Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 854

Lee Han wanted to poke Professor Verdus where Professor Garcia had pinched him. But he held back.

‘Too useful to use now.’ If he used it, Professor Verdus would be too careful. It was too important to waste on something small.

‘Heh heh. Professor Verdus doesn’t know my secret plan!’

Professor Verdus, not knowing what Lee Han was really thinking, started to explain.

Professor Verdus said, “You know, even before this little flying boat, I always dreamed of a big airship. Not just any airship, but a huge flying ship, like a sailing ship in the sky! And it would fly all by itself, with no one steering!”

“It’s not like flying things didn’t exist already,” Professor Verdus continued. “Even without griffins or unicorns, a good magic user could make something fly. They could make a magic object to carry them through the air. Really good magic users could even make bigger things to carry a few people. But someone always had to be there, controlling it. I didn’t want that. I wanted something perfect: a flying ship that could fly all alone, without any magic user on board!”

“Making it fly on its own was incredibly hard,” Professor Verdus explained. “The sails, the tall masts, the front of the ship, even the lookout tower – all needed special magic carved into them to catch the wind and make it stronger. And the long piece under the ship, the keel, needed magic to make it light and fight gravity. Getting all these magic parts to work together was so hard it could make your head spin! And there were many other tricky things too. No wonder it took me years and years to figure it out.”

Lee Han thought, ‘And because of *that*, my vacation was ruined last year.’ He remembered how Professor Verdus had made him help solve a problem with the giant airship’s magic. It was something about putting too much magic into some circles to see how well they worked, and then using that to fix things…

‘Wait a minute. I remember all this stuff?!’

Lee Han was surprised he still remembered the details of working with Professor Verdus last year. He wished he could remember the story from that silly detective book by Gainan Do instead. He’d already forgotten that book, but Professor Verdus’s complicated ideas were stuck in his brain. Just thinking about it made him annoyed.

Professor Verdus waved his hand at the small sailboat. “This is just a simple thing, like a toy compared to the big project we did before.”

Lee Han said dryly, “Lagesa will be happy to hear that.”

Professor Verdus scoffed. “That’s because Lagesa doesn’t expect much.”

Lee Han stayed quiet, but inside he thought, ‘I need to tell Lagesa about this.’ He made sure to remember everything Professor Verdus had just said.

Professor Verdus pointed to a wheel on the sailboat. “See this? Someone needs to steer it, like this.”

Lee Han asked, “What kind of magic user do you need to fly it?” He wondered, could just anyone fly this thing? A really easy-to-fly magic object could be used even by a student. But a hard one might need someone as skilled as Professor Verdus himself. ‘If it crashes, who would even know?’ Lee Han thought.

“Magic user?” Professor Verdus looked surprised. “Why would you need a magic user? This is made for anyone to fly! How many pirates know magic?”

Lee Han was stunned by Professor Verdus’s casual answer.

Lee Han had forgotten for a moment. Professor Verdus, with his face a bit like a beaver – or maybe a beaver-person – was truly a genius.

‘Right, I forgot. Professor Verdus is still like this.’

The fact that he had survived working for the scary Skull Headmaster all this time showed how smart he was.

“Even people without magic can fly it,” Professor Verdus had said. It sounded simple, but Lee Han knew it was incredibly complex. To let anyone use a ship’s wheel to fly in the air, you needed a lot of magic. First, you had to make the air feel like water when you turned the wheel. The sails had to work like they would on the sea. And then, you had to think of everything that could go wrong when someone without magic was flying it.

“Landing?” Lee Han asked. “How do you land if there’s no magic user?”

“Easy,” Professor Verdus said. “Just drop the anchor. It has gravity magic on it, so the ship will come down.”

“And to take off?”

“Just lift the anchor. It’s made to float right up.”

“Turning? Rain? What if you see monsters?” Lee Han kept asking questions, one after another. But Professor Verdus answered every one, patiently. Lee Han started to think, ‘Wow, this little flying boat is really well-made.’ But then he stopped himself.

“Wait, Professor,” Lee Han said. “Is it finished already? It sounds like it does everything.” He thought, ‘Is he talking about some extra features that aren’t even needed yet?’

“No,” Professor Verdus said. “It still needs work.”

“Where?” Lee Han asked. “Is it the paint? Is it chipped here?”

“The paint is fine.”

“Then… the statue at the front? It looks a bit rough, but it’s just decoration, right?”

“Rough? It’s finished! It’s a beaver.”

“Oh. Right. A beaver. Very… impressive,” Lee Han said, trying not to laugh. Inside, he thought, ‘I thought it was some kind of monster.’

“So, if it’s not that,” Lee Han asked, “what else needs fixing?”

