I Became a Genius Black Mage at the Holy Academy

At the northernmost end of the Akerandir buildings stood the “Elont Grand Library.”

However, contrary to the grandiose name of “Grand Library,” the exterior was a modest, three-story building. In fact, in terms of size, it appeared even smaller than the Saint Panroa Dormitory. A first-year student might even look at it suspiciously and wonder, ‘Is this really a library?’

Roan, without the slightest bit of hesitation, headed toward the entrance.

‘The interior of the library is as large as the entire Akerandir grounds on each floor.’

He knew the reason why the library was called “Grand” was due to the massive spatial distortion within. Unlike the small miracles that caused distortions in the Sacred Spirit Forest, the distortion here was the result of Harden’s genuine holy magic.

Regardless of Harden’s usual demeanor or personality, he was a headmaster who took education more seriously than anyone else in the world.

Woooong.

As Roan stepped through the entrance, he felt the unique sensation of spatial distortion, and the vastness of the library’s interior unfolded before him.

“A new student?”

A holy knight guarding the library looked at Roan’s uniform and asked. On his right arm was an armband that read “On Duty.”

“Yes.”

When Roan replied, the knight handed him a parchment scroll.

“Be sure to familiarize yourself with this before using the library.”

“Thank you.”

Roan bowed his head and walked past him. The scroll was fairly thick – it contained the library’s rules for usage. It said:

Elont Grand Library Usage Rules

Due to the extreme spatial distortion magic in this library, various strange phenomena may occur. Please familiarize yourself with the rules to avoid any issues. The school will not be held responsible for any consequences of violating these rules.

“Hm.”

Roan unrolled the scroll and nodded. The texture and content were exactly as he remembered from the item in God and Devil — it had the feel of a “Napolitan urban legend.”

You must receive this rulebook from the holy knight wearing the ‘On Duty’ armband at the entrance.

Do not accept any rulebooks given to you by priests or holy knights inside the library, and ignore them completely if they try to speak to you. If you have accepted one, discard it immediately by any means necessary.

Each floor of the library is structured in the shape of a ‘非’ with a central corridor and side corridors. If you come across another corridor branching off from a side corridor, do not enter it under any circumstances.

The stairs connecting different floors are only located at the ends of the central corridor. Do not use any stairs located elsewhere.

Upon returning a book to the shelf, you may find yourself in front of a completely different corridor. If this happens, sit down immediately, close your eyes, and call for a librarian. They will come, even if it may take some time.

There are no portraits of Headmaster Harden within the library. If you happen to see one, avoid making eye contact and report it to a librarian immediately.

The scroll was filled with clauses like this and written in tightly packed script.

At first, the detailed and somewhat unsettling contents pushed most students to open the rulebook to accompany them at every step.

‘Though honestly, nothing too serious happens if you break the rules.’

Roan already knew the consequences of violating the rules. Most often, it involved bothering the librarians or getting caught in one of Harden’s traps, which would result in being summoned to the headmaster’s office or some remote part of the school.

Especially if you ended up in the principal’s office, you’d be stuck listening to his long-winded lectures for hours — something about never letting your guard down when it comes to learning.

Since Roan was already familiar with all this, he didn’t pay any of it too much attention.

‘If you follow the rules well, you can even earn some Dalants, so it’s not too bad.’

With that thought, Roan stepped into the library’s central corridor. It was so spacious it resembled a plaza, and since it also functioned as a reading room, many students were seated, studying.

Though none of them appeared to be first-year students like Roan.

– Look over there, a freshman.

– Isn’t that Roan Darc?

– Oh, the one from the entrance ceremony?

The older students found it curious to see a freshman in the library and whispered about it amongst themselves.

Roan, who had already earned the nickname “that kid from the entrance ceremony,” was now accustomed to this kind of reaction. He walked past the upperclassmen, searching for the place he needed to go. His destination was the third floor, the highest in the library.

