Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy Chapter 738

Chapter 738

"One of the few advantages of Einroguard is being able to see such precious monsters. Hahaha!"

Professor Bentozol continued speaking excitedly, not noticing the students' changing expressions.

Even if he had been angry until just now, he always became happy when talking about monsters.

The students looked at each other, not knowing who should speak first.

"Well then, shall we all go meet the nightmare sparrow?"

"Professor."

Yi-Han raised his hand and called out. Professor Bentozol made an overtly displeased expression.

"What? Surely you don't dislike meeting it? How many chances do worthless humans like you get to meet precious monsters like nightmare sparrows??"

"Here..."

Yi-Han took out a sparrow monster from his coat pocket.

It was the nightmare sparrow, still trembling in a poisoned state.

"..."

Professor Bentozol was so shocked he couldn't answer. He just stared at the trembling nightmare sparrow, blinking his eyes.

Nillia whispered with a slightly expectant voice at this sight.

-Isn't he going to collapse from a heart attack?-

However, Professor Bentozol barely overcame the shock.

"Im... im... impossible! Who did this to the nightmare sparrow! You! You did this to the nightmare sparrow!"

"Professor! Wardanaz didn't do it!"

Seeing the professor making an expression like an evil spirit, his friends quickly came up with lies.

They thought he might attack Yi-Han if left alone.

Of course, it wasn't that no professor had attacked Yi-Han before, but was there any need to increase that number?

"Think about it! How could Wardanaz defeat a nightmare sparrow!"

"We're just 2nd years!"

The students shouted and seemed to gain confidence, thinking their lies were quite convincing.

Certainly, it sounded strange that a 2nd year student had defeated a nightmare sparrow and brought it like this.

But unfortunately, Professor Bentozol had seen Yi-Han since winter break.

"Shut up! Where in the empire are there 2nd years like that!"

"..."

Yi-Han was dumbfounded.

Of course, it was true that he had defeated the nightmare sparrow, but...

'Isn't this too much?'

"I should have known from when you arrived first without falling for the evil spirits! That you would kill the nightmare sparrow!"

"It's not dead yet though..."

"Sob sob. I'm sorry! It's my fault! It's my fault!"

Professor Bentozol ignored the students' words and shouted to the nightmare sparrow, shedding pearl-like tears.

Then he snatched the nightmare sparrow from Yi-Han's hand and started checking its condition.

"Wait. This poison is...?"

Yi-Han finally had no choice but to tell the truth.

"Actually, the basilisk I'm raising bit it."

"Is that so? Then it can't be helped."

Professor Bentozol nodded as if the laws of nature couldn't be helped.

The students looked at the professor as if looking at a madman.

"Don't worry too much."

"Yes. Thank you."

"I wasn't talking to you, but to the basilisk!"

When the professor shouted, the basilisk made a displeased hissing sound.

It had judged him to be a threat to its master.

Professor Bentozol shouted urgently like a mage witnessing the sky falling.

"I'm not your master's enemy!"

Regardless, the basilisk kept hissing.

Professor Bentozol glared at Yi-Han with tears in his eyes.

He was insanely frustrated.

"You're... you're my cherished disciple!"

"??"

"Who else would it be! I mean you!"

The professor whispered angrily. The basilisk reacted again as if it had heard that sound too.

Professor Bentozol gritted his teeth at the oblivious Yi-Han. Now was the time to endure.

"You, you are my cherished disciple. Haha."

-...-

"Look. See? Haha. We're close."

Although he didn't want to contact the filthy human race, Professor Bentozol endured and put his arm around his disciple's shoulder friendlily.

Even seeing this, the basilisk was suspicious.

"Professor. How long do we have to do this?"

"Until the basilisk stops being suspicious!"

The professor growled.

Regardless, Yi-Han coldly asked back. If he didn't take advantage at times like this, an Einroguard student couldn't survive.

"Then how about we all gather and depart together for the lecture?"

"...You, you...!"

Professor Bentozol was shocked at his evil disciple's suggestion.

He was as vicious as the human race could be!

When the basilisk was about to hiss again, the professor hastily accepted.

"Alright! We'll gather together!"

"How about also talking about what animal we'll go meet in advance?"

"You bas... Fine!"

"Haha. We're close."

Yi-Han and Professor Bentozol put their arms around each other's shoulders and laughed awkwardly. Only then did the basilisk relax its guard and become quiet.

  *

Professor Bentozol, who had barely neutralized the baby basilisk's poison with a few potions and magic he had, sighed.

Fortunately, it was the poison of a basilisk that hadn't fully grown, and the nightmare sparrow itself was such a strong monster.

If it hadn't been a nightmare sparrow born in a place where all kinds of nightmares and spirits were condensed, it would have been difficult to endure such a deadly poison.

'Why is this cute one's poison so strong when it hasn't even fully grown yet?'

Professor Bentozol looked at Yi-Han's sleeve with affectionate eyes. Yi-Han hid his sleeve as if displeased.

"The nightmare sparrow has recovered a bit, so I'll start the lecture."

"...Gasp! Right. It was lecture time?"

"I was wondering for a moment why we were doing this here."

Only then did the students realize it was lecture time and took out their books.

Professor Bentozol carefully put the nightmare sparrow down on the ground and said,

"One of the most beautiful points of this nightmare sparrow monster is these jewel-like eyes. When living beings meet these eyes, they are subjected to strong illusion magic..."

[Be careful of the eyes when hunting nightmare sparrows. They have innate illusion magic. Dangerous!]

"When it flaps its wings, it calls out the evil spirits dwelling inside indiscriminately! This color that changes brilliantly when light hits it is truly beautiful!"

