Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 262

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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 262

Since it was late at night, Lee Han lay down on his bed as soon as he finished cleaning up after dinner.

He thought he wouldn’t be able to sleep because his mind was troubled, but perhaps because he was so tired, his eyes closed the moment his head hit the pillow.

And Lee Han had a nightmare about Professor Boladi bringing a dragon.

-This is absolutely not acceptable. I will petition His Imperial Majesty.

-His Majesty has also given permission.

-That’s impossible!

* * *

Lee Han woke up in the morning and sighed as he poured coffee from the pot into a cup.

Professor Boladi came out of his room not long after. Lee Han noticed Professor Boladi hesitate when he saw the coffee.

“Would you prefer tea?”

The professor nodded. Lee Han didn’t panic at all and put tea leaves into a cup.

He had prepared for all possibilities just in case.

“Are you both awake? Ah. Coffee is… no. I’ll drink it well.”

“Not at all. Would you perhaps prefer warm milk?”

“Well, I would, but…”

Amur was surprised to see Lee Han immediately pour milk into a cup.

Was it magic?

“With magic…?”

“I just prepared everything in advance.”

“…??”

Professor Boladi, who had been sipping his tea, finally spoke.

“Let’s depart.”

“Yes.”

“I wish you luck.”

Amur said to Lee Han. Lee Han nodded and expressed his gratitude.

“Thank you.”

“I wish you luck.”

“…Thank you.”

“Truly, I wish you luck.”

“…You can stop now. Thank you.”

Lee Han’s back as he turned around and left with Professor Boladi looked somehow sad.

* * *

“But Professor, where are you planning to purchase such rare monsters?”

Lee Han asked Professor Boladi.

Philone Village wasn’t as bustling and vast as a city, but it was one of the largest and most prosperous villages.

Since the Empire’s greatest magic school was nearby, all sorts of related people came and went through the village.

But even considering that, there weren’t many places that sold rare monsters. In the first place, ordinary villages didn’t even have places like Amur Stable.

‘Is it a place I don’t know about?’

Having come out and wandered around several times, Lee Han had a rough understanding of Philone Village.

Was there a place that sold rare monsters that Lee Han didn’t know about?

“I called sellers.”

“!”

Professor Boladi hadn’t just been resting.

On his day off, he had sent messages throughout the Empire asking for rare monsters.

Among the adventurers and explorers located throughout the vast Empire, there were those who specialized in performing only such requests.

Probably by now, a considerable number would have arrived in Philone Village with captured monsters.

After hearing the explanation, Lee Han cursed inwardly.

‘Those adventurer bastards don’t get cursed for nothing.’

Instead of readily accepting just because someone offers an expensive commission, shouldn’t they think about why that commission was posted?

What if a crazy mage throws that monster at his disciple!

‘I won’t forgive them.’

Lee Han once again resolved to sabotage this deal.

“Hey! Over here, over here! Mage sir! Nice to meet you!”

An orc adventurer waved his hand from afar. He was an orc adventurer dressed in attire that seemed to shout ‘I am experienced’ from his entire body.

Behind him was a huge metal cage. It was tightly covered with black cloth, but it was easy to guess what was inside.

“Greetings. I’m Kilbedek, as I mentioned in my letter. Wait. Who is the person next to you?”

“My disciple.”

“Ah.”

Kilbedek hesitated but continued speaking as if he didn’t particularly care.

“First, let me tell you about the monster I’ve captured. Please forgive the rudeness of explaining without removing the cloth.”

The two mages nodded. The orc adventurer paused for a beat and then raised his voice to shout.

“The monster I’ve captured is… a basilisk!!”

“!”

Lee Han was shocked.

And he wondered if attacking that orc adventurer in front of him might be considered self-defense.

“A basilisk! You mages would naturally know. The king of serpents and a monster with the wicked evil eye of petrification. It doesn’t yield to fire, water, or lightning, and has the agility to run from one end of the earth to the other in the time it takes to flick its tongue once…”

“Stop talking nonsense!”

Lee Han firmly interrupted.

He couldn’t just leave it like this. He had to somehow make the other party feel bad and make them leave.

“Your scheme is obvious. Of all the many powerful monsters, why specifically a basilisk! You needed an excuse to cover it with black cloth. You had to insist that people around might get hurt if you removed the cloth! Does it make sense that someone who can cage a basilisk couldn’t prepare eyepatches? There’s definitely a fake of similar size inside there!”

“Wh… what do you mean…!”

Kilbedek stammered after receiving such an absurd accusation. Lee Han felt sorry but didn’t stop.

“Look at that person’s attire. It certainly looks expensive and well-used, but hands can’t lie. Aren’t those hands without a single wound or scar!”

Lee Han began to argue based on whatever he could see.

In fact, even hands without wounds or scars could belong to an experienced adventurer. They could have been healed with healing magic, or he might not have been injured due to his skill.

But what mattered was the atmosphere.

He had to find fault until the other party got angry and said ‘I can’t do this deal!’

“…I was wrong! Sob sob!”

“?!?!”

Suddenly, the orc adventurer prostrated himself on the ground.

“How dare I try to deceive the eyes of mages… I must have lost my mind for a moment! Please spare my life! Because of debt…!”

“…”

Lee Han was at a loss for words. Meanwhile, Professor Boladi praised him from the side.

