Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 18

Ihan thought the students at White Tiger Tower would be open to different ideas, but he was wrong. They seemed narrow-minded.

As soon as class ended and he tried to leave, three students blocked his way.

One of them, a short, strong-looking student, stepped forward. “Hey, Wodanaz,” he said, his voice rough. “Think you’re just going to walk away after what you did in class?”

Another, taller and with green skin, added, “Yeah, we haven’t forgotten. You embarrassed us. We’re going to make sure you don’t do that again.”

The dwarf and orc students, whose names Ihan didn’t know, spat out these words.

Still not fully understanding, Ihan asked, “Are you doing this even though you know my family is the Wodanaz family?”

“Using your family to threaten us? How cowardly!” one of them replied.

“Isn’t ganging up 3-on-1 cowardly?” Ihan countered, rolling his eyes slightly.

“Shut up!”

Despite their show of bravery, a flicker of fear crossed their faces.

They had clearly heard the rumors about the Wodanaz family.

Yet, they were willing to risk a 3-on-1 fight just to defend their dormitory’s pride?

‘Aside from the fact that they’re clearly thick-headed… is there something they’re relying on?’ Ihan wondered.

Either they were from an important family themselves, or they had the support of one.

‘It doesn’t seem like the first option, so it must be the second,’ he thought.

If that was the case, they were even more thick-headed than he thought.

If a conflict arose with a major family like the Wodanaz, no other major family would bother to help them.

They would likely be used and then thrown away.

There was a reason people said not to get involved in the fights of great families…

‘If they were the type to listen to reason, they wouldn’t have ganged up on me like this in the first place,’ Ihan thought. ‘And if they charge in without thinking, no amount of talking will change their minds.’

Fists were near, and family was far, after all.

“Who put you up to this?” Ihan asked. “It must be a family with power that your families couldn’t refuse.”

The three students looked as if they were about to faint from shock. Their eyes went wide, like he had read their minds. They looked around nervously.

“Sh… Shut up!”

“Attack!”

“Surround him!”

Realizing that more talking would only hurt them, the three slowly moved to attack.

‘3-on-1 is too much,’ Ihan thought.

Allarong had been firm: ‘1-on-1 is acceptable. 2-on-1 is okay if you can’t avoid it. 3-on-1? Just run.’

If a fight broke out with three people, just run!

Ihan agreed.

All three were from knightly families and had some training in swordsmanship; facing them 3-on-1 would definitely put Ihan in a harder situation.

The problem was that they were blocking his path.

He had to find a way to shake them up and break through.

‘That’s it!’ An idea sparked in Ihan’s mind, like a tiny flame.

The opponents knew that Ihan was from the magical Wodanaz family.

He had to use that.

“Move!”

As Ihan spoke the spell in a powerful voice, the three students were startled.

Magic, no less!

They were still struggling with the simplest Lumos spell!

‘Threaten them with a simple magic spell,’ Ihan thought.

Ihan hadn’t fully mastered the spell either.

He hadn’t yet succeeded in properly manipulating anything.

But it didn’t matter.

The opponents wouldn’t know that Ihan hadn’t fully mastered it.

With their magic skills so pathetic, Ihan’s magic was enough to scare them and make them cower.

Thwack!

Ihan’s eyes widened in shock.

All Ihan had intended to do was lift a small stone into the air.

Once he had the stone floating, he could use it to threaten them.

But Ihan had overestimated his magical abilities.

Keeping something suspended in the air turned out to be more difficult than he thought.

The moment he cast the spell, the stone shot forward like an arrow.

And it hit the goat-like beastman student right on the forehead.

“Wodanaz, you bastard! How dare you!”

The remaining two students were horrified by this first taste of combat magic.

A rock arrow spell flying at them without any time to react!

Even if he was from the Wodanaz family, to already wield such powerful magic…!

“…Come closer if you want to end up like him,” Ihan said coldly.

Since things had turned out this way, he had no choice.

He had to pretend as if the magic had been intentional.

“Ugh…”

“You’d better step aside. If you have swords, I have magic.”

The two wore expressions torn between fear and pride.

At that moment, Ihan used magic once more.

“Move!”

“Aargh!”

The dwarf student threw himself to the side. But the rock arrow accurately tracked the dwarf student, striking him in the stomach.

Thwack!

“Gah… urgh.”

The dwarf student collapsed, unable to breathe. The remaining orc student was frozen with fear.

It hit him even when he dodged!

He was truly no ordinary wizard.

‘Did I somehow misunderstand how to use magic?’ Ihan wondered.

And seeing the fallen student, Ihan was also internally flustered.

How could he not manage to just lift it, but hit the target perfectly even when he wasn’t aiming?

“S… Stop. I give up! I’ll move! I’ll move! Stop shooting! Don’t kill me!”

‘I’m not going to kill you, you crazy bastard,’ Ihan thought, but he kept his serious expression.

“Be careful in the future. With the name of the Wodanaz family.”

“Kugh…”

The orc student gritted his teeth but didn’t dare meet his eyes.

Derhgu, who arrived late, stared at Ihan with a dumbfounded expression.

“Did you come to fight too?”

“Ah. No.”

Even Derhgu, who was usually unshakable, couldn’t help but stutter in this situation.

“That Giselle from the Moradi family is making those kinds of threats?”

“No. Giselle…”

“Ah. Right. Giselle. That’s a difficult name. Anyway, that Giselle from the Moradi family is…?”

Ihan was slightly surprised by Derhgu’s telling him this.

The atmosphere in Blue Dragon Tower and White Tiger Tower was quite different.

