Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 110

Yoner and Ihan decided to walk their horses, not ride them. They soon realized they were walking faster than they thought. The students riding horses were much further ahead than they expected.

“Uwaaah! Uwaaaah!” The shouts started with a student from White Tiger Tower. His horse was jumping and kicking wildly, throwing him around! *Clop clop clop!* The sound of hooves got louder as horses rushed back towards them.

“Why are you all coming back?” Ihan asked.

“I don’t know! I can’t control him! Help me!” another student yelled. Horses were running in every direction, away from the river.

Ihan was surprised that just walking and holding the horse’s reins worked so well. *Phoo.* The white horse snorted. It seemed annoyed by the other horses’ panic. It wanted to run and jump with Ihan, but it was still too tired. It had no energy left to join the chaos.

Ihan reached into his pocket and took out a sugar cube. He held it out on his open hand to the white horse. *Phoo!* Usually, this horse was always causing trouble, but it always stopped being angry at Ihan when he offered a treat. Ihan thought to himself, *’That horse is so sneaky. It only likes me for the sugar.’*

Ihan looked at Yoner. Yoner and his chestnut horse were walking calmly together. The horse followed Yoner closely and gently, even without any treats. It seemed to sense that Yoner was getting tired and walked slowly to match his pace.

“Wodanaz!” A rough voice called from behind them. It was Salco Tutanta and his friends.

“What do you want? Wait, don’t come closer,” Ihan said.

“?” Salco stopped, confused.

“You might mess up my test,” Ihan explained.

“We won’t! Wodanaz, what do you think we are?” Salco’s friends were angry. Unlike Ihan, they didn’t care so much about getting the best grades. They were trying hard on this test because they wanted to show they had worked hard and learned something.

“Everyone says they won’t mess things up. So just stay back,” Ihan repeated.

“Everyone, calm down,” Salco said to his friends. “You know, you shouldn’t look too closely at someone’s good work, like trying to peek at gold in a mine. Wodanaz is so good, people are probably jealous of him. He must have enemies even in his own tower. I understand why he’s acting like this.”

“?” Yoner looked confused. *’That’s not why he’s doing this at all,’* Yoner thought.

“We won’t come any closer, Wodanaz,” Salco said.

“Okay. Tutanta. What did you want?” Ihan asked. Before Salco could answer, one of his friends spoke up, sounding annoyed. “Think about what you did, Wodanaz!”

Ihan stopped and thought. *’What have I done now? There are so many things it could be,’* he thought. He asked seriously, “I really don’t know. What are you talking about?”

“What did you just give that horse to eat?” the friend asked.

“I gave it a sugar cube,” Ihan replied.

“Yes! A sugar cube! How could you just feed that to a horse? You should have taken it to the black market and sold it!”

“……” *Phoo!* Ihan and the white horse were both speechless, for once agreeing on something.

Salco coughed, looking a little red-faced. “No, Wodanaz,” he said.

“Wasn’t what?” Ihan asked, confused.

“Yes, that’s not why we’re here,” Salco said quickly. He took a brown paper package from his friend and gave it to Ihan. Ihan could see inside for a moment – it was carrots.

“It will like carrots just as much,” Salco said. “Sugar is rare and hard to find, so use carrots instead.” Salco turned to go.

“Tutanta,” Ihan called out to his friend, who was strong and short like a dwarf, but actually an elf. “Thank you.”

“It’s nothing,” Salco replied. “Come to the black market sometime.”

“Okay. It’s easy to get to.”

“And we can play chess again,” Salco added.

“……” Ihan looked at Salco, wondering why he was being so friendly, but Salco had already walked away.

“Well… saving sugar would be a good idea,” Ihan thought. Even though he had a lot of sugar, it was still valuable. Using carrots instead would be smart. Ihan picked up a carrot and held it out to the white horse.

