"I'll be nearby," Mithrun answers idly, as though that is in any way a response to Popp's complaint. "We just need one in sight; if I see it before you do, I'll take it out immediately."

Y'know what - yes, Popp, definitely believe that. And, in all fairness, it isn't entirely untrue; he knows that Popp is a mage, and that he's an adult by the standards of his own race. He presumably isn't completely helpless.

It's just that he does also plan to be lying in wait anyway.