Chapter 110

Although Hector seemed hurt when Roan cut him off mid-sentence, he soon tried to make an angry expression in accordance with the advice.

At the very least, his face changed from melted basalt into a rock-like expression that was somewhat tolerable to look at.

Only then did the female students calm down a bit.

— …Darc?

However, they showed a slight wariness upon seeing Roan.

Although they didn’t show it openly thanks to Sion and Rafia standing behind Roan.

Among them, there was one female student who glared at Roan with deeply angry eyes.

‘This has gotten a bit troublesome.’

Roan thought it was a bit of a setback.

Of course, it was a setback for Roan too, but for Hector, it was a disaster that could decide the fate of his school days.

“Jennifer Diella, it seems some misunderstanding has occurred.”

The name of the half-elf female student with long, dark green hair was Jennifer Diella.

With a righteous and strong-willed personality, outstanding abilities, and a family of considerable renown mixed with elf blood, she was already a figure serving as a central point for the female students.

In other words, if one got on Jennifer’s bad side, they had to be prepared to remain in a hostile relationship with the female students throughout their school years.

But judging by the atmosphere right now, Hector seemed to have already gotten completely on her bad side.

…It would have been a relief if it could be described merely as getting on her bad side.

‘And if Hector crosses an irreversible river with the female students, the damage will come to me.’

Hector was already treated as Roan’s left hand among the freshmen.

Roan also needed to resolve the relationship on this spot somehow.

Jennifer spoke with a voice filled with anger.

“Misunderstanding? What misunderstanding do you mean?”

“Even though Hector looks like that, he is a child of the righteous Pavilto family. I don’t know what happened inside, but…”

“Immediately upon becoming the same group, he threatened to get married. He threatened to get married because our backs touched during combat. Even during the portrait, he threatened me with that face from earlier, and that’s all a misunderstanding? Shall I say more?”

“…”

Roan was speechless at the list of Hector’s crimes (?) that flowed out endlessly.

‘What on earth did this bastard do and how?’

As Roan glared at Hector as if to kill him, Hector hesitated and whispered to Roan.

“I-I mean, it’s a misunderstanding, Roan. It’s absolutely not because I lost a bet to the heretic…”

Even though he whispered, not only Roan but also Sion, Rafia, and Riel learned the whole story.

The female students closed their eyes tightly.

They also knew Jennifer’s presence well, and to think he had done such a thing to her friend of all people.

Of course, they wouldn’t have forgiven him even if she weren’t Jennifer’s friend.

‘Do I have to defend a guy like this as a friend?’

Roan felt similarly.

At this rate, even if a lawyer who loved money came, they would have shaken their head, saying, ‘This is a bit much,’ and walked out.

…Unless it was someone like Ulli.

In any case, having grasped the situation roughly, Roan instinctively knew there was only one way to escape this predicament.

“It’s your fault, so bear with it.”

“Huh? What does that— Keheok!”

Without saying yes or no, Roan immediately fired a paralysis curse at Hector.

It wasn’t just simple paralysis, but one accompanied by severe muscle pain.

Hector, who fell sideways, stuck his tongue out and even drooled.

The female students looked at Hector with eyes as if looking at a monster, but were even more startled.

They had heard that Roan used punishment holy spells on his friends, but this was the first time seeing it in reality.

“…Darc, of course Pavilto was in the wrong, but you don’t have to go this far.”

Jennifer tried to stop Roan, and the victim of Hector’s actions also nodded beside her.

To that extent, among priests, a punishment holy spell felt like a final, extreme remedy.

But Roan shook his head.

“One must take clear responsibility for their wrongdoings.”

‘No, I mean, why is he the one…?’

Jennifer and her friends looked back and forth between Roan and Hector with bewildered eyes.

But Roan judged that it wasn’t time to loosen the reins yet.

Tap, tap—

Roan covertly tapped Demona standing next to him and nudged his chin toward Hector.

“Huh?”

Demona, pondering Roan’s intent for a moment, soon nodded.

“You atrocious bastard! How can you call yourself a Pavilto who judges heretics! You deserve to be hit by a punishment holy spell! I’m ashamed to have a guy like you as a friend!”

With that, she began to scold the fallen Hector in a majestic voice.

It was Demona, who had miraculously read what Roan intended.

Thump—! Thump—!

‘…I didn’t tell her to go as far as hitting him, though.’

However, Demona went a step further and began to kick Hector.

Roan, who hadn’t wished for it to go that far, became slightly awkward.

Perhaps Demona had accumulated a lot of grudges against Hector normally.

In any case, since it was a fairly normal occurrence among Roan and his friends, it didn’t matter.

— D-Darc… The rumors were true…!

Jennifer and her friends watched this situation with faces reflecting a subtle shock.

Not only did he unleash a punishment holy spell on his left hand without hesitation, but he even ordered his right hand to hit him.

He was a truly terrifying person!

Just then, Roan turned toward where Jennifer was.

Flinch—!

At that gloomy and dangerous gaze, the three flinched in unison.

Roan said.

“You guys also seem to have a lot of built-up frustration, so take this opportunity to completely relieve it.”

“W-What?”

When Jennifer seemed unable to understand his words, Roan nudged his chin toward Hector and Demona.

It meant they should also join in and hit him if they wanted to.

The female students, who had only been thinking of offering a sincere apology and sharing a few satisfying words of criticism like gentlemanly Akerandir students, were greatly shocked.

