Editor : Amethyst00



Leo muttered as he watched Shasha slump her shoulders and head back to the dormitory.

“Out of nowhere, I’ve ended up with something strange.”

“By strange, are you referring to me, Master?”

Looking at Alty, who was twisting her body and even speaking oddly, Leo pressed his temples.

He thought of his former partner, Albus, the one he had contracted with in his previous life.

As a summoner, Albus had believed in Kyle’s abilities and placed infinite trust in him.

Kyle, too, trusted Albus and fought alongside him.

But in the battle against the Legion Commander, the Lich King, Albus was lost.

'Come to think of it, I’ve lost my contract partner twice to that bastard.'

To the Lich King, the strongest among the Legion Commanders, Kyle had lost both Elsie and Albus.

As Leo recalled that moment, a bitter smile crossed his lips.

“Ahhh—! To think the pure-white fantasy known as a Pegasus would be treated like some rock on the roadside!”

Seeing Leo look at her with something between pity and disdain, Alty only grew happier.

Leo, immersed in sentiment, felt a headache coming on.

'These day, is the common trait of the Three Great Beasts that each one is missing a screw in their head?'

The chirpy Phoenix.

The Fairy Prince who got thrown out after pulling pranks.

And now, a perverted Pegasus.

For a summoner, this would be the stuff of dreams—an impossible lineup.

Of course, with the word weird attached in front, for Leo it was nothing but a nightmare lineup.

“So then, Master, where should I stay? I don’t even mind a stable. No, actually, I’d prefer it—”

“Would you please shut up? Stop ruining the image of what a Pegasus is supposed to be.”

Leo let out a deep sigh.

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

Since they had ended up contracting, he needed to introduce her to the other familiars as well.

“Yessir! I’ll hide here in the bushes and wait for your call!”

Rustle—rustle—

Alty slipped into the bushes and vanished.

Watching her disappear, Leo let out yet another deep sigh and returned to his room.

The room was still a complete mess thanks to Fiora and Kiran’s bickering.

With one hand, Leo picked up a summoning textbook that had rolled onto the floor and swung it wildly at the two.

“Didn’t I tell you to be done by the time I got back?”

The two familiars were quickly subdued by force and made to kneel in a corner with their hands raised.

Good-natured Elsie busily tidied up the wreckage they had left behind.

Watching this, Leo said,

“There’s someone I need to introduce you to.”

[Who is it?]

Tilting her head, Elsie asked, and Leo summoned up his energy.

“A new comrade.”

Leo drew a summoning circle and called Alty forth.

Alty leapt out of the circle with a swish—! swish—! She looked around the room, only to show a disappointed expression.

“What, this isn’t a stable.”

Giving up on hoping for any Pegasus-like dignity from her, Leo spoke.

“This is Alty, my temporary contractual partner. Everyone, greet her.”

At that, Elsie’s eyes widened.

[Did you contract with a Pegasus?]

“Yeah.”

[It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Elsie, a shadow elemental.]

Flying up before Alty, Elsie gave a modest curtsey.

Seeing this, Alty also lifted her dress hem gracefully and returned the greeting.

“I’m Alty, the Pegasus.”

As she spoke, Alty noticed the two familiars in the corner with their hands raised, staring blankly at her.

“A Phoenix and a Fairy?”

It was truly a bizarre sight.

Even living an entire lifetime, one might never see a Phoenix, a Fairy, and a Pegasus—the Three Great Beasts—in one place.

And yet, one person was the contractor for all three.

In all of summoning history, not a single summoner had ever contracted with all Three Great Beasts.

An unprecedented feat that no hero had ever accomplished.

“Why are both of you kneeling with your hands up?”

“We were stretching.”

[We were doing some stretches.]

The two, who had been punished, subtly stood up and pretended to stretch.

Then they stood before Alty and—cross!—folded their arms.

“I’m Fiora. I’m the leader here, so you can just call me Leader from now on.”

[I’m the boss of this group. You should call me Boss.]

