Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 26

When students came to magic school, they usually thought magic was the most important thing. They didn’t think about using magic for simple things, like making fire to cook food or water to drink. Instead, they dreamed of becoming powerful wizards, exploring new lands, and finding great knowledge. Nilia was different. She didn’t think fire magic was very special. She knew how to make fire without magic, just with stones and sticks. She wished she was good at water magic instead, because she loved water.

Leahan said, his voice serious, “Nilia, you should be thankful for the magic you have.”

Nilia blinked, surprised by his serious tone. “Uh… yes, I am,” she mumbled, nodding quickly.

*Was he actually praising my fire magic?* she wondered. Leahan was from the famous House of Wodanaz, maybe he thought she was being disrespectful to magic. Nilia looked away, feeling a little embarrassed.

But inside, Leahan was thinking, *If only I was better at magic, I would have learned fire magic first! I’m so jealous of her.*

They warmed their frozen hands and feet by the small fire. Cool water eased their dry throats, and the warm bread and cheese filled their empty stomachs. They felt a little better, but still tired. Leahan thought, *I need to check if those undead creatures are still outside.* He knew the headmaster was crazy enough to leave them there. He turned to Nilia.

“Nilia.”

Before he could say more, Nilia was already standing up. “Alright, let’s go,” she said, as if she had read his mind.

They stepped out of the cave into thick darkness. It was so dark they could barely see their hands in front of them. They didn’t need to walk far to understand.

“…”

Damn,” Leahan muttered.

In the distance, the bottom of the mountain glowed. It looked like a fiery ring around the base. The undead creatures were still there, surrounding them.

“Is he completely mad?” Leahan said, louder this time.

“H-he is…” Nilia whispered, her voice shaking. “But… is it okay to say that?” She was scared of angering the headmaster, even if he was made of bones.

“It’s fine,” Leahan said. “No one can hear us. You can say what you think.”

“Really?”

“Nilia,” Leahan said seriously, “Magic comes from thinking freely. The headmaster would want us to speak our minds, even if it’s about him.” He said this with a straight face, even though it was completely made up.

Nilia looked unsure. *Is that true?* she wondered.

“H-Headmaster,” she said, her voice small, “you are a… a grumpy bear! I hope a wolf… uh… bothers you!”

*Rustle-*

“Aaaah! Sorry! Sorry!” Nilia jumped back, grabbing Leahan’s arm and hiding behind him.

Leahan gently moved Nilia away, looking carefully into the darkness. “Nilia, quiet. Someone is there.”

A voice called out from the shadows. “…Who’s there?”

“You speak first,” Leahan replied.

“White Tiger Tower.”

“Damn it,” Leahan clicked his tongue again. “So some of them escaped.” He understood now why the undead were still there. White Tiger Tower students had gotten away from the chaos.

More rustling sounds, and then the White Tiger Tower students stepped into view. They were dirty and tired, looking like beggars.

“B-beggars?” Nilia whispered.

“No,” Leahan said. “White Tiger Tower, remember?”

*Punishment for leaving without permission.* *Punishment for disobeying the headmaster.*

Unlike Leahan’s group, the White Tiger Tower students had charged straight into the undead. They were met by a wave of skeletons.

The skeletons, tall and bony, rushed at them, making dry, rattling noises as they moved. They swung heavy clubs made of bone. One hit wasn’t deadly, but it slowed you down. Two hits made your legs heavy. Three hits, and you would fall.

“Ack!”

“They’re attacking in groups, cowards!” someone yelled. “Kraaah!”

The White Tiger Tower students were skilled with their wooden swords, and they fought bravely, cutting down skeletons. But there were too many. One by one, they were knocked down.

*Suppression complete.* *Suppression complete.*

“…Up the mountain! We need to go up!” Giselle shouted. She was the first to realize. *This wasn’t meant to be broken through!*

Giselle had made a mistake. She had believed the headmaster’s words, thinking they could escape. Leahan had been right to distrust him. Going down was a trap.

Giselle gathered the students who were still standing and ran upwards, up the mountain. Luckily, the skeletons didn’t follow them up the steep slopes.

“Hah… hah…” Giselle gasped for breath.

“Moradi,” one student said, “upwards… hah… Are we really escaping? There’s no path up here.”

“Summoned creatures don’t last forever,” Giselle said, trying to sound confident. “They’ll disappear soon.”

If Leahan had been there, he would have laughed. *Does she really think the headmaster’s magic is weak?* But the White Tiger Tower students didn’t know much about magic.

Giselle’s words sounded good enough to them. They nodded, tired and desperate to believe anything.

“What do we do until then?” someone asked.

“We wait,” Giselle said. “Rest and get our strength back. Maybe light a fire… no. First, we need to find shelter. Somewhere out of the wind.”

The White Tiger Tower students started to look around. They weren’t as good at moving in the dark as Nilia, and they weren’t used to mountains. But they were strong and determined.

Even though their muscles ached and their throats were dry, they kept moving.

*Rustle-*

“Did you hear that?”

“Maybe a wild animal?”

