Chapter 114

Roan clicked his tongue in disbelief.

He wondered how on earth they had gotten into Akerandir if their intelligence was so low that even a simple statement like that could be distorted.

‘This is why they should conduct entrance exams instead of just looking at families and recommendations!’

That was about the only way to raise the level of the students.

In the game, it was often better if the other students’ levels were low, but living among them in reality was truly frustrating.

“Anyway, you all did well to escape my failed work today. Head down slowly. Professor Timothy, stop harassing the kids and come with me.”

“Yes, Principal! I have so much to ask you!”

“……I am a bit busy right now, though.”

With that, Harden and Timothy vanished in an instant.

Only Assistant Joy and the students remained.

“Now, as the Principal said, you’ve all worked hard. Let’s prepare to head down.”

Assistant Joy, her face looking even more exhausted, began to look after the students with practiced ease.

“Ah, I almost forgot.”

Meanwhile, Roan picked up the remaining eggshells inside the temporary incubator and put them into his lucky pouch.

“Hmm? Darc, why that?”

Sion asked, having witnessed the sight.

Was there any need to collect eggshells after hatching was complete?

“Hmm, as a souvenir.”

“Oh my, I should collect mine too.”

“I should do the same.”

As Roan made a vague excuse, Sion also tried to quickly collect her eggshells.

Normally, she would have paid attention, but she had been heavily distracted by the hatching of the Abyssal Dragon.

Hector did not like it much either, but he looked around for now.

However, no matter how much they looked, there were no eggshells left for the two of them.

Only the empty temporary incubators were left sitting there.

“Huh? Where did the shells go?”

“Indeed.”

The two walked around, looking at the ground in confusion.

Roan just quietly watched them.

……The shells of the two had already entered Roan’s lucky pouch long ago.

To be precise, he had collected them in a flash when they ran away to Joy’s cradle in surprise.

‘The more divine beast eggshells, the better.’

Although things had become a bit complicated, the harvest was not small, so Roan was reasonably satisfied.

And above all, the eggshells were the decisive key for Roan right now.

‘Let’s go make the Grey Shackle of Life today!’

The Grey Shackle of Life, which had been Roan’s primary goal since entering Akerandir.

Since all the ingredients had finally gathered.

***

—Assistant Joy! We are too tired!

—That’s right! We even excavated the ruins, so can’t we rest a little before going?

The students sprawled out and shouted, looking as though they really couldn’t move another step.

Indeed, they had been kidnapped to the Friendship Experience Hall right after a rugged mountain hike, so they were bound to be tired.

But to Roan, the students’ hidden agenda was obvious.

‘They must think that if they arrive late, they can skip today’s elective class.’

However, Akerandir was not such an easygoing place.

Assistant Joy, who listened to the students’ clamor for a moment, nodded as if she also thought it was too much.

If a student was even slightly smart, they should have questioned why Joy agreed so readily.

“All right. It ended earlier than in average years too… Let’s rest here for a moment then.”

—Waaah!

The students cheered, saying they could finally catch their breath.

Meanwhile, Roan pulled out the ‘Rally of Sworn Allies’ he had received from Harden from his lucky pouch.

‘Early education is important, whether for divine beasts or humans.’

Click—

One on his own arm, and the other on the Abyssal Dragon’s neck.

It was a bracelet for humans, but it fit perfectly when hung around the Abyssal Dragon’s neck.

He could move it to its leg later when it grew up.

Since it was a dragon, it would grow large very quickly, but an item like the Rally of Sworn Allies naturally adjusted its size to fit.

According to records, dragons could adjust their size on their own, so it was not a concern.

Woorung—

Confirming the two souls, the ruby on the bracelet glowed slightly and vibrated.

With this, the equipping was complete.

Kyahaong—

The Abyssal Dragon scratched around the bracelet with its front paws as if feeling awkward with something around its neck, but that wouldn’t make the item come off.

Blink— blink—

The Abyssal Dragon, after scratching its neck for a while, blinked its large eyes and began to doze off.

