Chapter 84

‘Then why on earth is he dressed like that?’

Those words seemed to rise to the tips of their tongues, but they could not bring themselves to say them due to the professor’s terrifying and bizarre appearance.

— Then…….

Once the professor thumped and stood in the middle of the classroom, the assistant draped in the robe stepped out and shut the door.

Only then did his friends think that the things they had considered spooky were laughable compared to this professor.

A room could be a bit white, and people could drape some robes over themselves and remain silent!

However, a person could not look like that.

Demona, shivering once, gently raised her hand.

The professor turned his head toward Demona.

Creak─ Creak─

However, because of the chains wrapped tightly around his neck, a creepy sound echoed whenever the angle turned slightly.

Demona asked while trembling.

“Um…… you don’t seem to be able to speak, so how will you conduct the class?”

Even in this situation, Demona could not suppress her curiosity.

‘I think we should ask how he breathes first.’

From the side, Roan thought silently.

“W-Won’t he just take off the restraint on his mouth……?”

“Kyaah! That’s scarier, Hector!”

When Hector guessed, Rafia shuddered in disgust.

‘It’s definitely creepy.’

Roan also agreed with her opinion.

Since his entire body was in that state anyway, opening only his mouth was bound to be even more grotesque.

In the first place, he wouldn’t take off the restraints.

“The professor’s restraints are all the price of his Oath. He cannot withdraw his Oath just for a class.”

“Ah……”

Only after hearing Roan’s explanation did his friends let out exclamations of understanding.

Indeed, as much as Oaths require paying a high price, they yield great results.

If one tried to recklessly withdraw that Oath, they would have to endure a massive backlash.

Therefore, priests who primarily deal with Oaths limit themselves to exchanging temporary prices and results, or making Oaths with very minor prices even if permanent.

For example, typical conditions included never eating a certain rare crop for the rest of one’s life.

Creak─ Creak─

The professor nodded as if Roan’s explanation was correct.

And he answered Demona’s question about how he would conduct the class through action.

Fwooosh─

“““Ugh!?!!”””

A tremendous amount of holy power emitted from him filled the classroom.

The wind pressure was so immense that the robes of those from the monasteries fluttered wildly, and even Roan’s friends could not open their eyes properly.

‘To think it’s this much with just holy power, isn’t it a miracle?!’

Sion shrieked inwardly as she struggled to cover her eyes.

It was a level difficult to see as the holy power of a mere human.

Then was it truly a miracle granted at an incredibly coincidental moment?

Naturally, it was not.

Woooosh─

“……?”

The fiercely raging holy power settled down like a calm lake surface before they knew it.

And from the leather covering the professor’s eyes, a strong light was projected toward the wall.

No, to be precise, it was light emitted from the eyes beneath the leather.

Trickle─

Bloody tears trickling down from where his eyes should be, whatever the mechanism, induced bizarre imaginations.

“Hieek!”

Coincidentally, that light was directed toward Demona, who was in the middle, and she quickly dodged, fearing it might touch her.

“Don’t worry, it’s not an offensive holy art.”

“Whew, I thought……”

Demona was relieved by Roan’s words.

‘……Did she actually think the professor was going to attack?’

In any case, the light that shot forward strangely spread as if covering the surface when it touched the wall.

And then, suddenly, letters of delicate handwriting rose in relief from the light.

— Hello everyone! We will begin the Oath class now! —

It was a sight as if a beam projector had been turned on, to use a comparison to Earth.

Even though it looked simple, this was actually the Oath professor’s unique application, which did not belong to any holy art lineage.

‘It’s only possible once you reach the stage where you can handle holy power like your own limbs due to numerous Oaths.’

In short, the Oath class professor had practically offered his body to God, and in return, could freely use holy power near the human limit.

Moving holy power in such a specific way without borrowing the power of the Hylon language and patterns, the components of holy arts, was truly remarkable.

“……?”

The students, who had no way of knowing such profound circumstances, stared back and forth between the professor and the letters with bewildered expressions.

This was even true for the students from the monasteries who had appeared so quiet.

And for good reason.

‘‘‘It’s too different from his image!’’’

Because despite his exterior appearance, which gave the impression of someone who had just escaped from the lowest level of an endless dungeon, his tone was extremely cheerful.

But regardless of the students’ reactions, the glowing letters emitted by the professor continued to change.

— An Oath is a very powerful holy art where the caster sacrifices something useless to obtain what they need! Though its depths are so profound that no one knows the end, this semester I plan to study very basic Oaths together with you! —

“……Roan, the professor says he sacrificed something useless?”

Demona asked suggestively.

She was curious if one could end up like that by only sacrificing useless things.

But Roan asked back nonchalantly.

“So, is there something wrong with that?”

“N-No……”

The method of conducting class during class hours was at the professor’s discretion.

Whatever the appearance, classes in Akerandir that resembled Earth’s classes this much—meaning, normal classes—could be counted on one hand.

— It seems that the first few weeks will proceed as theoretical lessons! It might be a little boring, but if you follow along diligently, you will have good results during the practice after the midterm exams ^^ —

Indeed, as long as one didn’t turn around and look at the professor’s appearance, the glowing writing had quite a cute side to it.

As the saying went, one should not judge a person solely by their appearance.

Just like the other students who treated Roan as if he were a murderer who had killed a few people before entering the school based on his appearance.

‘I shouldn’t be the same as those guys.’

Thinking so, Roan took a seat and sat down.

