Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 264

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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 264

‘I almost received the most terrible misunderstanding in the world.’

Lee Han felt uneasy even after giving his answer.

He was worried that Duke Ikalderen might return to the Empire’s social circles and spread false rumors like ‘I heard that boy Lee Han from the Wardanaz family is quite close with Gonadaltes.’

If that happened, how would people who held grudges against the Skeleton Principal react?

There wouldn’t be just one or two of them.

“How is life at Einroguard? Are you satisfied?”

Duke Ikalderen tilted his teacup and asked about life within the magic school.

Lee Han felt all his nerves standing on edge.

This is…?

‘This might be a trap!’

What if Duke Ikalderen was actually close friends with the Skeleton Principal?

What if he was trying to extract complaints from a student he happened to meet?

“I couldn’t be more satisfied.”

“Is that so?”

“The Principal always helps students focus on their studies. The magic school provides an environment where students can always think only about magic.”

“…?”

Duke Ikalderen was confused.

Einroguard was a secretive place where outsiders found it difficult to understand how things worked, but still, there were no complete secrets in the world.

Some rumors were bound to leak out.

Naturally, some rumors about Einroguard had leaked out, and Duke Ikalderen knew about them to some extent.

According to the rumors, Einroguard was absolutely not such a satisfying environment.

‘What are you scheming, Wardanaz? What are you scheming, Gonadaltes?’

Duke Ikalderen’s small eyes flashed slightly. The unexpected answer made his head complicated.

But no matter how much he thought about it, the boy in front of him didn’t seem to be lying.

First of all, there was absolutely no reason to lie, was there?

Then had Gonadaltes really changed the rules?

‘That itself is quite possible. But why? For what reason?’

Someone of Gonadaltes’ caliber wouldn’t change rules without any reason.

Duke Ikalderen’s reasoning delved even deeper.

‘Could it be… is he trying to curry favor with other great noble families or the Emperor?’

Gonadaltes was an Archmage famous for being defiant even in front of the Emperor.

For such an Archmage to try to curry favor with other great noble families or the Emperor meant he was preparing for something significant.

What on earth was he planning to do?

Duke Ikalderen felt a chill as if a cold ice blade had been pressed against his spine.

‘Could it be… is he targeting me, Gonadaltes! Is that why?!’

“Moreover, all the professors are excellent. They help us in every way possible to teach us even one more thing… don’t they.”

In the middle of speaking, Professor Boladi nodded, almost making him cough, but Lee Han barely managed to finish his words.

That attitude made Duke Ikalderen even more convinced.

If he emphasized it that much, it definitely wasn’t a lie. There must have really been changes within the magic school.

‘I must be careful. Even more so.’

“Your Grace.”

“Speak.”

One of his subordinates approached, bowed his head, and spoke in a low voice.

“We found what you ordered.”

“What kind of creature is it?”

“It’s a basilisk.”

Professor Boladi put down the teacup he was holding. His face was expressionless, but satisfaction radiated from his entire body.

‘Duke Ikalderen. I won’t forget this.’

Lee Han held back a sigh and made a resolution once again.

* * *

“This… isn’t a basilisk, is it?”

“To be precise, it’s its egg, mage.”

Lee Han felt slightly better.

In contrast, Professor Boladi seemed to feel slightly worse.

“When will it hatch?”

“That’s difficult to know precisely. As you know, rare monsters like basilisks are quite capricious.”

An egg laid by a rooster and incubated by a venomous snake for a long time until it transformed.

That was a basilisk’s egg.

It was indeed a very rare treasure, but from Professor Boladi’s perspective, who needed an opponent for his disciple to fight right now, the egg was of no help at all.

He couldn’t tell him to fight an egg, could he?

When Professor Boladi remained silent, the atmosphere became strangely tense. The Duke’s subordinates seemed slightly offended.

A basilisk’s egg was also a very rare treasure, yet even if he was a mage, not expressing gratitude while receiving such a gift without any compensation?

Lee Han, who noticed this, quickly stepped forward.

“Thank you so much. I won’t forget Your Grace’s kindness. The Professor is also so grateful that he seems to have forgotten what to say.”

“Haha. We’re also pleased that you’re so happy.”

Only then did the Duke’s subordinates relax their faces and look satisfied.

“It was really difficult to obtain. You’d be surprised if you knew how much extra we paid.”

‘Damn it. Just give us gold coins instead.’

It was a transaction that made everyone miserable – the Duke’s subordinate was unhappy, Lee Han was unhappy, and Professor Boladi was unhappy.

Lee Han seriously wondered if Duke Ikalderen would send assassins if he got caught secretly stealing and selling the basilisk’s egg.

After the subordinates left and only the two remained, Professor Boladi spoke.

“That’s useless.”

“No, Professor. We just need to take good care of it and make it hatch.”

Lee Han wanted to wrap things up around this point.

He was afraid that Professor Boladi might go find a dragon and pick a fight.

“Even though it’s an egg, it’s still a basilisk’s egg. If we raise it well, it will grow quickly.”

“…”

Professor Boladi, who had been pondering Lee Han’s persuasion, finally answered.

“…I see. If it’s not too late, I can use it for the next exam.”

“No. That’s not what I meant.”

Lee Han answered with a serious expression.

* * *

Having exchanged gifts and learned that they weren’t close with the Principal, Duke Ikalderen began preparing to see the two off.

