Chapter 178

Chapter 178

In fact, Sion’s words were also right.

There was no way that children of noble families who grew up preciously would have many experiences of going on even a short trip with a merchant group.

Moreover, going from being protected to being the protector was bound to make one nervous.

However, it was merely Roan’s intention to relieve Sion’s tension a little by intentionally provoking her like this.

“Hmph…”

Sion, who hadn’t thought that far, fell for Roan’s play and huffed through her nose.

In the meantime, her tension was already mostly dissipating before she knew it.

“But are you going to bring Noeuli and Pallangi with you?”

Rafia asked Sion.

Sion stroked Noeuli gently, looking troubled, and replied,

“Well… I want to bring them along, but I’m worried if I can take good care of them. I heard we can use the depository as well.”

“Indeed, that makes sense.”

Rafia nodded in agreement.

And the two of them turned to look at Roan at the same time.

As a rule, looking at him when having a worry solved everything.

Roan sighed softly before answering,

“These kinds of trips are of great help in increasing intimacy. It’s better to bring them along if possible. Noeuli and Pallangi seem capable of taking care of themselves too.”

[Me too! I definitely want to go too!]

‘I said I’m taking you.’

[Ah-hang!]

Bel was startled and jerked his head up, but soon felt relieved and began eating his food again.

Though he had said he wouldn’t go out of fear until last night, it seemed he thought it would be fun.

“Mm. Then I will do that.”

Sion nodded without much hesitation.

‘I feel like I’ve become the Magic Conch Shell that answers worries.’

Roan recalled an animation he had seen when he was on Earth.

While they were sharing various conversations like that,

─ This week, there is an environmental cleanup volunteer activity for the hill behind Ester Hall! First ten people on a first-come, first-served basis!

─ Hieek… Who would go to something like hill environmental cleanup?

As on a typical weekend, the recruitment for campus volunteer activities began.

The students had to engage in a fierce struggle to grab the sweet volunteer jobs and avoid the hellish ones.

Last week was somewhat easy because of the clueless freshmen, but this week was a full-fledged war.

─ Senior! Please yield Professor Beleck’s volunteer work to your junior!

─ Uh-huh, even the scriptures have the old and the new, how dare you!

Argument, or light clashes of holy power, broke out everywhere.

Rumble—

─ Heuuuk! It’s Darc!

“Rafia, Riel, participate in that volunteer work. It is a decent task.”

“T-Thanks, Roan!”

“Thanks…!”

Roan outweighed their choice by finding a suitable volunteer work and allowing Rafia and Riel to apply for it.

Although other students would look at them with unfavorable eyes, it wasn’t a day or two that this happened anyway.

He intentionally chose sweet volunteer jobs that others didn’t know well instead of those with glaringly high competition, so it wasn’t a major problem.

─ Professor Kaina’s…

“I-I-I will goooo!”

─ …A freshman?

─ Come to think of it, Pavilto students are indeed listed under the preferential treatment.

Hektor applied for Professor Kaina’s inquiry assistant, as mentioned last time.

“Demona, is Demona here?”

“Hieek! It’s Senior Uldane! Roan, hide me!”

“……You should learn a stealth holy art too.”

“I can’t do things like that~”

“Then you must get caught.”

“You’re so mean!!!”

Uldane immediately found Demona with an awareness worthy of the class president of Uli’s class.

……Actually, it was because Demona was making such a fuss even without such awareness.

“Demona! The professor said there’s some warehouse organizing to do. We’re going to a different warehouse than last time! Of course, there’s payment.”

“Hieeeek──!”

‘He’s going to suffer quite a bit this time.’

Demona thus automatically participated in Professor Uli’s volunteer work.

However, right before being dragged away, Demona pointed at Roan while tearing up.

“Can I go after seeing Roan off?”

“Huh? Where is Darc going?”

“Uwaaaah! They say he’s going on off-campus volunteer work without me!”

“Ah, I see. A freshman, yet so fast.”

Uldane nodded but looked at Demona in wonder.

‘But does a friend cry so sorrowfully just because their friend is going on off-campus volunteer work?’

As expected, Demona seemed to be a crazy guy.

‘Compared to him, I’m more or less normal!’

……In fact, Uldane wasn’t treated as very normal among the sophomores either.

At any rate, it was soon time to depart.

“I left my bag behind!”

“Good job.”

Sion had also left her bag in her room during the campus volunteer recruitment, making her appearance much lighter.

Roan and his friends came out of the cafeteria and headed to the plaza in front of the dormitory where they agreed to meet Yusina.

“Sniff… Roan, you must do well outside too.”

“It was truly fun, Roan. Uwaaaah!”

“I told you I’ll be back tomorrow.”

Meanwhile, Roan replied in a clearly annoyed tone to his friends—especially Demona and Hektor—who had absolutely no intention of listening to him.

Even Bel, who got caught up in it, asked Roan,

[Are we really leaving for good, Master?]

‘I said we are returning tomorrow.’

Fortunately, before long, Yusina came out of the dormitory with a bright smile.

“Hi, guys! Did everyone wait…?”

Then she tilted her head, seeing the crying friends around Roan—specifically Demona and Hektor.

“Roan, are you going somewhere far? What about off-campus volunteer work?”

Roan let out a deep sigh and said,

“Even when I tell them I’ll be back tomorrow, they are like this.”

“……?”

Yusina looked at Demona and Hektor in turn with a dumbfounded gaze.

Why make such a fuss over off-campus volunteer work?

Of course, since they were freshmen and had been close, they might feel a little sad, but Yusina had never seen anyone act to this extent before.

“G-Guys. It’s not a big deal, we are just going out briefly and coming back. Calm down, okay?”

