Book 1 Chapter 343

343

“You want me to summon the Fairy King again?”

“Yes.”

Rea’s eyes widened.

The summoning of the Fairy King.

It had been the long-cherished wish of the elves for thousands of years.

Throughout history, there was only one contractor of the last Fairy King.

That was Luna.

Originally, the Fairy King was a mythical beast that had formed covenants with the Elf King for generations.

But when the Age of Calamity began, the Elf King disappeared.

The previous Fairy King, Grawin, lost his power in the battle against Tartaros, and the one who practically carried out the Fairy King’s duties was the current Fairy King, Shiloh.

And Shiloh’s first and last contractor was Luna.

Just as Rishinas had the Phoenix King, Emperor Yeom Kataliu, as a partner, Luna had Shiloh, the successor to the Fairy King.

Among them, Kataliu lost his life.

Conversely, Shiloh survived the final battle.

The last image of Shiloh that Leo remembered was him feeling deep despair and guilt over Luna’s death.

Leo’s eyes sank as he recalled the past.

And he looked down at the back of his hand.

At the time of the entrance exam.

[Fairy King’s Covenant] obtained as a conquest reward.

Through this covenant, he contracted with Kirian, who was sealed by Shiloh and banished from Fairyland.

Although he contracted with Kirian, the fact that Shiloh was the subject of the covenant remained unchanged.

Until last year, Leo couldn’t summon Shiloh due to a lack of spiritual power.

However, even after his vessel grew larger and he possessed enough spiritual power to summon the Fairy King, Leo still couldn’t summon Shiloh.

‘Perhaps it’s because it’s a covenant obtained through Hero Record.’

Although Leo obtained the Fairy King’s covenant as a conquest reward, as a summoner, his spiritual power affinity didn’t match with a fairy, a mythical beast.

‘In this body, Jerdinger’s blood flows, so it had a good spiritual affinity with the Phoenix… and it matches Pegasus with my original mana characteristic, Purity… but not a fairy. Neither in my past life nor now.’

The reason Leo was able to contract with Kirian was purely thanks to Alby’s world conquest reward.

That’s why even though Leo obtained the Fairy King’s covenant, he couldn’t summon Shiloh.

Because even if it was a covenant, Shiloh himself wasn't aware of its existence.

‘But if someone else creates a channel, the story changes.’

If Shiloh himself became aware of the covenant’s existence, summoning would be possible at any time from that moment on.

At Leo’s words, Rea spoke hesitantly.

“Senior Flobe. It’s true that I heard Shiloh-nim’s voice… but that was just borrowing the power of Cometes, wasn’t it? With my current skills, I absolutely cannot summon the Fairy King again. Hearing the Fairy King’s voice was simply a coincidence, wasn’t it?”

“Coincidence?”

“Yes.”

Rea carefully explained what happened then.

“When the first-year advanced class was having a lesson in the Hall of Comets, I was given the qualification to hold Cometes.”

Rea smiled awkwardly.

“Originally, I wasn’t even trying to summon the Fairy King. The teacher who was leading the class at the time encouraged me to try summoning a fairy. The teacher also drew the summoning circle for me then. And then, all of a sudden, I heard Shiloh-nim’s voice.”

Leo tilted his head, watching Rea scratch her head as if embarrassed.

“Among the lower-class kids, there’s a rumor going around as if you even drew the summoning circle?”

“No way.”

Leo asked, watching Rea wave her hand.

“Who was the supervising teacher?”

“Headmaster Rhagen-nim.”

Leo stroked his chin.

‘This kid definitely has a talent for summoning magic.’

Still an immature first-year.

But even so, she possessed skills and talent worthy of being called promising.

Although there was a slightly strange aspect to her, she was an excellent hero candidate with a bright future.

Even so, as a summoner, she was far from enough to summon the Fairy King.

Neither in vessel nor in knowledge.

“Cometes only works when someone from the Tingel family holds it, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Cometes, brought by Seirun as a reward for conquering the Hero’s World.

Only those from the Tingel family could fully utilize the power of the mighty magic staff that contained Luna’s and Seirun’s magic simultaneously.

‘He summoned the Fairy King as if it were staged. Does he know something?’

Feeling suspicious, Leo spoke.

“Whatever it is, the fact that you heard the Fairy King’s voice itself means you have talent.”

Leo activated his spiritual power.

“I’ll take over the role of Cometes for you.”

“Then.”

At Leo’s words, Rea took off her socks.

Then she took a deep breath and stepped onto the magic circle Leo had drawn.

For a long time, elves had performed summoning rituals with fairies in lakes.

Now that tradition has disappeared, and summoning rituals can be performed freely anywhere.

However, the act of revealing bare legs before entering a lake had remained until now.

“I’ll give it a try.”

Rea, smiling awkwardly with a trembling voice, cautiously extended her hand to Leo.

Leo took Rea’s hand and activated his spiritual power.

Wooong.

The summoning circle glowed.

A bright golden light burst forth throughout Leo’s dormitory room.

Rea’s body swayed for a moment.

Summoning the Fairy King without the power of Cometes required an immense amount of mana.

It had to be.

Officially, the Fairy King was the strongest mythical beast existing in this era.

Now that the lineage of the Phoenix King, Emperor Yeom, and the leader of the Pegasus, Thunder King, had been severed.

The most powerful mythical beast could only be the Fairy King.

No matter how much Leo assisted, Rea, being merely a first-year, couldn’t handle the Fairy King with her vessel.

It was impossible even to activate the summoning circle in the first place.

However…

‘There are always tricks.’

Leo looked down at the back of his hand, which glowed golden.

