Chapter 77

Feeling the vast vitality writhing inside the Grave Censer, Roan tilted his head.

The completion of this high-level black magic was only beneficial to Roan, never a bad thing.

‘Does the magic fail and cause an explosion?’

If so, he could certainly understand, but at least to his eyes, the magic itself was successful.

Even though it wasn’t disguised as holy power, it was so stable that it didn’t seem likely to collapse.

Now, all that remained was for it to connect with Roan, move to the place most deeply tied to his destiny, and become bound.

Just as Roan was diligently deducing the reason, unable to comprehend the meaning of the bad ending at all.

The ‘reason’ appeared on its own.

“Oh~ Student Darc! What did you make by yourself in the dead of night?”

??!?!?!?!!!!

A chilling voice suddenly echoed from the side.

Roan turned around in startle.

“No matter how I look at this, it’s a life vessel, isn’t it? How did a priest make a life vessel?”

Professor Kaina was smiling broadly, looking at Roan.

Her trademark white hammer and the dark red leather armor of an Inquisitor.

Even the combat holy artifacts floating around as if guarding her.

‘Kaina’s serious combat form!’

It was definitely Kaina’s fully armed appearance, which even Roan had rarely seen.

“Profess─”

And before Roan could even open his mouth.

“If a black mage rat bastard hadn’t dared to disguise himself!”

Rumble────!!!!

Kaina’s white hammer crashed toward Roan’s face in an instant.

Just as his vision was completely blocked by the white hammer, which soon turned into a black hammer.

“Gasp!”

Roan woke up with a start on the bed.

His upper body rose reflexively.

Cold sweat drenched his entire body.

To anyone, he looked like he had been suffering from nightmares all night.

The mist that had practically filled the room had vanished, and the dawn was breaking outside the window.

It was the next day.

‘From now on, I shouldn’t even set foot in the direction of the Watchman’s Tower.’

Set foot?

If even the bathroom was built in that direction, he would turn back.

After he roughly washed up and came out, the other three were also slowly waking up and preparing to go to class.

“…What class was it today?”

“It is the healing and inquisitorial class, three million gold.”

Demona was still half-asleep, and Hector still harbored a grudge.

“It is not inquisitorial work, but Anti-Black Magic Combat.”

After Roan lightly corrected the misinformation, he headed to Hetrona Hall to attend Professor Atoga’s class.

The female students, including Lafia, had already arrived in the lecture room.

“Your face looks a bit better today, Roan?”

“Hi.”

“I slept quite well.”

Suffering from a nightmare was still sleep in a way.

Moreover, since Roan was a black mage, he felt no fatigue, just as she said.

Roan asked Lafia and Riel.

“Which club did you two join?”

“Ah, we are in the Rose Knights Club.”

Roan nodded.

The Rose Knights Club was a place consisting only of female students, and was one of the holy knight clubs that formed a rivalry with the Blue Knights Club.

“What about you guys?”

“Hahaha! Fanatic, Lafia is asking about your club?”

“…….”

“??”

As Demona laughed heartily and teased Hector, Lafia seemed to become even more curious.

Before it became noisier, Roan preempted them.

“Demona is in the Temple Club, and Hector is in the Temple Healing Club.”

“Ah, really? You both joined good ones. Especially since Hector likes the temple, it should be even better.”

“Grrr…”

Hector trembled at Lafia’s pure joy and congratulations, but one couldn’t spit on a smiling face.

Meanwhile, Zion, who had always sat far away from them during class, now took a seat diagonally in front of Roan.

“Hello, Darc?”

Wink─

She then greeted him and winked in a way that only Roan could see.

“…Why suddenly like this?”

“Heheh.”

Roan got goosebumps, but Zion only sat down with a deep smile.

‘Does she think some secret has been created between us?’

He couldn’t even remember how many times he had sold out his family and parents besides Zion…

In any case, after that brief greeting passed.

“Everyone, it has been a week. Nice to meet you.”

Atoga appeared with a greeting that refreshed one’s mood.

An unusual thing was that this time, several people poured in behind him.

“…Is Professor Atoga recruiting for a club too?”

Demona, who was thoroughly exhausted by the club promotions yesterday, asked with an incredibly suspicious look.

Roan looked at her with a pathetic gaze and answered.

“Doing that from today is illegal. Those people are not teaching aids… but individuals who will assist with the class.”

Although the term ‘teaching aid’ was used for living people at Akerandir, that was strictly limited to black mages.

They were the ‘patients’ that the students would treat in their second week of healing class.

Cough─ Cough─

A few were actually coughing lightly.

“It seems some students have noticed; these people have come to enhance your practical sense of healing holy magic. For this hour, talk to them directly and administer appropriate treatment.”

Indeed, a beginner healing holy magic scroll, similar to the beginner treatment holy magic learned last time, was placed on each desk today.

If treatment healed external wounds, healing was utilized for internal illnesses like colds or enteritis.

However, upon hearing Atoga’s explanation, most students breathed a sigh of relief first.

─ Whew… it seems we don’t have to stab with knives today.

─ As expected, it was good that I didn’t stab last time.

They were relieved that they didn’t have to go through the penance that threw the students into panic during the first class.

Of course, Atoga corrected the students’ misunderstanding with a cool smile.

“Ah, penance can be carried out at any time, so please do not let your guard down too much.”

─ …….

The students, whose expectations were dashed, fell silent, and the patients who followed Atoga in found their seats one-by-one.

─ My hand was cut…

─ I’ve had a bit of a fever since a while ago…

Most were very simple symptoms suitable for a basic healing class.

