Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 728

Professor Bendozol shouted, but no one listened.

From the beginning, the relationship between the members of the Equestrian Club and Professor Bendozol wasn’t exactly friendly. It was more like they needed each other, but they didn’t like it.

The Equestrian Club had to find, tame, and care for the Empire’s various rare animals.

So, they needed Professor Bendozol, Einroguard’s top expert. But…

Professor Bendozol was also the kind of person who would help with the animals while trying to steal them from the Equestrian Club.

It seemed silly that Professor Bendozol would try to hurt a new, good student.

Hormas suddenly became curious and asked,

“But Professor, why don’t you attack him directly?”

Of course, even in Einroguard, where the Imperial Law didn’t have much power, it was rare for a professor to attack a student for no reason.

But Professor Bendozol was especially crazy, even for a professor, wasn’t he?

“There are two reasons. First, if I attack directly, I might make the unicorn angry.”

‘Seems like you already have?’ Hormas thought, but he didn’t want to make the crazy professor mad, so he kept it to himself.

“Yes… I see. What’s the other one?”

“I promised the Headmaster that I wouldn’t attack him over the unicorn issue. Blast it all!”

“?”

Hormas had been listening without really thinking. But now, he became very interested and his long ears stood up in surprise.

‘What nonsense is this?’

The Skull Headmaster was the last person to tell someone not to attack someone; he was more likely to start a fight.

Maybe there was a special rule to protect students taking classes from different departments that Hormas didn’t know about?

“How did you end up making such a promise…”

-It wasn’t anything special. I just happened to meet him during the winter break.

Hormas, the dark elf senior, was going to ask the professor another question, but he stopped.

The junior had started to explain how he had become friends with the unicorn.

It was a story much more interesting than Professor Bendozol’s story.

“So, it was like this.”

“Wait, wait! Hold on. Let’s hear *that* later,” Hormas said, waving his hand dismissively. “This is way more interesting.”

“……”

Hormas stopped Professor Bendozol and listened carefully.

“You met during the winter break? How on earth?”

“I went to find the unicorn during the winter break to help Professor Lightning Steps with his work.”

“Oh dear. Why ever for?”

The senior students murmured among themselves, their voices a low buzz in the air, their eyes darting between Lee Han and each other.

There were many bad choices one could make during the break, but helping a professor was the worst of them all.

“…Couldn’t you help?”

“Doesn’t seem like it. Anyway, continue. You went to find it and met the unicorn? How did you become friends?”

Lee Han briefly explained what had happened in the mountains during the winter break.

He had gone in with hunters to protect the unicorn but met Professor Bendozol…

“Oh dear!”

“Of all people!”

The seniors sighed.

How could one be so unlucky?

Helping a professor during the break was bad enough, but to meet another professor while helping with that task…

“…In that situation, the Headmaster arrived and it all ended well.”

“Indeed… Huh?”

The Equestrian Club members murmured.

The unicorn in the mountains, the evil monster targeting the unicorn, Do-cheol, and Bendozol. And the wizards and hunters who arrived to save the unicorn.

It was a very exciting story, but suddenly the Headmaster appeared and brought it to an end.

“Did Professor Lightning Steps call him?”

“Surely not. Professor Lightning Steps has some sense; there’s no way he would call the Headmaster.”

“…I called him.”

“You called him?”

“Yes.”

The mood of the senior students suddenly became serious and a little scary. Lee Han quickly tried to explain.

“Professor Lightning Steps and Professor Bendozol were fighting, so I had no choice. Do-cheol was about to attack…”

“Hmm! There’s some truth to what you say. That situation was certainly unavoidable.”

“Thank you for understanding.”

The seniors nodded with smiles.

And then, all at once, they ran away.

“……”

“It can’t be helped.” Hormas, the only senior who hadn’t run away, spoke to him.

Lee Han watched them go, a little confused and feeling slightly left out. ‘What can’t be helped?’ he asked, trying to hide his annoyance.

“Calling the Headmaster, no matter the reason, sounds dangerous.”

The dark elf senior said it casually, but there was no denying the truth in his words.

It didn’t matter how dangerous the situation was.

What mattered was that the junior was close enough to call the Skull Headmaster.

“…I just happened to receive a summoning artifact by chance.”

“I see. I believe you!” Saying that, Hormas took a step back.

A junior who had received a summoning artifact from the Skull Headmaster could suddenly turn into a monster from another dimension, and it wouldn’t be surprising.

“Anyway, don’t worry about the other members’ reactions. They’re afraid of you now, but…”

“The misunderstanding will clear up over time, right?”

“Yeah. I was going to say, just ignore it and play equestrian polo, what else can they do? Is there even a misunderstanding to clear up? It’s all true.”

“……”

Lee Han might have glared at him, but Hormas didn’t care and said what he wanted to say anyway.

“More importantly, Junior, let’s talk about equestrian polo! The truth is, this Hormas has been waiting for a junior like you. I don’t care at all if you’re the Headmaster’s disciple.”

“Who said that again? Which one of them?”

“Again?”

‘Oh dear.’

Seeing the senior’s expression, Lee Han realized he had overreacted.

Hormas asked with a wary look.

“Do you often hear that you’re the Headmaster’s disciple?”

“No? This is the first time I’ve heard it.”

“…Alright. Let’s get back to what we were saying.”

He said that, but Hormas took two more steps back.

