Chapter 41

Clang—!

The very moment Gulba’s axe exploded against the Shield of the Dead.

‘Damn it!’

Although the power behind the axe had decreased significantly, Roan instinctively knew.

Something like the Shield of the Dead was far from enough!

Fortunately, it was converted into Holy Magic to display even this much power.

He immediately squeezed out all of his pre-prepared mana and channeled it into his arms.

Crash—!

An irresistible shock swept through Roan’s entire body.

He was sent flying backward and rolled several times.

“Ugh…”

A pain that made his entire body feel as if it were screaming.

Gulba approached Roan and extended his hand.

“Darc survived! Now warrior!”

Recognition that he had proudly passed the warrior trial of the Budor Islands!

Of course, Roan, who had absolutely no intention of taking such a test, could only find it absurd.

‘Normally, the warrior trial is only taken in the third-year classes…’

In the game, it was a fairly important achievement that even came with a title effect, but he did not know how it would be now in reality.

Hector asked Gulba while breaking out in a cold sweat.

“U-Um, what would have happened if Roan hadn’t blocked it?”

“Weak warrior dies! Nature!”

Hearing those words, Hector was horrified.

H-He had almost really died?

Of course, the other students felt the same.

— Is it really okay to take this class?

A class where the professor confidently claimed that the weak deserved to die!

The students felt a deep skepticism toward Akerandir’s educational curriculum.

***

After Roan was recognized as a warrior of the Budor Islands in their very first class.

Gulba, surprisingly, proceeded to conduct a theory lecture.

“Gulba! Caught dinosaur before!”

“A dinosaur? How?”

“Dinosaur, charges! Gulba, attacks! Catches!”

“…”

Although it was just Gulba’s old stories disguised as a theory lecture.

— This is… oddly interesting?

— Did that kind of thing really happen?

Since the scale was so grand, the students gathered around Gulba and listened intently.

“Gulba, caught Kraken too!”

— …How did you catch that?

“Caught while fishing! Kraken, legs tough! No tasty!”

Each and every one of them was an opponent that made them wonder, ‘Why on earth was such a thing still on the continent?’

And if there was another minor source of entertainment.

“Deep Root appeared in dream! Said Gulba best warrior!”

“Ooh! Gulba said Deep Root again! Tell Professor Kaina!”

“S-Sorry! Spoke wrong!”

Occasionally, when Gulba mentioned something related to the indigenous faith of the Budor Islands, Demona would pick on him.

…Though it felt like she was gradually nitpicking even things unrelated to the indigenous faith.

Whenever Gulba was flustered, Demona asked Roan with a pleased expression.

“Did I do well?”

“…”

Wasn’t she just teasing him?

While they were killing the remaining time with small talk like that.

“Gulba, want to go to Budor again!”

“Gulba said Budor! Demona will tell Kaina!”

Demona got excited and tried to tease Gulba, but.

“Huh…? Budor fine! Darc, no?”

Perhaps feeling it was a bit too much this time, Gulba asked in confusion.

Darc nodded.

“The Budor Archipelago is fine.”

“Ro-Roan!”

Demona seemed to feel a profound sense of betrayal, but she had brought it upon herself.

Gulba shouted in anger.

“Demona! Lied! Bad student gets punished!”

For the record, Gulba did not have a special way of punishing students.

Smack!

Just a light flick to the forehead.

But with just that…

“Huh? Over there, the principal is loo—”

Flop!

— Wi-Wicronon is dead!

Ordinary students were bound to lose consciousness and collapse.

The students panicked and gathered around Demona.

Gulba snorted angrily in response.

“Gulba angry! Class over! See next week!”

[…! …!!]

The Communication of the Primitive emerged and shouted something at Gulba, but.

“Hmph! Demona was bad!”

[…]

Once Gulba said that, it simply accepted it.

***

“Mmm…”

Akerandir Main Building, Infirmary.

Demona, whose head was wrapped tightly in bandages, groaned.

