Episode 730
by CristaeRealizing the distrust from her junior, Hormashi sighed.
“You don’t trust me because I’m from Blue Dragon Tower!”
“It’s not because you’re from Blue Dragon Tower, it’s because I’ve experienced this myself—”
“No helping it, then. I’ll just have to go in first and bring it out.”
“Stop!”
Professor Bendozol stopped Hormashi in a harsh tone.
“You want to make us walk this far, out in the desert, in this weather?”
“That’s not a big deal for me?”
“You have no idea what ‘not a big deal’ means! Sit still and shut up! I’ll go bring it myself!”
Professor Bendozol stomped off over the desert sands.
Hormashi muttered, a little sulky, at his back.
“Professor Bendozol only ever cares for the animals. If he used even 1% of that affection for students, he’d be more popular than Professor Garcia.”
“I agree.”
“Wait! Junior. Your class didn’t get the intro riding lessons from Professor Bendozol, right?”
“No. We had Professor Lightningstep.”
“Damn it!”
Hormashi stamped in frustration.
Only after noticing Lee Han’s gaze did she speak proudly.
“What? I was just saying I wish you’d gotten to experience Professor Bendozol’s lessons.”
“…I see.”
“I mean it! Seeing this desert always reminds me of first year…”
“You had races out here?”
“Oh yeah. Except we ran with our mounts in our arms.”
“……”
Lee Han resolved to thank Professor Lightningstep next time he saw him.
Thunk, thunk, thunk—
With heavy footfalls, a monster appeared on the distant horizon.
It did look like a dog.
But…
‘Wait, isn’t that kind of big?’
Come to think of it, a normal dog wouldn’t be visible from here.
The one approaching now was at least two or three times the size of a lion in body—with a head two or three times that of a lion…
“That’s a Cerberus, isn’t it?!”
A magical beast with otherworldly blood, Cerberus!
At the sight of the monster spouting fire from its three heads, Lee Han was speechless.
Calling that a puppy?
Would she call a dragon a lizard, then?
“Yes, it’s Cerberus. Why?”
Hormashi asked as if wondering what the problem was. Truly an audacious senior.
“I thought you meant something smaller and cuter by ‘puppy.’”
“Hm. Isn’t it cute?”
“Normally, people wouldn’t call a Cerberus cute.”
“Ha! Look who’s talking. Most people don’t raise griffons or basilisks either, you know.”
“……”
For the first time, Lee Han was left speechless.
His senior was definitely on another level. Who else could so ruthlessly pinpoint a weak spot?
Hormashi loosened her coat and cloak, revealing her uniform beneath, festooned with flat lead weights like badges.
“??”
“Heavy, multiply.”
Hormashi, unfazed, increased the weights on her uniform dramatically.
Not satisfied even with that, she also boosted the weights attached under her skirt and on her boots.
“…Uh, what are you doing?”
“Oh. My puppy plays a bit rough. It’s easier to withstand with more weight, so I do it in advance.”
Even without magic, those had to be quite heavy—but to multiply their weight several times more, Lee Han was astounded.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’ve trained enough to handle it. Professor Ingeldel… Oh, you wouldn’t know him.”
“I take Professor Ingeldel’s classes, too.”
“…R-really…”
Quivering at her junior taking even more courses, Hormashi said,
“Anyway, I’m top of Professor Ingeldel’s class.”
“Oh, so am I.”
“……”
For the first time, Hormashi thought she should pay attention to her juniors from White Tiger Tower.
What in the world had happened?
‘Indeed.’
Hearing his senior topped the swordsmanship class, Lee Han was a bit impressed.
Mana handling through swordsmanship, plus all sorts of enhancement spells.
Just wearing all these weights showed the magnitude of her achievements.
“You’ll join the knights after graduation, right?”
“No, joining the polo club.”
“…I see.”
As they spoke, Cerberus approached.
Professor Bendozol summoned clouds to shade Cerberus from the sun and cooled the hot sand for its paws.
Cerberus yawned with all three heads, wizard’s magic or not.
“My puppy! Over here! Carnella!”
“Oh. Carnella is Cerberus’s official name?”
“Carnella is my name.”
“Sorry.”
“No need for that. I prefer being called by my family name—I don’t like my given name much.”
Carnella of House Hormashi said this seriously.
Lee Han wondered if there was some painful story, so he became cautious.
“I’ll be careful…”
“It’s just that the name belongs to a player who made the fatal mistake in the Western Polo Finals 63 years ago.”
“…Ah, yes, senior.”
Carnella did not realize she’d just dropped into a Gainando-like position among Lee Han’s acquaintances.
Cerberus, having spotted its master, sprinted over, nearly bowling Carnella over as its three heads fought to lick her.
“Not so much licking! I’m not that nutritious, you’ll just hurt your tongue!”
Ignoring her command, Carnella explained,
“That’s my mount. Raised it since it was a pup.”
