WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Surviving in the Magic Academy

Chapter 136

──────

136.

After roughly sorting out the magic circle, I left the room.

Unlike when I first arrived, the building now boasted an impressive size.

It was large enough to have a separate room prepared just for summoning.

The number of them must have grown so much that the building had needed to expand this far.

As I walked slowly along, I heard a noisy commotion from somewhere.

Everyone seemed to be gathered there. Following the flow of that sound, I made my way down the hallway.

The place I reached was a rather spacious room. That was the source of the noise.

When I stepped inside, the first thing that caught my eye was a large table. Then the Professors sitting around it.

They were talking about something across the table. I slowly approached them.

“Slaughter! Slaughter!”

On one side of the table, I saw the rabbit holding an axe and waving it around.

She seemed to be acting out the fight we had gone through before.

The other treasures barely paid any attention to the vivid way she swung the axe.

The Professors gathered around her gave off roughly the same air as the rabbit.

They felt relaxed, as if each of them was lost in their own world.

They were resting in their own ways, talking only about whatever they wanted.

Most of the room’s noise came from them.

I watched them with a pleased smile.

Was it because they had Professor’s appearance? For some reason, I could not dislike them. If anything, they were cute.

Though the group over there gave off a slightly different mood. I glanced toward where the nun was sitting.

If the rabbit’s side was free-spirited and noisy, the Professors gathered around the nun had a quiet, mature air.

Even with the same appearance, each of them showed a different personality.

And those tendencies seemed to have been built around the treasures they were based on.

The rabbit had taken on Blood Axe’s image wholesale, even picking up its way of speaking, while the nun’s atmosphere was also very similar to Mira’s.

Sometimes, listening to the nun speak made me feel as though I were with Mira.

In that way, they were heavily influenced by the magical power of the treasures contained in their bodies.

Then why was the nun wearing a nun’s habit? I stroked my chin and sank into thought.

A faint curiosity rose in me. Was that also because of the treasure’s magical power?

I lightly shook my head. No, that could not be it. I had never seen Mira wearing a nun’s habit.

I gently placed a hand on my chest. The reason was probably in here.

There was something I had realized while continuing the summons. Unlike other objects, their connection to me was more direct.

So I had kept narrowing the range of the summon. I reduced that connection again and again, until today I finally carried out the summon with only my tree as the target.

And they had slipped through that narrow gap in the magic circle with ease. What that result meant was very clear.

They were directly connected to my soul. In other words, they were beings born from my soul.

A faint, bitter smile formed on my lips.

Then perhaps their appearances were the result of my tastes being reflected. My soul had overlaid those forms onto them.

Right. The rabbit outfit, the nun’s habit, and the clothes the other Professors wore all suited my taste perfectly.

I lightly scratched my head.

It was my soul, but it did feel a little shady. To dress them all up in Professor’s form like that.

I let out a slightly playful chuckle.

But apart from those light thoughts, their appearances also gave me a lot to think about.

It was clear they had been deeply influenced by the magical power of the treasures. And if my soul had created the exterior that resembled Professor, then perhaps that was my obsession taking form.

After all, the obsession blooming from me was based on the magical power of those treasures.

I stroked my chin and observed them as they talked around the table.

Those distinctive appearances. Perhaps they were similar in form to the puppet that had contained Lumira’s inner demon.

In other words, they themselves might be the cause of the problem I had been searching so hard for. The origin of my obsession.

Once that suspicion took root, everything began to feel suspicious. Why had they accepted my proposal so readily?

Even if I was offering to help them advance into reality, that promise of mine was extremely uncertain.

Even so, they had accepted my request without much hesitation. For some reason, that bothered me.

Could they be trying to use me?

I looked at them with slightly suspicious eyes, then shook my head.

In the end, this was only my thought. There was one thing certain in the current situation.

I could not reach the end alone, and because of that, I needed their help.

So I needed to set my suspicions aside for now. My suspicions were not certain either.

This was only a guess. Getting swept up in a guess and suspecting everyone around me was not an attitude suited to a mage.

And if they were using me, then I could simply use them as well. With that thought, I approached them and lightly clapped my hands.

