Book 1 Chapter 528

528.

The dungeon gate opened.

“Sir Leo.”

Then Mel, who had been waiting, rushed over.

“Are you alright?”

“Do you think I’d be beaten by juniors who are still wet behind the ears?”

“No, but.”

Mel shook her head, watching Leo chuckle.

She knew that Leo hadn't fully recovered his power from his past life yet.

And that if it were purely a matter of strength, the Heroes of Creation would have the upper hand.

However…

‘His experience is on a different level.’

The Heroes of Creation were also heroes who prevented the world's destruction.

They were incredible heroes who set the unstable world right, defeated the fragments of Erebus, and drove out Tartarus.

But Leo was a great hero who saved the world on the verge of destruction.

He had lived through a more desperate era than the Heroes of Creation and had overcome countless battlefields.

It wasn't that the Heroes of Creation's experience was lacking at all.

It was simply that Leo's achievements were so vast they were hard to imagine.

Therefore, even if there was a clear difference in strength, she believed that the current Leo could fully cover it.

“Well, if it were them in person, I would have struggled too. But with those dolls.”

Mel was impressed.

She knew Leo was Kyle, but even so, what was surprising was still surprising.

“By the way, what kind of hero dungeon was it that dolls imitating the Heroes of Creation appeared?”

Mel’s face became infinitely serious.

Because Leo was there, they could block it without much damage; if he hadn't been, they would have suffered tremendous harm.

Watching Mel, Leo subtly recalled something.

‘What kind of expression would she make if I told her that a god created dolls to test me, but those dolls went berserk and came out?’

“What exactly was inside?”

At Mel’s question, Leo recalled what was inside.

‘Oh, Great Hero of the Beginning! Please stay a little longer! This humble servant of yours wishes to serve you more! I wish to gaze upon your esteemed face a little longer! Please do not leave! At least one more cup of tea!’

He recalled Lian, who had clung to his trouser leg and wept miserably even as he was being kicked away.

“A lunatic, no. A fanatic was in there.”

“Huh?”

Even the Dragon Lord, a descendant of Lisinas, the King of Wisdom, couldn't understand those words.

Watching Lisinas's bewildered expression, Leo spoke.

“We’ll talk about what was inside later.”

Leo took a deep breath.

“It seems I'll have to move myself to find Verkia.”

“Ah…”

At Leo’s words, Mel's eyes widened.

***

“Class president, the atmosphere has been strange since yesterday.”

The next day.

During Heroics class.

In a place where all second-year students were gathered, Illiana subtly glanced at Leo and whispered quietly.

Illiana wasn't the only one covertly watching Leo.

Not only the students from the same dormitory but the entire second year was staring at Leo, whose face was devoid of expression.

“He seems to be in a bad mood, Chloe, Shia. Do you know anything?”

Illiana asked Chloe and Chen Shia, who were dormitory representatives from Leo's dorm.

The two girls also looked at each other's faces, then shook their heads.

‘Did something happen yesterday?’

Chen Shia looked at Leo with a serious expression.

The Leo Chen Shia knew was always someone who never lost his composure.

‘Since he’s a Great Hero, it’s only natural that he wouldn’t bat an eye at ordinary matters.’

Even trials that Chen Shia might feel were a typhoon would be a gentle breeze to Leo.

That's why Leo's heavy, subdued atmosphere weighed on Chen Shia's heart.

‘It must be something related to Sir Verkia?’

She couldn't think of anything else that would make Leo react like that.

Chen Shia clenched her fist tightly.

‘I am still lacking.’

Currently, Shan's shadows are tracking Verkia's whereabouts.

Of course, the possibility that Verkia might have been resurrected as an undead is being kept strictly confidential.

Even for the Empire of Shadows, it's not an easy task.

‘I should be able to lend him strength.’

Chen Shia bit her lip tightly.

It wasn't just Chen Shia.

Chloe, as well as Celia and Avad, were also looking at Leo worriedly.

Even Duran, Eliza, and Warreden covertly glanced at Leo, seemingly concerned.

The atmosphere was heavy.

Everyone knew.

