Chapter 103

Trian realized that a true leader was not made simply by gathering a lot of people.

Thorough preparation and foresight to look into the future!

…However, Trian was not yet aware of the fact that Roan and his friends had frequently roamed back mountains like this even without such equipment.

Meanwhile, Roan, who had given Trian despair and enlightenment.

“Why is it so noisy?”

He glanced back with a slightly annoyed expression.

It wasn’t as if they had come on a picnic, and climbing a mountain to attend a class was annoying enough.

Yet those guys were laughing and chattering as they climbed, as if their heads were full of flowerbeds.

“Still, they seem to be following pretty well.”

Hector spoke as if surprised.

Although climbing mountains was familiar to him since childhood due to the nature of the Pavilto family.

They were quite diligent for children of noble families who grew up pampered.

Roan was a bit unexpected too.

‘They aren’t usually the type to live so diligently, though?’

Usually, the history class of the second week would start long after the scheduled class time.

But at this rate, it seemed they would end up being only slightly late.

‘Well, it’s not my problem.’

Roan focused on climbing the mountain again.

Having widened the gap significantly with the other students who despaired at the cheating (?) of Roan and his friends, they reached the mountainside.

In the clearing, someone was already waiting for the students.

“You’ve arrived earlier than expected.”

Naturally, it wasn’t Professor Timothy, but his assistant, Joy.

Going a step further than Roan, she was equipped with all kinds of gear, like someone climbing Mount Everest.

Not to mention a compass and maps, she had a telescope, ropes, flags, and even crampons and an ice axe used for climbing snow-covered mountains.

Demona looked at Joy’s appearance and spoke, slightly appalled.

“Was going to the classroom to listen to the lecture actually the theoretical field trip?”

It was an absurd remark, but not entirely wrong.

Roan looked at Demona and answered as if it were obvious.

“Originally, history is something you can only know by running on your own feet.”

Thinking that one could fill the blank pages of history just by looking through historical records in a back room was a huge mistake!

Most of Roan’s knowledge right now was also obtained by directly exploring all kinds of dungeons, ruins, and remote areas himself.

Demona despaired.

“It’s not that I hated theoretical classes this much…”

If it was going to be like this, why did they give Harden’s Chronicles as a textbook?

Though of course, Demona never carried around the thick Harden’s Chronicles anyway.

Meanwhile, despite her face being heavily worn down by chronic fatigue, Joy wore a faint expression of surprise.

“But how did you know I was here and come straight to this spot?”

Just as Joy said, there were no signposts whatsoever for climbing the mountain.

There was only the instruction to go to the clearing and find Joy.

If one did not go with a clear destination like Roan, they could get lost in the mountains, which was actually part of the course.

Roan answered calmly.

“I got lucky.”

His friends looked at Roan with sad faces.

Of course, this must have also been shown to him by his parents in a dream.

Usually, people considered the early passing of parents to be a great misfortune, and did not think it was “luck” just because those parents helped in dreams.

And Joy interpreted Roan’s words a bit differently.

“There is no luck in front of nature. You seem to have an outstanding talent for reading the mountain terrain. Furthermore, your ability to lead other students is excellent.”

It was rare for the always-fatigued Joy to praise someone.

That was how significant the thing Roan did in this class was.

He not only found the clearing where Joy was at once, but also led the other students without a single dropout.

…At least, that was what Joy thought.

‘They just followed me on their own, though.’

Roan was lukewarm but nodded.

Normally, the prideful students of Akerandir would commit eccentric acts like deliberately taking a different path if someone climbed the mountain first.

This time, it happened because their desire to compete with Roan was slightly stronger than their pride.

“At this rate, we can wait for all the other students to gather before moving.”

Just as Joy said, most of the students arrived around the time the class was slightly underway.

— Huff, huff…

— It’s Assistant Joy. This must be the classroom location.

Unfortunately, this was merely a middle waypoint.

They still had to go much further to reach the actual location where Professor Timothy was.

Joy spoke calmly, even upon seeing the students who looked ready to gasp their last breaths.

“Now, follow me to the site where Professor Timothy is conducting excavation work.”

— ??!?!?!!?!!!

To the students, it was like a bolt from the blue.

It was already a miracle that they climbed up here, but they had to go further?

By now, many students had depleted their holy power for physical reinforcement, so rest was essential.

— Assistant Joy, let’s rest for a moment before we go!

— I really feel like I’m going to die!

To the students, it was no exaggeration, but to Joy, it was nothing more than the whining of freshmen.

Joy was also their senior, having completed the advanced course at Akerandir.

Even back then, she took classes from Professor Timothy and did this kind of mountain hiking to the point of sickness.

Wouldn’t that mean she should consider and empathize with the students even more?

‘…If she did that, Joy wouldn’t have become Timothy’s assistant in the first place.’

In the first place, she had no complaints about this style of teaching.

Joy was a scarier person than she seemed.

Nevertheless, Joy, who was fundamentally good-natured, turned around and said kindly.

“We must arrive before the professor finishes the excavation. Otherwise, we will have to move to a deeper location.”

To Joy, it was a kind explanation, but in the students’ ears, it was a vicious threat.

Since they had already climbed halfway up the mountain, it was difficult to turn back.

If they returned on their own, they could truly get lost.

And the biggest problem was.

— Surely he wouldn’t go somewhere else when the students haven’t arrived yet?

— You idiot! Our opponent is Professor Timothy!

— …Right.

