Chapter 523
Professor Bungaegor was so dumbfounded by the absurd words that she unconsciously asked.
"Why on earth are you training to prepare for encountering a griffin? According to the regulations, griffins..."
Griffins were beasts that could not participate in ordinary ballgame matches due to their size and weight.
However, Bulpard spoke seriously.
"It's because the opponent may bring a small and skinny griffin."
"..."
Professor Bungaegor newly felt that she was a sane person.
Of course, she quite liked ballgame, but compared to the imperial people who were really crazy about ballgame, she liked it only to a small extent.
Preparing for when the opponent brings a small and skinny griffin.
...And the most surprising thing was that such preparation was quite plausible.
Honestly, even in Professor Bungaegor's opinion, it was likely that one of the ballgame players would somehow manage to bring a small and skinny griffin that barely met the regulations.
There were even people who brought transformed ones...
'Wait. Then why are they like that?'
Professor Bungaegor and Bulpard looked at Yi-Han.
As Yi-Han rode the griffin and charged again, the goat blocking the goal couldn't endure it and stepped aside.
The player cried out with tears at the sight.
"How could you do this to me! How could you do this to me! I gave you the food I eat, I gave you the clothes I wear! I even gave you the place where I sleep!"
-Kkak...-
The goat seemed to understand its owner's frustration and felt very sorry.
Yi-Han made a displeased expression at the sight.
'Is there a need to go that far?'
It didn't seem like the goat would like food that humans ate.
At that moment, Bulpard shouted from the spectator seats.
"Griffin! The opponent is a griffin! It's a horse transformed from a griffin, so think accordingly. Remember the training you had against griffins!"
"..."
For a moment, Yi-Han thought the opponent was using a trick to confuse him.
Training against griffins.
'Why on earth would they train for that?'
"Indeed! No wonder the horse's eyes looked unusual... Now!"
The player quickly covered the goat's eyes with a blindfold. It was to prevent eye contact with the griffin.
The other players must have heard about it, as they quickly covered their mounts' eyes as well. If they could just avoid the fierce eyes of the griffin...
-Kkak!!!!-
"But why!"
"Ah."
Yi-Han realized as he swung his pole towards the gap and shot the ball.
"This isn't because of you, is it?"
Come to think of it, Yi-Han also had a basilisk in his bosom.
Monsters would be able to smell even the faint scent of the basilisk that humans couldn't, so it was natural for them to be so scared.
-...?-
However, even at Yi-Han's words, the baby basilisk tilted its head in puzzlement instead of agreeing, wagging its tail.
Intelligent monsters had a keen sense of their own power.
The baby basilisk knew well that its power was still insignificant.
If a monster was scared of the scent of a baby monster that had not yet grown, it must be quite a timid monster...?
"Thank you. Thanks to you, the professor will be happy."
When Yi-Han thanked it for now, the baby basilisk was puzzled but delighted.
"Instead, let's go a bit deeper into my bosom. So the opponents won't know even after the match is over."
-...-
***
The struggle of the Granden City Ballgame Club players was truly remarkable.
They covered the noses, ears, and eyes of their mounts, and tried their best to calm them down with only the trust of their owners, and strived to catch up on points.
However, the 1st-year students led by Professor Bungaegor maintained a solid low defensive line without giving any gaps until the end, while using students with excellent offensive power to lead counterattacks.
No matter how strong the offensive power of the ballgame club players was, it was difficult to turn the tables in this situation...
"...Write that down."
"Okay."
Anglago and Ctran busily moved their quills and left records.
Surprisingly, such match records and impressions sold well to students who liked ballgame.
Professor Bungaegor, who was passing by behind them, made a remark while hiding her good mood.
"Erase the paragraph about covering the eyes, ears, and noses of the mounts. The readers will find it strange."
"Aha! Thank you."
Professor Bungaegor, who had received overflowing praise from the Granden City Ballgame Club players, was in a good mood for the first time in a long while.
-It was really amazing, Professor! Your tactics were truly remarkable!-
-I'm really looking forward to the results of next year's Einroguard Ballgame Club!-
-We need to train against griffins again.-
-No, how about we try taming a griffin ourselves?-
"Tell the treasurer to keep the silver coins received from the ballgame club players today. Use it as support funds when you guys apply for research next year."
"Thank you, Professor!"
The students also shouted with bright expressions, happy with the victory.
Yi-Han, who was groaning with muscle pain next to them, hesitated.
"...Uh, wait. Do you get silver coins even in a friendly match?"
"It's a gesture of gratitude to the winner. Wardanaz. You really need to stop studying and take an interest in ballgame."
Anglago spoke very seriously.
Seeing today's match, letting a guy like Wardanaz devote himself to magic was a huge loss for the imperial ballgame world.
Even though Wardanaz was an ill-tempered and violent guy, Anglago was ready to forget their grudges and help him for the sake of the imperial ballgame world.
"..."
Yi-Han was about to hit him but endured it due to muscle pain. Seeing that, Anglago nodded his head.
"As expected, you must have felt something from today's match too."
"...Ymirg. Ymirg? Can you hit that guy just once for me?"
At Yi-Han's request, the giant mixed-blood friend was flustered and at a loss.
Professor Bungaegor praised today's match once again, pointed out the areas the participating students needed to improve, and then called Yi-Han and said,
"Oh, by the way. The players said you were the best player today."
"Yes. Thank you."
