Book 1 Chapter 651
651.
The day after the entrance ceremony.
Students literally began pouring out into the central hall of the clock tower.
As the dormitory was to be used by all students, the dormitory building itself was bound to be bustling.
Naturally, the most visible were the freshmen.
Even at yesterday's entrance ceremony, the freshmen had shown a dispirited atmosphere, but a day later, they had recovered and regained some of their vitality.
Luke made a nervous expression as he watched the freshmen gather with their departmental classmates, chattering.
“Luke. Why do you look so nervous?”
Habiden, a classmate and rival from the Knight Department, asked with a puzzled look.
Luke replied with a trembling voice.
“Th-that’s because… they’re our juniors. As seniors, we have to set an example… H-hoo… I’m nervous!”
Habiden frowned, looking at Luke who didn’t know what to do.
“I always say this, Luke. You are the representative of our year. If you show yourself like that, you’ll be looked down upon.”
“B-but. How can I say this? To make juniors follow us, we have to set an example, don’t we?”
“Hmph. Example or not, just by being in the second year, you’re qualified as a senior.”
Habiden scoffed and called out to a passing freshman from the Knight Department.
“You, there.”
“Yes, sir!”
Habiden pointed at Luke, looking at the freshman who stood at attention with a very nervous face.
“Do you know who this fellow is?”
“He is Senior Luke Elda, the representative of the second year!”
“What do you think of this fellow?”
“I respect him! And I respect Senior Habiden too!”
“Alright, go on.”
“W-work hard…”
“Tsk!”
“W-work hard!”
“Yes! Thank you!”
Habiden glared at Luke, who was about to use polite language without realizing it. Luke was startled and changed his tone.
At his words, the freshman made a touched expression and then ran off to the students he had become friendly with overnight.
“I talked to Senior Luke and Senior Habiden! Senior Luke told me to cheer up!”
“Ooooh!”
“That’s so cool!”
“Should I try talking to them too?”
“How can I say this, it’s hard to approach them!”
Habiden chuckled, watching the boisterous first-years.
“They’re so happy just from a word of encouragement from you. Have some confidence.”
“Th-thank you.”
Luke looked touched.
Habiden curled the corners of his mouth, watching Luke.
“Because I can’t tolerate our year representative being underestimated.”
“Yes. I will become a person more suited to be the year representative than I am now…”
“Because soon that position will be mine.”
“…”
“Wipe your neck and wait. Luke.”
“Excuse me. ‘Wipe your neck and wait.’ Those are such chilling words…”
“What’s going on? Luke.”
“Aina! Habiden told me to wipe my neck and wait!”
At that, Aina’s face hardened.
Then she glared at Habiden with sharp eyes.
“I will absolutely not tolerate that.”
“Aina…”
Luke looked slightly touched.
“I’ll be the one to cut Luke’s neck.”
“…”
Luke could only remain silent.
“Why is the atmosphere like this?”
“You shouldn’t look so downcast, year representative, on the very first day.”
Juen and Shasha approached Luke.
“Aina and Habiden told me to wipe my neck and wait.”
“Perhaps it’s because they’re from the Knight Department, but their words are a bit scary.”
“Right?”
“Yeah. I’m going to put a wind hole in your forehead.”
“That’s scary too.”
“Oh dear. Cutting necks, making wind holes. Everyone. Your words are quite harsh. You should soften them a bit.”
Shasha, covering her mouth with a fan, spoke in a gentle tone.
“How are you going to soften them?”
As Juen squinted her eyes, Shasha made a fresh expression.
“Execution.”
“You seem like the most chilling one though?”
‘Why do they speak in such a chilling way?’
Luke made a tearful face, watching his friends who were constantly eyeing him.
The first-years watched the second-years from a distance with envious eyes.
It was then.
Click-clack- click-clack-
The sound of high heels was heard.
The first-years’ gazes turned towards the source of the sound.
“Oh! It’s Senior Iliana.”
“Wow!”
“She’s so pretty.”
Exclamations erupted from everywhere at the appearance of Iliana, who was among the top-tier skilled students in the third year.
The third year was already famous as the greatest golden generation in Lumen’s history.
Among that golden generation, excluding the absolute top students, there was almost no one who could rival Iliana in skill, making her literally an object of admiration for the freshmen.
“But I heard she’s a bit, how should I put it, flighty? I heard she was boisterous.”
“Oh? I heard that rumor too.”
“Is it a false rumor?”
“It must be a false rumor! How could such a cultured person have such a rumor spread about her?”
The first-years tilted their heads and whispered.
As they chattered, the first-years made eye contact with Iliana.
Just as the freshmen froze and didn't know what to do,
Iliana offered them a gentle smile.
At that smile, the first-year male students instantly blushed.
Watching them, Iliana gently swept her hair back and headed towards the cafeteria.
Chelsea, who had just exited the dormitory and witnessed this, made an unreadable expression.
Then she approached Nella, who had come out of the Knight Department area, and asked.
“Sister Nella. Why is she like that? Did she eat something bad overnight?”
“Well. She said something strange about having a secret weapon to win the dormitory competition, and she’s been like that since morning.”
Nella made a deeply worried expression.
