Book 1 Chapter 132
“Hmph, is it finally time to make this body’s name known to the whole world?”
“You’re kidding yourself.”
“What good would knowing your name do?”
That evening, the entire dormitory cafeteria was abuzz with talk of mission practice.
“Everyone’s excited about mission practice.”
Chelsea opened her mouth wide and ate the pudding that was served for dessert.
“Mmm~”
Seeing Chelsea happily hugging her cheeks, Kal asked,
“What? Is the pudding delicious?”
“It’s limited edition today, so I’m absolutely not giving you any?”
Seeing Chelsea’s strong defensiveness, Kal said dismissively,
“Fine, I don’t want it anyway.”
“Yeah. Don’t eat it. Leo oppa, would you like a bite?”
“What’s with this difference in attitude!”
Kal protested with a tearful face.
Ignoring him, Chelsea took a spoonful of pudding and looked at Leo.
“I’m fine.”
“This is incredibly delicious! Leo oppa, you’ve never tried the limited edition pudding before, right?”
“That’s right, Leo. That thing is really delicious. It’s not for nothing that the kids are clamoring to eat it.”
Kal, who had tried the limited edition pudding, nodded in agreement with Chelsea.
“I guess I’ll try a bite then.”
“Okay.”
Just as Chelsea was about to feed Leo the pudding,
*Snap-!*
“Mmm! As expected, limited edition pudding is delicious.”
Someone who barged in ate the pudding.
Chelsea, who had widened her eyes, tried to thrash the spoon in Celia’s mouth.
But Celia bit down hard on the spoon and snatched it from Chelsea’s grasp.
“Are you an alligator!”
“Hmph.”
Celia tossed her hair back and snorted.
Chelsea, trying to get the spoon back, glared at Celia and Kal and issued a warning.
“If you touch my pudding, you’ll die!”
“I won’t let you eat it.”
Seeing Leo burst into laughter, Chelsea finally felt relieved and quickly went to retrieve the spoon.
“Leo, you haven’t decided where to go for mission practice yet, right?”
“I have, why?”
“With whom? Are you planning to go with the students from Class 5?”
Celia made a displeased face.
If he was going with classmates, it was obvious Chelsea would be included.
Celia, who had intended to arrange mission practice with Leo, was not pleased.
“No. Alone.”
“What? Then it’s perfect. Come with me…”
“Guess who?”
Just then, someone covered Leo’s eyes.
Leo calmly brushed away the hand and said,
“What’s wrong, Chen Xia.”
“Aww, that’s no fun.”
Chen Xia, looking disappointed at his indifferent reaction, withdrew her hand from Leo’s.
Celia looked puzzled.
“Do you guys play like that?”
“I try to tease Leo-doryeong, but he always reacts indifferently, so it’s not fun.”
Chen Xia grumbled and poked Leo’s cheek.
Kal, watching the scene, turned his head.
There stood Chelsea, frozen, holding her spoon.
“Hello, Chelsea-yang.”
Chen Xia smiled and waved.
“Uh, yeah. Hi.”
Chelsea answered, flustered, then sat in front of Leo.
And she alternated looking at Leo and Chen Xia.
“Are you here for mission practice too?”
“Yes. I thought it would be good to form a party with Leo-doryeong. If Celia-yang also plans to form a party with Leo-doryeong, would you let me join too?”
“Hmm. The top 1, 2, and 3 students from the Knight Department for mission practice… Not bad. A truly star-studded lineup?”
It was Kal who responded to Celia’s remark.
“I don’t exactly like our country’s prince, but the 2nd ranked in the Knight Department is Duran. And why is Leo in the Knight Department?”
“Right! Right!”
Chelsea protested, waving her spoon at Kal’s words.
Seeing that, Celia said dismissively,
“What are you talking about? Soon, when it’s announced that Leo is my cousin, he’ll be confirmed as being in the Knight Department, you know?”
“Huh? Was that officially announced?”
“Yes. It’ll be announced soon.”
Kal was surprised, and Celia nodded nonchalantly.
“So, Leo-doryeong and Celia-yang are indeed related by blood.”
“You knew?”
“The fire you two use is similar. Students with good observation skills would all have a vague inkling.”
Chen Xia shrugged her shoulders.
“Anyway! Leo! Let’s do mission practice together!”
“That’s right. It’s better to do it together as students from the same department, isn’t it?”
Chen Xia chimed in with Celia’s words.
“I haven’t decided on my department yet. Besides, I’ve already decided on my mission practice.”
“Then let’s go together. If you’ve chosen the place, it must be high level, right?”
“Leo oppa said he’s going to hunt bandits.”
“Hunting bandits? Is there a major bandit group operating right now?”
“I haven’t heard any such news.”
Seeing the two girls’ surprised reactions, Leo made a bored face.
“I’m going to a rural backwater to hunt a band of bandits.”
“What? Why!”
“That kind of mission practice won’t help with your grades at all!”
To their words, Chelsea said, putting a spoonful of pudding in her mouth.
“I’ve told you so many times, but you didn’t listen.”
“Leo must have his reasons.”
Kal said, leaning back in his chair, and Chelsea pouted.
“Even so, with Leo oppa’s abilities, he could easily handle a much better request.”
Later, Celia tried to persuade Leo several times, but he wouldn’t listen.
After finishing their meal, as Leo was leaving the dormitory cafeteria,
*Murmur- murmur-*
There was a commotion in front of the dormitory.
“What’s going on?”