This was Leo, who had never wavered in the face of any hardship or trial.

Such a heavy atmosphere from Leo was enough to weigh down the entire second year.

No matter what anyone said, Leo was their leader.

Just as Lisinas had been 5000 years ago.

Just then, Chelsea sat down next to Leo.

“Big brother Leo?”

Chelsea cautiously called out to Leo.

But Leo, deep in thought, didn't hear her.

The events of dawn surged strongly in Leo's mind.

His disciple, who had ultimately been buried in darkness.

‘It wasn't Tartarus that made Verkia that way.’

It was clearly the Demon Queen who had taken the lives of Verkia's loved ones.

But in the end, the root cause was the malice of people corrupted by desire.

She lost her reason and went berserk.

She tried to judge all those who had committed sins.

Leo also had no intention of showing mercy to those who trampled others for their own desires.

But even so, he couldn't judge everyone who had committed a ‘sin’.

‘Because that too is a part of the world.’

But Verkia tried to pass judgment mercilessly on all who had sinned, regardless of the reason.

‘That was clearly wrong.’

The world's interests are complex.

If one were to ask Kyle in the past if the world was bright before the Age of Calamity arrived.

Kyle would have answered no without hesitation.

The same is true now.

Even the current world is rotten in many places.

But if all the rotten parts were cut out, there would be nothing left of the world.

‘Because I myself am not a particularly good person.’

Good people also do evil.

Evil people also do good.

The world is intertwined with complex interests, so it cannot be simply divided into good and evil.

Verkia couldn't possibly not know that either.

She had simply become unable to see what was ahead.

‘The gods said that the Age of Calamity began because their era was too bright a world.’

To benefit the world, the gods drove out Erebus, the primordial evil, beyond the darkness.

Thanks to that, the world did not face beings of destruction for a long time.

But that very act brought about a catastrophe that turned the entire world to ashes.

Verkia was the same.

The more she wished to lead the world into light.

As if in defiance, the shadows also deepened.

However…

‘That’s not wrong at all.’

That's why it was difficult.

What words should he offer Verkia, who had known darkness more than anyone, yet had gazed into an abyss deeper than anything else?

Would his words reach Verkia, who had shut her ears?

And…

‘Could he stop Verkia’s rampage, which had even claimed Vihar’s life?’

He had no intention of giving up on Verkia.

He wanted to make her come to her senses, no matter the cost.

However…

‘In the worst-case scenario, I might have to grant her eternal rest.’

Even Leo was afraid of that part.

He had spoken confidently to Lian, but he feared that he might be unable to lift his disciple, who had fallen into darkness, back up.

‘What if I can't save Verkia?’

It was when Leo bit his lip.

Grab-!

Someone forcefully pulled Leo.

A pair of sky-blue eyes entered Leo's vision.

Students nearby covered their mouths or let out surprised gasps.

Leo, also surprised, looked at the person who had grabbed his face with both hands and pulled him closer.

Chelsea, whose eyes met Leo's, blinked her large eyes several times.

They were so close their breaths seemed to touch.

Their gazes met and intertwined several times, very close.

Chelsea subtly released her hands.

Leo, who had been forced to meet Chelsea's gaze, rubbed his neck.

“My neck hurts a bit?”

“That's because you didn't answer even after I called you several times.”

Chelsea pouted and grumbled.

A somewhat immature action.

But for a child her age, it was a perfectly fitting action.

Chelsea glared and looked around.

“What are you looking at? Is it a show?!”

Then, the gazes that had converged instantly scattered in all directions.

The only people Chelsea was docile with were Leo and her older brother, Avad.

She was a little angel only in front of the two of them; in front of others, she was a little devil.

‘Even if she's docile, it's different from just being obedient.’

Chelsea fundamentally had a temper.

There were also several times when she had attacked him in a fit of rage during training with Leo.

‘And then she smiles again as if nothing happened.’

She was like a fickle wind.

“What are you thinking about for so long?”

Chelsea tilted her head.

Celia, Chloe, Duran, Avad, Eliza, Warreden, and others.

Those who didn't know Leo's true identity made quite serious expressions upon seeing his mood today.

