Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

The Wardanaz family was clearly a prestigious lineage of mages and a high-ranking noble family, so it was puzzling to the clerk why students from a knightly background were so confidently assuring his combat prowess. They were neither exceptionally skilled in swordsmanship nor adept at magic combat, especially being first-year students.

"...I clearly informed you. Please remember that," One of them said.

"Understood," the clerk replied.

"Is there anything else you'd like to add to the record?"

"I received a permit for fire magic from the Aphar Order."

"Is that so? I'll make a note of it."

The clerk looked slightly surprised.

Every break, this clerk welcomed several students from Einroguard. However, he had never seen a first-year student who came this prepared.

Of course, he had also never seen a first-year student from a high-ranking noble family visit here!

Yi-Han was about to request that his training in magic combat under the mad professor also be added to his credentials, but he refrained. He was afraid it might backfire.

"A permit for fire magic? When did you acquire that?" a White Tiger student asked.

"You foolish lot. We may need to resolve missions within the city, yet you didn't prepare for that possibility?" Yi-Han chided.

The White Tiger students felt wronged by Yi-Han's reprimand. How were they supposed to know when it was their first time doing this?

"Enough. It's your first time, so mistakes can happen. Now, who here has already formed a party?" Yi-Han asked.

About two-thirds of the gathered White Tiger students raised their hands. They had either decided to stick together or had party members introduced through connections.

"I see. The rest of you can join me. I'll be counting on you," Yi-Han said.

"..."

"..."

"Huh???"

The White Tiger students were momentarily unable to accept reality, then asked in bewilderment, "Wh-what??"

"What do you mean?"

"Uh, um. So. Wardanaz. We're moving together?"

"That's right. Any objections?"

"Well, that is. I mean. Wouldn't it be dangerous?"

One of the White Tiger students beside him thought inwardly, 'Especially for us!'

"Dangerous, you say?"

"Uh... yes."

"Thanks for your concern. But I have the ability to protect myself. I'm prepared for it. So it's fine."

The White Tiger student wanted to say, 'It's not fine for us,' but couldn't bring himself to say it aloud and glanced at his friends around him.

-Help me out!-

However, fewer friends than he expected stepped forward.

"Uh... um. Then. Wardanaz. I'll work hard and pay you back as soon as I earn some silver coins."

"R-right. Wardanaz. See you next time."

The lucky students who had raised their hands earlier hurriedly left.

Now, only the unlucky students who hadn't raised their hands remained.

"Let's think about what mission we should take together," Yi-Han said.

"Excuse me. Wardanaz. By any chance..."

"Come to think of it, how many silver coins do you owe me?"

"...I'll work hard..."

The gathered students accepted the reality with gloomy expressions. When they had equipped themselves, they were excited, wondering what kind of mission they would get, but they already felt like they had returned to Einroguard.

'How reassuring,' Yi-Han thought.

Yi-Han sipped green tea at an outdoor table of a tea shop, planning with the White Tiger students. He was in a good mood, having unexpectedly secured arrow-catchers—no, vanguards for the party.

The textbook party composition was to have sturdy vanguards blocking in front, combatants positioned in the middle launching attacks, and mages or priests in the rear flexibly responding to various situations.

Of course, this was just an ideal example. Things in the world didn't always go ideally.

In the first place, high-quality personnel like mages or priests were not easy to recruit, even if one wanted to.

"In that sense, we're in a very advantageous position. Don't you think?" Yi-Han said.

Not all adventurers or mercenaries were highly skilled. The outstanding veterans were those who had honed their skills by facing life-threatening dangers several times while struggling at the bottom. Those who weren't like that mostly had uneven skills without a solid foundation.

In contrast, the White Tiger students here were trained talents who had received over a decade of training as knights, including swordsmanship. This level of skill alone was enough to surpass mediocre adventurers.

"Sturdy vanguards and even a mage."

"..."

"No response?"

"G-good, it seems good!" the White Tiger students hurriedly replied when Yi-Han's gaze turned to them.

"But Wardanaz. Isn't our number a bit lacking?" Anglago cautiously asked.

Dolgyu, Anglago, Raphael, and Yi-Han. It wasn't too few, but it did feel a bit lacking. Moreover, didn't they lack experience?

If Yi-Han could be greedy, he wanted to add two or three experienced veterans.

"No need to worry about that," Dolgyu answered instead.

Dolgyu had thoroughly investigated by asking senior knights before coming with the other friends.

"I heard we Einroguard students are quite popular. To the extent that we can easily recruit other adventurers."

In a way, it was only natural. The White Tiger students were all thoroughly trained and could even use magic. It was obvious that other adventurers would want to work with them.

"Then it's settled? Should we go to the guild and request for recruits right away?" Yi-Han asked.

"That's right. But before that, let's plan what mission we'll take first," Dolgyu said.

Yi-Han took out a map.

"I heard ghouls are coming out of a cave near Burnt Hill. We'll deal with those undead first."

His friends nodded. They were confident they could handle ghouls. Since the distance was a bit far, it would be a two-day expedition with camping nearby.

"After that, we'll gather geranium flowers, snow grass, and sleepy mugwort behind the cave. There are missions for all three."

"...Huh? Wait a minute," a White Tiger student said.

"What's the matter?"

The White Tiger students were confused when herb gathering was suddenly added while they were preparing for an undead hunt.

