Episode 731

“…It’s not your fault. Good job.”

Lee Han sighed and praised Fongrif.

He should have given more careful and concrete instructions—Fongrif had done well enough, not pushing past his limits.

Of course, he hadn’t realized he’d be this good, but…

“I look forward to working with you, new striker.”

“You seem to expect a lot, so I’m a bit burdened.”

Carnella nodded seriously.

“Normally, I’d say I don’t have expectations, but honestly, I do have a little hope. It can’t be helped.”

The skill level of the current Einrogard polo club members wasn’t that lacking, but compared to Carnella’s passion for victory, it was night and day.

If the striker slot was empty, they should have tried to fill it themselves—instead, that laid-back ‘it’ll work out somehow’ attitude was everywhere.

With such a mindset, it was only natural to get one’s hopes up for a griffon-riding junior—it’d be inhuman not to be at least a little excited.

“By the way, junior, what was your name again?”

“…Did you… not even know my name, senior? I’m Lee Han of House Wardanaz.”

“Oh, right. I’ll remember it. My friends always just call you ‘that guy,’ so I forgot.”

“……”

Hearing her kindly explain a reason he never wanted to know, Lee Han shook his head.

“But senior, I have one last question.”

“Next practice date?”

“No. As far as I remember, Fongrif here couldn’t release his curse because of the mass and size restrictions, but is your Cerberus okay?”

“Oh, that’s for coward’s polo.”

“?”

“Wardanaz, Wardanaz. You really don’t know polo… There are two kinds. One is polo where you put mass or size limits on the mount. That’s coward’s polo.”

“Is that a term commonly used in the Empire?”

“No, that’s just what I call it.”

“……”

“Anyway, it’s true. The other is real polo, with no little restrictions on the mount at all. That’s the kind I play.”

“So, griffons, hippogriffs, and cerberuses all come out just as they are?”

“Exactly!”

Carnella smiled as the junior seemed to get a glimmer of polo’s appeal.

‘She really is insane.’

Lee Han decided he had to keep some distance from the polo club for a while.

---

Professor Willow is in the forest this week!

‘I’m happy!’

When one lecture was delayed a week for the professor’s personal reasons, Lee Han felt a joy he hadn’t felt in ages.

Of course, he knew that in Einrogard, any delayed class just meant double the work the following week—but he couldn’t help but be happy anyway.

“Pwahahaha!”

“?”

Gainando was bursting with laughter over a magazine. Lee Han asked what was so funny.

“Something interesting?”

“Oh, Lee Han. Look at this. Someone wrote this wizard joke!”

…One day, a teacher had too much to teach and said to the disciple:

—Since I need to teach you quickly, I’ll teach you four things in the morning and three in the evening.

The disciple got angry at such nonsense, so the master, as if he had no choice, changed his mind:

—Then how about three things in the morning and four in the evening?

At this, the disciple was quite pleased…

“Isn’t it hilarious?”

“…Have you finished your assignments?”

“Huh, but they haven’t even been given yet!?”

Caught short by the sudden question, Gainando panicked.

Sure, normally Gainando didn’t do his assignments and thus was always suspected, but it was still early in the term!

“If you don’t have assignments yet, you should be prepping. What’re you taking? Bring your lecture list.”

“……”

Gainando got cornered in the student lounge while the other friends hurriedly hid the chessboard and wizard card set and ran for it.

An hour later Lee Han headed off to the -Poison, Bone, and Blood- lecture. The earlier good mood was long gone.

‘Which punk posted that?’

It was so on-the-nose he wondered if one of the Einrogard professors had slipped it in as a prank.

Lee Han shook his head.

‘Stay focused. Must be a coincidence.’

Start going down that rabbit hole and a wizard would lose his mind—it was a job with little tolerance for paranoia.

The -Poison, Bone, and Blood- classroom on the second basement level was dark and smelled of mixed reagents.

Other school students might have trouble adapting, but after a full year of basic black magic classes, Lee Han took his seat without flinching.

“?”

He started to feel uneasy as familiar upperclassmen from his school didn’t appear.

‘Did I mix up with Professor Voladi’s class?’

He double-checked to rule out the higher-probability case—entering the wrong classroom—but it wasn’t that.

After a while, the first student came in. Seeing a familiar senior, Lee Han was unexpectedly touched.

“…Senior Direte!”

“Junior.”

Direte and Lee Han gazed at each other for a moment.

Like mirrored reflections, both had fatigue written under their eyes.

One had just reached fifth year, one was taking every school and every club imaginable—so it was only natural.

