SRS 7
by Nilu‘…Should I just drop out?’
At the sight of a professor who didn’t look reliable from the very first meeting, vivid emotions appeared on his friends’ faces. Even without any intention of reading them, Yohan knew what they were thinking, and he felt a little shaken.
Having entered the school after a grueling test, he’d expected the professors of Fantasmademia to be scary, strict, and dignified, but they were so different from his expectations.
Ariel brushed off the dirt on his clothes and stepped forward in front of the students while they still held doubts about a professor whose presence felt weaker than that of an examiner. His scruffy appearance was relatable, and if his intention was to bridge the gap, Yohan wanted to assure him it was a success.
“This is everyone’s first class, right? …Though I think I’ve seen one or two of you before!”
The professor’s eyes briefly landed on Mikael, then moved away. Judging by the way he seemed to acknowledge him, it seemed like failing a year due to insufficient attendance wasn’t uncommon.
–Prrr!
The giant griffin folded its wings and waddled to a stop behind the professor. The students’ shoulders trembled. It wasn’t like that when the professor was alone, but with the griffin standing beside him, even the short professor looked intimidating.
“Since it’s our first class, I’ll start by telling you what we’ll be learning! But first, I should introduce the griffins that carried you in their mouths, right?”
He naturally said ‘carried you in their mouths.’ Yohan lost the will to point it out and just nodded like an obedient student.
“Griffins are divine beasts of the Nameless Realm. They’re classified as birds of prey, but when they have enough divine power, they don’t eat meat. From now on, every dawn, you’ll need to care for your griffin and bring it to the Sacred Lake so it can restore its divine power. If you neglect it, it might take revenge on you at night, so be careful. The professors can’t help if you get eaten by your partner griffin!”
“……”
Wasn’t he being too cheerful for something so terrifying? It was clearly an unusual explanation, but the professor smiled brightly as he spoke, causing a sense of cognitive dissonance. The students stared at Ariel with bewildered faces as he stroked his griffin’s massive wing and continued his explanation.
“The Sacred Lake is inside the Sky Garden. So before you go there with your griffin, let’s start by getting to know your partners! There are two ways to befriend a griffin. The first is to infuse it directly with divine power, which is the fastest, but it’s only possible for those with divine abilities. It seems like some of you are already close with your griffins.”
Ariel smiled and looked toward Yohan. Still sitting on the griffin’s back, Yohan suddenly realized that only he and Mikael were still mounted. Embarrassed, he quickly climbed down, feeling his face heat up.
“Students without divine power will need to use the second method I’ll explain now. Griffins may be divine beasts, but they’re still predators. Predators submit to those stronger than themselves. Try subduing your griffin with your own strength. At first, a relationship built through threat will be unstable, but as you spend more time together, you’ll naturally grow closer.”
“…What?”
The students, who were listening silently until then, all wore the same confused expression. Ariel put two fingers in his mouth and whistled.
Fweee!
The griffins suddenly fell flat on their faces. Seeing the griffins trembling in fear, Yohan looked at the professor with worried eyes, comforting his own griffin.
What was that?
To Yohan, it seemed like a simple whistle, but judging by the griffins’ reactions, something else seemed to be going on.
“Kh!”
“…Urgh.”
“…Ugh!”
At that moment, several students collapsed to the ground, as if crushed by a massive gravitational force. They tried to get up but couldn’t move, as though something heavy was holding them down. Yohan noticed they all had something in common.
They were all beastmen.
Yohwan quickly assessed the situation and raised his hand. It seemed Ariel had done something that only worked on beasts.
“Professor, may I ask what method you used to make the griffins submit?”
Ariel beamed, seemingly delighted by the first question.
“It’s called ‘fear’! I released it toward the beasts, but I didn’t think it’d affect the beastman students too. Sorry about that. I’ll take it back now.”
As Ariel said, he gestured, and the griffins stopped shaking. The beastmen students, struggling on the ground, slowly rose to their feet and looked at Ariel with arrogant expressions.
Fear?1
Yohan tilted his head at the unfamiliar term and turned to look at Kylus.
“Do you know what ‘fear’ is?”
“It’s the aura that higher races can emit.”
“Higher races?”
Yohan looked back at Ariel. His height barely reached his chest, and there was nothing in him that resembled the dignity or force of a higher race. Another confused student cautiously ,
“Professor, if you don’t mind, may I ask what your race is?”
Ariel again answered with great courtesy.
“I’m a half-dragon! My mother was a Lord, and my father was an elf.”
“……”
The students, who had been whispering at the mention of “fear,” fell silent. Their gazes revealed an unanimous agreement.
‘So you want us to use a method only dragons can use?’
Despite the somewhat disrespectful looks, Ariel continued the lesson without faltering.
