Episode 959

‘Are these… tears?’

Carnella felt hot liquid streaming down her cheeks.

It certainly wasn’t tears of worry for her Junior being surrounded—it was tears of joy.

The enemy formation had completely collapsed!

“Go in! Go in!”

“Hormasi, to the left! I’ll cover our Junior—hey!”

Carnella ignored whatever her Senior said and urged her “dog” on. The three-headed beast of hell charged across the stadium, belching sulfurous breath.

Now was not the time to rescue their Junior from inside an encirclement. With the enemy in chaos, you had to hit them even harder.

“Senior!”

Amazingly, even while surrounded deep in enemy lines, her Junior had perfectly read Carnella’s move.

The nimble reaction felt as if he was just looking around and letting the griffon do everything, just responding when needed.

But that was impossible.

The display the griffon had just put on was wild riding only a true horseman could manage.

You couldn’t show such grandeur unless rider and mount were truly united in body and heart.

‘My Junior… is an even better player than I thought!’

Carnella had to admit it.

Maybe—just maybe—

…that Junior might be ever so slightly better than Carnella at baguk!

To notice Carnella coming even in such chaos—

Whoosh—!

Lee Han struck the ball with perfect aim. Carnella caught it and raced it toward the goal.

-WOWWWWWWWWWW!

“Well done, Junior! More than even Hormasi hoped for!”

“It was all Fongrif!”

“No need to be that humble! Got it!”

“No, really, Fongrif did all the work!”

• * *

“Wardanaz! Wardanaz! Wardanaz!”

Angrago waved a makeshift flag fashioned from his cloak and shouted. All around him, people had already gathered to cheer for the Einrogard Baguk Club.

At these kinds of matches, the crazies and the refined would group up and eventually become partitioned off.

“Kuhuhu! I like this young fellow!”

The drunken spectators took a real liking to Angrago.

“Why don’t you lead us and jeer their club? Give ‘em hell!”

“!”

Angrago hesitated mid-wave.

He was being asked to lead total strangers in jeering Granden City’s baguk team.

Was this something he could do?

“Go on!”

“A-all right. Bul…Bulpad, Bulpad, too weak—loses his meals, loses his bed, loser Bulpad.”

“A song?!”

“Ha, catchy lyrics—let’s sing along!”

With the crowd’s enthusiasm, Angrago breathed a sigh of relief.

‘Thank you, Dalkard!’

Stealing his friend’s song, Angrago belted it even louder. With its incredibly annoying hook, those supporting Granden began to boo in aggravation.

“Alpha!”

“That song belongs to all Einrogard!”

At Salko’s call, Angrago immediately tried to make excuses.

But that wasn’t why Salko called him over.

“What’re you babbling about?”

“No, I mean…why’d you call me?”

“Those jerks over there keep jeering at Wardanaz. Isn’t there a way to stop them?”

Angrago hesitated, flag in hand.

“I thought you didn’t care about baguk?”

“I don’t care about the match—I just want fairness. Alpha, I’m not into the game.”

“……”

Angrago squinted.

Somehow, it felt like his friend was lying.

“Stopping them…isn’t really….”

“Hoho! You clever boys might know a lot, but there’s plenty yet you don’t! There IS a way!”

The drunk spectators roared with laughter.

Angrago asked, puzzled,

“Huh? How do you stop jeering?”

“Easy! Follow me!”

Those who’d bet money on Granden losing, longtime Einrogard supporters, and plain drunks all moved together in a mob.

As they went, people slyly grabbed globs of mud.

‘…No way…’

Sober Angrago felt a chill up his spine.

Surely not?!

“Tu-Tutanta. This is…”

“Hey, you wimps! Quit your yapping and just watch, don’t interfere!”

Thud!

The mob hurled mud at the rival fans.

Angrago screamed.

“This is illegal according to Imperial law!!”

“Hahahaha! Who cares—throw!”

-You bastards! Driven mad with all your losses!?

No one just stood there getting pelted. Already sour from a humiliating loss, the opposing fans immediately retaliated.

“Alpha! Alpha! We gotta get out! They’re maniacs—hey!!”

Angrago gaped as he spotted Salko in the distance.

Salko was using magic to make more mud and handing it out to allies, leading the chorus of cheers.

“Let’s crush those cheaters! Crush those cheaters!”

‘…So much for not caring about the match!!!’

The days Salko ignored the game now seemed better. Angrago looked ready to cry.

• * *

“Senior, the stands are really noisy.”

“They’re always noisy. Focus.”

“I think they’re fighting…”

“They always fight. Focus.”

“I think a mud monster got summoned.”

“They’re always summoned. Focus.”

“……”

Lee Han looked at Carnella as if she were Professor Verdus.

The way she just said only what she wanted to—strikingly similar.

