Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 338

Lee Han almost asked why he was left out. But he stopped himself.

It was strange, but if someone asked him if he wanted to join that meeting, he would say no.

“‘I don’t want to be there,’ he thought.”

“‘I really don’t want to be involved in that,’ Lee Han thought. Maybe his friends wanted to face some scary test with him, but Lee Han really did not want to.”

“How may I help you?”

Professor Ku looked at Lee Han with wide eyes. “Ah! It’s you!”

Lee Han was confused. *Why is he acting like this?* he wondered.

Professor Ku continued, “Ah, yes! The Headmaster said if it was Wodanaz, you would be happy to help.”

Lee Han, having his inner thoughts read by the skeletal Headmaster, felt complicated.

“You are such a hard-working student,” the Headmaster’s voice echoed. “I’ve said it before, Professor Begreck is lucky to have you.”

“Haha,” Lee Han laughed nervously, “It’s not like that.”

“Voladi probably thinks so too,” Professor Ku added, “But he shouldn’t!”

*That’s a bit scary, because Professor Voladi probably *would* think that,* Lee Han thought.

While Lee Han was thinking to himself, Professor Ku waved his wand.

Suddenly, a huge beast made of flames appeared!

It was burning brightly and looked very angry, staring with fiery eyes. Most people would scream, but Lee Han just watched calmly.

“It doesn’t seem suitable for a ball.”

“Indeed. A sharp student would notice.”

Professor Ku admitted his mistake and readily dismissed the illusion.

Lee Han slowly opened his mouth.

“If you want to really surprise the students,” Lee Han said, “the monster needs to make sense. Not just be scary.”

“Make sense?” Professor Ku asked, confused.

“Yes,” Lee Han explained, “A monster that could actually be at a ball.”

“But… can a monster be at a ball?” Professor Ku looked puzzled. He thought any monster would look strange at a party.

“If you give it a good reason, even a strange monster becomes plausible. For example, if the Headmaster released a monster, most students would believe it.”

“Indeed…”

Professor Ku, who had been listening to the story, suddenly wondered to himself.

In a way, this is about troubling Wodanaz’s friends, so is it really worth putting this much effort into it?

‘Truly, a disciple of Voladi.’

Professor Ku was reminded of Voladi by Wodanaz’s unwavering refusal to compromise when it came to matters related to magic, regardless of whether his friends were struggling.

In the end, a disciple is bound to resemble their master to some extent.

Unaware that Professor Ku was entertaining thoughts that would make a person’s head spin, Lee Han pulled out a list of monsters.

“How about a demon-type monster? It would be easy to believe that the Headmaster summoned it.”

“How about this one?”

Then, a demon with four wings appeared. Fire and smoke poured from its mouth.

“That’s good!” Professor Ku said. “It looks scary, and it fits the Headmaster’s style.”

“Indeed. Then let’s prepare.”

“Yes… Wait. Prepare what?”

Lee Han was slightly taken aback when Professor Ku suggested preparing right away without any explanation.

What are we preparing?

“The demon illusion, of course?”

“I haven’t learned that yet, though.”

“Ah. It doesn’t have to be an illusion that can move on its own and control senses. It just needs to look similar.”

“…I’m saying I haven’t learned that either.”

Lee Han was starting to get scared about what Professor Ku thought of him.

Does he perhaps think I’m a fourth-year student?

“What?!”

Professor Ku was startled.

Then, as if realizing it for the first time, he said again.

“Wait a minute,” Professor Ku said suddenly. “You’re a first-year student, Wodanaz! Of course you wouldn’t know how to do this.”

Lee Han almost said, *Are you just figuring that out now?* But he remembered Professor Ku was a teacher.

“Yes… Even if it’s crude, creating an illusion of a monster like a demon is beyond my level of magic.”

“But Professor Verdus told me you learned that powerful magic, the ‘Azirmo Summoning Enchantment’! Isn’t that also illusion magic? If you can do that, making a demon illusion should be easy for you…”

This magic makes a dragon out of light appear. Even with magic help, it’s very amazing.

