Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

Chapter 648

However, Alcicle wasn't fooled.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Alcicle, who had swung his staff to call the helmet back, threatened the arrogant artifact.

"You dare act arrogantly to a mage, you mere helmet? I'll trap you in eternal cold."

-H-help me. Master.-

The helmet abandoned its usual arrogant attitude and called for Yi-Han.

Unlike Einroguard students, it didn't know what external mages might do.

Alcicle summoned thick ice to teach the arrogant helmet a lesson and trapped it inside.

Then he asked Yi-Han,

"An artifact like this should still have some use, shouldn't it?"

"Well, about that..."

Yi-Han explained what kind of artifact this was.

Separate from the artifact being evil, if it had any use, Yi-Han would have used it often, but this helmet knew little despite having long answer cooldowns. 𝐫Α

It wasn't for nothing that Yi-Han hadn't taken it out except during the flood incident during the semester.

However, despite such explanations, Alcicle showed interest in the helmet.

First, the purpose of creating the helmet to collect knowledge was interesting in itself, and he was also curious about what kind of knowledge it had.

"I'm envious. To obtain something like this."

"Then why don't you buy it, Mr. Pengerin?"

"Huh? Really?"

"!"

Yi-Han hesitated when Alcicle reacted to the words he had thrown out as a joke.

"Are you really going to buy it?"

"If you're selling, of course I'll buy it."

"This helmet was rejected even by shops..."

"Of course ordinary shops wouldn't buy it. It's an evil artifact. But I'm a mage. These kinds of artifacts are good to take and research."

Yi-Han's eyes sparkled.

Since the sale had failed, if he couldn't sell it to Alcicle on this opportunity, he might never be able to get rid of the helmet.

"Then why don't you take it for just one silver coin!"

"What? No! What are you saying?"

Alcicle was disgusted by Yi-Han's absurd words.

Even if he was from a great noble family and had no concept of money, to say such things.

If rumors spread that he had taken a junior mage's artifact for one silver coin, from that day on, Alcicle's nickname in the imperial magic world and social circles would become or .

"How can I buy such an artifact for just one silver coin? Absolutely not."

"Oh dear."

Yi-Han pretended to think hard before opening his mouth.

"Then what do you think would be an appropriate price..."

"This isn't something you pay for with money."

As a senior mage, buying Yi-Han's artifact with money went against custom.

It was better than rumors of taking it for one silver coin, but nicknames like or could still be attached.

To prove there was no pressure or persuasion, an exchange was appropriate.

Alcicle gifting Yi-Han a slightly more valuable artifact than the one Yi-Han had gifted.

"...I really prefer gold coins. I won't tell anyone."

"Don't say such absurd things. Honor doesn't disappear just because no one sees it. Hmm. What suitable artifact did I have?"

Alcicle ignored Yi-Han's words and scanned through the list of artifacts he had.

The list was a bit sparse because he had recently exchanged some expensive artifacts for imperial gold coins for magic research.

Moreover, all of Wardanaz's artifacts were powerful.

They were ominous and bizarre, but their power couldn't be denied.

"Hmm. A staff with the mark of the Ghost Count... You probably don't need this since you have the King of Frost Giants' core stone... How on earth did you get the Frost Giant King's core stone?"

Alcicle, who had been pondering, looked at Yi-Han again as if feeling wronged.

"There was a realm gate at school... No, didn't I tell you about this when Lady Eumidiphos was there last time?"

"Did you?"

Alcicle tilted his head.

His memory of when Eumidiphos, Wardanaz, and Bagrak visited was still a bit hazy.

He remembered crying his eyes out, shocked by Wardanaz's tremendous talent, but...

"You were going to lend me a staff with a Frostagon egg embedded in it, but Professor Bagrak stopped you. Saying the stone I received from battling the Frost Giant King was better than that egg."

"Thank you for reminding me of a memory I wanted to forget."

"I'm sorry."

"What fault do you have? It's Professor Bagrak's fault."

Alcicle grumbled while rummaging through his artifacts. Nothing suitable seemed to appear.

"Mr. Pengerin. Why don't you take it first and give me something later?"

"No. Then I'll become 'Alcicle the Junior Deceiver'."

"Pardon?"

"Ah, it's nothing."

But no matter how much he searched, no artifact suitable to give to Wardanaz right now appeared.

'This won't do.'

Alcicle resolved that he should participate in some auctions even now.

Yi-Han asked curiously as he saw Alcicle quickly taking out catalogs and letters.

"What are you trying to do?"

"I'm going to participate in an auction. I need to send a letter by tomorrow to participate in the Crescent Moon Auction."

Among the empire's auctions, there were auctions where one had to attend in person, but there were also auctions for those who couldn't attend.

Given how vast the empire's land was, it was a task just to gather in one place.

For such people, the Crescent Moon Auction sent out catalogs of treasures up for auction and received bids by letter for desired items by a set date.

"The Crescent Moon Auction!"

Yi-Han and Yonaire were surprised.

"Why? Do you want to look together?"

"That auction where prices are said to be very inflated...!"

"Isn't it too wasteful?"

"...That's not what's important right now."

Unlike other auctions, since one couldn't gauge others and had to buy items with just one letter, prices tended to be a bit higher than usual.

Otherwise, it would be one's own loss.

