Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 574

It wasn’t easy to befriend Sirens, who were known to be picky.

Giants weren’t the most sociable either, mostly because of their size.

If you could get past how big they were, giants were simple and kind.

But Sirens were known to be very fussy.

Many races lived in Einroguard’s huge wilderness. But almost no one was friends with the Sirens.

Though, he had made friends with a giant.

Leihan had a special talent for friendship. He had already befriended a giant.

Sometimes, there were wizards like that.

Instead of controlling nature with smarts and magic, they became friends with nature with kind hearts.

Usually, nature spirits loved these wizards.

Maybe the spirits liked him too?

“Oh, well, um, I guess I am, a bit.”

Leihan hid one hand in his sleeve, pushing the baby basilisk further inside. The sleeping basilisk hissed quietly.

“It’s good that you’re friends with the Sirens. I need you to deliver a request. The giants are about to go through the tunnel, so please help avoid any trouble.”

“Yes, I understand,” Leihan said confidently.

He felt a little guilty speaking for the spirits, but not for the Sirens.

Because he really was friends with them.

Of course, their first meeting was a misunderstanding.

He thought they were creatures he had to catch for Professor Lightningfoot’s test.

But after that, they defeated the Mac together, that strange monster from the lake, and solved Headmaster Skull’s stormy picnic together, when the weather went crazy and they had to fix it…

‘That’s friendship, right?’

Unlike with the spirits, this was real friendship.

Leihan took a deep breath. He hoped the Sirens would remember him and listen to his message. He wasn’t sure what to expect as he stepped into the dark tunnel. Leihan descended into the tunnel with conviction.

“Hello?”

Suddenly, the tunnel filled with a strange, high-pitched singing.

-♪↗♪↗↗!

-♬♩↗↗↗!

Sirens were singing in the cool tunnel. They stood on the stone floor. When they saw Leihan, they shrieked. They jumped into the water right away.

Splash!

Splash!!

“Oh. I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else! I’m not suspicious. I’m that first-year student from before!” Leihan called out loudly, thinking they were confused.

“Hey! It’s me, the wizard! Remember? We fought that Mac thing together?”

The Sirens in the water moved their fins quickly, trying to get to deeper water.

They really wanted to escape.

“I’m telling you, you’ve mistaken me for someone else! I’m the wizard who worked with you during the picnic on that stormy, rainy day! Don’t you remember? When I grabbed you by the neck during Professor Lightningfoot’s test…”

Leihan stopped talking.

That wasn’t a good story to tell.

“Don’t you remember?”

Silence.

“Ah. Maybe the Siren I met isn’t here? If so, please just pass on a message.”

Silence.

None of the Sirens answered. They stayed quiet and didn’t come out of the water.

Leihan realized the Sirens were more scared than he thought.

“Just pass on a message.”

Silence.

“…If you don’t deliver the message right away, I will fill this tunnel with lightning.” Leihan tried to scare them.

The Perkuntras’s mark on his hand flashed with sparks. The Sirens shuddered at the powerful presence.

As spirit descendants, they knew how strong the spirit connected to that wizard was.

Of course, Leihan didn’t want to call Perkuntras.

‘If a Siren who knows me comes, the misunderstanding will be cleared up.’

The Sirens here didn’t know him, but if a Siren who recognized him came out, the problem would be solved.

Splaaaash!

No sooner had he spoken than a Siren quickly popped her head out of the water.

She came up so fast, you’d think she was hiding in the water the whole time. Her face was familiar. It was the Siren he had met before. Leihan greeted her happily.

“Hello. How have you been?”

……

“I asked how you’ve been?”

……

“You don’t need to answer. Just nod if you understand.”

But the Siren didn’t answer. She just glared at him with angry eyes.

‘Did I make a mistake?’ Leihan wondered.

Maybe this wasn’t the Siren he knew. He thought she looked familiar, but maybe he was wrong…

“Look, I need to talk to the Siren I know. If you don’t help me find her, I’m going to have to do something you won’t like. Seriously, just get her for me, okay?” Leihan warned, holding up his wand.

The Siren slowly pointed to herself.

“You?”

She nodded.

“Then why didn’t you answer?”

The Siren shrugged.

Leihan didn’t understand, but he decided to ignore it. There were more important things to do.

“Siren, wait. What should I call you? I didn’t ask last time.”

The Siren crossed her arms and looked at him. She looked down on him, like a human couldn’t say a Siren’s name.

“Ah. Your name must be hard to say.”

Since she didn’t answer, Leihan decided to guess. Some rare races had their own languages. The Sirens sang instead of talking, right?

Differences between races should be respected.

