Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 661

Lee Han protested, but Professor Volardi ignored him. He thought Lee Han was just being modest.

“Lee Han, weren’t you practicing time magic?”

“Hey. Keep it down.”

“Ah, no… I was just saying…”

Gynan Dole mentioned the time magic again. He thought everyone had forgotten about it. But Professor Volardi glared at him. Gynan felt confused and unfairly treated. ‘What did I do wrong?’ he wondered.

Professor Volardi decided to treat his students to a meal.

They walked several blocks. Then, they saw a large, two-story red brick building. The sign had fancy writing that said, ‘The Three Magpies Restaurant, run by the Dwarf Brothers.’

Gynan Dole was excited and told his friends about the restaurant.

“This place is good. They sell the second-best chicken pie and the third-best porterhouse steak in Flahr City!”

Lee Han thought that Gynan Dole’s steak might come with some Dwarf spit.

“Professor,” Lee Han asked, “do you actually come here much? It doesn’t seem like your usual kind of place, you know?”

Gynan Dole whispered, looking frightened.

No matter how he thought about it, his friend was saying crazy things.

“…I was talking about the food menu, Ratford. Would you mind switching places with Gynan Dole?”

“No! No!”

Gynan Dole didn’t want to, but his friends grabbed him and made him switch seats.

“I don’t want to sit next to Yoner!”

“I don’t want to sit next to you either, so shall I just go down to the floor below?”

Lee Han ignored his friends and looked around. He could see that the other customers were eating a lot of meat. It was clear this was a meat restaurant. It wasn’t the kind of place Professor Volardi, who liked vegetarian food, would usually go.

“I come here sometimes,” Professor Volardi said. “Especially when I’m meeting with mercenaries or adventurers. They say the food is good, and it’s always busy.”

Lee Han realized that Professor Volardi regularly hired mercenaries and adventurers.

What on earth are you planning to do?

“Could it be… are you doing that to prepare for this year’s lectures?”

Professor Volardi was calm, even though Lee Han’s question was silly. He didn’t even change his expression.

“No. I finished preparing for this year’s lectures last year.”

Lee Han felt a chill down his spine. It was the most chilling answer this winter.

“Now, Eandurde. You have to wait until the bread basket comes. You don’t need to cut the meat yourself. Don’t stab it with a knife. Understand?”

“Can’t you switch seats for me?”

“No. And Lee Han is already suffering enough because of the Professor, so don’t you torment him too.”

Yoner told his junior. Professor Volardi watched this and said,

“You can eat comfortably. As I said, mercenaries and adventurers come here too.”

When Eandurde heard that, he tried to throw down his utensils and grab only the knife. Yoner glared sternly at him.

“No.”

“But…”

“No. Put it back.”

“Squeak…”

Eandurde thought to himself.

Lee Han’s friends here are all strict, but that Professor over there seems like a more laid-back person.

If he were to enter Einrogard, he would have to learn all sorts of things…

Maybe taking that Professor’s laid-back lectures wouldn’t be so bad.

Besides, didn’t Eandurde have something to avenge against that Professor?

‘I’ll steal his secrets and get revenge!’

Eandurde pounded the table with his fist, thinking of the day he would slam the Professor to the ground. Yoner sternly lectured him again.

“Don’t drum on the table like it’s an instrument.”

“…I want to switch seats…”

Lee Han, to shake off his fear, spread butter on the freshly baked bread and took a bite. With something in his empty stomach, the fear of the terrifying class this year felt a little less.

“Then what are you hiring them for?”

“Hmm.”

Instead of answering, Professor Volardi looked at Lee Han, thinking.

Lee Han suddenly felt uneasy at that look.

‘Why do I feel like I made a mistake?’

“It’s okay to tell you, I suppose.”

“Wait a minute. If it’s some dangerous secret, then it’s okay.”

If Professor Volardi had hired people to assassinate someone, Lee Han didn’t want to hear it. Later, when an Imperial investigator came and asked, ‘What do you know!’ he would have to plead, ‘I don’t know anything. I’m just a student!’

“It’s nothing like that. I was just worried you’d take too much interest.”

” ? ”

Something that Lee Han would take too much interest in.

‘Did you raid the Imperial gold coin mint or something?’

“I’ll explain one by one. First, there are times when I hire them for requests.”

“Ah.”

Only then did Lee Han realize that Professor Volardi was a wizard and a professor. Well, it wasn’t strange for a wizard to call adventurers or mercenaries and entrust them with a request. From exploring ruins to gathering materials, there were many things a wizard could ask for. It was strange for a wizard to do this himself.

“Did you have any materials you were looking for?”

Professor Volardi slowly shook his head.

“I don’t entrust requests.”

Surprisingly, Professor Volardi was not the one entrusting the requests, but the one solving them. There were requests that were too dangerous for Professor Volardi to handle alone, so he hired adventurers or mercenaries to solve them together…

‘Are you hunting some dragon or something??’

Lee Han couldn’t even imagine what kind of request it would be if Professor Volardi felt it was dangerous. If it was that kind of request, shouldn’t it just be banned by Imperial law?

“Wait. Then you were worried that I would take too much interest, you were worried that I would be interested in these kinds of requests?”

