Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 559

Iunrade was angry at himself for what he had just said. He felt foolish.

“If someone who has graduated can’t trust their juniors like that, how are the officials of the Empire supposed to be trusted?”

“Th-that’s what I’m saying.”

“A first-year student from the Wodanaz family, eh? Hmm. I’ll have to ask a bit more.”

“…”

At his superior’s words, Iunrade nodded, then paused.

He was too flustered to understand everything, but thinking about it, this Wodanaz was definitely the one he’d heard about before.

The one who made the Headmaster get summoned before His Imperial Majesty…!

Iunrade’s face turned pale with terror and tension.

He couldn’t even imagine how this investigation would end.

‘Will it be alright? Will it really be alright!?’

Ihan and Giselle walked in silence.

Amidst the city’s noise, through the mingling of countless people, they walked quietly, step by step.

Their faces were gloomy and dark.

Ihan sighed and opened his mouth.

“…Let’s just forget about it and buy what we need.”

“You think that’s so easy to do?”

“What else can we do?”

Giselle glanced at him, pondered, then sighed as well and said,

“Alright. Let’s forget about it and buy what we need.”

They stopped in front of a bookstore called ‘Icalten’s Pavilion of Literary Treasures’. The shop window was crammed with books, their leather covers faded and dusty. As they stepped inside, the bell above the door jingled, and the air filled with the comforting smell of old paper and ink.

A young clerk, perched on a stool behind the counter, looked up to greet them, but his smile faltered. He frowned slightly, peering at their gloomy faces.

‘Did something… happen?’ he wondered to himself, noticing their expressions. They looked as if they had just lost their best friend.

“>Making Artifacts in the Empire’s Junkyard>, is this the right book?”

“That’s the book. I heard it’s good for preparing for the final exams.”

“>Basic Usage of Yellowstone>. This too?”

“Yellowstone is often discarded, so it can’t hurt to have it for reference.”

With gloomy faces, the two prepared the items needed for the final exams one by one.

What was needed for the final exams wasn’t just ingredients or materials.

Courage, friendship, determination, hatred, and of course, magic books were also necessary.

Usually, these magic books could be obtained from the library, but the clever students of Einroguard chose to simply buy the books outside rather than going to the library to get them.

At least the magic books sold outside didn’t bite people.

“Wait. Wodanaz. Why do we need to buy >Easily Confused Imperial Spelling>?”

“Oh, because the guys in your tower keep getting the spelling wrong.”

“…”

Giselle’s cheeks flushed red, all the way to the tips of her long ears.

Cursing her White Tiger Tower friends who couldn’t even get easy spellings right, Giselle moved to the next bookshelf.

Scanning >Saint Iactus, Defeating the Evil Lich>, Giselle sensed something was off.

“Wodanaz.”

” ? ”

“Don’t you think that person is suspicious?”

“I think we’re the most suspicious ones in this bookstore…”

Even as Ihan said that, he stared intently at the person Giselle was pointing at.

There was definitely a reason for saying they were suspicious.

It wasn’t just because they were completely covered in robes. There were more than a few people covering themselves in the large city, so he wouldn’t suspect them just for that.

He could feel magic around the person. Wizards always had a different feeling around them compared to normal people. They naturally controlled their magic.

He hadn’t known when he first entered Einroguard, but as time passed, he became able to distinguish even these subtle points.

Moreover, the books the other person was choosing were…

‘>Blood and ■’s ■■>, >Calling the Devil ■■■■…>’

The magic books in Pavilion of Literary Treasures had been verified by wizards who had their names on them before being purchased, but there were also suspicious books that no one knew where they came from.

Of course, as it was a bookstore located in the city’s central district, the amount was only a handful compared to the overall size. It wasn’t a stall in a back alley, and they didn’t stock many suspicious books.

But the other person was blatantly scanning and picking out only those kinds of books.

“They are suspicious, indeed.”

“Right? A dagger inside their robe. It’s stained with blood. Judging by how it hasn’t dried yet, it must not be that old.”

Giselle whispered in a sharp voice.

Only then did Ihan realize that there was a dagger stuck inside the other person’s robe.

“Ah. That’s right.”

“…Wait. You didn’t see the dagger? Then what did you think was suspicious?”

“That they’re a wizard?”

” ? ”

“And that they keep trying to collect suspicious magic books…”

“That’s not really… No, never mind. That’s not what’s important right now.”

Giselle stopped herself, about to say, ‘Wodanaz, don’t you also collect a lot of suspicious magic books as a wizard?’

Because that wasn’t what was important right now.

“So, what do you think we should do?”

“They are suspicious, but there must be dozens of suspicious people in the city, we can’t interfere with all of them one by one. There could be any number of reasons for the bloodstained dagger.”

Giselle frowned, then wore a pondering expression for a moment. She tapped the scabbard with her long fingertips, then said as if she couldn’t help it,

“I guess that’s true.”

“Let’s just tell the clerk, just in case.”

The two finished their purchases, left Pavilion of Literary Treasures, and moved on to the next place.

Fuyo’s Banyan Tree Wands was a small shop with a large banyan tree growing right through the roof. The air inside smelled of wood and sap. Wands of all shapes and sizes were displayed on shelves, glowing faintly.

“How did you leave silver coins there?”

“I left behind what I received from working last time.”

“…”

While he was confused about where to start pointing out the problem, he saw a familiar person walking ahead.

It was the suspicious stranger he had seen at the bookstore earlier.

“That one?”

“It’s probably just a coincidence that our paths overlapped.”

Ihan said firmly.

He didn’t want to get involved with a suspicious person when he was already short on time.

Please don’t cause any trouble!

Thud-

The other person stopped in front of ‘Fuyo’s Banyan Tree Wands’. There was no one else around.

