Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 365

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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 365

To think that young brat came not to make a deal with him, but to manipulate him.

Duke Ikalderen felt cold sweat trickling down his spine.

“…”

“Are you alright?”

The guards panicked and shouted as their master’s condition suddenly changed.

It was extremely rare for the duke, who was protected by all sorts of expensive magic, to show such a state.

What on earth had happened?

“It’s nothing. My body is… just a bit unwell.”

“I’ll call a priest immediately.”

“No need. I’ll feel better after resting a bit. Sorry about this. I’ll excuse myself first.”

Duke Ikalderen rose from his seat.

He needed time to reflect on this confusing situation.

It was truly hard to believe.

To think he himself would be so frightened and retreat first.

He had never been like this even before that great Head of Wardanaz Family…

‘What kind of monster have you created, Wardanaz!’

As the duke rose from his seat and left the banquet hall, Lee Han frowned.

“What’s wrong?”

“Strange. Someone of the duke’s stature wouldn’t suddenly feel unwell.”

He was in a position where he could pour potions and magic scrolls over his body with just a finger movement.

Duke Ikalderen, who carried artifacts worth more than a castle around his body, wouldn’t spare any magic either.

“Y-yes, that’s certainly true.”

Rowena was amazed by Lee Han’s insight.

She had simply thought the duke was feeling unwell, but this Wardanaz family boy had noticed something.

“There’s only one reason.”

“What is it!”

“He’s pretending to be sick because he doesn’t want to give souvenirs.”

“…Excuse me?”

Rowena, who had been listening with great anticipation, was bewildered.

“There’s no other reason besides that.”

“…I’m not sure…?”

Even Rowena, who respected Lee Han’s insight, found this hypothesis rather hard to accept.

* * *

Unaware that Lee Han was making a very rude misunderstanding in the banquet hall below, the duke took his rest.

The magic circles installed in the study refreshed his mind and boosted his energy, but as long as the cause remained, his troubled heart wouldn’t disappear.

‘Should I withdraw from Einroguard?’

At this point, he almost wished he hadn’t touched Einroguard at all.

He had probed believing in his own power, but the more he got involved, the more he felt like he was sinking into a bottomless swamp.

If only he had successfully retrieved the subordinate he sent, he would have seriously considered it…

“Master.”

A cautious voice came from outside.

Those who had served the duke for a long time could tell that the duke’s mood had turned rough.

Everyone was being extremely careful, afraid of delivering news and receiving undeserved anger.

“The knights have arrived.”

“…What do you mean by that.”

The duke’s voice dropped even lower. A chilling coldness began to circulate.

“Was there a knight order scheduled to visit this manor today?”

“W-well… it seems the knight order mistook the date and visited…”

“…”

A cracking sound came from the armrest of the chair the duke was sitting in.

“Hik!”

“Are all those knight bastards idiots? Can’t they even count numbers?”

Originally, this wouldn’t have been something to get so angry about.

Mistaking the date for a visit wasn’t such a big mistake.

What mattered was who was invited; as long as the person was important, the duke wouldn’t have cared whether they visited a few days early or late.

However, the events of today had drained the duke’s patience to the bottom.

In the morning, beast-like students from knight families had created chaos, and in the afternoon, knight bastards who couldn’t even count had come on a different date than they were invited.

“Sh-should we send them back?”

“…Never mind. Lecturing those idiots won’t fix them anyway. Prepare to host them. I’ll rest a bit more and then come out.”

Still, the duke calculated coldly.

Rather than humiliating the knights and driving them away to create unnecessary complaints, it was better to feed them well and send them off to spread praise.

Hosting invited guests well was also a duty of a great noble.

A moment later.

The attendant came to the duke again as he was resting with his eyes closed.

The attendant was trembling all over and spoke as if he really didn’t want to deliver the message.

“The knights say they want to meet Duke Your Grace directly and express their gratitude…”

“…Tell them to sit quietly and eat before I kill them.”

“…”

The attendant couldn’t bring himself to go deliver the message and waited. The duke sighed shallowly and said.

“Tell them clearly that I’ll come out after resting more. If anyone comes to call me again, I swear I’ll bury them alive. Understand?”

“…Yes!”

* * *

The White Birch Knights were a gathering of knights who traveled throughout the empire helping the weak, jumping into danger, and pursuing honor as knights, but actually, cases like the White Birch Knights were unusual among knight orders.

Who would like traveling throughout the empire without any reward? No matter how much of a knight one was, that was difficult and painful work.

Most knight orders in the empire were much more comfortable and interest-group-like gatherings formed by local knight families coming together to protect their regions or for fellowship.

The Chestnut Knights also belonged to the latter category.

The knights of the Chestnut Knights, who operated in an area slightly away from Granden City, were very excited about the duke’s invitation.

“An invitation from Duke Ikalderen, a great noble of the empire, is not something just anyone can receive. This is possible because of the glory that the name Chestnut holds.”

“Bastards who don’t do anything…”

“Talking about glory and such. They probably just gathered to play mage cards.”

“Shh. Be quiet.”

The young apprentice knights of the White Birch Knights, who were moving together with the Chestnut knights, grumbled.

The veteran knight who had brought them gave a warning to be careful.

“If you act rudely toward knights of other orders, I won’t forgive you.”

“But aren’t those bastards being too arrogant…”

“I told you to stop!”

When the veteran knight showed his anger, the apprentice knights shut their mouths tight.

