Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 536

“‘Is he starting a fight because he’s in a bad mood?'”

That’s what Lee Han thought, not understanding what the Headmaster was saying.

The Headmaster was more often in a bad mood than a good one. How annoyed he must be to spend a weekend with an annoying singer and an annoying student?

“Then, let’s go to the next place,” the Headmaster said.

“Yes,” Ipadur replied.

Ipadur finished writing in his notes and then walked to the next place.

Next, they went to where the stonemasons were fixing the fortress walls. These walls were broken in a wild wyvern attack. Ipadur watched as a dwarf with ten fingers swung a hammer. *Clang!* Then, he looked at his hand – now he had nine fingers! He swung again, and *clang!* Now he had eight! Ipadur smiled and said, “Excellent, excellent! This is a miracle!”

They walked to the Tvaladla Tavern next. Ipadur said it was famous for having the best beer in town. Inside, the tavern was noisy and smelled of spilled ale and woodsmoke. People were sitting at rough wooden tables, drinking and talking loudly. Ipadur stood on a small raised platform and began to sing.

“One day,” he sang in a loud voice, “a lost monster attacked our village! I fought it bravely and knocked it down! The people cheered and asked what reward I wanted. ‘Just beer!’ I told them! Then, bigger monsters came and burned our land! But I fought them too, and knocked them down! The people praised me, but I said, ‘Just beer!'”

As Ipadur finished, the tavern went silent for a moment. Then, someone shouted, “Boo! Get out of here!” Another person yelled, “You call *that* a song? My dog barks better tunes!” People started throwing bits of bread and laughing. Ipadur looked a little sad.

Next, they visited a gambling den. It was a large room filled with smoke and the sound of shouting. Green felt tables were crowded with people holding cards, their faces tense.

“-Bet your life on each card…”

“-Could you please be quiet?”

“-Isn’t it your fault that I keep getting trash cards!”

And then there was a small club where local historians gathered. The room was filled with old books and scrolls.

“-We know that there are secrets in books…”

“-I just had a new inspiration.”

“-This is a song of miracles!”

After finishing his rounds, Lee Han sat down at a café to take a short break and said, as if he couldn’t understand.

“Primitive magic is really unpredictable. I can’t figure out the rules.”

He got great reactions from the stonemasons and the history club, but was booed at the tavern and the gambling den.

Lee Han couldn’t understand why.

“……”

“……”

Ipadur and the Headmaster looked at each other.

Unlike Lee Han, they seemed to know something.

The turtle beastman cleared his throat and spoke to Lee Han.

“Student Wodanaz, do you not enjoy playing music?”

“Huh???”

Lee Han was surprised.

The idea that Lee Han didn’t enjoy playing was as insulting as being told, ‘You don’t actually like money?’

“What did I do wrong to deserve such an insulting remark?”

“Ah, no…”

The old minstrel was flustered by this very good student showing he was really upset.

The Headmaster answered for Ipadur.

“He doesn’t like playing much.”

“No!”

“You’re right not to like it. Former student of this school.”

“No, that’s…!”

He was about to argue that the Headmaster was partly to blame, but the Headmaster didn’t let him interrupt.

“I didn’t expect it to be this clear, but there is a very obvious pattern. It’s not random anymore; it’s happening regularly.”

“You are right.”

Ipadur agreed, scanning the records with his wrinkled fingers.

Originally, it was hard to find rules for primitive magic, but it was easy to understand in the case of the boy from the Wodanaz family.

It was clear that he sang well for songs that matched the direction of life he was pursuing, but he couldn’t put emotion into songs that didn’t.

Originally, even matching songs should have a low chance of success, but the boy from the Wodanaz family was able to confirm this thanks to his unique ability to make them all succeed.

“Thank you very much, Student Wodanaz.”

“Could there be a problem with the theory?”

Lee Han tried to find fault, but they simply ignored him.

Ipadur was engrossed in looking at the music he had written down today.

“Hmm. This melody… seeing it appear consecutively…”

“Wouldn’t it be better to create a music writing system first and then reorganize the music according to a common standard?”

Lee Han cautiously offered his opinion, looking at Ipadur’s scribbled music.

Since he had written down or received songs from different people, the ways of writing down the music were mixed up, and some parts were even left out.

It didn’t matter when Ipadur was singing alone, but a common standard was needed to organize it with music magic.

“Ah… you’re right.”

The old minstrel was impressed by Lee Han’s words.

As expected of an Einroguard student, he pointed out a method that Ipadur himself had not thought of.

Ipadur drew a simple music frame and symbols, then handed Lee Han half of the memo.

“Could you organize it for me?”

“……”

Lee Han realized he had made more work for himself and began to organize with a gloomy face.

The Headmaster, who was watching from the side, clicked his tongue.

At this point, he didn’t just dislike playing, he hated it.

Having neatly finished the arrangement, Ipadur was satisfied after finding a few common sections and chords.

Although 80% of music magic is the caster’s emotion, such rules were always bound to be discovered even in such a process.

These rules would be excellent guidelines when creating and trying out new music magic in the future.

“But the more important problem than that is the magic words. The magic words.”

“That is a valid point.”

Ipadur agreed.

The biggest weakness of music magic was that the power of the magic itself was too weak to cast.

“Could you perhaps give me some advice? With your wisdom…”

“There is a way.”

The Headmaster, who had been grumbling about how much he hated music magic, did not ignore the request.

“Increase the magic around you, or put magic into your words. Both are methods that are difficult to do right away. Therefore, wizards who try this magic will have to use both methods to somehow create results.”

“Both methods… I never thought of that!”

As Ipadur exclaimed in admiration, the Headmaster continued arrogantly.