“Shall we get moving? It seems everyone has rested enough. I will tell you the direction we are going.”

I smiled and lightly beckoned to them. The rabbit quickly rose from her seat and hugged the axe to her chest.

I could see anticipation for what lay ahead on her face. She was clearly looking forward to swinging that axe to her heart’s content.

Like that, the group of Professors noisily began leaving the room. I followed behind them.

Just then, the nun slipped out from among the Professors and approached me. She let out a light laugh.

Meeting her eyes, I also gave a small smile.

“There is not much left now.”

“That is true.”

I nodded. Then I quietly looked at the sun outside the window.

That sun, invisible to their eyes, gave off a clear blackish light as it illuminated the path I had to take.

The path it created was very clear. It meant the end was truly not far now. The sun had also grown quite close.

When I slowly stepped outside the building, the wasteland came into view.

As if showing that the end of my dream was near, the land held a strange distortion within it.

There were spaces half flipped over, and I could also see the ground floating into the air and settling back down, as if time had been mixed together.

Leading the group of Professors, I stepped onto the path the sun had created.

And at the end of that path, I found an immensely thick iron curtain.

I quietly looked at the group of soldiers. They gave off a strong smell of iron, along with cold killing intent.

As if they had discovered us, they slowly began approaching.

“Let us clean them up quickly and move on.”

Saying that, I took out a puppet. The puppet gave a light signal and began spewing threads of magical power toward the Professors.

The puppets they carried connected to those threads and gave off a light vibration.

I gave a small nod and sent a signal through it.

Following that signal, the Professors began to move.

The training had paid off. I lightly stroked my chin and laughed in satisfaction.

Each of them was highly individual. Because of that, quarrels sometimes broke out.

But if I could somehow gather those individual powers together, they could produce far greater strength.

With that in mind, I had tried to connect their movements as organically as possible. And it seemed that attempt had worked very well.

Under my control, each individual Professor carried the movement of the whole.

And moving like a single sharp awl, they began tearing through that thick iron curtain.

It did not take long for all the soldiers, who seemed to number in the thousands, to vanish.

Of course, that was natural since our numbers had grown far more than before. I picked up the orbs and continued forward.

After that, we encountered barriers similar to the first one several more times.

Their numbers grew larger and denser as we advanced. But the group of Professors pierced through those iron curtains without hesitation and pushed forward quickly.

“Slaughter! Slaughter!”

I saw the rabbit excitedly swinging her axe.

Another unit had blocked our path again. She was clearly thinking of smashing it apart in one go.

Unlike what she wanted, though, we could not move immediately this time. Because of their numbers.

I quietly stroked my chin. Then I looked at the long curtain spread out before my eyes.

Its scale was enormous beyond comparison to the ones before.

I could see soldiers densely packed together, roughly numbering in the tens of thousands. And there were just as many steel machines as soldiers.

That sheer number would clearly be hard to handle, even for the group of Professors.

Well, if we fought somehow, we could probably manage it.

To deal with that as easily as possible, I needed to devise a proper strategy.

Only then would the burden on the Professors not be too great. Of course, no matter what I did, it would clearly be a difficult fight.

Thinking that, I began roughly grasping the flow of that enormous army.

And not long after, I had no choice but to tilt my head slightly and straighten up.

I had sensed something strange. I put a little magical power into my eyes and examined them closely.

That enormous iron curtain was made up of many steel machines. And those machines had their cannon barrels aimed at us.

The sight of those steel machines, looking ready to spit out shells at any moment, was extremely menacing.

But they were not moving at all. They were only waiting in place.

The other soldiers were the same. They simply stood there, watching us and holding their positions.

I could not feel the intense killing intent from them like before. No, I could feel it, but that killing intent had settled calmly.

The atmosphere was quite different from before, when they always went wild the moment they found us.

Why were they waiting like that? I observed them, slightly tense at the changed mood.

After facing off with them for a short while, I soon saw a small movement among them.

Several soldiers left the group and began moving toward us.

They had white cloth hanging from their backs. What that cloth meant was clear. They wanted to stop fighting.

At that attitude, so clearly different from before, the group of Professors also began murmuring.

The group of soldiers approached us and stopped in front of us.