[Be careful of the evil spirits pouring out when the nightmare sparrow flaps its wings. Prepare methods to deal with evil spirits.]

"If this one settles in the forest for a long time, spiritual monsters gradually increase, but this is also part of the process of preparing to lay new eggs! If we leave the forest like this, this cute one will swallow up all the increased spirits and turn them into eggs!"

[Subjugate as quickly as possible if a nightmare sparrow settles in a forest…]

The students listened to Professor Bentozol's lecture seriously.

To survive in Einroguard, one had to be knowledgeable about all kinds of dangerous monsters.

At the very least, students who didn't figure out how to flee and avoid them, and where they came from, couldn't endure for long.

Originally, few people were as deeply interested in and knowledgeable about prey as hunters, but Professor Bentozol was an exception to that.

"It seems to be sleepy. Let's take a short break."

Professor Bentozol lightly covered the nightmare sparrow with a temporary magic blanket made by weaving leaves.

It was a blanket with magic cast on it to recover stamina.

As the professor approached, Yi-Han subtly turned the notebook page.

If he saw the content on 'how to hunt nightmare sparrows', Professor Bentozol might have a heart attack.

"How much are you taking care of the unicorn?"

"Pardon?"

"The unicorn! The unicorn!"

"I think I visit about once every two or three days..."

"Tw... two! Th... three days!!"

When Professor Bentozol made an expression like he was having another heart attack, Priest Nigisor next to him was puzzled.

Are you perhaps afraid of dates?

"You should visit at least five times a day, you curse... cherished disciple!!"

"That's impossible. I can't visit the griffin that often either."

No matter how much the professor jumped up and down, Yi-Han didn't waver.

If he had really done everything the professor told him to do, Yi-Han would have had to master Command Magic in 1st year.

"Don't make excuses! You must surely have spare time. Take out your lecture schedule!"

Yi-Han took out his schedule with half doubt.

He thought even Professor Bentozol couldn't squeeze more out of this, but he was a professor after all.

He might be able to see something Yi-Han couldn't.

"..."

However, contrary to expectations, Professor Bentozol couldn't answer immediately and groaned while grabbing his head.

Like a very complex puzzle, this lecture schedule didn't allow even a little gap.

"This free time is... Damn it. There's a club. Then this free time is... It's the griffin... This free time is... Damn it, damn it!! Why are you taking so many lectures!"

The students behind nodded unconsciously. Fortunately, Yi-Han didn't notice.

"What's this vegetable garden management? Is it a lecture?"

"It's not a lecture, it's taking care of Professor Uregor's cabin."

"Then I'll do this. Go meet the unicorn during this time!"

"...Uh, that's fine, but will you be alright?"

It would be a very embarrassing thing from Professor Uregor's perspective.

For another professor to visit the cabin to do chores.

"What! What's the problem now!"

"Nothing. If you want to, I'll yield it to you."

"What's this 'Finding Evil Beavers'?"

"Ah. I must have written it wrong. It's going to Professor Verduus's workshop to process materials and do preliminary work."

"Is it a lecture?"

"How could this be a lecture?"

"Then I'll do this too, so go meet the unicorn during this time as well!"

"!"

For the first time, Yi-Han felt some goodwill towards Professor Bentozol.

To think he would go meet Professor Verduus instead!

"If that's what you want..."

Professor Bentozol scraped together the remaining gaps in the lecture schedule somehow.

If there were replaceable chores among them, he extracted them as much as possible.

'No. Did I really do this much work?'

Even Yi-Han himself was surprised as each one came out.

To think there was this much.

Professor Bentozol, who had barely secured time for the unicorn, threw the schedule and stood up.

"Now. Next is how to become friends with the nightmare sparrow."

"Be-become friends?"

"I don't want to become friends though..."

Professor Bentozol ignored the students' complaints with a granite-like face.

"It's foolish to only choose the method of fighting recklessly even with dangerous and fierce monsters! Mages should be able to judge flexibly in any situation. Learning how to become friends with monsters means understanding those monsters most deeply."

"Indeed. It would be more helpful when hunting too."

At the White Tiger Tower student's answer, Professor Bentozol glared with eyes that could burn him to death. The student covered his face with his notebook in fear.

"The best way to become friends with nightmare sparrows is transformation magic. Fortunately, there are some animals this one feels close to. Learn how to transform into one of these animals by next time! Even if you can't do it completely, you should at least be able to transform your arms!"

"Professor. I don't major in transformation magic though?"

At the student's question, Professor Bentozol replied with an indifferent expression.

"What do you want me to do? Figure it out yourself. Get a potion or a spell scroll. That's also a mage's ability!"

"..."

The students, who had finished figuring out the professor, discussed among themselves instead of asking meaningless questions.

"Small insect-type monsters, bird-type monsters... Snake-type monsters are surprisingly good too? It feels close to them."

"Snakes seem better than insects."

"Ugh. I hate both."

'A basilisk wouldn't work, right?'

Yi-Han thought inwardly while pondering what animal to transform into with the others.

<Lesser Transformation>, the 2nd Circle magic learned last year, was magic that changed part of the body.

As he had mastered this magic, it didn't seem very difficult to prepare according to Professor Bentozol's requirements.

"Arm. Become a beast's foreleg."

As it was magic he hadn't used for a while, Yi-Han cast it lightly to check.

Pop!

Seeing his disciple's arm change into a basilisk's head, Professor Bentozol slightly pondered if he should just pass that guy.

For the nightmare sparrow's safety, he might really have to do that.