Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

“Oh. Senior.”

As soon as he stepped inside the tower, Lee Han stopped in surprise at the sight of a familiar face.

The spectacled-bear beastkin student, Ileg of House Chagla, was waiting for him with a gentle expression.

Of course, Lee Han was not fooled just because the man in front of him looked mild and kind.

He still vividly remembered the sheer brute strength this senior from the Library Club had shown last time.

“Wardanaz. Good to see you. How are you getting on at school? You’re not overworking yourself too much, are you?”

“I think I’m managing all right. As for overworking… well…”

Lee Han hesitated.

To be honest, it felt a little shameless to claim he was not overworking himself.

“But are you interested in Music Magic too, Senior?”

“I am. There are a few aspects of Music Magic that interest me a great deal.”

“Music Magic can’t be very efficient, though, compared to the other primitive magics.”

“True. But it has advantages nothing else can replace.”

Ileg replied, eyes gleaming.

Like any student who had already reached fifth year, Ileg was not the sort to lose interest just because something did not produce immediate results.

This Library Club student was interested in the way Music Magic could control space itself.

The idea of enchanting an area without using true names, Personal Worlds, or any of the great magics was extremely appealing.

“Of course, the surviving scores are so few that the field is limited, and since nobody has properly studied efficiency, the effects are weak as well… which is why I prepared this tower. Its power should amplify the magic.”

Ileg pointed at the <Tower of Echoes> with an arm thick enough to make the muscles bunch visibly.

This semester, while researching Music Magic, Ileg planned to restore several lost scores and use them to place Music Magic over certain locations within Einroguard.

The final goal: to reproduce Music Magic that could last semi-permanently.

Oh.

Listening to his heavily muscled senior, Lee Han found himself intrigued.

It really did sound clearer when a fifth-year laid everything out systematically and gave it a concrete objective.

He had thought Music Magic was simply too limited and narrow, but if, as Ileg said, the scores could be restored and their efficiency improved, then it really might be possible to imbue specific places with desired effects.

Hmm. If that works… first, a stamina-recovery effect for the private lounge. A concentration effect for the second-year common lounge. No, that won’t be enough. I’d need to add some cursed music that punishes people when they fool around. An intelligence-boosting effect for the base. A growth effect for the hut…

“Wardanaz. I heard you can perform at least one piece of Music Magic. Would you be willing to show us?”

Even if he had not known a single piece, if a senior built like Ileg had asked, Lee Han would probably have learned one on the spot.

Fortunately, he did know one.

“I do know one, but the song is a little strange. And its effect just amplifies dark elements…”

“Wardanaz! That alone is already remarkable.”

It was not just Ileg being nice. The other students interested in Music Magic were nodding in full agreement.

Music Magic was in such a primitive state that they were practically rebuilding its foundation from scratch, so the mere fact that someone like Lee Han could perform one complete spell was already a tremendous help.

The bard Ipadur seemed to agree and offered encouragement as well.

“Student Wardanaz. There is no such thing as a strange song in the Empire. Whether it is a concerto, a satirical song, a symphony, or a rhapsody, a song is beautiful in and of itself.”

Hearing the encouragement from the seniors and the bard, Lee Han realized he had been mistaken.

Right. They’re right.

The Music Magic he had practiced over winter break might sound a little odd, but it was still a perfectly good spell.

And an effect that amplified dark elements and altered the nature of an area could absolutely be useful.

…Mostly for dark magic, admittedly, but still.

“Then I’ll give it a try.”

Wanting to repay their warm encouragement, Lee Han took out his violin. Then he began to play the hymn.

—Praise the sacrifice of the first-years, O mages…

“?”

“??”

—What did your seniors see? They saw the devils of hell, and those devils walking among them…

“???”

“????”

The lyrics were so much stranger than anyone had expected that the students could not focus on the changes happening around them.

The lamps were clearly lit, yet the surroundings were dimming, and the density of dark elements in the room was steadily thickening.

But the students were still whispering to one another about the lyrics.

“What exactly are those lyrics? It sounds like music from the age of the Three Kingdoms…”

“Did Einroguard even exist back then?”

“The building probably did. No, wait, more importantly, are those all personal experiences?”

“There’s no way… right? Unless he’s the unluckiest bastard in the Empire…”

After finishing the performance, Lee Han looked around at the dark elements that had been amplified inside the room, and at how the effect did not fade easily, then spoke in admiration.

“The tower’s effect really is incredible! I had no idea it would hold this well.”

“……”

“……”

“Seniors?”

Ileg was the first to recover his senses. He immediately started clapping in booming applause.

At the same time, he shot the other students a look.

Clap clap clap clap clap clap!

“It was a moving song!”

“This definitely proves Music Magic has practical effects!”

“Wardanaz, I’m truly delighted to have a junior like you!”

Burying any doubts about the lyrics deep inside, the seniors hurried to praise their junior instead.

Lee Han bowed his head, pleased.

“Thank you. I didn’t expect to receive this much praise.”

“Then shall we all practice together?”

Ileg said, looking around at the students.

After all, the best way to learn a spell was to cast it yourself.

And fortunately, they had a junior here who had already completed one score, which made practice all the easier.

“Um. Junior.”

“Yes?”

“In these lyrics here…”

“So the song really is strange?”

