Chapter 264

Chapter 264

It went without saying, but by the time Roan returned to the dormitory, Demona and Hector were already waiting.

‘……Are they mobs designed to inflict mental damage on me?’

If he considered the McGodal Room a dungeon, that was a fitting description.

At any rate, Demona and Hector were unexpectedly behaving themselves.

Demona sat blankly on the sofa, stroking Sparkly and Black Knight while feeding them holy power.

And Hector, with Silsil wrapped around his arm and Eongeongi resting on his head, glared at Demona.

It was the usual, everyday sight of the McGodal Room.

““Roan!””

It was also very natural for them to call out to him simultaneously as soon as Roan entered.

“……What.”

Roan replied with an expression dripping with annoyance and irritation.

Hector spoke, flying into a temper.

“Roan, look at this fellow! Doesn’t she look absolutely desperate to turn my stomach inside out!”

Roan tilted his head upon hearing that.

“Hm?”

“……Why are you reacting like that?”

Hector glared suspiciously at Roan, who reacted at a point he hadn’t considered at all.

“No, just because. Go on.”

Out of concern for his friend, Roan did not inform him, ‘You aren’t exactly lacking when it comes to being desperate to turn my stomach inside out either.’

In any case, at Roan’s gesture to continue, Hector rambled on.

“I don’t know what on earth happened during club time, but this heretic fellow has been completely ignoring me for a while now!”

“…….”

Sure enough, just as Hector said, Demona merely sat quietly, thoroughly ignoring him.

“Demona.”

“Hm? Yes, Roan?”

When Roan called, Demona answered as if she had been waiting.

“Well, I can guess why, but why are you ignoring Hector?”

“Professor Vulcan told me to?”

“C-Cough!”

At the reason that was exactly as Roan had expected, Hector clutched his chest and staggered, seemingly deeply hurt in his heart.

“He said talking to a Pavilto brings bad luck throughout our school years, so the new members should ignore him for just a week.”

‘For a professor to encourage school bullying, it’s the end of days.’

He wondered if that was a bit too harsh, but there was a good reason for it.

Because there was a long-standing jinx of the Acherandir Sacred Combat Club called ‘Pavilto’s Curse’.

“P-Pavilto’s Curse? What on earth did I do wrong?”

Hector asked, unable to steady his body properly due to the immense shock.

“Well. You didn’t do anything wrong, Hector.”

“See that, Heretic! Falling for such a childish prank!”

“It’s just minor incidents, like going titleless for five years while using a locker room cleaned by a staff member of Pavilto descent, mass food poisoning for unknown reasons after eating snacks made by a Pavilto student, a carriage overturning on the way to the Imperial Sacred Combat League after receiving congratulatory telegrams from the Pavilto family…… just small things like that.”

“…….”

Hector was left speechless by the family history he had heard so unexpectedly.

‘A-At that rate, it might actually be a curse.’

He was so dumbfounded that he even thought that of himself.

Meanwhile, Demona, who heard Roan’s words, asked Hector.

“What? Fanatic, was your family actually black mages?!”

“What? What kind of nonsense is that?! Do you think I’ll tolerate such an insult?”

Hector, who received an unexpected (?) suspicion, flew into a rage.

Demona asked back innocently.

“Just listening to Roan, it doesn’t even sound like the level of curse magic, but like they performed an outright ritual?”

“……N-No! There’s no way that’s true! I’ve never heard of such stories even in my family!”

Hector denied it, shaking his head a beat late.

‘That fellow, he got tempted by the idea too.’

Honestly, because it was such an coincidental jinx, it was understandable to harbor such suspicions upon hearing it.

Since the family naturally kept quiet about it, it would feel like a rumor meant to slander their honor, but it was an undeniable fact.

Indeed, the Sacred Combat Club had even asked Harden for a curse-dispelling holy art.

Harden had barked, ‘Are you guys clergymen when you tremble because of such superstition?’ but because they pleaded so much, he cast the curse-dispelling holy art for now, and summoned the Pavilto student to have a reconciliation hug with the club members.

The very next day, an unprecedented major incident occurred where naturalist-school black mages, who opposed Sacred Combat on the grounds of abusing young spirit beasts, raided the Sacred Combat Club’s room, after which Harden declared.

─ Do whatever you want on your own!

……Thus, ‘Pavilto’s Curse’ established itself as one of the few jinxes recognized even by Harden.

“Hmph! See~ This is completely a curse~ a curse~”

Demona said, waving Sparkly back and forth right in front of Hector’s eyes.

It wasn’t an action that had any particular meaning, and just having a sparkling beetle flitting about in front of his eyes annoyed even Roan.

Roan was dumbfounded watching the scene.

“But since you are speaking to him now, ignoring him is out the window.”

“Eh?”

“Huh?”

Demona and Hector tilted their heads simultaneously.

Come to think of it, Demona had been teasing Hector completely naturally.

Hector burst into laughter, shouting at Demona.

“Insolent heretic fellow! Serves you right! I’m highly looking forward to what will happen this year because of you!”

‘That really feels like a curse…….’

Roan shook his head at the sight, which was completely unbefitting of a heretic inquisitor.

“Hieee! A curse ghost!”

Demona ran away with both arms raised high, and Hector followed closely behind her.

They naturally began to run in circles with Roan in the middle.

Roan thought of letting them know why he carried a staff, but changed his mind.

“Ugh!”

“Ack!”

[Eh? Demona also uses the Lake Salamander language?]

‘……That is just a scream. And it’s not a lake salamander, but a desert lizard.’

