Chapter 104

‘This is oddly infuriating.’

Listening to them, Roan felt needlessly annoyed.

Why did they have to drag Roan in and condemn him together when they could have just criticized Demona?

“I-I just said I wanted to fly…!”

Just as Demona felt wronged by her friends’ sudden backlash.

‘I only don’t use it because it’s black magic, not because I can’t, right?’

Roan was also quite aggrieved inwardly.

Hummm— Hummm—

At that moment, even the authorities stepped in and began to egg Roan on.

—Are you going to just sit back and take it after hearing such words?

—Does our master lack pride, or does he lack skill?

Ultimately, Roan decided to demonstrate his skills.

How many years had he played “God and Devil”? He couldn’t just let it slide after hearing that he couldn’t do it, that it was impossible, or that he didn’t know.

Rumbleee—

While his friends were teaming up to criticize Demona, the atmosphere shifted in an instant.

It was enough that Roan released just a tiny amount of black mana.

“R-Roan?”

“Hey! Roan is angry because of you guys!”

His friends warily watched Roan’s expression, wondering if they had done something wrong.

In truth, they did do something wrong.

Though Roan wasn’t actually angry.

When he played the game, he naturally used flight magic all the time.

Walking made it difficult to overcome the scale of this game.

‘The flight magic circle looked roughly like this.’

However, Roan removed a significant portion of the magic circle for ‘Black Wings,’ the flight magic he had seen in the black magic book.

From experience, there was absolutely no benefit to a magic circle being complex.

‘Keep this part for weight reduction, leave out the speed increase, and make the wings not too flashy…’

He left only the elements that were absolutely essential for flight.

Although he had always been good at manipulating magic circles thanks to his immense talent.

Having learned how to interpret magic circles in Professor Teidy’s class and studying on his own in his spare time had been a great help.

Once a somewhat decent magic circle was completed, Roan channeled his black mana into it.

Hummm—

Simultaneously with False Divinity translating the magic circle into a holy spell.

Flash—

A pair of wings similar to Joy’s spread out from behind Roan’s back, shedding white light.

“I-It’s an attack! Scatter!! …?”

“…He can do it?”

“””???”””

His friends, who had been fully prepared, thinking Roan would unleash a punishment holy spell or an attack holy spell, were shocked.

He had just said he couldn’t use flight holy spells, yet he was using one perfectly.

Had he simply shown it for the first time now, and had actually been able to use it all along?

“Hey!”

“Y-Yes, what is it, Demona?”

Demona barked at her friends while looking at Roan, who had his wings wide open.

The friends, now on the defensive in stark contrast to earlier, answered hesitantly.

“I told you Roan can do everything! You guys are the ones who lack shame. You receive help from Roan all the time, so why don’t you believe in this? Are you guys even his friends?”

“S-Sorry…”

“I’m sorry, Darc…”

Since it was indeed true, his friends blushed and apologized to the two.

“Hmm.”

Meanwhile, Roan was also satisfied, as he hadn’t expected it to turn out this well from the start.

‘I should use this often in the future if I get too lazy to walk.’

After all, it was hard for someone who had ridden in a car to go back to walking.

Since flying wasn’t an issue at Akerandir according to school rules anyway, he intended to make good use of it.

“But Roan, if you could fly, why did you walk so hard all this time?”

As Demona asked this, Roan looked at her with a dumbfounded face.

Just how lazy did one have to be to think of not walking at all just because they learned a flight holy spell?

“That’s because—”

Naturally, he wanted to tell her that it was his first time using it, and that maintaining it continuously was a burden, when.

Suddenly, Sion chimed in.

“Isn’t it because we can’t use flight holy spells yet?”

For the record, she had a highly touched expression.

Hearing Sion’s words, the friends initially seemed to think, ‘To that extent?’ but soon pondered it and nodded.

Fearing his friends would harbor strange misunderstandings, Roan tried to correct it immediately.

“It’s not like that—”

“Even if Darc seemed scary and dangerous at first, everyone knows now. That he is someone who takes care of his people better than anyone else.”

Sion felt a sting in her nose even as she spoke.

As expected, a great child grows under great parents!

Of course, Roan’s thoughts were a bit different.

‘What a grand missionary we have here.’

Roan frowned.

Although he took care of things in every matter, that was strictly to prevent them from escalating into more troublesome chores.

It wasn’t for such a sentimental reason.

However, his friends had long since fallen into a crucible of emotion due to Sion’s passionate speech.

To extent? Even Roan’s scowl, which would usually have struck a bit of fear into them, was interpreted entirely as they pleased.

“””Roan…”””

“Do not misunderstand.”

“Yeah, we won’t misunderstand.”

“Good grief—”

Demona even put a hand on Roan’s shoulder and said.

“Our Roan has a habit of scowling whenever he’s shy, you know?”

In an instant, Roan felt as if even the last drop of luck he had left had vanished into thin air.

“K-Kahak—!”

Immediately, Demona collapsed, writhing all over.

Naturally, it was due to Roan’s paralysis curse.

“T-To think you’d go this far just from being shyyy…”

Even so, Demona muttered nonsense with her stiffened mouth.

Meanwhile, the other students who followed late were equally startled to see Roan’s wings.

— L-Look at that!

— That bastard Darc could even make wings?

— A guy like that can only use a few holy spells?

