Chapter 330

Chapter 330

Although Hiti’s skills were great, if it was something that could be treated that easily, Beleck would have already cured her completely.

“Yes, so to fundamentally cure that child…”

There was a way to save Lucia.

Something that could not be compared to ordinary spiritual medicines—no, rather, something that could not even be called medicine in the first place.

The legendary existence that every medical professional would have dreamed of at least once.

Roan and Hiti were simultaneously thinking of the same thing.

However, Roan shook his head.

“I know what you are trying to say, but I do not yet have the loyalty to bestow that much on a black mage.”

“What?”

Hiti frowned deeply.

“You rascal, didn’t you speak so well earlier?”

Unlike other citizens of the Empire who threw a fit at the mention of black magic, Hiti had viewed him favorably because of his rational and logical attitude.

“Yes, that thought has not changed. However, Lucia and I only met for the first time yesterday. It means there is no ‘need’ to go that far yet.”

Hiti’s gaze as he looked at Roan became strange.

‘This young rascal, I really can’t read his mind.’

Even though he was a freshman, he readily handed over 10,000 talants, yet there was no need to cure her.

He prided himself on the fact that as he aged, his ability to read people did not fall behind his medical skills.

This boy named Roan, who appeared out of nowhere, was someone whose true nature could not be read at all.

…Actually, even if he did know, it would be quite problematic.

Roan bowed politely to Hiti.

“I will be leaving now.”

“Go or don’t, whatever.”

However, as a medical professional, Hiti could not look favorably upon someone who rejected a patient, so he grumbled as he accepted the greeting.

When Roan left the restaurant, Lucia was leaning against the wall right next to the door.

Frowning, Roan said.

“Did you eavesdrop?”

“…I did not hear.”

Her words were a denial, but her tone was an affirmation.

In fact, whether she heard or not did not matter much to Roan.

‘Building too much favor and getting close is also a problem.’

The optimal relationship was a moderate friendly relationship.

Not close enough to arouse suspicion, but also not close enough to discover anything strange.

“Anyway, it’s a relief that your body seems better. I will be off now.”

“Yes.”

Without waiting for Lucia’s greeting, Roan turned around.

He did not know when she would leave Acherandir again, but she would no longer bother him.

Meanwhile, Lucia was left alone in front of Hiti’s restaurant.

“He knows a way to cure my body…”

Just as Roan suspected, Lucia had eavesdropped on his conversation with Hiti.

Hiti tried to tell him that method, but Roan refused, saying he already knew it.

In other words, despite knowing, he drew a line there.

It felt like a silent warning to not approach him further.

The simplest way was to go back to Hiti and ask what the method was.

However, for some reason, Lucia wanted to hear it directly from Roan’s mouth.

It was because he was a person who did not discriminate just because she was a black mage, exactly like ‘that person.’

…If Roan had given such a reason, she would have introduced Demona to him.

Saying that there was someone here who discriminated even less than she did.

‘I must ask him the reason why he did not want to tell me when I get the chance.’

To achieve her plan, Lucia’s mind began to spin rapidly.

‘I need more information, more information about Roan Darc…’

…Somehow, it seemed Lucia had developed a slightly twisted desire!

In any case, Lucia was confident that she had the skills to do so.

Just then, students passing by saw Lucia and whispered.

—Isn’t that girl the black mage Darc was dragging earlier?

—I think so?

—Why is she alone?

Snapping out of her thoughts at their voices, Lucia glanced somewhere for a moment.

Swish—

She vanished on the spot as if sinking into the ground.

—W-What?!

—Did she run away?

The students were startled and looked all over.

If the black mage had really run away, they planned to report it to the school.

But just then.

“Why~ is there a problem?”

—Hieeeeek!!!!!

—P-Professor Kaina?!?!!!

…At Kaina’s appearance, the students seemed even more surprised than when they saw the black mage disappear.

Naturally, it was not a coincidence. She had been watching the meeting between Roan and Lucia all along, and had appeared after sending a signal in case Lucia fell into a difficult situation.

If Roan had known, he would have thrown a fit, saying there was no one in the world to trust, but unfortunately, he was not here.

Kaina smiled brightly and asked again.

“It seems there was something surprising?”

—Ah, Professor, it’s just that.

—A black mage was definitely here, but now she’s gone.

The students spoke hesitantly about the scene they had witnessed.

They knew from experience that Kaina was truly terrifying when she was smiling like that.

Of course, if she was frowning, they just had to run away, regardless of whether it was scary or not.

Kaina let out a soft exclamation.

“That black mage~ I know her too!”

At that, the students sighed in relief.

—So that was indeed the case?

—It was a dead black mage…

Naturally, Lucia was not a dead black mage, but since she had caught Kaina’s eye, it implicitly meant she was in a similar state.

In general cases, that was not incorrect either.

“Yes! So everyone can rest assured and go to their afternoon class~”

—Yes, Professor.

—Thank you!

The students smiled brightly and tried to go on their way.

“Ah, but wait a moment.”

—Yes?

“Looking at your uniforms, you are third-years… Didn’t you learn how to report the appearance of a black mage in my class?”

—…

They tried to, but it seemed it would be a bit difficult to attend class on time.

* * *

The hills where Professor Timothy’s class was held.

