Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 1064

The young prince was surprised when his apprentice suddenly became so excited.

Just a moment before, the apprentice was complaining and seemed uninterested.

He wondered why the sudden change. ‘But maybe it’s not so surprising,’ he thought.

The prince understood quickly. He remembered his apprentice always liked magic, especially challenges.

So, it made sense that talking about difficult magic made his apprentice want to try harder.

-Ah, I see. Apprentice, is it the challenge of this magic that makes you excited?

“Huh? No… I just want to ride Professor Verdus… like a horse…”

“…?” Yukbeltire looked at his apprentice, confused. He was sure he had only said the golem would crawl, not that someone could ride it.

-I understand. Then I will help you as much as I can! Apprentice, summon your spirit.

Lee Han nodded and got ready to summon a spirit. A small, sparrow-shaped fire spirit, one that seemed to like Lee Han, appeared above his head and chirped happily.

-…Not that spirit, Apprentice.

Yukbeltire, now sounding more energetic, agreed, “No, not that one.”

Lee Han waved his hand, showing he understood. Then, he summoned another spirit – this time, a small, squirrel-shaped ice spirit.

-My apprentice. Summoning such cute spirits twice in a situation like this seems strange no matter how I look at it. Did you perhaps want to show them off?

“…Actually, I did have that thought a little.”

The first time was a mistake, but the second time was closer to showing off.

Yukbeltire looked confused. “Why would you show off such a…” he started to say.

“If you say bad things about my spirits, I’ll fight you, Yukbeltire.”

“…” Yukbeltire stepped back quickly. Lee Han’s angry look reminded him of a time he had made Dirette angry.

-This golem is awful. You should break the contract and get a new one.

-Hey! Go away.

-I’m just trying to help you, but you treat me like this…

-Leave me alone. Just go away forever.

After that, Dirette ignored him for a whole week.

Yukbeltire thought it was probably because of black magic. He believed black magic made people act crazy. Since Lee Han was also from the black magic school, it seemed like a good explanation.

“The spirit my teacher means is probably the Thunderclap King. But I just summoned him, so I need to wait for his power to come back.”

-Not that one?

Lee Han looked confused. ‘Huh?’ he thought. “Then, is it the Tribune of Wind and Rain?”

Upinum was another strong spirit, a ‘Great Spirit’. But unlike Perkontra, he couldn’t just summon Upinum directly because of some kind of seal.

-You have a contract with *that* spirit too? Apprentice, spirits really like you!

The young prince was very impressed. The title of a spirit, like ‘Tribune’, showed how strong it was. A spirit called ‘Tribune’ would definitely be powerful.

“?” Of course, Lee Han’s confusion was not resolved. If it wasn’t Perkontra or Upinum, what was he talking about?

‘Arna is a star, not a spirit?’

-Apprentice, have you forgotten about the spirit in your staff?

“…How could I forget?” Then Lee Han remembered the spirit living in his staff. It was Saratan, a spirit of hornbeam wood, who called himself ‘King of the Fighting Stage’ and was trapped inside the staff.

This spirit had just gotten a little stronger because the staff’s inside part was changed to special ‘Spirit King’ wood. Saratan was very aggressive and had attacked Lee Han right away.

If the Black Book hadn’t helped him in the mental world, Lee Han might have actually lost.

“You said to summon a spirit, so I just thought of the ones I can call easily. And this spirit in the staff is really mean and bad.”

Lee Han immediately started tattling.

-Wh, what… What did I do?!

Saratan yelled.

For a while, he thought Lee Han had forgotten about him, so he was hiding quietly in the staff, holding his breath…

“See? He can answer right away! He was just pretending he wasn’t there and tricking me.”

-You didn’t call me! …Agaaagaaagaaak!

Lee Han sent a lot of magic power into the staff, like he did when he first controlled Saratan.

Saratan, now that his trick was found out, quickly gave up.

-I was wrong! From now on, I will always come out first and help you!

“Didn’t you say that last time and then stay still?”

-…But there wasn’t really anything I *could* help with… Geegaagaagaagaak!

Saratan was actually right. The enemies Lee Han had fought were so strong that even if Saratan’s power was active, he was too weak to do much from inside the staff.

At best, he could give back magic power, grow plants, or make the staff stronger, but these things weren’t helpful when fighting strong enemies.

Of course, even if it was true, it wasn’t a good excuse. Lee Han remembered all the strong enemies he had fought recently and got even angrier at the spirit who hadn’t helped.

You’re even worse than that Perkontra!

This was like a shout in his mind, only Lee Han could hear it. But the young prince seemed to understand what Lee Han was feeling.

-Calm down, Apprentice.

“But teacher! Do you know how much trouble this spirit has caused me? I had to fight him in my mind, and Mandragora almost lost all its money because of him!”

-…?

Saratan stopped talking.

He knew about the fight in Lee Han’s mind, but he didn’t remember anything about Mandragora losing money.

