Ch.142142. Robern’s Forbidden Book

“Huaaaam.”

Findenai let out a long yawn while driving the carriage and glanced around. They had already arrived at Robern Academy.

It wasn’t particularly an unpleasant place—rather, it held some fun memories—but right now, irritation was poking at his head for no good reason.

As he pulled the carriage into the academy grounds, the professors were already lined up waiting.

The headmaster especially was making a fuss about holding a welcome party for the hero returning from war, but…

Unfortunately, the Spirit Master Deus Verdi, who was supposed to be today’s main character, wasn’t in the carriage.

And that was precisely why Findenai was in such a foul mood.

“What? Where’s Deus?”

When Erika, who had been waiting with the headmaster, asked with a puzzled expression, Findenai replied curtly.

“Don’t know.”

Then he gathered his own luggage and Illuania’s and walked toward the academy entrance. Though he appeared seriously injured with bandages wrapped around his body, it didn’t hinder his movements.

“Ugh…”

Owen, who had belatedly gathered his luggage and melodica before getting off the carriage, naturally drew the attention of the faculty.

The boy also had bandages on his hands, but he answered the professors’ questions with an awkward smile.

“He said he needed to apologize to the souls in the Great Marias Forest and take responsibility, so he’ll come later.”

“Responsibility?”

Though they wondered what that meant, Owen didn’t explain further.

Illuania was the last to exit the carriage. She wasn’t carrying any luggage, but she was holding a precious new family member in her arms.

The faculty knew she was the pregnant maid who accompanied Deus, so they congratulated her on giving birth, but Illuania simply thanked them before heading straight to the hotel where she had stayed previously.

Since postpartum care was important, the hotel had been preparing related services for some time.

Whether the hotel building was still intact remained uncertain, but at least Findenai followed along to accompany her.

In the end, only Owen and the carriage remained.

With disappointed expressions, the faculty had no choice but to return.

Owen headed straight to Deus’s room. After neatly organizing the items he had been asked to bring, he took out the melodica he had been carrying on his back.

As he blew air and pressed the keys, the sound flowed out.

His fingers hurt even while playing the relatively light-keyed melodica after having played so much recently, but the boy continued to play skillfully.

Gradually, a woman wearing a black robe and covering her eyes with a semi-transparent black veil appeared in his vision.

The Dark Spiritmaster, whom he had already met several times while playing.

Even after removing his mouth from the melodica and stopping the performance, Owen had developed his spiritual sight enough to converse with her to some extent.

“D-Dark Spiritmaster. So you came along after all.”

[Yes, Deus told me to go, didn’t he?]

Like Findenai, the Dark Spiritmaster was also in a bad mood.

Because Deus had said he needed to resolve things alone and sent the Dark Spiritmaster away too.

And to prepare for the possibility that she might secretly stay behind, he had even instructed Owen to check after arriving at the academy.

[I’m the master, so why is he giving me orders?]

Though she was grumbling, Owen thought she was actually quite obedient, but he decided to keep his mouth shut.

There was no need to upset the hysterical woman’s mood by saying such things.

“He-He asked me to check once every day. Would that be okay?”

[…Sigh, fine.]

The Dark Spiritmaster sighed.

Deus’s wish to spend time alone with the souls in the Great Marias Forest.

Hearing this, the Dark Spiritmaster couldn’t help but make a complicated expression.

It meant that Deus, who had almost crossed the line, had regained his beliefs, but…

Did he really need to shoulder that burden alone?

Couldn’t they do it together? Weren’t they soul companions? She was literally a soul as the Dark Spiritmaster!

[I’m annoyed.]

The Dark Spiritmaster turned sharply and disappeared.

“Haa.”

Seeing this, Owen wiped the sweat from his forehead and let out a sigh of relief.

‘The Spirit Master must be having a really hard time too.’

Owen had heard that this war was a scheme by the Black Mage group to see the Spirit Master’s true heart.

