BOOOOM!
The moment Gulba's axe struck the Shield of the Dead, Roan's heart sank in his chest.
'Damn it!'
Even though much of the force behind the axe had been reduced, Roan instinctively knew that the Shield of the Dead wasn't enough to stop it. The fact that it had been translated into a sacred spell had at least provided him with some resistance — otherwise, he wouldn't have stood a chance.
Quickly, Roan poured every last drop of his remaining magic into his arms.
Crash!
The overwhelming impact swept through Roan's entire body, sending him flying backward and tumbling several times across the ground.
"Ugh..."
Pain shot through every part of his body as if his very nerves were screaming in agony. Gulba approached the fallen Roan and extended his hand.
"Darc survived! Now you are a warrior!"
It was an acknowledgment that Roan had passed the warrior test of the Boudor Islands.
However, for Roan — who had no intention of taking such a test — it was nothing short of absurd.
The warrior test was something you were supposed to take in the third-year classes…
In the game, it had been a significant achievement with effects tied to titles, but in reality, Roan wasn't sure what to make of it.
Hector, sweating nervously, asked Gulba, "Wh-What would have happened if Roan hadn't blocked the attack?"
"A weak warrior dies! It is nature!" Gulba declared confidently.
Hector was horrified to hear that.
'He really could have died!'
The other students were just as shaken.
– Is it safe for us to even be in this class?
A class where the professor casually stated that the weak could die? The students couldn't help but question the educational system at Akerandir.
***
After Roan was recognized as a warrior of the Boudor Islands in just his first class, something unexpected happened: Gulba began teaching theory.
"Gulba! Once caught a dinosaur!"
"A dinosaur? How did you catch it?"
"Dinosaur attacked! Gulba attacked back! Gulba caught it!"
"..."
Of course, this so-called theory lesson quickly turned into a recounting of Gulba's old stories.
– This is strangely interesting though.
– Did something like that really happen?
The scale of his stories was so grand that the students were completely drawn in, gathering around him and listening intently.
"Gulba also caught a Kraken!"
– …How did you catch a Kraken?
"Caught it while fishing! Kraken legs are tough! Not tasty!"
Each of Gulba's stories left the students wondering, 'How could creatures like that still roam the continent?'
There was also another source of small amusement during the lesson.
"Deep Root appeared in a dream! Said Gulba is the greatest warrior!"
"Uuu! Gulba mentioned Deep Root again! I'll tell Professor Kaina!"
"S-Sorry! I misspoke!"
Occasionally, when Gulba mentioned something related to the native faith of the Boudor Islands Demona would scold him. Though lately, it seemed like he was even picking on things that had little to do with their beliefs.
Every time Gulba was flustered, Demona would look at Roan with a pleased expression and ask, "I did well, right?"
"..."
'Isn't he just teasing him?'
As they spent the remaining time chatting away, Gulba suddenly exclaimed, "Gulba wants to go back to Boudor!"
"Ah! Gulba mentioned Boudor! I'm telling Professor Kaina!" Demona eagerly tried to tease him again.
But this time, Gulba asked curiously, "Wait... Boudor is okay, right, Darc?"
Roan nodded his head. "The Boudor Islands are fine."
"R-Roan!" Demona looked utterly betrayed, but it was his own doing.
Gulba, now furious, shouted, "Demona lied! Bad student gets punished!"
For reference, Gulba didn't have any formal method for punishing students.
Wham!
It was just a light knock on the head.
But even that…
"Wait, is that the principal I see —"
Thud!
– Wickron is dead!
Any ordinary student would be knocked out instantly.
The other students rushed to Demona in a panic, while Gulba, still angry, let out a loud huff.
"Gulba is mad! Class is over! See you next week!"
[...! ...!!] The "Primal Communication" tried to shout something at Gulba, but…
"Hmph! Demona was bad!"
[....]
Hearing this, the Primal Communication just accepted it.