“Right now, the Einroguard Equestrian Club needs good attackers. Senior Kimbeldan has graduated, and Senior Bodrgo failed to graduate and went crazy.”

“Pardon?”

Lee Han wanted to ask more about Senior Bodrgo, but Hormas didn’t seem interested in people who had left the club.

“But you have the talent of an outstanding attacker. You might be able to fill that void.”

“Thank you for the compliment, but I haven’t played much equestrian polo.”

This was true.

Unlike his friends, who enjoyed mounted equestrian polo, bare-handed equestrian polo, table equestrian polo, assignment equestrian polo (crumpling up assignments to be submitted and using them as balls), Wodanaz equestrian polo (where students from White Tiger Tower are like the balls, and they try to avoid getting hit by the angry Wodanaz’s staff), and so on, Lee Han hadn’t played much equestrian polo itself.

“It doesn’t matter. Talent is different from experience.”

Listening to the story, Lee Han suddenly became curious.

What did this senior see in him that made him think so highly of him?

“Do I really have that much talent for equestrian polo? Why?”

“You’re friends with a unicorn. That’s enough.”

“…No. That’s just talent for handling animals.”

“Talent for handling animals is 90% of equestrian polo anyway. Horsemanship is 50%.”

‘Maybe because Hormas is from White Tiger Tower, he’s not good at math.’

Hormas looked at the unicorn playing around next to Lee Han and said in a very satisfied voice.

“To like you that much. You and the unicorn will make a good pair.”

“But Senior, I have no intention of playing equestrian polo on a unicorn.”

“!?!?”

-!?!? Not only Hormas but even the unicorn looked at Lee Han with shocked eyes.

“Why?!”

-■!

“Well… I already promised to ride another creature. If I ride a unicorn, it’ll sulk.”

“You need to persuade it properly! What on earth are you talking about?!”

The dark elf senior, seemingly quite shocked, shouted in a shrill voice.

For him to have a unicorn and not ride it was like disrespecting equestrian polo, all unicorns, and even the Empire!

“Of course, it might feel like betrayal not to ride a close horse. But if there’s a more suitable creature, forcing yourself to be considerate is even crueler.”

“Th-that’s not a horse.”

“Not a horse?”

Hormas, who thought that a second-year student’s close mount would be a horse, tilted his head in confusion.

“If not, then what is it? A mountain goat? A boar? An ostrich?”

“Senior, promise you won’t think it’s strange even if I tell you.”

“Are you underestimating your senior? I won’t be surprised no matter what you’ve tamed.”

Ever since the junior had summoned the Skull Headmaster, nothing the junior did could surprise Hormas.

Even if he had tamed a griffin…

‘Hmm. That might be a bit surprising.’

“Alright. It’s actually a griffin.”

“…What on earth are you??”

After comforting the wounded junior (while the junior was comforting the wounded unicorn), Hormas said in a serious voice.

“Let’s go see your griffin.”

The unicorn tried to attack Hormas with a cry of fury.

Hormas quickly created distance and kept the unicorn away.

“Don’t come near me, you horned horse. As long as the junior has a griffin, I have no business with you!”

-■!

“Aren’t you being a bit too harsh?”

“It’s not my mount, so what.”

Hormas said it like he didn’t care.

A rider cared about the animal they rode, not some random animal they weren’t even close to.

“No. Before we go see the griffin, it’s better to see my mount first. Follow me.”

Hormas’s eyes widened, and a huge grin spread across his face. He bounced on the balls of his feet, barely containing his excitement about the fact that a griffin rider junior had joined.

‘If we charge side by side…!’

To do that, they needed to know a bit about each other’s mounts. Hormas was planning to explain his mount to the junior.

“Hormas! Tell the junior to get the subsidy!”

“Ah. Right.”

Hearing Perse’s shout from afar, Lee Han asked, puzzled.

“What’s the subsidy?”

“The Equestrian Club gives gold coins from the club treasury to members who raise animals. To help and encourage raising them.”

The Equestrian Club’s prize money was partly given to active members and partly saved in the treasury to be used for subsidies for members.

The more rare and powerful animals one raised, the more help they were to the club, and the more support they received.

“One griffin, one unicorn. Wow.”

Hormas whistled and calculated. At this rate, they might set a new club record.

“Do you have anything else? Horses count a little, so tell me if you have any.”

“I do raise a baby basilisk.”

“A baby basilisk… …Basilisk?”

A tail peeked out from Lee Han’s sleeve and wagged.

Seeing that, Hormas slowly shook his head. Then he called Perse.

“Senior Perse! Come and help with the subsidy application!”

“You should handle that yourself! Are you calling me because that’s too much trouble?”

“Even if I submit it, everyone will come to check anyway, so I’m just saying you should come here, check it, and go!”

Hormas was smart and knew what would happen.

If he submitted it as it was, the club members would get angry, saying, ‘Hormas, don’t mess around with the junior’s application!’

It was better to just show them now.

“What nonsense…”

Perse grumbled as he approached, as if he didn’t understand.

He was already quite busy explaining to the new second-year students where they could find Einroguard’s rare animals and how to tame them.

Professor Bendozol couldn’t help from the side and was instead making things difficult with comments like, ‘You don’t deserve to tame them!’…

“Just come and take a look.”

“If you called me for something useless, you’re in charge of the junior’s education, Hormas… Hormas, don’t mess around with the junior’s application!”

Hormas looked at Lee Han and winked, as if to say, ‘What did I tell you?’