Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 745

‘What kind of strange math is this?’

Clearly, he had many disciples, yet he argued like this.

It was like a child denying they ate the cookies when their face is covered in crumbs.

“Please, reconsider. Those disciples who tried to… you know, set the continent ablaze or incinerate the royal family…”

The mad doppelganger snapped his fingers, unleashing a shockwave.

Rolling backward, Lee Han cursed inwardly.

‘Couldn’t he just say it? Did he have to do this?’

Dealing with these old people was hard work.

“There’s rudeness, and then there’s this. Do you have no concept of etiquette?”

The mad doppelganger looked at Lee Han with real contempt.

How dare he talk back like that in front of royalty?

He knew he was rude, but this rudeness was hard to take.

“…I apologize. I’m not good at etiquette.”

Lee Han gritted his teeth, planning to assassinate the mad doppelganger along with Headmaster Skull one day.

But for now, he had to put up with it.

The man was like a thug with a wand.

“Indeed, you wouldn’t be, you commoner.”

‘…I can see why the Black Tortoise Tower dislikes the Blue Dragon Tower.’

Lee Han promised himself he would punch any Blue Dragon Tower student who mentioned family from now on.

“The royal family thinks you might be mistaking a doppelganger for something else.”

“…?”

Lee Han was surprised when the mad doppelganger mentioned doppelgangers.

“There are some people who ran away from this royal family. You are foolish and rude, so you might mistake the royal family for those people. I will forgive you this once, but don’t make that mistake again. Understand, you commoner?”

Lee Han, being careful not to offend him, asked if he could ask a question, hoping to get some information.

No matter how he thought about it, it seemed strange that the mad doppelganger insisted, ‘I am the original, and the rest are just copies.’

Nevertheless, after taking a few more hits, Lee Han had the following conversation.

-Isn’t it usually the doppelganger who only wants fame, while the original has much more?

-If you make butter from milk, a lot of stuff is left over. Does that mean the stuff left over is the butter? The most important thing is the essence.

-…Ah… Yes… So, you don’t think the disciples of the doppelgangers are good enough?

-Yes.

I understand. You can stop hitting me now.

-I was just answering; why are you hitting me again…

‘I got hit a few extra times for no reason.’

Lee Han, wanting to stop making the mad doppelganger angry, asked one last question.

“By the way… isn’t there a wizard named Antagon-dals? Isn’t he a disciple?”

“That one is a servant.”

The mad doppelganger glared at Lee Han with a cold look.

How dare he think of a lowly slave as a disciple of the royal family.

If Lee Han wasn’t a rude commoner who knew nothing about manners, he would be punished badly for being so disrespectful.

“…?”

Of course, Lee Han was confused.

Lee Han didn’t know much about Antagon-dals, but he knew that he was a great wizard, considered a grand mage among magical criminals.

Of course, he was much more skilled than Lee Han.

But, he treated Antagon-dals as a servant while thinking of Lee Han as a disciple.

‘That’s strange?’

“That… servant is better at magic than I am, right?”

The mad doppelganger sighed with a look of contempt, then shouted into the air.

“Fate, be cursed! Why won’t you give this royal family a worthy disciple and instead throw a foolish commoner at me!”

‘Then send me back, you son of a bitch.’

Lee Han cursed in his head, speechless.

It had been less than a few hours since he started talking to the mad doppelganger, and he already missed the Einroguard professors.

Complaining after kidnapping him.

Even Professor Verdus wouldn’t say such things.

Anyway, the mad doppelganger complained about his bad luck a few times before putting a caterpillar on his finger.

Right away, the caterpillar turned into a butterfly.

“Can this caterpillar fly, or can it not?”

“It can fly.”

“Why? It’s a caterpillar, isn’t it?”

“It’s a butterfly now.”

The mad doppelganger let the butterfly fly away.

Then, he stopped a rat running through the rocks in the distance and asked.

“Can that rat fly, or can it not?”

“It cannot fly.”

“Why? If it lives long enough, it might grow wings, right?”

“A rat won’t grow wings even if it lives a long time.”

“That’s right. Commoner. Knowing this, why do you ask pointless questions?”

The mad doppelganger hit Lee Han again.

Lee Han took the hit and thought.

‘So… is it about potential?’

He couldn’t be sure what this mad doppelganger was thinking, but he guessed that he needed a disciple.

Not just any disciple, but one to make him proud.

He didn’t know what he wanted in a disciple, but it seemed that potential was more important than skill.

Honestly, it didn’t seem like the wizard Antagon-dals lacked potential…

“I understand now.”

“Ha! You’re so slow.”

“…What do I have to do to become that honorable disciple?”

Lee Han started to seriously think about how to escape.

The best way was to convince this mad doppelganger to let him go.

Since escaping on his own was hard, as he had just learned, convincing him seemed more likely.

Luckily, even though this mad doppelganger was mad, he was mad in a consistent way, so if he could convince him, he might let him go.

“Is it enough to master that shield magic from earlier?”

“Even a stable boy could do that, not just a disciple.”