“Well done.”

“…Thank you.”

“Get lost.”

Professor Boladi chased away Kilbedek without any particular sanctions or retaliation. Lee Han asked curiously.

“Did you know that guy was a fraud?”

“No. But I thought the possibility was high.”

Professor Boladi didn’t trust adventurers much to begin with.

That’s why he had sent letters everywhere and delivered requests to gather as many sellers as possible.

No matter how many he called, nine out of ten would be frauds anyway.

“I… I see.”

“Let’s call the next person.”

‘I hope they’re fraudsters.’

Lee Han suddenly felt hopeful.

If all the adventurers were like this…!

* * *

“What do you think?”

“Pardon?”

“I asked what you think.”

“Well… isn’t he a virtuous Imperial adventurer?”

Since Lee Han’s initial pointing out of the orc adventurer’s suspiciousness had been so excellent, Professor Boladi demanded the same thing from Lee Han when the next adventurer came.

Naturally, Lee Han didn’t have such abilities.

‘Damn. That was just a random guess.’

How could Lee Han have known that all his nitpicking would turn out to be true?

“Do you really think so?”

“He’s… a bit suspicious.”

“In what way?”

“…First, since he brought a rare monster, that adventurer has absolutely no reason to be nervous or worried. However, he keeps looking around anxiously and showing signs of unease.”

Of course, it could have been anxiety about dealing with mages or an urgent need for the restroom, but Lee Han ruthlessly found fault.

“Damn it! This is why I hate mages!”

“…”

Another adventurer abandoned all his belongings and fled in a hurry.

And after that, three more adventurers were driven away for attempting fraud (one of them brought an ordinary rabbit and insisted it was an Al Miraj, a monster even demons fear).

While this was good for Lee Han, by this point he began to doubt the ethics of Imperial adventurers.

‘Is the Empire really okay?’

He thought that perhaps adventurers should come to Einroguard during vacation periods to receive ethics education from the Skeleton Principal.

“!”

Lee Han’s expression hardened.

He felt an indescribable sense of unease from the entire bodies of the adventurers who had just arrived.

‘What is this?’

A strange unease that seemed to gently prick at his nerves.

Lee Han frowned, unable to identify what it was.

Professor Boladi spoke from beside him.

“Killing intent.”

“Pardon?”

“What you’re feeling right now. That’s killing intent.”

“…!”

Lee Han raised his head.

Unlike the earlier fraudsters, the adventurers now approaching reeked of thick bloodlust.

‘Are they insane?’

This place wasn’t far from the magic school, and it was obvious how other mages would react if they touched an Einroguard mage.

However, the adventurers before him were far from such logical thinking.

A mage who came to buy rare items must have that much gold, so steal it by any means necessary!

Things like ‘consequences’ or ‘retaliation’ weren’t in their heads. Their entire thought process was just to make a big score and get away without being caught.

“Mage sir. Come this way.”

“You need to come closer to examine the monster, don’t you?”

The two adventurers’ slightly hoarse voices rippled with unconcealed greed.

Lee Han clicked his tongue.

“Foolish bastards.”

“…!”

“Do you even know who you’re dealing with?”

It might be different with other mages, but since the opponent was Professor Boladi, those adventurers’ future was practically predetermined.

“Who might you be?”

Realizing the situation was flowing strangely, the adventurer’s voice became rougher.

Tap-

“?”

Professor Boladi placed his hand on Lee Han’s shoulder. Then he said.

“Handle it.”

“Pardon?”

Professor Boladi gestured with his chin. It meant to handle them.

Lee Han suddenly felt embarrassed.

‘No…’

He had said ‘Do you know who you’re dealing with?’ to the opponent, then intended to watch Professor Boladi fight, but this way he was just a madman saying ‘Do you know who I am?’

‘Does he really have to make me do this?’

“I asked who you are!”

“You don’t need to know.”

Lee Han drew his staff along with his words. At the same time, the adventurers also drew their weapons.

They were already suspicious of each other.

* * *

The two brothers Doig and Gido feared mages’ power while simultaneously not being particularly reluctant to face mages.

The important thing was speed.

Magic might be the most powerful force in the Empire, but that powerful force was meaningless if it couldn’t manifest.

If you stuck a blade into a mage’s body before they could use magic, that was the end.

The two adventurers drew their weapons. They were deadly hidden weapons made by a dwarf blacksmith with a bounty on his head in the Empire.

Hidden weapons that shot poisoned daggers using the power of fire and wind.

Not only was the poison capable of paralyzing a mage’s entire body, but the dagger blades were also made of malachite that could penetrate defensive magic.

How many times had they seen mages who carried defensive artifacts clutch their chests with disbelieving faces and collapse?

Doig and Gido, who believed without doubt that it would be the same this time, tumbled with the shock of their entire bodies burning.

“…!”

Lee Han was flustered when his opponents just tumbled from a single lightning magic attack.

‘What? Is this a trap?’

“Flash, flash, flash!”

Lee Han didn’t let his guard down.

What he had learned while exploring dungeons with Professor Boladi was to never stop attacking just because a monster had fallen.

Since there was no need to conserve mana anyway, Lee Han fired magic in rapid succession.

“That’s enough.”

“…Ah. Were they really down?”

Professor Boladi nodded.

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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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