Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 655

“Oh, how can they say such a terrible thing upon first meeting?” Siana, the priestess, muttered in astonishment.

In Einrogard, calling someone a fifth-year student was a deep insult. It meant they were slow learners or had failed their studies. So, when Siana heard this, she was shocked.

Even if they were enemies, how could anyone suggest someone stay in Einrogard for five years?

“Calm down, Priestess. It might mean something different in Valdrogard.”

“No magic school would consider being stuck in fifth year a good thing!”

Ingsen was surprised by the student with snake-like features wearing priest robes from the Flameng Order.

The priestess was being too harsh.

‘Is she even a priestess…?’

The noise around them faded as Leehan finally spoke, his voice quiet but firm. “What’s all this about being a fifth-year?”

His face remained as calm and composed as a statue, but Yoner, who knew Leehan well, saw a flicker in his usually steady grey eyes. Beneath the sculpted features, Yoner sensed a cold anger starting to simmer.

Even for Leehan, the most patient and stoic of them all, the insult of being called a fifth-year had clearly struck a nerve.

“Are you… Are you Senior Leehan of the Wodanaz family? Einrogard’s fifth-year…?”

“Fifth year?”

“Yes. Fifth year… Oh, are you a fourth-year?”

Leehan, as well as his friends, were bewildered. What fifth year?

Only then did Leehan’s friends realize that the Valdrogard students were mistaken about Leehan’s year, and they began to whisper.

“Why do those guys think Wodanaz is a fifth-year?”

“Isn’t it because of the things he did in Granden City?”

“What did I do?”

“You fought the King of Ghouls, fought the Basilisk, fought the Sea Serpent, fought the anti-magic activists, and fought the magical criminals, didn’t you?”

“…There are things I didn’t do in Granden City, though.”

Leehan tried to argue, but he couldn’t really deny what his friends were saying. They just ignored his weak protest.

“Well, rumors spread quickly. If I heard these rumors, I would have thought you were a fourth-year senior.”

“They think he’s a fifth-year, though?”

“No, even so, it’s strange. There’s no way the things that happened in Granden City and Einrogard would spread this far.”

Leehan spoke again, but his friends ignored him again.

“Hey, can’t you guys hear me?”

“Um…” The two Valdrogard students were flustered as the atmosphere turned strange.

“Are you not a fifth-year senior?”

“Actually, I’m more interested in *why* you guys thought I was a fifth-year in the first place?”

At those words, Bashiu quietly said to Ingsen, so only he could hear. “Oh dear, he must be a fourth-year.”

While Leehan stared at Bashiu in disbelief, Ingsen began to explain.

“Last year, seniors from our school visited Einrogard. At that time…”

“Ah, so that’s what happened.” At Ingsen’s words, Leehan realized what had happened.

“What is it?”

“Do you remember the assignment Professor Knighton gave us during the festival last time?”

“What was it? Calculating the amount of rainfall in the Empire and the resulting road damage, and the cost of repairs?”

“The number of wizards needed to maintain the Empire’s fortress network?”

“The research possible within Einrogard with Leehan’s magical power?”

The friends’ answers were all over the place, as he was a professor who gave a lot of assignments. Some of them hadn’t even been assigned.

“You’re all wrong. And the last one wasn’t even assigned.”

“Ah, Leehan. The professor said the last one when you weren’t there. You were working on the fortress request from outside at the time.”

Leehan was shocked. Trying to sell him off to his friends while he wasn’t there!

“…That’s not what I was talking about. I’m talking about the sculpture of light and illusion that Professor Knighton made during the festival.”

“Ah.” Only then did the friends realize what Leehan was talking about.

Many outsiders had visited the festival last year, and they, as first-year students, had worked hard to prepare to entertain those outsiders. One of them was Professor Alphen’s magic circle. Creating light and illusion…

“That wasn’t an assignment, Wodanaz, you just did something the professor didn’t even ask you to do…?”

