Book 1 Chapter 922
922.
Desire.
The most fundamental emotion that all living beings possess.
Diverse forms of desire exist, regardless of species or person.
From the basic need for survival to the desire for power or honor.
It is one of the most essential emotions for living.
While it has been the greatest driving force for the world to bloom civilization and for that civilization to endure and develop.
It was also easily corrupted.
Desires that became excessively bloated transformed into greed.
And thus, traitors were born.
'Even in the extreme situation where the world was heading towards destruction, traitors stained by greed emerged.'
Reysar was particularly severe in that regard.
Refugee city Reysar.
It was one of the cities that endured for a long time without falling into ruin, even as the world was heading towards destruction.
Although eventually only Gardsron remained, Reysar's scale, which had accepted countless refugees, was by no means small.
Furthermore, having accepted various refugees since the early days of the Age of Calamity, its resilience was also considerable.
'Among the cities during the Age of Calamity, it was the second most powerful after Gardsron.'
During the height of the Age of Calamity, it was the only city of national scale other than Gardsron.
However, Reysar was destroyed so absurdly.
Because of the corrupted leadership of Reysar, rotten with greed.
'Even when we went to Reysar to recruit the Guardian of the Azure Sky to our party, it was already decaying.'
Even Licinas did not foresee Reysar's corruption.
Blindness by greed, denial of the world's destruction, and the foolish belief of enjoying wealth and glory as a pawn of Tartarus were beyond what could be predicted.
By the time Licinas realized it, it was already too late.
Leo had to purge countless traitors in Reysar and carry out a large-scale operation to relocate the residents of Reysar to Gardsron just before they were massacred.
It was inevitable that countless Reysar residents died during that process.
Great heroes are not omnipotent deities.
'They simply did their best in the given circumstances.'
Leo did not know what became of the ruins of the destroyed Reysar afterward.
He only recently learned that it was buried underground, like Gardsron.
'I didn't expect it to be buried exactly as it was before.'
Leo looked at the city spread out before him.
Unlike Gardsron, where Tartarus demons had etched countless curses, Reysar had been buried underground in a neglected state.
Thanks to that, excavating a part of the Reysar area was not difficult.
Upon hearing that it was the hometown of the Hero, Aron, all the students of the Hero Academy reacted with excitement.
As the warp gate installed at the campsite in the middle of the desert activated, the students closed their eyes.
After a moment, when their vision returned, surprised reactions erupted from everywhere.
"Wow…!"
"Wait. Didn't you say this was underground? Then why is the sun out?"
As he said, a bright sun and a blue sky stretched across Reysar's sky.
This was something even Leo hadn't expected, and his eyes widened.
"Welcome, everyone."
As everyone arrived in Reysar and was still surprised, there was someone waiting to greet them.
It was none other than the Dragon Lord, Melina.
"Ah! Professor Mel! Hello!"
Iliana greeted her with a delighted expression.
"This test is supposed to be student-led, as I heard from Leo Frolov. Are you here too, Professor Mel?"
Duran also asked with a questioning voice, and Melina tilted her head.
"Professor Mel? I am the Dragon Lord Melina."
"Yes?"
"Professor Mel of Rumern is probably teaching at school, right?"
Melina said with a bright smile.
While Professor Mel appeared as an adult woman, Melina, in her state of sealed power, had a youthful appearance.
Of course, no one failed to recognize her as her appearance was identical.
'It seems she's maintaining that concept.'
While Leo muttered inwardly.
Iliana burst into laughter.
"Hey! Everyone who needs to know already knows that Melina and Professor Mel are the same person…"
"Dragon Lord Melina."
"So…"
"It's Melina."
"…Melina…"
Seeing Melina pushing her smiling face, Iliana shrunk her neck and said with a flustered expression.
Melina, with a bright smile, said,
"Welcome to Reysar, everyone. Follow me."
Melina led the way from the wide clearing where the warp gate was installed.
Leo looked around.
He could see ruined walls in the distance.
Although almost half destroyed, Leo grasped the layout of the walls and roughly determined the location.
'It's the outer wall.'
The outer wall that defended against the forces of Tartarus.
