Chapter 97

Especially for Rafia, since it was related to her own career path, her eyes sparkled even more.

Finally, Geode smiled and revealed the secret of the armor.

“This armor has a function that automatically processes physiological phenomena through the Headmaster’s holy art. Moreover, not to mention fatigue recovery……”

“““!!!!!!!!”””

Indeed, the armor of the academy’s paladins was imbued with truly grand holy arts, as they had to stand guard for a long time.

But to the three students, such a thing was not very important.

So, in other words, it meant that if you just dump everything, it would be processed inside there.

Since it was a holy art, it would be clean, but……

The faces of the three students, who had unconsciously imagined the process, turned pale.

‘I-I didn’t want to know this much……’

They shouldn’t have asked.

Even for Roan, who loved settings, this was not it.

Roan deeply regretted it.

A bearded uncle like Geode solving it that way every time he wanted to go to the bathroom, and secretly making a refreshed expression……

Let’s stop the imagination here.

However, Rafia and Hector, who had failed to control the level of their imagination, seemed to be barely holding back their nausea.

Geode tilted his head instead, as if he did not understand the students’ reactions.

“What is wrong with you guys? This is so convenient.”

“Stop…… I want to stop listening.”

Rafia waved her hand, trying hard to suppress her nausea.

“Tsk…… it is truly good, but it is a pity no one appreciates it.”

Geode seemed genuinely disappointed in the students who did not acknowledge the convenience of the armor.

Having lived in that armor for a long time, he seemed to have completely lost the sense of how his appearance would be reflected to ordinary students.

Roan seemed to roughly understand why this setting had not been revealed in *God & Devil*.

‘Otherwise, even the few users left would have all dropped out.’

Even Roan would have seriously contemplated.

“That aside, you must have come because of the black mage repelling case last time, right?”

“……Yes.”

Roan nodded, trying hard not to make eye contact with Geode.

Geode opened the door to the Headmaster’s office, smacking his lips repeatedly.

As the three passed through the door, Rafia whispered to Roan.

“What should I do? I don’t think I can look at the paladins’ faces properly now……”

Rafia’s world seemed to have collapsed, if not entirely, at least a little.

In any case, the inside of the Headmaster’s office was not changed at all compared to before, to the point where it was rather comfortable.

‘I shouldn’t be thinking of the Headmaster’s office as comfortable, though.’

Then, Harden, who was scribbling a signature on a paper, greeted the three students upon seeing them.

“Yes, come in. You arrived earlier than expected…… but why are your expressions like that?”

People entering with expressions of holding back nausea for a glorious meeting with the Holy Spirit was a first for Harden as well.

Harden narrowed his eyes and looked at Roan.

“I called the three of you together to get a bit closer, but did you threaten them to come now?”

“No.”

Roan shook his head immediately.

What did this Holy Spirit take a black mage for!

Harden cleared his doubts about Roan only after Rafia and Hector stepped forward to defend him.

“No, Headmaster. It’s not because of Roan……”

“No, actually it is because of Roan……”

“That is to say……”

But it was a bit confusing whether that was truly a defense.

“Rafia.”

“Ah, sorry. It is not because of Roan, Headmaster.”

When Roan called Rafia implicitly, she flinched and corrected her words.

Even so, was it not Roan who asked Geode about the secret of the armor?

Though it was information Roan also did not particularly want to know.

In any case, on the surface, it did look extremely suspicious.

“Tell me or the professors at any time if there is school violence. I will put him on the Inquisition immediately.”

Harden spoke with a gaze even more suspicious than before.

““Hmm……””

However, hearing those words, Rafia and Hector fell into a slight dilemma.

‘It is not this time, but isn’t it school violence in general?’

Because Roan casting chastisement holy arts on his friends and slapping the back of their heads was so natural that they hadn’t thought about it, but:

Hearing Harden’s words, it suddenly came to mind.

Of course, Roan also had plenty to say.

‘What you guys do to me is school violence!’

Well, leaving Rafia aside, there was more than one or two times when he wondered if Hector or Demona was trying to assassinate him with high blood pressure.

When Roan, suddenly in danger of being framed as a perpetrator of school violence, glared at Rafia and Hector:

“Th-There has never been such a thing!”

“Roan treats us so well, and he even teaches us things we don’t know.”

The two were startled and waved their hands, speaking passionately about Roan’s innocence.

Only then did Roan’s eyes soften slightly.

……Naturally, it was an even more suspicious situation to Harden.

Harden looked at Roan with absurd eyes.

‘Isn’t this punk really beating up the kids?’

How much did they usually get beaten up to step up so urgently at a single glance?

Harden thought he should strengthen his surveillance on Roan a bit more.

“……Fine. You all have thought of what you want to receive, right?”

As Harden asked, the students’ expressions finally brightened.

Whatever happened before, the reward of the Holy Spirit was just that glorious.

“Yes! We have definitely thought of it!”

Especially Hector, who answered the loudest among the three.

Harden spoke as if he had expected it.

“You will ask for a divine beast’s egg.”

“H-How!!!!”

Hector was so astonished that he almost fell backward.

Leaving Roan and the other friends aside, even Harden knew he wanted the egg of a divine beast, making all of this seem like a conspiracy.

……A conspiracy to slander the future Holy War League champion.

