Chapter 30

Chapter 30

The familiar view of the cliff and Panroa Hall.

Only after taking in that scene did Roan finally process the events of today.

‘To think I met Professor Kaina while carrying black magic books and a heretical book.’

Perhaps he had somehow scraped past the greatest crisis since possessing a body in this world.

With the sun setting slowly behind the western mountains in the background, Roan arrived at the Macgodal Room.

In the living room, Demona sat alone in a daze, cradling the Fanatic Rabbit King’s egg.

Sensing Roan’s presence, he turned his head.

“Ah, Roan. Did you study well?”

“Yeah. Did you get some begging… I mean, Talents?”

“No. Professor Beleck said that paying the fine for me is a violation of the rules, so he can’t.”

As expected, Beleck was a true educator.

Roan nodded.

On the other hand, Demona muttered with a dejected face.

“They said that if I don’t have Talents, I have to make up for it by cleaning the restrooms…”

Considering he had mistaken the former Pope for a Lich and even snored while sleeping, wasn’t cleaning the restrooms actually a relief?

It was poetic justice.

‘But why is it so quiet?’

Roan tilted his head.

Thinking about it, setting aside Beanin, the other member was nowhere to be seen.

“Where is Hector? Has he not returned yet?”

“Ah, the fanatic is still—”

Crash—!

At that moment, the door of the Macgodal Room swung open violently with a loud crash.

“What’s going on? Did something happen?”

A startled Beanin practically bolted out of his private room.

Naturally, the one who kicked the door open was Hector.

He wore a triumphant expression, like a general who had won an unfavorable war.

“Uhahahahahaha!”

Along with a hearty laugh befitting his massive build.

But such things were not what mattered.

“Oh my goodness… What on earth did you do to get this injured at Acherandir?”

Seeing Hector’s state, Beanin gasped in shock and examined his body here and there.

Indeed, it was hard to find a single spot on his body from head to toe that wasn’t injured.

His left arm and leg were twisted at strange angles, which looked serious at a glance.

In the holy land of Acherandir, an injury of that scale could practically be considered borderline fatal.

‘Did he injure his head rather than his body?’

Roan also looked at Hector’s head with a worried gaze.

They said that when people suffer too much pain, their minds go wild…

“This won’t do. First, to the infirmary—”

“That is not what is important right now, Senior Beanin!”

Hector shook off Beanin’s hand as the senior tried to pull him away.

Then, he slipped off the bag slung over his relatively intact right shoulder and took out its contents.

A round object with cream and green colors mixed like patches.

Roan and Demona were even more shocked than when they had first seen Hector’s state.

“T-The fanatic got an egg?!”

No matter how they looked at it, that large egg was a spiritual beast’s egg.

I mean, though an egg could be found somehow by scouring the mountains, how did Hector manage to get one?

Roan spoke with a pathetic expression.

“Hector. No matter how much you love the Holy War, you shouldn’t sell your soul to a devil just to get an egg.”

Especially when you come from a family of Inquisitors.

At that, Hector yelled, his face flushing bright red.

“What on earth does that mean!”

“Ah, is it not?”

Then how, really?

Even Roan, who had rolled and tumbled through “God & Devil,” could not deduce the reason behind this at all.

Hector explained how he had acquired it while holding the egg preciously.

“This is a destined egg that I found in the middle of a forest after going deep inside, accidentally rolling down a cliff, climbing back up only to fall again and smash my body against the rocks, and repeating that over and over!”

Not to mention Roan, even Beanin and Demona dropped their jaws.

‘How on earth did this guy not die?’

No matter how strong the blessing of Acherandir was, wasn’t this a bit too much?

The cliff of Panroa Hall had protective holy magic and Harden’s grace specially layered over it, so it didn’t matter how many times one rolled down.

But a cliff deep in the mountains where the school’s power did not properly reach was a completely different story.

If one was unlucky enough to hit their head against a rock, they would pass away instantly, just like anywhere else.

And he repeated that multiple times?

At that moment, Demona walked over to Hector, patted him on the shoulder, and spoke pityingly.

“I’m sorry, fanatic. I had no idea you were having such a hard time adapting to school life…”

Naturally, Hector flew into a rage.

What did he take the proud Pabilto for!

“You heretical bastard—!”

However,

Spurt—!

Before he could even vent his anger properly, streams of blood spurted from his temples and forehead.

The wounds that had not yet healed properly had burst open again.

Beanin shrieked in horror.

“Meeee! Egg or not, let’s get you to the infirmary right now!”

