WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Surviving in the Magic Academy

Chapter 83

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When I arrived at the meeting place, Mira was standing there alone. She must have bought new clothes, because she looked quite different from before.

I remembered hearing in Canyon City that people dressed differently in every city. It seemed to be the same here.

A rich purple velvet coat wrapped around her, making her white hair look even more dazzling. The people passing nearby kept sneaking glances at her.

“You’re here?”

She smiled at me. I answered that smile with a bow of my head, then looked around. She was alone.

“Where did Cassian-ssi go?”

“She ran away. She was so fast that I lost her. There were still so many things I wanted to put her in, so it was a shame. Then I thought of you, Evron-ssi, so I contacted you.”

Mira placed a finger against her chin with a slightly regretful look. Then she looked at me and smiled faintly before spinning around once. Her coat spread wide with the motion.

“More importantly, what do you think? It suits me quite well, doesn’t it?”

“Very much. As expected, you have a good eye.”

“Hehe, right? I really liked this color. It looks as if blood is flowing through it. Now, shall we go?”

Mira said that and leaned against my arm. Her heartbeat traveled through it. Ever since I had matched heartbeats with her, she often let me hear the sound of her heart like this. As if telling me not to forget what she had said back then.

“So where are we going now? You said there was somewhere you had to visit.”

“Mm, I suppose I should call him a senior. I’m going to ask for some advice about puppets.”

“Then let’s hurry. Puppets sound fun.”

With Mira hanging from my arm like that, we passed through the streets. We rode the flow of the crowd toward a corner of the island and entered Puppetry Street.

On the bridges where hardly anyone passed, puppets were lined up limply as if welcoming us. The scene had not changed at all since the first time I came here.

Mira touched them one by one as she passed over the bridge. But without magical power inside them, they only stood stiffly, like statues.

After crossing the bridge, we headed toward the first shop that caught my eye. A sign that read [On’s Puppet Workshop] welcomed us. It had been a very long time since I last came here.

I carefully stepped into the shop. A faint bell announced our visit, but there was no response from inside. I could clearly feel magical power within.

Wondering what was going on, I went farther in and saw Mauro fiddling with a puppet. Perhaps he had not noticed us, because he was focused on forming the puppet’s circuit.

His movements were extremely delicate. It was obvious the circuit would collapse from even the slightest tremor. I held my breath and watched.

After working on the circuit for a long while, he sighed and set it down on the workbench. It seemed to be complete.

Despite the delicacy of the work, the circuit itself had an extremely simple structure. It looked like a single line. He examined it, then nodded.

I lightly stirred my magical power toward him. He looked at us, gave an awkward laugh, and began tidying up the desk.

The puppet he had been working on went over to the wall, hooked itself onto a hanger, and dangled there. Then it drooped and stopped moving. That was extremely delicate magical power control.

“Hello. It has been a long time.”

“Why didn’t you say you were here? You almost startled me.”

“I could see you were focused, so how could I interrupt? If anything, watching you work was so fascinating that I enjoyed simply seeing it.”

Mauro paused briefly at my words, then burst into hearty laughter. With a relaxed smile on his face, he glanced at Mira and bowed his head slightly to her.

“You brought a curious young lady with you. Now, come on in. Let’s sit down and talk.”

After saying that, he went deeper inside, beyond the wall packed full of puppets. He beckoned to us from within. Following his lead, we slowly headed in as well.

Mira touched the puppets around us as she walked. I swept my eyes over them too. It had been roughly two years since my last visit. I was confident that my skill with puppets had improved quite a lot in that time.

Even so, seeing these puppets filled me with admiration. I could simply see more than I had failed to notice before. What an efficient structure.

The more I examined them, the more respect I felt for him. This was not respect for a mage. It was reverence for an artisan who walked the same path and handled puppets.

I could not imagine how many puppets he must have carved to create ones like these.

Farther inside was a small table. I sat down with Mira.

“Now, wait just a moment. I’ll bring some tea. There’s a spell that’s quite popular in the city, you see.”

He said that and went inside. Mira stared intently after him. Once he had completely disappeared, Mira looked at me with both eyes sparkling.

“That person, no, I suppose ‘that thing’ would be more accurate than ‘person.’ That thing is very interesting.”

I frowned slightly. That thing? What kind of rude way was that to speak? But I had never seen her say something like that carelessly, even as a joke.

There had to be something only she could sense. I quietly shifted toward her and moved closer.

“That thing? What exactly is so interesting?”

“Its whole body has been chopped apart, so how is it alive? I’ve never seen anything like that before. It should definitely be dead.”

I blinked. Mira looked at my face, then tapped her own nose.

“It’s extremely natural, but it can’t fool my senses. A faint smell comes from that thing’s flesh. It’s the smell of the body’s possibilities rotting away.”

I nodded slightly. Her senses were trustworthy. She always smelled the scent of talent, after all. If so, Mauro’s case must be exactly as she said.

