Chapter 225

“You aren’t listening!”

“…”

When Roan was caught not listening to Sion’s nagging, he naturally changed the subject.

“Professor, by the way, how did you know I was kidnapped?”

Naturally, he knew the reason.

In the first place, the reason he pretended to die after getting hit by Oslo’s dark magic was that he roughly sensed Tyrmi’s arrival.

“Pouch.”

Tyrmi retorted nonchalantly.

When Roan rummaged through his school uniform pocket, a white bead came out.

“Wait, isn’t this a Resonance Stone? When did you…”

Roan reacted as if he were truly surprised.

The Resonance Stone was a set item divided into receiver and transmitter.

It was a location-tracking item where the closer it was, the stronger the receiver’s vibration, and the farther away, the weaker the vibration.

Before arriving at the campsite and getting off the carriage, Tyrmi had slipped it into the students’ pockets.

Combined with the Resonance Stone and Tyrmi’s sensing ability, detecting a student slipping out of the campsite was child’s play.

Sion also rummaged through her pocket following Roan, then opened her eyes wide.

“Uh? I have one too!”

“As expected of the professor. You are thorough.”

Nod—

Tyrmi merely reacted simply to Roan’s lip service, saying nothing further.

“It’s my first time actually seeing a Resonance Stone.”

Sion admired the stone, looking at it this way and that in fascination.

Then, she barked at Roan.

“Don’t change the subject!”

‘She has grown.’

Roan was confused about whether to rejoice at Sion’s growth or grieve because it would be harder to deceive her easily in the future.

“But did they really speak about the Darc family? Just how…”

In any case, ignoring Sion’s ever-growing worry for a moment.

Roan pondered what to place first on the Balance of Light and Dark he had obtained this time.

‘First, Jelsroin’s dagger? Or maybe something that will appear in future events would be good too…’

Coincidentally, the place he was at was Acherandir, one of the four major holy grounds of the empire.

A place filled with holy relics that were like a disaster to black mages.

In other words, it was the perfect place to utilize the Balance of Light and Dark.

[Hieeeek!!!]

Flutter—

Having vaguely read Roan’s thoughts, Bell scrambled out of the bag and crawled between Tyrmi and Sion on the opposite side.

“Hmm? What’s wrong, Bell?”

Kyao— kyaoo—

Bell cried a few times looking at Sion.

[My master is trying to traffic me! No, actually, what the black mages said earlier is right! My master is lying!]

‘…That fellow is speaking dangerous words.’

If others could hear Bell’s voice, it would have been quite troublesome.

Roan glared sharply at Bell and thought.

‘If you really don’t want to go up on the scales, be quiet.’

[Hieek!!! Look at that!]

Bell fluttered his wings and dug right behind Sion’s back.

Then, he poked only his head out next to Sion’s face and read the mood.

“Bell is acting strange today.”

“Indeed. He must have been scared during the commotion earlier.”

“Ah, that could be it!”

Sion nodded at Roan’s words, caught Bell, and handed him over.

If he was really doing this because he was scared, it seemed better for him to seek stability next to his master.

“Here.”

“Thanks.”

Roan looked down at Bell with a feigned worried gaze, stroking him gently.

“You don’t have to be scared. You are safe now.”

‘Where do you think you can run away to.’

The terrifying nature of Roan, whose inside and outside were completely different!

Bell could only shiver and close his eyes tightly.

In such a peaceful carriage atmosphere.

—We will arrive at Acherandir soon!

Roan’s first off-campus service finally came to an end.

Shuuu—

The speed of the carriage gradually decreased.

By the time the scenery visible outside the window returned completely to normal, the familiar school gate was already in sight.

However, the atmosphere at the gate was strange.

‘Why are there so many people?’

Roan felt an instinctive anxiety.

Off-campus service was, after all, just one of the ordinary academy activities.

Just because one off-campus service group returned, there wouldn’t be people coming out to greet them like that.

Unless there was a significant incident or accident.

‘…Well, there was indeed a significant incident/accident.’

Roan, having thought that far, convinced himself.

However, Roan, preparing to get off the carriage, deeply regretted his complacency in convincing himself so easily.

“He-Headmaster!”

Tyrmi, having no reaction as usual, was one thing, but Sion, who got off before Roan, made a fuss upon seeing Harden.

‘Does the headmaster usually come out to greet students when they return from off-campus service?!’

There was no way.

In any case, thanks to Sion, Roan was able to grimace sufficiently inside the carriage, compose his face, and then step down.

—Congratulations! Acherandir Off-Campus Service Group, Extermination of Jelsroin Heretics!—

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t even an extermination, but rather close to deciding victory or defeat through a duel due to unavoidable circumstances.

At any rate, a banner as large as a door was attached to the school gate pillar.

And the academy paladins congratulating them by scattering colored confetti, the staff shouting cheers, and so on.

‘I don’t think it was even like this during the entrance ceremony.’

Of course, catching heretics was a great feat, but in Acherandir, it wasn’t something to celebrate to this extent, so Roan was slightly bothered.

Naturally, the highlight of the welcoming crowd was Harden.

“Welcome back! Proud children of Acherandir!”

Harden—only in Roan’s eyes—had his arms wide open with an extremely fake smile.

[My master has his own parents!]

