Chapter 253

Chapter 253

“If I only become the Holy Emperor, I will tax the Richmond family…!”

“Ha, do you know how much our family donates to the Holy Emperor’s Palace…!”

Roan honestly found it a bit funny to watch the two seniors in their fourth and final year bickering.

It was even more so because they were fighting like young children, yet the scale of their argument was empire-wide.

They must have worn the masks because it was a tradition, but what was so great about that chairman position anyway?

Still, after entering “God & Devil,” these minor forms of amusement were a great source of comfort to Roan.

Because it was the daily lives of the characters that he would have never seen in the game.

Just then, the ash-haired mask stood up from her seat and spoke.

“This won’t do! Let’s elect the chairman first!”

“Fine. I agree.”

“You guys, vote on who should be the chairman!”

Thus, before conducting the skill verification for the new members, the vote to elect the chairman of the New Member Skill Verification Committee began.

“Member Roan Darc, who would you like to see become the chairman?”

The ash-haired mask asked Roan.

Roan shrugged and spoke.

“I abstain.”

Honestly, since they were just asking for fun, it did not matter at all to him who became the chairman.

At that, the masks booed Roan.

“What a disappointment. When you were the one who brought it up first. But for a leader, both the vision to put forward appropriate proposals and the prudence to watch the timing are important.”

“Boo, to think you gave up your rights as a citizen, step down!”

‘Step down from where…’

In the first place, the Empire was not a democratic nation, so it was not actually a right as a citizen either.

Though the Pope was elected by the archbishops’ votes.

“Sion, how about you?”

Next was Sion.

When the ash-haired mask pointed at her, Sion answered in her fluster.

“I… Saintess Yusina?”

“Oh yeah!”

‘She really has no intention of hiding that she’s Yusina.’

The ash-haired mask clenched both fists and jumped up and down frantically.

In any case, with two total voters and one abstention, the ash-haired mask was crowned chairman.

Sion called out to the ash-haired mask.

“Um, excuse me, Saintess.”

“Huh? Why, Sion?”

“Are the other seniors not coming?”

“Ah~”

At that, the ash-haired mask snapped her index finger and thumb together.

Snap—

At the same time, the barrier returned to normal and the interior of the club room brightened.

Recognizing the sunlight, the candles extinguished automatically.

Now that their surroundings were bright, despite wearing masks, they looked unmistakably like Yusina and Zorv.

Roan thought that if he joined that skill verification committee or whatever next year, he would set the mood properly.

“Well… I sent out messages, but I don’t know who else will show up?”

The ash-haired mask spoke in a tone of regret.

She wanted to introduce many seniors if possible, but it was really difficult to call them during club hours.

Then again, they were people who were hard to see even in private, so it would be even stranger if they showed up just because it was club time.

Roan spoke.

“Can you not just take off the masks now?”

“Heh~ Do you know who I am? You’ll be shocked if you find out!”

The ash-haired mask jumped up as if asking what he was talking about.

“Right, let us stop this prank now.”

It was not something for Zorv to say, considering he had clashed in earnest over the chairman position just moments ago.

Roan figured that he must have lost his steam after having the chairman position snatched away.

“Hey! Tradition is tradition~”

Yusina naturally protested, but since Zorv had removed his mask right away, it was embarrassing to keep wearing it alone.

Yusina took off her mask and smiled sheepishly.

“Tada! The person inside the mask was actually the Saintess Yusina!”

“…Yay!”

While no one else was surprised, only Sion cheered and clapped a beat late.

Yusina spoke with a dejected expression.

“It makes it even more embarrassing, so you don’t have to go that far, Sion.”

“Ah, yes.”

Sion immediately stopped clapping.

At that moment, the inside of the club room darkened again.

Yusina asked Zorv.

“Committee Member Zorv, did you turn the blackout back on without the chairman’s permission?”

“No.”

Zorv shook his head.

Then, he reflexively looked up at the sky.

The two roughly understood the reason why the sky had suddenly darkened.

Yusina screamed immediately.

“Everyone, run!!!!”

“???!??!?!”

Sion looked up at the sky, wondering what it was about when Yusina suddenly told them to run.

“There is no time for that.”

“Yes—Kyaah?!”

But before she could even lift her head, Roan grabbed her wrist and pulled her all the way to the edge of the barrier.

As a result, Sion had to be grateful to Roan.

Boom—!!!!!!

“W-What is that?!?!”

It was because something massive had suddenly dropped right into the middle of the club room.

Sion was horrified to see the table and sofa they had been standing next to just moments ago smashed to pieces.

“Cough, cough!”

In fact, she could not even properly express her horror due to the dust that had billowed up in an instant.

It was only after the dust had settled to some extent that they grasped the identity of the object that had suddenly fallen.

[A wild boar?]

Bell tilted his head.

Why would a wild boar fall from the sky?

[I-Is this what they call a wild boar out of the blue?]

‘There’s no such saying.’

Meanwhile, Sion, whose eyes looked as though they might pop out, made a slightly more specific guess.

“I-Is the wild boar a senior?”

“……No way.”

“R-Right?”

It was a bit difficult to describe the wild boar’s carcass simply as ‘big.’

The wild boar was absolutely colossal.

