Chapter 88

Did he perhaps research it in the library just because he was tormented by divine messages a few times?

Harden was surprised anew by Roan’s persistence.

In any case, Harden could not watch six people dying in his holy land.

“Ahem, that may be so. But showing tolerance and love even to black mages is the teaching of Lord Hiloa. Since these guys are nothing but petty criminals, this much of a lesson is already enough.”

Stare─

Even though Harden made a plausible excuse, Roan merely stared at him with narrowed eyes.

‘No doubt he was just bored and tried to dump it on me.’

At that, Harden also could not tolerate it any longer.

‘I’ve let this kid off too many times, and now…….’

Flash─!

“Argh!”

“No matter how much I made a mistake…… I told you not to look at me with those eyes.”

Roan lowered his head, and the punks rolled around holding their eyes with their hands.

Though they were in pain at first from the intense light, before long, the punks tilted their heads while remaining collapsed.

“Huh? Boss. My body……”

“……Why is it so light?”

It was a natural reaction for someone subjected to Harden’s light for the first time.

Only then did the punks, having grasped the situation to some extent, stealthily rise and kneel before Harden.

Deadlock asked on behalf of the group.

“B-By any chance, are you the H-Holy Spirit…… no, Your Majesty?”

“Yes, I am Harden.”

When Harden nodded, Deadlock and the other punks spoke with deeply moved eyes.

“Oh! Holy Spirit! Thank you for showing us mercy!”

“I, Gelback! I will become a faithful servant of Hiloa from now on!”

— Long live the Pope!

— Isn’t it Your Majesty?

— What does that matter, we’re alive!

It was natural for them to spout whatever words they had overheard.

To them, Harden was literally the savior of their lives.

Harden watched them pitifully for a moment, then turned to Roan with a triumphant expression.

“How is it? Wasn’t the headmaster’s word exactly right? Hahaha! This is precisely tolerance and love!”

Roan was not at all pleased, but for now, he had no choice but to acknowledge it.

‘Those punks have no integrity.’

Can they even call themselves black mages, getting so distracted just because he saved them a little?

Especially since their leader, Pierbo, was currently suffering to death in Akerandir.

Roan, who had been glaring at the punks for a moment, approached Gelback.

Flinch─

“W-Why are you doing that?”

Gelback, who had been offering a prayer of gratitude to Harden, was completely flustered.

Roan spoke in an extremely dangerous voice.

“The apple.”

“Y-Yes? I am sor……”

Fwoosh─

“The apple.”

Although he didn’t seem to understand at first, Gelback became clever instantly when Roan spoke while floating a few blood shards.

“Ah! Here, here it is!”

Gelback pulled the Lightning Apple from his chest and handed it over with both hands, and Roan accepted it as if it were originally his and placed it inside his pouch.

Roan had been tracking the position of the Lightning Apple until the very end from the moment he flared his black mana.

Although he received the apple, Roan had a brutal gaze as if he would beat them to death at any moment.

“Be sure to thank the Headmaster for his grace.”

“Of course! We will pray every single morning!”

It was a miraculous sight where six wild punks suddenly became devout believers.

Harden watched the scene in bewilderment.

‘Don’t tell me that kid did all that over a single Lightning Apple……?’

Of course, the Lightning Apple was a precious spiritual elixir, but was it okay for a person’s character to shift like that over just that?

Harden slightly widened the distance from Roan.

‘It seems this kid is also of a similar type to Professor Kaina.’

Without even realizing it, Roan had been grouped together with Kaina by Harden.

At any rate, once the situation seemed somewhat settled, Harden barked at the punks.

“If you are done with your business, get the hell off my land, you punks! If you show your faces here again, I will tell that kid to chase you down!”

Although the punks trembled in fear, they did not leave their spots easily.

“Um…… but……”

“What is it?”

“That rotten bastard Pierbo, ah, sorry. That bastard who deserves to go to hell has supposedly carved an imprint on us. So if we didn’t come rescue him, we’d die……”

Deadlock stammered as he explained the situation.

Harden clicked his tongue and spoke.

There was indeed a prank inside their bodies that couldn’t even count as an imprint, but it had long since cleanly vanished the moment they saw Harden.

“There’s no such thing.”

“Yes?”

“I said there is no such thing! Will you believe in the Holy Spirit, or will you believe in that trashy, petty, worthless black mage?”

“Aigo, of course it’s the holy Holy Spirit!”

“Since you know, get the hell out before I call Professor Kaina!”

“Hieek! Kaina is coming!”

Deadlock waved his hands and immediately turned back to run away.

At that, the other punks also ran for their lives.

Topsy-turvy, even rolling down the cliffs of the basin a few times, the punks fled diligently.

‘I must make sure not to run away like that.’

Watching the ugly escape of the punks, Roan shook his head.

Harden watched that sight with a proud face, then suddenly looked around.

“But where did your two friends go?”

“……Indeed, where are they?”

Only then did Roan remember Rafia and Hector, whom he had forgotten.

Didn’t he tell them to charge while shouting once he frightened the enemies with a holy art?

Yet there was still no news of them.

‘……Somehow, I think I know why they didn’t come.’

Only then did Roan realize that the plan he had explained to the two and the actual flow of events had diverged significantly.

“Kedan! Pavilto! Come out quickly!”

When Harden spoke while looking at the cliffs on both sides, Rafia and Hector hurriedly scrambled down the cliffs.

