Chapter 119

Once Vicius, the professor of the World of Prayer class, entered, Sion’s thoughts became a conviction.

Everyone inside the lecture hall stood up, and Vicius, who entered supported by two priests, sat in the very front seat.

For some reason, he looked a bit more haggard than the previous week.

‘Well… he does manage to hang on in that state until graduation.’

Unlike the apprentice priests who were filled with worry, Roan just took it for granted.

By the way, he thought Demona had been quiet since a while ago, and sure enough, she was frozen stiff.

“What’s wrong, Demona?”

Demona turned her head toward Roan with creaking, unnatural movements.

And then, she spoke in a whisper, voice full of fear.

“Roan… look around…”

“What’s wrong with the surroundings?”

“This is a field of fines… no, it’s a fine factory…”

Roan wore an expression of regret for having worried about Demona even for a brief moment.

“Yeah, you’d better just stay still.”

Not just in this class, but in general.

Sion nodded in agreement.

Even after the atmosphere settled down to some extent, there was still nearly thirty minutes left before the class started.

Just as Sion and Demona were about to get bored.

Creak—

—The professor is entering.

“”???””

Without even giving them time for that, the professor of the Ancient Hilonian class entered.

Sion checked her pocket watch once again.

But the time couldn’t have changed.

Sion spoke to Roan with truly astonished eyes now.

“So that’s why…!”

“……Just think whatever you want.”

Roan felt too drained to respond any further.

Soon, the Ancient Hilonian professor entered the lecture hall through the open door.

Whoosh— thud—!

Only then did Sion and Demona, realizing the professor’s identity, express surprise simultaneously.

[Nice to meet you all this semester too.]

The professor was none other than a thick, massive book flying through the air.

“Uh… hm…”

Sion babbled something, looking alternately at the book and then at Roan’s face.

It was as if she was questioning whether what she was seeing was real.

Roan nodded calmly.

“The Ancient Hilonian professor is a book.”

“Yes, indeed…”

Sion nodded as if she was losing energy.

Surprising someone was only fun when both sides reacted; if one side was that calm, the excitement was bound to be ruined.

At any rate, the Ancient Hilonian professor was obviously no ordinary book.

……For if it were an ordinary book, it wouldn’t have been able to become a professor at Akerandir in the first place.

The name of the book, which was as massive as a person, was ‘Hirone de Diar’.

It literally meant Hiloa’s diary.

In Akerandir, he was usually called Professor Diar.

Having numerous aliases like Book of Books, Guardian of History, Proof of God, and Greatest Record, Diar was, true to his name, a diary written directly by Hiloa during her time in this world.

He gained self-awareness when Hiloa became a god and ascended to the heavenly realm.

That period was well over 10,000 years ago.

And.

[Where is Gaelo?]

—Professor Gaelo said he would not take the class from this semester…

[Hmph, what a spineless fellow. Expecting to make progress after taking it for a mere ten years. In my days, such a thing was unimaginable. Even when I offer to teach, he refuses. In any case, that’s what’s wrong with youngsters these days, a problem. Isn’t that right, you greenhorns?]

—Y-yes, that is correct, Professor Diar…

He was also a massive old-timer.

In fact, the reason Roan had entered thirty minutes early was precisely because of that.

Since Diar always arrived about thirty minutes early and would scold any students entering later than him, claiming they lacked basic discipline.

Today, he was bound to be even more irritated since the time had been delayed because of Professor Timothy’s class.

‘I’ll have to move quite busily for a semester.’

The class was hard enough as it was, but if he got on the professor’s bad side, it would be miserable the entire time.

“Roan, but how does that professor speak?”

“It’s called Gospel. It’s a method of direct transmission from will to will.”

“Wow, amazing~”

Just as Roan said, Diar communicated with people via Gospel.

Of course, it was possible to make sounds directly, but since that would lead to various issues, it usually only happened when he unconsciously muttered to himself.

After that, Diar spoke about Gaelo and other professors who had given up on the class as if launching a bombardment.

Going back hundreds of years!

Naturally, the professors present felt as if they were sitting on a bed of nails.

Occasionally, the names of great historical figures they had only seen in history books would pop up.

“Haha… Lord Diar is still robust…”

Even the 146-year-old Vicius was like that.

Even at 146 years old, he couldn’t hold a candle before Harden or Diar.

[Indeed, even a hundred years ago, there were many spineless bastards. How do they always doze off whenever it’s class time? ……What are you doing?]

—Yes?

Then, Diar called the assistant out of the blue.

The assistant, failing to grasp Diar’s intention beforehand, broke into a cold sweat.

[We must start class! Hmph, the assistant before last was much better. If only he hadn’t died of old age… Should I have told the Principal to resurrect him? Anyway, how far did we get last semester?]

—Ah, Professor. In fact, in this class…

The assistant took a file from the class materials he was holding and brought it to the book.

Then, a mysterious light shone from the touching covers, and the file was smoothly absorbed.

Demona cried out in surprise.

“A book ate a book!”

—…….

The professors wore complicated expressions.

They were debating whether to ignore the freshmen in accordance with Harden’s instructions, or to impose a fine on the freshman who had insulted Diar.

But Diar was also a tough opponent.

Unconcerned by Demona’s shout, he made “Mmh, mmh” sounds as if digesting, then spoke in a slightly surprised voice.

“……? ……”

To explain again, he did not communicate via Gospel but actually spoke.

