Book 1 Chapter 773

Celia was pacing around with an anxious look on her face.

Abad, watching Celia, said, "Celia. Please calm down."

"No, but still. They say he's going to torture him."

Celia said in a slightly anxious voice.

An elf captured alive by Lunia.

It was true that he was unforgivable for the indiscriminate terror he inflicted on Deang.

But even so, since Leo was going to extract information through torture, Celia couldn't help but feel uneasy.

The reason Celia felt uneasy was simple.

Glance- Glance-

Celia's gaze turned to the beautiful woman in the space.

A beauty so breathtaking that it made one's breath catch.

One of the two most beautiful people Celia had ever seen in her life.

Lisinas, the King of Wisdom.

Only Luna, who possessed comparable fame, had a beauty that rivaled hers.

5000 years ago.

A dragon who selected great heroes and saved the world.

While Kyle, the hero of the beginning, might have opened the door to the Heroic Age as the last hero and the hero of the beginning.

However, it was Lisinas who created this Heroic Age.

This fact could not be denied.

At that moment, Lisinas's obsidian black eyes met Celia's.

Celia, without realizing it, averted her gaze.

Lisinas, smiling at Celia, tapped the seat next to her.

"Would you like to come here for a moment?"

"Yes, yes!"

At his words, Celia, with a tense expression, sat next to Lisinas.

Lisinas gently stroked Celia's hair and said, "I know what you're worried about."

"What?"

"Are you perhaps worried that your cousin will receive a bad evaluation from me?"

Celia, her mind read, flinched.

It was exactly as he said.

Celia wanted her cousin, Leo Flove, to be a perfect hero.

Since her first year.

No, she knew Leo had guided her since she first entered.

Not just her.

Leo was leading Lumen now.

Unless they abandoned the grand plan of completely subjugating Erebus.

Leo would be the one to lead not only Lumen but also the existence of heroes in the future.

However, in Celia's eyes, torture was not something a hero would do.

She was restless, fearing that Lisinas's evaluation of Leo might not be good due to such actions.

"Oh, you're so good. I wish I had a sister like you."

"I'm older than Leo, though?"

"Aren't you two the same age?"

"My birthday is earlier."

Lisinas covered his mouth and burst into laughter at Celia's strong assertion.

Chen Xia, who had been listening to their conversation, said, "Give up, Celia. Leo doesn't consider you an older sister at all. I don't either."

"That's right. It's a blessing if he doesn't treat us like little kids."

Lunia chimed in with a bored expression, and Eiran also sighed lightly and said, "But Leo treats us like little kids."

Watching them, Celia pushed her hair back and said, "He treats me like we're the same age?"

"I think that's just your opinion."

Chloe scratched her cheek.

Lisinas, chuckling as he listened to their conversation, said, "Anyway, you don't have to worry that I'll evaluate Leo poorly. Someone has to do it."

Lisinas closed his eyes.

"It's also what Kyle, the hero of the beginning, did 5000 years ago."

"What? Kyle?"

Everyone was surprised by the completely unexpected situation.

"Indeed. The Chronicle of Shadows is Kyle's record."

Abad nodded, and Lisinas said, "Yes. It was originally my duty too."

"Lisinas's duty?"

Chen Xia tilted his head, and Lisinas, smiling, tapped the opposite chair where Celia was not sitting.

When Chen Xia sat down, Lisinas stroked Chen Xia's hair and said, "Tracking down and executing the world's traitors… that was originally the duty of the black dragon."

Everyone was surprised by his words.

"It was our clan's duty to consume the darkness from within the darkness."

Lisinas's words were surprising even to Chen Xia, who was like a shadow.

"It was something someone had to do. Kyle did it in my place."

Lisinas continued, recalling the past with a wistful expression, "Of course, it wasn't just Kyle."

Kyle couldn't bear the world's darkness alone.

"More than you think, I… we great heroes are not noble heroes."

The great heroes also have their own reasons and their own desires.

It wasn't as beautiful as in fairy tales.

They had wandered countless times and made wrong choices driven by hatred.

It was natural, as no one is perfect.

"The important thing is the will to never give up until the end. I hope you do your best without giving up in your respective places."

Lisinas smiled at the future hero candidates.

"You just need to move forward with your own will."

"…"

"I do not evaluate Leo Flove as not heroic. Rather, he is the very image of an ideal hero."

Celia felt relieved at Lisinas's words.

At that moment, Chloe asked, "Lisinas, what are those ancient heroes?"

"They are merely those who postponed it to later generations, who became livestock to the evil god themselves."

Lisinas said calmly.

"They called themselves goddesses… Is there an evil god different from Erebus?"

To Chloe's question, Lisinas opened his mouth.

"To explain that, I should first talk about Erebus's origin."

Lisinas told the hero candidates about Erebus's transformation into the incarnation of evil that would destroy the world, and the revival of Nix and Styx, the ice of death.

"Ancient demons."

"No wonder they felt different from Tartarus. That's why."

"So, a fragment of Erebus has revived."

The atmosphere turned serious.

Lisinas smiled bitterly, watching them.

