Book 1 Chapter 929

929.

Leo couldn't help but wear a puzzled expression as he watched Azonia, who called Arion’s mentor, Agon, the guardian of the heavens, her master.

"Agon is your master?"

"Yes."

"How can you be Agon's disciple? Agon is from 5000 years ago."

At that moment, Elsi suddenly appeared above Leo's head.

Azonia and Demian were surprised.

"Elsi?"

"How can a shadow spirit be in the mortal world…?"

"You know me?"

Elsi tilted her head.

"Ah! You must have met me through the hero's world."

Elsi, who descended onto Leo's shoulder, introduced herself, slightly lifting the hem of her white dress.

"It's nice to meet you, heroes of the dawn. I'm Elsi, a shadow spirit."

"Are you by any chance Elsi from Arion's world's prologue?"

"Yes. That's right. In terms of time, I am Elsi from that era."

"Ah…"

"Why, why are you crying?"

Elsi approached Azonia, who was looking at her and crying, and was at a loss.

Azonia hugged Elsi tightly and sobbed quietly.

"What happened?"

Leo asked Demian, looking at him.

Demian sighed softly.

"The first hero world Azonia entered was the Hero's World, the prologue."

At those words, Leo recalled Arion’s world, which he and Ar had conquered during their first summer vacation.

The objective was to find Arion as an 18-year-old boy in Reisar.

"It was when Rodia came to the Azod Desert with the Hero Record."

It was an era when disaster was rampant.

The fragments of Erebus were revived, and Tartarus revealed its fangs to the world again.

"Of course, no one knew that the fragments of Erebus had been revived at the time."

However, they could tell that something unusual was happening.

That's why Rodia, as the first discoverer of the hero's world, was searching for heroes to fight against Tartarus.

"Azonia met Rodia when she was 17. At that time, Azonia had the key."

"Key?"

As Leo looked puzzled, Azonia, who was hugging Elsi tightly, replied.

"It was a fragment of Schatten. It was an item related to the dark spirit passed down in our family, which was also a family of spirit masters. I only found out it was a fragment of Schatten's sword after entering the hero's world."

"Indeed."

Schatten, the sword that swallows darkness.

It was the ultimate sword held by Agon, the guardian of the heavens.

Of course, its true identity was the sword where the shadow spirit Elsi had resided.

As Elsi had resided there, it would have been a tool that wielded immense power as a medium with the dark spirit.

"Azod City is also where Reisar was located… It's not strange that there was a fragment of Schatten."

"This is where Reisar was?"

"Didn't you know? There are even Reisar ruins remaining deep within this land."

Demian looked surprised at Leo's words.

"Anyway, I think I understand the situation broadly."

"Yes. Azonia conquered the Hero's World, the first of its kind."

While Rodia was the first to discover the hero's world, Azonia was the first to conquer it.

To enter the hero's world, a "key" was required.

Therefore, Azonia, who could enter a relatively easy world, was the first to succeed in conquering it.

The problem was…

"I couldn't save the children at the orphanage…"

Elsi murmured with a bitter voice.

Saving the children at the orphanage was an over-completion, separate from the conquest.

"I asked Rodia to give me the prologue page and reattempted the conquest several times…"

Azonia, who was an immature seventeen-year-old at the time, could not save the children at the orphanage.

Although she would later be called a hero of the dawn and save the world, she was just a girl at the time.

"What was the conquest reward?"

"It was a dagger that Arion used when he was young."

This was in contrast to Ar, who received Arion’s breath through over-completion.

"Well, they said the rewards differ between over-completion and normal conquest."

Leo understood why Arion's page, in its complete form, could remain with Azonia.

"She must have left the prologue page she received back then at the school she founded before entering the world of dawn."

Azonia, who had released Elsi from her embrace, sniffled.

Then she blew her nose on the hem of Demian's clothes next to her.

Demian's face turned grim.

"The fragment of Schatten also disappeared midway, and in the end, I could never save Master Agon and the children at the orphanage."

During the conquest, she had become Agon's disciple countless times and learned martial arts.

Azonia's eyes darkened.

"So, were you bound by the prologue and didn't conquer Arion's world after that?"

"…Yes, pathetically."

After that, Azonia met Arion not in Arion’s world, but in the worlds of other great heroes.

"…If that person wasn't a coward… I could have saved them all…"

Azonia bit her lip.

She knew.

That such thoughts were futile.

That it wasn't Arion's fault.

But the master she had come to respect, and the orphanage children who felt like family.

And her own powerless self, she became consumed by it.

"In the end, she couldn't move forward."

Leo sighed, remembering Azonia's motto at the Hero Academy, which was 'Move forward.'

"It's amazing that you learned and can use Arion's breath, hyper-senses, and howling."

Arion's breath is passed down in this era as the "Breath of the Brave."

Howling is used by beastmen with leadership qualities.

Even in the era of disaster, only a very small number of people used howling.

Compared to now, it was an overwhelmingly small number.

Not to mention the breath.

It was Azonia who redefined the methods of using howling and breath and passed them down to the beastmen.

Just as Seirun made star magic usable by any elf, Azonia made Arion's techniques accessible to other beastmen.