In Blue Dragon Tower, everyone was either from an important family or of royal descent, so no one was really in charge.

In reality, they tended to gather in groups of three or five, based on the relationships between their families.

The princess, Adenart, was the most popular, and some students followed her, but that was far from a command relationship.

But in White Tiger Tower, Giselle from the Moradi family was in control.

“What does he look like?”

“Like this.” Derhgu skillfully drew a picture on the ground with a twig, describing his appearance.

Hearing this, Ihan was shocked.

‘Wait…?!’ Wasn’t that the student who had pretended to be friendly and talked to Ihan during swordsmanship class?

“I knew it. He was too friendly for someone so handsome… He was hiding a wicked heart.”

“Wodanaz. I agree that Giselle Moradi is wicked, but I don’t think that has anything to do with his appearance. Besides, handsome? Are you perhaps seeing Giselle as a man…”

Ihan ignored Derhgu’s comment.

Why would he listen to someone defending a handsome bastard?

‘How funny,’ Ihan thought.

At first, Ihan had planned to use Giselle’s apparent kindness to persuade the other students.

But instead, he had become friends with Derhgu, who he had initially clashed with, and Giselle was hiding wicked intentions.

‘Was he trying to test me when he talked to me?’

Ihan recalled the things he had said to Giselle.

He hadn’t said anything particularly important or that could be used as a weakness.

He had said, ‘I’m taking swordsmanship class to get easy credits!’, but that wouldn’t be a reason to have students attack him.

Hearing that, they would usually think of him as easy to take advantage of, not as a threat.

“I don’t understand. Why would he try to attack me?”

“I think there are a few reasons. First, you’re from the Wodanaz family.”

“Is there some kind of bad blood between the two families that I don’t know about?” Ihan was puzzled.

Could there be a bloody feud between the magical Wodanaz family and the knightly Moradi family?

“No. As far as I know, there isn’t. But if Giselle ruthlessly crushes you, a member of the respected Wodanaz family, his power among our first-year students will only grow stronger.”

Ihan immediately understood and became serious.

So, Ihan was being seen as… an expensive trophy with the Wodanaz family label?

‘That’s annoying in a quiet way,’ Ihan thought.

Even if he tried to dismiss it as childish rivalry between teenagers, it was still annoying.

“Not all of our first-year students follow Giselle, but if Giselle shows that kind of leadership skills, more students will follow him.”

“Is having fellow students throw punches for you considered leadership skills? Typical knight family types.”

At Ihan’s words, Derhgu lowered his head with a ashamed expression. He wasn’t free from it either.

“No. I wasn’t talking about you. Why are you so sad?”

“Thank you, Wodanaz. Let me continue. Giselle is the type to always try to be the leader. He’s the type to do anything to prove his power, his dominance. So… if you’re going to keep taking swordsmanship class, I wanted to tell you to be careful.”

If he continued to take swordsmanship class, and if Ihan showed a good performance, the White Tiger Tower students would inevitably become jealous.

And she would quietly stir up that emotion to make the students follow her.

Derhgu cautiously suggested, “Even if you don’t take swordsmanship class, there’s also the option of learning swordsmanship separately during breaks.”

“Hmm. Derhgu.”

“?”

“It just occurred to me, I’m also planning to take Basic Physical Training… Is that also only for White Tiger Tower students?”

“…Wodanaz. I might sound rude, but… wasn’t the Wodanaz family a magical family…? Why…?” Derhgu couldn’t help but ask.

After parting ways with Derhgu and returning, Ihan was lost in thought.

In fact, Derhgu’s advice was the easiest to follow: Avoid classes only taken by White Tiger Tower students.

If he avoided those classes, Giselle wouldn’t be able to bother him, no matter how hard she tried.

In other classes, Ihan would be with the Blue Dragon Tower students, so how could she bother him?

And if Ihan disappeared from the classes, Giselle wouldn’t bother to chase after him. There would be nothing to gain.

But Ihan had no intention of accepting that advice.

Firstly, Derhgu didn’t know, but Ihan had chosen those classes to get easy credits…

‘They dare try to play politics with me?’

Secondly, it was a matter of pride.

To just let them get away with such small, mean tricks for such silly reasons?

Ihan had no intention of losing.

Bang-

Ihan returned to the tower and opened the door to the first-year lounge.

The students who had arrived earlier were chatting in groups of three or five, and they waved when they saw Ihan.

“My friends!”

“…?”

“?”

“Today, I was attacked by White Tiger Tower students. Just because I belong to Blue Dragon Tower!”

Silence fell instantly.

The students were taken aback by the shocking statement, understanding it a moment later.

And then, someone knocked over a table.

“…Have those guys gone mad!?”

“They dare show no respect!!”

‘Hmm?’ Ihan thought.

The reaction of his classmates was far more violent than Ihan had expected.

“Everyone, spread the word! The White Tiger Tower guys dared to touch Wodanaz!”

“They dared to touch Wodanaz when they wouldn’t even dare to touch Gainan? You’ve crossed the line!”

“Is there any way to get weapons? Find a way to bring them! I’ll kill them!”

Seeing them getting a little too heated, Ihan stepped in to stop them.

“Wait. Wait. Everyone’s being too kind for my sake. You don’t have to go that far. I…”

“No! Wodanaz. We owe you a debt of gratitude.”

“That’s right! There’s no one here who hasn’t eaten the meat that Wodanaz brought!”

Seeing his friends being grateful without even knowing how much they had been tricked into paying too much, Ihan felt a little guilty.

“And this is a matter of pride!”

“Let’s defeat the White Tiger Tower guys!”

“Let’s defeat the White Tiger Tower guys!!”