Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 997

As the wizard who brought the strange world disappeared, that world faded away, like night turning into day. The starlight that helped the wizard’s student also went back to the sky.

When all the powerful magic was gone, everything became quiet. Headmaster Skull was the first to speak, breaking the silence.

“…Well,” Headmaster Skull said, his voice sounding annoyed. “I guess it’s over.”

He was clearly not happy. Letting the doppelganger go up to a higher place was better than trapping him forever, or forcing him back. Headmaster Skull even felt a little sorry for the doppelganger.

But he was still bitter. This person had caused so much trouble – kidnapping a student, wrecking the school – and then just decided to leave!

And if he could have been convinced to leave peacefully… couldn’t he have done that *before* Headmaster Skull spent a huge amount of money on powerful magic?

‘Oh well,’ Headmaster Skull thought, deciding to forget about it. What was done was done.

“Batnaz,” Headmaster Skull said, “you went through a lot. You’re stubborn, but you were lucky. Don’t do that again.”

Batnaz didn’t answer.

“Batnaz?”

Ihan still stayed silent. Headmaster Skull realized his student was sulking. He sounded surprised. “Are you really going to be angry now, Batnaz? *I* should be angry! This was like becoming immortal! Why are you acting like this?”

If Batnaz had been trapped forever, Headmaster Skull would have understood this reaction. He would have thought, ‘Fine, be angry. I don’t care.’ He was used to his students complaining about silly things.

But Ihan’s reason was different from what Headmaster Skull expected.

“If you hadn’t interfered, Headmaster,” Ihan finally said quietly, “he could have gone to the higher place in a better way. He could have left a longer message. He could have said goodbye to his friends…”

‘Is going to a higher place a joke to him!?’ Headmaster Skull was even more surprised by this emotional reason. His other students complained about not learning enough magic, not getting enough tasks, or being seen as weak. But Batnaz was upset about not having enough time for goodbyes?

“This was incredibly lucky! Everything had to be perfect for it to work! You should be thanking me! If I hadn’t pushed you, you wouldn’t have used Arna’s power. Then the doppelganger would be trapped here, not gone to a higher place!”

Ihan still didn’t say anything. He just stayed silent. Headmaster Skull thought about hitting him on the head but stopped himself. Batnaz was already weak from using too much power, especially Arna’s power. He was exhausted.

“What happened?” Professor Voladi asked as he returned.

“Look who’s back, Professor Bat,” Headmaster Skull said sarcastically.

Professor Voladi ignored the sarcasm. Only students from Valdrogard would care about such words. Headmaster Skull sighed and explained everything. At least, Professor Voladi looked very surprised, which made Headmaster Skull feel a little better.

“So,” Professor Voladi said, “you didn’t need to be so forceful then?”

“…Shut up,” Headmaster Skull grumbled.

Headmaster Skull, who felt like the unluckiest person in the Empire, didn’t want to waste time on his student’s complaints. He quickly stopped the magic that hid them and told the wizards waiting below to go home. Even now, the magic was using up gold as heavy as giants every second.

– “It’s all fine now, you can go,” Headmaster Skull said.

– “Really? But Gonadaltes Gong,” one wizard asked, “didn’t you spend a lot of gold on this magic?”

– “…I said it’s fine. Go home, everyone.”

– “But… we told you this magic was incredibly expensive and almost impossible to prepare. You said there was no other way. But it worked out without it? Aren’t you even a little sad about wasting all that money?”

– “…J-just leave!”

– “Aaargh!”

The wizards, who had been hired from all over the Empire for a lot of money, were scared by Headmaster Skull’s angry shout and quickly left. Headmaster Skull tried to ignore the thought of all the gold he had wasted and focused on what was happening now.

“You knights,” Headmaster Skull said, “knights who are loyal and honorable and serve me. It seems you haven’t told me everything.”

The Death Knights, who had kept quiet about Ihan’s actions while Headmaster Skull was busy, nodded silently. Then they quickly turned to leave.

“Where are you going?” Headmaster Skull asked.

– “To the punishment room,” they replied.

Headmaster Skull was glad he didn’t have a real body right now. If he did, he would definitely have a headache. Usually, the Death Knights were very strict, even with students. But Batnaz seemed to have a way of charming people. Somehow, he had these knights acting like his personal helpers.

“Tell me what you haven’t told me before you go,” Headmaster Skull ordered.

– “…Wouldn’t it be better if we just stayed in the punishment room longer?” one knight mumbled.

Headmaster Skull felt a chill. ‘Could there be even more I don’t know?’ he thought. “Report properly, or I’ll turn you all into skeletons!”

The Death Knights, who had bravely fought the Evil Dragon, now stammered and looked away as they started to speak.

– “Your Highness Jaurin… well…”

“Luckily, I know about that,” Headmaster Skull interrupted. “The Emperor knows too. It’s not your fault.” He sighed. Jaurin’s clever plan had amazed both Headmaster Skull and the Emperor, who were trying to figure out how to trap the crazy doppelganger forever. It was a plan that would scare anyone.

– “That’s good!” one knight said, relieved. “Then you also know that Princess Jaurin took a dragonstone for the student, was put under house arrest, secretly escaped, and carried the student on her back to fight the doppelganger together?”

