Chapter 382

“Why is the ghost of a black mage here? C-Could the rumor that the library used to be an interrogation room be true?”

“That is a groundless rumor.”

“Whew… I thought so.”

“Th-Then, what about the story that a group of black mages secretly sent a spy to the school in the past? Could it be from then?!”

“Does that… even make sense?”

It made sense.

Because there actually was one.

There was one in the same room as Roan right now!

“Ah, of course, right? There’s no way the principal wouldn’t know if there was a black mage spy.”

‘He does know, though…’

Roan indeed felt a prick of conscience, but he managed to gloss over it safely.

If he said the wrong thing here, Roan himself would be fine, but wouldn’t Beanin, who shared his room, get into big trouble?

‘Right, if Beanin is also dragged into it, it might be game over immediately.’

With such a touching consideration, Roan…

*Humm—*

*What a passionately constructed load of bull. Just handle the business quickly.*

While Roan was fully intoxicated by his own kindness, False Divinity spoiled the mood.

Roan clicked his tongue softly, then showed them a book he had found in advance as soon as he entered.

“Look at this.”

“Oh… this?”

“It’s not a black magic book?”

Yusina and Sion showed interest.

A book that, judging by its title, looked like a normal children’s storybook where not a trace of black mana could be found.

Furthermore, unlike other books that had gone through a proper printing process, this one had its title written in handwriting, as if the author had penned it directly.

Roan nodded.

“Yes, it is just a children’s story. A book written by a student here in the past.”

“But why this book? This place seems to be a collection of black magic books.”

Yusina looked around the surroundings.

Even looking around, this single book seemed to be the only one of its kind here.

Why was a book written directly by an Acherandir student sitting in such a bizarre, secret library?

Roan asked Ryuca.

“Does anything come to mind for you?”

“Well… is this related to me?”

Ryuca seemed puzzled.

She was also quite skeptical that the children’s storybook was what he brought her here to see to resolve her grudge.

Since she was a black mage, there should be plenty of other related items besides this.

“Hmm.”

That was how it was.

When resolving the grudge of a soul that did not know its own past.

As if he had expected as much, Roan…

*Flip—*

…turned to the first page.

On the inner cover of the book, a portrait drawn in a beautiful hand-painted style was sketched.

However, seeing the person in the portrait, Yusina, Sion, and Ryuca had no choice but to be shocked.

“It’s… me?”

“Yo-You, why are you coming out from there, Ryuca?”

And no wonder, with the short, curly blonde hair.

The brightly smiling expression.

The exact same facial features.

It was indeed Ryuca.

“Can you give it to me for a moment, Roan?”

“By all means.”

Yusina hurriedly received the children’s storybook from Roan and looked beyond the portrait to inspect the contents.

As expected of a children’s book, the content was not very long.

Just a few lines of text per page, with illustrations occupying most of it.

However, the content was shocking.

—Once upon a time, not long after Principal Harden founded the school, a black mage girl enrolled.—

—The name of the girl with the pretty blonde hair was Ryuca Hernanzer!—

Even the protagonist’s name was Ryuca.

The story was ordinary.

A good black mage girl secretly enrolled in the school, but was eventually discovered by Harden and the people.

At the moment she was accused of being a witch and almost executed, Harden reformed her, and she lived harmoniously with the people of the Empire.

‘…No, it’s not an ordinary story.’

Strictly speaking, such an event had never occurred, so it wasn’t ordinary, but it was so in terms of structure.

*Humm—*

*Never?*

‘Right, there is one time.’

At any rate, False Divinity never let a single instance slide.

Meanwhile, Yusina and Sion, who had read through the storybook as if possessed, laughed.

“My goodness, it really is a children’s storybook.”

“Indeed.”

“Where in the world is there a good black mage?”

“Exactly.”

…

The two black mages, who had to quietly listen to the giggles and laughter of the Saintess and the Saintess candidate, felt highly displeased.

“Well, I am fine, but weren’t you close with Ryuca?”

“Ah! I-I wasn’t talking about you! You’re a ghost…”

…

Ryuca did not seem to feel much better despite Yusina’s apology.

Since there was a crazy professor who said things like ‘the only good black mage is a dead black mage’ from the very first day of class, it was only natural for the students to have such a mindset!

Roan spoke to Sion as well.

“Do you plan to say that in front of Professor Beleck and Lucia too?”

“Ah, th-that’s not it! Professor Beleck is a professor…”

Perhaps realizing her slip of the tongue late, Sion blushed and regretted it.

Roan decided to be satisfied with that much.

He couldn’t speak positively about black mages openly, but leaving a little room like this would give him a foot to stand on later when his identity was exposed.

Something along the lines of ‘because Roan is a friend’ would be excellent.

At any rate, putting the content of the children’s storybook aside, the three humans and one ghost began to speak seriously again.

“So Roan, we’ll gloss over how you knew about this place and this book.”

“Thank you.”

…He was sincerely grateful.

“For the ghost Ryuca to appear in a children’s storybook like this, what in the world happened?”

“Ah, could it be this? Someone found out about Ryuca’s story and wrote a memorial tale!”

“Hmm…”

Sion offered a plausible deduction, but Yusina had a somewhat unsatisfied expression.

Roan grinned.

*Chiiill—*

The atmosphere cooled down for a moment.

‘Isn’t he actually an evil spirit?’

