Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 844

After a brief conversation, Lee Han felt a pang of regret.

‘I can’t believe I doubted my senior,’ he thought. ‘How could I not trust Direttore?’

He felt a surge of self-loathing. He should have known better than to doubt Direttore, who was different from the other professors or seniors. It was mortifying.

“Krooh. This is too much,” Lee Han mumbled.

“Hey, it’s not that bad, is it?” Direttore asked, taken aback by his junior’s distress. He stopped talking and looked closely at Lee Han’s face. He seemed worried.

Direttore had pushed the magic harder than necessary because of a misunderstanding. Still, mastering the Skeleton Golem in one lecture was a remarkable achievement. He should be proud.

“Junior, look. You can summon a Skeleton Golem now.” Direttore gently turned Lee Han’s head, a small smile on his face.

“I didn’t need to…” Lee Han whined.

“…Don’t you like golems?”

“I should have listened to you, Senior…”

Whoosh! Direttore grabbed his constantly whining junior’s head with both hands, turning it forcefully to make him look at the Skeleton Golem.

“Hey, look at it. Isn’t it cool?”

“Ugh. It’s cool.”

“Aren’t you proud?”

“I’m proud.”

“Good. Completing a Skeleton Golem in one lecture is a very, very big deal. This is really important, you know?”

“Yes…”

“It’s a big deal!”

“Yes!”

“Today’s lecture was rewarding and fulfilling, wasn’t it?”

“It was rewarding and fulfilling!”

Direttore, nodding in satisfaction at his junior’s answer, suddenly began to doubt himself.

…Am I acting like the professors of Einrogaard right now?

After the lecture, Lee Han briefly visited the Black Magic Tower to check on Duke Icardoren’s condition.

‘If the Duke’s condition has improved, I might be able to have a proper conversation with him,’ he thought.

Last time, the Duke had been too frightened, so Lee Han had only managed to get him to sign off on Yukbertire’s artificial dimension research, failing to discuss any other deals.

Direttore insisted that Duke Icardoren’s fear was due to Lee Han’s status as a disciple of the Demon Spirit Tower, but Lee Han didn’t entirely agree.

‘The fact that the seniors put him in a toad demon and kidnapped him must also be part of the reason. It wasn’t just me who scared him.’

In any case, if the Duke’s condition had improved and he was capable of conversation, Lee Han had a chance to squeeze some gold out of him.

Lee Han descended the stone stairs into the dungeon. The air was cold and damp, and it smelled like old dirt and mold. Water dripped from the ceiling, echoing in the silence. He thought of research ideas he made up quickly.

‘He thought of research ideas like ‘Studying the Magic of Underground Rivers’ or ‘How to Make Plants Grow Faster with Magic’. These research ideas might tempt him.’

“Are you there?” Lee Han asked.

“Please, just go away. I won’t ask for anything more,” the Duke replied in an exhausted and parched voice.

Lee Han was puzzled by the Duke’s voice. Of course, anyone imprisoned in the dungeon of a black magician’s tower would be on edge, but the Duke’s words sounded different, as if he were talking to someone else…

“Duke Icardoren, are you alright?”

“You… you, you’re not the Princess!” The Duke belatedly recognized Lee Han’s voice and banged on the bars. “Quickly! Come quickly!”

Lee Han cautiously descended, wary of a trap. What if the Duke was hiding nearby, ready to pounce?

Of course, the Duke was neatly confined within the bars. His skin was stretched tight over his bones, making him look like a skeleton. His face was as white as paper, and his eyes were dark and sunken. He looked much paler and thinner than the last time Lee Han had seen him.

“You…” Duke Icardoren whispered in a hoarse voice, like he hadn’t spoken in days, as he spotted Lee Han.

Lee Han was a little worried that the Duke would start ranting about being a disciple of the Demon Spirit Tower again.

“Duke Icardoren, there was a slight misunderstanding about what you said last time…”

“Do you have anything to eat?”

“Pardon?”

“Food. Anything will do.”

