Book 1 Chapter 197

"So arrogant!"

"You think you're something just because you deciphered Luna's magic, which had been undeciphered for so long?"

The Seirun students glared at Leo with knitted brows.

The Rumern students wore triumphant expressions.

Amidst this, Idin chuckled.

"That's quite some confidence! Leo Flove. But Seirun has been a wall for Rumern for a long time, are you sure?"

"It will be very different starting this year."

"So confident? The next Rumern student council president."

Renia approached Leo with a click-clack.

"Does that mean Rumern is different this year because you're here?"

"Yes."

Renia licked her upper lip with her tongue.

"It's much more rewarding to defeat an opponent as confident as you."

The third and fourth-year students of Rumern shivered at Renia's "Hmph-" laugh.

Renia.

She was the student council president of Seirun and had been evaluated as a top hero candidate for the past five years.

Her skill and progress were comparable to Lis of Rumern.

However, that alone wasn't the reason the third and fourth-year students shivered.

The reason they recoiled from her was her characteristic.

Her nickname was "Hunter."

She had a tenacity that made her absolutely defeat any target she set her sights on.

And beneath her innocent appearance, she hid a sadistic tendency to thoroughly crush her opponents.

To the third and fourth-year students who had experienced her traits multiple times in the Ruse battles, Renia was literally a terror.

When she showed that reaction, it wasn't just the Rumern students who shivered.

The Seirun students also flinched.

She possessed a charisma that could bend even the arrogant and proud Seirun students to her will.

Since she became student council president, there were more than a few students who had rebelled and been thoroughly crushed.

Standing before Leo, Renia's golden eyes sparkled as she reached out and gently grasped Leo's chin.

"Restoring the ancestor's magic and conquering the ancestor's world, you're worth defeating. Heh, don't cry after getting beaten by this older sister. Oh, you could come study at our Seirun too. Since you restored the ancestor's magic, you'd have the qualifications to enter Seirun. How about coming to Seirun this time? Then you can get the trophy you want so badly, right?"

"That woman. We can't just leave her be."

Elena, who had been absentmindedly twirling her hair with her fingers from a corner of the party hall, muttered in a chilling voice.

"Eh, Elena?"

Elena's pink eyes emitted a cold light.

"How dare she try to pull dirty tricks on Leo-kun."

"Calm down! Elena! If you get involved, it'll be a disaster!"

"The Seirun student council president is just joking, right?"

The terrified third-year students tried to calm Elena down somehow, but there were few students who could stop her, known as the Queen of Rumern.

Ignoring her classmates, Elena approached the two with a determined expression.

Just then, someone put an arm around Elena's shoulders.

"Why is our junior upset again?"

"Torua-senpai."

"Watch what Leo-kun does. He's the student council president you chose, isn't he?"

At Torua's words, Elena glanced at Leo.

Meanwhile, a similar situation was unfolding among the teachers.

"Ugh! Ugh!"

"Hey, you crazy guy! Why are you interfering in a student's business!"

Yura struggled to stop the enraged Ren, who had his eyes open.

Ain sighed, wrapped his arm around Ren's neck from behind to restrain him, and covered his mouth with his other hand.

Just then, Hallind approached.

"More commotion?"

"Pr-Professor Hallind!"

Yura snapped to attention.

Normally, Ren would have calmed down at Hallind's appearance, but there was no sign of it.

Hallind looked at Ren and gestured to Ain with his chin.

"Handle it."

Crack-

Ain applied force to his arm without hesitation, knocking Ren out.

The Rumern professors around them looked disgusted at the sight.

"What should we do?"

Yura asked nonchalantly, and Hallind replied calmly.

"Throw him outside. He'll come to his senses if he gets some snow in the cold."

Ain and Yura unhesitatingly went to leave Ren outside.

While these three professors displayed a tear-jerking camaraderie between seniors and juniors.

Leo removed Renia's hand from his chin and smiled.

"Thank you for your words, but I find it more fun to take things."

"Oh my. We have similar tastes."

Renia smiled faintly.

"Then you won't get to touch the Seru battle championship trophy."

"I'll snatch it and display it somewhere casually, so I won't have a chance to touch it."

Seeing Leo speak as if it were nothing, Renia's expression turned slightly sullen.

She had worked hard to protect the Ruse battle trophy throughout her school life, but this first-year from Rumern treated it like a pebble lying on the roadside.

Furthermore, his unyielding retort to any provocation felt quite annoying.

'He has considerable composure.'

Renia, slightly annoyed, approached the trophy, picked it up, and shook it as if to taunt him.

"Hmph. You'll never be able to take this trophy back to Rumern."

'President!'

'Why are you being so childish!'

The Seirun students hid their faces at the childish provocation.

Leo, who had been staring blankly at Renia, poured magic into the Polium hanging on his left wrist and returned it to its original form.

Then, he swung it and asked.

"Seirun doesn't have anything like this, do they?"