Plop─

“Why are you sitting down all of a sudden?”

No matter what his friends said, Roan took a notebook and writing utensils out of his pouch.

“You guys should also sit down quickly and take notes.”

“Why?”

“Because the pace is quite fast.”

“““???”””

Although they were a bit puzzled at first, his friends soon understood what Roan’s words meant.

— The basis of Oaths is, regardless of what anyone says, devout faith. Then we must first find out what this devout faith is, right? In the book A Study on the Origin and Composition of Faith written by Pope Edruan during his days as a cardinal, the components of faith are divided into a total of 102…… —

“Ah?”

Sion, seeing the letters filling the wall densely, let out a puzzled exclamation.

To start the class so abruptly?

‘Ah, I haven’t even heard the professor’s name yet?’

But such things were no longer important.

For some reason, an ominous number appeared in the corner of the wall.

— 10 —

— 9 —

— 8 —

……

“Is that by any chance……”

When Sion pointed at the numbers and asked, Roan replied while busily moving his hands without even looking at her.

“You’re asking even though you know.”

Finally, when the number became 1, the letters that filled the wall vanished without a trace, and new writing packed the space.

The Oath class before the midterm exams was a theoretical class of murderous volume.

Furthermore, the professor never once showed the passed text again.

……As one could see from the professor’s appearance, even if one visited his office to ask questions, it was difficult to get a proper answer.

Roan offered advice to his friends, who still hadn’t properly grasped the situation.

“For your information, all of those contents will appear on the midterms. Of course, on quizzes too.”

“““!!!”””

Only then did his friends and the other students hurriedly pull out their writing utensils and begin to copy down the content.

‘Can…… can you write all of that down in time???’

There was no time to even shriek such screams.

— The enthusiasm of this year’s freshmen for the class is truly grand! I am also very pleased! —

The professor’s compliment, which was still hard to get used to, appeared, but the only student who saw that message properly was Roan, who had been writing in advance.

— P-Professor! I haven’t finished writing yet!

Even when the quiet students from monasteries cried out desperately, the professor remained silent.

Meanwhile, for some reason, Demona had merely taken a seat and sat down, not taking notes in particular.

“……I’m asking just in case, but why aren’t you writing?”

“Since you’re going to show me anyway, Roan.”

Demona answered confidently.

Roan shook his head and let out a deep sigh.

“I won’t show you.”

Especially for the Oath class.

At that, Demona shrieked in absolute shock.

“Even though I’m paying you 100 gold?!”

Only then did Demona rummage through her bag and pull out a notebook.

Although she looked highly displeased.

***

The Oath class was busy to the point where they lost track of time.

Since new text appeared continuously once the timer ended, it was only natural to lose track of time.

— Oh, time has already flown by. Today’s class is over! Thank you so much for your hard work, everyone! I will reward you with even richer content next week 😀 —

Even more than this?

“Pant…… pant……”

As soon as the lecture ended and the professor thumped out, the students collapsed in their seats, catching their breath.

Now they knew why the floor and walls of the classroom were covered in soft cushions.

“Even though I wrote so much, I think I missed half of it……”

“For me, rather than that……”

Rafia and Riel felt as if their arms were being pulled off, despite having trained their bodies through martial training.

Hector had completely dropped out halfway through the class.

‘I couldn’t write down a few pages’ worth either, should I ask Darc to show me?’

The only one who wrote down at least a similar amount to Roan was Sion.

It was because her body remembered the days of studying ahead intensely in her family and the Vatican.

‘Is this hard?’

Of course, in the eyes of Roan, who had fully survived South Korea’s academic curriculum, it was merely weak complaints.

Sion, who was peeking toward Roan with a trace of regret, suddenly remembered something she had forgotten.

“Ah!”

“What is it, Sion……?”

Rafia, who was stretched out, asked weakly.

Sion replied sheepishly.

“Um…… don’t we still not know the professor’s name?”

“““!!!”””

It was indeed so.

The professor’s name was not written on the application form.

And it wasn’t mentioned separately in the class either.

The eyes of his friends and the students from the monasteries naturally directed toward Roan.

‘Did they leave the answer with me?’

Although such a thought crossed his mind for a moment, Roan answered readily.

“Have you heard of the Miracle Worker?”

“The Miracle Worker…… Don’t tell me, Bogdin Elpharos?”

When Sion spoke the name and Roan nodded.

— Oh my god!

— He’s really Bogdin?!

Instead, the students from the monasteries were even more shocked.

Bogdin, hailing from the continent’s first monastery, Palantis, held a record of performing a total of ten miracles so far.

The continent had also been in an uproar when he was appointed as a professor at Akerandir.

However, there was a good reason why the students had failed to recognize him.

“But I heard the Miracle Worker is an incredibly handsome man……”

Rafia tilted her head and muttered.

Not to mention the rumored Bogdin, his depictions in fairy tale books or illustrations had always been that of a beautiful young man with long, flowing golden hair.

“If you are a proper priest, you shouldn’t judge a person by their looks, Rafia.”

As his friends’ gazes converged at Roan’s words, Rafia quickly blushed and excused herself.

“N-No, it’s not that I dislike him because he’s ugly, it’s just that the rumors say so……!”

‘‘‘So she disliked him because he was ugly.’’’

Looking at Rafia, who was desperately denying it, everyone had the same thought.

Compared to the other friends here, Rafia was, in the end, an extremely ordinary girl.