The professor of this class was Timothy, who boasted rivaling Ulli in his indifference to students.

Especially since he had a history of abandoning the students and leaping out the window in the very first class.

The students stood up, trying to soothe their screaming legs.

“Well then, we shall depart. Watch me and follow closely.”

Joy departed after seeing the students prepare.

However, that “departure” was completely different from what the students expected.

Whoosh—

— ??!!?!?!

She wasn’t climbing the mountain on two legs, but instead spread a pair of wings and soared up into the sky.

It was the holy spell that enabled flight, ‘Wings of Kezir’.

Kezir was the name of the sacred bird kept by Hiloa.

It wasn’t fast, sudden maneuvers were impossible, and it consumed quite a lot of holy power, so it wasn’t commonly used.

But for people who frequented mountains like Joy, it was an essential holy spell.

“””She wants us to look at that and follow now…?”””

In any case, the students looked up at Joy flying in the sky with dumbfounded eyes.

At least Roan had walked, even if he was fast.

Joy, who simply flew, brought them an even greater sense of helplessness.

Of course, Roan was an exception.

“What are you doing? Let’s go.”

“How are we supposed to follow someone who is flying?”

Roan urged them without any change in expression, just like Joy.

His friends looked at him as if slightly appalled.

Even Rafia, who was always hopeful, reacted as if it made no sense.

Roan cocked his head.

“In the mountains, it’s actually easier to follow someone who is flying. It’s even more so when there are many people. Besides, the assistant’s holy spell is slow, so we can easily catch up.”

If they climbed the mountain walking together, the person behind couldn’t see ahead well, whereas if someone was always floating in the sky, everyone could see them.

Moreover, from the supervisor’s perspective, it was convenient since they could see the ground at a glance.

In its own way, it was Joy’s consideration, or lack thereof.

Of course, his friends could understand Roan’s words as well.

“””No, that’s not the issue…”””

It was just that Roan, calmly saying such things without any emotion, seemed exactly like Joy.

“…Is Roan going to become a history teaching assistant later too?”

Demona asked with a worried voice.

In any case, the students began to climb the mountain following Roan.

Demona called Roan as if she still didn’t understand.

“But Roan.”

“What is it, Demona?”

“Since the assistant is flying like that, why did she bring all that hiking gear?”

“…”

Roan was at a loss for words.

He couldn’t exactly say it was just a game presentation.

“Because unexpected things can happen.”

“Like when the black mages broke in last time?”

“Yeah, pretty much like that.”

“I see~”

Demona, who seemed to walk quietly for a moment, gasped for breath as if it was quite hard, and called Roan again.

“Roaaan.”

“…Why do you keep calling me.”

“I want to fly around too. When do we learn that kind of thing?”

If Demona learned Wings of Kezir?

The Akerandir Academy would surely become about two or three times noisier than it was now.

It was a headache just imagining it.

Roan frowned and said.

“Wings of Kezir is strictly an advanced holy spell. Far from the second week, you have to be at least a sophomore to learn it.”

Demona seemed slightly disappointed but asked immediately.

“Then you can’t use it either, Roan?”

“I can’t.”

Roan answered flatly.

Even in black magic, flight magic belonged to a fairly difficult category, and a freshman flying around was bound to draw a lot of attention.

You could see that just by looking at how Zorve was treated.

‘…Somehow, I feel like it would work if I tried, though.’

Roan thought, idly recalling the flight magic circle he had seen in the black magic book.

Considering his talent, it was a bit questionable, but in any case, he had no intention of trying right now.

However, Demona seemed more shocked by the fact that Roan couldn’t fly than by the fact that flight holy spells were learned in the second year.

“Heh! You can’t use it either, Roan? There is actually a holy spell like that in the world?”

‘What kind of fuss is this now?’

Roan looked at Demona with dumbfounded eyes.

…In fact, in the first place, Roan, being a black mage, could not use any holy spells.

Leaving that aside, the black magic he had used like holy spells until now were also very basic, or just a few rotated spells from books borrowed from the Librarian of the Restricted Archives.

But since he used them so well in the right places, he just appeared all-powerful to others.

“There are only a few holy spells I can use in the first place.”

Roan said, shaking his head.

Of course, there was no way his friends would take those words literally.

In the first place, if Harden had been here, he would have burst out laughing and accidentally manifested at least one miracle.

“Hahaha, guys, did you hear that? Roan says he can only use a few holy spells~ He really is good at joking.”

…Just like Demona.

What they had seen so far alone included punishment holy spells, healing holy spells, strike skills, stealth holy spells, attack holy spells… anyway, there were a ton.

Especially the reactions bursting out from behind were spectacular.

— Seriously, that makes me want to say harsh words.

— …Isn’t that basically telling us to drop out on our own?

They were making such misunderstandings entirely on their own.

In any case, Demona said with a look of regret.

“Indeed, no matter how great Roan is, he wouldn’t be able to use a holy spell learned in the second year already.”

“Right.”

Roan nodded, thinking that for once, Demona was understanding things well.

Then, Roan’s friends began to scold Demona.

“That’s right, Demona. Even Roan has things he ‘cannot do’.”

Rafia.

“You insolent heretic, wishing even for ‘impossible’ from Roan is far too shameless.”

Hector.

“Roan ‘cannot’.”

Even Riel.

“Demona, you should at least follow Darc to the library once before talking like that. Darc also has things he ‘doesn’t know’.”

Even Sion.

Surely his friends were saying this to side with him, but.

‘This is oddly infuriating.’