Book 1 Chapter 10
“We have to conquer the world? That’s absurd!”
Chelsea shook her head as she walked behind Leo.
“Conquering the hero’s world is difficult even for Lumerin students, so would they ask it of candidates for admission?”
It was true.
Conquering the hero’s world was not easy even for the hero candidates who received the best education at Lumerin.
Yet, they were asking the examinees to do something so difficult.
It was an absurd story.
But Leo’s thoughts were different.
“We’re being tested for our qualifications as heroes, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then shouldn’t we be able to do what a hero must do? Besides, if it’s a test, the trials will be given within a scope that can be overcome.”
Chelsea paused at his words.
‘It’s true, he’s not wrong.’
“Hmm! Then what would be the condition for conquest? If it’s a trial that examinees can conquer, it would likely be Alby’s early exploits. There’s almost nothing known about the actions of the Magic Eyes Mage.”
Leo chuckled, watching Chelsea cross her arms and rack her brain.
‘She’s a bright one.’
She was a girl with outstanding abilities and strong pride as a noble family.
Usually, such children tended not to listen to their peers.
However, Chelsea, after hearing Leo’s words, found them plausible and immediately started thinking about the conquest method.
‘Her thinking is flexible. That’s a good trait for a mage.’
Leo spoke, thinking of her as a suitable candidate for a hero, though still immature.
“It’s likely a subjugation quest.”
“That’s certainly true.”
Chelsea nodded.
If it was an achievement made in a place where monsters appeared, it was highly likely that something had to be defeated.
And Leo had a guess as to what needed to be defeated.
‘Given the time, it could be something else, though.’
Leo, who had clenched and unclenched his fists while looking at the monster corpses a moment ago, grabbed Chelsea’s wrist.
“What are you doing?”
Chelsea made a prickly expression at Leo’s sudden action.
Whoosh-!
Leo pulled Chelsea towards him.
Fwish-fwish-!
Two arrows flew and embedded themselves where Chelsea had been standing.
Seeing that, Chelsea’s eyes widened.
And then…
“Huh? Huh?”
Stumble-! Thud!
“Ouch!”
Chelsea, who lost her balance and fell on her rear, tears welling up, glared at him.
“If you’re going to pull me, you should at least hold me so I don’t fall!”
“Ah, sorry. I thought you’d get angry if I just hugged you carelessly.”
“Falling like this makes me angrier!”
“So, no thanks?”
“Hmph! Even without you, arrows wouldn’t have hurt me!”
“They were imbued with aura.”
Chelsea paused at Leo’s remark.
“I… I would have blocked them with a shield spell I memorized beforehand!”
Although Chelsea said that, she soon spoke in a dejected voice.
“Anyway… thanks.”
Leo burst into laughter at her reaction.
“Tch!”
“I could have defeated Chelsea Lewallin first!”
Other examinees, pushing through the bushes, glared at Leo and Chelsea.
“You guys.”
As Chelsea stepped forward, the group of five examinees tensed up.
“Let’s not fight and cooperate with us.”
“What?”
They looked surprised at Chelsea’s sudden words.
“Your party is made up of only knights, right? There’s no harm in a mage like me joining your party. So, wouldn’t it be best to cooperate?”
Despite being attacked just moments ago, Chelsea offered cooperation without any apparent displeasure.
It was natural to eliminate others in a test.
‘If it were a test to eliminate others, I would have attacked without mercy, but now we have to conquer the hero’s world.’
As Chelsea looked back at him as if seeking his opinion, Leo nodded.
“By cooperating…”
“We’re only knights, but we have ranged attacks, so our party balance is good.”
“Huh?”
Then, an examinee who seemed to be the leader sneered.
“There are only two of you? If we fight now, we have a significant advantage.”
“That’s right, no matter how much you boast about being from a hero’s family, you’re the same age as us!”
“We know you’re proposing cooperation because you’re scared!”
Thinking Chelsea had backed down, they gained confidence.
“If I defeat you, one strong admission candidate disappears! So why should we cooperate with you?”
“That’s right! That’s right!”
Seeing them assume a fighting stance, Chelsea tried to say something.
“Stop it, it’s no use talking anymore.”
“But…”
Chelsea looked frustrated.
The other examinees, who wouldn’t even listen to her words, were frustrating to this outstanding girl.
Leo drew his sword and said,
“If they want to fight, we have to fight.”
“I guess we have no choice.”
Chelsea sighed and picked up her staff.
Leo spoke, looking at Chelsea.
“You support from behind.”
“What?”
“It’s a waste of mana to expend it on such petty opponents.”
“Are you insane? They’re using aura!”
“Leave it to me.”
“Hmph. I won’t be responsible if you get hurt?”
Even as she spoke coldly, Chelsea intended to help if Leo was in danger.
‘I have to repay the favor from earlier, after all.’
Chelsea fiddled with her staff.
Meanwhile, the other examinees scowled at Leo.
“Who are you?”
“You’re going to face us alone?”
“Yes. Please take care of us.”
“You bastard!”
The arrow-wielding examinee, thinking Leo was ignoring him, immediately pulled back his bowstring.
Whoosh-!
An arrow without aura flew towards Leo.
Aura arrows were being saved for the fight with Chelsea, as they wasted aura.
‘If I dodge, they’ll have an opening! Then if I surround and finish them off…’
Snatch-!
“……!”
“It’s not time to save your strength.”
Leo, catching the arrow, broke it indifferently and said,
“Im… impossible! You caught my arrow with your bare hands…!”