The soldiers pointed the muzzles of their guns toward the ground and raised both hands. Then one soldier among them slowly opened his mouth.

“General, talk, you.”

After slowly forcing out those words, he lowered his hand and pointed at us. His fingertip was clearly aimed at me. I quietly watched him.

“Me?”

I tilted my head slightly and asked the soldier. He nodded with a blank face.

I quietly folded my arms and stared at the soldier. There was no light of reason to be found in that face.

He looked as if he recognized only orders.

I shook my head. It seemed I would not be able to draw any information out of him.

This was literally a kind of puppet sent to call me.

Still, it was interesting. I lightly folded my arms and sank into thought.

General. It clearly meant the being who had gathered them together.

I did not know what it was, but the current situation was very interesting.

I never thought they would request a conversation like this. I thought they would simply remain hostile, like they had until now.

I glanced over the group of Professors. A small commotion was rising among them.

They also seemed flustered by this situation. From among them, the nun slowly stepped forward.

She stared at the soldier, then looked at me.

“What do you intend to do? We will respect your opinion.”

At her words, I thought for a moment. I did not know why they were calling me. Perhaps this could be a trap.

Soon, I steadied myself. I quietly nodded and moved forward.

I had already been curious about what exactly that army was.

This path led toward my soul. They were clearly blocking that path of mine.

In that sense, they were far too vivid to be called simple memories.

And they were the only ones who dropped wish orbs. That was something I had not found among other dream beings.

They too were too strange to treat as simple components of the dream.

So it seemed I needed to take this chance to find out exactly what that army was.

As I stepped forward, the group of Professors began moving with me. Then the soldiers quietly raised their hands and blocked their path.

It seemed they would not permit anyone else to approach.

I stroked my chin and examined them. It looked like I could not take everyone with me.

Even so, I could not leave them all behind and go alone. Who knew what might be in there?

I needed escorts capable of protecting me.

I slowly looked over the group of Professors, then soon met the rabbit’s eyes.

“Slaughter!”

She hugged the axe to her chest and waved at me. She was appealing for me to take her along. I met her eyes, then glanced at the nun.

The rabbit and the nun. These two were the beings who had stayed with me the longest on this journey across the dream.

Since we had been working together from the start, I also knew how strong they were.

That made them very suitable as escorts. Should I move with only them for now? If I had just these two, I should at least be able to return alive.

“Would the two of you come with me? If anything happens, I will send a signal to the others.”

Saying that, I lightly shook the puppet in my arms. It spewed out threads of magical power and connected them to the other puppets.

“Slaughter!”

The rabbit lifted her axe high and came to my side. The nun let out a light laugh and moved with the rabbit.

The soldiers did not stop them.

No matter how hazy their reason was, they seemed to recognize that these two had come as my escorts.

When we moved, the soldiers naturally turned and stepped in front of us. It seemed they meant to guide us.

They quickly began walking back toward the place they had come from.

Following behind them, we advanced toward that enormous iron curtain. Then we stepped into the army.

The soldiers, stiff and staring only straight ahead, felt like puppets.

After advancing while watching those restrained movements, we came face-to-face with the General.

Seeing him, I quietly nodded.

Before this, I had faced command units several times. From them, I could glimpse a light of reason that wanted to maintain the front line.

Of course, it had not been enough for conversation. This being called the General gave off a similar air.

But the light of reason in his eyes was far clearer than theirs, beyond comparison.

He truly deserved to be called General. He stared at me from among the soldiers.

After watching me for a long while, he turned his gaze and examined the nun and the rabbit.

After confirming them, I saw a slight killing intent ripple in his eyes before fading.

“You brought baggage.”

“They are my escorts. I do not know what might happen here.”

Saying that, I lightly shrugged. At that, the General clicked his tongue and frowned. I stared at him and quietly stroked my chin.

Watching him like this, his face somehow felt familiar.

Where had I seen that?

That fatigue-soaked air. Those sunken eyes. After confirming them, I soon lightly clapped my hands.

Because I realized why he felt familiar. That face somehow looked very much like mine.

“There is no need for small talk, so I will get straight to the point.”

The General tapped the ground with the staff in his hand. It was meant to focus our attention. When I looked at him, he met my eyes and opened his mouth.

