Chapter 167

Chapter 167

One of the many low hills surrounding the buildings of Akerandir.

In a clearing halfway up the hill, students who had selected the gathering class were gathered.

—Since we came with Ppolppori, a place like this is actually not too bad.

—Chubby, where did you pick this up from?

If it were in the past, the students would have been busy gathering in small groups to swear at, envy, or be jealous of someone, but now they were fully occupied playing around in nature with their spirit beasts.

Roan, who was usually that ‘someone’, was deeply satisfied with that sight.

‘As expected, directing their attention elsewhere reduces stress.’

In any case, since the spirit beasts were animals that lived in nature, they felt suffocated in the center of Akerandir, which was packed with people and buildings.

It was good to relieve their stress by letting them fly, run, and play to their hearts’ content in places like this occasionally.

It was the same for Bel and Charlotte.

Kwoooah—!

[Hahaha! How is it? You can’t do something like this, can you, little sister?]

Bel flew as fast as he could without using magic, and then bragged while looking at Charlotte.

Whoosh—!

[…]

Of course, the Thousand-sword Peacock King was also a divine beast that was second to none when it came to flying, so although not as fast as Bel, she could fly quite quickly.

Bel came back down, looking as if his excitement was dampened when he saw Charlotte following him immediately.

[Master, when does class start?]

‘Who knows.’

Roan shrugged.

Other classes aside, it was truly impossible to guess when the professor would arrive for this class.

…Since it was a class where the professor occasionally arrived late, resulting in a cancellation, how could even Roan know?

—Wow, look over there!

At that moment, gasps erupted from where a noticeably large number of students were gathered.

Wondering what was going on, Roan approached the spot.

Surprisingly, in the center of the students stood Riel and Kiki, who usually did not stand out much.

“Kiki.”

Kikiki—!!

When Riel called Kiki’s name in a cold voice, Kiki did three flips in place and then danced joyfully.

That sight was cute in its own way, but that alone wouldn’t have gathered the students.

Swoooosh—

Kiki’s dance was followed by an amazing thing.

Just when it seemed like a tree was sprouting from the flat land that had only been grass, it grew densely in no time and even bore delicious-looking fruit!

Although Fruit-tending Orangutans were good at caring for already existing trees, rapidly creating a new tree like this was possible only for Kiki, the Tree-emperor Monkey.

Kiki climbed the tree he had grown, picked a handful of fruit excitedly, and came down.

Then, after giving one fruit to Riel, he used simple sign language.

│ Delicious! │

On the day she obtained Kiki, Riel had gone straight to the library and learned a bit of sign language.

It was said that this was the very first sign language she learned, fitting for a Tree-emperor Monkey who loved to eat.

The students stared with wide eyes and open mouths at the miraculous scene that made them doubt their own eyes.

Step—

Riel walked with strides beneath the tree with an icy expression.

Then, she slowly glared at the fruit in her hand and the tree.

Then suddenly,

Crush—!

She crushed the fairly hard fruit in her hand using nothing but grip strength!

—Hieeeek—!

—O-Oh my goodness!

—I guess Haylik doesn’t really like it.

—Did he have to create a tree made of ice or iron?!

Because her appearance didn’t look like she liked the tree no matter how they looked at it, the students muttered in vain fear.

Of course, in Roan’s eyes, it was quite different.

‘It is hard for Riel to be that pleased.’

Riel was currently unable to contain her excitement and joy.

It was evident from the fact that she, who rarely showed any visible emotion, had even crushed the fruit.

Moreover, seeing her lips twitching and her pupils trembling very slightly,

‘she is feeling sorry for crushing the fruit even though she thinks it is truly amazing.’

In Riel’s heart, a storm of emotions that was rare to experience was raging violently.

Kiki—! Kiki—!

Cleverly understanding Riel’s mind, Kiki hopped round and round her.

—Kiki, it’s dangerous!

—You’re going to die at this rate!

…Though to the students, he looked like a foolish spirit beast courting death.

Swish— swish—

Riel waved her hand and spoke to Kiki in sign language.

│ Thank you. Fruit. Sorry. │

It was indeed a touching communion between a master and her spirit beast.

—…Does it mean, ‘Why did you make this sort of thing?’

—It might mean, ‘I don’t need this crap!’

The students interpreted Riel’s sign language as they pleased.

“It means, ‘Thank you for giving me the fruit, and I’m sorry for crushing it.’”

Unable to endure it any longer, Roan translated the meaning of Riel’s words.

—Hieek, Dark!

—I-Is that true?

—From the great demon king’s perspective, could it mean something like that?

—Something like, ‘I’m thankful and sorry, but just die!’?

The students watched Riel and Kiki with half-believing and half-doubting looks.

Seeing how she stood watching silently instead of pulling out her sword or reaching out, it seemed Roan’s words were correct.

“Wow, Roan, you know sign language too?”

Demona asked, marveling at Roan’s translation.

“Roughly.”

“Amazing!”

“Dark…”

Even the friends, who were rarely surprised by Roan’s knowledge, admired him this time.

Roan had learned essential sign language, though not to the extent of carrying out free communication.

To communicate with NPCs who couldn’t speak or hear among those who gave quests, it was necessary to learn it.

‘And it is also useful during secret infiltrations.’

Of course, the friends wouldn’t be able to guess the reason at all.

“Anyway, this is Elka Pomegranate. It is a fruit that grows in the Southern Great Jungle region. It can be eaten raw, or brewed into alcohol.”

Roan said as he plucked a fruit and examined it.

