Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 343

“What is it?”

“It’s nothing.”

Lee Han blinked, his mind clearing.

The Princess and her friends spent money like water, but right now, that was a good thing.

Asking the professors for help? No use.

They probably wouldn’t agree anyway.

It was easier to just accept help from the Princess.

“Then let’s go get the wands.”

But Lee Han frowned, his face showing he was not happy.

Seeing Lee Han’s frown, Rowena whispered, her voice worried.

“Are you still feeling bad from the fight?”

Cltlan added, “Knowing Wodanaz, he’d hide it even if he was hurting.”

Rowena nodded.

“We should get him checked by a healer on the way.”

When they reached the wand shop, Lee Han looked confused.

“Why did we see the healer just now?”

Rowena blushed slightly.

“Oh, um… just a little check-up.”

Lee Han frowned, thinking Rowena looked tired.

He leaned closer to Cltlan and whispered, “Is the Princess making her work too hard?”

The Princess’s eyes went wide with surprise.

“N-no! It’s not like that at all!”

“You’re stuttering,” Lee Han said, raising an eyebrow.

“Sounds suspicious.”

“It’s not suspicious!” she insisted, her cheeks turning pink.

The healer had waved his hand over Lee Han, a green light flowing around him.

“Perfectly healthy,” the healer announced.

Rowena and Cltlan tried to argue, “But he fought poison!”

“Yes, check again!”

But the healer just shook his head.

“Nothing wrong at all.”

Then, he turned to Rowena and Cltlan, his voice changing.

“*You* two, however! You’ve been using too much magic lately. Your mana is almost empty!”

He then looked at the Princess.

“And you! Alchemy fumes are dangerous! Be careful even with magic protection!”

Cltlan quickly pushed open the door to the wand shop, thinking, *This is getting too weird.*

Above the door, a wooden sign with the words “Puyo’s Banyan Tree Wands” slowly turned in the breeze.

The door creaked open.

“Puyo is the best wand maker in Granden City,” Rowena said as they stepped inside.

The shop was in the middle of the city and looked old, like it had been there for a very long time.

Dusty shelves lined the walls, filled with boxes and strange objects.

“Do you think he knows Professor Verdus?” Lee Han wondered aloud.

Rowena tilted her head.

“I don’t know… maybe?”

“We’re only here because our sponsors know Puyo,” the Princess explained.

“He’s not someone new students usually meet.”

She lowered her voice.

“He’s a very skilled wand maker, and he’s been doing this for ages. He’s… well, he’s not known for being friendly.”

“So, we’re probably meeting him for the first time properly?” Lee Han asked.

Rowena nodded.

“I saw him once outside, but this is the first time I’ve been inside his shop.”

A gruff voice startled them.

“Are you all here?”

From the back of the shop, something moved.

At first, Lee Han thought a tree was walking towards them.

But as it came closer, he saw it was a person – or mostly a person.

His skin was like rough bark, and his fingers looked like twisted branches.

Leaves even sprouted from his hair.

This must be Puyo.

Rowena quickly bowed.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Puyo.”

Puyo waved a branch-like hand dismissively.

“Save the fancy words. Just get on with it.”

He clearly didn’t like polite talk.

“If it wasn’t for your sponsors asking nicely, I wouldn’t let students mess around in my shop.”

He looked at them sternly.

“You need wands that are plain wood, no magic yet, right?”

“Y-yes, that’s right,” Rowena stammered, shrinking back a little.

Puyo’s bluntness was a bit scary.

Lee Han, however, wasn’t bothered at all.

Compared to some of his professors, Puyo was practically friendly.

In fact, someone who just said what they meant, like Puyo, was a welcome change.

*Rumble-*

With a wave of Puyo’s hand, shelves behind them rattled.

Boxes flew open, and dozens of wands tumbled out, landing on a table with a soft *thump*.

They were all made of plain wood, untouched by magic.

