Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 413

Meanwhile, the summoning mages beside Professor Milrei warned in stern voices.

“If you keep ruining the reputation of the summoning mages attending the festival, I’ll have you know that pit is still empty.”

“It’s, it’s true, really!”

“Please, just let us control the golem once! Then you’ll see we weren’t talking nonsense!”

“What utter rubbish…!”

The angry mage was about to shout, but Ethan spoke first.

“I’ll just show you.”

“…Huh?”

“I did control it earlier.”

“Really?”

The mages nearby were taken aback.

“Even the paper bird must have been quite taxing…”

“I’m fine.”

“Professor Milrei, shouldn’t you stop him?”

The mages worried that a talented individual might get injured out of competitiveness.

However, Professor Milrei slowly shook her head as if to say it was alright.

“Thank you for your concern, but… it’s not good to stop someone from trying something themselves. Let’s just watch for a moment. We can always stop him if it gets too dangerous.”

‘…Master, you seem awfully excited right now. Am I seeing things right?’

‘It seems to me you’re right, she’s definitely anticipating something.’

The senior students were dumbfounded by Professor Milrei, who was hiding her anticipation and pretending not to know.

The students wondered if Professor Milrei was pretending not to know, just to impress the other mages with something simple.

It was easy to see why the golem summoning mages were so proud; the golem possessed an innate power.

The golem was huge and made of stone. When Ethan moved his hand, the golem’s heavy leg slowly lifted, then stomped back down. The summoning mages were amazed to see a first-year student control such a powerful creature so easily.

-Wow! Look! It moved its leg!

-Amazing! The arm moved too!

-Incredible! It even turned its head!

“Ugh. If I were a golem, I would be praised like that.”

“…”

While Gainando was spouting nonsense, the golem summoning mages watched as if possessed.

The mages beside Professor Milrei, who had praised Ethan’s magic earlier, asked with genuine curiosity.

“How on earth are you controlling it like that?”

The other mages pretended not to be interested, but their ears were perked up.

How on earth?

“I just controlled it with magic power.”

“Just with magic power? Wouldn’t that be too draining? Are you alright?”

“Yes.”

“…”

“…”

While the mages present were trembling with shock and awe, the golem summoning mages, who were also surprised, paused.

Huh?

“…Wait a minute. Dark mages, that’s different from what you said earlier, isn’t it?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You said there was a secret…”

“When did we say that? You must have misunderstood.”

“…”

The golem summoning mages glared at the dark mages as if they could kill them.

However, there was nothing particularly wrong with what the dark mages had said. In the end, the golem summoning mages relaxed their eyes and accepted it.

“Alright. I admit it.”

“You’re admitting it surprisingly easily?”

“Well, that student is a summoning mage. When you think about it, it was a summoning mage who did it, so there’s no reason to stubbornly deny it.”

“What nonsense are you talking about!? He’s a dark mage! He’s learning dark magic!”

The golem summoning mages and the dark mages argued fiercely for over ten minutes about ‘Which school of magic does Wodanaz belong to?’

Ethan, who had finished summoning the golem, was disgusted by the conversation.

‘I should never get involved with them.’

Why on earth are they having such a pointless conversation?

“Alright. Let’s compromise.”

“Yes. Let’s acknowledge that both of us have some stake in it.”

Ethan shook his head at the sight of them even making up.

“Why on earth are they competing like that…”

“Ah. There’s a reason for it.”

“?”

One of the mages kindly explained.

“Doesn’t whether you can invite someone to an academic society or meeting depend on which school of magic they belong to? That’s why they’re doing that.”

“…??”

Magic is a huge subject. Even the smartest mages cannot learn everything by themselves.

What helped in such cases were the other mages in the Empire who specialized in the same school.

New opinions presented by mages with different perspectives at academic societies or meetings often enlightened mages who had hit a wall.

One of the most important things at these academic societies or meetings was…

“Inviting talented mages.”

“That’s… wait. So, if the two of them compromise like that, what happens?”

“They both get invited?”

“…”

Ethan’s face twisted in agony.

“Inviting a first-year student is a bit… wouldn’t it seem presumptuous?”

“Haha. Skill is what matters. If any school doesn’t invite a mage from Einroguard, and one who just showed magic like that, they’ll be laughed at.”

The mage kept saying things that bothered Ethan, without realizing it. Ethan tried to stay calm.

“Good work.”

‘How sickening.’

Ethan was overwhelmed by Professor Milrei’s words.

She was the one who made him do it!

Thanks to her, Ethan was now bound to receive invitations from all the golem specialist summoning mages and dark mages who had attended today.

‘Hold on. The other party is a professor.’

Ethan tried to back away slowly.

For now, he had done everything he needed to do today.

He had shown summoning magic at the festival, and he had shown the golem, which he didn’t even need to show…

At this point, it was safe to say he had exceeded full marks.

Just then, a familiar face appeared from behind.

It was Professor Mortoom.

“Ah. Professor Mortoom!”

The dark mages recognized Professor Mortoom’s face and were delighted.

The disciple of the infamous Archmage Gonadaltes, and the great dark mage who continued the advancement of the Empire’s ancient dark magic!

“Cough. Did Wodanaz happen to show any undead?”

“He didn’t.”

“Oh dear.”

Professor Mortoom was disappointed.

Of course, he had prophesied in front of Ethan, ‘Even if you stay still, your skills will be revealed,’ but Professor Mortoom was a dark mage, not a divination mage.

Whether Ethan would actually show his abilities as a dark mage or not was something Professor Mortoom could not know.

‘Did it just pass by?’

