Chapter 48

A black magic tree, of all things.

Even in Akerandir, which was a holy land, this place where the Divine Tree stood was supposed to be a more reverent location.

‘Well, not that it’s any of my business.’

Either way, the one who would get dragged away would be Demona.

Roan frowned and said.

“They are called demonic trees, not black magic trees.”

“Oh, they exist!”

Seeing him so excited while completely ignoring the paladin’s stinging gaze, he indeed didn’t seem sane.

Even after that, Demona listed all sorts of nonsense, such as how eating sandwiches here would be delicious, or how they should play tag.

Swoosh—

Just then, Harden in the attire of a farmer revealed himself before the paladin and the three.

“P-Principal!”

At Harden’s sudden appearance, the paladin almost fell to his knees in greeting.

“Yikes! A farmer ghost!”

Demona fell backward once again.

“…Fine.”

Harden also seemed used to it now and simply ignored Demona.

He then looked down at Roan and Sion, who were calmly paying their respects, with a benevolent expression.

“Yes, rise. You are the pitiful ones who will suffer like dogs this year. Tsk, tsk. Freshmen always come here blinded by talents.”

Sion seemed to hesitate, but she couldn’t bring herself to speak in front of the Holy Spirit.

Meanwhile, Harden frowned as he looked at Roan.

“But why on earth did you come, Darc? A guy with plenty of money.”

It was only yesterday that he had heard Roan had handed over a cute holy power source to Ulli and snatched 10,000 talents.

Roan smiled politely and replied.

“I have come to express my respect for the Divine Tree through service.”

Truly the specimen of an exemplary Akerandir student!

But there was no way Harden would be fooled.

“Kwahahahahahahahaha────!”

Harden laughed loudly as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world.

The laughter was so loud that the branches of the Divine Tree shook violently.

“Respect? Service? Wuhaha! What a hilarious guy! No doubt you came to steal fallen branches and leaves!”

Roan frowned.

‘How did he know?’

That was indeed his purpose.

Since those were the final and most important ingredients for obtaining the Administrator of the Forbidden Library.

But to the people who didn’t know the circumstances, it seemed to sound like a pleasant joke from the Holy Spirit.

“Hahaha! The Principal is too much. Why indeed would Student Darc try to take such things!”

Not to mention the leading paladin who laughed heartily along with Harden.

“Roan, the Principal called you a thief! Kyaha!”

Demona openly teased.

“Pfft…”

Even Sion turned her head to suppress her laughter.

‘These people…!’

Roan was furious, but for now, he needed to pass this situation smoothly.

“Hahaha… That’s right. Where indeed would I use such things.”

“Take a reasonable amount! As I’ve said repeatedly, don’t do anything that stands out! Come, leave the rest to the caretaker and let’s go!”

“Yes, Principal!”

Thus, Harden and the leading paladin disappeared, leaving the three freshmen behind.

Sion looked around and, noticing a small cabin at the edge of the Divine Tree’s site, asked.

“Is that the caretaker’s lodging by any chance?”

“Yes.”

Roan nodded.

Screeech—

Just in time, a short girl ran out of the cabin.

“Welcome! You are the students who came to manage the Divine Tree this year, right!!”

The girl with brown skin and green hair flashed a smile that refreshed the hearts of the beholders.

Sion looked as though she didn’t know what to do because of how cute the girl was, and asked Roan.

“Oh my, who is that child?”

Perhaps the caretaker’s granddaughter?

Such an implication was contained in Sion’s question.

But Roan paid his respects politely to the child first and then replied.

“She is the caretaker of the Divine Tree.”

“?”

This young child was the caretaker?

While Sion and Demona were surprised by Roan’s polite demeanor, they also found it slightly questionable.

Of course, the Holy Empire was a place where one could do anything as long as they had ability, but at that age, she should have been going to school with her peers.

Demona tried to resolve that question directly, as always.

“Hey, how old are you? Don’t you go to school?”

But the child giggled as if it were fun and replied.

