Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 521

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 521

Lee Han’s eyes wavered for a moment.

Fortunately, Professor Lightningstep didn’t notice.

“I don’t know who it was, but they’re really bad people! To steal such a rare creature.”

“Enough. If we’re going to assign blame, it’s because of the Principal who keeps tormenting the students.”

Though Professor Lightningstep continued to grumble, he wasn’t seriously angry about the students stealing it.

After all, Einroguard’s rules encouraged such theft in the first place.

When they kept pressuring students to steal if they had the ability, how could students who had undergone harsh training just sit still and not steal?

“Don’t you have any suspects in mind?”

Lee Han subtly probed Professor Lightningstep.

If the other party had any suspicions, he planned to handle the situation as quickly as possible.

“Well, probably one of the third years? The fourth years would be too busy now to steal and raise a ghostly chicken.”

Professor Lightningstep said while holding a hammer and repairing the fence.

From the professor’s perspective, it seemed like the 3rd and 4th year students facing the upcoming final exams had taken interest in the Skeleton Principal’s garden.

While there were various rare beasts, the ones students would be most directly interested in were those two hydras that had been brought in recently.

Among them, the 4th year students would have too much to prepare and wouldn’t have the leisure to worry about a ghostly chicken, so the culprit was likely among the 3rd years.

‘Thank goodness.’

Lee Han inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.

If the 3rd year upperclassmen took the suspicion instead, Lee Han would be safe.

The upperclassmen might suffer a bit, but wasn’t it the role of upperclassmen to take the initiative and shoulder the pain of their juniors?

“Good grief. They managed to take away that troublesome creature.”

“Is it that troublesome?”

Lee Han was slightly puzzled.

Lee Han had taken the ghostly chicken away relatively easily.

Though the ghostly chicken had thrashed around at first, when he approached and quickly covered it with cloth before grabbing it, it didn’t resist and followed along obediently.

“Yeah. Its temper is absolutely terrible.”

“??”

Lee Han slightly doubted whether he had properly taken out the ghostly chicken.

Could he have taken a fake one?

‘Ah. Maybe it got scared after being caught?’

“Is it the cowardly type?”

“No. Its temper is bad enough, but it’s even more troublesome because it has no fear.”

“…”

Lee Han resolved to check the ghostly chicken again once the lecture ended.

That docility from yesterday might have been a mistake…

“Moreover, it’s a monster that spews curses.”

“Ah. I’m aware of that.”

Lee Han wasn’t particularly concerned about curses.

While other 3rd year students would be worried about the curses these monsters spew when handling them, Lee Han didn’t need to worry much about it.

Even yesterday when the ghostly chicken spewed curses while trying to peck at Lee Han with its beak, it had no effect on him.

-Cluck cluck cluck… Cluck cluck cluck!!

Indeed, the ghostly chicken that had initially been angry and tried to peck with its beak became very docile once it was caught and realized its curses didn’t work.

“The creature’s curses change depending on its food and surrounding climate. It’s a peculiar one. That’s why I thought it would be great for learning how to deal with curse-type monsters…”

Lee Han, feeling slightly guilty, made a small excuse.

“How about practicing reading the flow of mana to identify what kind of curse it is instead?”

“…?”

Professor Lightningstep looked at Lee Han as if he were slightly insane.

Identifying what kind of magic it was just by looking at its appearance required the talent to sense the structure of magic you didn’t even cast from a distance, and the knowledge to recognize what magic it was by looking at that structure.

“If that were possible… you wouldn’t be a 1st year, would you?”

‘Huh?’

Lee Han was slightly flustered by Professor Lightningstep’s gaze.

Lee Han had often read the flow of mana and remembered patterns to identify them first several times before.

Without doing so, he couldn’t maintain control and endure when facing powerful enemies.

‘Was I the strange one?’

“If it’s that violent, wouldn’t the ghostly chicken wander around attacking students?”

Lee Han prepared to ask several more questions.

The stolen ghostly chicken had been released in the old basilisk cabin.

With its remote location and magic that made it difficult for intruders to enter, there was no place better than the cabin for raising dangerous beasts.

“It’s not the type to go around attacking like that. It’s closer to a territorial animal. It won’t easily leave its territory.”

“Then what kind of food does it prefer?”

“It eats regular chicken feed well, but to strengthen its cursing power, it needs raw meat dripping with blood or ingredients imbued with some mana… Wait.”

Professor Lightningstep, who had been answering, stopped as if sensing something amiss.

Lee Han felt his heart sink.

‘Was I too obvious?’

“I get it.”

Professor Lightningstep raised his eyebrows and glared at Lee Han slightly.

“You. You’re thinking of finding and raising a ghostly chicken. Right?”

“…There’s really no fooling you, Professor.”

When Lee Han readily admitted it, Professor Lightningstep grumbled in response.

“You’re always so greedy. I don’t recommend it. It’s so bad-tempered and troublesome that even if its eggs and feathers are expensive, the medical bills will cost more.”

Sometimes there were alchemists who tried to raise them to stably collect ghostly chicken eggs or feathers.

Most such attempts ended in miserable failure. Alchemists without the ability to handle dangerous monsters would get pecked, clawed, and cursed by ghostly chickens, then call Professor Lightningstep.

‘…It’ll really be okay, right?’

Lee Han suddenly became worried.

He had clearly left the ghostly chicken behaving well in the cabin, but he worried that in his absence, it might have smashed the cabin and escaped beyond the barrier.

‘If that’s the case, I won’t forgive it.’

