Chapter 386

Roan quietly listened to that conversation and asked his friends.

“Are you guys also worried about Professor Uli’s pop quiz?”

“Huh? Ah, well…”

Rafia wore an ambiguous smile.

Although not as much as the others, honestly, even they, who could be called honor students, were quite concerned.

Roan chuckled and spoke.

“No need for that. In fact, Professor Uli’s pop quiz is on the normal side.”

“R-Really?”

“Amazing…!”

“…Is it really something to be that amazed by, Riel?”

Roan asked at the sight of Riel, who was so amazed that it looked like about five strands of her hair were standing on end.

Uli might have felt quite hurt had he heard it.

To think his reputation had fallen so low among the students!

‘Well, if he were the type of person to get hurt by this, he wouldn’t teach the class like that in the first place.’

However, Roan was not simply spreading rumors to reassure his friends.

Indeed, Uli’s exam belonged to the normal category compared to his usual classes.

Demona asked with an expectant expression.

“Then are we not making holy items either?”

“””Wow…!”””

The friends also let out a collective exclamation in anticipation.

Roan glared at them with a pathetic look and spoke.

“It’s a holy item crafting exam, so if we don’t make holy items, what else would we be tested on?”

“…You savage heretic! It is a holy item crafting class!”

Hector naturally converted his rising exclamation into criticism and poured it onto Demona.

The students who, as always, were eavesdropping on the conversation between Roan and his friends whispered.

—Darc said it’s not an exam where we make holy items?

—Then what are we being tested on in a holy item crafting class?

‘Again, again!’

Roan once again felt resentment welling up at the situation where Demona spread a rumor and he was treated as the one who spread it.

Roan glared back and corrected the fact.

“Demona was the one who said that just now.”

—H-Hieek! Understood…

—I heard Darc said Wycronon said it’s not an exam where we make holy items?

—Then is it really not?

At the very least, she had to pay the price for the rumors she spread herself.

Meanwhile, Sion, who was contemplating something this time, asked.

“Hey, Roan. You said we don’t need to worry about the holy item crafting class, right?”

“I did.”

“Then what about the classes after that…?”

Indeed, Sion was an outstanding student of Acherandir who knew how to think of two when told one!

…

However, Roan substituted his reply to Sion’s words with silence.

*Chiiill—*

The friends felt extreme anxiety at Roan’s silence.

What kind of exam could it be for Roan to not even answer them!

Roan felt sorry that his friends were so depressed, but he couldn’t help it.

Since it was clear they would be even more depressed if they knew.

‘And anyway, since I will draw all the aggro, honestly, there isn’t much for them to worry about.’

In fact, the person who should be the most depressed was none other than himself!

Roan thought, ‘Well, students can be a bit depressed on exam days,’ and decided to just eat his bread.

Bell, who was about to eat the feed Roan gave him, pecked at a few grains and suddenly let out a groaning sound.

[Ugh, Master. I feel like I caught a cold today, so I think I should take a day off…!]

Roan stared at Bell pitifully and spoke.

‘An Abyssal Dragon does not catch things like colds.’

[Such a thing…!]

Bell opened his eyes wide in surprise.

Dragons had their pride; did it make sense for them to suffer from minor illnesses?

A dragon’s illnesses were divided into two kinds.

Either it was nothing, or it was an illness that even a dragon would inevitably die from.

‘Don’t fake being sick. No matter how bad those professors are, they wouldn’t kill you.’

[Heeing…]

Bell also began his breakfast with a slumped body, much like the other friends.

And.

—Did you hear what Darc said?

—Yeah, he didn’t say anything, did he?

—Then is there no exam in Professor Gulba’s and Professor Pluvang’s classes?

—There better not be…

‘They better not exist…’

Roan suppressed his anger and made a similar determination as the students.

Perhaps a chance to properly get back at them would come at least once today.

Blood, slaughter, anger!

[H-Hieeeek! E-Everyone, Master has gone crazy!]

Sensing Roan’s emotions, Bell fluttered in surprise, drawing the attention of the friends.

It meant that at this rate, the freshmen would be cut to less than half, so they should do something.

“Oh? Why is Dragon-ie acting like this?”

“Leave him be. Dragon-ie must also hate pop quizzes.”

“Aha~ That’s true!”

However, as was the case with most signs of crisis.

The friends did not take Bell’s desperate warning seriously.

* * *

On the way down to the cliff of Saint Panroa Hall.

Instead of descending the cliff, the students only stared blankly down at the spectacular sight unfolding below.

Most were freshmen, but a few were current students.

—Ah, is today that day?

—Yeah. The juniors sharing my room said so.

A spectacle that unfolded at the same time every year.

It was none other than.

*Rumble, rumble—*

A herd of dozens of carriages heading in the direction of Saint Hetrona Hall.

“Wow~ Why are there so many carriages? Has a war broken out?”

Demona also asked, opening her eyes wide.

“Even if one did, this place will be fine.”

Roan shook his head.

Since there were many kingdoms surrounding the Empire, local wars themselves were not very rare.

However, no one dared move their troops to the place where Acherandir was located.

