Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

Of course, the compensation for the dark mages working in the cemetery was never bad. Dark mages were simply mages who suffered from groundless... or not so groundless rumors and prejudices, but they were certainly not pushovers. If the pay wasn't good, which dark mages would take on such a job? However, Yi-Han held the belief that 'even if it's the same job, it's a good thing if the compensation increases.'

"No, Mr. Dargard. We were just dedicating ourselves to the city, so that's..."

"If those who dedicate themselves don't receive rewards, who would dedicate themselves? I will strongly urge the city council to allocate additional budget."

Having obtained the answer he wanted, Yi-Han coughed again.

"Cough. Cough..."

"Oh dear. Please stop talking and rest. It seems like you haven't recovered the mana you expended in the last subjugation."

"Thank you..."

Yi-Han staggered and placed his arm on Gainando's shoulder. Gainando was taken aback for a moment, then pretended to support him.

"They are truly excellent mages."

Feeling Daihal's gaze, Yi-Han left the cemetery.

Direth, who had been quietly watching, unable to bring herself to interfere with her junior's acting, gently asked.

"By the way, junior. What do you mean by the last subjugation?"

"Cough, cough, cough."

"Tone it down."

"Yes."

"...So some crazy squire bastards, unable to know their place, are saying they want to go subdue that thing again. They're completely insane, aren't they? I don't understand why the knighthood doesn't provide character education like Einroguard."

Yi-Han criticized the squires, filled with anger, but Direth wasn't listening.

The previous story had been too shocking.

"No, you should have run away from that, why..."

"I'm telling you, it's because of those White Tiger Tower bastards!"

"Uh, uhh. Right."

Direth couldn't say anything more, seeing how wronged her junior looked.

'If Professor Mortum finds out, it's going to be quite troublesome...'

To think he encountered an ancient evil being not even recorded in history.

If Professor Mortum found out, he would excitedly conduct all sorts of investigations.

And the preparation for those investigations would fall on his disciple, and the subject of the investigations would be the person who experienced it most closely...

That junior fit both criteria.

"Senior. Thank you for your help today. Let's have a meal together before you go."

"Hmm."

Direth pondered for a moment.

She usually didn't like visiting noble family's residences because it made her uncomfortable, but it was a different story if her junior requested it.

"Alright. I can't refuse if my junior says so. But junior."

"Yes?"

"Isn't that person a professor?"

Seeing Professor Beavle sitting and waiting in front of the residence's main gate, Yi-Han felt a slight twinge of guilt.

"Wa, Wardanaz isn't eating?"

"Yi-Han originally prefers studying over eating."

Ymirg's question was answered by Gainando's pretentious remark.

Of course, if Yi-Han had been beside him, he would have smacked the back of his head for saying that.

"...Juniors. Why is Professor Beavle here in the first place?"

"Oh. He just came to visit?"

"He just came to visit?"

"Yes."

"Well, it does sound like something he would do."

Direth accepted it without even questioning it.

It was something Professor Beavle was fully capable of doing.

"But still, no matter what, shouldn't he at least give him time to rest?"

Direth put down the strawberry madeleine and spoke.

The student had just gone through the trouble of hunting an undead chimera, so wasn't it a bit too much to take him away without giving him a chance to rest?

"Don't you think so? No matter how long he waited, it couldn't have been more than a few hours."

"Oh. No?"

"No?"

"He came last night and waited."

Considering it was evening now, he had waited for nearly a full day.

"He came last night... Wait. Wait a moment."

It was strange for him to visit last night, but it could be because the professor and student were close.

"If he came last night, why did you go to the cemetery?"

"Yi-Han told us to run away in the morning..."

"..."

Direth lost her words and put down her coffee cup.

...Was this a case of reaping what one sowed?

"Did you wait long? I apologize."

Yi-Han apologized with a hypocritical expression.

After all, the other person was a professor.

However, as expected, Professor Beavle didn't mind at all.

"Huh? No. Let's get to work. Ah. I fixed the helmet."

"Oh! Thank you!"

Yi-Han was genuinely delighted by Professor Beavle's words.

'I can sell it!'

"How much would this fetch in price?"

"Price?"

"Yes."

"Who would buy something like that? It's a dangerous artifact."

"...Oh... Now that it's fixed, if the user is careful, isn't it safe?"

"Well, that's true. But it's dangerous if they're not careful. People don't buy things like that."

"..."

Yi-Han glared at the helmet. The Helmet of Wisdom cautiously spoke to him.

“Now that it's come to this, perhaps it's time to bring out the wisdom within me…”

"Shut up."

Yi-Han lost interest in the helmet. Once he knew it wouldn't make money, there was no reason to pay attention to it.

"Professor. I have a question."

"What is it?"

"Can I make artifacts and sell them?"

"That would be difficult."

Professor Beavle answered immediately.

Artifacts were expensive items, so the background of the person who made them was also quite important.

In the case of a novice artifact maker, they had to consistently participate as an assistant in the creation of other artifacts to build up their experience and expand their connections. Then, when the opportunity arose, they had to showcase their own artifacts to make their name known in the Empire.

'That sounds familiar.'

Every industry was harsh on newcomers. Yi-Han frowned at the words that it would easily take over a decade.

"Wait. What if we do this? Make them cheaply and sell them cheaply."

Even in Einroguard alone, there were imperfect failed artifacts lying around.

They were the remnants that seniors had made, failed, and discarded.

