Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 733

Dirette wondered why Lee Han was acting so strange all of a sudden.

*Hadn’t* the Headmaster always been a little crazy?

It seemed odd that Lee Han, almost like her best student, was only noticing it now.

“I saw something,” Lee Han said quickly, and then told Dirette about his vision.

Dirette knew visions from wizards, especially those who could see the future, were important.

She listened carefully, her face serious.

“How tall was the tree?” Dirette asked.

“Sorry?” Lee Han replied.

“In your vision,” Dirette clarified, “how tall was the tree *here*?”

“Almost the same,” Lee Han said, thinking. “But maybe a little smaller. Could it mean…?”

Dirette looked closely at the tree’s height, the shadows, and everything else Lee Han had seen in his vision.

Then, she started to think hard.

She had watched the Dark Forest closely since she arrived at the school.

She could even notice small changes over time.

“It *must* have been recent,” Dirette murmured, “maybe only two or three months ago…”

Lee Han’s face went pale as he realized how recent the vision was.

“Two or three months ago?” Lee Han exclaimed.

“This is terrible, Dirette! We have to go back now!”

“Go back? Why?” Dirette asked, confused.

“We need to tell the Emperor! And contact our house leader! We have to stop the Headmaster!”

Dirette was surprised by how quickly Lee Han came up with such a detailed plan.

She wondered if he often thought about plans like this.

“Wait, Lee Han, calm down,” Dirette said. “Something is strange here.”

“You mean why the Headmaster is planning something bad?” Lee Han asked, still worried.

“He *always* plans bad things!”

“No, that’s not it,” Dirette explained. “It’s strange that *you* saw this vision at all. You didn’t see the future. You saw something a wizard left behind.”

Dirette remembered from last year that Lee Han was very good at resisting poison and magic tricks.

So, this vision wasn’t like a magical attack.

It was more like a memory, left on purpose by a wizard.

So that someone qualified who arrived here could see it.

If the Headmaster was planning something bad, why would he bother leaving behind such evidence?

“I think I know.”

“What is it?”

“The Headmaster enjoys that kind of thrill.”

“…Junior…”

Dirette looked troubled, but Lee Han was only frustrated.

“The Headmaster is so mad that he might even plan schemes while telling others about his plans!”

“Could it not be a being that resembles the Headmaster?”

Feeling that the possibility was low, Dirette threw it out there to calm her junior down.

Lee Han paused.

“Wait. Now that you mention it, I have heard stories about the Headmaster having a mad doppelganger.”

“What? Really?”

“But that itself might be one of the Headmaster’s evil schemes. He might be telling such lies to excuse himself later when he causes trouble…”

“Junior, I think it’s a mad doppelganger.”

“Is that so?”

When his senior spoke so firmly, Lee Han couldn’t insist any further and stepped back as if he was disappointed.

If Dirette said so, it might really be a mad doppelganger.

‘It might be a fake rumor created by the Headmaster.’

“Why would such a mad doppelganger be with a magical criminal? And why would the magical criminal respect such a doppelganger as a teacher?”

“Junior, that’s certainly urgent too, but aren’t you really curious about why the Headmaster’s mad doppelganger came to be?”

Of course, confirming what purpose the magical criminal and the mad doppelganger had for coming here was the priority, but Dirette was truly amazed that her junior wasn’t curious about that as a wizard.

Does he really have no curiosity?

“It probably came to be from breathing wrong or sneezing.”

“…This is just my guess, but it’s highly likely that it came to be when the Headmaster was trying to become even stronger.”

Having partially inherited Gonadaltes’s magic, which was passed down from Professor Mortuum, Dirette also knew a bit about the magic used by the Skeleton Headmaster.

The Skeleton Headmaster’s magic had its roots in the secrets developed during the kingdom era, which was far back in the ‘ancient’ times.

The Skeleton Headmaster, who was a prince from a small kingdom, was one of the most outstanding wizards of that time, and he relentlessly devoted himself to all kinds of magic to reach a higher realm.

