Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 340

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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 340

“Will that be enough? It doesn’t look very tasty.”

“It’s, it’s delicious though…”

Rowena said in a voice that had lost some confidence at Lee Han’s harsh criticism.

Not all elves insisted on vegetarianism, but some elf families were absolutely crazy about vegetables. Lee Han knew this, so he didn’t blame Rowena.

“I take back what I said about it looking tasteless. But considering the schedule we have left, it would be better to eat something more substantial.”

Lee Han snatched Clteran’s plate along with his words.

When the plate was taken away – artistically stacked with thick pancakes soaked in honey and syrup, three types of fruit tarts, and a crispy three-layer meat pie – Clteran made a more pained expression than when he broke his ankle in the last ball game.

However, the Imperial Princess’s face brightened slightly.

Lee Han placed the plate in front of the Imperial Princess and handed the green plate to Clteran.

“Clteran. You eat this.”

“…Can’t I just go get another one? Wardanaz?”

“Go ahead.”

Clteran anxiously got up from his seat again, hoping the pancakes hadn’t run out. Rowena noticed there was no plate in front of Lee Han and said,

“Wouldn’t it be better if you ate something too?”

“This is enough for me, so you should go fill up your plate instead.”

“I’m fine too…”

“What’s that? Your Highness? You’re worried? You’re worried about her.”

The Imperial Princess looked at Lee Han with bewilderment while putting pancake in her mouth, but Lee Han pretended not to see and ignored her.

Rowena got up from her seat as if she understood.

“By the way. Are you really okay with just that plate?”

“I’m fine.”

Lee Han didn’t particularly like Rowena’s fresh green plate, but he wasn’t hungry and above all, Lee Han was used to rough food.

When his Blue Dragon Tower friends were struggling with hard black bread, Lee Han could swallow it down his throat without any trouble.

“Lord Wardanaz really does like vegetables.”

“That’s not… No. Just go fill your plate. Break time is almost over.”

Lee Han sent Rowena away from her seat as well. Then he said to the Imperial Princess,

“Your followers aren’t bothering you, are they?”

The Imperial Princess started coughing while eating. Lee Han handed her a glass. The Imperial Princess drank some fruit juice and answered slowly.

“…No.”

“Really not? I’ve been thinking since we were at school, but that seems like harassment to me.”

The Imperial Princess was silent for a moment. She seemed to be choosing what to say.

“They don’t have bad intentions… It’s just that their… enthusiasm is a bit excessive…”

‘Gainando should see this.’

Lee Han was impressed by the Imperial Princess’s attempt not to badmouth her followers as much as possible.

If it were Gainando, he would have immediately complained, ‘These bastards won’t let me eat when I want to eat, won’t let me play when I want to play, and force me to study when I don’t want to study – what kind of followers are these?’

“Can’t you tell them to restrain themselves? They’d understand with just a word.”

The Imperial Princess shook her head at Lee Han’s words.

Then she explained that acting arbitrarily toward the followers who support her would be irresponsible as a member of the Imperial Family and would disappoint their expectations.

As long as she received support as royalty, she had a responsibility to show the image her followers expected.

Rather than saying ‘I’m not the kind of person you think I am’ one by one, a person who says nothing and solemnly nods tends to feel more charismatic.

‘What is this?’

Lee Han was shocked beyond admiration.

To think she was having such thoughts.

Of course, there could be members of the Imperial Family who had such a sense of responsibility, but playing with Gainando made the comparison inevitable and surprising.

‘Is she perhaps five years older than Gainando?’

“Still, the number of followers shouldn’t be that many yet, wouldn’t it be better to start persuading them now? How many followers do you have?”

Lee Han thought of Bogajun, Judrantes, and though it was a bit embarrassing to put him in the same category as those two, Gainando’s followers.

