Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy Chapter 993

Chapter 993

"Wardanaz. It's okay."

"We don't mind at all."

Fortunately, the power of friendship was stronger than expected.

When his friends encouraged him not to worry, Yi-Han was touched.

"You guys..."

"Wardanaz, you've always been that kind of guy. It's not even surprising."

"Right. Last time you learned it as soon as you sat down."

"..."

Yi-Han was flustered by the reaction that was a bit different from the friendship he had imagined.

"I-it's not that extreme, is it?"

"What are you saying? You've even learned before sitting down."

"That's right. Honestly, what we just said was a bit of an understatement."

Confused by his friends' grumbling reactions, Yi-Han wanted to give examples saying 'I struggle learning magic just like you guys', but it wasn't easy.

Backed into a corner, Yi-Han unconsciously opened his mouth.

"Small wor..."

"Huh? What did you say?"

"...It's nothing."

No matter how he thought about it, saying 'I'm struggling a lot learning small worlds these days' was crazy talk. Yi-Han quickly regained his senses.

"Well then, let's start the lecture! Everyone, a round of applause for Lord Gonadaltes who agreed to help with today's lecture!"

"Enough."

Clap...

Gainando, who was about to clap, carefully stopped his movement while watching the situation.

Despite the mad doppelganger's cold attitude, Professor Fluerwerk didn't back down.

Professor Fluerwerk was from an imperial bureaucrat background, and imperial bureaucrats were basically seasoned in dealing with crazy mages.

"You should still receive words of gratitude."

"That's right, Master. This is today's etiquette."

'Are you crazy?'

Professor Fluerwerk looked at the disciple with shocked eyes, despite having rebelled herself.

But this fox mixed-blood professor's surprise was natural.

Professor Fluerwerk had spoken carefully and tactfully, but the Wardanaz family boy just...

...seemed to be talking back...

"Hmph. Fine. Do it quickly."

Clap clap clap clap clap clap...

The gloomiest applause in Einroguard history filled the lecture hall. The mad doppelganger reproached Gainando, whose eyes met his.

"Is that all you can do while clapping? Mage, is your gratitude only that much?"

"Eek!"

Gainando clapped harder with a tearful face.

"Now! Let's continue studying the ancient letters we covered in the last exam. Unlike mages of the past, today's mages need to learn even more letters and languages. It's unfair, but what can we do?"

"That's correct. And mages must not forget this fact. Letters and languages are lost and deposited with the flow of time. In any era, there were many letters and languages mages had to learn."

"Thank you for those good words, Lord Gonadaltes! Did everyone hear? Don't complain from now on."

Professor Fluerwerk was excited by the supporting fire from the ancient great mage.

Orifulas had interfered with lectures saying things like 'Why bother learning letters and languages when you can solve everything at once by contracting with a demon who knows how to do it', but as expected, the principal's doppelganger was different, truly different.

"Is there no magic that can learn letters and languages all at once?"

Gainando asked, still not giving up hope.

Despite professors and friends scolding him that 'Magic isn't that convenient', he persisted tenaciously as a mage.

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

"There is."

"...What?!"

"Is there really such a thing?!"

Not only Gainando, but other students were also surprised.

Could such magic exist?

Yi-Han asked, as if he couldn't understand.

"How can such magic exist? Magically substituting for the vast amount of information an individual mage doesn't know..."

"You're still trying to put limits on magic. You can use a unique world."

"...Ah, yes."

The students quickly cooled down.

No matter how lazy Einroguard students were, they weren't stupid enough to learn a unique world just to avoid learning ancient languages.

Gainando didn't give up and whispered to Yonaire.

"Maybe Yi-Han would learn it for us?"

"...Don't ever say that in front of Yi-Han..."

Of course, Yi-Han had already heard.

While Yi-Han inwardly reduced the snack ration by 30%, Professor Fluerwerk continued the lecture with a satisfied voice.

"Did you all hear? There are no royal roads in magic. Now, Yi-Han! As the perfect scorer on the last exam, will you tell your friends how you interpreted it and what references you used?"

The previous midterm exam was to interpret given ancient letters on one's own.

Since it wasn't about solving everything in one's seat, naturally this exam had a purpose other than quick wit or memory.

All kinds of old languages and letters still abundant in the empire.

Building experience in finding and decoding such things from scratch without panicking when discovered.

That was the true purpose of this exam.

Professor Fluerwerk wanted the Wardanaz family boy to tell his friends the names of the books he had found. It would be very helpful for his friends too.

"Um... well..."

"It was quite archaic, wasn't it? Looking at it, you seem to have referenced old books rather than relatively recent ones. Am I right?"

"Well..."

Yi-Han hesitated.

The mad doppelganger urged his disciple who was wasting time needlessly.

"Answer quickly."

"...Actually, I asked an imprisoned magic criminal..."

"..."

"..."

The atmosphere in the lecture hall instantly became chilly.

Even friends who usually said 'That's just how Wardanaz is!' no matter what Yi-Han did were left with their mouths agape.

"Th-there is an imprisoned magic criminal? Where?"

"Did Wardanaz keep one locked up in his private room?"

As friends whispered things like 'Wardanaz kept a magic criminal locked up in his private room?', Gainando flared up.

"No! That's not it! Yi-Han has never locked up a magic criminal in his private room! He's just a bit friendly with a magic criminal trapped in the workshop!"