However, doubtful reactions followed shortly after.

— But isn’t there something weird about those wings?

— Professor Joy’s wings were totally cool.

— Not the professor, the assistant.

— …Ah!

Only then did Roan and his friends quietly examine the wings.

“Hmm? Why are they doing that?”

Roan was the same.

Looking at them like that, they were indeed strange.

If Joy’s wings were fully formed wings packed with feathers.

Roan’s wings were a slightly shabby sight, with feathers missing here and there.

‘There was no problem with the magic, though.’

Since Roan didn’t know the reason either, just as he was about to inspect them closely, he was shocked.

Through the few gaps where feathers were missing, he could see bat-like wings of the black wings, albeit colored white!

Of course, it was a tiny gap that could only be seen if one inspected it very closely.

‘What an incompetent authority!’

Roan raged inwardly at False Divinity.

Hummm—

False Divinity also had something to say.

Didn’t you strip away everything to make it like this?

In other words, it meant it was like buying a car after stripping away every single option and then complaining about why it was a base model.

Since it put it that way, Roan had no rebuttal.

Flutter—

In the end, instead of canceling the magic he had already cast, Roan fluttered his wings rapidly to prevent others from seeing clearly, and soared into the sky.

“Isn’t that dangerous, Roan?”

Demona, who had recovered from the paralysis at some point, asked with a worried expression.

‘Is that bastard gradually developing a resistance to paralysis?’

Compared to the beginning, her recovery was definitely faster.

Roan thought he should use a stronger curse on Demona in the future.

“…It’s fine.”

With that, he flew toward Assistant Joy, lest someone see the bat wings hidden beneath the feathers.

Totter— Totter—

Since the sensation of flying was a completely different matter from black magic talent, Roan wobbled precariously.

From the ground, Demona’s innocent voice drifted up.

“He must have been embarrassed because it’s a bit clumsy compared to the assistant’s holy spell. Look at that, Roan is even wobbling.”

Wobbleee—!

“Indeed…”

The friends seemed to believe that literally.

In their minds, given Roan’s personality, it was highly plausible he wouldn’t use the flight holy spell for such a reason.

Roan Darc, who always pursued perfection!

Roan, who had almost lost his focus and plunged to the ground, glared menacingly toward Demona.

‘Should I cast another curse magic?’

With superhuman patience, Roan headed toward Assistant Joy, albeit awkwardly.

The sensation of flying for the first time was like swimming in textureless water.

Nevertheless, by the time Assistant Joy spotted Roan, he had gotten the hang of it to some extent.

“…You can use flight holy spells?”

Assistant Joy seemed far more surprised than when Roan had found the clearing at once.

At this rate, it could be said that Joy had experienced a year’s worth of surprises all in a single day.

“Somehow.”

Roan said, slightly avoiding Joy’s eyes.

Joy stopped flying and stared blankly at Roan for a while.

Since Joy also lived at the academy, she had heard various rumors about Roan.

‘They said he has a secret workshop, a practice range, and a holy war training facility…’

To think he could even use flight holy spells, was he truly living up to his reputation?

While most faculty members would instantly dismiss such rumors as nonsense or have no interest at all.

Joy, who had to run around all the time following Timothy, was surprisingly naive and tended to enjoy and believe rumors.

Roan, who could now tell just by a look whether someone believed false rumors, tossed out a new topic of conversation.

If he gave her time, the secret of his wings might be exposed.

“By the way, assistant, have you by any chance heard of Ehrenberg, who lived during the Third Cathedral Era?”

In Roan’s experience, the greatest mystery of the Holy Empire, ‘Ehrenberg,’ was something historical characters simply could not resist.

He was a legendary calligrapher/writer whose numerous works were still handed down to this day.

It was said that one couldn’t even attend social parties without memorizing at least one of his poems.

Yet surprisingly, almost nothing was known about Ehrenberg’s identity, including his real name.

To the point that there were even claims Ehrenberg never existed in the first place.

“Oh, you mean Ehrenberg?”

Sure enough, Joy also could not pass by this grand mystery, her eyes shining.

Roan nodded.

“Yes. I heard back when I was at the Holy Imperial Palace that Ehrenberg was actually Lady Dressy…”

“Is that true?”

Joy, who rarely showed any change in expression, asked with wide eyes.

She even flapped her wings and drew closer to Roan.

‘Hooked.’

Roan smiled faintly and teasingly released strong evidence supporting the theory that Ehrenberg was Lady Dressy.

Of course, he subtly hid the crucial information.

Since he might need to make good use of it later.

“But Lady Dressy was recorded to have lived before the Third Cathedral Era started…”

“But according to Jepetry’s paper…”

“That is interest…”

Roan and Joy conversed enthusiastically, like people who had already debated multiple times.

‘Finally met someone I can communicate with!’

Roan also thoroughly enjoyed the conversation with Joy.

Those who called themselves his friends were all busy running away the moment he even brought up the first letter of history, and often looked at him with strange eyes.

But Joy was a truly civilized person!

“T-There are two history ghosts…”

“Dressy… Jepetry… do you know what they’re saying, Sion?”

“Me neither…”

“What about Hector?”

“Huh? Isn’t this just birds chirping?”

“…”

Of course, his friends, who were eagerly following them from the ground, were looking at the two as if they were aliens.