Chapter 166
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Leo mumbled as he watched Sasha's slumped shoulders as she walked back to the dormitory.
“I've suddenly been saddled with something strange.”
“By strange, are you referring to me, Master?”
Leo pressed his temples, watching Ati twist her body, her tone of voice having turned peculiar as well.
Leo recalled his partner from his past life, the one he had made a contract with, Albus.
As a summoner, he had placed his infinite trust in Kyle's abilities.
Kyle, too, had trusted Albus and fought alongside him.
But he had lost Albus in the battle against the Legion Commander, the Lich King.
*Come to think of it, I've lost two contractors to that bastard.*
To the Lich King, hailed as the strongest of the Legion Commanders, Kyle had lost Elsie and Albus.
He had lost two contractors.
Just as Leo was smiling bitterly at the memory.
“Ahh! To treat a Pegasus, known as the Pure White Illusion, like a common stone on the roadside.”
When Leo looked at her with a pathetic expression, Ati seemed rather pleased.
Leo, who had been lost in sentiment, felt a headache coming on.
*Is having a screw loose a defining characteristic of the Three Great Phantasmal Beasts these days?*
A chirping Phoenix.
A Fairy Prince kicked out for pulling pranks.
And now, a perverted Pegasus.
A dream combination that any beast summoner could only ever wish for.
Of course, with the strange adjectives attached, for Leo it was a maddening combination.
“So, Master. Where should I stay? I don't even mind a stable. No, in fact, I'd pre—!”
“Could you please be quiet? Don't ruin the image of the Pegasus any further.”
Leo said with a deep sigh.
“For now, just wait until I call you. I have some others to introduce you to.”
Now that they had a contract, he needed to introduce her to his other contractors.
“Yes, sir! I'll hide in these bushes and await my master's call!”
*Rustle— Rustle—*
Ati entered the bushes and vanished from sight.
Watching this, Leo sighed deeply once more and returned to his room.
The room was still a complete mess from Piora and Kiruan's struggle.
With one hand, Leo picked up a Summoning Studies textbook rolling on the floor and swung it wildly at the two of them.
“Didn't I tell you to finish by the time I got back?”
Easily subdued by Leo, the two phantasmal beasts knelt in a corner of the room with their hands raised.
The well-behaved Elsie diligently cleaned up the mess the two had made.
Watching them, Leo spoke.
“I have someone to introduce to you all.”
[Who is it?]
As Elsie tilted her head, Leo gathered his spiritual power and said,
“A new companion.”
Leo drew a summoning circle and called forth Ati.
Ati, who promptly crossed over through the summoning circle, glanced around the room—*whoosh! whoosh!*—and then wore a disappointed expression.
“What, this isn't a stable.”
Leo gave up on expecting Ati to act like a proper Pegasus and said,
“This is Ati. She's become my contractor for a while. Everyone, say hello.”
At those words, Elsie's eyes widened.
[You made a contract with a Pegasus?]
“Yes.”
[It's a pleasure to meet you. I am Elsie, the Shadow Spirit.]
Elsie flew in front of Ati and curtsied demurely, lifting the hem of her skirt.
Watching Elsie, Ati also elegantly lifted the hem of her dress and returned the greeting.
“I am Ati, the Pegasus.”
After saying that, Ati noticed the two phantasmal beasts in the corner, hands raised, staring blankly at her.
“A Phoenix and a fairy?”
It was a truly bizarre situation.
Seeing the Three Great Phantasmal Beasts—a Phoenix, a fairy, and a Pegasus—all in one place was an incredible event, something one might not witness in a lifetime.
Moreover, the contractor for all three was a single person.
In the history of summoning, there had never been a single summoner who had contracted with all Three Great Phantasmal Beasts.
An unprecedented, great achievement that no hero had ever managed.
“Why are you two kneeling with your hands up?”
“I was just stretching.”
[Just doing some stretches.]
The two who were being punished subtly stood up and pretended to loosen their bodies.
Then they stood before Ati and—*thump!*—crossed their arms.
“I'm Piora. I'm the boss around here, so you can call me boss from now on.”
[I am the head of this group. You will call me chief.]
The two prideful phantasmal beasts glared at each other.
“I'm the boss! You wingless fairy!”