““H-Headmaster!””

For some reason, the moment they came down, they stuck close to Harden, taking positions far away from Roan.

Roan asked with a dumbfounded expression.

“……Why are you doing that?”

“W-Well……”

When Rafia stammered and couldn’t answer properly, Harden looked at them with pitiful eyes and answered instead.

“Why indeed. Look at the state of what you’ve done, you shameless fellow.”

“?”

Roan glanced around the interior of the basin.

Although dozens of Abyss Blood Spears had completely turned the basin upside down, and the blood shards had shattered half of a cliff.

‘Hmm. Ordinary.’

……Or so Roan struggled to think.

Of course, he could understand what Harden was talking about.

“But shouldn’t you be different, Hector? This happened while fighting black mages.”

“I-I am sorry……”

Hector, practically hiding his bear-like build behind Harden, mumbled.

‘This bastard……!’

A guy from a family of heretic inquisitors getting scared along with them just because he frightened some bad black mages a little!

When Roan glared at Hector, Rafia, feeling pricked this time, spoke up.

“I-I am sorry for not doing as instructed!”

Absurdly, Rafia also spoke to Roan in polite language.

Even shutting both eyes tightly and clasping her hands.

Harden stared at Roan with a very slight look of contempt.

“Darc, I didn’t think you were that kind of person, but to your friends……”

“No, it’s not like that!”

Since it was a sight that could cause unnecessary misunderstanding, Roan denied it immediately.

Even if he didn’t care about the other freshmen, he had always treated Rafia and Hector, among his close friends, very well.

He hadn’t expected them to stab him in the back like this just because he showed a scary side once.

‘W-Who on earth is Roan?’

‘Was that heretic’s claim that he was held back a few years true?’

Of course, from the perspective of Rafia and Hector, they could not help but be terrified.

The two trembling behind his back, and Roan glaring at them.

Harden, quietly watching this, thought it was also an educator’s duty to clear up misunderstandings (?) between friends.

“In any case, you all did well. Expelling six black mages during one’s freshman year is no easy task. All of you come to the headmaster’s office and state what you want, and I will grant it.”

Following the sacred tree management, it was once again Harden’s direct reward!

Although such occurrences were rare.

‘Whenever that Darc fellow gets involved, it turns out like this.’

Since the contents were what they were, it was hard for Harden to just let it pass either.

Rafia and Hector’s eyes grew as wide as lightbulbs, then they blushed.

“C-Can we also receive it……”

They felt extremely ashamed to receive the reward together when they had merely watched in fear—not of the black mages, but of their friend.

Harden nodded benevolently.

“Of course. Your presence must have surely been a source of support for Roan.”

““???””

It was a reason that sounded absurd even to Rafia and Hector.

Who was a source of what to whom?

“It…… it doesn’t seem to be quite like that……”

On the other hand, Roan jumped at the opportunity, thinking that this time he would truly receive Harden’s reward.

“Thank you, Headmaster. I merely did my duty as a student of Akerandir and a noble of the Empire.”

“Should I only give it to the two of them then?”

“When would it be most convenient for us to visit you?”

“……Tsk. You sly fox. Come anytime.”

Harden replied casually as if it were bothersome, then suddenly added one more condition.

“However, you three must visit at the same time. Since it is bothersome.”

“Pardon?”

“A-Anything but that!”

Naturally, Rafia and Hector jumped up.

However, Harden did not cancel the condition he had set.

Instead, he winked at Roan and sent a divine message.

[Do not be mean to your friends and get along well with them in the future.]

‘I said I’ve never been mean in the first place!’

For Roan, it was frustrating enough to make him jump.

Well, although he had occasionally smacked the back of their heads or launched paralysis spells at them, wasn’t that level of play fine between friends?

“Then the Headmaster will be off. Return quickly before the sun sets.”

With that, Harden vanished.

“““……”””

An awkward silence flowed among the three left standing alone on the ruined basin.

Rafia, who was watching Roan’s reaction, stammered as she spoke up.

“Um…… shall we head down now……?”

“Don’t speak in polite language.”

“Y-Yes……”

“You really……!”

The moment Roan’s expression stiffened, Rafia and Hector began to run away with excellent skill, just like the punks earlier.

“Ack! It’s a ghost!”

“Run, run quickly, Kedan!”

Roan was utterly dumbfounded.

Even after that, Hector and Rafia spoke in polite language throughout the descent, watching Roan’s reaction.

“Um…… Roan, what about the spiritual beast egg……”

“Is the Headmaster’s reward not enough?”

“No. It is plenty.”

Hector shook his head vigorously.

After all, life was more precious than a spiritual beast.

Although they had scrambled down the Ephyrim Basin, it would have been a waste of time even if they had searched the surroundings.

‘……I should have done it a bit more gently.’

Because Roan had completely plowed through the basin so grandly, not only had all the spiritual beasts fled.

But the spiritual elixirs he had intended to obtain on the side would also have been rendered useless.

Roan looked at Rafia for no reason and said.

“Rafia, do you also think your training is lacking?”

“Ah, no! Thanks to you, I trained very well!”

Rafia answered loudly in a voice filled with tight tension.

‘‘Roan is scarier than a black mage!’’

Roan’s demonic appearance shown in the Ephyrim Basin had remained engraved in their minds for a long time.