WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Surviving in the Magic Academy

Chapter 76

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I looked at the tightly shut door.

When the time for the duel came, the two sword-users guarding the door took Cassian and left the room. Cassian followed after them, half-carried on the bear puppet’s back. Mira and I could only watch her go in silence.

If I had my way, I would have followed her at once, but they stopped us from leaving the room. Apparently, we did not have the right to observe. So we had no choice but to wait here until Cassian returned.

Not that I was nervous. The outcome of the duel was obvious. After all the time we had spent sharpening Cassian, how could it not be? I only wanted to follow so I could see her movements with my own eyes.

Since that was not allowed, I had no choice but to trust the bear puppet. To be honest, I had been fairly anxious. I was worried they might make her leave even the bear puppet behind. Fortunately, they did not go that far.

It belonged to Cassian. They had also seen her constantly sticking close to it. They must have known she treasured it. That was probably why they saw no need to separate them.

During the first duel, it had been able to watch the duel and provide us with a video. This time should be the same.

I had modified it a little for that purpose. The video from the first duel had been extremely blurry. Since it had been made from nothing but its memories, that could not be helped. As a result, the data was very incomplete.

In the video, I could only make out Cassian and her opponent’s larger movements. I could not read the finer details, such as muscle movement and eye line. All I had done was infer them from a little guesswork and Cassian’s explanation.

I could not let that happen again. So I embedded mirror bugs all over its body. Mirror bugs large and small shone like jewels as they decorated it.

When I first embedded them, it seemed to like them quite a lot. It moved around, admiring itself from every angle. It looked so natural that even the people who took the bear puppet away did not pay much attention.

I looked at the huge mirror bug in the center of the room. It would have been best if I could have brought that one along. A shame. I lightly woke it up. Sensing my will, the mirror bug began to brighten its screen.

Soon, a single body appeared on that enormous screen. Cassian’s. Her entire body had been completely disassembled, and even its interior was perfectly captured and displayed inside the mirror bug.

It was data Mira had analyzed by touching every part of Cassian’s body. I had merely entered the data as Mira explained it to me. Even if I dissected Cassian myself, I was certain I would not be able to understand her in this much detail.

This data was tremendously valuable to me as well. It meant I could go beyond the limits of my own thinking and build the foundation for better puppets.

According to Mira, that body’s talent was truly exceptional. Then what would happen if I made a puppet based on it? Of course, I would not be able to contain everything. The structure itself was different, after all.

Still, if I could capture even a part of it, that alone would be enough. Besides, the data was not perfect yet. I glared at it, eyes gleaming. From now on, I had to fill in what was missing.

“She’ll come back after winning, won’t she?”

Mira said. I looked at her. She met my eyes and smiled brightly. She was sitting on the chair I had made, quietly drinking tea. I nodded.

“Of course.”

I glanced at the door again. I could not sense any presence at all. Come to think of it, there was something I needed to ask Mira. I looked at her briefly and spoke.

“Modifying a body like Cassian-ssi’s. Is it really impossible to do that to anyone else?”

“Yes. After all, I have to enter the body myself and grasp its structure. I have no intention of entering the other children, and I couldn’t even if I wanted to. Evron-ssi bound me to this body, you see.”

She laughed as she stroked her own body. I sighed in disappointment. Then it could not be helped. I could not release her from there either. If I did, she would clearly slip out of my control.

“If I hadn’t been bound here, I would have taken that child’s body at once. But since things turned out this way, I have no choice. All I can do is slowly adjust it like this, so I can use that flesh for a little while.”

“You really have no idea how uncomfortable this body is,” she grumbled. I smiled bitterly. As always, her words were slightly outside the realm of living things. That must be the perspective of a treasure.

Even so, thanks to her presence, I could feel at least a little confidence. Under normal circumstances, those people would not have paid any attention to me.

Because Mira existed as the bare minimum of force, I had been able to get even one foot into this duel. I supposed that meant the points I had poured into her had not been wasted.

“One day, I will definitely make you a proper body.”

Mira nodded at that. I looked at her for a moment, then spoke again.

“What happens if you forcefully adjust a body?”

“If I remodel the entire body like I did with Cassian, the child would probably die. Flesh is delicate, you see. Touch it the wrong way, and it collapses just like that.”

“Then what if you only adjusted a very small part? What if you overlaid a bit of the data you recorded onto someone else? Let them experience that talent, even if only for a short while.”

At that, she fell into thought for a moment. She quietly sipped her tea, then tilted her head slightly.

“That much might be possible. But I could only put in a very small amount. It would last five minutes at best. Afterward, they would half-break from the rejection.”

I nodded. If it was only that much, there was still a possibility. I quietly approached her and held out my left arm. She looked at my face.

My reflection appeared in her eyes. I could tell there was a trace of excitement on my face. It could not be helped. This was a chance to experience talent firsthand.

“Then would you try experimenting on me once? I have something in mind, but I need to experience it first before I can judge.”