While the floors of the library seemed as vast as the entire Akerandir grounds, the spatial distortion made travel convenient. The space could warp, allowing a user’s steps to cover a large distance instantly. Of course, for those unfamiliar with this magic, it could cause nausea, and there were cases where people accidentally passed their destination or got lost.

For Roan, though, it was only mildly disorienting, and he quickly became accustomed to it. After all, it wasn’t much different from the interface of God and Devil.

Whoosh —

─ Wasn’t that a freshman just now?

─ Stop spewing nonsense.

─ Right?

Occasionally, some upperclassmen noticed the yellow accents on his uniform and glanced curiously, but that was the extent of it. Roan swiftly passed through the first and second floors’ central corridors and reached the third floor.

Most of the necessary academic materials were located on the lower floors, so the third floor was practically deserted.

‘It should be in corridor AZ-359 on the third floor…’

As Roan examined the corridor numbers and continued walking, a loud noise suddenly echoed from the opposite side.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

A rather noisy sound for a library. It came from the torches embedded in the walls as they ignited one by one. They were used for regulating humidity. 

Amid the commotion, Roan saw a massive book flying rapidly through the air, its pages fluttering wildly as it approached.

‘It’s a librarian.’

Roan quickly assessed the situation and calmly slowed his pace. Only the librarians, the custodians of the Elont Grand Library, could cause such a disturbance.

When a librarian approaches from the opposite direction, reduce your speed. This is common courtesy in the library.

The library rules were particularly strict when it came to interactions with the librarians. Ignoring them could result in more than just a peaceful lecture.

The book carrying the librarian approached Roan, trailing sparks behind. The fire looked fierce enough to make one worry about it catching on the books, but the flames were so precisely controlled that they only evaporated moisture and never came close to the shelves.

As Roan observed, the torches stopped lighting, and suddenly —

Kwoooosh!

The book accelerated, charging straight toward Roan. He stood still, waiting calmly for the librarian to arrive.

Screeech —

The book came to a sudden halt right in front of Roan’s face. Finally, from within the fiery spectacle, the librarian sitting atop the book became visible.

‘Librarian Molay.’

Molay was an unusual sight for a librarian — flames flickered down his spine, his eyebrows blazed like embers, and his long, burning fingernails gleamed menacingly. He wasn’t exactly what one would expect from a “custodian of books.”

“… Youuuu…”

“…”

His speech was painfully slow.

Molay was a hybrid of a fire spirit and a sloth beast.

But when faced with Molay’s dreamy, unreadable gaze, even Roan couldn’t help but feel a bit tense.

‘If I let my guard down, this could end up becoming a dangerous situation.’

Despite Molay’s outwardly clumsy appearance, Roan could vividly recall getting scolded by him several times during his early days in God and Devil.

“… Leeeeeaveee…”

Roan, who was already prepared, calmly responded.

“Yes, Librarian.”

Whoosh—

“… Youuuu…”

“I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

Whoosh—

“… Gooooo…”

“Yes, thank you. I’ll leave immediately.”

Whoosh —

With each of Roan’s replies, Molay’s flaming eyebrows flared up. It was a habit of his that indicated he had successfully communicated his intentions. The fact that Roan had understood and responded correctly pleased him.

Molay had been trying to warn Roan that it was dangerous for freshmen to be on the third floor and that he should leave as soon as possible.

… Though Molay’s version of “a word of warning” wasn’t exactly polite.

Meanwhile, the upperclassmen nearby were utterly shocked.

─ D-Did that freshman just have a conversation with Librarian Molay?!

─ A first-year student?

─ Did they even finish their conversation?

It was understandable. 

Molay was notorious, and the more often students visited the library and the higher their grade level, the worse his reputation became.

Just then, a second-year student with red accents on his uniform walked up to Roan and Molay.

“Um, excuse me, Librarian.”

He politely addressed Molay. Slowly, the book Molay was riding turned toward the student.

‘It must be his first time in the library.’

Roan clicked his tongue internally as he subtly distanced himself from Molay. He already had a good idea of what was about to go down.

