Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 899

“But how do I get his attention?”

Ehandurde thought hard.

Before, in the arena, he just fought to win. His motto was almost ‘Attack first!’ But Einrogard was different. He learned the world was bigger than he knew, with many strong people. His old tricks from the arena wouldn’t work here.

Ihan, the Wodanaz boy who was telling off other students, was one of those strong people.

“Hey! Clean up this mess now!”

“I was going to! Later. I was studying.”

“Studying? Come on! I saw you playing wizard cards with Gainando!”

“How did you see? You weren’t even looking! I put an illusion on it!”

Ihan told the others to stop playing and tidy up the lounge for those who wanted to study. He told the students playing chess and marbles, “Time to study! Exams are soon!”

“Wodanaz, you! What if we do better than you on the exam because of this!”

“…Hey. No matter how angry you are, don’t say ridiculous things.”

Ihan used magic to brew a lot of coffee for the alchemy students. Hot water shot from the pot over the fire and filled each cup perfectly. It was like magic!

“Amazing skill!” one student exclaimed.

“Speaking of Wodanaz’s coffee magic, the seniors don’t believe it,” said another. “They say, what kind of crazy person wastes magic on something like that…”

Yoner carefully measured sugar on a scale and put it in each person’s coffee. “Sugar is precious, don’t waste it,” he said.

“I trust that none of you are Gainando, secretly taking more to eat at night,” Yoner added with a grin.

“…Hey!” Gainando protested.

“Sorry. I should have said students, but I said Gainando,” Yoner chuckled.

Usually, students would be in their rooms or walking outside at night. But during exam time, second-year students always gathered in the lounge. It was a tradition. Maybe the biggest reason was Yoner, who was like a nanny to everyone.

“Ehandurde. Get some coffee too,” Yoner offered.

“Thank you!” Ehandurde replied.

“Are you preparing well for the midterm?” Yoner asked.

“Uh… yes,” Ehandurde replied, blinking and looking away.

Most first-year students only liked the classes they were good at.

“Tell me your grades later during vacation. I’m worried that you’re wasting time because of His Highness Jowlin,” Yoner said with concern.

“It’s okay! I’m only studying what I need!” Ehandurde insisted.

“…Ehandurde? Ehandurde??” Yoner called out as Ehandurde, having received his coffee, quickly left. Yoner had a strict side, so he probably wouldn’t like hearing that his junior was studying efficiently.

‘Please hurry!’ The baby basilisk, perched on the windowsill, wagged its tail at Ehandurde as if pleading. Ehandurde gestured slightly, as if to tell it to wait.

It was easy to forget, seeing Yoner making coffee and bringing snacks, but he was a formidable powerhouse.

Ehandurde thought hard. He needed a clever way to get Ihan’s attention for Jowlin’s plan. It had to be subtle, not obvious.

“Ehandurde. What are you doing there?” Ihan asked.

“Hick!” Ehandurde blurted out.

“?” Ihan was puzzled when his junior jumped up and down.

“I’m worried you’re staying here too long because of His Highness. I’ll pack you some snacks, so why don’t you go back soon?” Ehandurde stammered.

“I, I’ll stay a little longer,” Ehandurde replied.

“Why?” Ihan asked, tilting his head.

Ehandurde quickly thought of something.

“His Highness can’t sleep if I’m not next to him!” Ehandurde exclaimed.

Ihan looked at Ehandurde, a little surprised. “Really? He can’t sleep without you? Are you sure?”

It was a story that the dragon next to the fireplace would have been furious about, saying, ‘What are you making Jowlin out to be, an idiot?!’, but fortunately, he didn’t hear it.

Ehandurde didn’t feel a shred of guilt. In the end, wasn’t he saying all this to help Jowlin’s plan? The baby basilisk seemed to think so too, and signaled from the windowsill that he had done well.

