A Dark Magic Tree?
Even within the sacred grounds of Akerandir, the place where the Sacred Tree stood was meant to be even more solemn.
'Well, it's really none of my business.'After all, it would be Demona who got in trouble.Roan frowned and said, "It's not a Black Magic Tree. It's called a Cursed Tree."
"Oh, so there is one!"
Completely ignoring the holy knight's sharp gaze, Demona seemed utterly thrilled, clearly not in the right state of mind.
He went on rambling, saying things like how a sandwich would taste great here or suggesting they play hide-and-seek after they finish their task.At that moment…
Sliiiide—
Harden, dressed in a farmer's attire, appeared in front of the paladin and the three students.
"P-Principal!"
Startled by Harden's sudden appearance, the paladin practically fell to the ground in a bow.
"Agh! A farmer ghost!"
Demona, once again, fell backward in fright.
"… That's enough."
Harden, now used to it, simply ignored him and turned his kindly gaze to Roan and Sion, who were bowing respectfully.
"Yes, stand up. So, you're the poor souls who will suffer this year. Tsk, tsk. Freshmen are always lured by the promise of Dalants."Sion seemed to want to say something but hesitated, unable to speak in front of the divine spirit.
Meanwhile, Harden furrowed his brow as he looked at Roan.
"But why are you here again, Darc? You're loaded with money."
It was just yesterday that he had heard Roan had sold off a precious holy power source to Ulli and earned 10,000 Dalants that way.Roan smiled politely and answered, "I'm here to show my respect for the Sacred Tree through volunteer work."
A perfect example of an exemplary Akerandir student!
But Harden wasn't fooled."Bwahahahahahaha—!"
Harden laughed loudly as if he had just heard the funniest joke in the world.
The Sacred Tree's branches shook wildly from the force of his laughter.
"Respect? Volunteer work? Hahaha! What a funny guy! You're probably just here to steal fallen branches and leaves!"Roan frowned.
'How did he know?'
That was indeed his true intention. These were the final, crucial materials he needed to obtain the "Administrator of the Forbidden Archives."
However, to the others, it just sounded like a lighthearted joke from the divine spirit."Hahaha! Principal, come on. Why would Student Darc want to take something like that?"
Even the leading paladin laughed heartily along with Harden."Roan, the principal's calling you a thief! Hahaha!"
Demona openly teased him.
"Pfft..."
Even Sion had turned away, struggling to stifle her laughter.'These people…!'
Roan felt his anger rising but knew he had to diffuse the situation calmly.
"Hahaha… Right, of course. What would I even do with such things?""Take whatever you need, but as I always say, don't do anything that attracts attention! Now, leave the rest to the caretaker, and let's go!"
"Yes, Principal!"With that, Harden and the leading paladin disappeared, leaving the three freshmen behind.As Sion looked around, she noticed a small cabin at the edge of the Sacred Tree's clearing and asked, "Is that the caretaker's house?"
"Yes."
Roan nodded.Creak —
Just then, a small girl dressed in farmer's clothes came running out of the cabin.
"Welcome! You're the students here to help with Sacred Tree maintenance this year, right?!"
The girl, with her brown skin and green hair, smiled brightly, a smile that would warm anyone's heart.Sion, clearly smitten by how adorable the girl was, looked at Roan and asked, "Who is she?"
She thought perhaps the girl was the caretaker's granddaughter, but Roan politely greeted the child and explained, "She's the caretaker of the Sacred Tree."
"?!"
'This little girl is the caretaker?'Sion and Demona were both surprised by Roan's respectful behavior, and they found the situation to be a bit strange.While the Holy Empire allowed people to take on any role if they had the ability, shouldn't a girl her age be attending school with other children?
As always, Demona sought to clear up his confusion directly."Hey, how old are you? Don't you go to school?"
But the girl just giggled and replied, "I'm one thousand two hundred and ninety-four years old!"
"…?"
Not 1,294 days?Roan, shaking his head at Demona's misunderstanding, added an explanation.
