Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 673

The air in the monster class was thick with tension.

“Professor, I think the Gryphon is scared…”

Professor Bendozol shouted angrily, getting down on his hands and knees.

“A Gryphon does not get scared! Do not utter such insulting words!”

“Hic.”

“Listen, all of you! Gryphons love to play by swinging their tails. So, if you ever have to take care of a Gryphon, stick your head out like this, so it’s easier for the Gryphon to hit you with its tail.”

“Wouldn’t getting hit by a Gryphon’s tail cause serious injury?”

Dergue cautiously raised his hand.

Gryphons were among the most powerful monsters classified as beasts.

Naturally, even a casually swung tail possessed the power of a mace. One wrong hit wouldn’t end as just a playful tap.

Professor Bendozol knew this was true. He nodded and said, “You must bear it!”

“……”

“……”

“…I’ll take care of Phoneg myself.”

“You foolish swindler! Are you so proud that a Gryphon loves you?!”

Professor Bendozol was so angry he got down on his hands and knees and yelled, but Lee Han ignored him, pretending not to hear.

If he had met him when he first entered Einrogard, he might have been flustered, but now, Lee Han had met too many crazy professors to be surprised by Professor Bendozol.

Professor Bendozol talked loudly for a while about how to raise a Gryphon. But when Lee Han ignored him, he stopped talking.

“And don’t even get me started on Basilisks! Basilisk!”

“Yes?”

“I asked how you’re raising the Basilisk, even if we leave the Gryphon aside!”

“I’m raising it well…”

From Lee Han’s sleeve, the Basilisk’s tail, covered in smooth, green scales, wagged gently.

It had recognized that it was being called and was greeting him.

Seeing that, Professor Bendozol’s grumpy face was filled with a satisfied smile, like a proud father.

“It seems quite content, judging by its playful behavior!”

“Thank you.”

“What about food? You should be feeding it the finest Minotaur shoulder meat. Are you doing that?!”

“……”

It was a diet that would bankrupt him if he provided it a few times.

Lee Han replied awkwardly, “I’m sharing what I eat with it.”

“You… you… you… ignorant fool!”

Professor Bendozol’s face, still on all fours, turned bright red, and foam started to bubble from his mouth.

Siana whispered, seeing that,

“Does he have a feverish madness?”

“Siana Priest…”

“No. Think about it coldly. You can’t just let him off because he’s a professor.”

“Blasted boy! You are as stubborn as a mountain goat!”

Professor Bendozol spewed out curses before barely regaining his composure.

And then, he passionately explained to Lee Han how to raise a Basilisk.

“Meat is important, but you must periodically mix dragon’s blood into the poison sac and feed it.”

Both were reagents so expensive that just hearing their names made one wince.

Lee Han ignored him, pretending not to hear. The Basilisk, seemingly not wanting to eat them either, shook its head, wrapping its tail tightly around his forearm.

“Professor Bendozol, stop being jealous that my disciple is loved by monsters. Let’s continue with the Unicorn story.”

“Kugh… Why such a young one! A fellow who doesn’t even realize his own luck! An ignorant, foolish…”

It seemed like he would keep finding fault with Lee Han if left alone, so Professor Lightning Foot gently pushed Professor Bendozol with his foot to stop him. Professor Bendozol stumbled to the side.

Lee Han tried to comfort him, still considering him a professor,

“Professor, other animals love you, don’t they? What does it matter if creatures like Basilisks or Gryphons don’t love you?”

As far as Lee Han knew, Professor Bendozol was a fairly renowned animal expert in the Empire.

He had actually cared for an incredibly diverse range of animals; this alone showed that it was impossible without a certain level of affinity.

Professor Bendozol listened silently.

“I, on the other hand, don’t get along well with sensitive and timid creatures like spirits. I’m rather envious of you, Professor…”

“This little brat keeps bragging! Are you making fun of me?!”

Professor Bendozol, who seemed to be listening silently, exploded with anger and tried to throw dirt from the ground at Lee Han.

Professor Lightning Foot sighed and pushed Professor Bendozol with his foot once more.

Professor Bendozol, having barely calmed down, explained about the Unicorn.

The Unicorn was severely injured from the moment the professor first encountered it. Professor Bendozol decided to care for the Unicorn instead of returning to Einrogard.

Saving the Unicorn was far more important than teaching evil and vile students.

“Let’s not keep adding unnecessary stories, Professor Bendozol.”

Anyway, he only intended to heal the Unicorn’s injuries, but it turned out that the Unicorn also had a young foal.

The double burden of raising a young foal while injured.

It was only natural that Professor Bendozol was prepared to take time off from school and dedicate himself to the task.

“Besides, the injury wasn’t an ordinary wound.”

“I suppose… there wouldn’t be many enemies who could harm a Unicorn.”

Professor Lightning Foot nodded, agreeing with Professor Bendozol’s words.

Apart from its pure image, the Unicorn was an extremely powerful monster, and it wasn’t easy to injure one.

Conversely, if a Unicorn was injured, it meant that the injury was difficult to heal easily.

“What enemy caused the injury?”

“A Glutonny. The beast slumbers here in the Bitter Mountains.”

“!”

Professor Lightning Foot was a veteran Imperial explorer, but his face changed upon hearing the name of the monster Glutonny.

They were known as a harsh, rocky place, where dangerous creatures roamed.

That’s how powerful the monster was.

The Glutonny looked like a cow at first glance, but this monster’s nature was the complete opposite of a cow.