His whole body had been chopped apart. Now that I thought about it, it was a little strange. It had bothered me before too. He was only in the Sapling realm.

He also had the appearance of a very old man. That meant he had been at the university for a long time. In truth, he was the only person with the form of an old man I had seen at the university so far.

I looked around. Mauro’s puppets were everywhere. He must have poured an incredible amount of time into making them.

Someone with this level of skill was still in the Sapling realm. That could not be explained by simply saying he had no talent for magic.

“Hmm. Still, that scent is quite sweet. It seems like it was a fairly skilled body.”

Mira said it with a smile. At the same time, laughter came from inside. It was Mauro. He approached while carrying a tray.

His laughing gaze turned to Mira. He smiled lightly at her and placed the tray on the table. As he sat down, he looked calmly at Mira.

“To realize that right away, you’re quite a curious one yourself. So, do I seem that strange?”

“Hehe, now that I’m looking at you like this, you’re even more interesting.”

“Hoho. Looking again, you’re wearing quite an interesting body yourself.”

They laughed while looking at each other. Caught between them, I gave a wry smile. I could roughly guess what they were talking about. It was not often that Mira spoke like that.

“Could that body perhaps be a puppet?”

Mauro nodded lightly. Then he offered us teacups.

“That’s right. What do you think? Quite convincing, isn’t it?”

I nodded slightly. Mauro poured tea into the cups and continued.

“It’s my masterpiece. If not for that strange young lady, I had no intention of revealing it.”

He burst into hearty laughter. Mira’s eyes sparkled as she looked at him. A line of drool ran down from the corner of her mouth.

“The more I look, the more delicious you seem. Since you say it’s a puppet, may I taste just a little bit of that body?”

Mira said that. I wiped the drool running down her chin with a handkerchief and bowed my head to Mauro.

“I apologize. She has quite a strong appetite. Please just ignore that.”

At the same time, I quietly examined Mauro’s body. Even Mira showed some signs of being a puppet, but that thing showed none. Had he brought someone’s corpse from outside the university?

“It isn’t the kind of case you’re thinking of. This is my body.”

He said it lightly, as if he had noticed my thoughts. Then he lifted his teacup and took a sip.

“Many things simply happened. As they do to everyone. I went through many events, and at the end of them, I became a puppet like this. And I suppose I’ll grow old and die like this too.”

He said that and gave a weak laugh. I could not imagine what the story behind it was. What kind of incident would force someone to remodel their own body into a puppet?

“Now, enough about me. The current me is nothing more than a lowly mage who only knows how to make puppets. More importantly, you must have a reason for coming here. Let’s hear it.”

After saying that, he took another sip of tea. I followed his lead and lifted my teacup too. Several flowers were blooming inside it. It was my Perfect Tea spell.

Hwaryeong had told me before that my spell had spread through the city. It really seemed to be true. When I brought it to my mouth, a bitter fragrance began spreading inside.

It had a very clean taste. It was not as good as what I made, but it was still quite delicious. I quietly drank it and nodded.

“I’ll show you a puppet for a moment.”

When I sent a signal, the turtle hanging at my chest moved its mouth. Then it spat out several puppets. The tiny puppets grew in size as the miniaturization magic was released.

They were small puppets roughly the size of a forearm. After lightly placing a protective barrier around them, I infused magical power into one.

The puppet that received it began beating its heart. It started walking. With each step, cracks carved themselves into its body. Then, on the ninth step, it exploded.

Watching it, I clicked my tongue lightly. It was a puppet that contained a fingernail’s worth of Cassian’s information. It had increased by four steps compared to before, but going any farther was still difficult. This was why I had come.

Mauro looked at the exploded fragments with narrowed eyes. Of course, he would not know what was contained inside. I had intentionally encrypted and fragmented that information.

What he could see was only that something had been placed inside it, and that the burden was too great for the puppet to bear. I could not carelessly show him this valuable information.

“No matter how much I try, going beyond this is difficult. I came here wondering if there was any way to improve it. Whatever answer you give me, I will compensate you for it.”

Mauro flicked a finger. It meant I should move the puppet. Following that, a puppet began walking. It took nine steps and exploded. The others were the same.

Mauro stroked his chin and looked at me. A faint trace of laughter lingered in his eyes.

“You know what the easiest solution is, don’t you?”

I nodded. I only had to change the material. If I spent points and used expensive materials, it could contain that much well enough. But then efficiency became the problem.

I glanced at Mira. At her body. To contain Cassian’s power, a body on that level was needed. Of course, even that would not be enough.

How much had that cost again? Several million points. With that, I could probably contain about one-fiftieth. Cassian’s body had changed into something that strange.

There was a reason Mira coveted Cassian’s body. Even merely containing the information was like that, so how different would it be if she entered the original body itself?

That was why I had come here. I had never seen anyone as excellent as Mauro when it came to making puppets efficient. He fell into thought while looking at the traces of the exploded puppets.