That sight was also quite cute.

“It’s really cute… This is the first time I knew a dragon could be this cute.”

Rafia said, sitting next to Roan.

She seemed already completely infatuated with the Abyssal Dragon.

Since she did not have a single spirit beast yet, she was living vicariously by looking at her friends’ spirit beasts.

‘I should think about whether I can get a spirit beast for Rafia or Riel too.’

They would receive an egg during Professor Vulcan’s class tomorrow, but there was no telling what would hatch from the egg provided in class.

Statistically, anything from an ordinary spirit beast to a rare spirit beast could hatch, but Roan had never once obtained a precious spirit beast in his numerous attempts.

Roan intended to nurture his friends as much as possible, as long as he had the leeway.

Who knew if his identity might be exposed one day, making him public enemy number one of the Empire, and they might become helpful in some way then.

‘…Seeing them flee to the cradle earlier, maybe not.’

There was a slight sense of anxiety, but Roan had not yet abandoned his faith in his friends.

At any rate, this time, Sion asked Roan.

Lovingly stroking the Sunset Shadow perched on her shoulder.

“Do you have a name in mind, Darc? I’m thinking of calling mine Noeul-ie.”

Roan looked at Sion with a slightly surprised gaze.

“W-Why?”

Sion asked, slightly flustered.

“You don’t necessarily have to name divine or spirit beasts with ‘-ie’ at the end.”

“……”

“What’s wrong with Silsil-ie and Eongeong-ie!”

“Yeah, what’s wrong with Banjjak-ie!”

Hector and Demona flared up.

Since those two had given names like Banjjak-ie, Silsil-ie, and Eongeong-ie, Sion had naturally been influenced as well.

Only then did Sion turn slightly red in the face.

“I-it’s not like I’ve decided on it, it’s just one of the candidates…”

“Sure, sure.”

As Roan chuckled and nodded, Sion turned as red as a carrot and quickly averted her gaze.

Riel rapidly parted her lips like a spell beside him.

“Sunset…”

For Riel, however, it was a considerably long sentence.

It seemed she had used 5 seconds out of her daily average of 45 seconds.

“Noeul-ie would be better than that.”

Thud—

When Roan cut her off flatly, Riel’s eyes shook slightly as if she was shocked.

“Roan, Riel says she wants to duel?”

“She doesn’t.”

But the person in question, Sion, seemed curious about Riel’s suggestion.

“What did Riel say?”

“The shadow that runs with the sunset at its back, West Wind Seiphi.”

“Seiphi? That’s the name of the wind spirit in ancient mythology. It’s nice. The west wind and sunset match well, too.”

Roan slowly repeated Riel’s suggestion.

“The shadow that runs with the sunset at its back, West Wind Seiphi.”

“””……”””

Silence.

They hadn’t expected her to have said that entire long name.

“……Ha, haha. It’s a nice name.”

Rafia spoke brightly, trying to salvage the atmosphere that had belatedly turned cold.

The friends did not yet fully know Riel’s hidden tastes.

“So, Roan, do you have a name chosen? It might help Sion, too.”

Rafia made full use of her innate sociability to naturally shift the subject.

Although Riel was still murmuring behind Roan as if she felt it was a shame.

“Belzahar. I can just call him Bell.”

Roan calmly spoke the name he had thought of.

“Roan…”

The friends looked at Roan, once again swept up in a wave of emotion.

They had never imagined he would use the name of the first Darc.

Woorung—

Even from the false divinity within and the Administrator of the Forbidden Library, an uncharacteristic emotion of being moved was felt.

‘What is wrong with these guys?’

Roan was a little flustered.

Did they now react as if they had heard a pitiful story whenever he just named a divine beast?

Of course, the friends had their reasons for doing this.

‘How sorrowful must it have been to lose his family, that he treats the divine beast like family?’

‘He must be thinking of the Abyssal Dragon as the first step in rebuilding the family. After all, it was the divine beast of the first head…’

Naming a divine beast after an ancestor was not common, so they couldn’t help but attach that much meaning to it.

