Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy Chapter 844

Chapter 844

After a brief conversation, Yi-Han lamented inwardly.

'How could this be? To think I couldn't trust my senior.'

He couldn't help but feel self-loathing for doubting Direth, unlike other professors or seniors.

"Sob. It's too painful."

"I-it's not that bad, is it?"

Direth was flustered when her junior showed distress.

Of course, due to the misunderstanding, he had worked excessively hard on magic he didn't need to do, but still, mastering the skeleton golem was a great achievement.

It was something to be proud of and feel satisfied about.

"Junior. Look. You can summon a skeleton golem now."

"I didn't need to do it..."

"...Don't you like the golem?"

"I should have listened to Senior properly..."

Whoosh!

Direth grabbed her constantly whining junior's head with both hands and forcibly turned it sideways to make him look at the skeleton golem.

"Hey. Look. Isn't it cool?"

"Ugh. It's cool."

"Aren't you satisfied?"

"I'm satisfied."

"Right. Completing a skeleton golem in one lecture is really, really amazing. Right?"

"Yes..."

"It's amazing. Right!"

"Yes!"

"Today's lecture was rewarding and satisfying, right?"

"It was rewarding and satisfying!"

Nodding with satisfaction at her junior's (forcibly obtained) answers, Direth suddenly became suspicious of herself.

...Am I perhaps acting like Einroguard's professors right now?

  *

After the lecture ended, Yi-Han briefly visited the Dark Shadow Hall.

He wanted to check Duke Icaldoren's condition himself.

'If the duke's condition has improved, he might be able to talk with me too.'

Last time, because the duke was too afraid, he only signed for Yukbeltire's artificial realm research, and couldn't discuss any other deals.

Direth claimed the reason Duke Icaldoren was scared was because of Yi-Han's status as the Imperial Mage Administrator's disciple, but...

Yi-Han didn't fully agree.

'The seniors kidnapping him by putting him inside a demon toad is surely one of the reasons too. It's not just me who scared him.'

Anyway, if the duke's condition had improved and conversation was possible, Yi-Han might have a chance to extract gold coins.

Yi-Han recalled a few fake research titles he had thought of in advance as he went down the stairs.

'He might be tempted by things like <Research on Ancient Small World Magic> or <Research on Instantaneous Telekinesis Magic Application>, <Research on Advanced Lightning Element Transformation and Spirit Power>.'

"Are you there?"

"Please go away. I won't ask for more."

"?"

Yi-Han was puzzled by the duke's tired and hungry voice.

Of course, anyone would become irritable when trapped in the underground prison of dark mages' magic tower, but the duke's words now sounded a bit different.

As if he was talking to someone else...

"Your Grace. Are you alright?"

"You... you, you're not the princess!"

The duke, belatedly recognizing Yi-Han's voice, banged on the bars.

"Quick! Come quickly!"

"???"

Yi-Han went down warily, wondering if it was a trap.

Would the duke perhaps pounce on him from where he was hiding beside if he went down?

Of course, the duke was neatly confined inside the bars. Although he looked much paler and thinner than when Yi-Han had seen him last time.

"You..."

Duke Icaldoren, who discovered Yi-Han, whispered in a hoarse voice.

Yi-Han became a bit worried, thinking he might start ranting about the Imperial Mage Administrator's disciple again.

"Your Grace. What you said last time was a bit of a misunderstanding..."

"Do you have any food?"

"What?"

"Food, I mean. Anything is fine."

"I'm sorry, Your Grace. I only have ordinary food that I carry around."

Although Yi-Han always carried a certain amount of food in his backpack just in case, most of it was preserved food that could be eaten easily.

It wouldn't be satisfactory to the duke who enjoyed luxurious meals with names hard 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!"

"..."

Yi-Han took out a slightly stale, hard bread and held it out. The duke unwrapped it and stuffed it into his mouth hurriedly.

"Your Grace. Let's at least spread some butter and jam on it."

"Oh, ooh!"

The duke received the butter and jam Yi-Han offered with teary eyes. He cut a large chunk of butter with a knife, spread a generous amount of jam, dipped the bread in it, and swallowed without even breathing.

After finishing four pieces of bread in an instant, the duke seemed to have come to his senses.

"...I shall repay you for this meal. Disciple of the Imperial Mage Administrator. What research are you conducting?"

"What? Well, ancient small world..."

Before clearing up the misunderstanding about being the Imperial Mage Administrator's disciple, Yi-Han first mentioned the fake research title he had decided on.

The duke took out paper before even listening fully and signed to sponsor the research.

"Take it. You can write in the research name here yourself."

'No. He's giving it this easily?'

Yi-Han was flustered.

There's a limit to being happy about good luck, isn't this too easy and fast?

Surely he didn't give this for just four pieces of bread with butter and jam...

...Is there some other intention?

'There might be a scheme.'

While Yi-Han was pondering, the duke glanced around and opened his mouth.

"Do you have any more food?"

"What?"

"...I-I'm not asking for it for free. Let's exchange. Here. Look."

The duke quickly took out another piece of paper and made a blank check to sponsor research.

"Let's exchange for food. How about it?"

"...Your Grace. Were you perhaps starved? Didn't Senior Yukbeltire give you meals?"

Duke Icaldoren rolled his eyes.

He was pondering, unable to understand what Yi-Han meant by his question.

If it was a trap...

