Episode 349

Episode 349

“…Don’t make me cry.”

Not just Chil, but the other healing magic upperclassmen also struggled to see through their tear-blurred vision.

In this situation, maybe the best choice for the junior would have been to just escape.

But by not running away, he moved them deeply.

“Did you see that? Today is the day!”

“It’s in front of a junior! Show them properly!”

The healing magic students shouted as they charged.

‘Is today the day?’

‘If it’s not, we’ll make it that day!’

That day.

Among the healing magic students, “the day” meant “the day we defeat Professor Alcassis, escape, and finally get some rest.”

It had never actually happened before but one day, that day would surely come!

“If you want to rest.”

Professor Alcassis swung her staff.

The charging student caught on to the professor’s intent and desperately tried to defend.

“Become as hard as steel, spirit!”

Despite the strengthening magic, Professor Alcassis ripped away the student’s nervous system control as it was.

To have control over the nerves that linked and transmitted signals to every organ of the body—such a loss was fatal in this duel. The student fainted on the spot.

“Go train your magic skills!”

At the same time, the swords hanging from her waist rose into the air.

When Professor Alcassis lunged forward, the swords—sheath and all—swung, knocking away the students who had focused on defense.

“Finish quickly like this and you can rest earlier.”

“How is it fair when the injured keep coming out over and over!!”

At the disciple’s cry of anger, the professor twitched her staff slightly.

The student panicked and tried to protect their nervous system, but this time it was somewhere else.

The student who lost control over the blood flow in their veins turned deathly pale and collapsed.

‘…Should I have just bolted?’

Seeing Professor Alcassis subdue the charging students with a single wave of her staff, Lee Han suddenly had regrets.

To think that healing mages were weak was a prejudice. Healing magic could be made as aggressive as one wished.

Moreover, a master like Professor Alcassis could seize the control of specific body parts for pin-point suppression.

To seize control over the entire body would require even an archmage to pour in massive amounts of mana, but taking only a part was much less difficult.

Of course, even if another mage could “seize” control, they wouldn’t be able to apply or utilize it effectively.

Such combat was possible only for Professor Alcassis, who had perfect understanding of the human body.

‘No more regrets.’

Lee Han strengthened his resolve and made ready.

Not abandoning his seniors was half calculation, half sympathy.

If he left them and ran, he could face resentment when he met them later.

Sure, right now they would send him off because of their resentment toward the professor, but once the shock faded and they slogged under extra work from the professor, the absent junior might become the object of their complaints.

That was the complicated nature of people.

Moreover, seeing how the upperclassmen were being consistently subdued, if Lee Han left, they probably wouldn’t be able to buy enough time.

For as much as the seniors understood Professor Alcassis, the professor understood the seniors better.

And…

‘…I just couldn’t leave them behind.’

Lee Han, who would usually act in self-interest, truly felt too sorry for those upperclassmen specializing in healing magic.

How could he possibly run off by himself, leaving such people behind?

Lee Han had a conscience, too.

“Seniors. Please support me!”

“!”

The upperclassmen were surprised by Lee Han’s shout.

Amazingly, their junior was charging forward with a sword.

‘Close combat?!’

Just like the others, Chil was shocked.

A mage in close combat?

‘I understand, but what you’re doing is…!’

Given the overwhelming difference in magical ability, fighting with magic was a losing proposition.

So perhaps the better approach was to close in and prevent the opponent from casting magic.

But…

‘…We all tried that already!’

Of course, the healing magic students had already tried that.

When magic didn’t stand a chance, each had cast transformation or strengthening spells and rushed the professor.

The results, naturally, had been disastrous.

Professor Alcassis didn’t carry swords at her waist just for show. Like subduing a rampaging patient, she immediately suppressed her students.

“Wasting mana.”

Professor Alcassis frowned as she swung her staff at the charging Lee Han.

She had carelessly tried to subdue him by seizing control of his body just as she did other students, then realized too late.

‘His mana really is insane.’

Tap!

Professor Alcassis lightly knocked on the wall of the adjacent alley.

The wall, as if it was alive, surged and lunged at Lee Han.

“Water!”

As the wall attacked, Lee Han braced his legs, channeled mana, and surged forward with explosive acceleration.

Not only that, he summoned water in midair.

“Become my foothold!”

“!”

Professor Alcassis was amazed at the magic shown by Lee Han.

What surprised her wasn’t that he summoned water and transformed its form.

Of course, for a first-year to do it so skillfully was amazing, but what really shocked Professor Alcassis was…

‘He really could go straight to being a battle mage right now.’

To choose and cast a spell so quickly in this chaotic, hectic moment.

That was a natural talent for battle magic.

And with that kind of innate mana, he must be a nightmare to other mages.

Clack!

No longer wishing to waste mana, Professor Alcassis grabbed the hilt of her sword.

Rather than exchanging spells, she intended to run right in and subdue him.

Judging by the strengthening spells, it seemed he was charging in prepared, but Professor Alcassis was confident she could overpower him.

‘Here it comes!’

Lee Han tensed every muscle.

He might have lured the professor into close combat, but actually facing her at close quarters made his heart race.

It was several times more tense than facing a master swordsman.

