WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Surviving in the Magic Academy

Chapter 191

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191.

I could feel warm sunlight rippling around me along with magical power. I released my own magical power and slowly blocked it out. Then I focused on the plate in my hands.

A bitterly cold magical power rose lightly from the plate, protecting what rested on it from the magical power in the sunlight. Carefully controlling my magical power, I took a cautious step forward.

I had to mind even the smallest movement. If the contents of this plate shook even slightly, everything would be ruined. I could not let a moment of carelessness wreck something I had spent so long preparing.

After carrying the dish with that much care, I finally reached the table. The sunlight pouring through the wall of windows was clear enough to dazzle the eyes.

And Professor Irian, wrapped in that sunlight, looked even more beautiful. I lowered my head slightly and set the plate on the table. This was the meal I had prepared for her.

Professor, who had been staring blankly out the window, must have sensed my magical power, because she glanced down at the dish. I could feel displeasure radiating from her, impossible to hide. She looked up at me.

I met Professor’s eyes and smiled faintly. But Professor did not answer that smile. She only stared at me. For some reason, I thought I could feel something almost like possessiveness toward me in her gaze.

“Today, I tried preparing something raw. It is based on lotus flowers, with several dressings added. I arranged the flavor so you could enjoy it lightly before setting out.”

I pointed at the dish. Small flowers rested on it. Even sealed by my magical power, they gave off an exceptionally fresh vitality.

I had brought them over as soon as possible after finishing the preparation. That way, the freshness of the ingredients and the magic contained within them would stay at their best. I was satisfied with the result, and now all that remained was Professor’s evaluation.

Professor tapped the plate. A sharper cold immediately poured from it.

That was something I had carved with great delicacy so the ingredients’ temperature would not change and their condition would remain perfectly stable. The plate itself was also a puppet.

“...Flowers?”

She tilted her head slightly, looking displeased. That was understandable. On the shallow plate, there were only a few flowers floating on water.

As someone who liked meat, she clearly would not favor this kind of meal. But I had a reason for preparing it. Once she put one of those flowers into her mouth, she would naturally understand.

Smiling lightly, I placed the utensil in front of Professor. It had been prepared solely for this meal. Should I call it a spoon capable of holding one flower whole? Magic similar to the plate’s had been cast on it as well.

“Please try one. It may look like this, but I am confident it will suit your taste, Professor.”

I moved my magical power slightly. Threadlike magical power flowed over the plate. Then it slowly began undoing the seal wrapped around it.

The flowers floating on the plate bloomed little by little, and I could feel them release beautiful magical power. Professor must have felt it too, because a little interest appeared in her expression. I bowed my head to her.

Professor lifted the spoon. Then she scooped up one small lotus floating on the plate. She looked down at it with a somewhat reluctant expression, then soon closed her eyes slightly and put it into her mouth.

Professor went still for a moment, as though sensing the magical power, then began moving her mouth bit by bit. Soon, her eyes went round as she looked at me. I could see her mouth had puffed up completely.

Seeing surprise appear on her face, I smiled lightly. Thankfully, this dish seemed to suit her taste as well. It had been a new challenge for me too, and it seemed to have succeeded wonderfully.

“I am glad you seem to like it.”

Several weeks had already passed since Professor On’s lecture ended. During that time, I had steadily continued researching the tree branch Professor On had given me. I had to fully understand it before I could even attempt to create new life.

But even after spending several weeks on it, understanding the structure of the tree remained extremely difficult. I clicked my tongue lightly. A tree could be called a part of the soul. That was why a trace of Professor On’s magic also showed itself in this tree.

The reason I could not analyze the tree branch was the absolute difference in level between Professor On’s magic and mine. I had expected that, but to think I would fail to grasp even a single clue.

It was not only Professor On’s that was hard to understand. Tiena’s tree branch was just as complex. It had a structure I had never seen before.

