Episode 784
by CristaeThe message Lee Han sent with cunning arrived not long after.
At the seventh-floor White Tiger Tower café, -Sword and Mage-, where White Tiger Tower students often gathered, Giselle read the message and looked puzzled.
“Wardanaz talked Catten-senpai into it?”
“That’s right! Moradi, congrats!”
“Hey, did Wardanaz bribe you or something?”
The friends nearby stared suspiciously.
There was no way Wardanaz would do something like this for free, with no strings attached.
“What… what?! Bribe?! Bribe!? Draw your sword! I demand a duel for that insult!”
The White Tiger Tower student, angered at being insulted by friends, leapt up.
The vehemence made even his friends flinch. He really seemed sincere.
“Hmm. Maybe not? Maybe I was wrong.”
“I’ll take that back then—wait. Why do you smell like meat? It’s ages until Wardanaz’s next food distribution, isn’t it?”
Though Wardanaz smuggled in plenty of food supplies at term’s start, Einrogard’s harsh rules didn’t allow indiscriminate purchase.
Cruel upperclassmen wouldn’t let juniors buy in excess for cheap.
On the scheduled day and time, you had to secretly buy from him with cash. Other Tower students called this Wardanaz distribution.
Thanks to this, no one starved, but it was impossible to live luxuriously. Even more so, since you had to keep reserves for emergencies.
But this smell of meat?
“Reveal yourself, remaining traces… Wait, you! What’s this? That’s meat juice, isn’t it?”
“W-Wardanaz was working in the cooking club so I snuck a choripan.”
“…You were bribed!! 100% bribed!!”
“No, I wasn’t! Choi was invited too!”
The suspicious classmates hesitated.
If Deorgyu was invited too, maybe it was different.
“If even Choi…”
“Come to think of it, didn’t Wardanaz visit House Moradi’s land last winter break?”
“Shh. Quiet. If people say anything, Moradi will want to kill you.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because if word of a North Moradi–Wardanaz alliance spread, it could unite rivals from imperial loyalists, noble factions, and neutrals. The imperial system is fragile enough as is.”
“Indeed. Especially the Western noble houses—they’re still furious about the knights being sent to the North first.”
“True. We’re from knightly families, but as Einrogard students, we need to act with honor.”
“……”
Giselle nearly swung her sword in midair, but stopped.
It was nice that friends were getting smarter at the magic school, but they kept using their brains for things other than magic.
“If even Choi’s going, it can’t be a trap. Still… he wouldn’t just want company for a tough class, would he?”
“Bwahaha! Moradi, you might dislike Wardanaz, but you really think he’d pull something so childish?!”
White Tiger Tower students all laughed, and Giselle’s face flushed.
It was a ridiculous thought even to herself.
“I just said it.”
“Kahahaha!”
“What do you all think?”
“Bwahaha!”
Thunk thunk thunk!
“What do you—”
“I guess if Choi was invited too, the senior probably wants to teach you as well, Moradi.”
“……”
Giselle furrowed her brow, then nodded.
They’d just have to go and see.
- * *
“So, how do you feel?”
“It’s hard work but valuable. Thanks, Lee Han.”
“…Having time to learn like this is an honor, Wardanaz.”
“?”
Lee Han looked befuddled at his two friends panting and sprawled on the floor.
Huh?
“Isn’t this kind of lesson supposed to be miserable and awful? Isn’t it tough to have no break?”
“I have free time after this, so it’s fine.”
“Yeah, I’m open after this. It’s not a problem.”
“……”
Lee Han sensed something was off as his friends reacted so differently from what he expected.
Normally the reaction would be “Ah, you tricked me into this torture!”…
…but these two seemed to accept it just fine.
“Aren’t you angry I called you for this kind of lesson?”
“It’s grueling, but isn’t one tough class doable?”
“I agree with Choi.”
-Don’t other people have class schedules like master’s?
The baby basilisk tilted its head, curious.
From what it had heard, other students’ schedules seemed very different from its own master’s.
It had thought everyone’s education would be just as harsh and suffering…
“I see. So having one is bearable.”
“Of course.”
“I’m off to my next class. Want to sit in and audit?”
“No?”
Giselle replied instantly as if it was a stupid question.
She wasn’t an every-discipline student like Lee Han, nor foolish enough to want to struggle with new fields for no reason.
Even doing the classes she signed up for was already enough.
“You never know, it might be a good experience?”
“Wardanaz, don’t tell me you’re inviting me because you think I’m not having a hard enough time?”
Giselle wondered if Lee Han only asked because she and Choi seemed to breeze through Catten’s lessons.
“Moradi, that’s unfair. Lee Han persuaded the senior for our sake.”
Deorgyu, with an uncharacteristically stern voice, scolded.
Pushing a senior to include friends in lessons was no small feat.
Perhaps realizing, Giselle apologized.
