I Became a Genius Black Mage at the Holy Academy

It didn’t take long for the False Divinity to recover to its original condition.

‘Has it been an hour already?’

Considering the cooldown times in God and Devil, this was fairly reasonable.

Roan could feel that the power had sufficiently calmed down, so he stood up from his seat.

He didn’t want to waste any more time and risk running into Molay, which would have been a huge headache.

“Well then, I guess it’s time to — huh?”

But shortly after, he felt a light vibration from the False Divinity and stopped in his tracks.

The power was pointing toward a nearby bookshelf.

‘What could be there…? No, wait.’

Roan naturally tried to interpret the False Divinity’s intent but suddenly furrowed his brow.

Why could he understand what it was telling him?

At some point in time, Roan had become able to interpret the subtle vibrations, which previously only buzzed, from the False Divinity.

Regardless, the False Divinity indeed guided him to a particular book.

Roan didn’t pull it out but instead examined it from the outside.

After all, it wouldn’t be wise to touch it without exhibiting some caution – it was possible the power might have led him to a cursed book.

Also, unlike the other books, this one was lying with its cover facing outward, not on its spine, which made it even more suspicious.

The cover was quite worn, and the letters were faded in places, so it took Roan some time to decipher the title.

“It doesn’t seem like a dark magic book… Wait, what?”

“Hiloanian Dictionary: Roziphos Edition”

To his shock, he saw that it was a sacred text — a Hiloanian dictionary.

However, Roan couldn’t help but frown deeply at the word “Roziphos” written at the end.

Roziphos, the god of jealousy and misunderstanding, was the fifth son of the main god, Hiloa.
Long ago, Roziphos had been one of the gods officially worshiped in temples, but 4,218 years ago, during the “Great Conference” of the Vatican and Holy Emperor Palace, he was declared a heretic and expelled.

In other words, this dictionary was…

‘A true heretical text.’

Unlike dark magic, which was a completely different discipline, this was a book from a religious sect that had strayed from the Holy Empire.

Roan shuddered.

He was well aware of the situation.

Unlike the dark mages who were often unjustly persecuted and driven out of the Empire, many of whom were decent people, these true heretical fanatics were insane and dangerous beyond comparison.

There had been cases where they had mistaken the remnants of these heretical cults for dark mages, only to find that the crimes had been committed by deranged heretics.

In fact, the Inquisitors’ manual prioritized these heretics over dark mages.

“Who would leave such a book to frame me?”

Realizing the book’s nature, Roan was horrified and glared at the False Divinity with disdain.

Even Harden would shake his head in disbelief if he saw Roan holding a book related to Roziphos.

But the False Divinity vibrated desperately as if trying to plead its innocence.

Buzz— Buzz— Buzz!

‘I didn’t know Roziphos had been declared heretical!’

‘And besides, it’s not the god that’s bad — it’s the crazy followers committing crimes! There are plenty of useful divine laws from Roziphos!’

“Hmm…”

Even so, Roan’s suspicion did not completely fade away.

What if it was trying to report him to the Inquisitors later?

What if it deliberately mistranslated the divine laws and got him into trouble for using dark magic instead…?

The vibrations from the False Divinity turned into something close to a pitiful plea.

“Fine, but if I get caught, I’m blaming you.”

How many Inquisitors would actually believe him if he said, “It wasn’t me, it was the power inside my body”?

But the False Divinity’s desperate begging made it hard to completely ignore.

Judging from its behavior, it seemed the False Divinity needed to learn, like an AI, by accumulating more knowledge of divine laws and languages for smoother translations.

In the end, Roan reluctantly reached out for Roziphos’s Hiloanian dictionary.

The False Divinity, perhaps grateful, radiated a faint burst of dark energy.

Clack —

And just as Roan pulled out the book —

‘Huh?’

He tilted his head in confusion.

There, behind the book…

… Was clearly a portrait of Harden!

‘You son of a —!’

Roan instinctively locked eyes with Harden’s portrait and cursed under his breath.

So this was why it had led him to pull out that book!

They say there’s no power you can trust in this world…

Elont Grand Library Usage Rule No. 6:

There are no portraits of Principal Harden within the library. If you happen to see a portrait, be careful not to make eye contact and report it to a librarian immediately.

If you fail to follow this rule and make eye contact with the portrait, you will be teleported to the headmaster’s office.

Whirl!

Roan felt the nausea that always came with spatial divine magic.

And just like that, after closing and opening his eyes —

“You idiot! How many times have I told you to follow the rules in the library — Wait, what?”

In front of him stood Harden, who had a look of shock as he recognized Roan.

“…”

“…”

An awkward silence fell between the headmaster and the student as they stared at each other.

Roan was the first to break the silence.

“… Uh. I was looking for a book to study in the library, and when I saw your portrait, I couldn’t help but pay my respects. In doing so, I failed to follow the rules.”

“I don’t even know where to begin with your outrageous lie,” Harden replied, appearing to be utterly bewildered.

Then, as he noticed what Roan was holding and what was in his bag, his expression grew even more incredulous.

Roan hurried to explain himself.

“Like I said, I was looking for a book to study, and —”

“Right. A new student just ‘happened’ to avoid Librarian Molay’s gaze and make it all the way to the third floor of the library?”

“Yes.”

“And then you ‘just happened’ to gather art history books that have nothing to do with first-year classes, arrange them to spell ‘Harden Forever,’ and place them precisely in the empty slot where a hidden mechanism was located?”

“… That’s correct.”

“And then you ‘just happened’ to clean the goddess statue with a mop, kiss its feet, gather the items, and end up here after seeing my portrait?”

“I’m sorry.”

Harden recited Roan’s entire path, step by step.

‘Hearing it like this, even I wouldn’t believe me.’

