WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Surviving in the Magic Academy

Chapter 52

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After I gained some breathing room, I devoted more of my attention to Professor Irian.

Of course, Butler could handle most things on his own, so there was no real need for me to attend to her personally.

On the other hand, there was no reason not to. I had all this time to spare, so why wouldn’t I invest some of it in Professor?

That was why I prepared lunch for her every day. I always cooked with care so the food would suit her tastes, and she enjoyed every part of the process.

Because of that, when I shut myself away to examine Professor Heisen’s paper, she had looked extremely sulky. That was how much she cared about this time.

But today, she was different. When I went to prepare the food, she paid no attention at all to the ingredients I had brought. It was completely unlike her usual self, when she always asked first what I was going to cook.

Instead, she called me over with a face full of delight. Her eyes were sparkling brightly, full of anticipation.

“What happened here? Hurry up and tell me. I think you know. I saw you meet with him.”

She said that while pointing at the mirror floating in front of her. Inside it was Jun, cheering. His face was full of excitement.

It looked like it was from yesterday.

I gave a bitter smile. In truth, it had already been over four months since Professor lost interest in the fighting inside the tower.

It was understandable. The fights she had expected and enjoyed had only happened a few times in the beginning. After the factions became completely fixed, small duels still occurred, but faction warfare no longer broke out.

She had gradually lost interest in the fighting within this tower. She had even almost lost interest in the lecture itself.

If I had failed to notice the signs, it could have become a serious problem. Because I kept paying attention to her, I was able to notice it, and by bringing her lunch like this and continuing to encourage her, I had barely managed to calm her down.

Anyway, that was how little interest she had in what happened inside this tower. Yet now her eyes were shining like this.

Of course, it was worth that much.

If one simply compared the great family faction and Jun’s group by numbers, Jun’s group had about twice as many people, but there was a more important difference between them. A gap in strength.

The five people, including Hongryeong, were the core of that strength. They were also the five strongest people in this lecture. No matter how many of Jun’s people swarmed them, they could not defeat those five. That was how large the gap between them was.

And yet they had overcome that difference and seized victory. This could be called an extremely rare event, even beyond the university and in the magic world as a whole. No wonder she was so pleased.

I was also very curious about how it had unfolded. But I had not looked at the message board he had asked me to open. That was basic courtesy toward my customer.

And even without checking it, I could roughly predict how the story had gone. Before, I had not noticed his purpose, but now that the result was in front of me, I had some sense of what the secret board had been used for.

Because of that, rather than the finer details, what impressed me more was Jun’s ability to spot an opportunity like that.

In truth, quite a few things at the university had functions similar to this message board. Information stones, sound transmission talismans, communication mirrors, things like that.

So the others seemed to see the mirror bug as something on the same level. Just an item that was slightly more convenient than those.

But this was far superior to them. I could say that with confidence. Most of those were expensive, consumable, or required a lot of magical power.

My mirror bug was the opposite. It was cheap, lasting, and used no magical power. The only problem was its short communication range.

Yet he had been the first to grasp the core value of this kind of message board and plan a strike with it. Now that I thought about it, he had always been like that. When he obtained the treasure, when the second floor opened, and when I sold the puppets. He always moved first to open a path.

I almost could not understand why he had stayed on the first floor until now.

Among mages, there was a saying that three great opportunities came in one’s life. Had this lecture become that kind of opportunity for him? Of course, seizing such an opportunity was also part of his ability.

Anyway, for these reasons, I had not paid that much attention to the matter. I simply kept doing my own work in silence. But Professor seemed a little different. No, very different.

“I said, hurry up and tell me.”

She pressed me. Of course, she had probably grasped the rough situation too. She knew I had met with him.

But she seemed to want to know more than that. If so, I had to oblige. Solving Professor’s curiosity came before courtesy toward a customer.

“I haven’t checked it separately either. So let’s look at it together now.”

As I said that, I called the mirror bug in one corner of the room. It was the one I had made for her. Compared to an ordinary mirror bug, it had a massive body about five times larger.

Its mirror was just as large. It was big enough to reflect Professor Irian’s entire body. It floated up in front of us and displayed a screen.

“Go into the secret board I made before.”

At those words, the mirror bug displayed a message board on the screen. It was a secret board that did not even appear on the normal screen, permitted only to the people Jun had selected. The others did not even know it existed.

- Attack Plan (Draft)

That was the first post visible as soon as the board opened. There were many more posts above it. But to learn the details, we needed to check the basic plan first.

I ordered the mirror bug to open the post. Then an extremely dense set of materials began appearing inside it.

The most striking thing among them was the huge map at the center. The map recorded the second floor of the tower in great detail.