“Stay in this area only,” Puyo ordered, pointing to a space near the table.

“Don’t go wandering around. And don’t touch anything you don’t need to. You’re from Einroguard, so you should know basic magic safety.”

The students nodded quickly.

“Good. I expect no trouble.”

With that, Puyo turned and disappeared into the back of the shop.

Rowena and Cltlan both let out a breath they didn’t realize they were holding.

“I was so nervous!” Rowena whispered.

“Me too,” Cltlan agreed.

“I felt like I couldn’t breathe.”

He noticed Lee Han was already examining the wands.

“Wodanaz! What are you doing?”

“Huh? Oh,” Lee Han said, looking up.

“Just seeing if there are any good wands here.”

He was carefully looking over the wands on the table, hoping to find something special.

“Didn’t Puyo… bother you at all?” Rowena asked Lee Han.

“Not really,” Lee Han shrugged.

“He just told us what we needed to know: work here, be careful, don’t touch things. He only said what was important. No reason to be scared.”

“First, let’s sort these wands,” Lee Han said, pointing to the pile.

“Long ones here, short ones there.”

“Okay,” Rowena agreed.

Cltlan, however, looked confused.

“But Wodanaz, why are we sorting them?”

Lee Han stared at Cltlan as if he had asked the dumbest question in the world.

Then, he smiled slightly.

“Well, generally, longer wands tend to be more powerful.”

“Ah! R-right! Of course!” Cltlan stammered, pretending he knew all along.

Wands were the most important tool for a mage to use magic.

Even small things, like the type of wood, could change how well a wand worked.

Lee Han knew the basics: longer wands usually meant stronger magic.

Anyone who worked with wands should know this, like it was a rule.

Cltlan, of course, didn’t really know, but he wasn’t going to admit that.

He just nodded like he understood perfectly.

“Yep, that’s it!” Cltlan said confidently.

Lee Han just raised an eyebrow.

“Cltlan, if you don’t know something, just say so.”

Cltlan mumbled, “…Sorry. I didn’t know.”

“Were you sleeping in enchantment class? It’s in the textbook,” Lee Han teased.

Cltlan just glared at him, feeling cheated.

*You told me to say something!* he thought angrily.

A student from the Blue Dragon Tower wouldn’t have fallen for such a simple trick.

But Cltlan was still learning.

Puyo tried to get back to work, but he put down his tools with a sigh.

Having students in his workshop was distracting.

He’d only agreed because their sponsors had begged him, but now he was starting to regret it.

It wasn’t just that he didn’t like people around.

These were just first-year students from Einroguard!

They’d barely learned any magic.

Giving them good wands was almost a waste.

These wands were made of fine wood, full of magic waiting to be unlocked.

But these students would probably ruin them with their clumsy spells.

*I can’t watch this happen,* Puyo thought, feeling annoyed.

Puyo went to the doorway and peeked out to see what the students were doing.

Even if the Princess and her sponsors had asked him to help, he wouldn’t let them ruin his wands.

If they were doing something completely wrong, he’d stop them and kick them out, sponsors or not.

Lee Han suddenly turned to Cltlan.

“Okay, Cltlan, since you know so much, answer this.

Imagine a mage who uses fire magic and summoning magic. They are a dwarf, and they used to have a maple wand with a fire stone in it. What kind of wand would you suggest for them?”

Cltlan blinked, confused.

“Uh… um…”

“Start with the length,” Lee Han prompted.

“W-well,” Cltlan stammered, “since it’s fire magic, I’d want it to be powerful, so… long?”

“Wrong!” Lee Han said immediately.

“Even with fire magic, power isn’t always everything. Control can be more important. And think about it – they’re a dwarf! A long wand would be awkward for them to carry around. Did you learn anything in enchantment class?”

Cltlan’s shoulders slumped.

He felt completely embarrassed.

Rowena, standing next to him, looked terrified.

She clung to the Princess’s arm, afraid Lee Han would start asking her questions next.

