Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy Chapter 983

Chapter 983

'Ah. Lost focus again.'

The conversation happening beside her was so interesting that even a brief glance made her stare as if entranced.

Ilendil shook her head and focused on the Baldurguard student again.

'Kind... is he? Well... He might be considered kind...'

That junior from the Wardanaz family certainly had good social skills and broad relationships.

Ilendil, who had no relationships except with a few juniors (and even those juniors she wasn't very comfortable with), could instinctively feel it.

That this junior was the complete opposite type of person from herself!

Taking all schools' classes naturally made it difficult not to have broad connections.

It was a bit surprising that this applied to Baldurguard students too, but...

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: Indeed. Anyway, I don't know that senior. I'll tell you if I find them.

'Probably won't find them in this lifetime.'

Ipeldrem: Thank you!

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: Ask Gonadaltes. Gonadaltes would know about such things.

Ilendil did her best with her lacking skills to reconcile the two.

Though Ipeldrem had been wary of Gonadaltes, they seemed slightly swayed by the possibility of finding the 6th year Wardanaz senior.

Ipeldrem: Though I don't want to associate with such an eccentric and mean person... Alright. I'll think about it.

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: A mage must learn to associate even with people they don't want to.

"I cannot allow another demigod."

"Why not!"

"Learn how to handle this one. Changing because something is difficult to handle is what cowards do, not what royalty's disciple should do."

Just then, beside them was the junior getting along with someone he didn't want to associate with, or rather, an artificial demigod.

Seeing that made Ilendil even more confident in what she had said.

Ipeldrem: That's good advice! That's definitely right! Actually, I've experienced something similar. When I entered Baldurguard, I bought a new mansion nearby, but I just didn't get along well with the newly hired maids. Maybe because it was the western empire, the customs were a bit unfamiliar too.

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: Wow... That must have been really hard.

Ilendil sincerely regretted not being from the dark magic school.

If she had learned high-level curses, she could have cursed even someone whose face she didn't know.

Ipeldrem: But we became close as time passed. Once we got close, I could see their good points.

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: Right. We can stop talking now, right?

Ilendil tried to end the conversation.

Talking more would only make her more nauseated.

However, Ipeldrem had no intention of letting go of the Einroguard student who had finally talked to them separately.

Ipeldrem: Um, could I ask a few things about magic?

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: Why don't you ask your Baldurguard seniors or professors?

Ilendil sneered with a bit of spite.

If it was really a deep question about magic, Baldurguard mages wouldn't find it easy to answer.

But the response was unexpected.

Ipeldrem: Right now all the seniors and professors are on an imperial carriage trip together for the spring flower festival.

"..."

Ilendil felt murderous intent surge in her heart like when she saw outsiders damaging the forest.

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: ...Ask away. Wait. Why didn't you go?

Ipeldrem: Ah, because the magic I'm researching now is fun!

"?"

Ilendil tilted her head.

Then, not understanding, she called Yi-Han.

"Um, excuse me..."

When she interrupted his disciple earnestly learning magic with the artificial demigod, the mad doppelganger shot her a cold look.

At that gaze, Ilendil ducked her head with a yelp.

"Ah, it's nothing..."

"Indeed. Keep it that way."

"Yes, yes sir."

Ilendil obediently turned her gaze away.

A Baldurguard student stopping play because magic was fun.

'Must be a coincidence or misunderstanding...?'

Ipeldrem: Right now I'm designing compression magic circles and layered magic circles myself, and basically the sum of mana rise and fall inside a closed magic circle should be equal. But here, only in the dodecahedral ruby reagent part, the mana is bouncing back in reverse. I can't figure out where I made a mistake.

"!??!?!"

Compression magic circles were a technique of compressing and engraving ten or more magic circles into one magic circle.

It was a high-level technique that even Einroguard enchantment magic school students usually only entered in upper years!

Layered magic circles were the same. Vertically stacking and overlapping different magic circles to create rising and linking effects, it was absolutely not easy, if anything more difficult than compression magic circles.

Yet a Baldurguard student was asking about this.

Ilendil wondered if she was being deceived.

Could the other be an Einroguard student pretending to be a Baldurguard student??

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: What year did you say you were again?

Ipeldrem: Me? 3rd year.

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: Perhaps... Did you get any offers from other magic schools when entering Baldurguard?

Ipeldrem: Oh? How did you know? I got an invitation from Petroguard.

The magic school Petroguard was absolutely not a magic school in name only like Baldurguard.

It was a place that produced outstanding magic item craftsmen.

If they had received an offer from such a place, it made sense that they could show this level of magic despite being a 3rd year at Baldurguard.

For a 3rd year at Petroguard...

'No, still amazing though?'

At that level, they were likely among the top geniuses even at Petroguard. Ilendil asked again, not understanding.

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: Why didn't you go to Petroguard?

Ipeldrem: Because all my friends decided to go to Baldurguard.

"..."

Ilendil unconsciously let out a deep sigh.

Though imperial bureaucrats viewed Einroguard as a thorn in their side, the real thorn was actually Baldurguard.

A hellish place that took potentially talented mages and rotted their buds!

"Have you finished persuading?"

The junior's voice was heard from behind.

