Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 98

“This boat is good,” Leehan said.

Anglago tried to sound tough. “…Hmph. Don’t try to flatter me.” But inside, Anglago was pleased.

Leehan sighed quietly to himself.

‘It’s sad that this is the best I can do,’ Leehan thought.

“How many people can this thing actually hold?” Leehan asked Anglago.

Anglago said confidently, “It can easily carry twenty people!” But Leehan looked at the small boat. It looked like it could barely hold ten. Anglago’s confidence made Leehan even more worried.

“Perfect timing, Wodanaz. Get in!” Anglago said.

Leehan tried his best to remain calm, but his already cold face seemed to turn even colder.

Anglago flinched at the sight, wondering, ‘…Was I too harsh?’

“Before anyone gets on,” Leehan said, his voice steady, “show me how it rows first. It’s easier to row alone than with passengers.”

Anglago reacted very enthusiastically to Leehan’s words and threw off his coat and immediately climbed onto the boat.

“Alright, watch me!” Anglago grabbed a pair of rather well-crafted oars in each hand and began to row skillfully.

The sail-less boat glided across the calm surface of the lake.

Anglago’s friend, who was watching, exclaimed in admiration, “Excellent, Anglago!”

Anglago, gliding as smoothly as if the lake belonged to him, looked truly free.

The White Tiger Tower student felt a freedom he hadn’t felt in a long time as he watched Anglago row the boat.

It felt as if this was not a magic school, but a secluded and beautiful lake somewhere.

‘It’s not leaking,’ Leehan thought.

While Anglago and his friend enjoyed the peaceful lake, Leehan was thinking coldly.

First of all, and most importantly, the boat was not leaking.

And even though he had been wandering around the lake for more than ten minutes, there were no attacking monsters or the Headmaster Skeleton. It meant it was quite safe.

“So, Wodanaz, will you acknowledge Anglago’s skill?”

“I’m sorry. I can’t do that yet.”

“Why not!”

“Anyone can row well when they’re alone. But can he row like that when someone else is on board?”

Anglago’s friend, Dukema, frowned at Leehan. “Hey! Anglago’s a great rower! What are you saying?” He turned to Anglago. “Show him, Anglago! Show him you can row with me too!”

“Hmph. Of course!” Anglago immediately pulled the boat up to the lake shore.

Then, after taking his friend on board, he shouted, “Watch closely, Wodanaz!”

“I wonder about that. It’s impossible to row the same way as before with one more person on board,” Leehan said.

Leehan wanted to push Anglago. He said, “Anyone can row alone. But can you do it with someone else?” Anglago took the bait.

“Keep watching!” Anglago raced across the lake, cutting through the water more fiercely than before. He was rowing so hard that he was sweating profusely, and his arm muscles bulged.

For over twenty minutes, Leehan encouraged Anglago with words like, ‘I can’t tell yet,’ ‘He can do that for a short amount of time,’ ‘His true skills might be revealed soon.’

Leehan, having roughly confirmed everything he wanted to, nodded his head.

‘Unlike what I thought, I might be able to become friends with the White Tiger Tower guys,’ Leehan thought.

“Huff… Huff… Huff huff huff… Did you see… this is… my skill…”

“Okay, okay, you’re good,” Leehan said.

Anglago wanted to cheer when he heard this, but he was too tired. He simply lay down on the grass, panting.

Only after resting for a while was Anglago able to recover his strength and get up.

“Then I’ll try getting on too,” Leehan said.

“…Again?” Anglago let out a weak voice without realizing it.

Several rounds of rowing had made Anglago fearful.

When his opponent hesitated, Leehan simply encouraged him.

“Don’t tell me you’re not confi…”

“Get on!” Anglago jumped up and got on the boat. Anglago’s friend, Dukema, asked with a worried expression, “Wouldn’t it be better if I got off?”

“Dukema! Don’t you trust me?”

“…I’m sorry, Anglago. I’ve disregarded your honor!”

“Start quickly,” Leehan said in an indifferent voice. He wasn’t very interested in whether the two knights shared friendship or not.

‘First, I’ll check the location of the island,’ Leehan thought.

Now that he knew the boat was quite safe, he was going to check the location of the island and secure a path to get there.

Anglago gritted his teeth and began to row. The boat glided across the lake once again.

Leehan frowned and focused on seeing the things on the lake.

‘It would be nice to have a telescope,’ Leehan thought.

It would have been much easier if he knew how to use artifacts or magic.

Leehan suddenly remembered what Alar Long had told him.

-A swordsman who has reached the realm uses magic power to activate and strengthen his body. It is not as precise and systematic a power as magic, but it is more than enough power in a chaotic battle where life and death are at stake.

If that was true, he might be able to strengthen his eyesight with the power of magic.

Leehan drew up his magic power.

He was not yet at the level where he could freely control the magic power in his body, circulate it, and strengthen only one of his bodily organs.

Instead, Leehan had magic power that he could waste infinitely.

Leehan simply released magic power as if spewing it out all over his body. The magic power concentrated in his eyes temporarily strengthened his vision and was released.

“?!?!”

The two students jumped back. Suddenly, Leehan seemed different, more intense.

Come to think of it, they were on the lake.

A good place to throw away a corpse if someone died…!

Thwack!

The two White Tiger Tower students hurriedly grabbed their wooden swords. They couldn’t die like this.

At that moment, Leehan shouted, “I found it!”

