WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Surviving in the Magic Academy

Chapter 72

──────

I saw black hair swaying in the wind. It fell all the way to her waist, and it was so neatly kept that it hardly looked like it belonged to a sword-user.

Her clear eyes stared straight through me. There was something vacant in them, a blankness like her thoughts had stopped for a moment.

Paired with her usual dreamy expression, those eyes made it impossible to tell what she was thinking. For a second, I wondered if I had misheard her.

“What did you just say...?”

At that, she tilted her head slightly. Then she slowly opened her mouth again and pronounced every syllable clearly.

“I said I’m going to borrow you for two months, old man.”

I blinked. I had not misheard. Beside Cassian, the bear puppet was clapping wildly. Its face looked extremely satisfied.

“Because if this child gets too far from you, it loses consciousness.”

That was true. When a shadow puppet got too far from me, its ego fell asleep. Then it became a basic puppet that only followed commands.

Could that limit be overcome? I had wondered about that now and then. That was also why I had given some of the students their puppets.

The puppets I gave them contained the first egos I had ever created. The magic that produced them was extremely crude, and the egos were just as unstable.

Maybe because of that, they had clearer personalities than the other egos. Those personalities had formed through interaction with their owners.

The students who invested enough points to remodel their puppets also paid that much attention to them. In that process, those immature egos began to grow.

And now, those puppets could act a little even after leaving my side, as long as their owners were with them. Of course, they would still fall asleep after a few days.

If they were separated from their owners, those egos would also lose their personalities quickly. Then they would become ordinary shadow puppets. Most of the puppets the students had left behind were like that.

That was why I returned the puppets with definite personalities to their owners. Keeping them here had no value. It was not as if handing over a few puppets was a burden on me either.

If they stayed beside their owners, they might wake up again someday. If a puppet like that existed, that alone could open up a new possibility for me.

And of them all, I thought this bear puppet had the highest chance. That was how much Cassian treasured it. Even just counting the points spent on remodeling it, no one else came close.

“I thought about staying here too, but you said that would be difficult.”

“I did.”

I nodded blankly.

After the lecture ended, the tower had plenty of room to spare. So I had considered running an inn. I had heard some other towers did that.

They called other students into the tower during gaps between lectures and charged points for it. When I heard that, my mouth watered at the thought of earning points. So I ran to Professor.

And was promptly chased out.

She loved sleeping. To celebrate the end of the lecture, she had once again fallen into a deep sleep. According to Butler, she planned to stay asleep for the next month.

Once I heard that, I knew running an inn was off the table. Professor hated having foreign objects in her territory. Especially while she was asleep.

That was also why I had driven every student out of the tower every evening when she went to sleep. There was no telling what might happen otherwise.

She had fallen asleep like that. Until she woke up, the tower would be sealed as well. So I could not let anyone in.

“So I thought about it for a while. Whether I should leave this child behind.”

At those words, the bear puppet waved its hands. Its lively movements showed a strong refusal. It had every reason to hate the idea. Its ego was already completely dependent on Cassian.

“But yesterday, this child sent me a message through the message board. It said, then can’t I just take the old man with me? So I brought it up today.”

Cassian stroked the bear puppet’s head. It nodded with an utterly innocent expression. If there was a risk, just remove the possibility altogether. That was the method it had come up with.

I nodded. I roughly understood the flow of the conversation.

But there was no way this thing had thought of that on its own. Anyone could tell just by looking at its pure expression. It did not have the intelligence to come up with such a method. Someone had clearly intervened.

“Hehe, you only need to entrust your body to me every night on this trip too. I will loosen you up perfectly.”

Mira smiled as she said that. She began chatting softly with Cassian. In their conversation, I was naturally being treated as someone who would be leaving with them.

Watching that, I understood. It was Mira. She had clearly spread that information.

Then what was her reason? I glanced at Mira’s face. Greed flickered in her eyes as she looked at Cassian’s body.

She clearly still wanted that body. After the last lecture, she had been watching for any chance to enter Cassian’s body.

It was for use in the treasure vault. Apparently, the shock of being hit by Professor had been worse than I imagined. After that incident, she had clung to Cassian like this. She had even readjusted Cassian’s body.

Using the memories from when she had once inhabited it, she helped the talent within bloom a little more. Somewhere along the way, the two of them had even grown close.

Of course, once that change was complete, an opening would be created for Mira to dwell in that body. It was also a kind of optimization for her to enter it.

That did not mean she could stay there for long. Her heart had already been bound to a puppet.

