Book 1 Chapter 556
556.
In the Zerion family, Leo received the utmost hospitality.
It wasn't simply because he was Elena's guest.
“When Sir Flobe found Lady Alia’s memento, this old man shed so many tears, I can’t tell you.”
The old wizard, seated at the dinner table, wiped his tears with a handkerchief and continuously bowed his head to Leo.
Toward the old wizard, Elena, seated at the head of the table, cut her steak with a fork and knife and spoke.
“It’s disgraceful in front of a guest, Berewyn.”
“I know, miss. But just thinking about that time, this old man… this old man…”
Berewyn Berak.
He was a hero whose name was on the Hero Records, a grand wizard who was not only Altech Zerion, the current head of Zerion and called the Infinity Speller, but also Alby, the Eye of Magic Professor at Lumerin, and Elena's magic teacher.
If he had taught the direct descendants of Zerion, it was obvious he would have also taught Alia Zerion, whom Leo had saved in the world of heroes during the first-year midterm exam.
‘Was her epithet 'Demonic Blood'?’
Judging only by the epithet, she was clearly a mage who handled blood.
Leo recalled Fritz Edgon from the first-year Magic Department.
He, a former Shadow and Leo's admirer, also deals with blood magic.
“Lady Alia was truly a kind-hearted person. When Lady Alia was alive, both the Head of the family and Lord Alby were much brighter. She was also a person of extraordinary talent.”
“Yes, yes, I’ve heard enough about my aunt to be fed up.”
Elena rested her chin in her hand and sighed.
“Of course, if we only consider talent, Lady Elena is the best.”
Berewyn looked at Elena.
“The only problem is that you’re a bit lazy.”
At his words, Elena made a bored expression.
“Doesn't Sir Flobe think so too?”
At Berewyn’s question, Leo looked at Elena.
“Senior Elena is certainly lazy.”
“Oh? Is it okay to speak so carelessly to your senior?”
“Because it’s the truth.”
Leo cut his meat with a knife.
From the perspective of pure talent.
Elena was one of the few geniuses Leo had ever seen.
Throughout his past and present lives.
In the history of heroes, there were great heroes who carried their era.
The hero of the most recent era was none other than the Sword Saint Kalian.
“If we only consider talent, she has the potential to surpass the Sword Saint.”
“Oh ho?”
Berewyn exclaimed in admiration.
He too was a hero who lived in the same era as the Sword Saint.
Of course, his name faded in the face of the Sword Saint’s renown.
However, even so, he was a comrade-in-arms who had participated in countless battles with the Sword Saint Kalian and had exchanged help.
For Berewyn, Leo’s words that she had the potential to surpass the Sword Saint were intriguing.
“What is your reason for thinking so?”
“I had a friend who was good at judging people.”
Leo recalled Licinas.
“I learned a little from him.”
“You are confident in your discernment.”
“Not as much as that friend.”
Leo smiled faintly.
Elena stared intently at Leo.
Thus, dinner concluded.
***
Deep night.
Leo was in a deep sleep in bed.
Rustle- rustle-
Then, faint footsteps were heard.
Swoosh-
Leo opened his eyes at the feeling of someone climbing onto the bed.
“Are you awake? Leo-kun?”
Elena smiled faintly.
Seeing Elena, Leo said.
“Senior, it's quite late at night now, isn’t it?”
“I know.”
Elena shrugged her shoulders.
“I just came because I wanted to talk.”
Elena, dressed in a negligee, sat on the bed with her legs crossed.
The Queen of Lumerin.
Or Elena, called a witch and the object of students’ fear.
But for now, she looked like a girl her age.
“Leo-kun. Do you know why I willingly handed over the student council president position to you?”
“Because you were lazy.”
“Of course, that’s part of it.”
Elena chuckled.
“But more than that, it was because I wanted to see a perfect hero.”
Elena turned her head and looked at Leo.
Her pink eyes sparkled.
“I thought you could become a perfect hero.”
In her eyes, a childlike innocence could be glimpsed.
“Why did you want to see a perfect hero?”
“Do you remember what I said after we defeated Erebus in Luna’s world?”
‘When I was young, I preferred the rescued princess in fairy tales to the hero. I ended up admiring that side more.’
Recalling what had happened before, Leo opened his mouth.
“The words that you preferred princesses to heroes?”
“Yes.”
Elena let out a small laugh.
“I got tired of hearing it since I was little. The talk about me becoming a hero.”
No matter what anyone said, Elena was clearly one of the most talented individuals in the era of heroes.
An extraordinary background.
And even more extraordinary talent than that.
“Since I was little, I was sick of hearing it. The words that I had to succeed Lumerin.”
Elena gave a small laugh.
“Did you know? That Lumerin was frustrated after hitting her limits?”
“Really?”
“Yes, it’s a fact written in the first chairman’s memoirs.”
“That’s interesting.”
“…”
At Leo’s indifferent reaction, Elena narrowed her eyes.
“That’s quite a lukewarm reaction.”
“Senior Elena respected the Knight of Twilight?”
“…”
At his words, Elena fell silent, then nodded her head.
“I respect her, even now.”
Elena gave a small laugh.
“I, as a child, grew up very harshly.”
Elena had lived since childhood with the epithet of being the greatest genius in the history of the Zerion family.
Beyond surpassing the Sage of Twilight, even the expectation that she might reach the Knight of Twilight.
She was literally revered as the successor of creation.
Accordingly, Elena's childhood was severe.
