Chapter 166
Leo muttered as he watched Shasha walking back to the dorm with slumped shoulders.
“I ended up taking on something weird out of nowhere.”
“Are you calling me weird, Master?”
Leo pressed his temples as he watched Ahti, twisting her body and even speaking in a strange tone.
Leo recalled his previous life partner, Albus, with whom he had made a contract.
As a summoner, Kyle trusted Albus’s abilities and placed unwavering faith in him.
Albus also trusted Kyle and fought alongside him.
But in the battle against the Legion Commander, the Necromancer King, he lost Albus. (T/N: Necro King will be changed to Necromancer King Hell Kaiser moving forward)
‘Come to think of it, I lost an Oathbound twice to that guy.’
Against the Necromancer King, known as the strongest among the Legion Commanders, Kyle lost both Elci and Albus—his two Oathbound.
As Leo recalled that time, a bitter smile crossed his lips.
“Aah—! To treat a Pegasus, called the Pure White Illusion, like a rock rolling on the roadside!”
Ahti actually looked delighted when Leo regarded her with a look that said she was pathetic.
Lost in his emotions, Leo felt a headache coming on.
‘Is it just me, or do the Three Great Summoned Beasts all have a screw loose in their heads these days?’
A chirping Phoenix.
A Fairy Prince kicked out for mischief.
And now a perverted Pegasus.
It was a combination that any summoner would only dream of—a lineup of legendary summoned beasts.
But since each came with something odd, from Leo’s perspective, it was more like a nightmarish combination.
“So, Master, where should I stay? I don’t mind the stables. Actually, I’d prefer—!”
“Could you please be quiet? Don’t ruin the image of a Pegasus summoned beast any further.”
Leo sighed deeply.
“For now, wait until I call you. There are others I want to introduce you to.”
Now that they had formed a contract, he needed to introduce her to the other summoned beasts.
“Yes! I’ll hide in these bushes and await your call, Master!”
Rustle—rustle—
Ahti disappeared into the bushes.
Watching this, Leo sighed deeply again and headed back to his room.
The room was still a disaster from the ongoing squabble between Fiora and Kirran.
With one hand, Leo picked up the Summoning Department textbook lying on the floor and waved it at the two.
“I told you to finish before I got back, didn’t I?”
The two summoned beasts, subdued with ease by Leo, sat in a corner with their hands raised in the air.
Diligent Elci busily cleaned up the mess they made.
Watching this, Leo said,
“There’s someone I want to introduce you to.”
[Who is it?]
When Elci tilted her head, Leo summoned his spirit power and spoke.
“A new companion.”
Leo drew a summoning circle and called forth Ahti.
Ahti quickly crossed the circle, looked around the room—swish! swish!—and made a disappointed face.
“What, it’s not the stables.”
Leo gave up expecting any Pegasus-like dignity from Ahti and said,
“This is Ahti, who has become my Oathbound for a while. Everyone, say hello.”
Elci’s eyes widened at those words.
[Did you make a contract with a Pegasus?]
“That’s right.”
[Nice to meet you. I’m the Shadow Spirit, Elci.]
Elci flew up to Ahti and politely lifted her skirt in greeting.
Seeing this, Ahti also elegantly raised her dress hem and greeted back.
“I’m Pegasus, Ahti.”
Then Ahti spotted the two summoned beasts standing in the corner, arms crossed, staring blankly at her.
“Phoenix and a fairy?”
It was a truly strange sight.
Seeing the Phoenix, Fairy, and Pegasus—summoned beasts that most wouldn’t encounter even once in a lifetime—all together was extraordinary.
And all three were contracted to a single summoner.
In the history of summoning, not a single summoner had ever contracted all Three Great Summoned Beasts.
A legendary feat no hero had ever accomplished.
“Why are both of you kneeling with your hands up?”
“We were stretching.”
[We were just doing some stretching.]
The two, caught in their punishment, casually got up and pretended to loosen up.
Then they stood before Ahti, arms crossed—snap!—striking a pose.
