Book 1 Chapter 261
261
“We have to find the Black Rabbit first.”
“Who is the Black Rabbit?”
As Ar muttered while walking the streets of Dweronia, the wolf beastman female student walking beside her tilted her head.
“Who else? It’s Lumen Student Council President.”
“Ohhh!”
“As expected of our Boss!”
Along with Ar’s words, the Azonia students following her burst into exclamations.
“Your ambition is extraordinary, Boss!”
“As expected of the number one second-year in Azonia!”
“You’re planning to go up against Leo Flobe first, aren’t you!”
“I will go up against him, but…”
Ar adjusted the beret of her Azonia uniform.
“Before the idiots cause trouble, we have to stop unnecessary fights…”
“Boss Ar is aiming for Leo Flobe’s neck! Find him!”
“Listen to me, you idiots!”
Ar yelled, looking at the students following her before her words were even finished.
‘The Black Rabbit calls me a simple-minded, foolish cat, but look at these guys!’
Ar clenched her fists, a vein popping on her forehead.
‘The real simple-minded fools are somewhere else!’
The ones following Ar now were none other than students from Ar’s faction.
Ar didn’t create a faction.
The reason a faction was formed was due to Azonia’s school culture.
Hero Cadet Schools are fundamentally merit-based, no matter where you go.
Lumen teaches all students equally according to its school culture.
Those who cannot keep up with the process must leave the school.
Seirun thoroughly divides students into advanced, intermediate, and beginner classes and educates them according to their class level.
And Azonia.
Azonia’s educational philosophy is only one.
Survival of the fittest.
Azonia does not have tests to evaluate academic performance each semester like Lumen or Seirun.
Every moment is a test.
Duels happen daily by grade, and rankings are determined.
The weak can challenge the strong at any time to claim their position.
And the strong are definitely favored.
Students with lower rankings had to follow the words of students with higher rankings.
Of course, it wasn’t an absolute command.
Only the top five students in each grade had absolute command authority.
And their status was equal.
Because of this, students gathered under higher-ranked students according to their inclinations, forming factions.
One could not issue commands to students of other factions.
Thus, faction formation was a very natural thing in Azonia.
Ar covered her face with her hands and sighed deeply, looking at the students wagging their tails like puppies in front of her.
The number one second-year in Azonia.
Ar Tune.
Her faction students were particularly known for their high loyalty.
There was no other reason.
It was because Ar was strong.
Since the moment she enrolled, Ar had been plagued by challengers aiming for her position.
After the faction was formed, other factions even conspired to systematically depose Ar.
But Ar broke through all of it with her own strength alone.
Now, no one dares to easily covet Ar’s position.
Overwhelming strength.
Beastmen admire strength, and they also admire the strong.
Yet, as the number one, she did not wield the privileges given to her.
Everyone in Ar’s faction was equal.
In Azonia, where the strong wielding privileges was natural, Ar’s actions were very unconventional.
Naturally, students with lower rankings gathered in Ar’s faction.
Other factions would mock Ar’s faction behind their backs, calling it a “gathering place for the weak.”
Whenever she heard such stories, Ar would not leave the perpetrator alone.
This was why Ar’s faction had such high loyalty to her.
“Boss! I have a great idea!”
At that moment, a large bear beastman male student said confidently.
Cat ears twitched under her beret.
‘He’s definitely going to say something strange.’
Duruan Tig.
Within Ar’s faction, he was second to none when it came to causing trouble without thinking.
“What is it?”
‘Still, let’s hear it first.’
“This is something I overheard from Wern’s plan.”
“That bear-brawn?”
‘I’m getting more uneasy.’
Wern Damun.
He was famous as the smartest student among the second-year bear beastmen.
Of course, that intelligence was only true when confined to ‘bear beastmen’.
Among beastmen, bear beastmen are known for being the strongest.
As a result, they were also the species with the strongest tendency to solve everything with strength.
Not all bear beastmen are like that, but Wern Damun was, in any case, a smart student with the typical traits of a bear beastman.
In other words, he was good at tricks, but he didn't weigh the consequences of what might happen due to those tricks.
“We find a student who is close to Leo Flobe and then bring that student to our den.”
“Rejected!”
“Why?”
“Are you suggesting we kidnap a Lumen student?!”
Duruan shook his head at Ar’s shout.
“No, Boss. If we kidnap, things get big. Even I know that much! We politely take them and politely treat them!”
“What if the Black Rabbit’s friend says they won’t come?”
“Hmm… we use a little force…”
“That’s kidnapping, you idiot!”
Ar, who had kicked Duruan in the solar plexus, flinched.
“Wait. The fact that you came up with such a ridiculous plan… doesn’t that mean you’ve already put it into action?”
“Probably.”
Ar grabbed the back of her neck.
‘Hey, principal! Why would you offer something like that as a prize!’
The reason Azonia students were fiercely determined to defeat Leo.
It wasn't just because of Leo’s reputation.
Azonia’s principal, Zepia, had put a bounty on Leo’s head this time.
‘To the one who defeats Leo Flobe in a martial arts sparring match and raises Azonia's prestige, I shall grant the opportunity to clear Hero Arion’s Hero Record!’
Hero Arion was the object of envy for all beastmen.
And Azonia students yearned to become the strongest warrior like him.
