Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 184

Ethan and Retford had carried the sleeping students out of the lecture hall. Ethan thought he deserved a reward for this hard work. However, Ethan didn’t receive his payment.

Before he could even search their pockets, his opponent woke up.

“…Gasp!”

One student blinked, confused. “W-what’s happening?” he mumbled.

The others just stared, still sleepy.

Ethan and Retford frowned at the students from the other towers. They looked annoyed.

They should have woken up in the hallway! It was hard work carrying them all this way.

“‘I bet they were just pretending to be asleep,'” Ethan thought, annoyed.

“Th-thank you, Wodanaz,” said the Black Tortoise Tower student (towers were like teams in their school). He looked around, finally understanding what had happened. He was grateful.

He remembered going into the lecture hall and smelling smoke from a scary-looking magic circle.

He couldn’t remember anything after that smoke. *Wodanaz must have saved us,* he thought.

The Black Tortoise Tower student grabbed Ethan’s hand and shook it. Ethan looked like he didn’t really want to shake hands.

It had been the hand he extended to search their pockets.

“Thank you, Wodanaz,” said another student.

“We never thought you’d save us.”

The White Tiger Tower students woke up one after another and thanked Ethan in the same way.

“Carrying us out like this…?” one student said in surprise.

“I am very grateful,” another added politely.

The students thanked Ethan quickly and then hurried away.

Ethan watched them go, feeling annoyed for no clear reason.

“Shall we knock them out again?”

At Retford’s whisper, Ethan wavered ever so slightly.

Professor Thunderstride tilted his head, confused. It wasn’t just his hangover making him think slowly – although, after last night, a hangover was expected! It would have been strange *not* to have one.

He drank a potion to get rid of his hangover and then thought hard again.

“‘How did no one get caught?’ Professor Thunderstride wondered. The other professors had asked him to put special potions in the Lecture Hall on the first floor of the school. These potions were supposed to…

Helping students learn, even if it was a bit harsh, was something all professors agreed on, even if it wasn’t their own class.

Because of the magic circle he had set up, any students who went in there should have been causing chaos all night.

But surprisingly, the lecture hall was empty.

It wasn’t like no one had gone in. Chairs were thrown around, and the magic circle was broken. Someone had definitely been there.

“‘But how?’ he thought. ‘Did they see it and use it for their own purposes? No… if they knew what it was, they wouldn’t have turned it on.'”

Professor Thunderstride wasn’t angry, just curious.

What on earth had happened?

“Good morning, Professor.”

Students who had come to submit their alchemy assignments on Friday morning appeared one by one.

“Yes. Good morning.”

They submitted their potions one by one and returned.

Professor Thunderstride was pleased with their gloomy and troubled expressions.

He could see they had been worried all night because they couldn’t find all the ingredients.

“Good morning, Professor.”

“Yes. Wodanaz.”

Professor Thunderstride suddenly felt suspicious when he saw Ethan.

“‘…No,’ he thought. He looked at Ethan Wodanaz. ‘Could it be him?’ But then he remembered, Ethan hadn’t even been to those lectures.”

What did it matter if he didn’t attend the lectures? It was just a coincidence.

“I’ll leave it here.”

“Do so.”

Ethan quietly submitted his potion and turned away.

Even after that, Professor Thunderstride remained deep in thought.

‘Hmm. Truly mysterious.’

Professor Thunderstride stood up and started checking the potions the students had handed in.

He could see how much they had struggled because they didn’t have all the ingredients.

“‘Did he use annual fleabane instead of thistle flower? Interesting idea, but it probably won’t work. This one… is clueless. Did he just try to make it without any ingredients? That’s brave, but it won’t be very effective. This potion looks like someone just gave up. Did they just pour in another potion that was the same color?'”

Professor Thunderstride paused while checking.

Surprisingly, there was a near-perfect potion in front of him.

“?!”

Professor Thunderstride was startled and brought his face closer. But even after checking again, the potion’s effect was perfect.

How??

“‘How did he get thistle flowers? Did he find another flower field?’ If so, he was a very lucky student.”

Professor Thunderstride clicked his tongue and tried to check the name of the lucky student.

-Ethan Wodanaz

“……”

Professor Thunderstride narrowed his eyes.

Something was bothering Professor Thunderstride. It felt like something he couldn’t quite remember.

“‘It’s not just one??’ Looking around, he saw that he wasn’t the only student who had obtained thistle flowers.”

Professor Thunderstride was skeptical.

Could it be…

Could it be?!

“It’s over!!!”

Friday evening.

The Blue Dragon Tower freshmen cheered and whistled in the lounge.

Some students opened their favorite drinks and threw the caps away without a second thought.

Whether they did well or not, now that the midterm exams were over, all the students couldn’t help but feel liberated.

“It’s over! It’s over!”

“A round of cards?”

“Curse the professors!”

“A round of cards??”

“Wodanaz! What is all this?”

“Everyone worked hard on the exams.”

Ethan greeted his friends with a kind smile.

The table was soon covered in special treats.

Glass bottles of cold fruit juice and many different desserts filled the table. There was no space left.

There was crispy crème brûlée, whipped cream cake with strawberries, cold cream soda, and peach ice cream. It was a feast of desserts they usually couldn’t get in Einroguard. There was even pudding made with grapes, cream, and milk that had been made solid.

The Blue Dragon Tower students were on the verge of tears at the feast.

“Wodanaz…!”

“You are… really…!”

Even if Ethan had saved the Empire, they probably wouldn’t have been this moved.

