WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Surviving in the Magic Academy

Chapter 113

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Professor On took a step toward me and stared at the little girl in my palm. After quietly studying her, Professor On flicked a glance at me.

“Is this your assignment?”

As Professor On spoke, they drew a thin, long needle from their robes. I swallowed the saliva gathering in my mouth as I looked at it. Naturally, my eyes drifted to the “failed works” around us.

The failed works had all stopped moving, as if they had been pinned in midair. They looked as though their connections to their masters had been severed. That had happened after they were stabbed with that needle.

Professor On gave the needle a light shake. A vicious magical power rippled within it. All those disconnected puppets had received their “punishment.” They had failed to meet the standard Professor On had set.

If the girl on my palm failed that standard too, she would end up like them. I shuddered at the memory of losing my puppet during the previous assignment after it was stabbed by that needle. But this time would be different. I sent my will into the one in my palm.

The girl received it and stretched wide. Then, after yawning, she removed the shell attached to her body and looked at me. She seemed utterly carefree.

She pointed inside the shell. For her, I raised magical power and filled it with a little water. She lightly washed her face with it, then hung the shell back on her back.

Looking much refreshed, she glanced around. Then, when her eyes met Professor On’s, she gave a small nod.

She toddled forward. There was no other way to describe it. Her arms and legs were just that short.

“Then please take a look.”

The girl stood on my fingertip and cried, “Meeh.” I held her out toward Professor On. Professor On extended a palm beside mine.

She naturally leaped toward Professor On’s palm. Of course, because she had so little strength, she nearly fell halfway across. I caught her with magical power and carefully set her on Professor On’s palm.

She looked down at her body and puffed out her cheeks. Her current flesh must have felt uncomfortable. Then she cried, “Meeeh,” as if voicing a complaint.

Professor On tilted their head slightly while holding her on their palm.

“What kind of puppet is this?”

Professor On slowly drew out the needle. While doing so, they glanced toward the place I had come from. I followed their gaze. Mira was there. She smiled and gave a light wave.

“It doesn’t look very different from that puppet’s structure.”

“Yes, that is correct.”

As I said that, I quietly looked around. This time, not at the failed works, but at the successful ones. Seeing them made me smile bitterly.

The one wTo made swords had made a puppet in the shape of a person. The one wTo made armor had made a kind of ghost body clad in amorphous flesh. They had earned their passes through those.

That was probably the method Professor On had wanted. It was also the method I had attempted while thinking of other puppeteers. Expanding into a new area they had not pioneered, one they had never touched before.

Of course, I had stopped at simple imitation. But as they were showing now, they had not. They had gone further and created entirely new puppets.

Compared to them, what I made was a little different. I looked at the one sitting calmly on Professor On’s palm. Her structure was not greatly different from the puppets I had made until now.

But I was confident. Yes, novelty that had never existed before was the core of this assignment. Whether that matched the direction Professor On had imagined or not did not matter. It only had to be a result Professor On could not deny.

I had placed that novelty inside her. In a different way from them. If they had made new puppets through new methods, I had made an existing puppet contain something new.

I sent her my will. Receiving it, she warmed up for a moment on Professor On’s hand, then flopped down flat. At the same time, her shell vibrated and slowly began to grow.

Soon, it was large enough to cover half her body. She curled up and wriggled, slowly pushing herself into the shell. Like that, her body vanished completely inside it.

The shell containing her settled on Professor On’s palm. Then it began to vibrate lightly. The vibration lasted only a moment. Soon, it shifted slightly, and something popped out from within.

“Oho.”

Professor On muttered. The one that had crawled out of the shell cried, “Meeh.” The girl’s previous form was nowhere to be seen. What occupied that place instead was a turtle.

It shook its body energetically. It looked very happy. Its previous body must have felt terribly cramped.

I nodded. I understood how it felt. Its current body and its previous body must have been completely different. This was the novelty I was presenting. With a tense heart, I looked at Professor On.

“This is... interesting.”

I saw the boredom in Professor On’s eyes slowly wash away. Professor On grabbed the turtle by the shell and lifted it. Meeting the turtle’s eyes, Professor On let a little magical power flow. That magical power began running through the turtle’s body.