‘A subtle and ingenious strategy. A subtle and ingenious strategy…’

As Ehandurde was pondering, Ihan asked him again.

“Do you have any questions about the lectures? Especially Professor Begrek’s? Everyone struggles with his class, exams, and homework…”

“?” Ehandurde looked confused.

“Sorry. I should have mentioned other professors, but it was just a momentary thing,” Ihan apologized.

Asking a question! That’s it! Strong students like Ihan probably love to show off their knowledge by answering questions.

“I have a question!” Ehandurde announced.

“Oh. Really? Go ahead,” Ihan said, smiling.

Ihan brought a chair and told him to sit down. Gainando came up from behind, looking tearful and listless.

“Ihan…” Gainando whimpered.

“Take out the leg-cramping potion, Gainando. The poison doesn’t suit your skeleton very well right now, and it’ll be hard to withstand,” Ihan advised.

“Thank you!” Gainando said gratefully.

‘Ma, magic!?’ Ehandurde was shocked as he sat down in the chair. How could he answer that without even looking back or asking about the situation?!

‘The top student… is really amazing…!’

Ehandurde thought about Peng-Erin, the penguin student in their year. Unlike the other Blue Dragon Tower students who went around playing during breaks, this student, who focused only on magic, even sacrificing sleep, was always mentioned when the topic of the top student came up.

Will Peng-Erin be able to do this in just a year??

‘I can’t believe it…!’

“Alright, Ehandurde. Professor Begrek’s magic… well, it’s known for being the most tricky and difficult…” Ihan began.

“?” Ehandurde tilted his head at the teaching that seemed to have a strange mix of emotions, but listened attentively for now.

The baby basilisk started to move. Its target: the potion pouch on Ihan’s belt. It was going to… well, it wasn’t quite sure *what* it was going to do, but it felt like a good idea at the time.

‘Going in!’

The baby basilisk jumped from the windowsill and climbed onto the bookshelf. Then, it jumped from the bookshelf and landed on Adenart’s parchment.

Adenart carefully picked up the baby basilisk and returned it to Ihan. The baby basilisk, whose stealthy approach had failed, was utterly dejected.

‘Pathetic creature.’

Ehandurde looked at the baby basilisk with contempt. Jowlin, who was pretending to doze off near the fireplace, seemed to be casting a contemptuous gaze as well, perhaps because of his mood.

‘W-Well, that’s what I was originally trying to do.’

The baby basilisk rationalized to himself and slowly crawled out of Ihan’s sleeve again. Then, it went down to his waist and tapped the potion pouch string with its tail…

“What are you doing?” Ihan asked.

The baby basilisk froze. It couldn’t have frozen more still if it had turned to stone itself.

“Do you need this? Do you want to play with it? Here,” Ihan said, untying the potion pouch and handing it to the baby basilisk.

After all, he kept the important potions separately, and this pouch only contained potions that he needed to use urgently. It didn’t matter if the baby basilisk played with it.

‘Wow!’

The baby basilisk naturally took the potion pouch as if it had planned this. Ihan and the students looked at the baby basilisk rolling around with the potion pouch with a pleased expression.

“He’s still a baby, after all,” one student cooed.

“Even though he acts childish, he’s cute,” another added.

Trembling with humiliation, the baby basilisk barely returned to Jowlin.

‘I’ll never do it again!!’

‘Well done. Jowlin will praise you!’

‘I don’t need it…’

While the baby basilisk was grumbling, Jowlin carefully took out the dragonstone. As Jowlin took out the golden dragonstone from his mouth, it shone brightly. It was a many-sided shape, like a diamond, and light burst out of it, filling the lounge like a wave of sunlight.

“What is it!?” someone shouted.

“Hey! Are you using the lounge alone! Which bastard is it!” another yelled.

“I lost my concentration! Ah! I could have gotten a perfect score!” a third complained.

Jowlin moved the fastest he had ever moved in his life. As his forepaw quickly covered the dragonstone, the sunlight disappeared.

