Episode 701

“There are some peculiar schools among the disciplines. Aside from the ones you saw in first year…”

“Aren’t you going to ask if any student is taking more than four?”

Gainando raised his hand to ask, only for Perse to shut him down sharply.

“Don’t waste my time, junior. Even though I’m a senior, I’m not here to indulge all your jokes.”

“Ah, but…”

Gainando felt greatly wronged.

He’d asked for a friend’s sake!

“Where was I? Ah, unusual disciplines.”

“Are you talking about something like the School of Black Magic?”

At someone’s question, Gainando started bristling.

But the one asking was Lee Han. So Gainando quickly cancelled his outrage.

“The School of Black Magic doesn’t even count among the peculiar ones. It just has comparatively fewer people, but it’s maintained a tradition and steady enrollment the whole time.”

“Our seniors used to worry it might get abolished any day though.”

Ignoring Gainando, Perse went on.

“An unusual discipline at Einrogard is one you’ve never heard of or would never expect anyone to study. If you want to learn it, you have to beseech the principal to bring you a professor, or have the luck to find a fifth- or sixth-year upperclassman researching it and hope to learn from them.”

‘That makes sense.’

Lee Han nodded.

Something like music magic, or Professor Voladi’s magic (if you could even call that a discipline!), would probably fall into this category.

‘Wait. Is there a separate time magic discipline?’

“Senior, I have a question.”

“Yes?”

“Is there a separate discipline for time magic at Einrogard?”

“Uh… hold on.”

Even Perse seemed unsure on this one. He pulled out a conch-shaped artifact and asked,

“Senior Yukveltire, are there time magic classes this year?”

-None.

“When was the last time there was one?”

-Fourteen years ago. If any juniors are interested, tell them to get their heads straight.

“Thank you for the advice.”

Perse relayed the answer to the juniors.

“It’s been so long since anyone took it, it’s gone. If you’re really interested, you’ll have to wait until fifth year and—”

In the middle of his words, Perse caught himself and clapped a hand over his mouth.

Was he seriously about to say something that horrible to the juniors?

“…Pretend you didn’t hear that.”

“Fifth year?”

Perse waved his staff vigorously, silencing Gainando’s complaints with a mute hex as the latter made desperate gestures.

“Juniors, whether you respect or revere your seniors is up to you, but one thing to never do: don’t mention four-plus-one in front of a senior! Especially not in front of the fourth-years! Got it?”

“Sorry.”

“We’ll remember.”

Perse’s gaze was so desperate and intense that the second-years just wilted under the pressure.

“Back to the main topic: In second year, your classes will start to revolve around your chosen disciplines. There are required and elective classes, but for the most part what you take will be determined by your interests within your discipline.”

Even within the same discipline, each wizard’s goals could be completely different.

For summoning magic, one wizard might specialize in spirits, another in inanimate objects, another in ancient relics, and so on…

So every Einrogard student needed to be smart in choosing electives within their field.

“Just so you know, choosing is pretty hard.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because there are so many classes.”

Perse dragged up a chalkboard and unfurled a massive roll of paper over it.

Cursed Cases in Summoning Magic

Elemental Studies and Fire Spirit Summoning

An Economic Analysis of Golem Summoning

Necessity of Summoning in Ancient Relic Research (Second Years Prohibited)

The Principal’s Summons and Their Weaknesses

…

…

Unlike first year, there was no cohesion—completely random class names abounded, and the students gawked in disbelief.

“A-are all these classes available?”

“No. There are way more that aren’t.”

Before the juniors got too spooked, Perse quickly explained.

Normally, Einrogard’s classes are run by professors or the unluckiest fifth- and sixth-year mages in the land.

Each year, professors and unlucky mages write up course lists to be posted…

…And those lists would linger for years, never actually disappearing.

“????”

“Uh, that’s allowed?”

“No. That’s why a lot of these classes don’t have an instructor or an upperclassman. Plus, a lot will only run if you sign up to take them—and if no one takes it, no professor is going to show up.”

‘Hmm.’

Lee Han had guessed as much, but stayed quiet.

“In the end, you have to check yourself. Of course, the best method is to talk to your discipline professor and get personalized recommendations for what you want to learn.”

When Perse waved his staff, the class list on the paper changed.

Elemental Studies and Fire Spirit Summoning

Fire Botany

Pleasing Spirits with Fire-based Materials

Most Famous Fire Elementals

“These are some of the recommended classes professors wrote up before. Not much has changed.”

“Senior, I have a question. Do a—do all the professors give such detailed recommendations?”

“Yeah, I know not every professor is as thorough. But you’re lucky—you’ve got a remarkable upperclassman to help out.”

Perse spoke with a tone of deep respect.

Yoner asked carefully,

“Is that… someone who’s one year past fourth year?”

“That’s right. But he doesn’t mind it at all. That’s his strength.”

“Is that Senior Yukveltire?”

Lee Han asked, just in case.

