Book 1 Chapter 566
566.
“Who are these kids?”
Leo pointed at the Wisdom students standing behind Lunia and Ar, and asked.
“You’re Leo Flobe, aren’t you? Nice to meet you! I’m Lyden! I’m a student of Wisdom!”
“Wisdom?”
“It’s an educational institution in Dragonia that trains dragons who have inherited the will of Master Licinas.”
Chelsea explained from the side to Leo, who had a puzzled expression.
“It’s as that girl said. We are guide candidates. Descendants of the great Master Licinas.”
“Oh? Do Licinas’s descendants have business with me?”
“We’ve come to judge your qualifications as a hero.”
For a moment, Leo wore an expression of incomprehension, and Chelsea’s mouth opened and closed.
Lunia covered her face with her palm and tilted her head back.
“I must have misheard, could you say that again?”
“We’ve come to test you.”
‘What is this wet-behind-the-ears kid talking about?’
Leo let out a hollow laugh.
“Are you out of your mind? Who are you to test big brother Leo!”
At that moment, Chelsea, who was beside him, flared up and shouted.
Leo is the Hero of the Beginning.
The great hero who vanquished Erebus and saved the world 5000 years ago.
A man who could be called the ancestor of all heroes!
But to test such a Leo?
‘That’s absurd!’
“Who are you?”
“I’m Chelsea Lewellyn, a second-year magic student at Lumern!”
“The Lewellyn family of the Rodren Empire?”
At Chelsea’s shout, a female Wisdom student from behind stepped forward.
The tall female student stared intently at Chelsea.
“What are you staring at?”
The tall female student suddenly hugged Chelsea, who was asking with a furrowed brow.
“So tiny! Like a doll! So incredibly cute!”
*Crack-!*
A vein popped up on Chelsea’s forehead; she hated being called small more than anything in the world.
Seeing Chelsea’s legs flailing in the air while floating, Ar let out a snort of laughter.
“Looking at her like that, she really is small.”
‘You’re dead later! You damn cat!’
Chelsea ground her teeth, vowing to give that face a dropkick.
“Could you let me go a little?”
“Ah, my apologies.”
The female student cleared her throat, “Ahem-!”
“Shiren. As a Wisdom student, don’t lose your dignity.”
“Sorry, sorry.”
The female student called Shiren, who burst into hearty laughter, introduced herself to Chelsea.
“Nice to meet you, Chelsea Lewellyn. My name is Shiren. I’m a Wind Dragon. I’ve been very interested in and studied your Lewellyn family since I was young.”
Shiren, who greeted elegantly by lifting the hem of her skirt, looked at Chelsea with admiration.
“I can tell by the wind blowing around you. You’re still young, but you’re amazing, aren’t you?”
In response, Chelsea looked up at Shiren with a sullen expression.
‘There’s no malice.’
But it was strange.
How should she put it?
‘A feeling of being looked down upon, just a little?’
It was quite different from the elf supremacists steeped in pure-blood ideology she had seen during the Lucet War last year.
Shiren was clearly respecting Chelsea.
She didn’t look down on her either.
‘Yes. It seems she thinks she needs to guide me.’
That subtly made her feel unpleasant.
No matter what anyone said, Chelsea was a student representing Lumern.
Of course, until her first year, she couldn’t find the path she wanted to take and was floundering.
The wind named Abad, who had been with her since childhood.
And the wind named Leo, who had entered Lumern with her.
There were times when she would simply be swept away by strong winds when she encountered them.
But not anymore.
What she clearly wanted to do.
Chelsea was now finding the person she wanted to be and creating her own strong wind.
To such a Chelsea, Shiren’s attitude, which strongly exuded an aura of ‘someone who will guide you,’ naturally made her feel unpleasant.
‘Am I an idiot who needs someone else to show me the way? What is this?’
It was the same for others besides Chelsea.
It was amazing.
When they entered the Hero Academy, they dreamed of being chosen by a dragon.
All those chosen by dragons had achieved great feats, so as hero candidates, they couldn’t help but envy them.
Even though they were close to achieving that aspiration, they didn’t feel good now.
Leo, who was looking around, let out a chuckle.
‘Everyone has grown.’
The path they wanted to take.
What they wanted to become.
Their goals were clear.
Moving forward steadfastly towards that was clear evidence of growth.
‘It’s unpleasant to offer a path to those who already have a clear one, without even asking their intentions. It’s like meddling in someone else’s life. Anyway.’
Leo looked at the Wisdom students.
‘They’re immature.’
Dragons are the strongest race.
And because they gathered excellent individuals from among those dragons.
The dragons before him were all wise and exceptionally skilled.
However…
‘They’re arrogant.’
These dragons were different from the dragons Leo had met during the Age of Heroes.
The dragons Leo had met all had their own circumstances, their own ideals.
But despite their individuality, they all carried a fragment of what Licinas had left for future generations.
They were dragons, but they were never arrogant.
They always humbled themselves and met the eyes of various races.
But these Wisdom students now were different from their predecessors.
They resembled the dragons who, as guardians of the world during the Age of Calamity, could not shed their arrogance, rather than Licinas.
An arrogant race that considered themselves noble and treated other races as inferior, refusing harmony even as the world was on the brink of destruction.
That was Kyle’s perception of dragons before he met Licinas.
‘How should I punish these insolent lizards?’
Leo, who was pondering and rolling his eyes around, suddenly spotted someone sitting on the roof.
It was none other than Mellina and Enkinias.
Enkinias politely bowed his head when his eyes met Leo’s.
