Chapter 62

Chapter 62

─ Argh!

─ What? What is it?

─ Is it a black mage’s terror attack?!

Along with a roaring sound as if a bomb had exploded, the door of the waiting room shattered into pieces.

The students nearby rolled on the ground from the aftermath.

Those who rushed in immediately were not the wicked black mages the students expected……

─ Kyahaha! The freshmen are all gathered here!

─ Find the useful ones!

“……Seniors?”

They were the current students of Akerandir.

Each of their eyes flashed with madness.

In their hands, they held club application forms and restraints that were hard to even guess where they had obtained.

Some students were caught as soon as the chaos broke out, and in the blink of an eye, they were even signed up for three clubs.

─ R-Run away!

─ Let’s all meet in the commercial district!

Although it had only been a week, the freshmen had also adapted to Akerandir quite well.

The students with quick reflexes instinctively pushed their friends next to them toward the seniors and ran away in a hurry.

The scene looked like good citizens who had been invaded by barbarians.

However, the seniors only laughed wickedly even upon seeing the fleeing freshmen, and did not particularly chase them.

─ Kukuk, did you think the commercial district would be safe?

Shiver─

Zion, who was next to Roan, shuddered all over.

Was this really the empire’s best talent training center, Akerandir?

Or was it rather like a training camp…… that felt closer to the wild.

But there was another thing that surprised Zion and Demona even more.

─ The Saintess candidate, where is the Saintess candidate!

─ Spit it out right now!

─ I-I don’t know! She was around there…….

The seniors were focusing their search not only on Zion, who could be called the biggest catch of the first year.

─ We are Wychronon, find the Wychronon! Kyahahaha!

─ Hurry up and flutter that proud blonde hair of yours!

They were also intensively searching for Demona, who had already become famous school-wide.

‘T-These people are truly crazy!’

Zion screamed internally.

If he got caught by them, he felt like he would have to stamp his thumbprint on club applications until his fingerprints wore off, secret club or not.

He had thought it was too harsh of a measure when he heard that club promotion in the morning was banned by Imperial law.

‘Why don’t they just ban it altogether?’

Now, Zion came to resent the Pope’s Office in a different sense.

……No, in the first place, it was doubtful whether this could even be called “promotion.”

Weren’t there more accurate words, like kidnapping, threat, or assault?

Perhaps Demona had a similar thought, as the two soon trembled like aspen leaves beside Roan, unable to even breathe properly.

Roan chuckled and spoke.

“Do you now know why I told you to stick together.”

Nod, nod─!

The two looked at Roan like chicks in front of a natural predator.

Roan suppressed his laughter and spoke seriously.

“Although today is the officially allowed promotion day, you will still need to watch your backs for about a week.”

Of course, the same went for Roan.

─ Darc! Darc, come out!

─ Professor Vulcan is calling for you!

Screech─!

Bark, bark!

‘Tsk, this has become annoying.’

There was no way Vulcan’s Crusade Club would be left out in this situation.

The Crusade Club members even released small spiritual beasts specialized in searching to find Darc.

Even if he were discovered and fought, Roan would not easily lose, but for now, avoiding them was the best policy.

Roan tapped on the wooden floor without releasing Shadow Disguise.

Since they were far from the entrance, they had not caught the seniors’ eyes yet, but Shadow Disguise was merely a basic magic.

If the prominent seniors or spiritual beasts searched with determination, they would be caught soon.

‘There was a reason I took this spot in the first place.’

Tap─

How many times did he tap the floor?

Soon, a hollow sound rang out from one of the wooden floor tiles.

Creak─

As Roan lifted the tile, a tunnel barely wide enough for one person to pass through appeared underneath.

“This is……?”

Zion asked in surprise.

Roan replied casually.

“Since this disaster happens every year, the school didn’t just sit on its hands.”

Although it was a passage used only by those in the know, in any case, several tunnels like this were prepared in various places in the first-year classrooms, including the waiting room.

“Hurry up and go down.”

“Y-Yes!”

“Okay!”

Zion and Demona hurriedly descended along the tunnel.

By the time they emerged at an empty lot near the Great Temple of Nelkiora, both of them were covered in dirt.

Meanwhile, unlike the two, Roan, who moved leisurely and maintained a neat appearance.

He spoke as he walked toward the outside of the empty lot.

“As I said earlier, I will come to the Great Temple when the class ends. Wait quietly.”

“……Yes.”

Zion nodded with a face that still showed the shock.

By this point, he did not even dare to wander outside without being with Roan.

“Take me too, take me too!”

“……You deal with it on your own. Actually, just reading the room and getting dragged into a reasonably good club isn’t a bad idea either. That’s also a skill.”

“Ugh! No way!”

At Roan’s cold refusal, Demona fell to the ground in despair.

At any rate, after Roan disappeared like that.

Glance─

The two peeked at each other’s reactions for a moment.

“I-It’s better not to eat lunch, right?”

“Yeah…….”

Roan’s words to stick close together.

The two had finally understood their true meaning.

Meanwhile, Zion, who was staring blankly in the direction Roan had disappeared, suddenly.

‘……But how did Darc know about the tunnel……?’

He felt a minor doubt.

***

St. Macgodal Wing.

Its location was the southeastern end of Akerandir’s buildings, close to Gulba’s Combat Training Ground.

And it could only be reached by passing through ‘Dragon Street,’ which was called the back alley or slum of Akerandir.

Of course, even if Dragon Street was notorious, it was still inside the Holy Academy.

Far from crime, it was merely a place like a black market among students who played around a bit.

