SMMA 106

Chapter 106

Understanding the situation, Yoener gently patted Ihan’s shoulder in sympathy.
Spirits were often like fickle lovers—no matter how devotedly one treated them, there were times when their hearts simply could not be won.
In such cases, one could only accept it.

“Yoener, I’m fine.”
“Mmm-hmm…”
“I’m really fine.”
“Right, right.”

Usually, when someone added “really” in front of a statement like that, it meant the opposite. Yoener decided to let it go.

Nillia, meanwhile, was flustered as the water spirit clung to her.
Since it was the spirit that Ihan had wanted to form a contract with, she couldn’t bring herself to accept.

“Hey! Go away! Go make a contract with Wardanaz over there!”

Nillia tried to push the water spirit away, but it persisted, sticking close to her. It must have really taken a liking to her.
The sight made Ihan feel slightly melancholic.

All I ever attract is that senile lightning spirit.

Even so, there were times when, however bitter it felt, one simply had to celebrate for the sake of a friend. Ihan spoke coolly.

“Nillia, there seems to be a misunderstanding. I have absolutely no intention of contracting with the water spirit.”

“What? Really?”

Nillia’s long ears perked up in surprise.

“But you were about to ask it to form a contract just now.”
“You must have misheard.”

Yoener marveled inwardly. Among Ihan’s many talents, the one that no one could ever hope to imitate was his ability to lie unblinkingly with a perfectly calm face.
If he said something utterly serious, without even pausing for breath, even those who had been doubtful moments ago would waver, thinking, “Huh… maybe I heard wrong?”

“Nillia, I have no particular interest in that spirit.”

“But… you’ve been saying since before that you wanted to make a contract with a spirit. And you did say you’d like a water spirit, too.”

Of course she remembers the useless things.

Ihan cursed inwardly.
If only she could recall their assignment material so well instead of trivial details like that.

“You’re mistaken. True, I once said I’d like to contract with a water spirit—but I meant a named water spirit, Nillia.”

“Ah!”

Nillia clapped her hands, apparently convinced. Indeed, given Wardanaz’s exceptional talent, that made sense.

The water spirit beside her also clapped its hands, as if to say, “Oh, so that’s how it was!”

Ihan felt a sudden urge to smack the spirit across the head.

“You see? So if you wish to form a contract with that spirit, go ahead. I don’t mind.”

“Hmm… I’ll have to think about it.”

Nillia hesitated. She hadn’t never considered forming a spirit contract, but she had never expected the opportunity to come so suddenly.

“What do you two think?”

At her question, Ihan and Yoener looked at each other.

From their perspective…
Nillia could use more friends.
And a spirit friend would be even better.

After an unspoken exchange, both nodded.
“A water spirit sounds like a good match.”
“I agree!”

“If you both say so…”

Nillia nodded, and the water spirit bounced in excitement, clapping happily.

After spending the weekend trapped on an island with undead summons, Ihan found it disturbingly comforting to see Professor Volady’s face again.
He was terrified at himself for feeling this way.

There really is no cure for Stockholm Syndrome.

“Good morni—”
“You used lightning magic last time.”

“……”

Volady didn’t bother with small talk or ask how the weekend had gone. He went straight to the point.

“Yes…”

Ihan sighed inwardly. He had already expected this.
Ever since seeing Volady in the presence of Professor Garcia Kim, he had felt an ominous certainty.

Ah, so this professor teaches lightning magic as well…

And his dismal predictions had never once been wrong.

“The lightning element, unlike water, is handled by very few mages,” Volady began.
“I see.”
“It’s much harder to control than water.”
“Yes, sir.”
“But since you’ve already used lightning magic, you’ll be capable of managing what I teach from now on.”
“……”

Ihan considered suggesting that Volady attend Basic Imperial Language and Logic.
What kind of twisted reasoning is that…

“I’ve heard some things.”

Volady looked directly at Ihan, who blinked in surprise.
Was the professor about to make small talk? That was unusual enough to make him suspicious.
A person doing something completely out of character was rarely a good sign.

“I heard you defeated Gonadaltes’s summoned creature—Jorban II.”

“……”

If the Skeleton Headmaster had been present, he would have been pleased; he had succeeded in making Ihan angry again.

Seriously? How many hours has it even been?!

Ihan fumed silently. He had seen the Headmaster in the morning, attended lunch, and now was sitting in Volady’s classroom—so how had the undead skeleton managed to gossip so fast?

Unbelievable… truly.

“Yes… I succeeded thanks to what you taught me, Professor.”

“That’s only natural. But that’s not why I brought it up. I heard you injured your arm during the surprise attack.”

Damn it.

Ihan could already guess why the Headmaster had blabbed.

“An unexpected situation arose.”

“Combat is always like that. No matter what excuse you make afterward, your enemy won’t care.”

Volady was most insufferable when he said things that were technically correct—because they left no room for argument.

“Therefore, I’ve prepared something.”

Ihan didn’t ask “What is it?” this time.
Instead, he raised his staff and focused on the professor’s every movement, ready to act the moment Volady tried something.

Volady found that reaction satisfactory. A faint smile appeared on his lips.
Sparks flashed in midair, forming a small bolt of lightning aimed right at Ihan.

Ihan tried to block it with a water orb—but Volady cast one too, canceling it out.

