Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 201

“It’s a misunderstanding.”

The demon, skilled as it was, quickly understood the situation. Ancient wizards used to train their students in much harsher ways.

This demon was old and had seen a lot, so he understood the situation quickly. Of course, that didn’t make Professor Voladi seem normal.

Even long ago, few teachers made their students fight demons. Ethan thought, *Even forcing a student to fight a demon is too much! This wizard is crazy.* He found himself wanting to support the demon, whose name he didn’t even know.

“Fight,” Professor Voladi urged the demon.

The demon ignored him, thinking, *No thanks. I refuse to associate with madmen. Don’t involve me in your wizards’ insane training.*

“If you don’t fight, I’ll attack.”

The demon wondered, *Do you think I’ll succumb to pain?*

“Name your terms.”

Professor Voladi immediately changed his approach to persuade the demon. But it didn’t work. The demon had been summoned against his will, beaten up, and then told, ‘I wish you would fight a little more.’

The demon thought, *Even if you gave me half the world, I would never make a deal with a madman like you.*

After speaking, the demon looked at Ethan. He remembered beings similar to Ethan.

*You are of the Wodanaz family lineage. I pity and remember you, young wizard. If you ever need to make a deal with me, I will show you mercy,* the demon thought.

Ethan didn’t know whether to be happy or sad about being pitied by an ancient demon he was meeting for the first time.

Professor Voladi whispered, “Make a contract now. Then tell him to fight.”

The demon responded, *I will never agree to such a contract, you madman.*

The demon cursed Professor Voladi and opened a portal, returning to where he had been.

Professor Voladi’s shoulders slumped. His usual bright eyes seemed to dim, and a rare frown creased his face. Ethan had almost never seen him look unhappy.

“Professor,” Ethan said quickly, trying to cheer him up. “It’s okay. I learned a lot from that!”

Professor Voladi sighed, ignoring Ethan’s words. “Too short,” he muttered, shaking his head. “Such a shame. It was just getting interesting.”

“Really, Professor, it was enough for me,” Ethan insisted, but Professor Voladi was already thinking aloud.

“Hmm,” Professor Voladi said, a strange glint returning to his eyes. “I’ll have to find a *better* one next time.”

A shiver ran down Ethan’s spine, colder than any winter wind. He stared at his professor, a new fear creeping into his heart.

Thwack!

Professor Voladi untied the ropes binding Professor Verdus.

“Why did you tie me up!?” the freed professor asked.

“So you wouldn’t get hurt.”

“Ah. I see.”

Professor Verdus immediately understood and nodded, not even getting angry.

*I need to separate these two quickly,* Ethan thought.

Frankly, it was interesting to see what would happen if they kept being together, but there was a high probability that it wouldn’t be good for Ethan. Ethan tried to separate them.

“But why?”

“For the disciple’s training.”

“Why are you doing that?”

“I am his teacher.”

“Why is the teacher…?”

“It’s what a teacher should do.”

However, before Ethan could intervene, the two professors quickly exchanged words that only they understood. Professor Verdus didn’t understand. A teacher has to spoon-feed everything.

Then, isn’t being a teacher a very difficult and tiring job? No wizard would take on such a task.

Professor Voladi answered firmly to Professor Verdus’s theory, “I am better.”

“Is that so?”

Ethan was dumbfounded by the faint pride in Professor Voladi’s voice. Of course, in some ways, Professor Voladi might be a slightly better teacher than Professor Verdus… But that was definitely not something to be proud of!

Just like being better at studying than Gainando isn’t something to be proud of!

“You should take more interest.”

“No. My time is more important.”

“Do as you wish. I will go find another enemy.”

Ethan was shocked by Professor Voladi’s words. The suspicion he had earlier was true. *Was he really looking for one?*

“Enemy?”

“The reason I said earlier.”

“Ah. Training. Uh… the magical problem in the upper levels of the main building. That seems like it would be good. What do you think?”

“Thank you.”

