Book 1 Chapter 583

583.

Karl gulped, seeing the four people in front of him.

'Looking at them like this, the pressure is no joke, isn't it?'

There were five seats in front of him.

And everyone was seated there, except for one empty seat.

'SayRoon, the Mage of the Comet; Ajonia, the Great Warrior; Damian, the Indomitable.'

The great heroes who saved the world again 3000 years ago during the return of the calamity.

'They're silent, but their aura is incredible.'

Karl's gaze, which had been briefly on LuMia, EiRan, and Driana, lingered for a moment on the empty seat.

It must be LuMern's empty seat.

Karl finally looked at the woman sitting in the center.

'RoDia, the Dragon of Genesis.'

If there was LeeSinass, the King of Wisdom, in the Age of Calamity…

…then there was RoDia during the return of the calamity.

Her achievement wasn't merely gathering heroes to defeat the fragments of Erebus.

'The first conqueror.'

It was RoDia who first discovered the World of Heroes and conquered it.

'With such a great achievement, she must have come to be called Genesis itself.'

Karl flinched his neck at RoDia's gaze, which seemed to pierce through everything.

"Cleary Jesiang, the student council president of LuMern."

"Did you call for me, Lady RoDia, Dragon of Genesis?"

As Karl bowed his head, RoDia opened her mouth.

"As you know, the Knight of Twilight, LuMern, is currently missing."

RoDia's eyes narrowed.

"Do you know anything about that?"

At that question, Karl hesitated, wondering how to answer.

Though he couldn't be sure, Karl had a hunch about where LuMern had gone.

'The place where God resides.'

But he couldn't tell RoDia that fact straightforwardly.

The existence of God would only become known 3000 years from now.

Mentioning it would be twisting history.

'Unless it's one of the Genesis heroes. It's a critical matter that a mere student council president shouldn't know.'

It was amusing to call someone who was the student council president of LuMern Academy a "mere student council president," but compared to the beings in front of him, it wasn't strange to be called that.

"I don't know."

"Really? That's quite disappointing, then?"

RoDia's eyes blurred for a moment, then sharpened again.

'Perhaps no one knows about the existence of God at this point in time anyway.'

The heroes of Genesis left countless legends.

But among them, the hero's tale people liked the most was undoubtedly LuMern's.

Not just humans.

LuMern's story was loved regardless of race.

The reason was extremely simple.

After the return of the calamity ended.

Among the heroes of Genesis, LuMern was the one who had adventured the most across the world.

RoDia researched the Hero Record in Dragonia and left her findings for future generations.

SayRoon reinterpreted star magic and re-established it as the elves' unique magic, while Damian dedicated himself to collecting and restoring the divine artifacts left by Dweno.

In Ajonia's case, he focused on gaining the ability to transform into a beast-person at will, like Arion.

'Breath of the Valiant' was derived from the knowledge passed down during that process.

But not LuMern.

If each had something to pass on to future generations in their respective fields…

…LuMern had nothing that needed to be passed down to future generations.

'Because LuMern-nim didn't inherit any power in Kyle's world.'

Since there was nothing to inherit, there was nothing to leave behind.

'Leo said that LuMern-nim wanted to be like him. Perhaps LuMern-nim blamed himself.'

Himself, who couldn't be like the Hero of the Beginning.

Himself, who couldn't replace the Hero of the Beginning.

He might have blamed himself for not being able to defeat Erebus.

To future generations, LuMern's adventures might have been seen as a journey to help people.

But in reality, it must have been a journey to find the key to enter Kyle's world.

A struggle to inherit Kyle's power.

'And in the process, he must have discovered God.'

Karl clenched his fist.

'If it's the LuMern-nim I know, he's definitely that kind of person.'

Everyone living in the Age of Heroes has a favorite hero.

Karl was no different.

The hero he loved most since childhood was none other than LuMern.

A hero who started from nothing and saved the world with his own strength.

'Because I thought he was similar to me.'

For a commoner boy, he couldn't help but be an object of great admiration.

There were times when he avidly sought out anything related to LuMern, be it folk tales or history books.

Recalling his younger self, Karl smiled wryly.

'From a young age, I had a talent that wasn't too bad. Just enough talent to be noticeable, but not outstanding.'

'There were times when I was puffed up with pride as a child, acting like I'd become a hero.'

But by chance, meeting someone made him neatly put those thoughts aside.

'Our unlucky prince.'

Moira is a small kingdom.

As such, people are evaluated solely on their abilities, regardless of social status.

'That's our kingdom's greatest strength.'

Thanks to that, Karl, though a commoner from an alchemist family who showed magical talent from a young age, was given the opportunity to attend Moira National School.

There, he happened to see Duran, who was visiting the school.

'Well, that guy probably doesn't even remember.'

Karl shook his head, briefly recalling his first meeting with Duran.

He realized it after seeing Duran.

What the possibility of becoming a hero truly meant.

'After that, for some reason, I couldn't like LuMern-nim as much as before. I was too precocious even as a child.'

He also stopped saying he wanted to be a hero from then on.

He also stopped saying he wanted to be like LuMern at some point.

'Still, foolishly, I clung to the idea of entering LuMern.'

To be even a little closer to a hero.

He wanted to be someone who approached LuMern.

So, he aimed to be a supporter and entered LuMern.

Karl, who had been thinking about the past for a moment, shook off those thoughts.

'What's important now is finding LuMern-nim.'

It's certain that LuMern is somewhere in the academy.

