Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 142

Lee Han read the sign: ‘Water Orb Evasion Challenge.’ He thought seriously, ‘What I learned from Professor Voladi might be useful right now.’

Professor Voladi’s training was tough. Sometimes Lee Han wondered if it was all just for grades. But now, seeing ‘Water Orb Evasion,’ his thoughts changed slightly. Learning magic could be useful in real life!

“I will do my best,” Lee Han said.

“You seem happy to be here. Festivals are important, even for wizards,” Professor Voladi said, observing Lee Han.

“…Yes, well,” Lee Han replied, nodding instead of explaining at length. (Festivals were a rare treat where he grew up.)

Professor Voladi thought to himself, to like festivals this much, it was a good decision to bring him along. Rest was also important for an excellent wizard.

Angor, from the Alpha family and a student of the White Tiger Tower, stepped into the festival and felt like he had finally arrived at a *real* magic school. Before, it had just been lessons and rules. Now, it was noise, color, and life. Music played loudly from hidden speakers, people laughed and shouted, and the air smelled wonderfully of roasting meat and sweet cakes. Tents of all shapes and sizes lined the paths, bright banners flapping in the breeze, selling everything from strange potions in bubbling bottles to toys that zoomed through the air.

A kind-faced priest in simple brown robes smiled at him. “Are you a student from the White Tiger Tower?” he asked kindly.

“Yes, Priest,” Angor replied, remembering to be polite.

“Would you like to try one of my baked potatoes?” The priest held out a warm potato wrapped in brown paper.

“Thank you!” Angor took it gratefully. Since coming to magic school, his picky eating habits had vanished. Every meal was a treasure now. He took the warm potato. It was rough and earthy in his hands, but it smelled amazing. He hadn’t tasted anything so good since he arrived at school. He bit into it. The inside was soft and fluffy, like clouds, and a little bit sweet. ‘This is incredible,’ he thought.

It was definitely delicious, but… a small, traitorous thought popped into his head. *Wodanaz’s potato tasted even better…* Angor frowned. He shook his head slightly, confused. ‘Could I be under some kind of Wodanaz family magic?’ he wondered.

“Angor, look!” His friend nudged him. “The professors are here too.”

Angor looked up quickly. It was true. Professors he recognized, but dressed in looser, festival clothes, stood talking and laughing under the tents with priests.

“I heard they were asking students to help with games,” his friend said excitedly. “Moradi is over there already.”

“Someone said the Skull Headmaster might even be doing something,” another student whispered, his voice dropping low.

“Hey, don’t say creepy things like that!” A White Tiger Tower student shivered. “You know what happened to that first year who tried to run away?”

The other students nodded, their faces serious. Everyone in White Tiger Tower knew the story. The student who had seen the Skull Headmaster in the mountains at night, surrounded by eerie blue light… No one spoke of the Headmaster lightly. Stories whispered in the dorms made him sound more like a monster than a teacher.

“Shall we go see what’s happening?” Angor’s friend asked, curiosity winning over fear.

“Let’s go,” Angor agreed.

The White Tiger Tower students moved forward, drawn by the festival sounds and the chance to see their professors in a different light. Then, they stopped suddenly.

Ahead of them, two figures stood silently near a small, plain tent. Professor Voladi and Lee Han of the Wodanaz family. Just standing there, with their stern faces, they made the noisy festival around them seem to quiet down. The White Tiger Tower students unconsciously stepped back. Professor Voladi, especially, looked intimidating.

One of the White Tiger Tower students, who knew about Professor Voladi’s rumors, spoke in a trembling voice. “Is this… is this Water Orb Evasion?” According to the rumors, he beats up and chases away students who enter…

‘No. Why is that Wodanaz guy taking such a class?’ The White Tiger Tower students couldn’t understand. It was frustrating, but the boy from the Wodanaz family was among the smartest of the new students.

Why wasn’t such a guy seen in classes like Basic Dance and Socializing or Understanding Basic Imperial Masterpieces and Works of Art, but in a class like this…?

