Book 1 Chapter 336
336
Ranked 3rd overall in Seirun’s first year.
Eclair Wellaroon stared at Leo, calming her pounding heart.
‘Huh? When did he get here?’
Looking at her classmate, who had white hair and red eyes, she calmed her startled heart and glanced at the male student, Elik Dewon.
Elik adjusted his glasses and calmly watched Leo.
Seeing that, it seemed he had already noticed that this boy was listening to their conversation.
‘Ugh! So embarrassing.’
Seirun’s 1st year runner-up.
Elik Dewon was a friend she had known since they entered the academy.
However, while he was her best friend, she also considered him a rival she had to surpass.
Eclair felt a little intimidated that Elik had noticed while she hadn't, but she quickly regained her composure.
‘I’m a pure mage, and Elik is a combat mage! That’s the difference!’
Eclair, who had cheerfully shaken off her dejection, tilted her head.
“Who?”
In response to Eclair’s question, Leo pondered for a moment, then smiled and said,
“My name is Rail.”
He had casually made up a pseudonym by combining Leo and Kyle’s names.
At Leo’s words, Eclair tilted her head again.
“I’ve never heard that name before. You’re not from an upper class, are you?”
“No.”
“Good, then you won’t spread rumors, right?”
Clearing her throat with an ‘ahem!,’ Eclair said proudly.
“I’m Rhea Tingel, the top student of the first year and a direct descendant of the Tingel family! You know who I am, of course, right?”
“Yes.”
Leo lied with a straight face.
All Leo knew about Rhea was that she was a descendant of Seirun Tingel and the niece of Tina, who was an invited professor at Lumern.
There was no reason for the great hero Leo to be interested in a mere rookie who, though promising, was still only a hero candidate.
‘But I can’t just say I don’t know.’
In the first place, it would be strange for a first-year student to not know the top student of the first year.
Reacting to Leo’s response, Eclair raised a finger and said,
“That Rhea! She summoned Fairy King Silode in class today!”
Eclair said with a flushed face, seeming unable to contain her urge to chatter about what she had said in class.
To Eclair’s words, Elik calmly replied,
“It wasn’t exactly a summoning. You only brought forth the Fairy King’s will, didn’t you?”
For the highest-tier familiars like Phoenixes, Fairies, and Pegasi, when they respond to a summoner’s call, they don’t always send their entire being.
They can also convey just their ‘voice’ to the summoner.
Normally, that isn’t called ‘summoning.’
There’s usually a reason why only their voice is heard.
When the contractor’s vessel is insufficient, familiars can only be heard in that way.
“Just hearing the Fairy King’s voice, who had been silent for 5,000 years, is almost as good as a summoning! The teachers said so too, right?”
“That’s just the teachers’ claim. Summoning theory doesn’t call that a summoning. You’re framing something that Rhea herself doesn’t consider a summoning as one, so how can you?”
“Ugh!”
“And it wasn’t a summoning ritual achieved by Rhea alone.”
“It wasn’t a summoning ritual achieved by myself?”
Leo asked with a hint of confusion, and Elik nodded.
“Yes. You know it too, right? The upper class students had their class in the Hall of Comets today.”
The Hall of Comets.
It was the innermost part of Seirun, where the magic tools and grimoires left by the Mage of Comets, Seirun, were kept.
Of course, Leo didn’t know about the Hall of Comets.
He just guessed it was related to the Mage of Comets because of its name.
“Rhea was the representative and used Cometes there to hear the Fairy King’s voice.”
‘Cometes…….’
While Lumina’s representative magic staff was Folium, Lumina didn’t exclusively use Folium.
Depending on the battlefield and the situation.
And the nature of the enemy she was facing.
Lumina used other staffs besides Folium.
Cometes was one of them.
It was a magic staff made by Dweno, and although not as renowned as Folium, it was a staff Lumina frequently used.
‘Of course, it’s not the genuine article.’
Cometes, like Folium, was broken in Lumina’s final battle.
The genuine article was not passed down to posterity.
The Cometes currently in existence was a reward obtained by the Mage of Comets 3,000 years ago when he first conquered Lumina’s world.
Although it was a replica, it was a magic staff that held immense power.
