Chapter 262

Chapter 262

She wanted to ask such a question, but it was quite terrifying to ask right to Roan’s face.

Roan grinned.

“H-Hyaaaah!”

Then, Jennifer arched her back and hissed like a startled cat.

Zion also spoke hesitantly.

“R-Roan, I think it might be better if you speak without smiling……”

‘Whether I smile or frown, it’s wrong either way……’

Ultimately unable to hold back, Roan vented his dissatisfaction inwardly.

Hummm─

That’s why you should live a bit kindly in your daily life!

‘Just what did I do that was so wicked.’

……Huh?

The False Divinity was speechless.

Come to think of it, it seemed he hadn’t particularly done anything bad……?

At any rate, the reason he called Jennifer was not to defend himself.

Roan accepted Zion’s advice and said with a straight face.

“Fine, then I’ll call one more person.”

With that, Roan strode off somewhere!

Jennifer and Zion watched his movements from where they stood, wondering what Roan was talking about.

At the end of Roan’s steps.

“El.”

There stood El Zaphenard, who was famous for being kind among the freshmen!

“S-Saintess Candidate, what should we do?”

“I know……”

Zion and Jennifer felt a heaviness in a corner of their hearts, as if they had committed a crime.

Didn’t it feel like they had dragged the innocent and good-natured El into the abyss of evil (?) for no reason.

Of course, that didn’t mean the two had cultivated their minds enough to step forward and stop El from falling into the abyss.

‘‘Lord Hiloa, please forgive this sinful lamb!’’

Zion and Jennifer closed their eyes tightly and offered a sincere prayer to Hiloa.

……It was a bit doubtful whether Hiloa would consider even this a sin.

At any rate, having been called by Roan, El turned around with a cheerful smile as usual.

“Yes, who called m……!”

However, unfortunately, he called him from behind again.

El was startled out of his wits upon identifying Roan’s gloomy face that suddenly appeared behind him.

Thud─!

Not only that, he even fell backward onto his butt.

“D-Darc?!”

“……I’m sorry, but did I do something?”

Actually, setting aside Roan’s feeling of being wronged, from El’s perspective, Roan had indeed done something.

Because in Professor Beleck’s class last week, if the professor hadn’t intervened, he would have bound to burn to death!

At the sudden commotion, the surrounding students’ gazes gathered again.

─ What, it’s Darc again?

─ Could he be using violence on El this time?!

─ Seeing him fallen, it looks like he already did?

Following extortion, Roan was now about to be framed as a violent criminal!

To prevent misunderstandings, Roan offered El his hand while wearing the kindest smile in the world.

“Oh dear, the floor must have been slippery. Here, take my hand and stand up.”

At that, El struggled to move back even a little while sitting down, as if he had seen the Grim Reaper who had come to fetch him.

He had even greater fit upon seeing the colorless, crude staff Roan was holding.

“U-Uwah! Save me! Are you going to beat me with that club this time!”

“……It’s not a club, it’s a staff.”

Seeing that, the students all nodded their heads.

─ Hm, that looks like a normal display of violence.

─ We should be glad he didn’t use punishment holy magic.

─ Darc indeed, I did think of him that way, but……

‘At this rate, it would actually be more comfortable to just go around using violence openly.’

Another vicious cycle starting to form!

He was so exasperated that Roan secretly reached the point of missing Demona and Hector.

‘As expected, it is comfortable when hanging around with those two.’

The two neither screamed nor fell on their butts upon seeing Roan.

Rather, those two who followed him around laughing good-naturedly even after being hit by curse magic every day!

The False Divinity, knowing Roan’s thoughts, clicked its tongue.

What on earth do you think of friends as?

‘……If you disliked that, you should have behaved better.’

It was also a correct point, so he found it hard to find a retort.

At any rate, El was not a character famous for being kind for no reason.

“I am sorry about what happened during the last class. It was not my intention. How about having dinner together?”

“D-Dinner?”

El responded by tilting his head at Roan’s unexpected proposal.

The El that Roan knew was a truly good-natured character who knew how to recognize others’ sincerity.

A feeling like a slightly lacking protagonist, so to speak.

“Yes, because only when misunderstandings are resolved can we plan the future together.”

If he spoke moderately hopeful words like this, El would be completely sold.

“Darc……”

Sure enough, El brightened up at Roan’s grand words.

Then he even grabbed Roan’s hand outstretched to help him up and stood.

“Alright! I understood your intention to move forward to the future together very well!”

Hummm─

His head is completely filled with flowers.

Was the short evaluation of the False Divinity as it watched El’s personality.

─ E-El! You’re in danger!

─ Are you going to trust Darc now? He’s the guy who just beat you down!

─ Eh? But did you see Darc beating El?

─ No?

─ Oh?

He lightly ignored the conversation of the other students who were talking nonsense as always in the surroundings.

Roan introduced the people who would dine together to El.

“Here, Zion and Jennifer are also planning to go together.”

“Ah, Jennifer. The Saintess Candidate was here too.”

El greeted the two of them warmly.

“El……”

“Zaphenard……”

However, for some reason, Zion and Jennifer looked extremely sorry toward El.

Roughly translated, it was around the level of ‘You ended up getting dragged here too.’

“Why those expressions……?”

El was about to tilt his head and ask the reason, but Roan did not give him the time.

Nothing good would come of letting them talk for no reason.

“Well, the restaurants will be fully packed at this rate. Let’s move quickly.”

