Book 1 Chapter 166

166

Leo watched Sasha's retreating back as she returned to the dormitory, his shoulders slumped, and muttered, "Suddenly, I'm stuck with something strange."

"Are you referring to me as strange, Master?" Leo pressed his temples, watching Arty twist her body, her tone of voice having also strangely changed.

Leo recalled his partner from a previous life, Albus, with whom he had contracted.

As a summoner, he believed in Kyle's abilities and gave him his infinite trust.

Kyle also trusted Albus and fought alongside him.

However, he lost Albus in a battle against the Legion Commander, the Necromancer King.

'Now that I think about it, I've lost a sworn companion to that guy twice.'

Kyle lost two sworn companions, Elsi and Albus, to the Necromancer King, who was called the strongest among the Legion Commanders.

It was then that Leo recalled that time, a bitter smile on his face.

"Ah-! To treat a Pegasus, called the pure white illusion, like a stone rolling on the roadside."

Arty, seeing Leo look at her as if she were pathetic, was rather pleased.

Leo, who had been lost in emotion, felt a headache coming on.

'Is it a characteristic of the three great mythical beasts these days that every single one of them has a screw loose?'

A squawking Phoenix.

A Fairy Prince exiled for playing pranks.

And now, a perverted Pegasus.

A fantastic combination that a Beast Summoner could only dream of.

Of course, with "strange" preceding them, from Leo's perspective, it was a maddening combination.

"So, Master. Where should I stay? Even a stable is fine with me. No, in fact, it would be even better…!"

"Could you please be quiet? Don't ruin the image of the mythical beast, Pegasus, any further."

Leo let out a deep sigh and said.

"For now, wait until I call you. There are others I need to introduce you to."

Since he had contracted, he needed to introduce her to the other contractors.

"Yes, Master! I will hide in this bush and await your call!"

Rustle- rustle-

Arty entered the bush and disappeared from sight.

Leo watched her, sighed deeply once more, and returned to his room.

The room was still a mess from Fiora and Kirian's dispute.

Leo picked up the Summoning Studies textbook rolling on the floor with one hand and wildly swung it at the two of them.

"I told you to finish it by the time I came back, didn't I?"

The two mythical beasts, simply subdued by Leo with force, knelt in a corner of the room with their hands raised.

The kind Elsi diligently cleaned the room that the two of them had messed up.

Leo watched her and said.

"There's someone I want to introduce to you all."

[Who is it?]

As Elsi tilted her head, Leo activated his spirit energy and said.

"It's a new companion."

Leo drew a summoning circle and called Arty.

Arty, who quickly stepped through the summoning circle, scanned the room with a 'whoosh-! whoosh-!' sound, then made a disappointed face.

"What, it's not a stable."

Leo gave up hoping for Arty to act like a Pegasus and said.

"This is Arty, who has become my sworn companion for a while. Everyone, say hello."

At those words, Elsi's eyes widened.

[Did you make a contract with a Pegasus?]

"Yes."

[Nice to meet you. I am Elsi, a shadow spirit.]

Elsi flew in front of Arty and demurely lifted the hem of her skirt as a greeting.

Seeing Elsi, Arty also elegantly lifted the hem of her dress and returned the greeting.

"I'm Arty, a Pegasus."

After saying that, Arty noticed the two mythical beasts in the corner of the room, standing with their hands raised and staring blankly at her.

"A Phoenix and a Fairy?"

It was truly a strange situation.

To see the three great mythical beasts—a Phoenix, a Fairy, and a Pegasus—all in one place, which are rarely seen even once in a lifetime, was an incredible thing.

Moreover, the contractor for these three great mythical beasts was just one person.

In the history of summoning magic, not a single summoner had ever contracted with all three great mythical beasts.

An unprecedented great achievement that no hero had ever accomplished.

"Why are both of you kneeling with your hands up?"

"We were just stretching."

[We were stretching.]

The two who were being punished subtly got up and pretended to loosen their bodies.

Then they stood in front of Arty and, with a 'thwack-!', crossed their arms.

"My name is Fiora. I'm the leader here, so you can call me 'Leader' from now on."

[I am the boss of this group. Call me 'Boss'.]

The two proud mythical beasts glared at each other, sparking.

