Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 845

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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 845

Lee Han was flustered by the completely unexpected accusation.

Because of Lee Han himself, they had never seen the second-years, and thanks to that, they couldn’t collect wands.

What on earth was that supposed to mean?

‘Is this person insane?’

Well, Einroguard had always been full of crazy people. Lee Han didn’t panic and calmly tried to engage in conversation.

“What do you mean I prevented you from seeing second-years? And what’s this about wand collecting?”

“Do you know what my job is?”

“…Isn’t it guarding the kitchen?”

Unless some unknown meaning had been added to the term Kitchen Keeper in the meantime, there was nothing else it could be.

“Half correct. The other half is exchanging food supplies with students.”

“!!!”

Lee Han was genuinely surprised by this humanitarian role he was hearing about for the first time at Einroguard.

“No way. Einroguard has such a role? Why have I never seen it?”

“…”

The Kitchen Keeper cast an even more menacing and blunt look than before.

Then he spat out curtly.

“You’ve never seen it because you had nothing to want for.”

“Excuse me?”

“To meet me, you have to be truly destitute. Your stomach skin should be stuck to your back, ready to sell even a wand for a single can of food. You should be willing to go to the punishment room if it means you can raid the kitchen.”

The more Lee Han listened to the other person’s words, the more surprised he became.

Lee Han thought to himself.

‘Does he only appear before truly starving Einroguard students?’

A being that appears when a student has starved to the point of being caught trying to raid the kitchen.

It was an eccentric and demanding condition for appearance, but by Einroguard standards, this was fairly normal.

‘If I had known this, there would have been no need to stockpile food supplies so diligently.’

Lee Han said regretfully.

“That’s unfortunate. If we had held out longer, my friends and I could have received food supplies too.”

“Received? What are you talking about?”

“Don’t you give out food supplies?”

“I said exchange.”

“…”

Only then did Lee Han come to his senses.

Come to think of it, it had been strange.

There was no way the Skeleton Principal’s minion would appear before hungry students just to give them food supplies for free.

“…What exactly do we have to do to get food supplies? Do you make us do odd jobs?”

“You’re overestimating students too much. Would your odd jobs have that kind of value? I only accept magical items without exception.”

The Kitchen Keeper never gave food supplies for free. He only handed out food supplies in exchange for various magic-related equipment.

Starting with the magic wands students received, to small cauldrons and pots for alchemy, cloaks, hats, and so on.

Hungry students had to steal even their friends’ wands to offer them up.

‘Could it be that the first-year underclassmen didn’t have wands because…!’

Lee Han was horrified as he realized the truth.

At first, he thought the Black Turtle Tower’s first-year students had collected wands to celebrate and show off their victory.

But the Black Turtle Tower students were just as hungry and struggling, so they wouldn’t have had such luxury. Naturally, they had gathered them because there was a source of food available.

Making already poor and destitute students steal from each other.

“Why do you only accept those things?”

“Because my master ordered it.”

‘Ah.’

Lee Han, who was about to get indignant, immediately understood.

If the Skeleton Principal had ordered it, there was nothing strange about it. It made perfect sense.

“Last year, my master scolded me for having no results. It’s because of you.”

“No… So should I have forced myself to go hungry when I had food?”

“You could have just eaten alone, so why did you share with your friends too? It’s because of you.”

“So I shouldn’t give food to my friends when they’re starving?”

“Even if I concede a hundred times that you should share with friends, why did you share with all the students? No matter how I look at it, it’s definitely because of you.”

“…”

Lee Han was slightly at a loss for words at the Kitchen Keeper’s statement.

Strangely, as he listened, he began to think that feeding all the students might have been a bit excessive…?

“Wait.”

The Duke, who had been listening from behind, interjected as if he didn’t understand.

“What is it, prisoner?”

“…Don’t you know who I am?”

“I know. You’re the fool who got caught trying to steal my master’s treasure.”

The Kitchen Keeper spat out bluntly.

At those words, Duke Ikalderen’s face turned red, but he didn’t shout.

He had already learned painfully that there was no point in getting angry at the Skeleton Principal’s minion according to Imperial customs.

“Fine. But isn’t this person here a disciple of Marryongwan? And you’re Marryongwan’s minion. Is it acceptable for a minion to act so insolently toward a disciple?”

The Duke sternly pointed out the breach of etiquette.

Lee Han, who was listening from the side, was dumbfounded and pointed out.

“What nonsense are you… Your Grace. I’m not a disciple…”

However, the Kitchen Keeper, upon hearing those words, hesitated and pondered, then bowed his head deeply.

“I apologize. Please forgive my rudeness.”

“…No. Why are you apologizing! I’m just a student!”

When the Kitchen Keeper suddenly bowed his head, Lee Han felt even more frustrated.

What kind of person was this?

But whether Lee Han got angry or not, the Kitchen Keeper seemed to have made up his mind. He kept his head bowed and maintained his respectful demeanor.

Come to think of it, no matter how spiteful he felt, it wasn’t a good choice to be rude to Marryongwan’s disciple.

Even if it satisfied his immediate grudge, retaliation could come back a hundred or thousand times worse in the near future.

Even when Lee Han jumped up and down angrily telling him to stop, the Kitchen Keeper persisted to the end.

“…Let’s stop this. So, Kitchen Keeper, what business brought you here? I’m neither hungry nor thinking of exchanging wands.”

“I didn’t come because of Master Wardanaz. I came because of that fool behind you.”

“Because of His Grace the Duke?”

