Chapter 77

Chapter 77: You Are Free to Misunderstand (5)

Inside Saengterminum’s Artificial Rift, the Forest Field.

I barely made it to the appointed time to meet Karin and Lloyd, and after putting on my Combat Uniform, I entered the rift with the two of them.

“Kahahaha! It is funny even thinking about it again.”

Behind me, Lloyd, wearing his Combat Uniform, burst into hearty laughter.

“To think you would try to fight Inquisitors in a Training Hall where everyone could see. If nothing else, you have guts.”

“How was I supposed to know the rumors would spread this quickly?”

I sighed with an exhausted look on my face.

I had no choice but to feel that way, because from the moment I had changed into my Combat Uniform at the Dormitory and stepped outside, the gazes of the students I passed had been pricking at me.

‘Does it make any sense for it to spread everywhere not even ten minutes after I caused that mess…….’

I could hear the sound of my image, which had improved even slightly, plummeting back into the abyss.

“In an academy like this, watching students fight each other must be an entertaining spectacle, no? I only regret that I did not see it myself.”

“Why is everyone so interested in other people fighting?”

This was why students were like this.

I had felt like things might end up this way, so I had tried to keep my temper down if I happened to see those guys, but…….

‘Was it Lucia? We heard she healed the trash who had been a Demon Cult Leader with Holy Power.’

‘Yulia really is too soft-hearted. To use sacred Holy Power on someone like that. She should’ve killed her the moment she saw her.’

No. 

They deserved to be cursed out for that.

“Ah, now that I’m thinking about what those bastards said, I’m pissed off again.”

“I dislike Inquisitors myself because I am a Black Mage, but this is my first time seeing an oddball like you.”

You try going through a national war, the end of the world, and Return to the Past. 

See if you can avoid turning out like this.

“Mid-Rank Monsters are going to show up soon, so could you be a little careful?”

At the very back, Karin, who was wearing her Combat Uniform, grumbled.

Maybe because she could not use her usual bow and was carrying a temporary one instead, she felt more hysterical than usual.

“I really don’t know what you were thinking when you said there that you were teaming up with Lloyd.”

“So… Karin, you also heard from the others that I fought?”

“Isn’t that obvious? I’m on a team with you guys, aren’t I?”

She was wearing a fresh smile, but the faintly reproachful tone was probably not just my imagination.

Karin shot me a resentful glare.

“Do you know how uncomfortable it was for me with the ‘Magic Department’ kids because you went and said you were teaming up with Lloyd?”

Karin stood crookedly in displeasure, but her expression soon eased.

“Haa……. Fine, fine. They were going to find out anyway, so it’s only a matter of sooner or later…….”

“Wait.”

Karin was about to grumble, but I quickly cut her off.

Rrrrrrr……!

A vibration rang out beneath our feet at high speed.

Auto-Casting.

Grace of Strength, Grace of Durability, Grace of Agility.

After reinforcing my whole body with Holy Power, I pointed at Karin.

Auto-Casting.

Grace of Agility.

A golden haze shimmered around Karin’s body.

‘Am I used to casting blessings on others now?’

For a Black Mage like me to cast blessings on other people. 

After twenty-seven years eating Black Magic for breakfast, I really have ended up doing all sorts of things.

THUD!

A figure rose from the rift split open ahead and cast its shadow over us.

“Wow, look at those numbers.”

A deer-type Mid-Rank Monster, Leafhorn.

Four of them.

Their size, comparable to an Ozen Serpent, was threatening enough, but their main weapon was even more dangerous.

An instant straight-line charge with sharp horns thrust forward.

The Leafhorns lowered their heads and pointed their horns ahead.

“There are quite a few of them, but…….”

The moment Lloyd confirmed the monsters’ movements, he immediately lifted his foot.

“I have already learned the strategy well enough.”

THUD! THUD! CRUNCH!

