Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 1155

People were worried and asked questions. One person asked, “Do you know the wizards from Einrogard?” Another said, “Are thieves planning a rebellion in the West?”

Ihan was busy healing someone. He had blood on his lips. People felt they couldn’t bother him. So, they asked Giselle, who was standing next to him.

Giselle smiled sweetly, but it didn’t seem real. “The only wizards I know are from Valdrogard,” she said. “I don’t know anything about rebellions.”

Students from the White Tiger Tower were nearby. They watched Giselle and admired her. *Moradi* was a famous wizard from Valdrogard. These students were surprised Giselle mentioned Valdrogard so easily. They thought, “We would never say Valdrogard’s name! Saying she only knows Valdrogard wizards makes it sound like she really doesn’t know anything else.”

“Cough!” Ihan coughed again. His friends looked worried.

“Not again?” one thought.

But Giselle stayed calm. She knew Ihan was strong. She thought, “He won’t make the same mistake again.”

“Did you drink water too fast?” a friend asked.

“No,” Ihan said, “My lungs are a little hurt. It’s hard to heal from the outside. So, I healed it inside my body with magic.”

“Is he crazy?!” one friend whispered, surprised.

Ihan looked confused. “Why?” he wondered.

Not many people in the Empire knew about the anti-magic group. But they had been around for a very long time, even in ancient times. They wanted to get rid of magic completely. They wanted to separate the world from magic and other strange things. Long ago, they were powerful and took over kingdoms. But now, they were just a small group of people who went too far. Some people joined them because they hated magic. Others just wanted money from killing wizards. Most of them didn’t really understand what the leaders wanted. They were just following orders. The anti-magic people in Marheim City were like this too. They were good fighters, but they didn’t have a big purpose. They were just greedy. This made them easy to control.

Hallenken, the swordsman, was in his room, drinking strong liquor from the Northern Mountains. He frowned and said, “I’ve been feeling strange lately. Are we sure that priest’s sickness isn’t hurting us?”

“Strange? I feel fine,” another man said. “If we had the sickness, we’d be very sick by now.”

“Still,” Hallenken said, “Something feels wrong. Something is off.”

Hallenken, nicknamed , was the most skilled among them. Few mercenaries could draw out Aura, and few had killed more than three knights.

Hallenken was among the few who could do both.

As such, the others didn’t completely dismiss Hallenken’s words. Like the worshippers of evil gods, one could never let their guard down around madmen.

“I heard there are good healers in the city now,” one man said. “Should we ask them to check us?”

“Healers?” another asked.

It seemed strange for people who hated magic to see a wizard. But they didn’t care about that right now.

“How good are they?” one asked. “I don’t want to waste time on fake healers who just want your money.”

There were many more bad wizards pretending to be healers than real ones in the Empire. Healers who bragged were often just tricking people. If they could heal a small cut, people thought they were amazing. It was better to trust a strong fighter’s own body to heal.

“But these healers are supposed to be very good,” the first man said. “They can heal the sickness just by touching you. Sometimes they even take the sickness away themselves.”

The anti-magic men were quiet for a moment. The rumor sounded too good to be true.

“You expect us to believe that?” one said. “If someone could do that, they would be a very important priest!”

“Maybe it’s a bit exaggerated,” the first man said, “But it’s worth trying. We have nothing to lose.”

“Nothing to lose?” another said. “It’s not good to get noticed right now.”

They had heard about the Einrogard wizards. They knew Einrogard wizards were angry and causing trouble in the West.

They thought maybe a thief or someone bad had done something to anger the Einrogard wizards. They couldn’t imagine one wizard causing so much trouble for no reason.

They knew they had to be careful because they were not far from the West.

“Come on,” one man said. “If Einrogard wizards were close, we’d know it. There would be trouble already.”

“Hmm…” Hallenken thought about it. His friend kept trying to convince him.

“Okay,” Hallenken said. “We can meet him once. It won’t hurt.”

“If he’s really a saint, he won’t make trouble even if we don’t pay,” another said. “Let’s ask him to come here. Can we call him?”

“Yes,” someone said. “If we say we are too sick to move, he will come.”

The men quickly made a plan. They had tricked people many times before. Pretending to be sick was easy for them.

An hour later, Ihan and Giselle went to the place where the men were staying. It was a small, dark building with low ceilings. They didn’t care. There were many buildings like this in Marheim City.

“It looks like most of the sick people are better now,” Ihan said.

“Yes,” Giselle agreed. “We can probably finish today.”

“What about that priest we’re looking for?” Giselle asked.

“Hmm,” Ihan said. “I thought he would come to us, but he hasn’t.”

