Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 1100

The inspector thought, ‘This is wrong.’ He decided to go back to his office and tell the Headmaster of the school.

He would explain that a student who learns from a great wizard should respect wizards more, not dragons. This problem is because the great wizard is too easy-going.

“Professor, do we really have to try so hard to please the dragon?”

Lee Han asked seriously.

Of course, Lee Han didn’t particularly like Professor Bendozol.

There were many kinds of professors at Einroguard. Some were very good, and some were not so good. Professor Bendozol was definitely one of the not-so-good ones.

But no matter how much he disliked the man, seeing him so desperate made Lee Han feel a little sorry for him as a disciple.

Is the dragon’s attention that important?

“Shut up!”

Professor Bendozol glared at Lee Han with eyes full of resentment.

“No, what did I do wrong…”

“How would someone like you, who is loved by dragons, understand my feelings!”

“……”

Lee Han usually argued with professors and never gave up. But this time, Professor Bendozol’s voice was so full of strong feeling that Lee Han felt surprised and didn’t know what to say.

“Professor.”

“What!”

“Actually, being loved by dragons isn’t all that great.”

Lee Han advised sincerely.

Just considering the status of the dragon race in the Empire, troublesome things naturally followed the moment you got involved.

For example, inviting them to your mansion and then putting handcuffs on them…

“Lee Han, that doesn’t sound like very good advice.”

Yoner whispered from beside him.

No matter how you looked at it, it was like pouring oil on the fire.

Of course, his friend meant it sincerely, but it would never sound that way to a narrow-minded professor.

“You… this… Grrrr.”

“P-Professor!”

Professor Bendozol’s face went pale. He gasped, his hand flying to his chest as if he’d been struck by lightning. With a strangled cry, he stumbled forward, his knees buckling, and crashed to the floor. A strange white foam bubbled at the corners of his mouth.

“Wodanaz assassinated the professor!”

“No, you crazy people!”

Lee Han strongly retorted.

He was the only one who had given the professor advice here, and now he was being misunderstood like this!

“Ah, I see! Sorry, Wodanaz. I understand. Wodanaz did not assassinate the professor! Everyone, remember! Wodanaz did not assassinate the professor!”

“……”

Lee Han, not knowing what he understood, kicked his friend in the shin once and then borrowed a potion from Yoner.

“Yoner, can you lend me a potion?”

Yoner quickly thought about which potion to give. One potion would hurt someone badly, and the other would just wake them up. Yoner trusted his friend and gave him the potion to wake the professor up.

‘Did I give him the right one?’

Fortunately, it seemed he had given him the right one. Lee Han breathed a sigh of relief as Professor Bendozol regained consciousness.

“Professor, are you alright?”

“You… this… Ugh… Bast…”

“Professor Bendozol, are you perhaps not in good health?”

At that moment, Wooman, who had been looking around, appeared. This dragon inspector, in the form of a large human, cast a worried gaze at the professor.

Professor Bendozol, terrified, tried to answer while moving his stiff tongue.

“I, I am very… healthy. Do not worry.”

The professor really tried hard to move his body. He forced himself to stand up, even though he felt weak.

Then, he assured Wooman several times that he was absolutely fine.

“Look! You don’t have to worry. Teaching Einroguard students is this Bendozol’s joy and mission!”

“……”

“……”

The students stared with bewildered and contemptuous eyes, but Professor Bendozol didn’t care.

The professor only cared about the dragon. He didn’t even notice the students around him.

“I understand. This Wooman simply trusts Professor Bendozol.”

“It’s an honor! Krooh!”

“But Professor, there is one thing I would like to ask.”

“Ask anything!”

“About the Barghest you brought…”

It’s… it’s the greatest honor of my life! Krooh! To have such a distinguished dragon like you in my humble classroom! My heart is overflowing with joy!” (Imagine Professor Bendozol saying this with a big, fake smile and maybe even bowing too much).

As soon as Professor Bendozol heard that a dragon was coming as an inspector, he searched the mountains for two days straight to find a baby Barghest.

If he had brought out a fully grown Barghest and the inspector saw it, he would have said something like this:

-Professor Bendozol. I am very disappointed that you have brought such a dangerous animal before the students. I will not be contracting with you. Also, I will spread rumors to all the dragons this Wooman knows.

-No way!!!

He couldn’t just change the lesson plan he had told the Headmaster about. So, he tried to make it a little better by using a baby Barghest instead of a grown-up one.

Fortunately, it was worth staying up all night to find a baby Barghest. To think he would receive praise from the dragon race like this.

“The baby Barghest’s power is so weak that it doesn’t seem to be of much help in learning how to deal with them. Is there perhaps some secret that Wooman doesn’t know?”

“……”

Professor Bendozol looked more shocked than anyone who had seen something truly terrible happen.

Professor Bendozol was so dumbfounded that he couldn’t say a word.

‘I should just die.’

The professor made a decision in his heart.

To miss an opportunity to please a dragon, which might only happen once in a lifetime (although he did meet Her Highness Jo-o-rin last year, come to think of it), and to show such a shameful mistake.

This life was no longer worth living. He thought he should go to a place with few people and many monsters and die.

But then, the voice of his cunning, arrogant, vile, and more enviable than anyone else disciple was heard softly.

“Professor, pull yourself together. It’s not over yet.”

“You…”

Professor Bendozol choked up.

He wondered how he could say such a thing when he was the one who had collapsed because of him.

But the professor, with his weakened heart, unconsciously listened to his disciple’s words.

“…What’s not over?”

“You can just make up a reason why you chose the baby Barghest. Just not a reason like you chose it to try and please the dragon.”