It did not record only the terrain. How many people stayed in each room, who entered and left at what time, and what tendencies each individual showed in their movements. Tiny pieces of information like that were contained inside it one by one. Just looking at it was dizzying.

The analysis of the defensive barrier in that room was also written in great detail. Who was maintaining the magic, how much magical power it was made of, how many layers of magic it consisted of, and so on.

Seeing how they had figured out even these details, they must have planted a spy on the other side. And not just anyone, either, but someone at the core of the organization.

The raid planned with this basic information was very simple. They would take advantage of a weak point in the defense and launch a simultaneous attack. That was everything contained in the draft.

“Next one.”

Professor said that. Following her words, I moved to the next post. It was a plan that had been revised a little more than the previous one. The information written on the map had grown more detailed, and the attack plan had become clearer.

The raid schedule had been roughly decided, and the distribution of personnel for how they would move had also been roughly set.

The next post, and then the next.

In that way, the entire plan was completed, and the raid was carried out according to it. I had wondered how they defeated the great family faction, and now that I saw the full plan, I finally understood.

From the start, they had never intended to fight at a disadvantage. That was why they only targeted rooms where a member of the great family faction had briefly left their post. It was a very efficient strategy.

The last few posts were filled with traces of that raid. Jun left instructions, and the others moved while replying to them. At every moment, they used this message board to coordinate.

The urgency of unexpected situations, and the flashes of quick thinking used to handle them, were also there in these posts. As I watched, I could naturally imagine how they had carried out this plan.

And this raid had probably taken less than an hour to succeed. The timestamps in these posts said as much. I found myself admiring Jun’s meticulous plan and brilliant mind.

“These guys are interesting.”

Professor also nodded and laughed.

In that way, they had seized two rooms on the second floor. Their territory, which had originally been only one room on the second floor, had expanded further.

Gaining rooms like this meant they had secured more magical power. For Jun’s people, who already had many members, it was incredibly important.

“It seems that’s the end. I’m not sure whether you were satisfied.”

I said that while closing the message board. The mirror bug turned off the screen and returned to its original place. Professor Irian slowly nodded.

“Very good. This is what I wanted.”

“In that case, I will prepare lunch now.”

I said that while gathering up the ingredients I had briefly placed on the table. She glanced at them. Now that her curiosity had been resolved, her interest in the food seemed to have returned.

“Today, I plan to make skewers using shade lizard. If you wait here, I will prepare them right away.”

“Mm, all right.”

She smiled and sat at the table. I quickly began cooking.

It took nearly two hours for her to finish her meal in satisfaction.

Afterward, I went to find Jun.

“You came!”

He welcomed me warmly. He had a very triumphant smile on his face. I first bowed my head deeply toward him.

“I’m sorry. I ended up peeking at the message board.”

Part of the smile vanished from his face. Seeing that, I smiled gently and continued.

“I tried not to look, but Professor was curious about the process. Professor Irian was also very satisfied.”

At that, he broke into a broad smile again. He shook his head and waved his hands.

“Oh, why would you worry about something like that? I expected the information to get out anyway. More than a hundred people participated in this. How could we hide it? Next time, everyone will defend against it much more thoroughly.”

As he said that, he crossed his arms. He looked very confident. He smiled and continued.

“With this, I was able to leave a deep impression on the others. I’m satisfied with that. This will become a very large asset for me. More importantly,”

He briefly looked around, then pressed his fingers together to form a circle. His smile grew lighter.

“Evron-ssi, you’ll be earning quite a lot of this now too.”

“Yes, it’s thanks to you, Jun-ssi.”

“Haha, I deliberately called for a thousand points as the message board fee because I was thinking of you, Evron-ssi.”

Because he was thinking of me, huh. More than that, he probably wanted to keep other groups in check. Jun’s group had a lot of people, so the burden of that cost would be relatively small for them. Hiding those thoughts, I simply nodded readily.

“I gain recognition, and Evron-ssi gains points. Isn’t this a structure where both sides help each other?”

He laughed loudly. I laughed along with him. Whatever his intention had been, it was true that he had helped me.

The events that followed flowed naturally.

All the information spread in no time. No, rather than saying it spread, it would be more accurate to say it was sold. Jun posted the entire process on the information board.

Since it would spread anyway, I was the one who suggested selling it for points. When he heard that, he clapped his hands and was delighted.

People who became curious rented mirror bugs. Other groups that checked this information also approached me to establish secret boards.

I told them Jun had promised to pay a thousand points every month. They also paid the same fee and set up their own boards.

As the number of people increased like that, the message boards began to grow a little more active.

Those who needed points posted information, and simple trades also began taking place.

A sort of small city had been created. Feeling the information filling the shadow tree, I laughed quietly.

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