“Did she hurt her head in the fight with the seniors yesterday? She didn’t seem to have any external injuries.”
“If she sustained a strong impact to the head, how should we treat it?”
Nella, who possessed healing aura, was both a representative healer of the third year and a master of healing arts.
Nella pondered for a moment at Chelsea's question, then said.
“You just need to give her head a strong impact… Should I try hitting her with my morning star once?”
“…Then she might die if you’re not careful. Sister Nella.”
“Right?”
Iliana, whether aware or unaware that her friends were speaking chilling lines, went to the cafeteria and looked around.
She then spotted Leo eating in one spot and her eyes lit up slightly.
“So. This ring just popped out of the sub-space of your cloak, which has no rivals in love, right?”
“Yeah.”
Leo nodded, sipping coffee from a mug, at Kal’s question.
Kal, examining the ring in his hand, exclaimed in admiration.
“Wow~ By the way, it’s really beautiful, isn’t it? I’d believe it if you said it was a work of art.”
Overall, it was a beautiful silver ring that seemed as if it could flow away at any moment.
A small sapphire was embedded in it.
Inside the sapphire, a magic circle was engraved, almost invisible to the naked eye.
On the inner surface of the silver ring, beautiful flowers were also embroidered.
As Kal said, it could rightly be called a work of art.
“This alone could buy a decent saint, couldn’t it?”
“Because Dweno made it.”
“Ah, I see. No wonder. It’s a ring made by Sir Dweno.”
Kal nodded in understanding and then clicked his tongue.
“It’s an item that could buy a decent country and still have money left over. Ugh, I’m too scared to hold it.”
Kal jested and returned the ring to Leo.
Leo, with the ring on his palm, stared intently at it.
“Is it not a ring with special meaning?”
Kal asked cautiously.
He remembered Luna’s confession from earlier.
Leo chuckled at that.
“It’s just one of the magic rings Luna had.”
Besides her magic staff, Luna possessed countless magic artifacts.
This ring, named Seolhwa, was one of them.
“It’s just a ring that increases the power of ice-attribute magic. It was one of the keepsakes Luna left behind at the end. That’s why it was kept in my cloak.”
“Oh ho? Then you can use it.”
“Most of Luna’s magic items had incredible performance, but many of them were difficult to use.”
These were items Dweno had created at Luna’s request.
“In the case of this ring, an ice-attribute mage would have to wield it to maximize its performance.”
Even if Leo used it, the ring’s original performance could be fully brought out.
However, doing so would halve the power of magic of other attributes.
From Leo's perspective, it was a negative factor.
‘Only someone like Luna could use such magic rings and fully utilize the power of magic.’
“It’s a good ring for Chloe to use.”
“If it’s a keepsake, isn’t it precious?”
When Kal asked cautiously, Leo chuckled.
“It’s a fake I got as a reward for conquering the world of heroes anyway. The real ring disappeared long ago.”
Leo tossed the ring into the air with a ‘Twing-!’ and then snatched it with a ‘Tak-’.
“Hardly any of the keepsakes left by our comrades have been passed down to later generations.”
All the keepsakes left by his comrades had been consumed by fire with him at their final moment.
“Why is there nothing left by you and the Great Heroes?”
“Huh?”
“It’s here.”
Kal pointed downwards with his finger.
“The world.”
“You’re making a serious face, unlike you.”
“I’m a respectable hero now too. I have to be serious when it’s time to be serious.”
Leo burst out laughing at Kal’s words.
“Actually, even if I wanted to give it to Chloe, I can’t. This ring. Its power is only activated when it’s with me. In someone else’s hand, it’s just a shell.”
“Hmm. That’s a shame.”
Kal crossed his arms.
“Is it because you have Sir Dweno’s mana?”
“Perhaps.”
Objects created by Dweno react to Dweno’s power and temporarily return to their most brilliant era.
This ring, too, was highly likely to be affected by that.
It was when Leo and Kal were eating.
“Class rep, Kal. Good morning.”
Iliana, carrying a meal tray, smiled gracefully and greeted them.
“Good morning.”
Leo smiled warmly and greeted her back.
“Did you eat something bad? Why are you greeting us so charmingly this morning?”
“Huh? Did I do that? Fufufu.”
Kal narrowed his brows, watching Iliana cover her mouth and give a gentle smile.
“Why are you imitating Nella? Oh, I’m going to eat one.”
Kal poked a sausage from Iliana’s meal tray with a fork and ate it.
Iliana, who normally would have flared her eyes and pounced, looked at him with a pitying smile.
“Kal, are you very hungry? Shall I give you more?”
“…”
At Iliana’s question, Kal made a displeased expression and rubbed his arm vigorously.
“Ugh, goosebumps.”
Watching Kal, Iliana burst into laughter and ate gracefully.
And she chatted with Leo.
“I’m looking forward to combat class today. I heard it’s a joint class with the 1st and 2nd years.”
“You already checked that?”
“Yes. It was on the central hall bulletin board, wasn’t it?”
Leo made a strange expression, watching Iliana who looked like an honor student.
“Where’s Nella? Nella!”
Kal stood up and frantically searched for Nella.
“Kal is noisy from morning.”
Iliana shook her head with a look that said she couldn't stop him.