“Everything that composes the body changes, does it? Except for this shell. Is there some magic contained inside it? Mm, no. Rather than that....”

Professor On lightly tapped the shell, then nodded. Then they looked at me and gave a small laugh. I blinked. Had I seen that wrong? The smile was gone before I knew it.

“It is a power derived from the flesh. You created this change by fully bringing out only the nature of the material. Very interesting. Not bad.”

I nodded at those words. Then I quietly admired Professor On. Was this what it meant to be a professor? To identify the source of the change I had created at a glance.

Of course, Professor On clearly would not notice what the material was. They could not. What was contained inside this was made from Professor’s august body!

The power of change did not exist in the shell, but inside the turtle. It had melted into its mana heart. The turtle had slowly realized how to use that power. At the end of that process, it had created the change just now.

The transformation was seamless. Its composition, power, and even the nature of its magical power had changed. If my connection to it had not remained, even I would not have noticed it was the turtle.

It was like a transformation of existence itself. Of course, it had a very clear limit. The girl’s flesh could no longer grow. It was simply fixed in that state. That was the limit of a replica.

There was one way to solve that. I just had to shove more in. The byproducts that came from Professor, that was. Thinking of Professor, I fiddled with both hands. Then I paused.

For some reason, if others saw me, they might misunderstand and think I viewed Professor as a test subject. Even to me, it felt a little sinister. But that could not be true. I shook my head slightly.

I was simply filled with loyalty toward Professor. This experiment, too, was all for Professor’s sake.

Only by learning more about her in greater detail could I serve her more closely. Yes, I had nothing but such pure feelings.

“Hmm, what should I do? Will you change your form again?”

Professor On said that and lightly shook the long needle. The turtle stared at the needle, then cried, “Meeh.” It entered its shell and wriggled again. Soon, the one that emerged had the girl’s appearance.

Professor On lifted her again and examined her carefully. After tilting their head for a moment, Professor On soon nodded and put the long needle back into their robes.

“Well, it is a little different from what I intended. Still, this is also one possibility. It could even be seen as going beyond my assignment. You pass.”

Success. I clenched my fist. Professor On held the turtle out to me. I took it lightly. It looked at me and raised both hands. Its face was smug.

Then it sent its will to me. I lifted its shell and placed it over my chest. It burrowed into the pouch on my chest. I stroked its shell.

“You may go back in now. I saw something interesting at the very end.”

Professor On said that. I gave them a slight bow. I also bowed to Tiena, wTo stood warmly beside Professor On. She lightly waved at me.

When I returned to my original spot, Mira reached out. She quietly pulled the turtle out from my chest. The turtle, which had been about to fall asleep again, startled at the movement and looked around.

Mira placed it on her hand with a mischievous smile and began poking it. The turtle avoided her fingers and hid inside its shell. Mira lightly tapped the shell and looked at me.

“Somehow, you succeeded.”

“Yes, because I used Professor’s august body. Naturally, it had to pass.”

Saying that, I glanced at the turtle. It lifted its shell and peeked its head out. Its face, which resembled Professor, had its cheeks puffed out fully. The turtle cried, “Meeh.”

Mira smiled as if she found it very cute and began poking it again. After the turtle transformed like that, Mira had also started paying attention to it.

Apparently, it had begun giving off a scent somewhat similar to Professor’s. That seemed to please her. On the other hand, the turtle had only ended up getting bullied like this.

“Now, then, I will begin the class. Four people passed in total, is it? One more than last time. There were many interesting assignments too. I hope this means all of you are following my class well.”

Professor On spoke. At those words, I glanced to the side. I saw No. 0 opening the book placed in front of it. It had also successfully completed the assignment by placing a new transformation inside that puppet.

“Now, then, page sixty, was it? What I will explain to you today is also related to the assignment you just carried out. Previously, you learned why each individual puppet possesses individuality. Today, we will go beyond that. Each of you has a kind of limit...”

No. 0 began moving several hands, no, tentacles, to write down Professor On’s words. I had not expected its transformation to be something like that. Seeing the many tentacles attached to it made me smile bitterly. It had entered a puppet’s body entirely.

