Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 446

Professor Lightning-Foot’s voice was high and surprised. “Why on earth did you bring *that* back?!”

Professor Lightning-Foot, an explorer famous even in the Empire, couldn’t help but shout when he saw a first-year student dragging a Siren up by the back of its neck.

Ihan looked confused, like he was thinking, “A Siren is a water creature, right?”

Professor Lightning-Foot covered his face and sighed deeply.

“No… no. I guess it is a water creature…”

Now that he thought about it, Ihan hadn’t really done anything wrong.

Professor Lightning-Foot had asked them to catch a water creature.

But…

‘To bring back a Siren of all things!’

It was like asking someone to find food in the forest and they came back with a dragon, not just berries or a rabbit!

Nobody would expect someone to bring back a Siren in a test where they had to go into an underwater cave to catch a rare water creature…

“…How did you even catch it… No, never mind. Let it go for now. It’s clearly upset.”

–♩! ♬!! ♪♪♪♪!!! The Siren sang loudly and angrily. Ihan didn’t know much about music, but he could tell the Siren was very mad.

“Ah. I thought the anger was part of the test. Sorry about that.”

Ihan let go of the Siren’s neck. The Siren quickly went into the water, only showing its face as it kept singing angrily.

-♩♪ ♬♩♩♪!!!!!

“I don’t know what that means, but I’m sorry.”

“Look, I’ll apologize for him, so please stop singing. The other students are starting to wobble around like they’re under a spell,” Professor Lightning-Foot said to the Siren, apologizing for Ihan.

The Siren seemed upset and sang to try and control Ihan. But instead, the other students started to wobble around like they were under a spell.

After singing for a long time, the Siren finally got tired and coughed. Then, breathing heavily, it went to Professor Lightning-Foot.

“It’s not like he meant to catch me. Though… I admit, I didn’t think a *first-year* wizard could do it. Imagine that.”

-♩♪♪♪♪♪!!

“I’ll give you twice the money we agreed on, so please calm down. And the other first-year students are definitely not as good as him, so don’t worry too much… I mean it. Think about it. Have you ever seen a first-year student like that at Einroguard?” Professor Lightning-Foot was sweating as he calmed down the Siren.

Finally, the Siren’s anger went away, and it went back into the water. Professor Lightning-Foot sighed in relief.

‘I somehow managed to convince it.’

Sirens were perfect to test students in the underwater cave.

If they got angry and left, the test would have to be changed.

“Is the Siren not allowed, maybe?”

“Is the Siren really gone?”

Professor Lightning-Foot looked at the water before speaking.

“Well done. You get full marks.”

Once he wasn’t surprised anymore, Professor Lightning-Foot praised his student.

He still didn’t know how Ihan had caught it, but catching a Siren in the water was amazing.

If people knew Ihan caught a Siren, some ship captains who explore would be very interested and want to hire him right away.

“Ah. So… catching the Siren was part of the test? I knew it.”

Ihan looked at the professor with admiration.

The Siren was proud, but it was caught and angry. To calm it down, the professor pretended he meant for Ihan to catch it.

Ihan thought, ‘Professors must be really skilled. They can’t be just average.’

“…Ye-yes.”

Professor Lightning-Foot decided to just move on instead of explaining.

“Tell me how you caught it, though. I’m curious.”

-♪♬♩♩♩♬

Ihan saw that slapping Gainan’s cheek wasn’t helping, so he quickly did something else.

‘Sirens!’

Sirens, creatures that are part merfolk and part spirits, and known for playing mean tricks in the sea, had appeared!

‘The water creature the professor talked about was a Siren!’

Ihan pulled the ropes tied to his charmed friends three times. The people above started to pull the ropes up.

Feeling relieved, Ihan covered his ears, said a spell, and ran towards the Siren.

The Siren was surprised that a wizard was running towards it without being charmed, so it sang even louder.

-♪♪♪♪♪♪… ?!!

But no matter how loudly it sang, Ihan didn’t change at all. It was because he had covered his ears earlier.

“…It’s not because you covered your ears, but because you’re very resistant to magic. Many people think you can block a Siren’s song just by covering your ears, but that’s a wrong idea.”

“Ah. Is that so?”

No matter how loudly it sang, Ihan didn’t change at all. It was because of his natural magic power.

The Siren had never seen anyone chase it who wasn’t charmed. It was scared and started to swim away.

-♬♩♩! ♬♩♩! ♬♩♩!

‘What magic is it doing?’

The Siren sang, telling him not to come closer, but Ihan didn’t understand Siren language.

‘Sirens are creatures with the blood of old spirits. It might have dangerous powers I don’t know about.’

This made Ihan even more careful.

Ihan decided to attack first instead of letting the Siren control him.

-Charge… lightning of Pergunta!

The lightning, which usually goes in a straight line, now went everywhere, like a spell that hits a large area.

This strange thing only happens in water.

Of course, the lightning also hit Ihan, but he could handle it because he was naturally resistant to magic. The Siren was even more confused by the strange, tingly feeling it felt for the first time.