'It's understandable to be anxious. For these children, it would be an unprecedented disaster.'

They have to fight a fragment of Erebus.

Just this alone would surely make them feel immense anxiety.

Lisinas said, "Don't worry about that."

All eyes turned to Lisinas.

"I'm here now, aren't I?"

Lisinas placed his hand on his chest and smiled.

It was a smile that had given hope to countless people.

"Don't worry. I will surely…"

"No, no. We can't just leave it all to Lisinas."

Lunia waved her hand.

"We couldn't help at all when Arion came last time."

"The only one who actually helped was Leo."

"We can't just stand by and watch this time either. Leo's goal is the complete subjugation of Erebus."

"That's right. We can't just follow him around forever."

"Let's make an appearance this time!"

Lisinas watched the hero candidates steeling their resolve with a dazed look and laughed breathlessly.

"Heh heh… Heh!"

And then he burst into loud laughter.

"Lisinas?"

Chloe called out in surprise, and Lisinas nodded, wiping tears from his eyes.

"Yes. You are the descendants of Kyle, the hero of the beginning. I had a disrespectful thought."

Lisinas smiled brightly.

"It's wonderful to have reliable juniors."

It was at this moment that the hero candidates smiled shyly.

*Bang-!*

The door opened, and Leo entered.

"You worked hard."

"Did you find anything out?"

Leo said calmly, looking at his friends who asked with puzzled expressions.

"For now, it seems the country's first princess has colluded with Nix."

"That princess… she finally sided with the evil god."

Chen Xia frowned.

"About that, Xia. We'll talk about it a bit later."

Leo crossed his arms.

"From the looks of it, you've already been told about Erebus's fragment."

Everyone nodded.

"Shouldn't we tell our seniors too?"

Chloe raised her hand and said, and Leo replied calmly, "The seniors knew from the moment they came here."

"What?! Why didn't you tell us?"

Chloe asked back with a resentful expression.

"We judged that it wouldn't be good for too many people to know."

At Leo's words, Chloe clenched her fist.

The other third-year students also showed slightly resentful expressions.

"So you think the seniors are more reliable than us?"

Lunia, with her arms crossed, asked in a slightly sulky voice.

Leo shrugged his shoulders.

At Leo's reaction, Lunia's lips curled up.

"Wait. One day I'll catch up and kick your butt."

Saying that, Leo snorted and said, "If you can't catch up quickly, I'll kick you myself, so just try and catch up."

'Sometimes push from behind, sometimes pull from the front, sometimes stimulate.'

Lisinas smiled gently, looking at the seeds of heroes influenced by Leo.

'What a wonderful sight.'

Lisinas smiled wistfully.

'If only I… if we had been born at the same time as Kyle… it would have been more fun.'

He felt regret at the cruelty of fate.

'Kyle wouldn't have carried everything alone either.'

He knew better than anyone, as he had once carried the burden himself.

He simply felt sad that he couldn't share the burden with him.

'Grow up quickly, little ones.'

Lisinas smiled faintly, looking at the heroes Leo had chosen.

***

*Rustle-! Sniff, sniff, sniff-!*

A girl with white hair and cat ears poked her head out of the bushes and sniffed the air.

Rwen, a fox beastman, looked at the girl, Ar, with a pathetic expression.

"You really smell like a dog."

"I'm a cat!"

Ar bristled her fur and hissed-! before shouting, "And there's a good word like wolf, why dog!"

"Wolf is the student council president. By the way, is this the right place?"

To Rwen's question, Ar, with her arms crossed, nodded.

"Of course!"

"How can you be so sure?"

"It's my sharp wild intuition!"

Ar's blue eyes sparkled, and Rwen scrunched up her face.

"You want me to trust your intuition when we're looking for the Hero Dungeon of Kyle, the hero of the beginning!"

"Why! It's accurate!"

Ar puffed out her chest and said, "Senior Kar also praised my intuition!"

"…Senior Kar is really unnecessarily kind. He only says nice things so that fools don't get hurt."

Rwen clutched her head and shook it back and forth.

Ar, looking blankly at Rwen, grabbed her fluffy tail and bit it.

"Aaaah! What are you doing!"

"You called me a fool first!"

Dion, watching the beastmen students, who represented the Azozian students, arguing loudly, clicked his tongue.

"What are those fools doing?"

As he said that, he looked at the cliff far away.

There, the wolf beastman, the pinnacle of Azozian, was gazing at the entire dense jungle.

"Senior Kar, you should stop those fools."

Dion called Kar using a communication magic item.

-You stop them.

"I don't think I can do it alone. I'll only listen to Senior Kar."

-But I'm scared.

Dion had no choice but to sigh deeply at the reply from the communication magic item.

Although his appearance wasn't visible, he could clearly imagine the student council president shrinking his shoulders in genuine fear.

He said to his Azozian companions who were on the mission with him, "Borman, Tabon. Go stop them."

At his words, Borman and Tabon, a tiger beastman and a bear beastman, approached Ar and Rwen.

Dion looked up at the sky.

"This mission won't be smooth sailing."