Book 1 Chapter 278
278
When Lunia arrived at the Great Hall, Eiran was already deeply engrossed in learning the spell formula for 'Anima's Sword' from Leo.
“Eiran. If you were going to go ahead, why didn't you tell me?”
“Lu-Lunia? Why are you here?”
“What are you talking about? We agreed to go together earlier, didn't we?”
Eiran flinched, her shoulders trembling, as she saw Lunia's incredulous expression.
“Th-that's right! We were supposed to go together! I completely forgot!”
Lunia stared intently at Eiran, who was laughing awkwardly and fumbling for words, then said.
“Eiran, you're having strange thoughts again, aren't you…?”
“Waaah!”
Eiran, her face bright red, grabbed Lunia and clamped her hand over her mouth.
Lunia, having shaken Eiran off, smiled mischievously and teased her.
“Why? What were you thinking again? Perhaps with Leo and…”
“Lunia! Lord Leo might misunderstand! I wasn't thinking anything like that! I wasn't!”
Eiran, with a tearful expression, covered Lunia's mouth and frantically shook her head.
“Mmph!? Mmph! Mmph!”
As Eiran covered not only Lunia's mouth but also her nose with her hand, Lunia began to struggle wildly.
However, it was impossible for Lunia, a summoner, to physically shake off Eiran, a magic swordsman.
“You mustn't say strange things, okay? Got it? Got it?”
Eiran, not realizing Lunia's condition, squeezed her eyes shut, frantically shook her head, and pressed down even harder with the hand covering Lunia's airway.
Leo, who had been watching the scene intently, spoke.
“Eiran.”
“Yes, y-yes! Lord Leo!”
“She's really going to die like that, you know?”
“Huh? What…? Haaah?!”
Eiran discovered Lunia, who had by now gone completely limp, and was terrified.
“Luniaaaaaaa!”
Leo mumbled as he watched Eiran frantically shake Lunia, shouting as if in agony.
“They get along well.”
***
“Whew…”
Lunia waved her hand at Eiran, who was kneeling before her, her ears drooping.
“Don't worry too much. It happened because I was teasing you.”
Then she looked at Leo.
“If you were already teaching Eiran, perhaps I could take the same class as a review?”
“It's fine. You and Eiran will be learning different magic.”
“Different magic?”
“Yes.”
Leo explained to Lunia what he had told Eiran.
Lunia narrowed her eyes as she listened to the story of the Shanian Empire.
‘What exactly is his identity?’
Leo always uncovered the world's secrets that no one had been able to reach for a long time.
‘Even just the things related to Lady Luna.’
Looking at what Leo had accomplished, he had already surpassed what a hero candidate could do.
It was when Lunia was looking at Leo with complicated eyes.
“I'm going to teach you magic left by the Progenitor of the Nebula, not just Judgment.”
“Magic left by the Progenitor?”
“Yes. It was magic recorded alongside Anima's Sword.”
“I'd like to see that grimoire sometime.”
“Unfortunately, I was allowed to view it in the Shanian Empire, but not to take it out.”
He had lied that the magic recorded with Luna's magic was a Shanian legacy.
Shan was a great empire holding countless secrets.
As such, it was suitable for making convenient excuses like this.
‘This is quite convenient.’
Leo inwardly smirked.
She looked at Leo with slightly doubtful eyes, but since he brought up the Shanian Empire, she couldn't question him further.
“Alright. What kind of magic will you teach me?”
Lunia subtly glanced at Eiran.
Her face held a hint of envy.
‘I never thought Erquint would still exist.’
Erquint.
It was a legendary sword known to have existed through the Hero Records, but its physical form could not be found.
The divine blacksmith Dwenno made it for Luna, the Progenitor of the Nebula, and Luna passed the sword down to her disciple, Fairy Knight Belkia.
However, the genuine article is known to have been lost during the Age of Calamity, and it is only passed down in the Ersal family as a Hero Weapon, a reward for conquering the Hero World.