Ethan cursed himself for not separating them sooner.

Splash!

Ethan was with the Blue Dragon Tower students by the stream, preparing fish. They had gathered some food, but no one knew how long the cold would last. They had to gather as much as they could eat.

“…Ethan. Is something bothering you?” Asan asked.

“Why do you ask?” Ethan replied.

“Well, you’ve been sighing dozens of times since a while ago?”

“Ah. Is that so? I’ll be careful.”

“No, I don’t mean be careful, but…”

Ethan cut open the fish’s belly, removed its head, and washed it in the flowing water. Then, he sprinkled salt on it and hung it up next to him. He had many worries, but his hand movements were flawless. So much so that his friends watching from the side were impressed.

“Wodanaz. What’s wrong? Did Maykin bully you?” Asan asked, and Gainando was startled.

“Maykin bullied Ethan?! Guys! Maykin…”

Yoner sprinkled the salt he was holding on Gainando’s face.

“Ethan. We’re friends. If you have any worries, can’t you tell us?”

“I might have to go to the twisted dimensional corridor and solve the cold problem.”

“…Why would you do that?”

“I see. Wodanaz is feeling responsible…”

“Don’t talk nonsense.”

“Maykin. What do you know!” Asan, who was cut off, grumbled at Yoner.

Meanwhile, students from the Black Tortoise Tower appeared from the other side with fishing rods.

“That’s right. The Black Tortoise Tower guys made a fireplace out of bricks.”

The clever students of the Black Tortoise Tower built a hearth in a vacant lot near the black market to keep warm in the cold weather. The black market was a secret market where things are traded quietly, outside the normal rules.

“A hearth?”

“Yeah. They were grilling all sorts of things.”

“I can build one for you if you want.”

Salco walked up and spoke. The students of the Blue Dragon Tower were happy.

“Really?!”

“I wasn’t talking to you lot. I was talking to Wodanaz.”

Salco growled, chasing the Blue Dragon Tower students away.

Lee Han nodded as if he understood.

“Do you want to trade for fish? Or meat? Sorry, but sugar, tea leaves, and coffee powder are off-limits.”

“…I didn’t come to trade, but to repay you for what you gave us last time, Wodanaz.”

Salco stared at Lee Han as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

It was a reward for Lee Han helping each tower with cold resistance magic. The towers are student houses.

“What? You’re really just doing it for free?”

“Yes.”

Gainan Do, who was next to him, muttered at that answer.

“Sounds suspicious. Why would he do it for free? That’s weird, right?”

“Shut up.”

“No…”

Gainan Do was surprised.

“Then I’ll gratefully accept it.”

“You look tired, is something bothering you?”

Asan answered Salco’s question instead.

“Wodanaz is trying to solve the cold problem right now.”

“……”

Salco, who had been growling until just now, stared at Lee Han in amazement. Salco was starting to change his opinion of Wodanaz.

“…I respect you, Wodanaz. I never thought I’d say this, but you’re a true noble. In this world, ‘noble’ means being kind and brave.”

“Just build the hearth and go.”

Lee Han replied in a slightly tired voice. He rubbed his eyes, feeling exhausted.

He was too tired to explain.

The lecture was titled “Basic Imperial Language and Logic.” In this world, “Imperial” relates to an empire.

It was a very important lecture for young wizards who would meet all sorts of strange beings in the future.

Spirits, demons, angels, etc. These beings were not always hostile, but sometimes they were more dangerous because they were not hostile.

If you make a clumsy contract, the wizard’s life can become very twisted.

That’s why the wizards of the magic school were taught carefully in these areas from a young age.

“Basic Imperial Language and Logic” was a lecture that helped with just these parts.

“-Today, we will read the contract between the wizard Polkelballas and the demon in Imperial Year 117…”

“-Does the demon’s contract originally make the listener fall asleep?”

“-Maybe… I don’t know.”

“-It’s truly demonic. Demon, I lost. I surrender… Snore.”

