Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 488

Lee Han held out the cotton candy he was carrying.

A White Tiger Tower student shrieked and jumped back. It was hard to avoid him in the narrow alleyway.

Bartrec muttered to himself, “Damn it! That Wodanaz is too clever!”

He was known as one of the top fighters among the first-year students for a reason.

It was a perfect trick to catch them off guard!

However, no magic attack came. Lee Han and his friends stared at the White Tiger Tower students as if they were crazy.

“What are you doing?”

Bartrec, covered in mud from the alleyway, quietly stood up.

Brushing the dirt off his coat, he said as calmly as he could, “We were just playing a game.”

“Here?”

“We always play it in this alleyway,” Bartrec said.

The other White Tiger Tower students nodded in agreement.

Lee Han looked confused but said, “Okay, I understand. You like playing your game in the alleyway. Here, take this.”

Bartrec took the cotton candy, looking puzzled.

“What is this?”

“It’s just a snack I bought for you,” Lee Han replied.

“Where did you get the money?” Bartrec gasped. “Did you steal it?”

“Why would you think I stole it?” Lee Han asked, annoyed. “Professor Swiftfoot gave it to me.”

The students were even more surprised by this than by the idea of stealing.

“How?”

“Did you threaten him?!” one student guessed.

“No, you lunatics,” Lee Han said.

Lee Han quickly explained what had happened.

The students understood, but they were still horrified.

‘How did he persuade him?’ they wondered.

Because Lee Han’s explanation was so simple, the students’ imaginations ran wild.

“Wait, why did we sneak out then?”

“That’s right.”

The students felt foolish.

Those with mud on their clothes felt even more foolish than the mud itself.

“Well, you can still have fun. I left some silver coins for you,” Lee Han said.

Adenart, who was standing quietly nearby, pointed to the cotton candy in Bartrec’s hand.

It was melting because he was daydreaming.

Lee Han was a little surprised and asked quietly, “Are you saying I should ask Bartrec to give back the cotton candy?”

“Here,” Bartrec said, still dazed, handing the cotton candy back to the Princess.

Adenart felt a surge of anger.

“No!”

“But who is that person?” Bartrec asked.

“He’s a very powerful divination wizard,” Bartrec said, glancing at the Princess.

The Princess glared fiercely at both of them.

‘I heard there’s a power struggle between Wodanaz and others in the tower. Is that true?’

“He even guessed my family like this,” Bartrec added.

“Wasn’t it just a guess?” Lee Han asked, puzzled.

As far as Lee Han knew, that kind of divination magic was quite difficult and expensive.

Of course, there were old magic practices outside the Empire’s system that Lee Han didn’t know about, but even those had some basic principles.

It didn’t make sense to use divination magic to guess someone’s family in a back alley.

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

Ianop saw a good opportunity and said, “If you don’t believe me, why don’t you try it? I won’t charge you anything.”

Ianop was annoyed by the student who kept bothering him, but this was a chance to change the subject.

Besides, if what Ianop had just heard was correct, that boy was from the Wodanaz family.

If he was from the Wodanaz family, there was a good chance he had the talent Antagon Thalassa wanted.

Ianop calmed his excitement and called out, “Wodanaz, you try it too. He said he’ll give you a silver coin if he’s wrong.”

“What? Is that true?” Lee Han asked, surprised.

Was this person wasting silver coins?

“Try to guess this friend’s family!” Ianop said.

“Isn’t it the Wodanaz family?” Lee Han asked, pretending not to know.

“Oh my goodness!” Bartrec exclaimed, surprised again.

“You kept calling him Wodanaz…” Bartrec realized.

“Are you an idiot?” Yonel and Siana asked seriously. Bartrec finally understood.

“Ah, that’s right. Sorry. I was excited,” Bartrec apologized.

“Hmm,” Lee Han said, not paying much attention.

‘I was going to say it was the Moradi family and take the coin,’ he thought.

He had planned to pretend that Wodanaz was his name and that he was from the Moradi family to get the silver coin, but his friends had reacted too quickly.

Since he couldn’t get a free silver coin, Lee Han quickly lost interest.

“I’m done. Let’s go look around the shops. Bartrec, you need to buy some new clothes,” Lee Han said.

“I have clothes I brought from school,” Bartrec protested.

“Those aren’t clothes, they’re rags. I’ll buy you some new ones, so go change,” Lee Han said bluntly.

The White Tiger Tower friends were touched by Lee Han’s honesty.

‘Thank you, Wodanaz,’ they thought. ‘For getting rid of Bartrec’s rags!’

Ianop was flustered.

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

“I already know my future very well,” Lee Han said coldly.

He would graduate from Einroguard, use his connections and business skills to increase his wealth, become a famous businessman, and live a life of leisure.

When he was bored, he would throw gold coins at the skeletal headmaster.

His future was clear.

“You should take better care of that table,” Lee Han added. “If the corner falls off, the magic circle inside will shake.”

