Book 1 Chapter 530

530.

Leo looked at Rune, who politely bowed to him, and opened his mouth.

"How did you know?"

His voice carried a hint of question.

Seeing Leo not denying his words, Rune smiled faintly and replied.

"As the Hero of Beginnings might know, experience reveals many things."

"Unfortunately, I haven't lived as long as you. Well, I understand what you mean, though." Rune smiled bitterly, watching Leo shrug his shoulders.

"I had thought it was a little strange."

From the moment they first met, Rune felt something in Leo's eyes.

It was far from simply feeling intelligent or having a bright future like someone destined to become a great figure.

It was the eyes of someone who had experienced all sorts of hardships. Definitely not the eyes a hero candidate, let alone a first-year, should possess.

Leo's actions were also astonishing.

The most surprising thing was that he had restored the 'flower-blooming magic' left by the progenitor of the nebula.

And it wasn't a typical restoration. Rune, as an Elf, had dedicated his life to researching star magic. In terms of the depth of his understanding of star magic, he was an authority among existing mages, ranking among the top five.

When Rune saw it, the flower-blooming magic Leo restored was beyond mere restoration.

"It was as if someone who inherently knew the flower-blooming magic had simply written down the spell they already knew."

It's common for lost magic, of which only traces remain, to be restored in later generations and reappear in the world.

However, unless one is from that era, even if restored and activated, it cannot be perfect.

Moreover, the flower-blooming magic is a complex spell that, even now, more than a year after its perfect restoration, cannot be properly interpreted.

That's why Rune found Leo's existence questionable.

Afterward, Leo's performance as a hero candidate was also extraordinary.

He was an outstanding student who excelled, but at some point, his achievements became unfitting for a mere hero candidate.

Amidst his admiration and doubts about Leo's achievements, his granddaughter, who had conquered Dwenho's world, said with a smile:

'Grandpa! I met Lord Verkia. And guess what! Lord Leo!'

From the moment he heard Eiran, eyes sparkling, talk about the heroic tales of their ancestor and Leo.

And even more so after hearing the news of Seyrunn's reincarnation and Luna's advent, he began to think more deeply about Leo's existence.

Thus, one by one, he unraveled the tangled clues, leading to a conclusion.

That Leo was, in fact, Kyle, the Hero of Beginnings.

"When I thought about it, it didn't seem so strange. Lord Kyle, the Hero of Beginnings, was an unprecedented all-class individual. And in the history of the world, there have only been two all-class individuals."

Kyle and Leo.

"He also didn't receive a title despite his name being on the Hero Record. If you think about it, if he 'already' had a title… I thought there would be no need for a new one."

"Indeed."

"Moreover, there's no such thing as 'absolute.' Anything can happen in this era."

The appearance of a legion commander who was vanquished in the Age of Calamity.

And past heroes have also risen as the undead.

Some have their names erased from the Hero Record. Furthermore, great heroes like Luna, the progenitor of the nebula, Arion, the brave warrior, and Seyrunn, the Comet Mage, have appeared in the current world.

"In such circumstances, I thought it wouldn't be strange for the Hero of Beginnings to be reborn in this world. You were always there at moments of miracles."

Moreover, Leo himself continued to achieve feats that others would struggle to accomplish in a lifetime. Some of these were worthy of being called miracles.

"Even so, it wouldn't have been easy to deduce, would it?"

"Magic begins with not ruling out possibilities. Those are the words Lord Verkia left to our family."

"That's what Luna used to nag Verkia about endlessly."

Leo recalled old memories.

"Even until the very moment he embarked on his final journey."

"It seems Lady Luna's philosophy of magic was passed on to Lord Verkia."

"Not at all. Luna was born with 'nothing is impossible, if it doesn't work, make it work' ingrained in her mind. She never really had a philosophy of magic. She just nagged Verkia until the very end because he was so incredibly stubborn and wouldn't listen."

Rune smiled faintly, watching Leo speak indifferently.

'He should have just let me be moved.'

How much more perfect would the scene have been if it were the master's final advice and exhortation to his disciple?

"Leaving nagging that he heard until his ears were calloused to his descendants? He must have lost his mind."

Of course, Leo completely shattered any notion of sentimentality.

Seeing Rune's warm smile, Leo plopped down into a chair.

And he turned his body to Rune and asked.

"Did you meet Verkia?"

"Yes."

"…"

Leo closed his eyes.

'He must have been disappointed.'

Even for Rune, it must have been a shock that an ancestor he considered great had become undead. And it was clear that Verkia was the one who defeated Rune.

Who wouldn't be disappointed by an ancestor gone wild?

It was when Leo bit his lip.

"I can guess what the Hero of Beginnings is thinking. But you don't need to worry."

"What?"

Leo looked at Rune with slightly surprised eyes at Rune's calm words.

Seeing such Leo, Rune smiled faintly.

"I am not disappointed in Lord Verkia. No one from the Ersahr family would be disappointed in Lord Verkia."

Leo silently looked at Rune.

He sensed no falsehood in Rune.

"As the Hero of Beginnings might know, I am an old man."

*Ugh* - Rune got up, *tap-tap* - patting his waist. His appearance might be that of a young man, but Rune's body was old.

In his eyes, experience was palpable, and the subtly emanating mana revealed the depth of ages.

"Having lived long enough, I know that the world is not simply beautiful. And that there is no perfect person in the world."

Rune's eyes saddened.

"It is merely sad. The Lord Verkia I met had very clear eyes."

As the head of the Ersahr family, Rune had once conquered Verkia's world. And there, he met Verkia.

