Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 368

Ihan watched the knights. They seemed truly sorry. *People don’t usually change this quickly,* he thought. *If it was that easy, Giselle wouldn’t have had such a hard time in the White Tiger Tower.* He remembered stories of students there. No matter how much they were punished, they always preferred playing outside to studying. They were harder to train than animals, some said.

“Moradi,” Ihan whispered, leaning slightly towards her. “What do you think? Do they really mean it?”

Giselle looked at the knights carefully. “…It seems real,” she replied quietly, still watching them.

Unlike Ihan and Giselle, who still exchanged worried glances, the knights of the Beech Knight Order seemed genuinely sincere. They had felt the cold grip of death just moments ago. That kind of fear could shake a person to their core, making them truly see their mistakes and want to change. The knights, having barely escaped danger, were clearly ashamed of what they had done before.

“Well… it was just a bit of magic. I’m glad no one was seriously hurt,” Ihan said carefully. He planned to agree with them for now and then find a way to distance himself later.

“Is the knight who… well, the one who was knocked back quite far – is he alright?” one of the knights asked, concern in his voice.

“He has a few broken bones, but the healers are looking after him. He’ll be fine,” another knight answered.

*Ihan thought, ‘Broken bones and “fine” don’t really go together.’* He subtly moved to stand a little behind Giselle, ready for anything.

“That was truly amazing magic. We knew Einrogaard students were skilled, but…”

“No…”

“That’s…”

Ihan and Giselle tried to deny it simultaneously. They had used enhancement magic before the fight, and Yumidihus’s Water Orb had taken a long time to prepare – longer than it should have. It was almost cheating, but they were pretending it was just skill.

“There’s a… special reason for that magic,” Ihan started, trying to explain away the cheating.

“Be humble,” Giselle cut in quickly.

“But normally, magic that takes that long isn’t considered properly learned…” Ihan continued, trying to justify it.

“You are truly humble!” one of the knights exclaimed, even more impressed.

Ihan sighed internally. *There’s no point explaining magic to people who don’t understand it.* He nudged Giselle. “You talk.”

‘Wait. When did he move behind me?’ Giselle thought, noticing Ihan’s position. She turned her head and frowned. *That little rascal…*

“We want to repay you,” one of the knights said, stepping forward.

“Repay us? How?” Ihan asked, curious despite himself.

“We will teach you swordsmanship!”

“……”

“……”

Ihan and Giselle stared at the knights, completely bewildered.

*Swordsmanship lessons?* Ihan thought, surprised. *Knights often teach nobles as a polite skill, like dancing or painting. But…* He knew his own swordsmanship was far beyond a simple hobby. He had trained seriously at Einrogaard, and he was probably better than most young knights his age. *They can’t possibly think they’re going to teach *me* anything new.*

It was normal for knights to teach swordsmanship to nobles. Many nobles learned it for fun, as a hobby, or for basic self-defense. Knights were the usual teachers because nobles didn’t often trust adventurers or mercenaries. It was a good chance for nobles to learn and for knights to make connections. But for Ihan, it was different.

He was already a skilled swordsman. He was beyond simple lessons for fun or self-defense. To really improve Ihan, they would need to train him seriously, pushing him to his limits.

*But I don’t think that’s what they have in mind,* Ihan thought, glancing at Giselle. She seemed to be thinking the same thing. It felt like the knights just wanted to give a quick, basic lesson. It would be awkward if they started practicing and found out how good Ihan really was.

Ihan decided to trust Giselle to handle this. “Please refuse for me, Moradi,” he whispered to her.

“What crazy talk… what am I supposed to say to refuse!” Giselle hissed back, annoyed.

“What if I say I’m too weak to learn because I’m sickly?” Ihan suggested quietly.

Giselle turned to Ihan, her eyebrows raised high. She stared at him, as if trying to decide if he was joking or had lost his mind. “Say you’re sickly?” she repeated, a hint of disbelief in her voice. “Ihan, if I say you’re sickly, people will think *I’m* blind!”

“You usually lie so easily… can’t you think of anything else?” Giselle whispered back.

“It’s not that easy to come up with a good lie right away! You know the knight families better than me. Please refuse for me,” Ihan pleaded.

“Are you serious right now?” Giselle muttered, frustrated. It was hard to reject such a sincere offer. She worried the knights might get offended, thinking the Moradi family was stopping them from showing gratitude.

“…It seems we’ve asked for too much again,” one of the knights said, his voice becoming sad. “We just wanted to thank you…”

The knights had noticed Ihan and Giselle whispering and looked disappointed.

“Well, you probably don’t want to learn from knights like us. I understand,” another knight added, sounding dejected.

“Ah, no. That’s… it’s good to learn swordsmanship. I do want to learn,” Ihan said quickly, giving up.

“Really?” A knight’s face brightened. “Is that true!?”

“Yes,” Ihan confirmed, resigning himself to the situation. *It’s better for them to be a little embarrassed later than for me to be rude now.*

“That’s great! Then I…”

“Moradi will learn with him too,” Giselle said suddenly.

“……” Ihan stared at her.

As expected, the knights became embarrassed in less than thirty minutes.

“Ahem.” One knight cleared his throat awkwardly.

“Hmm.” Another knight made a similar sound.

“Your swordsmanship is… outstanding.”