"Lady Arne is a tree spirit. But Lady Arne, according to the Imperial Calendar, it's now the year 5,318."
"Oh, then I'm one thousand three hundred and one years old! I forgot!"Roan nodded in satisfaction.
'Yes, that sounds about right.'Of course, Sion and Demona were both utterly shocked.
"!!!"
Whether 1,294 or 1,301 years old, it was an unimaginable age to them.
Was this child really that old?
Demona, in particular, was so startled that she exclaimed, "Eek — She's a grandma!"
He had no qualms about being rude.'If the leading paladin had been here, that would've been another 30 Dalants added to his fine,' Roan thought with slight regret.***"But, Lady Arne, what exactly should we do?" Sion cautiously asked.
She still hadn't fully grasped the idea that Lady Arne was a tree spirit over a thousand years old."Oh, there are different tasks for daytime and nighttime!"
"Does that mean…?"
"Yup! You'll be staying up all night here!"It was only then that Sion and Demona realized why the Sacred Tree maintenance task was so unpopular.
It required sacrificing the entire weekend, staying overnight."For now, the task during the day is…"
But oblivious to the feelings of the two, Lady Arne cheerfully hummed and approached the Sacred Tree."Branches," Roan said calmly, trailing after her, and the other two hesitantly followed as well.'From the outside, it looks pretty clean…?'
Lady Arne placed her hand on one of the branches of the Sacred Tree and closed her eyes for a moment.
Soon after…
Rumble, rumble, rumble —
"Ahhh! An earthquake!"A tremor, centered on the Sacred Tree, began to shake the ground around them violently.
Roan, who knew why this was happening, remained calm. The shaking stopped just as abruptly as it had started.Sion and Demona, their eyes wide with shock, looked around in bewilderment.
"W-What was that?"
Roan chuckled softly and gave them a warning.
"Watch your heads."
"…?"Naturally, Sion and Demona had no idea what Roan meant, but it didn't take long for them to understand.
Thud! Thud, thud, thud —!
Branches and leaves from the Sacred Tree began to fall just like a torrential rain!Smack —!
"Ah! What's going on?"
Sion quickly used holy magic to shield her head, but Demona, unable to react in time, was struck repeatedly by the falling branches.
He tried to dodge by running around, but there was no way to escape.
After all, the Sacred Tree's branches stretched across the entire clearing!For a few minutes, branches and leaves continued to rain down on their heads.
Finally, when things quieted down, Lady Arne cheerfully announced, "Pruning complete! You'll spend the rest of the day and evening cleaning all of this up!"
"… What?"Sion and Demona looked back and forth between Lady Arne and the clearing, completely baffled.
"So… we're supposed to clean all of this up?"
"Yup!"The area around the Sacred Tree was as large as a school field, and the branches and leaves that had accumulated over the past year were now piled up at least a meter deep!
"Most importantly, can someone get me out of here…!"Demona, who had been running around aimlessly, was now buried under a pile of branches, with only his head sticking out, desperately calling for help from a distance.
Sion looked at Roan at a loss for words.
'What do we do?'
Even for Roan, it seemed impossible to clear this overwhelming sea of branches.But of course…
Crash —
Roan calmly broke the branches with his dark magic and spoke. "What are you waiting for? Go help Demona first."He looked strangely pleased as he said this.
After all, this was just a physical task with no need for complex strategies — just hard work!
To Roan, Sacred Tree maintenance was more of a relaxing activity than anything else.***By the time the sun began to set, Demona, who had piled up a stack of branches, was finally too exhausted to move.
"Huff... Huff... I can't do this anymore, Roan…"Roan glared at him fiercely and scolded him.
"That's all you've done? Don't you have any sense of shame?"Each of them had piled up the branches they had cleared separately.
Using his magic pouch, Roan had cleared an overwhelming amount, while Sion had managed about half of that.
But Demona had only managed to clear about a quarter of what Sion had done.