But what could one do if it was urgent? Alcicle pushed away the two annoying students and opened the catalog.

Yi-Han's eyes sparkled when he saw the outline of the colorful and splendid magic-infused Crescent Moon Auction item catalog.

For Yi-Han, who dreamed of high-efficiency gains at low cost, auctions were one of the gateways he had to pass through someday.

Where would one sell treasures found in various ruins or missions?

There are mages who unconditionally dismantle and analyze everything themselves, but Yi-Han had no intention of committing such waste.

'I wonder what's up for auction.'

"May I take a look too?"

"You're free to look, but it's forbidden to say it's expensive from the side."

"No, why can't I say something expensive is expensive..."

Yi-Han grumbled, but Alcicle was firm.

It was distracting to have someone making a fuss about things being expensive while choosing artifacts.

"Spadurus egg, estimated price two hundred imperial gold coins... No. Why is the Spadurus egg so expensive?"

Although he immediately broke the promise he had just made, Alcicle explained while grumbling.

"Spadurus has feathers that shine in thirteen colors."

"But it's a bird with little magical use, isn't it? And it doesn't have any other abilities either."

"That's right. But it's pretty."

"..."

Yi-Han lamented at Alcicle's words.

'To think an egg of a bird that's just pretty in color costs over two hundred coins!'

It was an unbelievable extravagance by Yi-Han's standards.

Henagon's Staff

The staff used by Henagon, a famous mage from the western empire, is imbued with magic Henagon used for a long time.

Estimated price: fifty imperial gold coins.

Rosenata Blossom

The flower of flowers with the most perfect harmony of pink and red hues, and the most beautiful flower in the empire.

To grow this flower, Peltel the , unrivaled among imperial gardeners, devoted nearly a year of care.

The history of this flower is...

...

...

Estimated price: thirty-two thousand imperial gold coins.

"Ugh."

Yi-Han, who had never felt the sensation of being mentally attacked, could have a similar experience looking at the auction catalog.

A flower that was just pretty with no use in magic seemed more expensive than a fortress.

"I don't understand why people don't buy artifacts. They'd be much better than such flowers!"

Yi-Han said as if frustrated.

For Yi-Han, who was thinking of excavating and selling artifacts later, this was close to a matter of livelihood.

Why was there such a big difference!

"Well, artifacts... ordinary people have no use for them..."

Alcicle sympathized with Yi-Han's feelings.

To skimp on magic research that really needed gold coin investment, while wastefully spending on such useless items.

In Alcicle's opinion, money used in such places should be taken away and given to mages.

"Isn't that robbery?"

"There's a more elegant and noble expression than robbery..."

"Banditry?"

"I was wrong. Let's stop."

Alcicle changed the subject and turned the catalog pages. While this auction didn't usually have many items useful for mages, this one was particularly so.

'Hmm. Seeing those things makes me want to sell something too.'

Looking at the auction items in the catalog, Yi-Han also wanted to turn his life around with one shot.

So the items he had...

'The bracelet of ten thousand demons or Morning Star wouldn't work, right? The Behemoth necklace too. The staff too... Should I try selling the silver spoon for poison detection? Honestly, it'd be fine even if it couldn't detect poison. No. It probably wouldn't fetch much. The design should have been better. Or if it had a story.'

Yi-Han seriously pondered how he could scam and sell the artifacts he had.

In the meantime, a pocket watch with cracked glass rolled over. Yi-Han reached out and grabbed it.

"This is..."

He wondered what it was because it was unfamiliar, but then he remembered.

It was an item he had bought when visiting , a shop dealing in used artifacts, with the outstanding mage Baldoorn.

This wasn't particularly an artifact. The owner had said so, and Baldoorn had agreed.

But...

-It seems you've earned some silver coins from selling artifacts... Why don't you buy this? A pocket watch in such good condition is quite hard to find once you miss it.-

-Indeed. If Miss Baldoorn says so...-

-No, no. I didn't mean it that deeply!-

Thinking about it now, it seemed like there might have been some meaning in Baldoorn's words.

Like the skull principal and Arsil, don't people who have lived long and become bored tend to convey even the same words through metaphors rather than directly?

What if Baldoorn's words were some kind of hint?

'There's quite a possibility.'

Thinking thoughts that would have made Baldoorn himself flip if he heard them, Yi-Han began to delicately explore the pocket watch with cracked glass.

Starting with detection magic, he searched for any hidden secrets inside this pocket watch using various methods.

However, there was nothing special in the pocket watch. Yi-Han wondered if he had been too sensitive.

'Should I try putting some mana in?'

Yi-Han very carefully flowed mana into the pocket watch.

Sending mana like this to check the internal structure was one of the specialties of enchantment mages.

One couldn't open artifacts every time to be proficient in their creation and repair.

Yi-Han had started with the disadvantageous weakness of innate mana quantity, but he also had a keen mana sensing ability to match.

And there was also a crazy beaver mixed-blood professor who annoyingly helped adjust mana quantity on the side.

Thanks to this, Yi-Han could flow an appropriate amount of mana. The complex structure of the pocket watch became more and more clearly felt.

Click!

When Yi-Han's mana precisely touched the escapement inside the pocket watch, the sound of the second hand stopping rang clearly in his ears.

And Yi-Han felt the surrounding time momentarily slow down.

'...Time magic?!'

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