Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 606
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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 606
Perhaps moved by the story, Silvas found himself signing without realizing it as the tale came to an end.
“I will stake my name and submit a report supporting 【Research on Races That Trolls Prefer as Food】! This is research that the Empire must absolutely conduct right now. No, the Empire should be ashamed that it hasn’t conducted this research until now!”
“Thank you.”
Lee Han let out a sigh of relief and expressed his gratitude.
This bureaucrat named Silvas had a warm heart, unlike the Skeleton Principal.
Thanks to that, he could succeed just by appealing to his emotions.
‘I was lucky.’
After finishing his greetings and coming outside, Lee Han checked the next research proposal.
-Research on the Most Efficient Wand-Swinging Motions
Lost in deep thought, Lee Han muttered as he walked down the corridor.
“The number of mages and Imperial citizens injured each year due to wand motion failures is gradually increasing… At Einroguard, dozens of students get injured each year, and some believe this might be related to wand-swinging motions…”
* * *
The Skeleton Principal was sitting on the terrace of 【Rock Spirit’s Apple Jam Cafe】, waiting.
Having enjoyed all kinds of delicacies, the Skeleton Principal was indifferent to the foods and drinks trending in the capital, but this cafe deserved praise.
“Impressive. The coffee and apple pie are excellent, but this stone soup has the taste of the soul.”
Kigi-gik.
The Rock Spirit shyly averted its gaze.
The Skeleton Principal left a tip, telling it to work harder in the future.
“Principal!”
“You’re here?”
When his disciple appeared in the distance with a tired expression, the Skeleton Principal signaled for him to sit down.
“You’re much later than expected. You worked hard.”
“Not at all. I’m sorry for being late.”
“Sorry for what. Persuading thieves couldn’t have been easy.”
“They’re not exactly thieves…”
“Hmph. Imperial officials are all thieves. Shall I ask around?”
The Skeleton Principal called over an adventurer passing by and asked.
“Hey. Are Imperial officials thieves or not?”
“Those bastards are damn thieves!”
“See?”
“…He seems like an adventurer who paid quite a lot of taxes recently.”
The Skeleton Principal called over another traveler and asked.
“Imperial officials are…”
“I was wrong. Please stop.”
“Good. That’s enough.”
The Skeleton Principal pushed the stone soup toward Lee Han, who had worked hard.
Despite being made by just boiling stones, this soup had the taste of the soul.
‘…The fox and the crane??’
Of course, to Lee Han’s eyes, it was a rather unsightly soup in appearance. Lee Han pushed the bowl aside and said.
“Still, being late paid off with quite good results.”
“Oh. Really?”
The Skeleton Principal was genuinely surprised.
The research proposals the Skeleton Principal had brought this time were among the worst garbage from Einroguard.
The proposals that weren’t garbage had already passed without the Skeleton Principal needing to bring them.
The very fact that the Skeleton Principal had to personally bring them and plead proved they were garbage proposals.
Yet he managed to get even one of them approved.
It was truly amazing.
“Which one did you get approved?”
“I got all of them approved?”
“…Don’t lie. Haha.”
“It’s true.”
Lee Han laid out the signatures he had obtained from Imperial officials for each proposal.
These were signatures pledging to participate by staking their own names, as mentioned above.
The Skeleton Principal suddenly fell silent and began reading through the proposals one after another.
He read them once more, twice more, three times more…
When his counterpart fell silent, Lee Han became worried and asked.
“Are you alright?”
“I am truly proud of you.”
The Skeleton Principal’s voice trembled slightly. Lee Han became even more puzzled.
“…Thank y…?”
Before Lee Han could finish speaking, the Skeleton Principal shouted to the capital residents sitting at nearby tables.
“Everyone listen! This proud fellow is my disciple! The bureaucrat destroyer of Einroguard is my very own disciple!”
“Why are you really doing this?!”
Lee Han shouted in dismay, but the Skeleton Principal, in too good a mood, ignored him and continued shouting.
“Shop owner! Today I’ll pay for all the food and drinks in this cafe!”
“Hooray! We don’t know where you’re from, but thank you, generous customer!”
“Don’t know who you are, but your disciple must have achieved something amazing!”
“The bureaucrat destroyer of Einroguard!”
“Long live the bureaucrat destroyer!”
Seeing people applauding and cheering from all directions without even knowing what for, Lee Han resolved never to travel with the Skeleton Principal again.
* * *
Morning.
Lee Han, who had stayed at the Skeleton Principal’s capital villa (a villa where Death Knights were dressed up like servants), went downstairs for breakfast.
The Skeleton Principal, still in human form, had come down first and was reading the Imperial newspaper.
The Skeleton Principal, who had been reading the newspaper with sharp eyes, gestured when he saw Lee Han coming down.
“Yesterday was truly excellent.”
“No matter how I think about it, what you did at the cafe was a bit excessive.”
“Hmm. I’m reflecting on it too. Sometimes even an Archmage cannot control his joy.”
The Death Knights nodded as if in agreement.
-Yesterday was a day worth celebrating for our master.
-Those bureaucrat bastards, acting so strict usually, yet easily fooled!
“They weren’t fooled, they understood my sincere words…”
-Haha. Understood. Let’s go with that.
The Death Knights winked.
Lee Han was dumbfounded but decided to just keep quiet and eat the meal in front of him.
It was an Eastern Empire-style meal consisting mainly of rice, fish, and vegetables. Lee Han suddenly became curious and asked.
“Did you like Eastern food?”