Without realizing it, Ihan instinctively grabbed Giselle and cast a spell.

“Cloak, swallow me!”

As the invisibility magic unfolded, the two’s figures disappeared. The other person looked around, but didn’t notice anything unusual.

Swoosh-

The suspicious stranger took out a gnarled wand and drew the bloodstained dagger with his other hand.

As he ‘swooshed’ the blade across his own arm, dark red blood welled up. The blade seemed to drink the blood, and a strange, dark magic pulsed around it.

‘Blood magic!’

Ihan realized what kind of magic the other person was doing.

Of course, it was a much more violent, crude, and dangerous structure than the blood magic Ihan had learned, but the principle of amplifying magic with blood itself was the same.

As the magic increased, the stranger seemed to gain confidence and tried to cast a spell while holding the wand.

“Power, power, power…”

Even a clumsy spell to strengthen himself.

There was only one reason to cast such a spell in front of someone else’s shop where there were few people around.

Ihan and Giselle exchanged glances at the same time and sighed deeply.

It was truly an unlucky day.

“Rush forth, lightning of Perchuntra!”

“Reside in the blade and destroy!”

“Khaaaak!”

The wizard who was trying to rob the store was struck by lightning and a sword, and tumbled to the ground.

“Thank you so much. Thank you so much.”

Fuyo wasn’t usually one to express his emotions much, but this time he was so moved that he grabbed both of their hands and shook them up and down vigorously.

“We only did what we had to do.”

“That’s right. You don’t have to thank us this much…”

The city guards had taken the fallen criminal away, so the two wanted to quickly receive the silver coins and leave.

“Wait a moment. I can’t just let you go without offering you anything after helping me like this. I recently obtained some truly precious tea leaves…”

“Um, Fuyo-nim. Actually, I have something urgent to do…”

“Come to think of it, how did you get out? It shouldn’t be easy for Einroguard students to leave?”

As Fuyo asked in puzzlement, Ihan quickly answered.

“What kind of tea leaves did you get?”

“Ah. Well, they’re tea leaves harvested from the glaciers of the Northern Sea of the Empire.”

Giselle was giving him looks that said ‘we need to end this conversation and leave quickly’, but Ihan couldn’t help it.

Considering his future relationship with Fuyo, he couldn’t afford to upset him for no reason.

Thanks to that, the two were treated to tea by Fuyo, had their wands inspected, received some advice on using magic, and even received an armful of wand wood that Fuyo had recently trimmed as a gift.

“…”

“…I think we’re screwed.”

Giselle muttered, but Ihan pretended not to hear and hoisted the load of wood onto his back.

“Let’s go. We still have a lot to buy.”

“In my opinion, we’re done for. There’s probably going to be a robber on the way to the next place too.”

“Don’t say such unlucky things, like people from Anglona often do. Are you going to believe in bad luck now?”

Giselle sighed and followed behind Ihan.

She was right.

Even if fate tormented them, they had to fight against it.

“Alright. Other guys must be having accidents too, so even if we can’t buy as much…”

Crash!

“Aaaargh!”

“The wall collapsed! Everyone be careful!!”

“Zellin! Zellin is buried under the rubble! Damn it. There’s too much blood! Cisenja-nim, why this trial!”

Ihan threw down the load of wood and ran towards the construction site of the neighboring guild.

Giselle followed behind him without a word.

“Everyone, get out of the way!”

“Who are you… Gasp, a wizard! Are you a wizard from Einroguard?”

Without time to explain, Ihan raised his wand and gestured. Giselle immediately used her enhanced strength to kick the rubble away.

As space was created, Ihan washed the lying patient with water and immediately cast a spell.

“Attach, attach, attach, attach…”

With a cracking sound, the bones began to reattach. Giselle, who was clearing the rubble, stared in surprise.

She knew that Ihan was almost the only one among the first-years who could properly use healing magic, but she didn’t know he could heal such injuries at that speed.

“…Heal!”

“Is it, is it over?”

“I got lucky.”

Ihan nodded, panting.

He had ignored it when Moradi said it, but today might really be an unlucky day.

When he arrived at the mansion, the prisoners inside tried to escape, and when he caught the prisoners, he encountered a robber, and when he defeated the robber, there was an accident…

‘I should have had a fortune teller check and set the date.’

Ihan put away his wand with regret.

“Th-thank you. Wizard-nim. You are a lifesaver!”

“Please tell us your name!”

Before Ihan could answer, a city guard passing by from behind took off his helmet, bowed, and kindly explained.

“The one on the left is Ihan of the Wodanaz family, and the one on the right is Giselle of the Moradi family. Wizards of Einroguard-nim. Thank you once again for your dedication.”

“I see!! Thank you so much!”

“Yes…”

“That’s us.”

Ihan and Giselle gave up halfway and nodded.

At this point, they might as well just accept reality.

“No one’s here yet!”

“Run, run!”

The students who returned before sunset ran with their luggage to the upper floor hallway of the mansion.

Fortunately, despite all the commotion, no one was in the mansion yet.

The dimensional gate was also working fine.

“Get in!”

“Everyone, you’ve worked hard!”

The students waiting in the warehouse cheered as they saw their returning friends.

“No one followed us, right?”

“Hey. I heard Wodanaz caught a robber, what’s that all about? Why would he catch a robber?”

“A robber? I heard he saved a stonemason guild member?”

“? ?”

“? ? ? ? ?”

The students looked at each other, bewildered.

“It must be a rumor, right?”

“It must be. Wodanaz isn’t stupid enough to go around doing things like that.”

“That’s right. Moradi is with him too. That Moradi isn’t the kind of person who would make a mistake by helping others. Not like people from Anglona.”

“Hey. You son of a bitch.”