"Your Grace. I swear on the Imperial Mage Administrator's name to keep your secret. Please tell me honestly."

"...Yes. I'm starving. You didn't know, it seems."

"I don't understand. Senior Yukbeltire may be narrow-minded, petty, stingy, and eccentric, but she's not the type to deliberately starve a prisoner."

There was an unusually large amount of slander for a junior following his senior, but the duke was too tired and exhausted to notice.

"The princess didn't deliberately starve me. But it's the same as if she did."

The duke explained what had happened with a sigh.

At first, when the Imperial Mage Administrator's disciple and the evil dark magic school student disappeared and only Yukbeltire remained, the duke was slightly relieved.

After all, if he had to choose the most honorable and trustworthy mage among those three, wouldn't it be the royalty?

And Yukbeltire acted with courtesy as the duke expected.

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

-...I'm just glad to help an outstanding Einroguard mage.-

-If there's anything you want, please tell me. I'll do my best to accommodate you.-

-Hmph. In exchange, I'll have to sponsor more research. Well. Since I have to pay these gold coins anyway... As I don't know how long I'll be confined in Einroguard, I should at least have proper meals this time. The food the Death Knights bring is quite bland.-

Once this week ended and he returned to the solitary cell guarded by Death Knights, he would have boring meals again.

The duke ordered the luxurious meals he used to enjoy.

The outstanding mages of Einroguard students should be able to prepare them sufficiently.

That judgment was almost accurate.

...Except for the fact that one of the few exceptions was in front of the duke.

-Rotten salad with truffles, ham harvested two days ago, and beans harvested from the southern empire. Is that correct?-

-...It's all wrong. Are you joking now?-

-I'm sorry, Your Grace. Could you please tell me again?-

-...So, truffles topped...-

At first, when the princess couldn't remember the menu properly, the duke thought, 'Surely not.'

After all, wasn't she an Einroguard upper-year student?

However, that 'surely not' soon became a merciless reality.

-I've prepared it. Please eat.-

-Oh! Thank y... What is this?-

-It's prosciutto ham without truffles, chicory salad harvested less than two days ago, and southern imperial style mushroom consommé.-

-...Isn't this garbage?-

-Your Grace. Such meaningless insults to provoke me are pointless.-

-I'm not trying to provoke you! No, look at this!-

The duke was truly dumbfounded.

It wasn't even a difficult dish to make if you just had the ingredients. It seemed more difficult to make such a mess.

The ham was frozen solid and stuck to the plate, the chicory salad had a strange smell as if some weird sauce had been mixed in, and instead of clear broth, roughly cut fish and meat were rolling around in the mushroom consommé...

-The ham is frozen!-

-Eating it cold is the delicacy, isn't it?-

-...It's not cold, it's froz... And what on earth is this salad sauce!?-

-I heard the essence of salad is the sauce.-

-The consommé?! What are all these chunks?-

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

-...-

The duke seriously considered whether the princess had done this to insult him, but after a long conversation, he finally understood.

The princess knew absolutely nothing about cooking.

"And with that, she had unnecessarily high confidence and tried to cook arbitrarily! When I pointed it out, she said not to provoke her with meaningless insults! Yes!"

The duke shouted, raising veins in his neck, so aggrieved and upset.

It wasn't even such a difficult request.

If she had just followed the recipe, it would have been much better than this, wouldn't it?

"I-I see. But... Your Grace. If Senior is terribly bad at cooking, couldn't you have just asked for the ingredients?"

"I didn't say she was terribly bad... Anyway, I said that. I said I don't need anything else from now on, just give me the meals you eat as they are."

Yi-Han was puzzled at the duke's words.

Wasn't that solving the problem?

'Why is he so starved like this?'

"Isn't that good?"

"...Do you see that?"

The duke pointed at 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 it what's left after eating?"

"No! That's the princess's day's worth of meals!!"

The duke shouted as if having a fit. Yi-Han stepped back one step, overwhelmed by that force.

"Who would have known the princess eats so little! Damn it, shouldn't she at least say something! How can a person endure eating only that!"

Moreover, Yukbeltire had been absent for days due to some business, leaving only the food.

From the duke's perspective, it was maddening.

He had to starve miserably without even being able to complain anywhere.

"Bring out the food! Damn it!"

Duke Icaldoren realized that in the face of true hunger, titles and reputation were meaningless.

When Yi-Han hurriedly took out a can of beef and gave it to him, the duke opened the lid and ate with his hands.

Creak-

"!"

Yi-Han and the duke were both surprised by the sound of a door opening from above.

Yi-Han was surprised because he had been trying to get separate sponsorship while his senior was away, and the duke was just surprised.

However, the person who entered was someone they hadn't seen before.

He was limping, using a crutch on one side, and had cooking utensils like kitchen knives, ladles, and spatulas hanging from his waist.

With a chef's hat on top of that, he gave off the atmosphere of a very picky and irritable chef.

The person looked Yi-Han up and down and asked curtly.

"Are you the Wardanaz family boy?"

"...Yes, I am. Who are you?"

"I'm the kitchen keeper."

"!"

It was a minion of the skull principal he was seeing for the first time. Yi-Han said in surprise.

"Nice to meet you."

"I'm sure it is. I haven't seen you either. And I haven't seen the 2nd year brats either. Because of you. Thanks to you, I couldn't even collect staffs and got scolded. This is because of you too."

"...???"