WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Surviving in the Magic Academy

Chapter 95

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The power bestowed by Ring of the Sky was a kind of brainwashing. It made its target submit naturally. The way it grew stronger was simple too. It only had to brainwash more targets.

Once a target was fully subdued, it received a little power from them and grew larger. The shard that had once been the size of a fingernail grew little by little that way.

As Ring of the Sky had said, its power had limits when it came to brainwashing people, especially mages. It could not overcome the complexity of a mage’s mind or the firmness of their soul.

So those who received that power targeted magical beasts. Magical beasts usually lacked intelligence compared to the power they possessed. Against such creatures, their method was very effective.

The power of Ring of the Sky fundamentally granted happiness. Life in the wild was a chain of pain. The anxiety and suffering magical beasts felt there were transformed into happiness within the ring’s power.

The magical beasts came to feel only happiness and followed the owner of that power. To feel even greater happiness, they obeyed every command their master gave them.

I stared blankly out the window. At the lowest part of the mountain, the land that had originally been packed with trees had all been plowed away, creating a wide, open flatland. Inside it, all kinds of magical beasts were running around and playing.

Two weeks had passed since Ring of the Sky’s lecture. During that time, a fairly large magical beast zone had been made down there. It was Hao’s work. A space where the students had released magical beasts.

I had been a little worried that Hao might go wild again after receiving that power. This time, however, Hao did not cause any major problems. If anything, Hao handled that power with great care.

Hao used the power Ring of the Sky had granted more cautiously than anyone else. Even after completely brainwashing one target, no, after making it happy according to Ring of the Sky’s expression, Hao did not move on to the next target.

Instead, Hao simply took even more devoted care of that magical beast. And the magical beast was very happy.

Hao said that power was a grace bestowed by Ring of the Sky. That was why it should not be used merely to order others around. In the end, Hao said, there would be a limit to that path.

Only by making them happy first could they make us happy as well. Hao declared that and created that magical beast zone. Then Hao began caring for the magical beasts together with Hao’s companions.

Beyond the window, I saw people climbing the mountain. It was almost time for the tower to open, so they had to be students gathering from various places to match that schedule.

And below the tower, their destination, someone had already arrived ahead of them. It was Hao.

Together with the people nearby, Hao began handing out leaflets to the students entering the tower. Even when students ignored them and walked past, Hao did not care. Hao simply approached others, smiled, and handed out leaflets.

Yes, Hao had made companions. Perhaps it would be more accurate to call them believers rather than companions.

In the span of two weeks, Hao had somehow become a cult leader.

Hao and the people around Hao were all wearing the same clothes. They were robes with a black base and a white ring drawn on them. That was the uniform of the religious order they had created.

They called themselves the Ring of the Sky Church. Hao was its head.

Mm. I quietly scratched my cheek while looking at them. Even to me, it was bewildering.

In truth, I knew Hao had been deeply moved by Ring of the Sky. Otherwise, Hao would not have gone to meet Ring of the Sky seven times during the lecture. Especially since Hao had even gained enlightenment in the process.

Had it been about a week? From then on, Hao began preaching faith in Ring of the Sky like that, as an extremely passionate believer at that. Hao even came to me and said they wanted to meet Ring of the Sky in person.

At first, I wondered if Hao had been completely eroded by that power. So the moment I heard that absurd story, I checked Hao’s condition.

But no matter how many examinations I performed through the mirror bug and through my magic, I could not find anything wrong with Hao.

Just in case there was some problem I did not know about, I even performed cleansing on Hao, but the result was the same. Hao was perfectly fine and still held faith toward Ring of the Sky.

Even when I asked Ring of the Sky, I could not get a clear answer. It only said it had taught Hao about happiness. Its attitude was extremely confident. It even said I could check the conversation from that time.

Feeling uneasy, I checked the record, but I could not sense anything odd inside it. Hao had simply poured out the past along with guilt, and Ring of the Sky had listened and brought up a few things.

After hearing that story, Hao began believing in Ring of the Sky. It was very bewildering. I knew Hao was gullible enough to believe everything Tooth Necklace said, but I never imagined Hao would go as far as creating a religion.