It felt as if ordinary people were catching a glimpse of the real mafia world.

“W-We are fine with just this. You’re fine too, right?”

— Y-Yes! It’s fine. It wasn’t even that big of a wrongdoing.

Surely a person could ask to get married, or try to touch backs, or make a weird expression!

But they couldn’t possibly propose collective assault on top of dropping a friend with a punishment holy spell because of that.

Roan, who had no way of knowing what the female students were thinking, asked as if wondering why they were reacting like that.

“Is it really fine? From what I heard, Hector did something a human simply shouldn’t do. You don’t have to worry about injuries. We can use healing holy spells—”

“It’s really fine…”

Jennifer and her friends waved their hands in refusal simultaneously, as if by agreement.

“Has all resentment really been cleared?”

But as Roan narrowed his eyes and asked, goosebumps broke out all over the female students’ bodies.

‘I-I think we messed with the wrong person, what do we do…!’

Roan was definitely threatening them to become accomplices.

A chilling threat that if they told the professor or Harden, they would be next!

In the end, Jennifer and her friends looked at each other and reluctantly approached Hector.

Tap— Tap— Tap—

Then, they gave extremely timid kicks and quickly backed away.

Only then did Roan smile with satisfaction.

‘As expected, despite saying that, they still had feelings left!’

As a rule, compensation for damages had to be excessive to prevent future trouble.

Roan, satisfied that he had resolved it well this time too, extended his hand to Jennifer.

“Thank you for understanding.”

Jennifer was momentarily startled, thinking she might collapse like Hector, but soon realized it was just a simple request to shake hands.

“N-No… there was really no need to go this far.”

Jennifer hesitantly shook Roan’s hand.

As Roan’s smile grew even deeper, Jennifer felt like she might burst into tears.

Even after Jennifer, Roan insisted on shaking hands with the remaining two female students before finally letting them go.

“Since the misunderstanding is resolved, I hope we get along well in the future.”

“W-We will, Darc…”

Roan meant to genuinely build friendly relations, but.

To Jennifer and her friends, it sounded like: ‘You guys are accomplices too, so behave yourselves from now on.’

Roan released the curse magic on Hector once they were far away, and stopped Demona as well.

“…Why are you looking at me like that?”

When Sion, Rafia, and Riel stared at him with shocked eyes, he asked in confusion.

Surely he had stepped forward for his friend and obtained the best result?

Sion asked lukewarmly.

“…Are you really asking because you don’t know?”

***

“What on earth did I even do…”

Following the reconciliation (?) with Jennifer’s group, Hector crouched in a corner and continued to be depressed.

Demona said, smiling beside him.

“Fanatic, if a guy like you rushes in like that first, who wouldn’t be scared? A person needs to have some gravity.”

“…I don’t want to hear that from you, heretic.”

For once, Hector’s words weren’t entirely wrong.

No matter how one looked at it, Demona was miles away from having gravity.

Meanwhile, Roan, who had been counting the students emerging from the experience hall one by one, spoke.

“Now there’s only one group left.”

“Huh? How do you know that?”

Sion asked in disbelief.

Needless to say, Roan had not slept.

There wouldn’t even have been time for his parents to tell him?

Roan sent a look mixed with patheticalness and answered.

“I counted them directly.”

“?”

In other words, he had been counting the three-digit number of students from start to finish.

“Why go to that extent?”

“Once all students exit, the holy power that was maintaining the ruins will be discharged in earnest.”

It was a common occurrence.

When restoring such instant-trigger type ruins, they often expended all the remaining power after a single use.

Seeing that Sion seemed to understand only up to that point, Roan sighed and added.

“Then the divine beast egg will hatch.”

“Ah!”

Only then did Sion fully understand Roan’s meaning.

Then, she blushed slightly in embarrassment.

‘I could have known too if I had just thought a little!’

Hearing it, it was a logic simple enough to make her wonder why she hadn’t realized it.

Hadn’t Roan even given her a simple incubator right before entering the ruins?

Had she herself become accustomed to being spoon-fed by Roan before she knew it? Sion self-reflected.

‘As expected, I must be thorough like Darc…’

Sion, feeling embarrassed for nothing, took out the egg from her waist and fiddled with it.

On the other hand, she was excited that the egg would hatch soon.

“Huh? Roan, did you say divine beast egg just now?”

“…Keep it down a bit.”

Hector, who was in the corner, pricked his ears at the mention of ‘divine beast’ and approached.

But when Roan warned him in a low voice, he said nothing.

Considering the fuss they went through to clear up the misunderstanding (?) caused by Hector, it was right for him to behave himself a bit more.

Hummmm—

Just then, the last group Roan was waiting for emerged from the experience hall.

“Everyone, beware of the ruins’ holy power discharge. Wrap your body in holy power to prepare.”

Joy gathered the students and gave them a warning.

The students quietly manifested their holy power in accordance with her words.

With just a bit of preparation, the holy power discharge of a ruin was a rare experience, and it actually helped with the progression of holy power.

Fwooooosh—!

Roan also wrapped his body very tightly in black mana following Joy’s words.

“…Do you really have to go that far, Roan?”

Rafia asked, looking doubtful.

Roan simply nodded instead of answering.

Unlike other students who only had to watch it as if looking at a strange natural phenomenon.

‘In my case, I might die if I’m not careful.’

To Roan, a black mage, a ruin-class discharge of holy power was simply no different from a deadly weapon.

Rrrrrumble—