“Shhh. Nilia. Leehan gets hurt too.” Yoner stopped Nilia.

Even if it was a question without malice, it was a question that could hurt Leehan.

“…Let’s just say it was an assignment. Anyway, the Valdrogard students came and ruined the magic circle at that time.”

“That’s right. That happened.”

“Anyway, those Valdrogard guys… Mmph mmph.” Leehan blocked Gainan’s mouth and continued to explain.

“I was lucky enough to replace it with the magic I learned at that time.”

The Valdrogard students who visited the festival as guests accidentally ruined Professor Alphen’s magic circle. Of course, the Einrogard students criticized them for it, and Leehan, who was worried that they would get into a fight and be scolded together (and because he had already beaten the Valdrogard students with water orbs), stopped the fight and somehow resolved the situation with Azirmo Enchantment.

“Why?”

“At that time, the Valdrogard students called me senior…”

The friends were speechless in disbelief. How strong of an impression did he leave that he was being called senior by seniors from another school?

“I thought I cleared up the misunderstanding by talking to their professor, but I guess not.”

“I’m glad then!” Siana said with a sigh of relief.

“I almost got angry thinking those lunatics were telling Wodanaz to go to fifth year.”

“I know, right? Haha. I was also taken aback.”

‘Has Priestess Siana become a bit rougher?’

‘The Phoenix Tower priests have all changed in general.’

While Nilia and Yoner whispered, Leehan turned around and faced Ingsen and Bashiu.

“I think I know why that misunderstanding occurred. When the Valdrogard students visited, this happened…” Leehan explained what heartwarming things had happened in relation to Professor Alphen’s magic circle.

Being mistaken for a senior because of unfamiliar magic was quite a pleasant thing.

Ihan smiled, a little too brightly. “What a coincidence,” he said. “You can’t believe everything you hear, can you?”

“…Oh, no. Was that Ihan from the Wodanaz family?!”

“…?”

Ihan was taken aback by the unexpected reaction.

Huh?

‘Wasn’t it because of that?’

“The person who fixed the… broken magic circle… uh…”

“Strange…? Is he… a split personality…?”

However, Ihan’s embarrassment was nothing compared to that of Ingsen and Basiu.

Ingsen and Basiu were shocked, as if their world had collapsed.

The person who attacked them with water orbs and the person who helped them with the magic circle were the same! It was Ihan.

“Wait,” Ingsen said, his voice rising in confusion. “Then why did you think… why did *we* think you were a fifth-year?”

Basiu nodded quickly. “Yes! Because you attacked the older students with water orbs! But… wait.” He frowned, his eyes narrowing. “Is *that* a lie too?”

Ihan hesitated for just a moment. He looked down at his shoes, then back up, meeting their gaze. “…No,” he admitted quietly. “That part is true.”

“……”

Silence dropped into the drawing room, heavy and uncomfortable. You could almost feel it pressing down on them.

It took Ingsen and Basiu a long time to understand that Ihan was the same age as them, and that he had both pelted Baldrograd upperclassmen with water orbs and helped fix the broken magic circle.

Gainando rolled his eyes at Ingsen and Basiu, then leaned towards Siana and whispered something, a smirk playing on his lips.

‘How could they be so stupid!’

“So… the water orbs…”

“There’s a bit of a misunderstanding there. It wasn’t a proper duel or magic battle, but more like a festival game, entertainment,” Ihan lied without hesitation.

It was a lie that those involved would never have admitted to.

He called it a festival game and entertainment, but the participants were risking their lives to dodge the water orbs.

If that wasn’t a duel, then what was?

“It was like a festival game, but because of that, I disgraced the Baldrograd upperclassmen? That’s a completely false rumor. You shouldn’t believe such rumors.”

“But… the upperclassmen said you were a fifth-year, and that they were terribly…”

“That’s a joke.”

“A… a joke?”

Ihan gave Yoner a grateful look and took the words.

