Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 1027

Lee Han felt very responsible. He didn’t mean to make the wizards in Petrograd angry, but he had. Now, he knew he had to go to Petrograd and fix things.

“I need to think about how to talk to Professor Verdus when I arrive,” Lee Han thought. As he made his plans, he suddenly felt something was wrong.

“Huh? Alsicle’s not here?” Lee Han looked around at his friends who were chatting. He saw that Alsicle was gone.

“Where could he be?” Siana shrugged. “This villa is huge. It’s easy to lose track of people.”

“Maybe he’s in the bathtub?” someone joked.

“No,” Ratford said, walking past. “He was cleaning the water earlier. Remember when dirty slime came out? He was getting rid of it.” He waved his hand. “Wizards throw away magic stuff in the water pipes here, so it takes a while to clean.”

“Maybe he’s reading in the study?” someone suggested.

“No, I don’t think so,” Lee Han said. “Has anything strange happened?”

Siana thought for a moment. “Well,” she said, “Professor Begreck came by earlier.”

“Ah, it’s nothing big, but Professor Begreck came by,” Siana said.

“…Alsicle!” Lee Han suddenly ran into the house. Raphael watched him, surprised at how fast he was.

Lee Han checked the first floor quickly and ran to the stairs. He felt bad. He had been too careless. He should have listened better when Alsicle told him he was scared…!

“Alsicle!”

“I’m here, Wodanaz!”

Alsicle’s voice came from a room at the back of the house. Lee Han threw open the door. Professor Voladi and Alsicle were inside the study. Lee Han looked Alsicle up and down quickly.

‘He looks okay,’ Lee Han thought. ‘But Professor Begreck could hurt him without leaving any marks.’

“Why did you rush over here?” Professor Voladi asked.

“Why?” Lee Han said, surprised. “If Alsicle is with you, Professor, he’s in danger!”

“Hey! Hey!” Alsicle waved his wings quickly, trying to stop Lee Han. “What are you saying? I’m fine! Right, Professor Begreck?” Alsicle was worried about what Lee Han might say with Professor Begreck listening.

Lee Han stopped, confused by Alsicle waving his wings. ‘What’s going on?’ he wondered. ‘Is Alsicle really okay, or is he just pretending because Professor Begreck is here?’ Lee Han used a simple magic trick he learned at Einrogard. He sent out a little bit of magic to feel the room, and then he cast a spell to see if anyone was hiding anything. He wanted to check if Professor Voladi had a magic weapon pointed at Alsicle’s back.

“What are you doing?” Professor Voladi asked.

“Hey… Wodanaz, you…” Alsicle started to say. Of course, they noticed Lee Han’s spell right away. They were both smart wizards. Professor Voladi looked confused, and Alsicle looked scared because he knew what Lee Han was trying to do.

“I’m really okay! Really! Forget what I said before!” Alsicle insisted. And surprisingly, he was telling the truth. Professor Voladi had come to the house, but he hadn’t attacked or hurt Alsicle at all.

*(Flashback to Alsicle’s thoughts earlier)* – ‘Aaaargh! Professor Begreck! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Please calm down!’

– Professor Voladi looked confused. ‘…Oh, wait. You’re not here to punish me?’ Alsicle asked.

‘Punish you? Why would I do that?’ Professor Voladi replied.

‘…Right! Of course not! The world is so dangerous these days, isn’t it? Haha,’ Alsicle said nervously.

Professor Voladi had come to talk about the monster from another world. Alsicle kept saying he wasn’t involved in what happened, but Professor Voladi wasn’t stupid. He knew Alsicle was lying.

-‘Wait, you weren’t fooled by me?’ Alsicle asked.

-‘Should I have been?’ Professor Voladi replied.

-‘Ah… no, no. Of course not! Professor Begreck, you’ve always been smart. That’s why you’re a professor at Einrogard!’

-‘Let’s talk about the monster spider again,’ Professor Voladi said.

-‘Okay,’ Alsicle agreed. He knew trying to flatter Professor Voladi wasn’t working, so he started talking about the monster.

-‘Because of how this monster is, I think it might have gone back to its own world,’ Professor Voladi said.

-‘That could be true,’ Alsicle replied. ‘It can heal and make babies really fast, so it might have escaped before our world was destroyed by the fire.’

-‘It might even try to attack Wodanaz again,’ Professor Voladi added.

-‘Oh, you’re right!’ Alsicle said. ‘It did seem very interested in his magic.’

-‘But aren’t you worried?’ Professor Voladi asked. Alsicle was surprised by the question. For a second, he thought Professor Voladi was going to say something like, ‘You’re supposed to be a good wizard! Do something!’

-‘Help me!!!’ Alsicle cried out.

-‘?’ Professor Voladi just looked at him.

-‘Oh, no, wait. You’re right. I should be worried… I think I’m getting confused these days,’ Alsicle mumbled.

-‘It seems like it,’ Professor Voladi said dryly.

-…… So, Professor Voladi hadn’t attacked him or hurt him. But Alsicle still felt stressed…

“Really? That’s good to hear,” Lee Han said, sounding relieved. “Oh, did they not find out you were involved?” Alsicle tried hard not to show his real feelings when Wodanaz asked innocently about whether anyone knew he helped with the monster from another world.

“Maybe…” Alsicle said weakly.

“Hehe. Thanks,” Lee Han said again.

“Anyway, did you fix the problem in the basement?”

“Oh, I’m going to leave that for now,” Lee Han said. “It’s too hard to solve.” Lee Han explained what Professor Garcia had told him. “The wizards from Petrograd are trying to fix it, but it’s not easy.”