Had Roan heard Ryuca’s thoughts, she probably wouldn’t have gone to the afterlife peacefully.

“Senior Yusina, do you agree with Sion’s words?”

“Honestly speaking, no.”

Yusina let out a sigh.

As Roan expected, she indeed seemed to have an idea.

“Two things bother me. First, even though she is a ghost, not a trace of black mana is felt from Ryuca. And… Ryuca knows too little about herself.”

“Hmm.”

“What does that mean, Saintess?”

Although Yusina looked like a scatterbrain, she threw a rather direct clue as expected of an outstanding named character, but Sion didn’t seem to understand yet.

Yusina stared at Sion for a moment, then raised one index finger and spoke.

“For instance, it’s like this. What if… it’s not that Ryuca doesn’t know, but that it never existed in the first place?”

“Eh?”

Sion’s eyes grew wide.

Not that she doesn’t know, but it never existed in the first place?

Sion turned back to Roan as if requiring an explanation.

“If you look closely, there are quite a few souls wandering the world.”

“Hieek…!”

“Roan, don’t say scary things like that~”

‘She was the one who played best with the ghost, yet…’

Putting Sion aside, why was Yusina acting like that?

“However, not all of those souls were ‘real souls’ that possessed physical bodies in life.”

“R-Real souls?”

Roan nodded.

“Among them, there are those where a fictional character is formed into a soul. It happens when there is a common perception shared by many people, or a corresponding personal wish of equivalent strength. Of course, it is a very exceptional occurrence.”

Sion sent a glance to Yusina this time, asking for verification.

Yusina also nodded seriously.

Information must always be double-checked!

“So, Roan, what you’re saying is… Ryuca is a soul created based on the protagonist of this children’s storybook?”

“Exactly. That is also why no black mana is felt at all, as you mentioned, Senior.”

“Indeed…”

The soul of a being that was actually alive, and the soul of one that was created.

Although they were divided system-wise, their essence was not very different.

Since their behavioral patterns and the methods to deal with them were similar.

Roan looked at Ryuca and asked.

“What do you think yourself?”

…

Ryuca said nothing for a moment.

It was a natural reaction.

She had believed without a doubt that she was once a human, so she could only be confused if told out of the blue that she was modeled after a storybook character.

But Ryuca would eventually overcome this confusion.

Because the character in the children’s storybook was like that.

*Squeeze—*

“Ryuca…?”

Ryuca took the hand of Yusina, who might have been her only friend.

“You know…”

Ryuca hesitated for a moment, then spoke.

“Was I really nothing at all…?”

“Oh dear…”

At the condensed words of the soul who had discovered her own identity, tears were already welling in Yusina’s and Sion’s eyes.

Anyone would show a similar reaction upon finding out they were a fictional character.

So Roan had something to say.

‘Although the original walkthrough points in a different direction…’

At this very moment, not as a veteran of , but as the human Roan.

Or maybe, this too was said through the intuition of a veteran.

Since all of it was Roan in the end.

“Ryuca.”

“Yeah…?”

“I didn’t bring you here to tell you the truth just to say that you’re a fake existence.”

…

All three girls stared at him with expressions that looked ready to burst into tears at any second.

Roan decided to lay out some of the thoughts he had been harboring ever since coming to this world.

“We are all born unintentionally and live unintentionally. And does a true ‘me’ even exist? Even we are simply created through relations with others.”

“Roan…”

“Meaning there is absolutely no reason for you to be heartbroken just because you were made by someone. Because essentially, everyone is the same. If there is a difference, in your case… it is that the author loved you so deeply that the protagonist of the children’s storybook transformed into a soul.”

Was not Roan also in a position where he was dragged into this world against his will?

Yet putting aside things like the game that was practically half of his life, or the unfinished puzzle pieces.

He felt as though the existence named Roan had now fully assimilated with him…

Role-playing game.

In other words, that was how an RPG was played.

And life was ultimately a slightly serious game where one had to perform their role well.

*Drip, drip—*

In the end, drops of water that could no longer hold out flowed from the eyes of Ryuca and the other two girls.

However, while the tears of the two girls slightly dampened the ground, Ryuca’s disappeared as if they had never existed.

That alone would be the difference between them.

Yet Ryuca was smiling even as she shed tears.

And she spoke to Roan.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, I feel like I can return peacefully. Or should I say I’m just leaving?”

Roan substituted his reply by simply shrugging.

Ryuca’s words were not finished yet.

“There’s something I want to know.”

“What is it?”

Roan also intended to grant Ryuca’s request as much as possible.

Even if she was a created soul, if she returned to the afterlife smoothly, she would be resurrected in a normal physical body afterward.

Though she would lose all her memories, this influence would not end and would carry over to her next life.

“The author who made me… do you know what kind of person they were?”

“Ah!”

“Right!”

Even Yusina and Sion, who had been crying just now, shouted in surprise.

But unlike Ryuca’s sentimental question, their surprise was of a different nature.

From the common sense of the Empire’s people, there was no way an author who wrote such a book could live peacefully.

‘R-Roan, is it okay to tell her that?’

‘P-Please tell me they weren’t dragged away. No, they are alive right now, right? Aaaack!’

Yusina and Sion frantically sent Roan urgent glances carrying such meaning.

Roan smirked.

“Do not worry. They are doing fine even now.”

“H-How?”

It was certainly a good thing, but she was very curious about the reason.

Does that even make sense?