Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 367

Duke Icardoren was angry. Really angry. People who knew him said it was strange to see him like this. Usually, the Duke didn’t shout. He was the kind of man who would smile politely while secretly planning revenge. But today, his face was red, and his voice was loud.

Partly, it was because the knights had annoyed him. But mostly, it was because of Ihan. Ihan had made the Duke feel confused and afraid, and that was making him lose control.

“That’s strange,” Giselle said, tilting her head.

“What is?” Ihan asked.

“I’ve never seen Duke Icardoren get so angry. He’s usually so… calm.” Giselle looked puzzled.

Ihan shrugged. “People talk. But rumors are often wrong. Maybe the Duke is more emotional than people think. And maybe he’s not as kind as everyone says.”

“Really?” Giselle was surprised. “Emotional” and “not kind” were the opposite of what she thought about the Duke. Ihan usually knew what he was talking about…

Rowena joined them, “Maybe the Duke is just angry because he cares about us students. He wants us to be safe.” Rowena smiled, trying to find a good reason.

Giselle nodded. That made sense.

“He wouldn’t get *this* angry just because of some noise, would he?” Giselle wondered.

Ihan nodded. “Right. He’s very worried about the royal family, especially the Princess.”

“…?” Rowena, who was listening, frowned. Something didn’t sound right. “Wait,” she thought. “It was Ihan and his friends who fought the knights, not Princess Adenart. So, shouldn’t the Duke be angry because they bothered *Ihan*, not the Princess?”

“We… we are very sorry, Duke,” one of the Beechwood Knights stammered. They finally understood how serious this was. They had thought the Duke was being kind, but they were wrong. The Duke’s power was like a huge storm compared to their small breeze. When the Duke ignored their mistakes, they were fine. But when he decided to be angry, they were helpless.

“Why did you come on the wrong day? Did you think my invitation was unimportant?” the Duke roared.

“No, sir! We truly didn’t know! It was a mistake!”

“A mistake? Are you saying I am wrong to be angry? Are you saying *you* are right?”

“No, sir! Not at all!”

“Then be quiet!” the Duke yelled. “If you ever dare to bother me again, I will cut you down right here!” The knights went silent, terrified. Even the Aspen Knight was surprised by how angry the Duke was. He had wanted to see the Beechwood Knights embarrassed, but this was much more than he expected.

“Mr. Wodanaz,” the Aspen Knight asked quietly, “is there anything… anything at all… you can do to calm the Duke?”

“Huh?” Ihan stared at him, surprised. *How would I know?* he thought. Duke Icardoren was like a volcano erupting. Ihan didn’t even know him! If Ihan went up to the Duke and said, ‘Please calm down,’ the Duke would probably shout, ‘Who do you think you are?’

“No way,” Ihan said. “Definitely not.”

“Oh,” the knight said, looking disappointed.

“…Wait a minute,” Ihan said slowly. “Maybe… maybe there is something.”

“!” The knight’s eyes widened. He leaned closer and whispered, “What is it?”

“But,” Ihan said, frowning, “those knights caused all this trouble. Do you really want to help them?”

The Aspen Knight looked at the Beechwood Knights with a stern face. *They shouldn’t talk so much,* he thought about the apprentice knights who were nearby. “Yes,” he said to Ihan. “They were rude, I agree. But they are knights together. We can’t just leave them to suffer.”

*Why do good people always have to fix the problems caused by bad people?* Ihan thought, looking at the Aspen Knight. It reminded him of someone he knew, who always cleaned up messes for others.

“If you can help,” the Aspen Knight said, “I will reward you. Anything.”

“!” Ihan hadn’t expected that. He thought for a moment. He could ask for gold, but that didn’t feel right. He knew the Aspen Knights were a good group, and he felt a little grateful to them already. He didn’t want to take advantage of them.

“Then,” Ihan said, “next time, can I borrow your sword? Just once?”

“You need someone to protect you?”

“Something like that.”

“Of course! Anytime!” The knight agreed quickly. Borrowing a knight’s sword was a big request. What if Ihan asked him to do something dangerous? But the knight trusted Ihan. He seemed like a good person, and Bickelintz had said good things about him. The knight believed Ihan wouldn’t ask for anything bad.

*I can use it in swordsmanship class next semester,* Ihan thought with a small smile. Professor Ingeldel would never guess that the Aspen Knight was already helping Ihan. And the knight had no idea either.

“But what’s the plan?” the knight asked, eager to know.

“Just watch,” Ihan said, stepping forward with confidence.

The knights of the Beechwood Knights were barely breathing because of the Duke’s anger, but Ihan was confident. It wasn’t because Ihan was particularly brave or disregarded the Duke. Ihan had a special card up his sleeve.

“Princess,” Ihan called out, “could you come here for a moment?”

“?” Princess Adenart, who had been watching quietly, looked surprised. She hesitated, wondering what Ihan was doing. But she trusted him, so she walked over.

“Duke,” Ihan said clearly, so everyone could hear, “please, calm down.” *He respects royalty,* Ihan thought quickly. *If I use the Princess, it might work.* He hoped the Duke would listen if he thought the Princess wanted him to be kind.

“Your High…” the Duke began to say, still sounding angry. But then he stopped. He took a deep breath. “…Alright,” he said, his voice quieter now. “Maybe… maybe I was too harsh.”

“???” Princess Adenart blinked, confused. Duke Icardoren’s anger seemed to vanish as quickly as it had appeared.