Dirette did not know what powerful and extraordinary magics were involved in that process.

It was impossible for her to grasp that, no matter how outstanding a student she was.

However, she had heard that there was a great magic that severed one’s emotions in that process.

“There are liches in the Empire,” Dirette explained.

“Some dark wizards are even allowed to become liches legally.”

“Yeah, I read about it,” Lee Han said.

Everyone knew that powerful dark wizards could turn themselves into undead creatures to try and become even stronger.

But not many did it.

Becoming a lich had more problems than people thought.

It takes time to adjust even when changing a wand, so how much adjustment time would it take to change one’s own body?

There were more than one or two liches who changed their bodies with hope for lichification, but eventually despaired and went berserk.

“Last time, a mad lich contaminated the southern grain storage.”

“Let’s not stray from the path, Junior.

As you might have guessed, liches are not originally such perfect beings.

But the Headmaster is a lich, but he is almost perfect.”

The Skeleton Headmaster often spoke of the golden ratio of curvature in his skull, but the perfection Dirette was talking about now was not that.

To have lived from the distant past to the present, it would have been impossible for an imperfect being like a normal lich.

“There must have been great magics that were on a different level from ordinary lichification, and it’s not surprising that a mad doppelganger appeared in the process.”

“That’s right. I suspect that the great magic that severs emotions is the direct cause. I’ve never seen such magic in any book. Looking at the results, it’s not strange that side effects such as uncontrollable doppelgangers occur.”

‘That makes sense.’

Lee Han deeply agreed with Dirette’s idea.

As could be seen from the Skeleton Headmaster’s proud remarks about severing his emotions, it didn’t seem like an ordinary level of magic.

If the Skeleton Headmaster was proud of it, it must be a truly great ancient magic among ancient magics, and it would not be strange if side effects that the Skeleton Headmaster did not expect occurred in the process.

“I would like to support Senior’s idea. But Senior, if that doppelganger was created through such a process, what purpose did it have for coming to Einroguard?”

“I don’t know either.”

Dirette frowned slightly.

It seemed that there was more than one mad doppelganger, and she couldn’t even tell which doppelganger it was, let alone predict its purpose.

A sane Skeleton Headmaster was already a hard person to predict, let alone a mad Skeleton Headmaster.

“But I can guess the purpose of the magical criminal you mentioned. He’s probably trying to learn magic.”

“Are you saying he’s disguising himself as a student of Einroguard?!”

Lee Han was taken aback, wondering if he wasn’t too old to be a freshman.

“Not that. From the Headmaster’s doppelganger.”

This was no ordinary teacher and student. Usually, the teacher is the one chasing after the student, nagging them to learn, not coldly ignoring them.

Dirette thought to himself, ‘Even Lee Han’s idea of a normal teacher and student is odd…’

The junior was already pitiful enough.

“If it’s the Headmaster’s doppelganger, he’s a master who would teach magic and more. I can understand why that magical criminal is so infamous.”

“If it’s the Headmaster’s doppelganger, I can also understand him acting suddenly after giving guidance. It wouldn’t be strange if he just acted without a clear reason.”

“Junior… did you perhaps have a fight with the Headmaster recently?”

“Huh? No?” Lee Han asked, puzzled by Dirette’s worried gaze.

He was just rationally analyzing the situation, so why?

“Oh, I was just asking,” Dirette said quickly, trying to sound casual.

“I don’t know what the Headmaster’s doppelganger is thinking, bringing a magical criminal to Einroguard. Maybe he’s trying to assassinate the Headmaster.”

“Indeed,” Dirette said, his expression hardening.

He immediately thought that he should tell the Skull Headmaster what had happened as soon as he returned.

“But, Senior.”

” ? ”

“Shouldn’t we catch the Dark Snail? It seems quite useful, judging by how eagerly you were chasing it…”

“It is useful, but not that important right now. It mainly helps make dark magic stronger and undead creatures more powerful.”