“!”

He had no choice but to dodge. Fortunately, the bolt’s speed, while greater than most elemental attacks, was not impossible to evade.
It wasn’t nearly as fast as natural lightning and, being linear, was far easier to predict.

Compared to the unpredictable strikes of swordmasters like Allarlong or Ingerdel, this sort of straight-line magic was almost simple—
fast, yes, but readable.

Predict the trajectory right before it lashes out!

Ihan tilted his head deftly, and the lightning bolt missed him entirely, striking the wall behind and dissipating with a crackling hiss.

Volady nodded, satisfied.
“When I say don’t block with magic, I mean it.”
“You mean I should… just dodge?”
“That’s right.”

Before Ihan could complain, more bolts came flying.

He dodged—and found himself astonished.
Am I actually this good at evading?

After enduring the hellish training at this academy, apparently even his reflexes had evolved.

Volady continued for several minutes, and Ihan avoided every attack.

“Just as I expected,” Volady said calmly.
“You handle this level easily.”

Should I have pretended to be clumsy…?

Ihan realized too late that showing competence immediately was never wise. Professors only made things worse when their students succeeded.

But this particular professor was impossible to deceive—he attacked with full sincerity.

Zap!

Suddenly, the room went dark. Only the faint glint of Volady’s eyes was visible.

A blind test? How professorial.

Ihan wasn’t surprised. A teacher obsessed with real combat scenarios would obviously take it to such extremes.

Still… he underestimated Volady again.

Rustle—

“What’s this?”

Volady had thrown a handkerchief at Ihan.

“To cover your eyes.”

Ihan hesitated. “Uh… mine?”

“In case there’s any confusion—not mine,” Volady said in his usual emotionless monotone.

Ihan had half-expected this, and yet was still horrified.

“Professor, isn’t it already dark enough? With my eyes covered, won’t dodging become impossible?”
“You can do it.”

Volady made a small gesture, and the handkerchief floated up and bound itself gently over Ihan’s eyes.

Total darkness. Absolute silence.

Then came the crackle of energy—the forming of a bolt.

Fantastic. I’m doomed.

Fear crept up Ihan’s spine, but he had no choice.
Just as he could perceive magical traces and mana flows, he now tried to sense the location of the lightning itself.

He didn’t know how effective it would be—but it was all he could do.

Volady, arms crossed, observed Ihan in silence.

Like Professor Garcia Kim before him—or so Volady believed—he possessed unshakable faith in his teaching philosophy.

“If students can’t keep up, the problem isn’t me—it’s them.”

No wonder the Skeleton Headmaster liked him so much.

And, unfortunately for Ihan, that confidence only solidified after meeting him.

Elemental shape manipulation, elemental control training—his foundation is flawless.

When he had seen Ihan use lightning magic, Volady hadn’t shown it, but he had been genuinely pleased.

Lightning ranked among the most difficult elements to command, and mastering it made advanced exercises of elemental transformation and control far easier to teach.

Naturally, they should have started right away—not with detection drills.

But there was a reason Volady insisted on this: the Skeleton Headmaster’s report.

Upon hearing that Ihan had been caught off guard by a summoned undead and injured his arm, Volady had been horrified.
For a genius like Wardanaz to make such a mistake!

Of course, a normal person might have wondered, “Why was a freshman fighting a giant undead summon in the first place?”
But such logic never crossed Volady’s mind.

If I were that boy from House Wardanaz…

The last time, to stop Ihan from adding rotational properties to water magic, Volady had, for the first time, tried seeing things from Ihan’s perspective.

It turned out to be easier than expected—so he did it again.

And soon he reached a conclusion.

If I were him, what would I want to learn most right now? Not attack, not defense—but evasion.

He could have asked Ihan directly, of course—but chose not to. Why talk when one could infer?

In magical combat, evasion was separate from attacking and defending—yet in some ways it was even more advanced.

The essence of evasion was perception.

A mage had to instantly discern where an attack came from, what element and structure it possessed, and only then could true avoidance occur.

“The fool blocks; the wise avoid.”

That saying existed for a reason.

So, how could he heighten Ihan’s perceptive ability?

Unknowingly, Ihan had been training it already.
By constantly sensing and interacting with various magical energies, his awareness had sharpened naturally.

Today, Volady stripped away all manipulation and control—the lesson was focused entirely on detection.

And the result—

Zap!

Volady extinguished the last lightning orb floating in the dark.

Ihan was gasping for breath.
Even with good stamina, no one could remain calm through that kind of ordeal.

Still, astonishingly, Ihan of House Wardanaz had dodged everything—without seeing a thing.

He couldn’t see it himself, but Volady smiled faintly.

He finally understood what other mages meant when they spoke of “the joy of teaching.”

It truly was satisfying.

In the air, several more sparks flickered to life—lightning bolts, small flames, whirlpools of water, and compressed pockets of wind forming together.

Even blindfolded, Ihan sensed the danger and shouted, startled,
“Professor? …Professor???”

Footnotes:

1. Elemental Contracts — Formal pacts formed between mages and elemental spirits, granting mutual access to mana and abilities. 
2. Volady — A blunt, battle-obsessed professor who trains students using extreme, often dangerous practical methods. 

Gonadaltes — The Skeleton Headmaster; an undead lich governing the academy with twisted humor.