WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Surviving in the Magic Academy

Chapter 97

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Where were they drawing people from? I had been trying to find the answer for some time.

I could not find anything particularly strange about the new members. If anything, their mental scores were higher than before. Their minds seemed more elevated, as if they had realized something new.

The students were not fools either. After watching people keep joining, each of them came up with their own countermeasures. Some attacked the Ring of the Sky Church, while others protected their minds with magic.

Yet even those people eventually joined that group. They must have been on guard the whole time too, so I simply could not understand why it kept happening.

I kept turning it over in my head, and the first time I caught a lead was when their numbers reached seventeen.

I looked at the enormous blackboard in front of me. It held the exact movement paths of those twenty people. The person who joined them today had only been going back and forth between the tower and their residence until now. Then today, they suddenly fell into that religion.

There was no major point of contact between the Ring of the Sky Church and the victims. Not in the tower, and not outside it either. The students avoided them, and after their proselytizing was blocked, they did not go out of their way to chase the students down.

The incident was progressing somewhere I could not see. In some part I did not understand. With that thought in mind, I combed through them thoroughly, and in the end, I was able to figure out their method.

At that moment, the mirror bug rang. It flew up and displayed a screen. The treasures’ message board had appeared there. A treasure had posted another request for magical beasts.

Even while I was investigating this incident, daily life in the tower went on as usual. First, I would have to go to the magical beast zone and bring back a few more magical beasts. The treasures had rated their magical beasts as very tasty.

To think I could get magical beasts this easily. It was extremely convenient. Whatever Ring of the Sky was scheming, that power alone was undeniably useful.

Yes, that power. That was the problem.

Their movements never overlapped. But what about the magical beasts they controlled?

The blackboard also showed the routes of the magical beasts I had been tracking over the past two days. They always flowed to one place. The magical beast zone.

They tamed magical beasts, then tamed more. As those magical beasts piled up, they created a place to store them efficiently. That was the magical beast zone. And the ones who mainly managed it were them, the Ring of the Sky Church.

The answer had to be there. With that thought, I had spent the past few days digging into that place alone. And within it, the things that had been hazy began connecting more clearly.

Those victims had all been people who raised a lot of magical beasts. Whenever their magical beasts finished hunting, they would always enter that magical beast zone.

It was only natural. There was not enough space to handle magical beasts in the tower or in the residences where they lived. Hao had a reason for creating an area like that.

Hao had targeted those magical beasts. Hao visited the magical beast zone several times a day. At night, all the believers would even gather there and offer prayers to Ring of the Sky.

When I first saw it, I thought those prayers were directed at themselves. I thought they were meant to strengthen their faith and will a little more.

But that was not it. What Hao was after were the magical beasts filling that zone. Within the happiness their masters had prepared for them, the magical beasts were resting comfortably.

Hao sorted those magical beasts and drew the victim’s magical beasts to his side. Today’s victim was one such case. That person’s magical beasts listened to Hao’s stories, and in the end, their master joined the church as well.

Yes, they gathered the students’ magical beasts and instilled faith in Ring of the Sky into their minds. It could be called transmission from below.

Hao had said that if they made the magical beasts happier, the magical beasts would make them happy too. Following that logic, he made the students’ magical beasts even happier.

They became happy by listening to Hao’s stories about Ring of the Sky. And within the magical beasts’ happiness, that faith in Ring of the Sky reached their masters through the connection of power.

In truth, this could not be called a normal method. It could not even be called magic. This spread of faith was solely the result of Hao’s power. That intense, captivating scent that poured out of him.

The magical beasts became intoxicated by it and accepted the stories he told them completely. Then they treated those stories as their own happiness. A double loop of happiness had been overlaid onto the magical beasts.

And that happy way of thinking naturally altered their masters’ thoughts as well. In that way, the masters also came to hold a sort of trust toward the existence called Ring of the Sky, and that soon turned into faith.

There was no magical power at work in this, nor any coercion. So there was no contamination either. Under the shared value of happiness, they had instead achieved great mental growth.

I had not known Hao’s power could work this strongly. To think it could even make the will of magical beasts flow backward. But the result proved it. The wave of faith that began from the very bottom, with Hao at its center, had surged all the way to the top.

Once I knew the result and the cause, the process came into view this clearly too. I could also understand why they had tried to proselytize. It was probably to firmly plant awareness of the Ring of the Sky Church in the people who had newly joined.

Through that, I could also guess their goal to some extent, though it was still uncertain.

If it were something they could do by themselves, there would have been no need to gather people. That meant they needed a large number of people. And not just any people, but people who possessed Ring of the Sky’s power.

So I could not think about this from my own perspective. I needed to look at it from Hao’s perspective.

Hao spoke of faith to the magical beasts and spread happiness along that connection all the way to the students. Twenty people had already been drawn in by it. What would happen if all forty people gathered like that?

Each of them had a fragment given by Ring of the Sky. Of course, that was only a lump of power. It could not do anything on its own.

Besides, the moment power was granted to each individual, its nature changed. Since every mage had their own unique traits, it was impossible to tamper with the power itself.

But what would happen if they held the same will and the same thoughts within the fence called the Ring of the Sky Church, and dreamed of the same happiness with a united faith? I imagined that sight.

If they tried to manifest the object of their faith through magic, those fragments would gather and create a single form. The form of the treasure they dreamed of, Ring of the Sky.

The being created that way could not be called Ring of the Sky itself. It would only be a kind of offshoot body. But that alone would be enough for Ring of the Sky to dwell in it. I was certain. That was the goal of the Ring of the Sky Church.

