Chapter 345

Chapter 345

Sion and Soldera were puzzled by Roan’s somehow angry expression.

‘Is that really a problem?’

‘It’s just a joke, after all…’

Since they never had to worry about getting arrested, they could look at such costumes and react nonchalantly, like ‘Why is that?’

For if Roan, a black mage, had seen someone dressed up as a ghost rather than a devil, he would have been on tenterhooks, worrying that they might catch Kaina’s eye.

In fact, ‘Hell’s Tteokbokki’ was a restaurant under Professor Kaina’s surveillance, along with ‘The Pit — Access Forbidden’ where he had gone in the past with Yusina and Sion.

Roan, thinking that he wouldn’t be able to get through to them anyway, clicked his tongue and spoke.

“Forget that, let’s eat. It won’t taste good if it cools down.”

“Ah, yes!”

Sion and Soldera hastily tried to bring the rice cakes they had skewered to their mouths.

“Nope~ I’m going to eat first~”

But ahead of them, Demona was the first to stuff a whole dark-red rice cake into her mouth.

Munch, munch— gulp—

And then:

“Aaaaack!!!! What is this?!”

With fire breathing from her mouth—not a figurative expression, but actual small flames erupted—she screamed.

[Huh? Was Brother Demona a dragon too?]

Since that appearance looked exactly like a dragon in a fairy tale, Bel tilted his head and asked.

Of course, although angel blood was mixed in the Wicronon family, they were not dragons.

“I-It’s too spicy! Water, water-water-water, water!!!!”

“Pull the hose next to you and suck on it. It’s a special remedy for spiciness.”

Gulp, gulp—

Unlike usual, Demona didn’t even talk back to Roan’s words, pulling the thin hose and drinking well.

But that was also temporary.

“T-This is hot!!!!”

The drink coming from the hose was a very hot beverage instead of immediately soothing the spiciness!

It was a combination of food and drink extremely faithful to the setting of ‘Hell’s Tteokbokki’.

Of course, there was no need to worry about hygiene since the hose was replaced after the customer left and also underwent disinfection holy magic.

Sion and Soldera, who had been watching that pathetic sight, shook their heads as if they had promised to do so.

“Sigh, stupid Demona.”

“Brother Demona, I’m disappointed.”

“W-what did I do…”

Demona spoke in an aggrieved tone, caressing her tingling cheeks.

“Hell’s Tteokbokki is cooked with seasoning made by concentrating Saica pepper, known to be the spiciest in the continent, a hundredfold. Saica pepper only grows in the oasis of the Great Desert in the south of the continent, and its characteristic is that it’s very small…”

“The beverage coming from the hose is made from the milk of the Flame Cow, a spiritual beast, and Flame Cows basically have pain resistance, so it is said to be excellent for managing spiciness. Of course, it’s very hot instead. The lifespan of a Flame Cow is…”

“H-heek—you Hell’s Tteokbokki ghosts…!”

Demona wore a disgusted expression upon hearing the explanations of Saica pepper and the Flame Cow that the two poured out fluently.

Then, she tried to cling to her savior (?) Roan as always, but:

Smirk—

“Gasp! I forgot that Roan is the chief ghost of them all…”

She had to wish for what was possible with Roan.

Roan watched Sion and Soldera with a satisfied smile.

“Both of you know the setting very well.”

“Yes? The setting?”

“…No, I mean you know the information well.”

“Aha! Of course, Hell’s Tteokbokki is famous, after all.”

Ordinarily, Roan would have said, ‘Study instead of memorizing stuff like that,’ but

Sion and Soldera were honor students who did well on their own anyway—of course, Soldera was an honor-student-in-training—so he didn’t feel the need to say that.

“Very good.”

“Hehe, actually, about the rice variety used to make this rice cake…”

“One more special additive goes into the Flame Cow’s milk…”

“I-Is this hell?!”

Demona felt terror as she watched the three conversing with gloomy smiles around Hell’s Tteokbokki amidst the hellfire decorations.

