Book 1 Chapter 127

127.

Opening Ceremony.

As the students lined up by grade, only the first-years stood there with particularly grim expressions.

The second-years standing next to the first-years looked at them with puzzled expressions.

"What's wrong with them?"

"I heard they got roughed up from the first day of school."

"They're like that just because they got roughed up a bit on the opening ceremony day? They were praised as the golden generation, but they're nothing special."

"I heard the vice-principal himself roughed them up."

"What? The vice-principal?"

The second-years, who had been sneering right next to the first-years, were startled.

The vice-principal.

He was a person shrouded in mystery even to the upperclassmen.

Upon hearing that such a vice-principal had personally disciplined the first-years, the second-years felt discontent.

"Are they giving only the first-years special treatment, or what?"

"This is discriminatory treatment. How are we supposed to attend school feeling this unfair?"

Throughout the vacation, wherever they went, there was chatter about Lumerun's first-years.

In the midst of this, the ones being compared were none other than the second-years, a grade above them.

In such a situation, hearing that the vice-principal had personally disciplined the first-years made it seem as if only the juniors were getting special treatment, leading to an outburst of complaints among the second-years.

Meanwhile, Leo was changing into his grade representative uniform in the grade representative waiting room.

Since the other grade representatives hadn't arrived yet, Leo was the only one in the waiting room.

It was when he had finished changing and came out of the changing room.

"So you don't like Elena."

"Hark sunbae-nim, aren't you also from one of the three great families? You could just borrow your family's power like Elena sunbae, couldn't you?"

"Do you think I'd do something so embarrassing?"

Second-year Lil and fourth-year Hark entered the waiting room.

"Leo! Did you have a good vacation?"

Lil spotted Leo and smiled brightly.

"Yes."

"Leo's performance in the inter-departmental competition was impressive! To be overshadowed by excellent seniors and an excellent junior. I'm really out of luck."

"Ugh!" Hark looked at Lil, who was sighing deeply, with a bewildered expression.

"What are you saying? You're the undisputed first place in second grade."

Lil Luce, who considered herself too ordinary for a grade representative.

However, Lil was a student whose position as grade representative had not been threatened in the slightest since her admission.

First place in written exams.

First place in practical exams.

First place in various combat and mission evaluations.

100% success rate in conquering the Hero's World.

She was an honor student setting astonishing records.

Among the upperclassmen, not a single student had maintained their position as the undisputed top of their grade like Lil.

Lis had fiercely competed with Ultar, and Hark and Elena had also temporarily ceded their grade representative positions to other students.

Unlike those seniors, Lil had been holding onto her grade representative position for a long time.

She was, quite literally, an iron wall.

"You know the kids call you 'Monster Girl,' right?"

"Hark sunbae-nim! Why are you saying such a strange nickname in front of Leo!"

As Lil looked tearful, Hark chuckled and ruffled Lil's hair.

Lil, who always did her best, was also a junior beloved by her senior grade representatives.

Even Hark, who usually didn't pay much attention to others, often teased Lil.

Hark, who had a good laugh watching Lil, covered his eyes with the blindfold around his neck and said,

"Anyway, I'm going to sleep. Wake me up roughly before the opening ceremony starts."

After saying that, Hark immediately fell into a deep sleep.

"He really sleeps well."

"Indeed."

As Leo expressed his admiration, Lil let out a deep sigh.

Of course, Leo saw through it and knew that Hark wasn't just someone who slept a lot at any given time because he was sleepy.

'His aura characteristic is accumulation, a rare trait.'

Accumulation characteristic.

It literally means accumulating power during normal times and unleashing it during combat.

'Though he seems to be genuinely sleepy a lot too.'

While Leo was muttering to himself, Lil said hurriedly with a flushed face.

"Leo! 'Monster Girl' is a nickname the seniors made up to tease me! I have a proper nickname called 'Spirit User of the Gale,' I mean…!"

It was when Lil, wanting to be a dignified and cool senior to her junior, was struggling to shed the strange image imposed upon her.

"Isn't 'Spirit User of the Gale' too ordinary?"

Elena, who had entered the waiting room, smiled brightly and floated towards Lil.

And she embraced Lil's head.

Lil was stiff as a mouse before a snake.

Elena chuckled at her junior and said,

"So 'Monster Girl' is perfect."

Lil looked tearful, watching Elena tease her.

Elena, who was stroking Lil as if she found her cute, looked at Leo and said,

"Leo-kun. I heard news about you during vacation. You participated in the Azonia entrance ceremony, didn't you?"

At her words, Lil's eyes widened, and she looked at Leo.

"Our junior-kun is truly amazing. Wherever he goes, he causes unusual incidents. Does that mean he's a big shot?"

Lil held her breath, watching Elena gaze at Leo with interest.

Elena had a self-indulgent personality.

She was called the Queen of Lumerun, but also a witch.

Unpredictable, she was also famous for being quite harsh in her judgments of others.

'To be precise, she ignores people she doesn't acknowledge.'

As far as Lil remembered, the only student Elena had ever rated as a 'big shot' was Lis Gerdinger.

Her pink eyes shone, and her smiling eyes were so beautiful that even Lil, as another woman, felt her heart pound.

But Leo merely smiled calmly.

"It's an honor to be seen in such a good light."

Elena narrowed her eyes, watching Leo smile calmly.

"Leo-kun. You said you had a favor to ask me, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"Right now, I might grant that favor. But."

Elena smiled brightly.

"Will you grant me a favor too?"

'What favor is Leo going to ask Elena sunbae?'

It was when Lil was looking back and forth between Leo and Elena.

