Chapter 133

At that moment, the eyes of the Purgatory Penitence Beast, which had crept up behind Hector, met those of the Thousand-Eyed Hole Serpent.

Flinch—

Flinch—

Then, they shrank back at the same time.

…The divine beast and the holy beast had shrunk back, startled by how hideous the other looked.

“Pavilto.”

Vulcan called Hector.

“Yes, Professor! Thanks to your teachings, I’ve become able to love my holy beast without looking at its appearance!”

Hector replied energetically.

However.

Flutter—

Vulcan handed Hector a long piece of cloth.

“Hurry and cover it… No, dress it.”

“…….”

…It was a set of clothes specifically made for the Thousand-Eyed Hole Serpent.

”’What about Vulcan’s teachings…?”’

The students wore absurd expressions, as if they had not expected even Vulcan, a fellow holy beast, to act like that.

‘Wait, wasn’t that my teaching in the first place?’

Roan felt a bit more aggrieved.

In any case, the Thousand-Eyed Hole Serpent, dressed in a pink cloth covered in teddy bear patterns, definitely looked better.

“It was just hideous before, but now it’s hideously covered in teddy bears.”

That was exactly what it felt like.

“Shut up, heretic! How dare you say that about our cute Sil-sil-ie!”

“It was a compliment, though…”

Hector flared up at Demona’s compliment (?), but the other friends thought the same.

Was there not a time-honored saying that drawing stripes on a pumpkin did not turn it into a watermelon?

In any case, it was a relief that Hector seemed to like it.

After that commotion subsided, the students gathered around the incubators once again.

“It’s Demona’s turn now, right?”

“Yeah.”

The next object of interest was indeed Demona.

And as soon as those words were spoken, the light on Demona’s incubator turned on.

“Oh! I should open it~ I hope it’s a nice one this time too!”

Demona opened the incubator with an excited gesture.

Hop—!

As soon as the lid opened, a rabbit about the size of two palms hopped out cutely.

It had glossy black fur and blue eyes that sparkled like jewels.

Along with perked ears, plump hind legs, and a fluffy tail.

“Oh my god! It’s so cute!”

Unlike with the Thousand-Eyed Hole Serpent, this time everyone was captivated by the cute rabbit.

Unlike the muscular Fanatic Rabbits they had seen in the cave, the Fanatic Rabbit King looked like a real rabbit standing on two feet.

“Oho, it’s been a long time since I last saw a Fanatic Rabbit King. It will be a great asset to the club in the future.”

Vulcan also nodded and smiled.

─ It’s a swift one.

─ It really looks fast.

Since the students were also well aware of the legend of the Swift Rabbit, they looked at Demona with envious eyes.

“Black Knight!”

Demona called the Fanatic Rabbit King’s name and reached out happily.

At that moment,

Squeak—!

The Fanatic Rabbit King let out a short squeak, and then—

Hop— Whack—!

It lightly leaped up to the height of Demona’s head and delivered a dropkick.

“Argh!”

Having suddenly been struck a blow by the Fanatic Rabbit King, Demona fell backward onto her butt.

“What’s wrong, Black Knight!”

Whack—!

Another kick!

“Black Knight—”

Whack—

“No, Black Knight!”

Smack—

Every time Demona opened her mouth, the Fanatic Rabbit King beat her up with gusto.

─ Uh?

─ Is… is that right?

The students no longer envied Demona.

No matter how great the legend of the Swift Rabbit was, they did not want to live a life of being beaten up by their own holy beast.

‘It seems it beats her whenever she calls it Black Knight.’

It was obvious to anyone that the name was the problem, but no one pointed that out to Demona.

…To be honest, it was also somewhat satisfying to watch.

“S-Sparky! Stop Black Knight!”

Ultimately, Demona, who was being beaten while face down on the ground, sent a rescue request to the Adamant Beetle.

Buzzz— Thump—! Thump—!

Then, the two holy beasts began to beat Demona at the same time.

