Episode 243
by CristaeEpisode 243
“I saw it wrong… no.”
Giselle’s voice trembled.
Surprisingly, the Curare lizards were coming toward them.
‘Why is this happening?’
Curare lizards were clever monsters.
They targeted prey that was already paralyzed and those that moved slowly; there was no reason for them to bother chasing after threatening mages.
Why…
-■■■! ■■■■!
-■■■■■!
The lizards let out even sharper sounds than before and spat out their paralyzing poison.
Splat! Splat!
Anyone could see that they were truly riled up and seething with poison.
“Persistent bastards… Bones, shoot! Shoot! Shoot!”
Bone fragments poured down like a shower, tearing up the ground and rustling the bushes.
The lizards hurriedly dodged.
And then wailed even louder.
-■■■■■!!
“Ah.”
Lee Han realized why the Curare lizards were chasing the two of them instead of leaving the weaker ones alone.
Giselle realized it, too.
“…They’re chasing us just because we hit them a bit.”
“My point exactly.”
Lee Han immediately agreed.
Giselle almost cursed out loud but held back. There was nothing to gain from fighting with an ally.
“Wardanaz… Moradi…!”
“For our sake…!”
The students of the White Tiger Tower, who were retreating down a different path, shouted in muffled voices.
It was clear they misunderstood, thinking Lee Han and Giselle had sacrificed themselves for them.
“Stupid sons of bitches, really…”
“What?”
“They said don’t mind us and retreat!”
Lee Han also wanted to hit them, but he held back.
Since things had turned out this way, he figured he’d at least take some credit for it later.
Thud!
One lizard, unable to contain its rage, charged forward. The lizard crashed into the swiftly flying shield and howled.
Papapapapapap!
Lee Han dealt swift judgment. The lizard, showered by bone fragments, lost its senses and fled to the side.
‘This isn’t good.’
They blocked this charge, but the fact that the monsters’ patience had run out was not a good sign.
If the ever-increasing lizards charged all at once, even Lee Han would have trouble holding them off.
Even if they managed to fend off all but one, and one succeeded in charging, it would be a loss for their side…
Perhaps thinking the same, Giselle drew her dual swords and shouted roughly.
“Wardanaz. I’ll buy time! When will your mana recover!?”
It seemed Giselle mistakenly thought Lee Han had temporarily run out of mana.
Otherwise, there would be no reason for Lee Han, who had so easily beaten the White Tiger Tower students until now, to use only black magic.
“It’s not a mana problem!”
“What?”
“I said it’s not a mana problem. I pulled an all-nighter, so precise control is hard.”
“…Are you out of your mind… ugh!”
Giselle stabbed a charging lizard’s mouth fiercely and retreated.
“Is that what you’re saying?! Why the hell did you stay up all night?!”
Climbing a mountain required immense stamina.
She couldn’t understand why he would stay up all night before that.
Wardanaz wasn’t even a White Tiger Tower student…
“Too much homework.”
“……”
Giselle was at a loss for words for a moment.
It was such an unimaginable answer, she couldn’t refute it at all.
-Come to the riverside.
“?!”
Suddenly, a heavy voice startled them both.
-Come to the riverside. Those lizards hate this stream water, so they won’t chase you.
They didn’t know who was speaking, but Lee Han and Giselle immediately turned toward the riverbank.
Given the situation, they figured they had nothing more to lose.
-■■■… ■■■…
With a splashing sound, they waded waist-deep into the river, and, surprisingly, the pursuing lizards only glared at them resentfully and stopped.
Giselle said in disbelief,
“Do you see that? Why are the lizards doing that? Wardanaz? …Wardanaz!”
Giselle’s eyes widened as she saw Lee Han collapse forward.
‘Paralyzing poison?!’
She was sure the lizards’ attacks hadn’t landed, so why?
-He collapsed from exhaustion.
“…What?”
-He collapsed from exhaustion. Are you a freshman? Most freshmen don’t study until they collapse from fatigue. Fascinating.
“……”
- * *
When Lee Han opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was a shield floating in the air.
‘Where am I?’
Realizing he was lying on soft animal hide, he figured he must be inside some hut, not out on the street.
Looking around, he saw Moradi sitting on a chair. Lee Han put his hand in his coat pocket to check his belongings first.
‘Hmm. Nothing’s missing.’
-Worried you might have lost something? Nothing is missing.
“!”
Startled by the voice from above, Lee Han looked up.
A giant he had never seen before was sitting at the cave entrance, facing Moradi.
Moradi had both index fingers pressed to his temples and stared intently at the table. He was so focused he didn’t even notice Lee Han had woken up.
‘What’s going on?’
Seeing that the giant didn’t seem hostile, Lee Han got up and approached.
Surprisingly, what sat between the two was a chessboard.
‘It’s the endgame.’
Lee Han looked at the pieces and their arrangement and realized the game was in its later stage.
And Moradi was in a disadvantageous position.
-Are you going to make a move? Thinking longer won’t change anything. In the opening, you can recover from mistakes in the middle game. In the middle game, you can make up for mistakes in the endgame. But in the endgame, there’s nothing after that.
‘Hmm. If nothing else, he’s skilled at getting under his opponent’s skin during chess.’