Although not as grand as Gardsron, it was a wall that had to withstand the Age of Calamity, so its scale was beyond imagination compared to the walls of the current era.
As the students of the Hero Academy passed through the entrance of the outer wall, they were once again surprised.
"Huh? People?"
"How are there people here?"
As he said, there were people on the street.
Humans, elves, beastfolk, dwarves.
Many people were coming and going, regardless of their race.
There were buildings on the street that looked newly constructed.
Seeing the bewildered students, Melina said,
"I will explain about the test now."
Turning around, Melina said,
"Currently, this Reysar is disconnected from time externally."
At Melina's words, Chloe raised her hand.
"Yes, student Chloe."
"What do you mean by time being disconnected? Is time flowing differently from the outside?"
"Yes, that's right."
Melina smiled faintly.
At those words, Chloe's eyes widened.
"The time in this space is under my control. Three days here is one day outside."
"Field magic?"
"As expected, student Chloe. It's complicated to explain, so if you're curious about the concept, please come back separately later."
Chloe's eyes sparkled.
Melina, smiling faintly, continued her explanation.
"You have been selected as supervisors for the first-year students' test. However, since the test is to conquer the Book of Shadows, there's actually nothing separate to supervise."
As she said, the test would begin as soon as they entered the Book of Shadows, so there was nothing to do separately.
"However, you have been entrusted with the most important role as supervisors. That is to select a suitable Book of Shadows for the first-year students."
"Selection?"
"Yes. The Book of Shadows is a world that no one has ever conquered before. Therefore, the first-year students could fall into danger if they charge in recklessly."
In the world of heroes, even unknown heroes study Heroics, allowing them to understand what kind of world it is and plan their conquest.
However, the Book of Shadows does not leave any public historical records, making it dangerous due to the lack of information.
At Melina's words, Dryana raised her hand.
"If our role is to select and arrange the world for the first-year students to conquer, don't we also have to conquer the Book of Shadows?"
"That's right. So from now on, you will conquer the Book of Shadows that has been assigned as this test assignment."
"Then won't it interfere with the test progress? Even if there's a time difference between the outside and here?"
This time, Eiran asked.
"It's okay. It's designed so that it takes at least three days for the first-year students to arrive here. You were originally supposed to wander the desert for two more days, but I strongly objected. How was it, did I do well?"
At those words, everyone's gaze turned to one spot.
"What? Why? Is there a problem?"
At Leo's shameless reaction, everyone's gaze scattered again.
Then, a student with another question asked,
"Then who are those people coming and going in the street?"
At first, they thought they were people helping with the test, but they acted as if they were residents of this place.
"Those people are playing the role of the residents of this city."
"Role of residents?"
At Melina's sudden words, the students looked puzzled.
"This test will be conducted in a fun way. Each person will play a role."
"Role-playing?"
"Yes. It's a concept of a hero's world, in a way."
Melina smiled brightly.
"You too, instead of being seniors, must treat the first-year students like adventurers as residents of this world."
At those words, Celia asked with a slightly displeased expression,
"Why?"
"Because it's more fun that way. If you're going to take a test, it's better if it's fun, right?"
"Why a play of all things?"
"It's my preference. I like puppet shows."
At the word "preference," they were speechless.
As soon as those words ended, Melina snapped her fingers.
*Fwoosh-*
Then books appeared in the air and were distributed to the students.
It was a scriptbook.
"Third-rate alchemist?"
Duran muttered with an unusually bewildered expression.
Chloe also read the scriptbook with a perplexed look.
"I'm a sword fighting dojo instructor?"
"Huh? A failing bar owner?"
"I'm a bar waitress."
Confused voices erupted from the students here and there.
"But everyone's status is low?"
"Hoohoo. This is the charm of this test."
Melina's eyes sparkled as if she found it amusing.
"If you strive in your respective fields and achieve results, you can be promoted to a higher rank! How about that? Isn't it fun?"
'…Is this a game?'
As everyone muttered with bewildered faces.
"Leo, what about you, Leo?"
Elena, who received the script for a low-ranking guild member of the Information Guild, asked Leo.
Leo opened the scriptbook.
"Mayor."
"What?!"
"It says I'm the mayor of the city."