What Leo, who already had the Fairy King’s covenant, needed was a channel to reach Shiloh.

And Rea only needed to act as that channel.

Whoosh-!

The door of the summoning circle opened.

The moment she saw it, Rea, suffering from mana exhaustion, collapsed as if fainting.

Thud-

Leo caught Rea in his arms and then looked at the door.

-It’s you again. Descendant of Seirun.

A familiar voice was heard.

At the familiar voice, Leo felt his heart stir.

-Descendant of Seirun. You are still not qualified enough.

Shiloh seemed to think that Rea had summoned him and spoke in a chiding tone.

-After you cultivate your vessel a bit more…

“Shiloh.”

-…Who is this? How can you intrude on this conversation?

Hearing a voice was a kind of provisional contract state.

That is, only the subject of the contract could hear Shiloh’s voice and convey words.

But with a third party’s voice heard in that situation, Shiloh was surprised.

“It’s me, Kyle.”

-What did you say?

A moment later, the closed door of the contract opened, and a fairy appeared.

The fairy, wrapped in golden magic, looked up at Leo with an incredulous face.

Shiloh’s eyes, meeting Leo’s, trembled.

A completely different appearance.

But the look in Leo’s red eyes was identical to the Kyle Shiloh knew.

-You are Kyle?

Shiloh’s voice trembled.

Watching Shiloh ask in disbelief, Leo reached out his hand.

A pure white light burst from Leo’s hand.

Shiloh’s hand trembled upon seeing it.

This pure white light.

He knew it.

5000 years ago.

The light left by his first and last contractor.

The one miracle that defeated calamity.

-Innocent…

Seeing the pure white light that proved the boy in front of him was Kyle, Shiloh flew to Leo.

Shiloh clung to Leo’s white hair and sobbed.

-You promised! You promised that after defeating Erebus! Only Rishinas and Kyle would return! But why only now… only now! Why… after 5000 years…!

Watching Shiloh cry heartbrokenly, Leo gave a distorted smile.

“…A Fairy King over 5000 years old, can you really cry so undignifiedly?”

Despite Leo’s words, Shiloh didn’t stop sobbing.

The fairy, who finally met the end of an endless wait after 5000 years, shed tears endlessly like the young fairy of that era.

***

-Ahem! I see. I thought it was strange. The rumored Leo Flobe was Kyle, you.

Shiloh, sitting in front of Leo, blew his nose with a tissue and nodded.

He seemed to have calmed down to some extent, regaining his composure while still sniffling.

Leo rested his chin on his hand at Shiloh’s appearance.

-Why are you looking at me like that?

“Even if there are people who know my true identity, you are the only one in this era who can share the events from 5000 years ago with me. That’s what’s amazing.”

-More amazing than me? You, who died 5000 years ago, have returned alive.

Shiloh let out a bitter laugh.

It was the exact same way of speaking as 5000 years ago.

Watching Shiloh, Leo burst out laughing.

“Have you heard all about me?”

-Yes, the story of Leo Flobe even reaches Fairyland. At first, I naturally thought there would be many exaggerated parts… but with you, it makes sense.

Shiloh smiled faintly.

-Luna coming out of Hero Record is also because of you, isn’t it?

“That’s right.”

-…I always miss Luna… but seeing you makes me miss her even more.

Shiloh made a bitter expression, recalling his contractor who had passed away long ago.

“I have a question. You haven’t had a single contractor for the past 5000 years, have you?”

-Officially, no.

“So unofficially, you had one.”

At Leo’s words, Shiloh looked at Rea.

-Yes. Just as Kyle expected, the Comet Mage, Seirun, was my second contractor.

At that, Leo tilted his head.

“But why did you hide that fact?”

-We decided after talking with Seirun. We also destroyed all the mediums used in the summoning ritual. Except for Cometes.

“Why?”

-If it were officially revealed that I have a contractor, countless summoners would try to make a contract with me.

In this era, the Fairy King is revered as an illusion among illusions, almost impossible to contract.

There are no mediums left in this world to summon the Fairy King.

According to Shiloh, he intentionally didn’t make a contractor.

“What’s the reason for not making a contract? Even the Heroes of Genesis 3000 years ago would have desperately needed your power, right? Why didn’t you lend your strength?”

As someone who experienced the Age of Calamity.

Shiloh feared and hated Erebus more than anyone.

Therefore, if he had contracted with Seirun, he would have lent his strength to the Heroes of Genesis.

However, Shiloh did not leave Fairyland even during the reincarnation of calamity 3000 years ago.

Shiloh answered Leo’s question with a heavy voice.

-It wasn’t that I didn’t lend it, but that I couldn’t.

Leo’s expression hardened at that answer.

“…Surely, the reason you moved Fairyland?”

After the Age of Calamity ended.

The northern land where Fairyland was originally located turned into a land of extreme cold.

Fairies dislike the cold.

But that level of cold wasn’t a reason to leave their homeland, where they had lived for eons.

Moreover, fairies are mythical beasts capable of powerful magic.

They had the ability to keep Fairyland warm and lush with greenery.

Yet Shiloh abandoned Fairyland without regret.

Shiloh’s expression hardened at Leo’s words.

-It’s as Kyle expected. The reason I don’t make contractors is that I can’t leave Fairyland for a long time.

“Surely…”

-Yes. As you expected.

Leo covered his face.

5000 years ago.

Kyle had divided the primordial evil into six pieces and sealed them in the final battle.

The first of those pieces resurrected 3000 years ago during the reincarnation of calamity and was stopped by the Heroes of Genesis.

And the second of those is…

“It’s in Fairyland.”