Episode 523

Professor Lightningstep was so baffled that he couldn’t help but ask,

“Why on earth do you train for facing griffons? By regulation, griffons are…”

Griffons, in both size and weight, were ferocious beasts that couldn’t participate in normal polo games.

But Bulpard answered seriously.

“Because the opponent might bring out a short, skinny griffon.”

“……”

Professor Lightningstep suddenly realized he really was a perfectly sane person.

Sure, he liked polo a good bit—but compared to true imperial polo maniacs, this was nothing.

Preparing for an opponent possibly bringing a short, skinny griffon.

…And the most surprising thing was, that reason actually sounded plausible.

Honestly, even in the professor’s mind, one of the polo players might somehow barely get a short, skinny griffon to match the regulations.

Not to mention there were even people bringing in transformed creatures…

‘Wait a minute. Then why are they reacting like this?’

Professor Lightningstep and Bulpard turned and looked at Lee Han.

As Lee Han spurred Fongrif to another dash, the goat guarding the goal couldn’t hold out and dodged aside.

The player started shouting, tears streaming down his face.

“How could you do this to me! How could you, after I shared my food with you and even gave you my clothes! I even gave you my bed!”

-Gaaak…

The goat also seemed deeply sorry, as if it knew its owner’s heartbreak.

Lee Han looked on with a sour expression.

‘Was that really necessary?’

Goats didn’t seem likely to enjoy human food anyway.

At that moment, Bulpard shouted from the stands.

“Griffon! The opponent is a griffon! Since the horse is a griffon in disguise, everyone, remember your anti-griffon training! Recall what you practiced!”

“……”

Lee Han wondered for a moment if the enemy was trying to mess with him.

Anti-griffon training?

‘Why on earth would you have that…?’

“As expected! I knew there was something strange about that horse’s eyes… Here!”

The player quickly blindfolded the goat, preventing it from making eye contact with the griffon.

Other players apparently heard this as well and scrambled to cover their own mounts’ eyes. As long as they avoided the deadly eyes of the griffon…

-GAAAAK!!!!

“Why?!”

“Ah.”

Lee Han realized as he swung his stick and sent the ball through the gap.

“Isn’t this your fault?”

Come to think of it, Lee Han also had a basilisk in his arms.

Monsters could probably sniff out the faintest trace of basilisk even when humans couldn’t. No wonder they were so terrified.

-…?

But instead of agreeing, the baby basilisk just wagged its tail in confusion.

A smart monster is sensitive to its own powers.

The baby basilisk knew it still couldn’t do much.

If monsters were scared of the scent of an ungrown baby monster, they’d have to be incredibly faint-hearted…

“Thanks. Because of you, the professor will be happy.”

When Lee Han thanked it anyway, the baby basilisk was puzzled but happy.

“Let’s get you tucked deeper in my coat for now. Even after the game, so the others don’t find out.”

-……

• * *

The tenacity of the Granden City Polo Club players was incredible.

They covered their mounts’ noses, ears, and eyes, and tried to calm them relying only on trust and bond, struggling to keep up in the match.

But Professor Lightningstep’s freshmen, using a strong attacker and a compact defensive line, held out without giving any openings.

No matter how tough the club players’ offense, it was almost impossible to turn things around in this situation…

“…Write that down.”

“Okay.”

Angrago and Cltran diligently scribbled with their quill pens.

These game records and impressions actually sold well among students who liked polo.

Professor Lightningstep, passing behind, couldn’t entirely hide his good mood and said,

“Delete the part about covering the mounts’ eyes, ears, and noses. It’ll just confuse people reading it.”

“Ah! Thank you!”

Having received more than enough praise from the Granden City Polo Club players, Professor Lightningstep was in rare good spirits.

-We were truly amazed, Professor! Your tactics were incredible!
-We look forward to next year’s Einrogard Polo Club results!
-We’ll have to retrain ourselves for griffon opponents.
-Actually, how about trying to tame a griffon ourselves?

“Hand the silver coins we got from the Polo Club players to the treasurer. Use it next year for research support applications.”

“Thank you, Professor!”

The students also cheered, overjoyed at their victory.

Lee Han, still suffering muscle pain, froze.

“…Wait, even the friendly match pays silver?”

“As a thank you gesture to the winners, Wardanaz. Seriously, stop studying and take an interest in polo already.”

Angrago spoke very seriously.

After today’s match, he realized just letting someone like Wardanaz devote himself solely to magic was a great loss for imperial polo.

Wardanaz might be rough and bad-tempered, but for the sake of imperial polo, Angrago was prepared to put aside those grudges and help.

“……”

Lee Han almost hit him, but stopped because of his muscle pain. Angrago nodded at the restraint.

“Guess you felt something after the match too.”

“…Imirg. Imirg? Could you hit that guy for me?”

Lee Han’s giant-blooded friend was flustered by the request.

Professor Lightningstep praised today’s match once more, pointed out the things to improve, then called Lee Han over.

“By the way, the players said you were the MVP of today.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

Lee Han answered without much feeling.

