Book 1 Chapter 835
835.
Thump- Thump-
Leo walked down the corridor, thinking.
He had somewhat expected that there would be heroes who wouldn't acknowledge him.
So he wasn't particularly resentful or upset.
In a way, it was natural.
No matter how much he had made a name for himself and achieved great feats, they had never seen him directly.
‘Besides, to suddenly stand at the pinnacle of heroes, there’s even less reason for them to be convinced.’
The fact that Leo, as an all-class hero, is the successor to the Hero of Beginnings is already a famous story.
There are no heroes who don't know that he is Erebus's natural enemy, chosen by God.
But that's as far as it goes.
The existing heroes saw Leo as a key figure to lead the next generation, but they did not acknowledge him as a hero who would rise above them.
From their perspective, he was merely a distant junior.
Therefore, there would be various types of people.
Some would want to test if he was truly someone worth following, and others would try to defeat Leo to gain higher prestige.
But whatever their intentions, what they ultimately wanted was one thing.
‘Proof.’
It was to prove whether he was worthy of bearing the title of King of the World.
‘Because there are always those who cannot accept the very fact that someone is above them.’
In the past, he would have ignored such voices.
It was bothersome, and there was no need to prove anything.
To Leo, the recognition of others was worthless.
Because in any battlefield, he would be at the forefront, and people would follow behind him.
Then they wouldn't be able to help but acknowledge him.
But after returning from a parallel world, there was something he realized.
‘Someday Lunia and Ar… Driana will play the roles of Luna, Arion, and Dweno.’
Just as Melina was playing the role of Lysinas.
‘It'll be the same for the others too.’
In the not-too-distant future.
Those he had formed bonds with in this life would become more dependable comrades than anyone else.
‘The complete subjugation of Erebus, which I so longed for… is not just a dream.’
Kyle's life was not a happy one.
Because it was a life of only being deprived.
In the end, he achieved the goal of saving the world, but it did not bring him happiness.
‘I have no intention of suddenly getting angry about how unhappy my life was.’
Nor would he suddenly be steeped in sorrow for what he had lost.
‘Because I’ve become too accustomed to losing things.’
Even in the deaths of friends more precious than life itself, which nothing could replace.
Leo did not hesitate to move forward.
In the parallel world.
Even though he could have lived the life he had dreamed of, Leo left everything behind and returned.
‘Perhaps they would have made the same choice if they were in the same situation.’
Thump-
Leo stopped walking and looked ahead.
The entrance to the royal palace was visible.
He had abandoned everything he wanted and returned here because of a sense of responsibility.
The responsibility of one born in this world and burdened with this world.
The many things he received from his friends in this world through the miracle of the Hero Record.
And…
‘The bonds built in this life.’
Leo's life was shorter compared to Kyle's life.
But that didn't mean the weight of that life was light.
For that, the weight of the bonds he had formed was by no means light.
But Leo had never once resolved, ‘I will not lose.’
Because in his past life, he only ever lost in the end.
Because he had become too accustomed to surviving and moving forward alone.
Because he had always lived with the resolve to lose.
‘I might lose… I’ve lived thinking that’s natural.’
The battles ahead would certainly not be easy.
A difficult fight where victory could not be guaranteed.
But even so, he shouldn't take losing for granted.
‘That's why the guys in the parallel world were tied to me and stuck in the past.’
It must have been the difference between him, who took losing for granted, and his friends, who did not.
Leo looked down at his palm.
‘I am not the Hero of Beginnings.’
Nor was he the King of Beginnings.
‘I am still a surviving hero.’
Simply defeating Erebus is meaningless.
“Young Master Leo?”
Behind the stopped Leo, Sis Chen wore a puzzled expression.
Leo turned around to look at her.
Elena stood with her arms crossed, smiling brightly.
“If it’s a bother, shall I deal with them? I think I can handle most heroes.”
Though she was still just a student, her words were by no means arrogant.
“I also need some reputation.”
At Elena’s words, Leo opened his mouth.
“No. I’ll do it.”
“Young Master Leo isn't someone who particularly cares about others' opinions. I don't think Young Master Leo needs to deal with bothersome heroes who challenge him.”
“That used to be true.”
Leo looked ahead.
“But Lysinas bequeathed the position of King of the World to me.”
The qualification to officially rise to the pinnacle of the world, depending on Leo’s actions.
A position where he could build a powerful force by gathering the world's strength.
This was impossible 5000 years ago.
At that time, there were no symbolic figures like Grand Heroes.
That's why the world's strength could only be gathered in one place after the world had almost collapsed.
But now it was different.
There were Grand Heroes and their successors.
Now that he was the King of the World.
How much of the world's strength he could gather depended on him.
‘Lysinas also knows. That I am not suited to be a king.’
Gathering the world's strength in one place was fully possible even with the title of Hero of Beginnings.
Even if the cohesion was somewhat weak, it would be a formidable force capable of fighting against Erebus.
Knowing this, Lysinas still placed Leo in the unsuitable position of king.
Leo knew all too well what that meant.
‘Don’t lose anymore.’
Unlike his past life, where he had lost so dreadfully.
Perhaps it was out of a desire for him not to lose anything in this life that the position of king was forced upon him.
It wasn't personal ‘power.’
It was giving him the means to form an unprecedentedly mighty ‘force.’
‘In this life, I will definitely protect my precious people and move forward.’
Leo flung open the doors of the royal palace.
‘Not just surviving alone…’
Thump- Thump-
‘I will be someone who lives together with others.’
***
Upon exiting the royal palace entrance, the first thing visible was the throngs of people gathered.
Next seen was a female knight standing, receiving the attention of all those people.
The brown-haired woman, heavily armed in full plate mail, had her eyes calmly closed.