When Hector looked at Roan with suspicious eyes, Roan glared at him fiercely and asked:

“Do you think I secretly informed the Headmaster?”

“……To keep the future champion in check?”

Roan clicked his tongue, dumbfounded.

It was not worth replying to.

It was Harden who cleared Hector’s misunderstanding.

“The Pabilto fellows, without exception, ask for a divine beast’s egg whenever they have a chance to receive something from me.”

“Ah, i-is that so?”

When Hector nodded his head, Harden asked with a warm smile.

“By the way, Hector, do you really want a divine beast’s egg?”

“Yes.”

“Do you genuinely want to receive it?”

“I do.”

“Setting aside all other treasures, you mean a divine beast’s egg? Once received, you cannot take it back, you know?”

“I must receive it!”

Three questions and three answers filled with determination.

Roan clicked his tongue inwardly.

‘Not even knowing the meaning of Harden asking three questions……’

Even if he had to trust Professor Kaina instead, he must not trust Harden when he asked three times with such a benevolent smile.

The so-called ‘Three Questions of the Holy Spirit’.

This was a ritual where the Holy Spirit asked three questions when a believer tried to walk on the wrong path, in order to awaken them to their foolishness.

And if they did not withdraw their intent even after the three exchanges, the believer could not reverse their choice no matter how much they regretted it.

The wheel of fate was already fixed.

Since it was a very crucial moment of choice, it usually had to be performed in a very solemn and scolding manner, but:

Harden, wickedly, used to ask with a smile like that.

As if pushing them from behind to go to the wrong path quickly!

“Fine. A divine beast’s egg, then.”

Harden spread his left palm upward and closed his eyes gently.

“What would be good…… yes, hmm. This much should do.”

After a moment of what seemed like contemplation, a brilliant radiance burst forth from his palm.

“Ugh……!”

When the students, unable to look directly at the light, closed and opened their eyes:

“Ohh!”

On his hand, a golden egg was placed before they knew it.

Hector let out an exclamation that seemed to well up from his lower abdomen.

He was even poised to shed tears, which did not suit him.

But.

Click— click— click—

Over the small shell, three chains were bound as if restraining the egg.

It was a shape that looked suspicious to anyone.

Rafia secretly tapped Roan and asked.

“Roan, isn’t that strange?”

Roan nodded.

“Naturally, it is strange.”

On a normal divine beast’s egg, such chains were completely unnecessary.

It was a characteristic unique only to the egg of a divine beast received from Harden.

Meanwhile, Harden, who had finished creating the egg, spoke to Hector.

“Here, the egg of the divine beast you wanted. Take it.”

“Uh…… is this really a divine beast’s egg? Why are there chains……?”

Hector asked Harden with a slightly dumbfounded face.

No matter how crazy he was about divine beasts, something was indeed suspicious.

Harden answered, still in a benevolent voice.

“Because it did not occur naturally, but I created it. Well, you don’t mean to say you don’t want to receive it now, right? If you don’t want to receive it……”

Although Harden was always unpredictable, that state was even more dangerous.

For Roan, who knew the identity of that divine beast’s egg, it was to the point of giving him goosebumps.

There were no incorrect words, but he had cleverly hidden all the disadvantageous details.

“N-No, it is not. I will receive it.”

Hector, perhaps relieved by Harden’s warm attitude, soon accepted the divine beast’s egg.

Actually, even if Hector had said he wouldn’t receive it, that divine beast’s egg was already as good as bound to him.

Since it had gone through the Three Questions of the Holy Spirit.

Harden encouraged Hector as he gave him the egg.

“I will trust that you are not raising a divine beast solely for the Holy War. Cherish it like a friend and get along well.”

At that, Hector was visibly flustered.

“Th-That…… is there by any chance a species of divine beast banned from the Holy War?”

Harden glared at Hector for a moment, to the point of forgetting his benevolent acting.

Hector flinched and shook his head.

“O-Of course, I will get along well like a friend.”

“Tsk, yes. The Pabilto fellows are always like this.”

Harden revealed his extremely annoyed true colors and waved his hand as if telling him to step back.

In any case, Hector stepped back behind Roan and Rafia, stroking the egg, and once again became granite melted in lava.

Since he had finally obtained the egg of a divine beast, it was no different from having his wish fulfilled.

Harden, who saw that expression for the first time, frowned deeply.

“Why is that guy like that?”

“……He is like that because he is happy.”

“Tsk. Tell him to quickly look for an arranged marriage partner in his family.”

Harden, surprisingly, said the exact same thing as Demona.

However, Roan did not bother to utter it aloud.

‘If I tell him that, I might get kicked out, right?’

It only would be his loss if he ended up not receiving his reward for nothing.

Next was Rafia’s turn.

“Yes, what do you want to have?”

“Uh…… that is……”

Rafia hesitated, unable to speak her mind freely.

Actually, it was normal to find it extremely difficult to dare demand something from the Holy Spirit.

If she blurted out, “A divine beast’s egg!” like Hector did, it could appear rude.

“Do not be shy, speak up. As long as it is not a black magic book or a heretical item, I will give it to you.”

“Pardon? Ahaha. I see.”

Rafia laughed at Harden’s joke, as if her tension had dissipated.

‘That Holy Spirit……’

Of course, to Roan, it was not a joke at all.