“Huhu, that sounds fun. Shall I touch it for a moment, then?”

Mira smiled brightly and took my hand. Then she slowly began stroking it. Fog poured from her hand and seeped faintly into my arm.

Having my magical power and body eroded was a strange sensation. Everything in my arm gently loosened inside the fog. A pleasant thrill rose from there.

I understood why Cassian kept entrusting her body to Mira. I settled my magical power and quietly rode that flow. Talent, was it? What could that be?

The next moment, I understood. My arm became light in an instant, and unprecedented power began to fill it. An intense sensation from my fingertips flowed through my whole body.

Oh, so this was Cassian’s body. Awe rose in me at that power. It felt as though everything in my arm was under my control. Not just the flesh, but everything beyond it as well.

Then I passed out.

It was because of the intense shock that began in my arm. The sensation of something going wrong and shattering into pieces flowed up my arm. It happened in an instant.

“Oh my, it didn’t even last twenty seconds.”

I heard Mira mutter.

I collapsed onto the table.

When I opened my eyes again, two hours had passed.

The feeling of someone touching me snapped me awake. As soon as I woke up, I checked my arm. The sensation from before was hazy, like a dream, and my arm only felt terribly heavy.

For a while, I clenched and opened my hand again and again. I was sure my arm had been completely smashed apart, but it seemed Mira had treated me while I was unconscious. Even so, the aftereffects remained.

I understood what Mira meant when she said that talent could not be granted carelessly. Had I endured for twenty seconds? Only that much time had passed, yet my insides had been shaken up this badly.

I treated it with magical power and smiled bitterly. That was only a small amount of talent? Then what did the complete version feel like? I could understand why Mira wanted to steal that body.

I did not remember a single thing about what I had felt back then. It was as though it had not been permitted to me. Still, this was enough. I had felt the scale of that talent with my own body.

If I made others feel this, how would they react?

As I fiddled with my hand, someone touched my shoulder. I turned my head and saw Mira smiling.

“I woke you up. That child is back.”

She gestured toward the door with her chin. I saw the two sword-users open the door and come inside. Cassian followed behind them with quick little steps. She was somewhat covered in wounds, but she looked far better than before.

Her uniquely blank eyes held a strong satisfaction. When she saw us, she smiled faintly. Then she raised her arm and said,

“I won.”

“You worked hard.”

I quietly nodded. Beside me, Mira silently rose from her seat. Then she slowly approached Cassian and gently hugged her.

Cassian looked at her with a puzzled expression. Mira smiled warmly and slowly began feeling over her body.

“Covered in wounds again. You mustn’t do that. You need to win more perfectly. Does it hurt here?”

“Eh.”

Mira blew fog into Cassian’s body. I saw Cassian flinch in surprise. I looked away slightly. When I did not know what that sensation felt like, it had not bothered me, but now that I had just experienced it myself, it felt a little embarrassing.

“How about here?”

“Hah.”

“Huhu, then what about here?”

Mira continued feeling over Cassian’s body. As she did, Cassian’s face began to flush slightly. I sensed the sword-users standing by the door glance this way.

Since I had not put up a barrier yet, they could see us clearly. I bowed my head to them and wrapped several layers of barriers around us. Mira played with Cassian like that for quite some time before returning to my side.

“For now, sit down and rest comfortably.”

I said that and signaled to the puppets. The shadow puppets, which had been standing like stone statues, carefully led Cassian over. She followed their guidance and sat in a chair.

The puppets began using magic on her as she lay back. Recovery and regeneration, along with several support spells to manage her body. Within that, the wounds on her body began disappearing quickly.

By modifying the shadow puppets I had brought and making several more puppets, I had created an optimized setup solely for Cassian. Over the past week, those puppets had managed her body so she could remain in peak condition.

Under the puppets’ hands, Cassian slowly relaxed. Her eyes loosened slightly and took on a somewhat dazed look. Mira watched her with a smile.

Leaving them be, I looked at the bear puppet. It raised both arms high and ran toward me. Once it arrived in front of me, it began trembling. As it shook, the things attached to its body fell off.

They were mirror bugs. When I sent my will toward them, they quickly rose into the air. I quietly checked the videos contained inside them. They had captured the duel clearly.

I nodded in satisfaction. Just in case, I had not connected to them at all. If I had watched the duel through those mirror bugs for no reason, they might have noticed the magical power.

That was why I had left their management entirely to the bear puppet, but I had not expected it to film this well. I lightly patted the bear puppet’s head. It had done far better than I imagined.

I quickly uploaded the videos to the message board. Then I turned and approached Cassian. A huge mirror bug floated up in front of her. It began displaying the video from the message board on its screen.

“Now then, let’s discuss the duel together.”

I said that to Cassian. At those words, Cassian opened her eyes wide. She stared at me.

“…I just got back.”

“That’s why we’re doing it now. Reviews must be done right away. If we go over the duel while your memory is fresh, we can fill in the lacking parts more efficiently, can’t we?”

