Episode 70

“The professor is right.”
“We cannot win if we run from fear. A truly strong knight faces fear and fights!”
‘These lunatics.’
Lee Han shook his head.
If there had been students from another tower, he would have sided with them and said, ‘Professor Ingeldel, please come to your senses,’ but sadly, the White Tiger Tower students wouldn’t listen to anything Lee Han said.
How could they so eagerly support fighting a loose familiar?
Isn’t learning how to avoid danger the normal approach?
There were times Lee Han felt so alone, as if he was the only sane person in this school.
“I have good students.”
Professor Ingeldel nodded, satisfied with the White Tiger Tower students’ responses.
He had considered reconsidering if there’d been any students afraid or wanting to back out, but as expected of talented swordsmen, they didn’t shy away but prepared to face their fear.
Professor Ingeldel’s gaze, searching the room, landed on Lee Han. Instinctively, Lee Han shouted,
“That is a truly splendid idea, professor!”
“Thank you, all of you.”
Professor Ingeldel smiled in satisfaction when Lee Han too shouted like that. Apparently, it was a pretty good idea given all the agonizing he’d done coming up with it.
“Now, everyone, group up in threes.”
Fortunately, Professor Ingeldel still had some conscience left. He didn’t tell them to face the monster alone.
But…
‘Ah. I’m doomed.’
Lee Han realized he was in trouble.
For those who struggled to make friends, like Nilia, even something like forming groups was suffocating.
Lee Han wasn’t Nilia, but there was no way the White Tiger Tower students would team up with him.
‘Assume I can get Dergew, but should I have to beat up and drag someone else? Can I distract the professor and coerce someone?’
“Professor, can we form the groups however we like?”
“No. I’ve prepared lots; everyone should draw.”
Professor Ingeldel subtly signaled Lee Han.
The professor knew that, being from Blue Dragon Tower, Lee Han wasn’t close with the others.
Knowing that, he made these arrangements out of consideration.
‘Professor…’
Lee Han was grateful.
But…
‘…If you’re going to be that considerate, couldn’t you just give us sword form training or something instead of letting us fight rampaging familiars…?’
The very professorly twisted approach to kindness.
Lee Han lined up to draw lots. The slip he chose was marked with a ‘4’.
“Anyone else get 4?”
Dergew raised his hand. Lee Han’s expression softened. Meanwhile, the other White Tiger Tower students glanced at Lee Han with deep concern.
Is he going to use Dergew like a chess pawn again?
“Anyone else?”
Each group was three people.
At Lee Han’s prompting, someone else raised their hand.
Giselle of the Moradi family.
“……”
“……”
Dergew, Lee Han, and even the other White Tiger Tower students were shocked.
‘Are we about to witness a sword fight or something?’
On one side stood Lee Han, the scion of the Wodanaz family said to have mastered all kinds of dark magics since before admission.
On the other, Giselle, born of the Moradi family—one of the most powerful northern knight families and the charismatic leader of the White Tiger Tower students.
Plus, they didn’t get along…
But Giselle merely lifted the corner of her lips into a mysterious smile instead of drawing her sword. Lee Han found that even more ominous.
“We both acted childishly, so maybe we should take this opportunity to forget about it?”
“Surely, you don’t mean that, Lee Han?”
Dergew looked at Lee Han as if to say, ‘What nonsense are you talking about?’
True, Giselle had technically tried to pick a fight first.
But in this kind of emotional spat, who started it didn’t matter.
And looking at the damage done, Lee Han was vastly ahead.
He’d knocked Giselle out and dumped her in the detention room to the headmaster, led a night raid on the lounge and stole the flag, etc.
Dergew wasn’t close to Giselle, but as a fellow northern knight family member, he knew her well enough.
With such a proud, arrogant nature, she might not show it, but she was surely grinding her teeth at Lee Han.
He was honestly worried.
“Lee Han. When we’re moving, always put me between you and Moradi. And never, ever turn your back on Moradi.”
“Thanks, Dergew. That’s reassuring.”
“Everyone got their groups?”
After checking, Professor Ingeldel continued.
“Every party needs a leader. Whoever draws a slip with a red mark on the corner is leader. The leader gives orders, and everyone else follows when facing the monster.”
“……”
Lee Han recalled there was no red mark on his slip.
“Dergew, can you claim you got the red-marked one?”
“…Sorry.”
Lee Han and Dergew looked at Giselle. She held up her slip with the red mark and gave Lee Han another mysterious smile.
“Want to try calling me boss?”
“Boss.”
“No, add the honorific.”
“Boss, ma’am.”
Giselle’s smile deepened at Lee Han’s answer.
“Give good enough orders if you don’t want to be stabbed in the back.”
“……”
There was a saying that knights who had witnessed the white ice storms beyond the northern mountains feared nothing.
Dergew was one of those people, but right now, watching Lee Han and Giselle stare at each other, he was genuinely scared.

• * *
  “So, what kind of familiar will we be facing?”
  “That I cannot tell you.”
  “…?”
  “?”
  All the White Tiger Tower students tilted their heads in unison. Lee Han felt a sense of dread.
  “The point is to learn how to deal with unknown familiars. Knowing about it beforehand would defeat the purpose, wouldn’t it?”