For that reason, it was an ancient sword with almost no recognition even among elves.
Of course, those who deeply researched the deeds of the Great Heroes knew of its existence.
That legendary sword had returned to the heir of the Ersal family.
This was something that would turn elven society upside down.
‘Could Leo perhaps regard Eiran as a bit special?’
If she thought about it, it was none other than Leo who made Eiran, who had refused to go to school, return.
Her personality, unlike her own, was gentle and quiet, and most of all, cute.
It was while Lunia was deep in thought.
“Flame magic.”
“Flame magic?”
“Yes.”
Leo spread his palm and drew one of the magic circles of the Origin Magic created by Luna with threads of magic power.
“The name of the magic is Emperor of Flame.”
Leo said seriously, looking at Lunia's eyes that seemed to burn.
“Theoretically, it's a flame that never goes out.”
Lunia's eyes widened.
It wasn't just Lunia.
Eiran also wore a surprised expression.
An unending flame.
They knew well what that meant.
The primordial evil.
A terrifying calamity that had driven the world to the brink of destruction.
Erebos's black flame was famous for being a flame that never went out.
‘Luna ultimately failed to overcome that flame and lost her life.’
Luna's demise, unknown to people of the present day.
The death of a friend, known only to Leo, who was there.
[The Magic of Blooming Flowers] was the magic Luna truly wanted to create.
[Stella Radius] symbolized Luna herself, and [Judgement] was magic imbued with the will to overcome everything obstructing her path.
And [Emperor of Flame] was the magic Luna created to counter that hateful black flame that had taken so much.
‘Though she ultimately couldn't complete it.’
It was magic created by Luna but not suited to Luna herself.
‘If Dwenno had mastered star magic, he might have been able to master it.’
As far as Leo knew, Dwenno was the one who used the most powerful flames, apart from Erebos.
‘It didn't suit me either.’
Even Kyle, who inherited Luna's magic power and Dwenno's flames, couldn't complete this magic.
Leo had inherited Dwenno's power, but Dwenno's flames were a double-edged sword for Leo.
Dwenno's flames were powerful.
The moment they surpassed a certain firepower, they would burn even himself.
This was because Leo did not possess an innate resistance to flames like Dwenno.
Lunia looked at the spell formula for Emperor of Flame.
“This magic… it's incomplete.”
“That's right. Anima's Sword, which I'll teach Eiran, is the same. You two have to complete them.”
Luna merely created the framework of the Origin.
It was almost perfectly crafted magic, but magic wouldn't activate with just the framework.
The one who has to activate it is the learner themselves.
It was also Leo who ultimately completed Innocent Magic.
“It might even be harder to master than Judgment. And it might be dangerous.”
Leo knew best how dangerous uncontrollable flames could be.
Leo retracted the spell formula and looked at Lunia.
At that, Lunia snorted.
“It doesn't matter. If Lady Luna created an unending flame, then as an elf, I know best what that means.”
Lunia also read Luna's intentions.
“If this magic is incomplete… then it means Lady Luna couldn't fulfill that intention.”
Lunia took a deep breath.
“Leo, you restored the Magic of Blooming Flowers, which could be called Lady Luna's wish, and returned it to us elves. If Lady Luna were alive, she would have been incredibly happy.”
Lunia's red eyes glowed as if burning fiercely.
“Therefore, I also want to fulfill Lady Luna's intention.”
Lunia puffed out her chest.
“Because we are the descendants of the Great Progenitor of the Nebula. We have a duty to fulfill her intentions.”
At her words, Leo gave a slight smile.
“Luna probably would have been incredibly happy to hear that.”
“Hehe! Of course.”
Lunia blushed slightly and replied coyly.
“So! Shall we start with analyzing the spell formula?”
“No, there are two magic spells you need to learn before that.”
“What are they?”
“You need to learn the Magic of Blooming Flowers.”
The Magic of Blooming Flowers.
