject.

"Look, the reward is out!"

"Is that really a reward?"

Salko frowned at the shabby appearance of the reward.

Surprisingly, a bundle of paper was the entire reward.

Of course, the value of an item could not be judged solely by its appearance, but this was a bit...

"This is a communication artifact."

Yi-Han was the first among his friends to recognize the identity of this artifact.

Since he had seen it in the secret base before, he could immediately recognize it when he felt a similar mana pattern.

"A communication artifact?"

"Yeah. If you pour ink into it like this..."

When Yi-Han took a sheet of paper and wrote 'Gainando is stupid,' the same words 'Gainando is stupid' appeared on the other papers as well.

It had the same principle as the one he had obtained before, but the difference was that this one could be used for communication among many people.

"There was such an artifact!"

"Yeah. By the way, be careful if you get an artifact like this at school. I heard the seniors mercilessly scam you."

'How does this guy know this?'

While his friends were puzzled, Yi-Han took the bundle of paper.

"I was planning to go out anyway, so next time I go out, I'll sell it and exchange it for silver coins and then distribute it to you guys."

"..."

"...???"

The friends who were listening to Yi-Han's explanation hesitated.

Something was strange.

Priestess Tijiling raised her hand and carefully asked.

"Um, I have a question."

"What is it?"

"Why are you selling that??"

Jijel couldn't hold back and threw a question first.

Yi-Han asked back as if he truly couldn't understand.

"What are we going to do with this if we don't sell it?"

"...Wardanaz. I also like selling artifacts to secure funds, but don't you think there's no need to sell this one?"

Salko said in bewilderment.

What would be the reason for the reward of this trial to be an artifact that allows communication with each other?

Originally, it was clear that the intention was for the students from different towers, who had no reason to be close, to learn a lesson and become a little closer to each other.

But selling it right away is a bit...

"Is that so? You think the price won't be good?"

"That's not what I meant. I think we should use it among ourselves. Wouldn't it be easy to contact each other when something happens?"

"Salko. Your words make sense too. But other friends would prefer silver coins."

Yi-Han looked at Salko as if he felt sorry for him.

There wouldn't be many students who would give up silver coins to talk about thing susing an artifact that could be said by just meeting in person.

"Anyone who wants to share and use this without selling it?"

At Yi-Han's question, everyone raised their hands. Yi-Han was startled.

Even Adenart had her hand raised. When Yi-Han looked at her, Adenart very subtly avoided his gaze.

"Really??"

"We can earn silver coins on other occasions."

"Such a complacent thought. Knowing when we can earn... Anyway, I understand. It's a majority vote."

Yi-Han was surprised but followed his friends' decision.

Since it was a trial they had solved together, everyone's opinion was important.

"Geez. It doesn't seem very necessary."

"..."

"Will this be that useful? I think we can just send a paper bird."

"..."

"And it doesn't seem like we'll have that much to talk about..."

"Enough already!"

As Yi-Han kept talking while distributing the papers one by one, his friends finally exploded.

When the students walked out safely, the skull principal grumbled.

"Everyone is unnecessarily close, that's the problem."

Originally, if they were students from different years, they would have torn each other apart, checked each other, and self-destructed in a trial of cooperation like this, but this year's 1st-year students were too close to each other.

What kind of magic would be born in such a playful environment?

"We're not close!"

"Who with whom..."

"Be quiet."

Some students tried to strongly deny it, but the skull principal didn't listen.

"That Wardanaz guy, didn't he say that the trial would be about agreeing with each other to reduce the number..."

Salko must have felt very wronged, as he brought up something that had already ended.

Hearing those words, the skull principal showed great interest.

"An interesting opinion. Should I add that trial for next year's freshmen...?"

"..."

"..."

The friends glared at Salko. Salko felt genuinely guilty.

'I'm sorry, juniors.'

“Anyway, you all did a good job challenging just one trial like cowards. I hope you participate in this event next year as well. I'm telling you to participate here like winners, not go to the punishment room like losers. Understand?”

"Yes..."