When she turned around, his collar area was badly scorched as if hit by flames. Ilendil asked in surprise.

"D-did the doppelganger...?"

"Huh? Ah. No. I got excited practicing magic and made a mistake."

Ignoring the artificial demigod saying it was poor, Yi-Han had gone into his magic training.

Come to think of it, there was absolutely no reason to listen to the artificial demigod or mad doppelganger telling him to learn powerful and evil magic.

Yi-Han just had to do the magic he wanted to do.

And as a result, he realized something unexpected.

Namely that the artificial demigod's power was much more useful than he had thought.

-The success rate really increased! Amazing!-

-Too.trivial...-

-Please keep doing that from now on.-

-When.will.you.rule.the.continent...-

There was no need to draw out or use power extremely like the mad doppelganger.

If used just as support, it wasn't particularly difficult, and was much more useful to Yi-Han currently.

It increased the success probability of difficult magic that currently had high failure rates when cast.

The good thing about divinity was that phenomena that would require hundreds of processes and theories in magic could be implemented intuitively.

Thanks to this, an excited Yi-Han got carried away practicing new fire attributes and almost burned his clothes.

"Th-thank goodness... I thought the doppelganger had attacked."

"Ah. Right. I thought he would get angry too, saying I was only practicing too easy magic."

"That's not what I meant..."

Ilendil hadn't meant it that way.

From the start, all the magic the junior was practicing now was not at a level a 2nd year should be doing.

"But surprisingly, he didn't get angry."

"R-really...?"

"Yes. He told me to do as I want."

"?"

Ilendil tilted her head.

No matter how she thought about it, she couldn't believe those were the mad doppelganger's words.

"Ah! I get it! If it was sarcasm..."

"I asked if he was being sarcastic and he got angry."

"..."

Ilendil looked at Yi-Han with shocked eyes.

The most mysterious thing about this junior wasn't his innate mana, nor his innate magical talent.

It was the madness that let him say such things in front of a mad great mage's doppelganger.

How could he say such things?

"Anyway, it wasn't. I think this is actually the right way to use it... Would you like to try using it too, Senior?"

"N-no thanks."

Ilendil immediately answered while recoiling.

If she could borrow divine power, she would just use it to revive and regenerate the forest, she didn't want to contact suspicious artificial demigods to practice high-level magic.

Who would do such a thing unless they were crazy about magic?

"So Senior. Did you persuade them well?"

"Huh? Yeah..."

Ilendil briefly summarized what had happened.

She spoke well to them, persuaded them, and it turned out they were this kind of mage...

"...What nonsensical lies are you telling?"

"It-it's true!!!"

When the junior looked at her as if dumbfounded, Ilendil felt truly wronged.

There really was such a mage at Baldurguard!

  *

'By my guess, Master seems to be in quite a good mood right now.'

Yi-Han thought this as they walked out.

If not, several recent events couldn't be explained.

Teaching other students in place of professors, or not getting angry when Yi-Han didn't do what he was told and practiced easy magic (by the mad doppelganger's standards)...

There was only one theory that explained all these mysterious phenomena.

That the mad doppelganger was in a very good mood!

"...?"

The mad doppelganger looked at his disciple as if something was suspicious.

Though there was no evidence, he sensed his disciple seemed to be having arrogant and irreverent thoughts.

Regardless, Yi-Han continued thinking.

'If so, he should be able to understand well what I'm trying to do now.'

"Master!"

"What is it?"

"I'm going to the next lecture now, would that be alright?"

"...What lecture makes you ask separately?"

The mad doppelganger had certainly increased his understanding of his disciple.

The fact that he asked here itself meant it wasn't an ordinary lecture.

"Swordsmanship lecture, <Sword and Life>..."

"..."

Seeing the mad doppelganger's face immediately distort, Yi-Han realized he had judged wrongly.

That absolutely wasn't an aura that someone in a good mood could emit.

'Damn. I misjudged.'

He had spoken boldly thinking he was in a good mood, but now he couldn't even break even.

"To think you're attending swordsmanship lectures at a time like this. Do you really not know what's important?"

"I was already attending it..."

"Quiet! Though other magic may be trivial in level, at least they don't stray from the path. But swordsmanship is different."

"Doesn't swordsmanship help magic too when its level gets high?"

"That's an absurdly roundabout path. Why take the long way when the sun is setting?"

The mad doppelganger didn't deny that high-level swordsmanship had aspects that coincided with magic.

After all, using power and changing the world were the same.

But it was foolish for a mage to waste time learning swordsmanship just because of that commonality.

"Wait. Didn't you learn close combat too, Master?"

Yi-Han recalled what he had seen in the past and asked.

To say it's a waste of time for his disciple when he learned it himself?

"Because royalty learned it directly, I say there's no need. When magic reaches its heights, such trivial skills become unnecessary."

The mad doppelganger was much more stubborn than expected.

He didn't waver at all even when the past was brought up.

"...The senior who teaches this lecture is quite unique, aren't you curious?"

"I'm not curious."

"He cast all kinds of magic through swordsmanship."

The mad doppelganger paused for a moment.

Then he opened his mouth again.

"Lead the way."

"!"