And somewhere here, God, Lian, is also present.

"LuMern has an unnecessarily strong sense of responsibility. Even though it's not his fault."

RoDia suddenly let out a small sigh.

Karl smiled wryly at RoDia's words.

"Yes. That's why he wouldn't just disappear like this."

"Right. He's not the type to just disappear like this."

"He must be somewhere in the academy."

"Yeah. That's why I asked."

"Huh?"

"……"

"I thought you would know."

As she said that, RoDia's eyes blurred again, then sharpened.

Seeing that, Karl felt something strange.

RoDia kept looking at Karl with eyes that seemed to pierce through everything.

'No, it's strange from the beginning.'

The heroes of Genesis have greater trust and bond with each other than anyone else.

In terms of trust and bond alone, they would be no less than the great heroes.

A moment ago, when Karl replied that he didn't know to RoDia's question…

RoDia openly expressed her disappointment.

'How could a student council president know something that even the heroes of Genesis don't know?'

Moreover, her reaction afterward was also strange.

'And now. She definitely said "you all," right? Not just me.'

It could be referring to all the academy students.

But he couldn't shake off the sense of unease.

Karl, whose thoughts had reached that point, gulped.

"Lady RoDia… surely…?"

In an instant, RoDia brought her index finger to her lips.

Seeing that, Karl was aghast.

'She knows.'

That this is the World of Heroes.

That RoDia herself is a fake.

'And that I and the other Genesis heroes are conquerors! She knows everything! What is this? How is she keeping her sanity?!'

In the World of Heroes, if a conqueror reveals or is discovered to be a conqueror, the conquest of the World of Heroes fails.

'A character within the World of Heroes, the moment they realize they are fake, wouldn't be able to accept the situation and their mind would collapse, wouldn't it?'

But RoDia was perfectly fine.

'Is she not subject to restrictions? No, seeing as she told me to be quiet in the first place, that doesn't seem to be the case?'

Karl wore a perplexed expression.

But he soon took a deep breath.

"Lord SayRoon, Lord Ajonia, Lord Damian."

"……?"

"I have something I'd like to say only to Lady RoDia."

At his words, the three people looked at RoDia.

RoDia nodded, and the three people left.

Everyone sent Karl perplexed glances, wondering, 'What are you planning?'

A moment later, RoDia, who remained in the room, smiled faintly.

"You're a clever child, aren't you?"

"I'm quick-witted, you see."

"Yes. Thank you for sending the others out. I'm in a bit of a precarious state, you see? Can you quickly tell me just what I want to hear?"

Karl answered that question.

"Lord LuMern went to find God, who is somewhere in the academy."

'He lacks the qualities of a hero, but he's a smart kid.'

A gleam appeared in RoDia's eyes as she looked at Karl.

He figured out her condition from a small clue.

'It wasn't that the other conquerors were lacking, though.'

The clue RoDia let slip was truly minor.

If she intervened more than that, RoDia couldn't guarantee her own sanity.

'To not miss that small detail and deduce all this. His observational skills are excellent.'

The moment she thought that.

[An error has occurred in the system. Restarting the record system…]

*Clink-*

The moment the message appeared.

RoDia destroyed her own mind.

The destroyed mind immediately returned.

'So this is what people inside the World of Heroes were seeing.'

The core figures of the World of Heroes are the ones who can perceive conquerors within the World of Heroes.

The reason the conquest fails the moment they perceive the existence of a conqueror is simple.

Because the character within the World of Heroes, having suffered a mental breakdown, indiscriminately attacks their surroundings.

RoDia also doesn't know the exact mechanism.

She merely discovered it through countless experiments.

If a core figure of the World of Heroes can no longer proceed with the conquest, then naturally, the conquest also fails.

'If an error occurs, the world collapses. But if the person who caused the error is dealt with, the world doesn't collapse and continues as it is.'

This was also a fact she learned while researching the Hero Record for a long time.

'First of all, I am not the master of this world.'

LuMern, who was there until yesterday, suddenly vanished.

And the moment SayRoon, Ajonia, and Damian realized that they were not the real ones, but conquerors…

…the three desperately searched for LuMern.

'If I were the target of the conquest, there would be no reason to be that desperate.'

The moment she thought that far, a message appeared.

And seeing that, RoDia destroyed her ego without hesitation.

Because she judged that in the worst-case scenario, even if she died in this world, the world would be maintained.

But for some reason, RoDia did not die.

'The moment the message appears, it feels like a new ego is being overwritten. The ego I killed is my own self that will actualize the next world after this world ends.'

RoDia broke out in a cold sweat, deducing the reason she was maintaining her ego.

Accidentally slipping through a system loophole and forcibly maintaining the world with her memories intact was by no means an easy task.

What RoDia was doing now was akin to killing herself every time an error occurred.

'I wonder how long my mind can hold out.'

The shock of destroying her own mind remained entirely.

'I need to conquer this world as quickly as possible before I run into problems… huh?'

RoDia wore a puzzled expression.

The conqueror was already looking out the window.

And his face was deathly pale.

"What's wrong?"

"Black flames……"

"What?"

"Don't you see it? The flames of calamity?!"

"What?"

RoDia's eyes widened as she looked where Karl pointed.

[An error has occurred in the system. The record system…]

*Clink-*

Her mind became faint from the aftermath of destroying it.

RoDia bit her lip tightly, barely clinging to her fading reason.

"I don't see anything?"

Karl's face hardened.

'Is it only visible to conquerors?!'