Chapter 182

— Then, we will depart.

Clatter— clatter—

After all the passengers boarded, the Paladin Merchant Guild’s carriage slowly departed.

Even though it was a merchant guild carriage, perhaps because it was made for passengers, the ride was quite comfortable.

‘Of course, it wouldn’t compare to a passenger car on Earth…’

Roan cast his eyes on the map placed on the small table in the center of the carriage.

As written in the recruitment guide, the route for this volunteering was to depart from Akerandir, go through Gilsberg, and reach the Edinker Campsite.

‘I need to obtain the Corrupted Holy Emblem in Gilsberg and the Balance of Light and Dark at the Edinker Campsite… I’ll be quite busy.’

They were to spend a night in Gilsberg, and it seemed Roan would have to run around busily even then.

At that moment, Sion, who was also staring intently at the map, asked Roan.

“Darc, how long does it take to get to Gilsberg?”

Roan glanced at the map and replied.

“Well, if you ride on horseback, it would take about three days.”

“???”

Hearing that, Sion gasped in surprise.

Three days?

“Then we won’t be able to make it back over the weekend! Besides, we have to go all the way to the Edinker Campsite…”

Roan wore a face that asked why she was questioning something so obvious, but soon recalled Sion’s circumstances and nodded.

“Once we go outside the school, you will probably find out.”

“Yes?”

“Ah, the school gate is visible over there.”

Clatter— clatter—

Although the ride of the passenger carriage the party was in was comfortable, the noise of the carriage couldn’t be helped.

Sion reflexively looked at the school gate Roan pointed to with his chin.

The moment the double-horse carriage passed through that school gate.

Whoooosh—

Along with a strange sensation, the outside scenery that had been flowing naturally changed unrealistically.

To put it into words, it was like someone was dragging the scenery itself in the opposite direction of their travel.

“This is a carriage enchanted with spatial holy magic. After it became known that certain spirit beasts, like the Blue Dawn Horse pulling this carriage, have the effect of strengthening spatial holy magic, spatial holy magic carriages have become widely distributed.”

Roan had also ridden such a carriage when he came from the Darc family’s abandoned lord’s castle to Akerandir.

On the other hand, Sion had ridden a regular carriage when traveling from the Ricardo Kingdom to the Holy See.

Although she did ride a spatial holy magic carriage from the Holy See to Akerandir.

‘Come to think of it, the setting back then was that because of the tension, she couldn’t sleep for several days and fell asleep as soon as she boarded the carriage, so she didn’t know about it.’

Due to her own reasons, this was actually the first time she was experiencing such a carriage.

It was plausible that such a reason contributed to her poor complexion during the entrance ceremony.

“Wow, I see!”

Sion looked around the outside as if it were marvelous and marveled.

“Don’t stick your head or arm outside. Unless you want to be dragged out with it. They won’t even find your corpse.”

“Gasp!”

[Gasp!]

Unintentionally, Roan had startled not only Sion but also Bel, who was hovering near the window.

Roan chuckled at their similar, seemingly rehearsed reactions.

Meanwhile, Gordon, who was watching that scene, asked with interest.

“Young Master Darc is quite knowledgeable. It hasn’t been long since spatial holy magic carriages were commercialized.”

Even if the price had dropped a lot, it was still too much for individuals to use.

Even now, only groups of decent scale, like the Paladin Merchant Guild, could think about purchasing one.

Roan shook his head.

“I try to learn a lot of things to rebuild the family, but I am still very lacking. I will learn a lot this time.”

“Indeed…!”

Gordon nodded with a deeply impressed face.

Rather than being well-informed about the spatial holy magic carriage, that humble attitude was even more surprising.

With a boy like that, resurrecting the Darc family did not seem like a dream.

‘Is a tiger a tiger even if it doesn’t grow up under a tiger?’

“Hmph! Roan, this big brother will help you a lot too!”

Espard even pulled out a handkerchief and wiped away tears.

To think he had become such an adult during the fourteen years they hadn’t met!

…For reference, Roan was sixteen years old in the game’s setting.

On the other hand, Yusina teased Sion mischievously to lighten the mood.

“Sion, you’re more of a country bumpkin than I thought~”

“S-Saintess. It’s not like that…”

Sion waved her hands, blushing.

“Even if Sion looks like that, she is of kingdom noble birth. It can be rude for an empire citizen to casually call someone a country bumpkin.”

Generally, a citizen of the Empire talking about the countryside to someone from a kingdom was indeed rude, just as Roan said.

But since Yusina was a real country bumpkin, it was no problem.

“D-Darc! The Saintess didn’t mean it that way!”

Sion stopped Roan, raising her voice slightly, worried that Yusina might feel embarrassed.

Yusina turned her head away petulantly and spoke.

“Hmph! Roan’s problem is that he is too serious!”

However, Roan knew one more reason why Yusina shouldn’t tease Sion.

“And I don’t think you are in a position to tease others, senior?”

“Huh? What do you mean by… mm…”

Yusina tried hard to pretend not to know, but the reason was soon revealed.

“Ugh… Roan, how did you know I had motion sickness…”

Yusina could no longer hold it and, her face turning pale white, staggered toward the window.

It looked like she might open the window at any second, so Espard hurriedly held her back.

“Yusina! You mustn’t open the window! Even if you are the Saintess, you’ll be sucked out!”

“U-Uncle… I’m really motion sick… Ugh… I thought I wouldn’t be this time…”

Roan signaled to Sion with his eyes.