“I know what you want. We will help you with it. So abandon them and join us.”

“What I want?”

I asked back without thinking. I tilted my head and looked at the General. The General quietly nodded and continued.

“Yes. You wish to reach your soul at the end of this. We will take you there. Then you can reach your destination comfortably without any more fighting.”

“...How did you know that?”

There was very strong certainty in the General’s words. I quietly scratched my head.

Aside from the group of Professors, I had not revealed my destination.

So how did he know that? That was the question.

Perhaps my thoughts showed on my face, because the General lightly snorted.

Then he lifted his staff and pointed at the sky. In the direction he pointed was the sun, giving off a clear light.

“Anyone would realize it by looking at that sun.”

I quietly blinked. This General could see the sun? How could he see it? I had thought beings inside the dream could not see it.

I glanced at the ones beside me. Unlike him, the rabbit and the nun still could not accurately grasp the sun’s position. The nun looked at me, placed a hand on her chin, and lightly tilted her head.

“Oh my, was there a sun? I cannot see anything.”

She gave a gentle smile. At that, the General glared at her. I could see strong hatred and killing intent mixed together in his eyes.

“You lot would not know. You have completely split away from us.”

Saying that, he clicked his tongue hard. The nun faced him, covered her mouth, and let out a light laugh.

The General glared at her, then soon turned his head as if giving up.

He looked at me.

“You must have learned a little about them on your way here. My main body would. So you must have noticed that they came from you. And the same applies to us. You could say we are beings split off from you.”

The General pointed at the soldiers beside him. At those words, I could only blink. This entire army was made of beings born from my soul? The General continued.

“So what you can see, we can also see. The same goes for that sun. They likely could see it originally too. They were also once part of us.”

The General narrowed his eyes and glared at the rabbit.

At his gaze, the rabbit growled slightly and lifted her axe. Fierce magical power began flowing along the axe blade.

Seeing that, the General lightly snorted.

“But as you can see from their current state, they have been contaminated and changed. They have lost the purity we hold. That is why I am telling you to abandon them and join us.”

He looked at me. A strong conviction rippled in his eyes. He glanced at the sun, then shook his head.

“They do not know where your soul is. So they are trying to use you as a guide to reach it. That is why we stop you. If they reach that end, who knows what will happen to your soul?”

After pausing for a moment, he let out a deep sigh. I could feel deep anguish from him. He lightly tapped the ground with his staff and looked at me.

“So join us. We are beings born from you, and we move only to protect your soul. Wiping out all that contamination and protecting the purity of your soul. That is our purpose. Our mission as well.”

Mission. At that word, I could not help but nod without thinking. He looked very sincere.

Perhaps this army was the final stronghold suppressing my obsession.

I took an orb from my arms and lightly stroked it. As I listened to his explanation, I naturally came to understand why this appeared.

They were part of my soul, the owner of the dream.

When they died and vanished, their power must have remained behind in the form of these fragments.

This was power born from my soul.

Since it came from my soul, of course it could have a great influence on the dream like this.

No wonder. It made no sense for a power this convenient to be scattered all around my dream in such large quantities.

I quietly sank into thought. Then I chewed over his words and organized their meaning.

Roughly speaking, it meant they were all beings born from my soul. The Professors and the soldiers both.

I glanced at the rabbit and the nun. They did not deny or affirm the General’s words. They simply stood still.

These ones were the contaminated ones, and those ones were the pure ones. Was that roughly how I should understand it?

I scratched my head slightly. My soul had split into such a large number?

What exactly was the state of my soul for something like this to be possible? I was full of questions.

This had not happened in the other dreams I had seen until now.

Could it be related to my reincarnation? Thinking that, I lightly nodded. Judging by the appearance of these soldiers, that seemed likely.

There was no way they had taken that form for no reason.

Somehow, it felt like everything the General said was true. The suspicions I had held until now had been organized in a very reasonable way.

I stared at the beings in Professor’s form, the rabbit and the nun.

If they were crystallizations of obsession as I suspected, what would happen when they reached my soul by using me as their foundation?

Perhaps contamination would be scattered all over that soul.

