Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 638

“After all I’ve done for you! I even played Wizard Card games with you during your breaks so you wouldn’t be bored!”

Nilia whispered to Yoner, ‘Maybe *that’s* why the coachman ran away?’

Yoner suspected as much but decided against questioning further out of consideration for his relative.

“Alright, alright, keep it down. I’ll take you to the manor.”

Gainando’s eyes went wide and watery. “Couldn’t you take my carriage too? Please?” he begged, his voice trembling slightly.

The carriage, a large, ornate thing that looked too grand for a simple trip, was full of his belongings, including the gift for Ethan.

Of course, Yoner wasn’t so easily fooled. He stared at Gainando with a look of disbelief and asked,

“Who will drive it?” Yoner asked.

Nilia spoke up, “I can drive a carriage, if needed.”

Yoner quickly took her hand. “No, no need to trouble yourself!”

Gainando jumped in, “She said she can drive it!”

Yoner muttered, “I’ll have to install a device to keep her from grabbing the reins in the future…”

Nilia hastily replied, “It’s really no trouble. I can do this much.”

“There’s no way driving a carriage isn’t a bother,” Yoner said.

Even though they could ride horses, surprisingly few nobles knew how to drive a carriage.

There were coachmen, of course, but more than that, driving a carriage was quite a difficult skill in itself. One had to coordinate and manage the breathing and direction of several horses…

“How many horses are there? If it’s four, it might be a little difficult, but somehow…” Nilia asked.

“Eight,” Gainando replied.

Nilia stopped, her eyes widening. “Eight?” she repeated, her voice barely a whisper.

Yoner sighed deeply and asked, “Why on earth did you bring an eight-horse carriage all the way here?”

“It’s cool…” Gainando said.

Nilia’s offer suddenly felt very foolish. Her cheeks flushed slightly. “E-Eight horses is a bit much.”

“Of course, it’s too much. Don’t worry about it,” Yoner said.

“Can’t I try it this time?” Nilia asked.

“Nilia. Just shoot it,” Yoner replied.

Gainando made a small sound of disappointment and fell silent. Yoner twirled a lock of hair around his finger and said,

“There’s only one way.”

Gainando looked at his relative with expectant eyes. “Yoner…!”

After all, he wasn’t a wizard for nothing. If you couldn’t solve a problem with magic when you were in trouble, why be a wizard?

“Go to the carriage and pack only the things you need in your bag. Don’t forget the gift for Ethan,” Yoner instructed.

“…What about the carriage?” Gainando asked.

“You’ll have to leave it behind, what else can you do?” Yoner replied.

Gainando opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again, and then went outside with slumped shoulders. Then he quickly turned around and shouted,

“If you leave first, I’ll never forgive you next semester!”

“Alright. Alright,” Yoner replied.

Nilia grumbled in disbelief as she watched Gainando walk away. “Look at the way he talks! After we’ve given him a ride, he suspects we’re going to leave first!”

“That’s right. He’s become more perceptive since attending Einrogard. How did he know?” Yoner said.

Arsil Wodanaz drank the lemon tea that Ethan had made for him and applauded in admiration.

Alsicle smiled contentedly at the sight of his brother praising Ethan’s skills.

“Brother. This lemon sugar preserve was bought from the village,” Alsicle said.

Arsil took another sip, his eyes widening in mock surprise. “Ethan, my boy! This tea… it’s… watery! Remarkable!”

Alsicle stopped him without realizing it. “Wodanaz. Stop. Stop it.”

Even though he didn’t understand a word, he couldn’t bear to watch any longer. In the meantime, the meal was served. It was a simple but heartfelt meal.

The smell of freshly baked bread filled the small room, mingling with the savory scent of meat frying in oil. The table was set with simple wooden bowls, but the food inside looked colorful and inviting – golden-brown bread, bright red jam, fluffy rice, and glistening fried meat.

Alsicle was surprised to see the two brothers eating without a care. “Do you usually eat like this?”

“We usually eat a little more simply. I usually eat alone,” Ethan replied.

Today, Arsil and Alsicle had come, so they had prepared this, but usually, they ate more simply. Alsicle stared at Ethan in shock.

“You usually eat like this, like a lonely slave?” Alsicle asked.

“…N-No. It’s just easier for me,” Ethan replied.

The knights were busy patrolling outside, and it would only be a burden to prepare a grand meal for Ethan alone. Arsil nodded and said,

“No, Brother. It’s not because I’m frugal and kind… it’s just easier to eat… You said what I made back then was delicious? What are you talking about? That sandwich was just… ingredients on bread.”

Arsil didn’t care and gave a thumbs up, praising him. Alsicle realized that he had just been mistaken.

‘Wodanaz is just weird!’ Alsicle thought.

He must have eaten simply because he didn’t have enough time to study magic. ‘Could it be that the reason he said there was no food at Einrogard was something like this?’

If the food was served properly but he couldn’t eat it because he was studying, and that’s how he expressed it… Alsicle thought to himself that if the Einrogard students heard this, they would rush in and pluck his feathers.

After a light meal, Arsil began to lay out various items on the table.

A glass bottle filled with an unidentified oil – it shimmered with an unsettling green light. An old notebook, an umbrella engraved with patterns – strange symbols seemed to writhe beneath the surface. A pencil case made of tough leather, a jade comb, an ink bottle filled with ink that kept changing color, a quill, a whetstone, and so on…

Alsicle suddenly wondered why he was taking them out.

“Brother. I’ve chosen the cloak. I’m not going to change it. You say it’s not fun? That’s okay. I like things that aren’t fun. You say that umbrella summons lightning? No, if an item used on rainy days summons lightning, it’s dangerous. I’ll just use the cloak,” Arsil said.