“……”

The stable boys of the ancient kingdom must have been very skilled in magic.

“Then what must I master?”

“The real essence can’t be talked about like that, commoner. But since you’re so slow, let me explain…”

Lee Han got ready.

What magic would he have to master to be sent back?

“…Let’s start with incantation magic.”

“……”

Lee Han changed his plans right away.

‘I have to escape no matter what.’

To master enough magic to please this mad doppelganger, Lee Han might have to stay in Einroguard even after his friends graduated.

Meanwhile, back at Einroguard, Lee Han’s friends were starting to worry.

Anglophone sat with a thoughtful look, thinking hard.

‘Should I go play Quidditch, or should I study for next week?’

To do his part in the club, he needed to practice even harder than now.

The upperclassmen were not easy to deal with.

Wordanaz was already being considered for the attacker position, so Anglophone couldn’t let himself fall behind.

But, studying for next week was also more important than he thought.

All the second-year students felt it.

This year was different!

As if to show that last year’s classes were easy for freshmen, the professors were teaching quickly and intensely.

If the first week was this hard, he couldn’t imagine what the next week or the week after would be like.

Even the White Tiger Tower students were saying, ‘Shouldn’t we study for this?’

Pop-

“?”

Anglophone tilted his head, looking through his backpack when he heard a sound.

‘What is it?’

The sound came from the bundle of paper messages shared among the best students of each tower.

Thinking that some interesting story had come up, Anglophone opened the bundle of paper.

-Guys, I’ve been kidnapped by Headmaster’s mad doppelganger. I think I need help.

-How on earth…!

-Where were you kidnapped to?

“!!!”

Anglophone was shocked.

It seemed that one of the eight students had been kidnapped by Headmaster’s mad doppelganger.

When Wordanaz had said, ‘Be careful of Headmaster’s mad doppelganger,’ it hadn’t really seemed real, but now Anglophone’s friend had been kidnapped.

It was a scary thing.

-So what Wordanaz said was true! I thought he was only in the outskirts, but he’s kidnapping students?! He really is Headmaster’s mad doppelganger. Wordanaz, what are you going to do? How are you going to rescue that poor guy?

-Anglophone. It’s Wordanaz who’s been kidnapped.

-……

Anglophone froze, with a blank look, dripping ink.

He had never thought that Wordanaz would be the one kidnapped out of the eight.

-N-no way! Not Tutankhamun Richmond?!

-I think I know who you usually want to be kidnapped. But sadly, it’s not him.

-…Sorry to interrupt everyone’s fun, but could you please think about how to escape?

-Wordanaz, even if you’ve been kidnapped by the mad doppelganger, you must not lose hope. Do you have any useful things with you? Anything that can contact the outside…

‘What is it?’

Anglophone was confused by the quickly rising letters.

Who is it?

-Your Highness. You can write slowly.

“……”

-And some things were taken away. There was something that could call the Headmaster, but he knew it was his magic right away, probably because he’s a doppelganger.

-Something that could do what??

-Anglophone. Is that important right now?

-Anglophone. Are you maybe a spy for the mad doppelganger?

-Ah, no… sorry. Damn it.

-Wordanaz. Where are you?

-Somewhere in the mountains, but I’m not sure.

‘This is a disaster.’

Anglophone looked sad.

Sometimes friends at Einroguard would go missing for a few days, but it usually didn’t last more than a week.

But Wordanaz’s situation seemed like it would last a long time.

Just thinking about Wordanaz being gone made this semester seem hard.

Would he be able to get through this year, which was even harder than last year?

Thud-

As the door to the private room closed, Giselle came downstairs.

Anglophone shouted with a happy voice.

“Moradi! Did you see!?”

“Yeah. This is a big problem.”

“Right. It’s hard to ask about magic without Wordanaz.”

“It’s not just that.”

Giselle felt a headache coming on and touched her forehead.

“The whole second-year system is going to fall apart.”

“W-what? What do you mean fall apart? Because we can’t pass the exams?”

“Wordanaz was the one who got the supplies and traded them. Besides, Wordanaz made the deals with the Black Tortoise Tower guys possible, but now he’s gone. Can you trust the Black Tortoise Tower guys without him?”

“…No. That would be hard…”

“It would be okay if we had been working alone from the start, but suddenly stopping in a situation like this will cause problems for everyone. We have to bring Wordanaz back.”

“But… can we find him when we don’t even know where he is?”

“It’s not about whether we can or not; we have to find him. But, things are a little better than last year. We have upperclassmen.”

Anglophone’s face lit up at Giselle’s words.

Of course, there were upperclassmen who were more experienced and skilled than them.

“Of course, they won’t want to get involved with Headmaster’s mad doppelganger.”

“Then let’s trick them!”

“……”

Giselle looked unsure at Anglophone’s idea to trick a fellow knight and upperclassman without thinking.

She was planning to trick them too, but the other person had changed too much.

“Right. If we take them with us while hiding the real reason…”

-I’m going to see the Headmaster now. If I see him, I will ask him to save Wordanaz…

“……”