“I’m sorry, Your Grace. The food I carry is only ordinary.” Lee Han always carried a certain amount of food in his backpack just in case, but it was mostly simple, preserved food. It wouldn’t be satisfactory for the Duke, who enjoyed extravagant meals with names too difficult to remember.

“Ordinary is fine! Ordinary is fine. Do you have bread?”

“Bread… I do, but it might be a bit stale.”

“Give it to me!”

Lee Han took out a slightly hardened, solid loaf of bread and handed it over. The Duke unwrapped it and stuffed it into his mouth ravenously.

“Duke Icardoren, here, have some butter and jam with it.”

“Oh, oh!” The Duke received the butter and jam Lee Han offered with tears in his eyes. He roughly cut a large chunk of butter with a knife, slathered jam thickly on the bread, and swallowed it without taking a breath.

After finishing four loaves of bread in an instant, the Duke seemed to regain his senses.

“…I shall repay you for this meal. Disciple of the Demon Spirit Tower, what research are you conducting?”

“Yes? Uh, Ancient Subworld…” Before clearing up the misunderstanding about being a disciple of the Demon Spirit Tower, Lee Han first mentioned the fake research title he had prepared.

Before Lee Han could finish, the Duke pulled out a piece of paper and signed it, agreeing to sponsor the research.

“Take it. You can write the research title here yourself.”

‘No way. He’s giving it to me this easily?’ Lee Han was taken aback.

There was a limit to how much one could rejoice in good fortune, and this was too easy and fast. Surely he wasn’t giving this just because he had been given four loaves of bread with butter and jam…

…Could there be some other motive?

‘There might be a scheme.’ While Lee Han was pondering, the Duke glanced around and opened his mouth.

“Do you have any more to eat?”

“Pardon?”

“…I, I’m not asking for it for free. Let’s trade. Here, take a look.” The Duke quickly pulled out another piece of paper and created a blank check to sponsor research.

“Let’s exchange it for food. What do you say?”

“…Duke Icardoren, were you, perhaps, starving? Didn’t Senior Yukbertire give you any meals?”

Duke Icardoren rolled his eyes. He was pondering, unable to understand what Lee Han meant by his question. If it was a trap…

“Duke Icardoren, I swear on the name of the Demon Spirit Tower that I will keep your secret. Please, tell me honestly.”

“…Yes. I was starving. It seems you didn’t know.”

“I don’t understand. Senior Yukbertire may be narrow-minded, petty, stingy, and eccentric, but he’s not the kind of person who would deliberately starve a prisoner.” For a junior who followed his senior, he was suspiciously critical, but the Duke was too tired and weary to notice.

“The Princess didn’t deliberately starve me. But it’s the same as if she did.” The Duke sighed and explained what had happened.

At first, when the disciple of the Demon Spirit Tower and the student of the evil black magic school disappeared and only Yukbertire remained, the Duke had felt slightly relieved.

If he had to choose the most honorable and trustworthy magician among the three, it would be a member of the royal family.

And Yukbertire had acted with courtesy, as the Duke had expected.

-Thank you for sponsoring the artificial dimension research, Your Grace.

-…I am merely pleased to be helping an outstanding magician of Einrogaard.

-If there is anything you desire, please tell me. I will do my best to fulfill it.

-Hmph. In return, you will have to sponsor more research. Well, if I have to pay gold anyway… I don’t know how much longer I’ll be trapped in Einrogaard, so I might as well have a proper meal this time. The food brought by the death knights was always so bland.

Once this week was over and he was returned to the solitary cell guarded by the death knights, he would have to endure another boring meal.

The Duke ordered the extravagant meals he used to enjoy. The outstanding magicians of Einrogaard should be able to prepare them easily enough.

That judgment was almost accurate… Except that one of the few exceptions happened to be standing before the Duke.

-Truffle-topped rotten salad, chicory ham harvested two days ago, beans harvested from the southern empire. Is that correct?

-…Everything is wrong. Are you joking?

-I apologize, Your Grace. Could you please repeat it?