Mellina gave an awkward smile and then made a gesture of clapping her hands together.
‘Does she mean to go easy on them?’
Certainly, just because they evoke dragons of the past doesn't mean they are truly the same as them.
‘Because they’re just greenhorns lacking world experience.’
Leo scratched his head roughly.
‘But it’s annoying.’
If it were Luna or Dweno, they would have called them insolent and immediately turned them into pulp.
The same goes for Leo.
‘But Licinas would have been different.’
He would have made them realize there was a wider world out there.
Just as he had extended a hand to Kyle in the past.
Thinking that far, Leo reached out and stroked Chelsea’s head, who had a fierce expression.
At that, Chelsea’s face softened slightly.
“You said you wanted to judge my qualifications as a hero, right?”
“Yes.”
Lyden nodded proudly.
Leo chuckled, looking at Lyden.
“Alright. Test my qualifications.”
“That’s a good thought!”
“Before that.”
“Hm?”
“May I judge your qualifications?”
“You, us?”
“There’s no law saying a hero can’t test a guide, is there?”
“That’s certainly true.”
‘Leo Flobe has already reached the position of a hero. Furthermore, he is chosen by a god… the only being who can defeat Erebus.’
Lyden was Wisdom’s top honor student.
He had a strong desire to one day inherit the will of the great King of Wisdom and contribute to the world alongside heroes.
To Lyden, among the heroes existing in the same era, there was no better partner than Leo.
‘And with this man, it wouldn’t be strange even if Lady Mellina or Master Enkinias became guides.’
If so, he needed to somehow show his worth.
Lyden nodded.
“Alright. You’ve already made a name for yourself in the Hero Record as a hero. You have the right to test me!”
‘Leo probably just wants to turn your mental state into dust, you know?’
Lunia clicked her tongue, looking at Lyden.
“So? What kind of test do you plan to give me? I’ll overcome anything.”
“The test itself is simple. You just have to escape from the illusion magic I cast.”
“Illusion magic? Illusion magic doesn’t work well on dragons. Furthermore, if they already know it’s an illusion, they won’t fall for it easily. You should know that, shouldn’t you?”
Leo smiled, looking at Lyden, who had a puzzled expression.
“If that’s the case, you don’t need to worry. Why don’t you all try it too?”
Leo said to the other Wisdom students who were observing the situation from behind.
Hearing that, the Wisdom students looked at each other.
“Looks like fun.”
“I’m curious what kind of magic an All-Class Hero uses.”
The other Wisdom students also wore curious expressions.
Looking at them, Leo spoke to Chelsea.
“By the way, Chelsea here will take the test with you.”
“Me?”
Chelsea’s eyes widened, and she pointed at herself with a finger.
“Are you planning to adjust the power of the illusion magic to Chelsea Lewellyn?”
“If I adjust it to Chelsea’s standard, there’s no point in having the test.”
“In that case, it might be dangerous, though?”
Lyden wore a worried expression.
Seeing Lyden, Chelsea scrunched up her face.
“Don’t worry about me, worry about yourself.”
Looking at Chelsea, who was speaking fiercely with a crooked expression, Shiren covered her cheeks.
“She’s so tiny and prickly, it’s really cute.”
“She’s not just prickly. She’s a kid with a nasty temper.”
“Big brother Leo, can I hit that cat in the solar plexus just once before we start?”
“It won’t be easy to catch him, you know?”
At Leo’s words, Chelsea clicked her tongue, “Tsk!”
“There’s no need to worry about Chelsea.”
Overcoming illusion magic requires strong mental fortitude.
Lyden worried like that because he thought Chelsea was an immature hero candidate.
‘Of course, Chelsea is immature.’
Not just Chelsea.
Lunia, Ar, and Driana are also immature.
But that’s only by Leo’s standards.
For Lyden to rashly judge Chelsea, the path Chelsea has walked has never been smooth.
‘No matter what anyone says, she’s stood on the battlefield against Erebus.’
When the third fragment of Erebus was resurrected.
Chelsea had gone to the front lines against Erebus to help Arion.
‘The presence or absence of that experience is significant.’
Chelsea is by no means an immature hero candidate.
She was a mage worthy of being called a hero.
‘If it were me, I would have beaten them up, but if it were you, you would have given them a chance to learn. Right?’
Recalling his old friend, Leo smiled faintly.
“So, are you ready?”
“Of course.”
Lyden and the Wisdom students wore confident expressions.
Chelsea also nodded.
“Then.”
Leo unleashed his magic power.
Lyden wore a tense expression, watching him.
‘What kind of magic is it?’
The moment he thought that.
The gray magic power rising from Leo’s hand transformed into pitch-black darkness.
“What?”
It was different from the foul darkness of Tartarus.
A warm, embracing feeling, as if it held everything.
But precisely because of that, it gave an unsettling feeling of an unknown end.
‘This is… dragon’s magic power?’
Lyden’s eyes widened as he stared at Leo.
At that moment, he realized that Leo’s eyes had changed from red to an obsidian-like black.
Those eyes were identical to those of his own kind.
‘Dragonic Word Magic!’
Lyden, as well as the Wisdom students, stared wide-eyed.
It was high-level Dragonic Word Magic that they, in their current state, could not even dream of attempting.
In the distant past, the King of Wisdom reinterpreted Tartarus’s curse to create the Dragon’s Curse.
Realizing what the magic incantation was, Lyden was horrified.
‘Nightmare?’
At that moment.
Lyden was engulfed by the darkness that rose up like a painting.