The veteran knight didn’t fail to understand their feelings either.

The Chestnut Knights, like most wealthy knight orders, tried to act more like nobles than knights.

When they ended up acting together with the White Birch Knights’ apprentice knights, they should have shown mutual respect and courtesy, but they kept taking a condescending attitude based on their clothing and weapons, so the apprentice knights couldn’t help but be angry.

“Wait. Why are you guiding us this way?”

One knight from the Chestnut Knights noticed something strange and asked.

The duke’s manor in the city was large and spacious, with several spaces that could be used as banquet halls.

However, among them, the main banquet hall was obviously the hall located in the center, as anyone could see.

But the place the servants were currently guiding them to was the banquet hall located on the left, wasn’t it?

“There are guests who arrived earlier.”

“Earlier guests?”

The knights murmured among themselves.

It was surprising enough that there were guests who had arrived before them, but for those guests to be occupying the better banquet hall.

They didn’t feel very good about it.

“Who might they be?”

“They are students from Einroguard.”

“…”

Dissatisfaction filled the knights’ expressions.

It would be one thing if heads of other families had visited, but to have their spot taken by mere magic school students.

Of course, thinking coldly about it, they could calculate what the average status of these magic school students might be, but instead of calculating, the knights began to argue.

“Did His Grace the Duke assign it to them?”

“How could that be possible.”

From the servants’ perspective, they couldn’t use the Duke as an excuse for such questions. If they did, several necks wouldn’t be enough.

“Then how did this happen?”

“We’re not sure either…”

“It seems the students entered first.”

The knights interpreted the servants’ cautious answer differently.

“They’re still young, so they could have made a mistake.”

“Couldn’t we just use the left banquet hall?”

A veteran knight from the White Birch Knights cautiously spoke up.

Considering the status and position of the Einroguard students, he didn’t want to get into a scuffle over just one banquet hall.

Then the knights from the Chestnut Knights responded indignantly.

“Why should we yield the banquet hall that we rightfully should use?”

“Just leaving students alone because they’re students isn’t a good thing! We need to tell them when something’s wrong. The apprentice knights of the White Birch Knights might be satisfied with this treatment, but we’re not.”

“…”

The veteran knight’s eyebrows twitched at the blatantly dismissive comment about apprentice knights.

When the fierce-looking veteran knight emanated his presence, the Chestnut Knights seemed to realize their mistake and changed the subject.

“Go and deliver the message. Tell them there seems to have been a mistake.”

* * *

“That Wardanaz bastard ruined our fun party.”

“Right. It was such wonderfully free enjoyment…”

“If there are any idiots who keep muttering, I’ll stuff them headfirst into a wine barrel, so shut up and eat.”

As the awakened White Tiger Tower students grumbled while eating, Lee Han warned them.

Just thinking about what they had done earlier made even giving them food feel wasteful.

“Um, Lord Wardanaz.”

“??”

When a servant ran over with a pale face and whispered, Lee Han was puzzled.

What now?

‘Don’t tell me they’re asking for silver coins or something.’

It was truly ridiculous, but the Duke’s reputation had already fallen that low in Lee Han’s mind.

“The knight orders…”

“…?”

After hearing the situation explained, Lee Han tilted his head in confusion.

His friends, realizing something was wrong, also gathered around murmuring.

“Why are knight orders coming? And today of all days?”

“That’s strange?”

Students from noble families knew well that you don’t invite multiple groups on the same day.

“Maybe they got the date wrong?”

“No way. They’re not that crazy.”

“Look at the White Tiger Tower guys. They’re stupid, but not that stupid.”

“Tutanta. Do you want to die!”

“Shut up. You bastards who collapsed drunk in someone else’s banquet hall.”

“We didn’t collapse, we were knocked out by that Wardanaz bastard!”

“Hey… it’s embarrassing, so say it quietly…”

While his friends were chattering, Lee Han asked the servant.

“So they’re asking us to yield the banquet hall now?”

“Absolutely not! Wardanaz!”

“That’s insane!”

The White Tiger Tower students reacted most violently.

Having experienced many gatherings of knight families, they couldn’t help but be sensitive.

Unlike noble family gatherings, knight family meetings often involved rough psychological warfare.

Trying to enter a banquet hall that others were already using was one such thing. As those from knight families, they absolutely couldn’t yield.

“Couldn’t we just yield? We’ve finished eating anyway?”

“I said no, Wardanaz!”

“Get it together! You’re not originally that kind of guy! You were the type who’d break bones if someone picked a fight with you!”

“…I can see clearly how you all think of me.”

Not just the White Tiger Tower students, but other friends also showed rejection.

So Lee Han didn’t argue further and obediently agreed.

“Fine. If you don’t want to leave. Tell them we refuse.”

The servant caught in between pitifully bowed his head and ran out.

And he returned to say.

“Um, Lord Wardanaz. The knights are asking if you’d like to lightly compete in skills to decide…”

‘Is there honey smeared on this banquet hall or something?’

Lee Han couldn’t understand the knights who were obsessing over the banquet hall like madmen.

Was there some magical ley line flowing through here?

Why to that extent?

“Ku… Kuhahahaha! They’re digging their own graves, those idiotic bastards!”

“Those Oak Knights. They still don’t know how vast the Empire is! You’re dead today!”

“????”

The servant who delivered the message was flustered by the White Tiger Tower students’ reaction.

He had expected them to refuse such an absurdly rude proposal.

‘What the…?’

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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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