Chapter 64

Chapter 64

“Still, tell him to be grateful that I’m letting him commute.”

“That…”

However, before Roan could even reply, Harden slid away and vanished.

Once again, only Roan and the unconscious Taedi were left in Room 101 of the St. Macgodal Wing.

Woooong──

At that moment, the False Divinity, which had been silent, vibrated cheerfully.

Isn’t that still a good thing?

‘……That is true.’

Although he hated to admit it, it was correct.

Who would have thought that they would go as far as summoning a black mage to Akerandir to guarantee a learning environment?

This was the moment Roan finally gained a proper black magic teacher.

***

Meanwhile, in Lecture Room 23 of the Great Temple of Nelkiora, where the light attribute class was held.

Having witnessed the tragedy in the waiting room, Zion and Demona skipped lunch altogether and headed straight to the afternoon lecture room.

Once the Great Temple became quiet and the outside filled with screams, they could not bear to stay out there.

Besides, Roan had already left.

The appearance of the two, usually filled with noble dignity, was now a complete mess after traveling back and forth through the underground tunnel.

The two sat like that, spaced out and keeping their distance from each other.

“I’m hungry……”

Demona grumbled while holding her growling stomach.

Zion looked at her for a moment, then sighed and spoke.

“Still, wouldn’t this be better than going out there……”

“That’s true……”

Just as Zion said, outside the window:

─ Catch that junior!

─ Hahaha, junior! Join our club quietly!

─ Aaaack! Save me!

─ Did you think you could escape?

The gruesome hunting scene was still unfolding.

Seniors running around with flashing eyes, holding club application forms in one hand and ropes in the other!

Freshmen who had wandered off alone from the crowd without knowing anything tried desperately to run away, but they usually ended up caught by the seniors.

─ How dare a horse beastman refuse to join the track and field club?

─ Hurry up and stamp your thumb…… no, hoof! Bring the stamp pad!

─ Sob sob…… I’ll stamp it…….

What if Zion, the Saintess candidate, and Demona of the Wychronon family went out there in that situation?

As foreshadowed in the waiting room, a war would probably break out.

A brief silence.

Soon, Demona called Zion.

“Hey, Zion.”

“Yes?”

“No matter how much I think about it, I’m sure Lady Anne, the Incarnation, had her eyes stolen.”

“…….”

Zion thought.

That she shouldn’t have answered.

Her opponent was Demona!

“What does that……”

“No, think about it. If it were you, would you be able to say you had them stolen right there?”

“I, I suppose so.”

Of course, Zion knew very well about Anne’s eyes.

In the records, it was clearly written that she had lost her sight from birth.

Instead, she had gained the Mind’s Eye, so it was actually a glorious thing.

Yet, Demona seemed to think of Anne as a pitiful incarnation who had lost her sight due to the coercion of an angel.

……And suddenly at that, in a situation where the outside was in such a mess.

“As a Saintess candidate, what do you think of this tyranny? Should we hold a two-person protest?”

“Leave me out of it……”

By this point, Zion seriously pondered.

That perhaps it would be better to be chased by the club seniors instead.

‘No, more than that. Do I have to take classes alone with her for a whole year?’

A future that automatically made her dizzy!

However, there was something Zion had not yet considered.

……It was very common for rare attributes like the light attribute to proceed for four years without any additional students.

“A Saintess candidate shouldn’t turn a blind eye to this! Lady Anne, the Incarnation, has lived her entire life without eyes!”

As Demona prattled on again, a surge of irritation welled up inside Zion.

She had thought Roan’s usual attitude toward Demona was a bit harsh.

But now that they were alone, there was no saint quite like Roan.

Not the title of the empire’s saint, but a saint in the truest sense of the word.

‘He didn’t become the freshman representative over me for nothing…….’

Zion spoke to Demona in the kindest voice she could muster.

“Quiet down a bit.”

“T-The Saintess candidate……!”

“Or should I tell you to…… shut up?”

The first swear word she had uttered since becoming a Saintess candidate!

Yet Zion felt a refreshing sense of relief, as if an indigestion had cleared up.

“Cruel……”

And only after confirming that Zion’s expression was unusual did Demona finally shut her mouth.

***

Roan walked around the St. Macgodal Wing just in case.

‘As expected, there’s nothing useful.’

At most, it was just skull ornaments or childish writings praising black magic that black magic clubs might have used.

All of them were garbage without a single drop of mana, looking as if they had been handmade.

‘If they were going to do it, they should have done it properly!’

Who knows if a junior who learns black magic might enter in the future.

……Though even if there were, the school would have already collected them all.

Anyway, around the time Roan returned to Room 101, Taedi, who had fainted, woke up just in time.

“Ugh……”

“Are you awake?”

Flinch─!

As soon as Taedi saw Roan’s face, she flinched violently.

She must have thought the events before she fainted were just a dream.

After looking around for a moment, Taedi asked with an anxious expression.

“So…… is this place really Akerandir?”

“Yes.”

“And you are a student here?”

“That’s right.”

“Eh…… but you are still a black mage?”

“Unfortunately.”

“Hmm…… also……”

‘How long is she planning to ask?’

Roan, who was replying quietly, was starting to get annoyed.

He hadn’t expected the Lord of the Dead Forest to be such a clumsy character.

He had thought she would have a bit more dignity as a High Elf.

……Of course, he had to understand the situation of a black mage who had been kidnapped to a holy sanctuary in the blink of an eye.

Even after that, Taedi asked a few more things.