“I’m Fiora. I’m the boss here, so just call me boss from now on.”
[I’m the leader of this group. Call me chief.]
The two proud summoned beasts glared at each other—zap.
“I’m the boss! You wingless fairy!”
[I’m the chief! You tiny chick!]
The bickering started all over again, and Leo swung the Summoning Department textbook at them.
Ahti’s jaw dropped as she watched.
Not only was her Oathbound the contractor of all Three Great summoned beasts, but even the other summoned beasts were treated like this?
Elci gave Ahti a wry smile.
[It might be shocking, but you’ll have to get used to it. Leo doesn’t give special treatment just because they’re the Three Great summoned beasts. Kirran calls this place hell…]
“Is this heaven?!”
[……?]
“So you’re the manager here! I’ll be in your care! Master! Please swing the book at me, too!”
As Ahti ran to Leo, calling Elci the manager, Elci tilted her head in confusion.
[Are all the Three Great summoned beasts strange?]
Of course, that wasn’t true.
—
The next day, during magic class.
Chloe, waiting as the instructor, asked Leo,
“Leo, you look tired. Didn’t sleep well last night?”
After being tormented by his summoned beasts all night, Leo had dark circles under his eyes.
He wasn’t physically tired.
Leo’s monstrous stamina meant that running wild for a day or so wouldn’t wear him out.
But managing his summoned beasts consumed tremendous mental energy.
Even a great hero’s iron will could be worn down by the Three Great summoned beasts.
“Yeah, I had something to do late at night.”
Chloe looked at his exhausted face and asked,
“Want a fatigue recovery potion?”
In Chloe’s hand was Carr’s fatigue recovery potion, with ice added by magic.
Sipping the potion through a straw, Chloe said,
“This stuff really relieves fatigue, and it’s surprisingly tasty.”
Chloe, who had loved Carr’s fatigue recovery potion since she entered the academy, smiled.
Carr had improved his best-selling fatigue recovery potion by adding flavor.
Thanks to that, it had become even more popular among female students.
“Well, I’d appreciate it.”
As Leo spoke, Chloe started to pull a new potion from her pocket.
But before she could, Leo absentmindedly reached for the potion bottle in Chloe’s hand.
“Huh?”
Chloe let out a startled gasp.
Leo took the potion bottle from Chloe, put his mouth to the straw, and took two sips.
On a summer morning as the sun began to blaze, the cold fatigue recovery potion was enough to snap him awake.
Feeling the fatigue lift, Leo returned the bottle with a smile.
“That really woke me up. Thanks.”
“Uh, uh… I mean…”
“Leo, could you come here for a second?”
Anna, Len’s assistant, called Leo over.
Chloe quickly turned her back to Leo.
‘W-what do I do? Wait. It’d be weirder to look flustered, right? He probably didn’t think anything of it!’
After Leo left, Chloe stood there, face flushed, not knowing what to do.
‘Should I just take the straw out and drink? No, there’s only a sip left anyway. But… it’d be a waste, right?’
With a pounding heart, Chloe brought the straw to her lips, her hand trembling—then stopped herself.
‘But is this really an indirect kiss? No, no! I’m just finishing it so it doesn’t go to waste! Just so it doesn’t…!’
“What are you doing?”
“Eep?”
Startled, Chloe instinctively bit down on the straw and turned to see Leo, eyes wide as a rabbit.
Gulp—!
Chloe awkwardly swallowed a mouthful of the fatigue recovery potion.
“N-nothing at all.”
“Really? Anna said the class prep is done.”
“O-okay!”
Answering hastily, Chloe watched Leo walk away.
On a summer morning as the sun beat down, Chloe glanced at the ice melting in the potion bottle.
Jingle—!
The ice made a sound as it melted.
Feeling foolish for being flustered alone, Chloe pouted and put the straw in her mouth.
Sluuurp—!
The sound of air being sucked through the straw echoed emptily.
—
Following Anna, they arrived in front of the magic lecture rooms.