“??”

“I found the island.”

“What?! How did you find it!” Anglago was very surprised.

He hadn’t been able to find any trace of the island, not when he was building the boat, nor after he had launched it.

He thought it would be absolutely impossible unless he went further out…

“I got lucky. But why are you holding your wooden swords?”

“……”

“…I, I just… I was surprised by your loud voice! We… we were just being careful.”

“You’re more timid than I thought.”

The White Tiger Tower students were speechless.

It’s because you suddenly released magic power!

Leehan carefully recorded the direction.

“Let’s go back for now. Now that I’ve confirmed the direction, we can come back again next time.”

“Alright. I understand,” Anglago said, secretly pleased.

His muscles had been screaming since earlier.

“Ugh.” Anglago was so tired he made a mistake with the oar.

‘What is it?’ Anglago, who had slipped, felt like he had stabbed something squishy with his oar and flinched.

Splash-

“…???”

And he soon found out what he had stabbed.

A mass of water that was changing shape in bulges under the surface of the lake popped out.

The energy of a spirit was felt.

It was a water spirit.

Ssshh!

The water spirit shot out sharp water spikes. Leehan kicked Dukema in the back, knocking him over.

The water spike narrowly brushed past Dukema’s head and flew away.

“S-Sorry! Wodanaz! I, I touched the water spirit!”

“Anglago! What did you do!” Dukema, who had fallen forward, shouted in a horrified voice.

To anger a water spirit on the lake. It was an unbelievable mistake.

‘No… it doesn’t seem angry,’ Leehan thought.

Unlike the flustered two, Leehan calmly observed the water spirit.

It was fierce, but compared to the oppressive feeling that a spirit like Perkunthra emitted, it was a much weaker spirit.

Judging from the fact that it didn’t have proper communication skills, it was clear that it wasn’t a high-level spirit.

And the emotion felt from the spirit was… Fear!

Leehan couldn’t understand why the water spirit was afraid of them.

Does it make sense to be afraid of being hit once by an oar?

‘…Damn it,’ Leehan thought and clicked his tongue.

He realized why the water spirit was acting like that.

The culprit was not Anglago, but Leehan.

The spirit in the water was terrified because he had recklessly released magic power to find the island earlier.

Ssshh, ssshh, ssshh, ssshh!

The terrified spirit fired water spikes to drive Leehan away.

The White Tiger Tower students screamed as sharp water spikes shot towards them. But Leehan didn’t even blink. He just swung his staff to block them.

With a dull cracking sound, the water orbs that shot up from the lake accurately intercepted the spikes.

‘It looks threatening at first glance, but it’s not that strong in reality,’ Leehan thought.

The White Tiger Tower students were deceived by the appearance, but if they had responded calmly, they could have avoided or blocked the attack sufficiently.

To Leehan, who had blocked Professor Voladi’s attacks countless times, the spikes fired by the spirit were no longer a threat.

‘Th-This guy…’ Anglago wondered what kind of training made Leehan so unfazed by danger.

He couldn’t believe that they had entered together and learned together.

Leehan turned his head and looked down at Anglago with a blank expression.

Water spikes were flying, but he didn’t even look at them and deflected them while looking at him, which made Anglago’s heart sink.

“Pull yourself together and get up. I need your strength,” Leehan said.

“Y-You’re not blaming me?”

“……”

Leehan wondered what he was talking about for a moment.

‘Ah. He thinks it’s his fault,’ Leehan thought.

Anglago seemed to think that the reason the water spirit was acting like this was because he had stabbed it once with his oar.

To have such a misunderstanding.

“It is your fault. But anyone can make a mistake,” Leehan said.

If so, there was no need for Leehan to correct him.

“The important thing is how you act afterwards.”

Anglago was moved without realizing it.

To think that the day would come when he would be so moved by the words of a Wodanaz guy…!

“Alright. Leave it to me!” Anglago drew his sword and stood up.

Then Leehan said as if asking what he was doing, “What are you doing?”

“…Weren’t I supposed to deflect the spikes? With my swordsmanship?”

“No. Row the boat.”

“……” Anglago sat down again and grabbed the oar.

Meanwhile, the water spirit realized that no attack worked against that monstrous being.

Trembling, the water spirit made another choice.

“…Wait!”

Leehan belatedly noticed and tried to stop him urgently, but the water spirit had already begun to call his other friends.

“Shield, unfold!” Leehan spread out the shield widely instead of water orbs.

The frightened water spirits began to target the boat instead of Leehan.

‘These spirits are annoying,’ Leehan thought. He decided he would be more careful around water spirits in the future.

Leehan maintained his composure while making the water shield thicker, but the two White Tiger Tower knights screamed at the water spikes that continued to fly and hit them.

The spikes that flew and hit them murderously beyond the opaque water shield might penetrate at any moment.

It was even scarier because Leehan seemed so relaxed.

Aren’t you scared?!

‘Professor Voladi would shed tears if he saw this,’ Leehan thought.

Leehan was dumbfounded by the spirits’ attacks, which only attacked in a straight line without any change.

Shouldn’t they know by now that they can’t break through the water shield and keep doing the same attack?

As the fierce battle unfolded, the boat gained speed faster and faster.

The distance from the frightened spirits began to widen.

“…Wait. Where are you driving it?”

Leehan realized that the boat was running towards the opposite side of the lake shore.

Anglago had come to the island because he was rowing so frantically.