Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 54

“So, Professor Mortrum gave you *this* bone?” Ratford asked, pointing at the… *thing*.

Yoner nodded seriously. “Wodanaz, I don’t know much about magic, but where *we* come from, people say: ‘Stay away from dark wizards.’”

Ratford just stared at the bone. It was definitely creepy. A professor giving *this* as a gift…

Lee Han felt like he had to say something. “It’s… not completely useless, right?”

“Maybe,” Ratford said, “but it’s still creepy.” He meant to be helpful, but it didn’t sound very helpful.

Yoner, seeing Lee Han’s worried face, tried to be positive. “Well, you don’t need to feed it. And it’s loyal. It can probably do lots of things…”

“Like what?” Ratford asked, still focused on the bone.

Yoner ignored Ratford. “…and maybe it’s even a little bit cute? In a weird way?”

“Thanks, Yoner,” Lee Han said. “But hearing you say that makes me realize it’s even *more* weird.” He wanted to believe it was useful, but he knew his friends were right. The bone familiar was just… strange.

“But *why* would he give you a bone familiar?” Lee Han wondered aloud.

“Actually,” Ratford said, “I’m more confused about why it’s just *one* bone.”

“Wait a minute…” Ratford’s eyes widened. “Is it like… are we supposed to find *more* bones around the school and put them together?”

Yoner laughed. “That’s crazy! It *is* crazy, right?”

But Lee Han didn’t laugh. Ratford’s idea… it sounded like something a professor *would* do.

‘Could that be it?’ Lee Han thought. ‘Is that why the hand bone from that Black Tortoise Tower student stuck on so easily?’

Anyone normal would think, ‘Who would want to play a bone-collecting game?’ But professors weren’t normal. They might actually think, ‘The students will *love* searching for bones, won’t they?’

Lee Han felt a shiver go down his back. ‘That’s… really creepy.’

It wasn’t just the bone familiar that was weird. It was the professors’ strange way of thinking! It was scary because normal people would never think like that.

“Wodanaz! Back from the black market!” Asan Dalkard walked in, then stopped, staring. “Wait… WHAT is that BONE?!”

Asan looked horrified at the small bone creature moving near Lee Han’s feet. “What in the world is *that* thing?!”

Lots of students were waiting for Professor Inguldel. Students from all the towers – Blue Dragon, Black Tortoise, Phoenix, and even White Tiger – were there. Everyone in the alchemy class needed ingredients, and this trip with the professor was the best way to get them. Going into the mountains alone was much harder.

Professor Inguldel finally spoke, his voice calm but serious. “Safety first. And safety second. First, everyone gather with your tower groups. Look at each other’s faces. Count how many are in your group. We will check the numbers often to make sure no one is missing.”

“……”

“……”

Professor Inguldel was good at making students nervous. Suddenly, everyone looked very serious.

‘It’s good to be nervous,’ Lee Han thought. ‘Better to be scared now than to treat this like a fun walk and get into trouble.’

Asan asked, sounding curious, “Wodanaz, the Black Tortoise Tower students said the food you made was amazing!”

“Really?” Lee Han said, surprised. “It was just a simple stew.” He thought they were probably just hungry. Food always tastes better when you’re really hungry. He’d just chopped up some vegetables and cooked them with oil, salt, pepper, and tomato sauce. Nothing special.

“No, it was really good,” Yoner said.

“Yeah, really delicious,” Ratford agreed.

“?” Lee Han was confused. He didn’t expect Yoner to say that, and definitely not Ratford. “But there was no meat. Isn’t the food in the dorm better?”

“No,” Yoner said. “Maybe it’s because we ate it outside together? It just tasted much better.”

‘Maybe it’s the vegetables,’ Lee Han thought. The only thing he could think of was that the vegetables were very fresh. They had grown so quickly in Professor Uregeoreum’s garden. He wondered if the professor had used some kind of special magic fertilizer.

‘Oh no,’ Lee Han worried. ‘What if he used some super expensive magic stuff, and I just cooked it all up?’ He felt a little bad for a moment. But then he remembered, if it was that important, Professor Uregeoreum would have told him not to touch the garden. And anyway, wasn’t it *his* garden now?

‘No, it’s not my fault,’ Lee Han decided. If he’d known everyone would like it so much, he would have tasted it himself! He wondered what it tasted like…

“Wait,” Asan said, pointing to a student with long black hair. “You’re from the White Tiger Tower, right?” It was the elf student they had talked to before. What was strange was that he wasn’t with the other White Tiger students. He was following the Princess!

“My tower members said it was okay,” the elf student said. “I will serve the Princess.”

Lee Han noticed there were other students from different towers around the Princess. They were really loyal to her.

Lee Han looked around at his own group. Then, a Black Tortoise Tower student leaned in and whispered to him with a grin. “You still don’t like those White Tiger Tower guys, right? Want to get some people together and start a fight?”

“……” Lee Han just stared at him. ‘Is that really what you think I’m like?’ he thought.

