Chapter 351

[─ Hmm… I suppose so.]

It was a difficult problem that even Bel, the legendary Abyssal Dragon, could not easily answer.

Woong─

[You get tired if you nitpick every single detail like that.]

In the midst of this, the False Divinity provided a clear answer.

However, there was a reason the follower was particularly kind only to Wicronon.

‘Sherry’s followers are exceptionally kind to the members of the Holy War Club.’

This was especially true during the periods when Sherry could not join because she lacked the proper skills.

It was because they held a highly inhumane standard: that character was determined by one’s performance in Holy Wars.

‘Then shouldn’t they be kind to me as well?’

Roan, too, was now strictly a guest member of the Holy War Club.

Perhaps, if they were Sherry’s followers, they might be kind to him.

With that thought, Roan approached the follower.

And indeed, there was a reaction from the followers!

─ R-Roan Darc!

─ Defensive formation!

Clack─ clack─!

The only problem was that it was the exact opposite of the reaction Roan had hoped for.

“…They hate me this much?”

With a slightly hurt expression, Roan stared at the followers standing in front of him, holding their drums like shields.

A few of the followers shouted in anger.

─ An ambiguous guest member is our enemy!

─ A bat-like bastard who enjoys Holy Wars falsely!

─ Pleasure without responsibility!

─ …Is, is that correct?

Hearing those words, it made some sense.

“Then it can’t be helped.”

Roan cleanly decided to give up on any friendship with them.

It was better to abandon a relationship with Sherry’s followers than to be seen by them as ‘someone who was sincere about Holy Wars.’

Roan took the lead with a refreshed expression.

“Let’s just go attend class then.”

“Huh? Yeah, okay!”

The other friends had apparently prepared to stop Roan, thinking he was about to cause a rampage, before trailing after him belatedly.

“Roan!”

Hector called out belatedly.

“What.”

When Roan responded without turning around, Hector spoke in a slightly aggrieved tone.

“Why didn’t you blast them with a punishment holy spell?”

“…”

Yet, even after hearing that, Roan could not help but turn around.

‘Does he think a punishment holy spell is some whip rolling around on the ground…’

While he used it under unavoidable circumstances and in a very limited manner, basically, a punishment holy spell was not something a priest should be spamming at a fellow priest.

Just as Roan was about to kindly demonstrate a practical lesson on ‘when a punishment holy spell should be used,’ Demona suddenly flew into a temper.

“Hey, Hector! Do you think a punishment holy spell is some joke?”

“U-Uh?”

Hector shrank back slightly, mismatching his large build.

Demona said with a confident face,

“Don’t you get it even after being hit so many times? A punishment holy spell is love~”

‘‘‘That is definitely not it, is it?’’’

Seeing Roan’s face turn leaden in real-time, Sion hastily grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him away.

Why let them stir up trouble in a good atmosphere that had passed smoothly!

“R-Roan! Let’s go inside quickly! We have to go take the test!”

“…Let’s do that.”

Behind them, the cheerful conversation of the clueless Demona and Hector drifted over.

“Bwahaha! Right, you’re correct, heretic! Roan wouldn’t use a punishment holy spell on just anyone!”

“Yeah! It’s because we’re all Roan’s close friends~”

It was not a day or two that this had been happening, but Roan was once again convinced that they were truly out of their minds.

Meanwhile, the students entering Percival Hall let out exclamations of surprise one after another.

─ Wow! Look at that!

─ That’s amazing!

It was not because there was some grand mechanism or test preparations inside.

“Welcome!”

It was simply that Professor Vulcan had arrived before the students and was waiting atop a high platform.

─ The professor is here before us!

─ How could such a thing happen?

The students grew wild with deeply touched expressions.

Oh, the overwhelming emotion of seeing a professor arrive at the classroom before the students!

─ Waaaaah!

─ Holy War! Holy War!

─ Vulcan! Vulcan!

Shouting “Holy War” and “Vulcan” in even louder voices, the students filed inside in a line.

Vulcan also wore a satisfied expression at the students’ lively energy and said,

“Since you all love Holy War this much, the future is bright indeed!”

No matter how much of a loose screw he seemed to have, there was no way he wouldn’t feel good when they loved the subject he taught so much.

‘I keep telling you, it’s not Holy War, it’s Divine and Spiritual Beasts…’

The issue was that it was not actually the subject he was supposed to be teaching in the first place.

Seeing Vulcan’s response, the students grew even more excited and raised their voices.

One of them shouted,

─ Then let’s do a Holy War today instead of taking the test!

─ Waaaaah!

At that, the other students cheered along in excitement.

“…”

The smile Vulcan had just worn vanished without a trace as he glared coldly at the student.

─ Hey, are you crazy?

─ Skipping the test, what are you talking about?

Reading the room, the other students cut ties faster than an arrow.

Boom─!

Vulcan leapt down with his heavy body and landed on the ground.

He then shouted, spitting sparks and crackles from his mouth,

“Do you not want to take the test!”

─ U-Uh?

─ Can we skip it?

The students looked around at each other before shouting loudly,

─ Yes!

─ We want to do Holy War!

“Yes, do you want to throw away a boring pop quiz and dive into a Holy War that feeds and grows on dreams and passion!”

─ Yeeeees!

─ The best good man, Vulcan!

─ Idiot, the professor is a bear!

─ The best good bear, Vulcan!

The students cheered, seized by the expectation that they could really skip the pop quiz, and the scene was like a cauldron of pure enthusiasm.

And Vulcan met their expectations!