Whoosh-!
Before the examinee could finish speaking, Leo lunged.
“Block…!”
“Surround him!”
Seeing the swords coming from all directions, he quickly scanned them.
However, the examinees were not fully focused on Leo.
‘Even without participating in the battle, my mere presence is a deterrent.’
Unlike the unknown Leo, Chelsea was a named-level examinee, so their attention was bound to be drawn to her.
‘I’m grateful.’
Clang- Pow!
“Cough?”
Leo, parrying the sword, punched him directly in the solar plexus.
“You bastard! I didn’t see any sign of aura!”
“Of course, I’m not using it.”
Leo, speaking calmly to the mistaken opponent, spun around.
The opponent who was aiming for Leo’s back was flustered, seeing Leo dodge as if he had eyes in the back of his head.
Pow-!
“Gack!”
Leo, delivering a kick to the ribs, targeted the remaining two examinees.
“Use aura!”
“Damn it!”
Leo overwhelmed the five of them alone.
Meanwhile, Chelsea, watching from behind, widened her eyes.
‘Wow, how can he move like that without using aura?’
Although she was a mage, as an aspiring battle mage, Chelsea had also diligently practiced martial arts.
Therefore, she could vaguely understand how miraculous Leo’s movements were.
‘Cool!’
Chelsea, feeling her heart pound, was startled.
‘No! He’s someone who hung out with Celia Zerdinger! Snap out of it, Chelsea!’
Even as she shook her head vigorously, Chelsea couldn’t take her eyes off Leo.
***
The applicants were quickly eliminated.
It was the result of moving excessively to eliminate competitors.
‘They probably think they moved actively.’
Alby watched a few students.
He saw some proudly boasting about how many they had eliminated.
Of course, it had nothing to do with the test.
An hour into the test,
Only about fifty of the 569 applicants remained.
“Lord Alby, are all these applicants…”
“Eliminated.”
The assistant dispatched from Lumerin looked flustered at Alby’s cold remark.
“B-but Lord Alby, they are all outstanding talents. Furthermore, selecting about a hundred students per test is…”
Alby’s chilling gaze turned towards the assistant.
The assistant gasped at that look.
“When the principal appointed me as an examiner, I said the same thing to you. I told him that anyone who doesn’t meet my standards would be eliminated. Yet, he still entrusted me with the position of examiner.”
“Hmm!”
“As an examiner, it is my prerogative to pass or fail any student. Therefore, let’s not discuss this any further.”
Alby, who spoke decisively, turned his gaze to the magic mirror.
What came into his sight was none other than Leo.
‘He seems to have noticed the anomaly in the forest.’
Alby touched his left eye.
‘Can he really conquer that world?’
***
“Chelsea, you’re safe.”
“Of course, brother.”
About two hours after the test began,
Leo safely rejoined Celia and Abad’s party.
“You’re safe, as expected. But were you with Chelsea Lewallin?”
“We met at the beginning of the test and cooperated.”
“Hmm? She has considerable pride and stubbornness, so she cooperated with you willingly?”
“I persuaded her well.”
Celia muttered inwardly, seeing Leo’s meaningful smile.
‘He did something.’
After a week of living together, Celia understood her cousin’s wickedness well.
“You said she was annoying and hated you, yet it seems you traveled together.”
“We couldn’t just fight blindly without knowing the criteria for passing the test.”
Celia replied, running a hand through her hair.
“By the way, you have many companions.”
“Abad and I can move quickly. So we gathered people to cooperate with while roaming the forest. Most of them are from the Rohden Empire.”
The two major families of the Rohden Empire.
No one from the empire could refuse cooperation when Zerdinger and Lewallin offered it.
“Well done.”
“Huh? Why?”
“I think I know how to pass this test.”
“Oh? You figured it out?”
Celia’s eyes sparkled.
“World conquest.”
“World conquest?”
Celia tilted her head.
Then she nodded.
“Indeed, this test is too unusual. It wouldn’t be strange if it were world conquest.”
“Right?”
“Then a problem arises here. What exactly is the condition for conquest?”
The hero’s world has a condition for conquest.
That’s why the study of heroology is important.
Investigating and researching the deeds of heroes directly leads to methods of conquering the hero’s world.
However, just as there are heroes with tales, there are also heroes without them.
Especially, the worlds of living heroes are rarely conquered.
Even if conquered, there are no rewards, and only the hero can open the world.
The hero’s worlds that others can open by fulfilling conditions belong to past heroes.
“Alby is a hero with high fame, but his past deeds are almost unknown. There’s nothing that can be a clue for conquest.”
“I have a guess about that part too.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
Leo sighed.
“The Forest of Beasts is currently in an anomalous state.”
“Anomaly?”
“Yes. Isn’t it that too few monsters are appearing for a Forest of Beasts?”
“Certainly…”
Normally, monster attacks should have continued incessantly.
However, in Alby’s world, the frequency of monster appearances is too low.
‘As if they’re afraid of something?’
Celia’s expression turned serious as she thought that far.
“A superior monster has probably appeared that scared the monsters in the forest.”
“So Alby achieved great deeds by subjugating it?”
“That’s right.”
“What kind of superior monster could scare all the monsters in the Forest of Beasts? I’ve never seen records of such an anomaly.”
“That’s…”
As Leo was about to answer Celia’s question,
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaah-!”
A scream echoed from afar.
“It seems it has appeared after all.”