“This looks like a good spot,” Professor Inguldel announced. “Everyone, start collecting your ingredients.” They had been walking for hours, following a winding path up the mountain. Finally, they reached a small valley filled with colorful wildflowers and strange-looking plants.

Professor Inguldel watched as the students spread out in small groups. He looked almost happy. He had been worried they would be chaotic, but they were actually working together well.

‘They’re doing better than I expected,’ he thought. Students seemed to understand they needed to stick together in this school.

‘Every tower has students who are like leaders,’ Professor Inguldel mused. ‘But this boy, Lee Han… he’s different.’ He had heard stories about Lee Han from students in other towers. They said he had a powerful influence, not just in Blue Dragon Tower, but everywhere. ‘He has a kind of… serious presence,’ Professor Inguldel thought. ‘It’s lucky he seems to be a good person, even if he is a bit distant. Otherwise, there could be trouble.’

Professor Inguldel sat down on a rock, listening to the birds singing.

*Chirp, chirp, chirp.*

“?” He turned his head towards the sound.

*Poof!*

In the blink of an eye, Professor Inguldel was gone. One moment he was there, the next… empty air.

“W-Wodanaz!”

Lee Han was carefully putting cloud mushrooms and dwarf hammer mushrooms into his basket when he saw some Black Tortoise Tower students running towards him, their faces white.

“What’s wrong?” Lee Han asked.

“The professor!” one of them gasped. “Professor Inguldel… he’s gone! He disappeared!”

“?!” Lee Han froze. His mind raced.

‘Did Professor Inguldel just… vanish on purpose? To teach us a lesson?’ He quickly shook his head. ‘No. I want to trust Professor Inguldel.’ Though, he had to admit, trusting professors wasn’t always the safest bet.

‘Maybe… maybe enemies attacked him?’ Like those anti-magic people from the Empire? ‘But that doesn’t make sense either. After the last attack, security would be much tighter. They couldn’t just sneak in and grab a professor. If they could, then the headmaster isn’t doing his job.’

If it wasn’t enemies… then what?

‘A monster?’ But Professor Inguldel was supposed to be incredibly powerful, like Alar Long. ‘Would a monster really attack him without making any noise? And would a monster like that be this close to the school?’ Actually, thinking about it, strange monsters near a magic school didn’t seem *that* impossible. But still, Lee Han believed in Professor Inguldel’s skills. He wasn’t someone who would be beaten easily.

“What do we do? What do we do?!” students were panicking.

“Everyone, calm down,” Lee Han said, trying to sound sure even though he wasn’t. “Professor Inguldel might have just gone somewhere for a moment. He’ll be back.” He didn’t really believe it, but he needed to calm everyone down.

‘We’re not lost. No monsters yet. No need to panic,’ he thought. ‘We just need to go back the way we came.’ Even though it was a mountain, there were paths. Students had been using them for years. They had walked quite a way, but they could just turn around and follow the path back…

*Swoooooosh-*

“……”

“……”

Suddenly, heavy rain started pouring down from the sky. Lee Han started to think this whole thing was definitely a trap.

Lee Han and the others rushed to a rocky cliff for shelter from the downpour. Nilia shook the rain off her clothes, looking annoyed. “We can’t find our way in this rain. We’ll get completely lost. And it’s dangerous to get cold, or run into monsters. Monsters in the rain are the worst.”

Nilia’s words made everyone look even more worried. But then she added, trying to sound confident, “But it’s okay. We’re safe here. We just need to wait for the rain to stop…”

“But we should try to find the path!” someone argued. “If the rain gets worse, it’ll be even harder to see!”

“No, we should just wait here!” Nilia insisted.

“We can’t even see the Phoenix Tower students or the White Tiger Tower students,” another student said. “How will we find them in this rain?”

“That’s why we should stay here!” Nilia repeated, getting frustrated.

“We have to find the professor!” someone else shouted. “We need to find a way to call him!”

Nilia sighed loudly and crossed her arms. Lee Han waved to her, motioning her to come over. Nilia stomped over to Lee Han and started gathering small branches.

Meanwhile, the other students were arguing. “We should move now!” “No, we should find the others!” “No, we have to find the professor!”

Lee Han started lighting small fires under the cliff. The bone familiar, surprisingly helpful, scurried around in the rain, bringing back more branches.

“We have to go now, on our own!”

“No, we need to find the other groups! There’s safety in numbers!”

“Finding the professor is the most important thing!”

The argument got louder and louder. Finally, realizing they couldn’t agree, everyone turned to Lee Han.

“Wodanaz! What do you think?”

“Wodanaz, tell us what to do!”

“Huh?” Lee Han looked up, surprised. He was busy with the fire when suddenly, *thwip!* an arrow landed in the ground right next to him. He jumped back.

“Maybe…” Lee Han said, a little shaken, “…maybe we should wait for the rain to stop?”

“Yeah, that’s right,” someone agreed quickly.

“Waiting is the best idea,” said another.

“……” Nilia glared at her friends. ‘You never listen to me!’ she thought angrily.