Chen Shia and Kal, who knew Leo's true identity, made even more serious expressions.

But Chelsea didn't care.

She just approached him like a gentle breeze and asked why.

That somehow made him feel more at ease.

‘Come to think of it, Chelsea is the only one whose attitude hasn't changed at all even after knowing my true identity.’

Lunia, Eiran, Chen Shia.

Even the easygoing Kal's attitude towards him had subtly changed.

They still got along casually like before.

‘But what should I call it. Yes, maybe respect.’

There was nothing he could do about such gazes.

But Chelsea was different.

She was consistent.

Whether Leo was a Great Hero or not.

Whether he had saved the world or not.

Just as an object of admiration.

She merely looked at him as someone to follow and someday stand beside.

Chelsea lightly tapped her leg and muttered to herself.

‘I just do what I want to do.’

‘Kyle carried too many burdens. He will never share those burdens. So please. As his younger sister, become Kyle's… Leo's strength. Create a space where Leo can smile comfortably.’

Chelsea recalled the words Arion had left before departing.

She wanted to bear the burdens Leo carried, if possible.

But if he wouldn't share those burdens.

‘I could at least hold him up so he doesn't fall.’

Sometimes, she could support his back.

They couldn't be equals.

The years they had accumulated were different, and the paths they had walked were too different.

An object she would have to gaze upon with admiration and follow her entire life.

She would be in Leo's shadow her entire life.

But precisely because of that.

‘I can support him.’

If others had heard that, they might have been dumbfounded, asking what help she could possibly be to a Great Hero.

But Chelsea didn't care.

Chelsea smiled gently and looked up at Leo.

‘Because Big brother Leo is Big brother Leo.’

My hero, whom I admired for the first time.

Her innocent smile somehow reminded him of Verkia.

Leo reached out and stroked her sky-blue hair.

“Eheheh-”

Chelsea smiled like a cat, seemingly pleased by his touch.

“Chelsea, if you were to stray onto the wrong path, what do you think I should do to make you listen to me?”

“Huh?”

At Leo’s question, Chelsea’s eyes widened.

Then she rolled her eyes around a few times before speaking.

“Am I in a state where I can't be reasoned with?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm-! That's difficult!”

Chelsea, who had been pondering with her arms crossed, furrowed her brow.

“First, if it's Big brother Leo, you'd probably whack me on the head, right?”

“That’s right.”

“You’d also kick my butt, wouldn't you?”

“Naturally.”

“Stop harassing my butt.”

“When did I ever harass it?”

“You tried to burn my butt in front of all those people during the entrance exam. I’m unmarriageable now, take responsibility.”

“Then why didn't you listen well back then?”

That was the only period when Chelsea was full of defiance towards Leo.

Watching Leo act annoyingly without batting an eye, Chelsea made a sullen face and fell into thought again.

“Even so, if I really can't come to my senses, it would be scary.”

“Huh?”

“Even if I come to my senses, you'll still do something nasty, won't you?”

“You know me well.”

“I think I'd come to my senses just to avoid that.”

At Chelsea's words, Leo rested his chin on his hand and laughed.

“Really?”

His heart felt much lighter.

‘Right, I just need to not leave her alone until she comes to her senses.’

Why had he thought so complicatedly?

Leo, who had been laughing, soon gave a gentle smile.

‘I should be worried about that damn disciple rebelling, claiming she's stronger.’

Verkia's power, as seen in the Akasha Records, was too formidable for the current Leo to handle.

‘Right, I shouldn't be wondering how to persuade her, but how to beat her.’

It was when Leo stroked his chin.

Bang-!

The classroom door burst open, and Eiran entered.

At her appearance, all the second-year students made bewildered expressions.

As an exchange student, she was a very diligent honor student.

Arriving early for class was a given.

But to arrive just barely before class time?

Moreover, all the students close to her were already in the classroom.

As everyone wondered, Eiran approached Leo with a pale face.

And cried out with a face as if about to weep.

“Sir Leo! Grandfather… Grandfather!”

At Eiran’s appearance, Leo's face hardened.