‘Could it be considered the strongest among existing magic staffs?’
In a way, it was natural.
It was a divine-tier magic staff directly made by Dweno, and Lumina herself had infused it with her mana.
Furthermore, the current Cometes was imbued with Seirun’s mana.
It was a powerful staff in itself.
‘If she borrowed the power of Cometes, it would be possible to hear Silode’s voice, even if she was still lacking.’
Cometes was also imbued with the mana of Lumina, Silode’s sworn companion.
‘Even with various combined factors, to converse with the Fairy King at that age… she seems to have great talent.’
Leo, now intrigued by Seirun’s current top first-year student, said,
“Thank you for telling me the story.”
With that, Leo turned and walked towards his room.
As Leo disappeared, Eclair murmured in amazement.
“I don’t know if he’s from an intermediate or lower class… but he’s a peculiar kid. He wasn’t intimidated by us at all.”
“There’s no reason for someone from a lower class to be intimidated by us, is there?”
“That’s true. But nowadays, class rank is practically social standing at our school. I heard it wasn’t like this last year.”
Eclair pouted and hugged a cushion.
“Even students in the same class, the representatives of the year, just watch us nervously and don’t try to get close! I wanted to have a youthful school life full of excitement! Make lots of friends! Have a fluttery romance! I don’t want this pointless, authoritarian school life!”
Eclair flopped onto the sofa and flailed around.
Elik adjusted his glasses.
“If you say or do that in front of the teachers, you’ll get detention.”
“Are you going to tattle?”
“We, or Rhea, might not care, but be careful with your actions in front of others.”
Thinking of classmates who were constantly eyeing the position of year representative, she slumped her shoulders.
“I saw students from the lower classes making noise in the classroom yesterday. Seeing that, I thought, ‘Lower class students have it so good.’ ”
“……It’s just the beginning of the semester. You’ll get closer soon.”
“Do you really think so?”
Eclair sighed deeply and sat up.
With a gloomy expression, Eclair returned to her room.
Watching Eclair like that, Elik also adjusted his glasses and looked out at the first-year building, ‘The 성 of Beginning,’ visible outside the lounge.
‘……I don’t know if this is okay.’
Although he had comforted his friend Eclair, Elik also recognized that the academic atmosphere was strange.
Eclair wondered,
‘Is it like this at other hero academies?’
Elik, filled with doubt, sighed deeply.
***
The next day.
Leo left his dorm early in the morning.
Orlen, who had guided Leo to the first-year’s dorms after he arrived at Seirun the previous day, had given him a map that also included the location of Leo’s classroom.
The first-year classroom area was quite complex.
Therefore, he left the dormitory early to arrive at the classroom with plenty of time to spare.
‘I’ll skip breakfast today.’
When his friends saw Leo occasionally skipping a meal, they would act as if something terrible had happened.
‘Hey! Honestly, does it make sense for us, who are in our growing years, to skip meals?’
‘Right! Right!’
When Kal spoke about the importance of a meal, Chelsea and the others would agree.
Of course, Leo, accustomed to his past life, didn’t quite agree with their praise of skipping a meal.
Seirun seemed to be no different in that regard; the dining area within the dormitory zone was bustling with students and full of life.
Passing by such a restaurant, Leo headed early to the classroom area.
And a moment later, he found his assigned classroom.
“Well, it’s to be expected, isn’t it?”
Leo let out a small laugh.
The class assigned to Leo at Seirun was ‘Lower Class.’
“How predictable can one’s thoughts be?”
With an expression of surprise, Leo entered the classroom and stopped.
The lower class was spacious.
So spacious that even with over a hundred desks and chairs, it didn’t look crowded.
Furthermore, the entire classroom was old, and the atmosphere was far from academic.
‘What is this? I heard Seirun is divided into upper, intermediate, and lower classes, and within the same class level, they are further divided into classes 1, 2, and 3?’
Leo glanced at the name ‘Lower Class Classroom’ above the classroom door.
With a bewildered expression, Leo entered the classroom.
And he sat in the very front seat.
After all, as an exchange student, he needed to show himself as a diligent honor student.
Having taken his seat, Leo checked the clock on the blackboard.
And next to it, a large phrase was written.