“As you just saw, if you can use fear, it’s easy to make griffins submit. But if you can’t, try taming them with swordsmanship, martial arts, or any kind of physical skill. And if you’re lucky, some of you might be able to befriend your griffin purely through your affinity with divine beasts. Now, shall we begin?”
Ariel clapped his hands once and gave instructions to the students. The only demonstration they had seen so far was him subduing griffins with that impossible thing called fear, so the students awkwardly hesitated as they approached their own griffins.
Naturally, none of them could avoid trouble.
“Kyaaak!”
“Ah! Hey! Why are you biting me?”
“Don’t peck me!”
“P-Professor! My griffin is pulling down my pants!”
“Waaah! Why is it dragging me toward the cliff?!”
Not long after the taming attempts began, the Sky Garden had become, in plain terms, a complete mess. Yohan watched with pity as one friend got kicked around by a griffin’s foot like a toy ball, another was lifted into the sky, and another was dragged toward the cliff.
“Goodness! You can’t make a griffin submit with such a weak aura. Release something stronger!”
“Oh dear, that student’s griffin is a perverted one. Some griffins like to look at bare skin, you see. Be careful, because those ones might also enjoy looking at entrails.”
“If it’s dragging you to the cliff, that’s either a sign it wants to play or that the griffin is the one trying to make you submit. You need to subdue and discipline it repeatedly until it learns.”
Ariel moved between the struggling students, giving them kind advice. Unfortunately, no one managed to tame their griffin through his suggestions.
While everyone was still struggling,
“Ahaha!”
Amidst the screams and shouts, a soft laughter rippled through the air. Though the sound wasn’t loud or high-pitched, the vibration itself had the power to captivate the senses, drawing the student’s attention to the laughing student. There, Mikael was surrounded by four or five griffins, engaging in a fierce battle of charms.
Each griffin pushed its head forward, competing for more attention, jump up from its spot, and tried to charm him. Mikael lay beside one of them, laughing that its wingbeats tickled, his laughter tickling the ears of even the listener, the sight was so alien it felt like a hallucination.
“…Is this a dream?”
Yohan wasn’t the only one feeling this way, as one student muttered absentmindedly. The rest of the students, who had been lost in thought, clicked their tongues or exclaimed in amazement. Some even looked envious.
“…Wow, what’s that?”
“My griffin never acts cute like that…”
“Griffins can be cute?”
“Idiot. They’re not animals, they’re divine beasts.”
“Same thing!”
As Mikael drew everyone’s attention, he finally seemed to notice the stares. His smile disappeared, and he stood up.
“Go back to your masters.”
The ones playing with Mikael wandered around with regretful expressions before slowly moving away. Yohan stared at the young man, who had returned expressionless, brushing the grass off his clothes and leaning against his last remaining griffin. Then, their eyes met and he nodded. Mikael chuckled, bewildered by his habitual behavior.
…A smile suits him better than a blank expression.
As he was silently appreciating the situation, Ariel, who had been looking at the students with frustration, clapped his hands in frustration, drawing everyone’s attention.
“At this rate, it’ll take ages before we can even start gymnastics! I’ll show you the exercise moves you’ll be doing every morning in zero period with your griffins for health, so try taming them with more enthusiasm than this! Let’s go, Lessus!”
When the professor called his griffin, the massive creature bit the hem of his robe and lifted its head. Ariel deftly flipped in midair and landed on the griffin’s back. In an instant, he and Lessus soared up, hovering above the students.
“Watch carefully!”
He stood up on the griffin’s back and stretched both arms straight above his head. Aside from the fact that it was mid-air and on a griffin’s back, it was a standard gymnastic move. Ariel then lifted one leg and pulled it back, demonstrating a balanced pose before sitting again, tensing his thighs and shouting,
“Lessus, left!”
Whirr!
The giant Griffin spun 360 degrees to the left in the air. The students, who had been startled, thinking the professor was falling, were shocked to see Ariel holding on with his formidable thigh strength.
“Lessus, right!”
Whirr!
This time, the griffin spun 360 degrees to the right. Once again, Ariel didn’t fall. When he commanded it to go up, Lessus kicked through the air, flapping its broad wings and soaring toward the sky. He rose higher and higher until he was no more than a tiny dot, and then, from above, his voice rang out like the voice of a god.
“Descend!”
At the command, Lessus folded its wings and descended diagonally.
“Move, move!”
The students, sensing a sense of déjà vu, hastily retreated, and Lessus and Professor Ariel plummeted to their feet.
Boom!
A thunderous sound echoed, and a cloud of dust spread through the area.
“Cough, cough!”
Ariel coughed from inhaling the dust he himself had kicked up, then waved a hand to clear the air and turned to the students with a bright expression.
“How was that? Easy, right?”
“……”
Naturally, no student responded.
“Wow… if I tried that, my name would have to be Hiccup2, not Suhyeok.”
Suhyeok, who was standing beside Yohan, muttered quietly.