"Are you now trying to flirt with a first-year?"

Hark, who had been sleeping, lifted his blindfold and looked at Elena with cold eyes.

"Hark sunbae, just mind your own business."

Elena said to Hark with a smiling face.

Of course, her eyes weren't smiling.

Hark Ligaard.

He was one of the few students who could stand against Elena, known as the Queen of Lumerun.

If the Zerion family had served as the chairman of Lumerun for a long time, the Ligaard family had ruled Lumeria City.

As the successor of one of Lumerun's three great families, he was a man on equal footing with Elena.

Lil frantically tried to mediate between the two seniors glaring at each other.

"S-seniors! You shouldn't fight!"

"Yes. What are you doing in front of the juniors?"

A man appeared, reinforcing Lil's words.

It was none other than the student council president, Lis.

At Lis's appearance, Elena returned to her usual relaxed expression, gave Leo a smile, and then nudged Lil's back.

"Lil, let's get ready."

"You shouldn't do anything strange like last time."

"We'll see how you do."

Lil sighed deeply and went into the changing room.

"Hark, let's get ready too."

"Yes, sunbae."

Lis entered the changing room first.

Hark, who followed behind him, looked at Leo and said,

"Your name is Leo Flobe, right?"

"Yes."

"You'd do well to be a little careful."

"…?"

Hark made a troubled expression.

"She's had a tendency to treat people around her like toys since she was little."

"I understand she has a self-indulgent personality."

"Yes. But the problem is when she finds a 'special toy'."

Hark sighed.

"She gets bored easily, so usually, there's no big trouble. But she seems interested in you, so it's probably best to be careful for now."

"Thank you for the advice."

"No problem. Anyway, I'm also looking forward to you."

Hark gave Leo a grin.

"Looking forward?"

"Yes, excellent juniors are always welcome."

After saying that, Hark entered the changing room.

Leo suddenly realized that many people were paying attention to him.

If until the first semester, the attention towards Leo was merely out of curiosity, it had now turned into recognition.

'From now on, Tartarus will probably start paying serious attention to me too.'

As an all-class like Kyle and having begun to show unusual actions, Leo would be a target of vigilance for Tartarus.

'The traitor in Lumerun might even directly try to harm me.'

Leo took a deep breath.

'I need to be fully alert from now on.'

***

After the opening ceremony, the first-years immediately moved to attend their classes.

Usually, schools have a break on the opening day, but Lumerun started classes right away without such a break.

The first class was none other than Hero Studies.

The first-years, gathered by class in the large lecture hall after a long time, all looked exhausted.

It was the after-effects of being afflicted by the curse 'Nightmare'.

It was then.

"Everyone! Long time no see! Did you have a good vacation… Ack!"

Artian, who was entering the large lecture hall with a bright smile, tripped and fell.

She was as clumsy as she had been in her first year.

Of course, the first-years, who clearly remembered Artian's terror, none of them dared to laugh and were on high alert.

Artian, grunting, stood in front of the large lecture hall and smiled brightly.

"Did you rest well during vacation? I've been looking forward to this opening day, eager to meet you all during the vacation!"

At her words, some students looked touched.

Artian was clearly a terrifying professor.

But her attitude towards students was genuine.

So, apart from being scary, she was a very popular professor.

"Oh? You all feel the same way too."

Artian suddenly started talking to herself.

She seemed to be conversing with the spirits she had contracted.

"My contracted spirits also said they missed you all!"

"Really?"

"As expected, even the spirits, despite their harsh words, cherish us!"

The culprits that made Artian terrifying.

The students became excited when she said the spirits wanted to meet them.

They had grown fond of them through tough love.

"Yes! They specifically said they were looking forward to this day to punish students who did their Hero Studies homework sloppily!"

The students' faces hardened as they watched Artian smile innocently.

Artian, who had been relaying the spirits' words without much thought, also became flustered and soon went to a corner to scold the spirits.

"Everyone! You're scaring the children! How can you say such things?"

Watching her, Kyle said,

"I really worked hard on my Hero Studies homework."

"Me too."

Teide let out a deep sigh.

Artian, having scolded the spirits, cleared her throat and stood at the podium again.

"Anyway, please submit your homework after class. Today, we'll be having a class about the issues in the Hero Studies academic world that occurred during the vacation!"

Listening to Artian's words, the students looked puzzled.

"New issues in the Hero Studies academic world?"

"What could it be? Was a new hero dungeon discovered?"

"Or perhaps a hero's artifact was excavated."

Issues in Hero Studies were important events that could change the world's situation.

"You'll surely be surprised! You all know well that at this year's Azonia entrance ceremony, the prologue page of [Hero] Arion, which had never been opened before, was conquered."

It was an incident widely publicized in newspapers, so all students knew about it.

The first-years, in particular, couldn't help but be more concerned, knowing that another student from a different hero academy of their generation had already conquered a Great Hero's page.

However, nothing had been announced about the contents or rewards of the Hero's World.

As the students looked tense, Artian said,

"And a certain name was mentioned by the conqueror this time."

Artian, holding a piece of chalk, began to write something on the blackboard.

Tap- tap- tap-

Only the sound of something being written on the blackboard echoed throughout the large lecture hall.

Students who saw the name written on the blackboard began to murmur.

Leo also recalled what had happened in the Hero's World.

'Come to think of it, Ar heard my name from Agon.'

The name written on the blackboard was all too familiar to Leo.

[The Surviving Hero, Kyle]

Artian put down the chalk, turned around, and said,

"It's unknown whether he's the same person as the Hero of Beginning, but… for the first time, the name 'Kyle' has been officially mentioned in the Great Hero's World."