-Wait, wait! It wasn’t really my fault about Mandragora, it was the dragon’s fault! The dragon came and made Mandragora grow however it wanted, not me. I was blamed for it back then, and it was hard to prove I was innocent.

“Was it? Well, let’s leave that out then.”

-……

“Anyway, it’s a fact that you attacked me.”

-Th, that’s true, but.

The young prince waved his hand to stop them from arguing.

-Enough. Stop it, both of you. I didn’t bring you here to talk about this. Now, spirit.

As he spoke, a powerful energy came from the wooden staff Lee Han held. Suddenly, Saratan, who had been trapped inside the wood, was being set free!

Saratan was shocked. He looked at his body, which was now made of rough wood. It was his true spirit form, the one he could only use in the mind world before.

Th… The power of this body! The power of this body!

-Then let’s talk abo-

I’ll kill you, you brat!

As soon as he felt his power, Saratan roared angrily. A huge hammer made of twisted black and brown wood appeared instead of his fist. This hammer, filled with magic and spirit power, was meant to hurt the wizard he hated.

-Please lis-

SHUT UP! I don’t know who you are, but thanks for letting me out. But don’t do it again! If you don’t want this painting destroyed, be quiet!

Saratan yelled and glared at Lee Han. But Lee Han just looked back at the spirit, completely calm. Saratan was surprised by how calm Lee Han was.

What is it?

“Your arm is gone.”

What?

“I said your arm is gone.”

What the… Ack?!

Only then did Saratan realize that the giant hammer he had created on his arm had disappeared.

That wasn’t the end of it. Next, his legs disappeared, and his body suddenly fell to the floor.

Thud!

And then he couldn’t move at all.

This was much worse than when he was beaten while trapped in the staff. How could he be so weak even after being freed?

Saratan was even more shocked than when spirits had trapped him long ago.

H… How… Wh… at…

-Spirit. Can we talk now?

The young prince in the painting spoke gently, his face still calm. His calm manner made Saratan even more scared.

Sh… ut… u…

-Is there another way? I didn’t want to do this, but…

The young prince made another gesture. Lee Han could feel it – Saratan’s soul was being pulled out of his spirit body, which was stuck to the basement floor. Then, the soul disappeared into the painting.

The prince, now holding Saratan’s soul, put his hands together and closed his eyes, like he was praying.

!!!! Lee Han was really scared. He had seen the spirit upset before, but this was the first time he had seen him shake so much with fear.

What was he doing?!

While Lee Han was still shocked, the soul went back to normal. Saratan, now awake again, opened his mouth.

I… I think I was crazy. Please let me be your servant, wizard! I think my crazy self was talking. Please let me be your loyal servant!

-It’s okay. Thank you for understanding. But you’re talking too much now, so be quiet for a bit.

“Wh-what did you just do?” Lee Han asked quietly, still surprised.

If that’s how it worked, maybe he could use it to make other spirits who didn’t like him listen to him.

-It’s simple, Apprentice. I just showed him what my soul is really like, and that made him listen.

“……” What kind of soul did he have to scare the spirit so much?

Lee Han was amazed, but thought to himself, ‘Hmm, I can’t do that.’ If a spirit saw *my* soul, they’d probably just think I’m silly.

-Spirit. Right now, the most important part of you is trapped inside that staff because of a strong seal.

Please let me be your servant!

“?” Saratan wanted to say, ‘I know,’ but his mouth said something else without him meaning to, because of what the prince had done.

The young prince wasn’t surprised and spoke calmly, “Now, wake up properly.”

“Ye, yes…”

“-Do you know how to break that seal?”

I know that if that wizard… no, you… use the staff’s power and connect with it, the seal will break.

-That’s right. But you can’t just depend on my apprentice. You also need to improve yourself.

I’m already helping with the wizard’s work, but…

“When have you ever?”

Saratan pretended not to hear Lee Han’s words.

Actually, it wasn’t Saratan’s fault he hadn’t been able to help. The prince shook his head.

-I’m not talking about helping my apprentice with his tasks. The training I mean is about making your heart good. No matter how strong you become, you’ll never get out of that staff unless you become a better spirit.

!!!! Saratan was shocked, like he’d been hit hard on the head. ‘Th… Those spirit jerks! They did *that*?!’ Saratan, changed by what the prince’s soul had shown him, quickly asked.

Th-then what should I do? I don’t think I can make my heart good.

“What kind of spirit is *that*?” Lee Han said, completely surprised.

Yukbeltire shook his head sadly. He thought, ‘Unlike me, who is already good, that spirit is hopeless.’

-Don’t worry. There’s someone who can show you how to become good. If you follow their example, you can also become a better spirit.

Wh-who is it? Is it a spirit I know?

-No. It’s my apprentice, Lee Han. Watch him, copy him, and learn from what he does.

…… Saratan almost stopped being obedient for a second.

Oh.