As Roan passed the edge of Dragon Street, two bulky male students blocked the alleyway.

─ Hey, junior. A freshman dares to enter here without fear?

─ Then you should at least fill out a club application, right? Kukuku…….

Not only did they have their school uniform shirt buttons half-undone.

But they also had scripture passage tattoos on their faces and tattoos of the goddess Hiloa statue on their forearms, looking like typical Akerandir delinquents.

“Are you club brokers?”

Roan stopped for a moment, looking up at them with sharp eyes as he asked.

They laughed loudly as if to say, look at this guy.

─ Uhhaha! Look at this cute freshman! He opens his eyes so nicely?

─ Did you think these seniors would be scared if you glared like that?

─ ……Actually, he is a bit scary.

“……?”

Roan tilted his head at the delinquent’s agreement, which seemed to miss the point.

In any case, they acted completely at ease before pulling a handful of papers from their chests and threatening him while waving them.

─ Yes, that’s right! We are those terrifying club brokers~

─ You won’t be able to leave unless you sign all of these papers, you know?

Club brokers.

They were students who recruited new members on behalf of clubs that struggled to get freshmen for various reasons, in exchange for a certain amount of Talents.

Naturally, there was a reason why new members did not join.

Furthermore, the applications they held were even cluttered with all kinds of toxic clauses in special agreements.

If one lost in a showdown with them, it was better to just end that playthrough and start anew.

Of course, Roan knew that fact very well.

Rumble── Crash───!

─ Heeek!

─ W-What is this!

When Roan properly drew out and released the abyss, the brokers’ faces turned white in an instant.

Gray holy power.

Even if they did not know Roan’s appearance, rumors of that unique power had already spread widely among the seniors.

─ D-Darc!

─ You were Darc?!

‘Just this much is enough for everyone to recognize me.’

Roan was inwardly satisfied looking at the pale faces of the brokers.

─ Run away!

─ I told you we should have paid more attention in class!

Dash─

The two brokers ran away as fast as their legs could carry them.

Roan did not bother to chase after them either.

‘Anyway, even if they are called Akerandir delinquents, they are just good students at heart…….’

Not all delinquents were the same.

Akerandir’s delinquents did not extort money or practice violence like others did.

Rather, they actively stepped forward when strength was needed, were devout, and worked hard at volunteer activities.

They only had a tendency to use their appearance to occasionally make the tasks they had to do more convenient.

……Actually, Roan was similar.

In any case, emerging from Dragon Street, the St. Macgodal Wing soon came into view.

“No matter how I look at it, it looks ominous.”

Even in “God and Devil,” there was only a single illustration of the St. Macgodal Wing.

It boasted a different atmosphere from Ciotric Hall, where Professor Kaina mainly worked.

If Ciotric Hall was like a well-decorated haunted house.

‘The St. Macgodal Wing is like an abandoned house that you might find in the middle of a mountain.’

One could say its natural gloominess was top-notch.

As it was a ‘wing’ rather than a ‘hall,’ its scale was also very small.

Thinking of a roughly three-story commercial building would be appropriate.

On top of that, the color of the building was somehow black, there was not a single intact window pane, and a chilly sound echoed every time the wind blew.

It was a building that even the holy knights guarding the surrounding area avoided working at.

‘By the way, who on earth is the dark attribute professor?’

Roan thought deeply as he walked toward the St. Macgodal Wing.

As of the current moment, there were only three people in the entire continent who officially used the dark attribute, excluding Roan.

Two of them were excluded since they had not yet accumulated enough experience to hold a professorship.

‘Then the Tiger of Mount Bideln? No…… that guy is too dangerous. No matter how bad Harden’s taste is.’

The remaining candidate was competent enough to become a professor based on ability, but his personality was a disqualification.

Perhaps if that candidate were the professor, Roan might have to escape Akerandir in the very first class.

……Not because he was caught being a black mage, but to survive the class.

At that moment, the holy knights guarding the St. Macgodal Wing spotted Roan walking over.

─ Look…… there’s a student walking over?

─ I see him too.

─ Then it’s probably not a ghost.

─ Yeah. Thank goodness…….

The two holy knights were saying something suspicious!

But since it was something he had always heard in the game, Roan ignored it and approached them.

Up close, it was clear that the holy knights were extremely tired, or had been tormented by something all night.

“Hello. I came because I was told the dark attribute classroom is here.”

The holy knights had expressions of disbelief.

─ Having class here……? Have you heard anything?

─ Now that I think about it, maybe…….

But they soon recalled the memory and stepped aside.

─ Right…… the principal’s summon came by earlier.

─ Be careful……. Nothing that happens here would be surprising…….

The holy knights who kept spouting lines like horror movie clichés.

‘Tsk, at this rate, how do they plan to catch black mages?’

Roan bowed slightly and felt regretful.

Even if some ghosts appeared, they wouldn’t be scary compared to a black mage.

Roan thought this shamelessly despite being a black mage himself.

Then.

Freeze─

‘Wait, but in the first place, the principal here…….’

Roan understood the holy knights even less now.

Seriously, why are they scared?

***

The inside of the St. Macgodal Wing was as dark and ominous as it looked from the outside.

Step, step─

As a black mage, one should be able to treat such a place like their own home.

Without a moment of hesitation, Roan searched the first floor and found Room 101.

It had been a long time since the building had been properly maintained, so most of the nameplates were fallen off or erased.

─ 101 ─

But Room 101’s nameplate, though tilted, was still recognizable.

‘I wondered why only this place had its nameplate left, so this was why.’