"I'm the leader! You wingless fairy!"

[I'm the boss! You short, stubby chick!]

Leo swung the Summoning Studies textbook at the two, who had started squabbling again about who was the leader and who was the boss.

Arty watched them, her mouth agape.

Not only was her sworn companion the contractor of the three great mythical beasts, but the other mythical beasts were treated like that too?

Elsi gave Arty a bitter smile.

[It might be shocking, but you'll have to get used to it. Leo doesn't give special treatment just because they're one of the three great mythical beasts. Kirian calls this place hell…]

"Is this heaven?!"

[……?]

"So you were the manager here. Please take good care of me from now on! Master! Please swing a book at me too!"

Elsi, who had been definitively recognized as the manager by the newcomer, tilted her head as she watched Arty rush towards Leo.

[Are all three great mythical beasts strange?]

Of course, absolutely not.

***

The next day, magic class. Chloe, who was waiting as a magic class instructor, asked Leo.

"Leo. You look tired? Didn't you sleep well last night?"

Thanks to being bothered by his contractors all night, Leo's eyes were sunken.

Physically, there was no difficulty.

Leo's formidable stamina, akin to a monster, was not the type to be exhausted by a single day of rampaging.

However, managing the contractors consumed an immense amount of mental energy.

The three great mythical beasts were so formidable that they could exhaust even a great hero's strong mental fortitude.

"Uh, I was doing something for a bit last night."

Seeing Leo's tired expression, Chloe asked.

"Should I give you a fatigue recovery potion?"

In Chloe's hand was Kal's fatigue recovery potion, with ice added by magic floating in it.

Chloe said, sipping the potion through a straw.

"This not only relieves fatigue but is also surprisingly delicious."

Chloe, who had been fond of Kal's fatigue recovery potion since admission, smiled sweetly.

Kal had even added flavor to his best-selling fatigue recovery potion.

Thanks to this, it was said to have become even more popular among female students.

"Then I'd be grateful."

At Leo's words, Chloe was about to take out a new potion from her pocket.

But faster than that, Leo unthinkingly reached for the potion bottle in Chloe's hand.

"Huh?"

Chloe let out a flustered exclamation.

Leo took the potion bottle from Chloe's hand, put the straw to his mouth, and drank about two sips.

A summer morning where the scorching sun began to beat down.

The cold fatigue recovery potion was enough to make him feel refreshed.

Feeling his fatigue dissipate, Leo smiled sweetly and returned the potion bottle.

"It certainly clears my head a bit. Thanks."

"Uh, uh… that is to say."

"Student Leo, please come over here for a moment."

Leo approached at the call of Anna, Renn's associate professor.

Chloe hurriedly turned her back to Leo.

'W-what should I do about this. Wait. Isn't it stranger to be flustered? He probably isn't thinking anything of it!'

After Leo left, Chloe didn't know what to do, her face deeply flushed.

'S-should I just take out the straw and drink it? No. There's only about one sip left anyway, so why bother drinking it. No. But it's a waste, isn't it?'

Chloe, her heart pounding, opened her mouth in an 'ah-' sound and, with slightly trembling hands, was about to bring the straw to her lips but quickly put a brake on her hand.

'But is this really an indirect kiss? Oh, no! I'm drinking it because it's a waste! Because it's a waste…!'

"What are you doing?"

"Gasp?"

Chloe, so startled that she bit the straw without realizing it, looked at Leo who had returned, her eyes as wide as a rabbit's.

Gulp-!

Chloe, who had taken a sip of the fatigue recovery potion, gave an awkward laugh.

"Ah, it's nothing."

"Really? Associate Professor Anna said she's finished preparing for class and to come over."

"Ah, I understand!"

Chloe, who hastily replied to Leo's words, watched Leo's back as he walked ahead.

A summer morning where the scorching sun began to beat down.

Chloe glanced at the ice beginning to melt inside the potion bottle.

Clink-!

The ice made a sound as it melted.

Chloe, who had been staring at Leo's unsympathetic back with a pouty, sullen face, feeling like a fool for having been flustered and at a loss alone, bit down on the straw.

Slurp-!

The sound of the straw sucking in air echoed emptily.

***

Arrived in front of the magic lecture halls, following Anna. With two magic lecture halls, Anna turned around.