“Maybe we look too suspicious?” Giselle said. “Maybe he knows we are from Einrogard.”

“Maybe,” Ihan said. “He might think that. Good healers are rare. I tried to say we were from Valdrogard, but no one believed me.”

“So, what will you do?” Giselle asked.

“Once the sickness is gone, we’ll do what we planned,” Ihan said.

Ihan hadn’t used his usual plan because of the sickness in the city. He couldn’t just grab a priest who everyone trusted when people were sick and scared. It would be too dangerous. People might fight back to protect the priest.

“When the sickness is gone, there will be fewer people around the priest,” Ihan thought. “Then we can take him by surprise.”

“But even if we take him, people will be angry if we don’t explain,” Giselle said.

“That’s why I mentioned Valdrogard,” Ihan said.

*Will they believe it?* Giselle wondered. She was surprised.

People were already unsure about them. If they suddenly grabbed the priest, everyone would think they were from Einrogard for sure!

But Giselle didn’t say anything. She thought even if they had to use force, it wouldn’t be too bad. Wodanaz had helped stop the sickness.

*Because of Einrogard’s bad name, people might even believe us,* she thought.

“Cough, cough. This way,” a voice said.

“!”

The door opened. Hallenken was lying down. Ihan and Giselle were very surprised.

They were surprised for different reasons.

Giselle saw that Hallenken was strong, even lying down. He couldn’t hide how a strong fighter held himself.

Ihan was surprised by something else. He could see souls. He had been looking at people’s souls to heal them. In Hallenken’s soul, deep inside, he saw something strange moving. A bug.

And not just in Hallenken, but in the others nearby too!

Ihan was confused. *What is this? Are they enemies?*

But he didn’t feel any anger from them. He felt… curiosity about him.

*Are they victims? But they are strong. How can they all have this bug?*

Ihan thought quickly. He needed to know what this bug was.

He felt a weak power from the bug. *This power…*

*It’s probably from an evil god!* Ihan’s eyes became serious.

The Sanguiros Order, the evil god worshippers, were back.

This time, Ihan felt different. Before, he was careful. Now, he wanted to attack first.

*If they want to fight, let’s fight!*

“You have a bug in your soul,” Ihan said.

“What?!” Hallenken and the others were shocked.

“Nonsense! Don’t talk rubbish!” one shouted.

They knew they didn’t have a bug in their souls.

“I think it’s a bug made by evil god worshippers,” Ihan said.

The men stopped shouting.

This healer knew too much for a fake.

*Could it be…?* Hallenken thought. *Could this guy be real?*

“Can you take it out?” Hallenken asked, his voice rough.

He could deal with the priest later. Right now, he needed to get rid of the bug.

Ihan nodded. He wanted to take the bug out and look at it closely.

“I will heal you then,” Ihan said.

The anti-magic men were nervous. They had heard rumors. This healer could cure the sickness just by touching you. He could take away even bad sicknesses.

If it was true, he was like a saint.

They hadn’t believed it before. But now, after he talked about the bug, they started to think he might be special.

*Crack!*

It wasn’t like taking away a simple curse. This bug was powerful. There was a sound like something tearing in Hallenken’s soul.

But no matter how strong the evil god’s power was, a small bug couldn’t beat Ihan’s vow.

The bug was pulled out of Hallenken’s soul and into Ihan’s hand. It tried to get into Ihan’s soul, but it bounced back.

*I caught it,* Ihan thought. He looked at the bug in his hand. He wanted to trap it.

Suddenly, Hallenken’s face changed. It was like he was hit by many curses.

“…!!!”

Hallenken was a great swordsman. He knew something was wrong.

Dark curses that were hidden in his soul were now coming out!

“The bug…! If you take out the bug…!”

“What? What are you talking about?” Ihan asked.

“If you take out the bug… you die…!” Hallenken said. Then his eyes turned black. He was no longer in his right mind.

At the same moment, the head of the man next to him flew off. People screamed. Ihan and Giselle jumped back.

*Whoosh!*

Cold air came from Giselle’s swords. She had drawn both of them.

“Wodanaz! Be ready!” Giselle shouted.

But Ihan just stared at the bug in his hand. He didn’t say a spell.

Giselle’s heart sank. Something was wrong with Ihan because of the bug. She had seen him make mistakes before. She felt cold fear.

*I should have stopped him!* she thought.

But then, something even stranger happened.

“Listen to me!” Ihan shouted, squeezing the bug. The other men screamed in pain. The bugs in their souls were reacting to Ihan’s command.

“…What is he?!” one man screamed.

He was using the power of an evil god!