Even so, I had to understand them completely. Only then could I build the foundation for bringing new life into being. Using someone else’s tree was impossible too. I smiled bitterly.

This unique magic, which I had named Fake Life, worked by weaving souls together to create a convincing fake. It was a combination of only two souls. That meant continuing experiments with someone else’s soul would be meaningless.

Perhaps because those two souls were so powerful, they felt difficult on an entirely different level compared to the Saplings I had woven before. I would have to spend far more time to understand them.

Still, after several weeks of research, I had gained a few things. I smiled softly as I watched Professor chew the flower. That flower was one such result.

What I used for this dish was nine lotuses that had absorbed the essence of a lake for hundreds of years. They were smaller than my palm, but the life force contained within them was incredibly powerful.

I had found them by chance while moving along the flow of life. You could say I had been extremely lucky. I used the flowers I had gathered myself for this dish.

I had also put quite a lot of effort into transporting them alive. Even the liquid on the plate had been taken directly from the lake where those flowers had been. Thinking back on that process, I shook my head lightly.

Still, perhaps because of all that effort, the life force they contained had grown stronger than it had been at first. I could feel a flow of life several times more intense than before inside them.

That was because I had carved a new grain into those flowers. It was a flow I had obtained while researching Professor On’s tree branch. And the flow carved into the flowers far exceeded my expectations.

To think they would gain such powerful life force when I had only imitated the flow of magical power. I realized all over again that Professor On had not bound me with a provisional contract for no reason.

A tree naturally carried even traces of magic like that. In that sense, Professor On’s tree branch could also be considered a textbook for me. Those flowers were byproducts of that research.

Watching Professor close her eyes and enjoy the flower’s fragrance and flavor, I nodded. As expected, I knew she would like it.

I had observed Professor a great deal by now, and I had clearly learned why she liked meat. There was the simple fact that she was a dragon and therefore carnivorous, but more than that, she cared about life force.

In that sense, the lotus was small, but the life force inside it was densely condensed. That one tiny flower she had placed in her mouth held as much life force as a magical beast the size of a house.

On top of that, I had decorated the flower with hundred-year-old stone honey as a dressing, so she would like it even more. It had been formed into spheres while holding the fragrance of magic.

That stone honey, shaped like small capsules, was also full of the flow of life. As those capsules burst and blended with the flower, the scent of life would fill her mouth.

In that way, every cooking method focused on amplifying the ingredients’ natural flavor and life force. And by using the smallest possible amount of cooking, I had been able to create a living dish that was almost like magic.

Professor carefully swallowed the flower she had been chewing, then quickly slipped another lotus into her mouth. Her puffed-out cheeks carried a deep happiness. Smiling brightly, she looked truly delighted.

I could not help smiling as I watched Professor. She was that satisfied with it, so as the one who cooked it, I could only be grateful. I quietly placed a hand on my chest.

Cooking could also be called a form of magic. It, too, contained three elements much like magic. Was that why? As I watched Professor savor the flower, I felt as if a small realization was rising within me.

I gently closed my eyes at the sensation of realization flowing through my chest. This could be called opening a new path in cooking. I could feel that confidence soaking into my tree and making it stand firmer.

While I briefly sorted through that realization, Professor continued eating the flowers one by one. Each lotus held a different flavor inside. I had prepared several dressings so she would not tire of them easily.

Soon, she had emptied the plate completely. She looked down at it and nodded.

“Mm... Delicious. I think it’s been a long time since eating felt this enjoyable.”

Professor leaned blankly back in her chair. Her face as she patted her stomach looked utterly satisfied. As if to prove it, her stomach had rounded out.

It was hard to believe she had only eaten a few flowers. That also meant what I had prepared contained that much dense life force.

Smiling softly, I approached Professor. Then I held out the cup I had prepared in advance. A clear liquid was inside it. When I placed it on the table, a deep fragrance began to spread.