Yi-Han answered without much emotion.
If he were a student who loved ballgame, he would have cried tears of joy, but Yi-Han was currently distracted by muscle pain.
"Here. Take this. It's a medal of honor."
"Can't you just give me more silver co..."
Yi-Han was startled to see the medal engraved with the date, place, and the emblems of the Granden City Ballgame Club and Einroguard.
Surprisingly, it was made of pure silver.
"Is it entirely silver?"
"Huh? Of course. We can't make such an honorable medal fake, can we?"
Tears of emotion belatedly welled up in Yi-Han's eyes. Seeing that, Professor Bungaegor was also pleased.
'The kid. Even though he pretends not to, he must be happy that we won today.'
***
Professor Yonramo, the doppelganger, said to the students,
"Even though the principles of transformation magic and shapeshifting magic directed outward are similar, you will feel that they are very different when you actually cast them. That's how difficult it is to transform the mage's own self."
Changing external matter and changing the mage's own body had the same principle, but the difficulty was different.
To change oneself as a mage, a firm mind that wouldn't lose one's sense of self even if one's form changed was necessary.
"Sometimes, a few unfortunate transformation mages lose themselves by transforming for too long or too often..."
When the students showed frightened expressions, Professor Yonramo realized his mistake.
Unlike sociable people like Professor Garcia, Professor Yonramo still didn't have a good sense of what parts scared the students.
"...There's no need to worry too much! Losing oneself and becoming a different being is not necessarily a bad thing."
"..."
"..."
The students were even more shocked.
Some even whispered, 'Isn't this transformation magic too dangerous?'
"If shapeshifting magic doesn't suit you, there's no need to learn it. In fact, there are many transformation mages who don't actually shapeshift. Some people are constitutionally unsuitable... Yi-Han. How about you come and transform a bit so the students won't be scared?"
As the students seemed to become more and more frightened no matter what he said, Professor Yonramo brought Yi-Han in to change the subject.
If Yi-Han, who had high prestige among the students, used shapeshifting magic first, it would surely reduce the students' fear.
"...Pardon? Professor. I don't know how to use shapeshifting magic."
"Huh? Didn't you receive a magic book last time? You still haven't mastered it?"
Professor Yonramo asked thoughtlessly without much thought.
Didn't the mages line up to give Yi-Han a grimoire each at the last transformation mages' festival?
-I'm so happy to gift you my family's grimoire, <From Caterpillar to Dragon>. Hahaha! Hahaha! Hahahahahahaha! The others... Oops. Ahem.-
He had even heard such words?
"...I'm sorry. I haven't mastered it yet."
Yi-Han apologized with a darkened face.
He thought Professor Yonramo was reprimanding him.
'Damn it. It's unfair. I didn't know I had to master it.'
It was unfair, but instead of refuting, Yi-Han made the most apologetic expression possible.
It was because he knew well that logical refutation had no meaning in front of a professor.
The only effective thing was a hypocritical expression.
"Ah, no... I'm not blaming..."
Unlike other ambitious professors, Professor Yonramo just wanted to live peacefully without causing any problems.
As such, he had no intention of provoking a student who was being treated as the skull principal's direct disciple and holding a grudge.
It was just a slip of the tongue!
Professor Yonramo, who imagined a future where Yi-Han became the principal's right-hand man and cut the budget of the transformation magic school, hurriedly appeased him.
"Shapeshifting magic is difficult. It's not something that can be easily mastered. So there's no need to apologize like that. I just thought that if it's Yi-Han, you would have mastered it by now..."
"...I'm sorry..."
"..."
Seeing the other person's expression darkening even more, Professor Yonramo felt like crying.
Professor Yonramo gave up and looked around at the students.
"Today... so... we'll try some basics of shapeshifting magic."
The actual magic lecture began in a truly gloomy atmosphere.
***
"Oh. Look at this? It's shining!"
"Wardanaz. Look at this! I'm Maykin!"
"...If you don't undo it right now, I'll pour a hiccup potion into your mouth while you sleep."
"S-sorry. Maykin. It looked fun when Gainando imitated it..."
"..."
"..."
The basics of shapeshifting magic started from changing the color of one's own hair or nails.
It was relatively easy and had much less aftereffects even if it failed.
The friends practiced the basics by changing the color of their hair.
'Hmm. When I go back, Gainando will get beaten up.'
Seeing Yonaire preparing attack magic after realizing that Gainando had imitated her behind her back, Yi-Han carefully spoke to her.
"Yonaire?"
"What. Why."
"...<Lesser Metal Affinity Potion> If you drink it and cast a spell, it will be easier to subdue him with iron transformation."
Yonaire's expression softened. Yi-Han inwardly apologized to Gainando.
'By the way...'
Yi-Han waved his staff and was puzzled.
It was rare for Yi-Han to progress slower than other students, but his hair color wasn't changing well.
"Yi-Han. You need to use more mana."
"Ah. Is that so?"
Yi-Han heard the professor's words and thought it made sense.
Considering his resistance to external magic, he would have to increase the mana a bit even for magic he used on himself.
"More." "More." "Use more." "More!"
"...I-I'm sorry."
"I-I'm not angry. You know that, right?"
'What are those two doing?'
Yonaire, who was trying to practice floating the letters 'Gainando is a dead man' on her nails next to them, was puzzled by the strange sight of the teacher and disciple bowing to each other.