And of course, it was terribly boring. Students were yawning and looking out the window.

Lectures that build the basics are generally not fun, but “Basic Imperial Language and Logic” was particularly bad.

In the lecture, they read many examples of contracts. They had to find parts that were unclear or could be misunderstood. If a contract used a local language from the empire, they had to translate it correctly. If old-fashioned words were used, they had to translate those too.

Even someone like Lee Han had to try hard to stay awake.

“Huh?”

“Why isn’t the professor coming?”

As the professor did not come, a small hope began to grow on the students’ faces.

Could it be that the professor is not coming today?

Could it be that the professor is not coming next week either?

Everyone, don’t be surprised. Professor Walter Xavier’s mind collapsed during the contract and he went to the temple to recover.

“……”

The faces of the students who had been hoping for a day off were filled with shock and guilt.

They were expecting it, but they weren’t expecting this.

Take this as a lesson and be more careful when making contracts in the future. Professor Pluework, come in.

“Thank you.”

‘A government official?’

Lee Han was puzzled as he watched the fox beast professor with chestnut hair come in. What kind of fox was she? Did she have fox ears and a tail? How did she move?

After meeting several former government officials, he was able to tell the difference between former officials and wizards to some extent.

Former officials were relatively… compared to wizards…

…less crazy.

And Professor Pluework. Professor Walter Xavier’s mind collapsed and he went to the temple for help, but this is not because the magic school is dangerous, but because magic is an unavoidable accident that the discipline has, so please tell His Majesty the Emperor…

“Yes, yes. You don’t have to worry. Now. Then let’s start the lecture. I’m Professor Rosine Pluework. Please take care of me.”

Professor Rosine sent the skeleton headmaster out and greeted him coolly. The skeleton headmaster was tall. How did he speak?

The students were happy with the attitude, but also gave him a slightly wary look.

They had already been hurt too much by the professors.

However, Professor Rosine didn’t care.

“How far did Professor Walter Xavier go?”

“You’ve done everything up to the unfortunate wizard Gurugu, who made a bad contract with the three-headed giant.”

“Good! Shall we have a student read it once and point out the mistakes?”

“……”

The student who answered once in front of him was crying because he was pointed out.

Looking at the difficulty level of the “Basic Imperial Language and Logic” lecture, there was no possibility of hearing good words.

Other friends coldly avoided his gaze.

‘Cheer up.’

‘Don’t look at me. Because I don’t want to present.’

10 minutes later.

“Very good!”

“Gasp. Really?”

“Of course, you made about 41 mistakes, but that’s great for a freshman. Now. Everyone, clap!”

“???”

The students clapped with confused expressions.

However, Professor Rosine’s lecture had only just begun.

1 hour later.

By the time the lecture was over, all the students had become followers of Professor Rosine. They were surprised and then started to get interested.

“Professor! I’ll read it!”

“Professor! I’ll do it!”

‘Why is someone like this at the magic school?’

Lee Han was surprised.

I thought good people were kicked out at the school gate…

“Professor, where were you working before you came here?”

“I was working as a person who sends people to different jobs in the empire.”

It was something that could not be done without a wide network and smooth friendships.

I understood that positive personality.

‘Wait a minute. Then is it possible to recommend a government post?’

A dream that had been buried for a while began to sparkle again.

Lee Han realized that the reason he had been studying “Basic Imperial Language and Logic” so hard was for moments like this.

“I’ll read it too!”

“Woah… Wodanaz. Why suddenly…”

“Hey. Put your hand down quickly. Wodanaz said he’ll read it. Do you want to be compared?”

The surrounding friends grumbled and lowered their hands.

Why does a guy who gets a lot of praise in other lectures have to get praise here too?

‘Ah. That’s the Wodanaz family.’

Professor Rosine recognized Lee Han, who raised his hand. She had heard stories from several places before coming.

‘He said he’s a key talent who will be in charge of the magic school in the future.’