"Didn't you say we're hunting undead?"

"That's right. But looking at the map, there's a high possibility those three herbs will be in that terrain. Isn't it good if we can do multiple missions at once?"

"...T-that's right!"

"Indeed!"

"I was also thinking that... snow grass and mugwort would likely be in that terrain."

The White Tiger students nodded as if they had known all along, instead of asking further questions. They felt they would look too stupid if they asked, 'How did you know there would be herbs just by looking at the map?'

"Right? I thought you'd know. It was in the books, after all," Yi-Han said.

"..."

"..."

The White Tiger students just sat quietly, smiling meaningfully. It seemed they could get by if they just listened quietly for now.

"And once we finish gathering, we'll capture Rapella squirrels in the nearby forest. There are records of sightings."

"....Ah, no. No. Wait a moment," a White Tiger student said.

When the rare animal capture was added to the undead hunt and herb gathering, the White Tiger students couldn't hold back and dropped their smiles.

"What's the matter?"

"That... capturing Rapella squirrels doesn't seem easy, does it??"

"That's right. Wardanaz. Such animal capture missions are usually difficult. Not just anyone can do it. We need a skilled hunter..."

"That's true. There's no guarantee we'll definitely catch them."

"Exactly! The current schedule is already..."

"But there's a method with a pretty high chance of success. First, they like Dobruk's Sulfur Mercury Potion. We'll have Sharakan find their traces, then sprinkle the potion along their route and wait. It'll give us a higher probability of catching them than aimlessly searching the forest. Moreover, with illusion magic at the bottleneck..."

The White Tiger students gaped at Yi-Han's explanation.

'What...'

'Is he a 10-year veteran adventurer?'

'Is that really the guy who registered with us?'

"This much explanation should suffice, right? You would have read about it in books too," Yi-Han said.

"..."

"...That's exactly what we were thinking. Wardanaz. Extracting maximum efficiency from a single mission."

The White Tiger students discarded all the complaints they had. And while they were at it, they decided to discard their brains too.

'We should just do as Wardanaz says...'

"Einroguard! Did you say Einroguard students!" Gubon, the adventurer, was delighted at the clerk's words.

He was in a bind as the party he had been active with for 3 years had disbanded due to the retirement of two vanguards and the internal strife of two attackers, and then he received this proposal.

"Yes. Mr. Gubon, you have been consistently active and have shown diligence and reliability in most of your missions. That's why I'm recommending this connection to you," the clerk said.

"Thank you very much. I won't disappoint you," Gubon said.

Gubon knew well how precious the clerk's proposal was. There were countless cases of guys who had never even held a sword flowing into the city, strutting around saying, 'I'm an adventurer,' but Einroguard students who came out for the break were very valuable talents.

Moreover, they would all be from knight families, so they would be outstanding in both combat and magic, truly versatile talents.

There was only one reason to connect him with such precious talents.

'They must be expecting advice from a veteran,' Gubon thought.

No one would care if some unknown adventurer rolling around like a pebble on the roadside got hurt, but it would be troublesome for many people if an Einroguard student got injured.

Their skills were certainly outstanding, but their lack of experience was unavoidable. To make up for that lack of experience, they had undoubtedly attached a reliable and experienced adventurer.

"I'll do my best to cooperate," Gubon said.

"That's reassuring. I'll be counting on you, Mr. Gubon," the clerk said.

Gubon finished his conversation with the clerk and headed to the meeting place with the one remaining colleague in his party.

"Einroguard students... What kind of people do you think they are?" his colleague asked.

"I've never met them either. I heard most of them are mages from knight families."

"So they're knights?"

The two imagined the image of a powerful knight, heavily armed and pushing forward like an unshakable rock. And on top of that, magic.

"They'll be good at fighting, at least," Gubon said.

"Fighting isn't the problem. The other things are. They're inexperienced young students, right? Honestly, I'm a bit worried."

"Then should we have refused the proposal? Such a good proposal?"

"That's not it, but... Honestly, I did want to work with a mage, too. I'm just worried they might say something absurd."

The two moved forward with a mix of anticipation and worry. They weren't worried about the students' skills. They were just concerned that the students might set too grand a goal out of overconfidence or make silly mistakes in strange areas.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Yi-Han from the Wardanaz family," Yi-Han introduced himself.

"I'm Gubon. And this friend here is Bijidek," Gubon said.

Gubon shook hands with the statue-like handsome boy. His tall height and solid build were indeed fitting for a mage from a knight family.

"Wardanaz?" Bijidek muttered.

"What's the matter, Bijidek? Be quiet. We're in the middle of a conversation," Gubon chided.

"Uh... it sounded familiar. Sorry," Bijidek apologized.

Gubon cautiously asked Yi-Han after they sat down, "Since our party is much smaller in scale, we intend to play a purely supportive role and follow orders. But do you have any specific requests in mind..."

Gubon swallowed nervously, wondering how he should dissuade Yi-Han if he came up with an absurd plan. Yi-Han nodded and took out a map.

"Look. I heard ghouls are coming out of a cave near this Burnt Hill..."

30 minutes later.

Faced with a flawless and meticulous plan he had never seen before, Gubon asked Yi-Han with a look of astonishment, "Are all Einroguard students like this??"

"..."

The White Tiger students averted their gazes slightly.