“One thousand two hundred and ninety-four years old!”

“…?”

Not 1,294 days?

Roan glared at Demona pathetically and added an explanation.

“Lady Arne is a tree spirit. But Lady Arne, it is currently the year 5,318 of the Imperial Calendar.”

“Ah, then one thousand three hundred and one years old! I forgot!”

Roan nodded with satisfaction.

‘Yes, this is correct.’

Naturally, Sion and Demona were astounded.

“”!!!!””

Whether it was 1,294 or 1,301, it was an astronomical age to them.

Was the age of this young child really that high?

They were so shocked that Demona went as far as to make this slip of the tongue.

“Hi-Hieek— She was a grandma!”

Such rudeness was committed without hesitation.

‘If the leading paladin had been here, the fine would have increased by about 30 talents.’

Roan was deeply regretful.

***

“But… Lady Arne. What are we supposed to do?”

Sion asked cautiously.

She still didn’t seem to fully grasp the fact that Arne was a tree spirit over a thousand years old.

“Ah, Divine Tree management has different jobs for day and night!”

“Does that mean…?”

“Yep! You guys have to stay overnight here!”

Only then did Sion and Demona seem to realize why the Divine Tree management service was unpopular.

Because they had to spend their precious weekend entirely here.

“First, what you need to do during the day is…”

But Arne, completely unaware of their thoughts, hummed a song and approached the Divine Tree.

“Let’s go.”

As Roan calmly followed behind her, the two also moved their feet hesitantly.

‘It looks clean on the outside, though…?’

Arne placed her hand on a branch of the Divine Tree and closed her eyes for a moment.

Soon.

Rumbleeee──

“Yikes! An earthquake!”

A vibration that shook the earth began to echo around the Divine Tree.

Roan, who knew very well why this vibration occurred, remained calm, but.

Thud—

When the vibration stopped a moment later as if nothing had happened, the two looked around with wide eyes.

“W-What was that?”

Roan chuckled and gave a warning.

“Watch your heads.”

“…?”

Naturally, Sion and Demona had no idea what that meant.

But before even a few seconds passed, they could find out the reason.

Patter! Patter, patter──!

The branches and leaves of the Divine Tree began to pour down like a torrential rain!

Smack—!

“Yikes! What!”

Sion quickly deployed holy magic to block her head, but Demona was hit helplessly on his head without a chance to brace himself.

He ran here and there to avoid the rain (?), but it wasn’t something he could avoid with just that.

And with good reason—it was no exaggeration to say that the range of the Divine Tree’s branches covered this entire wide open field!

How many minutes did the branches and leaves fall?

Only when the surroundings quieted down did Arne speak with a bright smile.

“Pruning finished! You guys just need to clear this away during the day and evening!”

“Uh…”

Sion and Demona looked back and forth between Arne and the open field in disbelief.

“So… you want us to clear this?”

“Yep!”

The Divine Tree’s site was as wide as a sports field.

And the branches and leaves accumulated for a year covered the field to a thickness of over 1 meter!

“More than that, save me first…!”

Demona, who had been running around, called for help pitifully from afar, buried completely in branches with only his head showing.

Sion stared at Roan as if she were speechless.

‘What do we do?’

Even for Roan, it seemed difficult to clear this vast sea of branches.

Of course.

Crack—

Roan, who had shattered the branches by raising black mana, merely spoke calmly.

“What are you doing. Let’s pull that bastard Demona out first.”

His expression as he said this even looked subtly entertained.

A task that could be finished with just manual labor without having to overthink complex settings!

To Roan, the Divine Tree management service was nothing but healing content.

***

Around the time the sun was setting.

Demona, who had piled up a stack of Divine Tree branches, finally collapsed.

“Phew… Phew… I can’t do any more, Roan…”

Roan glared at him fiercely and urged him.

“After doing just that? Do you have no conscience?”

The three of them had piled up the branches they cleared separately.

Roan, utilizing the lucky pouch, had cleared an overwhelming amount, and Sion was at about half of that level.

