Chapter 155: Angry Hardrial
Unedited Chapter. It will be edited soon.
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The theft of resources was common, as corruption would always exist, but in this case, it was quite exaggerated.
An example of this is that the Armament Department is the only one that does not receive full support from the academy. They are not given enough resources for student training and have the smallest library of all, without any grimoires.
In addition, the money for repairs does not cover everything. If it weren’t for Hardrial being quite wealthy, powerful, and receiving significant monthly payments from the government and various castles, it would be unfeasible to run his department, even with only one student.
This is because many things are destroyed during training in the department, and it requires a lot of resources to train students and more. Now with two students, both of whom are very talented, he needs more than ten times the resources, which is why he has recently run out of his own supplies.
Even so, seeing how rapidly the two were growing, he knew it was money well spent. But that didn’t take away from how bad he felt about the corruption within the academy towards him.
The problem is that there isn’t much he can do. They really have tremendous power. Perhaps when he was alone he could have left, which would have created a huge gap in the country without him there, and it would have been good revenge, and he thought about it for a long time. But, starting with the fact that he didn’t want to leave the department his teacher had created, it was very difficult for him to make that decision.
Later, with Laura’s arrival, all his thoughts about that were shattered, and he focused on teaching her, no matter what, and now he has two students. The problem is that with two students, expenses go up, and the problem reappears.
It is unsustainable for him to carry this on for the long term of one or two years.
Even so, the academy still refuses to give him resources.
"Luckily, this guy seems to have enough money," he thought. This would solve a lot of his problems, although the rapid growth they were experiencing left him powerless in the face of expenses.
His thoughts had wandered too far, between frustration and annoyance, and he smiled.
"So? How much money can the academy give me for these repairs? The damage was caused by students and teachers, and the law states that the academy must be responsible for a large part or all of the damage. Since they haven’t given us any resources in recent years, may I ask if they will finally decide to give us the resources we need?" he asked.
Miroc frowned. "How much is the total damage? We will cover part of it," he replied.
"The entire hall was destroyed, so about 1.5 million Jens are needed for repairs. In addition, 500,000 Jens for damage to the base. Construction these days is inexpensive, and I know the academy has excellent relationships with several construction companies, so I will also ask for your permission to contact them, so that you are satisfied."
"Puff." Miroc stood up abruptly. "That much money?! We’re not a bank!" he roared.
"Don’t you know how much the academy’s main halls cost?" Hardrial shrugged. He wasn’t the one who made those halls so expensive.
This made Miroc swallow hard and return to his seat, trying to calm down.
"The Academy doesn’t have much money for repairs... cough." He cleared his throat before saying that and spoke again. "I’ll give you 500,000 yen for repairs, after the full extent of the damage has been investigated. We’ll give you another million in two months. The other 500,000 will be difficult to come up with in the short term," he said and looked at him.
"I hope that will suffice. In about 3 or 4 months, the damage should be repaired," he said.
Hardrial stared at him.
The Academy’s wealth is something that cannot be easily measured in words, because it commands many territories and usually has a good amount of items coming out of the tower.
To say that they are short of money is an insult to his knowledge, so he smiled helplessly and shrugged.
"And leave my students without a classroom for four months? Is that how the Academy operates? That’s really unfortunate," he said.
"What do you want then? I didn’t send them to damage such expensive things," replied Miroc.
"Well, then it doesn’t matter. You don’t need to cover anything. I wasn’t planning on counting on you guys for this anyway. You didn’t help before, so you’re not going to help now. I’ll just ask you not to interfere with my department. I’ll have it repaired myself, so I hope no one meddles in what doesn’t concern them," he replied harshly.
Miroc Ealsara frowned and looked at him with a piercing gaze.
"The academy grounds are sacred; they can hardly be touched by low-level companies. So if you’re going to hire someone, it must be from a major company."
"Haha." Hardrial scoffed. "Director Miroc, who I hire to do that job is none of your business."
"You..." Miroc stood up. "What are you saying?! I am the Director of the Academy and Chairman of the Board of Directors!" he roared.
"I don’t care," Hardrial replied, quite annoyed. "I am Sir Hardrial Forwal, the most powerful Armamentalist in the Empire and one of the most prominent magicians. Even Lord Dan treats me with respect. Who are you, standing in front of me?" He stared at him.
Miroc fell silent and swallowed his poisonous words. It was the first time he had seen this guy so angry. Being one of the most powerful in the empire, he was naturally scary.
Miroc also had power, but he couldn’t match this guy. That’s why his threatening tone diminished considerably before he spoke.
"As director, I have to protect the status of the academy," he replied.
"Status? You destroyed it, you and your entourage of idiots on the board of directors. Do you think I don’t realize that? You were just lucky to be born into a prominent family, and that’s why you’re there. Otherwise, you’d be a disgrace who could never climb the social ladder. So, I’ll say it again: don’t get in my way."
"You..." Miroc roared, but a murderous glint flashed in Hardrial’s eyes and silenced him immediately.
"The repairs will be done by me. I’ll hire the company of my choice. Anyone who wants to complain, I’ll throw them into the arena to see if they have the balls to do it." Finally, Hardrial turned to leave, but before doing so, he paused and stared at Miroc, who was standing there with his mouth open.
"I came here just to tell you that, so don’t go around saying I was asking you for money. I never needed your help. See you tomorrow at the competition."
Then he left.
Miroc stood there stunned, processing all the information, staring at the closed door. Hardrial wasn’t the same.
At the very least, this was the first time he had ever been threatened like that by that guy.
Besides, he knows a lot.
’More than he should,’ he thought.
Knock*knock*
The sound of the door echoing brought him out of his thoughts.
"Come in," he said.
Then Professor Niles entered.
"I saw Hardrial leaving, he seemed upset. What happened, President Miroc?" Niles asked, puzzled.
Miroc returned to his usual self and sat up straight. "He seems to have created a logical error and destroyed the classroom. We were talking about expenses," he said.
"It’s strange for a guy like him to create logical errors. Was it on purpose?"
"Possibly. I think he was trying to teach his students something."
Niles nodded and quickly lost interest, just as Miroc didn’t want to continue explaining.
"How are the stars of this tournament doing?" he asked.
"Pretty well, better than I would have expected," he replied.
Miroc smiled. "As expected of one of our best teachers and our greatest talents, he is even capable of leaving the teacher speechless," he said.
"Hahaha, those kids are really good. Especially Young Master Mark. He has been more active recently and trying to get stronger, he is such a hard-working kid. I’m afraid they’ll give us a wonderful surprise in the Battle of the Hierarchies."
"Good, very good. I’m glad to hear that. Then I’ll leave everything to you. If you need more money, feel free to ask for it."
"About that..." Niles smiled and approached with a document. "This is what we need right now. It’s specified in the document what it will be used for.
Miroc grabbed the document and leafed through it. They needed about 5 million Jens for repairs and also for teaching the three most powerful students, in addition to the rest of Niles’ talented students.
He nodded and didn’t think twice before approving it.
"Work hard on training them. I’m sure they’ll give us some great surprises," he replied.
"Thank you very much, principal!" Niles expressed his gratitude before leaving the office, leaving Miroc alone once again.
He turned to look out the window and smiled softly.
"Aid should always go to departments that are important, no matter what they ask for, Hardrial. In the end, your two students, however talented they may be, will they be able to compete with Niles’ 50 students in supporting the academy in the future?"
"Nothing to be done, that’s the way the world works. Some are privileged, others are not. And your department could disappear soon, so it’s not worth investing in." He smiled coldly as he sipped his tea and watched the smoke rise from the Armamentists’ department.