Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 637

“What’s wrong?” Gainan asked.

“Ah, nothing…” The coachman said, his face red. He pointed a shaky finger. “Just now, that person…”

He just asked for directions, but they ran away very fast, like they saw a scary dragon.

Gainan watched them go and said seriously, “Maybe they are scared of carriages?”

The coachman looked at Gainan, confused. “Scared of carriages? That’s… strange, isn’t it?” He thought this was silly. Who is scared of carriages?

‘No. This young master attends Einroguard. He must know far better than I, an ignorant coachman.’

The coachman shook his head to forget the bad thoughts he just had.

Though still young, the one the coachman was serving was of the Imperial Family’s bloodline (albeit low in rank) and a wizard studying at Einroguard.

His wisdom was not to be underestimated.

“Yes. Then I shall continue on.”

“Oh! There’s another one!”

“!”

This time, it was a peddler walking along, his wares loaded on a pony.

He seemed a seasoned merchant; his face was rough and scarred. His eyes gleamed with the determination to travel from the Empire’s scorching southern deserts to its frigid northern glaciers.

There were no people as reliable and easy to ask as these peddlers who roamed the entire Empire. The coachman hurriedly called out.

“Hey there! Excuse me! Could you help me with something?”

“Sure, what is it?”

“Is this the right road to the Wodanaz family’s estate?”

“Wodanaz family? You’re going to the Wodanaz family?”

“Yes, I’m taking someone there as a guest…”

The peddler quickly unloaded the goods from his pony and threw them at the coachman. The coachman was startled and covered his face.

“Ack! What are you doing…”

The peddler fled without looking back, abandoning both his pony and his goods.

“……”

“…Does he also fear carriages, perhaps?”

‘Something’s not right!’

The coachman began to feel a strong sense of unease.

No matter how he thought about it, this wasn’t a fear of carriages.

It was a fear of the name Wodanaz!

He could understand the person from before, but even a peddler who had seen it all was running away.

“Young Master, isn’t something strange? Could something be happening at the Wodanaz estate?”

“No. Yihan said everything’s fine.”

“Who is this Yihan?”

“My friend. Yihan of the Wodanaz family! By the way, he’s my best friend.”

“…?”

The coachman paused.

To find out if something was happening at the Wodanaz estate, shouldn’t he ask an objective outsider, rather than asking the family member himself, ‘Is your family alright?’

What if that friend, Yihan, was plotting some evil scheme…

The coachman had heard the terrifying rumors about the Wodanaz family a few times.

The Craha family had told him, ‘They’re just rumors, don’t worry,’ but as the situation unfolded, they suddenly resurfaced in his mind.

What if they weren’t just rumors?

‘Ah, no. This young master attends Einroguard… If his friend was plotting something suspicious, he would have noticed it first!’

The coachman tried hard to calm himself.

Whoosh!

Gainan tossed a crumpled piece of paper out the carriage window. The coachman asked, puzzled.

“What did you throw away?”

“Ah, an arithmetic problem. It’s a secret. I’ll say a bird secretly snatched it later!”

“……”

Gainan thought he was very clever, so he didn’t see the coachman getting angry.

“It’s a village. Let’s rest for a bit.”

The vast estates of great noble families were akin to independent spaces, with their own villages and servants within.

They arrived at Udamhwa Village, the last village before the Wodanaz family’s large lands. It was a small village with houses made of wood and stone, and smoke coming from chimneys.

And for the coachman, it was the last chance to obtain useful information.

Squeak!

The coachman stopped the carriage in front of the “Drifting Boat Above the Clouds” inn.

“Please stay here, Young Master.”

“Okay.”

Gainan nodded, engrossed in “Detective Toberiz, the Canine Beastkin.”

“This way! This way!”

An inn servant quickly rushed out and gestured towards the stables.

Certainly, this village was quite large and prosperous, even if it wasn’t a city. This could be seen from the village inn readily accepting a carriage with eight horses.

In smaller villages, there was often a lack of space, so they would simply tie the horses up on the outskirts.

‘Good. If it’s a village this big, I can surely get some useful information.’

The coachman firmly resolved.

Unlike small villages, in large villages, at least one person was bound to provide proper information.

“…?”

The moment he opened the inn door, the coachman felt a sense of unease.

The inn was large and old, with big wooden tables. Usually, it would be noisy, but now it was silent. Dusty mugs sat on the tables, and people were sitting very still, like statues.

“Ha… Has someone passed away?”

“Shhh!”

At the coachman’s question, a villager nearby signaled him to be quiet.

“Keep your mouth shut, stranger. Now is not the time.”

“…??”

“Sit here. Quickly.”

Not knowing what was going on, the coachman sat next to the villager. The villager frowned and whispered.

“You came on the wrong day. You’re out of luck.”

“Wh-What do you mean?”

“Look outside.”

The coachman turned his gaze to the window.

Outside, a huge, strange demon walked slowly through the village. It was like a big, dark cloud with many legs that looked like hooves. It had bags and boxes piled on its back, like a donkey carrying goods.

And next to the demon was a boy. The boy had bundles of luggage on top of the demon and was muttering while holding a piece of paper.