*Phooing!* The white horse turned its head away with a dramatic snort, as if to say, ‘Carrots? Disgusting!’ Ihan started to seriously think about getting a new white horse. *’I bet there’s another white horse at the school somewhere…’* he thought. *’If I feed it a lot and make it bigger, no one would know the difference, right?’*

As they walked further, Ihan and Yoner could hear the sound of rushing water. Soon, they saw the river in the distance. Some students were already at the riverbank, leading their horses towards the water. Rowena, a friend of the princess from White Tiger Tower, saw Ihan and hurried over.

“Mr. Wodanaz, please be careful!” she warned.

“What’s wrong?” Ihan asked. Rowena didn’t answer, but pointed towards the river with her hand.

As a student led his horse to the edge of the river, trying to let it drink, something strange happened. The water level suddenly started to drop quickly. The river seemed to be sinking into the ground!

“……” “……” Ihan and Yoner stared, their eyebrows furrowed in surprise. *’This is going to be harder than we thought!’* Ihan realized.

“Have you figured out how to get the horses to drink?” Ihan asked Rowena.

“I was going to walk further into the river,” Rowena said, “but the water is flowing very fast.” She paused, looking worried. “You should never think a river is harmless. Even if the water is only up to your waist, you can fall and drown if you lose your footing. And this river looks deep and strong. It could be up to our chests. We need to be very careful, especially since we don’t know how far we have to go into the water.”

As Ihan reached the riverbank, the princess hurried towards him. Rowena spoke for her. “The princess is very happy you are here, Mr. Wodanaz.”

“I just walked here,” Ihan said, a little confused. The princess was staring at the brown package in Ihan’s hand, her eyes wide. *’Does she want to give the carrots to the horse?’* Ihan wondered. He took out a carrot and offered it to her. The princess took it quickly and bit into it. Her face scrunched up in a frown. She looked at Ihan with sad, disappointed eyes. Ihan and Yoner felt awkward. *’I thought she wanted it for the horse…’* Ihan thought. *’Shhh,’* Yoner whispered, trying not to laugh.

Rowena asked, “Where did you get those?”

“Oh, a friend from Black Tortoise Tower gave them to me earlier. He said they were fresh and told me to try them,” Ihan replied.

“Well, judging by the princess’s face, they don’t taste very good raw,” Rowena said, trying not to smile.

“Exactly! I think my friend isn’t very good at growing vegetables,” Ihan said. “But we shouldn’t say anything. He gave them to me as a gift, after all.”

“Right, it would be rude to complain about a gift,” Rowena agreed. Ihan pretended he didn’t notice the princess’s unhappy face and quickly changed the subject. “Let’s try using water magic to get water from the river.”

Ihan waved his wand. A huge ball of water rose up from the river and floated in the air. Rowena gasped, watching in amazement. *’So fast, and so easy!’* she thought. Ihan guided the water towards the horse’s mouth. But just as the horse’s tongue was about to touch the water, the ball of water vanished into thin air!

“……” Ihan stared, completely shocked. *’This is ridiculous!’* he thought angrily. *’Do they really have to make this test so hard?’* He realized Professor Lightning Foot must have put some kind of magic on the river. It seemed they wouldn’t be able to get water for the horses unless they went into the river itself.

*’Okay, if magic doesn’t work, we need a different plan,’* Ihan thought. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a long, thick rope. The other students, who had been staring at the river in confusion, looked at Ihan in surprise. *’Where did he get that rope from?’* they wondered. They were amazed he had it, but also confused why he would carry a rope around.

“Let’s tie ourselves together with this rope,” Ihan said, holding it up.

“!” The students’ eyes widened. If they tied themselves and their horses together, they could walk into the river as a group and help each other against the strong current. The students at the river nodded quickly. It was a good idea.

“Good idea, Wodanaz!” someone said.

“Let’s do it!” another student agreed.

Carefully, the students tied the ropes around themselves and their horses. “Hold on tight… Okay, we’re ready!” one student called out. “We did it! We’re in the river!” cheers went up from the students who had made it further into the water. When the first horse lowered its head to drink, the water level dropped a little, but not too much. The horse was still able to drink. Finally, the horse at the front started to drink deeply, gulping down the water. *’Thank goodness,’* Ihan thought, letting out a breath of relief. *’That was actually quite easy.’* *’Please let this be the end of it!’* he hoped. *Phoo.* The white horse grumbled, as if complaining about having to go into the cold river.

