Episode 272
by CristaeFortunately, it didn’t escalate into a fire. Because Lee Han sprang into action ahead of time, the students had time to close the windows and hurriedly extinguish the flames.
“M-my assignment…”
“When I get home, I’m throwing out all those phoenix storybooks!”
The panicked students panted, glancing nervously outside the window.
The phoenix, as if wondering what was wrong, flapped its wings and stared this way.
Tap tap!
“Why is it doing that? What does it want!?”
“Maybe it wants us to open the window? It’s pointing at the window!”
“Didn’t the mage who listened to the phoenix’s request in the fairy tale get a huge reward?”
“Don’t you dare open it!”
At Gainando’s suggestion, his friends snarled.
It was one thing to be fooled twice, but a third time meant you didn’t deserve to be a mage.
■■■■■■…
Suddenly, the phoenix started to chirp. It was less a chirp than a song.
The phoenix’s song even soothed the anger of the student whose assignment had just burned.
“…Maybe we could open up for it?”
Whack!
“Ow!”
“Get a grip.”
Lee Han hit his friend’s solar plexus with his staff.
Looking around, he was surprised to see all the students’ faces had calmed.
‘What is this? Does it have some effect on the mind?’
No matter how beautiful the song, it shouldn’t have dulled rage caused by a burnt assignment. There was definitely some magical power at work.
Some monsters could enthrall people’s minds with sound.
If the phoenix’s song had such power…
“Cover your ears.”
Lee Han put cotton in his friends’ ears himself. The student, whose anger had just been soothed, immediately burst out again.
“That damn bird is playing with me?!”
‘So the song was the cause.’
The students plugged their ears and waited. Once the song ended, Lee Han spoke again.
“It’s over.”
“Wardanaz! Give us the command!”
The student clutching the burned assignment said, eyes blazing.
“A command?”
“Yes!”
“I’ll do anything!”
Lee Han responded with a solemn voice to his friends’ fervor.
“Then… sit down and study again.”
“……”
“…Huh?”
“What’s with the ‘huh’? I said sit down and study.”
“W-wait, aren’t we going to catch the phoenix?”
“How am I supposed to catch a phoenix?”
His friends were at a loss for words at Lee Han’s question.
Wait a minute?
‘Now that you mention it…’
They had just assumed Wardanaz would do it, but on reflection, a phoenix was not a monster that first-year students could capture.
“Why did I think Wardanaz would catch it?”
“M-me too.”
“It’s probably because we don’t want to study. Sit down, now.”
Donning their coats again, the students looked sullen. The princess secretly put the potion of fire resistance she had taken out back into the box.
“At least it’s bright and good for focusing, don’t you think?”
‘He’s my friend but seriously, sometimes he seems crazy.’
Gainando thought as he picked up his quill.
- * *
Contrary to the expectations of some friends (in truth, there were more than just a few), Lee Han had no intention of capturing the phoenix.
Truthfully, even if he wanted to, he had no idea how to catch one.
How was a first-year student supposed to capture a mystical beast that could resurrect endlessly, no matter the attack, and possessed eternal life?
But when the phoenix blocked his way to morning lectures, he seriously wondered if “maybe I have to catch it.”
■■■… ■■■…
The phoenix chirped, circling the students.
It looked like it was playing around, but seeing the fire burning on the ground with each lap made them unable to laugh.
“T-this is a sign from the heavens not to attend class!”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Everyone scatter! Distract it!”
Professors absolutely never tolerated lateness.
Even if the world ended on the way, they wouldn’t cut you a break—let alone for just a phoenix.
“Freeze!”
“Wait, Wardanaz. If you use ice magic on the phoenix right now…”
Crack!
“…That was actually a very effective choice.”
“You were about to say ice magic wouldn’t work because of the phoenix, weren’t you?”
“N-no, of course not.”
Seeing shards of ice form in the air, the Blue Dragon Tower student tried to change the subject.
Yoner whispered urgently.
“Lee Han. If you provoke it, you might end up in trouble.”
Yoner, ever the practical one, had never once thought of trying to capture the phoenix.
That was only something a friend with sawdust for brains would attempt…
“That’s a good point. Wardanaz, even if we give it a try, let’s set up a decoy in case. Something for the phoenix to chase instead.”
Gainando nodded, finding Ahsan’s words reasonable. Then he asked,
“How do we set up a decoy?”
“Well…”
“?”
Before the two could argue, Lee Han cut them off.
“We’re not attacking. We just want to distract it.”
As he spoke, shards of ice swirled in the air. The phoenix, pouting like it wanted attention, followed the ice shards with interest.
“Run for it!”
The ice shards didn’t last long and quickly melted. Lee Han tossed another shard to distract the phoenix, then sprinted off.
Gasping, Gainando shouted,
“Why… do we have to go through all this… just to study!?”
Even the Blue Dragon Tower students running with him found themselves nodding along.
- * *
“You all worked hard this semester. If this semester was about learning various schools of magic, next semester you’ll learn basic, practical magic that doesn’t belong to any particular school.”
Professor Garcia, in the last class of the semester, instead of drilling knowledge into the students’ heads, took questions.