Since Owen didn’t know the details beyond that, he stretched and left Deus’s room.

Owen, who was staying in a spare room in the first-year boys’ dormitory, planned to go to his own room to rest for a while.

Without Deus around, he didn’t have much to do either.

An unexpected sweet time of rest.

He deserved this after all the hard work he’d done.

Since students were still in the middle of lectures, Owen quietly returned to his room, showered, and fell into a comfortable sleep on the soft bed for the first time in a long while.

“No, I’m telling you it wasn’t me!”

Owen’s eyes opened at the muffled, indignant voice coming from outside.

Though his sleep had been disturbed, he didn’t feel tired.

Looking out the window, he saw the moon was already up.

Having slept quite soundly, Owen stretched and went outside.

Two students were standing in the hallway.

A first-year boy was explaining with an aggrieved expression to what appeared to be a second-year boy.

“You were the last one to use it before me! So obviously you did it!”

“But it really wasn’t me! This is so unfair! If I had used it, I would have used it, not scribbled on it!”

What are they talking about?

Owen stood on his tiptoes to check the situation. It seemed there was some issue with the booklet the second-year was holding.

“Hmm?”

Curious about what book it was, Owen peeked his head out and…

“Huaaah!”

The young boy fell backward, his face turning bright red.

A photo collection of women.

And not just any photos—nude women.

The second-year turned his head sharply at Owen’s dramatic reaction. He looked back and forth between the booklet in his hand and Owen, then turned away in embarrassment and fled.

“Anyway, you! Don’t do this again! Everyone uses these communally!”

Leaving behind those righteous words.

The first-year sighed in relief but glanced at Owen and approached, extending his hand.

“Th-Thanks. Thanks to you, I didn’t get beaten up. Actually, I did do it. I just prefer ones with drawings on the body.”

“Wh-What?!”

“Huh? Oh, you’re not an academy student, so you don’t know? We call them ‘forbidden books’ as slang.”

Perhaps because he was in a good mood after escaping the senior’s threat, the boy started spilling details Owen hadn’t even asked for.

“Let me know if you need any.”

“N-N-No! No thank you! Besides, how does a student even get such things!”

This was an incomprehensible world to a boy who had lived his entire life with the piano.

When Owen exclaimed in shock, the boy shook his head and smiled.

“Of course we can’t buy them. The forbidden books are all handmade. We have an artisan at our academy.”

This was dizzying.

“Anyway, come to me if you need any. Good things should be shared. We’re both men after all.”

With a wink and a grin, the immature boy ran down the hallway and disappeared.

The boy, momentarily shocked and dizzy, clenched his fist firmly.

“St-Students… should act like students!”

A phrase Deus Verdi often uttered. Owen clenched his fist and went back to his room.

Then he played the melodica to summon the spirits still remaining at the academy.

This was information gathering that only Owen could do.

[Ah, lewd drawings? They circulate not just among boys but girls too.]

[I know the person who draws them is just one person. They say they include a mark.]

[Students should be studying, not doing such things.]

[Did you know there’s even a request channel? If you put a note in a certain book in the library, they’ll draw what you want!]

[Drawings? Ah, I did see someone drawing strange things recently.]

“That’s the person!”

Owen immediately set off after hearing the last ghost’s testimony.

He arrived at the first-year girls’ dormitory. Though it was late, he found a blonde girl wearing a white beret sketching something on a bench in front.

“P-P-Princess?”

[Yes, that’s right. She draws weird pictures every day.]

The ghost who pointed at Elenoa Luden Griffin vanished with a whoosh, as if passing off responsibility.

Should I just run away?

Owen hesitated briefly but took a deep breath, thinking of Deus Verdi.

What would he do?

If he found out about this, and his cherished disciple was the distributor of obscene materials called “forbidden books”!

It was hard to even imagine.

He would probably be quite angry and scold her.

“I have to stop this.”

Especially since someone like him, who could see ghosts all the time rather than just through music like Owen, could find out this information anytime.

