Chapter 146

Chapter 146

Coincidentally, today’s elective class was ‘Sacred Combat Practice I’.

It was a class Roan had chosen instead of Professor Kaina’s ‘Practical Black Magic Destruction’.

Why did Roan, who wouldn’t even look at Sacred Combat, choose this class?

‘As long as it isn’t Professor Vulkan’s class, Sacred Combat classes are worth listening to.’

A common misconception among beginners of God and Devil was that all Sacred Combat professors were crazy about Sacred Combat like Vulkan.

Surprisingly, that wasn’t quite the case.

……Of course, it just meant they weren’t crazy about Sacred Combat, not that they were normal.

However, it remained unknown why Vulkan, who was on the craziest side among them, was in charge of the ‘Divine and Spiritual Beasts’ class rather than a formal Sacred Combat class.

‘If it’s Harden, it’s highly likely he assigned him the spiritual beast class simply because he is a spiritual beast half-blood.’

In any case, looking only at the contents, today’s elective class could rather be called a true ‘Divine and Spiritual Beasts’ class.

“Did everyone choose the Sacred Combat class today?”

“Yes.”

Everyone nodded at Raphia’s question.

Raphia did not bother to ask ‘Why?’.

Since it was bound to be because of Professor Kaina.

Professor Kaina was certainly kind to students…… but she was not the type one wanted to meet in class.

‘Especially not the type one wants to meet as a black mage.’

In particular, Roan had one more reason.

Demona asked Hector with a suspicious eye.

“Hector, my junior, shouldn’t you still be taking Professor Kaina’s class?”

“Uh? Yes? Wh-Why do you think so? I, I have absolutely no idea.”

Hector, visibly flustered, stammered.

His friends narrowed their eyes and stared at Hector.

If the Pavilto family didn’t take it, who on earth would?

At that moment, Roan supported Hector.

“There is no rule that Hector must take the heretic inquisitor class. Hector likes Sacred Combat that much, after all.”

“Roan……! As expected, there is only you……!”

Hector, with teary eyes, tried to cling to Roan.

‘He casts paralysis spells on him every day, so isn’t that a bit off?’

Is it because he developed tolerance?

Roan thought he was quite an amazing guy in a certain sense.

“If you don’t get away right now, I will fire a holy magic of punishment.”

“Hieeeek!”

Perhaps hating that, Hector recoiled in fright.

Actually, Roan had a separate reason for exceptionally defending Hector.

‘Even if that guy takes the heretic inquisition class, what else would he become but a heretic inquisitor?’

……It was better to nip it in the bud.

A worldline where Hector grew up to be called something like ‘Demon Destroyer’ was not very helpful to Roan.

Raphia asked.

“By the way, who is the professor for this Sacred Combat class? Professor Vulkan? Or Professor Hersh?”

“Neither of them.”

Roan shook his head.

At this, his friends fell further into a maze.

In fact, besides those two, there were a suspiciously large number of Sacred Combat professors in Acherandir.

“Fuhufuhu.”

At that moment, Hector stepped forward with a devious smile.

“Ugh, Hector, it’s creepy, so don’t smile like that.”

“Don’t smile.”

“You guys are really too much…….”

Although he seemed momentarily hurt by Raphia and Riel’s words, Hector quickly said what he wanted to say.

“I know who the professor for this elective class is. It is one of the few pieces of information I heard from my family.”

“Oh, really?”

His friends cast surprised glances at Hector.

‘Did this guy even know about Professor Kaina?’

To Roan, there was something slightly suspicious, but in any case.

“What kind of person is it?”

Hector answered confidently.

“Someone without blood or tears.”

Demona nodded at Hector’s words.

“Ah~ It’s Professor Vulkan. Then you could have just said Professor Vulkan. But Roan said it wasn’t him?”

The other friends were the same.

……He spoke as if it were so obvious that if Vulkan heard it, he might feel a little sad.

However, Hector shook his head seriously.

“No, far worse than Professor Vulkan.”

“““??!!?!?!?”””

His friends were all startled.

Demona recoiled in fright and said.

“Is that even possible? Is he a golem or something?”

“Uh? How did you know?”

Hector asked back with a blank expression.

His friends stealthily glanced at Roan.

Although Hector seemed to know something, in matters like this, they ultimately needed confirmation from Roan.

After seeing his friends’ reaction, Roan nodded.

“You know surprisingly well.”

“Gasppp!”

Does that even make sense?

***

Training Ground 13 of Acherandir.

One might wonder why there were up to thirteen training grounds, but in fact, Acherandir had well over twenty training grounds.

‘Well, land is the one thing they have plenty of.’

Most of those numerous training grounds were used for events, Sacred Combat arenas, class venues, and so on.

And the Sacred Combat Practice I class they were about to take was also held right here.

— What kind of professor is it this time?

— I hope it’s someone like Professor Hersh.

— I’m going to tell Professor Vulkan everything.

The students seemed to look forward to another Sacred Combat class even after just taking Professor Vulkan’s class in the morning.

On the other hand, Roan’s friends seemed slightly anxious.

“No blood or tears……”

“A golem is the professor……?”

Hector’s information had been far too shocking.

Even Vulkan’s class, who had blood and tears, was in that state, let alone a golem who only knew Sacred Combat?

Roan tilted his head and asked.

“Is that so scary?”

Sion replied.

“Of course, Darc. A golem teaching Sacred Combat, we can’t even imagine what that would be like.”