“I see. So at least I won’t die right away.”

“Yes, Professor.”

Her expression became a bit more relaxed.

She seemed relieved that she would not be used as a teaching tool, interrogated, or hanged on the gallows.

“Hmph, hmm. A professor……”

And she seemed strangely excited, which Roan found quite baffling.

‘Is it Stockholm Syndrome?’

No matter how he looked at it, it was not the reaction of a kidnapped person.

However, Taedi had her own reasons.

“Shall we introduce ourselves then?”

Taedi’s eyes were already filled with expectation.

“……An introduction?”

“Yes! Since it’s fate that we met like this, it would be good to know each other well. Ahem, I’ll start first.”

Judging by her momentum, she was determined to tell her story no matter what Roan said.

Roan slightly adjusted his evaluation of Taedi.

‘She’s more optimistic than I thought.’

Well, that must be how she survived alone in the Dead Forest for such a long time.

And soon, Taedi’s story began.

***

Two hundred and fifty years ago, when Taedi was born.

A festival was held in the Angolda Great Forest, the forest of elves.

─ It is the first royal descendant in three hundred years!

Even considering their long lifespans, the population growth of elves was extremely slow.

Because among them, the birth of a High Elf was a joy for the entire race.

However.

─ Another tree died…….

─ Princess, do not worry. It is only because you have not yet received the help of the spirits.

Taedi’s childhood, which should have been grown with plenty of love from the race, was nothing but despair.

She, who inherited the blood of a High Elf and wanted to become the best forest keeper, could not command even a single spirit.

─ Princess! Please follow quickly! We will be late!

─ Huff…… huff…… I’m so…… out of breath……!

Even in the forest, which gave massive bonuses to elves, she easily ran out of breath after running just a little.

Unable to shoot a bow properly or climb trees well, Taedi gradually drifted apart from the elves, spending more time staying on the outskirts of the Angolda Great Forest.

Eventually, even the elves began to gradually withdraw their interest from her.

Then one day, she saw the corpse of a black mage who had passed away in the Great Forest, along with the black grimoire beside it.

─ They said not to pick up things like this recklessly, though…….

Although she knew it in her head, Taedi, who had no proper acquaintances let alone friends, naturally came to learn black magic.

Surprisingly, she possessed amazing talent in black magic.

As she learned black magic, Taedi felt the emotion of ‘achievement’ for the first time.

Furthermore, utilizing black magic to protect and nurture the forest made her truly happy.

However, no matter how much she was drifting apart, she could not keep the black magic hidden forever.

─ Princess, to learn black magic! Are you in your right mind!

─ P-Please listen to me! Black magic is not entirely bad. Here, look at the sprout I grew…….

─ Shut up!

Taedi tried to persuade them of the positive functions of black magic, but it fell on completely deaf ears.

Soon, she was banished from the Angolda Great Forest with the stigma of being the ‘disgrace of the High Elves.’

─ They said there is a forest where all the trees are dead in the north…….

Shedding tears, Taedi headed to the Dead Forest.

There, she discarded her last name ‘Elderwood’ and became ‘Ashwood.’

She lived alone for over one hundred and fifty years, tending only to the dead trees.

With the determination to revive this forest someday and return to her clan.

With the oath to prove that black magic could also be helpful to elves.

Unlike the Angolda Great Forest, adventurers of other races frequently entered the Dead Forest.

Although she did not interact with them, she gained the nickname ‘Lord of the Dead Forest’ from adventurers who saw her from a distance.

Furthermore, as she repelled the subjugation squads of the Holy Empire that occasionally visited, her notoriety grew even higher.

Born into the royalty of the Angolda Great Forest elves and becoming the Lord of the Dead Forest, Taedi Ashwood.

This was her past.

Thud─

“Huh, what is thi─ Agyaaack!”

Making eye contact with Harden’s portrait that had fallen on the ground, and being kidnapped to Akerandir, was her present.

***

“Sob sob…… that’s my story…… *sniff*!”

Meeting her in person, Taedi was more emotional than he had thought.

Who would have thought she would cry so sorrowfully while telling her own story?

However, the relief that she would not die right away even after being kidnapped to Akerandir.

“For two hundred and fifty years…… for such a long time, there was no one to talk to about this…… Waaaaaah!”

And the thirst from having built no proper human relationships throughout the two hundred and fifty years she lived was reason enough to pour out tears.

“Yes. That is indeed a pity.”

Meanwhile, Roan nodded, putting on a moderately pitiful expression.

He had already known Taedi’s story roughly through other elves.

However, seeing her speak so plaintively in person did arouse a fair bit of sympathy.

Above all, the part where a black mage was kidnapped by a holy spirit was the most pitiful.

If even he, who had walked in on his own two feet, was dying of unfairness, how much more so for Taedi?

But listening to it, a question also arose.

“Don’t adventurers enter the Dead Forest quite often?”

Roan asked in puzzlement.

If she wanted to talk this much, it wouldn’t have been impossible.

When playing the game, Taedi had rarely revealed herself.

‘So I thought of her as a cold and ruthless black mage…….’

The actual Taedi was a completely different person.

Taedi shook her head side to side and answered.

“H-How could a High Elf approach first? And I was too scared to face other races……. I heard when I was young that adventurers kill people for fun, is that true?”

“……That seems to be a bit distorted, but what about now?”

“Because now I have no choice. Waaaaah!”

“…….”

In short, Taedi was a classic loner character who did not want to make friends first but still wanted to talk.