Book 1 Chapter 120

120

"You still haven't found a way to unseal the hero's world!"

"Uh, there's nothing we can do! It's a hero dungeon, so there's no way to control it!"

"Ugh!"

Impatience flickered in Berga's eyes, who had lost his composure.

An hour had already passed since Arion's world opened.

The fact that the hero's world itself hadn't been unsealed meant Leo and Ar were holding up well, but that didn't mean they could just be happy.

'Ar! Kyle!'

"Hurry up and find a way to control it!"

"Ugh! B-Berga Instructor!"

It was a moment when everyone was flustered, watching Berga grab the vice-instructor by the collar.

"Calm down, Berga."

A calm voice was heard.

Berga turned his head, saw the human man approaching him, and let go of the vice-instructor's collar.

"Ain."

Following Ain, Yura also entered with a serious expression.

"What brings the professors from Rumerne here?"

Ain replied nonchalantly to Berga's question.

"It's related to the hero's world, so it would be good to share experiences. Our school also had several unfortunate incidents this first semester."

Yura made a dumbfounded expression and poked Ain's side.

The mid-term exam turning into a hero dungeon.

The end-of-semester inter-departmental competition.

These two incidents were resolved well, but externally, they were considered Rumerne's embarrassing secrets.

Since Ain had casually brought up those stories to outsiders, Yura couldn't help but be flustered.

"Azhonia is different from Rumerne! This is a simple accident!"

"Even so, there's no harm in joining forces. My junior and I have experienced things that you and Azhonia's instructors haven't. We won't be a hindrance."

Hearing that, Berga closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Listening to Ain, who was always calm in any situation, Berga felt his excitement subside.

"My apologies. I apologize for speaking carelessly due to my excitement."

"It's fine."

Yura waved her hand dismissively.

"By the way, how many years has it been since a new page of the Great Hero opened?"

"I heard it also opened in Rumerne earlier this year, didn't it?"

"That's true, but ours opened and closed very quickly."

"What was it like when it opened?"

"Ours was also a sudden rampage. So we couldn't figure out the cause."

It was then that Berga's face grew serious.

Whoosh-!

Suddenly, Arion's page began to glow.

The faces of those who saw it hardened.

When a hero's page showed a reaction, it was one of two things.

Either the hero's world had been conquered, or the page had closed due to the death of the conqueror.

As everyone tensed, Leo and Ar burst out from Arion's page.

"Ar!"

"Father!"

Ar smiled brightly, seeing Berga embrace her, shedding tears.

"Are you hurt anywhere?"

"Yes! Father! I conquered Lord Arion's world!"

"That doesn't matter! Ar! My daughter! Do you know how worried I was!"

Embracing his daughter, Berga was genuinely happy.

It was true that he had rigorously trained his daughter from a young age to make her a hero.

But that was so his daughter would develop the strength to overcome trials without dying.

Ar also knew this, so she didn't hate or resent her father, Berga.

Meanwhile, Leo had a bewildered expression.

'Hey! What are you?! Why are you here?'

Leo was flustered by Elsie's presence, which he felt from the Orb of Light.

When he saw the conquest reward list, he couldn't help but be astonished.

How could Elsie, a spirit from the past, be a conquest reward?

The contract he had just made with Elsie was also valid.

This was literally like the dead returning.

'Elsie?'

[…]

Despite Leo's call, Elsie remained silent as if asleep.

It was then that Leo scratched his head.

"Father! If the black rabbit hadn't been here, I wouldn't have been able to conquer it!"

"……"

Berga's gaze turned to Leo.

Leo, receiving that gaze, scratched his cheek.

Berga, who had somehow returned to his usual dignified self, stood before Leo with a serious expression.

"Kyle."

The way Berga addressed Leo had somehow changed from "Reyna's son" to his name.

That meant Berga recognized Leo.

"It's amazing. To have conquered Lord Arion's page."

"I didn't do it alone."

"Hmph, is that modesty?"

Berga, who had burst out laughing, clenched his fist.

"Whatever the reason, Ar and you have conquered Lord Arion's world! This is decisive proof that you are fit to be a student of Azhonia, the Hero Academy! I'm delighted!"

Berga folded his arms and shouted majestically.

"I, Berga, will do my best to teach you so that you can walk the path of heroism!"

Azhonia Academy requires students to choose a supervising instructor.

Naturally, students flock to famous instructors.

And Berga was the best instructor, one whom everyone wanted to learn from.

Such a person had directly declared he would accept Leo as his disciple.

It was a great honor, and it was no exaggeration to say that his school life was guaranteed.

"Black Rabbit! Let's work hard together!"

It was then that Ar also smiled brightly, welcoming Leo.

Grab-!

A woman's outstretched hand grabbed Leo's rabbit ears.

"Excuse me for interrupting, but."

Yura sought Berga's understanding, then looked at Leo with a brightly smiling face.

"Mr. Class Representative? What might you be doing here?"

"Who are you?"

Leo said shamelessly.

He didn't know why Yura was here, but he instinctively felt that if he got caught, things would become troublesome.

"Who are you? Who are you? You brat! You don't recognize the professor who taught you diligently for a semester? Or? Do you think you can fool the professors just by using a little magic?"

Yura, with glaring eyes, put strength into her grip.

