Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 488

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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 488

Lee Han held out the cotton candy he was carrying.

The White Tiger Tower student screamed and threw his body to the side. The fact that it wasn’t easy to dodge in an alley was truly lamentable.

‘Damn it! That Wardanaz bastard. How cunning!’

He wasn’t called one of the top combat masters among the 1st years for nothing.

Perfect tactics targeting their most vulnerable moment!

…However, no magic came flying. Lee Han and his friends looked down at the White Tiger Tower students as if they were looking at crazy people.

“What are you doing?”

“…”

Bartrek, who had rolled in the mud of the alley, quietly closed his mouth and got up from his spot.

Then he brushed off the dirt on his coat and spoke as dignifiedly as possible.

“…We were playing a game of ball.”

“Here?”

“We usually play in alleys.”

The White Tiger Tower students behind him hesitated before nodding their heads.

Lee Han accepted this with a bewildered expression.

“Oh, I see. So you liked playing ball in alleys… Here, take this.”

“???”

Bartrek, who received the cotton candy Lee Han offered, was puzzled.

“What is this?”

“Snacks I bought to give you guys?”

“Where did you get the money…? Gasp. Did you steal it?”

“Why is ‘did you steal it’ the first thing that comes out? I got it from Professor Thunderstep.”

“!?”

The students were more shocked than when they heard about stealing.

How?

“Gasp. You threatened…!”

“No. You crazy bastards.”

Lee Han briefly explained what had happened.

The students who heard the explanation were convinced…

…or rather, they were inwardly shocked.

‘How did he persuade him…’

‘Just how did he persuade him?’

Because Lee Han had explained it simply in one line, the students had no choice but to let their imaginations run even wilder.

“Huh? Wait. Then why did we sneak out?”

“That’s right.”

“…”

“…”

The students fell into self-loathing.

Especially those who had mud on their clothes fell into self-loathing as deep as the mud itself.

“Well. We can still have fun now. I saved some silver coins for you guys.”

Tap tap-

Adenart, who had been quietly listening to the conversation from the side, pointed at the cotton candy Bartrek had received.

Because he was standing there dazed, the cotton candy was melting.

Lee Han was slightly surprised and asked quietly.

“…Should Bartrek give back the cotton candy?”

“He, here it is.”

Bartrek was still bewildered by the situation and offered the cotton candy back to the Imperial Princess.

Adenart felt anger rising within her.

“No!”

“But who is that person?”

“Ah. He’s a really amazing divination mage.”

Bartrek explained while watching the Imperial Princess’s reaction.

The Imperial Princess was glaring at the two of them menacingly.

‘I heard there’s a power struggle between Wardanaz and someone in the tower, could that be true?’

“…He guessed my family like this too.”

“Wasn’t he just making a lucky guess?”

Lee Han was puzzled.

As far as Lee Han knew, that type of divination magic was quite difficult and came with a heavy price.

Of course, the Empire had primitive and ancient magics outside the systems Lee Han didn’t know about, but even so, weren’t there principles that ran through those magics?

In short, divination magic powerful enough to guess someone’s family while sitting there was too unprofitable to use in a back alley like this.

“I’m telling you he’s really amazing.”

“Heh… hehe. If you can’t believe it, why don’t you try it once? I won’t accept any payment.”

Ianop thought this worked out perfectly.

That talentless dwarf brat kept clinging to him annoyingly, so this was an opportunity to change the subject.

Moreover, if what Ianop had just heard was correct, that boy was…

‘Wardanaz Family!’

If it was that Wardanaz Family, there was a high possibility that the talent Antagondals wanted would emerge.

Ianop called out while controlling his excited heart.

“Wardanaz. You try it too. He says he’ll give you a silver coin if he’s wrong.”

“What? Is that really true?”

Lee Han was shocked.

Could this be someone afflicted with a disease of wasting silver coins?

“Please try guessing this friend’s family!”

“It’s the Wardanaz Family.”

“Amazing…!”

Bartrek was shocked once again.

“…You kept calling him Wardanaz…”

“Are you an idiot?”

Yoner and Priest Siana asked with serious expressions. Bartrek came to his senses belatedly.

“Ah. That’s right. Sorry. I got excited.”

“Hmm.”

However, Lee Han was too busy thinking about other things to pay attention.

‘I was going to insist I was from the Moradi family and take the money.’

He had been thinking of insisting that Wardanaz was his name but he was actually from the Moradi family to take the silver coin, but the opportunity flew away because his friends reacted too quickly.

Since the opportunity to earn free silver coins had disappeared, Lee Han’s interest also quickly faded.

“I’m good. Let’s all go look around the shops. Bartrek. You need to buy some clothes.”

“I have clothes I brought from school.”

“Those aren’t clothes, they’re sewn rags. I’ll buy them for you, so change into them.”

The White Tiger Tower friends were slightly moved by Lee Han’s refreshingly honest words.

‘Thank you, Wardanaz.’

‘For getting rid of Bartrek’s rag pieces…!’

Of course, Ianop was flustered.

“Wait…! Aren’t you curious about the future?”

“I already know my future well.”

Lee Han was cold.

He would graduate from Einroguard a little more difficultly than others, but after graduation, he would multiply his assets dozens of times with his connections and outstanding business sense, then make a name for himself as an emerging businessman of the Empire and live a life of leisure forever.

And when he got bored, he would visit the Skeleton Principal and throw gold coins at his face.

It was such a clear future.

“More importantly, you should take better care of that table. If the corner breaks off, the magic circle inside will be disrupted too.”

“Huh? It was a magic table?”

“Yeah.”

