WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Surviving in the Magic Academy

Chapter 4

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That chance came from somewhere I never expected.

Over ten years of research, I made countless puppets. Some were used for requests, and plenty broke after reaching the end of their lifespans. Even so, far more puppets started piling up in my workshop.

So I casually handed the leftover puppets to Nanny. I hated seeing them take up space for no reason. At first, I only gave her the puppets I had made and left over.

Then Nanny told me they were worth quite a bit of money. They were just puppets that twitched a few times, but people apparently found them fascinating. The other servants had paid to buy every puppet I gave her.

Huh. Could I make money just by selling puppets?

So the next time, I tried making something a little more convincing. Human-shaped puppets that danced or performed swordsmanship, that sort of thing. I even attached mana hearts that could keep them moving for about a week.

And those sold in droves too. I had never expected that at all.

The puppets sold as fast as I made them. Had word spread? Soon, people who wanted puppets started putting in requests. It was easier and more comfortable than my old work, so I accepted every one of them on the spot.

Someone asked me to make a puppet of their younger self. I looked at the portrait they sent, made something roughly similar, and sent it over. They burst out laughing as they watched the puppet swing an axe.

Someone asked me to make their family. Since they paid a large sum for three puppets, I did my best to make a warm-looking family.

Someone asked me to make the woman they had a crush on. Uh, well. I was flustered, but they paid an unbelievable amount of money, so I recreated her perfectly.

Like that, I did my best to recreate the extremely detailed and private things they requested. Maybe they recognized my effort, because they never held back with the money.

In one year, I earned hundreds of gold coins. I could not believe it. I had never thought I could make money through such a simple method.

Before this, one request took about a month to finish. Even then, I earned roughly one gold coin at most. But simply making a few puppets brought in piles of gold coins.

I could not let a chance like this pass by. Five thousand gold coins? It was right in front of me. With that mindset, I focused only on making puppets. The rumors kept growing until puppets became a trend within the clan. That was what Nanny told me.

After those rumors had circulated for a while, Father called for me.

Father. It was the first summons I had received from him since I was born. Even when I became a mage, he had only sent his congratulations through a servant. I had never seen Father in person. Across the entire clan, only a tiny handful knew his face.

With my heart trembling a little, I headed to the stone house where Father was said to stay. His residence was inside a spirit vein on the tallest mountain on the island, where the most mana gathered. The intensity of that spirit vein startled me for a moment.

The servants waiting at the entrance lowered their heads and opened the door for me. The inside was wider than I had expected. In a huge room that felt like a cave, all sorts of stuffed monsters hung on the walls.

And at the far end, an old man sat in a worn chair with his arms resting on a table, staring quietly at me.

Was that old man Father?

I had heard the legend. One hundred years ago, the clan could barely scrape together a day’s meal, and it was all thanks to that old man that they had grown into what they were now. As a mage, he led the clan and ruled the entire island, earning the title of island lord. Then he made everyone on the island call him Father.

The Father I imagined from that legend was a warrior with an enormous build. But the Father I saw for the first time was nothing like that. He was only a thin, small old man. It was hard to believe someone like him was the hero of that legend.

Then his eyes turned to me, and I realized I was wrong.

The killing intent and madness writhing inside them. When I faced the mana that had piled up over one hundred years, I did not dare breathe. Mana flowed like blood along his sunken eyes.

I hurriedly bowed my head, and the killing intent vanished. Father silently looked down at me for a long while. I could not even think of raising my head. I just stood there, stiff as stone.

Father tapped the table with his finger. Tap, tap. I understood it as a sign to raise my head and carefully straightened myself.

“So, you make puppets?”

Father spoke. His voice was strangely cracked, like scraping metal, and it made my knees go weak.

“Yes. My skill is lacking, but I make puppets.”

I answered tensely. Father crooked a finger, beckoning me closer. I carefully approached him. Piles of the puppets I had made were stacked on the table. Some of them had been pried open, as if he had already inspected them once.

“I looked them over. They are decent enough.”

Father stood up a puppet holding a sword and infused mana into it. The puppet began to swing the sword in a fairly convincing way. They were puppets made to absorb nearby mana and perform only the actions they had been given, and they were also the result of my past research.

Father watched the puppet wave its sword for a while, then handed me a book that had been placed on one side of the table.

“Try making the woman in here. If you do, I will give you what you want.”

I carefully opened the book. Inside were several portraits of a woman. From childhood to old age. It looked as if the book contained the passage of one woman’s life. After looking at them, I carefully asked Father.

“Who is this person?”

“You do not need to know.”