“Huh? It’s a magic table?” Ianop asked, surprised.

“Yeah,” Lee Han replied.

“I had no idea! Really?!” Ianop exclaimed.

“It’s a useless thing. Someone must have made it out of boredom,” Lee Han said.

Lee Han left the alleyway with his friends.

Ianop was so shocked that he couldn’t speak and just stared after them.

‘Just now…?’ he thought.

Did Lee Han recognize the hidden secret from that far away without even touching the table?

That alone was unbelievable, but his reaction was even more shocking.

Why was he so cynical?

When Ianop had learned the secret of the table from Antagon Thalassa and felt the structure of the magic circle, he had been amazed by the beautiful and perfect magic.

He had skipped meals and sleep for months, studying the table.

But Lee Han had understood the structure just by glancing at it once, and he didn’t even care!

‘Why? Isn’t he curious about this? Why isn’t he curious?’

It seemed like he had found the talent Antagon Thalassa had mentioned, but Ianop felt a chill because he couldn’t understand Lee Han’s reaction.

It was the same chill he had felt when he saw powerful magicians in the past.

“Magician! I’ve brought what you asked for,” the mercenaries said, running to Ianop.

“We heard there’s a strong student from a rich family, maybe the Wodanaz family,” one of them said.

“Is he from the Wodanaz family?” Ianop asked.

“That’s right! You really know everything, Magician!” the mercenary replied.

The mercenaries, who looked rough and dangerous, were polite to the magician because they were afraid of him.

They were amazed by Ianop’s ability to see things from far away.

“Deliver this book to that boy,” Ianop instructed.

The mercenaries were silent.

They were used to doing rough jobs around the harbor, but they were afraid of magicians.

They didn’t want to get involved with magicians from Einroguard.

Ianop considered hurting one of them to scare the others, but he decided against it.

‘He might run away if I scare him too much,’ he thought.

“This book has no magic in it. It’s just a magic book,” Ianop explained.

“We can’t read, so we wouldn’t know,” one of them said.

“What if we get caught by the magicians?” another asked.

“Ask a merchant or a servant. The magicians of the Empire won’t hurt them, will they?” Ianop said, hinting at a threat.

Feeling threatened, the mercenaries nodded and put the magic book in their coats.

“I understand,” one of them said.

“We’ll try to deliver it,” another added.

“I’ll give gold coins to whoever does it,” Ianop offered.

The mercenaries’ eyes lit up with greed.

“We’ll do our best!” they exclaimed.

Ianop was still not satisfied, but he needed the mercenaries’ help for now.

‘They’re still useful,’ he thought.

The magic book he had given them was written by Antagon Thalassa.

It was a thin book with only one magic spell in it.

However, that spell had been created by Antagon Thalassa himself, and it had shocked Ianop.

If such a small book contained so much wisdom, what would Antagon Thalassa’s own wisdom be like?

Ianop would do anything to get even a little bit of that wisdom.

‘If he reads it, he’ll be tempted!’ he thought.

It was a powerful and different kind of magic from what they taught at Einroguard.

A genius with arrogance would surely be interested.

Later, while the students were enjoying chocolate cake and coffee on the sunny terrace of a cafe, Lee Han asked Nilia a question.

“Nilia, about Shadow Patrol hunters…”

“Why?! What is it?! Did you make a mistake?! You must have made a mistake!” Nilia exclaimed, surprised.

“I’m just curious,” Lee Han said. “Are there any rules for chasing prey? Like, you must never let it go.”

“There aren’t any rules, but they usually never give up,” Nilia replied.

Nilia took a bite of her cake and frowned.

The cake was too sweet for her, as she was used to the rough food of the mountains.

“You don’t have to eat it if you don’t like it,” Lee Han said.

“No, I love sweet things! I’m a proper citizen of the Empire!” Nilia said, trying to sound sophisticated.

Lee Han slyly took the tiramisu that Bartrec had ordered and put it in front of Nilia.

Nilia, who hadn’t noticed, continued, “They’d be embarrassed if they failed to catch their prey. A hunter’s pride…”

“I see,” Lee Han said.

People often said that monsters were proud and never gave up on their prey, but the Shadow Patrol hunters were even more persistent.

Once they decided to catch someone, they never gave up.

Some hunters had been searching for their prey in the mountains for twenty years.

‘So that’s why they keep looking at monsters?’ Lee Han thought.

Lee Han decided that he should treat the Shadow Patrol hunters better in the future.

He didn’t want to make enemies for no reason.

“Magician!” a voice shouted.

“Keheok,” Lee Han choked on his coffee.

A Shadow Patrol hunter had jumped up from under the terrace instead of using the stairs.

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

“What’s wrong?” Lee Han asked.

“I’m trying to catch a Sea Serpent, but I need help. Can you help me?” the hunter asked.

“Did Professor Swiftfoot tell you to find me?” Lee Han asked.