“I had no idea…!? Really?!”

“It’s a useless artifact with no effect whatsoever. Someone bored must have made it.”

Lee Han led his friends out of the alley.

Ianop was so shocked that he couldn’t even respond and just stared blankly at their retreating figures.

‘Just now…?’

He discovered the hidden secret from that distance without even touching the table?

That fact alone was unbelievable, but what was even more shocking was the reaction that followed.

What was that cynical response supposed to mean?

When Ianop heard the secret of this table from Antagondals and accurately sensed the structure of the magic circle, he couldn’t even blink and just stared at the beautiful and perfect manifestation of magic.

After that, for over half a year, he skipped meals and sleep while embracing only this table and exploring its interior.

But that boy grasped the structure with just one distant glance, so why did he show such a reaction?!

‘Why? Isn’t he curious about this? How is he not curious about this?!’

It seemed like he had found the talent Antagondals mentioned, but at the same time, Ianop instinctively felt chills because he couldn’t understand what that talent was showing.

It was the same chill he felt long ago when he saw mages he couldn’t dare follow with his level.

“Mage sir. Mage sir. We’ve found what you requested.”

The mercenaries he had commissioned came running to Ianop.

“They say there’s a famous student among them. He’s from an imperial noble family, and his skills are already quite remarkable…”

“Is he from the Wardanaz family?”

“That’s right! As expected, you see through everything, mage sir!”

Though they were mercenaries who exuded a murderous and vicious atmosphere, they maintained a respectful attitude before the mage, fearing they might be found fault with.

They trembled at the mystique of Ianop sitting there as if he could see through events a thousand miles away.

“Deliver this book… somehow deliver this book to that boy.”

“…”

The mercenaries fell silent.

Though they were mercenaries who stayed around the harbor and didn’t shy away from all kinds of rough work, there were things even they feared.

They didn’t want to get involved with mages.

Especially if they were mages from Einroguard.

Ianop considered making one of them wither away to intimidate them, but soon changed his mind.

Now was not the time to wield the whip.

‘If I scare them unnecessarily, they might run away.’

“Look. This book has no magic cast on it whatsoever. It’s a pure magic tome.”

“We’re illiterate, so we wouldn’t know even if we looked at such things…”

“What happens if we hand it over and get caught by the mages?”

“Ask a merchant in the area or hand it to a servant. Surely the imperial mages wouldn’t torture them, would they?”

A quiet threat began to creep into Ianop’s voice.

Sensing that threat, the mercenaries hurriedly nodded and stuffed the magic tome inside their rough leather coats.

“We, we understand.”

“We’ll somehow manage to deliver it.”

“I’ll give gold coins to whoever succeeds.”

“…!”

“We’ll do our absolute best!”

Only then did the mercenaries’ eyes flash with greed.

Though that was displeasing, Ianop judged that he still needed the mercenaries’ help for now.

‘They’re still useful pawns.’

The magic tome he had just given to the mercenaries was one written by Antagondals.

It was thin and didn’t contain much content. It was a book that recorded only one magic spell.

However, that one spell was magic developed directly by Antagondals. This magic tome had also given Ianop tremendous shock.

If the wisdom contained in one light, thin book like this was this profound, what must Antagondals’ own wisdom be like?

If he could obtain even a drop of that wisdom, Ianop could do anything.

‘He too will surely be… unable to resist once he reads it!’

Tyrannical and murderous magic different from Einroguard’s magic.

An arrogant genius would surely find it interesting.

* * *

While the students sat on the 2nd floor terrace of the brick cafe enjoying chocolate cake and coffee, Lee Han asked Nilia a question to satisfy his curiosity.

“Nilia. The Shadow Patrol hunters…”

“Huh?! Why?! What is it?! Did I make a mistake?! I knew I made a mistake!”

“…No… I’m just curious. Are there rules when chasing prey? Like never letting them escape.”

“There aren’t such rules, but they tend to never let their prey escape.”

Nilia took a bite of cake and frowned.

For Nilia, who was accustomed to rough and bitter food in the mountain range, this cake was excessively sweet.

“You don’t have to eat it if it doesn’t suit you?”

“No, it’s not that? I totally love sweet things? I’m a refined imperial citizen?”

“…”

Lee Han quietly stole the tiramisu Bartrek had ordered while Bartrek was distracted by other snacks, then placed it in front of Nilia.

Nilia, who hadn’t noticed yet, continued speaking.

“If they let prey escape, it looks bad. There’s such a thing as pride as a hunter…”

“I see.”

There were common sayings that ferocious monsters had strong pride and would chase their prey relentlessly without ever letting them escape, but the Shadow Patrol would snort at such words.

By that logic, the ones with the strongest pride and most persistence in the mountain range were them!

Once they declared in the mountain range that they would catch something, the hunters would never let that target escape.

Some hunters hadn’t returned to their posts even after twenty years, enduring in the mountain range while searching for their prey.

‘So that’s why their eyes went crazy whenever they saw monsters?’

Lee Han thought he should treat the Shadow Patrol hunters a bit better next time he met them.

If he unnecessarily made enemies of them, wouldn’t it be bothersome for life?

“Mage sir!”

“Cough.”

Lee Han almost spat out the coffee he was drinking.

Instead of coming up the cafe stairs in the back, a Shadow Patrol hunter had jumped up from below the terrace.

Nilia was so embarrassed that she quickly ducked under the table and covered herself with her cloak.

“Wh, what’s the matter?”

“We’re trying to catch a Sea Serpent and need help. Could you assist us?”

“…Did Professor Thunderstep perhaps tell you?”

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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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