To Kal’s question, a student from the Summoning Department said excitedly,
“Seniors from the Dungeon Conqueror Party are here!”
“What?”
“They’re looking for first-year students to join them for this mission practice!”
Dungeon Conqueror Party.
A party consisting of students with excellent academic performance.
They are authorized by the school to officially tackle Heroic Dungeons and are deployed for missions.
They are, in essence, the best students in Lumen.
As they approached the dormitory entrance, they saw figures who appeared to be third and fourth-year students.
The graduating fifth-year students were retiring this year, so they did not participate in recruiting party members.
“Ah! Celia!”
At that moment, someone approached Celia.
A boy with black hair and red eyes.
Barden Zedinger, Celia’s relative and a second-year student at Lumen.
“This is great! I was waiting for you!”
“Why me?”
Celia asked, folding her arms, and Barden grinned.
“Why? To invite you to join our party!”
For ordinary students, joining a conqueror party was an immense honor.
Dungeon conquerors were, quite literally, the best students, and joining a party allowed them to build friendships with them.
Thus, everyone tried their best to join a conqueror party.
However, there are always exceptions.
Prodigies.
Especially students like Celia were desperately sought after by conqueror parties.
After all, they would naturally possess the skills to become dungeon conquerors by the time they reached higher grades.
Therefore, students with good grades were naturally invited to join parties.
“You haven’t decided on a conqueror party yet, right? Master Lys’s party is all fifth-year seniors, so it’s disbanding this year.”
The dungeon conqueror party Lys Zedinger belonged to, Red Wing, was a party Lys himself created.
It was a party that had been active since their third year, with strong peers like Torua and Jamua as its core.
Many third and fourth-year students wanted to join Red Wing this year, but because they adhered to the principle of only accepting students from the same year, it was a party that would disband at the end of this year.
“I belong to Blue Moon, a conqueror party created by Senior Elena! I guarantee you, there is no other conqueror party as influential within Lumen as ours is!”
Seeing Barden speak so confidently, Chelsea behind him scoffed.
“Yeah. You can go that way, Celia.”
“Chelsea Rualin? Do you want to join too?”
“I don’t need to. And who are you to call my name so casually?”
“What? You don’t know me? You don’t know Barden Zedinger?”
“What’s so great about Zedinger that I have to memorize the names of people who aren’t direct lineage?”
“What did you say?”
Barden bristled at Chelsea’s sharp words.
However, as Chelsea said, no matter how great Zedinger was, Chelsea, as a direct descendant of Rualin, had no reason to remember the collateral relatives of Zedinger.
“W-whatever! This time, we’re going to explore a Heroic Dungeon! It’s mission practice period right now, isn’t it? It will be incredibly helpful if you come with us! It will be easy to manage your grades!”
To that, Celia said,
“I’m not planning to join a conqueror party yet.”
“What?”
“Let’s go, Leo.”
As Celia walked away, Leo followed her.
‘That guy!’
Barden glared at Leo’s retreating back.
He, too, as a Zedinger, knew that Leo might become the successor this time.
‘Without even bearing the name Zedinger!’
In terms of bloodline, Leo was closer to being a direct descendant, but Barden could not accept Leo.
As Leo, Celia, Chen Xia, Kal, and Chelsea walked away, people from the conqueror parties swarmed towards them.
This was because Leo, Celia, Chelsea, and Chen Xia among the first-year students were all targets that absolutely had to be recruited.
In addition to those four, students who had played a significant role in defeating Gigantes in the inter-departmental competition were all being held back by their seniors.
“I envy the popular ones.”
Kal muttered, standing a step back.
“I know. Leo-kun is quite popular.”
“Huh? Gulp-!”
Kal, turning his head at the clear voice from beside him, gasped.
Not only Kal but everyone around was startled when they saw her.
A colossal figure was there.
‘Elena Zeron!’
Everyone held their breath at the appearance of a senior as distant as the sky, whom the current first-year students dared not even look at.
Even the other senior students who were there for promotional activities were surprised.
Elena, known as the queen of the school, was a student that not only first-year students but even other senior students rarely saw.
Elena smiled brightly at Kal.
Kal’s face flushed at her breathtaking beauty.
Knowing Elena had arrived, the Blue Moon party members hastily gathered around.
However, no one stood next to Elena or spoke to her.
The conqueror members who came for promotional activities were merely affiliated with parties; they were considered low-ranking individuals who did not directly participate in conquests.
No one could casually speak to Elena, whom even official members found difficult to approach.
As Elena moved, the crowd parted.
Elena, as if accustomed to it, walked through the crowd.
She stopped right in front of Leo.
“Hello, Leo-kun.”
“Hello, Elena-senpai.”
Seeing Elena greet him with a bright smile, Leo responded calmly.
Even with her demonic smile, Leo remained unfazed.
Elena, watching with amusement, said,
“My party is going to explore a Heroic Dungeon this time.”
“Yes.”
“Join our party. I’ll make you an official conqueror party member.”
Everyone was shocked by the unprecedented offer.
It was surprising enough for the leader of a conqueror party to personally invite someone to join, and it was a mere first-year student.
“I will make you the best, Leo Flov.”
Elena smiled confidently and extended her hand.
The offer from a girl who was beautiful, powerful, and wielded immense authority.
Who in the world would refuse that offer…
“No, thank you.”
‘What did he just say?’
‘No?’
Everyone present could not comprehend Leo’s words for a moment.
Elena also narrowed her beautiful brow.
“Why?”
“As I said before, I’m expensive.”