The moment the Leafhorns charged and Lloyd stomped his foot, twenty Undead Goblins surged up from ahead and collided with the Leafhorns.

Mid-Rank Black Magic, Undead Detonation.

KABOOM, KABOOM, KABOOM!

Even though there were many of them, they were Low-Rank Undead, so that number would not have been enough to form a defensive wall. 

However, Lloyd covered for that by using a Summoning Type Black Magic spell that detonated the undead.

“Hmph, where do you think you are coming in?”

Before the Leafhorns caught in the explosion could recover their posture, Karin’s Mana Arrows, mixed with Wind Magic, struck the monsters in the eyes and restricted their movement.

RUMBLE! THUD!

Holy Light Forging.

Holy Light Daggers, Ten Consecutive Forgings.

Pip-pip-pip!

I also approached with my body reinforced by Holy Power, then precisely stabbed or slashed the monsters’ vital points with the Holy Light Daggers.

“This is the end, you trash.”

Mid-Rank Undead, Undead Orc.

Mid-Rank Undead, Undead Horn.

The ‘Undead Horn,’ created by turning the deer-type Mid-Rank Monster ‘Leafhorn’ into an undead.

Two Mid-Rank Undead rose from Lloyd’s left and right.

‘I thought he should have learned it by now.’

Even before my Return to the Past, Lloyd had been controlling two Mid-Rank Undead at the same time around this point.

My Holy Light Daggers and Lloyd’s Mid-Rank Undead trampled the Leafhorns that were still barely alive.

***

Lloyd looked over the corpses of the Leafhorns, whose breathing had completely stopped, and trailed off.

“Well now, it seems my worries were needless.”

“…Exactly.”

Karin also could not hide her surprise.

Since Holy Magic and Black Magic, mutually opposed elements, were being deployed at the same time, they had no choice but to worry.

If the Holy Magic Damon cast had so much as grazed the undead Lloyd summoned, the undead would have taken damage, and that would have turned the course of the battle against them.

However.

“…Has Holy Power touched the undead even once?”

“Surprisingly, not even once so far. I can hardly believe it.”

“Do you believe me now?”

Damon stabbed the Holy Light Spear into the corpse, twisted it, and skillfully extracted the Mana Stone.

“Not believing what people say is a sickness, you know?”

“Hmm… I admit it. Damon, I underestimated you far too much. To think you could move while matching my undead this well. I would believe it even if you said you had learned Summoning Type Black Magic.”

“…Hahaha, as if that could be true.”

“……?”

Damon’s face seemed to stiffen briefly, but Lloyd did not pay it much attention.

“What a shame. If only my bow had been fine…….”

Seeing Karin grumble as she plucked the bowstring, Lloyd let out a low groan.

“When I saw your Rain of Arrows briefly during the last Joint Class, I was rather impressed… but I had no idea your power would drop this much just because your weapon changed. It makes me wonder whether you are truly the same Grade 2 as I am.”

“I told you. My weapon broke, so I couldn’t help it.”

Lloyd tilted his head to the side.

“…But the more I think about it, the more absurd it seems. Should you not have treated such important equipment carefully until the tournament? And your main weapon at that? Do you have a brain?”

“If someone heard you, they’d think I broke it on purpose.”

Karin protested sharply.

As expected of a child of one of the Four Great Houses, Damon thought, since Lloyd’s way of thinking was similar to his own.

‘Now that I think about it… it is suspicious.’

***

After matching our teamwork for the tournament like that, we were able to reach the Artificial Rift’s exit only when evening came.

“I felt this when we entered the Artificial Rift as well… but even after coming out, those gazes are still the same.”

Lloyd swallowed a groan and looked around.

Since this was the Artificial Rift Entrance, there were that many visitors from various nations.

Because of that, not only humans but various other races could be seen here and there.

Among them, I occasionally saw Elves, the same race as Karin, but none of them acted as though they knew Karin.