As he said that, a trace of sorrow passed through Father’s eyes.

“I know you are trying to leave this island. If you make a puppet that satisfies me, I will let you out.”

Father released his mana and pulled a thin piece of paper from a corner. When I looked closely at it, my mind went blank.

A boarding pass. It was clearly a boarding pass for an airship!

It was not strange that Father knew I wanted it. Ojo had said that the other clan members he taught had all left the island too. Even so, I had not expected Father to bring it up himself.

In any case, this was a chance. A chance I would never get again.

I quickly nodded. Father stared at the book in my hand, then waved his hand. My body floated up on its own and flew out of the cave. What incredible mana. Just what level had he reached?

I carefully held the book to my chest and left that place. Father’s level was not something I should be thinking about now. The most important thing was focusing on this request. This was a work I had to pour everything into!

I returned straight to my workshop and canceled all my other requests. Then I opened the book and studied the portraits in detail. How could I make this woman look the most natural? The first things that caught my eye were the pieces of wood sitting off to one side.

They were just ordinary wood I had found at the market. They were old and sturdy, but they had no magical power at all. I could not be satisfied with this. In the end, wood was the most important thing. What I handled best was wood, and that wood formed the puppet’s basic frame.

Of course, this kind of wood had been enough until now. As long as I added magic to it, it would last longer than the lifespan of weeds. But this time, my future life was on the line.

Why had he given me this request? Why had he offered a boarding pass as the reward? None of that mattered. The only important fact was that I absolutely needed this request. So I could not make the puppet with such common materials.

I hardened my resolve and spent the money I had earned so far. Once I let the gold coins flow, all kinds of lumber began coming into my hands. As I tried one type after another, hundreds of gold coins vanished. And at the end of it all, I found the most suitable tree.

It was a tree of some unknown species that had grown near the sea. The merchant called it bluewood. Apparently, it got that name because it had been exposed to the sea wind and taken on a blue hue. Several weeds had been dragged away by sea monsters to obtain this one tree, or so I heard. It was not important to me.

I liked the flow of mana contained in this wood. The cool scent of the sea that came from it when I stood nearby was charming. If I used this wood, I could preserve the woman’s atmosphere while containing magic more completely.

But when I started working with the wood, I realized the problem.

The sea mana dwelling in the wood was extremely heavy, and overcoming it was not easy at all. When I carved it with a mana-filled knife like I had done before, the backlash made the wood burst apart.

Then what if I used mana itself instead of a knife? When I infused mana with that thought in mind, the flow of mana inside the wood died completely.

I tried several other methods too, but I could not keep the wood’s mana alive no matter what. After several months passed and I still could not find a method, frustration drove me out of the workshop to wander around.

I crossed beyond the area where the clan stayed and reached the place where the island’s ordinary residents gathered. As I walked toward the center, I saw a small market. Why had my feet led me here? Thinking that, I looked around to see what they were selling.

There was nothing special. It was all food, daily necessities, and clothes. I was about to leave in disappointment when I saw an old man setting out a street stall. He was a shabby old man with a scrawny body, a half-bald head, and no pinky or ring finger.

Yet for some reason, I could not take my eyes off him. When I approached, the old man stopped setting out his stall and glanced at me. As I stood silently in front of him, the old man watched me for a moment, then began setting up his stall again. What he took from his bundle were several sculptures.

I could not look away from them.

Look at those carvings. They were clearly made from cheap wood, yet they contained a stronger sense of life than the puppets I had made. The ones carved into people looked as if they were truly smiling and chatting.

“How much are these sculptures?”

“Hehe, two copper coins each, sir.”

The old man took out all the sculptures and rubbed his hands together. These were only two copper coins? What a joke. Compared to this, every puppet I made was cheap trash. Yet he was selling things like these for so little.

“Then I will buy them all,” I said as I sat down in front of him.

“Oh, my.” The old man blinked.

“They aren’t anything that great, sir. They’re cheap wood, so they’ll rot or break soon.”

“That is fine. And may I watch you carve? I will pay you for it as well.”

“Oh, oh my. How could I be more grateful?”

The old man kept bowing, then furtively checked my expression.

“In that case, how much would the wage be...?”

I hurriedly searched my clothes. Since I had come out without thinking, I only had a few gold coins. I took them all out and placed them on the stall. If my heart had its way, I would have paid more, but I was short on money. The old man saw the gold coins and was so startled that his eyes grew even wider than before.

“I will give you all of this.”

If I could watch this old man carve from beside him, I thought it was not a waste of money at all.

These sculptures were the clue that would solve my problem.

I had that feeling.

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