“My excellent bureaucrat destroyer disciple.”
“If you keep calling me bureaucrat destroyer, I’ll just return to the Wardanaz family.”
“My excellent disciple.”
Despite this threat, the Skeleton Principal’s eyes were incredibly warm.
The achievements from yesterday must have been truly remarkable.
“Asking a lich what kind of food they like isn’t a good question.”
“…I’m, I’m sorry. I was just surprised you prepared Eastern food.”
“I matched it to your taste.”
Lee Han was even more surprised that the Skeleton Principal knew his preferences.
In fact, at Einroguard he had eaten whatever he could catch, so whether it was Western or Eastern style didn’t really matter much.
Therefore, it was something that would be hard to know unless one had observed very carefully.
“Thank you. I’m honestly a bit surprised.”
“Don’t mention such trivial things. I know everything about where students steal what.”
“But you didn’t know about them going out.”
“…”
The Skeleton Principal’s gaze tried to return from loving warmth to its usual coldness, then turned warm again.
What he had accomplished yesterday was truly remarkable.
“There are always exceptions in magic.”
‘To think he only uses such observational skills for useless things.’
It was quite a talent to pour all that observational power—enough to figure out what food someone likes—into making traps.
“What’s the schedule for today?”
“You can rest a bit. I’ll meet with a few more bureaucrats in the morning. Since the underlings have signed, the higher-ups won’t be able to make a fuss either.”
“Then I’ll wait while writing letters or something.”
He had letters piling up that he needed to send to his friends anyway, so he should write them whenever he had time.
There were also many magic assignments to do…
“And in the afternoon, we’ll go meet the suckers of the capital.”
“Suckers?”
“Did I say suckers? You must have misheard. I said the patrons of the capital.”
“…Anyway, I should think of them as people who support Einroguard, right?”
“Right. I’ll bring Penguerin too. Just like you cast mental magic on the bureaucrats, you can cast mental magic on the patrons too. The patrons will be much easier, so don’t worry. My excellent disciple.”
“I didn’t cast mental magic.”
“Not casting it while still casting it is truly an excellent level of magic. Splendid.”
Lee Han briefly considered throwing the tomato on the dining table.
But there were still gold coins he hadn’t received yet. Lee Han decided to endure just a little longer.
“The bureaucrats were lucky. The patrons are different from bureaucrats…”
“Just doing what you did this year will be enough.”
“What did I do this year?”
“…”
The Skeleton Principal looked at Lee Han as if he couldn’t believe it.
-…
The Death Knights also looked at Lee Han as if they couldn’t believe it.
Were all those crazy feats he had shown in front of the patrons this year just everyday occurrences that the boy couldn’t even remember?
“No, I really don’t know. What did I…”
“Well, well. Then stay ignorant. My excellent disciple. I’ll be back… Oh right. When Penguerin wakes up, tell him to wait a bit for his meal.”
“Oh. Did you make a reservation at a restaurant in the capital?”
“Hm? No. Penguerin has to eat sardines in front of the patrons.”
“…”
* * *
The Skeleton Principal wasn’t lying. The patrons were much more generous and lenient than the bureaucrats.
After all, patronage was something that wealthy people did to gain the honor of supporting the Empire’s magic school, Einroguard.
They didn’t scrutinize efficiency as meticulously as bureaucrats did. They generously pulled out their gold coin pouches.
Accordingly, the Skeleton Principal’s approach was different too.
He would talk about the achievements the students had accomplished recently, subtly guiding them to increase their donation amounts.
“Have you all heard that Einroguard’s students recently defeated the alchemy guilds and created perfect potions?”
“Ah. We heard. Lord Gonadaltes! How amazing!”
“But I heard Einroguard’s ball game club lost again…”
“Hey! Did you have to mention that!”
Of course, there were occasional moments when the Skeleton Principal’s expression twisted, but most things went smoothly.
The patrons were particularly interested in Lee Han, who was introduced as the Skeleton Principal’s disciple.
It was surprising enough that such a young boy was treated as a direct disciple, but when they heard he was from the Wardanaz family, they couldn’t help but be interested.
No patron would pass up the opportunity to build connections with a practical future Archmage.
Lee Han remained unshaken by such attention, maintaining a calm attitude and responding perfectly. The Skeleton Principal sent him an approving look.
And Alsicle diligently ate sardines.
It might have been his imagination, but it seemed like every time Alsicle ate a sardine, the patrons’ donation amounts jumped up significantly.
“Good work. It was comfortable today since there were no strange proposals.”
“What kind of strange proposals…?”
“Rich nobles develop a disease of wanting to throw money away on useless things.”
The Skeleton Principal said as he walked down the street.
Like Professor Verdus’s ridiculous projects, sometimes—no, quite often actually—nobles would come up with absurd business ideas.
-We’ll install teleportation devices throughout the entire Empire so people can travel anywhere anytime!
-Oh… how would that work?
-Well, that’s something the mages would have to figure out, right?
-…
If they weren’t patrons, he would have slapped them and kicked them out, but since they were patrons, he had to put it nicely.
If patrons went bankrupt from strange businesses, it wouldn’t be good for Einroguard either.
“Don’t ever accept proposals like that. Sometimes idiots without ability try to start projects with patronage, but most of them never work out well.”
“Oh. How much patronage comes in?”
“…Did you not hear what I just said??”
“I was just asking.”
The Skeleton Principal’s gaze, which had warmed up from yesterday’s events, was gradually returning to normal.
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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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