Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

Chapter 670

-Save us! Save us!-

When the poachers screamed, Yi-Han opened the stable door and checked.

"Did you eat any? Hmm. I guess not."

Niffirg protested by scratching the wall discontentedly.

As if it was some wyvern that couldn't control its appetite!

"Yeah, yeah. I believed in you. They were screaming so much. Everyone be quiet."

"Sa-save us! Please!"

"I already saved you. If you keep talking nonsense, I'll let the basilisk loose too."

The remaining poachers looked at each other.

...What's this about a basilisk?

BANG!

Yi-Han closed the door and went out again.

Outside, Seoriegor was looking at a wanted poster.

Yi-Han felt a sense of closeness and spoke to him.

"Are you looking at Professor Bentozol's wanted poster? I have one too."

"Ah. No. I was looking at a poacher's wanted poster. I thought he looked familiar, and it turns out this Julban fellow is quite a famous poacher. There's a bounty on him."

"What?"

Yi-Han looked with an expression that said, 'A bounty on someone who acted stupidly and took a lightning spell head-on?'

"Hahaha. He let his guard down, but that guy is quite notorious."

"My. Poachers seem to let their guard down a lot."

It wasn't something to be said by someone who had launched a surprise attack without even casting a detection spell, but Yi-Han said it shamelessly.

'I wish they'd all let their guard down more.'

If more poachers with bounties like that Julban came, he could make a hefty sum before the break ended.

"Will more poachers come?"

"Hmm. That's a difficult question. They might come, but... I think they probably won't."

Seoriegor took out a long brass telescope artifact and checked the surroundings.

Sure enough, the presences that had been annoyingly lurking around until just now had all disappeared.

"Poachers aren't fanatics, they're just weak-willed thieves. They must have realized after the magic exploded just now and Julban's group was annihilated."

Julban's group had only probed because they thought there was a weakness.

But now that Julban's group had been shattered like this, the poachers must have realized these mages were no ordinary ones.

"Did they flee outside the mountains?"

Yi-Han asked, sounding slightly disappointed. Seoriegor didn't notice the emotion in Yi-Han's words.

"Not that. Poachers are persistent. They probably hurried in to find the unicorn first rather than checking us."

Gainando, who was listening nearby, was surprised at those words.

"Then shouldn't we hurry in too?"

"You don't need to worry. A unicorn isn't a monster that can be caught by rushing."

At Seoriegor's words, Gainando whispered to Yi-Han.

"Yi-Han. This person seems to be wrong quite often, can we trust what he says?"

"...Let's not be too hard on him for not immediately recognizing the poachers earlier."

***

Unlike Julban, the poacher Akga was closer to a solitary hunter.

If forced to compare, he had a character similar to the Shadow Patrol (though the Shadow Patrol would never admit it).

In the empire, there were people who felt ecstasy and a sense of achievement from taking down difficult and strong prey.

Hunters now said such people were blessed by Jarmis, the god of hunters.

Those who abandoned the ordinary happiness they should have enjoyed and chose a lonely and dangerous life.

And the poacher Akga was one of these people.

'I'll catch the unicorn.'

Akga took out a censer compass from his clothes.

This censer compass containing a single strand of unicorn mane hair was a treasure that any hunter chasing unicorns would drool over.

The smoke rising from the censer indicated the direction of the unicorn.

While others were wandering at the entrance of the mountain range, Akga planned to approach and take down the unicorn alone.

"!"

Akga blinked at the white and beautiful creature visible in the distance.

As a hunter, he had never lost his senses at the sight of prey, but the unicorn made it possible.

'Found it!'

Akga carefully and slowly took out his crossbow.

Since the unicorn was a monster with powerful magic, if he couldn't take it down in one shot, Akga might be defeated instead.

But it didn't matter. Akga intended to end it in one shot no matter what.

As he took out a crossbow bolt, an evil aura rose. The air shimmered due to the curse placed on it, strong enough to end the unicorn's life.

'Jarmis, let one of us di...'

Suddenly, the unicorn's appearance changed. Akga's eyes wavered.

...Did unicorns have shapeshifting abilities too?

-

The unicorn that had transformed into a human suddenly shouted. Akga felt a shock that shook his soul. All the mental defense artifacts he was wearing shattered at once.

At that moment, Akga realized. The instinct of an experienced hunter was shouting.

The opponent wasn't a unicorn!

"You... you...!"

"Hey, you deep-fried poacher bastard. How dare you try to catch a unicorn? Even a hundred lives like yours couldn't be exchanged for a unicorn!"

The sight of a short, mean-looking human mage walking towards him was the last thing Akga saw before he collapsed.

THUD!

Professor Bentozol spat on the fallen poacher and then confiscated the censer compass.

Then he removed the mane hair and dispelled the magic. The beautiful unicorn hair returned to being Professor Bentozol's hair.

"These poacher bastards are less capable than I thought. I thought they'd all come this way, but they're still dawdling at the entrance?"

Professor Bentozol growled disapprovingly.

The strategy of scattering fake unicorn hair in the market was inspired by the skull principal.

He thought the poacher bastards would all come this way when they cast search magic with unicorn hair, but...

"This won't do. I'll have to take action myself."