Indeed, there was a reason why this restaurant was named Hell’s Tteokbokki!

Anyway, the three, after having a deep conversation about the settings for a while, also began to eat the tteokbokki.

Honestly, the spiciness was unavoidable for Sion and Soldera too, but instead of stuffing it in mindlessly like Demona, they cut off small pieces to eat.

That way, they could preserve both their manners and a moderate level of spiciness.

A burning sensation—

When Roan took a bite of the tteokbokki, a burning sensation surged in his mouth.

‘I didn’t even eat tteokbokki much back on Earth…’

Although it wasn’t a food he personally liked very much, seeing Sion and Soldera eating it up so happily made him feel it wasn’t a decision to regret.

“Ack! Ack! Ack!”

“…If it’s that spicy, eat it little by little, little by little.”

“Wow! You! You’re a genius! Roan?!”

Seeing Demona stuff a whole rice cake into her mouth every time while making a fuss because of the spiciness made him regret it slightly.

[Why are they making such a fuss, Charlotte?]

Ki-ri-rik—?

On the other hand, seeing that the divine and spiritual beasts were eating normally without any complaint, the food for beasts seemed quite tolerable.

In any case, Roan hadn’t come to a place like this simply to build a friendly relationship with Soldera.

‘Hmm, as expected, I am getting used to it as I eat.’

In fact, this Hell’s Tteokbokki had one more hidden effect.

Spiciness was actually the action of pain receptors.

In other words, being this spicy meant that one was feeling an immense amount of pain.

Hell’s Tteokbokki was quite a helpful food that increased one’s pain resistance up to a certain level the more it was eaten.

Indeed, though he had only taken a few bites, the spiciness seemed slightly less intense than at first.

“If I had known, I would have come sooner.”

Roan muttered to himself, having such a thought.

Had he built up pain resistance beforehand, he wouldn’t have had to suffer that much when engraving the dark mark!

‘Well, since I’ll have to use pain resistance usefully in the future too.’

Thinking of that made Roan feel a bit melancholy.

Had he possessed a normal character, he could have lived comfortably with good food and clothes.

Meanwhile, Sion and Soldera, who misunderstood those words, reacted.

“Ah, no. You don’t have to go that far… Everything we’ve eaten so far has been delicious.”

“It’s my first time too, but it’s fine.”

Soldera’s tone had become much gentler before anyone noticed.

The two were even slightly touched, wondering if Roan had researched how to enter Hell’s Tteokbokki beforehand just for this occasion.

“Hmm? Ah, indeed.”

Roan knew they had misunderstood something, but since it was in a positive direction, he didn’t bother to correct them.

Sion and Soldera scold Demona, who was next to them, for no reason.

“Demona, Roan eats so calmly, you should reflect on yourself too!”

“That’s right. You are beautiful, Brother, but please be a bit more mature.”

“…I don’t think that’s it, Soldera.”

Demona, who had been eating well (?) only to suddenly become the target, felt extremely wronged.

“What did I do! It’s spicy and hot! What do you expect me to do!”

Honestly, it wasn’t strange for Demona to feel aggrieved.

Because Hell’s Tteokbokki was indeed an incredibly spicy dish, to the point where even Roan wondered how she could eat the rice cakes one by one in a single bite.

…Or rather, if it was Demona, she might have been doing it on purpose because the flames blowing from her mouth every time she spoke were fascinating.

And while the four were eagerly eating Hell’s Tteokbokki, in the room next to them:

“Cough, cough! Cough, cough, cough, cough!”

Lucia, who had followed Roan’s group just to tail them, was coughing like crazy there.

‘T-They’re selling this kind of thing as food?’

She had taken just one bite, and a tiny nibble at that, but she burst into a cough that made it feel as if her entire airway was being scraped out.

In truth, she knew just by looking that it was a dangerous food for her, but because the reputation (?) of Hell’s Tteokbokki was well known even to outsiders like Lucia, she hadn’t been able to resist the temptation.