[I'm the chief! You stubby little chick!]
As the two started bickering again about who was boss and who was chief, Leo swung the Summoning Studies textbook at them.
Watching this, Ati's jaw dropped.
Not only was her contractor the master of the Three Great Phantasmal Beasts, but he treated them like this?
Elsie gave Ati a bitter smile.
[It might be shocking, but you'll have to get used to it. Leo doesn't give any special treatment just because we're the Three Great Phantasmal Beasts. Kiruan called this place hell...]
“Is this heaven?!”
[...?”]
“So you were the manager here. I look forward to working with you! Master! Please swing that book at me too!”
Elsie, now officially certified as the manager by the newcomer, tilted her head as she watched Ati run towards Leo.
[Are all the Three Great Phantasmal Beasts strange?]
Of course, they absolutely were not.
***
The next day, in magic class.
Chloe, who was waiting as an instructor for the magic class, asked Leo.
“Leo. You look tired. Did you not sleep well last night?”
Thanks to being tormented by his contractors all night, Leo's eyes were sunken.
Physically, it wasn't difficult.
Leo's beast-like stamina wasn't the kind to be exhausted by a single day of roughhousing.
However, managing his contractors consumed an immense amount of mental energy.
The Three Great Phantasmal Beasts were formidable enough to tire even the Great Hero's strong mentality.
“Yeah, I was up doing something last night.”
Seeing Leo's tired expression, Chloe asked.
“Want some of my fatigue recovery potion?”
In Chloe's hand was one of Karl's fatigue recovery potions, with ice cubes created by magic floating in it.
Sipping the potion through a straw, Chloe said.
“It relieves fatigue and is surprisingly delicious.”
Chloe, who had been a fan of Karl's fatigue recovery potions since the start of the school year, smiled brightly.
Karl had even added flavor to his most popular product, the fatigue recovery potion.
Thanks to that, it had apparently become even more popular among the female students.
“If you're offering, I'd be grateful.”
At Leo's words, Chloe was about to take out a new potion from her pocket.
But before she could, Leo reached out unthinkingly for the potion bottle in her hand.
“Huh?”
Chloe let out a bewildered gasp.
Taking the potion bottle from Chloe's hand, Leo put his lips to the straw and took a couple of sips.
On a summer morning, as the sun began to beat down.
The cold fatigue recovery potion was enough to wake him up.
Feeling his fatigue fade, Leo smiled brightly and handed the potion bottle back.
“That definitely woke me up a bit. Thanks.”
“Uh, uh... right.”
“Student Leo, please come over here for a moment.”
At the call of Anna, Ren's assistant professor, Leo walked over.
Chloe hurriedly turned her back to Leo.
*W-what do I do with this? Wait. Panicking would be weirder, right? He probably didn't think anything of it!*
After Leo left, Chloe stood there, her face beet red, not knowing what to do.
*S-should I just take the straw out and drink? No. There's only a sip left anyway, no need to drink it. No. But it's a waste, isn't it?*
Chloe's heart pounded as she opened her mouth, a-ah, and with a slightly trembling hand, brought the straw towards her lips before abruptly stopping.
*But is this really an indirect kiss? N-no! I'm drinking it because it's a waste! Because it's a waste...!*
“What are you doing?”
“Gasp?”
So startled that she clamped down on the straw without thinking, Chloe looked at the returned Leo with eyes as wide as a rabbit's.
*Gulp—!*
Chloe, having taken a sip of the fatigue recovery potion, laughed awkwardly.
“Ah, it's nothing.”
“Really? Assistant Professor Anna said the class preparations are finished and to come over.”
“Ah, okay!”
Replying hastily to Leo's words, Chloe watched his back as he walked away.
On a summer morning, as the sun began to beat down.
Chloe glanced at the ice that had begun to melt inside the potion bottle.
*Clink—!*
The ice clinked as it melted away.
Pouting with a sullen face at his indifferent back, which made her feel foolish for panicking all by herself, Chloe put the straw in her mouth.
*Sluuuurp—!*
The sound of the straw sucking in air echoed emptily.
***
Following Anna, they arrived in front of the magic lecture hall.
With two magic lecture halls before them, Anna turned around.
“You will now conduct classes in each of these two lecture halls.”
