Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 355

“Okay, tell everyone else to stay inside the tower.”

“No, that’s not…”

Ihan’s words about the magic tower made no sense to his friends. They looked at each other, confused.

“Peng Erinn, we must find the Prince quickly! If something happens to him, the powerful rich families of the Empire will be very worried.”

“Al, alright! Wait for me!”

Alsicle hurried out.

Alsicle was from an important family in the Empire. He knew that someone from the Imperial Family, like the Prince, must be very famous and connected to powerful families.

It would be a difficult situation if such a royal were to go missing near Alsicle’s magic tower.

He absolutely couldn’t let that happen.

Yoner shook the snow from his hair and whispered to Ihan.

“So, does Gainando know any really important families?”

“Well, if you really press me, the Wodanaaz family and the Maykin family, I suppose?”

“……”

Hey!

Yoner stared at Ihan, mouth open. He couldn’t believe how quickly Ihan had made up that lie. It was almost unbelievable.

“So, how did Gainando get lost? Wait. More importantly, why are you all here?”

“…We thought you, Wodanaaz, had been kidnapped…”

Nilia explained what had happened, hesitating a little.

Now that she saw him, it didn’t seem like he had been kidnapped at all.

After hearing the explanation, Ihan began to clarify.

“I wasn’t kidnapped.”

“That’s right.”

Professor Voladi agreed from the side, and Ihan paused for a moment.

‘Wait. Was I kidnapped?’

Sometimes, spending too long as a student under a professor could make you used to their strange ways.

Then, even when being kidnapped and dragged away, one might say, ‘Haha, it seems the professor needs my help. It’s nothing serious, so don’t worry, everyone.’

“…Or was I? Was I kidnapped?”

“To be honest, we’re not that different from other professors.”

Yumidihus said with a slightly sad look.

But Yumidihus also had an excuse.

“I knew the professors at Einroguard were strict, but I didn’t know they chased after students during vacation to bother them. If I had known, I would have let you rest.”

“Yes. Students should be allowed to rest during vacation.”

Professor Voladi agreed with Yumidihus, and Ihan widened his eyes without realizing it.

“Professor?”

“What is it?”

“No… It’s nothing.”

Ihan swallowed the scream that was about to come out.

Professor Voladi clearly thought that his teachings were different from those of other professors who chased after their students.

Perhaps he thought of it as a relaxing kind of teaching…

Of course, that was a silly idea. They were the same.

“This way! He disappeared from this spot!”

Hearing Nilia’s shout, Yumidihus waved his staff to stop the carriage.

As the water spirits pulling the carriage halted, Alsicle immediately jumped out. His boots crunched in the fresh snow as he landed.

The falling snow in the air suddenly began to rise again, as if time were being reversed.

Alsicle cleared away the blizzard with a wave of his staff and immediately stepped into the air. As he did, ice platforms formed in the air, and Alsicle’s body soared upwards.

Wizards didn’t need to search the mountain valley below while facing the blizzard.

Especially not wizards who had reached Alsicle’s level.

“Ice, go away! Snow, hide!”

Alsicle cleared away the ice and snow covering the mountain valley below.

The snow vanished as if by magic, and suddenly the mountain wasn’t white anymore. It was dark grey rock, cold and bare, under the winter sky.

‘Amazing!’

As a fellow wizard, Ihan couldn’t help but be impressed by Alsicle’s skill.

To clear away this much ice and snow in one go…

“Spirits, seek out the living! Is this the right way?”

“Yes!”

“This is terrible! Terrible! What will the people of the Empire think of me if the Prince gets hurt! They’ll think I’m a fool who can’t even take care of a guest visiting the magic tower’s front yard!”

“Calm down, Alsicle. Prince Gainando is a wizard, so he has the ability to protect himself.”

Yumidihus tried to calm down Alsicle, but Alsicle shook his head as if he didn’t want to hear it.

Meanwhile, Ihan was talking with his friends.

“He disappeared from here?”

“Yeah. When we turned around, he was gone.”

Nilia and her friends had ridden their horses to keep up with the fast pace.

