Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 1045
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 1045
“Now that I think about it, there’s no way Eandurude would have acted so foolishly.”
“That’s right.”
“…You knew!?”
Lee Han was flustered by the professor’s reaction.
Come to think of it, as a master of the school who had been watching longer than Lee Han, it wouldn’t be strange for Professor Boladi to judge Eandurude accurately.
‘But then why didn’t you stop me??’
“Then why did you come looking for him?”
“?”
Professor Boladi slightly raised the tip of his eyebrow and looked at his disciple.
Although the other person wasn’t someone who expressed emotions very intensely, Lee Han had accumulated enough experience to read what it meant.
That was a question mark. More specifically, it could be said to mean ‘what are you talking about now?’
-You were the one making all that fuss and commotion saying Eandurude had disappeared, weren’t you?
‘Ah.’
Lee Han became very embarrassed.
Now that he thought about it, he was the one who had made a fuss saying ‘Eandurude went to the underground fighting arena! We need to save him quickly!!’ just based on what Alhidel had said.
From Professor Boladi’s perspective, even if he was uncertain, he had no choice but to accompany him to search since his senior was making such a commotion.
“…I’m sorry. I should have judged more carefully.”
“No. Having deep friendship as members of the same school is something to praise.”
‘There are only two of us though.’
If there were only two people in a school, it seemed like even Gainando and Angrago would become close.
While leaving the slum area with the professor, Lee Han reflected once again.
From now on, he would develop the habit of confirming facts before recklessly attacking.
…It was a thought that would have made the guild members’ stomachs turn if they had heard it – half of them sprawled out and the other half being dragged away by the capital guards.
* * *
“I see.”
Professor Garcia looked at her disciple with an ambiguous expression, unable to decide whether to praise or not.
Eandurude shook an old coin purse with a proud face.
He had remembered hearing that one of the slave traders had hidden gold coins in a closed fighting arena, but who would have thought it would be useful like this.
Indeed, the saying that knowledge is power was not wrong.
“That’s not how that saying is used… Anyway, I’m glad you’re safe…”
“Shouldn’t we tell Lee Han that he went looking for him?”
“Shh. He might feel sorry for no reason, so keep quiet.”
The 2nd year students who had gathered after hearing the news whispered behind them. Seeing this, Alhidel asked with a puzzled look.
“What are you talking about like that?”
“Huh? Oh… well, we were discussing how much the ratio of fire grass reagent affects the power when casting dark magic.”
Gainando hastily made an excuse.
At that excuse, Alhidel looked at them with newfound respect. To be so absorbed in magic even during vacation.
Indeed, the 2nd year seniors were different in some way.
‘We can’t even compare to them.’
It was diligence incomparable to friends who indulged in delicacies and novel magazines as soon as vacation started.
“Hey. How did you think of something like that?”
“Shh. I just followed what our senior was researching.”
“…”
While his friend looked at Gainando pathetically, Lee Han and Professor Boladi returned.
Seeing the mages gathered in front of the pawnshop, Lee Han let out a sigh of relief.
“Sorry for being late. Professor.”
“No. I’m glad you both returned safely. Nothing happened, right?”
“Yes. Nothing happened.”
At Lee Han’s answer, his friends nodded thinking that must be the case.
However, Giselle tilted her head. There was a bloodstain she hadn’t seen before on the upper part of Wardanaz’s left shoulder.
‘Isn’t that blood?’
She felt something was off, but before she could ask about it, Lee Han called his friends together.
“Everyone gather here. A graduated senior left gifts for you all.”
“What? Really?”
His friends expressed bewilderment at the unexpected words.
They had wondered why such a pile of gifts was stacked up, but those were gifts for them?
“I thought Wardanaz bought those with his own money.”
“Didn’t Wardanaz buy them with his own money and then make up an imaginary senior?”
His friends, who had no faith in Einroguard seniors, murmured among themselves.
Thinking of the graduates they had met so far, there was no way any of them would have left such gifts.
“Why would I do such a thing? Hurry up and come line up.”
‘It’s more suspicious that he’s not strongly denying it.’
The 2nd year students were inwardly suspicious.
Thinking of Wardanaz, who came from a great noble family and constantly performed commissions without rest even during the semester, such wealth wasn’t particularly strange.
“Well, Wardanaz doesn’t have much desire for gold coins.”
“…What?!”
Yoner was shocked by the voice of another tower student beside him.
Why on earth was there such a misunderstanding?
“Why do you think that?”
“What, what’s wrong, Meikin. Do you have complaints about Wardanaz?”
“No, no… it’s not that. I’m just curious about the reason?”
“He cooks without taking money.”
“…”
Yoner was momentarily speechless.
It was such a hard statement to refute that the only answer he could barely come up with was this:
“He does… he does take money.”
“Huh? Oh. Silver coins? Compared to what the seniors pay, that’s nothing.”
“That’s… I mean… never mind…”
Yoner pondered how to clear up the misunderstanding, then sighed deeply and gave up.
Even if he said Lee Han was more interested in gold coins than expected, they probably wouldn’t listen.
“Yoner. Here’s the 【Triangular Flask of the Water Horse Mountain Range Magic Tower】.”
Lee Han handed the enchanted flask to his friend from the Alchemy school. Reading the description, Yoner’s eyes widened.
“Component identification, replication, purification, and transformation? Isn’t that too many functions?”
Yoner looked puzzled as he examined the flask from various angles.
