Chapter 121

[Get a grip, you foolish Wychronon!]

Flicker, flutter—!

Diar shot pieces of paper toward Demona’s face and spoke.

[Instead, I shall teach you ‘darkness.’]

“Yay!”

Demona cheered as if she had never been dejected.

Diar assigned a sheet of inner paper to Demona as well.

Then, Demona looked at Diar’s main body with worried eyes.

[Why do you look like that?]

Diar asked in puzzlement.

“Professor, you remember things by recording them on paper, right?”

[Oh, you guessed correctly.]

“But if you hand out paper like this, won’t you, well… lose your memories later? You’ve already lived for a long time anyway.”

Everyone around was astonished by Demona’s question.

She phrased it as losing memories, but didn’t she essentially mean he was old, so was this really okay?

However, while the professors were shocked, they also stealthily observed Diar’s reaction.

Until now, they had vaguely thought it would be fine since it was Lord Hiloa’s book, but hearing it brought up made them worry.

[There is no need to worry. By the blessing of Lord Hiloa, my inner pages are infinitely generated.]

Diar replied calmly.

“Ah~”

— Whew.

Only then did Demona and the people around her sigh in relief.

Diar’s assistant spoke with feigned anger.

— Should we impose a fine on that student?

…The people here had a tendency to get angry belatedly once Demona’s curiosity was satisfied.

[Forget it. For some reason, the Wychronons often ask that question. Being that identical is a talent in itself.]

At any rate, only Roan was left.

[Now, Darc, what is it that you wish to do?]

“May I listen to a few more?”

[Oho. Then listen further.]

Diar let him hear a few more Divine Words.

“Just a little more…”

[Even more than this?]

“I think I can decide if I listen to just a little bit more.”

[My, that will be difficult.]

In truth, there was a different reason why Roan made this request.

Whirrrr—

Strangely, every time Diar activated a Divine Word, the False Divinity rejoiced exceedingly.

‘Could it be that the False Divinity can also use Divine Words?’

Although the exact reason was still unknown, it seemed there was no harm in listening for now.

“Water would be good.”

After listening to Diar’s demonstrations for a while, Roan chose one Divine Word.

Learning anything would be good, but water was particularly useful.

…Just in case he had to live on the run in the future, being able to create water at will would be helpful.

[After all that listening, it is water in the end? Well, whatever, that is fine.]

Diar pulled out a sheet of inner paper and left it with Roan as well.

Soon, the classroom was filled with nothing but mumbling to use the Divine Words.

But not a single person succeeded cleanly.

Even the highly capable professors only managed to activate it halfway at best, resulting in partial success.

Roan looked at the piece of wood that had somehow turned into a cup.

It probably meant he should try to create water inside it.

“…”

Diar’s inner paper was repeating the ‘water’ Divine Word.

‘Even with a talent stat of 100, one wouldn’t be able to use it right away, right?’

A talent stat of 100 could certainly be called the realm of the gods, but that was merely a metaphorical expression.

Divine Words were truly the realm of the gods.

Although he had completed the Abyss instantly, modified magic circles at will, and summoned the devil’s power better than imagined, the Divine Words were incomparably more difficult.

Lowering his expectations, Roan comfortably mimicked the pronunciation of the inner paper.

“…”

Splash—

Then, transparent, clear water appeared inside the cup.

“?”

Roan tilted his head.

Flutter—

Diar’s inner paper also tilted its head.

“Darc, when did you pour the water?”

Sion also tilted his head.

“What, Roan did it already?”

Demona also tilted her head.

“Whaaaat did you saaaay?!”

Timothy went wild.

That was the beginning.

— ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!!!!!!!!?!!!

The refined professors jumped up and gathered around Roan like a cloud.

The expressions on their faces, with every single orifice stretched as wide as possible, were even somewhat grotesque.

— Th-This is water made by the Divine Word?

— You, don’t play jokes. Is this for real?

A few of the professors even pinched their cheeks hard.

How could a freshman who had just enrolled instantly complete a Divine Word?

‘This actually works?’

Roan was just as surprised.

He had not expected the Divine Word to actually activate.

But now that it had turned out like this…

— Y-You! Have you decided on your major?

— If you join our lab, I will take responsibility…

— Uh-huh, you there! If it’s an unpopular major, back off!

In an instant, the classroom became a battlefield.

“… …!”

Diar’s main body activated a long Divine Word.

Immediately after, the professors who had crowded around Roan were all piled up in a corner of the classroom, arms and legs tangled together in a loud heap.

[Tsk tsk tsk. Maintain your dignity, dignity! You should be ashamed of being inferior to a student, so how dare you!]

When Diar scolded them, the professors all blushed in shame.

They were truly correct words.

Diar recalled the inner paper entrusted to Roan and stood directly in front of him.

Roan spoke as if surprised.

“It was a fluke.”

[…]

Diar was left speechless by Roan’s shamelessness.

He had heard from Harden that Roan was this kind of fellow, but seeing him in person, he seemed even worse.

If Divine Words were a language that could be used by fluke, then any random dog or cow would have been using it by now.

[Just as I heard, you are a fellow who has thrown away his conscience, black mage brat.]

At Diar’s words, Roan actually looked around in surprise.