"Hey! Why are you here? What are you trying to do now? Tell me honestly. Are you playing Rumerne and Azhonia against each other? Do you want to die? Do you want to die? Huh?"

Tendons popped in Yura's hand, and she effortlessly lifted Leo.

Leo dangled like a rabbit caught by its ears.

"What on earth is this about?"

As Berga asked with a bewildered expression, Ain sighed.

"It seems a student from our school has committed an impropriety. I don't know how he managed to attend Azhonia's entrance ceremony, but allow me to introduce him."

Leo, who had emerged from behind Yura, decided he could no longer hide and dispelled his polymorph magic.

A faint light flowed from Leo's body.

His rabbit ears disappeared, and his hair turned white.

Seeing Leo return to his human form, Berga and Ar gaped.

"This is Leo Flov. He's the first-year class representative of Rumerne."

"Hello, my name is Leo Flov."

*

After Leo's identity was revealed, chaos erupted.

'It doesn't matter if he's Rumerne's class representative! Azhonia's doors are open! Kyle! No, Leo Flov! You can just enroll in Azhonia!'

'What nonsense is that for a student of our school's Knight Department?'

'Why the Knight Department! It's the Summoning Department!'

Ain and Yura bickered at Berga's shout.

Ar wore a somewhat shocked expression.

Leo tried to apologize, but there was too much going on, so he didn't have the chance.

'Student Leo, please, I beg you. Please restrain yourself. We're having such a hard time!'

Vice-Professor Carlo pleaded with Leo, shedding tears.

Even without this, the battle of nerves among professors over Leo's department issue was intensifying day by day.

But if another Hero Academy got involved, it would be the vice-professors and assistants who would suffer.

So Leo explained the story of how he came to attend Azhonia's entrance ceremony.

Since nothing illegal had happened, it could be passed off as a mere happening for now.

However, Azhonia officials looked at Leo with regret in many ways.

A freshman who had conquered Arion's world before enrollment was unprecedented.

Ar had also achieved it, but it would have been better if both conquerors had enrolled together.

"You're probably the first in Rumerne's history to cause trouble like this during a vacation!"

Yura gave Leo a flick on the forehead.

"It doesn't matter, since nothing that could cause a big problem happened."

Ain reacted nonchalantly.

He seemed to have evaluated Leo's coming to check on rivals from other Hero Academies as a class representative quite positively.

"Well, I couldn't attend the entrance ceremony, though."

Leo couldn't participate in the desert-crossing marathon.

"Of course! You! If you had attended the entrance ceremony, you might have been forcibly admitted to Azhonia!"

"That's probably true."

Leo burst out laughing.

"By the way, the conquest reward is disappointing."

Ar's conquest reward was Arion's Breath.

It was revealed to be Arion's ability to communicate with water, which only appeared in ancient texts.

Of course, a gag order was issued because a major backlash was expected if the conquest reward became known.

It was a measure taken because Ar might not be able to have a proper school life.

Only the few who were present and the conquerors themselves knew about this conquest reward.

"You're human, so even if you got a conquest reward like that, you couldn't use it."

"I should be satisfied with just having conquered Arion's world."

"And that fact shouldn't be known either, you know?"

Yura narrowed her eyes.

Even though it had been passed off as a happening, there was nothing good to come from it becoming known.

On the surface, it looked like he hadn't gained anything.

But Leo had obtained something as a conquest reward that others couldn't even imagine.

'What on earth happened to Elsie?'

Rewards related to summoning magic are usually summoning catalysts or contract qualifications.

Never before had a summon itself directly become a conquest reward in this way.

'I'll think about that once I get back… I'm a little worried about Ar. It seemed like she couldn't properly control Arion's Breath.'

Leo clicked his tongue, recalling Ar, who hadn't fully transformed into water and couldn't control her power.

Since she had gained Arion's power overnight, there was no way she could control it properly.

'If I could be by her side, I could help her.'

"Anyway! Don't cause any more trouble this vacation, okay?"

Yura, who had arrived in front of the warp gate, spoke warningly.

Ain and Yura, the two professors, had followed him all the way to the warp gate to keep an eye on the unpredictable class representative, who they didn't think would obediently go home.

'I don't plan on causing any more trouble, though.'

He thought so, but since he had already been caught having caused enormous trouble, it was clear that anything he said wouldn't be believed.

"I'll see you in the second semester, Professors."

"Alright! See you after the vacation!"

"Rest well, Leo Flov."

Leo, who had greeted the professors, stepped into the warp gate.

With a flash of light, Leo left Azhrek.

"He acts so proper in his actual school life, so why does he sometimes cause such huge problems?"

Yura wore an exhausted expression.

"Still, Azhonia let it slide, so there shouldn't be any more problems, right?"

"Can't you tell from the letters I receive every month asking me to become a formal instructor?"

Yura's face grew serious.

"Oh come on, even so, he's doing well at our school, why would he switch schools…"

"That, we can't know. After all, Azhonia is also a Hero Academy on par with ours."

Ain let out a deep sigh.

"According to Professor Halind, there was even a transfer offer from Seyrun."

"……"

Yura's face grew even more serious.

The two senior and junior professors looked at each other and thought.

'This…'

'This might not be a situation for us to fight among ourselves.'

In the unprecedented situation of external forces getting involved in the student-recruitment battle, the two professors couldn't help but let out deep sighs.