  Professor Ingeldel explained kindly.
  Most White Tiger Tower students nodded, going ‘Ah, I see,’ but Lee Han and a few smart students’ faces tensed slightly.
  “Each group will enter the annex building one by one. There’s a familiar inside. Face it, then exit through the door on the other side.”
  Just as Professor Ingeldel finished speaking, a few sharp students carefully raised questions.
  “But, professor. If it’s a familiar we can’t fight, shouldn’t we have at least a bit of information…”
  “Yes, please give us at least a hint how to handle it.”
  Professor Ingeldel’s face showed a trace of worry at the students’ input.
  He wondered if maybe the exercise would be too hard.
  ‘Could be valuable experience to figure things out themselves, but maybe they need some basic info…’
  Just as his normal instincts, numbed by the other professors’ eccentricities, were about to kick in, other White Tiger Tower students broke in.
  “Don’t be cowards!”
  “What would the professor think of us? Weaklings who can’t even handle that?”
  “No need, everyone.”
  “Professor! We’re fine!”
  “We don’t need hints. We’ll figure it out using our hands, feet, and swords!”
  ‘Isn’t this a magic school?’
  Lee Han thought.
  Use magic, you fools! And get whatever hints you can!
  “Idiotic garbage, honestly…”
  “?”
  “What, what is it?”
  Giselle said, as Lee Han turned his head.
  Acting straight and minding your words is for when you’re around the right people. No need to pretend with Wodanaz, who sees right through you.
  “I agree about them being idiots.”
  “Sometimes you say exactly what I like. Take my orders that way and we’ll have no issues.”
  Giselle warned him.
  “Don’t get the wrong idea. If the order’s justified, I won’t complain. Why would I pick fights without a reason? I don’t even like picking fights.”
  “……”
  “……”
  Even Giselle and Dergew looked a bit bewildered.
  ‘For someone who says that, he sure beats up people all the time…’
  “And this is the guy who betrayed us and threw us to the headmaster?”
  Giselle crossed her arms, her tone incredulous. Her eyes had the look of someone who’d drawn her sword multiple times already.
  “It wasn’t really betrayal—we weren’t exactly on the same side…”
  “Lee Han, I’m not an expert in rhetoric, but I think you should stop talking now.”
  Dergew cut Lee Han off.
  Dergew didn’t particularly like Giselle, but if left unchecked, either Lee Han or Giselle would collapse before even fighting the monster.
  “I was just trying to clear up misunderstandings…”
  “No, Lee Han. Some misunderstandings can never be cleared. And you…”
  Dergew almost said, ‘You have a real talent for pissing off enemies,’ but stopped short.
  Still, in this situation, only Dergew could mediate between the two. He resolved to do his best.
  Not much of a talker, but still…!
  “Both of you, think about it. If each of you acts selfishly because you dislike each other, you’ll only harm yourselves. Even if you don’t like each other, at least work toward the class objective…”
  “Of course, Dergew. Don’t worry.”
  “Save the obvious, Choi. We know without you saying it.”
  Both of them snapped at Dergew at once. Dergew felt unfairly picked on.
• * *
  The annex building Professor Ingeldel had prepared looked like a big gymnasium or hall.
  Of course, unlike a normal gym, there was a loose familiar waiting inside with the door closed.
  ‘It’s more disturbing that there’s no sound.’
  Screams would at least give them clues, but the silence—probably by magic—just made it eerie.
  What’s in there?
  “Don’t just rush in after opening the door. Assess the situation first. If it attacks right away, scatter left and right… Pass it along, Choi.”
  “……”
  Dergew was stumped by Giselle’s childish command.
  Pass it along? Lee Han was right next to him!
  ‘She wasn’t always this childish, Moradi!’
  “If it’s dark, I’ll use a light spell. Don’t be startled when it flares up; pass it on, Choi.”
  “If you waste mana and collapse, we’re leaving you behind; pass it on, Choi.”
  “I’m the only one here who can use light magic, so I’m going first. Pass it on, Choi.”
  “I can use a light spell too, so don’t get cocky; pass it on, Choi.”
  ‘Won’t someone please save me?’
  Before entering magic school, Dergew had heard all kinds of stories.
  That the professors prepared cruel ordeals to immerse students in magic, that some professors were trolls, that knight students were shunned as magic dunces…
  But none of those tales involved something like this!
  Bang!
  The door opened. It was dark, not bright inside. Lee Han sighed.
  ‘It’s even scarier that I’m getting used to this school’s patterns.’
  If the students before had expected it to be bright, they’d be shocked by the darkness.
  He could easily imagine Professor Ingeldel’s reasoning as he’d prepared it: ‘Familiars are more active at night than day, so let’s prepare accordingly.’
  “Light!”
  Lee Han’s spell blazed like a sun, illuminating the annex interior. Both Dergew and Giselle had to admit Lee Han’s magical prowess.
  -■■■■■…
  The familiar in the annex looked like a cross between an elemental and a bull.
  But there was also a faint trace of enhancement magic and potion energies a real bull would never have.
  Lee Han’s mind flashed with the face of Professor Uregorum.
  ‘No way, right?’