At those words, Chloe wore a startled expression.
“Assistant Professor Anna. Leo and I are supposed to be instructors helping with the class, why do we have to teach it?”
She was right.
The students chosen as instructors were meant to assist the professor, not conduct the class themselves. They had never been told they had to lead a lesson.
Yet now, they were suddenly being told to teach the prospective students.
Leo and Chloe couldn't help but be bewildered.
“It's an order from Professor Ren. He said you two are more than capable of teaching the prospective students. He also said it would be a good review for you.”
Anna smiled brightly, but inwardly she was sighing deeply.
*‘Professor! Why are you making those four teach a class!’*
*‘The students enrolling next year need to know in advance! They must learn of the greatness of their seniors! They must revere the greatness of Leo Flove!’*
*‘But! Haven't you considered that seeing those four might crush their motivation?!’*
*‘Oh! Oh! Assistant Professor Anna! A lion pushes its cubs off a cliff! Students with such weak spirits are not needed in Lumerne's magic department!’*
*‘That thing about lions pushing their cubs off cliffs is a false rumor, you know?’*
Anna had tried her best to dissuade Professor Ren, but he wasn't the type to listen.
Recalling that moment, Anna gently pressed her temples.
*I think I've gotten more gray hairs recently.*
Professor Ren's fits, which used to happen maybe once every six months, had become much more frequent lately.
Of course, the main cause was Leo Flove, standing right in front of her.
*Should I write my resignation letter?*
Anna let out a deep sigh of complaint.
“What about Abad and Chelsea?”
“Those two aren't under Professor Ren's charge; they're assisting Professor Oar, so they'll probably be conducting their class in a different format.”
Since there were 300 Emeral students, Ren and another first-year magic professor, Oar, had split them in half to conduct their classes.
Naturally, the prospective students' class was also divided in half, with each group taking classes from Ren and Oar in their respective styles.
Of course, there would be a rotation, so Oar's students would eventually come here. They wouldn't only be taught by one professor.
At Anna's words, Leo and Chloe glanced at each other.
“Can't be helped.”
“I'll do my best.”
With that, the two entered their respective classrooms.
As they went in, Anna called out to their backs.
“You two will also rotate classes.”
*Well, it is Student Leo and Student Chloe.*
When it came to magic theory, no other first-year student could match them.
*No, in a sense, they're more knowledgeable in theory than even the upperclassmen.*
Anna also predicted there wouldn't be any major problems with the class.
*The problem is the prospective students.*
Anna let out a deep sigh.
*I just hope they don't lose their motivation.*
*
“A failure. How pathetic. To fail, blocked by a mere first-year.”
“A mere first-year? You call the contractor of a Pegasus a mere first-year?”
Towards her compatriot who spoke in an angry voice, Kalian's secretary, ELena, gave a cold smile.
“Contractor of a Pegasus or not, isn't he just a first-year brat? Then again, at your level, it's no surprise you were beaten by a mere 'human'. I've gone to all this trouble for you, and this is the best you can do?”
The man's face contorted as he watched the irritated Erena speak.
“My long infiltration of Lumerne is about to go to waste because of you. How will you take responsibility?”
Elena looked at the man with a pathetic expression.
“My cover's already blown. Lumerne will be after me soon. At this point, this operation must succeed, no matter what.”
“What do you propose?”
“It's simple. You just need to run rampant.”
“You want me to take on Lumerne? In my current state, I'll be annihilated in an instant! If that happens, my very existence will be completely erased!”
“But if you don't take this gamble now, you'll lose your chance to be revived forever, won't you?”
At Erena's sneer, the man clamped his mouth shut.
“As much as I'd like to run rampant for you, I'm just a 'fragment'. So, wouldn't it be more fitting for you to attack Lumerne instead?”
“Understood.”
With those words, the man vanished on the spot.
Elena adjusted her glasses.
*Anyway, that brat. He's been an eyesore since he was an All-Class, and now he's even contracted with a Pegasus?*
Hatred flickered in Erena's eyes.
*A Pegasus, of all things. The resemblance is truly hateful.*
A long time ago.
As Erena recalled a human she had fought time and time again, killing intent filled her eyes.
*He's too much like that detestable Kyle.*