Chapter 232

‘You can understand the dagger’s words?’

*Well, I have my ways. I’m curious too. Anyway, how did you know it was Ziprog’s curse?*

‘Because it’s the counter to Jelsroin. It’s common knowledge.’

*This guy always brings up common knowledge…*

The False Divinity was lost for words.

But what could it do when he said it was common knowledge?

Although it was a bit annoying that he would sincerely make excuses about his parents and family to his friends, yet speak so honestly(?) to an speechless authority.

In any case, Ziprog was a demon of considerable authority in its own right.

Though it fell slightly short compared to a god’s holy power, Roan was fully satisfied.

‘Besides, Ziprog’s cursed items have great compatibility with blood magic.’

However, there was naturally a drawback.

*Whirrr—!*

Since it was the power of a demon that craved blood and desire, it had to be fed blood periodically.

Consequently, Ziprog’s cursed items had left a significant mark throughout history.

Ruining noble families, bringing disaster to villages, and so on…

Naturally, this dagger also showed signs of doing the same.

“You need to be taught a lesson.”

Roan pulled out Jelsroin’s dagger and held it right in front of it.

“Be quiet, or know that I will stab you.”

*Whirrr…?*

The cursed dagger became submissive, but on the other hand, it showed a dumbfounded reaction.

*It’s saying, “What kind of crazy guy is this?”*

High-level black mages could suppress items imbued with a demon’s curse by force.

But how could a mere black mage threaten it while holding a dagger containing a god’s power!

…It was indeed something that would leave even a cursed dagger flabbergasted.

However, even after the dagger blind date(?) offer, Ziprog’s dagger grumbled a bit.

*It says that by its very nature, it must receive blood. Otherwise, it can’t use its power?*

Roan nodded at the False Divinity’s translation.

“I can understand that much.”

Normally, cursed items tended to climb all over their master’s head and try to control them at will, or stab randomly without distinguishing between friend and foe.

If it simply needed ‘blood’, it wasn’t a problem at all.

*Slide—*

Without hesitation, Roan drew the cursed dagger across his palm.

A fairly long cut formed, and blood began to seep out.

*Slurp— Slurp—*

The cursed dagger sucked up the blood as if parched, cracked earth in a drought was absorbing rain.

“Yes, eat up…”

*Drip— Drip—*

However, before it could consume much, the dagger spat it back out!

Roan frowned.

“This bastard doesn’t know how fearsome Goddess Jelsroin is…”

To think it would have the audacity to refuse to consume the blood after he had gone through the trouble of wounding himself to give it to it!

At that, the False Divinity hastily stepped in.

*That’s not it, that’s not it!*

‘Then what is it?’

*It says it’s too full to eat any more!*

‘…?’

Roan looked down at the dagger with a dumbfounded expression.

For some reason, it seemed to have a slightly redder tint than before.

‘Really?’

*Yes! It’s asking what kind of blood this is… If you feed it any more, it’ll break!*

“Tsk, what a waste of blood…”

Roan pondered for a moment what to do with his bleeding hand.

The wound would heal quickly, but wiping away the blood was a hassle.

“Ah, I use blood anyway, don’t I?”

Roan opened his canteen and let the blood drip into it.

Perhaps because he always filled it by multiplying blood, the idea hadn’t come to him immediately.

In any case, after the blood commotion was over, the cursed dagger definitely calmed down.

It had calmed down to the point where it relayed these words through the False Divinity.

*Vrrr—*

*It says it has no thoughts of Ziprog anymore, and will serve you as its master for the rest of its life. Instead, it just needs blood occasionally.*

‘…Did things turn out well?’

To think a cursed item, infamous for being difficult to handle, would throw away its pride and its original master for just a few drops of blood.

“Ah, since things turned out like this, I should give you a name.”

The cursed dagger brightened up at Roan’s words.

It seemed to be extremely satisfied with Roan’s blood.

“Your name from now on is Mosquito.”

…?!

However, it did not like this name very much.

The False Divinity spoke reluctantly.

*It’s asking if Mosquito isn’t a bit too harsh…*

Strictly speaking, the False Divinity didn’t like the cursed item either.

Still, since it had received the power of a Ziprog-grade demon, it thought Mosquito was a bit too much.

At that, Ludiac stepped in.

*Why, brother? It barely sucks any blood yet acts so annoying, so it’s exactly like a mosquito.*

“Exactly.”

Roan agreed.

Although it was a rare experience to nod at Ludiac’s words, they expressed his thoughts perfectly.

Seeing that it still seemed completely dejected, he came up with one more reason.

“Besides, only with a name like this will other people not suspect anything. After all, we can’t just go around calling it Ziprog’s Dagger or a magic sword, can we?”

*Vrrr—*

*That is true.*

The False Divinity also nodded at this reasoning.

*Bam—!*

“—This time it’s for sure!”

“—I was just calling our butler’s name…”

“—Ah, my apologies.”

Since the inquisitor aspirant went wild like that at the mere mention of the word ‘Ziprog’, it was indeed too risky.

Roan turned to Bell and Charlotte and asked.

“Those in favor of naming this dagger Mosquito… wait, those divine beasts?”

*Kyao—*

*Kirrr—*

The two divine beasts eagerly raised their hands at their master’s proposal.

In that way, everyone except Mosquito agreed to the name Mosquito.

According to the False Divinity, Mosquito seemed to grumble a bit more after that, but since Roan couldn’t hear it anyway, it didn’t matter.