However, as a Saintess, she could not simply ignore people who were crying, so Yusina comforted them.

“I-Is that true?”

“Isn’t Roan not coming back?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t he come back.”

Yusina made a wild, joking thought that Roan might actually run away because of these two.

‘Those bastards didn’t even pretend to listen when I spoke!’

……She had no idea that Roan actually had an overwhelming desire to do exactly that.

Rather than worrying about his identity as a black mage being exposed, facing those two was more stressful.

‘Was this what they meant by surviving in Akerandir?’

Yusina looked at the two of them as if they were cute and said,

“Your friends must really like you, Roan.”

“If they did, to me… never mind.”

Roan shook his head as if asking what more he could say.

“Anyway, did everyone who was coming arrive?”

Roan, Yusina, and Sion.

Since all three of them had gathered, Roan was about to head to Cayler Hall where the merchant group was waiting.

“Wait a second!”

However, Yusina held Roan back and said,

“I told you I was bringing one more person~”

Come to think of it, she seemed to have said something like that when they parted on Thursday.

He thought she was probably bringing one of the Sanctuary members.

‘They normally wouldn’t participate in volunteer work, though.’

There was a reason Roan hadn’t particularly cared.

Unless it was Zorve, perhaps.

But since Zorve was even busier on the weekends, he wouldn’t have the time.

Meanwhile, Sion merely smiled triumphantly in silence beside him.

‘And here I remembered!’

It was Sion tasting the sweetness of victory in an odd detail.

At any rate, it didn’t take long to find out who the ‘last person’ Yusina mentioned was.

“Oh! Everyone is out early!”

Roan felt a surge of anxiety starting from the direction that cheerful voice was coming from.

An ordinary student would come out of the dormitory in this early morning, not climb up from the cliff at the entrance.

Everyone’s gaze turned toward the direction of the voice.

“““Huuup───!”””

Seeing the unexpected figure, the group gasped in shock.

“S-Saint Espard!”

“Hello~ Climbing this cliff after a long time is quite fun in its own way.”

The person Yusina mentioned was none other than Espard, who was the Saint of the Bell.

Since it was something even Roan hadn’t anticipated, he asked hesitantly,

“……Had you not departed?”

“The Saint passed away? What are you talking about, Roan!”

“That is not what I meant, Demona.”

“Ah, it wasn’t?”

Demona’s nonsense remained unchanged even while crying.

In any rate, he had definitely heard a rumor that the carriage from the Holy Emperor’s Palace that brought him had left the school.

At that, Espard tilted his head briefly, then laughed heartily and replied,

“Huh? Ah~ No. Since Yusina said she is going to the Eddinger campsite with you, I just sent the carriage there in advance. Because it seemed fun. It’s okay if I join too, right?”

Would you not follow if I said it isn’t?

Roan pondered slightly.

Students who happened to be passing by flinched in surprise upon seeing the brilliant faces gathered here.

─ W-What is this? The Saintess, the Saintess Candidate, and even the Saint!

─ Was this the Holy Emperor’s Palace? Don’t tell me the Principal’s spatial miracle in the dormitory…

─ Stop talking nonsense.

─ Sorry…

Yusina and Sion were Akerandir students, so they were one thing, but with Espard joining, they drew an immense amount of attention.

Roan turned to look at Yusina, the culprit behind all this, with terrifying eyes.

To tell a black mage to ride in the same carriage as the Saint of the Bell!

Of course, she didn’t know that Roan was a black mage.

Yusina said with a sly smile,

“No need to be shy~ It will be safe and nice with Uncle Espard joining us.”

It would indeed be safe.

Except for the black mage.

While Roan was gnashing his teeth, Espard flared up and shouted,

“I’m not Uncle! You’d rather just call me Saint!”

“Understood, Uncle Saint Espard.”

“You…”

Espard and Yusina glared at each other, then laughed heartily.

On the other hand, Demona and Hektor were in a sea of tears again, rendering Yusina’s comfort useless.

“It’s true you’re getting expelled because you broke the wall! The Saint came to take you away!!”

“Uwaaaah! Roan, you sweet fellow, we can’t let you go like this!”

Just how long were they going to hold onto that old news and keep chewing on it?

“R-Roan, are you really leaving?”

“Expelled?”

It was to the point where the nonsense was slowly spreading even to Rafia and Riel, who had ignored the two’s fuss as nonsense until now.

“Huh? What does that mean? What wall, and what expulsion?”

Of course, Espard, who had no idea, asked as if wondering what they were talking about.

In the end, unable to bear it any longer, Roan channeled black mana.

“Shut up, please.”

““Keheuk-guuuh-argh!””

Demona and Hektor fell down at the same time upon being hit by the curse magic.

“It’s just nonsense. You do not need to worry. Let’s get going.”

“Ah, um… okay.”

Espard nodded hesitantly as he watched Roan cast a cruel punishment holy art, which even he didn’t use often, on his friends without a care.

For some reason, he hesitated to ask for details, and he roughly understood why Roan did that.

‘By the way, the level of his punishment holy art seems remarkable…?’

Espard was slightly surprised to see Roan’s curse magic, but looking at Hektor brushing himself off and getting up, he became confused again.

‘Maybe not?’

***

After a bout of farce passed, the party headed down the cliff of Paneroa Hall.

Yusina caught Roan, who was trying to climb down the cliff first.

“Roaaan~ You aren’t planning to go down before a lady, are you~?”

“What does that have to do with… ah.”

Roan was about to frown, thinking Yusina was being Yusina again, but then realized the meaning.

Unlike the male students, the female students’ uniforms were skirts.

“……You go down first.”