Book 1 Chapter 498

498.

As the Twilight Festival approached, the entirety of Lumerne buzzed with a festive atmosphere.

The Twilight Festival is a festival honoring Lumerne.

Therefore, Lumerne students also make various preparations for the Twilight Festival.

In the case of some clubs, they even prepared separate performances for the Twilight Festival.

"Clubs? This school is certainly lively."

Luna smiled faintly, looking at Lumerne, busy with club activities.

"It's completely different from the school I attended."

"Did you also attend school, Lady Luna?"

Chen Xia's eyes widened.

"Yes. I attended a school designed to train elves called Barharun."

"Barharun! I've heard of it from Miss Lunia!"

"Lunia? Ah, the red-haired one?"

At Eiran's words, Luna recalled Lunia and nodded her head.

Memories of being in the hero's world had already been conveyed to Luna.

Therefore, she also had memories of Lunia, who had fought against the fragments of Erebus from her past perspective.

"What kind of school was Barharun?"

Chen Xia asked, her eyes full of curiosity.

Looking at Chen Xia, Luna said.

"It was a school to select High Elves. Among them, it was a school founded by a god to choose the Elf King."

"A g-god?"

"Indeed, it's different from the current era."

Eiran's eyes widened in surprise, and Chen Xia marveled.

A school founded by a god.

It's unimaginable in this day and age.

"Have you ever seen a god in person, Lady Luna?"

"Yes, I have."

"Wow. That's amazing. To have met a god in person."

"Not just me. That one probably met them too?"

Luna pointed at Leo, who was walking behind her as if uninterested.

"Among those who made a name for themselves during the Age of Calamity, there's no one who hasn't met a god."

Luna treated gods as if they were pebbles rolling on the roadside.

Looking at the nonchalant Luna, Eiran and Chen Xia admired Leo.

"Surely, gods are wise beings, aren't they?"

"Are they truly omniscient and omnipotent?"

Luna smiled faintly at their questions.

"Those beings called gods are foolish, perverted, incompetent trash."

At Luna's unimaginable words, Eiran and Chen Xia froze.

"Not all gods are like that."

"Yes, sometimes there are decent gods, but mostly they are useless."

Luna, a non-believer, spoke scathingly.

Leo also agreed with that opinion.

Most beings called gods, who have lived for eons, are hedonists.

'You can tell just by looking at the state of those who instantly get their names on the Hero Record.'

They elevated those unworthy of the name 'hero' simply for 'fun'.

They didn't care what happened to the mortal realm because of it.

They do such things simply because they find it amusing.

Therefore, once one realizes the true nature of gods, one understands that they are not very trustworthy beings.

At the testimonies of the two great heroes who had experienced gods, Eiran made a tearful face.

"It's completely different from fairy tales or storybooks."

"Yes. Reality is harsh. Most of what's passed down in stories are lies. As you realize these realities one by one, you grow up."

Luna patted Eiran's head.

To such a Luna, Leo said.

"Yes, just like you."

"Just like me? What does that mean?"

Luna narrowed her eyes.

Leo took out a book about great heroes from his pocket.

It was a book familiar to everyone except Luna.

A fairytale book titled [Heroes of the Beginning].

The story of heroes that almost everyone in this world first encounters.

Leo opened the fairytale book and turned to the character introduction section.

There was a picture of Luna, smiling as if embracing spring.

"Benevolent Elf, Ancestor of the Nebula Luna? What is this?"

"You're an elf who has nothing to do with benevolence."

"I am benevolent."

Answering shamelessly, Luna snatched the fairytale book from Leo's hand and swung it.

While dodging Luna's attack.

Chen Xia asked.

"Then, Lady Luna, you were a candidate for the Elf King?"

"No. The elves back then were corrupt in many ways."

Luna said indifferently.

"They wouldn't enthrone someone of humble birth like me as king."

"There was a similar incident in elf society recently, wasn't there?"

"As expected, the elves are a rotten race."

At Chen Xia's words, Luna clicked her tongue.

Watching such a Luna, Eiran made an embarrassed expression, and Leo shook his head.

"That's not something you, an elf, should say."

Elves are a race with very strong racial pride, but Luna, who had seen dirty deeds since childhood, was far from such things.

"It's the truth."

Luna pulled the tips of both her ears playfully and grinned.

"But I don't hate all elves!"

Luna hugged Eiran, then rubbed her cheek against Eiran's head.

"Aww, our cute Eiran."

Leo chuckled, watching Luna doting on Eiran as if she were Berkia.

Eiran also seemed not to mind, smiling shyly.

"Anyway, I don't know what it was like in the beginning, but Barharun was a terrible school. That's why I like Lumerne much more."

Chen Xia nodded at Luna's words.

In the meantime, the four arrived at the club area.

The reason for coming to the club area was simple.

Luna wanted to look around, and that was the reason.

As the four entered the club area.

"EEK?!"

"L-Leo Flobe!"

"It's the student council president!"

Students who were moving busily screamed as soon as they saw Leo and Chen Xia.

And they ran away without even making eye contact.

Seeing that, Luna made a bewildered expression.

"What? Why does everyone run away as if they've seen a plague victim as soon as they see you?"