So, Professor Ku thought, a demon illusion should be possible for Lee Han.

Finding himself in a disadvantageous position, Lee Han pretended not to hear and changed the subject.

“So, how can I help you?”

“I was going to assist you while you summoned the demon illusion… How about learning it now? I think you can do it, Wodanaz.”

*Hmm, Professor Ku is really like Professor Voladi,* Lee Han thought. *People who are friends are often similar.*

*If a crazy person has a friend who seems normal, maybe that normal friend is also a little crazy.* Lee Han thought Professor Ku might be hiding some craziness.

However, regardless of Lee Han’s rude thoughts, this wasn’t Professor Ku’s fault.

This was all because Professor Verdus and the other professors had raised the difficulty by saying things like, ‘Wodanaz can do this much’ and ‘Wodanaz would be able to do this.’

Having heard those words, it was only natural to suggest learning the spell to summon a demon illusion.

A suggestion born from pure consideration, without any malice.

Of course, even if you throw a stone with a pure heart and no malice, a person can still be hit and die.

“I have a lot of spells I’m currently practicing…”

Lee Han was starting to learn how to handle the teachers at Einroguard.

He would say Professor B told him to do something when talking to Professor A, and then say Professor C told him something else to Professor B. It was like passing the blame around.

It could be risky if they found out, but what else could he do? He had to do this to survive!

“Indeed.”

Professor Ku wasn’t surprised at all.

Just from the lectures he had heard during the first semester, he could guess that Wodanaz was practicing many spells.

“What are you practicing? I’m curious. Are there any illusion spells?”

“Illusion magic… I am practicing Lord Ogonin’s illusion magic, but…”

Lee Han paused after speaking.

Professor Ku was listening with too much interest.

“Lord Ogonin’s spells? Wow! Which ones do you know? And how well can you do them?”

“It’s not that impressive,” Lee Han mumbled, looking at his feet.

Professor Ku waved his hand dismissively. “If it’s Ogohnin’s illusion magic, that’s different! It’s classic magic, very traditional. It’s so hard to learn, not many people try anymore. Wodanaz, I’m really happy you’re practicing it!”

“But… it’s still not that impressive, right?” Lee Han asked again, unsure.

Professor Ku didn’t even hear him. He was already calling out to someone passing by in the hallway.

“Darachi! Darachi, come here! Guess what? My student is learning Ogohnin’s illusion magic!”

“What? Weren’t the students here today all first-years?”

“That’s right, a freshman. Isn’t it amazing?”

“That’s impossible.”

Lee Han felt embarrassed. Why was Professor Ku calling over a stranger? He felt like Professor Ku was making a big deal out of nothing.

Was learning from Ogohnin such a big deal that he had to call over passersby?

“Professor, why are you calling other people…”

“Ah. This is Darachi from the Beller family. He’s a wizard who came to help with today’s work.”

Unlike Professor Volardi, Professor Ku had a wide network of connections. The other wizard seemed to be a friend of Professor Ku.

‘The Beller family?’

Lee Han was surprised that the family name sounded familiar.

Where had he heard it before?

“Nice to meet you. I am Darachi of the Beller family.”

“I am Lee Han of the Wodanaz family.”

“…?”

Darachi stopped greeting him and stared intently at Lee Han.

“Is something wrong?”

“Ah… I heard the rumors, but I didn’t think you were a first-year.”

“……”

“Doin was in your debt.”

“!”

Only then did Lee Han remember what kind of family the Beller family was.

Doin, from Valdrogard, who had a light duel with Lee Han at the gathering.

That Doin was from the Beller family.

‘It was the same family!’

“What happened at the gathering… I didn’t win because Doin made a mistake…”

“You don’t need to worry about that. It’s foolish to make such a mistake while dueling a first-year student.”

Lee Han wanted to restore Doin’s honor somehow, but it wasn’t easy.

