Book 1 Chapter 716

716.

John of the Department of Knights and Ilesa of the Department of Magic.

And finally, Redin of the Department of Summoning.

Approximately 2000 years ago.

They were the most talented individuals, highly renowned as president of the Lumerne Student Council, gaining global attention with bright futures ahead of them.

But Chelsea looked at those impossibly distant seniors with pity.

John and Ilesa were kneeling.

The sight of a knight in bloodied, empty armor and a headless magician wearing a red cloak sitting like that was quite eerie.

But she didn't feel any fear.

Just an infinitely small presence.

It was because of Leo, who sat in a chair in front of them, arms crossed and legs crossed.

Next to John and Ilesa, Redin was sprawled out.

The arm Leo had pulled was dangling at an odd angle.

The boastful demeanor of all three as seniors was nowhere to be found.

They were merely cowering endlessly before Leo.

Chelsea, who had been nursing Illiana, carefully approached Leo.

And she asked the seniors with their eerie appearances,

"I have a question. Why can't you move a muscle in front of Brother Leo?"

Chelsea had revealed Leo's identity to the spirits.

But they didn't seem to believe it.

There was no other way.

Even when they were alive, Kyle's records were already heavily damaged.

Of course, it wasn't as if Leo was completely a fictional character, like when he first reincarnated.

Or treated as a fraud who had stolen the achievements of a great hero.

However, even in academia at the time, opinions were divided on whether the Hero of Genesis truly existed or not.

A great hero whose existence was doubtful.

Given that situation, there was no way they would easily believe talk of reincarnation.

Yet, the three spirits couldn't move an inch in front of Leo.

Was it because Leo had twisted Redin's arm into a strange angle?

'I don't think so.'

No matter how much 'might makes right,' weren't they graduates of Lumerne?

She didn't think they would have succumbed to violence.

"Well, that's because this person is the one who summoned us," Ilesa said in a slightly grumpy voice.

It was bizarre to hear a voice when there was no head.

"If this person sets their mind to it, they can send us back."

"Ah."

In other words, they were submissive because their existence as spirits depended on Leo's spiritual power.

If they crossed Leo, they would revert to a form of mana unable to exercise their will.

Chelsea, nodding as if she understood, then asked another question,

"Then why are all three of you… like that… that… scary?"

"This is our last appearance in life, junior."

Ilesa shrugged in response to Chelsea's question, then pointed at John.

"This noble knight here lost his body in war. That's why only his armor was summoned."

Next, she pointed at Redin.

"This summoner here lost his lower body."

Finally, Ilesa pointed to herself.

"And I, Ilesa Luyang, the great apprentice archmage, unfortunately got my neck bitten off by a monster with a *crunch*!"

Having said that much, Ilesa spoke in a complaining tone.

"Perhaps because this person's spirit summoning spell is clumsy, they couldn't summon us in our complete forms."

Ilesa expressed her displeasure.

"You had a beautiful face, that's a shame."

"Oh, oh. I was quite pretty, indeed. In my school days, I was often told I was like a blooming flower."

"A blooming flower, my foot. You were a madwoman with flowers in your hair."

John scoffed.

"What are you talking about? You're someone who never even received a love letter in your life."

'The departments not getting along is the same now as it was 2000 years ago.'

Perhaps it was the same even when Lumerne was first founded?

Thinking that, Chelsea asked her last question.

"This is what I'm most curious about. Why did you scare us?"

At first, she thought they were ghosts.

But talking to them like this, they were only scary in appearance.

They were just ordinary students, commonly seen at Lumerne.

'…Am I not normal myself, at the point where I call such people ordinary?'

Indeed, since coming to Lumerne, her common sense had shifted considerably.

'Do I also appear like that to others?'

Chelsea, momentarily lost in thought, shook her head vigorously to clear her mind.

In the meantime, Ilesa feigned innocence.

"Huh? What do you mean? I don't know anything?"

At Ilesa's reaction, Chelsea subtly looked at Leo.

"Should I make you understand what she means?"

Seeing Leo smile menacingly, Ilesa recoiled her neck.

'Wow, he's like a gangster. Brother Leo is good at threatening, too.'

Chelsea inwardly marveled that there was nothing he couldn't do.

Ilesa stammered,

"Well… when we were first summoned, we had almost lost our reason. So we just moved according to instinct."

"Moved according to what?"

"When we saw the kids screaming and running away from us… it was kind of fun, wasn't it?"

Ilesa said in a slightly excited voice.

"You know, it was like playing tag!"

Ilesa smiled brightly, shaking her clasped hands up and down.

"In my school days, I only did tough studying and combat training! So seeing the kids screaming and running away was really fun!"

At Ilesa's words, Chelsea muttered inwardly,

'What about the others?'

Looking at John and Redin, their reactions were similar.

'…These people are definitely our seniors.'

To chase after them as if to kill them and act like evil spirits, just for that.

Somehow, she felt the current seniors would be like that too.

It was when Chelsea sighed deeply, seeing the three, completely without any sense of incongruity.

"I've been wondering since earlier."

Then Leo spoke.

"Why are you the only one answering?"

Leo pointed his toe at Ilesa.

Just as he said, only Ilesa had been answering Chelsea's questions.

Ilesa replied to Leo's question.

"Well, isn't that obvious?"

"Obvious?"

"Yeah. She's a magic student."

"So what?"

"You wouldn't have asked these gentlemen, would you?"

Chelsea tilted her head, seeing Ilesa draw a line as if it were obvious.

"I did ask both seniors, actually…"

"Why are those brutes seniors? Here, I'm the only senior you have!"