Soon, he opened his mouth. His face was full of apology.

“Mm, with the current you, it will be difficult. The same goes for me. I’m sorry.”

“No. I only came here just in case.”

I shook my head as I spoke. My mouth tasted a little bitter. In the end, was pouring in points the only answer? I had imagined handling hundreds of puppets like this, but in the end, that seemed to be nothing more than imagination.

“Still, it’s very impressive. To think you managed to cram this much in. It has changed quite a lot from the puppets you showed me before. It’s hard to believe you’re only in your fifth year. I’m looking forward to what comes next, so have confidence.”

As he said that, he lightly patted my shoulder. I nodded slightly. He was right. I had no choice but to keep working harder from now on.

“Mm, come to think of it.”

After looking at me for a moment, he rose from his seat. Then he disappeared deeper inside again. He returned not long after with a strange card in his hand.

“I suppose I can give you this.”

He tossed it straight to me. I caught it in confusion. A slightly warm magical power flowed from the card.

“What is this?”

“I couldn’t help with your problem, you see. That might become the answer.”

He said it with a loud laugh. I looked down at it uneasily. The card had only the word “On” written on a white background. Its flow of magical power was extremely pure.

“It’s the business card of Professor On, our first guild head. If you take that with you, you should be able to attend Professor On’s lecture. We were able to settle here like this thanks to Professor On, you see.”

I looked at him with slight surprise. There was a puppeteer among the Professors? I had never imagined such a person would be at the university. Information about Professors was hard to obtain, after all.

“I received word that Professor On would open a lecture sometime this year or next year. If you bring that, they’ll accept you right away. Originally, whenever a new recruit came, Professor On would offer them guidance.”

I carefully set it on the table. Hearing that made it feel a little burdensome.

“Then shouldn’t you not give it to me? I do not belong to this guild.”

He laughed loudly. The wrinkles carved into his face deepened with his laughter, creating hollow shadows.

“When a chance like this comes, you simply take it. If those who handle puppets don’t help each other, who will help us? Besides, as I said last time, it has been a very long time since a new recruit joined our guild. Other than you, there’s no one to hear the lecture.”

I quietly looked down at the card. As he said, this was a kind of opportunity. But what if it was a trap? It felt too coincidental, and that made me suspicious.

While I hesitated, a white hand quietly swept it away. It was Mira. Holding it in her hand, she looked at me and smiled.

Her relaxed expression made me laugh under my breath. Right. If a chance came, I had to take it. What was there to hesitate over?

“Then I will accept it with gratitude.”

I smiled and bowed deeply to him. Then I took out my mirror bug. It flew into the air and headed toward Mauro. He glanced at it.

“What is this?”

“My sincerity. If you place your ring against it, I will send you points.”

“I won’t refuse. Points are always in short supply, after all.”

Through the ring contained inside the mirror bug, I sent him points. Ten thousand points. It was also most of the points I had earned in Canyon City.

It was repayment for this kindness. I looked at the card Mira was fiddling with. If that was real, ten thousand points might actually be cheap. Of course, if it was false, I would get ten times that back.

After that, I talked with him about puppetry. It was quite an enjoyable time. His knowledge was broad and deep. Just listening to him helped me a great deal.

“Ah, I see.”

I nodded lightly. Mauro waved a puppet’s arm.

“Yes, I had a hard time making this. Simply twisting the circuit wasn’t enough to make that connection possible. So I made the magical power radiate in reverse, and with that impact...”

Mira must have been curious too, because she quietly listened beside me. Sometimes, she cut into the middle of the conversation and asked Mauro several questions about his body.

He only smiled calmly and changed the subject. I was curious too, but he seemed unwilling to talk about it. We continued talking for a long time like that.

“I’m hungry...”

Until Cassian entered from beyond the wall, hanging limply from the bear puppet.

She saw us, and a few tears welled up in her blank eyes.

“I don’t have any points, and you weren’t answering my calls, and I didn’t know where you were.”

Cassian sniffled. The bear puppet offered her the handkerchief it had been wearing around its neck. Blood-Red Swordflower was drawn on it. She blew her nose into it a little, then glared at me.

“If our bear hadn’t somehow figured out the old man’s location, I would have collapsed on the street. I barely found my way here by following what this child told me, and you were just sitting here chatting.”

Calls? I glanced at my mirror bug. There had been several calls. When I looked at Mira, she lightly shrugged and laughed.

“Hehe, isn’t she cute?”

She whispered that. It seemed she had been pretending not to know on purpose. I rose from my seat and slowly approached Cassian.

“As if I would ever forget you, Cassian-ssi. Mira-ssi told me you had left on your own, so I thought you must have gone back first. Now, come here and have a cup of tea. Would that be all right, Mauro-ssi?”

He only laughed heartily. It took quite a while after that to soothe her. Afterward, until we returned to the tower, she did not say a single word.

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