If he’d been a student who actually liked polo, he’d have cried tears of joy, but right now Lee Han’s head was filled with muscle pain.

“Here, take this. It’s your honorary medal.”

“Could you just give me more silver coin ins…”

Lee Han paused, startled by the medal with its date and venue, the crests of Granden City Polo Club and Einrogard.

Astonishingly, it was pure silver.

“It’s solid silver?”

“Hm? Of course. You can’t make such an honorable medal from fakes.”

Lee Han’s eyes filled with tears of delayed emotion. Professor Lightningstep, seeing it, was pleased.

‘So he’s happy we won after all, despite pretending otherwise.’

• * *

Doppelganger Professor Yonramo spoke to the students.

“External transformation magic and self-transformation magic may appear similar in principle, but when you actually cast them, you’ll feel how different they are. Altering a wizard’s own body is no easy feat.”

Even if the principle’s the same as changing external substance, changing the mage’s own body was much harder.

To do it, a wizard needed a strong enough mind to not lose their self even as their form changed.

“Sometimes, a few unfortunate transformation magicians lose themselves from transforming too long or too often…”

Professor Yonramo realized, seeing the students’ scared faces, that he’d made a mistake.

Unlike a sociable person like Professor Garcia, Yonramo still had no sense for what would scare students.

“…There’s really no need to worry! Even losing yourself and becoming something else isn’t necessarily a bad thing, you know.”

“……”
“……”

The students were even more horrified.

Some even murmured, ‘Isn’t transformation magic way too dangerous…?’

“If you don’t like transformation magic, you don’t have to learn it. There are plenty of transformation magicians who don’t even use physical transformations. Some people just aren’t compatible… Lee Han, how about showing the others a transformation so they aren’t so scared?”

Seeing the students getting increasingly scared no matter what he said, Professor Yonramo changed the subject and turned to Lee Han.

If someone as respected as Lee Han demonstrated transformation magic, it was bound to calm them.

“…What? Professor, I don’t know how to use transformation magic.”

“Huh? Didn’t you get a spellbook last time? Haven’t you learned it yet?”

Professor Yonramo asked innocently.

At the last transformation festival, didn’t magicians line up to give Lee Han spellbooks?

-I’m so delighted to present my family’s grimoire, -From Caterpillar to Dragon-. Hahaha! Hahahaha! Oh, the others… Wait. Ahem.

Hadn’t someone said that to him?

“…I’m sorry. I haven’t learned it yet.”

Lee Han’s face darkened in apology.

He thought Professor Yonramo was scolding him.

‘Damn. That’s unfair. I didn’t realize I was supposed to learn it…’

Even though he felt wronged, Lee Han just made himself look as apologetic as possible.

He knew that logical protest was useless in front of professors.

Only a fake expression had any effect.

“Ah, no… I wasn’t blaming you…”

Unlike other ambitious professors, Yonramo just wanted to live a peaceful, untroubled life.

He had no desire to provoke a student being groomed as the Skull Principal’s direct successor and risk a grudge.

Truly, it was just a slip of the tongue!

He imagined a future where Lee Han, as the Principal’s right hand, might slash the transformation school’s budget, and he hastily comforted him.

“Transformation magic is hard. No one picks it up easily. So there’s no need to apologize. I just… thought you’d already learned it by now since it’s you, Lee Han…”

“…Sorry…”

“……”

Seeing Lee Han’s face grow gloomier, Professor Yonramo wanted to cry.

He gave up and looked around at the students.

“So, today… we’ll just learn the basics of transformation magic.”

A truly gloomy mood settled over the start of lesson proper.

• * *

“Oh, check this out! It sparkles!”

“Wardanaz! Look! I’m Meikin!”

“…If you don’t change it back, I’ll pour a hiccup potion in your mouth while you sleep.”

“S-sorry, Meikin. It looked fun when Gainando did it…”

“……”
“……”

The basics of transformation magic started with changing your own hair or nail colors.

The difficulty was relatively low, and even if you failed, the aftereffects were less severe.

The friends practiced, changing their own hair colors.

‘Yeah. Gainando’s gonna get smacked when he gets back.’

Lee Han noticed that Yoner was preparing an offensive spell after realizing Gainando had imitated him while he was gone, and cautiously struck up conversation.

“Yoner?”

“What. Why.”

“…If you drink a -basic metallic affinity potion- and cast the spell, you’ll be able to pin him down with steel transformation more easily.”

Yoner’s expression softened. Lee Han inwardly apologized to Gainando.

‘By the way…’

Lee Han swung his staff, puzzled.

It was rare for him to be behind the other students, but he couldn’t get his hair color to change.

“Lee Han, you need to put in more mana.”

“Oh. Really?”

Lee Han figured the professor was right.

Given his resistance to external spells, he probably needed more mana for self-directed magic as well.

“More.” “More.” “Put in more.” “More!”

“…S-sorry.”

“I-it’s not anger, you know that?”

‘What are they doing?’

Next to them, Yoner was practicing to display ‘Gainando is as good as dead’ across his nails, bemused by the weirdly submissive master-disciple scene between Lee Han and the professor.