Chapter 222

Roan went inside, ignoring the nonsense coming from behind.

“Oh.”

Roan let out an exclamation upon seeing the state of the room.

Although there were various odds and ends, that did not matter.

Because only the black and white scale placed carefully on the wooden desk caught Roan’s eyes.

[O-Oh dear, Master tricked me!]

Meanwhile, Bel shuddered in severe betrayal.

To think he was rewarded with human trafficking after opening the door with all his heart!

Roan spoke, stroking Bel with a truly warm hand.

“Do you want to try getting on?”

Fearing he might be caught by that hand, Bel hurriedly fled inside the bag.

[I-If Charlotte doesn’t get on, I won’t get on either!]

He meant that he would absolutely not get on, but:

‘Well, we’ll have to wait and see about that.’

Roan strode forward and placed the Balance of Light and Dark into his lucky pouch.

It was then.

“Youuuu b-a-s-t-a-r-d!!!!”

A heavily hoarse, yet anger-filled voice filled the cave.

It was Oslo, whose face could be seen flushing red with anger even in the dark cave.

Rumble, rumble──

Naturally, over twenty black mages, a number that seemed easily enough, flocked behind him.

‘To think there are still that many left even though I took down quite a few; it is a fairly large group.’

Among them were the Pickaxe Brothers who had just cleared the way for Roan.

— That guy, that guy beat us up cruelly!

— Even though my brother and I risked our lives to block him…… ugh……

— It is because our skills were lacking! We are sorry, Lord Oslo!

It was a way of survival truly worthy of black mages.

In any case, this room was the very end of the cave, namely, a dead end.

To escape, he had to topple all of them or devise another method.

Oslo shouted upon seeing the empty desk behind Roan.

“The scale, what did you do with the scale!”

“Who knows?”

Roan shrugged.

Oslo trembled all over.

“Y-You…… know that today is the day of your death!”

[Uh…… what should we do? Should we fight? If the three of us unite, it seems worth a try……]

Even Bel, who was always energetic, seemed a bit disheartened by the larger numbers than expected.

Roan shook his head.

‘You shouldn’t fight so recklessly, Bel.’

[???]

When Roan reasoned calmly, Bel wore a considerably dumbfounded look.

Who was the one who had been smashing everything on his way here……?

In any case, Roan truly had no intention of fighting.

At least, not right now.

‘We must always try to resolve things through dialogue first, and love peace.’

[No, what on earth is……]

Bel could not bring himself to ask his master, ‘What kind of nonsense is that?’

Roan took a step forward, wearing a warm smile like a person who truly loved peace.

— O-Lord Oslo!

— It s-seems he really intends to fight?

As they watched, the ignorant black mages misunderstood Roan’s smile and were terrified.

Under normal circumstances, he would have been annoyed, but Roan endured it this time.

“I have no intention of fighting you.”

“……?”

— ……?

Oslo and the black mages showed a reaction similar to Bel’s.

The black mages whispered.

— What did he say just now?

— He has no intention of fighting, but has the intention to kill; is that what he means?

— Hieek!

“All of you, shut up!”

Having shouted at his subordinates once, Oslo asked in an excited voice:

“Then, are you going to hand back the scale?”

“No.”

“???”

What does he want us to do?

Oslo wondered if Roan had lost his mind from being cornered too much.

Indeed, having lived as a black mage for a long time, it wasn’t as if he hadn’t seen one or two people who had lost their minds, but:

‘This is my first time seeing a guy that crazy, though?’

This time, he truly could not read Roan’s inner thoughts.

“Just let me go. Then I guarantee there will be no future trouble.”

— What kind of nonsense is that?

A black mage, unable to listen to Roan’s words anymore, conveyed his honest thoughts.

Bel nodded slightly.

“You won’t let me go?”

“This crazy bastard……”

Oslo reached a judgment immediately.

That although Roan was blabbering crazy words, he was by no means crazy.

That for some reason, he was merely stalling for time.

Thinking that he, who had gone through all kinds of hardships, was toyed with by the green young Roan made him shudder and his blood boil.

“Die! Rush of Black Lightning!”

Crackle—!

Oslo, unable to endure it anymore, launched an attack spell.

A spell between beginner and intermediate levels, firing a projectile in the form of a black lightning bolt as its name suggested.

Even if the grade was not that high, seeing him cast it at such rapid speed showed that he had not aged in vain.

Also, like a wise old man, Oslo prepared his next magic immediately.

‘There way a guy like that would be defeated by this much.’

He would probably defend or make some attack.

Oslo intended to cast the next magic accordingly.

“Keuh-heuk!”

……He had certainly thought so.

But Roan, who stood blankly without any reaction and took a direct hit from the lightning, let out a short shriek:

Flop—

And collapsed to the ground.

“?”

Oslo, who had attacked, tilted his head upon seeing that.

— Huh?

— What?

The watching black mages also tilted their heads.

[Eh? Master?]

Kirrr─??

Roan’s divine beasts also tilted their heads.

Could he…… be dead?

Oslo watched Roan for a moment in panic.

However, since Roan wore a baggy robe, he could not even discern if he was breathing.

‘I definitely don’t feel any holy power…… but it also feels like it could be because of the divine beasts……’

If a skilled person made up their mind to hide their holy power, it was possible to mask it under the energy of the divine beasts.

Furthermore, because he had been completely covered in poison and black mana earlier, it was even harder to distinguish.

In the end, Oslo decided as the leader of the gang.

“You guys, go check on him.”

— P-Pardon?

— Us?

The black mages who were unluckily standing next to Oslo and got designated showed tearful faces.

However, Oslo, who had defeated that terrifying Roan in a single blow, was scarier right now.