“If you go in and drink water,” Ihan whispered to it, “I’ll give you another sugar cube.” *Purrrr…* Hearing about the sugar cube, the white horse immediately stopped grumbling and lowered its head, ready to go into the river.

The students took turns leading the group into the river. Now it was Ihan’s turn to go to the front. As the white horse started drinking, Ihan suddenly felt a strange tingling on his skin, like when he felt danger in Professor Volardi’s class – no, Professor Lightning Foot’s class. It was that same cold feeling! Ihan quickly turned his head and saw a huge wave of water rushing towards them from upstream! “LIGHTNING FOOT!” Ihan yelled, shouting the professor’s name like a curse. The other students didn’t understand why Ihan was yelling the professor’s name, or that it was meant as an insult. “Everyone, get back! Water Shield, now!” Ihan shouted to the students behind him. He waved his wand and created a massive shield of water. It was as big and strong as he could make it, using all the water from the river nearby. The water level around them dropped suddenly as the shield formed. This gave the students behind him just enough time to scramble back to the riverbank. But Ihan, who was right in front, was too close to escape.

The wave of water slammed into the water shield with a huge crash. Water exploded outwards, spraying everywhere. The river level rose again in a rush. But Ihan’s shield had worked! It had given him enough time. *’I can do this!’* Ihan thought. He hadn’t been foolish enough to think he could stop the whole river with his shield. He just needed to slow it down for a moment, to give himself a chance to escape. But then, *Phoo!* The white horse lost its footing and fell. Unlike Ihan, who had seen the wave coming and braced himself, the white horse was caught by surprise. When the wave hit its legs, it stumbled and fell into the rushing water. Students screamed. Yoner, who had reached the bank, tried to run back into the river, but other students grabbed his arms, holding him back.

“Pull the rope!” Rowena shouted. But even as she spoke, the rope snapped with a loud crack! The force of the water rushing around the sides of Ihan’s shield was too strong, and it tore the rope apart. Now Ihan was truly trapped. Rowena yelled, her voice full of fear, “Mr. Wodanaz! Get out of there! Leave the horse…”

“……” Then, something unbelievable happened. The white horse suddenly lifted off the ground! It wasn’t magic, not exactly. Ihan, with a grunt of effort, had hoisted the white horse onto his back! He stood up straight, the water shield still shimmering around them, protecting them both. Everyone on the riverbank was completely silent, staring in shock. Even the white horse seemed surprised and a little ashamed to be carried like this. It neighed loudly, as if asking Ihan, *’What are you doing?!’*

“If you make any sudden moves,” Ihan gritted his teeth, his voice low and strained, “I swear I will drop you headfirst into the river.” From the outside, it looked like a heroic scene, a wizard bravely saving his horse. But inside, Ihan’s body was screaming in pain. He was holding the water shield together with every ounce of his concentration, and at the same time, he was pushing out magic power from every part of his body to keep himself strong enough to carry the horse. Professor Inguldel had warned him not to use his magic like this, but he had no choice. With each step he took through the rushing water, the magic pouring out of him was so intense that even the white horse felt it and trembled. The horse probably thought Ihan would collapse any second from exhaustion. But Ihan kept going. He stumbled and struggled, but he carried the white horse all the way to the shallow water near the bank and gently lowered it to the ground. As soon as the horse was safe, Ihan straightened up and let out a roar of anger and frustration that echoed across the river. “LIGHTNING FOOT!!!”

“???” The students on the bank looked at each other, confused and a little scared. They still didn’t understand why Ihan was yelling the professor’s name. *Phoo…* The white horse, now safe on dry land, nudged Ihan gently with its head. It seemed genuinely worried about him. But Ihan wasn’t fooled for a moment. “Don’t try to act all nice now,” he said to the horse, his voice still rough. “I’m not taking off your magic bracelet and belt, not after this.” -……