Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 241

“That shield!” Deorgyu pointed, eyes wide at the shimmering circle of light.

“Ah. This shield.” Lee Han nodded, yawning.

Deorgyu was a hard-working student and good at noticing good things.

“Isn’t it amazing?”

“Yes, it really is!”

“Right. Even without making the magic last longer on purpose, it’s still working. I didn’t expect this either.”

The shield had been spinning silently, a disc of pale blue light hanging in the air for over six hours now. Lee Han should have stopped it and done something else, but he left it going to see how long it would last.

‘I need to see how long it lasts to know if it’s good to use,’ he thought.

The fact that the magic stayed even without making it last longer was honestly surprising. Even with a lot of magic power, he didn’t think it would do this.

It was something Lee Han didn’t expect. But even if he was lucky, he shouldn’t be too sure of himself. He needed to see exactly how far it could go. …And if it only lasted about a day, Lee Han planned to give it in right away. ‘I just need to see how much longer it lasts.’

“But it’s impressive, Deorgyu. I didn’t expect you to notice it right away. To quickly see that I didn’t make the magic last longer on this shield on purpose…”

“…I, I think I was just lucky because I studied magic about making things last diligently,” Deorgyu stuttered. He was just surprised that Lee Han had already brought a ready thing…

“More importantly, Lee Han,” Deorgyu started. “I was going to ask when we were working, but…”

“Just ask now,” Lee Han said easily.

“Thank you! Wait. Can I ask Moradi too?”

“I don’t mind,” Lee Han replied, looking at Giselle. “But you’re not going to ask me questions and then try to make me fail my exams, are you? You do have a sense of right and wrong, right?”

“Of course Moradi wouldn’t do that!” Deorgyu said quickly.

“But Moradi doesn’t have a sense of right and wrong,” Lee Han said, a little louder.

“Lee Han!” Giselle warned.

“It’s okay,” Lee Han said, pretending not to notice Giselle’s glare. “She probably didn’t hear me.”

*‘I think she heard you,’* Deorgyu thought, nervously glancing at Giselle. Students from knight families had very good hearing. She definitely heard.

“Then you can hear it from Moradi herself, Lee Han,” Giselle said, her voice a little sharp.

“Good idea, Moradi,” Lee Han said, turning to Giselle with a smile. “Would you promise, on your family and your honor, not to cause any trouble for me during the final exams?”

Giselle sighed. “…Fine. I promise.”

“And if even one student from the White Tiger Tower starts a fight with me, we agree it’s your fault?” Lee Han added quickly.

“Why would that be *my* fault?!” Giselle was shocked. She had almost agreed without thinking. He was trying to trick her! “Are you even listening to me?”

“Aren’t you like… the leader of the White Tiger Tower students?” Lee Han asked innocently.

“Lots of them don’t listen to me!” Giselle exclaimed. “Do you think our tower is as well-behaved as yours?”

“Anyone listening would get the wrong idea,” Lee Han said, shaking his head. “Our tower is the *least* well-behaved of all the towers, Moradi.”

*‘I’m so glad our other friends aren’t here to see this,’* Deorgyu thought to himself, feeling embarrassed. If the Blue Dragon Tower students who looked up to Lee Han and the White Tiger Tower students who trusted Giselle heard this, they would be so sad, wondering, ‘What did we do wrong to deserve this?’

“Alright. Let’s settle with this much.” Lee Han and Giselle gave in a little, as they both needed something.

“Don’t forget to lend me White Tiger Tower students when I need them later.” Lee Han made sure he could get students from White Tiger Tower to help him when he needed them.

In return, Giselle agreed to have Lee Han teach the White Tiger Tower students. Giselle frowned, thinking about the worried faces of her students when they saw their exam results. The scores from the exams in the middle of the term were very bad, and if things continued like this, only a few students, including Giselle, would be able to go on holiday.

“You better not forget to teach them.”

“What’s so difficult about teaching?”

“……”

“……” Deorgyu and Giselle were quiet after Lee Han said that.

Lee Han felt a little uneasy. “…Still, if they’re good enough to get into Einroguard, they all have some talent, right?”

“Y-yes, they do,” Giselle said.

“O-of course,” Deorgyu agreed.

“It’s not that my friends are bad at studying, they’re just not interested, that’s all,” Giselle said quickly.