If Professor Lightning Foot had seen them, he would have been pleased, thinking, ‘They all learned well in the first semester.’ It was excellent horsemanship.

However, Gainando, who was at the rear, had disappeared by the time they were about to arrive at the magic tower.

“Why did he disappear, anyway?”

“Could a monster have appeared, or was he possessed by an evil spirit?”

“If a monster or evil spirit had appeared, you all would have noticed… Did you perhaps find someone collapsed?”

At Ihan’s words, his friends all answered at the same time.

“That’s impossible.”

“Wodanaaz, does that make sense?”

“I’d rather say we found a wizard card that fell on the ground…”

“……”

Ihan felt a little sorry for Gainando at his friends’ completely cold reactions.

“No, I can’t just watch. Clone, help me!”

Alsicle took out the magic he had been saving because it used a lot of magic power.

An ice clone took shape and transformed into a figure that looked exactly like Alsicle.

There are many kinds of clone magic. The most advanced and hardest kind makes clones that look exactly like the wizard. It’s almost impossible to tell them apart.

Ihan was once again impressed by the sight of him completing such a clone with the already difficult ice element.

“Impressive…”

“Do you like that magic?”

“Pardon?”

Ihan jumped back, startled by Professor Voladi’s question. He had not been careful enough with the professor nearby.

“No, it’s…”

Before he could stop him, Professor Voladi approached Alsicle and said,

“Teach him that magic you just used.”

“What nonsense are you talking? Why would I teach him that?!”

Of course, Alsicle jumped up in protest.

He was busy enough as it was, and suddenly someone came up and told him to teach his secret clone magic.

What wizard would agree to that?

“He wants to learn it, doesn’t he?”

“Do I have to teach everyone who wants to learn!?”

“I taught everyone who wanted to learn, though?”

Yumidihus said from the side, and Alsicle jumped back.

Come to think of it, Yumidihus really had taught everyone who came to learn without hiding anything.

“Th-this magic is too hard. Ihan can’t learn it yet. He needs to learn the basics better first…”

Alsecl continued talking, thinking about the magic Lee Han had shown earlier that day. He didn’t think Lee Han needed more practice with the basics.

“Instead of the basics, I should have him master more intermediate spells,” Alsecl muttered.

“I believe you mentioned needing a challenge earlier,” Yumidihus said.

“You think that’s what I meant!” Alsecl exclaimed.

He had spoken with Yumidihus and Voladi Begreck earlier when they were alone.

“He’s learning a bit faster than I expected,” Alsecl had said.

“A bit??” Yumidihus had replied.

Voladi Begreck chimed in, “Eat a sardine. If he learns this quickly, his motivation might wane. We should consider giving him a slightly more challenging task. A wizard grows stronger when he has a clear goal.”

While the basics were undoubtedly important, Alsecl thought it was dangerous to have a wizard with exceptional talent practice only the fundamentals.

He could easily lose interest.

A wizard, by nature, needed an ambitious goal.

A powerful goal that would allow him to cross any thorny path!

So, he had been pondering which ice elemental magic to set as a goal, but this wasn’t it.

This was truly a cherished spell…

“I’m fine, Peng Erin. Maybe… maybe you just don’t think I’m good enough,” Lee Han said, offering a bitter smile, pretending to be disappointed.

Guilt surged within Alsecl at that smile, and he hesitated before finally shouting, “Alright! We’ll make this the next goal! Voladi Begreck, you rascal!”

“Why are you getting angry?” Voladi Begreck asked.

“Shut up!” Alsecl retorted.

While the two continued to bicker, Nilia shouted, “It’s fine if you all want to fight, but there’s smoke rising over there!!”

“?!”

As Nilia said, smoke was rising from a place far away in the valley.

“Th-thank you, Your Highness,” the nobleman said.

“It’s just… what someone noble should do, I guess,” Gainando said, using the word he’d heard others use, even though he wasn’t really sure what it meant.

The nobleman with the broken ankle nodded, his face filled with emotion.

