Chapter 117

Even in the face of Demona and Hector’s nonsense, the two only sent contemptuous glares and did not reply.

……They knew that trying to say anything would only be a loss for themselves.

Sion asked Roan again.

“How……?”

In Sion’s eyes, the move of hiding its form and leading into three Sunset Clones was perfect.

How could he distinguish the real one in that brief moment?

Roan replied calmly.

“Sion, a perfect Sunset Clone has strict conditions. The position of the sun, the angle of entry, and so on… Of course, because the speed is very fast and the completion of the clones improves regardless of conditions as proficiency increases, but this time, it was easily recognizable.”

“……How?”

Sion repeated the same question.

Earlier, she was simply curious about how he identified the clone, but now she was dumbfounded by how Roan knew such things in the first place.

Roan slightly avoided her gaze and made an excuse.

“The Sunset Clone was used not only by the Sunset Shadow, but also occasionally by other spirit and divine beasts in history. It is information that can be known if one is interested enough.”

It was the truth.

‘As expected, to become like Darc, does one have to study the Holy War that hard too?’

Sion harbored a misconception that would have made Roan look at her with a murderous gaze had he heard it.

Not the Holy War, but divine and spirit beasts!

At any rate, Sion hung her head in disappointment, thinking she had missed a decisive opportunity.

Miyaaa…

The Sunset Shadow nestled in Sion’s arms was the same.

If only it had done a little better, it could have made its master happy.

Seeing this, Demona shook her head.

“Why get so discouraged over something like this? The master and the divine beast are exactly the same.”

The Diamond Beetle also fluttered its outer wings.

“You, be quiet!”

Miyaaaong—!

Sion and the Sunset Shadow shouted simultaneously.

Just then, Seary, who had acted as the assistant referee, approached Roan and his friends.

And she spoke to Roan first.

“You really like the Holy War, don’t you, Darc?”

“……I like divine and spirit beasts, though.”

“We call that liking the Holy War.”

Conversing with Seary was bound to lead nowhere anyway.

Roan quickly gave up and nodded vaguely.

Reach out—

Seary offered a handshake.

“I enjoyed the match today. Let’s have a Holy War next time too!”

“……If time permits.”

He had no particular desire to do so, but Roan reluctantly accepted the handshake.

There was no doubt that his school life would become quite miserable if he did not maintain friendly relations with Seary.

“Hush. I also love the Holy War. We will get along well.”

Hector, who had been watching from the side, chimed in.

Seary tilted her head and asked.

“Who are you?”

“C-Cough…”

Joy, who had approached before long, stood next to Seary and asked Roan with surprised eyes.

“It is truly amazing. Even for a divine beast, and a dragon at that, to cast a holy spell. Do you happen to have any guess as to why?”

“…….”

Roan was at a loss for an answer.

I poured excessive amounts of Lightning Apple solution to hatch a good one.

The authority fed it plenty of black mana through the night.

He couldn’t say, “Because our souls happened to connect, a divine beast that can use black magic like holy magic was born.”

Just then, Demona spoke.

“It must be thanks to Roan’s parents.”

“……Parents?”

“Yes, Roan’s parents always appear in his dreams to help him.”

“???”

Joy did not seem to understand Demona’s words properly.

Indeed, if she had understood immediately, Roan would have been a bit disappointed.

“I don’t know well either.”

“Well, I suppose so.”

The two completely ignored Demona’s words and concluded it was of unknown cause.

“Right, Demona. Even if they are Roan’s parents, a matter like this is—”

Sion also thought Demona was wrong this time.

Although she had personally seen Roan’s parents, could they have influenced even the divine beast?

Woorung—

“!!!!”

But at that moment, Sion was startled to see a light hovering around the Abyssal Dragon.

‘I-It was real this time too!’

It was exactly the same light she had seen after the blessing.

Could one of Roan’s parents have reincarnated as the Abyssal Dragon?

Or another Darc ancestor?

“……Sniffle.”

“? Sion, why are you doing that?”

Roan asked in bewilderment at Sion’s tears, which flowed involuntarily.

‘Could it be that she feels aggrieved about losing three-on-one in the Holy War?’

But he soon guessed the reason.

Indeed, she had instinctively used a technique like the Sunset Clone which she didn’t even know just to win, only to lose so easily, so it was natural for her to feel aggrieved.

He had briefly forgotten lately, but since when was Sion an ordinary, easily discouraged character?

……Roan harbored a somewhat severe misunderstanding.

“Ah, no.”

Sion quickly wiped her tears and shook her head.

“…….”

Roan quietly took a step away from Sion.

“W-Why?”

“……Nothing.”

‘I guess it really is right to keep some distance from Sion.’

Roan wore a reluctant expression, and.

‘As expected, Darc knew this time too. That’s why he named him after the first Darc! Oh my, what do I do!’

Sion once again interpreted that expression in her own way.

“L-Rafia! Hold on a moment.”

“Huh? Why? Ah, I enjoyed the Holy War! It was amazing.”

Sion, feeling that she wouldn’t be able to control her emotions if she kept looking at Roan’s face any longer, hurriedly left.

‘Sion, I played the game too, but you are truly stubborn, so stubborn.’

……It was an occasion that strengthened Roan’s misunderstanding even further.

“Well, that was a truly excellent Holy War. It is really time to head down now, so let’s move.”

Joy wrapped up.

The students also seemed to think they had rested enough, as they packed their bags without any complaints.

By the time they began to descend, the sun had already tilted significantly toward the west.

