Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 993

“Wodanaz, don’t worry!” Yoner called out, a grin on his face. “It’s okay!”

Gynan Do nodded quickly, his eyes wide but friendly. “Yeah, we don’t mind at all. Really!”

Lee Han felt a warmth spread through him. His friends, as always, were there for him. Friendship, he thought, was a stronger magic than he sometimes remembered.

Lee Han was touched as his friends cheered him on, telling him not to worry.

“You guys…”

“Wodanaz, you’ve always been like that. It’s not surprising at all.”

“Yeah. Last time, you mastered it as soon as you sat down.”

“……”

Lee Han was a little surprised by their reaction; it wasn’t quite the supportive friendship he had imagined.

“It’s, it’s not that extreme, is it?”

“What are you talking about? You’ve mastered it even before sitting down.”

“That’s right. Honestly, what I just said was a bit of an understatement.”

Lee Han felt embarrassed by his friends’ teasing. He wanted to give an example of how he also struggled while learning magic, just like them, but it wasn’t easy.

Feeling cornered, Lee Han opened his mouth without thinking.

“Small worl…”

“Huh? What did you say?”

“…Nothing.”

No matter how he thought about it, saying, ‘I’m having a hard time mastering the Small World these days’ sounded crazy. Lee Han quickly caught himself.

“Alright! Let’s start the lecture! Everyone, please clap for Archmage Eldrune, who has agreed to help with today’s lecture!”

“Stop.”

Clap…

Gynan Do, who was about to clap, glanced around and quietly stopped moving.

Professor Rogine wasn’t bothered by the cold attitude of the mad doppelganger.

Professor Rogine used to work for the Empire. People from the Empire’s government were good at handling crazy wizards.

“Still, you should be thanked.”

“That’s right. Master. That’s the proper manners these days.”

‘Is he crazy?’ Professor Rogine looked at her student with surprise, even though she herself had rebelled.

But the surprise of this fox beastkin professor was understandable.

Professor Rogine was just cautiously speaking, trying to understand the situation, but the boy from the Wodanaz family was just… being cheeky…

“Hmph. I understand. Let’s get it over with quickly.”

Clap clap clap clap clap clap…

The most unenthusiastic applause in the history of Einroguard filled the lecture hall. The mad doppelganger glared at Gynan Do, who made eye contact.

“To only make that little sound while clapping. Is that all the gratitude you have, wizard?”

“Hick!”

Gynan Do looked tearful and clapped even harder.

“Now! Let’s continue studying the ancient characters we covered in the last exam. Unlike the wizards of the past, modern wizards must learn even more characters and languages. It’s unfair, but what can we do?”

“That’s right. And wizards must not forget this fact. Characters and languages are lost and accumulate over time. In any era, there have always been many characters and languages that wizards must learn.”

“Thank you for the kind words, Archmage Eldrune! Everyone heard that, right? Don’t complain from now on.”

Professor Rogine was thrilled by the help from the old archmage.

Oriphylas used to interrupt the lecture by saying things like, ‘Why bother learning characters and languages? Just make a contract with a demon who knows them and solve it in one go,’ but as expected, the headmaster’s doppelganger was different.

“Is there perhaps a magic that allows you to learn characters and languages all at once?” Gynan Do asked, still not giving up hope.

Despite the professors and friends scolding him, saying, ‘Magic isn’t that convenient,’ he kept hoping for such a thing as a wizard.

As if rewarding his courage, the mad doppelganger readily answered.

“There is.”

“…Yes!?”

“Does it really exist!?”

Not only Gynan Do but also the other students were surprised.

Does such magic exist?

Lee Han asked as if he didn’t understand.

“How can such magic exist? Replacing the vast amount of information that a wizard doesn’t know with magic…”

“You’re still trying to limit magic. You can use your unique world.”

“…Ah, yes.”

The students quickly calmed down.

No matter how lazy the Einroguard students were, they weren’t stupid enough to master their unique world just because they didn’t want to learn ancient languages.

Gynan Do whispered to Yoner, not giving up.

“Maybe Lee Han will master it for us?”

“…Don’t ever say that in front of Lee Han…”

Of course, Lee Han had heard everything.

While Lee Han was internally reducing the snack ration by 30%, Professor Rogine continued the lecture with a satisfied voice.

“Everyone heard that, right? There is no easy way to learn magic. Now, Lee Han! As the top scorer on the last exam, would you tell your friends how you figured it out and what books you used?”

The last midterm exam was to figure out the meaning of the ancient characters on your own.

Since it wasn’t about solving it right away, the purpose of this exam was obviously something else.

All sorts of ancient languages and characters are still common in the Empire.

The goal was to get experience in finding and figuring them out so they wouldn’t be confused when they saw them.

That was the real purpose of this exam.

Professor Rogine wanted the boy from the Wodanaz family to tell his friends the name of the book he had found. It would be a great help for his friends.

“Uh… well…”

“It was quite old, wasn’t it? It looks like you used an old book, not a newer one. Is that right?”

“Well…”

The mad doppelganger told him to hurry when his student wasted time.

“Answer quickly.”

“…Actually, I asked a magic criminal who is locked up…”

“……”

“……”

The lecture hall suddenly became silent.

Even his friends, who would usually say, ‘Wodanaz is always like that!’ no matter what Lee Han did, were speechless.

“There, there was a magic criminal locked up? Where?”

