Book 1 Chapter 766

766.

An elegant and beautiful hand reached out over the chess pieces on the board.

The piece held by the beautiful hand crossed the chessboard.

Clack-!

A somewhat soft sound echoed cheerfully.

Chloe's face stiffened slightly upon seeing it.

Lisinas, who had cornered Chloe, simply watched the scene with a calm expression.

"Ugh…"

Chloe let out a small groan and glared at the chessboard for a long time.

Watching her, Eiran carefully asked Leo,

"What happened?"

"Checkmate."

Chloe, who finally let out a deep sigh, knocked over her king with her finger.

Lisinas smiled faintly.

"Chloe, your skills are improving day by day, aren't they?"

"But I'm still no match for you, am I? You must find it quite boring."

"Not at all. I'm actually enjoying it."

"What?"

"The only person I could play chess with was Kyle. You're the first person since Kyle that I can play with this enjoyably."

Upon hearing that, Lunia, who was watching the game, froze.

"The only Great Hero who could play chess with Lisinas was Kyle?"

"Yes."

"What about Luna?"

"Luna had the worst chess skills among the Great Heroes?"

"What?"

Both Lunia and Celia and Eiran, who were with her, widened their eyes at the completely unexpected answer.

"B-But Luna said her chess skills were on par with Lisinas! She even said that besides Lisinas, Kyle had the worst chess skills among the Great Heroes…"

Lisinas wore a bored expression at those words.

"Why on earth would he say such a thing?"

Thump-!

"L-Luna told a lie…"

"I can't believe it…!"

Seeing the two of them with shocked expressions, Lisinas said,

"It's not surprising, considering they even fabricated that I was jealous of the relationship between Kyle and Luna."

At that, the two elves fell silent.

Seeing them, Celia said,

"Kyle must have been a really amazing person, to make them tell such a lie about Lisinas being jealous."

"Mmm… He certainly looked cool when I saw his statue."

As Chloe nodded, Lisinas smiled faintly.

"He's just an idiot. Luna is just a fool who liked an idiot."

Chloe and Celia's eyes widened at his scathing remark.

"Let's put that story aside."

Lisinas smiled faintly and looked at the chessboard.

"It's true that Luna was smart, but surprisingly simple. She was of the opinion, 'Why should I rack my brain when I can just blast everything away with magic?' What did she say? 'If your body is weak, your brain has to work harder'?"

"What is that? That muscle-brained way of thinking?"

"To be precise, it's a magic-powered, brainless way of thinking. Luna is more ignorant than you think."

Upon hearing that, Lunia and Eiran felt their illusions about Luna shatter once again.

They thought there would be no more illusions to shatter since they had already seen Luna's true nature, but that wasn't the case.

Lunia tightly closed her eyes, and Eiran pouted.

"But why would Luna tell such a lie? Couldn't she just say she's bad at chess?"

As Chloe tidied up the chess pieces with a perplexed expression, Leo answered in her stead.

"Perhaps she wanted to show a perfect image to the elves who believed and followed her."

Chloe and Celia recalled Luna.

An elf who was eccentric yet cheerful, making them smile just by looking at her.

Honestly, she was far from the benevolent elf described in the literature, but the real Luna felt more approachable than the one in the books.

Recalling Luna's always confident and slightly boastful demeanor, they thought she might have lied to show her descendants a perfect image of herself.

"The Great Heroes are more different from what we imagined the more we get to know them."

At Celia's mumbling, Chloe chuckled.

"But I like those aspects more."

Even the cowardly Arion and the spirited Luna.

The Great Heroes they met were far from the perfect beings in stories, but they felt more relatable.

Just as Lunia and Eiran were looking moved by Leo's explanation,

"Or maybe she thought the truth would never be revealed and decided to scam them. She's a scamming short-ear, after all."

"You little punk! Did you just call Luna a scamming short-ear!"

Lunia's eyes flashed with anger at Leo's words.

Eiran, in a panic, tried to stop Lunia.

"L-Lunia! That's Leo! Calm down! Calm down!"

Watching the commotion, Celia said with an exasperated look,

"Even though she's my cousin, that girl really deserves to be struck by divine punishment at any moment."

"I agree."

Celia and Chloe, who didn't know Leo's true identity, could only shake their heads.

"Lisinas, you think so too, right?"

"If she were to receive divine punishment, wouldn't she have received it long ago?"

Lisinas said calmly.

Meanwhile, Chloe, who had finished tidying the chessboard, looked perplexed.

"It's amazing that the rules of the game haven't changed from 5000 years ago to now."

"It's already too perfectly completed a game to be changed?"

"That's true."

"Well, there's the old, Mythical Era rule."

"The Mythical Era rule? What is that?"

Chloe, full of a desire for knowledge, her eyes sparkled.

"In the chess rules of the era before the Age of Gods, which we call the Mythical Era, the Queen could use magic."

"What?"

"Knights, for example, could use summoning magic."

After that, Lisinas told them stories about each piece having special abilities.

"I don't like it because the nuance of strategic thinking is lost, given that they start by inflicting significant damage on each other with their overpowered abilities."

"Why could they use magic, auras, and summoning?"

"I don't know the details either, but it seemed related to the origin of the game."

"The origin of the game?"