“I don’t know what would have happened if it weren’t for Your Highness… More than that, I’m surprised that Your Highness knows how to do something like this,” the nobleman said.

“…Any Einroguard student could do this much,” Gainando replied.

“So humble, too!” the nobleman exclaimed.

“I’m not being humble,” Gainando said.

Gainando applied a splint to the nobleman’s broken ankle and pushed him further into the cave.

He couldn’t perform healing magic like Lee Han, but Einroguard students were basically required to learn how to apply splints.

As Gainando rummaged through his bag for cookies, the nobleman declined, saying he was alright.

“I’m fine…” the nobleman insisted.

Crunch crunch-

“Huh? What did you say?” Gainando asked, munching on a cookie.

“Ah, it’s nothing,” the nobleman replied.

Gainando finding the unconscious nobleman was a stroke of pure luck.

He had fallen from his horse, rolled down the side of the valley, and was lying unconscious in the midst of a blizzard.

If it hadn’t been for the wizard card the nobleman had dropped, Gainando wouldn’t have even glanced in that direction.

“But Your Highness, moving to the cave to avoid the blizzard… was a wise decision… but… will your companions really come to find you?” the nobleman asked.

“Ah. You don’t need to worry, I tell you,” Gainando said confidently, thumping his chest.

“I told them everything. They’re definitely calling others to come help.”

Of course, Gainando’s cry of ‘just a moment’ was completely drowned out by the blizzard and the sound of hooves.

“Gainando!!!”

“See?” Gainando nodded proudly. The nobleman’s face brightened as well.

“That’s really a relief…” the nobleman said.

Thwack!

“Ack!!” Gainando yelped.

“Why did you disappear without a word and make your friends worry?” one of his friends scolded.

The nobleman blinked in surprise at the sight of the Crown Prince’s friends hitting and scolding him as soon as they arrived.

‘Not… friends, perhaps?’ he wondered.

“I-I did tell them! I did! Those guys are lying!” Gainando insisted.

“You didn’t just say something in that situation and then change direction without confirming, did you?” another friend asked.

“……”

Gainando, at a loss for words, stammered.

Lee Han sighed and said, “Still, it’s a relief you’re not hurt.”

“Y-you really saved someone?” Ratford asked.

“Shhh. Ratford. Gainando will hear you,” another friend cautioned.

The friends were very surprised.

To think he had actually gotten stranded trying to save someone.

Unaware of his friends’ teasing, Gainando asked, “You followed the marks I left, right?”

“What marks did you leave?” Lee Han asked.

“I drew arrows on the ground as I came,” Gainando replied.

Lee Han sighed, wondering how he should scold this friend who drew arrows on the ground in the middle of a blizzard.

“Your Highness! Are you hurt…!” Alsecl, who had landed after Lee Han, rushed over in a fluster.

Then, he tilted his head, looking at Gainando’s face.

“I don’t believe we’ve met… who are you?” Alsecl asked.

“I’m Gainando,” Gainando replied.

“Er… you don’t seem to be even twenty years old…?” Alsecl looked at Lee Han, bewildered.

He had clearly been expecting a Crown Prince who was at least thirty or forty years old…?

“He’s our friend. Thank you, Peng Erin,” Lee Han said.

“U-uh, right? Y-yes. Well… that’s… uh…” Alsecl felt that he had been deceived, but he couldn’t quite grasp how, so he tilted his head.

Meanwhile, the nobleman who had been lying down got up.

“Alsecl Peng Erin. It is an honor to meet you like this,” the nobleman said.

“…Hic!” Alsecl hiccuped and avoided his gaze.

Lee Han was intrigued by Alsecl’s surprise.

‘What is it? Is the guy an assassin or something?’ Lee Han wondered.

“Who is he?” Lee Han asked.

“Ah… this is bad,” Yumidihus said with a worried expression.

“Judging by his attire, he’s an inspector,” Yumidihus explained.

“An inspector?” Lee Han asked.

“An inspector sent by the investors who funded Alsecl’s magic research. He’s here to check on the progress,” Yumidihus said.

“……”

Lee Han could genuinely sympathize with Alsecl’s pain.