Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 163
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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 163
White Tiger Tower Students and Black Turtle Tower Students had one thing in common.
Whether they disliked or were wary of Lee Han, they all acknowledged his magic skills.
Giselle thought to herself.
‘If Wardanaz speaks of him like that, he must really be an amazing mage.’
“It’s an honor to meet you like this.”
The White Tiger Tower Students greeted him quite knight-like.
Of course, Baldoron, who felt like he was sitting on a bed of thorns, didn’t feel any better receiving such greetings.
Rather, he felt even more suffocated.
‘They’re knights!?’
Seeing new students who clearly seemed to be from knight families greeting him so politely made him feel even more burdened.
When they learn the truth later, they might draw their swords…
“Shall we go together?”
At Lee Han’s suggestion, the other tower students hesitated.
The Black Turtle Tower Students pondered and then nodded, but the White Tiger Tower Students couldn’t do the same.
Because they had no money!
“Ah. You don’t have money.”
Lee Han spoke as if he understood. While the White Tiger Tower Students bristled slightly, Lee Han continued.
“I’ll lend it to you.”
“What?”
“I said I’ll lend it to you. Of course, with a small interest…”
“Wardanaz…”
Angrago looked at Lee Han as if he couldn’t believe it.
Considering how Vandur from Black Turtle Tower had been showing off with just a few silver coins earlier, this was a surprisingly generous offer.
But why?
Lee Han became very uncomfortable with Angrago looking at him with sparkling eyes.
“Did I say I’d give it for free? I think I said I’d lend it with interest?”
“I heard you. Wardanaz. …Thank you.”
‘Has this guy gone crazy?’
From Lee Han’s perspective, not knowing what conversation had taken place between the White Tiger Tower Students and Black Turtle Tower Students before arriving, Angrago’s reaction felt strange.
Why was he moved when he said he’d lend money with interest?
“Well, yes. I’m glad you’re happy.”
Angrago extended his hand for a handshake. Lee Han stepped back to create distance. Angrago awkwardly lowered his hand.
“Wardanaz… seeing you makes me ashamed of showing off with just a few silver coins.”
‘Why is this guy acting like this too.’
When a Black Turtle Tower Student approached him with a self-convinced expression, Lee Han became even more bewildered.
What happened before they came here?
“I didn’t know what honor the great noble families spoke of meant, but it was referring to exactly this kind of thing.”
“What conversation did you have before coming here?”
“I didn’t believe such things, but now I’m seeing it with my own two eyes.”
“What conversation did you have before coming…”
“I have no choice but to acknowledge…”
“Will you talk after getting beaten? Or will you just talk?”
“Why, why are you acting like this? Wardanaz?”
A moment later.
‘No. I should have charged more interest.’
After hearing the detailed explanation and understanding the situation, Lee Han suddenly felt regretful.
So that’s what happened!
The White Tiger Tower students would have accepted it even if he had charged more interest.
“Here it is.”
The shop with the sign 【The Luminous Ghost’s Tangled Treasure Pile】 had quite a suspicious and gloomy appearance.
If it had been just students alone, they would have thought ‘Why would we go into a place like this?’ and not entered.
However, the gathered students had no doubts whatsoever.
“It’s the place Baldoron was going to visit.”
“It’s a place introduced by the mage that Wardanaz said was so amazing.”
“Of course it must be trustworthy.”
“Let’s go in!”
‘…I just go there often because it’s cheap…’
* * *
The shop owner of 【The Luminous Ghost’s Tangled Treasure Pile】 had never seen so many new students come out on an outing from the magic school in his entire life.
…No, to begin with, magic school students stopping by 【The Luminous Ghost’s Tangled Treasure Pile】 was an absurd occurrence in itself.
‘Why here??’
Items with semi-permanently imbued magic, artifacts, were quite expensive items even in the Empire.
As such, people didn’t buy artifacts from just anywhere.
They would get confirmation from workshops of widely known mages before purchasing.
However, not everyone sought only such safe and guaranteed artifacts.
Damaged or half-broken artifacts, artifacts leaked during experiments or research, artifacts that failed to reach their original goals, and so on.
You might wonder why people would seek such artifacts, but the reason was simple.
Because they were cheap!
There were more people than expected who had no money but needed artifacts. And the place such people visited was precisely 【The Luminous Ghost’s Tangled Treasure Pile】.
A place that specialized in purchasing and selling used, damaged, and incomplete artifacts.
Adventurers might stop by, but why would magic school students come here?
“Wow. There’s all sorts of stuff here?”
“What kind of cloak is this? It seems to have magic cast on it.”
“Since it’s a place Baldoron frequently visits, it’s really something special.”
Baldoron’s face turned bright red.
“Everyone… please keep your voices down…”
While the students were conversing, Lee Han strode through the shop and approached the counter.
The shop owner tensed up as a boy who was clearly from a great noble family approached.
‘He’s not going to find some ridiculous fault, is he?’
The adventurers who stopped by here knew what kind of place this shop was, so they didn’t cause any particular trouble.
But the magic school students were different.
Being from the Empire’s leading Great Noble Houses, they would be ignorant of worldly affairs, and as students learning at Einroguard, they could turn this place upside down if they set their minds to it.
The shop owner was very nervous.
‘Please don’t cause trouble. Please…’
“Good day.”
“Good… day.”
Lee Han bowed his head and lowered his voice. The shop owner’s posture naturally became more relaxed as well.
“By any chance…”
“?”
“I see you also purchase incomplete artifacts here. If you were to buy this, how much would you offer?”
“…”
The shop owner unconsciously raised his head at the student’s words to check Lee Han’s face.