*‘This is getting even more worrying,’* Deorgyu thought. Usually, students who give reasons why they didn’t do well are not easy to teach.

“Teaching is for later. Let’s focus on what’s in front of us,” Lee Han said, yawning.

Giselle was wondering to herself why he looked so different. He didn’t look like himself. *‘Did he stay up all night? He shouldn’t have.’* Wodanaz was a careful and organized person, so there was no way he would have stayed up all night when he had to walk around the mountains from noon.

“Lee Han looks tired. Did he stay up all night or something?” Deorgyu asked.

“Don’t talk silly. There’s no way Wodanaz would do that,” Giselle snapped at Deorgyu.

“But the homework for magic class…”

“He probably finished it yesterday,” Giselle said.

“R-really?” Deorgyu didn’t think that made sense, since there was so little time, but… *‘Moradi is saying it, so it must be true,’* he thought.

“So, should we talk about what monsters are in these mountains?” Lee Han asked. Even people who finished school at Einroguard probably didn’t know everything about these mountains. The mountains were huge and confusing. Trees crowded together, and paths twisted in every direction. Just the other day, they had spent hours trying to find their way in, and then got completely lost near the entrance, unable to find their way back out. But the magic school students had learned things and heard stories.

“Bears, wolves, boars, and crocodiles,” Giselle listed.

“Crocodiles?!” Deorgyu was startled.

Giselle nodded slightly, her face serious. “There’s a swamp area, down in the lower parts of the mountains. Dark, still water, thick with mud and who knows what else.”

“A swamp area?!” Deorgyu repeated, his eyes wide.

“Deorgyu,” Giselle said, a little impatiently. “How are you going to deal with this if you’re already this surprised? Anything could be here. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was an area with volcanoes.”

*‘I think I’d be very surprised by that,’* Deorgyu thought.

*‘Shouldn’t we all be surprised by that…?’*

“Slimes and different kinds of chimeras,” Lee Han added.

Lee Han clicked his tongue, a sound of annoyance. “Chimeras,” he repeated. “Why would there be chimeras here? Those unnatural things, made by mixing different creatures together…” They must have come from wizards doing experiments. And those wizards were probably from Einroguard. *‘I blame the older students who didn’t follow the rules and did experiments,’* Lee Han thought, annoyed.

“That’s about it for what I know,” Giselle said.

“Okay. Deorgyu?” Lee Han asked.

When Giselle finished, Deorgyu spoke, a little nervously. “Actually, I heard from my friends that they are planning to go after… giants.”

“…What?” Giselle reacted before Lee Han could. Her eyes widened, like she couldn’t believe it. “Which students are trying to fight a giant? Tell me who!”

“I, I can’t tell you, it’s a secret…” Deorgyu stammered. “And it’s not just one group.”

Giants. Creatures with huge bodies and strong defenses, scaring other monsters just by walking around. They were so wild and violent that they couldn’t talk to other creatures, so it was right to think of them as just monsters. You had to be ready to fight the moment you saw one. They were definitely not enemies that first-year students should try to fight, but… Some White Tiger Tower students were seriously planning to go after a giant.

It all started when they found a book about giants in the library.

– Keep this secret. See this map? A giant lives across the mountain ridge.

– Oh…! Hey, keep this quiet. I heard a giant lives somewhere over this mountain ridge.

– Wow… come here. Don’t tell anyone I told you. This is really valuable, but there’s a giant across this mountain ridge…

“…Are they trying to get killed?” Giselle frowned, muttering to herself. It was crazy that they were secretly whispering about this. They were hiding it because they thought someone would steal their idea, but who would want to steal *that*? Even if they wanted to win the competition, going after a giant was too dangerous. “Even Wodanaz wouldn’t do something so reckless.”

“That’s right,” Deorgyu agreed. “…Wait. What do you mean?” Lee Han asked, feeling a little annoyed.

But Deorgyu spoke first. “But they seem to have a way to deal with the giant…”

“Since the book shows where the giant is, I guess it might also say how to deal with it,” Deorgyu added.

The problem was, giants weren’t easy enemies that you could just use a method from a book on and win. “If you could just read a book once and know how to do it, why would wizards have any problems?” Giselle said, rolling her eyes.