Perse nodded brightly.

“Exactly. How did you know?”

“Oh… I met him outside before. So he’ll be advising us? For class counseling?”

“Yep.”

“……”

Lee Han was appalled.

He could still recall Direte’s warnings, clear as day.

‘Is he really the kind of person who can counsel anyone?’

Maybe he was just a namesake. There were plenty of Verdus professors; maybe Yukveltire was just a name twin.

Though they even kind of acted alike…

“Now, we’ll begin counseling, but please don’t waste time. The senior hates wasting time as much as I do.”

“Senior, I was wondering if…”

“Quiet! Just go in.”

“…Okay…”

• * *

It was usually hard to notice, but spending more than five years at Einrogard had its perks.

One was that most of your classmates and upperclassmen ended up graduating.

Yukveltire didn’t care about his reputation, but most Blue Dragon Tower students left were his juniors, and that definitely helped his image.

Honestly, the perspective of juniors was much different from that of his peers.

To peers, Yukveltire was “Verdus’s protégé,” but to juniors he was “the Tower’s greatest mind and a respected senior”!

His indifference, compared to some more spiteful upperclassmen, made it seem like he was actually kind.

His obsession with magic, never experienced firsthand by juniors, just looked like brilliance from afar.

After all, if you never met them, the skeleton principal was the Empire’s greatest archmage, right?

Yukveltire laid a complicated clock artifact on the table.

It was so big, it seemed better suited for a belfry than for a desk.

‘When are they going to start coming in?’

Yukveltire wasn’t helping juniors pick classes because of some sense of duty.

He didn’t possess such a sense to begin with.

He only helped because of a deal he’d made with friends back in his third year.

—You want to keep all of “Orbidoss’ Tear” for yourself, Yukveltire?!

—What, you wouldn’t be able to use it anyway.

—…True, but we collected this together. Three of us went to the punishment room to steal it from the principal’s warehouse, Yukveltire!

—Let’s make a deal. What do you want? If you want, I’ll advise your personal airship research.

—We don’t need it. We finished already! …Wait, do you think we need advice? Is it really that bad?

—About 10% there.

—10%… Okay, at least that much is good, I guess?

—No. I mean you’ve completed about 10%. That project.

—……

—…Yukveltire, forget the advice.

—No, wait. I might need it.

—We just want you to help guide the second-years. This year’s courses are a mess—80% of them aren’t real! How is that possible?

—Why should I help juniors with what they should do by themselves? Are you related to anyone?

—Yeah, I’ve got relatives, but that’s not the point. Yukveltire, it’s about helping as a senior. Noblesse oblige.

—I’m royalty, and not once in my life have I thought such coddling had anything to do with my honor. Do you even know what the word “honor” means?

—…Whatever! Will you do it or not?!

—I will.

—Are you serious? This’ll take ages.

—I’ll just invent an artifact to handle it for me. That’ll speed things up.

—I knew it… Wait, Yukveltire, then I want to add a condition.

—What?

—Keep helping the second-years until you graduate.

—Are you out of your mind?

—Take it or leave it. And Yukveltire, don’t think about stealing Orbidoss’ Tear. If you break the deal, we’ll destroy it now. Don’t think we don’t know what you’re up to! Maybe you’re a better mage, but we’re Einrogard students too.

-…!

Yukveltire opened his eyes.

Even now, he found it a most irritating bargain. He’d never been checkmated like that by peers before.

So now Yukveltire was stuck matching second-year students to classes until graduation, thanks to the stupidity of those deal-makers.

“Hello, senior!”

“Put your hand on the artifact. Visualize your school, and think of what you’re curious about in it.”

“I- is that it?”

The nervous student asked. Yukveltire just stared blankly.

Under that cold gaze, the second-year quickly pressed a hand to the artifact.

With a click and whir, the clock machine spat out a day’s course schedule.

“…!!!”

The student gaped at the artifact.

Amazingly, the timetable included not only their chosen field and interests, but classes they hadn’t even considered!

“H-how did it know to add “Water Element Fluidity”? I’m not interested!”

“This clock analyzes your ability, too. If you lack something, it recommends a class to compensate for it.”

“A-amazing…!”

“Are you going to stand there all day?”

“N-no! Thank you!”

After scribbling down the class names in a hurry, the junior left.

As the next student came in, Yukveltire closed his eyes and repeated the same instruction.

And again, and again for every new junior…

“Hello.”

A voice came in, subtly disguised.

But Yukveltire wasn’t the sort to open his eyes over a junior’s suspicious tone.

“Put your hand on the artifact. Visualize your school, and what you’re interested in.”

“Yes.”

Lee Han breathed with relief when the mad senior didn’t look his way, and put his hand on the clock.

He intended to finish quickly and make a run for it.

Ting!

“…?”

The clock arm ground to a halt, suddenly freezing. Lee Han, confused, watched as Yukveltire started to open his eyes. In a panic, Lee Han instinctively tossed his cloak aside.