Even though Acherandir had deep and rugged mountains, a wild boar that massive was truly rare.

It would have been easier to find a spiritual beast.

Roan guessed who was responsible for this incident just from the wild boar that had suddenly dropped.

‘No matter how much of an eccentric he is… where on earth did he get such a thing?’

However, this incident was a bit too excessive, to the point that even Roan was dumbfounded.

If there was any consolation, it was that the next character to appear could have their favorability gauged by the size of the animal they brought for their first greeting.

Not that it would be direct favorability toward Roan or Sion, though.

However, Sion, who knew nothing of such circumstances, was simply dumbfounded.

Why would a wild boar suddenly drop right in the middle of Acherandir out of nowhere?

“Cough, they say food sometimes falls as the Principal’s miracle, so is that why?”

Roan looked at Sion as if slightly surprised by those words.

“W-Why?”

“No, I just wondered how you knew about such a thing.”

“Roan!”

Sion screamed Roan’s name.

Roan chuckled and shook his head.

“It is a good guess, but even that is not this violent. And the time is not yet ripe.”

Rather than her prediction being wrong, Sion was more concerned with Roan’s words.

‘The time is not yet ripe…?’

“More importantly, do you call that food?”

“…I-It could become food!”

In any case, Yusina and Zorv, who had hidden from the wild boar’s fall, also stepped out around the carcass and talked.

First was Zorv’s displeased voice.

“Yusina.”

“Yeah?”

“Did you by any chance call him too?”

“Uh… for now I sent messages to everyone. Did Locke go and deliver it instead this time?”

Yusina nodded while keeping her eyes fixed on the wild boar.

Then, her face brightened as she spoke to Roan and Sion.

“Anyway, congratulations, guys!”

“????”

Sion was a bit doubtful about how on earth this was something to congratulate them on.

Honestly, if their reaction had been even slightly delayed, not only the sofa and table but also they themselves would have been crushed under that wild boar.

‘Then we would have died for sure… no, we wouldn’t die, but it would still be a big deal!’

Of course, Yusina, as a kind senior, even told them the reason.

“The person who is arriving soon must like you guys a lot!”

“Pardon?”

Sion was even more surprised by that reason.

Was there a senior in Sanctuary who threw giant wild boar bombs at freshmen they liked?

“I-Is it a good thing to be liked by such a senior…?”

Sion asked cautiously.

“Ah, ahahaha. You could think of it that way. But isn’t a good thing just a good thing?”

It was clear she did not think it was a particularly good thing either.

[It would have been better if he liked us just a bit less.]

Bell grumbled, poking the wild boar’s carcass with his front paw.

Roan looked at Bell and Charlotte with a strange gaze and spoke.

‘It is probably because of you guys rather than me.’

[…?]

Chirp…?

Bell and Charlotte felt a sense of crisis through the instincts of divine beasts.

Whenever their master spoke with that expression and said such things, something very troublesome or difficult would happen.

Screeech—

At that moment, a sharp sound echoed from the sky.

‘What is falling this time?’

Sion looked up at the sky, wondering if something even larger than the wild boar was about to fall.

There, a giant bird spiritual beast with a wingspan twice the height of a person was flying in the sky.

She thought the bird might fall this time, but fortunately, that was not the case.

Instead, something on the bird’s back dropped straight down.

As Sion squinted and looked, it was…

“A-An ordinary person?”

Surprisingly, it was a person of normal size!

When Sion was startled, Roan asked with a dumbfounded expression.

“Then what did you think would fall?”

“…?”

Sion wanted to ask if he couldn’t see the wild boar lying right in front of them, but…

Hummm— Pew-pew-pew—!!!

Before she could, the club room’s barrier began to fire offensive holy spells noisily, causing her to forget all about it.

“What should we do?!”

Even if Zorv, who wore all sorts of defensive holy relics like clothing, could somehow break through…

The person falling this time was too far away to tell for sure, but they at least did not seem to have such protection.

In an instant, dozens of holy spells accurately struck the falling person.

“Kyaah!”

Watching that sight, Sion screamed unconsciously.

Why did the seniors of this club not know how to enter normally through the door?

“Do not worry.”

“Pardon?”

“Since they will make their own way in anyway.”

At Roan’s confident assurance, Sion decided to watch a bit longer.

Crash, crash—!!!

“??????”

Indeed, the holy spells, which had seemed ready to tear a person to shreds, began to burst in an instant.

Hands and feet, and even the head or back.

Incredible martial prowess, blocking the holy spells with every part of the body while free-falling in midair!

‘…If you block with every part of your body, doesn’t that just mean you’re getting hit by all of them?’

It was natural to have such a doubt like Sion, but it was visibly different to the naked eye.

In any case, if they took absolutely no damage from the offensive holy spells, it had to be considered as blocking them.

Pew-pew-pew— Rumble-crash—!

Thud, thud—!

The mysterious senior, engaging in an exchange of offense and defense with the barrier while making noisy sounds!

Sion admired the human’s peak-level movements and asked Roan.

“They wouldn’t have to do that if they just entered through the entrance, so why are they coming in like that?”

“…Well.”

It was a difficult question even for Roan to readily answer.

“Because it was hard to just carry the wild boar?”

“Ah…”

Sion thought that was a rather plausible reason.