The surrounding students who overheard Sion’s words created a stir.

— Wow! Darc says we’re doing Sacred Combat with a golem this time!

— I hope it’s a transforming golem!

……It was at a level where one wondered if they had inserted some holy relic that misinterprets words into their eardrums.

Since it wasn’t very surprising anymore, Roan just said what he wanted to say.

“I find a black mage professor who teaches holy magic well, a professor who sells exam papers for money, and a healing professor who hands students a knife and tells them to stab their own bodies far scarier.”

What about the simply scary Professor Kaina or the ghost Principal?

“““…….”””

His friends were speechless at Roan’s highly valid point.

‘C-Come to think of it, maybe it’s not particularly scary?’

‘Indeed…… come to think of it, even a book is a professor.’

Particularly, Sion and Demona, who took Professor Diar’s class together, could understand more easily.

“And this professor is not such a cold person.”

“Then is he hot? Is he a fire golem?”

At Demona’s sudden question, Roan answered with a look of contempt instead.

“Why are you only doing this to me……”

Demona became dejected.

‘Then why do you do this to me?’

Roan had a lot to say, but he decided to just endure it.

“Demona, saying he’s not a cold person doesn’t mean his body is hot, but that he is a kind-hearted person.”

When Sion explained patiently, Demona nodded as if she understood.

At least Hector was looking forward to this professor very much.

“Indeed, just as Roan said, this professor is truly an amazing person! Twenty years ago, he faced the Sacred Combat League Champion and recorded a whopping 6 wins and 1 loss out of 7 matches.”

“Wow…… really?”

Hearing that he had defeated the Sacred Combat League Champion by an overwhelming score difference, his friends finally showed interest.

How could a golem possess the skill to defeat a human, and a champion at that?

“Of course! There will surely be a lot to learn.”

Hector nodded, puffing out steam.

“But why is he teaching now? Do golems retire too?”

Roan answered instead of Raphia’s question.

“Because he beat the champion.”

“……Eh?”

“Because he was too good at Sacred Combat, the Sacred Combat Association issued a permanent ban.”

It was a far more tragic reason than expected.

A golem banned from competing for the crime of defeating humans.

At that moment.

An unusual sound came from the other side of the training ground.

Clank— Hiss— Clanker— Hiss—

A giant body well over 2 meters tall.

Large, glowing green eyes.

A faint white gas spewing from the joints.

Recognizing the brilliance that was similar to silver yet distinctly incomparable, the students screamed.

— Wh-What is that?!

— A Mithril Golem?

Making that giant body out of Mithril, which was difficult to even make a single earring with, was a terror beyond surprise.

‘They’re surprisingly not very surprised.’

Roan stared somewhat puzzledly at the students who were calmer than expected.

He had thought they would make a fuss, saying something like ‘It’s a golem rebellion!’ if a golem made of Mithril appeared.

Of course, Roan’s misunderstanding was cleared a moment later.

— Look, they must be doing Sacred Combat with that golem!

— Wow, how much money does Acherandir have? Can they make that many golems out of Mithril?

— Why aren’t the others coming?

‘They just didn’t think it was a professor.’

The students too naturally treated the golem as an artificial spiritual beast to be used in Sacred Combat.

“Isn’t that practically a war weapon?”

Demona asked.

“Well, the structure is similar.”

Roan nodded readily.

One of the reasons Mithril was precious was precisely because it harbored its own holy power.

Because of this, it was also called ‘Sacred Silver’.

A significant amount of Mithril was also included in the Bell of Eternity.

As such, if a golem made of Mithril possessed intelligence, using holy magic was not a big deal.

Most of the holy power was consumed in maintaining the golem’s artificial intelligence, but the remaining holy power alone was easily at a professor’s level.

Anyway, perhaps because she had heard beforehand that the professor was a golem, Demona was a bit better off.

“Wow! I want that golem!”

“…….”

However, Demona spoke of wanting to have the professor with sparkling eyes.

Roan clicked his tongue and said.

“It’s illegal.”

“Ah, really?”

Under Imperial law, artificial intelligence is treated as a human being.

Owning a human meant slavery, and since slavery was legally forbidden, it was ultimately illegal.

Clank— Clack— Hiss—

Golem professor finally stood in front of the students.

The students murmured.

— By the way, where is the professor?

— Don’t tell me that golem is the professor?

— Hey! Does that make sense?

— Hahaha, I guess so?

The students laughed and chatted among themselves, completely oblivious to the truth.

Beeeeeep──!!!!

At that moment, a mechanical sound that drew everyone’s attention erupted from the golem.

Then, the golem spoke.

“I am. Born for Sacred Combat. Sacred Combat Artificial Intelligence—Professor Alphard Googol.”

The golem’s characteristic voice spoke one character at a time, completely devoid of pitch.

‘If you listen closely, the ‘Sacred Combat Artificial Intelligence—’ part sounds like a superhero show, which is nice.’

……It was a point only Roan could relate to.

— ?????

Most of the students did not properly understand the meaning even after hearing the golem’s words.

Did the golem just call itself a professor?

At that moment, three third-years came running from a distance.

“Professooor! We brought what you requested.”

And they stacked the boxes they brought behind the golem.

Clank—

Turning its head to the third-years, the golem said.

“Thank you. Students.”

“Don’t mention it. If you need anything else later, please let us know, Professor!”

“Understood.”

The third-years ran back just as they had come.

— H-He’s really a professor?!!!?!

What remained was only the astonishment of the freshmen.