Chapter 129

The History Club was notorious for running there first and pocketing the profit whenever something like this happened.

That was also the reason why Roan hadn’t joined the History Club.

Meanwhile, Sion felt a bit saddened looking at their friends.

‘One really has to live so relentlessly in this place.’

When they heard from the Kingdom that they had to enroll in Acherandir, they had their own illusions.

They hadn’t imagined that all those illusions would shatter so soon after entering the school.

With that, they looked at Roan with fresh eyes.

‘Perhaps Darc had no choice but to change like that in order to survive.’

…Although they didn’t know all the circumstances, it was correct in its own way.

In any case, the friends naturally began to converse about ‘who broke the Wailing Wall?’

Since they, too, already knew the legend surrounding the Wailing Wall well.

“Maybe Professor Gulba ran into it and banged his head?”

“Maybe Professor Kaina blew it away with her hammer, so it had no choice but to break.”

The friends took it as a matter of course that Gulba had broken it.

Since the general perception was that it was a wall a student could not break, it was natural in a way.

Unable to listen any longer, Roan spoke cautiously.

There was a limit to misunderstandings.

“As far as I know… the Principal banned faculty from touching the Wailing Wall. I believe I heard that Professor Gulba in particular would face the death penalty if he even touched it.”

“““!!!”””

Naturally, the friends were startled.

“Then did one of the students really break it?”

Demona asked with a tearful face.

“Then who is going to teach our class now?”

The friends’ gazes directed toward Demona at the same time.

Roan replied in a dumbfounded tone.

“It means Professor Gulba is not the one who collapsed it.”

At that, Demona shook her head with a disappointed look.

“Oh, whatever. Why did you have to word it so confusingly? You’re such a study freak~”

“Th-Demona, that’s not the point…”

Lafia found it absurd.

It wasn’t just her.

Everyone except Demona had understood it correctly.

Just then, a sly laugh drifted from behind Roan.

“Fufufufu.”

“……!”

An approach so stealthy that no one had seen a person coming behind Roan.

Roan could easily guess the owner of the voice, but he felt slightly anxious that she had appeared with such an attitude.

“Saintess!”

She was indeed Yusina.

As everyone tried to stand up, Yusina smiled and gestured for them to remain seated.

Then she spoke in a sly voice once more.

“I know who broke the Wailing Wall last night…”

“A-As expected of the Saintess?”

The friends were even more surprised than when Yusina had first appeared.

Faces that looked like they would firmly believe Yusina even if she claimed red beans grew where soybeans were planted.

This was precisely the power of the Saintess Yusina, who was beloved by the Empire.

On the other hand, Roan, feeling needlessly guilty, stayed still without even looking in Yusina’s direction.

‘Yusina couldn’t know. If anyone else, maybe, but there’s no way I wouldn’t know if Yusina was nearby.’

Thud—!

Yusina intentionally placed her hands on Roan’s shoulders with a thud and said.

“The culprit is… Roan Darc, you!”

Yusina spoke, emphasizing her words like the protagonist of a mystery manga.

The friends laughed.

“Saintess, you really tell good jokes. If Roan did it, he would have told us already.”

“That’s right! Roan is our close friend!”

Yusina had only half-believed Zorve’s words anyway, so she went along with it.

Realistically, it was difficult for a freshman to break the Wailing Wall, and she would be sufficiently satisfied just to see Roan react in confusion…

“……”

However, Roan staying so quiet was strangely suspicious.

Normally, he would have said something like ‘don’t talk nonsense,’ ‘leave if you’re going to say useless things,’ or ‘why would I waste time on that.’

“……Hmm.”

All he did was hesitate for a long time, slightly avoid her gaze, and let out a low groan.

At that, the atmosphere around the friends and Yusina turned icy.

“““…….”””

Realizing the strange turn of events, Roan belatedly opened his mouth.

“……It wasn’t me.”

‘It’s him.’

The friends were all certain.

That the Wailing Wall, which had stood at Acherandir for 150 years, was broken by their friend Roan Darc.

Then again, thinking about it carefully, it wasn’t that strange.

‘Honestly, it would have been more surprising if someone else had broken it.’

Though there were many talented and strong students at Acherandir.

None of them chased away a medium-grade holy beast like shooing a fly, overwhelmingly defeated six black mages, clashed with Harden in holy magic, or broke the Divine Tree dolls like breaking crackers.

When the culprit (?) who broke the wall was inadvertently revealed to be Roan, the one who panicked was actually Yusina.

‘I-It was really Roan?’

She had only come to tease him, but to think Zorve’s words were actually true!

“Hey, everyone. Come to think of it, I have a pop quiz too. Bye~”

Yusina vanished in a hurry.

She intended to catch Zorve and press him for details.

“If it was real, you should have told me it was really real! Right, Locke?”

Flutter—

As Yusina ran quickly and asked, the Moonlight Watcher flying above her flapped its wings as if agreeing.

Meanwhile, back in the cafeteria.

“What are we going to do, Roan…”

Demona looked distressed for some reason.

“……What’s wrong?”

“Is Roan going to be executed like Professor Gulba now?”

“…….”

Roan was temporarily speechless.

“That only applies to Professor Gulba.”

“Yeah, why are you saying such ominous things!”

“Then isn’t that racism?”

“…….”

Total silence from the group.

“Ah, no, this should be viewed as faculty discrimination…”

“You said other professors don’t get executed, right?”

“Well, as you know, Professor Gulba doesn’t understand things very well.”

The friends all glared at Hector with eyes that said he was worse.

‘Why is everyone picking on me!’

Hector felt extremely wronged.

Then, Sion changed the subject first.

“More than that, now is the time to discuss countermeasures. What should we do about this?”

“Right, that’s what’s important!”