Alsicle, realizing what the two were talking about, carefully examined the objects nearby.

It looked like an ordinary whetstone, but there was magic inside the stone. It was magic that made the sword attack the surrounding enemies on its own, including its own master!

‘…Could it be that he doesn’t like his brother?’ Alsicle thought.

But Arsil was happily offering this and that to his brother with an innocent face. There was no meanness anywhere on that face.

“Let’s give it to Pengarin too? That’s not a bad idea. Pengarin. My brother wants to give you a gift. Pick one,” Arsil said.

“Wait, you said all the things here are dangerous,” Alsicle said.

“What are you talking about? It’s not that bad. If it was that dangerous, I wouldn’t be able to give it as a gift. Come on,” Arsil replied.

‘T-This bastard! He offered me to his brother!’ Alsicle realized that Ethan had offered him as a sacrifice.

His brother kept trying to give him dangerous things as gifts. “I, I’m okay…” Alsicle said.

“He says you’re here as a guest, so you wouldn’t refuse a gift, would you?” Ethan asked.

“Did you really say that??” Alsicle was upset, but there was no way out.

As a guest, he couldn’t refuse a gift without a good reason. It was also a matter of the other person’s face. ‘Something as harmless as possible… Ugh. I wish someone would come in…’

Bang!

“Hello.”

Alsicle’s heart pounded. He desperately wished for any interruption, any distraction. *Please, someone, anyone, come in!*

Alsicle and Ethan jumped to their feet at the sight of Yoner and his party entering.

“Welcome!!” Ethan said.

“You’ve finally arrived!” Alsicle said.

Yoner and his friends were taken aback by the unexpectedly enthusiastic reaction. “W-Were you waiting for us that much?”

Ethan was one thing, but they were puzzled as to why Alsicle of the Pengarin family was acting like this.

“Did you have any trouble coming here?” Ethan asked.

“There was no trouble, but aren’t there too few people? It feels like there are fewer people than in the mountains,” Yoner said.

“Really? Is it that bad?” Ethan tilted his head.

It didn’t seem that unusual to him…

“Anything else?” Ethan asked.

Nilia looked around and whispered softly. “…You’re not just not sending letters to me, are you…?”

“Haha. Of course, you’re mistaken. I sent it right away last time,” Ethan replied.

“R-Really? I thought so.” Nilia, who had been worried that she might be on the ‘person who doesn’t send letters’ list because of some unnecessary noise, sighed in relief.

“Who is this person?” Yoner asked.

“Ah. He’s my brother. Arsil of the Wodanaz family. It’s hard to understand him because he speaks in a way that’s… different. You’ll get used to it,” Ethan said.

While Yoner and Nilia were in shock, Ethan was talking to Gainando.

“What’s wrong? Like someone stole your carriage?” Ethan asked.

“It was actually stolen!!” Gainando said.

“What? Why? How?” Ethan asked.

Yoner and Nilia, who knew the truth, weren’t that curious. Rather, they were much more curious about how Ethan’s brother was talking.

“Wait, what do you mean by speaking in spirit language…” Yoner asked.

“What on earth is that…” Nilia asked.

“Wait a minute. Let’s hear this first,” Ethan said, calming his friends down and asking why Gainando’s carriage had disappeared.

After listening, it turned out that the carriage hadn’t disappeared. The coachman had suddenly run away.

“Did you force him to read magazines, use black magic, pester him to buy you snacks, ask him to do your homework for you, or ask him to play Wizard Card games with you?” Ethan asked.

“…I, I did ask him to play Wizard Card games…” Gainando admitted.

“That’s probably why he ran away,” Ethan said.

“No, is it such a big crime to ask someone to play Wizard Card games!?” Gainando exclaimed.

“It becomes a crime if you keep asking. You can go find the carriage later. No one will take it,” Ethan said.

Nilia was puzzled by Ethan’s words. The village in front of the territory was quite large. And the larger the size, the more thieves there were.

If the villages below the northern mountains were left with horses tied up without anyone guarding them, they would disappear in no time, so why would it be okay here?

“Why? Someone could take it,” Nilia asked.

“Haha. You don’t have to worry,” Ethan said.

Alarong took off his helmet and came inside. Thanks to Ethan’s friends visiting, the old knight was in a very good mood.

“Because the people here don’t do such things,” Alarong said.

“Isn’t it… a bit much to just trust in goodwill?” Nilia asked cautiously.

She was nervous to talk to a knight she had never seen before, especially one who was so incredibly strong.

“It’s not about trusting in goodwill. It’s because of the village rules. If a problem occurs in the village, the Wodanaz family is now supposed to send someone to solve it, but the villagers usually solve it themselves before it gets to that point,” Alarong explained as he poured tea from the teapot and sipped it.

There was no village in the Empire that was without its own unique characteristics, but the village of Udambara had even stronger characteristics thanks to being the closest to the Wodanaz family’s territory.

Even among the great noble families, those with particularly deep histories and powerful influence usually had the right to judge, tax, and maintain security in the surrounding territories. The Wodanaz family was also like that.

“The Wodanaz family protects the people of the territory with the lowest tax rates and the safest security in the Empire. As such, the villagers are deeply grateful. That’s why the villagers don’t stand idly by when thieves disrupt the order!” Alarong said.

At Alarong’s words, Ethan nodded as if he was used to hearing it, and prepared snacks for his friends. He was so tired of hearing the story that the Wodanaz family governed the territory so well that the people of the territory didn’t bother them.

“The villagers are trying to repay the Wodanaz family for fulfilling their obligations,” Alarong said.

“That’s right. Haha,” Ethan replied.

All the other friends in the room were impressed by Alarong’s words. Hearing this, it was a territory full of beautiful virtues.