At first glance, it seems like a magic that simply makes flowers bloom, and that's it.
‘In fact, it's a magic with an extremely simple effect, that's all it does.’
But in terms of difficulty, it's the hardest among star magic.
It is, quite literally, magic imbued with Luna's essence.
“There isn't anyone among the elves who can use the Magic of Blooming Flowers yet, is there?”
“No. There isn't.”
Eiran's ears drooped.
The reason why the Magic of Blooming Flowers is difficult.
It's because it's magic that steps into the realm of 'birth'.
It is, quite literally, magic that makes life, in the form of a flower, bloom in a place where there is nothing, without any restrictions.
A miracle beyond magic.
It's such a magnificent magic that it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it has one foot half in the realm of the gods.
‘Though her eccentricity is revealed in the fact that the effect of magic, which entered the realm of miracles with such genius, is merely making flowers bloom.’
Leo said, imagining Luna grabbing him by the collar and shaking him furiously if she heard that thought.
“First, once you can use the Magic of Blooming Flowers, you'll be able to master any star magic. That magic is literally the essence of star magic.”
At Leo's words, Lunia recalled Leo adapting and rewriting the Rundia family's arcane magic to suit himself.
‘Even arcane magic is ultimately star magic. So that's why this guy was clumsily imitating my magic.’
Feeling one of her questions answered, Lunia said.
“Then, until then, are we putting off learning Anima's Sword and Emperor of Flame?”
“No. You can practice separately. Eiran, you'll learn how to control fairy magic power from this fellow.”
Leo snapped his fingers.
Then a summoning circle opened, and Kirian appeared.
[I, the great one, appear.]
“Lord Kirian, it's been a while.”
[Oh! Long time no see! You lewd elf!]
“Why, why am I a lewd elf?!”
[Why, you ask. You thought that just because Leo and that bad-tempered elf went into the same room, they did this and that…]
“Waaak! Waaak! Waaak!”
Eiran grabbed Kirian and shook him wildly.
[Ughhhhh!]
The captured Kirian flailed in Eiran's hands as if he'd been put through a threshing machine.
“That boisterous fairy is still the same.”
Lunia glanced at Kirian and put on a smug expression.
“You should be elegant and dignified like our Fiora. So, Leo. What about me?”
“You'll need to become even more familiar with flames than you are now. First, wouldn't it be good to start by training to get used to Fiora's flames?”
Saying so, Leo summoned Fiora this time.
“…”
Lunia stared blankly at Fiora, who had appeared on Leo's palm.
Peep-!
Fiora raised one of her wings as if in greeting.
Peep-! Peep!
In Fiora's mind, Lunia was imprinted as the person who gave delicious treats.
Therefore, she chirped wildly as if wanting something, then flapped her wings to fly to Lunia and jumped off Leo's palm.
Flap-! Flap! Thud-! Roll, roll, roll, roll-!
And she couldn't fly, falling straight to the floor and rolling to Lunia's feet.
Peep-! Peep!
“What in the world did you do to our Fiora!”
Lunia glared and grabbed Leo by the collar.
Leo said.
“Let me make this clear. It's not my fault. How was I supposed to know she'd go around getting snacks from the summoning department kids at our school?”
Fiora was currently so overweight she couldn't even fly properly.
Peep- Peep-!
Lunia clutched her head as she watched Fiora, now a plump chick rolling around like a ball.
Fiora struggled, regained her balance, stood up, and chirped wildly at Lunia's feet, demanding snacks.
“Fiora, don't worry. Big sister will definitely put you on a diet.”
Kirian, who had escaped from Eiran's hands, mumbled as he watched Lunia embrace Fiora tightly and make her vow.
[If you leave her for about a week, she'll probably have puffed up 1.5 times in size.]
At those words, Leo sighed.
‘An obese phoenix, a Fairy Prince chased away by the Fairy King for pranks, a perverted Pegasus. Why are all my summons like this?’
Leo thought it was fortunate that Elsie was at least normal.