Professor Mortoom looked around, searching for Ethan.

And after finding Ethan, he shouted.

“Cough. Wodanaz, summon some undead!”

“…!”

“!!!”

Ethan had to put on a skeleton warrior summoning show once again.

Only after the dark mages showed a sea of tears, saying, ‘Is a new archmage finally emerging?’ did Professor Mortoom apologize.

“Cough. Sorry. I didn’t know you had already shown the golem.”

“…”

“But while golems have some overlap with the realm of summoning magic, undead are pure dark magic. It couldn’t have hurt.”

“…”

“…Are you perhaps angry?”

“Me? No.”

“Cough. That’s a relief. The dark mages will be staying in the nearby village for a few more weeks after the festival. How about visiting sometime? It would be helpful for your dark magic.”

“I’m banned from going out.”

“…Cough. Cough.”

Professor Mortoom felt a strange pressure and coughed.

It was as if the pressure he felt when Professor Garcia stared intently at him in anger was washing over him.

“Th-that’s right. I was mistaken.”

“Wodanaz. They’re summoning spirits over there. Want to go together? You can summon spirits, right?”

The mages participating in the festival perked up their ears at the sound of other friends who had spotted Ethan calling out to him.

Professor Mortoom quickly intervened and dissuaded them.

“No, that’s not right! He can’t summon spirits either. You all seem to be mistaken!”

“Oh? Is that so? Wodanaz used to lightn…”

“Alright! Let’s go quickly and take a look! The spirit summoning is about to begin!”

Only after sealing the students’ mouths could Professor Mortoom breathe a sigh of relief.

His disciple’s sullen expression seemed to have softened just a little.

“P-Professor Mortoom.”

“What is it?”

“You really can’t summon spirits? Can’t you let me try once?”

“…Cough. Get away.”

After all the excitement, the week finally ended, and Ethan had to go to his dance class.

As a difficult week came to an end and the weekend approached, smiles and anticipation spread across the students’ faces.

Although school life was cold and hungry, at least the weekends held relatively enjoyable things.

Just finish today’s lecture and it’s the weekend!

‘Once this is over, it’s the weekend.’

‘Even though I have duty left.’

‘Even though there’s a pile of assignments.’

‘Even though I have to go get food.’

Thinking that way, the students who were moving their feet paused.

Huh?

“…?”

“Wodanaz, why are you coming this way?”

The lecture they were going to listen to now was >Basic Dance and Social Skills Deep Dive>.

As they knew from seeing it in the first semester, Wodanaz did not attend this lecture. The students of the Blue Dragon Tower guessed, ‘This lecture must be too easy for Wodanaz.’

“I’m going to attend from the second semester onwards.”

“Why? You said you weren’t interested.”

Gainando asked without much thought. Then Ethan asked back with a serious face.

“Have you finished all the assignments for the other lectures?”

“…D-Did I do something wrong??!”

It was Ethan who had been forced to attend the lecture due to the Skull Headmaster’s evil wrongdoing.

Naturally, he wasn’t in a good mood.

‘The summoning magic festival would have been better.’

The summoning magic festival was annoying because every mage he saw grabbed him and bothered him to show them magic, but at least there was a sense of fulfillment that he was getting closer to an A+.

In comparison, the dance and social skills lecture was…

“Yonel. What kind of person is the professor?”

Yonel, who was covering his mouth and yawning, wiped away the slightly forming tears at Ethan’s question and answered.

“He’s very famous in the Empire’s social circles. Have you ever heard of Krinval Greenbelt?”

“I don’t really read the social section in the Empire’s newspaper…”

“Actually, I didn’t read it either, so I heard about it for the first time in the first semester.”

Both Ethan and Yonel were people who thoroughly read the economic section in the Empire’s newspaper repeatedly, but roughly skipped over the social section.

Articles about which club had newly opened in the capital, which social gathering had newly formed, or which socialite had created a trend with a flashy dance would make them nod off to sleep if they read more than one line.

“What I’m curious about is his personality… Anyway, he’s not a mage, and certainly not a mage from Einroguard, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then his personality should be alright, right?”

“…Huh?”

Yonel tilted his head.

Something about the logic was strange.

“W-Well… is it? I don’t think so?”

“Ah. Is his personality strange?”

“N-No… his personality is good.”

“Then it’s right, isn’t it?”

“?”

Yonel couldn’t refute Ethan’s subtly logical argument and missed his chance.

The dance hall was decorated like a ballroom with mirrors and chandeliers.

“Alright! Everyone, come in. Open the door wide and come in! Step lightly! Keep your expression dignified! No matter how tired you are, you must forget your worries when you dance!”

In the middle of the lecture hall, a spider-kin dancer in a fancy tailcoat was waiting. He moved with a cheerful and energetic air.

It was Professor Krinval Greenbelt, who was in charge of the lecture.

Clap clap clap!

Professor Krinval welcomed the students, clapping incessantly.

“Student Gainando! Why do you have such a gloomy face! Come on! Walk in, stepping as you learned last time!”

“Sniff sniff. I keep losing in the mage card game, so I’m angry.”

“Even if you lose in the mage card game, dance will comfort you! Come on! One, two! One, two!”

Ethan, who had been relieved by the professor’s cheerful and kind demeanor, suddenly had a thought and asked Yonel.

“Does this professor give good grades?”

“Huh? He tends to give good grades, right?”

“…”

Ethan suddenly remembered his past self, who had gone to Professor Volardy’s lecture hall, which no one else attended, in the first semester to get good grades easily.

“…Hoo. I shouldn’t have used a shortcut…”

“?”