Even with all three of their efforts combined, they had only cleared a little more than half of the entire area."I really can't do this anymore! Just beat me with the branches!"
"… If you insist."
"Ahhh! You branch murderer!"When Roan picked up a branch as thick as his arm and began walking toward him, Demona screamed and jumped up, running away.
"Always with the drama."
Roan clicked his tongue and went back to gathering the branches.However, even Roan was so absorbed in his work that he didn't notice the intense gaze from Sion.
'He definitely volunteered for this knowing exactly what it would be like...'Though Sion was proficient in using holy power, she was just as exhausted as Demona. It was only natural that everything around her seemed frustrating in this sort of situation.
Especially since Roan had even shown a bit of confidence when speaking with the leading paladin earlier.Sion resolved to rethink her opinion of Roan....Though she had no other place to go if not for him.Meanwhile, Roan, who was unintentionally receiving Sion's resentment, was thinking, 'I've gathered everything I need!'
He felt satisfied, thinking about the Sacred Tree's leaves, branches, and sap that he had stored generously in his magic pouch.
Though his body was a bit tired, the reward of gaining a new power made it all worth it.As the sun fully set, the surrounding area of the Sacred Tree was lit as brightly as day, thanks to the golden glow emitted by its leaves.
'It's about to begin.'
After spending the day clearing branches, it was now time for the nighttime task.
Just then, Lady Arne came running out of the cabin again, yelling, "It's night! Nighttime!"
Her excited manner was loud, but she failed to provide any important details.Demona turned to Roan and asked, "We're not really going to work at night too, are we?"
Her face was full of disbelief.
"Of course. We were paid 500 Dalants – we have to earn it."
Her expression quickly shifted to one of resignation.
"And in fact, the real work starts now."
Demona's jaw dropped as she exclaimed, "The school has no conscience!"
Giving freshmen only 500 Dalants while making them work so hard – that was brutal!Roan gave her a pitying look.
"You volunteered for this."
"Oh, right."
Surprisingly, Demona accepted it rather quickly.Sion then asked Arne, "What kind of work do we need to do at night?"
"At night, bugs come! They come to drink the Sacred Tree's sap! We have to chase them away!"Sion let out a small sigh of relief.
Chasing away some bugs didn't seem too difficult of a task.
"How dare they try to steal the Sacred Tree's sap! Even if they're just bugs, I won't allow it! Don't you agree?"
Lady Arne stomped her foot on the ground in frustration, clearly upset.
As the caretaker, she couldn't tolerate anything trying to take the Sacred Tree's sap, especially when there were so many other trees and plants around."Of course. We must stop them," Roan responded calmly, agreeing without hesitation.
"…"
Sion glanced at Roan with a slightly conflicted expression on her face.
'Didn't Darc also take some of the sap earlier…?'
Not just the sap, but also branches and leaves.
But there were more pressing matters at hand than dwelling on that."Isn't chasing away some bugs a pretty easy task? The three of us should be able to handle it."
Sion pointed out, but Roan shook his head and explained, "They're not just bugs. They're spirit beasts."
"What?!"
Sion was shocked to learn about that.
There was a big difference between regular bugs and spirit beasts.
And now they were expected to chase away spirit beast insects?Unfortunately, no one had forced the freshmen to take on the Sacred Tree maintenance.
If anything, there had been concerns about them handling it.
Roan, Demona, and Sion had all volunteered for this.
The real problem was that no one had explained the nature of the work beforehand."Wh-What about you, Grandma? What will you be doing?"
Demona, now thoroughly scared, asked.
After all, Lady Arne was the caretaker here. It wasn't fair to leave such a dangerous task solely to the students.
Lady Arne smiled brightly and replied, "I and the spirits will stop the ones that fly! You just need to deal with the ones that come from the ground!"Of course, Lady Arne wasn't just sitting idle.
"Or would you like to switch? That's fine with me too!"
"I-I'm sorry, Grandma…"
Demona quickly backed down with fear written all over his face.