Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 363

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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 363

Given the Skeleton Principal’s personality, he wouldn’t let professors skip lectures and leave on their own.

‘What’s this about? It’s not like they’re taking students with them… Hmm?’

Lee Han, who had been lost in thought, suddenly felt an inexplicable anxiety wash over him.

It was an uneasiness he couldn’t understand why he was feeling.

“Is anyone there?”

“!”

The friends on the 2nd floor looked toward the main gate through the window.

They saw the face of a familiar friend. It was Rowena, one of the Imperial Princess’s followers.

“This is suspicious. Aren’t there professors hiding behind her?”

“There’s no way… but could there be?”

“Tell her to raise both hands and come in slowly. So we can close the door right away.”

Lee Han felt sorry seeing his friends having such ominous conversations.

Einroguard’s professors were corrupting his friends.

“Raise both hands and come in slowly!”

Of course, that aside, Lee Han accepted his friends’ advice.

There really could be professors hiding behind her.

“What?! Lord Wardanaz. Why…”

“Don’t try anything funny! My staff is pointing at you!”

Gainando shouted loudly.

He looked ready to cast a curse at any moment.

Rowena was confused, wondering what she had done wrong.

“What exactly did I do wrong…”

“I’ll go check.”

Ratford hurried downstairs and carefully poked his head outside the main gate.

“No professors!”

“???”

“Ah. Sorry. We thought professors might be hiding behind you…”

At Ratford’s serious explanation, Rowena was confused about whether they were joking with her or not.

“Are you joking?”

“No. We’re serious.”

“…”

* * *

Rowena had come to visit Duke Ikalderen’s manor together.

“Me too?”

Lee Han was puzzled.

He knew that the Imperial Princess had received a riddle (disguised as a bribe) from Duke Ikalderen.

Hadn’t they worked together at the staff workshop to solve that riddle?

If he remembered correctly, they had made it well, so why visit together now?

“Yes. Lord Wardanaz helped solve it, didn’t you? Naturally, you should share the honor…”

“I’d be fine with just sharing the reward.”

Rowena showed an awkward expression at Lee Han’s words. It was a joke that was hard to respond to.

“I’m not good with jokes…”

“It wasn’t a joke, but anyway, I understand why you came. But if problems arise, the blame won’t splash onto me too, right?”

If the riddle’s answer was wrong and it turned into ‘Wardanaz gave advice but it’s wrong!’, things would get troublesome.

Originally, when group project results were bad, wasn’t it the high-achieving group leader who took the biggest responsibility?

“How could that be!”

Rowena was shocked and denied it.

Adenart was absolutely not someone who would shift responsibility to her followers.

“Lee Han. Doesn’t her strong denial seem suspicious?”

“I could even swear on my honor as a knight!”

“Doesn’t going that far make it even more suspicious?”

Gainando’s ability was being able to nitpick shamelessly without hesitation.

Rowena glared at Gainando, frustrated and indignant. She couldn’t understand what malicious intent he had to interfere with the Imperial Princess’s affairs.

‘What a terrible person!’

‘If no one was around, he would have gotten hit.’

“Calm down. Visiting Duke Ikalderen’s manor isn’t that difficult.”

Actually, it was just a matter of going there, getting some food and drinks, then greeting the Duke with ‘Your manor is quite lovely, haha.’

Rowena’s face brightened as Lee Han seemed likely to accept.

“It’s not my first time going there.”

“Have you been there before?”

Rowena tilted her head.

During the vacation, the Wardanaz family boy had been so busy that even having several more bodies wouldn’t have been enough.

He said he had visited the Duke’s manor before – had he visited previously?

‘I didn’t think they had any connection?’

“Not this city manor…”

Lee Han subtly changed the subject.

There was no point in mentioning that he had visited with Professor Boladi during an unauthorized escape from Einroguard mid-semester.

If it reached the Skeleton Principal’s ears later, wouldn’t that block his path?

“No special preparations needed, right? Just a simple visit?”

“Yes! The Duke should be waiting with commemorative gifts prepared!”

“That’s goo… wait, gifts?”

Lee Han was surprised.

“What kind of gifts?”

“Ah. His Grace the Duke always gives gifts to students who visit his manor, calling them pillars who will shoulder the Empire’s future…”

“So what kind of gifts are they?”

Slightly overwhelmed by Lee Han’s intensity, Rowena stammered.

“L-last time he gave accessories like this… Is there a problem?”

When Rowena pulled out a small medal made of pure gold, Lee Han’s eyes wavered.

There must be quite a number of the Imperial Princess’s followers, yet he scattered such things every time students like that came.

‘Amazing!’

That wealth was amazing, and it was also amazing that despite having such wealth, he gave no reward when Lee Han had defeated the toxic contaminated entity that attacked the Duke last time.

Actually, the latter was most of it. Lee Han still held a grudge against the Duke.

‘Only taking care of the Imperial Family like that, he’s definitely a cowardly wretch who bows to power.’

“He’s a kind person.”

But regardless of such grudges, if he was scattering gifts like that, Lee Han couldn’t not receive them.

“Could I bring other friends too?”

At Lee Han’s question, Rowena nodded as if she had been waiting for it.

“Anyone here, His Grace the Duke said he would welcome them.”

Even without bringing the rotten Prince or Meikin family bloodline, Duke Ikalderen welcomed any Einroguard students.

In fact, when inviting the Imperial Princess, he had said to bring friends if she wanted.

“No particular limit on numbers?”

“No. He said he’d be happier the more you bring.”

“I see.”

Lee Han nodded and began writing a letter with his quill pen.