With its main body as the center, it had newly remade itself as a puppet. That was something only a shadow like it could do. Professor On had nodded at that too. Apparently, that also strayed from the assignment, but was very interesting.

Professor On’s flat voice rang through the classroom. But the knowledge contained in it was incredibly weighty. I focused as much as I could and committed the content to memory.

With the turtle crying, “Meeh,” in Mira’s hand as background noise, time passed. At the end of that time, I quietly blinked. Before I knew it, the class had ended. The surroundings had changed too.

Where we were now was a reception room filled with various decorations. It was the transformed form of the classroom after all the students had left.

I quietly looked at the turtle. It was clinging to Tiena’s lap and crying as if whining. She smiled while lightly stroking its head.

“Hoho, is that so? Still, Mira probably had no ill will either. She must have only done that because turtle was cute.”

The way she communicated with the turtle looked quite natural. That was probably because she was also a puppet. I quietly poured tea in front of her.

Tiena gently touched the teacup and smiled at me. At the same time, a sharp gaze fell on me. It belonged to Professor On. It was a gaze I had grown used to by now.

Of course, it was still just as burdensome. I quietly hid behind Mira to avoid that look. Tiena, wTo had been watching me, lightly touched Professor On’s hand. With that, Professor On’s gaze moved away from me.

“To think this child would change like this. It really surprised me. Did you perhaps achieve some results?”

Tiena lifted her teacup, her eyes sparkling. Light expectation had risen on her face. Seeing that, I lightly scratched my cheek. Results was not quite the word for it. Still, I had brought it to show her.

I rummaged through the spatial pouch inside my clothes and took out a bottle. It was full of magical power fluid. In the center, a small palm-sized puppet was sleeping.

“Hm, so you brought this all the way here. No wonder I felt a ticklish connection.”

Mira smiled and lightly tapped the bottle with her finger. Then the one inside flinched slightly and quietly opened its eyes.

It met Mira’s eyes, nodded, and closed its eyes again. It looked exactly like Mira. Mira looked at it with a faint smile.

Then I heard a cry of, “Meeh.” The turtle sitting on Tiena’s lap stared at the bottle with curiosity. I placed the glass bottle in front of it. Now that I thought about it, this was probably the first time it had seen this.

The turtle began comparing its reflection in the glass bottle with the puppet sleeping inside. Then it tilted its head slightly and cried, “Meeh,” full of confusion.

Of course it would. Its current appearance and the puppet inside looked extremely similar, as if reflected in a mirror. I glanced at Mira. The face resembling Professor Irian looked at me with a sour expression.

For some reason, every puppet I made seemed to end up resembling Professor. I nodded. Perhaps that was proof of my loyalty. My feelings toward her naturally made them take on her appearance.

The turtle seemed displeased with its reflection in the glass bottle and lightly threw a punch. But it had forgotten something. Right now, it was not in the turtle’s body. That body resembled Professor’s and was very frail.

After hitting the bottle, it instead held its own hand and rolled around in place. At the same time, it cried, “Meeh,” as if letting out its pain.

Watching it, I shook my head. I understood its feelings a little. The turtle’s ego had been made based on me. In other words, it had formed an ego as a male body. But now it had the appearance of a girl.

It could not change that appearance from now on either. The power of change that came from Professor had fixed its body that way. So from now on, it had to live only in that girl’s form.

Well... was that not better? To be able to wear Professor’s flesh. That was another blessing. If anything, I had given it an incredible opportunity.

“Oh my, poor thing.... Come here.”

Tiena lifted it into her arms. The turtle’s eyes flashed, and it burrowed deep into her embrace. Then it clung to her chest and whined. Tiena hugged it even more tightly.

Watching that scene, Professor On’s eyes flashed. But perhaps because the turtle had a female body, I did not feel the same strong killing intent from Professor On as before. The turtle seemed to notice that too and clung to Tiena as if burying itself.

In that state, Tiena glanced at Mira and me. I shook my head at her. This could not be called a success, after all.

“As you can see, this is a puppet made based on Mira. But I failed to birth a new soul inside it. Only the flesh resembles her.”