…Actually, it was a class that originally had a separate classroom, but for some reason, the students naturally gathered here.

‘Everyone is adapting quickly this time.’

Roan nodded as he saw the students already gathered.

Just then, Roan’s friends spotted him and waved their arms widely.

“Roan! Over here, over here!”

—Darc is here.

—Tch, is that guy not tired of class?

‘How can you not attend class just because you’re tired of it…’

Roan did not know whether to be happy or annoyed by the attention drawn by his friends’ warm greetings.

In the midst of that, his friends approached Roan, each proudly holding out an excavation shovel they had just bought.

“Look at this! We bought the shovels just as you ordered!”

His friends’ new spiritual beasts also hopped and fluttered to express their joy.

Twitch—

At that, Roan frowned deeply.

As if telling them not to even come near him.

“R-Roan, are you angry? We definitely bought them from the Zico Merchant Group…”

“Rafia, didn’t I tell you to buy them from the Tate Merchant Group!”

“What’s wrong with everyone? Isn’t he just the usual Roan?”

“That’s not it, you idiot Demona… Noeul, Pallang, go play with the kids over there.”

There was, of course, a reason why Roan frowned.

‘It’s good that they bought the shovels, but if they say it like that, surely.’

Just as Roan expected, the students whispered even more fiercely than before.

—Look at that, it seems Darc dumped the preparation for the pop quiz onto his friends.

—Well, if he said ‘buy a shovel’ with that face, even I would buy it.

—That is true…

In an instant, Roan became a notorious bully who extorted money from his friends!

Without even knowing that, his friends were tilting their heads, wondering what the problem was.

Roan intentionally asked in a voice loud enough for the other students to hear.

“Yes, well done. Everyone should prepare their own materials.”

—Eh? It seems Darc didn’t make them do it?

Fortunately, this time it seemed somewhat effective.

But Rafia smiled brightly and held out a shovel.

“Of course, we bought yours too, Roan~ Since you help us a lot, we pooled our money to buy it!”

Their hearts were truly appreciated.

If he had friends like that on Earth, they would have been close for life.

Except for Demona and Hector, of course.

—D-Did you hear?

—He did make them buy it…

The problem was that doing this in a situation like this only had the opposite effect.

Moreover, Roan had also just bought an excavation shovel!

If he had received something he needed, it would be useful, but right now, his reputation was only dropping.

“I have already bought one, so it is fine. Use it as a spare later.”

“Ah, I see…”

“Disappointed.”

Thinking that they had failed to help Roan again, the girls looked slightly downcast.

“What?! I even contributed the 2 talants I received for cleaning the restroom yesterday for you!”

—Gasp, he extorted a shovel while making a Wicronon clean restrooms?

—He really is a heinous guy.

‘I said I’m not accepting the shovel…!’

At least compared to Demona making a bad situation worse, it was incomparably better.

Roan did not want to cause trouble for no reason, so he just gave 2 talants to Demona.

Indeed, since their fines to pay were in the thousands of talants, 2 talants might have been a pretty big expenditure.

“There, happy?”

“Oh~ 2 talants~”

Demona danced joyfully, receiving two 1-talant bills.

Then Roan called Hector.

“Yeah, what is it, Ro— Cough, urgh, gasp!”

And cast a paralysis spell on him!

Not only the fallen Hector but also the other friends had expressions of not knowing the reason.

“When did I ever tell you to buy one from the Tate Merchant Group?”

“Urgh! Roan, you hold a grudge…”

Hector writhed his body, sending a look that asked when on earth he was bringing up that story.

‘Those who talked about expulsion for a week shouldn’t feel this wronged.’

It was all karma.

Just then, two people approached Roan.

“H-Hieek!”

“Hiccup!”

Seeing the large Hector fall in an instant, they stopped in their tracks in a half-stooped posture in surprise.

“Oh, El, Jennifer. What is it?”

Roan smiled brightly and acknowledged them for the sake of image management.

Showing off to those two, who had many friends, was the same as showing off to ten people.

…If only Hector was not having a fit from being hit by a curse magic behind him, the effect might have been better.

It would have been even better if Demona was not dancing a bizarre dance next to him as if there was a celebration.

‘Really, they are useless people.’

Hum—

You aren’t one to talk, are you?

El and Jennifer seemed to undergo a long internal conflict of whether to run away right now.

“We bought the shovel you mentioned last time…”

“I-I did too, Darc…”

Each carefully held out an excavation shovel shaped like a trowel, which they had hidden behind their backs.

Praiseworthily, they were all excavation shovels from the Zico Merchant Group, just as ordered.

“…”

Roan stood with his mouth slightly open, unable to say anything.

—Did he extort shovels even from El and Jennifer?

—Just when did he order those two?

—Is that Darc bastard planning to run a business with excavation shovels?!

—S-Should we have bought one too?

—They say the haves are worse…!

—But Darc doesn’t ha… Mmph!

—This bastard! There are things you can say and things you can’t!

Why on earth did they bring up such things at this kind of timing?

Receiving excavation shovels bought with his friends’ hard-earned money was not something a righteous priest would do.

‘…Wait.’

Roan fell into thought for a moment.

Then.

“Well, since you bought them, it can’t be helped. I will gladly accept them.”

“““????”””

He smiled brightly and held out his hands to the two.