Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 144

Ethan wasn’t surprised.

Instead of being surprised, Ethan asked, “Is that so? You’re planning to shoot them at the students, I presume?”

Ethan was prepared and wasn’t shaken by this.

‘I need to warn my friends to avoid any events hosted by the Skull Headmaster.’

No matter how delicious the snacks the Skull Headmaster offered at this festival, following him could mean getting hit by fireworks.

The Skull Headmaster was bored by Ethan’s calm reaction.

The longer one lives, the fewer things are fun.

The Skull Headmaster only enjoyed exploring magic, running the school, and teasing his students.

He lived a very simple life.

But Ethan’s reaction disappointed the Skull Headmaster.

Wasn’t he too calm about shooting fireworks at the students?

“No, you can shoot them if you want…”

The Skull Headmaster realized again that his new student was difficult.

He had taught and teased many students, but few were as unique as Ethan.

He spoke softly, but he was very strong inside. Stronger than any rich person could guess.

‘Someone like him needs to learn magic well…’

The Skull Headmaster thought the Empire was in a bad state.

What was the point of magic schools?

In the past, teachers and students would sit together, sharing everything directly…

Listening to other wizards only filled your head with useless ideas. It was a shame to take the long way when there was a shortcut.

Ethan followed the Skull Headmaster.

‘Another professor’s workshop?’

It was a uniquely designed tower, a little away from the main building.

Since each professor had their own workshop, Ethan guessed this was another professor’s tower.

Ethan saw a furnace and bellows. It looked like a blacksmith’s place, which puzzled him.

‘A place like this in a magic school?’

He had visited places like this with Sir Allarong.

To knights, weapons were more important than life, so they needed to know skilled blacksmiths.

The blacksmith’s place Allarong visited was excellent, among the best in the Empire…

‘This is just as good.’

It was so professional that he was surprised.

“What do you think?”

The Skull Headmaster noticed Ethan’s surprise and asked carefully.

Some of the equipment in this magic school was bought with money the Skull Headmaster had begged from the Emperor.

Of course, he cared about them.

“I’m surprised. This place…”

“This is the Holy Artifact Workshop. Do you know what it’s for?”

“It’s where you make artifacts.”

“Yes. You understand quickly.”

Making magic items, or artifacts, was not easy.

Only a wizard could add magic to them.

A good artifact maker was a skilled wizard, a fine blacksmith, an experienced sculptor, and a talented jeweler all in one.

“Are you planning to sell artifacts at the festival to make money?”

The Skull Headmaster was surprised by Ethan’s question.

Selling artifacts was a main way for wizards to earn money.

But few wizards who could make artifacts tried to sell as many as possible to get rich.

Wizards who cared too much about money were not likely to become great wizards.

They sold them to get money for their research, not just to become rich.

‘Why not sell them? There seem to be more visitors than I thought.’

‘This guy isn’t even running the school, so why does he care so much about money…?’

The headmaster and student thought each other were strange.

Then, a professor came out of the tower.

Ethan was surprised by the professor’s appearance.

‘Incredibly… cute!’

The professor, holding a hammer and a staff, was a beaver person.

Even Ethan, who had seen many beast-people, was surprised by how cute they were.

The beaver professor looked up, a hammer still in his hand. “Huh? What do you want?”

The Skull Headmaster waved a hand. “Fireworks, Wodanaz! For the festival. We need the magic ones.”

“Oh, right. Fireworks.” The beaver professor nodded, then looked back down at his work. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll get to it. You can go now.”

“I brought a student to help.”

“I don’t need help?”

The beaver professor looked puzzled.

Then, the Skull Headmaster said seriously, “I’m worried about you. You like making them alone instead of having the students help. You’ll hurt yourself.”

“Why should I make the students do something so fun? I don’t understand,” the beaver professor grumbled.

But the Skull Headmaster didn’t change his mind.

Wasn’t he the one who brought Ethan here to make magic fireworks?

If he went to the trouble of bringing Ethan, and Ethan just stood around while the beaver professor worked hard, the Skull Headmaster would be sad.

“Ahem! You’ll hurt yourself! That’s an order as headmaster. Make them together with this student!”

‘He’s really persistent.’

Ethan knew the Skull Headmaster wasn’t really worried. There was only one reason he was acting kind.

To get Ethan to work!

It seemed the beaver professor didn’t like giving work to students.

The Skull Headmaster was emphasizing it so much, so he wouldn’t end up assigning it to Ethan.

“Alright. Alright. We can do it together.”

“Good! I trust you. Now, Wodanaz, make sure all the magic fireworks are made by the time I return.”

“Understood.”

The Skull Headmaster gave his instructions several times and then floated away, humming.

Ethan was reminded of a fairy tale he had read long ago.

About having to fill a leaky jar with water while the Skull Headmaster was gone…

But Ethan didn’t have anyone to help him.

‘I should get to work.’

Despite the cute appearance, Ethan was careful.

What kind of person was this beaver professor?

“Professor?”

“Huh? Oh.”

Leehan asked, a little louder this time, “Professor?”

Professor Bible jumped, turning around with wide eyes. “Oh! Good heavens! Were you there the whole time? Didn’t see you. What is it?”

“Leehan, Professor. About the magic fireworks Headmaster Gonadaltez asked for?”