One might wonder what was wrong with an artifact having many functions, but it actually was a problem.
The difficulty and cost increased exponentially with each additional enchantment.
From problems of magic conflicting with each other to mana supply issues, adding reagents for stability…
In that case, it would be better to just use several artifacts with separate functions. There was no need to forcibly cram everything into one.
“Yeah. That’s why the mage who made it was disciplined. Another mage brought it to the auction house as a proxy.”
“…Th, thank you. I’ll use it well.”
Lee Han nodded. Seeing the reaction, he was confident he had chosen the right gift for his friend.
Asan received a crystal astrolabe (upon receiving the gift, Asan flustered Lee Han by declaring he needed neither brothers nor sisters), Durgyu got leather gauntlets with barrier shields, Ratford received new lockpicks and magic insects that explored inside keyholes, Nigisol got a lantern that reacted with fire spirits to create flames of various properties…
“Wait. Wardanaz. Were you by any chance the person who went around the pawnshop earlier and bought everything before the auction started?”
“It wasn’t me, it was a graduated senior…”
“I see.”
‘It seems like there’s some other meaning behind that?’
Lee Han felt puzzled by his friend’s response but didn’t bother to press further.
There wasn’t time to distribute the useful items among what he had bought today.
“Here. Nilia. This is for you.”
“Th, thank you?”
Nilia was flustered as she received the 【Cursed Red Spear】.
She couldn’t understand why he was giving this as a gift, but since Wardanaz gave it to her, she figured he must have some intention.
“…No. Why are you taking that?! The gift is this quill pen next to it!”
Lee Han, startled belatedly, snatched away the spear and pointed to the quill pen.
This quill pen that helped with writing according to its owner’s commands was an artifact for Nilia, who would need to write hundreds of invitations for social activities in the future.
‘…The spear seems more useful though…’
Nilia thought to herself as she received the quill pen. No matter how she thought about it, spear > quill pen seemed right.
Lee Han continued distributing the remaining gifts.
Raphadael got a thick book organizing the beings from the Undead Realm that dark mages could contract with (Raphadael grumbled but eventually expressed gratitude), Siana got the monocle of wisdom, Salko got a pitch-black shovel enchanted with decomposition magic…
“Moradi. Here, this sword is…”
“I already have a sword I’m using.”
Giselle answered with slight bewilderment.
She didn’t want to refuse the gift, but she already had her family’s sword that she was using.
“Listen to the end. This sword looks like a sword, but it’s actually a magic artifact with a hidden blade built in. A famous dueling mage used to favor it. If you pretend to draw your sword like this and activate it, compressed wind bullets shoot from the hilt…”
“…”
Giselle was horrified at Lee Han’s excited explanation.
It was a much more underhanded gift than she had thought.
‘It sounds so plausible that it’s even more ridiculous!’
Giselle felt slightly ashamed of herself for being tempted by that explanation.
When there was no reaction from the other person, Lee Han became slightly dejected.
“Don’t you like it? I thought it was a really good weapon.”
“Ah, no. It’s not bad… It seems good too… Thank you…”
Giselle, having received the gift, fastened it to her waist. If anyone asked why she was carrying three swords, she planned to smack them in the mouth.
After giving Tijiling the cursed red spear (Nilia sent an envious glance), Adenart the blessed picnic basket (Adenart tilted her head after receiving it), and Sharucal the conch shell imbued with water elemental magic, Lee Han called Gainando.
“Gainando. This ink bottle is an artifact for mages who lack concentration. If you sit at your desk and do other things, it shoots ink at your face.”
“…I feel like I’m the only one getting a weird gift…”
“And here’s a bonus set of mage cards. I got them at the auction house.”
Lee Han held out a thick bundle of cards.
Seeing the familiar card list, Gainando was so moved that tears welled up in his eyes.
“This is a miracle!!!”
“…I don’t think it’s that much??”
* * *
After returning to the villa estate with his friends, Lee Han called Eandurude aside.
It was to discuss when they would go meet Jowrin.
“Should we go meet her after buying your gift?”
“That seems like a good idea. But…”
Eandurude hesitated, which was rare to see. Lee Han was slightly surprised at this sight.
‘What?’
What on earth could be making Eandurude act like that?
‘Could he be short on gold coins?’
“I have a question.”
Eandurude raised his hand and opened his mouth after pondering several times.
Though he expressed it in a roundabout and lengthy way, in summary it came down to this:
When friendship toward a friend conflicts with respect for an upperclassman, which should one choose?
‘This guy…!’
Lee Han was slightly moved and called Yoner.
“Yoner. Yoner.”
“Huh? What?”
“It seems Eandurude has already made a lot of friends.”
Lee Han, having called Yoner, explained the story he had just heard.
It seemed clear that Eandurude was wondering whether he should spend the remaining vacation with his upperclassmen or if it was okay to choose to hang out with his friends.
“?”
Yoner tilted his head.
‘Something’s strange?’
He had a strong feeling that wasn’t what this was about, but Lee Han was already opening his mouth.
“Of course you should choose friendship with friends. Eandurude. Upperclassmen are originally meant to be used conveniently and then discarded.”
“…Hey…”
Yoner looked at Lee Han with a very complicated expression.
We’re upperclassmen too!
“…Is that so?”
“Of course! Do you happen to have plans with friends?”
Eandurude shook his head from side to side. Then he spoke with a determined face.
“I’ll go meet His Majesty with you tomorrow!”
‘Is that something to say so resolutely?’
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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