“To some extent, yes.”

“That’s too much of a worry. Unlike you, Professor, I have no interest in dangerous requests at all.”

The friends stopped talking and stared at Lee Han.

They wanted to take their friend’s side if possible, but this was really too much nonsense.

“King of Ghouls…”

“Sea Serpent…”

“Frost Giant…”

“Wodanaz, you’re honestly addicted to danger. You’re sitting next to the Professor right now.”

Despite the criticism from his friends, Lee Han was sure of himself. Unlike Professor Volardi, who would jump in even if danger had its mouth wide open, he had always analyzed the risk of requests calmly.

“That’s a relief then. I was worried about your rashness.”

“I’ve felt this since last time, but I think you’re misunderstanding me a little, Professor. Haha.”

Professor Volardi ignored him again, just like he had ignored him earlier.

Originally, people couldn’t see their own shortcomings objectively. Lee Han was an excellent student, but he had the shortcoming of being rash because of his talent, and this was something the professors had to pay attention to.

“But besides the colleagues needed for the request, is there another reason to hire them?”

The professor nodded.

“A duel club has recently opened in Flahr City.”

“A duel club…”

When it came to duels, it was easy to imagine a bloody fight until one of them died, but this type of duel was mostly banned in the Empire. These duels could only be found in places like underground arenas.

Duels permitted in the Empire were usually moderate, with both sides swearing to act honorably, having an observer, allowing spectators, and the victory or defeat being decided as soon as anyone was injured and shed a drop of blood.

Of course, these duels usually took place when someone insulted another’s honor, but… as always, there were exceptions.

Some people loved the excitement of duels. They liked the danger of swords and magic. They wanted the thrill of winning.

And people who wanted to see these brutal fights firsthand.

Finally, even people who wanted to make money by exploiting these people.

The place where these people mainly gathered was the Empire’s duel club.

A place that cultured people made fun of as a legitimate arena for high society (which wasn’t far from the truth)!

“Oh, are you going there?”

Lee Han finally thought that Professor Volardi had gone mad with bloodlust. Not content with attacking a student, he wanted to attack other poor victims of the Empire?

“Yes.”

“Is there a reason for that? Are you perhaps trying to hone your magic combat skills?”

“No. Most duel clubs aren’t at that level. It’s because of the rewards.”

Professor Volardi explained carefully.

When entering a duel club and having a mutually agreed-upon duel, people could bet from the outside, but the parties involved could also bet against each other.

A simple rule: the winner takes the stake put up by the loser.

When Professor Volardi needed money, he would gather mercenaries or adventurers to take on dangerous requests, or he would go around the Empire’s duel clubs. And the second way was much easier to make money.

Kids who brought out all sorts of treasures were running around with just one sword…

Unlike requests, the reason for hiring mercenaries or adventurers when entering a duel club was because of the limit on the number of people.

There were many who did multi-person duels besides one-on-one duels. Since there was no problem with trampling on however many opponents there were, the allies just had to match the number.

‘Good heavens!’

Lee Han was shocked. He had been mistaken by the way he didn’t try to bargain at the toy store earlier, but Professor Volardi was not ignorant of the ways of the world.

‘He’s copying gold coins!’

If Lee Han were Professor Volardi, he would have toured the duel clubs. What reason was there to bother with requests and teaching students? If he just went around the duel clubs, his wealth would increase quickly.

“Professor. Let’s wipe out all the duel clubs in the Empire!”

“I can’t because of the ban.”

“Yes?”

“If you win too much, the club will ban you from entering.”

Lee Han remembered what Professor Volardi had said earlier.

-A duel club has ‘recently’ opened in Flahr City.

Recently.

He had just passed it over earlier, but so…

‘This person, has he been banned from most of the duel clubs throughout the Empire?!’

That’s why he came to Flahr City, where a duel club had recently opened. To quickly scrape it up before the rumors spread and he was banned!

The wizard cards that were sold at the toy store earlier were clearly spoils obtained from the duel club.

Lee Han thought about it.

‘I was nothing.’

He thought he was diligently gathering wealth, but the professors were truly above the heavens.

“I’m impressed. Professor. I’d like to visit a duel club someday too.”

“I thought so.”

He had strongly denied that he would be interested in dangerous requests earlier, but he couldn’t deny the duel club.

In fact, Lee Han was now thinking about how to increase his wealth with the duel club.

Later, when his skills reached a certain level, he would go to the duel club and…

‘I won’t act as obviously as the Professor. If I win 3 times, I’ll lose about 1 time… um, I’ll find the highest win rate and match it slightly below that. It wouldn’t be bad to hire an adventurer to increase the number of losses either.’

While he was having such sinister thoughts that the duel club organizers would kick him out immediately if they heard, Professor Volardi emptied his green tea and wiped his mouth with a handkerchief.

“I’ve finished eating.”

“Thank you for the meal, Professor!”

The students thanked Professor Volardi.

Professor Volardi nodded as if it was nothing. Then he said to Lee Han.

“Follow me. I’ll introduce you to the club.”

Lee Han was very embarrassed by the visit that was about ten years earlier than his plan.