Lee Han squeezed his eyes shut, annoyed with himself.

He shouldn’t have brought up the Skull Headmaster’s doppelganger.

The Dark Snail was much more important!

‘Blast. I missed it because of this useless chatter.’

Lee Han felt a sudden worry as he scolded himself.

At the same time, the bracelet Dirette was wearing jingled, sounding an alarm. The two wizards’ expressions changed.

“Senior!”

“Hold tight!”

Dirette reacted instantly, like a fifth-year student who had faced many dangers before.

If the enemy was strong enough to trigger the alarm without being detected, it was by no means weak.

Dirette put his left thumb in his mouth, bit it to draw blood, and scattered the blood into the air.

Immediately, bone fragments charged with magic sprang from his chest and simultaneously activated their spells.

—What is that! Really bad feeling!

A powerful summon, on a different level from the shadow summon he had temporarily called forth earlier, appeared.

It was a large, grotesque bird, and it spoke, indicating the rear, as if it possessed a spirit.

But Dirette’s magic was not over yet.

Each time another bone fragment burst into flames in the air, powerful black magic spells were cast.

Golems with glowing green eyes grabbed a huge wall of bone and shoved it forward to crush the enemy.

Lee Han’s expression also changed as he visually confirmed the enemy’s appearance.

A massive mass of black magic, thick and sticky like tar, oozing malice and darkness, was rushing through the forest like a wave.

This was definitely not a monster that had naturally spawned in the forest.

‘The Headmaster’s crazy doppelganger? The magical criminal?’

He didn’t know which of the two had left it, but that wasn’t important now.

Lee Han immediately cast various spells, ready to slow the enemy down.

Bzzzt! Crackle!

Bolts of ice and lightning EXPLODED from Lee Han’s hands, a storm of magic bullets!

Seeing that, Dirette smiled despite himself as he hastily prepared his own magic. It was rare to have such a reliable junior.

“The impact…” Lee Han frowned as the enemy quickly reformed after being hit.

An enemy with such powerful regenerative abilities would be difficult to defeat by simply attacking its physical form. It would become a fight that never ends, slowly wearing us down.

He needed to summon enough firepower to burn it all at once or strike at the opponent’s weakness…

“Blood dwelling in my bones, transform into poison and become a terrible curse!”

In the meantime, Dirette completed his spell.

‘A curse spell?!’

A curse spell that damaged the opponent’s very existence would certainly be effective.

Usually, wizards use curse magic to slow enemies down, not to seriously hurt them.

Lee Han, who also studied black magic, was impressed by how strong Dirette had made the curse.

“…Weak!” Dirette hissed in frustration. The curse hadn’t worked as well as he’d hoped.

-Dangerous! Dirette! Dangerous!-

The grotesque bird carrying the two warned.

Despite the golems and bone barrier holding the enemy back, it was getting closer at an increasing speed.

‘…I’ll make the first move!’

With a sinister incantation, Dirette pulled out a black, undulating sphere from his chest.

The surrounding space warped and screamed as soon as he took out the sphere, such was the compression of magic within it.

‘A microcosm!’

Lee Han realized what magic his senior was trying to use.

He had been studying it in the meantime, thanks to the Skull Headmaster’s insistence that he learn it.

He didn’t know what that sphere was, but it must have been helping to temporarily activate a microcosm.

Even with all the magic packed inside, it wasn’t enough. Dirette started forcing even more magic into the sphere, holding it tightly.

His face instantly turned pale, and blood streamed from his nose.

Growing desperate, Lee Han grabbed the sphere to help his senior.

“I’ll help too!”

Dirette was shocked. His eyes widened. Lee Han was trying to add magic to the sphere with his bare hands! Dirette was carefully drawing magic from around them, but Lee Han was just using his own body.

“…You crazy fool…!”

Lee Han pretended not to hear and averted his gaze.