“A mischievous joke. The upperclassmen at Einrograd also make mischievous jokes sometimes. Like releasing poison in the underground corridors…”

“????”

“…Or teasing the incoming freshmen. Can you be sure that it wasn’t that kind of joke? Really?”

Ihan strongly pressured them.

As he glared at them, pressing, ‘Are you really believing the story that I trampled your upperclassmen with magic!’, Ingsen and Basiu wavered greatly.

“Th… that so…? Was it a joke…?”

“But it was definitely the truth. The upperclassmen didn’t seem to be joking. They were trembling as they spoke…”

Ihan said firmly.

“It’s acting.”

“A, acting?!”

“Upperclassmen love teasing younger students. Of course they were acting!”

“…!”

Ingsen and Basiu were greatly shocked.

Until now, they had always thought that the Baldrograd upperclassmen were honorable nobles who never lied, but that wasn’t the case!

“N… no way! The upperclassmen are nobles!”

“Haha. Just because they’re nobles doesn’t mean they don’t lie. Isn’t this a well-intentioned lie to get closer to their juniors?”

Ihan mercilessly made the Baldrograd upperclassmen out to be liars and finished the cleanup.

“I… is that so…”

“Maybe we trusted the upperclassmen too much. We should have trusted what we heard and saw with our own ears and eyes.”

“That’s right. Just because you can’t dodge a water orb doesn’t mean that proves your magical skill. The upperclassmen knew that and were teasing us.”

It was a ridiculous story, but Ihan didn’t bother to point it out.

Ihan didn’t want to have a title like >Baldrograd’s Bone Collector>.

It would have been honorable if he had won in a fair duel, but breaking the Baldrograd students’ noses with water orbs at the festival was closer to notoriety.

‘Somehow it’s been resolved. Let’s see. Those Baldrograd bastards.’

Ihan felt resentful.

He helped fix the magic circle he had ruined, but they spread rumors just because he hit them a bit at the festival.

Next time he met them, he would apply for a proper duel!

“What nonsense!”

“?!”

Gainando didn’t fall for it.

“If you can’t dodge a water orb, you can’t do magic! What are you trying to excuse after failing!”

“What are you talking about, that’s separate!”

Ingsen, at Gainando’s cry, unknowingly dropped honorifics and protested.

Basiu shouted in agreement.

“Magical skill isn’t about how quickly you cast, but about how great a magic you cast…”

“I can’t hear you, losers!”

“Are you listening? So dodging water orbs has nothing to do with magical skill? Even the great wizard Bakwantallana…”

“I can’t hear you, dirt diggers!”

“Magic isn’t about fighting in the mud of the marketplace, but much more noble and dignified…!”

“Ooooh! Losers! Dirt diggers! Defeated dirt diggers!”

“Eeee!”

The two’s faces turned red with Gainando’s taunts and provocations.

“How can a prince act so undignified…! Basiu is right, you have no dignity as a royal!”

“Losers, losers, losers, losers!”

The friends were impressed.

‘Don’t they even fight like that in Baldrograd?’

‘Why can’t they withstand such provocation?’

Ihan was worried inside.

‘It’s dangerous if they ask to fight with magic like that.’

Even if the opponent’s spellcasting was slower and clumsier than Gainando’s, it couldn’t be said that they had no overall magical skill.

Even though Einrograd’s education method was unique, there were many wizards in the Empire who were slow and clumsy at casting.

Since it was rare to have to complete magic urgently, it wasn’t a big flaw.

It might be dangerous if they competed in a field where Gainando was weak.

“Hmph… relying only on magic and acting rudely. Do you think that being good at magic is everything? If you have no honor and no character, that magic has no value! Even if you are the top of your class!”

“???”

However, instead of applying for a duel with Gainando, Ingsen and Basiu lowered their tails and criticized him.

Siana tilted her head and asked.

“Who are you talking about now? Are you insulting Lord Wodanaz?”

“I think they’re talking about Gainando…”