-…I said, truffle-topped…

At first, when the Princess couldn’t remember the menu properly, he thought it was just a possibility. After all, she was a senior student at Einrogaard.

However, that possibility soon turned into a merciless reality.

-I have prepared it. Please eat.

-Oh, thank… What is this?

-Truffle-topped prosciutto ham, chicory salad harvested less than two days ago, and mushroom consommé in the southern imperial style.

-…Is this not garbage?

-Your Grace, it is pointless to try to provoke me with such meaningless insults.

-I’m not trying to provoke you! No. Look at this!

The Duke was truly dumbfounded. It wasn’t that difficult to make if you just had the ingredients. It seemed harder to make it this badly.

The ham was so frozen it was like biting into ice and stuck to the plate, the chicory salad had a strange smell as if they had mixed in some weird sauce, and the mushroom consommé had big pieces of bone and fat floating around instead of a clear broth…

-The ham is frozen!

-This is the *new* way to enjoy ham! The coldness brings out the flavor!

-…Not cold, frozen… And what is this salad dressing!?

-I heard that the key to a salad is the dressing.

-What about the consommé?! What are all these chunks!?

-I tried to enrich the flavor by adding leftover ingredients.

The Duke seriously considered whether the Princess was doing this to insult him, but after a long conversation, he finally understood. The Princess really didn’t know anything about cooking.

“And yet she’s so unnecessarily confident that she tries to cook whatever she wants! When I pointed it out, she told me not to provoke her with meaningless insults! Ugh!” The Duke shouted with the veins in his neck bulging, feeling so wronged and aggrieved.

It wasn’t even that difficult of a request. It would have been much better than this if she had just followed the recipe.

“So, that’s what happened. But… Your Grace, if the Senior is so terrible at cooking, why didn’t you just ask for the ingredients?”

“I didn’t say she was terrible at cooking… Anyway, that’s what I said. From now on, I don’t need anything else, just give me the same meals you eat.”

Lee Han was puzzled by the Duke’s words.

Then wasn’t the problem solved?

‘Why is he so hungry?’

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

“…Do you see that?” The Duke pointed to a table outside the bars. There was a thinly sliced piece of bread on the table.

“I see it.”

“That’s a day’s worth of meals.”

“Is that what’s left over?”

“No! That’s the Princess’s day’s worth of meals!!” The Duke shouted as if he was having a fit. Lee Han was overwhelmed by the force and took a step back.

“Who knew the Princess ate so little! Damn it, then she should have said something! How can a person survive on just that!”

To make matters worse, Yukbertire had left the food and disappeared for several days due to some business. It was driving the Duke crazy. He had no one to complain to and had to starve.

“Give me food! Damn it!” Duke Icardoren realized that titles and fame meant nothing in the face of true starvation.

Lee Han hurriedly took out a can of corned beef and handed it over. The Duke tore off the lid and began to eat it with his hands.

Creak-

Lee Han and the Duke were both startled by the sound of the door opening from above.

Lee Han was startled because he had been trying to get some extra sponsorship while the senior was away, and the Duke was just startled.

However, it was someone they had never seen before who entered. The Head Chef stomped into the room, leaning heavily on his crutch. His face was red and angry, and he pointed a kitchen knife at Lee Han. He was limping, using a crutch on one side, and had cooking utensils such as a kitchen knife, ladle, and spatula hanging from his waist. With the chef’s hat on, he exuded the atmosphere of a very picky and irritable cook.

The man scanned Lee Han up and down and asked curtly.

“You! Wodanaz boy? Is that you?”

“…Yes, I am. Who are you?”

“I am the head chef.”

It was a minion of the never-before-seen Headmaster Skeleton. Lee Han said in surprise.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“I’m sure it is. I’ve never seen you before either. And I haven’t seen any second-year students either. Because of you new students, things are all mixed up! I couldn’t collect the wands, and the Headmaster yelled at me! This is also because of you.”

Lee Han stared at the Head Chef, wondering why he was being blamed.