That's why Rune knew. How great an individual their ancestor was. And also how warm-hearted he was.

Feeling intense sorrow, Rune said.

"Does the Hero of Beginnings know what happened to my ancestor?"

Leo approached the portrait of Verkia hanging on one side of the office.

The Verkia in the painting was expressionless. He was usually expressionless, but… somehow, he looked sharp-edged. 'It must be a painting drawn after that tragedy.'

Looking at his disciple in the painting, Leo opened his mouth.

He told him the truth, which he had seen through the Akasha Record, a truth not even passed down in the Ersahr family.

Rune's hands trembled after hearing the story to the end. Rune, eyes tightly shut, said.

"If only I could, I would like to lessen his sorrow and pain."

Rune bit his lip tightly.

"But my voice won't reach Lord Verkia."

Rune clenched his fist.

Perhaps no one else in the world could. Except for the one person in front of him.

Rune bowed his head towards Leo.

"Hero of Beginnings, I know this is a shameless request as a descendant. But I beg you. Please… save Lord Verkia. Embrace his pain."

'Your descendants, even after 5000 years… even though they don't fully know you and have suffered because of you, they respect and love you, Verkia.'

Rune's unwavering respect for Verkia was palpable.

It wasn't simply because Verkia was the progenitor of the Ersahr family. Beyond that, it was because Rune knew all too well that Verkia was a person worthy of respect.

The world had forgotten the great deeds Verkia had accomplished. The feat of rebuilding the world after the great heroes and saving it once again from the brink of despair.

It wasn't particularly that the world turned its back on Verkia. Over time, everything is naturally forgotten.

But the people of the Ersahr family never forgot that fact. Generation after generation, they passed on the great deeds Verkia had left behind to their descendants.

'With the power and history of the Ersahr family, they could have prevented Verkia from being forgotten in history, but they didn't.'

Not a single person did so.

'They must have wanted to uphold Verkia's will.'

A noble life silently sacrificed for the world. He must have thought it didn't matter if no one recognized it. Because the world itself was valuable.

The people of the Ersahr family foolishly respected their ancestor's will and followed in his footsteps.

'I am proud of you. If I had left descendants, they wouldn't have been like yours, but—'

Leo gritted his teeth.

'But you could have been selfish for once, couldn't you?'

In Verkia's life, as Leo saw it, Verkia had never once lived for himself.

He never considered what he achieved to be special.

He always humbled himself and never lost the attitude of striving for further improvement.

That image, which he had seen through the Akasha Record, was still etched in his mind.

If that had been Verkia's original personality, it wouldn't have been this regrettable.

'Just you wait. When an era of peace comes, I'll become more famous than Master Kyle and overshadow his reputation. I'll make future generations say that Kyle is inferior to other great heroes. Bleh—!'

The hateful image of him often sticking out his tongue and teasing came to mind.

'He used to habitually say that in an era of peace, he would become a great person, a figure whose name would be spoken of throughout generations, just like Luna.'

But even though he had achieved great deeds that would be widely known to future generations, he couldn't lift his head, as if he had done something wrong.

As if apologizing to someone. He couldn't enjoy what he fully deserved and relentlessly pushed himself.

As if being chased by something. He dedicated his life to the world.

The same would have been true for Bhaar.

'We shifted the burden onto you.'

At the moment he vanquished Erebus and closed his eyes for the last time.

Leo didn't worry about the world.

Because he trusted his disciples.

He had no doubt that they could regain their former selves even without him.

And the two of them placed the world on a solid foundation, in both light and shadow.

Throughout their lives.

Leo hadn't anticipated that both he and they would be unable to escape the sense of duty to be responsible for the world that the great heroes had saved, throughout their lives.

Like Lysinas. Like Luna. Like Arion. Like Dwenho. Like Kyle.

He thought they had to live a life dedicated to the world.

'You two didn't have to live that way.'

Leo gritted his teeth and clenched his fist.

If they were the generation deprived of what other great heroes, excluding Arion, had enjoyed.

Verkia and Bhaar were a generation that couldn't even enjoy it.

Because they had been deprived, they were desperate.

If the great heroes had survived. Even Lysinas would not have lived as desperately as Verkia and Bhaar.

He overlooked that the world Kyle took for granted was an unknown world to these two.

He should have told them they didn't need to take responsibility for everything. That they could also find and live their own lives.

The lives of these two, who hadn't learned that, were terribly harsh.

'We took away your lives.'

And that heavy burden was being carried by the descendants of his disciples.

Bhaar's descendants lived their lives in darkness.

Verkia's descendants lived their lives in humility.

Verkia and Bhaar. Do these two fall short of great heroes? Could they be said to fall short of the Heroes of Genesis?

"I have one condition."

"Please tell me."

"Don't live like Verkia."

"Excuse me?"

Rune, who had bowed his head, looked at Leo with surprised eyes.

"I think I roughly understand how the Ersahr family has lived for 5000 years."

Leo's eyes darkened.

"They must have persisted as the foundation upholding the world… the race of Elves."

Leo, who had been looking at Rune, looked at Verkia again.

"I never taught you to sacrifice everything. Your family has always done its best. You… the Ersahr family… are a noble house of heroes, greater than anyone else in the world, so."

Leo declared.

"You no longer need to humble yourselves."

"…"

Rune bowed his head.

For some reason, his eyes were red-rimmed.

'Getting sentimental in old age.'

But his heart trembled at the fact that the deeds they had silently carried out for 5000 years, their history, had been acknowledged by someone other than themselves.

"Verkia would surely wish for that too."

'Ancestors, is there any greater honor than this?'