So she had thought a very small amount would be fine.

Lucia quickly put back on the mask she had removed and calmed her breathing.

Fortunately, since Hiti’s treatment effect still remained, her symptoms improved quickly.

Had it not, she would have had to receive help from the Obsidian Cradle of Regeneration once more.

…If Hiti had known about this, he would have smacked Lucia’s back, asking if she was crazy and wanted to die.

Lucia wiped the bloody tears flowing from her eyes and looked toward the room Roan had entered.

‘Don’t tell me he is trying to get rid of me without dirtying his hands…!’

A misunderstanding that, if Roan had heard it, would make him feel wronged, asking what kind of absurd false accusation she was framing him with!

But from Lucia’s standpoint, since Roan had said he wouldn’t tell her the method to cure her, it wasn’t unreasonable to think so.

For Lucia was indeed a character whose inferiority complex and victim mentality had been considerably reinforced while living as a black mage in the Empire.

“Cough! …Phew. But, even so, I won’t give up…”

Leaning against the wall and calmly regulating her breathing, Lucia renewed her resolve once again.

Somehow, she would be recognized by Roan as a good black mage.

And she would definitely find a way to cure her cursed body.

Meanwhile, in the room next to where Lucia was:

“…Why is so noisy today?”

Nom, nom—

There, Atoga, a regular of Hell’s Tteokbokki, a Royal Wolf half-blood, and the professor of Healing and Penance, was eating tteokbokki normally.

Although the excellent taste was one thing, it was a charming restaurant because one could enjoy a quiet meal.

For some reason, hearing screams today and a violent cough, it seemed a few students had coincidentally entered.

Atoga munched without a single change in his expression, even with a whole rice cake of Hell’s Tteokbokki stuffed in his mouth.

“Hmm. I should be careful around the restroom today.”

It was the natural crisis detection ability of a Royal Wolf half-blood, whose hearing and sense of smell were tens of thousands of times more sensitive than a human’s!

Thinking so, Atoga suddenly tilted his head.

Although it clearly didn’t affect him much, Hell’s Tteokbokki was truly incredibly spicy.

Even though he was someone who didn’t even blink an eye while eating such tteokbokki,

‘Just how powerful is Darc’s healing holy magic…’

It was Atoga’s still unresolved conundrum.

* * *

Late at night.

Rustle—

Roan, who had gone to bed, awoke after a short sleep.

‘It’s nice that becoming a black mage allows me to sleep whenever I want.’

It was the single advantage of being a black mage.

Wooong—

[It’s not the only one, is it?]

The false divinity spoke as if it was hearing the most absurd thing.

After doing all sorts of things until now, what was he saying…

In any case, Roan stroked the soundly sleeping Bel and Charlotte once before getting down from the bed.

[Mmm, Master… jewels… shiny… hehehe…]

What on earth was Bel dreaming about, muttering like that even in his sleep.

‘As long as he is happy.’

At least he didn’t have to be like himself, tossing and turning even in dreams out of fear that his parents would discover his identity.

Under normal circumstances, this dawn hour would belong entirely to Roan alone, but

Today, there was another black mage very close by.

‘She really doesn’t tire.’

Roan glanced out the window and thought.

Although he didn’t know why on earth, Lucia was constantly trailing Roan.

Shouldn’t her suspicions be cleared by now?

Was it because she was the Princess of the Night, a member of the Room of Cardinal 777, that made her different?

Unfortunately, the Lucia that Roan knew was also of a temperament that, once she became obsessed with something, wouldn’t stop until it was completely resolved.

‘I didn’t like her ever since she started catching fellow black mages with her eyes wide open—though she doesn’t literally do that.’

…In fact, Roan had a history of playing God & Devil and using Lucia to eliminate numerous black mages.

Whether eliminating troublesome enemies with a priest character or removing competitors with a black mage character.

At any rate, it seemed time to shake off Lucia, who was acting quite persistently.

To do that, he had to sneak out of the dormitory at night once more.