The Genius Tamer of the Academy

Chapter 103

The next day, we devoted all our energy to finding a cave.

It might have been a risky decision, but if we were going to survive long-term, it was worth it.

After all, we had already fallen victim to the tricks of illusion magic.

We didn’t have a tracking stone to ensure our safety, and for all we knew, a storm could hit overnight, or we might be attacked by winds as strong as a typhoon.

Worse still, someone could summon such things to attack us.

If someone had the power to cast widespread illusion magic, it wasn’t far-fetched to assume they could also summon extreme weather, depending on their attributes.

“Is that a cave?”

Thanks to Adela’s assistance, we found a cave much faster than expected. It had taken Lee Han nearly three days of wandering to locate a cave in the original story.

This spot seemed to be outside the range of the illusion magic.

I blocked Won, who was rushing ahead, and cautiously took a step forward, scanning the surroundings.

“Oh.”

There was already an occupant.

A low growl rumbled from within the cave.

“What is that?”

“Seems like it’s been living near the cave.”

In the original story, the cave was supposed to be empty. I hadn’t anticipated running into an unexpected company.

A massive wild boar, its breath steaming in the cold air, pawed at the ground aggressively. It was a wild boar from the mountains.

“It looks pretty angry.”

“Yeah, it does.”

Grrr!

But still, it’s just a pig.

Adela shrugged her shoulders and muttered, “Shouldn’t we just catch it?”

I grinned in agreement. The wild boar looked all too familiar, and after all our wandering, I was pretty hungry.

“So tonight’s dinner is pork belly?”

“Hmm?”

“Go, Basilus!”

At my command, Basilus sprang into action.

We didn’t need to lift a finger; Basilus could handle this on his own. No matter how strong a wild boar was, it had no chance against a dragon…

Thud! Crash!

Wait, what just happened?

“Basilus!”

Why did that happen? Why is my dragon getting beaten?

I just watched my dragon get flung through the air.

Even if he’s just a hatchling, he’s still a dragon—a legendary creature that can take on even seasoned magicians. And he got tossed by… a wild boar?

“Get a grip!”

“Kuoo…”

Basilus looked as bewildered as I felt.

He seemed to be thinking, “Did I, the mighty dragon, really get thrown by a boar?”

Yes, you did! Now get up!

“This isn’t going well. I’ll take care of it.”

Schwing.

Adela unsheathed her sword. There was no hesitation in her movements as she charged toward the wild boar.

Her blade slashed toward the boar’s heart with precision.

Even though Adela was a magician specializing in earth magic, she was equally skilled with a sword.

She could knock out an opponent by throwing stones or deliver a killing blow with a single, well-placed strike.

But then…

Grrr.

Why isn’t this crazy boar dying?

“What the…?”

“Something’s not right.”

Adela gritted her teeth and took a step back.

The wild boar pushed forward with brute force, but Adela deflected its charge with her sword, stepping aside gracefully.

Meanwhile, I had already drawn my staff.

This thing couldn’t be just an ordinary wild boar. Even though wild boar meat isn’t the tastiest, it’s still just a pig.

A single gunshot should be enough to bring it down, so why is it still standing after taking on more than just a gun?

Illusion magic, and now an enhanced boar.

I instinctively realized that there was some hidden secret in this forest, but there was no time to explain it.

“Adela! Get out of there!”

Natalie’s stream of water obstructed the boar’s vision.

Adela dodged the water and struck the boar once more.

Meanwhile, Basilus, who had been knocked back, retaliated with a burst of flames.

Having recently reached level 5, his Fire Spike was powerful enough to turn the area into a blazing inferno.

But instead of indiscriminately burning everything, Basilus focused all his energy on the wild boar.

‘Strong is good, but don’t burn everything to the ground.’

‘Kuoo?’

‘I’m not affected, but we won’t always be fighting alone.’

In reality, I often fought alongside other academy members, so I’d trained Basilus to control his power. I hadn’t expected to need that training so soon.

Basilus’ Fire Spike had become sharper, and he unleashed it directly at the boar’s head.

Determined not to lose twice, Basilus’ expression was resolute.

Crackle!