With two lecture rooms before them, Anna turned around.
“Now, you’ll each be teaching classes in these rooms.”
Chloe’s face showed her surprise.
“Assistant Anna, but Leo and I are supposed to help as instructors, so why do we have to teach?”
She was right.
Student instructors were only supposed to assist professors, not lead classes themselves.
But now, out of nowhere, they were being told to teach the prospective students.
Leo and Chloe couldn’t help but be flustered.
“That’s Professor Len’s order. He said you two are more than qualified to teach the candidates. He also said it’ll help with your own review.”
Anna smiled, but inside she let out a deep sigh.
– ‘Professor! Why are you making those four teach?!’
– ‘Future students need to know in advance! They should worship the greatness of their upperclassmen—the greatness of Leo Plov!’
– ‘But have you considered that seeing those four might crush their motivation?!’
– ‘Oh! Oh! Assistant Anna! Lions throw their cubs off cliffs! Weaklings aren’t needed in Lumene’s Magic Department!’
– ‘That “lion and cliff” thing is just a myth, you know?’
Anna had tried her best to dissuade Professor Len, but he was not the type to listen.
Thinking back on it, Anna pressed her temples.
‘I think I’ve been getting more gray hairs lately.’
Half a year ago, Professor Len’s random whims were rare, maybe once every six months, but lately, they’d been much more frequent.
And the cause was right in front of her—Leo Plov.
‘Should I just resign?’
Anna let out a deep sigh.
“What about Abad and Chelsea?”
“They’re not under Professor Len, but assisting Professor Oar, so they’ll probably be helping in a different way.”
With 300 students in Emeral, first-year professors Len and Oar each split the classes.
Naturally, the candidate classes were also split in half, each professor teaching in their own way.
Of course, with rotations, Oar’s students would come to this side eventually, so it wasn’t like anyone would only attend one professor’s class.
Leo and Chloe looked at each other.
“It can’t be helped.”
“We’ll do our best.”
With that, the two of them entered their respective classrooms.
Anna called after them,
“You’ll both take turns teaching classes.”
‘Well, it’s Leo and Chloe, after all.’
When it came to magic theory, no other first-year could match them.
‘Honestly, they’re even better than some upperclassmen.’
Anna expected the classes would be fine.
‘The problem is the prospective students.’
Anna sighed deeply.
‘I just hope they don’t lose motivation for no reason.’
* * *
“Failure. How pathetic. You let yourself be stopped by a mere first-year?”
“A mere first-year? You call the Oathbound of Pegasus just a first-year?”
With an angry voice, Kalian’s secretary, Erena, gave a cold smile to her companion.
“Oathbound of Pegasus or not, isn’t he still just a first-year brat? Well, I guess if that’s the extent of your skills, it’s no wonder you lost to a mere ‘human.’ I’m going out of my way for you, and that’s all you can do?”
The man’s face twisted in irritation at Erena’s scorn.
“Our long infiltration of Lumene is about to be for nothing because of you. How are you going to take responsibility?”
Erena looked at him with a face full of contempt.
“They’re already on to us. Soon Lumene will be chasing me down. At this point, this operation must succeed no matter what.”
“So what do you want me to do?”
“It’s simple. You just have to go wild.”
“You want me to take on Lumene? If I do that, I’ll be wiped out in an instant! If that happens, my existence will be erased completely!”
“If you don’t gamble now, you’ll never get another chance to return.”
At Erena’s sneer, the man fell silent.
“I’d go wild myself, but I’m just a ‘fragment.’ So isn’t it better for you to attack Lumene instead?”
“Fine.”
With that, the man vanished from the spot.
Erena adjusted her glasses.
‘That brat’s been a thorn in my side since All Class, and now he’s contracted with Pegasus too?’
Hatred flickered in Erena’s eyes.
‘Why Pegasus, of all things. He really is disgustingly similar.’
Long ago.
As she remembered a human she fought many times, murderous intent flickered in Erena’s eyes.
‘He’s just like that detestable Kyle.’