Chapter 51

When Roan returned to Panuroa Hall, a clattering sound was already echoing from the kitchen.

“I’m back.”

Roan greeted Beanin and Hector in the kitchen.

Beanin was startled, stopped what he was doing, and ran over.

“Roan! I heard you went to the Divine Tree management service. Are you okay?”

“Hmm? It was comfortable.”

“?”

Beanin tilted his head at Roan’s overly casual response.

There was no way managing the Divine Tree was comfortable?

However, his perfectly fine appearance and satisfied expression proved that his words were true.

“The spirit beasts listened relatively well, and the pay was good.”

Thinking Beanin didn’t understand his words at all, Roan added a further explanation.

It wasn’t exactly a lie.

The insect spirit beasts were only large—before black magic—and gave up the sap like gentle sheep.

And the pay of 500 talents—if one ignored the intensity of the labor—was certainly a large sum for freshmen.

“Mee…”

But Beanin, who was well aware of the Divine Tree management’s notoriety, could only find it absurd.

Soon, Hector also greeted Roan.

“Oh, Roan. You’re back.”

“Yeah. …Why are you in such a good mood.”

Roan frowned slightly as he looked at Hector’s face.

Seeing a bright smile blooming all over his face made Roan feel uneasy for some reason.

‘An inquisitor being in a good mood is not a good thing for black mages.’

It was a very natural logic.

Hector scratched the back of his neck embarrassedly and spoke.

“Haha… I feel like I’ve opened a new eye while helping Professor Kaina.”

Roan’s mood turned even worse.

Surely he hadn’t gone on a picnic and laughed with Professor Kaina.

If they laughed, it would have been while pulling out someone’s toenails.

“…I see.”

In the first place, since it was an interrogation assistant service, there was nothing to expect.

Roan gave a light nod.

And a little later than Roan, Demona entered.

“Look at this, isn’t it cute?”

Naturally, the Diamond Beetle was held in his arms.

“Yikes! Aargh!”

A pitiful scream echoed through Panuroa Hall.

“W-What on earth is that, you heretic bastard!”

Naturally, it belonged to Hector.

It was as if Hector himself was being interrogated.

Hector rushed at Demona with a murderous aura as if he would grab him by the collar at any moment.

Thud— Smack—!

Of course, the Diamond Beetle immediately flew up and knocked Hector down in one blow.

Even though it must have hurt quite a bit, Hector lay flat on the floor and reached out toward Demona in disbelief.

“P-Please tell me it’s a lie… you must have kidnapped it from somewhere, right…?”

Desperate denial of reality.

But the world was cold.

Demona snorted and sneered at Hector.

“Hmph, you must be the one who did the kidnapping!”

“…”

Hector was lost for words.

‘That’s true.’

Roan and Beanin nodded without realizing it.

Rolling down the cliff several times in the deep mountains to stubbornly bring back the egg was indeed kidnapping.

Furthermore, wasn’t it an egg sitting nicely in its nest?

“This guy flew to me on its own! Compare things that are comparable, really.”

Demona turned his head away from the collapsed Hector and entered his private room.

“Twinkle, I’ll give you holy power~ Such a bad fanatic is a no-no, no-no.”

Flutter— Flutter—

Demona was annoying enough to make even the indifferent Roan and Beanin feel irritated.

“Um… let’s all have breakfast.”

Having nothing to say, Beanin quickly vanished into the kitchen.

***

In the end, the four of them sat around the table.

Hector glared at Demona, who had the Diamond Beetle attached to his back, as if he wanted to kill him, and asked.

“Heretic, do you even know what kind of species the Diamond Beetle is?”

“What is it?”

Demona asked with an expression that said he wasn’t particularly curious but would indulge him.

And Hector.

“Starting with the champion of the Imperial Holy War League team match in the year 4132, and the runner-up of the individual match, up to now, it has won 2,269 minor and major championships…”

He looked ready to pour out every single award record of the Diamond Beetle recorded in the history of the Imperial Holy War.

Demona interrupted Hector’s words with a look of disdain.

“Do you raise spirit beasts just for the holy war?”

“N-No…”

Hector couldn’t bring himself to say yes and looked downcast.

Roan nodded.

‘That is the trigger button for the citizens of the Empire.’

A hypocrisy of raising spirit beasts for the holy war while trying to wrap it up with words like family or friend!

It was a moment when Demona’s favorability in Roan’s heart surprisingly rose slightly.

Meanwhile, Hector turned to look at Roan with a desperate gaze.

“Roan, what on earth does that heretic have that I don’t?”

“…Why are you like this.”

“How is it that that guy has already obtained the Fanatic Rabbit King and the Diamond Beetle, while I… I…”

Hector indeed couldn’t bring himself to say, ‘I’ve only obtained a useless Heavenly Eye Garter Snake’.

A hint of disdain also mixed in Roan’s eyes.

“Well… strictly speaking, is it lineage?”

“!!!”

Hector seemed to be quite shocked.

“What a dirty world!”

Indeed, hearing that he was losing to Demona because of lineage must have made his blood boil.

Of course, Roan wasn’t saying that the bloodline of the Wicronon family was exceptionally outstanding.

‘That too, but rather than that, the Pavilto blood…’

The curse of no championship! The grave of directors!

Seeing him look a bit pitiful after saying that, Roan added.

“Pavilto just needs to be good at interrogation.”

“Ugh…”

But it didn’t seem to help Hector at all.

Pat—

Just then, Roan placed a hand on the dejected Hector’s shoulder.

“Hector.”

“Roan…”

Hector looked at Roan with touched eyes.