“Yes?”

“Use Pallangi.”

“Ah!”

Understanding Roan’s meaning, Sion placed Pallangi, who was riding on her shoulder, on top of Yusina’s head.

Flutter—!

The powder from the wings of the Sunrise Nest Butterfly is generally used to bewilder targets, but it also has excellent efficacy as a sleeping aid or anesthetic.

Flutter—

As the sparkling powder scattered over Yusina’s face,

“Mmm… I feel motion sick… Mumble, mumble—”

Yusina fell fast asleep like magic.

Roan seated Yusina on one side of the long bench.

It was just that her presence was usually so large, but laying her down like this, he realized once again that she had a body no different from ordinary girls.

‘Well, after all, she’s only nineteen now.’

It was a bit awkward to think she was the same age as the high school girls who laughed gigglingly on the streets of South Korea.

Meanwhile, Espard, who was looking at the soundly sleeping Yusina as if she were cute, asked Roan.

“Ah, Roan. How is the Bell of Eternity?”

It wasn’t a question with a very deep meaning.

He was simply asking about his resolve, whether he felt the responsibility contained in that bell and if he could use it well in the future.

However, Roan, who had been momentarily distracted by Yusina, answered absentmindedly.

“Ah, it’s really great. I will use it well.”

“?????”

Espard was flustered by Roan’s words, which carried a strange nuance.

The same went for Sion next to him.

‘W-When did Darc use the Bell of Eternity?’

Could it be that he secretly blocked black mages invading Akerandir like last time?

‘Ah, the secret information network!’

Thinking that the information network must be a secret to Espard as well, Sion hurriedly helped Roan out.

Because the existence of black mages trying to attack the school was certainly information the secret information network would provide.

“Darc has been admiring the Bell of Eternity ever since he received it. Saying it’s an incredible artifact. Is that what you mean?”

By then, Roan also realized that his words could cause a bit of a misunderstanding.

…Though it wasn’t exactly a misunderstanding.

“That’s right. The more I look at it, the more it is a beautiful work of art and, at the same time, a sacred relic that carries the weight of time. I can understand with what mindset the Saint managed it.”

“Ahahaha, right? I’m glad you like it.”

With Roan and Sion’s perfectly synchronized conversation, Espard’s embarrassment seemed to fade a bit.

However, out of his instinct as a Saint, he added a remark just in case.

“Still, you shouldn’t try to use it on your friends, okay? It’s a dangerous object.”

Seeing him use punishment holy magic on Hector and Demona earlier made him even more worried.

Roan knew.

In times like this, he had to make the other person out to be the strange one instead.

“Hmm? Of course. I will only use it to imprison black mages and heretics.”

Roan spoke as if repeating it would only waste breath, and instead looked at Espard with a questioning gaze.

Since it wasn’t a lie, he felt no remorse whatsoever.

Because Roan was a black mage and a heretic!

Admiring Roan for speaking so calmly, Sion secretly whispered in his ear.

His courage in secretly eliminating the black mages was great, but since he had disobeyed her previous request, she had to say something.

“I told you not to do anything too conspicuous, didn’t I? No matter how secretly you did it… you almost got caught.”

‘What is she talking about again?’

Does she know I’m a black mage?

Or does she know I imprisoned myself?

Roan looked at Sion with a bewildered expression.

Sion wore a triumphant face as if she had caught Roan off guard, and said nothing more.

The more she did that, the more bewildered Roan became.

Does she really know?

Then again, if she knew, she would have told Espard right away, ‘That guy is a black mage who enrolled secretly,’ rather than saying such things to Roan.

It wasn’t like she had Stockholm syndrome.

Meanwhile, Tirmy, who had been listening to the conversation, spoke.

“The Bell of Eternity?”

Meaning, why was the Bell of Eternity suddenly being mentioned.

Espard answered with a smile.

“Ah, it seems you didn’t know, Professor. Roan has become the next owner of the Bell of Eternity.”

“Oh.”

Tirmy admired honestly.

When Roan actually pulled the Bell of Eternity out of his magic pouch, her admiration deepened.

“Uh, the rumor that Darc received the Bell of Eternity should have spread throughout the entire school.”

Sion seemed a bit curious about why Tirmy had not known about this until now.

To put it plainly, it was safe to say that the news of Roan obtaining the Bell of Eternity had spread from the southern end of Akerandir to the northern end, and from the lowest basement to the highest floor instantly.

“That’s right. I also heard it upon arriving in Akerandir yesterday.”

Even Gordon, an outsider, knew.

Roan put the Bell of Eternity back into his magic pouch and resolved Sion’s curiosity.

“Professor Tirmy doesn’t care about rumors in order to pursue extreme efficiency. She only believes what she sees.”

“Oh…”

Sion was slightly impressed.

Not blindly believing false rumors was a correct attitude, written even in the scriptures.

‘But does that kind of thing affect duel as well?’

***

A certain place near Akerandir.

As if deep underground, in a dark place where not a single ray of sunlight entered, only a few candles lit the surroundings.

However, even though the lit space was barely visible, it was considerably bizarre.

Red walls that looked as if they were painted with blood, a flag embroidered with a heart, tapestries, and so on.

At a huge table placed in the center of that space, people clad in dark red robes were sitting densely.

Even their faces, faintly visible inside the robes, were thickly painted with white and red paint.

If there was a commonality among those people,

— …

it was that they were all silently staring only at the mysterious man sitting in the highest seat.

And finally.

Blink—!