Led by Sion and Lafia, the friends huddled their heads together and began to whisper in discussion.

“Demona, you come here too!”

“Agh! Why me!”

Demona was also dragged into the meeting, held by the back of her head by Lafia.

“But once this fact becomes known, won’t he be punished? The Wailing Wall is also school property.”

“Hmm, I think so too, fanatic. There’s no way this fine-obsessed school will let it slide.”

Demona and Hector were on the side of keeping Roan’s secret.

“What are you talking about! Do you not know what the Wailing Wall is? This is an opportunity for Roan’s abilities to be recognized!”

“That’s right, what Darc did is on the level of an achievement.”

Lafia and Sion were on the side that it should be disclosed.

“Does Roan even need to be recognized any further?”

“……That’s true.”

…But it shifted to the side that they didn’t necessarily need to keep it a secret.

What about Riel?

She was inwardly enjoying the time spent huddled together with her friends.

Given her personality, this was the first time in her life she had been close with friends.

“Fun.”

When Riel muttered something while twisting only one corner of her mouth up, ice-cold as always, Demona was startled.

“Riel, competitive spirit is fine, but dueling between friends is a no-no.”

“No…!”

Riel protested that it wasn’t the case, clenching her fist unconsciously.

“Right, Demona. There’s no way Riel would say that…”

Lafia and Sion, who were about to speak on Riel’s behalf, quietly shut their mouths.

Was she really trying to challenge him to a duel?

Just then, Hector spoke.

“Discuss among ourselves is fine, but isn’t the most important thing Roan’s opinion?”

“““……?”””

At that, all the friends stared blankly at Hector together.

Hector asked, quite flustered.

“W-Why are you looking at me like that!”

“Why are you saying something normal for once?”

“Indeed…”

The friends examined Hector this way and that.

Hector was about to go crazy.

“Pavilto is a family of proud inquisitors! We value fair judgment above all else!”

“……Sure, let’s go with that.”

The words were correct, but since it came from Hector, it lacked credibility.

But since his point was correct, the friends turned their heads to where Roan had been.

“Roan, how would you like us to handle— eh?”

However.

Empty—

Roan’s seat was already empty.

‘Nothing good will come from repeatedly talking about me being connected to the Wailing Wall in a public place like the cafeteria!’

Roan knew from experience.

That doing so would only increase useless misunderstandings and wouldn’t bring anything good.

In times like this, escaping as quickly as possible to a deserted place was the best course of action.

…And that included his friends.

***

Escaping his friends, Roan arrived at Percival Hall first and played with the Abyss Dragon.

Ki-ki-kit—

“Well done.”

The Abyss Dragon also seemed to like the spacious interior of Percival Hall, performing tricks with clumsy wing flaps.

Judging by how quickly its flying skills improved, it would likely show an appearance fitting the Abyss Dragon’s name before long.

“Bell, this time try spinning 3 times to the right, reversing to the left, and then diving at a 45-degree angle. Duels are whatever, but you should at least be able to do this.”

Ki-ki-kit…?

The Abyss Dragon hesitated, not fully understanding Roan’s instructions.

[Spin 3 times to the right… what was that?]

Only then did Roan realize his mistake and nod.

“Ah, my bad. Are you still too young to do things like this?”

[I can do it!]

The Abyss Dragon, inheriting whose personality he knew not, huffed once and struggled hard to execute the command it couldn’t even remember.

…Although the only thing done properly was the 45-degree dive, Roan was sufficiently satisfied.

The fact that it had spread black wings instead of its own wings at first seemed to be because it was more accustomed to black mana.

For no animal could sprint full speed as soon as it was born, after all.

While they were doing that, the friends also rushed in looking for Roan.

“Roan! Why were you here already!”

First was Hector.

Naturally, since it was Professor Vulcan’s class, he looked extremely excited.

“We, because of the Wailing Wall, how much… Kwek!”

Roan cast a paralysis spell on Hector just as he was on the verge of making a slip of the tongue.

Hector, who had been running toward Roan, fell headfirst and slid across the floor due to inertia.

The students who had arrived early whispered nearby.

─ I heard they even developed resistance to the Chastisement Spell.

─ …Then is this training?

─ Huh?

Meanwhile, looking blankly at Hector collapsing in front of them, the friends scraped together all the tact they could manage.

“Ro-Roan! We’re receiving a holy beast egg this class, right? Wow, how exciting.”

“Yeah.”

“Darc, what shall we do after receiving the holy beast egg today? I’m so looking forward to it.”

“I don’t know.”

“Roan.”

“Riel, if you have nothing to say, you don’t have to force yourself.”

“……”

The soulless chatter of his friends and Roan’s short replies.

Demona asked.

“Roan, can I receive a holy beast egg too?”

Roan shook his head.

“No. Students who already have two holy or divine beasts are excluded. Including eggs.”

“Gasps!”

Demona looked slightly disappointed, but accepted it.

“Well, I only need you guys anyway~ Sparky and the Black Knight.”

Since the Fanatic Rabbit King would hatch soon enough, caring for just two was busy enough.

Roan suddenly became curious.

‘Why is only the Fanatic Rabbit King named Black Knight?’

Sil-sil-ie, Sparky, Crybaby, Sunset.

His friends had named their partners with names ending in ‘~ie,’ as if by agreement.

Roan asked Demona.

“Demona, why did you name the Adamant Beetle Sparky?”

“Because it sparkles?”

Demona replied as if asking why he was questioning something so obvious.

“Then why is the Fanatic Rabbit King named Black Knight?”

“Because it’s black?”

“……Then why not call it Blacky?”

Demona scolded him in a tone of disappointment.

“Roan, you shouldn’t discriminate based on color like that!”

‘What a crazy bastard…’

Roan, as always, regretted asking something unnecessary.