It was a method of producing sound by rubbing his pages together instead of using vocal cords.

However, no one understood Diar’s words properly.

Diar used the language of the gods at the time of Hiloa, namely Ancient Hilonian, instead of modern language.

‘And that Ancient Hilonian is what is known as the Divine Language.’

The ‘Divine Language’, used when gods dwelled on the earth.

Strictly speaking, it was a mysterious language completely different from modern Hilonian.

Sion seemed to have only vaguely realized what Diar’s language was.

“Is… is that the Divine Language?”

Roan nodded.

Demona also asked Roan with wide, round eyes.

“Wow, Roan! Did you understand what the professor said?”

At that, smiles appeared on the faces of the professors and assistants all around.

They simply found the freshmen’s reactions cute.

‘Understanding the Divine Language, when even we who have taken the class for over ten years don’t know it.’

‘As expected from the rumors, Darc seems to be the smartest among the freshmen. Well, all three of them are impressive just for applying for this class.’

Roan pondered for a moment and then shook his head.

“No, I don’t know the Divine Language well either. In the first place, although it is called speech, it is closer to mystery or a phenomenon itself.”

Back when Roan played the game, he had tried to use the Divine Language numerous times, but it was not easy.

No matter how well a character was built, it wouldn’t work if their status of existence was too low, and even if they somehow learned it, it took so long to master that they often lost sight of the original purpose.

At best, he had memorized a few very simple words.

Just as everyone had tried shouting spells from their favorite manga or movies in real life, Roan had also practiced the Divine Language in reality, just in case.

‘Of course, nothing happened.’

It was a past he wanted to hide now.

Meanwhile, the professors smiled warmly and nodded.

”’Of course!”’

It was only natural for a freshman not to know Ancient Hilonian.

Even among the professors present, there were few who fully understood more than a single word.

In the first place, Diar’s class aimed for merely writing and reading the Divine Language in text, let alone speaking or listening to it.

However, knowing even that much as a freshman, and just applying for this class, showed ample qualifications to be an excellent assistant.

“Still, thinking about the words and context I vaguely know… since ‘..’ means ‘student’ and ‘…’ means ‘exists’, perhaps you said ‘there was a student’?”

—?!?!?

The mouths of the professors who thought so instantly fell open.

What did that boy just say?

What was ‘student’ and what was ‘exists’?

One of the senior professors nudged the professor next to him and asked.

—Hey, did you catch any of that?

The neighboring professor was at least relatively high-performing.

The neighboring professor mumbled in response.

—W-well… I only caught particles…

The professors, after undergoing a moment of confusion, soon reached a consensus.

”’It seems the Darc boy is more boastful than expected!”’

Rather than the probability of Roan actually understanding the Divine Language, the probability of him telling a blatant lie in a room full of professors seemed higher.

Indeed, his pride might be hurt to admit he didn’t know in front of the friends who followed him.

Now the professors looked at Diar with slightly relieved faces.

But Diar’s appearance was a bit strange.

Half-opened, his inner pages were fluttering and trembling rapidly.

[You understood my words?]

—?!?!?!!?!?!!?!?

Upon hearing Diar’s Gospel, the professors almost went into collective panic.

Diar remained lost in thought for a moment, tilting a single inner page back and forth, before speaking.

[What are you all so surprised about? In the old days, even children understood it.]

Although that “old days” was a story from well over 10,000 years ago.

Furthermore, the children running around playing back then had now become gods who each commanded hundreds of temples.

Beleck and Anne, who had already met Roan in the first-year class, were at least less surprised.

“T-t-that could happen. Hahaha, isn’t that so, Assistant Anne?”

“Y-y-yes, that is correct, Professor Beleck.”

……At least, relatively.

The two grit their teeth and thought, ‘If it’s Roan, it’s possible.’

If they didn’t do even that, they would run to Harden to resign from their professorships out of self-loathing right then.

Meanwhile, Beleck sensed a suspicious aura and looked back toward where Timothy was.

His eyes were burning even more intensely than earlier, but it seemed his target was Roan rather than the Abyssal Dragon.

‘……I should suggest to the Principal that he reinforce the restricting holy spell further.’

Beleck tended to make efforts to maintain good relations with all professors, but the student’s safety came before that.

At any rate, while the professors were so surprised, Sion and Demona reacted more calmly than expected.

Rather, although they were very surprised, they wondered if it was really something to be so shocked about.

“It seems the professors look very highly upon you, Darc.”

Sion whispered to Roan.

“……No matter how I look at it, it doesn’t seem that way, though.”

Roan replied reluctantly.

If he were looked highly upon twice, he might end up locked away somewhere for the rest of his life.

Whoosh—!

At that moment, Diar, who was on the podium, flew rapidly toward Roan.

“Ugh! Book gh— mmp!”

Demona, about to express surprise, covered her own mouth.

It was a tearful effort to prevent a fine by any means.

[Oho, oho, so you are that Darc the Principal spoke of?]

“……Yes, that is correct. Did the Principal leave a word?”

Roan asked with a somehow ominous feeling.

The book replied, fluttering its inner pages.

[Indeed he did! He told me well about you. Everything. You hear? Everything.]

Diar emphasized the word ‘everything’ particularly strongly.

Roan narrowed his eyes slightly.

‘He even told him I’m a black mage.’

Roan’s head began to ache.