“Roan! Roan! I’m going to summon you with the ring! Save me!”

“……Just don’t say the word ‘Black Knight.’ And you already used the ring.”

“Huh?”

Once Demona shut her mouth, the two holy beasts finally quieted down.

The Adamant Beetle settled gently on top of Demona, while the Black Knight groomed its fur, licking itself.

“Eh, it really was that? But its name is Black Knight—”

Thump— Thump—

“Its name is Black Knight, so what do you want me to dooo!”

Demona looked as if she had fallen into a massive self-contradiction.

…And again, no one told her that she could just change its name.

At that point, she was practically asking for it herself.

“L-Let’s just hatch our own eggs.”

“Yeah, Lafia…”

The students who had gathered to watch the birth of the Fanatic Rabbit King scattered awkwardly.

Soon, the eggs received during this class also began to hatch one by one.

“Sion, hurry and open it!”

Sion was the first.

When Sion opened the incubator with an excited heart, multi-colored glittering lights fluttered and soared up.

Flutter—

Roan recognized the holy beast immediately.

‘It’s a Sunrise Nest Butterfly.’

“So pretty!”

Looking at the wings that scattered colors like jewels, the friends’ eyes turned ecstatic.

The Sunrise Nest Butterfly fluttered through the air for a moment with a butterfly’s characteristically unsteady wingbeats.

Every time it did so, sparkling powder scattered beneath it.

After circling in the air for a while, the Sunrise Nest Butterfly eventually landed on Sion’s outstretched finger.

The light emanating from the butterfly’s wings shone in various colors upon Sion’s happy face.

“Darc, by any chance, do you know this child’s species name too?”

Roan nodded at Sion’s question.

“It is a Sunrise Nest Butterfly. It can use the light of its wings to create illusions, or the illusions can merge to temporarily strengthen it. It can also use its powder to cast charm.”

Roan was secretly surprised.

‘For a holy beast obtained in class, she got a pretty good one.’

A Sunrise Nest Butterfly was within the top five holy beasts Roan had ever obtained in class.

It had many uses outside of the Holy War, and it was also rare to obtain in the outside world.

Sion smiled brightly and exclaimed.

“Your name is Pal-lang-ie! Come on, fly!”

“I told you, there’s no need to name them all with ‘-ie.’”

“I-It’s temporary!”

Sion shouted, her face flushing red.

Even so, it did not seem like she would give it a new name anytime soon.

‘Well, not even a Saintess candidate is perfect in everything.’

Following Sion’s command, the Sunrise Nest Butterfly flew a circle along the ceiling of Percival Hall.

Combined with the countless falling powder, it looked as if it were flying in a fantasy flowerbed!

─ Beautiful…

─ I think it suits the Saintess candidate so well!

The students were also spellbound as they looked up, congratulating the meeting of Sion and the Sunrise Nest Butterfly.

‘Why do these nice guys act like that only when something concerns me…?’

Roan began to wonder if all the students were actually split personalities.

Ding—

“Oh, it’s me! The light on my incubator came on!”

Lafia was next.

“Lafi! Hurry and open it!”

“Whew, I’m nervous.”

Lafia’s expectations had soared after seeing Sion’s Sunrise Nest Butterfly!

Neighhh— Clop— Clop—

As Lafia’s incubator opened, a purple figure shot out like an arrow.

It ran rapidly as if it could not control its own power, but rather than the intense motion of muscles, it felt strongly as if it were sliding with an unrealistic sensation.

As far as Roan knew, there was only one species among horse-shaped holy beasts that ran like that.

‘A-A Dream-Eating Thousand-Mile Horse?’

Roan’s pupils trembled slightly.

He felt that things were turning out strangely.

Something like that came out in Vulcan’s class?

Then what about me all this time…?

Neighhh—!

After running around for a long time, the Dream-Eating Thousand-Mile Horse finally stopped right in front of Lafia as if satisfied, and stomped its hoof.

It was a foal with mysterious purple fur and a black mane.