He was so flustered that he even let out an instinctive goat bleat!

“No, a injury like this will heal if I rest a bit—”

Thud!

Hector tried to wipe the blood as if it were nothing, but he collapsed before he could finish his sentence.

***

Panroa Hall’s infirmary.

“What were you doing until your roommate got into this state!”

Holmes, the priest in charge, was scolding the four members of the Macgodal Room.

“I’ve worked here for ten years, and this is the first time I’ve seen an injury this severe, do you understand?”

Beanin, Roan, and Hector merely listened to him in silence.

Well, Hector was wrapped in bandages and splints from head to toe like a mummy, so he couldn’t move.

On the other hand, Demona

“went out all by himself and returned in that shape, though?”

spoke up, standing his ground as if he felt utterly wronged.

Holmes looked at Demona with a cold expression.

“You know that freshmen are forbidden from acting alone according to the school rules, right? Since you abetted it, I will impose a fine of 50 Talents.”

“……!!!”

Demona instantly wore an expression as if his house had fallen.

What kind of school never gave anything but piled up fines like a snowball…!

In any case, with Demona dropping out of the conversation from the shock,

“By the way, what on earth did this student do? Did he encounter a black mage in the academy?”

Holmes asked in an exasperated voice, as if he needed to know the reason.

Roan glared at Hector once and replied.

“He said he was trying to get an egg to use in the Holy War.”

“An egg for the Holy War?”

Holmes seemed slightly surprised.

“……?”

For some reason, the anger he held as a medical practitioner seemed to have dissipated considerably.

As Roan stared at Holmes in disbelief, the priest even gave a faint smile and nodded.

“What spirit befitting a freshman. I won’t hold you responsible this time. Rest well before you head back up.”

Of course, the 50-Talent fine imposed on Demona remained unchanged.

But to Roan, such a fine was not the important part.

‘Good grief, everyone is crazy about the Holy War…!’

At this rate, they might even canonize someone who died while trying to get an egg.

…Actually, they really might.

Roan was dumbfounded, but Holmes had already drawn the curtains around the bed and left.

“Egg… my egg…”

“Tsk, here it is.”

Roan handed the egg to Hector, who was mumbling through lips that could barely open due to the bandages.

‘An egg mixed with green and cream colors…’

Then, he pondered over the true identity of the egg.

Since he had found it while tumbling down a cliff in the deep mountains, it indeed seemed to be quite a rare species.

Considering that it didn’t come to Roan’s mind immediately.

Just then, Hector parted the bandages wrapped around his chin and spoke.

“Phew! You have no idea how hard I struggled to pull this egg out from a nest made of briars.”

Briars?

Upon hearing those words, something flashed in Roan’s mind.

“……By any chance, was there a whitish slime smeared on the briars?”

“H-How did you know? Is this also a species you know!”

Hector brightened up.

He had indeed made a good friend!

Roan, who guessed all kinds of rare egg species with ease, was practically a walking spiritual beast encyclopedia to Hector.

On the other hand, Roan nodded with a slightly reluctant look.

“I do know it…”

Green and cream shell, a nest made of briars, and white slime smeared on it.

As far as Roan knew, there was only one species of spiritual beast like that.

Hector begged, rolling his sparkling eyes.

“Please tell me what species this fellow is!”

‘No, this has gone beyond sparkling.’

To put it in words, it was like an angel encountered at the end of a trial, or Harden met at the end of life.

Though he couldn’t know for sure, Hector’s current affection for Roan probably rivaled his feelings for his own parents.

However, Roan hesitated to tell him right away.

“Can’t I tell you when your injuries are mostly healed?”

“Please, I beg you like this! Even if it’s a creature worse than that heretic’s egg, I plan to raise it with all my heart. A beast grows stronger depending on the master’s devotion, after all. That is how a true Holy War competitor builds their strength!”

Roan opened his mouth slightly in sheer disbelief.

‘Who said you couldn’t raise it?’

Whether he raised it with devotion or neglect was his own business anyway.

Roan was merely telling him the species…

For some reason, he recalled the sight of a couple begging to know the gender of their unborn child back in South Korea.

“Hmm. Don’t be disappointed when you hear it.”

“Disappointed? Never!”

Hector even snorted heavily.

Roan let out a sigh and revealed the egg’s identity.

“It’s a Thousand Eye-socket Serpent.”

“A Thousand Eye-socket Serpent?”

Hearing the spiritual beast’s name, Hector and Beanin tilted their heads simultaneously.