‘Poor guy.’

‘He’s just as pitiful as me.’

Neither realized the other thought they were the more miserable, and they both spoke.

“Senior, how have you been?”

“Not well. Never go up to fifth year. How about you?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t lie.”

“……”

Lee Han answered with a bitter expression.

“I’m holding up. For now…”

“…Fine. If you say so.”

Now that he thought of it, as it was still early in the semester, club activities probably hadn’t fully started.

Not many clubs dumped big responsibilities on new members.

Maybe it wasn’t a lie for a junior who’d survived last year’s schedule from hell to say he was still holding up.

“And why hasn’t anyone else showed up?”

“It’ll just be us, probably? Our school never has many students, sometimes there’s only one or two in a lesson.”

“…I see.”

Direte smiled wanly at Lee Han’s discomfiture.

“It’s fine. Don’t worry. Just talk casually. Now you’re formally in black magic.”

Compared to first year, where you could drop it after a few basic lectures, continuing into second year meant you were basically a formal member now.

Few switched schools after this point.

“Then, senior, if our numbers are low, shouldn’t we increase recruitment? Or does the professor not care?”

“…That’s a bit too casual…”

Direte was startled by the way his junior skewered Professor Mortum’s weak spot.

If he said that in front of Professor Mortum, the professor might faint.

“Sorry. You said to speak freely.”

“No, it’s okay with me, just be careful in front of the professor.”

Direte got up and walked to stand next to the lectern.

Lee Han asked, puzzled.

“Why stand there?”

“I’m teaching this lecture?”

“……”

Only then did Lee Han realize Direte wasn’t there as another student, but as an instructor.

A chill ran down Lee Han’s spine.

‘So fifth years have to teach too!’

“In fifth year, do students have to teach too!?”

“Huh? Yeah. Sometimes even in fourth year…”

He trailed off at the look in his junior’s eyes—flat, dark, as if Lee Han had just realized a truth about the world he was too young for.

“…Forget I said that.”

“I have a feeling I’ll end up doing that role…”

“So. What’s this -Poison, Bone, and Blood- lecture about?”

Direte awkwardly tried to change the subject, and Lee Han shook his head.

This really wasn’t the senior’s fault.

The villain was nefarious Einrogard!

“I learned some spells using poison and bone last year. Blood, too.”

“Right, last year… huh?”

Direte flicked his black wings.

“You wouldn’t have learned blood element magic.”

“Oh. To be precise, I learned basic blood magic.”

“…Did our school have a crazy professor?”

Direte, in shock, asked the obvious: What madman would teach blood magic to a first-year?

Lee Han quickly explained before Professor Voladi got dragged off to punishment room.

“I didn’t learn to use blood magic itself, but for this reason…”

The principle of boosting mana by using blood was clear and efficient, but because of the risks, blood magic wasn’t widely used.

Few were foolhardy enough to teach or learn such a dangerous practice—except, apparently, Professor Voladi, who gave Lee Han a beginner’s blood magic book, reasoning that with Lee Han’s large mana reserves, he’d benefit just from the theory.

“…He said I should at least learn spells that borrow from blood magic’s concepts.”

‘Don’t badmouth the professors… Don’t badmouth the professors…’

Direte squeezed his eyes shut after hearing his junior’s story.

A fifth-year ought not to badmouth the instructors.

“…I see, I see. Yes, it happens. That makes sense. Right.”

‘Is he broken?’

While Lee Han worried, Direte recovered and continued.

“Actually, what you described isn’t that different from what we’ll do today. Poison, bone, blood. All are powerful reagents… and some are efficient elements too.”

Direte called up a piece of chalk and drew diagrams on the board as he explained.

Poison and bone, as elements, had great combat potential, and while blood was less efficient, it was certainly a potent and ancient reagent.

This class’s goal was learning to use these three as reagents, elements, and how to combine them skillfully.

“Even among black magic students, there’s a range from golem magic to curses. So a lot of students who fail at plain black magic, I think, just lack the basics.”

Direte spoke seriously, like a true black mage leading the way.

If all you learned were the handy, ‘easy-looking’ spells, later you’d get lost, unable to master trickier magic.

To avoid that, this “Poison, Bone, and Blood” course had been made.

Direte was a bit sore that other black magic students didn’t show; but there was only so much he could do.

Just having his most promising junior attend was enough.

“Understood. So I’ll need to review the basics of each spell this term.”

“No. Junior, let’s start with the hardest spells for you.”

“……”

Watching his senior do a complete 180 on his own advice, Lee Han felt betrayed.