Book 1 Chapter 715

715.

Deep night.

Leo, walking down the eerie dormitory hallway, reached the area where portraits of alumni were displayed.

Countless portraits hung in the hallway.

All of them were graduates of Lumen.

Students whose portraits were typically hung on campus often brought honor to the school.

Those here were also Lumen graduates who showed heroic qualities after graduation.

However, they did not bring honor to the school.

They did not reach the position of heroes, nor did their names go down in history.

No matter how great their abilities.

Even if they lived noble lives based on those abilities.

Even if they saved many people through noble sacrifices.

Unless they achieved great deeds.

It was not easy to be remembered by many people for a long time.

Because most people only remember the winners.

The owners of the portraits here were those who passed away before their potential could blossom.

Although they did not bring honor to the school.

They were those who faced a noble end without forgetting the headquarters of heroes.

That their deaths were by no means in vain.

To inform the juniors of the school that such great seniors existed, Lumen displayed portraits of alumni within the school.

The portrait hallway was created as the dormitory structure was reorganized, creating a space to honor and mourn seniors.

"It's kind of scary coming here at night,"

Iliana said, hiding behind Leo's back.

Chelsea, standing beside Leo, recalled the memory of the paintings looking at her simultaneously a moment ago.

Chelsea shivered and moved closer to Leo.

Then she reached out and gently held onto the hem of Leo's clothes.

Seeing that, Iliana muttered,

"Ugh. Why are you acting so delicate, unlike yourself?"

"Huh? Who said I was acting delicate?"

*Squeeze-*!

*Tap, tap, tap-*

"I surrender, I surrender. I misspoke."

Iliana quickly hit Chelsea's forearm with her hand as Chelsea wrapped her arm around her neck from behind.

Freed from Chelsea, Iliana gasped for breath.

*Footstep- footstep-*

Leaving the two of them to it, Leo walked to the center of the hallway.

Chelsea and Iliana hurriedly followed behind Leo.

Standing in the center of the hallway, Leo created light with light magic and carefully observed the portraits.

'I don't feel anything suspicious.'

As Leo looked around the portraits, he stopped upon spotting a portrait of a graduate from the Knight Department.

"Chelsea."

"Huh?"

"This armor. Isn't this the same armor from earlier?"

At Leo's words, Chelsea's eyes widened, and she carefully examined the knight in the portrait with a stern expression.

"Huh? The shoulder shape is the same!"

Chelsea's eyes widened, and she clapped her hands.

"Let's see. Graduate of the 991st class… so, a senior from about 2000 years ago."

Leo's current class is the 3021st.

As Chelsea said, he was a great senior from about 2000 years ago.

Iliana, who had been listening to their conversation, also widened her eyes.

"Look at this! This mage! Isn't this the red cape from earlier?"

As she said, the graduate Iliana was pointing at was wearing a red cape.

"This senior is from the 992nd class."

It seemed that the summoned spirits were those who lived in the same era.

"This confirms it. Leo, you summoned the spirits of our seniors."

"But, class president, what kind of spirits were you trying to summon to summon such great seniors?"

Iliana asked with a puzzled look.

"Scammer."

"Huh? Scammer?"

Iliana wore a perplexed expression.

However, unlike Iliana, who had a clueless look, Chelsea immediately understood Leo's words and gaped.

"You don't mean Li… *hic*!"

Chelsea, who had unintentionally asked again, covered her mouth.

Seeing that, Iliana tilted her head.

"Li? What's Li?"

Iliana narrowed her eyes.

"You know something, don't you?"

"I don't know anything at all."

Seeing Chelsea feigning ignorance, Iliana said,

"What is it? That's unfair! Leaving me out."

She didn't interrogate, but she seemed to be hurt.

As Chelsea looked at Iliana, who had a disappointed expression, Leo offered,

"Iliana, do you want to eat this?"

Leo took out a cookie from his pocket.

"Do you think one cookie will make me feel better?"

Pouting her lips, Iliana took the cookie from Leo's hand and took a bite with a *crunch*.

"Huh? These are Professor Mel's homemade cookies?"