A swordsman only swung a sword, but the professor could use both sword and magic. With a bit of bad luck, he could be done in within a few exchanges.

‘…Let this work!’

Crash!

Professor Alcassis’s swords and Lee Han’s sword clashed violently.

Professor Alcassis recoiled in shock.

“You!”

Lee Han’s sword, Morningstar, instantly absorbed some of her mana.

Because both their swords were sheathed, she hadn’t noticed, but Lee Han’s sword was made of black magnetite—a special stone that absorbed mana.

For a mage like Professor Alcassis, who was meticulous about mana management, it was an infuriating sword.

‘Given her personality, it’ll definitely work.’

Lee Han had never thought of truly defeating the professor.

With such a gap in skill, how could he win?

What Lee Han aimed for was compromise.

He wanted to make the professor think, “What a dirty trickster. I don’t need a guy like you.”

For Professor Alcassis, who managed her mana so meticulously, Lee Han wielding Morningstar was a headache any way she dealt with him.

If she tried to subdue him by sword, she used up too much mana.

If she tried to subdue him by magic, she used up too much mana.

“……”

“Be careful, junior!”

When Professor Alcassis’s eyes flashed dangerously, the other students panicked and swung their staffs.

The sprouting wood from the ground shriveled away on the spot.

Lee Han felt a chill run down his spine.

To attack in such a short moment, seizing on the instant when he let his guard down. If not for the upperclassmen, he might have been finished right there.

Even a moment’s carelessness in front of the professor was fatal.

Professor Alcassis clicked her tongue in displeasure and spoke.

“Fine. Go.”

“!!!!!”

The upperclassmen were shocked.

It was the first time they’d seen Professor Alcassis yield.

‘No way!’

‘Is this real? It’s not a dream, is it??’

Professor Alcassis spoke in her husky, roughened voice.

“You’re quite the negotiator…”

“Thank you.”

The professor had clearly thought the same as Lee Han.

To subdue him here, she would have to use even more mana, and it didn’t make sense to expend that much just to gain one more first-year student.

It was a shame, but what could she do.

“But you won’t be able to dodge it every time.”

“…I’ll work hard next semester.”

At Lee Han’s words, Professor Alcassis gave a slight nod.

She would compromise on that.

“Go.”

“Professor.”

Lee Han looked her over as one would a wild beast, then carefully opened his mouth.

It felt as if his life depended on saying the next word.

“Please let the seniors rest as well.”

“……”

“……”

The air turned icy.

The upperclassmen standing by became so tense they could barely breathe.

‘Th… That crazy guy!’

‘You’re going to get yourself killed!’

Even Professor Garcia, controlling the crowd so no one would approach, audibly gulped.

“Have you forgotten everything I told you? In class, I clearly…”

“I know. But, Professor. There must be other ways. Bring in mages from other regions or ask the headmaster…”

Beside him, Chil genuinely began to worry that his junior was actually insane.

The skeleton headmaster wasn’t some kind of summon you could just call because the healing mages were short-handed.

“…At the very least, I think I can buy enough time for the seniors to get a break.”

“And if I refuse?”

Lee Han swung his sword.

As if to say, “If we go down, we go down together,” Professor Alcassis sighed and finally answered.

“I hope my students don’t pick up your bad habits. Fine. …I really have overworked you all. Go rest. I can buy that much time.”

“Professor…!!!”

“Stop crying and get lost. Rest up.”

The students rushed off before the professor could change her mind.

“A-are you all right?”

Watching, Professor Garcia worried over her for no reason. Professor Alcassis replied brusquely in a voice tinged with annoyance.

“Do I look all right? Hm? Does this look all right to you?”

The considerate respect she showed as a professor in front of students was now nowhere to be found.

Having reverted to being someone’s junior, Professor Garcia bowed her head deeply.

“I’m sorry…”

“Enough. It’s not your fault. The students should rest. They’ve worked so hard…”

“I—I’ll help you, too.”

“As you should, if you have any conscience at all.”

“I was wrong.”

“And… I’d better send word to the headmaster. I suppose I can ask for help once.”

“That’s a good idea. He’s in Granden City now.”

“Is he? Even better, then.”

Professor Alcassis’s influence was such that even the skeletal headmaster could hardly refuse a request, given she’d been saving every patient in all the surrounding regions in Einrogard’s name.

If she asked for help, he could not possibly refuse.

…Of course, from the headmaster’s perspective, it would be baffling.

After all, it wasn’t like Professor Alcassis to suddenly send a message like, “Please, let my students rest and help us out, Headmaster.”

“By the way. Please don’t say to the headmaster that it was Lee Han who brought this up.”

“I understand.”

• * *

“Junior! Isn’t this great? Isn’t it thrilling?!”

“Look at this! Look at it!”

The healing magic students, excited, pointed their fingers.

What they indicated was none other than the fountain in the middle of the city square.

“…Uh, is there some complicated magic hidden in that fountain? I don’t really know…”

“No, nothing like that. It’s just pretty.”

“Yeah. My dream was to just sit quietly all day and watch the fountain.”

“To sit here peacefully and watch like this… Wait. Junior, why are you crying?”

“I’m not crying. I just got some dust in my eye.”