Fake Professor, Misunderstood As Strong - Chapter 56

Hidden Schemes… Part-1.
“You finally decided to show your face, old fox…”

At Reynald’s words, Nathan smiled a bit and replied in a nostalgic tone.

“Well, it’s been a while since I came back to the palace, so I took my time watching it from outside…”

The two of them glared at each other with narrowed eyes for a few more seconds before deciding to leave for the meeting room.

Both of them were wary of each other; they didn’t trust each other at all, so the tension caused by the two of them made everyone feel intimidated.

Only after the two of them left for the meeting room did the rest of the people calm down a bit.

…

Palace, Inner Area, Meeting Room.

“If not for the negotiations, I would have directly attacked you right here right now…”

Nathan smirked at Reynald’s hateful words and replied in an amused tone:

“Seriously, kiddo, why hate me that much? All I have done is what a real wizard should do~”

Blood veins appeared on Reynald’s face as he heard Nathan play innocent.

Reynald’s father was an excellent grade 1 mage; moreover, he was a good-hearted person.

He died while fighting an invading demon who successfully crossed the ‘False Dome’ seal.

If Nathan had helped out at that time, Reynald’s father wouldn’t have had to sacrifice his life for the sake of the empire.

Reynald hates Nathan for this betrayal.

Nathan refused to help his older brother because there were no profits in it for him.

Unlike Reynald’s father, who was a kind person, Nathan is a wizard through and through; he follows the rule of equivalent exchange.

If there are no profits to be made, he won’t bother helping others.

Even during the fight with Abella, he didn’t really care about the lives of innocent civilians who were dying from collateral damage.

However, we cannot hold this against him either.

Given that Nathan is a wizard, one would expect him to be naturally self-centered and cunning.

Those who are kind aren’t really fit to be wizards; they are fit for knighthood.

Since the founding years of magic, this is how wizards have always existed; they have survived by being selfish, and that’s just how things are in this world.

“Moreover, it was me who obtained this spell, so it’s my property now… As a fellow wizard, you need to give an appropriate amount of benefits in exchange for this spell book…”

Hearing Nathan’s words, Reynald felt irritated; he didn’t even want to hear that old fox’s voice, but to obtain his father’s lost legacy, and he had no other choice.

Reynald waved his hand, and a maid brought a written ‘Magic contract’, while another maid brought a few scrolls and space rings, placing them on the table between Reynald and Nathan.

Reynald pointed at the scrolls and said in a calm voice:

“These are the scrolls and lists of items you wanted; also, these space rings contain all of the money and resources that you asked for… Sign the mana contract, and all of this is yours…”

Nathan smiled at Reynald’s words and grabbed the mana contract.

He opened the seal and began reading through the terms and conditions.

After reading through the contract for a few good minutes, Nathan nodded his head and said,

“Good, everything’s okay with the contract too. With this contract, you can’t sell this spell book to others, and only the royal family’s members can inherit it…”

Nathan then proceeded to check the space rings, and only after confirming that everything was in order, did he sign the contract.

Signing a mana contract is a big deal; if any of the two parties break it, they will receive massive mana backlash, causing fatal wounds in their bodies.

And recovering from such wounds takes decades or even more time; thus, no one dares to break the mana contract.

A mana contract works on the basis of ‘Mana’ itself.

If the two people participating in a mana contract are equal in realm, then they both will have to face the same amount of damage if they break the contract.

But if one side is weaker and the other is stronger, then things change a bit.

In the event that the stronger party breaks the contract, they will receive a much stronger mana backlash as they have more mana in their body.

On the other hand, if someone weak breaks the contract, then they will only get a small mana backlash as they have less mana.

That’s why mana contracts tend to favor the weaker side most of the time.

…

Once Nathan was done signing the contract, Reynald also signed, and the mana contract burned in an instant, eventually disappearing into thin air.

It didn’t even leave ashes behind.

Ignoring that phenomenon, Nathan handed over the spell book to Reynald and got up from his seat.