Still, this could be called a natural occurrence. If Hao said they wanted to believe in Ring of the Sky, what could I do? It was not something I could stop either.

Even if I tried to stop Hao, it was obvious Hao would continue that religion somewhere else. Rather than making Hao hide underground like that, it was much more convenient to let Hao move openly and observe it.

There was no helping it even if I had a few doubts. Besides, it was quite useful too. I looked at the wide magical beast zone. After that was made, I was able to regain some peace of mind.

Treasures generally enjoyed eating magical beasts. So they often used most of the request chances given to them for that. Because of that, I had to obtain plenty of magical beasts as well.

But the magical beasts around the tower had dried up long ago. I had hunted them, and others had eaten them to grow Tooth Necklace’s power too.

So I always had to go a little farther out to obtain magical beasts. Usually, that was not especially annoying. I only had to climb onto the turtle as though going for a stroll and watch it swallow magical beasts.

These days, though, that had been getting on my nerves a little. It was because of my assignment. Even while I kept thinking about puppets, the treasures’ requests showed no sign of stopping. It was even worse because several new treasures had joined the message board.

In that situation, the magical beast zone relieved my annoyance. All I had to do was buy a few magical beasts from them at a low price. Since they were drunk on happiness, they did not resist either.

I focused magical power into my eyes and looked at their leaflets. It was nothing more than a sheet of paper that said, “If you believe in Ring of the Sky, you will become happy.” The religion they had created had no clear doctrine and no clear goal.

Hao simply believed in Ring of the Sky and followed it. Who would be drawn to a religion like that? At first, that was what I thought.

But I was wrong. A few people began seeking Hao out. Like Hao, they were all people who had received Ring of the Sky’s power. Of course, not all of them. At first, only four people joined this religion.

Even now, after two weeks had passed, their numbers had not grown that much. I slowly counted them. Maybe around ten. Compared to the beginning, only five more had been added.

I frowned slightly. Was “only five” the right way to put it? Thinking about it the other way, it was surprising too. It also meant they had doubled their numbers in such a short time.

“What are you doing?”

Perhaps curious about why I kept looking outside the window, Mira approached. She followed my gaze and looked outside. After seeing Hao, a smile formed on her lips.

“Aha, are those children proselytizing now? How amusing.”

“Would you like to watch together? I intend to observe them today.”

“Shall I? Then I won’t refuse.”

A shadow puppet that had been waiting brought over a chair for her. It was a puppet in the form of a beautiful woman I had made before. Mira seemed to like it, and she often brought it around like this.

She sat in the chair and leaned against me. I gently accepted her body. Like that, I continued watching the Ring of the Sky Church with her.

Today was the first day they had begun proselytizing. Until now, they had never made such a large move. Their behavior made me suspicious, so I had started observing them like this.

Their proselytizing was rather strategic. They were not enthusiastic about dealing with ordinary people. They approached once or twice, and that was it.

The ones they targeted were people who had the same power they did. People who had received the power bestowed by Ring of the Sky. Most of those students ignored the Ring of the Sky Church and passed by. Even so, they clung to them persistently.

Just like now. A student with slightly sharp eyes had been caught by them. Perhaps annoyed by them, the student strongly released magical power and knocked them all over.

The student muttered something, sneered at them, and left. The sound did not reach this far, but I could tell what was said from the shape of their mouth. “You lot are bewitched by a treasure.” Something like that.

I quietly nodded. I thought the same thing. But no matter how much I examined them, nothing abnormal was detected. They simply truly believed in Ring of the Sky and followed it.

That morning, they continued proselytizing until everyone entered the tower. Only after handing out all the leaflets did they head toward the tower.

I kept tracking their movements through the vision of the mirror bug and the shadow puppet following them. Inside the tower, they lived very normally. They did not do anything like more proselytizing.

They absorbed magical power with enthusiasm and trained in magic. Some challenged the upper floors, and some managed the magical beasts outside the tower. A day very similar to everyone else’s continued like that.

Of course, there were times when they gathered together here and there. But they did not discuss anything clear there. They merely listened to Hao speak, then dispersed.

