Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 603

Lee Han quickly glanced at Headmaster Skull.

Headmaster Skull looked at Lee Han, his eyes telling him, “Don’t waver.”

“Understood,” Lee Han replied silently.

Even before the Emperor, Lee Han’s resolve remained unshaken.

He continued the story as he and Headmaster Skull had planned.

“It’s truly enjoyable,” Lee Han said.

Einroguard was not a fun place. It was a school where magic was forced out of people by hurting them.

“No. He’s not a Dragon for nothing!” Lee Han thought.

Lee Han was impressed by the Emperor’s wisdom.

Even in the corner of the Imperial Palace, he understood what Einroguard really was.

“No. Einroguard is the best magic school in the Empire. We are getting the best education. We are not hungry. We are happy,” Lee Han said.

“He must have prepared with Oh Soo before coming,” Headmaster Skull thought.

The two masters and disciples were inwardly startled.

“How did he know?” they wondered.

The Emperor spoke as if he didn’t care that the two were lying.

“You don’t have to speak if you don’t want to. I was just asking because I was worried. Oh Soo’s disciples always met tragic fates. They either tried to burn the continent, burn themselves, or burn Oh Soo…”

“That was a long time ago…” Headmaster Skull grumbled.

Headmaster Skull felt the Emperor talked about his past mistakes too much. In the old days, magic training was harsh, and some students were reckless and caused trouble.

“In the Dragon’s eyes, your talent is the most outstanding among Oh Soo’s disciples. So I hope you don’t burn the continent or yourself. How sad would that be for the races of the continent if that happened,” the Emperor said.

“You seem to have left out Headmaster Skull?” Lee Han thought.

“Don’t worry. Wardanaz is different from the other disciples,” the Emperor replied.

“So you made him fight the King of Ghouls?” Lee Han wondered.

The Emperor yawned, opening his mouth wide. At the same time, he looked down at Headmaster Skull with a nonchalant gaze.

“That wasn’t my intention…” the Emperor said.

The Emperor continued, “Of course, Oh Soo. It’s strange how many ‘coincidences’ happen around you.”

Headmaster Skull felt terribly wronged, but he endured it.

Because he had many past records of intentionally faking coincidences, excuses didn’t work.

The Emperor probably felt there was no difference.

He also fought the Sea Serpent by chance…

“It’s truly a coincidence,” the Emperor said.

“Alright. I understand,” the Emperor said.

The Emperor snorted as if he didn’t want to hear anymore. Headmaster Skull’s long hair fluttered up and then fell back down.

Fortunately, I don’t feel hatred or the destruction of the continent in the disciple’s eyes.

The Emperor called Lee Han to directly meet him and see what kind of person he was.

Because Wardanaz was from the bloodline of the Wardanaz family and Oh Soo’s disciple, no one knew what would happen to the Empire if he went on a rampage in the future.

Fortunately, even though he had gone through many hardships during his first year, there was no hatred or destruction of the continent in his eyes.

Moreover, he seemed quite close to Oh Soo, as he had even prepared in advance with him.

Although he was still young, he was clearly a great and solid wizard.

I’m glad you didn’t completely lie to the Dragon.

“I have never lied in front of Your Majesty,” Headmaster Skull said.

The Emperor ignored Headmaster Skull and spoke to Lee Han again.

“I’m sorry for bothering you. I wanted to check in person. Now that I know you are capable enough, I won’t bother you anymore. Feel free to jump into danger as much as you want.”

Lee Han answered momentarily, having been about to just let it pass.

He was going to let it pass because he was in front of the Emperor, but he couldn’t possibly admit this.

“How modest,” the Emperor said.

“Wardanaz’s flaw is his modesty,” Headmaster Skull added.

“Why don’t you have that flaw too?” the Emperor asked.

“Haha, what a joke!” Headmaster Skull exclaimed.

“Haha. It’s not a joke,” the Emperor replied.

The Emperor and Headmaster Skull laughed at each other. Lee Han didn’t find it funny at all.

“This is very unfair,” Lee Han thought.

At that moment, the sound of a bell rang.

As the clear bell sound echoed in the Emperor’s vast, cave-like residence, Headmaster Skull was puzzled.

It was the sound announcing a new visitor.

“Did we have another guest today?” Headmaster Skull asked.

