Episode 1100

‘In that case, His Excellency should reflect on his actions.’

The great-race inspector resolved to inform the skeleton headmaster of this and sternly point it out upon his return to the main building.

For a disciple taught by the archmage to respect and cherish another mage more—

This was because of the archmage’s own uninhibited behavior.

“Professor, do you really have to go so far to gain a dragon’s favor?”

Lee Han asked seriously.

Of course, Lee Han didn’t really like Professor Bendozol that much.

If you divided Einrogard’s professors, Garcia would be at one extreme, and Verdus at the other; Bendozol was definitely at the latter end.

But even if he wasn’t fond of someone, seeing them this desperate made Lee Han feel a little sorry as a student.

Was dragon attention really that important?

“Shut up!”

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

“I mean, what did I do wrong…?”

“How could someone like you, favored by a dragon, ever know how I feel?!”

“……”

Lee Han could almost always win an argument with a professor, but this time he was overwhelmed by Bendozol.

That was how much pleading filled Bendozol’s voice.

“Professor.”

“What!”

“Actually, being loved by a dragon isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”

Lee Han offered his advice sincerely.

Just considering the status dragons held in the Empire, interacting with them naturally brought all sorts of trouble.

For example, being invited to a mansion only to get handcuffed…

“Lee Han, that doesn’t sound remotely like good advice.”

Yonner whispered from beside him.

No matter how sincere his friend was, to a narrow-minded professor this would only sound like pouring oil on the fire.

“You… you… g-grrrr.”

“P-professor!”

His student’s over-the-line humblebrag made Bendozol clutch his chest and collapse, foaming at the mouth.

“Wardanaz assassinated the professor!”

“No, you maniacs, I didn’t!”

Lee Han protested vehemently.

He’d been the only one actually trying to advise the professor, and yet he was misunderstood like this!

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

“……”

Not sure what his friend understood, Lee Han kicked his friend in the shin, then asked Yonner for a potion.

“Yonner. Can I borrow a potion?”

Yonner hesitated, unsure if he meant the one to finish someone off or the one to revive, but trusted her friend and handed over the latter.

‘Guess I picked the right one?’

Fortunately, it was the right choice. As Bendozol regained consciousness, Lee Han sighed in relief.

“Professor, are you alright?”

“You… ugh… you little…”

“Professor Bendozol, are you feeling unwell?”

Just then, Uman, having made a round of the room, appeared. The huge dragon inspector, in human form, looked at the professor with concern.

Startled, Bendozol struggled to answer with his stiffened tongue.

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

Through sheer willpower he forced his body to recover from paralysis.

He reassured Uman again and again that there was nothing wrong.

“See? Nothing to worry about. Teaching Einrogard students is my joy and my calling!”

“……”

“……”

While the students watched with disbelief and disdain, Professor Bendozol didn’t care.

To him, all else were stones beside the dragon.

“Very well. I, Uman, place my trust in Professor Bendozol.”

“An honor! sob!”

“But Professor, there is something I’d like to ask.”

“Ask anything!”

“About the Barghest you brought…”

Before Uman could finish, Bendozol rushed to flatter.

“A completely harmless Barghest puppy. Because I care for my students!”

As soon as he heard a dragon was coming as inspector, Bendozol’s first move had been to scour the mountains for a Barghest puppy for two days.

If he’d brought out a full-grown Barghest and the inspector saw, it would’ve gone like this:

-Professor Bendozol. I am very disappointed you’d show such a dangerous creature to your students. I will never make a contract with you. And I’ll spread news of this to every dragon I know.

-Nooooo!!!

He couldn’t change his lecture report for the skeleton headmaster, but at least he could swap it for a puppy.

All-nighter as it was, he was glad he’d found the Barghest pup. He was about to receive a dragonkin’s praise.

“Barghest puppies are so weak, they aren’t very useful for learning how to handle them. Is there some secret benefit Uman doesn’t know about?”

“……”

A wizard who’d watched the heavens collapse might not make the face Bendozol made now.

He was so dazed he couldn’t utter a single word.

‘I should just die.’

Privately, he resolved.

To miss this once in a lifetime chance (not that rare, considering he’d met Princess Joulin last year), and be caught making such a shameful mistake—

There was no point going on. He should probably wander into a monster-filled place and die.

But just then, his sly, arrogant, lowdown, and most enviable student’s voice quietly came:

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

“You…”

Bendozol was choked up.

He wondered why this student—who’d caused all the trouble—said such things.

But at his weakest, the professor subconsciously listened.

“…What do you mean, not over?”

“If you just come up with a good reason for picking the puppy Barghest, you’ll be fine. Just don’t say it was to suck up.”

“How could I possibly lie to a dragon?”

Bendozol asked, as if the idea was horrific.

To tell a lie to such a beautiful creature.