“If it is, let’s catch it! I’m starving.”

But the sound wasn’t an animal. It was voices. Human voices.

The White Tiger Tower students stared at each other, shocked. People here, in the middle of the night?

“…Who’s there?” a voice called out.

“You speak first,” came the reply.

“White Tiger Tower.”

“Damn it. So they weren’t all caught,” Leahan’s voice said.

It was the Blue Dragon Tower students.

“Come in,” Leahan said, his voice flat.

The White Tiger Tower students shuffled into the cave, looking uncomfortable. They were dirty, their clothes torn, and their faces pale with exhaustion. It was hard for them to accept help from the students they had just been fighting.

“Sit down,” Leahan said, still without emotion. “Eat and drink.”

Gainando whispered to Deorgyu, “We barely have enough food for ourselves, why are we sharing…”

“Shhh,” Deorgyu nudged him.

Deorgyu felt sorry for the White Tiger Tower students. They looked like they had been through a terrible ordeal. Leahan could have easily turned them away. After all, the White Tiger Tower students had been cruel to them earlier. No one would have blamed Leahan for being unkind.

But Leahan had offered them shelter and food. Deorgyu thought, *Leahan is truly good at heart!* It was easy to be kind to friends, but to be kind to enemies, that was real honor. Deorgyu hoped this would help the White Tiger Tower students change their ways.

Silence fell in the cave, broken only by quiet sounds of eating and drinking.

Giselle watched Leahan carefully. *Why are the Blue Dragon Tower students here?* She didn’t think Leahan had followed them. *They must have seen the map too,* she realized. There was no other reason for them to be here, in this cave, at this time. They must have arrived earlier and hidden here when the chaos started below.

Giselle bit her lip, thinking. Leahan was being kind, but Giselle knew better than to trust kindness. She remembered her House of Moradi training.

*Giselle, the House of Moradi never forgets a grudge. But it also means we repay kindness when it’s remembered.* But Giselle knew the real lesson: emotions like gratitude were weakness. A true Moradi could refuse help even from someone who saved their life.

*How can I use them? I need to make them trust me first,* Giselle thought.

One of the White Tiger Tower students, Choi, who knew Deorgyu a little, started to speak. “Choi, what…”

*Thud!*

“?!”

Choi fell forward suddenly.

Deorgyu jumped in surprise. *What happened?!* At first, he thought Choi had just collapsed from tiredness.

But then, *Thud! Thud!* Other students started falling too, as if they had been poisoned.

“…Damn it!” Giselle shouted, understanding at last. She spat out the water she had been drinking. But it was too late. Her mind was already getting foggy. *Poison in the water!*

“Too late,” Leahan said, his voice cold. “You figured it out too late.”

Even as her vision blurred, Giselle glared at Leahan. Her face changed. The gentle, polite look was gone, replaced by a hard, cruel expression, sharp as a knife. It was her real face, the one even her own tower students rarely saw.

“Just… you wait, Wodanaz…” Giselle whispered, her voice full of hate.

The last thing she saw was Leahan, the boy from the House of Wodanaz, looking down at her, his face cold and unreadable. Then, darkness took her.

*Did I just make things worse?* Leahan thought. He was actually a little worried. The White Tiger Tower students wouldn’t forget this trick. They would hate him now.

*But what else could I do?* Leahan reasoned with himself. *They attacked us first.* He thought of a saying: *If someone hates you for no reason, give them a reason to hate you!*

“W-what is happening, Leahan?!” Deorgyu stammered. “Is there poison in the water?! I drank it too!”

Gainando looked just as shocked.

Leahan had kept his plan secret from Deorgyu and Gainando. They were both too honest and would have given it away.

“Gainando, calm down,” Leahan said. “It’s not poison. And it wasn’t in the water *we* drank. We’re going to take them outside and leave them for the skeletons.”

Leahan hadn’t used real poison. Just sleeping herbs. He wasn’t doing this because he hated the White Tiger Tower students. He was thinking strategically. Who were the skeletons hunting? The White Tiger Tower students, of course. *We need to catch them quickly and use them as bait!*

“B-but!” Deorgyu protested. “Was this really the only way…?”

“Deorgyu, think,” Leahan said, his voice patient but firm. “If we had fought them directly, it would have been loud. We would have been discovered. And Giselle would have caused trouble. She would have tried to get us caught too.”

Deorgyu couldn’t argue with Leahan’s logic. He sighed. “Still… it feels wrong. Where did you even get sleeping herbs?”

Yoner raised his hand shyly. “I found some on the way up.”

*Earlier, as they climbed the mountain…*

Yoner had spotted some plants with white stems. “Oh, look at this,” he’d said.

“What is it?” Leahan had asked.

“Sleeping grass,” Yoner explained. “If you crush it and mix it with water, it makes people sleep deeply.”

“Let’s take it,” Leahan had said.

“Huh? Why?” Yoner had been confused.

“Just take it,” Leahan had repeated. “We might need it someday.”

“Will we really use this?” Yoner had wondered, picking the sleeping grass. He hadn’t imagined it would be used like *this*.