The sound of electricity surged through the air like thunder.

Adela paused her attempts to cut through the boar’s seemingly impenetrable hide.

Won stumbled back, his strength waning.

Natalie was chanting her next spell, focused on casting.

Crackle…

Thick smoke billowed into the sky.

“…Huh?”

Where the wild boar—no, where the boar had been standing, there was now only a perfectly roasted pig.

“Well, I wasn’t planning on roast pork for dinner…”

Basilus had done it.

* * *

“…You want me to clean it?”

They were looking at me again.

Just like with the rat, they obviously expected me to handle this too.

Do they think I’m some kind of butcher?

Unbelievable.

“I don’t know how.”

“Can’t we just eat it as it is, since it’s already cooked?”

“That’s a bit…”

In the end, I had to step up.

As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I was the only one here who had any real experience dissecting a pig, even though that knowledge wasn’t meant for this.

Ah, this is depressing.

I didn’t study for years just to butcher pigs…

Why am I working at a butcher shop now?

Not that it’s out of the question, but it feels weird.

Slice. Swish.

They watched in awe as I skillfully prepared the meat.

“Wow… as expected….”

“You’re amazing again today!”

I don’t think they’ll believe me anymore, but I still had to say it.

“This is really my first time.”

“If you’re this good on your first try, maybe it’s your calling?”

Natalie smiled brightly as she delivered that blunt remark.

She wasn’t teasing me, but it sure felt like it.

“I’ve done similar things.”

Butchering pigs isn’t similar at all.

Or is it?

Now I was genuinely confused.

“Technically, it’s more like I’m used to saving pigs. You know, that sort of thing.”

I hadn’t actually saved a pig, but I was more familiar with that side of things.

Seymour tilted his head and spoke up.

“Did you join some kind of priesthood before coming to the academy, then?” Seymour asked, his curiosity piqued by my earlier comments.

Healing magic naturally made him think of something along those lines, like Solia, the purification mage.

“But even so….”

What now?

Seymour scratched his head before stating the obvious.

“You’re way too corrupt for that.”

This guy… I feed him and give him a place to sleep, and this is the thanks I get?

Oh.

I suppose that’s why he’s saying it.

After all, Seymour had witnessed me emptying my father’s, Han Taesu’s, wallet of its contents without a shred of guilt. The idea of a would-be priest nonchalantly raiding his father’s wallet for spending money was probably hard for him to reconcile.

“As if you were ever a healer.”

“In a past life, maybe, you idiot.”

Seymour wisely chose to shut his mouth at the edge in my voice.

With a sigh of relief, I finished preparing the wild boar. After grilling the meat one last time, I handed out chunks as big as our forearms to everyone.

We all eyed each other, hesitant but hungry, swallowing our apprehension along with our saliva.

“Do you think it’ll taste good?”

“You’re going to eat it regardless.”

“I’m starving; I’m not picky.”

Wretch.

He immediately became picky.

“Ah, this is….”

The boar had clearly been running wild through the mountains for quite some time—it was incredibly tough.

It also had a slightly gamey flavor, and it felt like we were chewing on something we really shouldn’t be eating.

“Still, it’s better than the rat.”

“That’s true; the rat was a minus just from its appearance.”

“Yeah.”

Despite the toughness, we all chewed through the meat diligently.

After a full day of searching for the cave and burning through our energy reserves, the meat, no matter how tough, was a welcome sight.

“Shall we light a fire and head inside?”

Once we had set up a makeshift camp inside the cave, we all collapsed into our chosen spots with groans of exhaustion.

I sat in front of the campfire, with Natalie and Adela on either side of me.

“Basilus, you did great.”

Natalie gazed at Basilus with a motherly affection, her soft voice almost cooing as she watched him.

Adela seemed to share similar thoughts as she turned to speak to me.

“That was an ability he couldn’t use before, wasn’t it?”

She was right. Fire Spike was a type of area-of-effect magic. Basilus’s ability to channel it like a lightning rod into his opponent had been a surprise.

“Basilus’ grown a lot.”

“Eat up, Basilus.”

“Kuoo!”

Without waiting for my command, Basilus had already taken a spot by my feet, lightly tapping my leg with his tail.