"I'm really happy. I'm getting motivated."

"Yes. That's how it should be. And Wardanaz, you follow me."

At the skull principal's words, Yi-Han felt his heart sink.

'What? Is he trying to teach me some magic?'

When he calculated coldly, the magic the skull principal was teaching was unexpectedly not inferior to Professor Bagrak.

Yi-Han tried to anticipate what magic the skull principal would urge, quickly calculating.

However, unexpected people were waiting at the destination.

Phil and Chil, the two seniors belonging to the healing magic school, were sitting there with tired faces.

"You've worked hard."

"Ah, no. Principal."

"It's an honor just to be recognized like this."

"Hey. Bring more coffee."

The death knight bowed his head and brought an iron pot full of boiling coffee.

The two seniors drank the coffee, making a slurping sound.

'Huh?'

Yi-Han was puzzled by the unusually kind appearance of the skull principal, which he couldn't see normally.

Could it be that even the evil skull principal becomes a little weaker towards healing mages?

"Drink and cheer up. But who else would major in healing magic if not for you guys? Don't even think about quitting. If it's really hard, come and tell me."

"..."

Yi-Han was at a loss for words.

'What the...'

Right now, the skull principal was using the carrot from the carrot and stick approach so that the healing magic school seniors couldn't run away!

"Ah. Junior."

"Over here. Over here."

The two noticed Yi-Han and waved their hands.

Yi-Han lightly greeted them and sat in front.

"What's the matter? The healing magic lecture isn't today."

The skull principal glanced outside.

It was already a dark night.

'Crazy bastard.'

Putting aside the date, thinking of a lecture at this hour, he wasn't in his right mind.

"Ah. It's not a lecture."

"It's because of the Festival of St. Eaktus. It's this week."

'There are too many festivals in the Empire.'

Yi-Han grumbled inwardly.

Perhaps because they had little to play with, the people of the Empire really created and celebrated all sorts of festivals.

Popular and large festivals even had priests coming from outside to help...

At least Yi-Han had heard the names of festivals of that scale to some extent, but when it came to smaller-scale ones, they became too unfamiliar to Yi-Han, who mainly read the economic section of the Imperial Newspaper.

'And this isn't just me being weird.'

Didn't everyone ignore Gainando just three days ago when he asked any of his friends to play the role of a corpse, saying it was a detective festival?

Too many festivals were causing fatigue.

However, it was not possible to express dissatisfaction in front of the seniors.

Yi-Han answered with a hypocritical smile.

"The festival, you say? I'm really looking forward to it."

"Even you?"

"Oh my. I don't know why everyone likes this festival."

The two seniors sighed and complained. Yi-Han realized that something was going wrong.

"That guy would like it. Unlike you guys, he's a fierce beast."

"I wish His Majesty would ban this festival by imperial law."

"It's already hard..."

"I understand. I get it. The people of the Empire are truly barbaric! Yes, yes! But you mustn't quit!"

The skull principal took the students' side, which was a rare sight.

Yi-Han carefully asked the skull principal.

"Principal."

"What?"

"What is the Festival of St. Eaktus?"

"...You're more of a barbarian than those who like that festival. How do you not know that?"

The skull principal looked at Yi-Han as if he were a barbarian. Of course, Yi-Han ignored it.

'Anyway, people who like festivals think the festival they like is the most important in the Empire.'

It was truly a pity.

"St. Eaktus is a little kid who defeated an evil magic dragon with a single stone. The festival is to commemorate this little kid. Ah, come to think of it, it's absurd. Shouldn't they praise me for casting magic on that stone?"

The old historical story that came with the skull principal's life was interesting, but Yi-Han decided to pass it for now.

"I see. How do they celebrate it? Do they make a cake or something?"

"They throw stones."

"You mean at a sacrificial doll?"

It was common to make various large dolls and offer them as sacrifices or burn them to celebrate festivals.

"No."

"Then into the lake?"

"Why would they throw stones into the lake? What if the spirits get angry? They throw them at each other."

"...??"