“…What?” Headmaster Skull stopped writing his letter to the Emperor. He had been about to say, ‘It went better than expected, and a big problem is gone, so please give me more time to pay back my debts.’ He frowned. “What stone? What fight? Carried him on her back? Is he chosen by a dragon?”

– …

– “…Actually, Professor Begreck and Professor Kim were there too,” another knight added quickly.

The Death Knights were desperately sharing the blame, afraid of Headmaster Skull’s anger. Headmaster Skull closed his eyes, remembering the sneaky face of the vampire professor. ‘I should have chased him away when he said he wanted power…’ he thought. He wasn’t so bad in the past. How did he become such a terrible wizard?

Headmaster Skull shook off his shock. As a powerful wizard, he recovered quickly. “Alright, I understand,” he said. “Actually, riding a dragon is bad luck for Batnaz. It’s not my problem.”

Someone chosen by a dragon had to take on a lot of responsibility, as much as the dragon’s power. It was an old, unfair agreement. If a dragon caused trouble, the chosen person would be punished too. Headmaster Skull knew how much trouble that agreement could cause. It was a good punishment for his wicked student.

– “Th-that’s a relief!” The Death Knights sounded happier.

– “So it’s okay that she took the dragonstone and fought the doppelganger?”

“Okay?” Headmaster Skull’s face became serious. “The Emperor might not care, but if the Imperial officials find out, they will be furious. I’ve already made many enemies because of the magic to trap this doppelganger…”

– “Wouldn’t it have been better to just talk to him?” one knight whispered.

– “Shhh, you agreed that force was faster back then, why are you saying this now?”

– “But now I think about it, hanging the treasurer upside down was a bit much…”

– “He apologized! It’s over if he apologized. The treasurer accepted it.”

“Everyone, be quiet!” Headmaster Skull said loudly. “Okay, first… let’s just forget about this. Princess Jaurin isn’t one to gossip.” Jaurin wasn’t someone who liked to talk to many people. It was very unlikely that even the Imperial officials would hear about this. Headmaster Skull decided to believe that and moved on.

“But why did he need to be defeated?” Headmaster Skull asked. “Did the doppelganger kidnap someone again?”

– “His mind changed,” a Death Knight explained. “He said he would take over the continent. The student summoned the Yaksha King from the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas to stop him…”

“Garcia! Voladi!” Headmaster Skull roared, finally losing his temper. “How could you hide all of this from me?!”

Even if there weren’t any problems right now with the student, there was a limit to how foolish they could be. If the student seemed to be turning evil, shouldn’t they have told him off? If they had, there wouldn’t be any complaining about the doppelganger now. ‘Even Professor Garcia is like this,’ Headmaster Skull thought angrily. ‘Is there no wizard I can trust?’

– “Um… Master?” a Death Knight said hesitantly.

“What is it?” Headmaster Skull snapped.

– “When you were preparing the magic with the Emperor, you told us not to bother you with unimportant reports…”

The unlucky Death Knight was immediately sent to the deepest punishment room. “Can’t you even tell what’s important?” Headmaster Skull yelled. “That Yaksha is suspicious. He’s probably been tricking everyone.”

Headmaster Skull suspected the Yaksha King was behind the professors hiding the reports. This Yaksha was good at reading the future and was known for cleverly trapping people. It wouldn’t be surprising if he had convinced the two professors to wait before telling Headmaster Skull. He probably whispered something like, ‘The doppelganger is doing well now, and teaching the student. Wouldn’t it be better to watch them for the student’s sake, instead of making Headmaster Skull angry?’ Headmaster Skull thought they were becoming too friendly with the Yaksha. The professors couldn’t stop him, and now this…

“Next!” Headmaster Skull demanded.

– “Th-the fight with the Evil God Worshiper in Granden City…”

“I know about that,” Headmaster Skull said impatiently.

– “Then, the thing about making a deal with the main beast of death and darkness that Professor Mortum brought?”

“…I didn’t know about that,” Headmaster Skull said, sounding tired, “but I guess it’s possible.” He had visited the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas and become friends with the Yaksha King. Nothing surprised him much anymore. He was friends with Perkunatra, after all…

He suddenly had a thought. Batnaz was good at charming powerful beings. Maybe it was because he was so cunning. If he met the main beast Mortum brought, his injuries must have healed.

– “Yes. It seems so,” a Death Knight confirmed.

The Death Knights sighed in relief. They realized they hadn’t mentioned the rumors about the problems caused by the new wizard, Stedel Nagora, yet.

Headmaster Skull was confused. This story was surprising, but he had already been surprised in the capital. Why did they bring up Granden City? Was there something else he didn’t know?

– “No, just checking…” a knight mumbled. “Oh, by the way, do you know that Professor Begreck used the artifact?”

“I know,” Headmaster Skull said, sounding bored. “You mean the Stone of Saint Iacteus.” He knew about that. At the start of the term, Professor Voladi had borrowed it to save the student who was kidnapped by the crazy doppelganger. Of course, Headmaster Skull wouldn’t leave such an important artifact just anywhere. He had planned for it to be there.

– “That’s good! I was still surprised. I understood the Stone of Saint Iacteus, but I didn’t expect you to lend out the Teardrop of Anavadalda too…”

“…Did he take the Teardrop of Anavadalda and use that as well?” Headmaster Skull asked, his voice rising again.

– …

– …

The Death Knights realized they had made a big mistake.