Of course, the effect was inferior to the original, but it was still remarkable.

"…Master Agon taught me."

"Agon couldn't even use Arion's techniques. He only grasped the principles. To learn from a third party like Agon and use it, you're a genius?"

"…What genius."

Azonia gave a self-deprecating smile at Leo's praise.

"A genius is a nickname that suits that cowardly person, and you know that well, Lord Kyle, right?"

"He's just outside the norm."

"…That's true. Outside the norm… 'Why can't you do this?' he laughs…"

Azonia's body began to tremble.

"No! He laughs as if it's so easy, doing things that make no sense with a straight face! It's infuriating! It would be better if he just insulted me! Or! He could at least scold me for not being able to do it! He looks so bewildered and stares, wondering why I can't do this, and then genuinely cheers me on, saying I just need to try a little harder! Even though I'm doing my best!"

Azonia poured out her words, choked with emotion, recalling Arion whom she had met in the world of other great heroes.

After she finished speaking, she managed to compose herself and gasped for breath.

Elsi and Melina had been hiding behind Leo for some time, and Demian covered his face and shook his head.

Leo stroked his chin as he looked at Azonia.

'When Arion said ridiculous things, I only saw Ar, who would light up saying, 'Arion, you're amazing!' but seeing this person is quite refreshing.'

Of course, he understood Azonia's reaction.

No, he sympathized with it.

'I also suffered immensely.'

"'Why can't Kyle do this? You can definitely do it, Kyle. Why don't you try a little harder?' When he says that without any malice, I really want to hit him.

When asked about the feeling of using breath, hyper-senses, and howling.

When he heard the answer, 'It feels like breathing, concentrating, or shouting?', he almost hit him.

'He probably wouldn't have been hit even if I tried to hit him.'

He was too scared, so he would have run away.

"You must have had a hard time too."

In any case, Leo, who understood why Azonia called Agon her master, nodded.

'Certainly, Azonia's movements were similar to Arion's, yet different.'

It made sense that she had learned from him by repeatedly conquering Arion's world.

He also understood her trauma about not conquering Arion's world.

"Unlike Azonia, you must have conquered Dwenoh's world multiple times?"

"Yes."

Demian nodded.

Leo looked at Demian with a puzzled expression.

"But according to the records, you restored divine artifacts. Is that possible with your terrible blacksmithing skills?"

"Restore, you say?"

Demian frowned slightly.

Leo looked at Demian with a puzzled expression.

"Although I lack the skill to strike a hammer, there is an area where I have talent."

"What is it?"

"I'm embarrassed to say it, but my aesthetic sense… that is, something related to art."

"Art?"

Leo tilted his head.

"Lord Kyle. This kid is amazing. He even heard Dwenoh say that his talent as an artist surpasses his own!"

"Shut up!"

"Why? It's the truth. Dwenoh was also very happy. He said he found a successor who would follow in his footsteps as an artist."

"Why is being an artist important! The world is in crisis! Dwenoh is a divine blacksmith! What's important is the skill of making weapons, you idiot!"

"What? Did you just call me an idiot? Do you want me to turn that pretty face of yours into a rag?!"

"Oh! That sounds good! I hate this damn face. Hit me! Hit me! Hit me, you damn mad dog!"

"Eek!"

Demian provoked Azonia with fierce words.

However, Azonia hesitated, unable to bring herself to hit Demian's beautiful face.

Leo clicked his tongue at the sight.

"Aren't you ashamed in front of your juniors?"

At those words, Melina smiled faintly.

"You must have been very ashamed too, Lord Leo?"

"Why?"

"You often did that with other great heroes in front of us… Ayayayaya!"

Melina screamed as her ear was grabbed.

Meanwhile, Azonia and Demian's fight reached a stalemate.

Azonia sighed and said.

"Anyway, the weapons Dwenoh made are also Dwenoh's works of art, aren't they?"

"Yes. He just didn't admit it."

The only sword Dwenoh acknowledged as a 'work of art' until his last moments was Leo's sword, Posteritas.

"Demian doesn't have the ability to restore Dwenoh's weapons, but he had the ability to temporarily manifest works of art. Rodia said it was possible because it touched the realm of miracles."

"So, as an artist who has reached the divine realm, he can restore things he considers works of art to near perfection?"

"Yes. Although it's only for a moment."

Even so, it was an amazing ability.

Moreover, at the level of the heroes of the dawn, they could likely draw out the abilities of the divine weapons even in that fleeting moment.

Dwenoh, who reached the divine realm as a blacksmith, undoubtedly had great talent as an artist as well.

However, his artistic abilities did not reach that realm.

In that regard, Demian was the ideal successor that Dwenoh had been searching for so desperately.

'Even though he dislikes it because he's not a blacksmith.'

Leo let out a hollow laugh.

Ar, who unconditionally liked Arion, and Azonia, who hated Arion for being a coward.

Diana, who inherited Dwenoh's blacksmithing talent but was despairing as an artist, and conversely, Demian, whose artistic talent surpassed Dwenoh's but was despairing as a blacksmith.

'These successors are polar opposites.'