The people, who had been murmuring as they looked at the female knight, began to cheer at Leo's appearance.
“Ooooh! It’s the King of Beginnings!”
“Long live the King of Beginnings!”
“Waaaah!”
Fervent cheers erupted.
With that sound, the female knight's closed eyes opened.
Straight green eyes.
Leo silently looked at those eyes, filled with firm and resolute will, and tilted his head.
Though not as much as Lysinas, Leo had also seen countless people.
Therefore, just by looking into someone's eyes, he could somewhat gauge their nature.
Sis, who had been waiting, approached Leo as he silently gazed at the female knight.
“Your Majesty. You have arrived.”
“Is that her? The one who challenged me to a duel.”
“Yes.”
“She seems to have quite a good reputation?”
At Leo's words, Sis wore a puzzled expression.
“Do you know about Sir Nezelin, the Knight of the Sandcastle?”
It was common for Leo not to know the names of well-known heroes.
Therefore, Sis knew that Leo had no interest in the reputation of heroes.
Nezelin, the Knight of the Sandcastle, had a reputation comparable to a hero, but she was not a hero.
Her reputation wasn't earned by excelling in a great war or achieving merits on the Tartarus front.
Nor was she affiliated with a specific nation or faction.
She wasn't from Rhumern, a prestigious knight academy, or Ikot either.
She was simply an ordinary wandering knight from the southern continent.
Nezelin gained her reputation because of one incident that occurred five years ago.
The Monster Parade.
The phenomenon where countless monsters suddenly appear and embark on a mass migration is called the Monster Parade.
The culprit was clear.
Tartarus.
But it was a phenomenon akin to a natural disaster with no prior warning.
At the time, the area where the Monster Parade occurred was the very southern tip of the continent.
The Monster Parade, which took place in the border region of the respective countries, swept through the surrounding area in an instant.
Being a border region, the countries chose to lock their city walls and protect their own borders rather than engage in a full-scale extermination.
However, small villages located in the border area were inevitably exposed to the Monster Parade.
Therefore, originally, all the small villages were destined to be trampled and wiped out by the monster's advance.
But there was one person who single-handedly defended that area from the Monster Parade.
That was Nezelin, the Knight of the Sandcastle.
Through this incident, Nezelin gained great renown and became a knight praised as one who would soon rise to the rank of hero.
Many factions tried to recruit Nezelin, but she ultimately remained a wandering knight, vowing to help the weak across the world.
Of course, Leo knew none of this.
“First time hearing that name.”
“But how did you know her reputation was good?”
Leo said, looking at Sis, who wore a puzzled expression.
“Because the duel wasn't rejected at your level and was reported to me.”
“As expected of Your Majesty.”
Sis smiled faintly.
In truth, it wasn't that Leo hadn't been reported to.
Duel applications had been coming in steadily for several days.
The reason Leo didn't know was that Sis had been rejecting their duels.
“There’s no need to deal with every peddler.”
It was then that Leo let out a light sigh at Sis’s words.
“Your Majesty. My name is Nezelin. I am an unworthy wandering knight who has earned the distinguished name, Knight of the Sandcastle.”
Nezelin stepped forward.
She respectfully performed a knight's bow to Leo.
“From a young age, I have respected the King of Wisdom, Lysinas. To uphold his will, I, with my humble skills, sought to protect world peace and resolve problems across the world as a wandering knight.”
“So? What's your reason for challenging me to a duel?”
“It is Your Majesty whom such a Lysinas-sama descended upon this land and chose as king. I came here because I wish to become your knight.”
“But what is the reason for requesting a duel?”
“Before becoming Your Majesty's knight. I wish to prove my abilities to Your Majesty.”
“Hmm.”
It was then that Leo silently stroked his chin.
“Wow! Is this how I'm supposed to live, feeling aggrieved? You accept some duel applications but not others?”
Just then, a man with a somewhat insolent tone emerged from the crowd.
Seeing him, Sis furrowed her brow.
“Mad Dog.”
“Oh, Sir Flame Wave. Isn’t ‘Mad Dog’ a bit much? Though my alias is indeed Hell Hound.”
The man called Hell Hound curled his lips as he looked at Leo.
“Greetings, Your Majesty, King of Beginnings. My name is Jeswan Turek. I'm a wandering knight, a hero with the alias Hell Hound. You must have heard of me, right?”
“First time hearing that.”
“Wow, truly befitting someone called by the alias 'King,' you're really arrogant.”
Hell Hound looked at Leo with impudent eyes.
“You see, I applied for a duel because I wanted to see Your Majesty's skill, but I was rejected, wasn't I?”
“Why do you want to see my skill?”
“Well, aren't you the one who received the grand title of King? If your skill matched such a grand title, I was thinking of settling down and receiving some stipend.”
He looked at Leo with belligerent eyes.
“But you come here for the duel of this woman, who's neither a hero nor anything else… Isn't this discrimination? Or are you perhaps burdened by fighting a hero? Then that's disappointing.”
“How dare you speak such insolence before Your Majesty…”
“Your Majesty. I will drive this mad dog away.”
As Sis and Nezelin stiffened and prepared to draw their swords.
Leo pointed at Jeswan with his index finger.
Jeswan tensed, thinking it was an attack.
“Interview passed.”
“…?”
Next, Leo pointed to Nezelin.
“You passed too.”
While everyone was dumbfounded.
Leo snapped his fingers.
*Snap!*
*Rumble-rumble-rumble-*
With that, the ground at the royal palace entrance began to shake, then started to rise.
The ground that rose transformed into a training arena.
“Then, from now on, I will conduct the practical exam.”
Leo, standing on the training arena, crossed his arms.
“Both of you, come at me.”