Thanks to that, Roan could go to sleep with a very refreshed mind.

‘Finding out about the hidden piece and obtaining a good item, this is very refreshing!’

* * *

The next morning, Roan, Demona, and Hector gathered in the dormitory’s living room.

While Roan and Demona’s faces were glowing as if they had slept soundly.

“Did you not sleep well, Hector?”

Hector had an extremely exhausted face, like granite weathered for hundreds of years.

Hollow, sunken eyes, a dark complexion, and rough skin.

In response to Roan’s question, Hector nodded and replied.

“Yes, I didn’t sleep well.”

“Why?”

“I was sure I heard a demon’s name…”

“…”

Roan shuddered at the unexpected(?) reason.

‘Since when did he live such a devout life!’

It was quite irritating that Hector, who usually had his eyes only on holy wars, was suddenly trying to walk the path of a promising heretic inquisitor.

And of all times, choosing right when Roan was trying to obtain something!

‘At this rate, I’ll be too afraid to even say a demon’s name once in a while.’

…Actually, in the Holy Academy Acherandir, it was only right to be afraid of calling out a demon’s name.

In any case, Demona shook her head after hearing the reason Hector couldn’t sleep.

“Poor fanatic, you have finally lost your mind.”

‘Though fanatics are originally crazy.’

Roan didn’t bother to point it out.

“You heretic… Can you really not feel the demon’s name?”

Hector growled at Demona.

“Nope, didn’t feel it~ Getting all worked up over something like that just means your faith is lacking~”

Demona shrugged her shoulders and teased him as she always did.

“Ugh…”

However, this time Hector didn’t charge at Demona either.

‘Because strictly speaking, she was right.’

Demona’s words were convincing enough.

The only problem was that it made the listener extremely angry.

Fearing a demon’s name was a shameful thing for inquisitors, who were supposed to be braver than anyone else.

However, that was a discussion meant for those who actually felt the demon’s name, not something a person who didn’t even know it had been called—like Demona—should say.

“Tsk, tsk. Since you always run around chanting ‘Holy War! Divine Beast! Spiritual Beast!’, you end up being afraid of demons when it actually matters.”

“Kuaaa! Come here, heretic!”

“Ugh! It’s an axe ghost!”

Unable to hold back at Demona’s last comment, Hector finally charged.

The two began to run in circles around Roan, as if they were racing.

‘What a waste of mana.’

*Whack— Whack—!*

“Argh!”

“Keo-heok! I feel like you hit me a bit harder this time too…”

“It was the same.”

Roan swung the staff he was holding, easily suppressing the two.

He hadn’t wanted to use the staff he had just obtained for this kind of purpose, but he had no choice.

Roan looked at the two of them flailing on the floor and spoke.

“Let’s go grab some food.”

“Ugh… We should.”

Demona and Hector got up, stumbling.

Apparently, this staff was more effective than the curse magic they had already developed a tolerance to.

*Creak—*

As Roan took the lead and opened the door.

“D-Darc?!”

Coincidentally, they ran into the Trian and Garland duo again.

The two stopped awkwardly in the hallway, half-frozen.

Roan greeted them first, even though they were a head taller than him.

“Good morning.”

‘Why, why is he greeting us?’

‘Does he mean we should be even more careful today?’

For some reason, Roan’s complexion also looked exceptionally good.

The two hesitated for a moment, trying to gauge Roan’s intentions.

“Is it a bad morning?”

Roan tilted his head and asked.

Just then, Demona and Hector emerged behind him, their faces distorted in pain.

“Getting beaten up by Roan first thing in the morning, my luck must be terrible today.”

“You talk as if you don’t get beaten up every day.”

Demona and Hector were having a conversation that was highly prone to misunderstanding!

Trian and Garland broke into a cold sweat and replied.

“Ah, n-no. Good morning, Darc.”

“You seem to be in a good mood this morning…?”

Trian and Garland said, casting cautious glances at Demona and Hector.

Unaware of this, Roan smiled faintly and nodded.

“I have a good reason to be.”

Roan was, of course, referring to Mosquito which he had obtained last night.

‘Heeek—!’

‘Just what on earth happens in the McGodal Room every day?!’

There was no way Trian and Garland could think that way.

‘Why are they so terrified? They used to stand up to me just fine.’

Meanwhile, though Roan wondered why they were acting like that, he made a casual offer.

“Since we ran into each other like this in the morning, it must be fate. Would you like to go have breakfast together?”

Although they were still close to being enemies, it would be good to hang out together since they had become so submissive.

After all, they wouldn’t spit on someone they spent time with.

If he gradually expanded his human relationships like this, he might be able to live somewhat like a normal person starting from their second year.

Trian and Garland flinched and looked around.

Normally, other students would appear around this time to rescue them, but today, for some reason, not a single soul was in sight.

“S-Sorry!”

“We have urgent business, so we must go!”

Seeing that there was no one around to look out for anyway, Trian and Garland quickly exchanged looks and fled in a flash.

Seeing that, Demona grumbled.

“Ungrateful bastards. Some people are dying to eat with Roan, yet they run away even when asked.”

Roan asked in disbelief.

“…Who is dying to eat with me?”

No matter how much he thought about it, there was no such person.

Could it be the black mages?

Demona said triumphantly.

“Me!”

“Me too!”

Hector also added, refusing to be left out.

Figures.