‘Isn’t it easy?’

Lee Han considered. Even he’d lied to Joulin before, like, ‘I’ll definitely play with you tomorrow,’ and such.

“Then you’ll just be remembered forever as a shameful person.”

“……”

Bendozol’s face twisted in agony as if gutting himself.

“…I’ll start class now! Your Highness, allow me to show you why I chose the Barghest puppy!”

“Oh…! Professor Bendozol. I look forward to it!”

• * *

“You punks, I mean, you brats, I mean…”

“…Maybe just call us students.”

Lee Han whispered in exasperation.

How rarely must he call them that to struggle so?

“Right, you students! You must be wondering. Why a Barghest pup, not a full-grown one?”

“Isn’t it to suck up?”

“I thought you could only afford a puppy.”

“Shut yo—… Ahem. Such a great sense of humor you all have.”

Bendozol forced himself to suppress his anger. The students’ eyes sparkled.

Maybe the professor couldn’t fight back if they tormented him?

“That’s enough. The professor’s about to teach.”

“Wardanaz, after all you went through, don’t you want revenge?”

“…Quiet, you.”

Lee Han plugged his ears, wavering. His friends’ arguments were persuasive.

“I think Wardanaz, having contracted with a dragon, feels sorry for Professor Bendozol, who never will.”

“True. It makes sense if you frame it like that. He’s already contracted with a dragon as a second-year; anyone seeing a professor who never has, might feel a little pity…”

The students brazenly discussed what would give Bendozol a second heart attack if he heard.

Fortunately, Bendozol was busy calming the Barghest pup.

“Look! Today’s class isn’t about handling an adult Barghest, but about taming a Barghest puppy!”

“……”

The declaration chilled the students.

It seemed so out of nowhere.

“…Can you even make a Barghest obey you?”

“Never heard of that. Are they even tamable monsters?”

Despite its cute looks, the wolf-dog of death had a notorious reputation. If it appeared in -Just Terrible Creatures-, it definitely wasn’t a normal monster.

Given the dark magic covering its body, it wasn’t generally tamable…

“I understand your doubt—you students! But there is a secret method nobody knows.”

“Is that true?!”

Deorgyu asked in surprise, and Bendozol erupted in anger.

“You little brat! You’re planning to poach Barghest pups, aren’t you!”

“…N-no…”

The orc friend, suddenly accused of being a future poacher, was left speechless. Uman asked with genuine confusion:

“You’re suspecting students who have done nothing wrong?”

“It was just a joke! A joke!”

“Hmm. Still, please be careful, Professor Bendozol. There’s a line between teacher and student; too many jokes can degrade academic standards.”

“I’ll remember that! I’ll engrave it in my bones, Your Highness!”

“No need to go that far.”

Barely revived, Bendozol wasted no more time; he revealed the secret technique.

Most mages never knew it, but the professor, who’d spent a lifetime among monsters, knew how to tame Barghest pups.

“First, you have to reduce the magic in its fur. That magic is what separates a Barghest from ordinary life.”

“But… isn’t that magic tied to the Barghest’s own vitality?”

The negative energy shrouding the wolf-dog was, for a human, like the very blood in its veins.

Removing it would kill the Barghest, just as a human would die from losing all their blood.

“Now listen to the potion and spells I’m about to explain. Combine them and you can suppress a Barghest’s magic without letting it leak out!”

Bendozol listed three potions and four spells, and explained their mix.

Each potion reduced magic volume, reversed properties, and suppressed flow; the spells sealed magic inside and stopped it from leaking.

‘Amazing.’

Lee Han listened in awe. As a mage who had chased monsters his whole life, Bendozol’s secrets were impressive and creative.

Any mage of reasonable skill could handle those potions and spells, but combining them to tame monsters like Barghests…

Squeak—

While listening, the Barghest pup crawled over and clung to Lee Han’s leg.

The baby basilisk, feeling provoked, tried to scare it away with its tail. Lee Han warned it quietly under his sleeve.

“Hey.”

-Sulk.

Lee Han picked up the little shadow wolf-dog in his arm and kept listening.

‘Of course, until you get all three potions in it, it’ll stay ferocious—even as a puppy, be careful…’

“……”

Giselle, sitting next to him, stared.

She looked at the puppy in his arms, then at Lee Han, then at the lesson again.

“What’s up? Did the White Tiger Tower kids screw up again?”

“…Don’t you feel something’s off?”

“Off?”

Lee Han cocked his head.

“If you reduce the amount and reverse the property, you don’t really need to suppress the flow—but when you think about spell duration, flow suppression is pretty essential…”

“Forget it. Just listen, idiot.”

‘What the—!’

Suddenly insulted, Lee Han was extremely indignant.

As he thought, White Tiger Tower students are excessively rude.