***
"Ugh…"
In the infirmary at Akerandir's main building, Demona, his head wrapped in bandages, groaned.
It was said that Gulba's knock on his head had fractured his skull.
One student had been hospitalized from falling off a cliff, and another from teasing a professor and getting knocked out. The fact that two students were hospitalized in such a short time at Akerandir — a school known for its toughness — was quite remarkable.
And the most surprising thing of all? They were both Roan's roommates…
Roan couldn't help but feel a slight sense of self-pity.
"You're awake."
When Roan and Hector greeted him Demona rolled his eyes dramatically and said, "The principal laughed at me and said I got what I deserved..."
Roan tilted his head in confusion.
Was that true? Or was Demona just imagining things? Both scenarios seemed equally plausible.
It didn't really matter, though. Roan just gave him a look of pity and added, "Well, you should've known better."
"I couldn't help it. It's like instinct."
"What kind of instinct is that?!"
Both Roan and Hector were baffled by his reasoning.
At that moment…
Clatter, clatter, clatter —
A faint sound of something being dragged down the hallway reached their ears. Roan perked up immediately, recognizing the sound.
Soon after, some voices followed.
— I told you, I wasn't doing it on purpose! I was just suspicious because they were wandering near the school…
— Still, don't go overboard. A law limiting arrests will be passed soon.
— Ugh, these heretics... what's so special about them anyway?
The voices were familiar to Roan. He glanced toward the hallway, his expression uneasy.
Sure enough, two figures appeared shortly after.
It was Professor Atoga and Professor Kaina.
Kaina was, as usual, dragging her hammer along the ground. This time, it was stained with a dark red substance.
… It probably wasn't from crushing grapes.
Roan quickly turned his head, not wanting to make eye contact. He was fine seeing anyone else, but just seeing Professor Kaina during class was more than enough for him.
"Isn't that Professor Kaina?"
But at that moment, Hector sprang up and rushed over to her.
'That guy!'
Was he starting to act like Demona from hanging around him so much?
Professor Kaina smiled as she saw Hector approaching.
"Oh, student Pabilto! What brings you to the infirmary?"
"A friend is getting treated here," Hector replied smoothly.
Roan listened to their conversation, feeling quite shocked.
'Did he just call Demona his friend?!'
His suspicions about Hector had been growing lately. Nonetheless, after hearing Hector's explanation, both Professors Kaina and Atoga approached with slightly concerned looks on their faces.
"… Hello."
"You're here too, student Darc."
Even though Roan greeted them somewhat grumpily, the two professors warmly returned the greeting.
'Up close… I can see red marks on her cheek…' Roan shuddered as he glanced over at Kaina's face.
"Oh dear… what happened to student Wickron?" the professors asked, worry written all over their faces.
Demona looked as if he might burst into tears, overwhelmed by the first genuine concern he'd ever received.
'He's not going to tattle, is he?'
'No way, right? Even Demona wouldn't snitch on himself for causing all of this, would he —'
"Professor Gulba did this," Demona whined.
Roan buried his face in his hand, feeling a headache coming on. Of course. The guy, who was always threatening to tell Professor Kaina, wasn't going to keep quiet.
Professor Kaina's eyes opened wide with shock.
"Professor Gulba did this? To student Wickron?"
She paused for a moment, giving Demona the once-over before speaking again.
"Hm… there must have been a reason."
Her tone reflected a complicated emotion that was hard to express.
"!!!"
Demona looked utterly devastated by Kaina's reaction.
"Well, rest up and take care of yourselves! It's the weekend, so make sure to recover!" With a cheerful wave, Professor Kaina left, totally unaffected by what she had just seen.
"Roan… I won't tease Professor Gulba anymore," Demona mumbled, his spirits crushed.
"… You're not supposed to tease professors in the first place."
Roan looked at him with a mix of pity and exasperation on his face.