"..."

This explanation sounded just as strange. Yi-Han sighed deeply.

"How can you be friends with a magic criminal trapped in a workshop? Isn't the prince mistaken?"

"Maybe he mistook Wardanaz beating him up as being friendly..."

"Well, the White Tiger Tower guys also mistake getting beaten up all the time as being friendly."

"What did you say, you bastard?"

"Everyone stop it. The Great Mage just transformed him into a hamster and kept him locked up. I only asked while feeding him."

It was a statement that would make even the student who loved hamsters most startle at the sight of hamsters from now on.

The mad doppelganger spoke with displeasure.

"There was no need to ask such a worthless slave."

"The question was too easy, so I was sorry to ask you, Master."

Though the mad doppelganger had actually ignored useless questions, Yi-Han flattered him like a skilled disciple.

Meanwhile, Professor Fluerwerk, who had recovered from the shock, opened her mouth again.

"A living mage would give better teachings than books or scrolls! Excellent, Yi-Han!"

"Professor. But a hamster magic criminal is a bit..."

One student tried to ask if this was really okay, but Professor Fluerwerk quickly pretended not to hear and moved on.

Honestly, Professor Fluerwerk was too shocked to think of what to say.

-Ahem!-

When a cough sounded from behind, Yi-Han turned his head without thinking much.

And he was startled.

It was none other than the mad doppelganger covering his mouth and coughing.

'No way?!'

Gainando, who kicked off his blanket while sleeping, might catch a cold, but the mad doppelganger wasn't a being with such a physical body.

Yet such a cough?

Yi-Han asked in a perplexed voice.

"Master. Are you alright?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You just coughed as if you were unwell."

"I did no such thing. Focus on the lesson. Seeing you spout nonsense, you've become too lax lately."

"..."

In the past he might have flinched, but Yi-Han didn't even blink.

Rather, he looked at his master with eyes full of suspicion.

'His reaction is even stranger?'

"Master. Did you perhaps drink or eat something?"

Professor Uregor was a cunning and vicious professor, and it wouldn't be strange if he had completed the poisoning without Yi-Han knowing.

Yi-Han was always humble before Einroguard professors. Professors were beings who could do anything beyond Yi-Han's expectations.

"Your insolence has crossed the line. Do you think royalty won't punish you just because you're a disciple?"

After finishing his words, the mad doppelganger frowned and coughed again. Yi-Han was shocked.

"It's poison!"

"What!? Where?!"

"Did the prince spill it?!"

"Hey! We should suspect the alchemy school!"

"The dark magic school is more suspicious..."

"Professor. I think Master has been poisoned. I'll take him outside for a moment!"

"Yi-Han! Wai-"

Professor Fluerwerk sensed something was off and tried to stop her disciple.

It was too improbable for a great mage at the level of the principal's doppelganger to be poisoned without anyone knowing.

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

"Sir Intarendals! Over here!"

"Master Yi-Han. What is this..."

Intarendals, who rushed over after receiving the message, was startled by the sight before him.

Yi-Han was running with the mad doppelganger floating above his head with telekinesis. It was truly a surreal and bizarre sight.

"It seems Master has been ambushed! He didn't even counterattack despite me doing this!"

"Ah, no matter what, lifting him like this is..."

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

Though mages were a tribe obsessed with efficiency, what just happened was a bit too much.

"Let's move to the workshop. I had something to tell Master Yi-Han anyway."

  *

Arriving at the workshop in the mountains, Intarendals took the mad doppelganger inside.

Told to wait for a moment, Yi-Han felt his composure returning as he rested.

'...Could it be Professor Uregor?'

Come to think of it, the culprit might not be Professor Uregor.

No matter how he thought about it, Professor Uregor had weak motivation and wasn't in a situation where he could do it.

Rather...

-What's the matter?

"Master has collapsed."

-Much faster than expected.-

The hamster answered coldly from within the sawdust. Yi-Han asked in surprise.

"You knew?!"

-Of course I knew. Did you not know?-

The hamster was rather puzzled that Yi-Han really didn't seem to know.

Of course, thought entities weren't common beings, but for a formal disciple not to have heard the story...

"Don't tell me..."

-You seem to have a guess. That's right.-

"...Sir Intarendals is the culprit...!"

-Thought entities have a hard time enduring long in the material world. If they could persist eternally, Gonadaltes' doppelgangers would be settled as lords all over the empire.-

"...Ah. Because he's a thought entity."

-What did you just say?-

"It's nothing. Indeed. I was expecting this too."

Yi-Han brushed it off and organized his thoughts.

Hearing the hamster's words, something clicked in his mind like puzzle pieces fitting together.

Certainly, the mad doppelganger's behavior had been strange lately.

If that was because his lifespan was coming to an end...

"Then what should we do?"

'This bastard. Am I your master?'

The hamster felt indignant inwardly but endured for now.

The other was a mage holding grapes, and he was a hamster.

-You need to quickly cut off his breath.-

Thwack!

A grape hit the hamster's back solidly. The hamster squeaked painfully.

-Why?!-

"How can you say that now?"

-It's true, you foolish brat! Do you think a thought entity will quietly disappear if left alone? Until then, it will devastate the surroundings... Can't you stop throwing grapes?!-