Such artifacts, though not entirely useless, would certainly attract a bounty from the empire the moment they were sold at their real value. However, adventurers, for instance, might be tempted to buy artifacts at a relatively cheap price, even if they were incomplete failures.

"What? That's a waste of mana."

Professor Beavle was negative about Yi-Han's business plan.

A mage's mana was a limited resource.

Even a handful of mana should be saved to create masterpieces, so why waste it on such things?

And even if you only considered money, selling one masterpiece was better than selling dozens of cheaply made junk.

"Indeed. Other than wasting mana, there are no other problems, right?"

However, Yi-Han selectively listened to Professor Beavle's words.

So what if he wasted some mana?

And so what if the cost-effectiveness was a bit poor?

'It's much better to earn little by little in advance than to work for ten years to build up experience and start. And the failures will come out anyway while practicing.'

Yi-Han quickly drew up a blueprint in his mind.

To continuously sell artifacts with the most useful functions possible...

"Alright. Let's begin!"

Professor Beavle, unaware of Yi-Han's intentions, started laying out the equipment.

Chisels and rulers, hammers, planes and saws, a small welding staff with extreme heat magic, glasses with lenses for various purposes, and so on.

"Professor. There's something I want to try."

"Oh! What is it? What is it?"

Professor Beavle asked excitedly when Yi-Han showed enthusiasm.

"I want to try making a water creation artifact or a dark vision artifact."

"What? Why would you make such junk? It's a waste of time, a waste of mana, and a waste of materials!"

Of course, even with his excitement, Professor Beavle wasn't one to easily heed Yi-Han's words. When it came to artifacts, the professor was very critical.

Water creation artifacts and dark vision artifacts were uninteresting artifacts that any mage could make if they put in the time and effort, without much difficulty.

There was no way Professor Beavle would prefer such a waste of materials.

"Professor. I've realized something while studying magic these days."

"??"

"Since I have so much mana, it seems I need to waste some of it to loosen up my hands."

"Really??"

"Yes. If I try to use other magic, I can't adapt right away when I switch to enchantment magic. It seems my hands loosen up better when I practice with the same enchantment magic."

"Why are you so untalented?"

"Sob. That's what I'm saying."

Yi-Han answered with fake sadness. Professor Beavle was genuinely sympathetic to his student's lack of talent.

"What should we do? Will you be able to do enchantment magic well then?"

"Oh! Should I give up then?"

"No, you can't do that."

'Damn it.'

Yi-Han clicked his tongue inwardly at Professor Beavle's unwillingness to completely fall for it.

"I understand. If that's the case. Even if it's a boring, unrewarding, and time-wasting artifact..."

Professor Beavle grumbled as he began to take out materials from his pocket.

Yi-Han hesitated as he saw Professor Beavle take out a blue gem, an aquamarine, and place it on top of a spirit whale skin.

Even though Yi-Han wasn't fully versed in all the materials yet, he knew very well that those two materials were ridiculously expensive.

"Wait. Wait. Professor."

"Why?"

"You're using aquamarine and spirit whale skin?"

"Yeah."

"Uh... Are those essential for a water creation artifact?"

"Essential?"

Yi-Han felt once again that he had to ask Professor Beavle in a different way.

"I mean, will the water creation magic not work at all without them?"

"That's not the case. But the efficiency will be trash. It's already a trashy artifact, but if the efficiency is also trashy, it really has no meaning."

"But it's too wasteful to use these materials for practice."

'And I won't be able to recoup the cost.'

There was no way Yi-Han, who was trying to obtain an optimized production method, could make artifacts with aquamarine or spirit whale skin.

"But if you exclude those, the efficiency becomes too trashy."

"To what extent?"

"If we consider a leather water bottle of this size, it would take a week to fill up completely."

"!"

Professor Beavle's words certainly made sense.

'A week... is too slow.'

To think it would take a whole week to fill up a leather water bottle that could be worn at the waist.

Yi-Han newly realized that a mage's magic was a miraculous power to those who couldn't use magic.

That much preparation was necessary for those who couldn't use magic to utilize it.

"Isn't there another way? Like infusing a lot of mana."

"That's possible, but... the lifespan of the artifact will be shorter."

If he used cheap materials and even over-invested mana, the lifespan of the artifact would inevitably be shorter.

Moreover, it was a waste of mana.

"That's fine! Doesn't the efficiency improve anyway?"

"That's true, but..."

Professor Beavle tilted his head as he looked at his enthusiastic student.

Why does he like that so much?

'Does he enjoy making junk?'

Deer hide, coyak thread, copper ring.

Those were the materials used in the water creation artifact, a portable leather water bottle.

Yi-Han wasn't the type to greatly admire his own skills or talents or have self-confidence, but he couldn't help but feel proud when he made this leather water bottle.

'I did it!'

He had somehow managed to create an artifact that produced water using not-so-expensive materials.

Professor Beavle, who had been drowsily nodding off beside him with a bored expression, yawned and asked.

"Are you done?"

"Yes."

"Your hands are loosened up? Alright. Then."

Professor Beavle unfolded a blueprint he had been eagerly waiting for on the table.

The blueprint was so long and complex that it filled the entire rectangular table.

"...What is this?"

"A flying galleon."

Yi-Han seriously considered feigning illness again at the sight of Professor Beavle confidently bringing out a project with a difficulty level that seemed to require about a hundred years of effort.