“It has to fly completely on its own! No one steering!”

Lee Han was even more surprised. It was already amazing! And Professor Verdus wanted to make it even harder? ‘Lagesa must be really rich,’ Lee Han thought. All that money to invest in Professor Verdus…

“Lagesa is very brave,” Lee Han said out loud. “Usually, people invest money hoping for something practical. But this…”

Professor Verdus looked confused. “Huh? What are you talking about?”

“Isn’t this what Lagesa asked for? The automatic flying?”

“Lagesa didn’t ask for that!”

“Wait, what?” Lee Han felt his head spin. ‘Is Professor Verdus playing tricks on me?’

“…Then what is this for?” Lee Han asked. “You said it was for Lagesa?”

“Oh, yes. Lagesa just wanted something easy to control,” Professor Verdus said. “Something even pirates without magic could use to scout ahead.”

Lagesa was practical. He didn’t dream of fancy automatic airships.

“So… it’s finished now, right? You can give it to him?”

“Finished?” Professor Verdus looked shocked. “I’ve come this far! You think I should just give it away without making it even better? Are you even a magic user?”

Lee Han closed his eyes for a moment. Professor Verdus had completely forgotten about Lagesa’s money.

‘Why did I even come here?’ Lee Han thought. ‘I should have just ignored his letter, no matter what he offered!’

“So, Professor,” Lee Han said slowly. “You finished what Lagesa asked for. But you think it’s too good to just stop now, so you’re keeping it?”

“Exactly!” Professor Verdus said proudly.

“And you won’t give it to Lagesa, even though he’s waiting for it?”

“Right!”

“Okay…” Lee Han said. “So, if you can’t make it automatic by tomorrow, will you give up and give it to him?”

“No!”

“I see…” Lee Han said, noticing dust on Professor Verdus’s shoulder. He reached out and brushed it off. ‘Is now the time?’

Lee Han sighed. ‘Okay, fine. I’ll help him again. But if this doesn’t work out soon, I’m just going to take the sailboat myself.’ He thought about stealing it and flying it to Lagesa. He even had his magic backpack with him. ‘Will it even fit? Maybe if I empty all the pockets… it’ll be close.’

“Come on,” Professor Verdus said, leading Lee Han out of the attic. He peeked around nervously.

“What’s wrong?” Lee Han asked. “Are you expecting someone to attack us?”

“Maybe,” Professor Verdus whispered. “There could be spies anywhere.”

“Professor, we’re inside your own magic tower,” Lee Han pointed out.

“Even here! Traitors could be anywhere!” Professor Verdus insisted. ‘He’s paranoid,’ Lee Han thought. But then he remembered the rumors about Professor Verdus’s students wanting to sell him for money. Maybe he had a point.

Professor Verdus carefully checked around again as they left the tower. Lee Han yawned. Professor Verdus was taking forever, looking for enemies, assassins, spies, even Lagesa himself.

“You should be nicer to people,” Lee Han mumbled. ‘He’s really careful, though,’ Lee Han thought. Professor Verdus ignored him.

“Where to now?” Lee Han asked.

Professor Verdus struggled to pull the small sailboat out. “Get in,” he said. They climbed aboard, and the sailboat lifted into the air. They flew towards the tall main building.

Flying near the main building was usually forbidden. The guards, the Death Knights, would normally stop anyone flying there. But today, no one stopped them. Lee Han realized, ‘They must know it’s Professor Verdus.’

Good to know. If he ever needed to kidnap Professor Verdus later…

“Oops, wrong way,” Professor Verdus muttered, backing the sailboat up as the main building seemed to grow taller. He adjusted their height and tried again. This time, the building opened up, revealing a large space inside. It was the spire stable, where Lee Han had been before.

Professor Verdus landed gently and pulled out heavy books of spells. “Okay,” he said. “We’ll try these spells one by one to make it fly on its own. We need to write down what goes wrong each time.”

“But Professor,” Lee Han said, “I don’t know these spells.” He looked at the titles: *Start Flying Spell*, *Air Travel Spell*, *Landing Spell*… They sounded like spells for flying in different situations. ‘Of course, it’s complicated,’ Lee Han thought. ‘Making a flying object is like putting these spells together.’ He was starting to understand more about magic now that he was in his second year. ‘These spells are like the basic tools for making flying things,’ he realized.

“Really?” Professor Verdus looked surprised. “I thought you knew these.”

“No,” Lee Han said. “Should I just write down what happens when you try them?”

“No,” Professor Verdus said. “I need your magic power. You’ll have to learn them now.”

“Oh,” Lee Han said, looking at Professor Verdus’s shoulder again.