It was around evening that they began acting unusually. They gathered in a quiet room on the first floor. It was also a place no one came to. In front of them, a single mirror bug had been placed.

They sat upright while looking at that mirror bug. Hao stood before them and bowed toward the mirror bug. At the same time, the mirror bug gave off light.

“Thank you for personally setting aside time for us again today. Great Ring of the Sky-nim.”

Hao said. At Hao’s words, the mirror bug began spitting out text. It stayed in the air and formed steady sentences.

-You do not need to call me that. You may call me Ring of the Sky.

Hao shook their head. Then Hao passionately struck their chest.

“How could we do that? You are the one who granted lowly beings like us deep enlightenment and power. We will always engrave those teachings deep in our hearts and follow them.”

-Yes. If that makes all of you happy, I am satisfied.

“Those are words we are grateful for. As Ring of the Sky-nim has said, we will always strive to become happy.”

Hao bowed deeply. The people behind Hao also bowed their heads toward the mirror bug.

-So why did you call me?

“Today, we told others about happiness and faithfully devoted ourselves to training. At the end of that, we prepared this place to hear today’s words. Here are the points we offer as tribute.”

-Thank you. You worked hard today too. Please keep doing your best.

Ring of the Sky spat out a very simple answer. Hao saw it and nodded. Then Hao turned around and looked at those behind them. The ring shard above Hao’s head shone as Hao opened their mouth.

“Now, Ring of the Sky-nim has spoken. ‘I know your efforts. There will be hardship ahead as well, so do not yield to it and endure all pain. At the end of it, greater happiness awaits.’ That is today’s word. Everyone, offer your prayers to Ring of the Sky-nim, and let us end today’s worship.”

Hao brought both hands together to make a large circle and placed it against their chest. The others made the same gesture.

I smiled bitterly. This was a scene I had seen several times before. Once a day, they gathered like this and offered tribute to Ring of the Sky as a group.

As they said, this was a kind of worship. Watching it, Mira smiled broadly. It seemed to be her first time seeing this worship.

“Hehe, is that real? How interesting. Even believing in a treasure was strange enough, but to think they were doing this too.”

Believing in a treasure was a fairly common story. Their power was very strong. Because of that, there had always been people who worshiped that power.

Of course, that was only a story among weeds. This was the first time I had seen a mage do it.

I slowly looked at them. Their actions afterward were similar to before. They continued training, and when it was time to leave, they waited at the entrance once more.

Then they proselytized again. Even when many people ignored them and passed by, they did not care. I could even feel a kind of sense of mission from them.

I brought up Hao’s information again to check whether anything had changed.

-Body score: 38 points. You are growing steadily. Very good.

-Mental score: 96 points. Your mind is greatly elevated. How about calming that excitement a little?

-Soul score: 33 points. You are in a very normal state. The same as usual.

Overall evaluation: You are strongly immersed in something. There are things you cannot know if you only look at them from too close, so how about taking one step back?

As expected, nothing was wrong. If anything, just as the explanation said, only Hao’s mental score kept rising. That was the unusual part. The stronger Hao’s faith grew, the more that score continued to rise.

Like that, everyone left the tower. They also cleaned up their spot and began descending the mountain. There was nothing special. It was only the repetition of a day almost the same as before. Proselytizing had simply been added to that process.

“Mira-ssi, you should go in and rest now. There was less to this than I thought.”

Had there been no need to pay attention to them? It was enough to make me think that. Perhaps they were simply enjoying some kind of hobby.

Of course, there was no way that was true. This was clearly an abnormal phenomenon. A mage believing in someone else? Even a passing dog would not believe that story.

The next morning dawned. They began proselytizing once again. I stared blankly at them. Their method was the same as yesterday. They scattered leaflets and spoke to people.

But one thing had changed. After noticing it, I frowned slightly.

The ten people had somehow become eleven. The one added was the sharp-eyed student who had shaken them off before. The student was smiling brightly as they handed leaflets to others.

And the next day, one more person joined them again. Looking at that, I let out a sigh. They were definitely up to something. Since that side had made a move, it was now my turn to respond.

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