The Emperor replied, “Let me see… Ah. I should show you the Dragon’s spirit. I forgot about this. It was the day to create additional successors to the Empire.”

“Oh dear. You must be having a hard time,” Headmaster Skull said.

Lee Han couldn’t follow their conversation.

“What does it mean to create additional successors to the Empire?” Lee Han wondered.

“Right. It would be good for you to see it too. It will be very helpful,” the Emperor said.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Lee Han whispered in a shocked voice so the Emperor wouldn’t hear.

He couldn’t understand what it would be helpful for.

However, Headmaster Skull ignored him and asked the Emperor.

“Your Majesty. May Wardanaz observe?”

The Emperor replied, “I don’t mind, but won’t he be surprised?”

“It’s alright. Isn’t he a student of Einroguard? He’ll understand if he hears the explanation,” Headmaster Skull said.

The Emperor said, “Well, he’s your disciple, so he must have seen more surprising things than this…”

“No. Why are you slandering me like that?” Headmaster Skull asked.

While the two were talking, the door opened and a group of people entered. There were 11 in total.

An Orc woman from the Swordsmanship Guild, a mermaid woman from a wealthy noble family, a Lamia mixed-blood woman from the Ranger Guild, a human woman who leads three merchant groups, a Rakshasa man who runs the magic tower in the south, a centaur woman who is the head of the eastern self-defense force, an angel mixed-blood woman from the temple, a wolf beast woman who is a mercenary leader famous on the battlefield, a lizard beast man who is the best artisan in the western baking guild of the Empire, a dwarf woman belonging to the Bronze Dwarf Bank, and finally, an ogre mixed-blood woman.

“An ogre mixed-blood…?!” Lee Han thought.

Lee Han was very surprised.

There were rare races of the Empire among the others, but an ogre mixed-blood was a truly unimaginable rare race.

But Lee Han’s surprise had only just begun.

“Has everyone arrived?” the Emperor asked.

The people who entered bowed as formally as possible. The Emperor declared in a solemn voice.

“Grow and have many descendants!” These words boomed with power.

‘Word of Power!’ Lee Han finally understood the Emperor’s incredible skill.

This was high magic, changing the world with just words!

Making wind blow or water appear is hard magic, but this was creating life itself.

Lee Han was so shocked by this magic that he almost missed what was happening next.

‘No… Wait…!’ Lee Han’s mind cleared.

He finally understood.

The Emperor wasn’t just doing magic; he was making the Imperial Family appear, right here, in front of him!

His eyes widened in disbelief.

“It is finished. You can go now.” The Emperor’s voice was calm.

The people who had entered bowed deeply and left quickly.

The Dragon sighed, looking even more tired. *I hope this time we get a good heir,* he thought. *Oh-soo.*

“It will be as you wish, Your Majesty,” Oh-soo replied.

“Don’t joke with the Dragon when you don’t expect anything,” Oh-soo added quietly.

“More importantly, you need to explain to your student.” The Skull Headmaster finally saw Lee Han’s shocked face.

He hadn’t thought Lee Han would be so surprised.

Usually, Lee Han didn’t even blink if the sky was falling or giants attacked.

“Hmm,” the Skull Headmaster said.

“Maybe I should have explained this earlier?”

“…Yes,” Lee Han said, still a bit stunned.

“Please explain things like this *before* they happen next time.”

In a land where kingdoms and empires had risen and fallen many times, the first Emperor of this Empire was special.

He had dragon blood in his soul.

Some might have doubted this, but the Emperor had proof: a special object, a relic.

This relic showed a promise between the Emperor’s ancestor and a dragon.

The dragon promised to help if the ancestor’s family ever needed it, in exchange for the relic.

Luckily, the first Emperor didn’t need to use it to build the Empire.

But even the best empires don’t last forever.

Time passed, and the Empire weakened.

Sickness, rebellions, wars between groups, invasions from outside – it all happened.

The Empire was failing, and endless wars broke out.

Every member of the Imperial Family said they were the Emperor and started their own armies.

People betrayed each other, were killed secretly, bribed, and attacked suddenly.

By the time the fighting stopped, the Imperial Family was completely gone.

But the war wasn’t over.

Now, powerful nobles, wanting to be Emperor, stepped up to take the throne.

The leaders of important and loyal noble families got together.

