Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 588

Ethan put down his quill. The Transfiguration exam was done. For him, turning a simple wooden stool into a fluffy white rabbit had been as easy as breathing. He walked up to Professor Yonlamos’s desk.

“Professor?” Ethan asked. “I have a question. I was trying to change into a bear’s paw – you know, for the exam? – but I kept turning into dragons!”

Professor Yonlamos smiled slightly. “Ah, Ethan. That’s because you have so much magic. It’s very strong, so it’s hard to control at first. Don’t worry, practice will help you.”

Ethan nodded. He knew Transfiguration magic needed lots of practice. Keeping a shape, finding the right animal to change into – it all got easier the more you did it. But still… dragons?

“Don’t be impatient,” Professor Yonlamos added kindly. He knew Ethan was taking extra magic classes from other schools too. To get a perfect score on the Transfiguration exam, even with all that extra work, was amazing. Unbelievable, really, for a first-year student. “There’s no need to rush.”

“Yes, Professor. I understand,” Ethan said.

*Practice makes perfect,* he thought to himself.

But Professor Yonlamos thought Ethan looked a little sad. He remembered the stories he’d heard about Ethan from other teachers. They said Ethan was very serious and never showed his feelings. Looking at Ethan’s face, which was as still and smooth as a stone statue, Professor Yonlamos wondered what he was really thinking.

*Hmm,* the professor thought. *What can I tell him to keep him busy and happy over the holidays? I don’t want him getting into trouble.*

“Do you have the magic book you received last time, >From Caterpillar to Dragon>?”

“Ah, yes.”

Ethan had been warmly welcomed at the last gathering of Transfiguration wizards.

He was so popular that a wizard family even gave him one of their special magic books.

“It might be a good idea to study that during the vacation. It’s quite a good magic book, that one.”

Ethan’s eyes widened for a moment.

The final exam had ended, but suddenly the professor was giving him additional homework.

Why?

*Did I do something wrong? I got a perfect score!*

The other students were laughing and talking excitedly as they left the room, like birds singing in the morning.

He didn’t understand why only Ethan had to receive additional homework.

“How much do I have to study?”

“How much?”

Professor Yonlamos thought for a moment.

Ethan would be busy during the winter vacation anyway, so he didn’t want to give him too much to do.

“As much as you can?”

“…!”

Ethan was very shocked.

As much as he could?

Wasn’t that practically telling him to do his best and do as much as possible!

‘Is transforming into dragon-type creatures that much of a problem?!’

The students of the Blue Dragon Tower had set up a tent in front of the Phoenix Tower. They lit a fire and gathered underneath it to study, sighing.

It was starting to snow again, so they really didn’t want to study.

“Should we move to the library to study?”

“We moved 30 minutes ago?”

“Moving again might help us study better.”

Gainando was drawing little pictures in his book. He looked confused.

“Ethan, is it possible for the angles inside a triangle to add up to 190 degrees?”

“…How on earth did you figure that out?”

The >Geometry and Arithmetic> exam was a required class that everyone had to take. It was so hard that it made everyone uncomfortable, except for a few special students.

Ethan put down the magic book he was working on – it was about Water Bullet spells – and looked at Gainando’s math.

Gainando suddenly understood. He said, sounding like he was really hurt, “Ethan… Ethan is studying for another class!!”

“What!?”

“How could this happen!”

The students of the Blue Dragon Tower were very shocked.

Of course, they knew that Wodanaz was at the top of this class too, but to be so confident that he was preparing for another exam first, even with this exam coming up soon?

Even Asan and Adenarte looked surprised.

They quickly checked their own answers again, just to be sure.

“Ethan, you don’t know how I feel! How can someone who is so confident that they don’t need to prepare separately before the exam understand how I feel!”

Gainando, who didn’t want to study anyway, took the chance and grabbed onto him.

The other students, who also didn’t want to study, shouted along.

“That’s right! Wodanaz, you don’t know how we feel!”