“No! No, not at all! I’m just curious what the lyrics mean! This line here—‘they saw the devils of hell, and those devils walking among them’—what does that mean?”

“That was something I experienced last year…”

“……”

*****

—O mages…

“Oh. Someone’s singing.”

“Do you think Music Magic is actually practical?”

“I’m not sure either. But if Senior Ileg decided to research it, it probably has some real potential.”

The Stonemason Club students, who had finished tidying up and were about to leave, found themselves unconsciously stopping beneath the <Tower of Echoes> and listening to the music drifting down from above.

Come to think of it, this kind of cultured luxury was an indulgence almost impossible to enjoy at Einroguard.

Outside the school, you could at least listen to music recorded with magic, but who inside this place would ever do something like that?

“This is nice…”

“If it turns out all right later, I want to ask them to play the Lich-Slaying Overture. I like that song.”

“It’s a good opera. The lesson that liches get put down is a fine one too.”

—What did your seniors see? They saw the devils of hell, and those devils walking among them…

“?”

“???”

The Stonemason Club students had been absorbed in the melody, but now they finally registered the lyrics and looked up.

Darkness was rippling ominously through the windows high on the <Tower of Echoes>.

“…Should we head back?”

“Let’s.”

On second thought, no matter how nice the music was, lingering near a workshop where magical research was underway did not seem like a particularly wise idea.

*****

“To think we’d get results this quickly from the very beginning.”

The students who had gathered for Music Magic were flushed with excitement.

At first, the lyrics had felt awkward simply because they were unfamiliar, but the more they practiced, the less strange they felt. If anything, they were exactly the sort of lyrics any student of Einroguard could relate to.

“Thank you, Wardanaz. We’ll have to practice this regularly!”

“We should let the others hear it too. The effect may be weak, but the song alone will impress them.”

“I’m glad to hear you say that.”

As the seniors all praised the piece, Lee Han felt joy rising from somewhere deep inside himself.

Maybe this was what it felt like to be an artist.

I thought the lyrics were a little odd, but I guess they’re fine.

“Now then, everyone. Come over here, would you?”

Ileg poured hot cocoa from a kettle for the students who had gathered even on the weekend for Music Magic, then gestured toward a bookshelf.

Packed tightly across the shelves were books and scores so old their dates could not even be guessed.

“These are the Music Magic scores I collected from the library. There aren’t many complete ones, so restoration work will be necessary, but there are still a few in good enough condition to start learning right away. Ipadur will help you perform and sing from these scores.”

At their senior’s words, the students’ eyes shone with curiosity and anticipation.

They had all gathered because they were interested in Music Magic and wanted to learn it for practical use. Faced with this stack of scores, they could hardly help being fascinated.

“Ipadur.”

“Mm.”

The elderly turtle beastkin bard nodded and rose to his feet. Then he picked out the scores that were in decent condition one by one and began to read them.

“<Rain-Calling Lizard>. It appears to be a piece for pan flute. I’d guess it has some kind of water-element effect… the performance difficulty seems to be around intermediate.”

In Music Magic, the performance itself was just as important as the motions of spellcasting, so naturally, a spell with a more difficult performance was also ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) harder to master.

The students listened intently, carefully judging what instruments they themselves could handle and how difficult each piece sounded.

“Next is <Iactus’s March>. It uses drums, and I don’t think it would suit anything except percussion. Perhaps it has some kind of effect in battle…”

“I’d like to learn that one!”

One of the seniors immediately raised a hand and called out.

But Ileg shook his head.

“We’ll choose the pieces another way.”

“Huh? How?”

As if he had been waiting for the question, Ileg pulled out paper lots.

The students stared at the sight in bewilderment.

“We’re drawing lots for this?”

“Yes. Otherwise too many people will pile onto the popular pieces. We need to practice as widely as possible if we want proper records, don’t we?”

Lee Han tilted his head.

Of course, from the perspective of researching Music Magic, it made sense to cast the net as wide as possible and gather information.

Which scores were useful, which were mediocre, which had unusual effects—collecting that kind of data mattered.

But the students who had gathered to learn Music Magic each had a limited range of instruments they knew how to play, and a limited range of songs they could actually sing well.

If they were assigned a kind of music they had never handled before, would that not take far longer to practice?

“Wouldn’t it take too much time if the piece doesn’t suit the player?”

“Exactly. Senior Ileg really is something.”

At Lee Han’s question, another senior standing beside him nodded in full agreement. Apparently everyone else had been thinking the same thing, because comments began popping up one after another.

“This is just making an already difficult field even harder.”

“Especially when this is only possible in a limited way inside the tower.”

After grumbling for a while, the seniors seemed to decide that they were all in agreement, and called out to Ileg together.

“Senior!”

“Hmm? What is it?”

Lee Han tensed a little, even though he had not been the one to call out.

How exactly would Senior Ileg react to this resistance from his juniors?

“Please hurry up and get started! We want to see which scores we’ll be playing!”

“Yeah! We can’t wait!”

“Very well. Just a moment.”

Ileg smiled and began mixing the lots.

Lee Han stared, dumbfounded, not understanding the conversation that had just taken place, and the seniors spoke in calm voices.

“It’s not like we can defy Senior Ileg.”

“Yeah. Grumbling among ourselves a little is good enough.”

“……”

Faced with the seniors’ dazzlingly refined survival instincts, Lee Han was left almost speechless in admiration.