Of course, Roan had no such touching meaning in mind.

‘I just named him that because he was the first Darc’s divine beast.’

It was a waste of time to fret over a name, so he had just given the first name that popped into his head.

Although most of the records of the Darc family had disappeared, since it was one of the four great families and had made a massive contribution to the founding of the Empire, the records of the first head could at least be found a little.

Belzahar Ruin Renatus Darc.

He was the figure who symbolized mighty martial power among the four families during the founding process, and those characteristics of Darc seemed to have continued ever since.

……He was virtually the only member of the Darc family whose name Roan knew.

If he had to look for a meaning, that was all.

Just then, Hector rubbed his reddened nose and put his hand on Roan’s shoulder.

Placing the very hand he had used to rub his nose on him made Roan’s mood instantly turn sour.

“Roan, your Abyssal Dragon will grow strong, matching the name of Darc.”

“……Yeah. It will certainly be stronger compared to your Purgatory Penitence Beast.”

“Hahaha, how shy. I won’t be fooled by that kind of provocation anymore. On that note, how about a holy war between my Eongeong-ie and—”

“I’m not doing it.”

Roan considered casting a paralysis spell but held back.

After all, he had meant it as well-wishes in his own way.

Although the end was a bit strange.

“Hmph, even so, they said he can’t use black magic. You can’t reach the ultimate stage like that.”

Demona grumbled regretfully.

‘Don’t tell me she still believes she has to learn black magic alongside holy magic to reach the peak of holy magic?’

As Beleck had said, it was not possible to begin with, so it was just Demona’s nonsense.

Ka-at—

At that moment, the Abyssal Dragon, who had been dozing off, gave a short burp.

Grey smoke spewed from the Abyssal Dragon’s small mouth.

“!”

Roan was startled out of wits.

And for good reason, because the energy mixed in the Abyssal Dragon’s burp was…

‘Black mana?’

It was even disguised with the false divinity so that, to anyone other than Roan himself, it would feel exactly like dark-attribute holy power.

‘What on earth is going on!’

Worried that someone might notice, Roan immediately spread his own energy.

“Demona! Roan is angry because of you!”

“W-Why me!”

“Didn’t I tell you not to talk about black magic in front of Roan!”

The friends immediately freaked out and began to scold Demona.

Roan paid them no attention and hurriedly channeled mana into the interior of the Abyssal Dragon.

Originally, the abyss of the Abyssal Dragon was a completely separate power from the one Roan used, just as Timothy had said.

However, the interior of the Abyssal Dragon that Roan looked into was a complete spectacle.

Thump— thump—

Because it was still young, its original abyss was merely pulsing faintly near its heart.

Gooooo—

Instead of the holy power that a divine beast should naturally possess, Roan’s massive black mana was settled in its stomach.

Although it was clearly composed of Roan’s black mana, it was now more accurate to view it as an entirely separate dantian.

A naturally hatched divine beast could not possibly be in this state.

……If feeding it the Lightning Apple solution to saturation, forcing it to hatch with a massive release of holy power from the ruins, and having it appear while dyeing the sky pitch black could be called a natural hatching, that was.

Roan did not know much about dragons either, making it even more of a mystery.

In any case, Roan suspected his false divinity as naturally as breathing.

‘For some reason, I feel like you know something.’

Wooooong—

Sure enough, the false divinity began to explain the situation hesitantly.

*When you applied the Lightning Apple solution, it cried so much for food, so I gave it some. Was that bad?*

Beside it, the Administrator of the Forbidden Library chimed in.

*Geez, I told you not to do that, brother!*

Roan was about to beat the ground in frustration.

‘If you give it everything just because it asks for food, it will develop bad habits! And if something like that happened, you should have told me!’

No, normally, a divine beast using its owner’s power would have been merely fascinating and fun.

Since it meant another piece of hidden lore had appeared.

But in the current situation, it was not like that at all.

‘It’s hard enough looking after myself, and now I have to hide this guy’s identity too?’