Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 261

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 261

“What’s wrong?”

Professor Boladi wondered as Lee Han swayed on the griffin.

Lee Han gritted his teeth and said.

“I didn’t know you were beside me, Professor.”

“You should improve your observation skills.”

Professor Boladi lightly reprimanded Lee Han’s carelessness.

An excellent battle mage never lets their guard down and maintains a certain level of concentration at all times.

And that concentration included observation skills as well.

Even when sitting and waiting on a chair at the Spire Stables, one should be able to have suspicions like ‘Could this person sitting next to me be a professor?’

“…I’ll keep that in mind.”

Lee Han engraved Professor Boladi’s advice deep into his bones.

At magic school, one had to be able to identify who someone was just by looking at their gait.

Students who couldn’t even do that much didn’t deserve to survive!

“But if you were there, why didn’t you speak to me earlier?”

‘Or never speak to me at all.’

Lee Han wondered why he hadn’t spoken earlier and chose to speak when he was riding on the griffin.

Was it perhaps his intention to make Lee Han fall?

Professor Boladi’s eyebrow twitched slightly. The professor spoke slowly.

“One must be quiet inside the stables.”

“…”

There were several people at magic school who were more annoying when they said the right things.

Professor Boladi was one of them.

It was utterly absurd for someone who usually did whatever they wanted to talk about proper etiquette.

‘Isn’t there any etiquette in the Empire about not taking 1st year students to dungeons?’

“I… I see.”

Lee Han took a deep breath and composed himself.

Although Professor Boladi’s appearance was shocking, when he organized his thoughts, it wasn’t the worst possible situation.

Unlike other professors, Professor Boladi didn’t care much about Lee Han’s rule violations.

“Professor. Could you possibly keep it a secret that I came outside?”

“Sure.”

Professor Boladi answered immediately without hesitation. Lee Han was deeply moved.

‘Even crazy professors have their good points sometimes!’

To think he would agree so readily.

Amur, who was flying ahead, noticed their conversation and asked cautiously.

“Is everything alright?”

“It’s fine, Mr. Amur. He’s a friendly professor who will keep our secret.”

“Is that so? You’ve met an excellent master.”

Amur was relieved by Lee Han’s words.

He thought they had been unluckily discovered by another mage, but it turned out to be a master who understood the situation.

It seemed there was still a thread of warm affection even in Einroguard, which only had fierce and brutal rumors. Amur wiped under his nose with satisfaction.

“Even if not necessarily a mage, meeting an excellent master is fortunate for a learning disciple.”

Amur praised Professor Boladi. Professor Boladi nodded calmly.

Lee Han had to make an effort to prevent his eyes from widening.

‘He has no conscience…!’

While Lee Han could praise Professor Boladi, for Professor Boladi to nod after hearing that praise.

The Skeleton Principal would have been better – Professor Boladi was likely to genuinely think that way.

“May I ask what business brings you outside, mage?”

“Preparing for final exams.”

“Ah.”

“Ah… ?”

Lee Han, who had been nodding along, stopped.

Huh?

“Indeed, professors must worry not only about magic but also about teaching students. It must be quite difficult.”

“Mm.”

Professor Boladi nodded again.

Lee Han had to endure the urge to scream.

His conscience…!!

“What do you need? Since we’ve met like this by fate, I’d like to help if it’s alright.”

Professor Boladi’s brow furrowed. After seeming to contemplate something for a moment, he opened his mouth.

“Immune to fire, water, and lightning elements, with strong magic resistance, and capable of speeds over 60 km per hour…”

“Wait, wait.”

Panicked, Amur forgot his manners and interrupted Professor Boladi.

“Why do you need such a monster?”

“For sparring.”

“…Wait… didn’t you say it was for final exam preparation?”

Professor Boladi nodded.

Amur fell silent for a moment.

Then, realizing the truth, he looked at Professor Boladi with a face filled with horror.

“Sur… surely…”

“What you’re thinking is probably correct.”

Lee Han whispered.

Amur asked again as if he couldn’t believe it.

“Ah. Perhaps for the upperclassmen’s…”

“No.”

“…No…”

Lee Han could understand Amur’s bewildered feelings.

And actually, the one who should be most shocked right now was Lee Han.

‘No wonder my luck seemed good.’

He shouldn’t have been happy when Professor Boladi canceled class.

So this was what he was doing – going outside to bring back a monster to fight Lee Han…

He had to stop it.

Absolutely!

Lee Han whispered to Amur again.

“Would it be alright to invite one more guest to your house?”

“Of course.”

Amur had previously given permission for Lee Han to stay at his house if he managed to get out.

Having received additional permission, Lee Han’s eyes gleamed as he spoke.

“Professor.”

“?”

“Where will you stay when we arrive at the village?”

“An inn.”

“If it’s alright with you, why don’t you stay at Mr. Amur’s house with us? It would be bothersome to go all the way to an inn.”

Professor Boladi’s advantage was that he nodded well. The professor nodded.

‘Got it.’

Lee Han made up his mind.

He would absolutely not let Professor Boladi go.

…Anyone listening might think he was planning to poison him, but it was closer to meaning he would just detain him rather than trying to poison him.

“I think we should focus on flying now.”

“!”

Amur pointed ahead. Lee Han looked at the obstacles that had appeared in front of them with surprised eyes.

Burning rings of fire had appeared throughout the sky.

“What the hell is that…??”

“They’re traps to filter out unauthorized intruders. Today, you need to pass through the leftmost ring.”

“I, I see.”

Even as Lee Han passed through the ring of fire, he felt strangely uneasy.

‘I feel like I’ve had a dream like this before?’

* * *

Amur’s house, located near the massive stables, wasn’t very spacious but it was a sturdy and comfortable home.