“You came out to buy materials?”

“Yes.”

“You go with them. After all, merchants don’t easily bring out their really good items.”

The Duke ordered his subordinate.

Merchants weren’t clever enough to deceive mages, but they also weren’t stupid enough to easily give up good items.

Building up favors one by one in such small ways was Duke Ikalderen’s method.

Especially if the other party was from a great noble family.

A noble’s honor lay in not easily forgetting received favors.

Of course, it was a bit concerning that the other party was from the Wardanaz family, but that boy seemed relatively normal unlike other Wardanaz members…

‘Is Duke Ikalderen perhaps a pushover?’

Lee Han wondered.

To just give so generously like that.

He couldn’t possibly be deluding himself that Lee Han would feel sorry later and repay him, so was he trying to show the magnanimity of a great noble?

If that was the case, it was truly remarkable.

Why would he do such a meaningless thing…

* * *

“First, please give me all the low-grade mental enhancement potions you have, and do you have Setrivi’s dew potion? I also need Dobruk’s blood drop potion.”

“Pl-please wait a moment.”

The alchemists sitting in the guild workshop were startled by the distinguished guest’s visit.

“It will take some time since we need to check inventory and make them. But are you really going to buy this much?”

“Yes.”

Lee Han’s strategy was simple.

Since Professor Thunderstep had said ‘obtaining materials is also part of your ability, so figure it out yourselves,’ he really intended to show his ability.

He would buy useful potions from outside.

Starting with potions needed to make pre-final assignments, to all potions that might possibly be used in final exams!

Originally he had planned to buy only what was absolutely necessary due to lack of money, but since Duke Ikalderen was providing gold coins, there was no reason to be frugal.

The duke’s subordinates watching from behind looked at each other with bewildered faces.

-Isn’t he… buying too much?

But none of them tried to stop him.

If they interfered for no reason, Duke Ikalderen would thunder at them for disrespecting his dignity.

It was more expensive than expected, but considering Duke Ikalderen’s intention to bestow favor, it might actually be a good thing.

“Let’s go to the confectionery shop next door.”

“Pardon?”

“Is there some problem?”

“Uh… it’s nothing.”

The duke’s subordinates followed Lee Han through the door of 【Dasig’s Confectionery Shop】 decorated with colorful, elongated candies.

They wondered why a mage would enter a confectionery shop, but thought perhaps he needed some ingredients they didn’t know about.

Maybe there were potions that required crispy crème brûlée or magic prepared with sweet éclairs…

…Do those really exist?

“This giant chocolate cake doesn’t seem like an ordinary item.”

“You have a good eye, customer. Sometimes adventurers who’ve struggled for months buy this to celebrate their victories. It takes a week to make one.”

“Good. I’ll buy this too.”

“My goodness! I knew you were a distinguished person, but I never thought you’d actually buy this!”

Lee Han nodded with a confident gesture.

The duke’s subordinates behind him could only make increasingly puzzled expressions.

* * *

“It’s all ready, Professor.”

After the frenzied shopping ended and Sunday evening came, Lee Han met Professor Boladi again in front of Amur Stable.

Amur’s jaw dropped seeing Lee Han carrying all sorts of mountain-like loads.

“What the…?”

Even a porter who had worked in trading companies for over ten years probably wouldn’t carry luggage so ruthlessly.

“It’s fine. Let’s depart.”

“No… wait a moment.”

Amur was flustered.

If there was anything more important than escaping from prison—no, school—it was returning without being caught.

Naturally, Lee Han and Amur were prepared for that too.

They had planned to enter around midnight on Sunday, disguised as Amur and Amur’s staff.

But that luggage was a bit too much.

One or two boxes might be fine, but entering with that much luggage would make even a blind spire stable keeper say ‘Let me check this for a moment.’

“Hmm. I did buy quite a lot.”

“It’s not just quite a lot…”

“It’s fine.”

“??”

“We’ll say it’s the professor’s luggage.”

“Uh… would that be okay?”

Amur was even more flustered.

Was it okay to use his sky-like master’s name for such smuggling?

Professor Boladi nodded as if it didn’t matter. Lee Han sent a look that said he knew it would be like this.

“Then let’s depart! Oh right. I brought some dessert. Please have some when you’re hungry.”

“No. Students wouldn’t have money… wait…?”

Amur couldn’t understand how Lee Han had bought all that stuff.

Unless one was quite thoughtless or shameless, it wouldn’t be easy to sell the family name…

“…I understand for now. Let’s depart!”

Lee Han fed the griffin snacks (when he gave it premium jerky, the griffin was very happy) and checked Professor Boladi’s luggage.

While going around the village with the duke’s subordinates, Professor Boladi had also bought something—several elongated boxes large enough for a person to fit in were lined up.

‘…Surely not monsters?’

Lee Han felt ominous but steeled his mind. Even Professor Boladi couldn’t have obtained more monsters in such a short time.

“What’s inside those?”

“Adventurers.”

“…Pardon?”

“Adventurers. Those who used trickery earlier.”

Professor Boladi spoke matter-of-factly.

He spoke so matter-of-factly that Lee Han’s stacked snack boxes and the adventurer boxes containing adventurers felt similar.

Of course, Lee Han wasn’t fooled.

“Professor. Why on earth would you take such people?”

“I’m thinking of using them for final exams. They’re worthless trash, but they’d be useful if trained.”

“…”

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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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