At most, could she manage a day or two? Even so, that would be enough time to resolve the issue in the treasure vault. The memories from that period would be roughly adjusted by her afterward.

Mira gave me a faint smile. I understood her intent well enough. She meant to spend two months beside Cassian and remodel her body.

I remembered the last treasure I had seen. It had been horrifying. My body shuddered. If she could use Cassian’s body, she would definitely be a great help when dealing with treasures like that.

I carefully joined their conversation. Then I spoke to Cassian.

“Then what price did you have in mind?”

“Uh, Mira-ssi already received the points. Ten thousand a month, so twenty thousand.”

That was unexpected. I looked at Mira. She smiled slightly and leaned back.

“Evron-ssi’s points are basically my points, are they not? They will be used on me anyway, so I simply received them myself.”

I gave a bitter smile. She was not wrong. Most of my points had been used to fill her body.

Twenty thousand points. That was an enormous amount. Even more so for me now that the lecture had ended. Looking only at the points, it was an offer I had no reason to refuse.

Since Professor had fallen into a deep sleep, doing anything in the tower was awkward, and going to the city felt like a waste of time. This was perfect work to fill the empty period.

I glanced at Mira. She was stroking Cassian’s body and swallowing her saliva. The plan to nurture that body for two months was fairly interesting. But that plan had many holes.

“I understand why you want to take me along for two months. But what do you plan to do afterward? I have to return to the tower, so I will not be able to stay with you any longer than that.”

I said that while lightly tapping the bear puppet. That was the problem. No matter how much that body was nurtured, it would be useless if Cassian was not in our tower. Cassian tilted her head.

“I’m going to apply for the lecture again. Mira-ssi already received the fee for that too.”

At those words, I blinked.

Mira seemed to have planned out everything that would happen afterward. Cassian looked at Mira. Mira received that gaze with a gentle smile. The greed from before was nowhere to be seen.

“You are going to take the lecture again?”

“Yes.”

“Is there really any need for that?”

I asked because I could not quite understand. Cassian had already received an acceptance certificate from me yesterday. Since she could not receive another acceptance certificate from the same lecture, she had no need to take it again.

“I can apply somewhere else besides this lecture. I can play with this child here, then go take that lecture.”

I thought of my past self. I had also stayed here while going to Professor Heisen’s lecture.

It was not a method others used easily. It was hard enough to focus on one lecture, so how could anyone take two at the same time?

Besides, there was no real need to take more than one lecture. People attended lectures because they wanted to pass, but the stronger reason was to train using that tower’s magical power as a foundation.

After all, it took a long time to build one’s realm and reach the fourth floor. Rather than taking two lectures and missing both, it was better to focus on one.

In the end, it only cost more points, and the efficiency was terrible. Yet she was talking about it so lightly. For a moment, curiosity rose in me.

“Where do you get that many points...?”

Cassian lightly stroked the bear puppet’s head and spoke.

“Sponsorship. Outside the university, I took the recommendation letter Evan gave me and went somewhere, and they gave me points. Right now, it’s twenty thousand a month. They said they would give me thirty thousand once I reach the third floor.”

So there were things like that too. Cassian touched her lips, then continued.

“In exchange, they asked me to lend them a hand later.”

“I see.”

I gave a bitter smile. Was this what talent was? I remembered Evan’s face as he had gone around bragging that Cassian was a genius. She was receiving sponsorship from the moment she entered. Meanwhile, someone else had suffered terribly because of a lack of points.

Thinking about it, that talent was exactly why Mira was targeting Cassian too. She was a vessel that could fully contain the power of that heart. It was only natural that others would mark her in advance as well.

“Actually, that’s why I’m going this time too.”

Cassian looked slightly close to tears. The bear puppet patted her to comfort her. She hugged the bear puppet and muttered.

“Since I failed to reach the third floor, they said I had to hear them out.”

She then began rolling across the floor with the bear puppet. I took a moment to sort out my thoughts. Leaving the tower for two months was not a major problem.

The puppets bound to Fake Tree would be enough to manage that magic. I opened my eyes slightly. Come to think of it, attaching this Fake Tree to the bear puppet was also an option.

I swallowed. Should I bring it up quietly on the way? If I did, I might be able to squeeze out more points.

“First of all, understood. Since the points have already been received, I suppose I have no choice but to go. When should we leave?”

“Mm, I’ll be playing nearby. So we just need to leave within two days.”

Cassian said. I nodded and looked at Mira. She wore a very satisfied expression. A line of saliva dripped from the corner of her mouth. I quietly turned my head.

---

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