Doing so would invite an attack from the entire continent, and even worse, an attack from Harden.

Looking closely, even though the carriages seemed to move in unison, they actually carried different flags.

“Ah, they’re merchant groups?”

“Yes.”

Sion narrowed her eyes to inspect and eventually figured out the truth.

Although they passed quickly, it was possible to recognize some of the flags as they belonged to quite famous merchant groups.

“Merchant groups usually come to the school often… but there are exceptionally many today? Is it some special day?”

And even when carriages from merchant groups entered, they normally headed toward the commercial district.

Meaning it was rare for them to cross the road in front of the relatively quiet dormitory like that.

The friends naturally turned to Roan.

Their expressions demanded him to tell them what day it was quickly.

Roan shrugged.

“You all know well. It is because of Professor Uli’s pop quiz.”

???

What did they know?

Of course, just as Roan said, today was indeed that kind of day.

But what was the relationship between a pop quiz for freshmen and the arrival of so many merchant groups?

Roan prepared to descend the cliff and spoke.

“You’ll know when you get there.”

*Whoosh!* And with that, Roan leaped down without a second thought!

“Ro-Roan leaped down!”

Demona opened her eyes wide as saucers in surprise.

The friends glared at Demona one after another.

“Demona, saying it like that could cause misunderstandings.”

“Th-Then?”

“You should say he went down more boldly than usual.”

“Ah, is that so?”

The friends searched for Roan’s location after he leaped down more boldly than usual.

*Flutter—*

Spreading his Black Wings—though he should call them White Wings now—for the first time in a while, he landed completely past the road right in front of the cliff where the carriages were running.

Furthermore, the legendary Abyssal Dragon and the beautiful Heavenly Sword Peacock King even flew to guard his left and right, creating a truly mysterious scene!

The students watching this let out exclamations.

—Ah! He skipped it entirely because the carriages were passing in front of the cliff!

—Indeed, it would certainly be troublesome to go down the normal way.

Then, as if something occurred to them, they looked at each other.

—Uh?

—Then what about us?

Unlike Roan, they had not yet mastered flight holy spells.

But what could they do if they hadn’t learned it?

They had to descend on their own and cross the road on their own.

“Ugh… Roan has a cold-hearted side at times like this.”

“Indeed. He could have flown together with us.”

Demona and Hector grumbled as they watched the seemingly endless parade of carriages after descending the cliff.

On the other hand, Sion grew suddenly angry upon hearing their words and scolded them.

“Don’t talk when you know nothing! Do you think Roan did that because he lacks the ability?”

“Th-Then?”

“It is his way of telling us to devote ourselves and master flight holy spells quickly!”

“Neither of you even thinks of blaming your own deficiencies!”

“Exactly!”

“R-Riel, even so, telling us to get hit by a carriage and die is a bit…”

“Why is everyone so fond of Roan today of all days?”

Hector and Demona completely failed to understand the female students who united to scold them.

However, the female students had their own reasons for defending Roan.

‘How could we doubt him after hearing that touching story yesterday?’

Sion had already told Rafia and Riel everything that happened in the library.

The touching true story of an ill-fated children’s book that came to life as a soul, wandered around as a book thief without knowing its own story, met a fateful savior, and departed to the afterlife!

…Of course, since it was explained from Sion’s perspective, some seasoning was slightly (?) added, but it did not affect the general trend.

Thanks to this, the female students gained a level of trust where even if they heard Roan threw brutal punishment holy spells at someone, they would assume there was a reason.

‘Wait.’

He is already doing that, though?

However, recalling that Roan was already doing such things, the female students each wore troubled and complicated expressions.

Then Hector drew their attention.

“The carriage procession is slowly ending. Let’s keep our wits about us and cross.”

“Huh? Ah, yes.”

“W-We must cross…”

The female students looked at Roan’s back as he walked slowly on the other side of the road as if waiting for them, and thought.

‘There must be a reason…’

‘There is indeed a reason…’

‘Reason.’

Saint Hetrona Hall, the destination of the carriages that had drawn the students’ attention since morning.

Although it was normally bustling in the morning since many classes were held there.

Today, it was even more packed with crowds due to the numerous merchants.

—You mean if we play our cards right, it will be really lucrative?

—Have you been living under a rock? If you inspect the goods properly, you can make several times the profit, I tell you.

Judging by the words, it was actually a normal conversation merchants would always have.

However,

‘Is it appropriate for such words to be spoken in front of a school, though?’

The students felt pricked by words like ‘lucrative,’ ‘several times,’ and ‘profit’ for no reason, recalling Uli’s small stature.

Although they didn’t know what the pop quiz was, it indeed seemed to be for commercial purposes.

Some of the merchants approached the passing students and asked.

—Is this Saint Hetrona Hall?

—Ah, yes. That’s right.

—I heard a small auditorium is attached here.

—You can go to the third floor. But why the small auditorium?

—Ah, because they said Professor Uli’s class is being held there.

—???

—Hey, did you hear about this?

—Do you think I would?

—That’s true~

A cutting-edge notice system where they learned the class location from the visiting merchants!

Indeed, it was the best method of dissemination where the professor did not need to put in any effort or cost.