Book 1 Chapter 656

The evening of the first day of classes concluded.

Students of Rumeln gathered in the central hall of the Clock Tower Dormitory, engrossed in conversations about the recently announced Legion World.

"The difficulty is much higher than the Hero's World, yet there are no rewards for clearing it."

"Right! There's a limit to how unreasonable things can be!"

"Those Tartarus guys are truly useless in life!"

Although some playful complaints were heard here and there, they all knew the situation was serious.

It was at this moment, as the entire student body was abuzz with the hottest topic, that someone said,

"Look over there."

"Wow, are they going to read all those grimoires?"

"It's the first day of the semester… honor students are truly different."

A gasp erupted from the first-year students as they saw Iliana appear in the central hall after dinner.

Students from the Knight Department and Magic Department, in particular, looked at her with genuine admiration.

They were completely fooled by Iliana's showy display of being an honor student.

"Austin, why is Senior Iliana acting like this?"

Martina, the leader of Slater, Leo's knight order, asked with a serious expression.

Naturally, unlike the first-years, the second-years knew Iliana's true nature.

"I don't know either," Austin, who was Iliana's mentee in his first year, shook his head.

"She said she was going to seduce Leo," Ella, passing by, sighed softly.

"What? Seduce Master Leo?" Martina asked with a slightly flustered expression. Ella replied,

"Yeah. This semester, Leo has merit and demerit stamps. She said she'd seduce Leo, get a lot of those stamps, and become the MVP of the dormitory competition."

"So that's what it was."

"Oh my!"

Ella exclaimed in surprise, covering her mouth as she saw Leo appear behind them.

"So that's why she was pretending to be an honor student."

"Iliana told me not to say anything about this," Ella looked slightly troubled. Celia, standing next to Leo, clicked her tongue.

"Whether you say it or not, Leo wouldn't fall for such a pathetic trick."

"That may be true. But Iliana herself was very motivated, saying she could do it?" Nella said with a slight, wry smile.

"Stamps," Leo said, taking out stamps from his pocket.

Hooking the pendant on the end of the stamp onto his finger, Leo spun it around and chuckled.

"An interesting idea has come to mind."

Seeing Leo's smiling face, Nella's eyes widened.

"An interesting idea? What is it?"

"It just came to me. I'll tell you when it's more concrete."

"What's that? That's unfair," Nella grumbled slightly.

In contrast, Celia and Martina's faces turned pale.

'What kind of wicked plan is he coming up with now?'

Leo's current smile was the same one he had when he trained them.

"Well, we'll talk about that later. How was it? The meeting about party composition?"

The 3rd-year tops, led by Leo, had been holding a meeting to form parties after their departmental schedules concluded.

A large-scale party encompassing all three grades.

Naturally, the only ones qualified to be party leaders were the departmental tops among the highest-ranking 3rd-years.

Naturally, the nine students who served as dormitory leaders last year were the top candidates for party leader.

Other candidates mentioned were Cal, who had achieved the position of Hero, and Jureden, who ranked third in the Summoning Department.

Naturally, no one objected to these nominations.

"Who was chosen as party leader?"

There were six party leader positions.

And the selection of party leaders promised to be arduous.

'No one will want to yield easily.'

As departmental tops, they were all sufficiently qualified to be party leaders.

It was natural that no one wanted to give up their party leader position.

'Perhaps Chelsea and Shiah might yield?' Nella muttered to herself.

At that moment, the 3rd-year tops appeared in the central hall.

The 1st and 2nd-year students watched them with tense expressions.

While the party members wouldn't be decided today, the party leaders would be.

As the results of the party leader selection could determine the performance of an entire grade, the 1st and 2nd-years couldn't help but pay attention.

"Oppa Leo! Unni Nella! What were you talking about?"

"We were asking Leo who the party leaders were."

Chelsea, who had run over with light steps, asked, and Nella replied with a smile.

"Hehehe."

Chelsea placed her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest.

Seeing this, Celia's face contorted.

"Chelsea, don't tell me…?"

"Yes! That's right! One of the party leaders is me!"

"Wow!" Nella exclaimed.

"It was Leo Oppa, me, Shiah, Worredon, Jureden. And the last one was Cal! But…" Chelsea licked her lips.

"I was dragged away by Senior Elena who butted in."

'Huh? You're going to be a party leader? Are you sane? What about your student council duties? How can you be so irresponsible?'

'No! Leo is also a party leader!'

'Leo is the student council president, and you are the acting president. In other words, you're a slave.'

'Are you openly a slave now!'

Chelsea shook her head, recalling Cal being dragged to the student council room.

Cal, who had eagerly vied for the party leader position, believing he could escape Elena's clutches, met a tragic end.

"The last party leader is my older brother Abad!"

Having said that much, Chelsea cleared her throat and said, tilting her chin upwards,

"In that case, Celia. Go fetch some water."