“I’m looking for the book ‘The Venus School’s Research on the Blessing of Inanimate Objects.’ Can you tell me where it is?”

The naive student asked the question innocently, to which Molay responded, “… Leeeeave…”

Which essentially meant: ‘Don’t ask me, and get lost.’

As a librarian, Molay might pick up books off the floor, but he wasn’t going to spoon-feed anyone the location of a book — that was his creed as a librarian at the Elont Grand Library!

… Of course, throwing a book onto the floor in front of him was strictly forbidden.

“… Leeeeave…”

Still feeling confused, the student tilted his head and asked again, “Sorry? Where is it?”

For the next four minutes, Molay painstakingly communicated: ‘Don’t ask me that and go find it yourself.’ But the innocent student just kept tilting his head in confusion, unable to properly grasp the message.

─ Tsk tsk, another poor soul is about to meet Hiloa.

─ A sad situation indeed.

─ Let’s offer a prayer for him.

The upperclassmen knew what was coming and closed their eyes to silently pray for the poor boy.

And then…

Having confirmed that conversation was futile, Molay resorted to a different method of communication.

Crunch!

“Aaaaah!”

Without hesitation, he froze the student’s legs from the feet up to his thighs.

Molay, despite being part fire spirit, was a master of water and ice magic! Though he looked like someone who could burn a library to the ground, his mastery of opposing elements allowed him to meticulously regulate the humidity in this vast library.

He was, in every sense, a natural-born librarian.

But the poor second-year student had no idea about any of this.

“Aah! This librarian is crazy!”

Displaying some proficiency in magic, the student quickly thawed his legs and bolted, running for his life.

Fwoosh— Fwoosh—

Molay pursued him, riding his book, hurling ice magic at him relentlessly. There was no one more skilled in navigating the library’s spatial distortion than Molay.

… Except perhaps Roan.

‘It was only a year ago that I managed to evade Molay in this library.’

Roan and the other students watched the chase unfold, amused by the spectacle.

“Somebody, please help meee!”

Fwoosh— Crunch!

The student, by some miracle, was dodging Molay’s attacks as he fled. Realizing no one would come to his aid him, he even tried to fight back.

“Hah!”

Whoosh!

He launched an offensive spell in Molay’s direction, but…

─ That was pretty pointless.

─ Poor, dumb first-year.

As the upperclassmen knew too well, the spell only made things worse. The student’s attack didn’t even come close to reaching Molay before being effortlessly neutralized.

Though a librarian, Molay possessed combat abilities on par with professors. Even while pursuing the student, he carefully controlled every variable to ensure his spells didn’t affect the books.

It was like he was casually picking his nose with one hand while toying with the student with the other.

Avoiding confrontation with Molay — who had inherited a fiery temper from his fire spirit ancestry — was always the best course of action.

Roan watched the student flee into a fake corridor, where he definitely shouldn’t have gone, before turning away.

‘The principal’s office… I never want to go back there.’

By now, that poor student was probably facing a one-on-one meeting with Headmaster Harden — or perhaps he had ended up stranded in some remote part of the school.

‘I need to hurry up and find my book.’

Roan vowed not to fall into any traps set by the headmaster. He headed toward AZ-359.

Roan was searching for the number of a specific corridor. Naturally, unlike the other students, he wasn’t here to find textbooks for his classes or any general reading materials.

‘This is the passage leading to the secret archive where the forbidden books are kept.’

The forbidden books stored in Akerandir included dark magic tomes confiscated from dark wizards. The reason for all the mysterious corridors and troublesome gimmicks like the portraits in the library was to serve as distractions, concealing the path to the “real” hidden areas.

What Roan was looking for this time was the dark magic tome “The Deeper Darkness.” Since he had already awakened to dark magic, he knew the only way to survive was to rise to the top.

‘I’ll need this for next week’s class as well.’

Step —

Roan walked deeper into the Elont Grand Library, heading straight toward its hidden depths.

——-

Translator’s announcement:

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