With such devotion, Owen approached Elenoa.

“Hmm? What is it?”

Elenoa glanced at Owen as he approached, then focused back on her drawing.

Her concentration, not even giving him a proper look while moving her pen, was impressive from the perspective of a fellow artist, but…

“C-Can I see your drawing!”

Owen had to check first.

This was Owen’s attempt at courage.

“Hmm?”

Elenoa looked at Owen over her sketch with an annoyed expression, but knowing he was a sort of disciple being raised by Professor Deus…

“Sure.”

She turned the sketch around without much difficulty.

It was a night sky with a beautiful moon. Having lived in Claren, the land of artists, Owen could immediately tell how much effort had gone into her drawing.

“Wow.”

Her skill was impressive enough to amaze even Owen.

Seeing Owen’s admiration, Elenoa casually asked:

“Why? Is there a problem?”

“Ah, no! I’m sorry! I made a disrespectful misunderstanding!”

“Misunderstanding? What misunderstanding?”

Elenoa slowly placed the sketch beside the bench, crossed her arms, and crossed her legs.

Though she appeared to be just a few years older than him on the surface…

As her eyes changed and the atmosphere became solemn, an indescribable royal pressure from the princess began to weigh down on Owen.

This was what it meant to be a princess of a nation.

The sudden change in atmosphere felt similar to an assassin revealing a hidden weapon.

If he told the princess, perhaps she could easily resolve this issue.

With that thought, Owen raised his voice slightly and exclaimed:

“Re-Recently, I heard someone at the academy has been drawing impure pictures and distributing them! I wanted to find that person before the Spirit Master returns!”

“Huh?”

For a moment, Elenoa froze. The royal dignity she had displayed until just now vanished like it had been blown away by the wind, and she returned to being student Elenoa.

“Oh, I-I see? There really are strange people around! But it’s not me!”

“P-Princess?”

Even the innocent Owen found her tone suspicious. Just then, Aria emerged from the girls’ dormitory entrance.

“Elenoa! Look at this! If you darken the eyes and remove the focus, it makes him look obsessive!”

Elenoa frowned sharply when she saw the drawing of Deus Verdi that Aria was holding.

“I told you not to scribble on my drawings…!”

Tap!

Elenoa was getting annoyed at Aria for adding her own preferences to her drawings, but…

Owen had already started running away.

To think they were drawing strange pictures of the Spirit Master!

With the thought that he must inform someone, Owen ran, but…

“Oops.”

With Elenoa’s sigh-like voice, Owen’s legs floated up into the air.

“Waaah!”

Startled as his body, which had been dashing along the ground, floated up, Owen naturally approached Elenoa again.

“Um, listen. I think there’s some misunderstanding.”

As Elenoa smiled awkwardly and spoke, Owen sobbed and cried out:

“I’m sorry! I won’t tell the Spirit Master! Please spare me!”

“…”

“Oh, it’s the little kid who follows the professor around.”

Aria, who had approached, made a blank expression before hurriedly hiding the drawing.

“You hide it so quickly! Why? Want to advertise that you’re drawing Deus?”

“No, it’s just such a novel discovery.”

Aria couldn’t retort to Elenoa’s sarcasm this time.

She tried to suggest a solution.

“Should we hit him to make him lose his memory?”

“Why are you so vulgar?”

“…Says the princess who draws such things of the professor.”

“W-Why are you bringing that up! The kid can hear! And you liked it too!”

“Thanks to your early education in sex education, this humble subject has seen a new world.”

While the two seemed distracted with their bickering, Owen knew he couldn’t escape.

As he hung limply…

His body floated up again.

As if someone had grabbed his collar and lifted him.

“Huh?”

“What’s going on?”

The two were surprised since it wasn’t Elenoa who did it this time.

Owen was also surprised but exclaimed in shock at the familiar feeling:

“D-Dark Spiritmaster, is that you?!”

Though not particularly close to the Dark Spiritmaster, Owen felt like he had met a savior.