For such beastmen, the reward of clearing the hero’s Hero Record was an invaluable treasure.
Since such a thing was offered as a prize, it was not strange that the entire second year went crazy.
“First, find Dion.”
“Why Dion?”
Dion Den.
Ar’s childhood friend and the undisputed number two in Azonia’s second year.
He was a student considered Ar’s top rival.
And Wern was part of Dion’s faction.
“Your faction’s idiot is about to cause trouble; shouldn’t you stop him…”
“Ar Tune!”
At that moment, a hurried voice was heard from afar.
Ar turned her head.
Azonia second-year rank 5.
He was a student belonging to Borman’s tiger beastman faction.
“Big trouble! Lumen students have invaded the place our school designated as a base! Th-They said we kidnapped their school students…”
Ar looked up at the sky and lamented.
‘That bear-brawn bastard. I’ll find him and crush him.’
***
Leo was leisurely sightseeing in Dweronia alone.
Dwenno’s statues were erected throughout the city.
And befitting its reputation as the world's largest floating city, all the statues were made of gold.
They were beautiful statues, to the extent that it would not be an exaggeration to call them works of art.
They actually looked as if they would come alive at any moment.
Seeing that, Leo laughed.
‘This city praises Dwenno.’
Even its name was derived from Dweronia.
As such, it was clear that it was a city built to honor Dwenno.
‘What would Dwenno have thought if he saw this city?’
Thinking that, Leo burst into laughter.
Certainly, his friends were often recorded differently from how they actually were.
Dragons spoke of Lysinas as a wise and impartial great sage.
Of course, it was true that she had such aspects, but she also had a significant amount of con artist tendencies.
‘And she told a lot of lies, too.’
The ones most often deceived were Luna and Arion.
When Luna resented Lysinas as a con artist, Arion would timidly agree from the side.
‘She also gave people false hope with lies. Well, most of that hope became real, so it’s hard to call them lies now.’
He recalled Lysinas, who deceived people with white lies to give them hope.
Anyway, she wasn’t as righteous a dragon as the dragons remembered.
‘And Luna.’
The gentle and benevolent progenitor.
‘Nonsense. She was a tomboy and a fierce female thug.’
How else would Dwenno have commented that she was a divine work of art ‘if only she kept her mouth shut’?
‘And Arion was…’
A brave and strong man.
In reality, he was an extremely timid coward and frail.
That's why everyone in the extermination squad was always surprised in big battles.
‘How that coward could muster such courage is still a mystery.’
Leo smiled wryly, remembering Arion.
Lastly, Dwenno.
‘Dwenno was recorded exactly as he was.’
It was true that he became the party’s moral pillar as the elder of the group.
His firm will and steadfast character.
And with his unwavering, steel-like mind, he always offered advice without reservation.
If Lysinas was the leader who led the extermination squad, Dwenno was the pillar that supported it.
‘If Arion had died… and Dwenno hadn’t been there, everyone would have collapsed.’
It was Dwenno, more than anyone else, who suffered the greatest shock and guilt from Arion's death.
But even in that situation, Dwenno took care of the other party members.
‘Pull yourself together, Lysinas! What good is it if you, the leader, falter!’
After barely defeating Erebus, Dwenno got angry.
‘Luna! Stop those tears! We made a choice! Arion was prepared! Cast aside your sorrow! Forget Arion's death! Think of only one thing!’
He spoke particularly harshly to Luna, who was shaking the most.
Hearing those words, Luna genuinely resented Dwenno.
But Dwenno willingly played the villain.
‘Kyle.’
Dwenno’s steadfast eyes came to mind.
‘It was because the weapon I made was substandard, not your fault.’
He thus took sole responsibility for Arion’s death.
After composing himself, right before the next battle, Dwenno looked down at his hands and muttered.
‘Now that I see… Luna. You were right. My hands… they are ugly.’
Dwenno had always been proud of his hands.
Saying these hands were the ones that created beauty.
He boasted that they were the prettiest hands among the group.
At such times, Luna would tease him, calling them a dwarf’s ugly hands.
Luna was flustered by Dwenno’s words.
‘N-No. Your hands are quite cute too!’
At those words, Dwenno burst into laughter, and only then could the two reconcile.
That was Dwenno and Luna’s last conversation.
‘Come to think of it, that was his personality.’
He always accepted everything as an adult.
That’s why, among the personalities recorded in history now, Dwenno’s was the closest to the truth.
Big Brother.
‘Well, the part about him being a pervert is missing.’
Leo burst into laughter.
Dwenno would probably have cursed if he saw this city.
Dwenno pursued beauty, but he extremely disliked gaudy extravagance.
It was entirely possible that if he saw his golden statue, he might have crushed it with those lid-like hands.
As Leo was lost in memories of the past, recalling Dwenno.
“You.”
Someone spoke to Leo.
Turning around, he saw a small-statured woman standing there.
Her height reached Leo’s waist.
Anyone could tell she was a dwarf.
But overall, there was something un-dwarf-like about her.
Her fashion, in particular, was very flamboyant.
“You are a man, but you possess a beauty different from the typical male image.”
She looked Leo up and down intently, then asked seriously.
“Any thoughts on becoming a nude model?”
‘What is this woman, Dwenno.’