Naturally, it was a species neither of them had ever heard of in their lives.

“It’s named that way because the holes covering its body look like barnacles, resembling eye sockets with the eyeballs missing. It’s quite disgusting.”

However, as they listened to Roan’s description, the expressions of the two turned slightly pale.

Wasn’t that a monster rather than a spiritual beast?

Yet, the Thousand Eye-socket Serpent was strictly classified as a spiritual beast species.

Meanwhile, Demona, who had been in despair, suddenly gagged.

“Ugh! Just imagining it makes me want to throw up! Choosing something just like himself…”

“Shut up, heretic! Don’t insult Silsil-i!”

Silsil-i?

It seemed he had already given it a name in that short time.

“Roan, tell me more. What kind of creature is Silsil-i?”

Hector’s eyes were now glittering with madness rather than sparkling.

Even Roan was starting to feel slightly repulsed.

“Well… first of all, it can be considered a healer. The healing effect of the slime secreted from its holes is incredible. It can even shoot it from quite a distance.”

“Oh!”

Hector let out a cheer.

He felt that all his struggles had been rewarded.

His face was full of anticipation.

“But with that level of healing effect, isn’t it divine beast class?”

“It’s above divine beast class.”

Roan nodded readily.

“Wow! Congratulations, Hector! You love the Holy War, don’t you?”

“Thank you, Senior!”

Beanin offered his sincere congratulations.

Hector also grinned widely in joy.

With this, couldn’t he return to his territory and lead his local club to the imperial championship?

He had already decided on the exact spot to place the championship trophy in his room.

The Pabilto family’s first Holy War League championship! The glorious protagonist would be Hector Pabilto!

Demona, who was gagging in the corner, also seemed surprised.

“What? Is it that amazing? But why didn’t the fanatic know about it?”

“Now that you mention it…”

Beanin also felt curious only then.

If it was that good, there was no way the empire’s citizens, who were crazy about the Holy War, wouldn’t use such a great spiritual beast in the tournament.

They would have bred them by now or turned every mountain on the continent upside down to find them.

Roan nodded and replied calmly.

The Thousand Eye-socket Serpent certainly possessed incredible power in the Holy War.

“Which is why it was banned from competing by the Continental Holy War Association about 3,000 years ago.”

That is, if it could actually participate.

“…….”

Only then did Hector, learning the secret, drop his jaw.

“It can’t… participate in the Holy War…?”

“Yeah.”

Roan delivered the final blow.

Hector’s eyes, which had been sparkling just a moment ago, instantly turned dull and lifeless.

“Still, don’t be too disappointed. Even if it can’t compete in the Holy War, its healing effect is real. It will be quite helpful to have around.”

Roan’s words were sincere, not just empty comfort.

Even when he played the game, the Thousand Eye-socket Serpent was a quite useful spiritual beast.

Most injuries healed by applying the slime, and drinking it was good for internal wounds.

In addition, its personality was gentle and it followed people well, making it easy to raise.

Once one got used to its slightly hideous appearance, compared to the likes of Demona’s Fanatic Rabbit King…

“You’re not planning to throw it away just because it can’t compete in the Holy War, are you?”

Roan asked Hector with a suspicious look.

Judging by his expression, he seemed to have already contemplated whether to discard it about three thousand times.

“Huh? What?”

Hector replied awkwardly.

‘Just as I thought.’

Roan clicked his tongue inwardly.

The citizens of the empire tended to believe that spiritual beasts and divine beasts were created solely to participate in the Holy War.

When they were creatures of nature first!

At that moment, Demona spoke up innocently, completely oblivious.

“There’s no way, right? After going all the way to take the egg from its nest, throwing it away would make you less than human, seriously.”

“…….”

Hector’s pupils trembled violently.

“Right, fanatic? If you had left it alone, its mother would have raised it preciously in the vast mountains, but you went through life-threatening struggles to bring it here, didn’t you? What does not being able to participate in the Holy War matter?”

Tremble, tremble—

“You’re truly amazing! To be honest, I would have hesitated, but Hector, who loves spiritual beasts, will gladly raise it! You’re awesome, Pabilto!”

“Y-Yeah. Of course. Throwing away an egg taken from its nest makes one a beast, not human.”

“Especially with the honor of the Pabilto family, right?”

“Th… That’s right!”

Although Hector looked on the verge of tears, he ultimately held the egg tightly in his arms.

Roan stared at Demona anew.

‘Does this guy know and is doing this on purpose?’