On the contrary, some Elves even frowned the moment they saw Karin.

“Why are those people glaring at you like that? Even if you are a Dark Elf, are you not still an Elf of the same race?”

“Are you really asking because you don’t know?”

Karin answered Lloyd’s question with a question of her own.

“Hmm… You know that Dark Elves like me are exiled from the Great Forest when we turn fifteen, right?”

In the southern part of the continent, there existed a vast forest centered around the World Tree.

Originally, that place was the homeland of the Elves.

“Dark Elves like me are naturally highly talented in Black Magic. That’s why we’re exiled from the Great Forest.”

“I know that much. I have heard that Elves like you love forests and nature, so you instinctively avoid Black Magic.”

At Karin’s answer, Lloyd furrowed his brows even harder, looking as though he understood even less.

“But is that really enough for them to glare at you like that?”

“Haa, are you really a direct line of the Four Great Houses? Seeing how little you care about this sort of thing.”

Karin smiled bitterly.

“Among the Elves, Dark Elves like me are sometimes born as mutants. Do you think the others of our race look kindly on that?”

She let out a sigh.

“That’s why Dark Elves like me are exiled from the Great Forest when we turn fifteen, and once we turn seventeen, every single one of us is enrolled in Saengterminum. They say it’s to stop us from straying down some other path and becoming Black Sorcerers.”

In truth, there were those who fully exploited a Dark Elf’s talent and became infamous as Black Sorcerers, so it was not as though the Elves’ attitude was impossible to understand.

Besides…

“You get the general idea now, right?”

“……?”

Since Karin did not try to explain further, I asked the obvious question.

“Hey, why are you stopping in the middle?”

“Huh?”

“That’s not all, is it?”

Karin looked reluctant.

“…What? You know?”

“Roughly.”

I touched my temple.

“You Dark Elves are talented in Black Magic, but that also makes you vulnerable to the side effects that come with using Black Magic. Especially this part—your minds are supposed to be very vulnerable, right?”

“I have not looked into Dark Elves in detail, but as a child of the Four Great Houses, I cannot let that remark pass.”

Lloyd glanced at me.

“Side effects from using Black Magic do exist, but if one properly understands the formula, those side effects can be lessened or eliminated. If they are vulnerable, then how vulnerable are they?”

“Does it give you an idea if I say it’s easy for a demon to take over their body?”

“What?”

Agitation flashed across Lloyd’s face.

After all, contracts with High-Rank Demons were treated as a serious matter even in the Dark Empire.

“Do you mean they are more susceptible to demon possession?”

“That’s right. Since they can use powerful authorities as contractors, the price is also steep. Well, as long as they don’t form a contract, it isn’t a huge problem.”

A contract with a demon was established only when the contractor truly desired it.

“Black Magic is one thing, but they’re exiled because they’re born with bodies that are easy for demons to possess.”

No wonder the other Elves had no choice but to be wary.

“At least this is Saengterminum, so they don’t show it openly. I heard Elves hate Dark Elves even more outside because of this.”

“Tch, I didn’t want to talk about anything demon-related……. You’re still as inconsiderate as ever, aren’t you?”

“Damn it. Is stating facts a crime now?”

Karin grumbled at my additional explanation, but what did she expect me to do? 

That was simply the truth.

“But why do you know so much? Well, I guess anyone could find this stuff out with just a little investigation…….”

Karin, who had been glancing at me, suddenly took on a mischievous expression.

“Hmm What, are you interested in me or something?”

“Interested? Of course I am.”

At my immediate answer, Karin opened and closed her mouth, while Lloyd’s eyes lit up.

Hmm, was that really so unexpected?

“Elves are rare enough because there are so few of them, and Dark Elves are an even rarer species than that, aren’t they? From an academic perspective, they’re more than worth researching. Am I wrong?”

““…….””

The mood around Lloyd and Karin sank.

What were you bastards thinking?