Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 670

The small camp was usually peaceful, filled with the quiet sounds of the mountain forest. But today, the air was torn by terrified screams. “Help! Someone, help us!”

Lee Han sighed and pushed open the heavy wooden door of the stable. He peered inside at Pawnreeg, the griffin shifting his large, feathered feet. “Did you perhaps have a little snack?” Lee Han asked, a teasing smile on his face. He glanced around the stable. “Hmm. No, I see them.”

Pawnreeg let out a low growl and scratched his powerful claws against the stone wall, clearly annoyed by the accusation. *As if I would eat such noisy things,* he seemed to say.

“Alright, alright,” Lee Han chuckled, patting Pawnreeg’s leg. “I know it wasn’t you. It’s just the screaming is a bit much. Everyone inside,” he called out, raising his voice, “please be quiet! You’re safe now.”

“B-but they’ll come back! Save us!” a shaky voice cried.

“I already saved you,” Lee Han said firmly. “If you keep yelling nonsense, I might just let the… uh… *stable guardian* out to play.” He made up the threat on the spot, hoping it sounded scary. “And he *really* doesn’t like loud noises.”

Inside the stable, the remaining poachers exchanged nervous glances.

*Stable guardian? What’s he talking about? Is it worse than whatever hit Julban?*

Lee Han firmly shut the stable door, cutting off their panicked whispers, and turned back to the fresh mountain air.

Once outside, Frost Stride was looking at a wanted poster.

Lee Han, trying to be friendly, spoke to him.

“Looking at Professor Bendozole’s wanted poster?” Lee Han asked. “Is he in trouble again?”

“Ah, no. I was looking at the poacher’s wanted poster. I thought he looked familiar. That Julban fellow. He’s quite famous for being bad. There was a reward for catching him.”

“Really?”

Lee Han stared, thinking, *A reward for catching a guy who got hit by lightning because he was being an idiot?*

“Haha. He was caught off guard, but that fellow is quite notorious,” Frost Stride said.

“Oh dear. It seems poachers are quite careless,” Lee Han replied.

Lee Han knew he was being a bit hypocritical. He was the one who attacked first! But he said it anyway, shamelessly.

*I hope they all let their guard down even more.*

If more poachers with rewards on their heads, like that Julban fellow, came looking for them, he could make a lot of money before the vacation ended.

“Do you think more poachers will come?”

“Hmm. That’s a difficult question. More might come, but… I don’t think they will.”

Frost Stride took out a long, brass telescope and checked the surroundings.

Sure enough, the presences that had been annoyingly lingering around just a moment ago had completely disappeared.

“Poachers aren’t crazy fans; they’re cunning thieves. They must have realized something when those magic spells went off and Julban’s gang was destroyed.”

Julban’s gang was only targeted because they were thought to have weaknesses.

But now that Julban’s gang had been crushed like that, the poachers must have realized that the wizards here were no ordinary ones.

“Did they flee outside the mountain range?” Lee Han asked, slightly disappointed. Frost Stride didn’t notice the emotion in Lee Han’s words.

“Not at all. Poachers are persistent. They probably rushed in to find the unicorn first, rather than trying to keep us in check.”

Hearing that, Gainando was startled.

“Then shouldn’t we go in quickly too?”

“You don’t have to worry. The unicorn isn’t a monster you can catch in such a hurry.”

At Frost Stride’s words, Gainando whispered to Lee Han.

“Lee Han, I think that person is wrong a lot. Can we trust what he says?”

“…Let’s not be too harsh just because he didn’t recognize the poachers right away.”

Unlike Julban, the poacher Akga was more like a lone hunter.

To compare, Akga was like the Empire’s best hunters, the Shadow Patrol – though they would never admit it! These were people who loved the thrill of hunting dangerous creatures.

Hunters now often said that these people were blessed by Jarmis, the god of hunters.

These were people who abandoned ordinary happiness for a solitary and dangerous life.

And the poacher Akga was one of these people.

*I’m the one who will catch the unicorn.*

Akga took out an incense compass from his pocket.

This incense compass, which contained a strand of the unicorn’s mane, was a treasure that any hunter chasing unicorns would want.

The smoke rising from the incense would point in the direction of the unicorn.

Akga planned to approach and catch the unicorn alone while the others were wandering around the entrance of the mountain range.

“!”

Akga blinked at the white and beautiful creature he saw in the distance.

As a hunter, he had never been fascinated by prey before, but the unicorn made it possible.

*Found it!*

Akga carefully and slowly took out his crossbow.

The unicorn was a monster with powerful magic, so if he didn’t take it down in one shot, Akga could be defeated instead.

But he didn’t care. Akga was determined to end it in one shot.

As he took out the crossbow bolt, a threatening energy rose. The air trembled as much as the curse that could end the unicorn’s life.

*Jarmis, let one of us die…*

At that moment, the unicorn’s appearance changed. Akga’s eyes widened.

*…Did unicorns have the ability to shapeshift?*

“—!”

The unicorn, who had turned into a human, suddenly screamed. Akga felt a shock that shook his soul. The mental defense items he was wearing shattered all at once.

In that moment, Akga realized. The instinct of an experienced hunter was screaming.

The opponent wasn’t a unicorn!

“You… you…!”

“Hey, you poacher scum! How dare you try to catch a unicorn? Even if you had a hundred lives, you couldn’t trade them for a unicorn!”

The sight of a short, grumpy-looking human wizard walking towards him was the last thing Akga saw before he collapsed.

Professor Bendozole spat on the fallen poacher and then snatched the incense compass.

Then, he took out the mane hair and dispelled the magic. The beautiful unicorn hair turned back into Professor Bendozole’s hair.