“Hmm. Next, do I need chocolate? Ah, this kid. He’ll probably only eat chocolate…”

-Did you perhaps have a child in Einroguard…?

The coachman was so horrified that he almost fell over. The villagers were even more horrified and grabbed the coachman.

“Stranger, are you trying to get someone killed?!”

“I… I’m sorry. I was too surprised. Wh-Wh-What on earth is that?”

“The Wodanaz family’s demon.”

The villagers spoke the name of the Wodanaz family with voices full of awe and fear.

“A minion of the Great Wizard!”

“Wh-Wh-Wh-Why did the Great Wizard send a demon to the village?”

“How would we know? That’s why we’re like this!”

The coachman finally understood why the inn was as quiet as a mouse.

And now that he thought about it, not only the inn but also the outside of the village was silent.

Right now, people were holding their breath, afraid of being caught for any reason!

“B-But the Wodanaz family is a family of wizards who protect the Empire…”

“Well said, stranger. You go tell that to the demon.”

The coachman shut his mouth.

“Do you know why this inn is called ‘Drifting Boat Above the Clouds’?”

“W-Well, no?”

“When the owner was young, he took a boat out on the lake and was dragged above the clouds.”

An old dwarf sitting next to him, who had been listening to the conversation, said quietly.

“Dwarves have a saying. Don’t get involved with a Great Wizard. No matter how righteous the Great Wizard is, nothing good will come of it. It will ruin your life…”

Clunk!

“!?!?!”

Everyone in the inn stopped breathing.

While they were talking, the door of the inn opened, and the boy from the Wodanaz family came in.

“Are you waiting in the stables?”

-I’m not a horse… Understood…

Gulp!

The sound of someone swallowing was particularly loud.

The boy walked over and asked the owner.

“Could I buy some lemon-sugar preserves? I heard from the general store that the lemon-sugar preserves here are so delicious…”

Thud!

The owner quickly took out the entire jar of lemon-sugar preserves. The boy asked, puzzled.

“You don’t have to give me this much.”

“It’s a g-g-g-gift from the heart!”

“Just give me a little.”

The boy put some lemon-sugar preserves in and then pondered.

“Do you perhaps have grapefruit too?”

“Gr-Gr-Gr-Grapefruit, you say? Yes!”

“Grapefruit, right? Wait, hold this for a moment!”

-Why did you send me to the stables if you were going to do this… Not that I’m complaining…

The boy called the demon over, as his hands were full.

The inn became the quietest it had been all day. It felt like even a needle dropping would sound like thunder.

“Don’t drop this.”

-Yes…

“Would you like one?”

-Yes…

“Is it delicious?”

-Very delicious…

“I’m glad. Haha.”

The boy chatted with the demon, packed up all the sugar preserves, and left.

Only then could people breathe.

“Did you see? That’s why we told you to shut your mouth…”

Instead of answering, the coachman burst out of the door and ran out of the village.

Nilia sat inside the Meykin family’s carriage, glancing outside.

‘Oh. That flower looks delicious.’

For a moment, she thought about stopping the carriage, picking the flower, and telling Yoner to try it, but Nilia restrained herself.

The coachman might secretly laugh at her.

-Good heavens! How could the daughter of the Meykin family be with such a savage, vulgar, rough, beast-like hunter who eats things raw…

“Wait! Stop the carriage!”

Yoner shouted to the coachman, opened the carriage door, and jumped out.

He quickly picked the flower and then climbed back in, panting.

“…This flower is good for making wind barrier potions. Sorry for startling you.”

Yoner explained, feeling awkward as he met Nilia’s eyes. Nilia felt very pleased.

“No, that flower is also delicious! Look there. That person is also eating a flower… Ack!”

“???”

Yoner was flustered when Nilia screamed and looked outside the carriage.

A familiar relative was sitting in the field with a gloomy face, chewing on a flower.

“……”

“……”

Gainan, who was chewing on the flower, raised his head. Seeing the Meykin family’s carriage, Gainan cried out, tearfully.

“Yoner!!!”

“Let’s go!”

Yoner shouted coldly.

However, Gainan grabbed the carriage with unbelievably swift movements.

“It’s me! It’s me!”

“…He, here. I have homework from Yihan!”

“It’s a fake. Let’s go!”

Yoner, not wanting to get involved with a bothersome relative even during vacation, ordered coldly.

But Nilia’s heart softened a little.

“Uh, shouldn’t we at least ask what happened?”

“…Sigh. You’ll regret it.”

Yoner sighed and opened the door. Gainan climbed in, tearful.

“What’s wrong?”

“The coachman ran away!”

“You must have done something wrong.”

“No, I didn’t!!”

Gainan told the story of the coachman with a voice full of sorrow.

He said that he had been left in the carriage and disappeared!

“When I asked the villagers, they said he just ran away. Sniffle.”

Yoner and Nilia exchanged glances.

There was only one thing they could guess.

“Did you force the coachman to read romance novels?”

“You probably used dark magic on the coachman.”

“Did you pester the coachman to buy you snacks?”

“You didn’t ask the coachman to do your homework for you, did you?”

“None of that is true?!”

Gainan was furious at his friends’ suspicions.

These guys couldn’t even be called friends!