“That’s right. You should start by having several people sing together. Even if it’s difficult alone, several people should be able to increase the magic around them to some extent. Putting magic into your words is the same. Looking at the cases, there were ordinary people who were momentarily caught up in emotion and squeezed out their magic. It’s a much inferior method to putting it into the words themselves, but it will be a solution.”

Ipadur diligently wrote down the Headmaster’s golden advice.

“Do the students already know how to increase the magic with several people?”

“Perhaps it’s unlikely. It’s not a common method, and maybe it was never needed. Just keep showing what Wodanaz does. There will be some mistakes, but that’s okay.”

“?”

Lee Han, who was resting nearby, was surprised when the arrow suddenly flew towards him.

“Squeezing out magical power is…”

“That’s right. Not many students are used to such a strong way. Also, keep Wodanaz singing. Like spells, the best way is to repeat what you see and hear. Even if you can’t put magic into words, you can still squeeze it out and pour it out as close as possible.”

“I’m really thankful for the advice!”

“Er…”

Full of energy, Ipadur stood in front of the café and started to sing.

The song was so good that even people who weren’t interested stopped to listen.

Suddenly, people came from everywhere. Everyone who gathered clapped with admiration.

Everyone was happy with the music, except for Lee Han and the Skeleton Headmaster.

“……”

“Didn’t I tell you that music magic wouldn’t be very helpful?”

“…No. I am happy…”

Lee Han pretended, not wanting to please the Skeleton Headmaster.

The Skeleton Headmaster shook his head.

“You’ll end up picking up all sorts of useless magic to study.”

-Master.

The Death Knight, who had covered his whole body so he wouldn’t scare people from other cities, came closer and spoke.

-As you ordered, those men are ready.

“I understand. Good job. Tell them to wait a little longer. Are any of them complaining?”

-They became quiet when they heard your name, Master.

“Good.”

“…?”

Lee Han’s eyes lit up when he heard the conversation between the Skeleton Headmaster and the Death Knight.

He felt like there was some secret information in their talk.

“Who are they?”

“They’re workers needed for this building. Why? Are you going to work with them too?”

“No. I was just curious.”

The Skeleton Headmaster answered casually. He had dealt with many students, so he knew there was no point in hiding anything or getting angry.

The best way to hide was to act normal.

But Lee Han was not someone who could be easily fooled.

He decided to never believe anything the Skeleton Headmaster said, no matter what.

‘I’ll go and check.’

Just then, Ipadur finished a song and was getting a lot of applause. Lee Han brought him cold water and whispered to Ipadur.

“Mr. Ipadur, I need a favor.”

“What is it…?”

“The school rules are so strict that I can’t go out, but there’s a book I really want to buy. Sob sob.”

Lee Han tried to look as sad as possible.

Ipadur felt very sorry for him. He wanted to thank him for helping so much with the music magic, and he didn’t know Lee Han had such a problem!

As students, they really wanted to go outside, even if the rules were strict.

Ipadur nodded.

“What can I do for you, Student Wodanaz?”

“Could you talk to the Headmaster for a while to distract him? I’ll go buy the book quickly.”

The old turtle beast-man winked as if to say, leave it to me.

“Now… everyone, everyone. I’m very grateful that you like this old man’s song. I’m going to sing the next song with someone else.”

“Su, surely not one of us?”

“No way. If it were possible, even my grandson’s grandson would be honored!”

“You all know his name too. The great Gonadaltes! It would be an honor if you would sing a song with me.”

“????”

The Skeleton Headmaster, who had been sitting with a casual look and closed eyes, raised his head.

What did he just say?

“Go, Gonadaltes? That Archmage?”

“If… If I remember right, I heard that everyone who looks at him turns to stone. And he keeps those stone people in his dungeon as decorations…”

“What nonsense! There’s no way someone who teaches Einroguard students would do such a terrible thing. It must be a lie spread by enemies!”

People started talking excitedly, and the city’s gossips shouted with shining eyes.

Ipadur’s song was already a big deal, but a song by a great mage like Gonadaltes on top of that!

It was like having a story to tell that they would never get tired of, even if they talked about it at parties for the rest of their lives.

“Mr. Gonadaltes, if you would sing just once, I will remember it as the best moment of my life!”

“Please! I beg you!”

‘Should I just kill them all…?’

The Skeleton Headmaster thought about the money the city’s families were giving.

Then his anger went down a little.

*

*

“Sharkhan, thank you.”

With Sharkhan’s help, Lee Han carefully followed the Death Knight.

The Death Knight was going further into a quiet part of the city. Lee Han used an invisibility spell so he wouldn’t be seen.

‘Are they really workers?’

Lee Han saw the Death Knight going to a run-down warehouse and wondered if he was worrying too much.

Even though Einroguard seemed calm, many people were always coming and going.

With so many people, merchants and workers had to come in.

Thud!

As soon as the door closed, Lee Han quickly went to the warehouse and listened.

-You’ve all been waiting a long time.

“Damn it, is that all you have to say after locking us up here for three days?! I was going to ignore it, but this is too much…”

Thwack!

-Shut up, you trash.

The Death Knight hit the mercenary who had spoken.

-You should be thankful that I didn’t kill criminals like you. If you complain again, I will turn you into a stone statue and bury you in a dark basement.

The mercenaries were scared and shut their mouths.

-There is only one way for you to leave. Train and practice. So you can beat the mages even in a fight.

“I don’t know why you’re after mages, but bring them here! I can kill them right now!”

-Not yet. Train more. Only those who pass the test will be released.

“……”

Lee Han sighed.

He could guess why they had brought those mercenaries.