“How can I tell a lie in front of a dragon?”

Professor Bendozol asked back as if it were too terrible to even imagine.

To have to lie in front of such a beautiful creature.

Lee Han thought lying was easy. He remembered telling small lies before, like promising to play with someone later even if he didn’t mean it.

“Then just remain a shameful person in their memory for the rest of your life.”

“……”

Professor Bendozol’s expression was filled with pain.

It was as if he were cutting his own stomach with a knife.

“…I will now begin the lecture! Your Highness, I will show you. The reason why I chose the baby Barghest!”

“Ooh…! Professor Bendozol. I will be looking forward to it!”

“You… um… you young… no…”

Lee Han whispered, “Just say ‘students’.”

How little had he called them students that he was stuttering like this?

“Yes, you students! You students must be wondering by now. Why a baby Barghest and not a fully grown Barghest.”

“Did you choose a baby Barghest just to try and please the dragon?”

“Or maybe you couldn’t even find a grown-up Barghest?”

“Everyone… ha… ha. You are all very funny.” (Said in a forced, unhappy way).

Professor Bendozol endured his anger and spoke forcibly. The students’ eyes sparkled at the sight.

Could they perhaps bully Professor Bendozol without him resisting?

“Everyone stop. The professor is lecturing.”

“Wodanaz, don’t you feel like getting revenge after being treated like that?”

“…Be quiet.”

Lee Han, who almost wavered, covered his ears. His friends’ words were quite persuasive.

“In my opinion, Wodanaz… seems to pity Professor Bendozol, who couldn’t contract with a dragon, as someone who has contracted with a dragon.”

“Indeed. Thinking about it that way, it makes sense. He’s already contracted with a dragon as a second-year, so he might feel sorry for the professor who couldn’t contract with a dragon his whole life…”

The students casually shared insults that would cause Professor Bendozol to have a second heart attack if he heard them.

Fortunately, Professor Bendozol was too busy trying to please the baby Barghest to pay attention.

“Look! In fact, today’s lecture is not about learning how to deal with adult Barghests, but about taming baby Barghests and making them obey!”

“……”

The atmosphere among the students turned cold at the professor’s sudden exclamation.

It was too out of the blue.

“…Can you make a Barghest obey?”

“I’ve never heard of that? Is it even a monster that can be tamed?”

This Barghest, even though it looked like a cute puppy, was known to be dangerous and bring death. It was in the ‘Very Dangerous Monsters’ class, so it was definitely not normal.

It had dark magic all around it, so it shouldn’t be a monster you could tame easily.

“I understand that you… you students are suspicious! But there is a secret method that no one knows.”

“Is that really true?!”

Deurkyu asked in surprise. Then Professor Bendozol got angry.

“Hey! Are you trying to steal the baby Barghest!”

“…N-No…”

The orc friend, suddenly accused of being a future poacher, was speechless. Wooman, who was next to him, asked as if he didn’t understand.

“Are you suspecting students who have done nothing wrong?”

“J-Just kidding! Just kidding!”

“Hmm. Still, Professor Bendozol, please be careful. You are the professor, and they are students. Too many jokes can make it hard to learn.”

“I will remember that! I will never forget it, Your Highness!”

“You don’t have to go that far.”

Professor Bendozol, barely alive, didn’t hesitate any longer and revealed the secret method.

It was a secret method that most wizards didn’t know, but Professor Bendozol, who had spent a long time with monsters, knew how to tame a Barghest pup.

“First, you have to reduce the magic surrounding its fur. This magic keeps the Barghest distant from ordinary living things.”

“But… isn’t that connected to the Barghest’s life force?”

The bad magic around the Barghest was like blood in a human body. If you took away all the blood to remove the ‘bloodiness,’ the person would die. It was the same for the Barghest.

“Listen carefully to the potions and magic I’m about to tell you. If you combine these, you can slow down the Barghest’s magic while preventing it from leaking out!”

Professor Bendozol said the names of three potions and four spells and explained their combination.

The potions would each do something to the magic: make it weaker, change it, and slow it down. Then, the spells would act like a lid, keeping the magic inside the Barghest so it couldn’t escape!

‘Amazing.’

Lee Han listened with admiration. As expected of a wizard who had chased after monsters his whole life, Professor Bendozol’s secret method was certainly surprising and creative.

The potions and spells were things that any wizard of a certain level could use, but to combine them to tame a monster like a Barghest…

Whimper-

While listening, the baby Barghest crawled near Lee Han’s legs and clung to him.

The baby Basilisk bristled and stretched out its tail to chase it away. Lee Han quietly warned the tail, which had slipped slightly out of his sleeve.

“Ahem.”

-Hing.

Lee Han lifted the clinging dark wolf-dog pup into his arms and continued to listen to the lecture.

‘Indeed. Until you feed it the three potions, its ferocity won’t disappear, so you have to be careful even if it’s a pup…

“……”

Giselle, who was sitting next to him, stared intently.

She looked at the baby Barghest her friend was holding, then at her friend, then back at the lecture content.

“What’s wrong? Did those students from the White Tiger Tower do something again?”

“…Don’t you feel anything strange?”

“Anything strange?”

Lee Han tilted his head.

“Are you talking about how if you reduce the amount and reverse the properties, you don’t need to suppress the flow? But considering the duration of the magic, suppressing the flow is quite essential…”

“Never mind. Just listen to the lecture, you idiot.”

‘Hey!’

Lee Han, who was suddenly insulted, was very indignant.

As expected, the students of the White Tiger Tower were extremely rude.