An Angel Lives in the Academy
Chapter 147: The Angel Who Meets His Junior (4)

“Just what the hell is he doing?”

“Such a rootless thing to do, just like his background…”

The assistant teachers, looking at the originally golden now white-haired boy who was pulling out students from the pool while radiating a warm light, muttered those words in bewilderment.

“How dare he interfere with the Magical Studies Department’s exam…”

“Come to think of it, it was like this before too. He took that filthy black mage out of the Magical Studies Department dorm.”

“To intervene in the entrance exams as a mere student.”

They were busy criticizing the boy, ignoring the fact that he had just saved students who were about to die during the exam.

And their superior, Professor Klein, was too busy recalling memories of his own mana dive experience to notice.

The young son of the murdered Tower Master, the days when he had to participate in the UN’s mage training program as a representative of the refugee Mage Tower.

slammed into Klein's head.

‘I thought I had forgotten all about it by now.’

Klein still hadn't realized that thinking he had forgotten was a contradiction in itself.

‘After all this time…’

Back in the early days when mana was first discovered on Earth and superhumans began to awaken, the UN was in the midst of various projects to research magic, one of the advanced technologies of the other world.

One of those projects was the Mage Training Program. Using the other world’s knowledge to train mages from Earth.

The mage towers and their apprentices, who were searching for a safe haven after being driven out by the Demon King, had no choice but to obey the orders of the now no longer existing UN.

This was how the Mage Training Program worked:

Mentors from the mage towers’ high-ranking personnel and mentees from among Earth’s children who showed a talent for magic. A mentor would teach and guide their mentee, raising them into a full-fledged mage. And they would film this whole process so that Earth could also acquire the technology to nurture mages.

It was a simple system.

With a simple transaction.

That's how Klein, who became a mentor as the son of the Mage Tower Master, came to meet with the children chosen as mentees by the UN in Kansas, USA.

‘Most of those children were orphans. Or they were child breadwinners.’

The scholars of the Mage Tower warned the UN executives. That there were many sacrifices in raising a superhuman.

Trials make a superhuman, and failing to endure those trials often meant death.

And how did the UN executives react when they heard those warnings? Klein couldn’t remember their expressions anymore. All he could remember was the sight of them hurriedly trying to erase the names of their own children and the children of high-profile figures. That sight alone remained vivid in his memory.

And so, when Klein met his first apprentice, he wore a monocle to avoid being looked down upon, realizing that most of the apprentices were about the same age as him.

It was his father’s heirloom.

“Ahahaha, what’s with that monocle? It doesn’t suit you at all!”

“Wh-What did you say?”

And a boy there mocked him. A face full of mischief, dark skin with gray hair. And blue eyes that sparkled with curiosity.

While everyone else was upset about being dragged there against their will by adults, only that boy was smiling.

“A kid like you is our mentor? This is a joke.”

“You’re being disrespectful to your master. I’ll have to discipline you.”

Klein didn't like that.

And so, the Mage Training Program began.

The Mage Tower and its people needed a safe haven. To obtain that haven, Klein and the other mage tower professors needed to show quick results, and to show quick results, they had to conduct somewhat harsh training.

In other words, the safety of the children chosen by the UN was not a priority.

Even if the children suffered from mana addiction, even if accidents occurred from distorted magic circles, even if their mana hearts collapsed and their bodies began to turn into dust from their extremities…

The Mage Tower didn’t stop the training.

‘It couldn’t be helped.’

There were things in this world that couldn’t be helped.

So when he thought about those days, there were many things he didn’t understand. Why didn’t that boy lose his smile, even in such a harsh environment. Why did he always approach Klein so warmly.

Why, even though Klein was making him go through such a difficult training, why did that boy always offer to share snacks with him, behind the other professors’ backs?

Even Klein, who was called the century’s greatest genius of the Mage Tower, hadn't yet found an answer to that foolish behavior.

Just thinking about that time…

‘I was young, and I didn't have a single friend.’

He always had to act formal, had to act mature, and had to show that he was worthy of being the next Mage Tower Master in everything he ate and slept.

“That’s right. I am, as the future Tower Master…”

“There you go again with the Tower Master talk. In the end, what is a Tower Master but a landlord? Do you know how many buildings are going bankrupt these days because no tenants are moving in?”

“Ugh, don’t compare the Mage Tower to… a building for worldly profit! Do not disrespect the Mage Tower!”

“Hahaha, there’s no way I would ever dare to disrespect the future landlord. This is a world where even gods bow before landlords.”

(TL Note: A play on the proverb ‘There is no landlord above the creator’, a proverb about landlords being the absolute rulers of their property. Originally, it’s meaning was that young people’s dream job is to be a landlord so they can laze off and live off of rent.)

But when he was with that boy, he felt like he had become younger, too.

The snacks the boy secretly brought always tasted better than the fancy food he usually ate with the mage tower professors.

And the stories the boy told about games and novels were much more entertaining than discussing magic with the mage tower professors.

Perhaps Klein…

…Enjoyed those times.

“Hmm, it seems that about half of them will awaken their mana sense by the end of this week.”

“Then… to develop mana resistance, we need to give them a strong shock the moment they awaken their mana sense…”

“We’ll have to prepare for the mana dive.”

Mana dive. A traditional mage tower training method where trainees were submerged in a pool filled with high-density mana to strengthen their mana sensitivity and mana resistance.

“However, it’s a training method that was banned by the previous generation, it’s too dangerous…”

Although it was an effective training method, it was also incredibly dangerous, so the previous Tower Master had banned it.