The problem was the lack of food supplies.

“Hmm. There’s plenty of animal feed here, but…”

“That won’t do.”

Lee Han momentarily considered cooking the feed to serve to the professor, but immediately came to his senses.

He hadn’t gone that crazy yet.

“I’ll gather the necessary ingredients from nearby. Do you happen to raise chickens?”

“…If you need food supplies, couldn’t you just go buy them?”

Amur asked with confusion.

“Ah!”

Only then did Lee Han come to his senses.

This wasn’t the cold lawless land, but a village in the Empire with order and rules.

‘Right, I can just buy them.’

The canned beans that Amur used to roughly fill his meals weren’t suitable for entertaining a professor.

Actually, Lee Han didn’t really know what kind of food was appropriate for entertaining Professor Boladi, but those definitely weren’t it.

‘The plan is to make him eat and drink as much as possible.’

If he had a hearty, warm meal and drinks, the professor, being human, would get lazy and lie down on the bed.

And when he woke up, another hearty, warm meal and drinks…

“Then I’ll go buy them.”

“It might be better if we go together…”

Amur looked at Lee Han with concern.

No matter how he looked at it, he seemed to be from a great noble family, likely having grown up without getting a drop of water on his hands.

Would he even know how to properly choose what was needed?

One hour later.

Amur was more surprised than when Lee Han had tamed the griffin.

“No, no! This is more amazing than when you tamed the griffin!”

‘I don’t think that’s quite right.’

Lee Han, who was busily making sherbet, meringue, pie, and biscotti, thought to himself.

No matter what, it couldn’t be more amazing than taming a griffin…

“You two should sit down and eat first.”

“But we couldn’t possibly…”

“That would be helping me.”

Lee Han said with a meaningful look.

Amur exclaimed “Ah!” and nodded his head.

He understood the disciple’s heart trying to appease the mad professor’s mood.

‘He seems to be misunderstanding, but it should be fine.’

Actually, even if he was misunderstanding, it wasn’t really that much of a misunderstanding.

A professor who brought powerful monsters to fight his disciple had no right to complain about being misunderstood.

“Mage sir. Considering the sincerity he’s prepared, it would be best if you ate first.”

Professor Boladi nodded.

On the wide rectangular table, hot, freshly prepared dishes were already piled high.

Large, freshly baked white bread, honey and spices to dip the bread in, various vegetable stews, porridge, and soups to soothe the stomach before eating greasy food, brisket made by seasoning a huge chunk of meat and smoking it, similarly firmly smoked grilled salmon, fish stew made with flounder and clams steamed in wine, and more.

Even without the various fruits and sweet desserts that Lee Han was currently making, it was a sufficiently abundant dining table. Amur, who usually ate rough meals, unconsciously swallowed his saliva.

“Mage sir. Here…”

Amur, who was about to offer alcohol to Professor Boladi, was surprised.

The professor was only picking out vegetables, greens, and fruits from the dining table.

“Do you perhaps not feel like having meat?”

“I don’t like it.”

Lee Han wasn’t flustered at all.

Since he didn’t know Professor Boladi’s preferences to begin with, he had planned to try various things.

‘I see.’

Amur couldn’t help but admire Lee Han’s ability to instantly change cooking direction from behind.

Even an alchemist who had worked in Philone Village for over ten years probably couldn’t change direction so smoothly without a single hitch.

With a light sound, Lee Han cut the vegetables into bite-sized pieces. Then he immediately deep-fried them in oil.

As the sweet pumpkin and eggplant were fried, they made appetizing sizzling sounds. Lee Han placed the lightly fried vegetables on a plate with sauce.

“How about this?”

“It’s delicious.”

As Professor Boladi ate well, Lee Han continued moving.

He cut tomatoes and green onions, beat eggs, then stirred and stir-fried them before serving, and peeled the asparagus he had bought earlier, blanched it lightly, then stir-fried it with butter.

As Professor Boladi ate well from each plate that piled up in front of him, Amur also felt relieved and began offering alcohol. When Lee Han heard the sound of the two drinking behind him, he smiled meaningfully.

Thunk!

There was a sound of someone’s forehead hitting the table. Lee Han managed his expression and turned around.

“Would you also like some wine salad…”

Lee Han stopped mid-sentence.

Amur’s face was flushed red as he slept soundly, while Professor Boladi was tilting his wine glass without any change in expression.

“…”

Lee Han didn’t curse Amur. Amur was someone who had done his best to help.

…It was just that Professor Boladi was a crazy bastard.

“The food seems sufficient. Let’s eat now.”

“…Ah. Yes.”

At Professor Boladi’s voice, which showed no signs of intoxication, Lee Han sat down with a bitter feeling.

Lee Han cut into the meat. Perhaps because it was so well-made, the meat was moist and tender.

‘Even in this situation, the meat is delicious…’

“Skipping meals or eating irregularly is not a good habit.”

Professor Boladi lightly scolded Lee Han.

Lee Han almost threw his fork but stopped himself.

“I’ll be careful from now on.”

“Since it’s late, it would be best to sleep as soon as we finish eating. We’ll leave as soon as you wake up.”

“Yes? Where to?”

“To trade for monsters.”

Professor Boladi answered and then asked again as if puzzled.

“Wasn’t that what you wanted to see when you prepared this meal?”

“…I’m embarrassed that you saw through my shallow intentions.”

“Ambition and curiosity are virtues of a mage. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Just speak directly from now on.”

Although he couldn’t ignore his disciple’s sincerity and had accepted the hospitality, Professor Boladi originally didn’t prefer this kind of roundabout way of speaking.

‘I’m definitely going to ruin this.’

Regardless of Professor Boladi’s dignity, Lee Han decided to become a troublesome customer.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————