If it had used such trickery, Lee Han felt he would never be able to trust monsters again.

The baby basilisk, sensing Lee Han’s emotions, trembled in his pocket.

“Rather than catching and raising one, you’d have better chances finding its nest and taking eggs or feathers. Oh right. If you find any, bring them to the professors. They’ll probably buy them at a good price.”

“Oh… Thank you.”

Lee Han looked at Professor Lightningstep with respect.

How many people in Einroguard would think of their students like this?

“So are we resting today?”

Gainando asked while brushing straw from his hair.

He had just been showered with straw while feeding the horses in the stables.

“No. We can’t do that. I was planning to do this next week, but I decided to move it up to this week. It’s about time they came… Ah. They’re here.”

“!”

The students gathered around all turned their gazes at once.

From the opposite side, riders on various mounts were walking over in sequence.

The mounts were all different.

Some rode horses, some wolves, some ostriches, some goats, some turtles…

However, their attire was uniformly identical. They all wore the same clothing with Granden City’s emblem on their chests.

Asan and Angrago shouted simultaneously.

“Granden City Polo Club!”

“…What? There’s such a thing?”

Lee Han asked in confusion.

Then his two friends asked back in even greater shock.

“You didn’t know?!”

“How could you not know that, Wardanaz! You have time to participate in gatherings and catch basilisks, but you don’t know about this?”

-??

The baby basilisk was bewildered by the students’ words.

When did it catch what?

“Was that something I needed to know?”

“Of course. Wardanaz. The Granden City polo club is an honorable gathering that any noble in this area would want to join.”

“But it’s us knights who are producing results.”

“Nonsense! The striker who received an award last time was of noble birth!”

“That was just a one-time award! Originally, those of knight origin…”

“Hey. You’re being loud.”

Lee Han made his two friends shut their mouths.

To Lee Han, who only read the business section of the Imperial Newspaper, how successful or prestigious the polo club was didn’t interest him much.

“So anyway… it’s a successful organization, right? But why did they invite such a place? What does polo have to do with mount training?”

“Oh my. Wardanaz. Polo helps tremendously with mount training.”

At Angrago’s triumphant words, Lee Han considered hitting him.

Even if he had muscle pain, if he had a skeleton warrior grab both of Angrago’s shoulders…

“Alpha is right. Wardanaz. Polo not only helps with mount training but can be called the flower of it.”

“…!”

Lee Han looked at Professor Lightningstep with eyes mixed with betrayal.

Given Lightningstep’s rough personality that didn’t care about public opinion, he thought she wouldn’t be particularly interested in whatever the Imperial polo club did.

But even such a person was interested in polo.

“Why not just do regular training instead of having to do polo?”

“Because it can be more fun and more interesting…? No, Wardanaz. Do you actually dislike polo? I thought you’d naturally be good at it.”

Professor Lightningstep was even more bewildered.

Being from a noble family and skilled at horseback riding, it was more unusual not to be interested in polo.

Polo was not only an intense sport for knights but also a social refinement for nobles.

“I don’t dislike it, I just wasn’t interested.”

“That sounds like disliking it… Anyway, it is strange. I wouldn’t have thought someone as social as you would have little interest in polo.”

Lee Han was hit where it hurt.

Indeed, he practiced dancing and singing to develop social skills, so there was no reason not to practice polo too.

If high-ranking Imperial officials liked polo, Lee Han should also practice polo and show an active attitude like ‘I belong to the Granden City polo club, haha.’

“…I’m thinking of taking an interest with this opportunity.”

“That’s great, Wardanaz!”

“Right. We’ll show you the charm of polo!”

Asan and Angrago excitedly put their arms on Lee Han’s shoulders and shouted.

Lee Han quietly whispered to his friends.

“If you don’t want to get hit, both of you take your arms down.”

“…There’s no need to get angry…”

* * *

Polo was close to soccer played on mounts.

A sport where you ride a mount and hit a ball with a long pole in your hand to put it in the goal.

But as always, the simpler the rules, the more complex and profound their direction becomes.

Empire people crazy about polo had employed all sorts of complex means and strategies to win.

“Mounts are basically free, but they must not exceed the size or mass limited by Imperial rules. Wardanaz. Your Ponrig will just barely make it, so don’t worry.”

‘Is it okay to ride out on a griffin…?’

Lee Han wondered if it was okay to ride a transformed monster, but since Professor Lightningstep said nothing special about it, he figured it was fine and let it pass.

“You cannot strike or slash above the opponent’s shoulders with the pole. You cannot stab, and you cannot cast magic to make them fall.”

“…”

“…Who would do such things?”

When the students asked as if bewildered, Professor Lightningstep answered indifferently.

“Your upperclassmen. The ones who can’t play well always throw tantrums. You can’t cast magic before entering… roughly, if you think you shouldn’t do it, don’t. You’re guests from outside. Of course, that doesn’t mean you should lose.”

The students laughed at Professor Lightningstep’s words.

Weren’t the players belonging to 【Granden City Polo Club】 people who had been playing games and coordinating for quite a long time?

They weren’t opponents you could avoid losing to just because someone told you not to lose.

However, Professor Lightningstep was serious. She took out a huge paper, floated it in the air, and said.

“Now. Look. You’re at a disadvantage, but if you strike at their weak points, you can definitely win…”

In those eyes, there was no trace of joking, only very serious competitive spirit flashing.

Seeing Professor Lightningstep’s eyes, the students belatedly realized the situation.

The professor really wanted the students to win!

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————