“Yes. He called for me.”

The Kitchen Keeper pulled out a small bronze bell from his waist. The bell swayed outward, creating a clear sound.

“Right now it’s not ringing because that fool has a full stomach, but originally it rang in this direction.”

The 【Bell of Hunger】 that the Kitchen Keeper possessed was an artifact that detected the starving within Einroguard’s territory.

When someone starving to the extreme screamed with their soul, the bell would sense that person’s location and resonate sound in that direction.

Using this artifact, the Kitchen Keeper would extract wands and various magical equipment and tools from students, and occasionally find students dying of starvation in remote areas of the territory.

Upon hearing the explanation, Duke Ikalderen’s face reddened again.

He hadn’t thought that this Kitchen Keeper fellow had come here because of him.

“I… I wasn’t that hungry.”

“Would a bell that can’t speak have lied? You fool. Magic doesn’t lie.”

“…This insolent bastard…!”

The Duke was indignant but could do nothing from inside the bars. The Kitchen Keeper busily put the bell away again.

“Since the Duke isn’t hungry and has nothing to exchange, I should be going. Master Wardanaz. Please forget today’s rudeness.”

“No. I’m fine with it. When you think about it, isn’t the Principal the bad one?”

“!?”

The Duke listening from behind was startled.

He hadn’t expected Lee Han to openly badmouth his master.

‘Is it okay for him to act like that?’

When Lee Han spoke for him, the Kitchen Keeper bowed his head gratefully again and turned around.

“Wait!”

“?”

“??”

It was the Duke who had called out to stop the Kitchen Keeper. Lee Han and the Kitchen Keeper looked at the Duke with puzzled expressions.

“…Ah, no. I heard you’d exchange food. Right. What can you give?”

“…”

At Lee Han’s pitying gaze, the Duke felt shame as if his soul had been stripped bare to its very depths.

It would have been less embarrassing if he had received a look of contempt instead.

“First, we need to check what you can offer.”

“…Do you see this ring? This one ring could buy an entire fortress.”

Duke Ikalderen extended his index finger and held the ring up to the light.

Eighteen gems, meticulously cut, sparkled brilliantly in the light. Anyone could see it was an expensive work of art.

However, the Kitchen Keeper shook his head.

“That won’t work.”

“What!? Why won’t it work!”

“Like I said, I only accept magic items. There’s no magic on that.”

“This one ring could buy dozens of magic items!”

“Take it up with my master, you fool.”

No matter what he said, the Kitchen Keeper remained unmoved. The Duke pounded his chest in frustration and shouted at Lee Han.

“Right, boy! You can exchange it for me. Trade it for magic items!”

“No. That’s a bit…”

“Why not!!”

When even Lee Han refused, the Duke stared at him with bloodshot eyes. He couldn’t understand why he was being rejected.

“This is too… expensive. Trading it for a few cheap magic items I have would weigh on my conscience.”

Even though Lee Han was obsessed with collecting Imperial gold coins, he worried about the consequences of such a large-scale swindle.

Right now, being hungry, the Duke might want to trade that ring for a single pair of magic leather boots, but wouldn’t he change his mind once he got outside?

“I said it’s fine! I did!!”

The Duke jumped around inside the bars, begging him to sell the family heirloom artwork for cheap.

The Kitchen Keeper put his finger to his temple and spun it around.

“Tsk. The fool has completely lost it.”

“Don’t say that.”

“Sorry.”

“And don’t use formal speech with me either.”

At that, the Kitchen Keeper shut his mouth completely. Lee Han wanted to hit him.

“Your Grace. Then let’s do this. I’ll just give you a few magic items.”

Just last year, Lee Han had tried to sell leather water bottles with magic cast on them.

He had a few cheap magic items left in his backpack from helping Professor Verdus or making practice items during lectures.

The Duke asked with an uncomprehending expression.

“You’ll just give them? Then… then what do you get?”

“You can repay me when you get outside later.”

“…”

Suddenly, tears streamed down Duke Ikalderen’s eyes.

These were the first warm words he’d heard since being dragged to Einroguard.

“…Sob. Sniff!”

“Y-Your Grace. Did I say something wrong?”

“No… no. Thank you. Thank you! I… I’ll definitely repay you.”

The Duke forgot his age and dignity, crying and making promises.

He felt painfully sorry for having suspected and been wary of this boy just because he was the Marryongwan’s disciple.

How could he have insulted such a kind-hearted boy?

“I’ll definitely sponsor you when I get out.”

‘Hmm. It would seem too trashy to ask him to write a few more pledges right now.’

Lee Han felt regretful inside.

He couldn’t bring himself to say “Could you write a few more research sponsorship pledges?” in front of someone crying so hard.

* * *

Having obtained a week’s worth of food from the Kitchen Keeper, the Duke carefully hid it in a corner of the prison. He put so much effort into camouflaging it that Lee Han even cast illusion magic to help.

Yukveltire wasn’t the type to steal such things, but the Duke had become someone who trusted no one.

Especially not the Imperial Family.

-Your Grace. Senior Yukveltire has no interest in cooking or meals, but she wouldn’t steal Your Grace’s food…

-No! I don’t trust her. That Imperial Princess might do anything!

-…I, I understand. But don’t worry too much. She’s just busy right now. She’ll come back soon to check if there are any inconveniences.

-No, no! Please. Tell her not to come anymore!

-But… she needs to visit periodically. What if you have any discomforts?

-You come instead! Please, please!!

-…I’ll, I’ll try my best.

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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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