"Young Master Leo is like a grim reaper among the clubs."

"A grim reaper?"

"Yes."

Chen Xia chuckled and explained.

It was a famous anecdote that when Leo first became student council president and toured the clubs, he wiped out the budgets of several club departments.

It wasn't just random, it was a thorough audit.

From then on, club presidents would grovel whenever they saw Leo.

"Which club do you want to visit first?"

"A club related to magic, I suppose?"

"Then, the Magic Engineering Department."

Leo headed towards the Magic Engineering Department.

***

"KIIIIIIIIIIEEEK?!"

Fifth-year student of the Department of Magic.

The former head of the Magic Engineering Department, James Dect, a graduating student, shrieked as soon as he saw Leo entering the Magic Engineering Department, hid behind a curtain, and trembled.

Luna wore a curious expression at his terrified reaction, as if he had seen a demon.

Then she grabbed Leo's hand, stood him in front of James, and pulled back the curtain.

"KIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!"

Luna drew the curtain again, watching James writhe in agony, covering his face as if a vampire exposed to sunlight.

When James's fit stopped, she pulled back the curtain again.

"KIIIIIII-ACK!"

*Swoosh-!*

"This is really fun, isn't it?"

Leo said, pushing Luna, who was beaming with a mischievous smile and sparkling eyes, towards Eiran.

"We're not here for budget reasons today, so please stop."

"R-really?"

James cautiously peeked his face out from behind the curtain, his eyes filled with fear.

"Yes. And as a graduating senior, it doesn't matter to you whether the budget is cut or not, right?"

"Y-yes, it does! Even if I leave, the Magic Engineering Department's research continues!"

James said firmly.

"Yes. So, we won't cut the budget."

Only then did a relieved James fully emerge from behind the curtain.

"Then why are you here?"

Seeing James's puzzled expression, Leo pointed towards Luna and Eiran.

"Because there's someone who wants to observe."

"Are they exchange students from Seirun?"

James adjusted his glasses.

Luna smiled faintly, looking at James, and asked.

"What kind of magic is the Magic Engineering Department researching?"

"If you're asking about a recently started research project, it's [Magic of Blooming Flowers]."

"Huh?"

Luna's eyes widened.

Looking at such a Luna, James said.

"If you're a Seirun student, you'd know that Leo here restored the magic spell formula for blooming flowers and returned it to elf society."

James brought a blackboard from the corner and said.

On it was drawn the magic spell formula for blooming flowers.

"And it was also revealed that the Magic of Blooming Flowers was the magic desired by the Ancestor of the Nebula, Lady Luna."

Last summer vacation.

It was a fact revealed to the world while conquering Luna's world.

"Well, even though the spell formula has been restored, it hasn't been completely interpreted yet, so Leo is the only mage who can currently use the Magic of Blooming Flowers."

James looked at Leo enviously.

The magic a mage desires signifies the mage himself.

And using the magic that mage desired also meant understanding the other person's heart.

In that sense, Leo was also the only mage in this world who understood the heart of the Ancestor of the Nebula.

"We also want to understand the heart of the Ancestor of the Nebula. So we're researching how to use [Magic of Blooming Flowers] through [Introduction to Star Magic]."

'Introduction to Star Magic?'

Luna, who had been momentarily puzzled, asked.

"Why do you want to understand the heart of the Ancestor of the Nebula?"

"You're an elf, but you're asking strange questions."

James looked at Luna with a puzzled expression and smiled.

"Because Lady Luna is magic itself."

"……!"

"Every mage in this world respects her."

The legacy Luna left in magic is not merely limited to star magic.

She organized all the magic from before the Age of Calamity, leaving countless foundations for future generations so that magic could firmly take root and flourish after the end of the calamity.

"Elves think only they truly respect Lady Luna. But every mage regards her as a star."

James grinned.

"That's why we want to understand her heart. Does that make sense now?"

James smiled faintly at Luna, who was frozen as if in shock.

"Former Head! Come here for a moment!"

"I told you to call me Honorary Head!"

James glared and walked away.

Luna looked at them.

Young mages.

From Luna's perspective, distant juniors.

She realized it upon coming to this era.

That she was a revered being.

So she boasted a lot.

But it was only now that she specifically understood what kind of being she was to mages.

Her heart thumped.

It was something she had always wished for.

She had always been confident that she would surely become like that.

But now that such a thing was upon her, she felt inexplicably shy and awkward.

"How is it?"

Just then, Leo said with a smile.

"How does it feel to be a shining star in the night sky?"

"What?"

"Every mage existing in this era is a descendant of Luna Rubyne, the Ancestor of the Nebula."

Leo also looked at the mages of the Magic Engineering Department.

"You have literally become a great master and a goal for mages. You've become a landmark, pointing the way like a shining star in the night sky."

Luna wore a blank expression.

"It's because it's you that you could become this, Luna."

Leo turned his gaze to Luna.

"I am very happy that you can see this sight."

At his gently smiling appearance, Luna's face turned beet red.

As if about to burst.

Covering her face, which had turned red as if steam would rise from her head, Luna bowed her head deeply.

"You're getting shy, it doesn't suit you."

Luna screamed internally at Leo, who chuckled.

'It's because of you I ended up like this! You idiot!'