“This is today’s dessert and tea. I brought something that pairs with the dish I prepared.”

This had not been made with Perfect Tea magic. It could be called another dish, one I had personally boiled for a long time. I lowered my head slightly to her.

But Professor did not look at the tea I had prepared. Her eyes were fixed on my wrist, the one holding out the cup. It was where the provisional contract with Professor On had been engraved.

Seeing it, Professor Irian’s face gradually crumpled. Ah, I had ended up showing her something unpleasant. I quietly pulled my hand back and covered my wrist.

But I seemed to be too late. Professor crossed her arms and began releasing deep magical power. Feeling the roughly wavering magical power linger around me, I had no choice but to smile vaguely.

“It annoys me every time I see that. Why did you make another promise like that?”

She clicked her tongue. I scratched my head for a moment. I had not intended to make something like this either, but how could I have refused there? The difference in power had been too obvious.

I did not say that out loud, though. If I said the wrong thing, her magical power might strike me on the spot. For now, I just needed to read the room.

I glanced at her face. Her frown was full of irritation. Even so, this was much better than at first.

It was the result of steadily feeding her new foods like the flowers I had prepared this time and soothing her. When she first saw this, she had been so angry she had practically flown into a rage.

The magical power that erupted from her back then had even made the tower float into the air. The shock had damaged some of the tower’s functions. At least the lecture had already ended, so there were no students around.

Compared to that time, Professor was much calmer now. I saw Professor Irian puff out her cheeks, her expression full of displeasure. Right now, she was only showing dissatisfaction like that.

How flustered had I been inside that floating tower? I still remembered it clearly. I had not expected her to overreact to that extent either.

I lightly rubbed my wrist. Strictly speaking, this provisional contract did not actually harm her. Even if I stayed in Professor On’s tower for a while, my contract with Professor would not disappear.

So once things were over there, I would return here anyway. That was also why I had accepted the promise. Even if I stayed there, it did not mean I could not manage this tower.

Contrary to my thoughts, Professor had been furious. To the point that she had almost gone to find Professor On herself. Perhaps it was because of a dragon’s nature. As the look in her eyes now showed, dragons had tremendous possessiveness.

Still, I felt a little proud. The fact that she had gotten that angry meant she considered me that important, did it not? When I thought of how she had treated me like a convenient tool when I first met her, this was enormous progress.

For now, should I try soothing Professor? I used magical power to lightly cover the contract on my wrist and took one step closer to her. Then I held out the cup of liquid to her as she clicked her tongue.

“Please be at ease. I will not leave the tower. How could I ever leave your side, Professor?”

“You sure know how to talk. How am I supposed to believe that when you even received a successor’s seal?”

Professor grumbled with a sharp frown. Feeling magical power brush past my body, I scratched my chin. Mm, good thing I left the coin in the workshop. If I had been carrying it, she would definitely have said something else.

As she was about to say more, I carefully brought the teacup to her lips. She closed her mouth and froze. Then she smelled the liquid in the cup, and I saw her expression relax a little.

I softly said, “Ah,” and Professor opened her mouth slightly. This was the result of repeating the process steadily until now. I carefully tilted the cup into her mouth.

Professor savored the tea and calmed down a little, leaning back in her chair. Watching her, I let out a small laugh.

Because Professor had seen this provisional contract, there had been an uproar at first, but there had also been a few good things. Like now, she had started keeping me a little closer. Should I say I had begun to feel a bit of possessiveness?

It was an attitude of guarding against others aiming for me. Perhaps because of that, it had become possible to feed her like this. You could say she had started valuing me that highly.

With a light smile, I continued feeding Professor the tea. During that process, I felt her magical power slowly loosen. Looking at her as she closed her eyes slightly and savored the tea, I opened my mouth.

“Since I made lotus the center of the dish, I prepared a dessert to match it. I boiled the meat of the magical beast that had held the lotuses to make broth, then used that as the base for a new soup.”