Perhaps he knew those classes too well and found them boring?

‘Maybe so.’ As a member of a great family, the Wodanaz guy must have been thoroughly familiar with such aristocratic etiquette to the point of being sick of it.

So, he might be taking classes that exclude those things because he’s tired of them…

Looking at Lee Han’s sculpted face standing next to Professor Voladi, the hypothesis that had just come to mind gained a strange persuasiveness.

“It is Water Orb Evasion,” Professor Voladi stated.

“By any chance, are we the ones throwing water orbs at the Wodanaz guy?” One of the White Tiger Tower students spoke with a strangely heated voice. Lee Han thought to himself, ‘This bastard.’

It was obvious what he was thinking.

Well, there were many among the White Tiger Tower students who would rush over if given the chance to throw water orbs at Lee Han. If I really need quick money later, I might do business like that…

“No,” Professor Voladi said, shaking his head.

“…Ah, is that so?” the student replied.

“Wodanaz will throw, and you will evade,” Professor Voladi clarified.

The White Tiger Tower students turned serious. No matter how they looked at it, Professor Voladi seemed to be misunderstanding the meaning of ‘festival.’

Does he even know what a festival is for?

“That evading… that’s…” A student hesitated to ask, ‘Do you not know what a festival is?’ to the professor.

Angor held back and opened his mouth. “If we evade everything, is there anything?”

“There is,” Professor Voladi confirmed.

“What is the prize?” Angor asked.

“An outing pass,” Professor Voladi replied.

The faces of the White Tiger Tower students changed again.

Lee Han sighed. ‘Damn it. The rumors will spread.’

Why do people bother to go to a shabby tent among splendid tents?

They should just go to the splendid tents…

Since the White Tiger Tower students had visited, the rumor would spread whether they won or lost, and it was obvious that other friends would visit. ‘But I absolutely can’t give it away.’

Lee Han had one outing pass right now. A real outing pass, no less. But using this outing pass was still a bit unsettling. Because he had stolen it. If he were to meet the Skull Headmaster in the process of using it, his path might be traced as he asked, ‘When and where did you get it?’

But if he legally had one more real outing pass, things would be different. He could use that as an excuse to use the one he stole first, and he could also seize the opportunity to use the next outing pass by checking for loopholes in the process of using it.

‘Absolutely!’

Looking ahead, Angor’s eyes were also burning fiercely. Angor must be thinking something similar. Since what Angor had was a fake outing pass, he would need a real one even more.

‘I must… get it!’

“Angor. Are you going to challenge?” a student asked.

“Then what? Are you guys saying you won’t do it?! You know how much we need outing passes! Last time… ahem. You know how dangerous it is to use that…” Angor exclaimed.

“But that professor… you know,” another student replied.

The White Tiger Tower students looked at Professor Voladi. Professor Voladi stood like a statue. His face was pale and sharp, his eyes like cold stones. Even though he wasn’t moving, he seemed dangerous, like a predator waiting to strike.

“Wodanaz throws the water orbs,” Lee Han said.

“Ah. Is that so?!” a student exclaimed.

“Really!?” another student asked.

“Yes,” Lee Han confirmed.

And he grabbed his staff.

“Are you going to challenge?” Lee Han asked.

“O-of course!” The White Tiger Tower students, who had been hesitating until just now, stepped forward, vying with each other as if the outing pass would disappear if a friend challenged first.

“Prepare,” Lee Han commanded.

A water orb floated in front of Lee Han. As White Tiger Tower students who had been directly hit by Lee Han’s water orbs, they immediately took a skillful defensive stance.

“Come. Wodanaz!” Lee Han shouted.

“Understood,” Lee Han replied.

With those words, the number of water orbs increased rapidly.

The pupils of the White Tiger Tower students widened greatly.