They were very worried about how to stop this chaos.

How could they end this terrible fighting?

Luckily, the Empire still had some good fortune.

One of these good things was a very wise and clever Archmage.

Lee Han just stared at the Skull Headmaster, speechless.

But the Skull Headmaster kept explaining, not noticing Lee Han’s shock.

“So,” the Skull Headmaster continued, “this wise Archmage, with the noble family leaders, found the last Imperial Family member’s final wishes and the relic from the first Emperor.”

“They put these two things together and came up with a new idea.”

The Skull Headmaster then used a deeper voice, pretending to be the Archmage: “-Oh, great Dragon! The last wish of your family member says we should use this relic.

So, until a good heir to the throne is found, please rule the Empire!”

“Of course,” the Skull Headmaster said in his normal voice, “the Dragon didn’t like this idea at all.”

He chuckled.

“Dragons don’t want to rule kingdoms.

They like to think and be alone, not control and govern.”

“But,” the Skull Headmaster’s voice became serious again, “a promise is a promise, especially for a dragon.

So, the Dragon had to become Emperor.”

“At first, the Dragon thought he could stop being Emperor once the chaos was over and a new heir was ready.

He thought, ‘Most people want power.

They might ask for help now because of the chaos, but they will want to rule soon enough!'” The Skull Headmaster finished his story.

“…That’s basically the secret history of the Empire.” He spoke seriously, but behind him, the Emperor glared at him playfully.

“That’s… amazing,” Lee Han finally said, still trying to take it all in.

“Yes,” the Skull Headmaster said.

“It’s quite moving, isn’t it?” *I didn’t say moving,* the Emperor thought, rolling his eyes.

“Think of all the people who worked hard to stop the chaos!” the Skull Headmaster added dramatically.

“But Headmaster,” Lee Han asked, “a successor still hasn’t appeared, right? How did that happen?”

“That’s obvious,” the Skull Headmaster said, as if it was a silly question.

“No one is good enough to be Emperor.”

The Dragon was wrong when he thought people would rush to become Emperor.

He thought everyone wanted power.

But the noble families actually really liked the Dragon Emperor.

They didn’t want to change Emperors and cause more trouble.

Why bring in someone new and unknown when they already had a perfect Emperor?

*Worthless creatures. Trash who like being ruled. Like slaves…* the Emperor grumbled in his mind.

Ignoring the Emperor’s grumpy thoughts, the Skull Headmaster kept talking.

“There’s something important to understand.

The people who judge if someone is worthy to be Emperor are fair.

They don’t want anything for themselves.

Do you understand?”

*Oh-soo… the Dragon likes him,* the Emperor thought, a little softer now.

*Of course, my first nine children were terrible Emperors.

But the ones after them weren’t too bad…*

“How could *those* people rule the Empire?” the Skull Headmaster said, shaking his head firmly.

He pretended to be sad (but he wasn’t really), “It’s just the way it is.”

“To make a truly great heir,” the Skull Headmaster explained, “the Emperor first tried to create his own children, nine of them.”

“But these nine children were too much like the Dragon.

They were not good Emperors at all.

How could people who just wanted to meditate and hide away all the time rule an Empire?”

“The Emperor realized his mistake,” the Skull Headmaster continued.

“So, after that, he found partners and made sure the dragon blood was weaker in the heirs.

Just enough dragon blood to say they were related to the first Emperor.

Because the nobles just wanted someone who was connected to the first Emperor anyway.

The dragon blood didn’t need to be strong.”

“So, what happened then?” Lee Han asked, without even thinking.

The story was just so incredible.

“What do you think happened?” The Skull Headmaster said, sounding a bit annoyed.

“If they were any good, they would have become Emperor already.”

“When the dragon blood was strong, they were very talented, but they were also very lazy.

And when the dragon blood was weak, they weren’t special at all.

They were just nobles who grew up easily.

How could they be better Emperors than the Dragon?”

“Most of them were just greedy and foolish,” the Skull Headmaster finished.

*Wait a minute,* the Emperor thought, looking at Lee Han.

*Don’t you have some Imperial Family members as friends? What are they like?*

A little bit of hope shone in the Emperor’s eyes.

“Ah, well…” Lee Han started to say, looking a bit uncomfortable.

The Skull Headmaster just shook his head, looking sorry for the Emperor.