"Hiiing…"
***
After Demona's skull had more or less healed, the three of them left the infirmary.
Hector suddenly looked determined and declared, "I'm going to see Professor Kaina."
"… Why?" Roan asked suspiciously. Was this guy about to sell him out?
"I plan to work under Professor Kaina and earn some Dalants."
"Why?"
It didn't seem like Hector was trying to betray him, but it was still unexpected given Hector's financial background. He already had quite a bit of money from his family.
"Well, it turns out finding eggs is more difficult than I thought. I'll need to earn some Dalants to buy them myself."
"Huh? Aren't fanatic eggs a rare sacred creature class? You're going to get more?" Demona asked innocently.
Snap.
A vein bulged on Hector's forehead. Sensing the brewing conflict, Roan quickly intervened to prevent further bloodshed.
"You need plenty of spirit beasts if you're going to participate in the holy battles."
"… Exactly."
"Ohh, I see," Demona nodded, finally understanding.
"And you, Demona?" Roan asked.
"Me? I'm… going to the bathroom."
Demona responded with a slightly deflated expression, "I need to pay off my fine."
His accumulated fines amounted to a staggering 200 Dalants — 150 Dalants from the prayer class and 50 from the dormitory infirmary. Even Roan had never seen a freshman with such a record-breaking amount of fines. Typically, Akerandir showed leniency toward freshmen, considering them new to the system.
"Uh, yeah. Good luck with that," Roan replied.
Since cleaning the bathrooms for a day would reduce the fine by around 2 Dalants, Demona would have to spend quite a bit of time gripping a mop and cleaning tools in the near future.
"And where are you headed?" Demona asked.
"I'm going to the library," Roan replied casually.
"Eek!" Demona reacted as if he'd heard something terrifying and tried to flee.
"… I wasn't going to ask you to come with me, Demona."
"Oh, really? You should've said so sooner~" Demona relaxed, staying in her place.
Good grief… Roan had plenty of things he could say to her, but he was too drained to waste any of his precious energy on that.
"Anyway, take it easy. The library isn't really a place where students, especially freshmen, go often," Hector said with some concern in his voice.
"...?" Roan tilted his head, confused.
'Then where are students supposed to go often?'
'Isn't the library better than cleaning bathrooms or visiting a professor's office?'
Roan hadn't realized this during gameplay, but actually being in Akerandir revealed how unorthodox the place was. In any case, Roan parted ways with the two and started walking toward the library. Of course, he had no intention of actually going there.
'I've already gathered what I needed from the library.'
Once Hector and Demona were out of sight, Roan subtly changed direction, heading not north Elont Grand Library, but west — toward a secluded area on the school's outskirts, where human presence was rare.
Soon, a rugged-looking mountain appeared before him. Although this area was part of Akerandir's grounds, it was largely untouched and rarely visited by the school's administration.
Seer's Eye.
As he scanned the area to ensure no one was around, Roan repeated the name of the relic he needed to retrieve. The Seer's Eye was an artifact related to foresight, as its name implied.
However, it had a unique twist.
It allowed you to see bad futures.
It wasn't the typical effect one would expect from an item of prophecy. In the game, the Seer's Eye showed the player the closest bad ending from the current timeline. Of course, in God and Devil, a bad ending didn't mean the absolute end — it referred to a branch in the story leading to undesirable outcomes.
Even though the item could only be used once per week, it was incredibly valuable for anyone playing the Akerandir route. However, it was restricted to Akerandir students and couldn't be obtained in any other playthrough.
It was basically a cheat item meant for Sion's route.
When Roan had played Sion's character, he'd been forced to use it, but typically, he avoided relying on it since it made the game too easy.
"... I better hurry."
Roan gauged the direction and distance to the location of the relic and began climbing the mountain. He needed to reach it before sunset, so he quickened his pace.
Not long after Roan disappeared into the mountain…
Rustle —
A shadowy figure also began ascending the mountain, following Roan's path.