"Yes. For example, this Queen here."

Lisinas said calmly.

"This Queen is said to be modeled after the hero of the Mythical Era who became the first Elf King."

"A hero of the Mythical Era?"

Eiran, who loved heroic tales,' eyes sparkled.

It wasn't just Eiran.

Chloe's eyes also lit up as she gained new knowledge.

"Yes. All the chess pieces are modeled after heroes of the Mythical Era."

"Heroes of the Mythical Era! They must all be amazing people, right?"

As Eiran said with sparkling eyes, Lisinas clicked his tongue.

"It's different from what you imagine if you think of them as heroes of the current era."

"What?"

"For example, the Elf Queen Enisilía, who is the motif for the Queen… was famous for sleeping with dozens of heroes, giving birth to mixed-race offspring of various species, and attempting to conquer the world."

"…"

"Heroes of the Age of Gods… precisely, heroes before the Age of Calamity, are a little different from your concept of heroes."

In the Mythical Era, one didn't become a hero by achieving great deeds.

Anyone who possessed the power to overturn the world was called a hero and worshipped.

"Well, they are just heroes recorded in literature from ancient times, so I don't know the details either."

Knock knock-

"Celia."

A knock sounded, the door opened, and Chen Xia entered.

"Garin of Seirun wants to see you."

"Garin?"

Celia looked perplexed.

Seeing her expression, Lunia smiled slyly.

"Celia, Garin is quite a good guy. Right, Eiran?"

"Yes? Yes, Garin is a good person. But why all of a sudden?"

Seeing Eiran's bewildered look, Lunia clicked her tongue.

"Why on earth did you read so many scandalous books… *cough*! *cough*!"

"Scandalous books? How many times do I have to tell you they're not like that!"

Eiran covered Lunia's mouth.

Meanwhile, Celia, looking perplexed, went to meet Garin.

Chen Xia sighed.

"I'm worried Abad won't mind."

"Abad? Why Abad?"

At Chloe's reaction, Chen Xia's eyes widened.

"Prince Abad likes you, Celia."

"What? Xia, aren't you mistaken? Celia grits her teeth whenever she sees Abad. Abad also sees Celia as an opponent to defeat."

Chloe said with a look of disbelief.

"…Chloe, you're also dense in this regard."

"No, I'm right! Right, Leo?"

Chloe, with a flustered expression, sought Leo's agreement.

Seeing that, Lisinas chuckled, covering his mouth.

"How naive, those are the good old days."

Just then, another knock sounded.

This time, the visitor was Abad.

Leo smiled slyly at Abad.

"Celia went on a date."

"I didn't come to see Celia. I came to see you, Leo."

"Huh?"

"I have something to talk about."

Seeing Abad's serious expression, Leo nodded and stood up.

***

"Elena Geron…! How dare you insult me!"

Princess Treniconi, the first princess of Debian, gnawed on her fingernails, recalling a woman.

"I am the first princess of Debian! I will soon inherit the throne of Debian, a noble position! And yet, me! How dare you!"

Flames shot from Princess Treniconi's eyes.

In the current era, a country's king was nothing more than a puppet if they didn't have the support of the country's heroes.

Of course, there are countries without heroes.

But Debian, at least, is a country where countless heroes have been born.

Even if she won the civil war, she would be nothing but an empty shell if she didn't gain the recognition of the heroes.

No, she couldn't even ascend to the throne in the first place.

As heroes were the leaders of the era, it was only natural.

And the Geron family was the chairman family of Lumern, which nurtured talented individuals to become heroes.

The authority of the Geron family was comparable to that of imperial families in the current era.

However, Princess Treniconi didn't care at all.

In this country, royalty held the highest authority and nobility.

Having only heard such flattering words from within, not from the outside, Princess Treniconi had no self-awareness.

She ignored the external reality, only seeing what she wanted to see and thinking what she wanted to think.

As a result, she didn't consider the authority of Geron at all.

"Those damn heroes! Swear your loyalty to me! When my brother dies, you should naturally swear loyalty to me, the eldest daughter! Traitors!"

*Fwoosh! Clang!*

She nervously swept the refreshments on the table with her hand.

The expensive teapot, teacups, and a bowl of snacks fell to the floor, shattering into pieces.

As the furious Treniconi gnashed her teeth,

-Do you need heroes who will follow you?

A sweet voice was heard.

Princess Treniconi flinched.

-Do you need heroes recognized by the goddess?

The voice was heard again.

To which Treniconi, as if entranced, replied,

"Yes… I need strong heroes… heroes who will make me king!"

-Then what can you offer in return?

"Anything that isn't royal property, land, or my safety!"

-Even the lives of the people you will rule?

"Are heroes who will be loyal to me gained by such a trifle?"

-Your will shall be done.

With that, the voice was no longer heard.

*Fwoosh-*

A bright light burst forth.

When Treniconi, who had closed her eyes tightly, opened them again.

Before her stood a beautiful female elf.

"Enisilía, a hero chosen by the great goddess Nyx."

"Ah…"

Princess Treniconi's face turned pale at the storm of powerful magic emanating from Enisilía.

Looking down at Princess Treniconi, Enisilía declared,

"Obey the goddess immediately, human. Then, I, her faithful servant, will grant you what you desire."