"You two will now each proceed with classes in the two lecture halls."

At those words, Chloe looked surprised.

"Associate Professor Anna. Leo and I are supposed to be assisting with classes as instructors, so why do we have to lecture?"

That was true.

Students chosen as instructors were meant to assist the professor's classes, not conduct them.

But to suddenly be told to teach the admission candidates.

Leo and Chloe couldn't help but be flustered.

"It's Professor Renn's order. He said that both of you are skilled enough to teach the admission candidates. He also said it would help with your review."

Anna smiled sweetly, but inside, she was sighing deeply.

'Professor! Why are you making all four of them teach classes?!'

'Students entering next year need to know in advance! The greatness of their seniors by one year! Shouldn't they worship the greatness of Leo Flover?!'

'No! Haven't you considered that seeing those four might crush their motivation?!'

'Oh! Oh! Associate Professor Anna! Lions are known to drop their cubs off cliffs! Students with such weak spirits are not needed in the Lumern Department of Magic!'

'Dropping cubs off cliffs by lions is a false rumor, you know?'

Anna vehemently tried to dissuade Professor Renn, but he was not the type to listen to her.

Recalling that time, Anna pressed her temples.

'It seems I've been getting more gray hairs recently.'

Professor Renn's eccentricities, which used to occur perhaps once every six months, had noticeably increased recently.

Of course, the culprit was Leo Flover, right before her eyes.

'Should I write my resignation?'

Anna let out a deep sigh of complaint.

"What about Avard and Chelsea?"

"Those two are not under Professor Renn's charge; they're assisting Professor Oar with classes, so they'll probably conduct classes in a different way."

With 300 Emerald students, Renn and another first-year magic department professor, Oar, divided the classes and proceeded.

Naturally, the admission candidate classes were also divided in half, with students attending classes in Renn's and Oar's respective ways.

Of course, when rotations happened, students under Oar would come here, so they wouldn't only attend one professor's classes.

At Anna's words, Leo and Chloe looked at each other in turn.

"Can't be helped."

"I'll do my best."

Saying that, the two entered their respective classrooms.

Anna said, addressing the backs of the two.

"You two will also take turns teaching the classes."

'Since it's Student Leo and Student Chloe, after all.'

In terms of magic theory, there was no one among the first-year students who could follow them.

'No, in a sense, they are even more proficient in theory than the upperclassmen.'

Anna also expected there to be no major problems with the classes.

'The problem is the admission candidates.'

Anna let out a deep sigh.

'I hope they don't lose motivation for nothing.'

*

"Failure, then. How pathetic. To be thwarted and fail by merely a single first-year student."

"Merely a first-year? Are you calling the sworn companion of a Pegasus 'merely a first-year'?"

Towards her compatriot, who spoke with an enraged voice, Kalian's secretary, Erena, offered a cold smile.

"Whether he's a Pegasus's sworn companion or whatever, isn't he just a first-year brat? Indeed, at that level, he must have been defeated by a mere 'human.' I'm going to all this trouble for you, and is that all you can do?"

The man's face contorted as he watched Erena speak irritably.

"My long infiltration into Lumern is about to become futile, thanks to you. How will you take responsibility?"

Erena looked at the man with a pathetic expression.

"My tail has already been stepped on. Lumern will soon track me down. As it stands, this operation absolutely must succeed."

"What do you propose?"

"It's simple. You just need to run wild."

"Are you telling me to face Lumern? In my current state, I would simply vanish in an instant! If that happens, my very existence will be completely erased!"

"If you don't attempt this gamble now, you'll lose the chance to revive forever, won't you?"

At Erena's sneer, the man clamped his mouth shut.

"Even if I wanted to run wild in your place, I am merely a 'fragment.' So, wouldn't it be more appropriate for you to attack Lumern instead?"

"Understood."

Saying that, the man vanished on the spot.

Erena adjusted her glasses.

'Anyway, that brat. He was annoying even when he was an all-rounder, but he even contracted with a Pegasus?'

Hatred flickered in Erena's eyes.

'Of all things, a Pegasus. He truly resembles him to a hateful degree.'

Long ago. A murderous intent gleamed in Erena's eyes as she recalled a human she had fought countless times.

'He's too much like that detestable Kyle.'