At my words, Tiena looked disappointed. But that lasted only a moment. She smiled as if amused and began looking back and forth between the glass bottle and us.

“Hoho, you said it was made based on Mira. Then this child must be the same. You two must be very close. That makes me very happy too. With you two, perhaps you really might be able to grant my request.”

Saying that, Tiena stroked the turtle. At that, Mira quietly looked at me and clicked her tongue under her breath. Meeting that gaze, I scratched my head.

“If it resembled me, that would be a relief. What the turtle resembles is not me. It is Irian.”

“She is Evron’s Professor,” Mira said while glaring at me. Tiena blinked at those words. Then she looked back and forth between the turtle and Mira.

“Oh my, is that so?”

“That is why I am very much looking forward to it. What will happen when Irian learns of this?”

Saying that, Mira placed a hand on her chest. The gaze she directed at me somehow carried a slight sense of distance. It could also be called a kind of contempt.

I gave a light dry cough. Even in my own opinion, it had been a little excessive. But, well, it was fine since I had not been caught. Thinking that, I looked at the turtle. It was clinging to Tiena’s chest with its face buried.

In truth, I had not originally planned to put the turtle in there. I had meant to place a new ego inside it. But none of them could properly use that power. They had simply been trapped in the girl’s body and fixed there.

To properly handle that power, an extremely strong body was needed. A firm mind and body that would not yield to change. And there was only one such being by my side. The turtle.

That was how it gained its current form. I did not properly understand how its flesh had been made. I had only done my best to bring out the faint possibility contained within Professor’s fragments.

I did not know how the transformation process worked, and even the turtle using it did not know. It could simply do it, so it did.

During the process of implanting flesh into the turtle, that power had been altered quite a bit. It was unavoidable, since it was only power from fragments. Still, it was fortunate. Thanks to that alteration, Professor would not easily recognize it.

One perfect crime... no, it was not a crime. I had only served Professor with a pure heart and collected a few byproducts during the process. To learn about her in greater detail.

“I only did this out of my feelings toward Professor.”

“That is the problem....”

Mira let out a light sigh. “Since when did you become this sinister?” she muttered. It seemed she was badly misunderstanding me. I had only realized the truth. Professor’s grace, her blessing.

Tiena, wTo had been watching us, clapped her hands. It was to gather our attention. When we looked at her, she smiled brightly.

“Then shall we get to the main subject? I cannot keep you all here for too long.”

I nodded. This meeting had been arranged in the first place because she had something to ask of us. A request. At that word, I felt my body tense slightly.

The request she had made before was to create a puppet derived from her and Professor On. Could she possibly be about to make another request like that?

Perhaps noticing my mood, Tiena lightly waved her hand. She took an envelope from her clothes and placed it on the table.

“It is not a big request, so do not worry. You only need to deliver this to Mauro, that child. I heard there will be a gathering this time.”

A gathering. I had not expected her to bring that up. But it was true, just as she said. Once this lecture ended, I was also planning to go to Stalactite City and attend the guild gathering. I quietly looked down at the envelope.

“You may open it if you wish, but there will be no real need. You will know its contents soon anyway.”

“No. As you said, I will deliver it directly to Mauro.”

Saying that, I placed the envelope inside my clothes. It probably contained matters related to the puppet guild. If so, there was no need for me to check its contents.

“Come to think of it, this is your first gathering, is it not, Evron?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

A gathering of puppeteers. I was rather looking forward to what form it would take. Perhaps reading my thoughts, Tiena smiled bitterly with a slightly troubled look.

“It will probably be very different from what you are imagining. So please do not be too disappointed after you go.”

What did that mean? At that moment, I could not understand the meaning behind her words. Like that, our time with her came to an end. And we headed to the city.

Standing at the gathering place, I remembered what Tiena had said. Do not be too disappointed, was it? Seeing the scene in front of me, I naturally understood her words.

“Now, come in quickly. Everyone is waiting for you.”

Mauro stuck his head out from the earthen cave and beckoned to me. Yes, an earthen cave. That was where this gathering was being held.

I quietly looked around. It was a small mountain. The earthen cave was halfway up that mountain. Letting out a sigh, I followed him inside. A stale smell of earth soaked into my nose.

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