Fortunately, it seemed Diar had transmitted the message only to Roan.

[If it was truly a fluke, try it once more.]

Roan intentionally tried to make a different pronunciation.

If the original ‘water’ was ‘…’, this time he would try about ‘….’.

Even though Diar wouldn’t believe it, it would still have some effect on the professors.

However.

“…Huh?”

Splash—!

Contrary to his intention, Roan pronounced the precise Divine Word, and the cup was filled with water once again.

[And you still call it a fluke?]

Diar transmitted the message as if it were pathetic.

Hummmm—

The False Divinity vibrated proudly.

Heh, I can at least provide this much assistance!

‘This crazy authority…’

Roan frowned deeply.

He had suspected it since it was strangely fond of the Divine Words earlier, but what was it doing by lending assistance on its own without him even noticing?

[Do not try to make a mistake on purpose. It is obvious.]

Roan flinched in vain.

Perhaps Harden had even talked about the authority.

— Ohhh! Look at that, he succeeded again!

— Darc, come to think of it, Darc was quite good at Divine Words during his school days. Though not to this extent.

— Oh, was it like that during your time too, Professor?

— Indeed. You too?

— He was doing quite well, then he quit, saying it was boring.

— Hahaha! That family is all like that!

The observing professors admired and wallowed in nostalgia.

Since the Darc family was also one of the four great families, there was at least one classmate in every generation.

Meanwhile, Sion and Demona, who were quietly watching the professors’ fuss, could not yet properly blend into the atmosphere.

“Is that really that amazing?”

Demona asked, tilting her head.

Sion replied as if it were a matter of course.

“Of course. Those who can use even a little bit of the Divine Word are truly few and far between, even in the Holy See.”

But even as Sion said this, they privately found it puzzling.

They had heard so much about how difficult it was, but seeing someone next to them succeed so easily one after another made them lose their sense of reality.

‘Seeing how I can’t even get a feel for it, it does seem difficult…’

Even so, was it really something for those grand professors of Acherandir to make such a fuss about?

“But Roan did it, didn’t he?”

At Demona’s question, Sion pondered for a moment and soon reached a realization.

“Has there ever been anything he couldn’t do?”

“…That’s true.”

Certainly, the use of Divine Words was even more amazing compared to Roan’s previous achievements, but that was only for those who understood its significance.

To the two of them, it still didn’t hit home.

Sion felt strangely proud to have silenced Demona.

“Sion, how about you? Can you do it? I don’t get it at all…”

“Me neither.”

At Demona’s whiny voice, Sion shook their head.

It would have been better if Diar were a person, but even if a book made sounds, it was hard to grasp how to reproduce that with a human body structure.

Then, Sion’s eyes happened to catch Demona’s piece of wood.

‘…?’

It seemed Demona had not noticed yet, but a very tiny dot, like a needle prick, remained on the piece of wood.

Rustle—

Then, the dot vanished.

‘Was it a bug?’

Sion chided Demona out of sudden spite.

“You can’t even do it yourself, so why are you badgering only me!”

“W-When did I…”

[Well, at any rate, Darc has succeeded, so he may leave. The rest of you, continue practicing.]

In the end, the two of them had to struggle in the classroom without Roan, practicing pronunciations they had never heard of in their lives.

Meanwhile, Roan, who became free much earlier than expected, thought,

‘It turned out well. Now, shall I go make the Grey Shackle of Life?’

He walked somewhere with a light heart.

In fact, he hadn’t expected it to turn out this way from the very first week, but there was one more reason why Roan chose the Ancient Hilonian class.

Diar’s class was purely performance-based.

For those who achieved the day’s goal early, class was simply over!

For Roan, who had many things to do outside of class, it was the perfect course.

***

The Grey Shackle of Life was an unexpectedly easy magic.

…Well, it was certainly an easy magic if one knew how to freely manipulate the Abyss, which was high-level black mana, possessed rare materials related to time and space, and even had the eggshell of a divine beast.

Both the Abyss and the Grey Shackle of Life depended more on the talent to understand the principles and move accordingly rather than on long-term research and bone-breaking effort.

So for Roan, who had nothing to rely on but talent, there was no particular difficulty in casting it.

However, the only catch was the location.

Evidently, even the basement of the remote Watchman’s Tower, which no one visited, could not escape Kaina’s eyes.

Indeed, since she was someone who searched the McGodal Hall in the corner of the school on the grounds that it was suspiciously clean, what else could be expected?

Because of this, Roan had to put quite a bit of thought into finding a place to create the Grey Shackle of Life.

‘A future once determined cannot be easily changed.’

The meaning of the future shown by the Prophet’s Eye was not that simple.

For example, if he was caught in the Watchman’s Tower and moved to McGodal Hall, he would inevitably face a bad ending.

In other words, a variable capable of shaking up that future as a whole was needed.

‘That’s why I chose this place, but thinking about it again, it was a good decision. As expected, experience doesn’t just disappear.’

And once the location was secured, the Grey Shackle of Life was made easily and steadily, even faster than expected.

It was cozy and secure, making it the optimal environment for work requiring concentration.

Except for the fact that the surroundings were too full of holy power to use black magic.

‘Well, Acherandir is all like that anyway.’

Roan decided to look on the bright side.