“Oh, no,” the Duke said, trying to smile. “It’s just… their rudeness was very bad. And they were so mean to our guests, the students. I lost my temper. But you are right, Princess. I should stop now. I apologize for making this party unpleasant.” The Duke quickly turned and walked away, leaving everyone surprised. His servants and maids, who looked just as confused, hurried after him.

“…?” Ihan stared after him, completely puzzled. *That was… strange,* he thought. *He’s the most unpredictable person I’ve ever met.* *Good thing he’s not a teacher at the magic school.* The truth was, the Duke *was* confused – about Ihan. He was suddenly worried. *Was this some kind of trick?* he wondered, quickly leaving to think about it. But Ihan had no idea about any of that.

“That’s… amazing!” The knight of the Aspen Knights blinked in amazement.

He hadn’t doubted that Ihan had a method when he said so, but he couldn’t have imagined it would be such an amazing trick. Just calming the Duke’s anger with a single word. How on earth?

“How did you do it?” Ihan was curious about that too, but he couldn’t show it. Instead, he gave a meaningful smile and subtly moved on. If he didn’t say anything, the other party would interpret it on their own.

“I’m really glad it worked out well.”

“You can say that again.” As Ihan and the knight walked away, the Princess stood still and stared at their backs in disbelief. Why did he call me if he was going to do this…?

The students who returned to the banquet hall were talking about what had happened.

“Ihan, be careful. Knights are cowardly and persistent, so they might retaliate for what happened today later.”

“That’s right, Wodanaz. Knights are all sneaky and evil.” Gainan and Salco’s words caused the students from the White Tiger Tower next to them to glare.

*Did the Aspen Knights handle it well?* Curious, Ihan opened the door to the banquet hall and stepped into the hallway. Unlike the bustling and lively atmosphere of the students, the atmosphere of the knights who had caused a major accident was bound to be very gloomy…

Still, the situation had ended somehow, so he assumed they had cleaned it up. Ihan moved his feet to see how things were going, worry a little, and then ask if they had plans to come to Einrogaard in the second semester. An excellent student prepares in advance from vacation.

Ihan was startled to see Giselle coming out. Giselle also had a surprised expression like Ihan.

“You don’t mean…”

“You too?”

“Yeah.”

“…You’re really amazing. I’ll give you that.” Giselle said as if she were raising both hands in surrender. The reason Giselle came out was to get acquainted with the knights. Especially the Beechwood Knights, even though they had caused a major accident in front of the Duke, they still had influence among the knight families due to their wealth. In the case of families like the Moradi family, who frequently interact with other knight families, it wouldn’t be bad to become close. She knew people would remember kindness when they were down. Right now was the perfect opportunity.

“You’re amazing too, Moradi.”

“Stop saying things you don’t mean.”

“No, I mean it. Trying to find out the contents of the lectures in the second semester in advance. The other White Tiger Tower guys should learn from you.”

“…What? Hey, wait…” While Giselle was dumbfounded, Ihan said what he had to say and walked forward. He didn’t want to be disturbed by Giselle if he was late.

However, before he could even go halfway, he noticed people loitering near the pillars in the hallway. It was the knights of the Beechwood Knights. They looked very suspicious, as if they were waiting for someone.

*Could it be!* The words Gainan and Salco had said earlier quickly flashed through Ihan’s mind.

“They’re already waiting to take revenge. They’re more petty than knights usually are!”

“What? Revenge?” Giselle was taken aback. Even though the Beechwood Knights had been humiliated, they weren’t crazy enough to be forgiven by the Duke and then attack again in the mansion.

“There’s no way that’s possible?”

“Didn’t you say earlier that there was no way the knight of the Aspen Knights would help me, Wodanaz?” Giselle was speechless at Ihan’s words.

“If you’re so confident, you go first, Wodanaz.”

“I’ll admit you’re right, so don’t change my family name as you please, you crazy bas…” While the two were talking, the knights of the Beechwood Knights spotted them first. As the knights approached, Ihan stopped arguing and raised his staff.

“Damn it. Not enough time to cast enhancement magic! I’ll summon the undead, so get behind me! Lay down a fog to buy time!” She was curious how he could cast undead and fog in the same grade, but Giselle grabbed her twin swords instead of asking. Ihan’s momentum was so serious that she was unknowingly swayed. When she thought about it later, she wondered, ‘Why did I go along with it?’, but when she saw Ihan speaking with a serious face, most people would be shaken and think, ‘Is that… so?’

“I’ll block the front, so focus on the magic. Got it?!”

“Moradi, you finally have a conscience…!”

“Focus on the magic, you bas…”

“Thank you!!!”

The Beechwood Knights bowed politely and shouted in unison. “We were too distracted earlier and missed the opportunity to speak. Once again, thank you sincerely.”

Giselle subtly put away the half-drawn sword and glared at Ihan as if to kill him. Ihan whispered without changing his expression.

“It might be a trap.”

“Shut up.” The knights continued to speak, unaware of what misunderstanding the two had.

“We have reflected on our actions. They were truly rude. And yet, you were willing to cover for us…” It was hard to believe that the knights were the same people who had come earlier and acted arrogantly, saying they would change the banquet hall. If this were Einrogaard, he would have suspected it was Headmaster Skull’s magic.

“I can’t believe it,” Ihan muttered.

“People don’t usually change so easily. Why are they doing this? Is it a trap?”

Giselle honestly agreed with Ihan’s words.