"…"
Elena had a look of disbelief.
The surrounding students muttered inwardly.
'Favoritism.'
"Trade with me."
Elena tried to snatch the script from Leo's hand with a smile, but
"Ho ho! Where are you, Senior Elena, carelessly touching the Mayor's hand! The Mayor!"
Iliana quickly blocked Elena.
"Who are you?"
"Ahem! I am someone like this!"
Iliana showed her scriptbook with a triumphant expression.
"Low-ranking city hall official?"
"Come on, everyone, step aside. The Mayor is a busy person with official duties. Anyone who needs to meet the Mayor must go through me!"
Elena, watching Iliana fussing, smiled faintly and approached Chen Xia.
"Xia, you were the assassin guild member, right?"
"Yes."
"Will you take a request? The target is a low-ranking city hall official."
At Elena's cold words, Chen Xia laughed awkwardly.
***
The second and third-year students began conquering the Book of Shadows.
Leo, left alone, sat in the clearing and gazed silently at the sky.
Melina approached Leo.
"The people playing the role of residents are all Shadows, aren't they?"
"Yes. The Shadows participated voluntarily. They seemed curious when they heard that the hero candidates would be conquering the Book of Shadows."
"Is that so?"
Leo nodded.
"It's not bad. The wall between heroes and Shadows needs to be broken down."
"Yes. I think they will naturally blend in as they live together."
The hero candidates couldn't help but see Shadows as beings different from themselves.
Shadows were the same.
They also did not see themselves on the same level as heroes.
To break down that unavoidable barrier, they had to be as close as possible.
"You chose the cumbersome method of role-playing because you wanted to give them time to get used to each other, didn't you?"
"Hmm. I didn't think that deeply. It's just my preference."
Melina smiled brightly.
Leo let out a hollow laugh at her seemingly thoughtless demeanor.
But even so, his gaze remained fixed on the sky.
"What are you thinking about?"
"Was there really a need to implement such a perfect sky underground?"
That was illusion magic, as close to nature as possible.
Melina, who had captured the time of this space.
Just that alone placed a considerable burden on her body, and implementing a perfect atmosphere within that space would naturally increase the burden.
At his question, Melina looked up at the sky and said,
"I thought it was better to be perfect if we're going to do it. And."
"And?"
"I wanted to soothe the souls of the people sleeping in this city."
"Soothe their souls?"
"Yes. Besides, this is also the land where the Guardian of the Azure Sky sleeps."
The man who was originally a candidate for Arhi's recruitment.
A hero of the old era who was broken by the world's malice.
Leo did not witness the final moments of Argon, the Guardian of the Azure Sky.
The same was true for other great heroes, including Aeron.
However, he learned from the people of Reysar what his end was like.
The broken beastfolk warrior raised his sword again at the last moment.
And he sacrificed his life to save many people.
"…"
The last hero of Reysar and countless residents met their end through betrayal.
"I think Arion would have wanted this too."
It was Melina's way of showing respect to those who died there.
At those words, Leo said,
"Thank you."
"You don't have to thank me, Leo…"
"No."
"…"
"Thank you."
As someone who lived in that era.
As someone who witnessed the destruction of this city, he was grateful for Melina's thoughtfulness.
"You're welcome."
Melina, who received Leo's greeting with a smile, said,
"Ah! I learned something about the monsters appearing in the desert."
"That was fast. How did they appear?"
"Looking at the forms of the weaponry held by the low-level fiends, they seemed to be in the form of weapons used thousands of years ago."
The appearance of the weaponry used by monsters like goblins or orcs has changed over time.
Scholars who study Heroics can even infer the era just by the form of the weaponry.
"It seems a Hero Dungeon has opened, but…"
"But?"
"It looks highly likely to be a Hero Dungeon from the Age of Genesis."
"Age of Genesis…"
At those words, Leo's face became slightly serious.
"The dungeon entrance?"
"It hasn't been discovered yet."
"Please hurry a little more."
"Yes, Leo."
If it's from the Age of Genesis, it's likely to be a hero of the Age of Genesis.
Considering that the world of Genesis is used as a passage to Erebus…
'I need to find it quickly.'