And it was quite hard to believe that Lee Han had so much magical power that his opponent had fallen into a state of exhaustion by mistake.

While Lee Han was feeling sorry for Doin, Professor Ku and Darachi were talking.

“If the rumors are true, then it’s not entirely nonsense that you’re learning Ogohnin’s magic.”

“Darachi, it’s not just because he’s my student, but Wodanaz doesn’t lie about magic.”

“It’s not that I don’t believe you. It’s just that Ogohnin’s illusion magic is so difficult that even if you try to learn and master it, it’s not easy. You may have the will, but you may not get results.”

“Well, we’ll have to hear about the results. Do you happen to have mastered any magic?”

“I’ve mastered the Ogohnin’s Emotion Recognition and Ogohnin’s Rising Anxiety series of magic, and now I’m practicing Ogohnin’s Mist…”

“Ooh!”

“No way!”

The two illusion magicians were startled.

He was already practicing Ogohnin’s Mist.

Any proper illusion magician from the Empire would know Ogohnin’s Mist.

A defensive magic that spreads a mist of illusions to make it impossible for external enemies to aim properly.

Of course, there were many illusion magics that created such effects. Among them were magics that were easier to learn than Ogohnin’s Mist.

However, the reason why Ogohnin’s Mist is highly regarded is because of its perfection.

Illusion magic that uses heat was not properly cast in cold places, and illusion magic that uses clouds that make you see things had its effects drastically reduced if the sense of smell was blocked.

However, pure traditional illusion magic like Ogohnin’s Mist had no such weaknesses.

It takes a long time to learn and is not quick, but once you learn it, it is a highly complete magic with no weaknesses.

It was not for nothing that Professor Ku and Darachi rated it so highly.

“You’ve already mastered Ogohnin’s Emotion Recognition and Ogohnin’s Rising Anxiety. Amazing.”

“I told you, Darachi.”

“At that rate, you seem ready to master Ogohnin’s Mist.”

“That’s right. Wodanaz, you said you’re practicing it now? Try practicing it again. We’ll watch.”

“No… Professor… Aren’t we going to prepare?”

“That can wait.”

“Professor Ku is right. What’s so important about such a game? Let’s see Ogohnin’s Mist.”

“……”

Is this really okay?

The very thin headmaster frowned as he spoke.

Professor Verdus, who was next to him, asked with a delighted expression.

“You know now! The pointlessness of this useless nonsense…”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“No?”

“Why are the illusion magicians decreasing in number?”

The very thin headmaster didn’t just entrust the work to Professor Ku.

Considering the size of the hall and the number of freshmen, it was impossible to entrust it to Professor Ku alone from the start. The magical power of a professor at Einrogard was not that cheap.

He had called in not only Darachi but also several illusion magicians in Granden City to stand by…

The illusion magicians in the ballroom were decreasing one by one.

At first, he thought they were running away because they didn’t want to do it, but no matter how he looked at it, this was strange.

Unless someone was kidnapping them…

“……”

The very thin headmaster took his eyes off Gainando, who was stirring up the center of the ballroom like a storm, and went out into the hallway.

Then, he moved towards the place where vitality was gathering.

‘Could it be…’

If vitality was gathering, there was only one answer, but the very thin headmaster denied it.

No matter what, there was no way the illusion magicians would abandon their posts so irresponsibly and act on their own.

“It seems difficult…”

“No! Mr. Wodanaz. Just a little more.”

“That’s right! Ogohnin’s Mist is a magic that’s too good to give up on like this. I tried to learn it once, but I failed in the end. Mr. Wodanaz, you can do it!”

“I agree. I don’t want to overvalue failure, but it’s amazing that you’ve completed it to this extent. It’s a shame to stop here.”

“Okay. One more time!”

“One more time!”

“……”

The very thin headmaster really felt a headache at the sight of the illusion magicians surrounding Lee Han and applauding. Something was definitely wrong.