“Ah, yes, Darc.”

Roan and El were in the front row, with Zion and Jennifer following behind them.

Roan spoke to El as if he had just remembered.

“Ah, I heard Jennifer is paying for this meal.”

“Huh?”

At that, El was slightly taken aback.

He had naturally thought Roan was paying since he was the one proposing it.

Doesn’t the person paying usually say something like this?

El turned to look at Jennifer in the back row with such thoughts.

‘I’m fine, so at least you survive!’

“……?”

However, at Jennifer’s gaze which even felt desperate, El felt like he was falling deeper and deeper into a maze.

‘For just having a meal, why go to that extent……’

For some reason, it was a dinner gathering with a bizarre atmosphere.

***

The restaurant in the Acherandir commercial district, ‘North Sea Horn Trumpet’.

It was a restaurant that created unique flavors by cooking with ingredients harvested from the North Sea, famous for being harsh.

The interior of the restaurant was also decorated with ships, the sea, and sailing as concepts, making the refreshing blue wallpaper and props in various places very impressive.

The restaurant’s atmosphere was generally decent like that, but.

“““………….”””

The four people seated inside merely stared blankly at each other, without anyone opening their mouth first.

[Sigh, guys, this won’t do. Let’s play among ourselves.]

He was so awkward that Bell, who was watching, took the other new spirit beasts to a corner of the room to play separately!

Zion nudged Roan’s arm, thinking that her fingers might curl up from the awkwardness soon.

‘Since they are the people you gathered, do something about it!’

Of course, Roan was not keeping silent because he felt awkward.

He had kept his mouth closed with the expectation that she would lead and drive the atmosphere, since it was a gathering arranged for Zion’s social life.

‘As expected, it seems she still needs some help.’

At this rate, if he kept waiting for that, they wouldn’t say a single word until dinner was finished.

……In fact, Roan failed to realize that his overwhelming presence was the biggest reason why everyone remained silent.

Because the remaining three had a decent relationship where they greeted each other and exchanged brief pleasantries when meeting in class.

“Hm. Jennifer.”

“Yes? No, yeah.”

“The Diella family is famous for vineyards that can produce high-quality wine.”

Family stories, the Acherandir-style small talk!

When Roan brought up grapes, the specialty of the Diella estate, Jennifer’s eyes shook slightly.

“T-That, sorry…… I can’t smuggle out that many grapes either.”

“……I am not asking for them.”

“Ah, is that so?”

Roan corrected the misunderstanding of Jennifer, who casually spoke words that would cause big trouble if high-ranking people heard.

‘Who does she take me for, a smuggler!’

He had been kidnapped by smugglers before, but Roan was not a smuggler.

……Though he was misunderstood as a smuggler.

At any rate, since most grapes of the Diella estate were used to make wine for large-scale festivals or rituals, they were assets managed directly by the Holy Emperor’s Palace.

If Roan tried to embezzle them, he would be sent straight to the dungeon.

And if he was caught being a black mage in the process, he would be executed.

Roan clicked his tongue and continued speaking.

“I heard there are talks about shifting the mainstay from the Elhon variety to the Gefrun variety lately. May I ask what you think of it as the successor.”

There are several varieties of grapes in this world too.

Elhon is a variety boasting a long tradition and excellent taste, but it is vulnerable to pests and difficult to store for a long time.

On the other hand, the Gefrun variety, developed relatively recently, has strong vitality and is easy to mature.

There was a critique that the taste was slightly inferior, but by now, the technology to overcome that weakness should be right on the verge of development.

Which of the two varieties would be chosen differed with each playthrough, so Roan wanted to gather some information in advance.

However, hearing Roan’s question, Jennifer was startled.

“You, Darc…… t-that is still our family’s secret, just how on earth?!”

In addition to the previous awkwardness and discomfort, Jennifer’s eyes took on a look of vigilance.

Roan asked back in a lukewarm tone.

“Ah…… was it still a secret?”

Normally, this would be the time when it slowly leaked to merchant guilds or organizations with good information networks.

It seemed he had asked a bit too early.

Nudge, nudge─!

The strength with which Zion poked Roan’s arm became even stronger.

‘I told you not to show off that you have a secret information network, didn’t I?!’

Now that Roan had admitted it himself, it couldn’t even be dismissed as nonsense.

At any rate, Roan tried to resolve having leaked the Diella family’s secret without realizing it.

“Actually, the rise of the Gefrun variety is something anyone with a bit of interest in the grape industry could notice.”

“……?”

Jennifer wore an expression that seemed to ask what kind of nonsense that was.

It was only recently that the technology to overcome the weaknesses of the Gefrun variety went beyond the idea stage and began to be researched in earnest.

It was accepted wisdom that the Gefrun variety was not yet treated as high-grade wine grapes in the market, though.

It seemed hard to gloss over smoothly now that the words were already out.

“Isn’t it common sense that if you maintain a maturation temperature of 33.3 degrees, roll it slowly in a Telheer barrel to store for a month, and stir once a week with a silver spatula, the unique bitterness disappears?”

“G-Gasp───! You, how did you know that method…… no, 33.3 degrees is too specific? Besides, how did you know about trying even Telheer barrels?!”

Jennifer was right on the verge of running out of breath, wondering what on earth she had just heard.

He supposedly lived in the Holy Emperor’s Palace before entering, but did he also work part-time at a winery?