Humming a tune, Iliana put the cookie in her mouth and wore a happy expression.

'Thank goodness. She's simple.'

As Chelsea sighed inwardly, watching Iliana.

Leo scanned the portraits of those summoned as spirits.

"John Fredis, Illeesa Luyang."

The moment Leo muttered their names.

Leo's spiritual power reacted.

At the same time, the positions of the two spirits began to be clearly felt.

'Did a preliminary contract form by saying their names?'

It's not a formal contract, but if you know the names of the summoned spirits, you can form a preliminary contract.

Leo identified the spirits' locations and said,

"Let's go."

At his words, Chelsea and Iliana followed behind Leo.

***

John, the knight in blood-stained armor, scoffed at the mage and summoner before him.

"Hmph. Are you lingering in the world as a spirit with lingering attachments? You look terrible."

That was true.

Illeesa had no head, and another summoner.

The graduate with the highest class from the Summoning Department here, Ledin Sugmer, had no lower body.

Illeesa sneered at John's taunt.

"I'll say the same thing to you. You don't even have a body left, do you?"

Ledin said, hearing Illeesa's words.

"What are you boasting about, foolish ones? You who ran away from a junior far younger than you."

John and Illeesa retorted to Ledin's words.

"He was the one who summoned us."

"That's right. If we made a mistake, the summoning could have been canceled, and we could have disappeared."

Ledin curled the corners of his mouth at their words.

"Then wouldn't you have persuaded the junior? It doesn't change the fact that we are far seniors."

"Would today's young people listen to us?"

"That's right. You don't know because you were summoned in the garden, but seeing it here during the day, it was different from 2000 years ago."

Ledin's eyes twitched at John and Illeesa's words.

"How was it different?"

"They even argued with the words of a senior from the same department."

At that, Ledin clicked his tongue.

"Tsk tsk. Today's young people, you know. They don't seem to listen to their seniors. They're so brazen that they're enjoying secret meetings in the early morning."

"Oh my?"

Illeesa instinctively reached to cover her cheeks.

But since she had no head, her hand waved futilely in the air.

"Dating in a sacred school? Something unthinkable in my time! How scandalous!"

John wore an expression of disbelief as Ledin slammed his hand on the floor.

"And with a whippersnapper from the Magic Department!"

"That's unacceptable. Dating with the Summoning Department, which has no origin."

"What did you just say?"

Ledin glared, but Illeesa didn't bat an eye.

She didn't have eyes to bat in the first place.

"Anyway, the one who summoned us was the current student council president, wasn't he?"

"Yes."

"Student council president of the Summoning Department. Then my words should reach him."

"We couldn't even talk to him, so what makes you think you can?"

At John's point, Ledin curled the corners of his mouth.

"Do you think all student council presidents are the same? It's different from knights and mere mages."

At that, John drew his sword.

"I think I need to cut off your tongue, not your lower body."

"I agree. Shall we burn his tongue? It looks like it would burn well since it's so greasy."

It was at this moment that the three spirits growled at each other.

*Bang-!*

"Freeze! Senior evil spirits!"

The door to the room where the three spirits were was roughly opened, and Iliana burst in.

"If you're not ghosts, there's nothing to be afraid of…"

Towards Iliana, who was charging in boisterously, John threw his helmet towards Iliana's head.

*Thud-!*

"Gasp?!"

"You ill-mannered brat! How dare you be so rude when you know we are your great seniors! As expected, you've learned magic and don't know what chivalry is!"

John yelled, but Iliana, who had charged recklessly as usual, was knocked unconscious by the unexpected blow.

Moreover, it hadn't materialized before hitting her head, so she couldn't defend herself.

"When will this charging idiot ever learn to stop charging without thinking?"

Chelsea poked the unconscious Iliana with the tip of her staff.

Seeing Chelsea, Illeesa said,

"Junior, could you please convey to the current student council president that he should show respect to us, his great seniors?"

"Of course. Of course. Even if our departments are different, I was the student council president of Lumen 2000 years ago. It is rude to chase away your great seniors."

John nodded in agreement from the side, and Chelsea blinked her big eyes.

'Wow, he's so old-fashioned.'

