How to Survive as a Mage Inside a Game-Chapter 1: Fake Mage

“Mister, aren’t you impressed?”

Only then did the man turn his head to look at the boy.

The woman glanced over as well, then opened her mouth.

“Are you amazed by the fire?”

“Well, yeah! It’s not just any fire. She made it out of thin air with magic!”

“Whether it’s made from wood or magic, fire is still fire... Well, sure. I suppose it depends how you look at it.”

At the man’s lukewarm attitude, the boy pouted a little.

“Anyway, it’s amazing. She said she can cast over twenty different spells too.”

“That’s a lie.”

“...Huh? A lie? Why?”

“With the kind of skill that takes that long just to conjure a flame the size of a candle, there’s no way. At best, she might’ve barely scraped together a few other elemental spells. Real mages can fire off flames hundreds of times bigger than that without even breaking a sweat...”

The man abruptly cut off and closed his mouth.

Because the woman, who clearly heard everything, was now glaring at him, her face red.

“What’s wrong with my skill, exactly?”

“My apologies. I suppose my voice was a bit loud.”

And then, with complete shamelessness, the man turned his head back away.

Stunned speechless, the woman let out a hollow laugh and hurriedly spoke to those nearby.

“What he said isn’t true. Magic naturally takes time to cast, and besides, we’re inside a carriage, so I had to keep the flame small.”

She was clearly annoyed and about to snap at the man again.

“Hey, you. What would you know about magic to run your mouth li—”

Neighhh!

The carriage shook violently and came to a halt.

Startled cries broke out among the passengers.

“W-What was that? What’s going on?”

“Did the wheel get caught on something?”

They quickly looked outside, hoping it was nothing serious—but soon, everyone’s faces turned pale.

“B-Bandits!”

The carriage was already surrounded on all sides by a dense ring of armed raiders.

Several mercenaries had already been struck by arrows and were lying dead.

One of the mercenaries approached the carriage with a grim face.

“They’re demanding we come out. I’m afraid everyone will need to disembark.”

“W-What? But we paid you to protect us!”

“I’m sorry, but there’s nothing we can do. We’re outnumbered so badly, we’d be wiped out if we fought.”

Left with no other choice, the people began to get off the carriages one by one.

There were three wagons in the convoy, and just as many mercenaries—but at a glance, the number of bandits was easily double that.

“Keh, we really hit the jackpot this time. We’re gonna loot them clean.”

The one who looked like the leader of the bandits chuckled as he looked over the trembling passengers.

The mercenary captain stepped forward and spoke calmly.

“We don’t want to fight either. If what you want is valuables, we’re willing to part with some...”

“Gahaha! What? Don’t wanna fight? If you’ve got eyes, you should know better than to spew bullshit right now!”

“......”

“Shut up and hand everything over. If you do, we might show some mercy and let you live.”

Just then, one of the passengers shouted loudly.

“Y-You bastards! Do you even know who you’re messing with?!”

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All the bandits turned their eyes toward him at once.

A look like: Is this guy trying to die?

But the man, unfazed, pointed toward the woman beside him and shouted.

“You idiots made a big mistake! There’s a mage right here!”

“...What? A mage?”

“O great Mage! Please, sweep away these filthy bandits!”

All eyes turned to the woman.

Flustered, she stammered.

“M-Me?”

“Yes! With that magic you showed us earlier, you could burn those bandits to ashes in an instant, couldn’t you?!”

“A-Actually, I...”

Merchants, travelers, mercenaries—all staring at her with hopeful eyes.

Even the bandits, for a moment, glanced at her with wary expressions.

With no other choice, she clasped her hands together and tried to focus.

A moment later, fire bloomed in her palm once more.

Everyone stared blankly at the sight.

“...What the hell is that?”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Someone finally broke the silence with a scoff.

The flame was pitifully small.

Granted, it was bigger than before—maybe the size of a finger now instead of a candle—but still.

“E-Everyone back off! If I really wanted to, I could—Kyaa!”

An arrow whizzed past her face and she collapsed to the ground with a scream.

Laughter erupted from the bandits.

“Bwahaha! A mage, she says!”

“That’s magic? Hell, she’d have trouble lighting a damn campfire with that! Puhaha!”

“She’s kinda cute, though. Think we should take her with us? Have some fun before we sell her off?”

The color drained from her face.

The expressions on the other passengers’ faces were no better—just deep disappointment.

Especially the boy who had shared the carriage with her. His face was full of shock.

“T-That can’t be...”

In the boy’s imagination, mages weren’t supposed to be this pathetic.

Then a calm voice rang out beside him, strangely unfitting for the situation.

“Don’t be too disappointed, kid.”

It was the man from earlier—the one who’d said her magic was garbage.

“I told you, real mages are on a whole different level.”

And with that, the man stepped forward.

The boy stared blankly at his back as the bandits stopped laughing and turned toward him.

“And what the hell are you supposed to be? Why the hell are you stepping forward all of a sudden?”

The man replied in a flat tone.

“I’m a mage.”

“...What?”

“I’ll count to five. Anyone who runs during that time, I’ll let live. If you stay, you die. Try not to hold a grudge.”

The bandits burst into laughter again.

“What a riot. What’s next, is he gonna make some pebbles float?”

“Hey, shoot that guy in the forehead. He clearly doesn’t understand the situation.”

One of the bandits let out a chuckle and fired an arrow.

Thunk!

But the arrow never reached the man.

It hit an invisible barrier that now surrounded him.

“...Huh?”

The bandits’ faces flickered with confusion.

The man clicked his tongue.

“You idiots. I already counted to five.”

Crackle!

Sparks began to coil around his hand.

The last thought in the bandits’ heads was that something had gone terribly wrong.

BOOOOM!!

A deafening blast shook the air, a blinding blue light engulfing the surroundings.

A few travelers dropped to the ground screaming.

When the light faded, no bandit was left standing.

Only scorched corpses—dozens of them—blackened into ash.

“How far to the destination?”

The man asked the mercenary captain, who was still frozen in shock.

He jolted like he’d seen a ghost.

“Th-Three days! Just three more days to go!”

“I’m out of jerky, by the way. If you could share a bit tonight, I’d appreciate it. I’ll pay, of course—”

“N-No, please! We’ll give you as much as you want, no charge!”

“You’re very generous. Now that the road’s clear, let’s get moving.”

And just like that, he turned and headed back to the carriage as if nothing ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) had happened.

Everyone could only stare in silence.

“Whoa... Mister, you’re a real mage!”

The boy had somehow ended up beside him again, eyes full of awe.

Did it not scare him that this man had just incinerated dozens of people?

The man looked at the boy for a long moment—then suddenly let out a chuckle.

“Actually, I’m not a real mage either.”

“...Huh? No way! You just used that insane magic and you’re saying you’re not a real mage?”

“No, I mean...”

It wasn’t magic. It was a skill.

But the man swallowed the rest of his words—words the boy wouldn’t understand anyway—and simply smiled as he climbed back into the carriage.