According to rumors in the city, those counted as Bogajun’s followers were one medium-sized earth elemental mage guild, one fairly well-known adventurer party, three merchant groups, two banks, one ball game team, and about five urban noble families. Those counted as Judrantes’s followers were one tower built by mages from Baldrogard, one large leather guild, one mage tower specializing in carnivorous plant research, two swordsman guilds, and about three knight families.

Those counted as Gainando’s followers would be, if forced to pick, the pastry shop owner or toy shop owner in Granden City?

Naturally, the Imperial Princess would have more followers than Gainando, but if it were about the level of Bogajun and Judrantes, it would be worth trying to persuade them one by one to gain human support.

“Palm Tree Knights, Accumulated Rain Mage Tower, Western Empire United Trading Company, Cross Brothers Swordsman Guild, Olodo Party…”

“…”

However, a completely different list from Lee Han’s expectations flowed from the Imperial Princess’s mouth.

The Palm Tree Knights were an honorary knight order formed by the Empire’s great nobles – while their military power was weaker than real knights, their reputation was enough to completely overshadow several knight orders. The Accumulated Rain Mage Tower was a mage tower built by mages from Einroguard.

The Western Empire United Trading Company was a massive capital group formed by merchant groups and traders from the western region joining forces, and the Cross Brothers Swordsman Guild was a prestigious swordsmanship guild that had produced many excellent swordsmen. Some knights even went there to learn swordsmanship, so nothing more needed to be said. The Olodo Party was an adventurer party whose name Lee Han had heard a few times,

‘Was it this much?’

He had thought their name appeared frequently in the Empire’s newspapers, but he hadn’t expected such big shots to already be showing support.

And that probably wasn’t even the end – there were likely more remaining.

Lee Han understood why so many of his freshman friends supported the Imperial Princess.

‘I’d want to support her too.’

At that level, wasn’t she the horse with the highest odds in the Empire? Even Lee Han would want to support her.

The Imperial Princess stopped talking and looked at Lee Han.

As the top student who was accomplishing countless things even during vacation, her face showed expectation that he would give wise advice about the current situation.

“Your Highness.”

“!”

“Stay strong.”

“…”

The Imperial Princess glared at Lee Han.

His words had changed from before.

“…You told me to try persuading them.”

“Hmm. Thinking about it, sometimes dignity might be better than persuasion. There’s a saying that silence is more precious than gold. Look at Gainando over there.”

When he cunningly used Gainando as an example, the Imperial Princess couldn’t argue back.

* * *

Lee Han remained tense until the end of the event, but there were no particular attacks.

Seeing the Skeleton Principal exchanging greetings with the city’s nobles with melancholy eyes, Lee Han breathed a sigh of relief.

‘Somehow I survived.’

“By the way, Lord Wardanaz. I have something to ask you as we leave.”

Lee Han was puzzled by Rowena’s words.

“Is it a proposal to do an adventurer quest together?”

Some of the White Tiger Tower students who had heard rumors during vacation would propose to Lee Han whenever they saw him, ‘I found this quest, and if we succeed, we could all be sitting on piles of gold coins.’

However, in Lee Han’s view, most of them were all unrealistic quests. They were so unlikely that no one had touched them, to the point where the quest papers had faded.

“Ah. I’m sorry. I haven’t heard of any new quests about subjugating beings like the King of Ghouls.”

“…Rowena. First of all, I’m not someone who only goes around looking for beings like the King of Ghouls.”

“How modest of you.”

Rowena smiled as if she would let it pass for now. Lee Han thought all the White Tiger Tower students were really annoying.

“So what did you want to ask?”

Rowena took out a thin booklet from inside her clothes. The cover of the booklet read:

To the honorable Princess Adenart, may this riddle ease Your Highness’s boredom.

“Isn’t this really rude?!”

“Uh… huh?”

Lee Han couldn’t follow Rowena’s indignation, so his reaction was a beat late.

Rowena explained belatedly.