It was a broth I had carefully boiled so the flavors would harmonize. Professor Irian was sure to like it. Just as I expected, she quickly emptied one cup.

Professor lightly jerked her chin. I quickly understood what she meant, poured another cup, and offered it to her. She continued sipping the tea.

This was also a reversal in thinking. A reversal of the relationship between dessert and main dish. Even so, the harmony between the two had not been disturbed at all. There had to be a way to apply this idea to magic as well.

Thinking that, I carefully tilted the teacup. Soon, Professor emptied the cup and shook her head. She seemed somewhat satisfied. She crossed her arms and glared at me.

I could see a small dissatisfaction in her eyes. Something still seemed to be bothering her.

“You. Show me that again.”

I fiddled with my wrist for a moment and released magical power. Then the contract with Professor Irian began to surface. So did the provisional contract with Professor On, which lightly covered it.

Professor clicked her tongue slightly after seeing it. This could be called both a kind of loophole and a curse. It was a method of forcing a promise based on a contract.

To meddle with a contract like this, one needed power far greater than the parties involved. It was clear proof that Professor On was stronger than Professor Irian. That was why she could not undo it.

Of course, breaking it by force was possible. If the contract with her was erased, the provisional contract tied to it would surely disappear as well. But the backlash would carve a serious wound into my body.

Professor did not seem to want to erase it that badly, so she only let out a light sigh. Frowning, she shook her head slightly.

“That old man left the university, so I can’t even say anything to him. Damn it, he ran away like a coward.”

Old man. She meant Professor On. I smiled slightly bitterly. He had left the university? I had only learned that today.

“Do you know where that old man went?”

Professor looked at me with narrowed eyes. I shook my head. How would I know that? At my response, Professor clicked her tongue and fell into thought.

I really did not know where he had gone. Still, I had some idea. I had spoken with Professor On quite a lot, after all.

I thought of Father on the island. He was probably a powerful mage as well. I could feel that much now. But he would not be on Professor On’s level. I smiled slightly as I imagined him being flustered.

After Professor On understood the grain of life, he asked me about its source. He had noticed at once that I was not the origin of my understanding of the grain. And that meant he understood the grain that deeply.

When he asked about its origin, I answered him right away. I told him about the old man who had spread out a stall and continued carving. When I said it was a technique that came from a weed, Professor On’s eyes sparkled. I could feel intense interest in them.

So if he had left the university now, Professor On had probably gone to my home island. There was no other reason he would leave the university.

I glanced at Professor. She looked as if she would chase after Professor On at once if she knew where Professor On had gone. So I needed to hide Professor On’s movements. If she left the university for no reason, things would become troublesome.

He went to the island, huh. If it was Professor On, he would not need to ride something like an airship to cross the sea. I could not predict what kind of uproar he would cause after reaching the island.

As I had seen several times before, he might replay the past by crossing time. Or perhaps, like when he revived the other association members, he might resurrect the old man.

Of course, reviving an old man who had been dead for decades would definitely be difficult. His soul would have already left the island. But if it was Professor On, there might be some method.

I quietly touched my hand. The flow of grain created by that old man was so outstanding that Professor On had moved immediately. And what the old man had received from me in exchange was only a few gold coins.

That meant I owed the old man a great debt. Telling Professor On about him was also a way of repaying that debt. If the old man possessed remarkable talent, Professor On would not simply pass him by, just as he had not now.

From here on, everything depended on that old fossil. If that soul remained, there might be a possibility of resurrection. If not, Professor On would probably extract only the memories and bring them back. I was interested in seeing that old fossil’s memories too.

Of course, because Professor On had left like that, Professor Irian had no outlet for her irritation and had been picking on me even more. I thought she had seemed more irritable lately. Was it because Professor On had left?

Feeling Professor’s magical power ripple a little more, I brought the tea to her mouth again. And after soothing her like that, mealtime came to an end.

