Book 1 Chapter 478

478.

[Kyle, the Hero of Beginnings? A great hero only found in fairy tales?]

Tiarre, her eyes wide, showed a perplexed reaction.

‘Such a reaction is fresh, too.’

It had been a year since the world learned that Kyle, the Hero of Beginnings, actually existed.

The fact that the Fifth Great Hero, once thought to be a fictional being, was real caused an immense ripple effect across the world.

Leo accepted it as a matter of course, as he had been forgotten and was now known, but others did not.

Kyle’s name was the talk of the town everywhere.

Having grown accustomed to the fuss around him, the bewildered reaction of a hero from 1000 years ago felt quite novel.

Seeing Tiarre’s confusion, Leo stretched his right hand into the air.

Woong-!

With a resonating sound, the magic staff appeared.

Tiarre was surprised to see the staff emitting magic power in Leo’s hand.

[Cometes……!]

She too had seen Cometes during her student days at Seirun, while she was alive.

That’s why she recognized at a glance that the staff in Leo’s hand was the Hero Weapon Seirun had used.

That Cometes was shining brightly as if it had found its master.

It had not emitted such a brilliant light even in the hands of the Tingel family.

“It won’t be easy to believe that I am Kyle, the Hero of Beginnings.”

Leo raised his hand.

Then, aura and spiritual power flickered in his hand.

[All…… Class!]

Tiarre gasped in astonishment.

All-Class, which only exists in legends, and the clear light of Cometes.

[Are you truly…… Kyle, the Hero of Beginnings?]

She still harbored doubts about him being Kyle, but it was clear that the boy before her was an extraordinary being.

First, she needed to greet the benefactor who had saved her from the Necromancer King.

[Great Hero. I sincerely thank you for saving me from the Necromancer King’s wicked grasp.]

“Yes. If so, would you help me a little?”

[Lord Kyle is my benefactor. I will help if it is something I can do.]

“Could you explain in detail the situation when you were resurrected as an undead?”

Tiarre had died filled with deep hatred.

And for a long time, in her extinguished consciousness, the Necromancer King’s thoughts had echoed.

Tiarre’s consciousness reportedly strongly resisted the Necromancer King’s necromancy that sought to control her.

“But a huge, irresistible force seized your consciousness, and you became a vengeful spirit burning with hatred?”

[Yes. It was the Grand Duke of Funeral who first awakened my consciousness.]

Seeing Tiarre clenching her teeth with a resentful expression, Leo asked.

“Did you perhaps sense the presence of other spirits?”

The basic principle of necromancy is similar to spirit art.

It traces the lingering mana to revive and control the consciousness of the dead.

This process is a kind of contract.

Tiarre had been in a contractual relationship with the Necromancer King until now.

If so, she must have sensed the presence of other spirits who had made a contract with the Necromancer King.

At Leo’s question, Tiarre clenched her fist tightly.

[I sensed the presence of countless spirits. Among them were those who radiated particularly powerful strength… even heroes.]

Tiarre’s shoulders trembled.

Her face was etched with fear.

[Among those commanded by the Necromancer King, there were some who far surpassed me.]

The Iron-Blooded Mage was a sorcerer who is still remembered 1000 years later, among the countless heroes who lived in the era of heroes.

That was proof of her immense power as a hero.

For such a hero to be trembling with fear at another hero’s power.

‘In terms of the current era… does that mean they are on par with the Sword Saint?’

The Sword Saint.

A powerful hero who, if born at the right time, might have challenged the world of creation.

He was a deterrent to Tartarus just by his mere existence.

‘If he hadn’t lost his life last year and was still alive, Tartarus wouldn’t have been able to move as it does now.’

“Even if the authority was strengthened with Erebus’s power, is that possible?”

Leo muttered with a serious face, and Tiarre bowed her head.

[Certainly… some heroes must have voluntarily agreed to the Necromancer King’s contract.]

“……”

At her words, Leo let out a deep sigh, and Tiarre wore an apologetic expression.

She couldn’t be sure if the boy before her was truly one of the great heroes, Kyle, the Hero of Beginnings.

But what if he truly was one of the great heroes from 5000 years ago?

‘Could there be anything more shameful than this?’

The great heroes staked everything they had to gift the world to future generations.

But the heroes of later generations who followed in their footsteps…

Despite having died, they voluntarily cooperated with the Necromancer King afterwards.

They chose slavery to live as the dead and pursue the greed they had sought in life.

This was an act of betraying the world.

As a hero who lived her entire life with hatred, Tiarre had witnessed the world’s ugliness countless times.

She knew too well that there were deep shadows behind the shining world.

Therefore, as one of the later generations of heroes, Tiarre dared not meet Leo’s gaze.

Seeing Tiarre avoid his eyes by lowering her gaze, Leo said.

“I felt it earlier, but you’re overly strict with yourself.”

[Huh?]

“It doesn’t really matter, does it? Whether other guys cooperate with the Necromancer King or not.”

[But……]

“It’s not something you need to feel responsible for.”

Leo reached out and placed his hand on Tiarre’s head.

“I never aimed to create a just world, nor did I dream of an ideal one. We saved it simply because we wanted to save it.”

Leo chuckled.

“So it’s funny for you, a descendant, to worry about my impression because of others.”

[…… Lord Kyle.]

“They say spirits who can’t find rest each have one lingering regret in their hearts.”

Leo remembered Tiarre apologizing to Luna a moment ago.

“I’m sorry, but I peeked into your life a little.”

Tiarre never regretted the path she had chosen and walked.

She lived a life where she was pointed at by her own kind, gained nothing, and ultimately only lost.

She couldn’t shed her hatred until the very end, but…

She didn't make that a regret.