Among the Imperial Princess’s followers, there were people like Rowena who actively believed and supported her, but there were also those who compared, tested, and probed various things.

Of course, these people were those who had nothing to lose and held considerable power in the Empire. Without that much, they couldn’t do such tightrope walking.

The riddle he received this time was sent by one of the Empire’s dukes. While it was called a gift, from the recipient’s perspective, failing to solve it could damage one’s reputation, so it was inevitably very nerve-wracking.

“That’s certainly rude…”

“The duke sent this kind of riddle before too! Once would have been enough, but he keeps…! No matter how much he compensates with gold coins, if he keeps doing this…”

“Gold coins?”

“Yes?”

“Didn’t you just say gold coins?”

“Yes. I did, but?”

Naturally, since the recipient was royalty, they didn’t just send riddles and leave it at that.

When the riddle was solved correctly, it was a noble’s honor to send massive gifts as congratulations, also serving as an apology for the test.

Hearing this explanation, Lee Han felt tremendous jealousy toward Adenart.

‘How enviable!’

Lee Han could also solve such riddles diligently, so why didn’t other great nobles send them to Lee Han?

In fact, Lee Han knew the reason well. It was acceptable to send such things because she was royalty, one of the Empire’s successors, but sending such things between fellow great nobles would just be the provocation of a madman.

“Wait. Gainando is… no, never mind. I almost asked something pointless. Anyway, so you’re all pondering this riddle together?”

“Yes.”

“Did you all ponder together last time too?”

“Yes.”

“By any chance, did the Imperial Princess keep all the gold coins you received?”

“No. She shared them with us, though?”

“…”

Lee Han seriously wondered if he should have befriended the Imperial Princess instead of Gainando.

Of course, he was sufficiently satisfied even now, but hearing what the Imperial Princess’s followers were saying made him feel a little regretful…

“Isn’t this the mage from the Wardanaz Family.”

Lee Han, who had been pondering, raised his head. The owner of the familiar voice was surprisingly Duke Ikalderen.

“What a pleasant coincidence. Quite some time has passed since we last met. To think we’d meet like this.”

Of course, it was a lie.

Duke Ikalderen had shown himself in this area today to make contact with valuable individuals among the magic school students.

And if it was the boy from the Wardanaz Family, he could be called the most valuable card.

‘To think he’s with Imperial Princess Adenart. Does he perhaps support the Imperial Princess? I heard he was close with Prince Gainando?’

Duke Ikalderen had countless thoughts and concerns even in that brief moment.

“I’m pleased to see you, Your Grace.”

“If it’s alright, shall we have a chat for a moment?”

Rowena made an openly displeased expression. Lee Han poked Rowena’s back, meaning she should manage her expression.

-What’s wrong?

-That duke sent the rude riddle!

-Really? Well, last time he also generously gave basilisk eggs…

-What?

-It’s nothing.

Whether the duke kept trying to test the Imperial Princess or not wasn’t important to Lee Han.

And if the duke was the one who posed the riddle, he should approach him even more. That way he could at least find out some hints, couldn’t he?

Just then, an ominous aura flowed out from the alley. It was a dangerous aura openly mixed with killing intent.

Duke Ikalderen’s guards were startled and rushed forward.

“Please step back, Master!”

“It’s fine. I’ll handle it.”

Lee Han sighed and raised his staff.

At that absurd confidence, the guards didn’t know whether to be shocked, stop him, or get angry, so their reaction was delayed by a beat.

“What on earth… Lord Wardanaz. I know you’re a mage from Einroguard, but this is absolutely not a joke…”

“I said I’ll handle it.”

Lee Han looked at the alley.

Then he shook his head. He thought the Skeleton Principal’s pranks were going too far.

He should finish it inside the banquet hall, but doing such things outside would involve innocent bystanders like this.

“…Wait.”

Lee Han felt something strange.

The aura coming from inside the alley was getting stronger, and no matter how he thought about it, it didn’t seem like a prank.

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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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