“Fireworks? Ah, yes, yes! Fireworks. Right you are. Terribly sorry, my mind is… elsewhere today.” Professor Bible chuckled nervously, scratching his beaver-like chin. (He looked a bit like a man, but with beaver teeth and fur.)

Professor Bible was not scary like some professors. He wouldn’t throw lightning or attack students with undead creatures.

Instead, Professor Bible wasn’t very interested in his students.

To be precise, he wasn’t very interested in anything except his own magic.

“I heard you teach enchantment magic,” Leehan said.

Professor Bible fiddled with small glass tubes and pieces of metal on his desk for about thirty seconds before answering after a pause. Dust covered everything, and strange smells filled the air.

“Oh, yes.”

Enchantment magic.

It was a broad field, and one much in demand even within the Empire.

If cast on a person, it became enhancement magic; if cast on an object, it became an artifact.

Leehan had a fondness and interest in this enchantment magic.

‘Making artifacts and selling them could be a good way to earn extra money.’

The wizards who learned enchantment magic had no particular interest in gold and only pursued the path of noble learning, but that was none of Leehan’s business…

Even if being an Imperial official was a stable job, the future was uncertain. It wouldn’t be bad to have a steady side income.

‘But with the professor acting like this…’

“Umm. Wait a moment.”

“Yes.”

In fact, it wouldn’t be a bad situation if it weren’t for the headmaster.

If the professor wasn’t interested in Leehan, Leehan could just do his job and leave.

But with the headmaster’s personality, there was no way he wouldn’t come and ask about it afterward.

And if Leehan did nothing, he would inflict all sorts of nasty tricks.

Leehan waited. Dust motes danced in the sunlight coming through the window. Professor Bible hummed to himself, completely lost in his work. Minutes stretched into what felt like hours.

“Professor!”

“Oh! What? How long have you been here?”

“I’m Leehan, here to help you make magic fireworks.”

“Ah, right. Sorry. I keep forgetting.”

Professor Bible approached Leehan and asked,

“What year are you in?”

“First year.”

Professor Bible paused. Then he said again,

“First year?”

“Yes.”

“…Uh… isn’t the headmaster mistaken?”

“He’s not mistaken.”

“Really? You must be very talented?”

Leehan thought to himself, ‘It seems closer to malice than anything else…’

“Making magic fireworks itself isn’t very difficult. It’s just difficult to make them pretty and diverse. Even more so for a freshman.”

Professor Bible rolled a thick piece of paper into a circle. Then he cast a spell and sealed the top and bottom.

Finally, he attached a string to the bottom of the paper, so it could be pulled.

“There’s magic cast inside now. If you pull it? It’ll explode with a bang.”

“…Sorry, but could you do it again?”

“Huh? Again?” Professor Bible was flustered.

“Alright. Just a moment.”

The professor showed the magic again.

Rolling the paper, imbuing it with magic, sealing the top and bottom, and attaching the string.

Done!

“…I’m really sorry. Could you perhaps do it again slowly…”

“Uh, uh? Still again?”

“Yes. I’m sorry. It seems I have no talent for enchantment magic.”

“No! It’s okay. It’s okay. A wizard doesn’t need to be good at all magic!” Professor Bible was a kind person.

Of course, that didn’t mean he had outstanding abilities as an educator.

If he were an outstanding educator, he wouldn’t have cast enchantment magic on a freshman with a silent spell and then said ridiculous things like, ‘Huh? You still don’t understand? I guess you have no talent!’

The teaching master and the learning disciple were both saying ridiculous things, but there was no one around to stop them.

Professor Bible picked up his wand again.

“Now. So, from here…”

According to Professor Bible’s teachings (in fact, it was closer to Leehan figuring it out almost entirely on his own), the core magic that formed the basis of magic fireworks was the 2nd circle magic, >Flame Enchantment> and >Light Enchantment>.

“I see. So, it’s a method of imbuing flame and light into the paper.”

“Right. But that’s too plain, so a skilled wizard pursues art from here.”

Professor Bible seemed to be getting hungry, so he took out a piece of tree bark from the side and munched on it while explaining.

“You know how to change the shape of elements or maintain their form, right?”

It wasn’t really a question to ask a freshman, but Professor Bible had already forgotten that Leehan was a freshman.

Leehan answered without much thought.

“The principle is similar. You have to engrave it into the material, so you have to be more careful…”

In enchantment magic, the wizard’s skill was important, but the material to be enchanted was also important.

The weaker the durability, the harder it was to withstand magic and mana.

Fortunately, the paper used for scrolls and fireworks was not ordinary paper. It was a material with resistance to mana.

Even so…

“Professor. I have a lot of mana. Will I be able to do well?”

“If you can’t, you can’t. You can just do other magic, right?”

“Thank you for your warm words,” Leehan said sincerely.

He was a little disappointed, but he thought it was good that he said even that much.

If it were Professor Voladi, he might have said, ‘I won’t open the door to the forge until you succeed.’…

Tap!

After several trials and errors, the first light magic firework Leehan made was completed.

He restrained his mana as much as possible, and since his goal was to make it work, it was far from fancy or elaborate.

‘I just hope it works.’

Leehan didn’t expect much.

He would be satisfied if it worked as a magic firework when the string was pulled.

“Shall we pull it, then?”

Professor Bible put down the tree bark and picked up the firework.

And he pulled the string.

Bang!

A flash of light filled the room.

Professor Bible was surprised by the much stronger-than-expected amount of light.