“Why would I need to know such a thing?”

Yoner looked confused and asked something, but his friends were too loud to hear him.

“Promise us more snacks and rest time…!”

“No. I already took the final exam, so I’m studying something else,” Ethan said, stopping Gainando from talking.

At those words, his friends all laughed.

It was a joke that even made Adenarte smile.

Asan laughed for a while, then wiped away his tears and said, “Even so, Wodanaz. It doesn’t make sense that you took the final exam first… Wait, you’re not joking, are you.”

Asan was worried when he saw that Ethan’s face was completely serious.

Huh?

He wasn’t joking??

“I was asked to help design the >Pocket Knife Fortress> for the final exam, so I turned in this report first.”

Ethan showed his friends the basic drawing of the >Pocket Knife Fortress>.

The drawing of the Pocket Knife Fortress was very complicated, with lots of parts and magical objects. When his friends saw it, their faces went white, like they had seen a ghost!

Adenarte quickly stopped smiling and tried to look serious, like he hadn’t been laughing at all.

“Anyone want to do this instead?”

“……”

“……”

“Guys?”

The friends all looked down and began to calculate numbers carefully.

Ethan was happy that they were quiet and began to write the magic book again.

‘I guess I don’t need to give out extra snacks.’

Kilbedek used to be an adventurer, and sometimes he cheated people. But now, he had left that life behind. He was trying to be a good shop owner in the village.

It was all thanks to the villagers.

These villagers had warmly welcomed Kilbedek, who was just someone from outside.

So Kilbedek also tried to do business honestly to repay that kindness. He still tricked people who weren’t from the village sometimes, but he was always honest with the villagers.

Like the first adventurer, the other two brothers, Doig and Gueido, also lived in the village.

The villagers welcomed Doig and Gueido warmly too. To thank them, the brothers helped herd sheep and promised not to steal from the village. They only took what they needed from travelers passing through.

They had forgotten how peaceful life could be. Living in the village made them feel calm again. Every morning, when the three adventurers met at the village entrance, they smiled peacefully.

Doig said, greeting Gueido, “-May the glory of Bildotzcal be with you.”

Gueido replied with a smile. “-And may Bildotzcal no longer need to watch over you. Life is quiet here, isn’t it?”

They felt so much better that sometimes, after drinking wine, they could even talk about the awful things that happened at that crazy magic school.

Gueido, after too much strong wine, might even say, “-Maybe it was lucky, in a way.”

But he would never say that when he was sober.

It was too painful to remember clearly, even without a hangover.

They had been taken by a terrible wizard and forced to go to a magic school. There, they were told they had to fight a very young and weak wizard.

But the young wizard attacked them harder than anyone had threatened them.

Now, living quietly in the village, they didn’t need to talk about how awful it had been. They wanted to forget.

One of the brothers might say, “-It’s good to be away from wizards.”

Then, a stranger asked, “-Excuse me, do you know a man called Kilbedek? He has a shop here. I heard he sold a normal mirror and said it was magic.”

Kilbedek stammered, “-I… I don’t know anyone by that name.”

He jumped back as the stranger appeared. The man wore long robes that hid his face, and his sudden arrival made the quiet village feel uneasy.

Kilbedek didn’t recognize the stranger, but something felt very wrong.

It wasn’t just that the man was big and stood very still, like a soldier ready for battle.

And it wasn’t only because Kilbedek knew he had cheated a traveler with a fake magic mirror.

It was a feeling deep inside him, a warning that shouted: Danger!

*This stranger is dangerous!* Kilbedek thought, his heart racing.

The stranger chuckled. “-Actually, I knew it was you, Kilbedek. It’s been a long time since I had some fun like this.”

Kilbedek turned to run, but the stranger’s arm shot out like lightning.

The stranger’s hand grabbed Kilbedek, and he fell to the ground.

The stranger said coldly, “-You’ll do some work for the village first, then you’ll answer to the Emperor’s law.”