He had supposedly received a skull fracture from just a single flick to the forehead.

One fell off a cliff, and the other got flicked on the forehead for teasing a professor.

Getting hospitalized at Akerandir, which was said to be so difficult, happened to two people in such a short period—it was truly amazing.

‘And the fact that both of them are my roommates is even more amazing…’

Roan felt a slight sense of self-deprecation.

“Are you awake?”

When Roan and Hector acknowledged him, Demona rolled his eyes and spoke.

“T-The principal laughed at me and said it serves me right…”

Roan tilted his head in confusion.

‘Is it real? Or is it Demona’s pipe dream?’

Because both options were plausible.

Since it was not important anyway, Roan continued, looking at Demona as if he were pathetic.

“You should have stopped bothering him.”

“I couldn’t help it. It’s like an instinct.”

What kind of instinct was that?

As the two listening to him, they could only find it absurd.

At that moment.

Screeech—

The faint sound of something being dragged echoed from the hallway.

Roan perked up his ears.

This sound was definitely…

Soon, a voice was also heard.

— …I’m telling you, I didn’t do it on purpose~ It’s just that wandering around the school was suspicious…

— In any case, please do not go too far. I heard an arrest restriction law will be enacted soon.

— Grit, I don’t get what’s so great about those damn heretics anyway.

It was a familiar voice.

Roan watched the hallway with wary eyes.

Sure enough, two people soon appeared.

Professor Atoga and Professor Kaina.

Kaina was dragging her usual hammer on the floor, and this time, too, something dark red was smeared on it.

…It probably wasn’t from crushing grapes.

Swish—

Roan quickly turned his head, fearing they might make eye contact.

Even if he met everyone else, seeing Kaina during class was more than enough.

“Aren’t you Professor Kaina!”

But at that moment, Hector jumped up and ran over to Kaina.

‘That bastard!’

Had he spent so much time with Demona that he was starting to resemble him!

Professor Kaina was glad to see Hector.

“Oh, Student Favilto! What brings you to the infirmary?”

“A friend is receiving treatment.”

Roan was astonished to hear their natural conversation.

‘…Did that guy just refer to Demona as a friend?!’

He had definitely been suspicious lately!

Anyway, hearing Hector’s words, Kaina and Atoga walked over with slightly worried expressions.

“…Hello.”

“Student Darc was here too.”

Even though Roan greeted them grumpily, the two professors accepted the greeting with bright smiles.

‘Seeing her up close, there are red marks on her cheek too…’

Roan shuddered as he examined Kaina’s face.

“Oh dear… how did Student Wicronon end up like this?”

The two professors asked with worried expressions.

Receiving warm concern for the first time, Demona looked as though he were about to cry.

‘This guy wouldn’t tattle, right?’

No, surely not.

Even if he was Demona, there was no way he would tell on someone for something he brought upon himself—

“Hing, Professor Gulba did this.”

He thought he wouldn’t.

Roan supported his throbbing head with his hand.

Then again, it would have been weirder for someone who habitually threatened to tell Professor Kaina to suddenly keep quiet.

Meanwhile, Professor Kaina opened her eyes wide in surprise.

“Professor Gulba? To Student Wicronon?”

She then fell into thought, scanning Demona from head to toe as he lay there.

“Hmm… there must have been a reason.”

A tone that clearly revealed a state of mind too complicated to put into words!

“!!!”

Demona appeared deeply hurt by Kaina’s reaction.

“Well, rest up and head back! Take care of your health since it’s the weekend~!”

However, Professor Kaina ignored his reaction, bid them a cheerful farewell, and vanished.

“Roan… I’m not going to tease Professor Gulba anymore.”

Demona said in a dejected voice.

“…It is only natural not to tease a professor.”

Roan looked at Demona with a pathetic expression once more.

“Hing…”

***

After Demona’s skull had mostly fused back together.

The three of them came out of the ward.

Hector suddenly brought up these words with a determined look on his face.

“I am going to visit Professor Kaina.”