"Hey! Do you want to die!" Celia's eyes widened, and Chelsea scowled.

"Isn't it natural for a subordinate to fetch water when the captain is thirsty?"

"Who are you calling a subordinate! You damn brat!"

"You."

"Leo! I'm telling you to change it to your party!" Celia grabbed Leo and shook him, her face in a pout.

The students who heard the list of six party leaders looked surprised.

"Wow! Jureden! How did you become a party leader?"

"That's amazing!"

"…Is that really so amazing?"

"Of course!" Jureden wore a mournful expression at his friends' reactions.

"Stand tall, Jureden. I cannot allow my party member to be discouraged."

"Thank you, Eliza."

"Hmph… If I eliminate them, could I become a party leader?"

"What did you just say! Eliminate them! Hey! Hey! Eliza!"

Jureden exclaimed in shock and hurried after Eliza, who was leaving.

Watching this, the Summoning Department students clicked their tongues.

"That's going to be a puppet president, for sure."

As the central hall grew noisy, Luke approached Leo.

"Congratulations on becoming a party leader, Senior Leo!"

Leo chuckled at Luke's bright smile.

"It's not something to be congratulated about."

"Indeed, it must be a natural thing for you, Senior."

"On what basis were the party leaders selected?"

Aina's expressionless face, which accompanied Luke, showed rare interest and curiosity.

Even for Aina, the current party leader selection was somewhat unexpected.

"It was very intense," Leo said with a smile, and Luke looked excited.

"Did you perhaps have a duel among yourselves for the party leader positions! Senior Jureden is also amazing! To win in such fierce competition!"

"We decided by rock-paper-scissors fairly."

"……"

"Everyone attacked as if they were going to kill each other. It was brutal. Jureden didn't seem to want to do it, though."

"Then you should have let him withdraw!" Leo's words elicited a cry from Jureden.

Leo smiled faintly at Jureden.

"Don't be ridiculous."

***

Late at night.

The top floor of the Clock Tower.

A shadow crept towards Leo's bed as he slept with his eyes closed.

"What are you doing?" Leo asked, opening his eyes and looking at Mel, who was sitting by his bed and staring down at his face with a bewildered expression.

"I was watching Leo-nim sleep."

"You were complaining about how hard it was because of the Legion World lately, so you must have some free time now."

"I don't have free time. I'm still swamped. I'm just getting a little healing." Mel sighed deeply and tapped her shoulders with her fist.

"Oh, my aching bones. I might have to hand over my Lord position."

"You're talking like an old hag," Leo retorted. Mel opened her eyes lazily at his words.

"You're calling me bad names while treating me like a young child." Shaking his head, Leo sat up.

"So, why are you here in my room at this late hour?" Leo approached the stark reception table and sofa in the middle of the large room and plopped down.

Melina sat down next to him and said,

"We received a request from Demian."

"Demian?" Leo paused and tilted his head. Demian, like Rumeln, was a hero academy that resolved requests from around the world. Leo frowned, hearing that Demian, who could resolve most requests on their own, had requested help from Rumeln.

"Is it a support request?"

"Yes. They said they need the power of Leo Flob, the student council president of Rumeln."

"Anything else?"

"From Azonia, Yang A had been summoned."

Hearing that, Leo stroked his chin.

"It's a reconnaissance mission."

"How did you know?"

"If they requested support from me or A, it means they urgently need a powerful hero-level individual."

Recently, the world's heroes had been strengthening their vigilance in preparation for Tartarus' provocations. As such, they couldn't move easily. Free from this constraint were the students of hero academies. And in Seirun, there was Lunia, a student who had also reached the ranks of heroes. However, Lunia had not been requested for support.

"Lunia of Seirun could have easily been called, but the fact that only A and I were specifically requested means they need people who can move quickly." Leo shrugged.

"In that case, there's only one answer. A reconnaissance mission."

"Wow, as expected of Leo-nim," Melina exclaimed, then said seriously.

"The frequency of monster appearances has drastically increased in the eastern border region of the Yeonjae Continent, which borders Tartarus. Demian dispatched an investigation team due to the high possibility of a Hero Dungeon appearing, but they lost contact."

"Hmm," Leo's expression turned serious.

"It must be a support request to ascertain the whereabouts of the investigation team and whether a Hero Dungeon has appeared."

"Yes." Melina nodded.

"When do I have to go?"

"You need to go to Demian by the day after tomorrow. Coincidentally, the Rumeln 2nd-year students are also heading to Demian for their Smith contract on the day after tomorrow, so you can go together."

Leo nodded at her words.

"Alright. I'll have to form a party by then."

"Are you thinking of forming a party with students?"

"Yes. It's a good opportunity to gain experience." Leo rested his chin on his hand.

"I think I'll pick those who are quick."