“Wodanaz must have locked him up in his room?”

As his friends whispered things like, ‘Wodanaz locked up a magic criminal in his room?’, Gynan Do got angry.

“No! That’s not it! Lee Han has never locked up a magic criminal in his room! He’s just friends with a magic criminal locked up in the workshop!”

“……”

This explanation sounded just as strange. Lee Han sighed deeply.

“How can you be friends with a magic criminal locked up in the workshop? Are you wrong, Prince?”

“Maybe Wodanaz thinks being beaten up is being friends…”

“Well, the White Tiger Tower guys always think being beaten up is being friends.”

“What, you punk?”

“Everyone, stop it. He just turned him into a hamster and locked him up. He just asked him while feeding him.”

It was a statement that would make even the student who loved hamsters the most not want to see a hamster again.

The mad doppelganger said, not happy.

“There was no need to ask such a low-level person.”

“The question was too easy, so I didn’t want to bother you, Master.”

In fact, the mad doppelganger had ignored even useless questions, but Lee Han flattered him like a good student.

Meanwhile, Professor Rogine, who had recovered from the shock, spoke again.

“A living wizard will teach better than books or scrolls! Great, Lee Han!”

“Professor, but the hamster magic criminal is a bit…”

One of the students was about to ask if this was okay, but Professor Rogine quickly pretended not to hear.

Honestly, Professor Rogine was so shocked that she didn’t know what to say.

-Cough!

A cough came from behind, and Lee Han turned his head without thinking.

And then he was surprised.

It was the mad doppelganger who was covering his mouth and coughing.

‘No way?!’ Gynan Do might catch a cold, but the mad doppelganger wasn’t someone who could get sick.

But such a cough?

Lee Han asked, confused.

“Master, are you okay?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You just coughed like you were sick.”

“I didn’t. Pay attention to the lesson. You must be getting too relaxed these days, saying nonsense.”

“……”

He would have been scared in the past, but Lee Han didn’t even blink.

Instead, he looked at his master with suspicion.

‘His reaction is even stranger?’

“Master, did you perhaps drink or eat something?”

Professor Uregeoreum was a sly and mean professor, and it wouldn’t be surprising if he had poisoned Hadok without Lee Han knowing.

Lee Han was always respectful to the professors of Einroguard. The professors were capable of anything beyond Lee Han’s imagination.

“You’re being too rude. Do you think I won’t punish you just because you are a member of the royal family?”

After saying that, the mad doppelganger frowned and coughed again. Lee Han was shocked.

“It’s poison!”

“What!? Where!?”

“Did the Prince spill it?!”

“Hey! You should suspect the Alchemy School!”

“The Black Magic School is more suspicious…”

“Professor, my master seems to be poisoned. I’ll take him outside for a moment!”

“Lee Han! Wait…”

Professor Rogine tried to stop her student, sensing that something was wrong.

It was very unlikely for an archmage who was the headmaster’s doppelganger to be poisoned without anyone knowing.

But before she could stop him, Lee Han quickly took his master outside. Then he sent a paper bird to Intarendals.

“Intarendals! It’s here!”

“Lee Han, what is this…”

Intarendals, who had rushed over after getting the message, was surprised by what he saw.

Lee Han was running with the mad doppelganger floating above his head with magic. It was a strange and bizarre sight.

“My master seems to have been attacked! He didn’t even fight back!”

“Well, even so, lifting him up like that is…”

Intarendals quickly grabbed the mad doppelganger and politely lifted him up with both hands.

No matter how much wizards cared about being efficient, that was a bit much.

“Let’s go to the workshop. I had something to tell Lee Han anyway.”

Intarendals arrived at the workshop in the mountains and took the mad doppelganger inside.

Lee Han was told to wait for a moment, and he felt calmer during the break.

‘…Is it not Professor Uregeoreum?’

Now that he thought about it, the culprit might not be Professor Uregeoreum.

No matter how he thought about it, Professor Uregeoreum had weak reasons and not a good chance.

Rather…

-What’s going on?

“My master has collapsed.”

-That was faster than I thought.

The hamster answered calmly from inside the sawdust. Lee Han was surprised and asked.

“Did you know?!”

-Of course, I knew. Were you the only one who didn’t know?

The hamster was puzzled when it seemed that Lee Han really didn’t know.

Thought forms weren’t common, but to not have heard the story while being a formal student…

“Could it be…”

-You seem to have an idea. That’s right.

“…Intarendals is the culprit…!”

-A thought form can’t last long in the real world. If it could last forever, Archmage Eldrune’s doppelgangers would have taken over the Empire and acted as lords.

“…Ah. Because it’s a thought form.”

-What did you say?

“It’s nothing. Indeed. I was expecting it too.”

Lee Han ignored it and thought about what to do.

Hearing the hamster’s words, something clicked in his mind as if the puzzles were being put together.

The mad doppelganger had been acting strange lately.

If that was because his time was running out…

“Then what should I do?”

‘This punk. Am I your master?’

The hamster was angry, but he held back for now.

The opponent was a wizard holding grapes, and he was a hamster.

-You have to quickly end it.

Thwack!

The grape hit the hamster’s back. The hamster squeaked in pain.

-Why!?

“How can you say that now?”

-I’m serious, you idiot! Do you think the thought form will disappear on its own? It will destroy everything around it until then… Stop throwing grapes?!”