Puyo watched, his branch-like eyebrows raised in surprise.

*Huh?* He had expected chaos.

He thought the students would just grab wands without thinking and mess them up.

But they were actually planning things out, step by step.

He was impressed.

“But shouldn’t we just… try out a few wands to see how they feel?” Cltlan suggested weakly.

*Whack!*

Lee Han lightly tapped Cltlan on the head with a wand.

“Do we have extra wands to waste?”

*We have tons of them,* Cltlan thought to himself, rubbing his head.

But he didn’t dare say it out loud.

Lee Han’s wand looked threatening.

“We need to plan everything carefully before we start,” Lee Han said firmly.

“Now, Cltlan, answer me this. Which element should we enchant first: water, wind, or light? And which of these wands would be best for it?”

“…C-can’t you ask Rowena too?” Cltlan pleaded.

Lee Han ignored him.

Rowena gasped, her long ears twitching in surprise.

She looked at Cltlan, her eyes wide with shock.

But Cltlan was too busy trying to avoid Lee Han’s questions to notice.

*I need to save myself!* he thought desperately.

“Uh, P-Princess?” he stammered, turning to her for help.

The Princess, Adenart, just stared at Rowena, waiting.

Rowena blushed and looked down, feeling awkward.

“Zelkova wand,” Adenart said, picking up a wand.

“Good choice, Cltlan.”

Cltlan blinked in surprise.

“The water element should be first because it’s… calmer than the others.”

“Kugh…!” Cltlan groaned.

“I should have just guessed! I could have gotten it right! Really!”

“Just listen,” Lee Han said, rolling his eyes.

Puyo listened to the students talking and changed his mind about them.

He’d heard from his sponsors that the Princess was very talented, but seeing her now, he realized she was truly special, even for a student at Einroguard, which was full of smart kids.

And that boy, Lee Han, was amazing too.

It wasn’t just his knowledge of magic.

Puyo, who made wands for a living, could tell how skilled someone was just by watching them get ready to work.

And Lee Han seemed like he had done this many times before.

Even if he learned at Einroguard, he shouldn’t be this good already.

He must have a real gift for this.

*That’s incredible,* Puyo thought.

*Such talent is rare.*

Puyo didn’t know that Lee Han had been made to work very hard by his professors.

He just thought Lee Han was naturally gifted.

“Okay, this is the magic circle we’ll use for the water element today,” Lee Han announced, pointing to a page in a book.

While Puyo watched, still impressed, Cltlan asked hesitantly, “Wodanaz, why did you pick *this* magic circle? There are so many water ones.”

“It’s one I know well,” Lee Han said, “because I’ve done it a lot.”

“Oh, I see… Wait, wasn’t this… homework?” Cltlan asked, confused.

“I did it extra with Professor Verdus,” Lee Han explained.

Cltlan’s eyes widened.

Working alone with a professor? That was amazing.

“Wow, Wodanaz, that’s incredible! I wish…”

“Cltlan,” Lee Han interrupted, “before you say you envy me, think about what you’re saying.”

Cltlan paused and thought for a moment.

Then he shuddered.

Actually, no, he didn’t envy Lee Han at all.

Even Cltlan, who hadn’t worked with Professor Verdus as much as Lee Han, had heard stories about the professor’s… intense teaching methods.

Rowena looked confused.

“But when did you even have time during the school term?”

“We did it during the holidays,” Lee Han said casually.

“Oh…” Rowena said softly.

Suddenly, the room went quiet.

Even the Princess, who was usually calm and quiet, looked a little uncomfortable.

She glanced around, unsure what to say to break the silence.

“Was he… a student of Professor Verdus?” Puyo asked, breaking the silence.

Lee Han froze as Puyo walked back towards them from the workshop.

*Uh oh,* Lee Han thought.

*If I say yes, will Puyo attack me?* He had a feeling anyone who knew Professor Verdus probably didn’t like him very much.