Zap!

The Siren’s tail fins were frozen for a moment. It sang again to call for help from the water spirits.

It was trying to use their power to go faster.

But the water spirits coming to help suddenly jumped back when they saw Ihan and ran away fast.

-?????? The Siren was shocked that its own kind had turned against it. Meanwhile, Ihan cast a spell to block the Siren’s way.

-Burn…

-?! The Siren was confused because it didn’t know what the wizard was doing, as he used fire in the water.

Trying to use fire magic in the water.

No foolish wizard would ever do that…

Whoooosh!

Suddenly, a wall of fire appeared, blocking the way. It was made very carefully.

Ihan felt his eyes turn red for a moment.

The fire magic that had been giving him so much trouble was now working, and it even changed its shape perfectly.

“It was truly touching.”

“Tha-that’s not the time to be touched, but to find it strange that a fire that doesn’t go out in the water… No, never mind. Carry on.”

The Siren was totally scared and struggling in the water. Ihan could easily swim up and grab it.

The Siren, caught by someone who was unbelievably strong for a wizard, struggled and tried to look Ihan in the eyes.

Sirens could do more than just sing. They had a natural magic in their blood that let them create illusions when they looked someone in the eyes.

This magic was strong. It could read the other person’s mind and show them an illusion of what they most wanted to see.

Usually, they didn’t need this eye magic because their song worked so well. But now that the song wasn’t working, the Siren really tried to make eye contact.

-!!!!! And when their eyes met, Ihan felt the Siren’s magic and suddenly became very still, like a piece of wood.

Ihan grabbed its neck and swam upwards, thinking that the Siren had finally given up.

“Sirens are hard to convince, so why are you scaring it like that…”

“Huh? I didn’t threaten them or anything?”

“That’s not what threatening with words means… No, never mind. You’ve worked hard, so take a rest.” Professor Lightning-Foot praised his amazing student, looking completely surprised.

It was crazy, but it was a really great thing to do.

Nobody else would ever catch a Siren, especially not in this test!

“Yes. I understand.”

However, Ihan went to his friends instead of resting.

“Hey guys. It seems catching a Siren is right. It definitely seems to be a high-scoring target.”

“Really?!”

“But how do you catch a Siren?”

“Wodanaz. I’m really sorry, but could you show us just once?” Ihan nodded because his friends from the tower really wanted him to.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to rest, but he could show his friends how to do it.

“Okay. Everyone, use underwater breathing and come into the water. Gainan. Why are you holding your cheek?”

“I don’t know. I think I hit a rock earlier,” Gainan complained, holding his puffy cheek.

It seemed that while he was unconscious, the people above had pulled the rope hard and he had hit something.

“The way to catch a Siren is… um. No. It would be faster to show you how to catch it. How about you guys watch from far away as I catch it one more time?”

“To that extent…!”

“Wodanaz…!” Professor Lightning-Foot, who was listening, was shocked and stared with his mouth open.

The students decided not to catch another Siren and went into the underwater cave to find other rare water creatures.

Ihan saw the water rabbit Yoner had brought and said, wishing he had one too.

“Should I have brought a water rabbit instead of a Siren? The water rabbit seems easier.”

“……”

-…… Professor Lightning-Foot and the Siren looked at Ihan like they were surprised.

The Siren especially glared at Ihan like he was its worst enemy.

The Siren was still embarrassed about being caught three times by the same wizard in one day. It wouldn’t forget it easily.

Ihan felt the Siren’s gaze and turned his head. Then the Siren quickly looked away.

It wasn’t brave enough to yell at Ihan outside the water, and it definitely didn’t want to go back in the water and run away again.

“…Okay. Let’s all thank the Siren who worked hard!” Professor Lightning-Foot saw the Siren was unhappy and called the students over.

Professor Lightning-Foot knew if he made the Siren too angry, other magical creatures in Einroguard might not like him. So, he had to make things right.

“Thank you! Siren!”

“Your song was really good!”

The students didn’t hate the Siren.

Being charmed by the song was like a dreamy and beautiful memory.

And the students were caught and dragged away much more gently than the Siren.

The Siren lifted its chin proudly and listened to the students’ nice words, acting like it didn’t care.

“I was grateful too. Siren.”

-…♪♪♪♪!! The Siren poured out its song to Ihan.

Professor Lightning-Foot quickly stopped him and finished the class.

“Everyone worked hard! And thank you to the Siren, a real sea song spirit, for working hard too! You can go back now! Oh, Wodanaz.”

“Yes?”

“When you’re walking around Einroguard, it’s best not to go near places where Sirens appear!”

“No… isn’t that too much just for a class test?” Ihan thought the Siren was overreacting and being a bit silly.

“There’s the cabin!”

“Throw the hook!!”

“Got it!!”

The next morning, Ihan and his friends from the tower, after resting well, were riding on Tanjua. They were going to hunt… not whales, but a cabin!

The hook caught onto the floating cabin and slowly started to pull it.

“‘Huh? Where have I seen this before?’ Ihan was confused because the cabin looked familiar.