“That’s it. Now that we are done with the official work, I should leave… I still have to take care of the university’s restoration and all….”

Reynald waved his hand at Nathan as if he were signaling him to leave as fast as possible.

Nathan ignored Reynald’s actions and left with steady footsteps. He didn’t want to stay here for too long; otherwise, Reynald might get irritated at him more than necessary.

If the two of them engaged in combat here, many innocent people would perish.

(Not like they cared about the lives of innocent people either, though… they just thought that it would be troublesome to explain the deaths of so many people to the media…)

Watching Nathan’s retreating back, Reynald shook his head and opened the spellbook to check the contents one last time.

‘Good, this is the genuine version; if he really dared to give me some fake… ‘I wouldn’t have let him leave this place alive today.’

Reynald respected his father a lot, and safekeeping his legacy is like a very important job for Reynald.

‘I need to go into seclusion for the next few months and study this spell properly… Once I am done with it, I will give it to Mark. This should be very beneficial for his growth…’

Helping Mark grow into a capable ‘King’ is also one of his most important responsibilities, which he must fulfill at all costs.

Reynald placed the spell book in his space ring, left the meeting room, and returned to the banquet with a slight smile on his face.

Regaining his father’s lost legacy certainly put him in a good mood.

His eyes fell on a purple-haired man who was standing near the window with a juice glass in his hand.

As Reynald was in quite a good mood now, he immediately walked in Jareth’s direction without hesitation.

Wherever he went, people gave way and kept a proper distance from him out of respect.

Seeing Reynald come his way, Jareth also stopped talking with Shin and nodded his head to give a light greeting.

“Your majesty, what brings you to me?”

Although Jareth’s face remained as cold as usual while saying those words, doubts appeared in his mind.

‘Why is this stern-faced guy smiling today? Did the principal give him such a good deal that it made this stone-faced guy smile?

Jareth’s perception of Reynald was that he was a stern and strict person.

However, that was only true in the game world; in the real world, even the king displays more emotions than his game character did.

In the game, Reynald always remained sitting on his throne with a stern and expressionless face that never showed any expressions.

That’s why seeing Reynald smile like this now caught Jareth off-guard.

Unaware of Jareth’s inner monologue, Reynald smiled a bit and said in a curious tone:

“Well, I just wanted to meet you in person, Prof. Jareth; my son has praised you a lot in his messages…”

Reynald paused for a moment before continuing.

“I originally tested you with my aura when you entered the palace grounds, but you proved that you are much better than I was expecting you to be; you are indeed a remarkable person, Prof. Jareth…”

Hearing Reynald’s words of praise, Jareth shook his head and replied,

“Haha, you praise me too much, your majesty; I am still much weaker when compared to your immense presence…”

Reynald raised his wine glass, and so did Jareth; both of them toasted their drinks to show trust.

A look of confusion appeared on Reynald’s face when he saw juice in Jareth’s glass instead of wine.

“Juice?”

Jareth nodded his head and gave a vague and simple answer:

“Yeah, I made a promise to someone that I wouldn’t drink wine… Forgive my rudeness, your majesty…”

Reynald simply shook his head and replied,

“Haha, no worries; promises shouldn’t be broken that easily; you are a man of your words, Prof. Jareth!…”

Although Reynald said those words, he was thinking something totally different in his mind.

‘I did hear that his mother was poor… Could it be that he made a promise to her or something?…’

Reynald misunderstood Jareth’s words and mistook that Jareth had promised this to his dead mother or something.

After a few more words of sweet- talk, Reynald finally arrived at his main topic.

“By the way, what are your thoughts on the position of ‘The Head of the Blaze Family’…?”

Reynald’s question seemed vague and simple, but it had a deep, hidden meaning, which caused Jareth to narrow his eyes a bit.

‘Is he trying to provoke me or something?…’

No matter how Jareth looked at it, this was clearly a signal to ask Jareth a hidden question which was:

‘Do you want to take the position of head of the Blaze Family?’