“I see… How did you bring it here?”
“Smuggled, of course! It was tough.”
“You truly struggled. I did too.”
“Yeah, seriously…”
Suddenly recalling, Carnella stopped at Lee Han’s words.
Did he just say he did the same?
“It’s a bit skinny, but otherwise healthy. Fatten it up a bit more.”
“Professor, it’s already plump.”
“Looks skinny to me!”
“So it’s healthy. Junior, see now why I wanted you to see first? Cerberus is a creature you must use caution with.”
“Indeed.”
“Of course, you raising a basilisk or griffon might make you snort at this.”
“…Isn’t Cerberus a bit more dangerous? Professor, what do you think?”
“All three are lovable. The real threat to the Empire is people like you.”
Lee Han realized why his senior ignored Professor Bendozol’s words and immediately put it into practice.
“So I have to get used to Cerberus, huh.”
“Yeah.”
“Um… can’t I be a defender instead of a forward?”
“No!”
Carnella cut off any possibility.
With a shortage of strong strikers, there was no way she’d let a potential griffon-unicorn-basilisk-rider slip away to defense.
But for Lee Han, Cerberus was just too terrifying.
He’d risked his life enough lately, and didn’t want to add more to the tally.
“She can be fierce, but if you get close she’s true to her word!”
“Feels like she’ll take a bite or two first… Besides, you can’t force monsters to be friendly, can you?”
With a reluctant face, Lee Han carefully approached Cerberus.
Suddenly, Cerberus flinched, tucked its tail, and rotated all three heads. Then it nudged each head toward Lee Han.
“…What’s this?”
Lee Han muttered in disbelief.
So much for everything he’d just said.
Cerberus docilely blinked at him without resistance.
Finally catching on, Carnella let out a triumphant roar.
“Told you! I’ve been waiting for a junior like you! You’re a born forward! You have a talent for handling monsters!”
“Nonsense! Calling him king of monsters is just superstition!”
Professor Bendozol snapped.
Carnella was baffled.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s a hunter superstition! They like those fairy tales!”
Professor Bendozol grumbled about the winter break, when hunters called Lee Han the king of monsters.
These hunters loved superstitions so much, they’d declare anything without hesitation.
“Even better! Junior, you could fill the gap!”
Carnella didn’t usually set expectations for other club members, despite flattering them, but this was getting exciting.
Was this truly the arrival of a great striker?
“Hormashi, senior. I have a question.”
“What is it?”
“What did you call this move again?”
“-Unseat the Rider-! Are you kidding me? You don’t know that move?”
It was a high-level but very famous technique, so Carnella was shocked her junior didn’t know it.
“I really haven’t played much polo.”
“…It’s fine. You can start now!”
“Senior, seriously… Just as a herd of deer led by a lion is better than a pride led by a deer, isn’t it better if someone experienced plays striker? Even if I’m close to a griffon, I think a senior would be better at it.”
Even after hearing all about striker privileges and prize bonuses, Lee Han seriously hoped to switch to defender.
Sometimes, the crazed look in his senior’s eyes reminded him of Gainando during magic card games.
Never knew what crazy thing people like that might do.
“Hey, junior. Do you know the club’s goal here?”
“…Polo?”
“That’s right. To play polo honorably, enjoyably, and for social activity. Winning is nice, but even losing isn’t such a loss. That’s why everyone’s satisfied.”
“That sounds good. Very fitting…”
“Good? What’s good about it!!!”
Carnella exploded with anger, stomping her foot and jabbing at the club building.
“I don’t care about the other members! I want to win!! All the decent strikers are gone, and you want to take the king of monsters out of striker? Not while I’m alive! Junior. Just pull your own weight, that’s all! Do that and I’ll do anything. I’ll even bring you Perse’s head!”
‘I’m in trouble. She’s already insane.’
Lee Han realized he’d let his guard down. Seeing her help him get his grant was misleading—there are no free things in this world.
“Let’s go!”
Ahead, a training dummy on a straw golem charged in. Lee Han whispered to his griffon.
“Fongrif. Don’t overdo it. It’s not worth it.”
There was no need to overexert just to please a madwoman.
The clever griffon nodded in understanding.
“It’s coming!”
Clopclopclopclopclop!
Fongrif darted forward, used the straw golem’s knee as a springboard, and leapt high.
When the dummy came close, Lee Han instinctively swung the polo mallet, sending the dummy tumbling.
Normally, -Unseat the Rider- required one holding the opponent and the other exploiting the opening, but Lee Han’s griffon rushed in and finished everything before Cerberus could intervene.
Carnella erupted in a cheer.
“That’s it!! That’s what I’m talking about!! Junior, you’re Einrogard polo club’s striker!!”
“……”
Landing, Lee Han stared at Fongrif. The griffon nervously sweated under his gaze.
He didn’t overdo it… so why did things end up like this??