Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 323

Before Dirette could say anything, Ethan punched the adventurer who was shouting nonsense right in the jaw.

Gack!

“Say that again.”

Ethan pulled out his sword, Dawn Star, still in its scabbard. He didn’t stop at just one. He swung the scabbard hard into another adventurer’s stomach. The man doubled over, gasping, and white foam bubbled at the corners of his mouth before he fell to the dusty ground.

“You crazy b…”

“I said, say that again?”

Thwack! Thwack thwack thwack!

Ethan beat the adventurers thoroughly.

A reaction came back immediately.

“I… I was wrong…!”

“What were you wrong about?”

“Well, that…”

“Not enough, I see.”

Ethan swung his sword again. The adventurers screamed and cowered.

People passing by just glanced with expressions that said, ‘Another fight,’ but no one stopped to help.

Because of that, Ethan could beat them in peace.

“Kuh-heok… the dark wizards, they said we were grave robbers…”

“Still not enough.”

“Huh? What are you tal… Keuh-ack!”

“Think about it. If the blokes who framed you for stealing corpses can come up with such creative accusations, why can’t they come up with creative apologies?”

The beatings helped them think more clearly.

The adventurers finally realized.

“The great dark wizards…?”

“More.”

“We are sorry for falsely accusing the great dark wizards who protect the city of being grave robbers…!”

“Good. They’re already working hard to protect the city; how could you accuse them like that?”

“We were wrong…”

The beaten adventurers answered, staggering.

“Remember that words have power. Since you’ve repented, I’ll forgive you.”

“Thank you!”

The adventurers cursed the crazy dark wizards in their hearts.

They would never go near a graveyard again.

‘To think they’d hide a knight so sneakily…’

“Follow me.”

“Yes?”

“I said, follow me. Since you’ve repented, you should help with the work.”

The adventurers were surprised by this strange idea, but Ethan kindly persuaded them again.

As he pointed the sword he was holding, the adventurers shouted in unison.

“Please let us help!”

“I knew you’d say that.”

Dirette, who had been watching from below, asked, dumbfounded.

“…Does anyone know what he’s doing right now?”

“Indeed. Releasing the pooled magic by changing the terrain in areas with strong magic flow, I see.”

The explanation continued.

Ethan listened to Dirette’s explanation and nodded.

If an abnormal amount of magic gathered in one place, the possibility of strange phenomena would increase, so they had to find such places first and somehow disrupt the magic.

“Alright. Now, dig up that soil and bring new soil to mix it.”

The adventurers silently picked up shovels and dug up the soil. Ethan watched with satisfaction and encouraged them.

“Good job. Once you finish that side, let’s work on the base of this fence.”

“Everyone’s doing a great job!”

“Gainan, you too. Don’t just stand there.”

“I, I’m not confident because I don’t use earth magic.”

“Then you’ll have to scoop it with your hands. Here.”

Dirette thought at this bizarre sight.

‘This is quite different from what I expected…’

She had imagined a heartwarming scene where seniors taught and juniors learned, working together to prevent accidents, not this scene of prisoners doing labor.

The progress is fast, though!

“Ethan, is this really a place where a lot of magic has gathered?”

“You found it well. It’s true that more magic has gathered here than in other places.”

“Whoa, Wodanaz. What about here?”

“Wait… I don’t think we need to touch this place. Compared to other places, it’s not that much, and the magic flow is fluid, so it seems likely to go down again.”

But, apart from grabbing passing adventurers and forcing them to work, Ethan was definitely an outstanding junior.

With an overwhelming ability to sense magic compared to others, and a brain that efficiently carried out tasks.

The way he was writing in a log, organizing places where magic was likely to pool, made him look like a dark wizard who had been working for years.

‘At this rate, there’s nothing I can teach him…?’

“Senior.”

‘Still, I need to teach him something as a senior. What should I teach him? What useful dark magic is there?’

“Is there a problem?”

“Huh? When did you get here?”

“I’ve been here for a while… I came to ask what to do if the magic can’t be disrupted because the discovery is delayed.”

“Ah… I should have explained that.”

Dirette felt sorry.

She had forgotten because her junior was doing such a good job.

“In that case, you have to use a rough method. Using holy water or relics blessed by the temple here is one way…”

Objects blessed by the clergy were incompatible with dark energy magic. Colliding the two could disrupt the pooled magic due to the conflict.

“Or you can solve it with magic, but that’s a bit difficult. Junior, can you use dark element?”

Dirette asked, but naturally thought that Ethan had not learned it yet.

The realm of dark magic handled in the first year alone was already quite vast.

It was hard enough to keep up with those areas, so how could he learn advanced elemental magic like dark element?

“I can use only the basics. It’s impossible to control it perfectly, but…”

“Right. Of course… Of course, what???”

Dirette was about to brush it off casually, but was startled.

Is Professor Mortum crazy??

“Professor Mortum taught you? Why? When??”

“Ah. Professor Mortum didn’t teach me… another professor taught me because it was necessary.”