Renia flinched at Leo's equally childish response.

"Ahem! W-Well, now that we've heard the resolutions of the student council presidents, let's move on to the next event!"

Idin, judging that if left unchecked, both schools would become ridiculously childish, hastily changed the subject.

Runia, watching Leo casually turn the Polium into a bracelet, shook her head.

"Our president is childish, but you're really something too. Why are you acting like a kid?"

"You and I are kids too."

"I'm not! Do you think I'd get riled up by a childish act of provoking someone with something they don't have?"

Looking at Runia, who scoffed, Leo opened his palm.

*Pong-*!

Fiora was summoned above it.

Leo gently swayed Fiora and said.

"You don't have anything like this, do you?"

At those words, Runia's shoulders trembled.

If it weren't for the party, she might have grabbed Leo by the collar.

Clenching her fists and grinding her teeth, Runia glared at Leo, who chuckled.

"The effect is quite excellent."

"You! I'll see you in the Seru battle! I'll turn you into mush!"

Runia, provoked, stormed away.

And she grabbed Eilan, who was approaching Leo, by the wrist and left.

"R-Runia-yang?!"

"Eilan! That guy is an enemy! An enemy! Don't go near him!"

"How could this happen…! Leo-nim!"

Eilan, with a tearful face, called out to Leo plaintively.

Leo waved at the two of them.

"Oh! Leo! You provoked them perfectly!"

"Yeah! You won the psychological warfare!"

Kal and Tate approached, laughing.

"You'd better stay away from me during the first-year matches."

"Huh?"

"Why?"

"Because I think Runia might just charge at me without thinking."

At those words, Kal and Tate, recalling Runia frantically grabbing Leo's collar during their school trip, shivered.

***

"Kalian. It seems all the first-year students of Rumern this year are extraordinary. Amazing."

Late at night.

At the highest point of Seirun.

In the Star Square, the principal of Seirun, Benit, said calmly.

Kalian chuckled at Benit's words.

"What's amazing about me? It's just that the children and professors worked hard."

Sword Saint Kalian.

The first star of the ancestors, Benit.

They were heroes who lived in the same era.

They were among the most remarkable figures of the current era.

And they were comrades who had navigated the battlefield together.

"So, what did you think when you saw it yourself?"

Kalian sipped his tea and looked up at the sky.

The highest point of Seirun.

Floating in the sky of Seirun by magic, this place was literally created for pure star observation.

Of course, it was not a place open to everyone.

Having existed since the early days of Seirun, it was primarily used for important meetings.

And on clear nights, it was a place where one could see the boundless stars.

Kalian always marveled when he came here.

At Kalian's words, Benit replied calmly.

"I understand why you and Lord Reven chose it."

Benit recalled Leo, whom he had glimpsed fleetingly earlier.

"He's a talent capable of shouldering the era. He's the kind of talent Nerzia would covet."

Nerzia.

He was the vice-principal of Seirun, dispatched from Dragonia.

And he was more interested in fostering heroes than anyone else.

He was a dragon with the ambition to create a great hero with his own hands.

"Nerzia covets him, you say."

Kalian chuckled.

However, he wasn't too worried.

'Whether it's Rumern or Seirun, it doesn't matter as long as Leo Flove can grow.'

It might not be the proper attitude for a principal, but Kalian and Benit had lived too long to cling to mere schools.

They simply wished for a talent capable of carrying the era to be born as a true hero.

"So. What is the reason you asked me to meet you like this before the Ruse battle?"

"Lately, the 'Hero Hunters' have been making unusual moves in the northern region."

Kalian's eyes twitched.

Hero Hunters.

Those who betrayed the surface and sided with Tartarus.

Among them were quite a few who inherited the power of the Hero Record.

They were a group created by Tartarus to kill heroes.

"Of course, they don't dare to invade the elven territory, but they are certainly a threat."

"Wasn't there anything about this in the letter?"

Kalian asked, narrowing his brows, and Benit sighed deeply.

"I wanted to meet and talk in person, just in case. Letters and magic communications traveling between Seirun and Rumern can be intercepted at any time."

"Indeed. So that's why you requested the hero summons from Rumern and called our heroes here."

Naturally, Seirun also had elven heroes.

Yet, they had also requested hero summons from Rumern.

The pretext was a request to deter any potential movements by Tartarus, but mobilizing Rumern's heroes as well seemed a bit excessive, Kalian had thought.

But there was a reason for it.

"Tell the professors and heroes of Rumern. It's unlikely, but there's a slight possibility."

The Ruse battle could not be canceled.

Stopping the annual Ruse battle due to concerns about Tartarus or Hero Hunters could cause even greater chaos and anxiety.

Benit believed it was right to gather forces to such an extent that they wouldn't dare attack.

Kalian nodded and looked up at the night sky.

Gazing at the sky, where countless stars seemed to be pouring down, Kalian let out a deep sigh.

'I hope nothing happens.'