“Petrograd?” Alsicle asked. “Why are *they* there?”

“That’s a long story…” Lee Han started.

“Just tell me the short version,” Alsicle said.

“Okay. The headmaster’s former student is causing trouble at Petrograd Magic School. Professor Garcia and I are going to try and talk to him and make him stop.”

Both wizards were quiet for a moment. Alsicle, still a bit shaken, finally spoke.

“Wait, just a little longer…”

“Huh? Haven’t I explained enough?” Lee Han asked.

‘Explained what?’ Alsicle thought to himself, annoyed. But he didn’t say anything out loud. When your teacher is scary and standing right next to you, it’s best to be quiet.

“Okay. Have a good trip,” Alsicle said.

“I’m going with you,” Professor Voladi said.

“!” Alsicle was surprised. Why would Professor Voladi, who didn’t seem to care about Petrograd, suddenly want to go? ‘Oh, wait,’ Alsicle thought. ‘That’s right.’ Professor Voladi also studied with the Headmaster, and he’s Wodanaz’s teacher now. So it makes sense that he’d want to go with Wodanaz to talk to the Headmaster’s former student. ‘Poor Wodanaz,’ Alsicle thought sadly. ‘He has to deal with so much trouble because of his teachers.’ Alsicle felt sorry for Wodanaz. ‘If I had to meet the Headmaster’s former student,’ Alsicle thought, ‘I would run away!'”

Lee Han went out of the room. Professor Voladi followed him and said, “Let’s go.”

“Huh?” Alsicle looked around. He thought Professor Voladi was talking to someone else, but there was no one else there.

“…!!! ‘He means *me*?!'”

The wizards from Petrograd were very sad. They couldn’t fix the basement problem and were scared away by the ghost. Professor Garcia tried to cheer them up. “Hey, nobody has ever solved the Noenchenf problem!”

“Yeah, that’s true,” one of them said, “but it’s still embarrassing to lose to students from Einrogard.” They tried to think positively, but they still felt ashamed.

“Can some of our students come with you?” Professor Garcia asked.

“Yes? Well… okay, yes. Please come,” Dalser said, hesitating for a moment. He couldn’t say no just because he was embarrassed in front of the Einrogard students. That would be even worse.

“Can other professors or wizards come too?” Professor Garcia asked.

“Yes, please,” Dalser said. Then he wondered, ‘But which professor would want to visit Petrograd, except Professor Kim?’ Five minutes later, Dalser and Benjamin saw Professor Voladi and started talking quietly to each other, looking worried. The students saw them and asked, “Professor, are you worried because we’re coming with you?”

Professor Garcia shook his head. “No, no. Don’t worry, it’s not because of you.”

“Professor Kim,” Dalser said, after talking to his friend. He sounded worried. “Is Professor Begreck coming to fight…?”

“No! To talk! He’s coming to talk to you!” Professor Garcia said loudly, trying to convince them. But the Petrograd wizards still looked suspicious. ‘Is he really not here to attack us?’ they wondered.

Lee Han tried to help Professor Garcia too. “Please believe us,” Lee Han said. “Professor Begreck is coming to talk to you.”

“Not to talk with his fists?” one of the Petrograd wizards asked.

“Professor Begreck isn’t the kind of person who would just do whatever he wants,” Lee Han said. “…Right?” Professor Voladi nodded quietly. The Petrograd wizards finally agreed, but they still looked worried and unsure.

“Okay, then,” Dalser said. “Let’s go.”

“How long will it take to get to Petrograd?” someone asked.

“We’re not far from the capital city,” Dalser said. “Even if we go slowly, we’ll be there in about an hour.” Dalser tried to forget about being embarrassed earlier and started telling the Einrogard wizards about Petrograd. He was still upset and worried about Professor Voladi, but he knew he had to be a good host to their guests.

Salco raised his hand. “I heard Petrograd teaches differently than Einrogard.”

“That’s right,” Dalser said. “Petrograd is very free. Wizards come here to learn from each other whenever they want, and they can leave whenever they want. We don’t even have professors.”

“What?!” The Einrogard students looked shocked. Professor Garcia added, “Well, there are wizards who teach, but we don’t call them professors.”

“So what do we call them?” someone asked.

“Just call me Dalser,” Dalser said. “You can call me Dalser too.” The Einrogard students were speechless. This was a very different way of teaching!

Someone whispered, pretending to be casual, “Could I just say, ‘Hey, Gonadaltes!’ in Petrograd?”

“Shhh, be quiet!” someone else hissed. Lee Han, who was listening, suddenly got worried. “So, you don’t test students at all?” he asked.

“No, no, we do have to check how people are doing,” Dalser said. ‘That’s good,’ Lee Han thought, relieved. The other Einrogard students also sighed in relief. They were already annoyed enough with Valdrogard’s easy tests. They couldn’t handle another school like that.

“We let students grade themselves,” Dalser said. “Everyone gets full marks.”

The Einrogard students were silent again. “…Can we just go back to the villa?” someone asked quietly.

“No, hang in there,” Lee Han said. “We’re almost there.” Lee Han started to worry about his friends getting too angry. They hadn’t even met the Headmaster’s former student yet, and they were already reacting strongly. ‘I hope they don’t cause any trouble,’ Lee Han thought. ‘They’re not new students anymore. They’ll be really mad about this.’

“I have another question,” someone said. “Can Petrograd students go out whenever they want, even on holidays?”

“Freedom is the most important thing here,” Dalser said. “So yes, they can go out on holidays and any other day…”

“Hey, look! There’s a cloud that looks like a dragon!” Lee Han suddenly pointed to the sky, quickly changing the subject.