Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 730

Hormahsi sighed. He could see his junior didn’t trust him.

“You can’t believe it’s the Blue Dragon Tower!”

“It’s not just because it’s the Blue Dragon Tower. It’s because I’ve seen it myself…”

“I have to go in. I’ll bring him back.”

“Stop!” Professor Bendozol stopped Hormahsi with a loud voice.

“In this weather, are you going to make him walk so far in the desert?”

“It’s not that bad, is it?”

“You don’t know what ‘not that bad’ means! Be quiet and stay here! I’ll bring him!” Professor Bendozol stomped his foot and walked onto the desert sand.

Hormahsi muttered, watching Professor Bendozol walk away.

“Professor Bendozol only cares about animals. If he cared even a little bit about students, he’d be more popular than Professor Garcia.”

“I agree.”

“Wait! Junior. You didn’t have Professor Bendozol for Basic Mounts, did you?”

“No. Professor Lightning-Foot taught us.”

“Blast it!” Hormahsi was so upset he stomped his foot.

Hormahsi saw Lee Han looking at him and said, trying to sound confident.

“What? I just said that because I wanted you to learn from Professor Bendozol too!”

“Yes… I see.”

“Really. This desert… it takes me back to my first year…”

“Did you have a race here?”

“Ah. We did. But we ran with our mounts.”

Lee Han decided to thank Professor Lightning-Foot when he saw him this week.

Thud, thud, thud— With a heavy sound, a monster appeared on the horizon.

It looked like a dog.

But…

‘Wait, isn’t it a bit big?’ Now that he thought about it, a normal dog wouldn’t be visible from this far away.

The dog walking towards them was huge, easily two or three times the size of a lion, with a head to match!

“Isn’t that Cerberus?!” Lee Han was shocked to see the monster breathing fire from its three heads.

To call *that* a puppy?

It was like calling a dragon a lizard!

“That’s right. It’s Cerberus. Why?” Hormahsi looked at him, as if confused. He really was a bold senior.

“I thought you said it was a puppy, so I expected something smaller and cuter.”

“Hmm. Isn’t it cute?”

“Cerberus isn’t usually considered cute.”

“Ha! Says you! It’s not like everyone has a griffin or basilisk as a pet.”

Lee Han was speechless.

The senior was different, cruelly pointing out weaknesses.

Hormahsi took off his coat and cloak. Underneath, his school uniform had flat weights attached to it, like heavy, metal badges.

“Weights, increase.”

Hormahsi casually increased the weight of the weights on his uniform. He also made the weights under his long skirt and on his boots heavier.

“…Uh, what are you doing?”

“Ah, my puppy’s a bit rough. It’s easier to handle if I’m heavier.”

Even without magic, the weights looked heavy. Lee Han was surprised to see him make them even heavier, again and again.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m used to it. Professor Inguldel’s training… Oh, you wouldn’t know him.”

“I also take Professor Inguldel’s class.”

“…Oh, really.”

Hormahsi was surprised that his junior was taking more classes in all the departments.

“…Anyway, I’m the top student in Professor Inguldel’s class.”

“Ah. Me too.”

Hormahsi thought he should pay more attention to the White Tiger Tower juniors.

What on earth had happened?

‘Indeed.’

Lee Han was impressed that his senior was the top student in swordsmanship.

Just seeing him in those weights, Lee Han knew his senior was strong.

“Are you going to join the Knights after graduation?”

“No. I’m going to join the Quidditch club.”

“…I see.”

Cerberus came closer. Professor Bendozol waved his wand, and clouds appeared overhead, making shade for Cerberus. He cooled the hot sand with a wave of cold air, making it comfortable for the creature’s paws.

Cerberus yawned with all three heads, ignoring the wizard’s efforts.

“My puppy! Here! Carnella!”

“Ah. Is Cerberus’s official name Carnella?”

“Carnella is my name.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing? I prefer to be called by my family name. I don’t really like my name,” Carnella said, her voice serious.

Lee Han wondered if there was something he shouldn’t say.

“I’ll be careful…”

“Because it’s the name of a player who made a mistake in the Western Quidditch final 63 years ago.”

“…Ah, yes. Senior.”

Carnella didn’t notice that Lee Han now thought of her in the same way as Gainando.

Cerberus was excited to see its owner and ran over. Carnella stumbled as the three heads tried to lick her at once.

“Don’t let it lick you too much! It might hurt its tongue – you’re not very nutritious!”

Carnella ignored him.

“This is my mount. I’ve raised it since I was young.”

“Indeed… Uh, you’ve raised it since you were young, but how did you bring it here?”

“I smuggled it in, of course! It was hard back then.”

“You’ve suffered. It was really hard for me too.”

“Yes. Really…” Carnella, thinking back to those hard times, stopped when she heard what her junior said.

Didn’t he just say he did too?

“It’s a bit thin, but healthy. It needs more meat.”

“Professor. It’s already fat.”

“It looks too thin to me!”

“That means it’s healthy. Here. Junior. Look at this. You know why I wanted to show you first, right? You have to be careful when running with Cerberus.”

“That’s certainly true.”

“Of course, you, with your basilisk and griffin, would laugh.”

“…Isn’t Cerberus more threatening? Professor. What do you think?”

“They’re all lovely creatures. No, *you* students are the real trouble for the Empire!”

Lee Han understood why his senior was ignoring Professor Bendozol. He decided to do the same.

“I need to get used to this Cerberus.”

“Yes.”

“Um. Can’t I just be a defender instead of an attacker?”

“No!” Carnella shouted, as if the idea was impossible.

They were already short of good attackers. And now, a junior who could ride a griffin, unicorn, or basilisk wanted to be a defender instead?

But Cerberus was a very threatening monster to Lee Han.

He felt he was already taking enough risks, and he didn’t want to take any more with this monster.

“Of course, it’s fierce! But if you get close, it’s loyal!”

“I think it’ll bite me once or twice before that… In the first place, you can’t force yourself to get close to monsters.”

Lee Han cautiously approached Cerberus with a reluctant expression.

Then Cerberus flinched, lowered its tail, and turned all three heads towards Lee Han. The heads nudged each other, pushing forward.

“…What are you doing?” Lee Han whispered, embarrassed.

What would happen to his words if this was true?

But Cerberus just blinked its eyes, acting calm and gentle. It didn’t react at all.

Carnella finally understood. She cheered loudly.

“Yes! I knew it! I’ve been waiting for a junior like you! You’re a natural attacker! You have a gift with monsters!”

“Nonsense! The King of Monsters is nonsense!” Professor Bendozol said, annoyed.

Carnella asked, confused.

“What are you talking about?”

“It’s like a superstition of the nameless hunters!” Professor Bendozol grumbled about the hunters calling Lee Han the ‘King of Monsters’ over the winter break.

Those hunters love superstitions. They just make up silly stories like that.

“Even better? Great! Junior, you might be exactly what we need!” Carnella usually didn’t expect much, even when she praised other club members. But now, she started to hope.

Could it be that a really great attacker has joined?

“Hormahsi Senior. I have a question.”

“What is it?”

“What’s the name of this technique?”

“>Player Takedown>! Are you kidding me? You don’t know the name of this technique?”

It was an advanced move, but the name was so famous, Carnella was surprised her junior didn’t know it.

“I really haven’t played much Quidditch.”

“…It’s okay. You can start now!”

“Senior, seriously… Isn’t it better to have a strong leader? Even though I like griffins, maybe someone who’s better at Quidditch should be the attacker.”

Even though Carnella explained all the good things about being an attacker, like special treatment and prize money, Lee Han was starting to want to be a defender instead.

The wild look in his senior’s eyes reminded him of Gainando when he played games.

People with those eyes didn’t know what crazy things they would do.

“Hey. Junior. Do you know what the goal of this club is?”

“…Isn’t it Quidditch?”

“Yes. We play Quidditch for fun, to be friendly, and to enjoy ourselves. Winning is nice, but losing isn’t a big deal. Everyone’s happy.”

“That sounds good. It fits the purpose…”

“What’s so good about it!!!” Carnella shouted, sounding angry. She stomped her foot and pointed at the Quidditch club building.

“I don’t care about the others! I want to win! All the attackers who were even a little bit good have left. And you want to make the ‘King of Monsters’ a defender? Never! Junior, just do your best! Just do your best! I’ll do anything for you! I’ll even… I’ll even do anything you ask!”

‘This is a disaster. This person is already crazy.’

Lee Han was taken aback.

He’d thought she was nice because she gave him money to help him. But he should have known, nothing is free.

“Here we go!” A practice scarecrow riding a straw golem rushed in from the front. Lee Han whispered to his griffin.

“Phone League, don’t try too hard. We don’t need to show off.”

The intelligent griffin nodded.

“It’s coming!”

Clatter clatter clatter!

The griffin ran fast, jumped onto the straw golem’s knee, and leaped into the air.

Lee Han instinctively swung his Quidditch bat and knocked down the scarecrow.

Usually, the ‘Player Takedown’ move needed one person to hold the opponent while the other attacked. But Lee Han’s griffin charged in so fast, it was over before Cerberus could even react.

Carnella cheered.

“That’s it!! That’s exactly it!! Junior! You are the attacker of the Einrogard Quidditch Club!!”

Lee Han landed and looked at Phone League. The griffin seemed nervous under his gaze, ruffling its feathers.

It clearly didn’t try too hard, but why??