Bell, who couldn’t sit on Roan’s shoulder as usual and was fluttering around, cried “Kyaong” in disapproval.

‘Well, that’s true, but speaking too much truth might get you hit.’

[True… what?]

Bell tilted his head.

It seemed there was too much repetition for the fellow to understand.

In any case, Yusina, who was still groggy because her motion sickness hadn’t fully cleared, rubbed her eyes upon seeing Harden and spoke.

“Uh…? Headmaster? Roan, my motion sickness must be really severe.”

“It’s not because of motion sickness.”

“???”

Yusina staggered, grabbed Roan’s shoulder, and tilted her head.

Harden took the appropriate action as a Holy Spirit for the pitiable believer.

Flash—

When he briefly placed his hand on Yusina’s forehead and infused holy power, the motion sickness vanished without a trace.

“I-It really was the headmaster!”

“Yes, Saintess Yusina. You’ve worked hard.”

Harden worried for Yusina with a pitiful expression.

‘How nice would it be if he treated me even half that kindly.’

Roan almost gagged for a moment, but endured it with superhuman faith.

Of course, if Harden knew Roan’s thoughts, he would have quite a lot to say as well.

At any rate, all four people who had returned from off-campus service knelt on one knee in front of Harden and paid their respects.

Only then did Harden finally bring up his business.

“I received the report about what you overcame. You have truly done a great thing. Now, Professor Tyrmi.”

“Yes.”

Tyrmi, whose name was called, stood up.

“Shall we let everyone know what our proud heroes have done?”

With a benevolent smile, Harden led Tyrmi to the middle of the road, right into the center of the welcoming crowd.

Tyrmi seemed to highly dislike this commotion, but since it was the Holy Spirit’s request, she began a brief report.

“On the way, we captured five Jelsroin heretics and handed them over to the guards.”

To Tyrmi, that was almost equivalent to a speech.

The people raised both hands and cheered.

—Woooo!

—For young students to already win in a duel against heretics!

It seemed what happened with Jelsroin had been detailedly reported to the academy somehow.

“Yes, very well done. I heard that Jelsroin even descended in person. You said Darc had a private audience?”

“Yes.”

—Heuuuk!!!

—Jelsroin in person??

—Descents are especially precious these days…

As Harden added further explanations, the people were even more surprised.

The direct descent of a god was a truly rare and great experience, enough to make even the Acherandir people, who were accustomed to Harden, react like that.

Not only that, but just by enduring a god’s holy power with a mere human body, they deserved to be praised.

—Were our students at a level to fight and defeat Jelsroin?!

—St-Student Darc looks like that, but still…

“…Not that. No, do you guys not know the meaning of a private audience?”

—Phew! Thank goodness!

Harden resolved the minor misunderstanding brilliantly.

He was highly satisfied with the reaction, which did not deviate much from expectations.

The students’ glory was soon his own joy as headmaster.

Now, if he just pretended to praise the service group and naturally dragged away Roan, the protagonist of the victory who had a private audience with Jelsroin, it would be perfect.

“As the Holy Spirit, I highly praise—”

However, contrary to Harden’s expectations, Tyrmi’s speech was not over yet.

“Also, Roan Darc caught a merchant storing dark magic tools in the Gilsburg market.”

“…Eh?”

As Tyrmi continued speaking, Harden tilted his head, wondering if he had misheard something.

Since Harden also knew her personality, her bringing it up verbally meant there was a good reason for it.

—Ohhh!

—Truly commendable!

—Merchants usually hide dark magic tools really deep down!

Not knowing Harden was surprised, the people cheered again.

Dark magic tools hidden throughout society were a matter of concern even in the empire, so it was a very admirable deed.

“Oh, such a thing happened too. As expected of talented students. Then now—”

However, having served as headmaster for 5,000 years, he was accustomed to this level of sudden situation.

“Also, we arrested twenty black mages who kidnapped Roan Darc at Eddinger Campsite.”

“Uhh???”

But he truly had not anticipated this level of sudden situation.

Harden’s eyes opened wider, and the angle of his head tilted even more.

In that posture, Harden turned his gaze to Roan behind him.

‘When was the kidnapping…?’

As mentioned before departure, Harden had placed a holy spell to monitor Roan to some extent.

If an emergency like a kidnapping had occurred, Harden would have surely known.

It was just that it wasn’t a kidnapping or a crisis, so he simply didn’t know.

‘…Did I focus too much only on escape?’

Harden even doubted his own holy spell for a moment.

Since even Harden was like this, other people’s reactions went without saying.

—Heuuuuk!!!!

—Darc was kidnapped?!!?

—These outrageously wicked bastards!

—Do they not fear God!

The paladins and the staff flared up in anger all at once.

Since they were all skilled enough to work at Acherandir, fire and water burst out, the ground cracked, and lightning soared here and there, causing a massive uproar.

‘At that rate, they might be in a bit of danger.’

…Roan felt just a tiny bit sorry for the black mages inside the Bell of Eternity.

Normally, the black mages handed over to Professor Kaina would receive minimal treatment out of sympathy, but at this rate, it was hopeless.

Meanwhile, the moment Harden confirmed Roan looking around normally with his unique gloomy gaze, he instinctively knew.

‘That sly snake of a guy deceived other people!’

In Harden’s thoughts, Roan was somehow growing to resemble the authority within him more and more.