It worked, as Giselle bit her lip so hard it bled.
After thinking for a long while, Giselle laid the white king on its side. It meant defeat.
“…I lost.”
-Don’t take it too hard. There aren’t only dumb giants in the world.
The giant spoke in a gentle voice.
Of course, it was no comfort to Giselle. Lee Han understood how she felt.
A mage losing at chess to a giant notorious for being dumb.
Maybe that’s how it would feel to lose at chess to Gainando?
“Um… If it’s not rude, may I ask your name?”
-That’s not difficult.
The giant explained how long he had lived around here, and that he sometimes enjoyed chatting or making bets with students or professors from the magic school.
“Well, but…”
-Are you curious about the source of my un-giant-like intelligence?
“If that was rude, I apologize.”
-No. It’s understandable. But I don’t think I can give a satisfactory explanation. Think of it this way. Aren’t there people among people who are unusually dumb?
The giant was certainly logical. Lee Han found it hard to argue.
“I understand.”
-Good. Thank you for understanding.
“…But why chess?”
Hearing the question, the giant shrugged.
-I said I like making bets.
“In this situation, a bet?”
Lee Han was shocked by Moradi’s greed.
How greedy could he be…
Giselle shouted irritably.
“You’re the one who collapsed, you bastard!”
According to the giant, he would strike up conversation with passersby, but never force them into a bet.
But if debts or favors were involved, it was different.
Since he brought the collapsed Lee Han to his cave and nursed him, it was only right for the mages to repay him in kind, according to the giant’s logic.
“What kind of repayment?”
-There are a few.
The giant tapped the wall. There were lists written in crooked handwriting.
-Tasks for mages who lost a bet
- Clean the cave basement thoroughly (must throw away all expired potions and relabel them)
- Organize the library storage (seems like something is hiding among the books)
3….
-If you pick one and do it, we’ll be even.
Lee Han looked over the list again.
At first glance, none seemed too time-consuming, but Lee Han knew all too well how nasty the “simple task lists” handed out by professors could be.
‘The basement could be bigger than the cave itself. Same for the library storage.’
-If you don’t like this, you can take me on in a bet.
“A bet… Could it be a contest of mana capacity?”
Lee Han asked slyly.
The giant laughed and shook his head.
-A bet should be fair. What fun is a bet that only favors me? Likewise, I don’t accept bets that rely on strength.
“No… It’s fine though…”
-If you have a bet in mind, bring it up. If it’s fair, I’ll accept.
‘I wish it could be a mana capacity contest.’
Lee Han clicked his tongue.
The giant’s unnecessary consideration was making things troublesome.
‘Now I see why Moradi chose chess.’
The giant was tougher than expected.
Having lived much longer than the students, he’d have more experience and knowledge, and from his wise demeanor, he was likely even more intelligent.
Lee Han looked at the chessboard again.
At least, chess was the one thing where he could roughly gauge the giant’s skill.
The problem was, he wasn’t confident in chess.
Lee Han had never once thought he was good at chess.
He’d beaten a few opponents since entering the magic school, but only because they were bad at it.
His record against professors was terrible…
“May I consult for a moment?”
-Go ahead.
“Moradi. Moradi.”
“What.”
“Why did you move the rook there? If you’d just kept it on the third rank and moved only your king to avoid check, you could’ve forced a draw.”
“……”
Sometimes, correct criticism was more annoying than wrong criticism.
Lee Han was exactly that right now.
“Why did you move it?”
“Shut up. Please.”
“Was it a mistake? I see. By the way, do you remember what opening that giant used?”
-Thinking of challenging me again at chess? Not bad. But think carefully. You might regret it.
“To make it fair, would you mind starting without one or two pieces?”
-We don’t know each other’s skills, so that wouldn’t be right. But I’ll allow you to get advice from your friend.
The giant sat waiting in a relaxed posture.
It was the composure only a master could show, and Lee Han suddenly felt nervous.
‘Damn. From what I hear, he’s pretty aggressive. Can I manage a draw?’
What Lee Han aimed for was basically a draw.
If he got lucky and won, great, but if not, he’d shoot for a draw and try the next bet.
‘If Moradi’s assessment of his skill is right, I think I can manage that.’
The problem was if the opponent was hiding his true ability.
Lee Han hoped the giant’s skill was within expectations.
- * *
30 minutes later.
Lee Han was appalled.
“…No way…”
-Mmmmm…
“…I think it’s over.”
-Wait. Just five more minutes.
“No, it’s over. If you move here, the knight blocks, and if you move there, the pawn blocks.”
-…Just wait. Still, five minutes.
“……”
The giant’s chess skills were…
…extremely weak.
When Lee Han solidly defended and held out, the giant tried to force attacks and ended up self-destructing in vain.
Lee Han glanced at Giselle.
‘So it was just that Moradi was bad.’
‘Why does this feel so unpleasant…?’
-I lost. I lost.
The giant acknowledged defeat by laying down his king.
Lee Han breathed a sigh of relief and asked,
“Then can we go now?”
-No.
“?”
-You just repaid your friend’s defeat. The favor I did for saving you still remains.
“…Have you ever worked as a professor at a magic school?”
At the opponent’s shamelessness, Lee Han blurted out the question.