‘What kind of crazy person is that?’

Dirette cursed the professor who taught Ethan dark element.

No matter how necessary it was, teaching dark element to a first-year student was absurd.

“Well… alright, I see.”

“As I said, it’s impossible to control it perfectly, so you shouldn’t expect too much.”

“I didn’t expect anything! What crazy senior would expect a first-year junior to use dark element!”

Dirette shouted as if she was dumbfounded.

Then she recalled the events that had happened during the first semester.

From the Frost Giant King to the final assignment.

That was the very image of an ugly fourth-year student dragging a first-year into their work.

“…No. I have nothing to say even if you think so, Junior.”

“Dark element… it’s naturally impossible to control perfectly. I can’t control it either.”

“Is that so?”

“It’s an element with such a high difficulty. It’s completely different from something like fire element.”

“I can’t control fire element perfectly either, though.”

“…Oh, really?”

Dirette was taken aback.

To be honest, she was surprised that Ethan couldn’t control an easy element like fire element.

“Elemental aptitude differs from person to person, so don’t worry too much. Junior. What elemental magic do you mainly use?”

“First of all, water and…”

“See? That’s why. Maybe it doesn’t suit fire element. Junior.”

“Lightning and ice?”

Dirette stared at Ethan as if she was dumbfounded.

Are you kidding me?

After a longer conversation than expected, Dirette could understand.

“Ah-ha. Because of magic power… well, that explains it. Junior.”

The Frost Giant King, and the final exam assignment to subdue a demon.

If what Ethan had just explained was true, it made some sense.

Of course, in one corner of her heart, the thought remained, ‘But how much magic power do you need to make that possible?’

“Wait a minute. Junior. You said you can handle lightning and ice elements? With that much magic power, wouldn’t the already difficult advanced elements be even more difficult?”

“Ah. That’s true.”

“…Is that all?”

“It just suited me well from the beginning… I can only say I was lucky.”

Dirette wanted to hit her junior for the first time.

That’s what geniuses are like…!

In short, it wasn’t that he just had a lot of magic power, but that he was also talented enough to control lightning and ice elements, taking that into account.

It was a truly annoying thing to say.

Moreover, the two elements were difficult to manifest even before control. Being able to easily manifest both would earn you the assessment of having talent in elemental magic.

“Lightning and ice elements seem sufficient.”

“But fire and dark elements are not well controlled.”

“Junior… don’t be greedy. You can’t have everything. The two elements have the property of expanding outwards, so it will be even more so. Anyway, dark element… it would be convenient to do this kind of work if you could handle it. But it’s difficult.”

Dirette paused for a moment, then waved her staff.

Then, a dark darkness began to envelop Dirette’s staff and transformed into the shape of a spear.

“See? It’s hard, so answer quickly. Junior.”

“I see it.”

Dirette poked the tip of the spear in that state. The weeds located in the poked area lost their vitality and died.

“For reference, I’m not controlling this perfectly. I’ve only roughly shaped it. Look at the end.”

As Dirette said, the spear’s appearance was rough and flickering.

“It would be nice if I could control it perfectly, but you can still use it before that. You give up perfect control and just use the properties of the element. Everyone can use a torch even if they’re not a master of fire magic. In the end, it’s all about the trick.”

“Indeed…”

“Let’s try it once. Junior. The simplest… yes. A sphere shape would be good. Shoot it in a sphere.”

Ethan summoned dark element as Dirette said.

And gathered it into a sphere shape like other elements.

Wham!

Then, like compressed flames exploding, the dark element scattered in all directions.

“Darkness, gather at this end!”

Dirette was startled and waved her staff to control the dark element.

“Why is it exploding!?”

“It seems to be because of… a lot of magic power.”

“…It was my fault. Junior. I was thinking based on my standards.”

Dirette frowned as if she had a headache.

Unlike herself, rough control did not work for this junior.

If he didn’t control it with several times the power of other wizards, the element would run wild because of its immense magic power.

“I’m alright. It’s not Senior’s fault.”

“Wait a moment. Still, I’m your senior. I should at least give you some advice since I brought it up.”

Dirette drew out all the knowledge she had about dark element and pondered.

What kind of advice should she give to help such a junior?

‘Should I look for an easier form to control? No, it won’t change much. If I give up control altogether and use it in a summoning style… that won’t work. Fire is dangerous, but darkness would be even more so. It will scatter in all directions, and if it scatters wrong, it will stab itself. Should I apply other magic? Come to think of it, I’ll be listening to enchantment magic too. It might be safer to use it with enchantment magic. But enchantment magic is also quite difficult… What was there among the other schools of magic?’

“Senior! Senior!”

At Ethan’s call, Dirette raised her head.

A sphere of dark element was spinning on top of the staff, maintaining its shape.

“I succeeded thanks to your advice!”

“…Junior. Do you sincerely think that’s thanks to my advice??”

She was worrying about whether there was another way, but seeing him lightly overcome the blocked part in the short time she wasn’t looking, she was speechless.

What on earth is that…