And my soul, swallowed by magical power like that, would lose the control I had barely gained and return to its previous state.

I would have entered this dream to resolve my obsession, only to end up bringing back an even greater danger.

In that sense, the General’s explanation was enough to make me wary.

I stroked my chin and looked at them. If so, just as the General said, I should not let them reach my soul.

The General seemed to notice my thoughts and nodded heavily.

What would happen if I listened to him? There would clearly be no more fighting.

He would open the way for me. I would naturally reach the end like that. And I would face my soul.

Then, if I removed the source of my obsession there, in other words, if I removed these beings resembling Professor, my obsession might also disappear naturally.

If so, I would not need to keep the promise I had made with them either.

The promise to drag them out into reality, a possibility I was still not certain of myself.

There was a reason the General had gone out of his way to call me. I glanced at him.

Within his firm gaze, I could feel that he had grasped the entire flow of my thoughts.

He also seemed to know that I would be tempted by this.

I could clearly believe that he was a being born from me. There were not many beings whose thoughts aligned with mine this well.

I faced the General.

“That is an interesting story. It is a little tempting too.”

I smiled and nodded. At that, I saw a faint smile rise on the General’s face. At the same time, the rabbit looked up at me and said, “Slaughter!” Facing that face resembling Professor, I gently nodded.

“Even so, I cannot join you.”

Saying that, I lightly gave the rabbit a look. Then I drew a line across my neck toward the General.

“Slaughter!”

Receiving my signal, the rabbit pulled out her axe. Then she filled her feet with magical power and rushed toward the General in an instant. The soldiers quickly blocked her path with their bodies, but they could not withstand the power of that axe.

Protected by the soldiers, the General slowly moved back. I saw him frowning and glaring at me.

“Foolish. Why would you do this?”

“Because this side is more trustworthy than yours.”

I lightly scratched my head and glanced at the nun.

She smiled softly as mist poured from her fingertips. That mist seeped between the soldiers and began hiding the rabbit’s figure.

At the same time, the rabbit’s axe wildly cut through the soldiers. The soldiers could not block that axe and helplessly melted away.

Soon, a path toward the General opened. The rabbit kicked off the ground and moved quickly along that path.

The difference between them and these ones was clear.

It had been different from the first meeting, after all. I had lost my life once to the soldiers. I had also been chased.

They had clearly been hostile toward me.

But this group of Professors had stopped them. And they had tried to talk to me first.

That was quite civilized of them. In contrast, those soldiers were nothing but barbaric.

They had charged in trying to kill me, and only now, when we had nearly reached the end, had they tried to negotiate. While trying to drive a wedge between us, no less.

Because of that, no matter how reasonable and plausible the story he gave was, I could not believe it.

Their approach itself had been wrong from the very beginning. How could I trust beings who resorted to violence first?

In contrast, this group of Professors had been very cooperative with me.

And I did not abandon beings who showed me cooperation and trust. That was like a rule of mine.

If I could not be certain of the identity of either the soldiers or the Professors, then I had to believe in the ones who showed me trust.

Rather than halfheartedly taking the enemy’s hand, it was better to believe in these beings, who might or might not be allies, until the end and keep moving forward.

Then I only had to confirm the truth once I reached that end.

If they were deceiving me, then I would let myself be deceived. And after weighing that goodwill and hostility, I would pay back as much as I had received.

The rabbit shot toward the General. After confirming that, I nodded.

Because I thought we would be able to deal with this many soldiers easily.

The General was the command unit controlling this enormous army. Then what would happen if we cut off the head? The soldiers would easily fall apart.

Then we could clearly break through this battlefield easily as well. There was no reason to miss this chance.

“That choice of yours will harm our purity...”

The General was about to say something. The rabbit swung her axe.

The General’s head split apart beneath her axe. He instantly melted away, leaving behind a single orb.

At the same time, killing intent began writhing around us. The other soldiers had clearly noticed something was wrong with the General.

But mist had already covered the surroundings thickly. The nun had scattered it.

Inside that mist, I quickly built magical power barriers. Then I glanced at the nun and the rabbit.

“Let us get out of here like this. Once we join the others, I think we can clean up the rest.”

“Slaughter!”