The two prideful familiars glared—! sharply at each other.

“I’m the leader, you wingless fairy!”

[I’m the boss, you stunted chick!]

As they started bickering again about leader this and boss that, Leo swung his summoning textbook at them.

Alty’s jaw dropped at the sight.

Not only was her contractor the summoner of the Three Great Beasts, but he even treated other familiars like this?

Elsie gave a wry smile.

[It’s shocking, but you’ll get used to it. Leo doesn’t give special treatment even to the Three Great Beasts. Kiran even says this place is hell…]

“Is this heaven?!”

[…]

“So you’re the administrator here. I’ll be in your care, Master! Please swing the textbook at me too!”

Receiving an official stamp of approval as administrator from the newcomer, Elsie tilted her head as she watched Alty run toward Leo.

[Are all the Three Great Beasts weird?]

Of course, the answer was absolutely not.

bl

The next day, magic class.

Chloe, who was waiting as the class instructor, asked Leo,

“Leo. You look tired? Didn’t sleep well last night?”

Thanks to being harassed by his familiars all night, Leo’s eyes were sunken.

Physically, he wasn’t worn out.

With the monstrous stamina he had, running wild for a day wasn’t enough to tire him.

It was the mental toll of managing his familiars that drained him.

Even the iron will of a great hero could be worn down by the Three Great Beasts.

“Yeah, I was just… busy with something at night.”

Seeing Leo’s weary expression, Chloe asked,

“Want me to give you a fatigue recovery potion?”

In her hand was a bottle of Carl’s fatigue potion, with even a few magically conjured ice cubes floating inside.

Sipping at her straw with slurp slurp—, Chloe said,

“This one’s refreshing and surprisingly tasty too.”

Ever since enrollment, Chloe had relied on Carl’s fatigue recovery potions, and she smiled brightly.

Carl had even added flavoring to his best-selling potion, which had made it even more popular among female students.

“Well then, thanks. I appreciate it.”

At Leo’s words, Chloe reached into her cloak for another potion.

But faster than that, Leo absentmindedly reached for the potion bottle in her hand.

“Huh?”

Chloe let out a startled sound.

Taking the bottle from her, Leo put his lips to the straw and drank two swallows.

It was a summer morning, the sun already beating down.

The cold potion was enough to clear his head.

Feeling the fatigue ease, Leo smiled faintly and handed the bottle back.

“Definitely helps. Thanks.”

“Uh, yeah… sure.”

“Leo, please come over here.”

At Assistant Professor Anna’s call, Leo walked away.

Chloe quickly turned her back to him.

'Wh-what do I do. Wait. Isn’t it weirder to be flustered? He probably didn’t even think about it!'

As Leo left, Chloe fidgeted, her face burning red.

'Should I… just remove the straw and drink? No, there’s only a sip left anyway, it’s not worth it… but still, what a waste.'

Heart pounding, Chloe opened her mouth a little and brought the straw to her lips with trembling hands—only to stop herself at the last moment.

'But isn’t this technically an indirect kiss? N-no! I’m drinking it because it’d be a waste otherwise! Just because of that!'

“What are you doing?”

“Eep?”

Startled, Chloe instinctively bit down on the straw. Her eyes went wide like a rabbit’s as she turned to see Leo had returned.

Gulp—!

She swallowed a sip and forced an awkward smile.

“N-nothing at all.”

“Really? Well, Assistant Professor Anna says class prep is done.”

“R-right, got it!”

Flustered, Chloe answered quickly and watched Leo’s back as he walked ahead.

The summer sun bore down, and Chloe glanced at the ice beginning to melt inside the potion bottle.

Clink—!

The ice rattled as it dissolved.

She pouted her lips in a sulky face, watching his indifferent back that made all her flustered fumbling seem foolish. Then she bit down on the straw.

Sluuurp—!

The sound of the straw sucking in air echoed hollowly.

bl

Following Anna, they arrived at the front of the magic lecture halls.

There were two classrooms, and Anna turned to them.