There was still plenty of meat left over—it was too tough for us to finish—so Basilus was happily working his way through the remaining portions.

“Han Siha?”

I gazed up at the sky.

The sky was as dark as it had been yesterday, and as I stared into it, my mind whirred with thoughts of how we could handle whatever lay ahead.

We had encountered too many unexpected variables, and I was still struggling to figure out how to deal with them all.

Lost in my thoughts, I didn’t even notice Natalie had gone inside. Adela stayed by my side.

“Han Siha.”

When I turned my head, Adela was looking at me.

Reporting this situation to the academy would take time. Assuming the third-year seniors noticed something was wrong and sounded the alarm, it would still take at least a week for help to arrive.

In the meantime, we might have to face more monsters like the wild boar, altered in some strange way.

I wasn’t scared, but I was frustrated. I felt like I needed to do something, and I couldn’t shake the pressure of that responsibility.

I had been deep in thought about how to prepare for whatever might come next when Adela’s voice broke through my reverie.

“What’s bothering you?”

Her tone was light, almost as if she were on vacation.

Adela smiled warmly as she continued to speak.

* * *

There’s something about the atmosphere of the early morning.

Adela wasn’t usually one to express her feelings openly.

With the campfire crackling softly, the night sky stretching endlessly above us, and even a few shooting stars streaking across the darkness, it was impossible not to get a little sentimental.

In this setting, it was easy for Adela to open up.

The others had fallen asleep almost as soon as their heads hit the ground.

“I’m ranked second among the second-years at Ardel Academy, right?”

“That’s right.”

“And you’re ranked third.”

“That’s true too.”

“For some people, those are positions they can only dream of reaching, right? Isn’t it kind of funny that we’re here, in a place like this, struggling just to eat something?”

Adela chuckled as she spoke.

“I didn’t learn magic just to catch fish.”

Her tone wasn’t self-deprecating. It wasn’t the kind of self-pitying comment you might hear from someone who regretted their choices or thought they were above this.

So what was it?

I mulled it over a few times before realizing what she meant.

The reason she became a magician.

Unlike the frantic fight for survival yesterday, today she had clearly spent some time reflecting on her situation under the starry sky.

“I’ve heard that magic reflects a person’s nature.”

“Then why did you become an earth mage?”

Adela chuckled softly and looked up at the sky.

“The earth feels closer to me than the sky.”

“Huh?”

“Because I’m a commoner.”

There was a subtle tremor in her voice.

“And you? Why did you become a tamer?”

Well, I was a veterinarian in my previous life, and then I woke up inside a novel and became a tamer.

—Not something I could exactly say, so I just grinned.

“It’s because I prefer an easy life.”

“Oh, so that’s why you’ve been putting Basilus to work.”

“Exactly.”

Adela slowly turned her head to look at me.

From her expression, I could tell that neither of us had been entirely honest.

“Go inside and get some sleep. I’ll keep watch.”

“There’s no need for that. I think I’ll stay up a bit longer and finish off the rest of the meat.”

While it might be a convenient plot device, in the original *Genius of the Academy*, it was established that magic was granted based on a person’s nature.

The strength and power of the magic followed certain rules: magic found those who desired it most.

What you did with that power, and how you grew from there, was up to you.

Adela had always been strong.

But that wasn’t in the original story.

Now I was curious.

Why did you become an earth mage?

And why were you the second strongest character after the protagonist?

“Han Siha.”

Adela looked at me with a sad smile.

Her eyes, gazing up at the pitch-black night sky, seemed deep in thought.

Our eyes met, and she slowly began to speak.

“I know why.”

“Why what?”

“Why I became a mage.”

Her words brought me back to the night we had gone to watch the fireworks, to that heavy statement she had made without thinking.

The look on her face now was the same, and I felt a tension in my shoulders.

But I couldn’t leave her side.

I turned to look at Adela.

“Tell me.”

The stars, distant and unreachable, hung lonely in the sky.

The only sound was the crackling of the campfire; the night was otherwise completely still.

It was just the two of us.

Sitting so close together, I knew I couldn’t avoid this conversation tonight.

“Tell me, Adela.”

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