The rabbit stepped forward and opened the way. Like that, we began slowly escaping through the gaps between the soldiers.

Amid the rain of shells and bullets, my magical power barrier was pierced and rebuilt over and over.

I focused my mind and endlessly poured out magical power. I had to make it so the rabbit could open the path as much as possible.

Perhaps thanks to my efforts, the rabbit quickly pierced through the wall of people without anything getting in her way.

I let out a sigh of relief. We had reached enough distance for me to send a signal. I took out the puppet and lightly flowed magical power into it.

Then a kind of signal began flowing along the connected threads of magical power.

They seemed to have received the signal properly, because I could see them quickly approaching us. They deflected the pouring shells and bullets and rescued us in an instant.

“Slaughter?”

The rabbit turned and looked at me. It seemed she had been quite frustrated by only running away. I nodded at her.

“Yes, you may wipe them all out. The conversation is over.”

“Slaughter! Slaughter!”

The rabbit looked excited and leaped toward the soldiers.

Her axe quickly began cutting through the soldiers. The other Professors also scattered their magical power and broke the steel machines.

Was it because the command unit had disappeared? The soldiers were swept away in their hands like sand. Like that, the thick iron curtain collapsed.

This was enough to feel relieved. I glanced at the nun. She stood beside me, releasing mist.

It seemed she meant to protect me amid the flow of this battlefield.

I quietly sank into thought. All of them were born from me. I had dealt with the General, but the story I had heard from him was quite plausible.

Were they truly contaminated? I could not be certain.

“Then shall we draw again?”

I lightly shrugged and spoke. There was no need to worry. I would learn everything once I reached the end. I picked up an orb rolling on the ground and nodded.

After that, drawing Professors and continuing the fight repeated over and over. Command units similar to the General blocked our path many times during those battles.

Dealing with such large numbers of gathered soldiers was quite difficult. But they were still not enough to stop the power of the group of Professors united as one.

Like that, we reached the end.

I looked at the sun. It was scattering a very blackish light in every direction. And beneath that sun, I could see a wide lake.

Beyond that lake, only pitch-black mist rippled.

“This is the end.”

“Yes, it is.”

The nun nodded. I moved toward the lake. Then I calmly looked inside it.

The lake was emitting a very faint light. That light seemed to reveal very clearly what was contained inside.

Inside the lake, I could see something writhing and flowing.

I knew instinctively. This enormous lake was my soul.

“If you enter it, you will naturally learn what you want.”

The nun approached me and smiled gently. At those words, I lightly nodded. Then, after taking a moment to breathe deeply, I put my hand into the lake.

At the same time, flowing memories began passing through my mind.

My eyes twitched slightly. It was something I had glimpsed before.

When my soul had been pulled out by Professor’s hand. Of course, I had mostly forgotten it again when I sank back into my body.

They were all memories contained in the soul. As I soaked my hand in the lake of the soul like this, I felt those memories naturally coming back to life.

Within them, I was many different beings. I was the General, I was a soldier, and I was also the woman killed by their hands.

Those fragmentary memories flowed endlessly into me. Then they gathered around my chest and slowly began soaking my tree.

It was like a small insight gained from recognizing the origin of my soul. There had been something I had been quite curious about.

I was a reincarnator. That was an undeniable fact. My memories proved it.

But for a reincarnator, my power was far too lacking.

The president had said it before. A reincarnator was a being with mighty power that had descended. But my talent was far too lacking to be called that.

But with my hand soaked in my soul like this, I felt I could clearly understand the reason.

The army. They had said those beings were born from my soul. The same went for the group of Professors.

The reason they could appear before me in such varied forms was because of the special nature of my soul.

I quietly clenched my hand. I felt a small piece being caught in my hand from beyond the lake. This was one soul fragment.

A small fragment of the soul that held memories like the ones just now.

I quietly looked down at the lake. The lake was endlessly flowing with such soul fragments.

This lake was like a whole made up of those fragments.

This was the form of my soul.

I was not a being made of one. I was like an enormous collective formed by these small soul fragments gathering together again and again. A soul as a kind of colony.

Was this the secret hidden in my soul? I let out a light bitter smile.

---

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried