Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

Then His Excellency should reflect on himself.

The inspector of the great race resolved to return to the main building, inform the Skull Principal of this fact, and give him a stern warning.

For a disciple receiving the teachings of an archmage to respect and cherish another mage more.

This was the result of the overly indulgent attitude the archmage himself had shown on a regular basis.

“Professor. Do we really need to go this far just to catch a dragon’s eye?”

Lee Han asked seriously.

Of course, Lee Han did not particularly like Professor Bendozol.

If Einroguard’s professors were divided into two ends, with Professor Garcia on one end and Professor Verdus on the other, Professor Bendozol was definitely positioned closer to the latter.

But no matter how much he disliked someone, seeing that person struggle so desperately still made him feel a little sorry as a disciple.

Was a dragon’s attention really that important?

“Shut up!”

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

“But what did I do wrong...”

“How could someone like you, who receives a dragon’s love, understand my heart!”

“...”

Lee Han, who usually did not lose in arguments with professors, was overwhelmed by Professor Bendozol this time.

That was how much sincerity was contained in Professor Bendozol’s voice.

“Professor.”

“What!”

“Actually, receiving a dragon’s love isn’t entirely a good thing.”

Lee Han advised him sincerely.

Just thinking about the status dragons held in the Empire made that clear. The moment one became involved with them, troublesome matters naturally followed.

For example, being invited to a manor and then having handcuffs put on you...

“Lee Han. That doesn’t seem like very good advice.”

Yonair, who was beside him, whispered.

No matter how she looked at it, it seemed like advice that would only add fuel to the fire.

Of course, her friend meant it sincerely, but it definitely would not sound that way to a petty professor.

“You... you... grrghhh.”

“P-Professor!”

At his disciple’s excessive bragging, Professor Bendozol finally clutched his chest and collapsed forward. Foam rose from his mouth.

“Wardanaz assassinated the professor!”

“No, you crazy bastards!”

Lee Han protested fiercely.

He was the only one here who had given advice for the professor’s sake, yet he was being misunderstood like this!

“Ah, I see! Sorry, Wardanaz. I understand. Wardanaz didn’t assassinate the professor! Everyone remember! Wardanaz didn’t assassinate the professor!”

“...”

Lee Han did not know what exactly his friend had understood, but he kicked his friend’s shin once, then asked Yonair to borrow a potion.

“Yonair. Can you lend me a potion?”

Yonair briefly wondered whether he was asking for a potion to finish someone off completely or one to restore consciousness, but decided to trust her friend and handed over the latter.

I gave him the right one, right?

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

“Professor. Are you all right?”

“You... you... ugh... damn...”

“Professor Bendozol. Are you perhaps not feeling well?”

Just then, Wuman appeared after looking around the area. The dragon inspector in the form of a large human cast a worried gaze at the professor.

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

“I-I am very... healthy. Please don’t worry.”

The professor used superhuman willpower to transform his own body and escaped the paralyzed state.

Then he assured Wuman several times that he was completely fine.

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

“...”

“...”

The students looked at him with bewildered and contemptuous gazes, but Professor Bendozol did not care.

To the professor, this place contained only a dragon and a scattering of pebbles.

“I understand. This Wuman will simply trust Professor Bendozol.”

“It’s an honor! Khuk!”

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

“Ask me anything!”

“About the barghest you brought...”

Before Wuman could finish speaking, Professor Bendozol quickly began flattering him.

“It is a completely harmless baby barghest. I am a professor who cares for his students, you see!”

As soon as Professor Bendozol heard that a dragon was coming as an inspector, he had spent two straight days searching the mountains for a baby barghest.

If he brought out a fully grown barghest and the inspector saw it, this was obviously what would happen.

-Professor Bendozol. I’m very disappointed that you would present such a dangerous animal to students. I won’t be making any contracts with you. Also, this Wuman will spread rumors to all the dragons I know.

-No!!!

He could not arbitrarily change the lecture content he had reported to the Skull Principal, so he had at least tried to change the subject to a baby.

Fortunately, staying up all night to find a baby barghest had paid off. Who would have thought he would receive praise from a dragon like this?

“A baby barghest would be too weak to be of much help in learning how to deal with barghests. Is there perhaps some secret this Wuman does not know?”

“...”

Even a mage witnessing the sky collapse probably would not make the same expression Professor Bendozol was making now.

Professor Bendozol was so utterly devastated that he could not say a single word.

I should die.

The professor made a resolution inwardly.

To miss such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to catch a dragon’s eye—though he had met Prince Jowurin last year, so it was not exactly once in a lifetime—and show such a shameful mistake.

This life no longer had any value. He should probably go somewhere with no people and plenty of monsters, and die there.

But then the voice of his cunning, arrogant, despicable, and most enviable disciple was heard softly.

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

“You...”

Professor Bendozol was moved to tears.

He wondered who had caused him to collapse in the first place, yet now that same person was saying things like this.

But in his weakened state, the professor found himself unconsciously listening to his disciple’s words.

“...What do you mean, it’s not over?”

“You just need to come up with a good excuse for why you chose a baby barghest. Not a reason like choosing it to flatter someone.”

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

Professor Bendozol asked back as if the very thought was horrifying.

To speak falsehoods in front of such a beautiful creature.

Isn’t it easy?

Lee Han thought to himself.

Lee Han alone had told lies like, “I’ll definitely play with you tomorrow,” in front of Jowurin several times...

“Then remain in his memory for life as a shameful person.”

“...”

Professor Bendozol’s expression was colored with pain.

It was the expression of a person cutting open his own stomach with a knife.

“...I’m starting the lecture now! Your Majesty. I will show you the reason I chose a baby barghest!”

“Ooh...! Professor Bendozol. I’ll be looking forward to it!”

***

“You bastards, no, you brats, no...”

“...Just say students.”

Lee Han whispered, dumbfounded.

Just how rarely did the professor call on students if he was stumbling over even this?

“Yes, you students! You students must be wondering right now. Why baby barghests instead of fully grown barghests?”

“Did you choose baby barghests to flatter us?”

“I thought it was because you didn’t have money and could only get baby barghests.”

“Everyone shut... ugh. Everyone has such wonderful humor.”

Professor Bendozol suppressed his anger and forced himself to speak. At the sight, the students’ eyes sparkled.

Could they torment Professor Bendozol without him fighting back?

“Everyone, stop. The professor is giving a lecture.”

“Wardanaz. After what happened to you, don’t you want revenge?”

“...Be quiet.”

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

“I think Wardanaz... as someone who made a contract with a dragon, feels sorry for Professor Bendozol, who couldn’t make a contract with a dragon.”

“Indeed. If you think about it that way, it makes sense. He’s only a second-year but already contracted with a dragon, so seeing a professor who couldn’t contract with one his whole life must make him feel a little sorry...”

The students casually exchanged insults that would have given Professor Bendozol a second heart attack if he had heard them.

Fortunately, Professor Bendozol was too busy calming the baby barghest to pay attention.

“Look! Actually, today’s lecture is not about learning how to deal with adult barghests, but about taming baby barghests so they follow you!”

“...”

At the professor’s sudden declaration, the students’ mood turned cold.

It was too abrupt.

“...Is it possible to make barghests follow you?”

“This is the first I’ve heard of it. Are they monsters that can be tamed?”

Despite their cute appearance, these death-calling wolfhounds had quite a notorious reputation. If they appeared in a lecture called 【Just Vicious Creatures】, they were not ordinary monsters.

Considering the dark magic wrapped around their entire bodies, they would not normally be monsters one could tame...

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

“Is that really true?!”

Dergeu asked in surprise. Then Professor Bendozol flew into a rage.

“You bastard! You want to poach baby barghests, don’t you!”

“...No, no...”

The orc friend, suddenly branded as a future poacher, was speechless. Wuman, beside him, asked as if he did not understand.

“Are you suspecting a student who did nothing wrong?”

“It, it was a joke! A joke!”

“Hmm. Still, please be careful, Professor Bendozol. There is a clear difference between professor and student, and too many jokes can disturb the academic atmosphere.”

“I’ll keep it in mind! I’ll engrave it into my bones, Your Majesty!”

“That won’t be necessary.”

Professor Bendozol, having barely survived, no longer hesitated and revealed his secret method.

It was a secret method most mages did not know, but Professor Bendozol, who had spent long years with monsters, knew how to tame baby barghests.

“First, you must reduce the magic wrapped around their fur. This magic causes barghests to keep their distance from ordinary living beings.”

“But... isn’t that connected to the barghest’s life force?”

The negative magic these wolfhounds wore was like blood flowing through a human body.

Just as a person would die if all their blood was drained in order to remove their vitality, the same was true for barghests.

“Listen carefully to the potions and magic I am about to tell you. If you combine them, you can suppress the barghest’s magic while preventing that magic from leaking out!”

Professor Bendozol named three potions and four spells, then explained how to combine them.

The potions respectively reduced the amount of magic, reversed its nature, and suppressed its flow, while the spells acted as stoppers, trapping the magic inside and preventing it from leaking out.

Amazing.

Lee Han listened with admiration. True to a mage who had chased monsters his entire life, Professor Bendozol’s secret method was certainly surprising and creative.

Those potions and spells were things any mage of a decent level could use, but to combine them in order to tame monsters like barghests.

Whine—

As Lee Han listened, the baby barghest crawled close to his leg and clung to him.

The baby basilisk bristled and extended its tail to chase it away. Lee Han quietly warned the tail that was slyly protruding from his sleeve.

“Hey now.”

-Hng.

Lee Han lifted the clinging dark baby wolfhound with one arm and held it while continuing to listen to the lecture.

I see. Until all three potions are administered, its ferocity won’t subside, so one must be careful even with babies...

“...”

Giselle, sitting beside him, stared intently.

She looked at the baby barghest in her friend’s arms, looked at her friend once, then looked back at the lecture content.

“What’s wrong? Did those White Tiger Tower guys cause trouble again?”

“...Don’t you notice anything strange?”

“Something strange?”

Lee Han tilted his head.

“Are you talking about how if you reduce the amount and reverse the nature, 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.”

What!

Lee Han was very indignant at being suddenly insulted.

As expected, White Tiger Tower students were utterly rude.