Ihan just nodded silently, trying not to smile. He had held back a little, but still shown enough skill. The knights’ embarrassment was mostly their own fault for assuming.

“By any chance… do you know how to put magic into a sword?” one knight asked hesitantly.

“I haven’t fully mastered it yet, but I can do it a little,” Ihan replied, downplaying his abilities again.

“……”

The knights exchanged glances, looking even more awkward than before.

The knights were exchanging glances, silently asking, “What are we supposed to teach him now?”

“If he’s this good, what is there to teach? What should we even be teaching him?” one of them wondered.

“He’s already better than what we usually teach beginners. How can we teach him more?” another added.

“How about teaching him a different sword style?” a third suggested.

“He’s already mastering one sword style. What’s the point of teaching him another?”

“More importantly, wasn’t he a wizard? Why is he so into swordsmanship?” one of them asked.

The knights felt the same confusion as young students. Why was he so interested in swordsmanship?

It wasn’t a typical hobby for a wizard born into a great noble family.

The knights looked at each other, saying nothing. Ethan waited, trying to look calm.

Silence hung in the air.

Finally, one of the knights spoke, “Okay, I guess I have to. I’ll teach you one of my secret techniques.”

“A secret technique?!” Ethan’s eyes widened.

Ethan knew the Empire had many sword styles. Famous styles had well-known moves. Even his basic Rock Splitter style had moves like the ‘Crushing Boulder Strike’ that most sword students knew.

When a sword style became popular, everyone talked about it. The techniques were shared and learned by many.

However, swordsmen kept some techniques secret.

Revealing all their techniques was like showing others how to defeat them.

Good swordsmen kept some techniques secret. They only used them when they really needed to.

The knight wondered, ‘Can he even learn it quickly if I teach it to him?’

He was surprised to offer a secret technique, but he also doubted Ethan could learn it.

Even Alarong, who had taught Ethan swordsmanship, hadn’t taught him secret or difficult techniques until Ethan had mastered the Rock Splitter Sword.

Alarong believed that a swordsman strong in basic moves was better than one who used complex techniques they couldn’t handle.

“I doubt you can learn it with your current skill. Are you sure it’s alright?” the knight asked.

“It’s enough. With your talent, surely…”

“…I, I don’t think I’m that good,” Ethan replied.

He knew the knight was grateful, but the praise was too much.

The knight led Ethan to the courtyard. Dusty training dummies stood silent in the corners of the sunny space.

It was a technique he hadn’t shown to the other knights. He couldn’t teach it where everyone could see.

Ethan became curious because of the knight’s caution.

Even if the Beech Tree Knights weren’t known for their strength, they were still knights.

For a knight to value a technique so highly…

‘What is it?’ Ethan wondered.

Ethan’s heart beat faster. He was eager to see what the knight would do.

It could be a technique that helps with mana flow, or inject mana into the sword, or even condense mana…

“Watch closely,” the knight said.

Whoosh! The knight’s sword flashed silver in the sunlight as he drew it and thrust it quickly. It looked like a normal thrust.

But then, the tip of the sword seemed to grow longer.

Ethan exclaimed in surprise.

“Did you create a blade of aura?!”

If someone could condense mana in a sword, it would become a powerful weapon, not just an aid.

Mana woven by a wizard becomes magic. Mana woven by a swordsman becomes an invincible spear called aura.

To change the appearance of aura into a blade…

It would shock any swordsman.

Aura could cut through armor like butter. If it could change its shape like that…

Even if it didn’t seem like much, it was a great technique.

If its appearance was the same as the sword, the opponent couldn’t relax. They would have to worry about the distance and whether aura was being used.

It was deadly in a fight between skilled masters.

‘What is this? Was he really a great swordsman?’ Ethan thought.

“Oh, it’s not aura,” the knight said.

“…It’s not?”

“That’s right.”

The knight cleared his throat, looking a little embarrassed by Ethan’s reaction. He thrust the tip of his sword into the wall.

Nothing happened. If it were aura, it would have easily made a hole.

“…An illusion?”

Ethan, being a wizard, realized it was an illusion.

A simple illusion created with swordsmanship, not magic.

It was a weak spell as magic, but impressive as swordsmanship.

Even Ethan had almost been fooled.

“That’s right. It’s not as impressive as aura, but this is quite useful…” The knight rubbed the back of his neck, looking a little embarrassed.

He wished he could use aura.

But he couldn’t.

Instead of giving up, he used this trick.

“This is a really good technique!” Ethan said.

“…You, you think so?” The knight’s face brightened.

Ethan’s reaction was more enthusiastic than he expected.

“I’m really grateful. To teach me something like this,” Ethan said.

“I didn’t think it was that great, so it’s embarrassing to hear you say that…”

“No. It’s a really good technique. Thank you,” Ethan said sincerely.

It wasn’t hard to learn, and it was good for confusing opponents.

It suited Ethan’s tastes.

Feeling satisfied, Ethan said, “I knew the knights of the Beech Tree Knights were skilled, but I didn’t know they were this skilled. Truly excellent.”

The knights who were watching looked at their colleague with slightly jealous eyes.

He was getting more praise than they expected.

The thought of returning to the knight order and being praised for this made them restless.

“Wait a moment…” one of the knights said.

“What is it?” Ethan asked.

“There’s one secret technique that you might be interested in.”

“Wait, aren’t secret techniques… secret? Should you be showing me?” Ethan asked.