“That’s right. Th…” Deorgyu started to agree, then glanced at Lee Han. He quickly thought, *‘Should Lee Han be saying that kind of thing?’*

“I think you’re right,” Deorgyu said, changing his mind. “I’ll try to seriously stop them.”

“No. Wait,” Lee Han said quickly.

“Hold on,” Giselle said at the same time.

“?” Deorgyu looked confused as Lee Han and Giselle stopped him at the same time.

“Do you really think just giving them advice will work?” Lee Han asked.

“I don’t want to agree with Wodanaz,” Giselle said, “but he’s right about this. They’re planning this in secret, so would they listen if we tried to stop them? They’ll just do it when we’re not looking.”

“Th-that’s true,” Deorgyu agreed. “Do you have a better idea?”

“Let’s find out where they are first,” Lee Han said. “Following them secretly would be good.”

“After we know where they are, we should make sure they can’t get close to the giant,” Giselle added.

“We should just take the book away,” Lee Han said. “If they don’t have the book, they’ll forget about this crazy idea for a few weeks.”

“That’s right. Let’s take the book too,” Giselle agreed, nodding.

“……” Deorgyu was quiet. They were supposed to be exploring the mountains this weekend to find monsters… He was confused and worried as the plan suddenly became about stealing.

“Isn’t taking the book a bit too much…?”

“Deorgyu,” Lee Han said, putting an arm around Deorgyu’s shoulder. “Don’t think the wrong thing. We’re doing this for our friends. Do you think I’m doing this because I’m worried other students will catch the giant and get better grades?”

Giselle put her arm around Deorgyu’s other shoulder. “Choi, think about it. What will you think if your friends get hurt later? Won’t you think, ‘I should have stopped them back then’?”

“…M-maybe…” Deorgyu mumbled.

Lee Han and Giselle nodded seriously. “Then we’re doing this together, Deorgyu,” Lee Han said.

“So, who has that book?” Giselle asked, turning to Deorgyu. “Tell us.”

“……” Deorgyu hesitated.

Gatono Dullac looked around nervously in front of the cave. He was worried someone might be following him. *‘But who would follow me to a place like this?’* he thought.

“Who is it?” a voice whispered from inside the cave.

“Gatono Dullac,” he replied quietly.

“Come in quietly,” someone said. His teammates inside the cave signaled for him to hurry.

“Is it going well?” Gatono asked, stepping inside.

“Of course,” someone replied. “Bartrek is here, isn’t he? He’s from the Bark family.” Bartrek was known in the White Tiger Tower for being good at magic science, alchemy. He wasn’t as amazing as the really smart students from other towers, but he was still good.

“Is this… that thing?” Gatono asked, pointing to a large pot.

“Yes,” Bartrek said proudly. “The medicine that can make even a giant fall asleep.” Inside the cave, a huge pot hung over a fire outside, and a bad-smelling drink was bubbling loudly inside. Lee Han and Giselle were right to be worried – the White Tiger Tower students weren’t stupid. They had planned carefully because they were dealing with a giant.

*Here I write about the magic drink to make giants weak, so that younger students don’t fight angry giants for no reason… You don’t need to kill giants to make them weak. It’s enough to put them to sleep and take their hair or treasures. Go to where they live secretly at night, and when they are sleeping, pour the drink around them…*

*Thud!*

“?!?” Everyone in the cave jumped.

“What was that sound?” someone whispered, scared.

“Intruders! Someone set off a trap!” another student shouted.

“Is it… Wodanaz?!” someone else yelled.

“Why would Wodanaz be here?!” Gatono said, annoyed. “Don’t talk silly!”

“Is this the place?” Lee Han whispered, looking at the cave entrance.

“I think so,” Giselle replied, peering through the bushes.

“…Wait,” Deorgyu said, stopping suddenly. “I can hear fighting inside.” The three of them froze, listening. There was definitely the sound of shouting from inside the cave.

“Give me the book!” someone yelled.

“You mean people who are afraid!” another voice shouted back. “Are you even knights?!”

“Hmph,” a third voice scoffed. “Knights take power by being strong. If you can’t protect your treasures, you don’t deserve to have them!”

“……”

“……” Giselle and Deorgyu both hung their heads, feeling ashamed. “This is a shame for our tower, really!” Giselle muttered.