[Aha?!]

‘Anyway, thanks to the Circuit Ring, it’s convenient to be able to cast curse magic on two people simultaneously.’

Roan was using the ring obtained in Gilsburg very usefully.

However, thanks to having already built up resistance, the two quickly staggered up.

“Argh…… Roan, how does it feel even faster?”

“Indeed. I think it was almost simultaneous this time.”

They were even noticing the subtle changes that were different from usual.

At this rate, it was safe to consider them experts in curse magic.

……Although it was slightly problematic that they were experts in being hit by curse magic.

“Since I keep casting it on you guys like this, my skill has no choice but to improve.”

“Is that why?”

“As expected, we are indispensable existences to Roan.”

“This is what friends are~”

Roan wondered how on earth the two’s thought processes worked.

Are their left and right brains plugged in backward?

Unless it was to that extent, it was completely incomprehensible.

Just then, Beanin entered the McGodal Room.

“Oh? Hello, guys~ but why is the atmosphere like this?”

“Ah, Senior. The thing is~”

Demona spoke without omitting a single thing, from Professor Vulcan’s instructions to Pavilto’s Curse, and even that Roan’s punishment holy magic had become faster.

‘I-It got even faster from there?’

Beanin looked at Roan with slightly fearful eyes, but that wasn’t the important thing right now.

“Meeeh! More importantly, Demona, are you okay?”

“Yes? Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Pavilto’s Curse is really serious!”

“……300,000 Gold Senior. There is a Pavilto listening, you know.”

Hector showed his displeasure.

Regardless, Beanin let out a goat cry and ran to the kitchen.

Then he returned with a handful of salt and threw it over Demona.

Splat─!

“Ah, Senior, what are you doing?”

“Stay still! They say throwing salt helps a bit!”

“I say this again, but the Pavilto watching feels quite displeased……”

In any case, Pavilto’s Curse was terrifying enough that even Beanin, who had little to do with Sacred Combat, made such a fuss!

Roan watched the scene quietly and walked away, shaking his head.

“I’ll head inside now.”

“Meeeh! At this rate, still…… ah, yes, Roan.”

If there had been more time, he would have explained why it wasn’t a curse that could be resolved with mere salt, but he had work to do tonight.

‘I should use the Prophet’s Eye.’

If Demona got cursed, that was a good thing in its own way (?), and Roan was more curious about his own bad ending.

Of course, it was still a bit too early to sleep, so he intended to study in the meantime.

……Either way, it was a more beneficial time than being outside.

***

“Hmm. Professor Teidy’s magic circle is a bit complex.”

Roan was transferring and drawing a part of Teidy’s grand magic, which he had seen in the dark attribute class, onto a practice notebook.

Since some high-level magic that Roan couldn’t touch yet was also mixed in, all he could do was improve simple magic circles.

‘I should borrow a book on magic circle theory when I go to the forbidden library next time.’

Of course, borrowing books from the Forbidden Library was possible even now, but since he had the Bell of Eternity, there was no need to rush.

There was a risk that things would get complicated if he carried it around for no reason, and it was also the quiz week right now.

[How about changing this part, right here, into a curve like this?]

Just then, Bell spoke, placing his front paw firmly on the practice notebook.

Roan stared at the circuit for a moment and shook his head.

‘No, a spiral is more efficient there. The mana needs to be delayed slightly.’

[Ah-ha.]

Bell nodded his long neck as if he understood.

It was still a quite meaningful idea, so Roan patted Bell’s back.

‘Praiseworthy. You know how to look at magic circles quite well?’

Perhaps because the food he ate during his egg days was different, or because he truly possessed a great talent for black magic.

Kyaooong─!

[Ahem! I am the legendary Abyss Dragon, you know!]

Bell cried triumphantly, puffing out his chest.

At any rate, Roan lit a fire with mana and completely burned the practice notebook.

Although the materials were a waste, the contents were all in his head anyway.

Next was checking the Circuit Ring.

Slither─ slither─

The ring’s mana, which had initially tried to absorb furiously into Roan, had quieted down quite a bit over the course of a day.

‘At this rate, lying that I’m purifying it will be quite plausible.’

By Roan’s estimation, about two days?

At that point, it would completely yield to Roan and look purified on the outside.

Even for a simple item, the time it took to purify was extremely short, but he could just gloss that over somehow.

It seemed he should use this method often in the future if he spotted dark magic tools.

Finally, Mosquito.

Keeeoong─

Mosquito, perhaps feeling stuffy after not being out for a long time, vibrated violently.

‘What is it saying?’

It was asking why this place was so peaceful. It said it wanted to see blood.

‘That’s because you haven’t taken the classes properly yet.’

Roan briefly dismissed Mosquito’s complaint.

To talk idly about Acherandir being peaceful and wanting to see blood after attending just one of the quietest classes.

“I wonder if you’ll snap out of it only after getting tempered with Kaina’s hammer.”

Keeong─!

As soon as Kaina’s name was mentioned, Mosquito vibrated shortly once as if letting out a death rattle, and then quieted down.

The name of Kaina, the demon inquisitor who terrified even Mosquito, who was born receiving the power of Ziprog!

Still, there was little occasion to swing a dagger inside the school.

……After all, no matter how serious the situation was, just Roan pulling the dagger from his breast would solve all problems on its own.

Instead, Roan drew a bit of blood and applied it to Mosquito.

Belch─

With just that, Mosquito seemed satisfied, letting out a burp despite being a sword.

‘Doing all sorts of things.’