Ilesa grabbed Chelsea's shoulder and shook her wildly.

Chelsea looked flustered as the headless magician shook her.

Even when told not to treat them as seniors, John and Redin remained composed.

Chelsea, watching them, made a face as if she remembered something.

"Ah."

"Why?"

"Come to think of it, there was a Class War 2000 years ago."

"What's that now?"

"As expected, Brother Leo doesn't know."

Chelsea, knowing that Leo wasn't very interested in history, explained the Class War to him.

As it wasn't even a subject in the Lumerne curriculum, one wouldn't know it unless they were interested.

The Class War.

As the name suggested, it was a great war where knights, mages, and summoners formed factions and fought each other.

It was a civil war among the human race, a war of a scale rarely seen even in the history of heroes.

Lumerne had been a neutral zone for 3000 years, so there was no war within Lumerne itself, but it must have been affected nonetheless, as the three spirits who attended Lumerne during this period were strictly drawing lines.

"The Class War only narrowly stopped after the invasion of Tartaros."

At Chelsea's explanation, Leo scrunched up his face.

"These guys, because their bodies are comfortable, they're doing all sorts of crazy things, aren't they?"

As Leo, who knew how the world collapsed during the Age of Calamity 5000 years ago, heard about such civil wars, his blood couldn't help but boil.

"Who do you think saved the world so you could fight among yourselves?!"

"W-we didn't start the war, sir."

"W-we were merely caught up in the war."

"T-that's right!"

As the atmosphere of the one claiming to be the Hero of Genesis became menacing before them, the three spirits, who had been speaking casually, reverted to formal language with Leo.

They thought that if they made a mistake, the human in front of them might actually tear off their limbs.

Chelsea made a dumbfounded expression at the sight of the living person being scarier than the dead ones.

'No, wait. Brother Leo is someone who came back from the dead.'

Chelsea shook her head, watching the spirits who couldn't move a muscle in front of Leo.

"From now on, if I hear any more talk of animosity between departments in front of me, I'll literally dismantle you."

"Of c-course."

"It seems this is an era of harmony!"

"A hero must prioritize harmony!"

"But Brother Leo, you made the departments fight."

"Huh? What did you say?"

"Nothing."

Chelsea quickly shook her head, seeing Leo smiling at her.

It was true that Leo found her cute, but Chelsea knew well that if she made a mistake, she would suffer a harsh fate.

"So? What are your lingering regrets?"

If they became spirits, it meant they had lingering regrets.

At Leo's question, Chelsea could easily guess what the three spirits' regrets were.

'Since they were the ones in the portrait hallway… it must be that they couldn't fully bloom their potential in the end.'

Chelsea looked at the three spirits with a sorrowful expression.

Former student council presidents.

Young spirits who had to die without ever realizing their aspirations.

How regretful that must have been?

'The knight senior must have wanted to achieve great deeds on the battlefield. The mage senior must have dreamed of being praised as a great archmage… And wouldn't the summoner senior have wanted to interact with powerful summoned beasts?'

As Chelsea recalled the representative dreams and romantic ideals of each class, she made a slightly wistful expression.

John shouted vigorously.

"I want to be popular with women! In my lifetime, I was only popular with stinky men!"

"…"

Chelsea's face instantly turned devastated at such a grand yet trivial dream.

"Well… I want to try dating a girlfriend. I was popular in my youth, but I never had a lover because I was unnecessarily reserved."

Redin also made an embarrassed expression.

"I want to have a boyfriend too! Before I died, I scoffed at romance! But after dying, I feel unfairly treated, you know!"

Ilesa bounced up and down in her spot.

Chelsea covered her face.

'These kinds of people are seniors.'

After composing herself, Chelsea said,

"But you three are already dead, aren't you? You can't have lovers, can you? Or how about you three date each other…?"

"I'd rather choose death."

John said ruthlessly.

"You're already dead."

"I'll die one more time."

Redin also said in a chilling voice.

"No matter how many of these people you bring me, I'd decline."

Ilesa snorted.

"…Then you three won't be able to date?"

At that, the three looked at each other and said simultaneously,

"Then we'll interfere with others dating."

"Why does it come to that conclusion?"

"Because we couldn't do it, we'd be jealous if the juniors did."

"…"

'What kind of people are these?'

It was when Chelsea was pressing her temples.

"Approved."

"…"

Chelsea turned her head at Leo's ominous voice from behind her.

There, Leo was smiling as if amused.

'Ah.'

Chelsea immediately understood what that smile foretold.

'A disaster.'

***

The next morning.

Chelsea came to the dining hall with a tired expression.

"Chelsea. Did you come in late last night?"

"Yes, brother."

"Aren't you staying out too late?"

Chelsea smiled faintly at Abbad, who asked with concern.

"I'm fine."

'…Just how does Brother Leo plan to use those seniors?'

At first glance, they were spirits who enjoyed tormenting students.

Considering Leo's recent tendency to torment students.

Chelsea didn't want to deeply ponder how they would appear before the students.

Sighing and biting into her sandwich, Chelsea tilted her head as she saw the newspaper Abbad was reading beside her.

"Heavy snowfall due to unusual temperatures in the eastern continent?"

"That's the Debian Kingdom, where a civil war recently broke out."

"You said it was a civil war between the Second Prince and the First Princess, right?"

"Yes."

"But heavy snowfall when summer is approaching?"

"There's talk it's the work of a great archmage."

"What a mage with nothing better to do," Chelsea grumbled, chewing her sandwich.

Abbad chuckled at that.

"Right?"