Though it was still short enough to barely pass Lafia’s knees, the muscles packed all over its body already looked sturdy.

To put it in mobile game terms, it felt like pulling unique items one after another from a gacha.

‘Why is everyone getting such good rolls?’

‘Usually it’s just a Wind Terrier or an Ember Sparrow.’

Roan looked around.

Fortunately (?), the other students’ holy beasts did not seem to exceed Roan’s acceptable range by much.

Were Sion and Lafia simply incredibly lucky?

Meanwhile, Lafia, who was repeatedly stroking the mane of the Dream-Eating Thousand-Mile Horse, asked.

“Roan, Roan! What species is this? It’s really cute too!”

“Name, quickly!”

Riel even drew close to Roan, urging him in a voice much louder and clearer than usual.

Since both of them were aspiring Paladins, they could not help but be completely head over heels for a horse-shaped holy beast.

Demona burst into laughter, claiming that Riel was challenging Roan to a duel this time.

“……It is a Dream-Eating Thousand-Mile Horse. It uniquely manipulates dreams, allowing it to turn its body into a dream to move rapidly. If there is luggage, it can also store it in a dream. ……It is an especially good holy beast for Paladins.”

In truth, the Dream-Eating Thousand-Mile Horse was a top-tier holy beast treated on par with divine beasts, just like the Adamant Beetle.

“Wow! That’s awesome!”

The female students who heard the explanation rejoiced as if they would leap for joy, completely unaware that Roan’s expression was hardening for some reason.

The Dream-Eating Thousand-Mile Horse played around by converting its body into a dream, jumping into Lafia’s arms, and slipping out behind her.

Lafia giggled and exclaimed.

“Your name is Ssaeng-ssaeng-ie, do you like it?”

‘We definitely got off on the wrong foot with the naming convention.’

Roan shook his head as he listened to his friends’ formulaic naming.

To make matters worse, Hector and Demona were the starting point of this trend.

Neighhh—!

Even so, the Dream-Eating Thousand-Mile Horse seemed to like the name quite a bit.

Ding—!

Riel was next.

“I have a good feeling about Riel too!”

“Expectations…!”

Squeak—!

A brown shape hopped up and down from Riel’s incubator.

Unlike with the Sunrise Nest Butterfly or the Dream-Eating Thousand-Mile Horse, this time the other students reacted with slight disappointment.

─ What? It’s just a Fruit-Ripening Ape?

─ It’s a decent holy beast, but… still a bit disappointing.

The Fruit-Ripening Ape was a monkey holy beast commonly seen in forests or jungles, named as such because the forests where they lived were always full of fruit.

However, it also failed to show any outstanding performance in battles or Holy Wars.

Squeak— Squeeeak—

“……!”

However, Riel looked extremely happy as she watched the creature hop around her and act cute.

─ Look at that cold expression of Heylik.

─ I-It’s scary…

…Though it looked a bit different to the students.

However, the moment Roan inspected Riel’s holy beast, his eyes widened.

“Riel, grab it for a second.”

“?”

Grab— Squeak—?

Following Roan’s instruction, Riel snatched the holy beast in an instant.

Though Riel only showed very subtle expressions of emotion, actions like this were truly as swift as lightning.

Caught unexpectedly, the holy beast tilted its head, looking back and forth between Riel and Roan.

“Let’s see…”

Wondering if he had misseen, Roan inspected the holy beast’s back, and then began rummaging and flipping it over here and there.

The more he did, the more certain he became.

“Why, Roan?”

“What’s the matter, Darc?”

Lafia and Sion asked with worried expressions.

They wondered if there was some problem with Riel’s holy beast.

“This is not a Fruit-Ripening Ape.”

“……?”

Squeak—?

Riel and the holy beast tilted their heads at the same time.

Riel had also seen Fruit-Ripening Apes a few times, and this creature looked exactly like them.

Even the holy beast held in Riel’s hands had an expression that seemed to say, ‘I’m not a Fruit-Ripening Ape?’