[Believe in yourself.]
‘Seirun’s motto.’
The mottos of each hero academy were the last words left by their founders.
Lumern: Surpass your limits.
Seirun: Believe in yourself.
Azenia: Move forward.
Demian: Pursue possibilities.
As he recalled the mottos of each hero academy.
Ding dong-dang dong-
The bell signaling the start of class rang.
Suddenly, Leo looked around the classroom with a strange expression.
‘Why is no one here? Did that teacher mess with me?’
As Leo narrowed his brows, thinking of Orlen.
Creak-!
The classroom door opened, and a female elf entered.
Dressed as a teacher, her face stiffened as she made eye contact with Leo.
And with a flustered expression, she checked the classroom name outside and then looked at Leo.
“Um… you’re a new face, who are you?”
The elf teacher asked Leo cautiously.
To which Leo replied calmly,
“I am Rail, who has come to the lower class this time.”
“L-lower class…?! Are you perhaps from the intermediate class?”
“It’s complicated to explain, but it would be easier to think of it that way.”
Leo cursed inwardly, realizing that the higher-ups at Seirun hadn’t even explained the exchange student situation to the teachers.
An unusual answer.
However, the elf teacher, with an impressed face, rushed towards Leo.
“Nice to meet you! I am Laura Quirya, your homeroom teacher from today! Let’s study hard together!”
Laura, who even grabbed Leo’s hand and had tears welling up in her eyes.
Leo wore a strange expression as he saw Laura so delighted and even moved by the prospect of studying with a student.
“I’ll do my best to help you return to the intermediate class!”
“Ah, yes. But what about the other students?”
“Th-that’s…”
Laura’s expression became flustered.
Then, she stammered,
“Uh… the first class is… Auror Basic Studies.”
“……”
Leo blinked.
‘Auror Studies?’
After a moment of thought, he narrowed his brows.
“Are you conducting the class? Are there no other teachers?”
“……Yes.”
Laura drooped her ears and glanced at Leo.
‘A mage teaching Auror Studies?’
He could tell at a glance.
Laura was a pure mage, not a knight.
And a mage like her teaching Auror Studies?
As Leo frowned, Laura stammered,
“W-what if you chose Knight Studies as your dual major? Don’t worry! I studied really hard! It will definitely be helpful!”
Saying that, Laura clenched her fist tightly, then her shoulders sagged.
“……No. I won’t be of much help. You can come in for the third period, like the other students.”
“What is the second period?”
“Spirituality Basic Studies.”
“Are you teaching that too?”
“……Yes.”
‘This is a mess.’
It was one of the world's top four educational institutions.
The curriculum at Seirun was far too chaotic.
He knew Laura in front of him was an excellent mage.
However, being an excellent mage didn't mean you could teach Auror Studies or Spirituality.
“What about the other students?”
“……The lower class students only attend the third period, Magic of Stars.”
‘I roughly understand what’s going on.’
It was at this moment that Leo let out a deep sigh.
Creak-
“Teacher, hello. I just stopped by to pick up my textbook.”
A cheerful-looking female student entered the classroom.
“Angre.”
Laura called out the student’s name with a bitter expression.
Angre headed to her seat at the back, then spotted Leo and exclaimed, “Whoa?”
Then she approached Leo.
“Are you from the intermediate class?”
“Yes.”
“That’s too bad.”
Angre gave a wry smile and said,
“My name is Angre Bizan. What’s yours?”
“Rail.”
“Let’s work hard together, Rail.”
Angre extended her hand and greeted him warmly, then let out a deep sigh.
“It’ll be tough, though.”
Leo shook Angre’s hand and narrowed his brows.
‘……This is the lower class?’
Angre’s skill was clearly not that of a lower-class student.
She was at the level of a top-class first-year student in Lumern’s Knight Department.
‘This is completely a garbage school!’
It was absurd that a student of this caliber was wasting away in the lower class.
Leo, who had come to Seirun to find students with the potential of heroes, was dumbfounded.
‘If it’s like this, their existing potential will disappear!’
He could see doubt creeping into Angre’s eyes right before him.
Leo seriously considered.
‘Should I just tell Mel to have all the promising students transfer to Lumern?’