Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 369
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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 369
Of course, Lee Han’s question was meaningless.
If they were people who would act with common sense in the first place, they wouldn’t have held a duel at the count’s manor.
“I’ll teach you my secret technique, so please compare it with the secret technique you just learned.”
“…”
Lee Han was already starting to feel annoyed about how to respond.
‘I really shouldn’t get involved with knights anymore.’
* * *
Despite thinking it was bothersome, surprisingly the knights’ secret techniques were more useful than expected.
From the technique of quickly drawing a hidden sword from inside a coat and instantly thrusting it (not only drawing it quickly, but cleverly hiding it in the coat was also important) to the technique of momentarily making a sword elastic like a whip to confuse the opponent.
Of course, if a knight like Alarlong saw this, he would lament ‘You don’t need to learn such tricks!’ but Lee Han had a different way of thinking from Alarlong.
Of course, once you reach a certain level, you wouldn’t need such miscellaneous techniques, but wouldn’t they be useful before then?
“So whose secret technique was the best…?”
“Hmm. I’d say everyone is a winner.”
“Ohhh!”
The knights who had been waiting tensely for Lee Han’s evaluation clapped and showed respect for each other.
Seeing things end on a pleasant note, Lee Han opened his mouth to finally leave.
“Well then, I’ll be going…”
“Ah. Please wait a moment.”
“?”
When the knights called him again, Lee Han hesitated.
Now he was getting scared every time the knights called him.
What are they going to say now…
“There’s going to be a gathering of knight families soon, and we’d like to invite Lord Wardanaz. If you tell them about what happened today, everyone will be truly impressed.”
“…”
This was the first time he felt so reluctant about going somewhere.
Lee Han almost made a serious face.
‘Why would I go there?’
I’m not even from a knight family!
Of course, the knights had pure good intentions of telling other knights about what happened today to spread word of Lee Han’s generosity…
But from Lee Han’s perspective, it was a nuisance.
“Oh dear. That’s unfortunate. I’ll be inside Einroguard at that time.”
“Oh no!”
The knights were genuinely disappointed.
From what they heard, knights from other families would want to see Lee Han in person…
“Ah! I’ll ask Count Gonadaltes directly for permission.”
“Haha. Go ahead and try.”
“What did you just say…?”
“I’d be grateful if he allows it. As a student, I can’t just say I’ll go out on my own, but if an outsider recommends it, the principal might think differently.”
“Understood!”
The knights promised to definitely visit and ask during the second semester.
Finally freed from the knights, Lee Han let out a deep, dark sigh. Giselle, who had been watching from the side, asked as if she didn’t understand.
“Don’t you want to go to the gathering?”
“…?”
Lee Han stared at Giselle, wondering what she was talking about.
Why would he want to go to that gathering?
In the worst case, the Chestnut Knights might be lying in ambush saying ‘Kukuk, he hasn’t learned enough at Einroguard yet, falling for such tricks!’
“Is there a reason I should want to go?”
“…It’s an opportunity to build friendships with the families, isn’t it?”
The Chestnut Knights were a knight order that, while lacking a bit in military power, had other advantages.
Considering the names of the knight families participating in the gathering they hosted, it wouldn’t hurt to become acquainted with them.
Moreover, from what the knights said, there was a high possibility of becoming the main attraction of that day’s gathering rather than just a participant.
If it was a place where she could receive that much attention, Giselle would crawl out of the magic school even with two broken legs.
“What would I do by participating?”
“You could use it when you need something.”
“…Where would I use that?”
If it were a mage family or at least guild families involved in construction, transportation, baking, etc., Lee Han would have been interested.
-A family renowned for baking… Perhaps there’s a short-term job suitable for a top mage from Einroguard who’s confident in firepower and has a permit from the Afha Order?
But knight families were really of no use to Lee Han.
They weren’t wealthy, and Lee Han didn’t need more sword instructors…
At Lee Han’s question, Giselle was rarely flustered.
To Giselle, it was such an obvious question that she couldn’t figure out what intention he had in asking.
“What…? You can intervene politically when you need to get involved in imperial affairs or when there are necessary interests, right?”
“To, to that extent?”
“…”
She had naturally assumed he was thinking the same thing, but when her opponent suddenly acted innocent, Giselle became angry.
“Why are you pretending not to know?”
“…I was just joking a bit.”
Since it seemed like she wouldn’t believe him no matter what he said, Lee Han decided to just let it go.
“I thought so.”
‘What do you mean you thought so.’
As Lee Han was returning to the banquet hall with Giselle, he suddenly remembered something and asked.
“By the way, do knight gatherings also give highly liquid souvenirs like this place?”
* * *
“Everyone worked hard.”
“What hard work.”
“We ate deliciously and even received these things, what hard work is there?”
“Wardanaz. You… should start a trading company.”
The Black Turtle Tower students praised Lee Han with thoroughly satisfied faces for the first time in a while.
And each handed over a silver coin.
“Right. Everyone take care.”
The Black Turtle Tower students, having eaten their fill and even received gold accessories, went back happily.
“…”
“…”
The Phoenix Tower priests who saw this said in confusion.
“We don’t have silver coins…”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just invited you?”
“You just received silver coins, didn’t you?”
“You must have seen wrong.”
“The silver coins in your pocket…”
“Didn’t you mistake me paying back borrowed money? Now. Hurry back. If you return too late, the temple will worry.”
The priests hesitated, wondering if they were the only ones treated for free, but Lee Han quickly pushed them out.
‘The income is quite good.’