“From here on, each of you will lead class in one of these rooms.”

At that, Chloe’s eyes went wide.

“Assistant Professor Anna, but… Leo and I were supposed to just assist the instructor, not actually teach, weren’t we?”

She was right.

Students chosen as instructors were meant to support professors, not conduct lessons themselves.

And yet, suddenly, they were being told to teach prospective students.

Leo and Chloe could only be bewildered.

“This is Professor Len’s order. He said you two are more than capable of teaching candidates, and it would serve as good review for you as well.”

Anna smiled faintly, but inside she let out a deep sigh.

'Professor! Why are you making those four give lectures?!'

'Because the incoming students need to know in advance! They must revere the greatness of their seniors! The greatness of Leo Plov!'

'What?! Don’t you think seeing them will only discourage the new students instead?!'

'Oh-ho! Assistant Professor Anna! A lion tosses its cubs down a cliff! Any who are weak in spirit don’t belong in Lumene’s Department of Magic!'

'That “lion’s cliff” story is a complete myth, you know?!'

Anna had desperately tried to dissuade Professor Len, but he wasn’t the sort to listen.

Recalling that, Anna pressed her temples.

'I swear I’m getting more gray hairs lately.'

Half a year ago, Len’s outbursts had been rare—maybe once in six months. But lately, they had been far more frequent.

And the culprit was none other than Leo Plov.

'Should I just hand in my resignation?'

Anna let out a long sigh.

“What about Abad and Chelsea?”

“They’re under Professor Ouar, not Professor Len, so they’re assisting him in a different way.”

With 200 Emerald students, the classes were divided between Len and another first-year professor, Ouar.

Naturally, the prospective student lectures were also split, each professor conducting them their own way.

And when rotations happened, Ouar’s batch would come here, so no group would only ever hear one professor.

At Anna’s explanation, Leo and Chloe exchanged glances.

“No choice then.”

“We’ll just do our best.”

Saying that, the two walked into separate classrooms.

Behind them, Anna called out,

“You’ll take turns leading the classes too.”

At least, since it’s Leo and Chloe…

When it came to magical theory, no other first-years could compare.

In fact, in some ways, they surpassed even the upperclassmen.

Anna wasn’t too worried about the teaching itself.

The problem is the prospective students.

She let out another sigh.

Hopefully they don’t lose their motivation after this.

bl

“Failure. Pathetic. To be stopped by nothing more than a first-year.”

“Nothing more than a first-year? And you call the Pegasus’s contractor nothing more?”

At the furious voice of his comrade, Kalian’s secretary, Erena, gave a cold smile.

“Whether a Pegasus’s contractor or not, he’s still just a rookie first-year, isn’t he? Honestly, if that’s your level, it’s no wonder you lost to a mere ‘human.’ I go to all this trouble for you, and this is all you can manage?”

The man’s face twisted at Erena’s irritated words.

“Because of you, our long-planned infiltration of Lumene may be ruined. How will you take responsibility?”

Erena looked at him with contempt.

“Our tail’s already been stepped on. Lumene will be hunting me soon. That makes it all the more critical that this operation succeeds.”

“What are you suggesting?”

“It’s simple. You run wild.”

“You want me to face Lumene? In my current state, I’ll vanish instantly! If that happens, I’ll be erased completely!”

“If you don’t gamble now, you’ll never get another chance at revival.”

The man fell silent at her mocking smile.

“Even if I wanted to go on a rampage, I’m just a fragment. But you, you’d be far more fitting to attack Lumene.”

“…Fine.”

At his words, the man’s figure vanished.

Erena adjusted her glasses.

'That rookie. He was an eyesore back during All-Class… and now he’s contracted even with a Pegasus?'

Hatred gleamed in Erena’s eyes.

'Of all things, a Pegasus. He resembles him so much, it’s sickening.'

Long ago.

She recalled a human she had fought many times, and a murderous aura filled her eyes.

'He looks too damn much like that loathsome Kyle.'