Faltering, faltering—

The black mages approached Roan by half-steps.

Poke, poke—

They poked Roan’s body with their staffs, but there was no reaction.

The black mages shouted to Oslo with highly shocked expressions:

— H-He seems dead!

The other black mages went into a frenzy.

— Heok!

— Did he really die?

— I-I didn’t intend to go that far!

— We only planned to beat him up moderately and take his items and divine beasts!

— As expected of the leader??

If they had gone as far as killing a young master of a noble family, the level of the imperial wanted list would change.

Kyaooo─!!!

Kirrr──!!!

Bel and Charlotte, who understood the black mages’ words, also cried out in surprise.

[Our Master cannot die like this, can he? Is he g-going to resurrect?]

Bel occasionally recalled Roan thinking about a lich.

……It made no sense, but somehow, if it was the Roan he knew, he felt it could be possible.

Bang, bang, bang—

“Si-l-e-n-c-e, everyone!!!”

Meanwhile, Oslo silenced the black mages by thumping his staff on the ground.

“Pathetic fools! How would the Empire know a guy died here and blame us! All we need to do is clean up the after-treatment neatly!”

Truly, Oslo was worthy of acting as the leader of the black mages!

Just then, someone spoke from behind the crowd of black mages.

“Is it a duel?”

At the absurd words, the black mages in front frowned deeply and scolded:

— Hey, the boss said to shut up.

— Yeah, and what do you mean by a duel? Read the room!

Then, they turned their heads to check who was the author of such pathetic words.

— Huh?

All the black mages were of mediocre height.

However, for some reason, the black mages had to raise their faces for quite a long time to find the owner of the voice.

Black and white hair, considerably tall build, cold expression.

‘Was there an Orca beastman in our gang?’

Naturally, there was no way.

The black mage realized without difficulty that the one who lacked awareness was himself.

— Heok!

Flop—!

Startled by Tirmi’s sudden appearance, several black mages sat down as if collapsing in a heap.

Thanks to that, Tirmi was able to check Oslo, the broken door, the grey hair of the fallen Roan, and the two divine beasts next to him.

She could check everything.

Tirmi briefly stated her impression.

“Yes, it is a war.”

Clack— clack—

Tirmi got straight to the point and equipped the fastest means of communication.

……It simply meant that she put brass knuckles on both hands.

However, though they were called knuckles, with a sharp spike protruding in the front and blades attached on both sides:

No matter how one looked at them, they were not items a clergyman would use.

The reason Tirmi frequented the campsite!

— C-Close combat!

— Everyone, widen the distance and prepare magic!

— P-Poison as well!

Although the black mages were surprised, they were also used to fighting.

The black mages widening the distance in an instant, trying to attack Tirmi.

However:

Thwack— bam—!

The black mages who retreated like that collapsed one after another without even being able to take any proper action.

— What is it? Hey, what’s wrong with you?

The black mage who checked on his neighbor in wonder when the person suddenly collapsed was startled.

For some hidden weapon was embedded in the body of each fallen person.

— A hidden weapon! Wh-When? No, why……?

Is she by any chance not a clergyman?

Using knuckles like that was strange, but hidden weapons were even stranger.

— Uh…… what should we do?

The black mages did not know whether they should pounce on Tirmi or widen the distance.

No, in the first place, could they even win no matter what they did?

Thwack──!!!

Tirmi, like a kind professor, bestowed a lesson upon the black mages as well:

That they could not.

* * *

‘Wh-What on earth is going on here……!!!’

Oslo stared blankly at the situation unfolding before him with dumbfounded eyes.

No, even though he was clearly seeing it with his two eyes, he absolutely could not understand what was happening.

Thwack! Keuk—

Bam! Aaaah!!

Since every time a light flashed briefly, one or two subordinates would lose consciousness, it would be a wonder if he could read the situation.

It would even be a consolation if the mysterious Orca beastman who suddenly appeared fought in earnest, but:

She was simply waving her hands too leisurely.

Nevertheless, his subordinates collapsed one after another like scarecrows, and by now their numbers had decreased to about half.

It had already been decades since Oslo began living as a black mage.

He had been chased by clergymen just as many times, but:

‘I mean, I’ve never seen a fellow like this……!’

At that level, it seemed more appropriate to call her a ‘natural disaster’ rather than an ‘enemy’.

Because even if a normal cave suddenly collapsed, the survival rate would be higher than this.

‘It is definitely related to that bastard, though.’

Looking at his subordinates flying in all directions like dust because of Tirmi, Oslo’s gaze shifted to the fallen Roan.

Could it be the family’s escort knight?

In the midst of all kinds of stray thoughts, to Oslo’s despair, even more new enemies appeared.

“These…… these bastards dare to harm our Roan!”

“Noeul! Attack!”

White school uniforms that stood out even inside the cave.

Beautiful girls of dark grey and light pink.

Oslo could not recognize their faces, but he grasped their identities at once by the uniforms.

“A-Akerandir!!”

The grey-haired girl, Yusina, who used spatial holy magic and sent black mages much larger than her flying with her small body, was scary enough, but:

The pink-haired girl, Sion, who mercilessly struck the back of their heads with a holy power club, was even worse.

And if that Orca beastman, Tirmi, was an Akerandir professor, it was indeed a natural disaster!

Just like that, one professor and two students were gradually approaching, completely crushing dozens of black mages.

‘Are Akerandir students really that cruel!’

……If he knew the fact that they were the Saintess and Saintess Candidate, Oslo might have fainted.

At that moment, Oslo felt an entirely different emotion, not despair nor surprise:

“This damn bastard, you said you weren’t an Akerandir student!!!”

It was precisely a sense of betrayal toward Roan.