"Don't worry. I'll protect you until you're fully healed."

Professor Bentozol spoke firmly to the unicorn and then began striding down.

Even the threatening monsters of the Grief Mountains didn't dare to approach and made way for his fierce aura.

***

"The search of this area is finished."

After three days, Professor Bungaegor and the hunters returned.

Yi-Han quickly brought hot coffee with plenty of butter and freshly baked toast. Professor Bungaegor looked at Yi-Han as if she adored him to death.

"I don't know why a kid like you is learning under Uregor."n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

'That's high praise.'

The professor and hunters wolfed down the coffee and toast. Searching the mountains was tiring work that easily exhausted even experienced hunters or patrollers.

"Did you find any traces of the unicorn?"

"No. But we found something else instead."

"Poachers? We caught some too."

"!"

Murangse, who was sipping coffee, was startled. Professor Bungaegor said with her eyes,

-What did I tell you?-

"D-did you really catch them?"

"We've locked them up in the stable over there."

Murangse glanced at the stable and nodded. Judging by how quiet it was, they must have caught two or three.

"We found traces of poachers from the beginning. It wasn't even difficult since they weren't trying to hide. The problem is something else..."

"?"

"The poachers are being hunted."

"Isn't that good?"

"It is. But I don't know who's doing it."

Professor Bungaegor drained all the coffee in her tin cup.

It was good that someone was catching the poachers, but it wasn't good to have an unexpected opponent in the mountains.

Since the unicorn was a tricky creature that even Professor Bungaegor was cautious about handling, having more variables wasn't good.

"Couldn't it be other poachers fighting?"

"It's too professional for that. Besides, poachers don't usually fight each other before catching their prey."

"What if another monster came down?"

"No matter how stupid poachers are, they're not dumb enough to be hunted by their prey."

Yi-Han, who had been listening to the conversation between Professor Bungaegor and the students, asked quizzically,

"Professor Bentozol went missing here, could it be Professor Bentozol taking out the poachers?"

"..."

Professor Bungaegor was so surprised she dropped the tin cup she was holding.

"Be-Bentozol was here!"

All the students, including Yi-Han, looked at Professor Bungaegor as if they couldn't believe it.

Even so, to think she had completely forgotten!

"You said Professor Bentozol went missing here..."

"Ah... Ah... Right. Right. That's right. I really didn't think of that. Well. If it's Professor Bentozol..."

Professor Bungaegor nodded as if she finally understood.

"I wondered what crazy bastard kept attacking poachers like a beast, so it was Professor Bentozol. It's like him to do that. He's alive..."

"..."

The faces of the students who would have to meet a new professor next semester turned sour, but Professor Bungaegor didn't notice.

Yi-Han spoke up, trying to find a positive aspect of the situation.

"If the professor is really here, won't things become easier?"

"Hmm."

Professor Bungaegor fell into deep thought. After pouring and drinking another cup of coffee from the pot, Professor Bungaegor answered.

"No. Not really."

The students' faces soured even more.

"It's troublesome if Bentozol is here. He's someone we have to attack too."

"...Su-surely not."

Gainando denied reality.

A professor attacking students, that couldn't be...

...It could.

"Even so, he's not Professor Bagrak, he wouldn't attack students he's never met before!"

"..."

Yi-Han looked at Gainando with sad eyes.

"You're saying such carefree things because you haven't met Professor Bentozol. Bentozol is usually a troublesome person, but he becomes even more troublesome when he has a rare animal with him. He probably won't trust us either. Everyone be careful. It's easier to think that one crazy mage has been added to the monsters of the mountains."

'Aren't there any trustworthy people among Einroguard professors?'

Yi-Han was dumbfounded.

They finally met a professor in the mountains, but they had to treat him as a more dangerous monster.

"Aaaaah!"

"!"

Everyone was startled by the scream.

Professor Bungaegor took out a glass bottle containing hell's breath. She needed to use at least this much to subdue Professor Bentozol.

"I-I'm sorry. I was surprised to see Julban's group."

Murangse apologized with an embarrassed expression.

He had opened the stable door without thinking and was surprised to see it full of prisoners.

"Please save us!!"

Realizing there were new people, the poachers wailed, thinking it might be their last chance.

Professor Bungaegor said in an irritated tone,

"Close the door. It's ruining my appetite."

"No!"

BANG!

As the stable door closed again, the nameless hunters whispered and looked at Yi-Han.

To use a griffin as a jailer!

That boy was a born tamer. They had never seen anyone control a griffin like that.

Even a basilisk too.

Yi-Han, half giving up, sat quietly without saying anything.

'I shouldn't have brewed coffee for them.'

"Yi-Han. Those people say you're loved by beasts."

Surprisingly, it wasn't an insult.

Yi-Han felt slightly better. Their first impression seemed to have changed a little.

"Only the king of monsters could be loved like that..."

'Next time I'll use cheap coffee beans.'

At that moment, the surroundings suddenly became quiet.

The nameless hunters signaled to Professor Bungaegor. The professor took out the hell's breath glass bottle and said,

"Professor Bentozol really came. Wardanaz."

"Yes?"

"Fire your strongest magic outside."

"..."

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