Now it was time for grooming. I took out a comb and approached her. Then I carefully began working on her hair.

As I delicately tidied her hair with magical power, Professor quietly raised her head and looked up at me. She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms.

“You. I’ll help a little with that promise, so make sure you resolve it. Got it?”

Help, was it? I quietly nodded. I had not expected her, who hated troublesome things so much, to think of me this much. I was truly grateful.

“Why did you have to bring in something so troublesome?”

Professor clicked her tongue and muttered. Then she leaned back in her chair. After being lost in thought for a moment, she looked up at me again.

“So, are the preparations finished now?”

It seemed the matter of the provisional contract had ended there. At her question, I checked the mirror bug for a moment. After confirming the message inside it, I nodded.

“Yes, Arcana General Trading Company has contacted us as well. Now you only need to depart.”

At my words, Professor frowned. Letting out a light sigh, she sagged. She seemed extremely unwilling to move.

But it could not be helped. This was something the president had ordered. We now had to head to the admission evaluation hall.

I looked down at Professor as she leaned against me and openly showed how bothersome she found it. Without her, the evaluation would fall apart. That was also why I had not revealed Professor On’s whereabouts to her.

My eyes quietly flashed. The admission evaluation was a place where many people would gather. And it would be recorded as a video and passed down into the future. So I had to put even more care into Professor’s grooming.

I had to show everyone Professor’s perfection. I glanced at Butler, who was standing beside me. At that, Butler quietly began releasing magical power.

Butler’s magical power soon flowed slowly and blended with Professor’s magical power, creating a single flow. Through that connection, Butler began carefully loosening Professor’s magical power.

It was the magical power massage we had repeated several times before. Only Butler, who had grown while receiving Professor’s magical power, could do it. Within that flow of refined magical power, I groomed Professor with even greater care.

Tiny things like nail clippings were burned with magical power right in front of Professor. I could not repeat what had happened last time. How could I do something like that again? There was no need to offend Professor for nothing.

Besides, it was no longer necessary now. I gave a light cough and continued grooming her. I had also prepared new clothes for her.

It was a golden robe that matched Professor’s golden hair. I had chosen it carefully for her, since she preferred comfort. I raised my magical power and wrapped it around her.

Professor slowly changed inside the curtain of magical power and came out. I bowed deeply to her and smiled.

“You are truly beautiful.”

“Tch. Flatterer.”

She glared at me and clicked her tongue. Then she let out a light sigh.

“That damned president. Why is he making me do something this annoying? I should be asleep right now.”

She yawned softly. I remembered when her last lecture ended. Back then, she had slept for about three months straight. She probably would have done the same this time if not for the admission evaluation.

She released magical power while showing mild irritation. I needed to improve her mood. I took a few cookies from inside my robe and offered them to her.

They were something I had made with great care. Professor ate them and looked a little satisfied. Watching her, I pointed toward the clearing outside the window.

“Preparations for departure are already complete. You should be able to spend the trip as comfortably as you do in this room. The same goes for the evaluation hall.”

In the clearing, Isabella was operating puppets with No. 0 and decorating the turtle’s back. The room, adjusted with great care, would be as comfortable as this one. Professor looked down at it and nodded.

“There won’t be anything I have to do, right?”

“Yes. You only need to go there and breathe magical power into it.”

I bowed my head. At that, Professor looked satisfied. The reason she had to move despite the annoyance was simple. There was no one else with magical power on her level.

Even if the trading company laid out a magic circle, they could not cast the magic. Unless someone was at the level of a professor, casting and maintaining that kind of magic was impossible.

So all she had to do was breathe magical power into it. Then I would handle everything else. Professor yawned and slowly began walking.

Following behind her, I let out a light laugh. The time had come to resolve the resentment of a long-term student. Once Professor, who enjoyed tormenting others, saw the evaluation hall, she would surely be endlessly satisfied.

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