“Whenever that happened, I read Lumerin’s fairy tales.”
A knight who never gave up.
Lumerin’s epic, rising from slavery to the position of a hero who saved the world, was literally an endless challenge in itself.
“Her never-giving-up attitude gave me strength. To me as a child, Lumerin was a perfect hero.”
And then I saw.
The story that Lumerin eventually despaired.
“Were you disappointed?”
“Well… rather than disappointed, I despaired.”
Elena’s eyes sank.
“It was vividly written in my ancestor’s memoirs. Lumerin's figure despairing and crying out.”
It was a shock to young Elena.
“The fact that even the person I aimed to be wasn't a perfect hero made me not know what to do.”
A terrible life, hidden under the name of 'harsh and severe'.
Of course, the Zerion family didn't force such a life on Elena to torment her.
It was simply because they believed in her potential.
Elena also believed in her own potential and spent her childhood relying on Lumerin’s story.
“When Uncle Alby returned to the family, those tiresome trainings stopped. I'm truly grateful for that.”
Elena smiled sweetly.
“But after that, I completely went astray. I ended up becoming an arrogant child who makes fun of people, you know?”
“That’s true.”
“Shouldn’t you deny it then?”
Elena, slightly frowning, glared at Leo for a moment.
After a moment, she sighed and said.
“I recently found out why she despaired.”
“…”
“In the end, Lumerin despaired at the fact that she couldn't defeat Erebus.”
Uncrossing her legs, Elena looked at the ceiling and lamented.
“How futile. What was I trying to become a hero for?”
Thud-
Elena, lying on the bed, turned her gaze toward Leo.
“I made Leo-kun student council president because I wanted to make him the perfect hero I couldn't become. Well, he would have become one even without my help.”
Elena gave a small laugh.
“All my motivation is gone, should I just quit school?”
“That would be difficult. You still need to be the vice president.”
“Hmm? Does that mean Leo-kun needs me?”
Elena gave a strangely twisted smile, then got up and approached Leo.
“What do you think of me, Leo-kun?”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m very beautiful, aren’t I? I also have the Zerion background. My abilities are outstanding. That's why I want to take on the vice president position.”
Before he knew it, Elena had crawled up to Leo and straddled him.
“The princess marries the hero who saved her and supports that hero, isn’t that a common story?”
Elena’s pink eyes gleamed.
Elena’s flowing hair tickled Leo’s cheek.
“What do you think?”
At her words, Leo, who was lying down, reached out his hand.
The tip of Leo’s finger touched Elena’s abdomen.
Elena’s belly flinched and drew in.
Leo’s fingers moved across her stomach towards her side, and each time, Elena’s body trembled slightly.
And then…
Pinch-!
“Aargh?!”
“Don’t mess around, what are you doing imitating an adult, you little kid who hasn’t even lost your baby fluff yet?”
Leo mercilessly pinched Elena’s side as if she were pathetic.
“Is this insubordination? This is insubordination!”
“In school, I’m the student council president, so I’m the highest, you know?”
Leo, having easily subdued Elena, clicked his tongue and got off the bed.
Elena, left alone on the bed, clutched her side and trembled, flinching repeatedly.
“Did you tame Lil so roughly too?”
“Please don’t say things that others might misunderstand.”
Leo said, crossing his arms.
“If you play this kind of prank one more time, next time you might really get into trouble, so don’t do it.”
“Ah, no fun. What kind of junior is so worn-out like an old man? I can’t even tease you.”
‘I am a worn-out old man, you impudent brat.’
Leo let out a wry laugh inwardly, then said.
“The Knight of Twilight must have despaired and given up.”
“…”
Elena gave a bitter smile.
“But she probably got back up.”
“What?”
“Who in the world doesn't despair or give up? If there’s such a person, they’d be truly insane.”
Leo clicked his tongue.
The Era of Disaster.
As a surviving hero, he was the one who had experienced more despair and surrender than anyone else.
But…
“The important thing is whether you can get back up.”
He eventually got back up.
For Leo, not giving up doesn't just mean clinging to impossible tasks until the very end.
Getting back up and running down a different path, avoiding an insurmountable wall, is also not giving up.
“She gave up on defeating Erebus herself, but she didn’t give up on Erebus being defeated. That’s why the Knight of Twilight has been defending against Erebus in the hero’s world for 3000 years.”
‘She probably thinks she gave up.’
Leo recalled his successor, whom he had never met or spoken to.
‘Don’t be pessimistic, Kyle. You’re called a surviving hero because… even if you despaired and gave up in that moment. In the end, you got up again and again and ran down different paths. That’s never giving up.’
Licinas’s words came to mind.
‘If you respect me… you don’t need to resemble even that.’
Leo let out a bitter laugh and looked at Elena, who had a dazed expression.
“If you truly respect the Knight of Twilight, you don’t need to give up just because Lumerin did. So.”
Leo met Elena’s eyes and said.
“Get up again and again. My childish princess. Get up and.”
“Get up and?”
“Become a true queen. How long are you going to act childish, just because you had a tough childhood?”
Elena made a dumbfounded expression.
Then she soon let out a wry laugh and asked.
“You don’t need a new slave, do you?”
“New slaves are always welcome.”
At his words, Elena let out a wry laugh.
“Truly… I have an absurd junior.”
Elena let out a deep sigh, got off the bed, and crossed her arms.
“Instead, I’ll run things my way.”
Leo nodded.
“As you wish.”