“True. Sorry, Wardanaz. That was rude after you went to the trouble.”
“No, it’s fine. Haha. …You guys aren’t interested in magical combat, are you?”
- * *
With a bitter smile, Lee Han headed to the lecture hall.
‘So unfair. Why do my friends have so few tough lectures compared to me?’
No matter how he tried, it wasn’t easy to accept.
Lee Han checked the course title.
-From Grubworm to Dragon-
‘At least it’s clear. Thank goodness.’
Anyone could tell this was a transformation magic class.
The issue: what year was it!
‘Hope it’s second year, but probably not.’
None of his friends were taking -From Grubworm to Dragon-. Maybe he’d missed someone, but odds were it wasn’t a second-year class.
Most likely third-year. If not, there was a meteor-chance it was a fourth-year…
Lee Han thought surely Calenarium wouldn’t push him to a fourth-year class, but couldn’t let his guard down in Einrogard.
Tatatak!
“?”
Recognizing a senior approaching quickly, Lee Han paused.
“Hormasi-senpai?”
“Oh, junior. What brings you here?”
The third-year polo club senior stopped when she saw Lee Han.
“I’m off to class.”
“There’s only one lecture hall this way, isn’t there? You’re not taking -From Grubworm to Dragon-, are you?”
“I am.”
“What? That’s a third-year class—”
Carnella looked Lee Han up and down and then exclaimed.
“Well, you are that student.”
“……”
“Okay, welcome. Can’t hurt to know transformation magic.”
Carnella twirled her riding crop. Having a talented junior around their department was a plus.
Though this one moonlighted in every department…
-Master, that person is scary!
“?”
“One moment!”
Before Lee Han could answer, Carnella made a shushing gesture.
“Why?”
“Didn’t you hear a basilisk cry just now?”
-……
The baby basilisk squeezed itself even tighter around Lee Han’s arm in fright.
If it got pulled out of the sleeve, it felt sure this merciless dark elf would capture it.
“Maybe you heard wrong? Could be another snake-kin monster…”
“No, junior, what are you saying? A basilisk’s cry is a different pitch from other snakes. If you’re keeping a basilisk, you should know that much!”
Carnella scolded. Now Lee Han understood why his basilisk was scared of her.
“Maybe your basilisk wasn’t talking?”
“It’s asleep right now.”
“Hmm… If it’s awake, I’d like to chat.”
Carnella stared intently at Lee Han’s sleeve. He could feel the baby basilisk’s trembling.
“What would you want to ask?”
“Nothing special.”
The tall dark elf senior shrugged with folded arms.
“What it likes to eat, when it sleeps, when it wakes up…”
‘Not bad after all.’
“How and when it poops, its breeding cycle…”
‘She’s insane.’
Lee Han realized his basilisk’s instincts were correct.
“Just small talk? I wanted to try some basilisk language, too.”
“You speak basilisk tongue?!”
“Not well—just studied it. Anyway, junior, since you’re joining -From Grubworm to Dragon-, I need your help. I’m after a senior.”
“A senior?”
“Yes. This class is taught by the professor and seniors in rotation. But one of them keeps running.”
“……”
Lee Han, used to fleeing profes—no, professors, found the idea of a runaway senior novel.
“Is that okay?”
“Normally, no. You’d go to the punishment room.”
Really, only fear of the punishment room stopped you—in Einrogard, as long as you didn’t mind that, you could try anything: dodging lectures, raiding the principal’s office, even escaping school.
Lee Han sensed his future opponent would be just as crazy as ever.
“Oh, right. I hear you’re pretty social?”
“Me?”
“When all the transformation wizards gathered last year, didn’t you host the guests?”
“…Oh, right.”
Remembering last year, Lee Han’s face hardened.
All the outside transformation mages had been cheerful extroverts.
Compared to them, Einrogard’s transformation majors were introverts who wanted the junior to handle it all.
And the only available junior was Lee Han.
‘It was ridiculous, thinking back.’
“Having a social junior is a relief. None of our department is social.”
“But you’re fairly social, no?”
“Er, um…”
Carnella scratched her cheek awkwardly.
Her junior was only partly right.
“I can talk to, like, polo or animal people. But if I talk to anyone else, they always run away.”
“……”
Then Lee Han realized “talkative” wasn’t the same as “sociable.”
‘Professor Verdus talked a lot too…’
“What about the senior you’re after?”
“This one’s the most…”
“The most?”
Lee Han hoped for “sociable.”
“…Introverted and eccentric.”
“I see…”
Lee Han grew morose.
Why were there no normal, reasonable seniors in Einrogard?
Carnella thudded Lee Han’s back for encouragement.
“Still, this senior has a plus!”
“What is it… like, do they run away from lectures?”
“No. Best at making money at Einrogard.”
At that, Lee Han’s heart, frozen as ice, started to beat faster again.