“…You told me to rest.”

“You can watch while resting. Talking is possible even while resting.”

I played the video. Two people faced each other, then ran toward one another. After that, the duel unfolded in a fairly one-sided manner. Cassian pushed forward from beginning to end.

Her opponent’s sword grazed her several times, but she used even that to stab deeper into her opponent. Over the course of several such exchanges, wounds were carved into the opponent’s body just as they were carved into hers. At the end of it, the opponent collapsed.

Watching that, Cassian nodded with a proud expression.

“I won super easily.”

“No. It was lacking.”

The video ended, and the mirror bug began vibrating. The video slowly rewound to the beginning. Then a score appeared above Cassian’s head in the video.

100 points.

When Cassian saw that, she made a horrified face. The video began again. The two rushed toward each other. When the opponent’s sword smoothly stabbed toward her, she brushed past it and cut into the opponent’s chest.

At that scene, the score above Cassian’s head dropped by 1 point. I paused the video for a moment and looked at her.

“What was your intention when you moved here?”

“They just went whoosh and stabbed, so I dodged a little and cut.”

Cassian answered vaguely. I sighed. When we watched the first duel together, only answers like that had come out. She could not produce anything more than that. According to Mira, it was because Cassian moved entirely by instinct.

“Then I’ll use that intention as reference and continue. Now, if you look here, the angle of your arm isn’t ideal. That’s why the blade grazed you. And your leg also went half a step farther than usual. So…”

I continued explaining. Posture, balance, and the flow she created. What I wanted to point out was not the combat itself. That was not my specialty, and I had no intention of interfering there.

What I was judging was only her body. By studying her body, I had come to roughly understand what degree of movement she could produce. In other words, what the most beautiful trajectory she could draw looked like.

I kept pointing things out and deducting points. Mira also spoke from time to time as she watched the video. Combat analysis was her domain. I added deductions according to what she pointed out.

Had about half the video passed like that?

I stopped talking for a moment. Cassian’s eyes were half-glazed, and the score had already dropped to 30 points. That meant 70 inefficient movements had occurred in this duel.

Cassian looked at me with blank eyes. It seemed difficult to continue the discussion now.

Someone had come to visit.

I glanced at the door. Sharply honed magical power was approaching from beyond it.

“Hmm. Shall we take a short break, then?”

“Wow!”

Cassian’s eyes sparkled as she raised both arms. Soon, I heard the door open. A young man with a cold expression strode into the room without hesitation. The two sword-users bowed their heads slightly to him.

I quietly dropped the mirror bug to the floor. It turned off its screen and began disguising itself as an ordinary mirror. At the same time, the young man naturally tore through the barrier I had set up and entered.

After looking around, he slowly approached us. Standing before us, he wore a calm smile. Then he looked at Cassian and clapped lightly.

“I enjoyed the duel very much.”

Cassian nodded slightly. The young man looked at her for a moment, then turned his gaze toward us.

“It was likely thanks to your help. Her movements were even better than we expected.”

I bowed my head slightly. Mira also smiled and waved her hand. I carefully spoke to him.

“More importantly, may I ask what brings you here?”

“Ah, I came because of the request Cassian-ssi made. She asked to be allowed outside for six hours a day, yes?”

Mm. Had they already reached a decision on that?

It was something I had told Cassian in advance. I had told her to demand permission to go outside after she won. Whatever we did, we needed to get out of this place first.

He slowly studied our faces. His gaze passed over Cassian, lingered on Mira, and finally fixed on me.

“Evron-ssi probably suggested it, I assume. I was rude last time.”

He knew my name.

No wonder he was being a little kinder today. He had clearly looked up information on us. He must have also discovered that we belonged to Professor Irian’s tower.

I had no way of knowing how much he knew. I smiled awkwardly and shook my head. He readily nodded and continued.

“Six hours. That much is fine. As long as you do not leave the city. Within the city, we will not interfere with whatever you do.”

“Ah, thank you.”

I answered, my eyes widening slightly. This was unexpected. Truthfully, I had not thought they would accept the request as it was. Even if they did not reject it outright, I thought they would reduce the time or limit the dates.

Yet they had accepted so willingly, without any conditions. What were they scheming? I could not tell.

“But they will follow you. Some minimal surveillance is still necessary.”

He glanced at the sword-users standing by the door. Then he bowed his head slightly to us.

“I will be going now, then.”

He turned and left the room.

Had he come personally just to deliver those few words? If that was all, he could have told the guards to relay it.

I could not know what he was thinking, nor what the Blade Association intended. Still, at any rate, we had fully obtained permission to go out into the city. That much was clear.

Yes, that was how we came out into the city.

I took a deep breath. The stink of iron filled my chest. But that stale heaviness actually felt welcome. We had been trapped in that room for the past week. Just escaping from there made me feel better.

“Then let’s move right away.”

I said that while looking at Cassian and Mira. We needed to move quickly.

We had to gather information.

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