Kilbedek whispered, terrified, “-Help me… please…”

The stranger hissed, “-Shhh. You can’t ask for help now.”

As he spoke, a cold blue mist seemed to flow from under his robes.

The stranger said, turning to Doig and Gueido, “-And you, are you the brothers who stole horses and a cow?”

Gueido yelped and reached for his club. But the stranger was too fast. He snatched the club and slammed it against Gueido’s head. Gueido fell instantly.

Doig, seeing how easily the stranger fought, raised his hands.

Doig cried, “-I give up!”

But the stranger hit Doig on the head too. Then, he tied up all three men, threw them over his horse, and said, “-Let’s go.”

When the three adventurers woke, they were crammed into a bumpy carriage. It was full of people in rough clothes, all talking loudly and arguing.

A rough voice shouted, “-Hey, you! Where are you from?”

Kilbedek mumbled, still confused, “-Wh… what?”

Someone asked, “-Are you deaf or something? I said, where are you from and what did you do?”

Kilbedek replied weakly, “-A… a shop, a general store.”

Someone laughed. “-A shopkeeper? Ha! What did you do, cheat your customers?” The other prisoners in the carriage looked down at Kilbedek. In this place, how bad your crime was decided who you were. A shopkeeper who cheated people was nothing special.

Doig said, trying to sound tough, “-I used to be an adventurer.”

Another prisoner scoffed. “-Adventurer? Everyone here is an ‘adventurer’ or ‘mercenary.’ If you can hold a sword, you call yourself an adventurer.”

A voice yelled from outside, “-Hey! Shut up back there!” The prisoners, who had been so loud, went quiet instantly. Kilbedek guessed they had been punished before. They were clearly very scared of anyone in charge.

Kilbedek whispered, his voice shaking, “-Wh… where are we going?”

Another prisoner muttered, “-I don’t know, blast it! Maybe they’ll sell us to some evil wizard for experiments.”

Someone else said gloomily, “-Or as slaves.”

Another one said, “-I heard they need people to row boats in the north. Lots of storms there, no one wants to do it.”

Another prisoner said, “-Blast it all! Anything but being a wizard’s guinea pig!” The prisoners tried to calm themselves by talking about what might happen.

Suddenly, Kilbedek stared out the window and let out a scream that made everyone jump. “-No! No! No! Not there!”

Someone asked, “-What’s wrong with him?”

Another one said, “-Shut him up! He’ll get us all in trouble!” Kilbedek ignored them and threw himself at the carriage door, trying to pull it open.

Another prisoner yelled, “-You stupid fool! If we could just open the door, we’d be gone already! Stop it! Do you want us all killed?”

Kilbedek cried, before the other prisoners grabbed him and covered his mouth, “-I have to get out! We’re going to Einrogard! No!” Luckily, the stranger outside didn’t seem to notice the commotion.

One of the prisoners whispered, “-E… Einrogard? Isn’t that… full of wizards?”

Another one asked, “-I… I thought it was just a normal town? Not full of bad wizards, right?”

Another one asked, “-Then why are they taking *us* there, criminals?” Silence fell in the carriage. Then, Kilbedek, in a panic, shoved the other prisoners aside and threw himself at the door again.

Kilbedek shouted, “-I’m getting out!”

Someone shouted, “-Stop that madman!” The other prisoners were shaking with fear. What was Einrogard that made him so terrified?

Lee Han said to the demon, “-Hello, Mr. Oriphilas.” Oriphilas had been working as a legal officer for the Emperor for 131 years.

Oriphilas replied happily, “-Hello! I am well!”

Lee Han asked, “-Could you tell me about the final exam today?”

Oriphilas explained, “-It’s simple. It’s a test to tell the difference between good and bad people in the Empire.” Lee Han and the other students were surprised by this explanation.

One student asked, “-Did you invite many people from outside?”

Another wondered, “-How did you find the bad people?”

A third student suggested, “-Maybe some of the people you brought are just pretending to be bad?”