Not only the Black Turtle Tower students but also the gold souvenirs.
Lee Han slightly raised his evaluation of the count.
In many ways, he had acted strangely and eccentrically, but he hadn’t forgotten to treat the visiting students with sincere hospitality.
‘Maybe I thought too badly of him. He might be someone with proper manners after all.’
“Lord Wardanaz.”
“Ah.”
Upon spotting Rowena, Lee Han immediately extended his hand.
“???”
The black-haired elf tilted her head in confusion before taking his hand and shaking it.
“You’ve worked hard…?”
“No. Hand over the money you got from the duke.”
“Ah.”
The gold coins that the duke would offer as a gift to the Imperial Princess if they solved the riddle.
He had only participated because they said the followers could divide those gold coins among themselves – otherwise, there would have been no reason to get involved.
“But Her Imperial Highness was wondering why you called her earlier…”
“What? I don’t know. Did that happen?”
“You called her earlier…”
“Wait. Let me check this first.”
Lee Han focused with extreme concentration on counting the gold coins in the pouch Rowena handed him.
It was similar to the concentration he used when dodging Professor Boladi’s attacks.
‘An amount that soothes my anger.’
It was an amount that made him able to respect riddles and bothersome formalities, thinking ‘Imperial customs must have their meaning after all.’
Lee Han put the pouch inside his coat and nodded.
“Thanks. You worked hard too.”
“I didn’t really do much. But why didn’t you really take out that staff…?”
Thinking the truth might hurt his followers’ feelings, Lee Han lied.
“His Grace the Duke apparently developed a phobia of staffs. So I just explained what kind of staff it was.”
“…That’s really hard to believe!”
“Right. That’s how things in the world usually are.”
“I thought his complexion looked a bit off earlier… But to finish so calmly despite that is truly remarkable.”
“His Grace is embarrassed about it, so don’t spread rumors. You understand, right?”
“Of course.”
Rowena nodded, moved that Lee Han had trusted her enough to tell her this.
Among all the Imperial Princess’s followers, he had only told Rowena – didn’t that mean he considered her the most trustworthy?
* * *
“Do we really have to dress like this?”
Gainando asked with a tearful expression.
The undead realm overlap phenomenon that Professor Mortum had invited them to.
The upperclassmen seemed very concerned about first-year students participating and offered several pieces of advice.
-Participate in the following attire. And what else do you need… a backpack, and pack plenty of fresh water.
-(Lee Han) Can’t I just summon water?
-You’ll lack mana and it’ll be hard to summon water, and it’ll spoil quickly due to the mana pervading the realm. Purifying that would take several times more mana.
-Ah. Then it seems like I don’t need to pack any.
-Are you rebelling against your senior right now?
-?!
There were various useful pieces of advice, and one of them was about attire.
Specifically speaking…
“I look like a farmer.”
“Not bad.”
Actually, when walking around the city, dressing like a farmer was better than dressing like a dark mage.
When farmers wandered around, people would think ‘They must have come to the city with rice and wheat’ and feel pleased, but when dark mages wandered around, people would think ‘They must have come to the city with corpses’ and be horrified.
“There’s a reason for this attire.”
Diret walked up from behind, yawning.
Wearing a shabby hat and dragging a magically-operated cart behind him, he looked like a farmer with twenty years of experience.
“The moment you go in there and act like a dark mage, the undead will immediately start attacking. I won’t use dark magic until it’s absolutely necessary.”
The undead in the dimension they were about to enter didn’t like intruders.
As such, it was advantageous for dark mages to hide their identity as much as possible.
The reason for entering the undead realm was to gather useful materials and reagents before coming out, not to fight the undead in a life-or-death battle.
“But why dress like farmers?”
Lee Han asked curiously.
There seemed to be various other harmless-looking outfits available?
“The clothes are cheap. Good for carrying heavy things, and it’s fine if they get dirty.”
“I see.”
“What do you mean ‘I see’!”
Gainando grumbled, but Lee Han and Diret ignored him.
“Right. Since you guys are being allowed in exceptionally… you’ll only go into Zone 1 to gather things. Got it?”
“Yes.”
Originally, first-year students weren’t taken along when the undead realm opened.
Professor Mortum had specially permitted it since it was an opportunity that might not come again, but even so, he couldn’t take them deep inside.
“What’s Zone 1 like?”
“Well? It’s a bit hard to explain in words… You’ll understand once you go in. You’ll definitely feel it.”
According to Diret’s explanation, any mage would definitely feel it.
The change in atmosphere when passing through the outermost area of the dimension and entering deeper inside.
Dark mages classified this as Zone 1, Zone 2, and so on for convenience.
“Aren’t you scared?”
At Diret’s question, Gainando answered confidently.
“Lee Han’s with us, so what’s there to worry about.”
“…”
“…Right. Wait. This junior here will be entering Zone 2 as well.”
“What?”
Gainando was shocked.
“Lee Han’s a first-year too, isn’t he? Gasp. Don’t tell me…?”
No wonder he was so good at magic!
“This junior received special permission from Professor Mortum, as I mentioned.”
“What about us?”
“That’s why I’m telling you to stay only in Zone 1…”
“…”
When Gainando looked at him with teary eyes, Diret sighed and said.
“Fine. I’ll watch over you guys until you leave.”
“Thank you!”
Lee Han, who had been watching from the side, handed Diret some chocolate he had bought.
“…?”
“Please have some. You’re really working hard.”
“…I’m only doing this once, so don’t misunderstand.”
‘I don’t think that’s true.’
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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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