Ethan thought to himself.

‘I feel guilty because they like it so much.’

In fact, Ethan made a lot of profit by focusing on luxury goods like this.

He was already making enough money, but he felt a little bad about taking even more from them.

If he made cheaper food using ingredients from the garden and spices from outside, he wouldn’t make as much money.

‘…No. I can’t change my mind now.’ Ethan made his mind up.

These special meals were only for special occasions. If he filled the food storage with food like this all the time, it would be gone very quickly. Then the students would be hungry.

It wasn’t good for Ethan in the long run!

“Everyone, don’t push and line up. There’s enough.”

The Blue Dragon Tower was more orderly than other towers because there was plenty to eat, but this time, they were pushing and pulling each other to get to the front.

Ethan and Yoner helped to get everyone in a line.

“Okay, line up…”

“I’m first!”

“Hey, you didn’t even take the exam!”

“…Line up.”

“Ah. Yes.”

“S-sorry, Mr. Wodanaz.”

There were a few small arguments, but his friends understood.

Ethan nodded as if he understood, seeing the princess’s followers lining up to receive their share.

“You are going to take some to the princess, right?” Ethan asked.

“Ah!”

The followers looked away awkwardly. “…You weren’t forgetting, were you?”

“I’ll give you more when you come back, so go bring it to her.”

The followers glanced at the glass bottle of melon juice, then at the deliciously cut piece of cake, then up the stairs.

“The princess might not like this kind of thing…”

“……”

Ethan was shocked.

Their loyalty lost to delicious desserts?

“She’s originally a light eater, so she might have been forced to eat it because of us…?”

“Y-yes, that’s right.”

“It doesn’t look like it to me.”

The followers ignored Ethan’s words as if they hadn’t heard them. They wanted to eat the dessert too much.

“…I’ll just go get her myself.”

“As expected of Mr. Wodanaz!”

“Stop it, you sound like you’re making fun of me.”

Ethan went upstairs and knocked on the princess’s door.

The princess opened the door. Her expressionless face was mixed with a faint expectation.

But that expectation soon disappeared. Ethan’s hands were empty.

“…!”

The princess’s eyes shook more violently than when she was misunderstood for secretly stealing a sandwich last time.

“Everyone is having snacks downstairs now. Come and eat,” Ethan said.

The princess let out a small sigh of relief and nodded.

The princess followed Ethan, who came down the stairs first.

The followers were surprised to see that.

“Are you sure you’re okay? It’s very noisy here…”

“Won’t it bother you when you’re thinking? Maybe you should go back upstairs…”

The princess looked seriously at the follower and gently hit his hand. The follower looked surprised.

“Wodanaz. What if the princess is having a hard time?”

“She doesn’t look like she’s having a hard time at all.”

“That’s right. Your loyalty is twisted.”

Gainando grumbled, stuffing pudding into his mouth.

Just show 1/100th of that respect…

“Shut up, Gainando. What do you know about my loyalty?”

“That’s right. My loyalty is pure.”

Ethan, who had become annoyed, waved his hand.

“She’s not a child. She’ll be fine. Look, she’s standing there perfectly okay.”

“R-really? Is it alright? But how did you convince her to come down? She doesn’t like places like this.”

Ethan wondered if his friends even talked to the princess properly.

Of course, Ethan wasn’t much better at talking to her…

“I just spoke honestly. Okay, next person.”

“Ethan, after you give out all the desserts, do you want to play cards?”

“You lost every time before,” Ethan pointed out. He was just teasing Gainando, but it made Gainando feel challenged.

Gainando tried his best to stay calm (of course, it was obvious that he was trembling) and said.

“T-that was a deck for testing purposes. I put in the new cards I bought this time… so it’s stronger…!”

‘Just buying expensive cards doesn’t make a deck better,’ Ethan thought. Gainando always just used cards that needed a lot of magic. Ethan, on the other hand, used cards that needed less magic and weakened his opponent quickly, ending the game fast. So, Ethan usually won.

“Okay. I’ll do it once, so…”

Bang!

The door to the lounge opened and a Death Knight appeared.

The students were all shocked.

“H-holidays, isn’t that too much!?”

“Is this okay? Is this really okay!?”

But unlike the students’ cries, the Death Knight had his own reasons for coming.

The Death Knight spoke in a deep voice. “Students who failed their exams will be called by name and must go to the punishment room.”

“……”

“……”

Ethan was shocked.

‘The rumor that you go to the punishment room if you fail wasn’t a false rumor!’

Einroguard seemed like an easy school because students could learn what they wanted. But Ethan now realized it wasn’t that easy. You couldn’t be lazy, even in the classes you chose to take.

“Gainando,” the Death Knight called out.

“No! No!” Gainando shouted and tried to run away. He didn’t want to spend his weekend in the punishment room.

Of course, the Death Knight caught him easily.

“Ethan! Put some food in! You have to give us food!!” Gainando yelled as he was dragged away. Several other unlucky students were also taken by the Death Knight. A prison carriage was waiting outside, like for real criminals.

“Wodanaz,” the Death Knight called.

“?!!”

The other students were even more surprised than Ethan. How could Wodanaz have failed?

“There must be a mistake!” one student cried.

“You should tell them! Even someone like you could fail if you just listened to the lecture like that!”

“The top student of Blue Dragon Tower. Follow me,” the Death Knight repeated.

“……”

Ethan’s friends glared at him, annoyed. Ethan just said calmly, “It’s not my fault.”