‘Is he really from a great noble family… right?’
* * *
Lee Han sold ambiguous artifacts like the Cloak of Protection (since it only blocked bladed weapons with a fifty percent chance anyway, Lee Han decided to just block with magic instead) and Lesser Boots of Stealth, converting them to money.
He couldn’t help but admire Baldoron anew.
‘To know a place that gives such good prices. Truly an excellent mage.’
As his purse became fuller, Lee Han’s mood became more generous as well.
Just like the other students were already browsing around, Lee Han also set out to find useful artifacts.
“You seem to know your stuff. May I ask you a few things?”
“…Go ahead.”
‘What?!’
Baldoron was inwardly shocked.
The owner of 【Nighteye Demon’s Tangled Treasure Pile】 was famous for being prickly and blunt.
When Baldoron asked anything, he would snap ‘If you’re going to keep asking questions, go somewhere else,’ but he was answering Lee Han’s questions properly.
‘Is he discriminating between people?!’
Of course, it wasn’t incomprehensible. Even if Baldoron were the shop owner, he would have answered Lee Han’s questions.
The aura he gave off was different from the other students from the start.
…And he had brought such useful artifacts too.
“Isn’t there a way to avoid the Principal’s… no, the Archmage’s eyes or find out his movements in advance?”
“There’s no way such an artifact would be here.”
“True… Then what about artifacts that detect intruders in advance? Or artifacts that suppress intruders…”
The shop owner was starting to wonder whether Lee Han was a student from a great noble family or a thug from the streets.
Are they planning to rob some manor?
“What kind of magic is cast on this pocket watch?”
Lee Han, who had been examining the artifacts, looked puzzled at a silver pocket watch with a slight crack in its glass.
He couldn’t sense any mana from it at all.
Could it be magic so advanced that Lee Han couldn’t detect it?
“No magic on it. It’s just a pocket watch.”
“Ah.”
Lee Han felt slightly embarrassed.
Well, even just a pocket watch was a sufficiently valuable item. The ability to measure time accurately was practically like an artifact.
Baldoron spoke carefully.
“It seems you earned some silver coins from selling that artifact earlier… How about buying it? A pocket watch in such good condition would be quite hard to find once you miss it.”
“Indeed. If you say so, Baldoron…”
“No, no. I didn’t mean it with such deep intention!”
Baldoron hastily changed his words, but Lee Han had already interpreted it in his own convenient way.
‘Certainly… I’ll have many occasions where I need to measure time precisely.’
Not only for alchemy, but as the level of magic increased, the difficulty of learning would surely rise.
The magic school wouldn’t provide pocket watches, so preparing one in advance wasn’t a bad idea.
“Thank you. Your advice was helpful, Baldoron.”
“Now that I think about it again, it might not be that necessary…”
Despite the pitiful voice, Lee Han bought the pocket watch.
Seeing this, the shop owner tilted his head.
‘Why does he listen so attentively to Baldoron’s words?’
The magic school students should be more skilled than Baldoron…?
Lee Han, who had put the pocket watch in his coat, looked around at other artifacts. A blunt dagger hanging on the wall caught his eye as it emanated a strange aura.
“Don’t go near that!”
“What’s the reason?”
“It’s a cursed thing that absorbs mana. If you touch it carelessly, it might absorb your mana and make you collapse or become a cripple…”
“I see.”
“?!?”
Despite the warning, when Lee Han simply grabbed the dagger, the shop owner was horrified.
Even for a magic school student, this was too reckless behavior.
‘What the?!’
However, what happened after Lee Han grabbed the dagger was even more surprising.
…Even though he had picked up the dagger that had already made several adventurers faint and bleed, the magic school student was perfectly fine.
“I’m fine. You don’t need to worry.”
‘Good heavens!’
The shop owner was shocked once again.
He had heard many times that Einroguard was the best among the Empire’s magic schools, but seeing it like this was truly shocking.
Even so, for a new student to be at this level…
It was definitely a school where only monsters gathered.
“How much is this?”
“For cursed items, I only take one silver coin. Otherwise, no one would buy them.”
“No, I mean… do you happen to have more cursed items?”
Baldoron, who was watching, suddenly felt something was strange.
‘Shouldn’t he ask about the effects first?’
Surely he wasn’t just buying them blindly because they were cheap?
* * *
“You’ve really been a great help.”
“It’s all thanks to you, Baldoron.”
All the new students from the Four Towers surrounded Baldoron and thanked him.
Baldoron hid his exhausted expression and nodded quickly.
“It’snothingatalleveryone. Ireallyhadalotoffunmeetingyouall. Pleasenevertellanywherethatyoulearnedfrommeanywhere…”
“Yes.”
“Of course!”
“We’ll definitely visit you next time we go out…”
Baldoron ran away frantically without looking back.
The students admired the cool appearance of the mage who left without any regrets.
That’s what a mage is like!
“Lee Han. What did you buy?”
“A watch and a dagger. The other cursed items had rather poor curses.”
“…Aren’t curses supposed to be bad anyway??”
While Gainando was puzzled, Lee Han prepared to head to Amur Stable.
Yoner asked worriedly.
“Is it really okay to tell the truth as it is?”
“It’s fine. He’s someone you can reason with.”
“Really?”
Yoner was puzzled even as he followed along.
No matter how reasonable someone was, they would probably be surprised if told they rescued a griffin…
* * *
“Welcome! Did you find a mount?”
“Yes!”
“Well done! What kind did you get?”
“A griffin.”
“…”
Thud!
Amur literally fell backward. Lee Han shouted in panic.
“Are you alright?!”
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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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