“Wodanaz. You have to find the culprit!” one of the students demanded.

“Don’t pull any tricks and sit down and study,” Ihan retorted.

“…Okay…” the student grumbled.

Fortunately, the students didn’t try to find the culprit. Ihan didn’t seem to suspect much either, thinking that someone had made a magical mistake. In a way, it was natural since none of the students had actually seen the dragonstone.

Whew.

Jowlin carefully lifted his forepaw. Now, the dragonstone, which had dimmed a bit, revealed its appearance.

‘Wow. That’s really amazing,’

The baby basilisk exclaimed unintentionally. The power of the dragon was truly amazing, enough to command respect even from the king of snakes. The powerful and complex power contained within that ore…!

‘I put it all in. Now I just need to return it! Then Jowlin will pretend to be asleep.’

‘I don’t think it’ll work.’

As he hurried to put the potion pouch back, the baby basilisk thought to himself. Now that it’s come to this, will they really be fooled?

Professor Thunderstride yawned. Morning sun. New week. Midterm exams. Student suffering. And possibly… student attacks? He knew it was unlikely, but at Einrogard, you never knew.

“Professor.” Ihan’s voice called out.

Professor Thunderstride paused at the familiar voice of his student.

‘Is it an attack?’

It’s known that students at Einrogard start trying to attack professors in their third year. The success rate was close to 0, but it was originally difficult to make rational judgments in Einrogard. And considering the skills and guts of the boy from the Wodanaz family, it wouldn’t be strange if he tried it in his second year.

‘High probability. There’s no reason for him to come now.’

The midterm exam could take all week to prepare for. It was impossible for even Wodanaz to finish it in a day.

Professor Thunderstride put his hand in his pocket and loaded a potion. Then, he slowly turned around.

‘What. It’s not an attack.’

The professor was relieved when he saw his student’s expression. A dark expression full of despair, anger, and bitterness, not a cunning scheme. He was just a normal Einrogard student facing an exam.

“What is it. Wodanaz. Did you come to ask something?” Professor Thunderstride asked.

“It’s not that…” Ihan mumbled.

“But where is His Highness?” Professor Thunderstride was puzzled when he didn’t see the Dragon Highness, who usually followed Ihan around like a baby bird.

Ihan’s expression darkened even more.

“His Highness is grounded.” Ihan said.

“…What? Grounded?” Professor Thunderstride repeated in disbelief.

“Yes,” Ihan confirmed.

“Did he do something wrong?” the professor inquired.

“You could say that,” Ihan sighed.

“Still, grounding His Highness! That’s amazing,” Professor Thunderstride was honestly impressed. Who else could be so strict with Jowlin? It was something that was difficult to do unless it was that boy from the Wodanaz family.

‘It’s not for nothing that the old saying goes, monsters are defeated by monsters.’

“No. I think I took care of him wrong,” Ihan said with a deep sigh. He looked unusually bitter and weak.

Professor Thunderstride was surprised to see Ihan looking so sad.

“Why, why are you doing that? Did something happen?” he asked with concern.

“It’s just… His Highness keeps acting on his own these days, and I can’t help but think it’s my fault,” Ihan explained.

“Hahaha! What nonsense… No, do you really think so?” Professor Thunderstride exclaimed.

“His Highness is a growing dragon. It’s natural for him to act on his own! Don’t you remember him breaking the classroom wall last time?” the professor reminded him.

At this rate, Jowlin was growing up very well. He wasn’t trying to eat people, he wasn’t interested in evil visions, and he wasn’t stealing other people’s property to pile up in his dwelling…

“Come to think of it, he came out to find me,” Ihan added.

“Enough. So why did you come? Did you come to ask for a potion to reduce his mischief?” Professor Thunderstride asked.

“Ah. No. I came to submit the exam,” Ihan replied.

Professor Thunderstride nearly lost his balance and fell.