To dear Salko of House Tutanta

I know you don’t like getting involved with noble families, but even considering that, such a good job opportunity has come up that I’m contacting you like this. Surprisingly, it’s work where you can earn one or two gold coins just by eating…

* * *

The Einroguard first-year students gathered in the city square were startled.

“Isn’t today the first day of school?”

“For a moment I thought this was Einroguard.”

That’s how mixed together students from various towers were gathered.

Even priest students from the Phoenix Tower had been invited and were present.

“I hope everyone will have a hearty meal at the Duke’s mansion.”

“…Wait, wait. Lord Wardanaz. The reason you invited us today isn’t because of the meal, is it?”

“Of course not.”

The priests were relieved by Lee Han’s words.

Lee Han had sent a letter saying ‘there’s an occasion where you need to participate as Einroguard students to brighten the event,’ so they were a bit flustered when he brought up the meal.

After all, there’s no way he would call priests just to get them some food and take them to the Duke’s mansion.

‘There must be another reason, of course.’

There must be a reason why priests needed to be at the mansion’s banquet hall. The Wardanaz family boy didn’t do useless things.

“But why aren’t the White Tiger Tower guys here?”

“I sent invitations, but they all said they had schedules and couldn’t make it. Adventurer requests are good, but I think they’re getting too absorbed in them.”

“…?”

“???”

Nilia and Ratford looked at Lee Han like he was a thief.

What was the person who was most absorbed in adventurer requests more than anyone saying?

“I, I never thought you would gather this many people.”

Rowena blinked in surprise.

She felt Lee Han’s wide network of connections anew.

Adenart had followers, but there were limits after all.

Even when they received an invitation saying ‘please bring a friend of Her Imperial Highness,’ the followers reacted like ‘how dare we call ourselves friends?’

The followers who pondered seriously eventually said ‘it would be better for Your Imperial Highness to invite a friend separately rather than us,’ but Adenart didn’t want to disappoint her followers, so instead of calling a friend, she said she would take Rowena as a friend.

Everyone was moved and let it pass, but Rowena worried that Adenart might not have any friends.

As a knight, if the person she served had no friends, creating friends for her by force would be loyalty, so Rowena had been troubled about this lately.

“Lord Wardanaz. How exactly do you make friends?”

“Fri… friends?”

Lee Han hesitated.

Of course he was close with some students, but all the other students from different towers were somewhat…

‘Can I call them friends?’

“I’m not sure if I can call them friends.”

‘He’s even modest.’

Rowena admired Lee Han’s generous attitude. It was truly befitting someone with wide connections.

If it had been a rotten prince, he would have bragged saying ‘because I’m so great.’

“Then I’ll change the question. How can you call people like that?”

“Uh… well… that… I think it’s sincerity.”

“Sincerity…!”

Rowena thrilled at the orthodox yet difficult answer.

“If I sincerely cross swords first, then sincerely make a recruitment proposal to be Her Imperial Highness’s friend, would that work?”

“I’m not an expert on friendship, but I don’t think that would work.”

* * *

Duke Ikalderen regretted his decision to invite them just because they were Einroguard students.

‘It was a mistake to invite those dirty, vulgar, stupid knight bastards.’

The Duke originally didn’t like knights.

Even though they were nobles of the same Empire, the rough behavior shown by knight families felt more like barbarians than nobles.

He thought students good enough to enter Einroguard would be somewhat decent, so he invited them, but their behavior was just the same.

“Drink! Drink! Drink!”

“This cup is for His Grace the Duke who hosted today’s banquet!”

“This cup is for the monster we hunted!”

“This cup is… I don’t know! I’ll just drink!”

Crash!

The heavily drunk and excited White Tiger Tower students threw their cups to the floor, threw dishes, went out to the banquet hall corridor toward the kitchen, brought wine barrels directly and guzzled them.

The White Tiger Tower students staying at the knight barracks had to eat only rough and hard food instead of rich and abundant meals.

Of course, it was edible food compared to Einroguard, but compared to this banquet hall’s luxurious feast, the barracks food was garbage.

Splat!

“This bastard?!”

“Who threw the pie?!”

“I’m throwing too!! Me too!!”

Duke Ikalderen sitting at the head table maintained a calm expression. Of course, he was cursing inwardly.

‘There’s no way these idiots would have any information to extract.’

“Long live His Grace the Duke! Long live His Grace the Duke!”

“Your Grace! Thank you for inviting us!”

“Haha. I’m happy to see everyone eating and drinking merrily…”

A cake someone threw wrong flew toward Duke Ikalderen’s face.

His guard immediately struck it away, but the Duke’s eyebrow twitching was unavoidable.

‘…This is maddening.’

When everyone’s crazy, only the sane ones suffer.

Students like Giselle of House Moradi or Durgyu of House Choi had put down their forks and were watching the Duke’s mood.

No matter how much he was smiling, they couldn’t help but notice the chaos happening in the banquet hall right now.

“Mo… Moradi. Is this really okay?”

“Would it be okay? What do you use those eyeballs for? Why don’t you sell them along with your head?”

“Don’t take it out on me! Shouldn’t we stop them first!”

Even though a cake flew at the Duke, these crazy students were too drunk to come to their senses and were causing mayhem.

But if the two of them got up and became serious, that would make the atmosphere cold in its own way.

It would be like spitting in the face of the White Tiger Tower.

Creak-

Meanwhile, the banquet hall door opened.

A White Tiger Tower student, too absorbed to notice the door opening, accidentally threw a sauce-glazed roasted turkey toward the door.

“?”

Lee Han tilted his head and dodged. Gainando behind him screamed and fell over.

“Are they insane?”

“Wh, what is this…?”

While the students outside the door murmured in shock, Lee Han walked forward with large strides.

And he struck the solar plexus of the nearest White Tiger Tower student with his staff.

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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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