“Shut up!”

Sssssss───

─ Hey, who brought up not taking the test?

─ It wasn’t me.

The students awkwardly lowered their raised arms.

Vulcan let out a roar, fully enraged.

“You fools who know nothing but Holy War!”

─ …?

Though it was a somewhat strange reprimand coming from Vulcan, the students decided to shut up and move past it since they were in the wrong.

“How can there only be sweet victory in life! In a long life, times of bitter defeat and grueling training are overwhelmingly more common! If you bastards only look right in front of your noses and talk about skipping a pop quiz, you will end up as nothing but losers worse than black mages!”

At Vulcan’s words, which boomed with passion, the students slowly began to be moved.

─ I think the professor is right…

─ Weren’t we looking at the situation too short-sightedly?

And Demona tilted her head, asking Roan,

“Roan, haven’t you had nothing but victory?”

Roan retorted briefly as if it was not even worth answering,

“Don’t talk nonsense. And when did I ever say to skip the pop quiz.”

“Hing…”

Just as a swan busily paddles its feet beneath the water’s surface, she was making easy comments without knowing that Roan practiced secretly in unseen places!

“I, too, do not feel comfortable making you take a boring and tedious pop quiz! But do you trust me?!”

─ We trust you!

“Louder, do you trust me!”

─ We trust youuuu!

“Woooooh! Professor Vulcan! May the honor of Pabilto be with you!”

Before anyone knew it, Hector had squeezed into the crowd of students instead of his friends and was shouting this.

Vulcan left a single remark in a cold voice.

“I have no need for that.”

“Keo-heok…!”

Hector became heavily depressed, but it could not disrupt the flow.

Despite the brief interruption, Vulcan maintained the atmosphere and shouted,

“Yes, trust me! I will make sure there is victory for everyone at the end of this road!”

Kroooaaar─!

Vulcan even let out the battle cry unique to Lightning Bears to encourage the students.

The students felt something hot boiling up from deep within their chests.

A mere pop quiz, they would smash through it in one go!

‘A Lightning Bear’s battle cry… He’s wasting such an inspiration buff on this?’

In fact, the hot thing boiling within the students was indeed an inspiration stat expressed in actual numbers…

Allies who heard that cry gained a buff to their combat stats, receiving in exchange a slight nerf to their mental stats like composure or calmness.

In any case, it was indeed a grand speech worthy of an underdog legend who had started in the regional Holy War league and risen to hoist the trophy of the Imperial Unified Holy War league.

Fully filled with resolve, the students shouted with one mind and heart.

─ Professor! Please let us take the pop quiz!

─ We are prepared to overcome any obstacle!

“Very well! Then we shall start the test now!”

The professor and students were in perfect harmony.

“This test is an extremely intellectual one, so you may look forward to it!”

─ Did you hear? He said intellectual.

─ I didn’t get pointed out though?

It was a minor misunderstanding that arose because the word ‘intellectual’ was so ill-suited for Vulcan.

Anyway, when Vulcan clapped his thick hands loudly,

Pop─!

A gourd that had been prepared in advance on the ceiling of Percival Hall burst open, and a giant banner unfurled with a rustle.

On it, the content of the pop quiz they would take today was written.

─ Holy War Quiz Battle ─

Although it was a somewhat strange name, the students cheered for now.

─ Wow! A written test!

─ A Holy War quiz! If it’s a test like that, I can take it as much as you want!

A written test with Professor Vulcan was highly mismatched, but at least it would be physically easy.

Demona asked Roan,

“Roan, is it really a written test?”

Roan shook his head.

“No way.”

The students were completely misunderstanding something.

Sion and Rafia also tilted their heads and asked,

“It’s not written?”

“Then why is it a quiz battle?”

Roan said quietly with a face that looked extremely displeased,

“You’ll see.”

“““…”””

The friends felt a premonition that something bad was about to happen.

Coincidentally, there was a student asking a similar question to Demona’s.

─ Professor, is it really a written test?

At that, Vulcan wore a face as if asking what kind of nonsense that was.

“No?”

─ ????

The students also wore similar expressions to Vulcan.

Vulcan found it highly absurd.

“Discard the prejudice that a quiz has to be written! You, what kind of spiritual beast do you have?”

─ Uh… an Ember Sparrow.

“Only by discarding the rigid prejudice that an Ember Sparrow will only use fire can you grasp victory!”

‘‘‘Is that right?’’’

The students all tilted their heads.

It was a natural fact that an Ember Sparrow used fire.

However, wasn’t it a bit strange to use attributes other than fire?

Chirp, chirp, chirp─?

Even the Ember Sparrows who heard that tilted their heads and chirped like this.

‘Well, he does have a point.’

Only Roan understood Vulcan’s words.

Of course, while it was true that most divine and spiritual beasts primarily utilized their innate attributes, it wasn’t as if there was absolutely no way to use other attributes.

Furthermore, by the time one reached the finals of the Imperial Holy War league, all sorts of monsters ran rampant, making it difficult to reach the championship with just a single attribute.

It was just that this wasn’t the right situation to bring that up.

“Aha! I get it!”

At that moment, Demona clapped her hands and said,

─ Oh, Wicronon always speaks the truth!

The students looked forward to it as if Demona was about to display great insight.

Vulcan also asked with interest,

“You get it? Let’s hear it.”

Then, Demona shouted with a confident expression,

“Isn’t it a deathmatch played with our lives on the line until only the last survivor remains?”

─ …

‘‘‘That has absolutely nothing to do with a quiz…’’’