Kendri Baku, a friend of Professor Alpen Knighton and also working as a Senior Imperial Accountant, confirmed that the festival was taking place. He discovered wizards from Valdrogard and greeted them happily. “Did you bring students to see Einrogard?”

Valdrogard, located in the west and known for accepting only students from prestigious imperial families, didn’t have as much fame as Einrogard, but it was a pretty decent imperial magic school. Einrogard was known for being tough and old-fashioned.

Moreover, in Kendri’s view, Valdrogard’s educational method was a bit more… rational and suitable for nobles, he thought.

No matter how many times he looked at it, Einrogard’s educational method was sometimes a bit outdated and rough.

“That’s right, Mr. Baku,” a wizard working as a professor at Valdrogard bowed and answered.

Then, the boys and girls behind him spoke with dissatisfied voices. “Why don’t Einrogard students come to our school, but we have to go there ourselves?”

“Isn’t Einrogard ignoring us?” another student asked.

“Shh. You must be polite at another wizard’s school. Are you trying to tarnish Valdrogard’s reputation?” The professor from Valdrogard, who was in charge of escorting, raised his finger with a dignified attitude.

At that sight, the Valdrogard students also pursed their lips. Although they were dissatisfied, Kendri could immediately sense the students’ origins from their polite attitude.

The students could enjoy the warm and cozy climate and the beautiful scenery of the imperial west, but… that didn’t make their jealousy and feelings of inferiority disappear.

‘It’s a pity they’re mistaken.’ It wasn’t that Einrogard students didn’t visit Valdrogard. The Headmaster was just tormenting them so they couldn’t go out.

In Kendri’s view, if he asked the Einrogard students ‘Anyone want to visit Valdrogard?’, they would try to seize the right even if it meant beating each other up.

“The rank isn’t determined by who visits first. Valdrogard is just more generous and lenient,” Kendri said.

The students’ faces brightened at Kendri’s words. They were still immature, even though they were 2nd and 3rd graders. It was even more so if they could be swayed by such words.

“If we meet Einrogard students at the festival, we’ll show them our skills,” a student said arrogantly.

Kendri pondered how to explain to the Valdrogard students that ‘the only Einrogard students you can see at the festival right now are freshmen.’

The Valdrogard students wouldn’t even understand the fact that the 1st graders were separated.

-Why are the 1st graders separated? Can’t they have contact? Then they can’t talk to the seniors? They can’t do club activities either… Why?

‘Hmm. I should just leave it to that professor.’ Kendri quickly gave up.

“Then, Mr. Baku. I’ll see you next time,” the Valdrogard professor said.

“Hmm… be careful,” Kendri replied.

The professor from Valdrogard greeted with a noble and elegant attitude and began to move with the students. As the Valdrogard professor led his students deeper into the festival, they heard shouting in the distance. It sounded like arguing, or maybe… pain?

‘Oh dear…’ No sooner had the words left his mouth than Einrogard students appeared from over there.

The Valdrogard students grabbed their staffs first. “Let us greet them and compare our skills!”

“Everyone calm down. Such rude behavior…” the professor started to say.

“Get out of the way! Get out of the way!” The Einrogard students ran out carrying a fallen friend on their back. Some were bleeding from their noses.

The Valdrogard students stared at the sight as if they couldn’t believe it. What on earth had happened?

The Valdrogard students were drawn to the commotion at the Water Orb Evasion tent.

“Was there an accident?” Kendri asked.

“It was an unfortunate mistake. You don’t have to worry,” Lee Han politely answered to the appearance of the unfamiliar wizard and his disciples.

“Valdrogard guests, I see,” Professor Voladi said quietly. Lee Han understood the name.

“Valdrogard, then… Always trying to show off,” Professor Voladi muttered.

Lee Han unknowingly stepped hard on Professor Voladi’s foot. And then he was surprised at himself.

“??” Professor Voladi looked at Lee Han as if he didn’t understand. Lee Han answered shamelessly.

“My foot slipped,” Lee Han said.

“Be careful,” Professor Voladi replied.