“…Why?”

Roan asked suspiciously.

Don’t tell me this guy was trying to report him…

“I plan to work under Professor Kaina and earn some talents.”

“Why?”

Fortunately, it did not seem to be for that kind of purpose.

However, since Hector had brought a decent amount of talents from his family, it was an unexpected reason.

“Well. Obtaining eggs is harder than I thought, so I plan to earn talents and buy them directly.”

“Huh? The fanatic egg is divine beast class too, right? You’re going to get another one?”

Twitch—

When Demona asked so innocently, a blood vessel popped on Hector’s forehead.

Fearing that leaving them alone might lead to bloodshed, Roan quickly chimed in.

“To participate in group battles, you need quite a few spirit beasts.”

“…Yeah.”

“Ah~”

Only then did Demona nod as if he understood.

“What about you, Demona?”

“I’m… going to the restroom.”

Demona replied with a slightly downcast expression.

“Because I have to pay off my fine.”

The fine Demona had accumulated was a whopping 200 talents.

150 for prayer class, and 50 for the dormitory infirmary.

It was a record-breaking amount, to the point where even Roan had never seen a freshman pay such a fine.

…This was because in most cases, Akerandir would give freshmen the benefit of the doubt.

“I-I see. Good luck.”

Since cleaning the restrooms for a day reduced the fine by about 2 talents.

Demona would have to hold onto cleaning tools whenever he had spare time in the future.

“Where are you heading?”

“I plan to go to the library.”

Roan replied casually.

“H-Hieek!”

Demona tried to run away as if he had heard something he shouldn’t have, but.

“…I have no intention of asking you to go with me, Demona.”

“Oh, really? You should’ve said so earlier~”

Once Roan said this, Demona calmly stood his ground.

‘Really…’

He had a lot to say, but at this point, even putting effort into such things was tiring.

“Anyway, take it easy. The library isn’t a place that students, especially freshmen, visit often.”

“…? …I will.”

At Hector’s concerned words, Roan tilted his head without realizing it.

Then where did students visit often?

‘It has to be better than cleaning restrooms or a professor’s research lab.’

He hadn’t known when playing the game, but now that he was actually here, Akerandir was a place that was more unhinged than he had expected.

In any case, Roan parted ways with the two and walked in the direction of the library.

Of course, he had no intention of going to the library.

‘Since I’ve mostly obtained what I need from the library.’

Around the time Hector and Demona were no longer in sight, Roan quietly changed direction.

Not toward the north where the Elront Grand Library was, but to the west.

Moreover, it was a dark direction where it was hard to find any sign of people, completely on the outskirts of the school.

Soon, a low hill with a rather rugged terrain appeared before Roan.

Although it was part of Akerandir’s property, it was practically a zone where the school’s hands rarely reached.

‘The Eye of the Prophet.’

Checking if there were any people around, Roan recalled the name of the holy relic he had to obtain this time.

Just as the name suggested, the Eye of the Prophet was a holy relic related to predicting the future.

However.

‘The unique thing about it is that it shows bad futures.’

It wasn’t the kind of effect that typically came to mind when thinking of foresight.

In the game, it showed the bad ending located at the nearest branch based on the current point in time.

Of course, due to the nature of “God and Devil,” a bad ending did not mean a complete conclusion, but rather what followed a wrong choice.

In any case, even though it could only be used once a week, it was an item that boasted tremendous utility when playing in Akerandir.

Because there was a restriction that only Akerandir students could acquire it, it was unfortunately impossible to obtain in other playthroughs.

‘It’s practically like a cheat item for Sion.’

Roan was also forced to use it when playing as Sion, but.

Because it drastically lowered the difficulty of the character, he usually didn’t use it.

“…I should head there quickly.”

Roan estimated the direction and distance to where he needed to go, then began to climb the hill.

He had to hurry his steps to arrive before the sunset ended.

Not long after Roan disappeared.

Swoosh—

A single black figure also began to climb the hill.