Roan clicked his tongue inwardly.

Honestly, it would sound more plausible if he said Kaina and Belek had become sworn brothers and sisters by exchanging blood.

“You could’ve said that from the start. Tsk. As for the dark magic book, fine, but a heretical dictionary… Actually, never mind. I’m sure that outdated power of yours told you to take it, right?”

“That’s exactly right!”

Roan eagerly agreed with Harden’s guess. He felt relieved.

He had so much to say about the heretical dictionary.

The principal truly was wise!

Roan felt so grateful that he could almost cry tears of joy.

Harden, who wasn’t particularly interested, merely clicked his tongue.

“Tsk. Even so, dealing with heresy is something you’ll need to think about more carefully.”

“Of course. In fact, I had no interest in a god of jealousy and misunderstanding who was expelled 4,218 years ago during the Great Conference.”

Buzz —!

The False Divinity vibrated in protest, but Roan chose to ignore it.

‘I need to survive first.’

Harden furrowed his brow at Roan and said, “For someone who’s not interested in such matters, you seem to know a lot…”

‘Uh-oh.’

A bead of cold sweat ran down Roan’s back.

But just then —

Knock, knock!

A cheerful knock came at the door of the headmaster’s office.

─ “Headmaster~ It’s Professor Kaina! I have something to report about next week’s class!”

“!!!”

Though the voice was lively, Harden and Roan were both horrified, recognizing who it belonged to.

‘What do I do? Should I burn everything?’

The fact that Roan was even considering this showed how desperate the situation had become.

If he told Professor Kaina that he was performing a book-burning ritual with the headmaster to dispose of forbidden texts, she might actually understand.

In fact, she’d probably happily fetch the firewood for them.

“Here, put it in this!”

Meanwhile, Harden rummaged through his desk drawer and tossed Roan an item the size of a fist.

Roan caught it reflexively, and when he saw what it was, he was shocked to the core.

‘The Pouch of Infinite Blessings!’

It looked like a colorful pouch for children, but in reality, it was a high-end item with spatial properties that could hold an unlimited amount of space.

And here was Harden, tossing it around like a bag of emergency money …!

However, there was no time to dwell on such things.

Roan quickly tossed the Hiloanian dictionary he had been holding, along with his entire bag, into the pouch.

Then, after hurriedly tucking the pouch into his coat, he sat down with Harden on the reception chairs.

“Ahem. Come in, Professor Kaina,” Harden called out, his voice sounding slightly tense.

At that moment, Roan realized something was odd about the situation.

‘Why is the headmaster so nervous about Professor Kaina…?’

‘Wouldn’t someone as powerful as a divine spirit have no reason to be scared?’

“Hello~ Oh? Student Darc is here too?”

Meanwhile, Professor Kaina entered the headmaster’s office and looked at Roan with mild surprise on her face.

“Hello.”

Kaine gave an awkward smile and said, “Ah, right. I’m sorry about the last class. I’m sure you didn’t want that to be made public.”

It was becoming clear that Kaina had a much better personality than Demona.

Roan tried his best to maintain a neutral expression and politely shook his head.

“It’s fine. It was the truth, after all.”

“Oh my~”

Kaine smiled, seemingly pleased.

But then, suddenly —

“… Hmm?”

Her expression became cold in that instant.

And then —

Sniff, sniff.

She closed her eyes and began sniffing the air inside the headmaster’s office.

“Why are you… doing that, Professor Kaina?”

Both Roan and Harden nervously watched her behavior.

Kaine responded in a chilling voice, “There’s a scent… The scent of dark magic…”

Slowly, she began to take steps toward Roan.

It was the instinct of an inquisitor skilled in detecting dark magic!

‘Well, at least she doesn’t have a hammer, right?’

Roan was drenched in cold sweat at this time.

“It’s faint, but this is definitely… The scent of heresy that deserves to be smitten…!”

Kaine’s nose was inching closer to Roan when Harden quickly intervened.

“Ah yes, Professor Belek stopped by earlier. He brought some new research on divine laws, but it turned out to be ancient heretical laws. That’s probably what you’re sensing right now.”

A truly divine stroke of genius.

“Oh, so Professor Belek finally…”

Kaine opened her eyes again and smiled, seemingly satisfied with the explanation.

Her eyes, however, still seemed to burn with an intense flame for some reason.

‘I kinda feel bad… Will Belek be okay?’

Roan couldn’t help but feel sorry for the poor professor.

“As you know, conflicts between professors are strictly prohibited under my name.”

‘Conflicts, huh?’

‘Not arrests or assaults… or murder?’

“Oh my~ Whatever could you mean?”

At any rate, she seemed to have accepted the explanation regarding the strange smell in the office.

“Right. Well, you mentioned something about next week’s class, and it seems Darc doesn’t need to be here for that. Student, you’re dismissed.”

Immediately, Roan stood up.

“Yes, Principal. Thank you.”

Without wasting another second, Roan bowed and left the office, not looking back.

[Please make sure to return that pouch later!]

Harden sent a hasty divine message after him, but Roan didn’t bother to respond.

Well, considering he couldn’t send divine messages anyway, it was only natural.

Whether he intended to respond or not was another matter entirely.

“Oh? Darc, what were you doing in the headmaster’s office?”

Geode, who was standing guard in front of the office, saw Roan and tilted his head in confusion.

Roan smiled faintly and replied, “I saw the headmaster’s portrait in the library.”

“Hahaha! So, you got caught too! How diligent of you to be in the library already. Well, take care!”

Geode laughed heartily and patted Roan on the back.

Roan bowed to him as well and headed back to the dorm with a slight spring in his step.

‘A dark magic book, an incense burner, and the Pouch of Infinite Blessings — what luck!’