“In that case, can I give you a nickname? So I can call you something. Hmm. Guynan-do. How about Guynan-do?”

The Siren made a face and pulled out a stone tablet. She wrote ‘Parthenope’ in messy writing.

“Parthenope. I see. Anyway, Parthenope. I think we’re friends now, so I’m going to ask you for a favor.”

?????????????? Parthenope was confused. She couldn’t understand him. She could argue with one thing, but not a whole bunch of things at once.

“I’m trying to lead the giants through the tunnel, so could you help keep other races or monsters away? If a fight starts, the tunnel could collapse.”

The Siren dropped the tablet.

Leihan picked it up and gave it back.

“Are you listening?”

Parthenope tried to write that it was impossible.

But then she wondered, would this wizard give up if she said no?

……

Absolutely not.

If giants flooded the tunnel…

She imagined the tunnel being destroyed.

I’ll help!!!

“Thank you.” Leihan was happy with her answer.

As expected of a friend, she didn’t let him down. She was different from those spirit guys.

-Ugh. A fishman.

-It’s not a fishman, it’s a type of mermaid. Icurusha said so.

-What’s the difference?

-Uh…

-Difficult. Let’s just call them fish.

The giants thundered through the murky water, splashing loudly with each step.

The water was deep, but the giants could walk through it. The Sirens guarded the side paths, trying to keep others out.

-♬♩♩♩♩…

-♩♪♪…

As the Sirens sang sadly, the giants made faces and covered their ears.

-Ugh! I don’t like it!

-Fish songs are disgusting!

‘Are they feeling it?’ Leihan wondered.

Giants were known to resist things, though not as much as Leihan. That resistance was making them react to the Sirens’ songs.

Of course, the Sirens were also unhappy. The spirit descendants were proud of their songs and didn’t like the giants covering their ears and saying, ‘Ugh! Disgusting!’

The Sirens glared at the giants.

“Can’t you make it so they can’t hear the songs?” Parthenope, who was pulling Leihan’s boat, asked kindly.

Leihan saw the Siren pretending to choke herself and regretted asking. He knew she really hated the giants.

Unlike Leihan, the Siren really hated the giants, and he couldn’t do anything about it. He could make them angry if he interfered.

“Um… Can I sing a song?”

-???

Parthenope stared at him in shock. She didn’t know what he was thinking. She worried he might turn into a Siren. A crazy wizard could do anything.

Leihan saw her look and made an excuse.

“It’s not just any song.”

Leihan had worked on music magic with the minstrel Ipadur and Headmaster Skull. He could sing a few songs that had an effect.

“Since it has magic, I thought it might block the Sirens’ songs a little.”

Parthenope didn’t stop him. She nodded, saying he could try. Leihan cleared his throat and began to sing.

“Once upon a time, there was an orc with a hoe, the orc’s field was flooded by heavy rain, let’s go to the field, to the field…”

-?!

Parthenope was surprised. The wizard’s song was pushing back the Sirens’ songs! The Sirens’ songs were losing power and fading away.

Parthenope listened closely, but it didn’t change.

-Wizard! Wizard!

“Oh. Is it working?”

-I’d rather listen to the fish songs!

-The lyrics are too unpleasant!

“No…” Leihan was surprised by the giants’ reaction.

He was surprised it was working, but more surprised they disliked the lyrics. Why?

“Aren’t the lyrics good? Ah. Maybe you don’t know what kind of song this is. It’s about a legendary orc farmer who keeps plowing his field despite disasters, until even the devil gives up. It’s very educational…”

-We don’t like working songs!

-If the wizard keeps singing songs like that, we won’t walk!

The giants stopped and grumbled. Leihan felt wronged.

‘It’s a good song, though.’

But now that he knew it worked, he just needed to change the song. Leihan tried a few more songs.

A song about a dwarf who kept hammering even as his fingers disappeared (the giants booed), a song about a librarian who collected so many books that he slept on top of them (only one giant liked it)…

“…Oh, there goes a knight, hit by an arrow and dies, hit by a mace and dies, stabbed by a sword and dies, struck by a spear and dies…”

-Good song!

-This is what we wanted! Wizard is the best!

-The knight dies! The knight dies!

-The knight gets trampled to death! The knight gets killed by sheep!

……

The giants liked it so much they changed the lyrics and sang along loudly. The loud giants sang out of tune, making the tunnel echo. The Sirens covered their ears and squeezed their eyes shut.

They looked like they wanted to die.

“…It would have been different with another song,” Leihan told Parthenope.

The giants liked strange songs. If it was the orc farmer song, the Sirens might have liked it.