It would be slightly dark by the time they reached the bottom.

“Hehehe.”

Demona wore a happy smile continuously, not even realizing she was being scratched here and there by bushes and branches, whatever was so amusing.

“Is there something good, Demona?”

Rafia asked.

Demona nodded as if it were obvious.

“The class got so long. Since it’s evening now, won’t the elective class be cancelled?”

“Oh! That’s right.”

Hector immediately nodded.

Half of the elective class time had already passed.

The other friends also looked pleased, secretly glad to skip a class.

“What do you think, Roan?”

But Roan explained as if they were talking nonsense.

“Originally, classes after Professor Timothy’s tend to have a generous buffer. Since it was announced in advance that this would be a field trip, it’s fine. It will be perfect timing to go down, have dinner, and go.”

“Th-that is not fine!”

Demona’s pitiful scream echoed through the mountain.

***

Sure enough, when they reached the bottom of the mountain, a staff member was shouting loudly.

—The elective class schedule for freshmen today has been postponed! Everyone, please have dinner, and the class will proceed in an hour and a half!

The students’ expressions could not be good upon hearing those words, but to Demona, it seemed like the end of the world.

“Uaaaah… This is definitely a disaster…”

“Is it that bad? You have to take the class within this semester anyway.”

“A study ghost like you wouldn’t understand.”

As Roan asked casually, Demona waved her hand.

It was a surprising reaction from Demona, who daily acted as though she couldn’t live without Roan.

“It’s normal for a student to want to skip one class today, even if they have to take two more classes tomorrow. It would be better to have four classes the day after tomorrow instead of playing tomorrow. And even better to have them three days later…”

“That is called being stupid.”

Roan clicked his tongue.

It was fortunate that Demona was born into a wealthy family; she would have been in big trouble if she ever took out a loan.

Come to think of it, he had never skipped a single class or lecture even back on Earth.

Because it was something he had to do anyway, and there was no benefit in skipping it.

At least right now, however, the friends sympathized with Demona more than Roan.

“Not as much as Demona… but taking a class after dinner is a bit much.”

“Me too, Darc. I would rather self-study in the library.”

‘With students hating studying this much, the future of the Empire is dark.’

Since they felt that way, there was nothing more he could say.

‘Wait, is a dark future for the Empire actually good for me?’

Roan felt somehow uncomfortable.

Meanwhile, Hector said with a proud expression.

“Roan, not me! I’m really looking forward to today’s class.”

“For once… No, I think I know why.”

Roan started to ask why but stopped, shaking his head and walking ahead first.

“Ah, wait up!”

The friends trotted along behind Roan.

The students who heard their conversation at the mountain entrance spoke with slightly fed-up faces.

—Did you hear? I thought all of them were abnormal until now.

—Yeah, listening to them, Darc was the most abnormal.

—You can tell just by looking at his face, right?

—It must be hard for them to hang out with Darc.

……There were some students who would have been affected by a paralysis spell if Roan had heard them.

***

Since it was already time for other grades to finish their meals, the freshmen occupied most of the seats in the restaurants of the commercial district.

Dozing— dozing— crash!

—Ugh!

—Don’t faceplant, you’re splashing sauce everywhere!

Due to the grueling mountain hike and the late dinner hour, there were students who dozed off involuntarily and rolled off their chairs here and there.

“Tsk, how unrefined. Students of Akerandir should have dignity.”

Demona frowned at the noises erupting here and there.

Meanwhile, she picked up a pork rib bone with dignity and began to gobble it down.

“……I don’t think you’re one to talk.”

“Mmh? Why?”

“Nothing.”

Looking at Demona, who had more sauce smeared around her mouth than the students faceplanting into their plates, the friends were speechless.

Dignity?

Meanwhile, Hector, who would usually be as gluttonous as Demona, had been in an extremely good mood since earlier.

“Hector, is there some good news?”

As Rafia asked, Hector nodded vigorously.

“Good news! There is! A very good one.”

Sitting next to her, Sion narrowed her eyes and whispered to Rafia.

“Today’s elective class is Introduction to Holy War Strategy.”

“……Aha.”

Rafia, who had heard the story of the strategy meeting from Sion on the way down the mountain, wore a reluctant expression.

Although learning was power, in Hector’s case, it didn’t seem like learning it would be of much help.

“Riel and I are taking the Chivalry Liberal Arts class, what are you guys taking?”

Rafia and Riel also seemed to look forward to it, as it was their first paladin-related class since entering the academy.

Basic physical combat could be considered a paladin-related class if one stretched the definition.

……But Gulba’s class was bound to feel extremely far removed from paladins anyway.

At any rate, Sion answered Rafia’s question.

“I’m taking the Ancient Hilonian class with Darc. ……Demona too.”

Rafia glanced toward where Demona was.

Demona was still sucking on the rib bone from which she had eaten all the meat earlier.

She even crunched on it like a dog.

“……I see. Hang in there.”

“……Yeah.”

Rafia encouraged Sion.

“Huh? Me? Why?”

“No, eat up.”

“Thanks~ You guys too.”

Demona, about to bite the bone again, asked Roan.

“By the way, Roan, what kind of person is the professor of our next class?”

Roan swallowed what was in his mouth, thought for a moment, and answered.

It would probably be a bit suspicious if he revealed their true identity accurately.

“They are not a ‘person’.”

“?”

Hearing Roan’s words, the friends pondered for a moment and concluded, ‘It must not be a human.’

But Demona was slightly different, however.

“Then is it a ‘bastard’?”

“……?”