However, while a few were merchants active in the commercial district, most were fifth and sixth-year students, commonly referred to as being in the advanced course.

─ I’ve been staying up nights since the vacation, so chronic fatigue…

─ I rolled off a cliff while doing an assignment…

─ Ugh! Please do not ask for details…

─ No, what on earth do you usually do?

The freshmen were slightly flustered by the haggard appearance of their far senior classmates, but they didn’t doubt deeply and soon began their diagnosis.

‘I have never seen a happy ending for anyone who advanced to the fifth year.’

Of course, Roan, who knew the inside story, clicked his tongue inwardly.

Meanwhile, even when most of the students were dealing with patients, no one came to sit before Roan.

There were no longer any patients left who couldn’t find a partner.

“Professor. Who am I supposed to examine?”

When Roan asked, Atoga finally acknowledged him and spoke.

“Ah, Student Darc, wait for a moment. A teaching aid will arrive soon. Since you’re here, would you like to come down to the platform?”

‘…Teaching aid?’

An unknown ominous feeling crept over Roan.

The request to come to the platform was one thing.

Atoga might have misspoke, but after all, a teaching aid…

At that moment, urgent footsteps echoed from the corridor outside.

Pitter-patter─ Bang!

It was an assistant carrying someone battered all over on his back.

“Professor! I rescued him! Quickly, quickly!”

“Oh, you’ve arrived. Student Darc, come down quickly! It is urgent!”

“Pardon?”

Roan asked in an absurd voice.

Just at a glance, the person had lost consciousness, indicating they were not a normally critical patient.

‘Is it right to ask a freshman to handle this?’

Did he do something wrong in the last class?

─ Isn’t that person already dead?

─ Can Darc even revive corpses?!

─ Hey, he’s not a black mage, does that make sense?

─ Hahaha, that’s true.

‘Even a black mage can’t do it unless they are at the highest rank!’

Roan felt a surge of irritation despite himself.

Even Taedi, Lord of the Dead Forest, could only revive a corpse for a few minutes at most.

Limited strictly to a freshly dead corpse, in the form of binding the soul.

In any case, it seemed the current situation was equally absurd to the other students.

“Quickly!”

“…Yes.”

Regardless, since an emergency was an emergency, Roan also moved his position.

Like a professor, Atoga rattled off the patient’s condition as soon as Roan arrived.

He judged that it was too difficult for a freshman to even diagnose a blood-covered patient.

“There are whole-body contusions, internal bleeding, and fractures. There’s also a slight sign of a concussion…”

Naturally, when this situation occurred, the gazes of not only the other students but also the patients focused on the platform.

“Wow, it seems Roan is already treating someone like that. I’m envious.”

Demona spoke like this, flashing a light from one hand.

─ You are currently casting healing holy magic, right…?

Her paired partner was asking with a doubtful expression.

…It was Demona’s healing holy magic, which looked noisy but had a very poor effect.

─ I-Isn’t that nothing to be envious of?

─ I shouldn’t take healing classes starting from the second year…

Naturally, no one sympathized with Demona’s words.

Meanwhile, Roan called Atoga, who was explaining diligently.

“Professor.”

“The assistant will align the bones, so if Student Darc just manages the internal bleeding and contusions… Ah, yes?”

“I am a freshman, though.”

“And?”

“…….”

Roan was left speechless by Atoga’s exceedingly confident nod.

This professor truly intended to make Roan perform the treatment.

‘Where on earth did he even find such a person?’

The state was so bad that he couldn’t even distinguish whether the person was a priest or a black mage.

Since there was no way a priest would end up like this here, it was highly likely the latter.

Eventually, Roan sat down next to the patient, whose face was covered in blood, and fell into thought for a moment.

Even if it looked critical, as long as this place was Akerandir, they wouldn’t die immediately.

If it were a truly irreversible situation, Atoga or the assistant would naturally step in.

Ultimately, Atoga’s intention was to see how calmly Roan could handle such a situation.

‘If there is one more thing, is it to utilize the book he gave last time?’

Atoga always prepared absurd assignments, but in the end, he was an excellent professor who hid his intentions inside them.

…To the one on the receiving end, it was far from pleasant.

“Then, I will align the bones!”

Soon, the assistant began to correctly align the bones that were twisted and protruding here and there.

Crack─ Snap─

Amid the chilling sounds echoing continuously, Roan prepared to raise his black mana in earnest to begin the treatment.

Although he hadn’t read Professor Atoga’s book thoroughly, he kept the rough essence in his head.

─ Healing holy magic aligns well with holy power itself and serves as the foundation of all holy magic, making it the polar opposite of curse-type black magic. ─

Among them, the part Roan had paid attention to was the comparison with the curse attribute.

‘Curse is neutralized by blessing, but from a principles standpoint, it is an accurate analysis.’

Blessing was merely a category newly developed for the purpose of defending against or neutralizing the effects of a curse.

A curse was a type of magic that rapidly distorted the normal state in some manner.

And healing was a type of magic that restored such a distorted state using holy power.

Therefore, the fundamental resolution of a curse inevitably had to borrow the power of healing holy magic.

Since basic black magic like flesh burst or blood flow control, which Roan utilized in the first class, strictly belonged to the curse category as well.

In the end, the answer to healing holy magic lay in the curse category.

Although curses were excessive in degree, looking only at the effects, there were quite a few spells similar to healing.

‘This time, I must weaken the output as much as possible to avoid standing out.’

Hummm─

Leave it to me!