Since that was the primary habitat of the Tree-emperor Monkey, it seemed he had instinctively created this fruit.

—Alcohol? Brewed into alcohol?

—Should I try to get a few…?

The students were suspiciously agitated by the mention of alcohol.

‘To think these guys are students…’

Roan glared at them and backed away.

Of course, in the Empire, alcohol was not strictly forbidden for minors like on Earth.

Since religion and alcohol were deeply connected, and most of them were nobles, they must have had some exposure to it since childhood.

For nobles, they had to be familiar with alcohol even if only for socializing.

Still, he had no intention of handing over the precious Elka Pomegranate to random people.

‘I have the lucky pouch, but that’s a bit much.’

Roan looked around for a moment and then called Rafia.

“Rafia.”

“Huh? What is it?”

At that, Rafia and Ssaengssaengi approached, wondering what was going on.

“I’d like to borrow Ssaengssaengi for a moment.”

“Ah!”

With just that, Rafia seemed to have understood Roan’s intention.

“Ssaengssaengi, unfold your dream!”

At Rafia’s request, the Dream-eating Thousand-Li Horse Ssaengssaengi dispersed its body like hazy purple smoke.

In this state, Dream-eating Thousand-Li Horses could easily store luggage up to ten times their own volume.

As Roan put the pomegranate he was holding into Ssaengssaengi’s body, it turned hazy as if falling into a dream and disappeared.

“Putting it inside the dream of a Dream-eating Thousand-Li Horse keeps it safe for a short time. May we harvest them for now?”

If stored for too long, items might occasionally disappear just as a dream is forgotten, but there was no issue for about a day.

“Of course!”

“Certainly.”

At Roan’s request, Rafia and Riel replied as if asking why he would even ask such a thing.

Kiki and Riel immediately picked the fruit excitedly and put them into Ssaengssaengi.

[Me too! I want to do it too!]

Bel, who found everything fun and novel, could not be left out.

Slash-slash-slash—

—Wow, Pointy is cool.

Charlotte grabbed her sharp cloak edges with both hands and dropped the pomegranates in an instant.

[Me too…!]

‘Follow quietly, quietly.’

[Okaay…]

Bel felt competitive again upon seeing that, but he did not use black magic due to Roan’s restraint.

After those events, the Elka Pomegranates that had densely hung on a single tree quickly vanished into Ssaengssaengi.

—Tsk, is there really a need to pick them in such a hurry?

—As if someone is going to steal them…

The students smacked their lips as if disappointed upon seeing that.

Roan smirked and thought to himself,

‘If they knew that was the truth, they would be shocked and flip out.’

In fact, Roan would not have handled it so quickly under normal circumstances either.

Especially since it was a great opportunity for Riel and Kiki to build rapport.

But with the gathering class ahead, it was better to hurry even by a moment.

…Because if that professor laid eyes on the Elka Pomegranates, not a single pomegranate seed would remain.

“Students! You are the freshmen here, right? Huh? Was there originally a tree over there?”

Coincidentally, someone came running diligently from below the clearing.

A man dressed in a straw hat, a shabby shirt, and overalls like a farmer.

—Who is that?

—Do they farm in Akerandir too?

The students tilted their heads, not even guessing his identity.

Checking the yellow points on the uniforms and confirming they were freshmen, the man smiled brightly and introduced himself,

“Ah, I’m Dorin, the gathering class teaching assistant.”

“Oh, not a farming class?”

Hearing Dorin’s words, Demona asked reflexively.

The students wore expressions of shock, but Dorin maintained his amiable smile and replied kindly,

“Hahaha! Obtaining something from nature is similar whether it is farming or gathering.”

“Wow! That is really cool!”

Clap-clap-clap—

At that, Demona clapped in admiration.

It was because, although she didn’t quite understand what he meant, she could at least feel the conviction within it.

The other students also sighed in relief for some reason.

—This class might be a peaceful one.

—Seeing how kind the assistant is, it will definitely be so!

Because Dorin looked to be one of the kindest and most gentle staff members they had met in classes so far.

‘They still haven’t suffered enough.’

Of course, to Roan’s ears, it was nothing but absurd optimism.

Rather, one had to be even more careful not to let their guard down when facing a kind-looking appearance.

…Even Uli was just a cute five-colored squirrel on the outside.

“Thank you. But has the professor not arrived yet?”

—No!

When the students replied in unison, Dorin glanced around and said,

“That’s strange… Because they definitely set off yesterday. It’s about time they arrived.”

—????

The students who had been sighing in relief until a moment ago began to feel anxious.

Then one of them asked, saying ‘Ah’.

—By any chance, are they coming from outside the school?

—That must be it!

—Goodness, I worried for nothing?

If it was returning from a business trip outside Akerandir, it would make sense.

Although not many, there were occasionally external lecturers.

The students laughed with each other, thinking that they must have developed too many worries while staying in Akerandir.

At that, Dorin gave a bitter smile and shook his head.

“No, the professor set off from that building over there.”

—???????

As he said that, the place Dorin pointed to was one of the buildings clearly visible from halfway up the hill.

‘‘‘How on earth does it take a day from there to here…?’’’

It was a situation where they couldn’t guess the reason at all.

“Still, they will arrive soon, so gather around and wait just a little bit!”

—Y-Yes…

Swept up in tension and anxiety, the students quietly gathered and sat in the center of the clearing.

They knew that sticking together helped with survival in times like this.

…Of course, not to fight back, but if anything happened, couldn’t they throw the person next to them and flee themselves?