“The poachers are more unskilled than I thought. I thought they’d all come this way, but they’re still wasting time at the entrance?”

Professor Bendozole growled, displeased.

The plan to scatter fake unicorn hair on the market was a method inspired by Headmaster Skull.

He thought that if the poachers cast search magic with the unicorn hair, they would all come this way…

“This won’t do. I’ll have to take matters into my own hands.”

“—…”

“Don’t worry. I’ll protect you until you’re fully healed,” Professor Bendozole said firmly to the unicorn and began to walk down with large strides.

The threatening monsters of the Bitter Mountains dared not to attack him because of his fierce momentum and cleared the way.

Three days later, Professor Lightning Stride and the hunters returned.

Lee Han quickly brought hot coffee with plenty of butter and freshly baked toast. Professor Lightning Stride looked at Lee Han as if he couldn’t be any more pleased.

“I don’t know why someone like you is learning under Professor Thunder Stride,” he said.

*What high praise.*

The professors and hunters hurriedly stuffed coffee and toast into their mouths. Searching the mountain range was tiring work, and it easily exhausted even experienced hunters and rangers.

“Did you find any traces of the unicorn?”

“No. But we found something else instead.”

“Poachers? We’ve caught some too.”

“!”

Mrangse, who was sipping coffee, was startled. Professor Lightning Stride looked at him, as if to say, *What did I tell you?*

“Yo-you really caught them?”

“We’ve locked them up in the stable over there.”

Mrangse glanced at the stable and nodded. Judging by how quiet it was, they must have caught two or three people.

“We found traces of the poachers from the start. They didn’t even try to hide, so it wasn’t difficult. The problem is something else…”

“What is it?”

“The poachers are being hunted.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

“It is. But I don’t know who’s doing it.”

Professor Lightning Stride downed all the coffee in his tin cup.

It was good that someone was catching the poachers, but it wasn’t good to have an unexpected opponent in the mountain range.

The unicorn was a tricky creature that even Professor Lightning Stride was careful to handle, so having too many changing factors was not a good thing.

“Could it be other poachers fighting each other?”

“It’s too professional for that. Besides, poachers don’t usually fight each other before catching their prey.”

“What if another monster came down?”

“No matter how stupid the poachers are, they wouldn’t be hunted by their prey.”

Lee Han, who had been listening to the conversation between Professor Lightning Stride and the students, asked, puzzled.

“Professor Bendozole went missing here, so could it be that Professor Bendozole is the one taking out the poachers?”

Professor Lightning Stride was so surprised that he dropped the tin cup he was holding.

“Ben, Bendozole was here!”

The students, including Lee Han, all stared at Professor Lightning Stride, amazed and confused.

*Even so, to completely forget about him!*

“You said Professor Bendozole went missing here…”

“Ah… ah… right, right. That’s right. I really didn’t think about it. Well, if it’s Professor Bendozole…”

Professor Lightning Stride nodded as if he finally understood.

“I was wondering what crazy person was attacking the poachers like a beast, but it was Professor Bendozole. That’s just like Professor Bendozole. So he was alive…”

The faces of the students, who would have to meet a new professor in the coming semester, were turning sour, but Professor Lightning Stride didn’t notice.

Lee Han spoke up to find something positive in the situation.

“If the professor is really here, wouldn’t things be easier?”

“Hmm.”

Professor Lightning Stride was deep in thought. After pouring himself another cup of coffee from the coffee pot, Professor Lightning Stride answered.

“No. Not really.”

The students’ faces turned even more sour.

“It’s going to be a hassle with Professor Bendozole around. We were going to attack them too.”

“Su-surely not,” Gainando said, denying reality.

For a professor to attack a student, that’s…

*…Actually, it was possible.*

“Even so, he’s not Professor Begreck, so he wouldn’t attack a student he’s meeting for the first time, right!”

Lee Han looked at Gainando with sad eyes.

“You’re saying such carefree things because you haven’t met Professor Bendozole. Professor Bendozole is a troublesome person to begin with, but he becomes even more troublesome when he has a rare animal with him. He probably won’t trust us either. Everyone, be careful. It’s easier to think of a crazy wizard being added to the monsters of the mountain range.”

*Is there no trustworthy professor among the professors of Ainrogard?*

Lee Han was amazed and confused.

He finally met a professor in the mountain range, but he had to treat him like an even more dangerous monster.

“Aargh!”

Everyone was startled by the scream.

Professor Lightning Stride took out a bottle of Hell’s Breath – a powerful potion used to subdue dangerous creatures. He needed to use at least this much to subdue Professor Bendozole.

“I-I’m sorry. I was surprised to see Julban’s gang,” Mrangse apologized, embarrassed.

He had opened the stable door without thinking and was surprised to see the prisoners inside.

“Please save us!!”

The poachers, realizing that there were new people, wailed as if it was their last chance.

Professor Lightning Stride said in an annoyed tone.

“Close the door. It’s ruining my appetite.”

“No!”

As the stable door closed again, the nameless hunters whispered and looked at Lee Han.

To use a griffin as a guard!

That boy was a born tamer. They had never seen anyone handle a griffin like that.

*Even a basilisk.*

Lee Han, who had half given up, sat still without saying anything.

*I shouldn’t have bothered making coffee.*

“Lee Han, those people say you’re loved by beasts,” one of the hunters said.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t an insult.

Lee Han felt a little better. It seemed his first impression had changed a bit.

“Only the king of monsters can be loved like that…”

*I should use cheap coffee beans next time.*

At that moment, the surroundings suddenly became quiet.

The nameless hunters gestured to Professor Lightning Stride. The professor took out the Hell’s Breath bottle and said.

“Professor Bendozole has really come. Wodanaz.”

“Yes?”

“Blast the strongest magic you have outside.”