“The previous generation is no more.”

“If only we had given the top apprentices of the Mage Tower the mana dive training, we might not have been defeated so easily.”

“We cannot repeat the same mistakes. Now this world has become one where nothing can be gained without sacrifice.”

“But…”

“It can’t be helped.”

But the mage tower professors’ resolve was firm. The young Klein couldn’t stop them.

And so, a deep diving pool was filled with liquefied high-density mana and the children

nervously waited for their mentors’ orders.

Even then, that boy was smiling. Klein seemed to have smiled secretly at that smile too.

“Then we shall begin today's training, the mana dive.”

Perhaps that’s what happened.

* * *

The training until now went like this.

First, the professor would give a demonstration. Then the mentees would follow the professor's example.

However, for mana diving,

there was no way for them to give a demonstration.

It was too dangerous a test, a training method that no one, excluding the older professors, had even attempted.

“So, you’re saying that we’ll be conducting this training without a demonstration?”

“That is correct.”

“But there are already many trainees who are hesitant about the training. If you don't even give them a demonstration…”

“But…”

As the usually talkative professors went silent, the young Klein looked at them and confidently said,

“I will give the demonstration.”

“Young Tower Master!”

Klein had a plan. He was, after all, an incredible magic prodigy, to the point of being called the greatest genius of the Mage Tower, so he had a high chance of passing safely.

And he was the young master of the Mage Tower. There was no way the professors would make the mana dive too difficult if the young tower master was personally demonstrating it.

Then it would be beneficial for the mentees’ survival.

With that thought in mind, Klein

Ignored all the professors' protests.

And so on the day of the mana dive.

Klein, without fear, dived into the diving pool filled with liquefied mana.

‘What? This is nothing.’

I wonder if this was the arrogance of a child who knew no fear.

‘They were so worried when I said I’d do the demonstration, making those worried expressions, even though it’s nothing special. Why didn’t they just laugh it off like they usually do.’

Or was it proof of his pure heart, of being so naive as to not even know how cold the night can be.

And at that moment,

Klein saw darkness.

The truth is this. Even the Mage Tower, a place of research and education, had its fair share of power struggles. The Tower Master was a position coveted by all mages, a title with immense authority in the magic world.

People desired fame and authority.

And mages, after all, were also human.

So, for a young tower master to volunteer for such a dangerous training that was even banned by the previous master… it was possible that some would have malicious intent.

By making the pool even deeper than planned, for instance.

But fortunately,

Klein had forgotten all about that trap.

Klein forgot it all.

The endless pressure, the darkness that deepened until no light could be seen. The whispers of demons in his ears, the faint image of the Demon King flickering in the distance. The touch of his mother’s hand grabbing his feet, and his father’s voice commanding him not to go.

‘Cold.’

The blood flowing from his eyes and nose, the dizziness that accompanied it.

‘So cold…’

And the loneliness and fear that numbed all that pain.

‘I’m cold…!’

He only remembered the bone-chilling cold of the deep mana.

Klein forgot everything.

The fact that there was a hand reaching out to him.

Those blue eyes.

Hair that shined like a silver thread in the light.

He even forgot how warm that hand, that reached out to him, had felt.

‘To think I’ve forgotten this…’

Trials make a hero.

Klein, who had passed through the mana dive, realized that he was still just a chick that hadn't broken out of its shell.

Of course, even as an egg, he was an egg that could rival the professors of the Mage Tower, but…

Klein, after awakening, forgot it all. Thus, Klein became a transcendent being, and the mana dive became known as a training method that forged transcendent beings and spread widely throughout the world.

‘It’s impossible to intervene during a mana dive. No, then what was it that I saw back then?’

The moment you enter the high-density mana, you’re separated into individual barriers, and there’s no way to reach those trapped within.

Then just what was it that he had seen back then?

That warm hand.

“What? You’re saying that he jumped in to save an examinee?”

“Th-that’s correct.”

“Why didn’t you stop him?!”

“It all happened so quickly...”

Shake- Klein, snapping out of his memories, stumbled.

“Professor?”

“Could it be that you're angered by that boy's actions…”

“It seems his blood pressure has risen.”

The assistant teachers, hiding their laughter, quickly approached Klein.

“We’ll begin disciplinary procedures immediately.”

“To interfere with the entrance exams as a mere student, and without even proper qualifications? It's clearly cheating, no need to even discuss it.”

“It's time for us to set an example for the Magical Studies Department, Professor.”

Needless to say, Leffrey was on the bad side of the Magical Studies Department. However, it was simply because Klein favored Leffrey too much.

“That rootless delinquent. I’ll show him the true meaning of justice…”

The assistant teachers, delighted at the thought of getting rid of Leffrey, who was an eyesore. Klein, looking at those assistant teachers, smiled and said,

“Haha.”

“Professor.”

“Shut up, all of you.”

Klein, silencing all the assistant teachers with a single sentence, looked at Leffrey again.

That boy, with an expression of concern,

Reached out his hand, a hand that’s warmer than anyone else's.

As a boy's arm came up from the dark mana, Leffrey gently took that hand and pulled.

At that moment, Leffrey became a boy with silver hair and a cheerful smile, and the boy who was pulled out became a bespectacled nerd, trying to look like an adult by wearing a monocle.

The foolish nerd who had forgotten everything,

embraced in the arms of the silver-haired boy, said.

“It’s warm…”

The nerd muttered once more,

“It’s really… warm…”

Klein could no longer hold back his tears.