“Being so rigid is an illness to that extent. Luna is someone who doesn’t think it’s rude at all, no matter how she creates star magic. She’s not that delicate. That girl. She’s just a simple fool.”

Tiarre clenched her teeth.

Seeing Tiarre with a face like she was about to cry, Leo said.

“So you don’t need to apologize. And Luna and I subjugated the Monster Queen. So,”

Leo patted Tiarre’s shoulder.

“Rest in peace. Whatever your intentions were when you fought, you too contributed to the peace of the world.”

[Thank you.]

Tiarre, trembling at the shoulders and bowing her head, soon disappeared.

Elsie, who had been watching the situation, said, seeing Tiarre’s spirit disappear like specks of starlight.

[Leo understood her well.]

“Perhaps it’s because we’re in a similar situation?”

[Similar situation?]

“I can somewhat understand that feeling of not being able to find rest.”

Leo, who spoke calmly, fell into thought.

‘Tiarre succumbed to the Necromancer King’s power, became corrupted, and turned into a spirit.’

And purifying such corrupted spirits into spiritual beings was one of Lysinass’s specialties.

‘Not as much as Lysinass, but I’ve vaguely become able to use his spirit art.’

Leo looked down at his hand.

He recalled the mana from a moment ago that seemed to have a will.

“Hey, if you’re listening, can you answer me?”

Despite Leo’s call, Lysinass’s mana remained silent.

Leo gave a bitter smile.

Calming the lingering regrets of a spirit is called ascension.

And ascended spirits do not appear again.

‘…When I first met Lysinass in the Hero’s World, he summoned the Lysinass from the time of his last moments as a spirit.’

In the midst of that, Lysinass must have ascended too.

No, perhaps that encounter was a miracle that could only happen in the Hero’s World in the first place.

Since the past Lysinass summoned his future self.

‘I’m not Lysinass.’

In the first place, summoning a person from 5000 years ago as a spirit might be impossible unless it’s a divine power.

The reaction of Lysinass’s mana just now was due to the inclination imbued in the mana.

It was closer to a desire to save a poor spirit resisting malicious thoughts, not a will.

Still, he asked, just in case.

‘…Would it hurt to have just a little more regret?’

Clenching his fist and shaking off his thoughts, Leo moved forward.

‘The Necromancer King now commands spirits with powerful strength. They are probably those who couldn’t abandon their desires in life.’

Not all heroes are saints; some can be twisted.

The Justice Guild proved that sufficiently.

‘Among them, there must be some who could have carried an era.’

Leo’s face darkened.

[Leo, is something worrying you?]

At Elsie’s question, Leo let out a deep sigh.

“I have a feeling that if things go wrong, I might meet someone I know.”

[Someone you know?]

Elsie made a bewildered expression.

Leo looked up at the clear sky and remembered someone.

‘Bihart.’

Bihart was originally an orphan soldier created to acquire powerful undead.

Therefore, he burned with endless hatred towards the Necromancer King.

After the Age of Calamity ended.

The world was saved, but Bihart’s heart probably wasn’t.

‘As long as the Necromancer King was alive, he would never have stopped.’

He would have lived in the shadows, pursuing the Necromancer King his entire life.

Leo imagined the worst-case scenario.

‘What if the Necromancer King’s authority became even more powerful?’

It was a fragment of Erebus.

It was unknown how strong the Necromancer King’s power had become in wielding a fragment of Erebus.

‘If he gained the power to corrupt Bihart and turn him into a spirit, and found Bihart’s grave?’

This world might turn the strongest shadow in history into an enemy.

Bihart was also someone Lysinass had acknowledged as his successor in the past.

‘He, too, probably closed his eyes after reaching a realm comparable to the heroes of creation.’

Imagining the worst-case scenario, Leo sighed deeply.

‘No, I’ll believe.’

Stomp- Stomp-

‘He’s the one I entrusted my back to. He wouldn’t be swayed by the Necromancer King.’

Composing himself, Leo moved forward.

‘What’s important now are Artkhan and the undead resurrected by the Necromancer King.’

“……All the heroes of our guild who went to subjugate the undead in various regions were annihilated?”

Jerome asked with a puzzled face.

“Yes.”

“Hmm. As expected, those who seized the position of hero by their own strength are different. Does that mean there’s a limit to making failures who can’t even graduate from the Hero Academy into heroes?”

“What do we do now?”

Chain, the sub-guild master, asked with an expressionless face.

“Leo Flobe?”

“His location cannot be confirmed.”

“You can’t confirm it even with your clairvoyance?”

“Yes. He blocked it.”

“Hmph.”

Jerome exclaimed in admiration.

“I’m truly curious about the identity of that endless potential.”

“He must be the chosen, true hero you speak of.”

At Chain’s words, Jerome rose from his seat.

“First, we need to subjugate the heroes turned undead appearing in various regions…”

“No.”

“What?”

“If pawns don’t work, this time send rooks, knights, and bishops. If that doesn’t work, send the queens.”

“Master Jerome. Aren’t you overly obsessed with Leo Flobe?”

“I think he’s worth it. I can somewhat guess his inclination. He’s definitely not someone who will be with us.”

Jerome clicked his tongue.

“Then it would be better to crush him before he grows bigger. He won’t be able to do anything alone anyway.”

***

[Now that I think about it, Leo.]

“Why?”

[Are those Justice Guild guys okay to just leave alone?]

[Peep.]

Fiora agreed with Kirian’s words.

But Leo was indifferent.

Facing a much larger problem now, the threat from the Justice Guild felt insignificant.

“They don’t seem like a big threat right now, so I’ll just sweep them away later.”