Of course, Demona was feeling thoroughly jealous on the other side.

But.

“Seeing you memorize the history of the holy war so well, you must have a lot of interest in other history.”

“…?”

“Do you happen to know that the Diamond Beetle was also mobilized to build the ancient southern castle Veranter 4,204 years ago?”

“Uh…”

Upon seeing Roan’s half-crazy eyes, any jealousy or touched emotion vanished without a trace.

Not only that.

Glance— Glance— Glance—

Hector, Beanin, and Demona quickly exchanged looks.

They instinctively felt that at this rate, breakfast would inevitably turn into Roan’s history lecture.

Holy wars and spirit beasts were good, but Roan’s history lecture had to be stopped!

It was a moment when the hearts of the three very different individuals became one.

“R-Roan! What was today’s class again?”

“Today is Sunday. Don’t talk nonsense. Rather than that, I should explain why Castle Veranter was built first. It will be really interesting.”

Demona tried to speak but failed.

In the end, Beanin miraculously found a useful topic like a senior.

“Mee! Your clubs! What are you going to do about clubs next week!”

Indeed, clubs were a very important factor for freshmen.

Since entering the wrong one could mean being hooked until graduation.

“True. Clubs are important.”

To the extent that even Roan stopped talking about settings and nodded.

Only then did the three let out a small sigh of relief.

Hector laughed boldly and beat his chest.

“I plan to join Professor Vulcan’s Holy War Club.”

“Oh, the Holy War Club is a good club.”

Beanin smiled faintly and nodded.

As Roan also knew, the Holy War Club was one of the best clubs if one could enter.

If one could enter.

Roan spoke with a freezing cold expression.

“Think again.”

“W-Why.”

Roan couldn’t bring himself to say, ‘You shouldn’t say that if you have a conscience’, so he couldn’t make such a harsh remark.

“It’s a nuisance.”

But this much was fine.

Hector made an expression as if a sound effect of crumbling echoed.

“I want to join the club Professor Belec runs.”

“…Do you know what kind of place it is?”

Roan was genuinely curious.

He didn’t think a guy who couldn’t even memorize his class schedule would memorize clubs and supervising professors.

Demona also tilted his head.

“Isn’t it a black magic club?”

“Mee…”

Beanin flinched and let out a cry.

It was an absurd remark typical of Demona, but he felt needlessly poked.

Roan looked at Demona pathetically.

“Professor Belec runs the Scripture Study Club.”

It was true.

Excluding the minor detail of being a black mage, Professor Belec was likely counted among the top five most devout professors in the school.

Demona looked quite disappointed.

“Then I won’t join… boring.”

“There is a club related to black magic, though.”

“What?! Where?”

Roan replied, curling up one corner of his mouth.

“Professor Kaina’s ‘Black Magic Extermination Research Club’.”

“…I won’t join.”

Indeed, it wasn’t a club that would appeal to Demona.

“I’ll just follow you into whichever club you join, Roan.”

Roan was dumbfounded by Demona’s words as he shrugged.

Putting aside whether Demona met the conditions to join the sanctuary.

‘My opinion?’

Roan had absolutely no intention of doing club activities with Demona.

Perhaps also curious, Beanin leaned slightly toward Roan and asked.

“True. Roan, is there a club you want to join?”

Joining a club was not mandatory in Akerandir.

One could also freely utilize the club activity time, which was mainly conducted on Mondays.

However, Beanin was in a position to recommend joining a club to the juniors as a senior.

Furthermore…

“If you don’t have one, how about the Imperial Administration Club I’m in?”

Gleam—

Beanin’s eyes shined.

Flinch—

Hector and Demona, instinctively feeling an ill omen, flinched.

Although he looked like the kind Beanin on the outside, a strange madness could be felt for some reason.

Of course, Roan had already anticipated this.

‘Beanin is no different.’

In fact, the first weekend of the semester was practically the prelude to the upcoming event, the ‘Club Brawl’.

Also, freshmen actually had a tendency to join the club of their dormitory mentor.

Since they didn’t know much about clubs anyway, they followed the closest senior.

Although the Administration Club was a place where mostly kind-hearted and diligent students like Beanin joined.

‘In other words, because it’s that kind of club, it’s at that level.’

If it were another club, they would have already brought a registration form and threatened, rather than just suggesting.

Furthermore, if the target was a super-rookie like Roan…

In Roan’s head, the scene that would unfold around him next week naturally drew itself.

‘It will be quite tiring.’

Really, just imagining it made him shudder.

Roan shook his head.

“I have already joined a club.”

“”???””

Naturally, Demona and Hector, who were completely unaware of that fact, were confused.

“Mee! No way!”

Beanin cried out.

“You traitor!”

Demona also shouted alongside him.

Of course, both Roan and Beanin paid no attention to Demona.

“Where is it? Which guys beat us to it?”

“I cannot tell you.”

The returning students roughly knew the meaning of these words.

No matter how secret a club was, they were still fellow students.

Furthermore, considering the profiles of the members, rumors about its existence were bound to spread.

Along with all sorts of ghost stories.

“Oh dear…”

Beanin looked thoroughly dejected.

“Well, even I would… if given special credit management by professors, a full 4-year scholarship guarantee, living expenses, and access to the professor’s reading room…”

He then began to mutter the rumored privileges of the secret clubs like a sigh.

Roan asked as if it were absurd.

“What kind of nonsense is that?”

Beanin flinched at Roan’s sharp gaze.

“E-Eh? What do you mean nonsense? Isn’t it correct?”

…For some reason, rather than being told he was talking nonsense by a junior, he seemed surprised that the common knowledge he knew was wrong.