‘Well, this isn’t really the time to care, anyway.’

No matter what war broke out in the stands, they were already in a war on the field.

The score was decisively in their favor, but the Einrogard students kept serious expressions. They’d started to respect the enemy’s strength.

‘Most teams would have given up by now…’

The Granden City Baguk Club players were truly impressive.

Despite the griffon’s rampage all first half, they refused to give up, hanging on through sheer will.

If a mount fell, they swapped a new one in; if a player collapsed, they replaced him.

This sort of turnover would rattle most, but these players’ eyes burned with determination.

“Why are they like this? Do they hate losing that much?”

“What happened for them to get this strong?”

They had no idea the trigger was losing last year to Einrogard’s first-years, and so they chatted in puzzlement.

Perse licked dry lips and fetched her canteen to wet her throat.

Running all first half left her feeling horribly dehydrated, and the mounts looked exhausted, too.

“Wardanaz. The griffon?”

Grrr…

Fongrif growled as if fine, but Lee Han could tell he was exhausted.

He might not be able to keep playing in the second half.

“He’s tired.”

“You must be, too. Maybe we should swap attackers and defend instead.”

At Perse’s words, one beast and one person jumped up.

The beast was the griffon; the person was Carnella.

Grrr!

“Are you MAD, Senior?! We’re going to bench our best striker? With our defense, how do we hold out?!”

“We can’t force him to play, either.”

“He’s NOT tired! Look at his eyes!”

Flattered by Carnella’s support, the griffon’s look turned pleased.

Of all the mages here, Carnella appeared to be the only one on his side.

But his master was cold.

“Fongrif is exhausted.”

“N-no! Junior!”

Carnella resorted to the lowest act a Senior could perform.

She flung herself on the ground, rolling in the dirt and grabbing her Junior’s ankles. Other students averted their eyes from the pitiful sight.

“Please! Just hang on for the second half!!!”

Only moments ago, even Fongrif, who’d been chuffed, now looked disgusted. Lee Han shared the feeling.

‘She’s still a Senior, still a Senior…’

Trying to gently shake her off (Carnella’s baguk athlete tenacity wouldn’t let go), Lee Han spoke.

“Senior, resting Fongrif doesn’t guarantee we lose.”

“We will! I can see it happen! Does it look like I’m just being dramatic?!”

The dark elf Senior popped up, eyes blazing fiercely.

“…Yes…”

“With just Einrogard’s thin defense line, if we only defend, this lead will disappear in minutes, Junior. Please, trust me. If we lose this one, I’ll be so embarrassed I might ask to transfer to Baldrogard!”

“No… I’m planning to go on offense.”

“…?”

Carnella, who’d been shouting, hesitated.

“You’re benching the griffon?”

“Yes. I asked the unicorn if it would be okay in just this kind of situation. It said fine, so I’m planning to go out on unicorn for the second half.”

“……”

“……”

The Seniors were floored.

They knew Lee Han looked after the unicorn, but never imagined he’d bonded well enough to ride it in a baguk match.

Perse did a quick calculation and nodded.

“Everyone, one more thing.”

“What, Perse?”

“This is absolute secret from Professor Bendozol.”

“…Of course!”

The members nodded.

If Professor Bendozol found out, he really might die from shock.

• * *

-What kind of freak is that?!

As the Granden City gamblers howled, the match ended.

Maybe not as destructive as the rampaging griffon, but the unicorn was no less a cheat beast. Its rapid-fire teleports let it zip around at will, and Granden’s defenders could barely chase it.

“We…we won!”

Caught up in the muddled brawl, Angrago exulted as the victory horn sounded.

“Wardanaz! Wardanaz!”

“Tutanta! It’s over! Let’s get out of here!”

“Wardanaz! Wardanaz!”

Despite Angrago chanting, Salko kept tossing mud at the rival fans with his new friends.

Wondering how to stop him, Angrago suddenly noticed the disgusted looks from upstairs.

He realized there was now a wide space around their section of the stands.

People were moving away in horror.

‘…I…I was sitting among lunatics!’

Focused on the chaos, Angrago only now noticed his predicament.

To the proper, civilized audience, he was indistinguishable from these drunken maniacs!

‘How did this happen…!’

Cursing his friend, Angrago resolved to escape as soon as possible.

If the guards caught him, he might end up in Granden’s temporary jail and top the Einrogard 2nd-year dunce list, surpassing even the prince.

“…Angrago student?”

At the familiar professor’s voice, Angrago felt every hair on his body stand up.

He forgot he was disguised, and reflexively answered.

“P-Professor Garcia…!”

“…Just what are you doing?”

Angrago turned around. Salko was standing atop an improvised platform made by the crowd, firing mud-balls in a burst.

All Angrago could say was,

“…Watching baguk…”