But Demona was only at about a quarter of Sion’s amount.

Of course, even combining the amount the three had worked on, it only amounted to slightly over half of the total.

“I really can’t! Just beat me with a branch instead!”

“…If you wish.”

“Yikes! A branch murderer!”

As Roan walked toward him carrying a branch as thick as a forearm, Demona screamed and jumped up to run away.

“What an exaggeration.”

Roan clicked his tongue and gathered the branches again.

But even Roan was so focused on his work.

Gaze—

He didn’t notice the unusual expression of Sion staring at him.

‘Surely… he applied knowing it would be like this…’

Although it was fortunate that she could use holy power well, she was just as tired as Demona.

A situation where everything was bound to look displeasing!

Furthermore, hadn’t Roan displayed confidence to the leading paladin several times?

Sion resolved to reconsider her thoughts about Roan.

…Of course, excluding Roan, she had no other place to go.

Meanwhile, Roan, who was unwittingly drawing Sion’s resentment.

‘I’ve harvested quite a bounty!’

He was pleased, thinking of the Divine Tree’s leaves, branches, and sap he had packed generously into the lucky pouch.

Even if his body was a bit tired, it was a price worth paying for obtaining a new authority.

In the meantime, the sun set completely.

The surroundings of the Divine Tree’s site were as bright as day, illuminated only by the golden light emitted by the tree’s leaves.

‘It will begin soon.’

Since they had cleared the branches during the day, it was now time to do the night work.

Just then, Arne ran out of the cabin again and spoke.

“It’s night! Night! I said it’s night!”

It was a noisy display, but the important information was completely missing.

Demona asked Roan.

“Don’t tell me we have to work at night too?”

His expression said ‘surely not’.

“Of course we do. If you received 500 talents, you have to earn it.”

It indeed didn’t take long for his expression to change to ‘as expected’.

“And in fact, the real work starts from now.”

Demona’s mouth fell open.

“Isn’t the school too shameless?”

To exploit freshmen like this while only giving them 500 talents!

Roan looked at Demona with a pathetic gaze.

“You applied for it yourself.”

“Ah, right.”

Surprisingly, Demona seemed to accept it.

Sion asked Arne.

“What work do we need to do at night?”

“At night, insects come! To eat the Divine Tree sap! You and I have to chase them away!”

Hearing that, Sion looked relieved.

Chasing away mere insects didn’t feel like a very difficult task.

“How dare they try to steal the Divine Tree’s sap! Even if they are insects, it cannot be tolerated! Don’t you agree?”

Meanwhile, Arne stamped her feet on the ground in anger and shouted.

Since mountains and trees were everywhere, she couldn’t tolerate them coveting the Divine Tree’s sap as the caretaker.

“Naturally. We must block them.”

Roan chimed in calmly.

“…”

Sion stared at Roan with a slightly displeased expression.

‘Didn’t Darc also take the sap earlier…’

Not only the sap, but also the branches and leaves.

But the task at hand was more urgent than such minor details.

“But isn’t chasing away insects an easy task? The three of us should be enough.”

As Sion pointed this out, Roan shook his head and clarified.

“They are not just insects, but spirit beasts.”

“What?!”

Sion was astounded.

Insects and insect spirit beasts were completely different stories.

Asking freshmen to chase away insect spirit beasts now…?

It was regrettable, but no one had forced the freshmen to do the Divine Tree management service.

Rather, they had worried if anything.

Roan, Demona, and Sion had all volunteered to come here.

Though the problem was that no one had explained it would be like this.

“W-What is the grandma doing, then!”

Demona asked, completely terrified.

Arne was strictly the caretaker here.

It was a reasonable point that leaving such a dangerous task to students alone was unacceptable.

Arne smiled brightly and replied.

“The spirits and I block the ones flying in! You guys just need to chase away the ones coming by land!”

Of course, Arne was by no means slacking off.

“Or do you want to swap? I’d love that!”

“S-Sorry. Grandma…”

Demona immediately backed down.