If there was a block in basic elemental magic, basic elemental magic was covered; if there was a block in basic illusion magic, basic illusion magic; if in geometry and arithmetic, then geometry and arithmetic…
A true educator.
“Professor.”
“Go ahead.”
“There’s a phoenix outside the classroom—how do we drive it away?”
“I couldn’t sleep last night because of the phoenix!”
The suffering was not exclusive to Blue Dragon Tower students.
Students from other towers also had bloodshot eyes, worn out by the phoenix’s pranks since last night.
It lit up the night like day, woke people as they tried to sleep, and pestered them to play on the way to class…
Those who had managed to outwit it like Lee Han were rare—White Tiger Tower students, for instance, were thirty minutes late because of the phoenix.
Priest Nigisor wondered aloud.
“Why are the other students like this? The night is as bright as day, the cold is gone—shouldn’t we thank the phoenix…”
“Shh. Be quiet.”
“Shut your mouth.”
Quick-witted priests blocked Nigisor’s mouth.
Just because they’d lived in temples all their life didn’t mean they were clueless.
“My, oh my… What should I say? Repelling a phoenix is beyond your level.”
Professor Garcia looked truly sympathetic.
“Even with Wardanaz? Is it still impossible with Wardanaz?”
At Angrago’s question, the Blue Dragon Tower students looked at him wearily.
Wardanaz is not your sword, you know?
“Even for Lee Han, it’s impossible, obviously…”
‘Thank you, Professor.’
Seeing Professor Garcia respond so matter-of-factly, Lee Han was filled with gratitude.
Other professors could really learn from this.
“The phoenix isn’t a violent monster, but it’s not easy to drive away, either. Ordinary attacks don’t work.”
Professor Garcia swung his staff and launched a stone spear at the phoenix outside the window.
Thud!
The spear pierced the phoenix with a dull sound, but it immediately burned up and vanished, and the phoenix flapped as if nothing happened.
Even after being skewered, the phoenix didn’t seem to feel pain at all.
“See?”
“T-then, are we going to live like this forever?”
“Not forever. It’ll disappear eventually. Mystical beasts from other dimensions can’t stay in this world for long.”
“When?”
“When it runs out of magical energy?”
“……”
- * *
It took less than two days for the phoenix to send the first-year students into neurosis.
It would wake them if they slept, pester them to play on their way to class, and if they tried to study in the sunlight, it would burn up their paper…
Inside the towers, new rules actually formed.
-Forbidden words of the month-
Phoenix
Festival
Bird
Chicken
Fire
Hot
Warm
The phoenix had certainly offered the students a memorable lesson.
What kind of disaster can come of magicians’ foolish actions!
Who could have expected such trouble from a simple little celebration?
“Isn’t there really anything we can do?”
“The phoenix… is impossible.”
Lee Han heated a frying pan, poured oil and butter, then tossed in mushrooms he’d harvested from around the garden.
The mushrooms absorbed the oil and butter, becoming both crispy and juicy.
But despite this bribe, Professor Lightningstep still didn’t provide the answer Lee Han wanted.
“Tomorrow’s the weekend, and if this keeps up, next week’s exams will be a disaster. Are you sure the principal didn’t summon it on purpose?”
“An intriguing conspiracy, but if the principal wanted to mess with your exams, he could have done it much more cheaply. Summoning a phoenix is outrageously expensive to do artificially.”
Professor Lightningstep said so as he sampled the mushrooms. He found himself thinking again that his student’s greatest talent might not be magic but cooking.
“At least you’ve gotten good at avoiding the phoenix, haven’t you?”
“I suppose so, but when would I ever use those skills again?”
“Not outside, but here at magic school, you might need them once or twice more.”
“……”
“Just kidding.”
When Lee Han scowled, Professor Lightningstep soothed him.
“I’m not hiding it from you on purpose—there really isn’t a good method. The phoenix is almost a… natural disaster among mystical beasts. If someone asked you to teach them how to stop a drought or a flood, would you know what to say? I couldn’t answer when Professor Baegrek asked, either.”
“I see… Excuse me?”
Lee Han looked up, startled as Professor Voladi walked in.
“What did Professor Baegrek ask?”
“He wanted to capture the phoenix and use it as a weapon. Pretty much impossible, of course.”
“……”
Lee Han felt a rush of relief.
He’d unknowingly escaped a life-threatening crisis.
“I thought so, too.”
“Baegrek took it well. He thought about borrowing Cerberus instead…”
“…Excuse me!??!”
Lee Han’s eyes trembled with betrayal.
So much for the fine mushrooms he’d just cooked!
“That Cerberus has been pampered—no good for fighting. That’s what I told him.”
“…Thank you so much. Would you like a beer?”
“Sure, but why all of a sudden?”
Lee Han opened a secret hatch in the floor where Professor Thunderstep hid his booze.
“By the way, will Professor Thunderstep be coming by today?”
“Ah… She’ll be busy.”
“Is something going on?”
“No, just wracking her brain trying to make the final exam trickier.”
“…Just a moment, I’ll bring over some snacks as well.”
Lee Han opened another secret hatch where Professor Thunderstep hid more goodies.