But there were a few things that bothered me, so my expression tightened slightly. Unlike the other treasures, Ring of the Sky did not seem to want to go outside. On the contrary, it was extremely reluctant.

It was managing the treasures inside the storehouse and naturally growing its power there. That place was practically its breeding ground. There was no reason for it to dwell in an offshoot body and give up the storehouse.

The way this matter was progressing was also rather slapdash. If I were Ring of the Sky, I would not have used such a conspicuous method. I would have proceeded more sinisterly and more secretly. There had been a full five years, after all.

I cut off my thoughts there and shook my head. Some strange parts remained, but for now, I had figured out both their method and their objective. Then I should block it.

That was my role in this board game. Nothing could be allowed to ruin the tower I had worked so hard to build. Just like Ring of the Sky, this tower was my breeding ground.

“Hmm, then shall we block off the entire magical beast zone? So those children can’t move anymore.”

Mira said that with a smile. It was a very good method. I quietly nodded. I had already begun coveting that magical beast zone anyway. There was no reason to miss such a good opportunity.

It was that afternoon. We sealed off the entire magical beast zone. Mira’s fog covered the place completely.

“From now on, I will be controlling this area.”

I said that to Hao. He looked highly agitated and seemed about to say something, but I quietly shook my head and spoke first.

“An unfortunate incident has occurred. To think you used the students’ magical beasts to forcibly drag them into a religion. As someone who manages the tower, I absolutely cannot tolerate such behavior. This is also connected to their basic rights.”

At those words, Hao froze for a moment. After briefly watching us, he opened his mouth haltingly.

“Wh-what do you mean by that?”

I took out a mirror bug and held it out to him. Inside it were the things I had investigated so far. How the Ring of the Sky Church had drawn in its victims, why the magical beast zone had been created, and so on.

He looked at it and grew slightly flustered. I smiled gently at him.

“I considered informing the others about this, but for now, I have decided to stop here. All of you are our students too, are you not? You only need to entrust this magical beast zone to us. And please stop that proselytizing as well.”

Hao’s lips moved. But he could not continue speaking. The evidence was solid enough that he could not offer any excuses.

Hao glared at the mirror bug with a stiff face, then sighed and closed his eyes. He quietly nodded and turned away. He looked completely crestfallen.

“Oh my, he isn’t attacking. I was hoping I might get to taste that, if only for a moment.”

Mira expressed her disappointment beside me. I glanced at her.

Mira was smacking her lips as she watched Hao’s back. Magical power was pouring from her entire body. That was exactly why Hao had left without complaint. It was also why I had brought her.

Like that, the magical beast zone fell into our hands without any real friction. I scattered shadow puppets and filled the magical beast zone with them. The puppets began managing the magical beasts with skilled hands.

I would receive some magical beasts and points as a management fee, while the students could manage their magical beasts easily and comfortably. What a desirable relationship.

It was almost a shame that I had not thought of this from the beginning. Still, now that it had fully entered my hands, all I needed to do was manage it perfectly under my control.

I had also stopped the spread of the Ring of the Sky Church, so it could be called killing two birds with one stone. Like this, I had completely seized their means. I narrowed my eyes and watched Hao’s back as he grew distant.

Then how would they move now? I calmly predicted Ring of the Sky’s next action. It would certainly use another move. It might move in a direction I did not expect, so I had to prepare even more thoroughly.

That thought of mine was not wrong.

It happened the next evening. Ring of the Sky acted right away. It contacted me directly.

I looked at the mirror bug with some tension. The screen flashed and began displaying words. Beyond the mirror bug, Ring of the Sky was writing.

-I contacted you because I need help.

“What kind of help do you mean?”

I tilted my head as I spoke. Was it asking us to make a few concessions to each other? Something like giving me some benefit in exchange for allowing it to create its offshoot body.

But there was no reason for me to accept that. What would I do if Professor caught me after I pulled something like that? Keeping Professor’s trust was more important than a small profit.

So no matter what Ring of the Sky said, I needed to firmly refuse. With my mind made up, I calmly waited for its next words.

Ring of the Sky hesitated slightly, then continued writing. As I watched it, I could only blink. Mira beside me was the same.

-Was that child called Hao? I would like you to stop that child.

“...You mean Hao-ssi?”

-Yes. That child is trying to force me to descend. Aah, he won’t even listen to me anymore. He’s calling me a devil sent by the storehouse keeper-ssi. How could he say something like that? I was only trying to share happiness.

At those incomprehensible words, I quietly sent my will to the mirror bug. The mirror bug flashed for a moment, then began displaying a video in the mirror. It was the first floor, in the room where the Ring of the Sky Church held mass.

It was the result of tracking Hao’s location. He had the believers behind him and was shouting at the mirror bug in front of him. His face had turned bright red with excitement.

“You blocked our proselytizing, stole our sanctuary, and now you even block our communication with Ring of the Sky-nim. Ring of the Sky-nim does not wish to descend? The Ring of the Sky-nim we know would never say such a thing! You are undoubtedly a fake!”

-I’m the real Ring of the Sky....

“Do you think I will fall for those words, you profane devil? Ring of the Sky-nim, please wait. I will definitely save you!”

Hao’s two eyes shone brighter than ever with conviction. The believers behind him were the same. Looking at this bizarre sight, I quietly blinked.

Pfft. Beside me, I heard the sound of air escaping. When I looked over, Mira was stamping her feet as she laughed. I held my forehead as it began throbbing. This was a situation I had not expected.

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