Chapter 563: Beastmen and Magic

『Well, today we’ll also have a mock battle in the afternoon, but we’ll have normal classes in the morning』

「Nn!」

「Woof!」

『Oh? Feeling enthusiastic, aren’t you? Could it be, that you’re looking forward to the class?』

But aside from Fran, why does Urushi look so enthusiastic too?

「Cooking Class today!」

Aah, now that she mentioned it…

『Hey, Fran』

「Nn?」

『Do you remember what other classes you’d need to go for today?』

「Nn…?」

At my question, Fran tilted her head with a puzzled look on her face. She looked as if asking 「What other classes?」 She didn’t seem to be bothered by it―Or rather, she didn’t seem to feel the need to remember them.

『You remember that you have a Cooking Class today, so you must have looked over the timetable you were given, right? But are you sure you don’t remember anything else?』

「Nn」

Well, it was Fran we were talking about…

But Cooking Class was a class where they’d cook their food, right? How could she be satisfied with students’ cooking? Moreover, in the case of the special battle class, they were supposed to learn how to cook quick and easy meals on the battlefield or outdoors. So, I don’t think they’ll be able to come up with a dish that suits Fran’s palate.

『Fran, do you know what kind of class Cooking Class is?』

「I’m sure I can eat there」

As Fran’s flat chest heaved with anticipation, I told her the truth about the Cooking Class.

Then Fran’s expression quickly became sad. After all, it wasn’t what she had imagined.

Urushi’s tail too hung and stopped moving. I guess he was hoping to get some leftovers from a delicious meal. However, it was doubtful whether he would eat the leftovers from an amateur’s cooking. He seemed to have finally understood that.

She passed the main entrance while feeling down.

「Good morning!」

「…Good morning」

We didn’t get stopped by the guard today. He greeted her with a nice smile.

She still doesn’t know many people in the academy yet, so she could hardly talk to any of them. However, some students seemed to remember Fran’s face from yesterday’s changing room incident, but she just nodded at their call.

「Fran, good morning」

「Good morning」

As soon as she entered the classroom, Charon immediately called out to her. Fran then casually sat down next to her.

We had Urushi in his small dog size today. He was sitting next to the chair where Fran sat.

Even though he was known to be a powerful magic beast, his cute appearance made the female students’ gazes mellow.

「…Urushi is cute, isn’t he?」

「You think so?」

「Yes. No one will be afraid of him when he looks like that」

Well, Urushi still had a sliver of hope for the Cooking Class and he thought that if he was the size of a small dog then he could be easily fed.

The first class of the morning was not a Cooking Class. It was a class to learn more about the various species that exist in this world.

「Well, well. It’s an honor to meet the Black Lightning Princess here. So, you’ve really evolved, haven’t you?」

The teacher for this class was a Beastman. His name was Horial, and he was a Deer Beastman. Horial bowed his head respectfully in front of Fran and shook her hand in a somewhat familiar manner.

However, his eyes were filled with genuine emotion, and I could tell that he was thrilled to be able to see the evolved Black Cat Kin firsthand.

「Since Fran-dono is here, let’s talk about evolution today. Until last year, I’ve taught you that the only Beastmen that could not evolve were the Black Cats, but that theory turned out to be wrong. And the person who made that fact known to the world was this Fran-dono here!」

Some of the teachings have been changed this year and they were now teaching that the Black Cat Kin was one of the Ten Primordial Races that could evolve when they met the requirements.

Fran smiled happily when she heard that. She was happy that the Black Cat Kin were being reevaluated.

「I’d even say that she has made history! You guys must be really lucky to be in the presence of such a person! Besides, there aren’t many Beastmen in this academy, and none of them has evolved yet. Have you guys witnessed her evolved forms?」

Charon and the other students then let out a chuckle. Fran was a scary instructor for them. So, I guess, they disagree with the word “lucky” in some aspects, as they’ve been beaten to a pulp by Fran in her evolved form.

However, Fran seemed to be more interested in a different matter.

「There aren’t many Beastmen in this academy?」

「Yes. There’s only a few of us here」

How was it possible for an academy of this size to have almost no Beastmen? But as I thought back, I certainly hadn’t seen any of them.

Could it be that in this country or academy, Beastmen were discriminated against?

「Why?」

「Simply put, it’s because this academy was an Academy of Magic, and Beastmen aren’t very good at magic」

To my surprise, it wasn’t because of discrimination.

Come to think of it, I’ve heard that Beastmen weren’t very good at magic.

「Beastman who are good at magic, like the Black Lightning Princess-dono are very rare. And just like what I said before, I’m not very good at magic either」

I see. In teachers’ case, it doesn’t matter as long as they can teach, so they don’t have to be able to use magic, huh?

「Let me explain in detail. First of all, most Beastmen have low magic power. This is a Racial Trait, and is more prominent than in Humans and Dwarves」

「I see」

「In addition, it also has something to do with their personality…」

「Personality?」

「Yes」

Fran tilted her head in confusion, but I somehow figured it out.

「The training of magic is very simple, and it’s also boring, and the results of the daily training won’t be easily visible」

「Nn」

「In other words, many impatient Beastmen are unable to endure that kind of training」

It was not that they couldn’t endure it, but they were certainly not suited for it. Not all Beastmen were impatient and short-tempered, but I’m sure that was the general tendency for them.

Among them, the Beastmen who could use magic simply had tremendous talent from the start. They were probably the kind of people who, with a little training, could learn magic in a blink of an eye and handle it with ease. I guess you could also say that they have a keen perception.

The Beast King and Mea seemed to be that type.

「Moreover, many Beastmen aspire to become fighters; they start training when they are about 5 or 6 years old, and many of them start working as apprentices when they are about 10 years old. Therefore, they have little interest in the academy. It is common for them to think that they would rather learn on the job rather than studying」

If they plan to become adventurers or soldiers in the future, it may be indeed more efficient for them to train from an early age.

「Then there is the geographical issue. In this country, the statuses of magicians are great, while in the neighboring countries, the statuses of adventurers are great. As a result, there’s no particular discrimination here, but most of the Beastmen choose to go to the Kingdom of Kranzel」

However, if you wonder if the Beastmen were absolutely unsuited to be magicians, I’ve heard that this was not the case. One of the major advantages was that the aptitude for magic that each race could use was already determined to some extent.

Unlike Humans, who may have an aptitude for all kinds of magic, Beastmen often have uneven characteristics in their respective races. Let’s use Horial for example. He was from the Blue Deer Tribe which made it almost certain that they had an aptitude for Water, Earth, and Tree magic.

Therefore, it was said that they could shorten their training time considerably on that element. On the other hand, he also said that not many of them could use the other elements.

「It’s difficult for us to make it big as magicians because of our low magic power, but it’s easier for us to train as Magic Warriors」

However, it would still be very difficult to get the Beastmen to practice magic. Do you think Fran and the Beast King would be able to continue their plain training for years? That would be absolutely impossible.