It was a greedy and cunning monster that avoided enemies stronger than itself and relentlessly preyed on weaker ones.

Having a kind heart doesn’t make a monster strong. Many gentle animals are weak.

What made the Dotaechuh scary was its huge strength.

Its skin was so tough, swords and magic couldn’t hurt it. Its hooves could smash rocks with one kick. And when it ran, it was so fast it seemed to shake the ground.

Now, with some magical powers, it could even hurt a unicorn.

“Was it the Dotaechuh’s horn that hurt the unicorn?”

“It was.”

“No wonder the wound isn’t healing right.”

Professor Lightningfoot clicked his tongue in annoyance.

The Dotaechuh’s horn was cursed and full of bad magic. This made it very hard for even unicorns to heal if they were hurt by it.

“Of course, the unicorn hurt it pretty badly, too. That’s why it went into a long sleep to heal. I wanted to find it then and finish it off…”

“You didn’t… Is that why the monsters are acting so strange now?”

The monsters in the Bitong Mountains were running around, scared. They could feel that the Dotaechuh was about to wake up.

The Dotaechuh didn’t just hunt for food. It loved to kill anything it could find. It was a disaster for all the other monsters around.

Professor Lightningfoot filled his tobacco pipe, lit it, and started smoking. He needed to think.

“We don’t need to be scared just because the Dotaechuh is waking up. With this group, we can catch it for sure. Don’t you think so, Professor Bendozol?”

Professor Bendozol didn’t disagree.

“Now that we know what’s going on, we need to change our plan. Students, stay with Professor Bendozol and protect the unicorn in case something happens. The hunters and I will find the Dotaechuh and end its life before it wakes up.”

“Wait a moment, Lightningfoot,” Professor Bendozol said, his voice a bit dry. “Before you rush off to fight monsters, wouldn’t it be… educational… to bring the students?”

The students stared at Professor Bendozol, surprised.

Professor Lightningfoot didn’t answer. He just called the hunters and left.

Professor Bendozol led the students up a narrow mountain path behind the campsite. The path was so narrow and steep, you wouldn’t know it was there unless someone showed you.

Tap, tap, tap!

Thin slabs of rock floated from the air and stuck to the ground, making a new path in the empty space.

“You students,” Professor Bendozol said, “you’re young, clumsy, and a mix of brave and scared. You’re not ready to take care of a unicorn, but we don’t have a choice. So, I’ll teach you how. Understand?”

“Wow! A unicorn!” Gainando said excitedly to his friends.

Professor Bendozol frowned. He could see Gainando in his mind, already picturing unicorn hair as a magic wand or a potion ingredient.

He looked like he wanted to kick the stone slab out from under Gainando’s feet and send him tumbling down the mountain.

“…The most important thing is to get the unicorn to accept you, even a little bit. If it doesn’t accept you at all, you can’t take care of it. It’ll kick you or stab you with its horn the moment you get close.”

“So, how do we get it to like us?”

“It’s not about *doing* anything, you silly boy! A unicorn just *knows*. It sees right through you, understands what kind of person you truly are.”

Professor Bendozol lectured as they climbed the path that wrapped around the huge mountain peak.

“If the unicorn doesn’t like you, you stay here and guard the entrance. If it likes you, you can go up and take care of it. Remember, if the unicorn doesn’t like you, don’t even think about going in. I can’t promise you’ll be safe!”

With those words, the path ended. They stepped onto the flat top of the mountain. Thick fog surrounded them, hiding everything from view.

And in that space were two unicorns.

One was fully grown, with dark red wounds that looked like curses all over its body. The other was a foal, fast asleep.

“Unicorns like two kinds of people. One is strong and good, like Pegasus. The other is kind and pure, which is even harder to find. If you’re not sure, just stay back and don’t bother the unicorn.”

“I’ll just stay back then.”

Ratford didn’t want to get close to the unicorn because of his job. He didn’t think it would end well for either of them.

Dergyu, on the other hand, wanted the unicorn to see how noble he was.

“I’ll take a step forward.”

As Dergyu stepped forward, the unicorn raised its head and slowly shook it. It meant he wasn’t good enough to approach.

Dergyu was disappointed but accepted it and stepped back. The unicorn smiled a little, as if telling him to try again someday.

“They’re pickier than I thought…”

“We should send Nilia.”

“Nilia’s our only hope.”

“Ah, why me?? I’m a hunter! The unicorn will hate me…!” Nilia protested, but her friends pushed her forward.

Surprisingly, the unicorn didn’t reject her. Instead, it got up and walked right up to Nilia. Then, it looked her up and down.

Suddenly, the unicorn made an unhappy noise. Then, it quickly turned around and went back to its spot.

“What, what was that?! Why Nilia…?!”

“Isn’t that unicorn strange?”

Professor Bendozol kindly explained, “Unicorns are very jealous. It seems she’s made some deals with spirits recently. It smelled that and got jealous.”

“Indeed. It thought Nilia was a flirt.”

“What crazy talk?!”

Even Nilia’s failure made the students lose hope.

“Let’s just guard the entrance.”

“Yeah. Let’s set up camp.”

As they turned to leave, someone tugged on Lee Han’s sleeve.

Surprisingly, the unicorn was holding onto Lee Han’s sleeve, as if telling him not to go!

Professor Bendozol glared at Lee Han with jealous eyes. Why is that fellow so loved by such powerful monsters!