Valuing manners like the elders of a family.

But unfortunately, the address was wrong.

"Excuse me, Leo oppa is an even more distant senior than you, seniors? He's a senior to Lumen himself."

In a way, he is the origin of all existing heroes.

"The Magic Department whippersnapper is telling a funny joke."

Ledin scoffed.

"It's not a joke."

It was Leo who answered Ledin instead.

*Stomp- stomp-* Leo stood before the spirits.

Seeing Leo, John and Illeesa flinched, but Ledin didn't back down.

"Are you the current student council president who summoned us?"

"And?"

"And? Your words are short. I am undeniably your great senior."

"…How old were you when you died?"

"23 years old."

"Why is a 23-year-old talking like an old person?"

Leo looked bewildered.

Seeing Leo, Ledin bristled.

"How impudent! I died in my youth! Now kneel and apologize!"

At Ledin's words, Leo smiled.

Seeing that smile, Chelsea said,

"You two."

"Why do you call?"

"If I may offer some advice, Leo oppa is the hero of the beginning, Kyle."

"What? Isn't Kyle just a legendary figure?"

"He dislikes hearing that, so never say it. It would be best for you to treat him respectfully as your senior."

As soon as Chelsea finished speaking, Leo grabbed one of Ledin's arms, who was crawling on the floor without a lower body, and pulled him straight.

"Can you still walk well with one arm if I pull this off?"

"Aaaahhh?!"

Ledin's desperate scream echoed.

"Leo oppa doesn't tolerate it when you're being difficult,"

Chelsea said sincerely, rubbing her backside, which she had almost burned off during their first meeting.

Even though they had tried to scare and threaten her, they were still great seniors.

It felt sad to see them in such a miserable state.

***

Chloe, sitting before a chessboard, wore a tense expression.

If it was one of the problems Leo had given her.

It was bound to be extremely difficult.

As Chloe sat before the chessboard.

*Swish-*

A human silhouette appeared on the chair opposite her.

Seeing that, Chloe shivered.

Her face was not visible.

It was just a black human form like a shadow.

Judging by the curves of its body, it was a woman.

But it was easy to predict that she would be an extremely beautiful person based on that alone.

Her posture, sitting with her back straight, gave her an intelligent aura.

As the opponent and Chloe looked at each other.

*Clack, clack, clack, clack-*!

The pieces suddenly floated in the air and began to arrange themselves on the chessboard automatically.

Before Chloe, the white chess pieces formed a formation.

As Chloe took a deep breath and reached for a chess piece,

*Tap-!*

A black pawn moved first.

Seeing that, Chloe said in confusion,

"Um… White moves first…"

At Chloe's words, the silhouette raised its head.

"If black moves first, it's a rule violation and a loss."

At those words, the opponent, who had been silent, knocked over their king with their fingertip.

'…Is this the end?'

Chloe was taken aback by such a simple conclusion.

At that moment.

The black silhouette restored the chess pieces to their original positions.

Then.

*Slide-*!

The chessboard rotated halfway.

Black came before Chloe.

*Tap-!*

The opponent moved white again.

'Ah, it's really starting now.'

Even though she felt something was strange, Chloe moved her piece.

A moment later.

"Checkmate."

Chloe delivered a simple check.

Chloe was surprised by the opponent's surprisingly low skill level.

*Tap-tap-tap-*

The opponent moved the chess pieces one by one by hand, restoring them to their initial state.

*Tap-*

And then white moved again.

Chloe moved her pieces seriously again.

And victory.

They repeated the result about ten times.

She thought the difficulty might increase as she played more, but her thought was in vain; the opponent lacked skill.

They simply knew how to move the pieces.

They were no match for Chloe, the current chess champion of Lumen.

*Tap-*

The moment Chloe achieved her eleventh victory.

*Whoosh-*!

The black silhouette flipped the chessboard over.

Along with that, she kicked Chloe out of the room.

Chloe, who landed on her bottom, gaped and looked back.

*Bang-!*

The black silhouette slammed the door shut irritably, and the door vanished as if it had never been there.

Seeing that, Chloe's mouth fell open.

"What on earth…?"