Book 1 Chapter 94
“Who is it?”
“My name is Elena.”
“Senior Elena? Really?”
Chloe's eyes widened.
“Yes.”
“I’ve been enjoying your magic papers!”
“Hmm?”
“I especially found the part about the influence of mana vibrations in the atmosphere on magic very interesting!”
“You understood such difficult content?”
“Yes!”
“My goodness, I didn’t know we had such a cute junior joining us?”
Elena, levitating herself with magic, cupped Chloe’s cheeks with both hands and brought her face close.
Seeing Chloe slightly flustered, Elena’s eyes curved.
Chloe felt a slight chill at that gaze.
“What brings you here, Elena?”
“Uncle!”
Elena flew towards Alby.
“I heard you were teaching a class! I came to listen!”
“It’s not a particularly special class. I’m just giving advice to the first-years. And you can’t attend a first-year class. You should attend a third-year class.”
“Such a boring class. It’s not worth listening to.”
Elena said with a snort.
“Then don’t disturb the class and leave.”
At those words, Elena furrowed her brow.
Then, she muttered in a small voice, 'Boring,' and turned to leave.
“Senior.”
“What is it, Leo?”
“I have something I’d like to ask. Can I visit your mansion after school?”
“Ask?”
Elena, tilting her head, crossed her arms and wore a nonchalant expression.
“Why should I grant your request? You refused my request earlier, didn’t you?”
“Was that a request?”
“Of course.”
Elena, sitting cross-legged in the air, smiled brightly and floated up.
“I’m leaving before the other professors swarm me with nagging.”
Waving her hand haphazardly, Elena flew off somewhere.
Watching her go, Chloe wore an expression of disbelief.
As a model student, Chloe found the idea of skipping class to hang out to be a cultural shock.
“Is… is that allowed?”
“No. There isn’t just one professor who’s been waiting for her.”
“But why don’t they say anything? She’s your niece, isn’t she?”
“It’s her choice, so I have no reason to interfere. She wouldn’t listen even if I did. You all should focus on your practice.”
With that, Alby returned to his original position.
Leo looked in the direction Elena had disappeared.
To enter the forbidden library, he needed Elena’s permission.
‘Judging by her attitude, she’s very self-willed.’
Even with Alby’s letter of recommendation, it was clear she wouldn’t be very interested.
‘For now, let’s focus on the departmental competition.’
He needed to concentrate on the immediate departmental event.
***
It had been about two weeks since the academy lockdown.
Iliana grumbled while studying in the classroom during a free period.
“How can there be no refreshments during a self-study period? Does this even make sense?”
Most of the students at Rumon Academy were from noble or upper-class families, so they studied with refreshments during self-study.
Of course, since the lockdown, there were no refreshments, not even a crumb of a cookie.
“Why do you need snacks and tea for studying?”
“Class president! You need a little boost when studying!”
“By the way, where’s Cal?”
Nella asked with a puzzled expression.
*Creak-’
The classroom door opened, and Cal pushed in a snack cart.
Chelsea and Iliana leaped to their feet.
“Cal! What is that!”
Seeing the two girls with shining eyes, Cal bowed elegantly like an excellent butler.
“Although I couldn’t get cakes or cookies.”
*Click-’
“Ohh!”
When he opened the cart’s cover, a teapot and teacups were set up.
“Young ladies, I’ve carefully brewed…”
“Ohh! Black tea!”
“Black tea is enough!”
Even the tea leaves were hard to come by these days, so they thought this was sufficient.
*Drip-drip-drip-!*
A clear, transparent liquid was poured into the teacups.
“It’s plain water.”
“……”
“……”
“Pfft! Hahahaha! Look at your faces! Fooled ya! Fooled ya… *cough*?”
Seeing Cal teasing her, Chelsea’s face contorted viciously, and she delivered a dropkick straight to his stomach.
Then, along with Iliana, she kicked the fallen Cal repeatedly.
“W-Wait! My bones… Aagh! Sorry! I’m sorry!”
Cal’s pained screams passed by.
“I have some big news.”
“What is it?”
“The venue for this year’s departmental competition has been decided!”
“What? Where?”
The students of Class 5 crowded around.
Cal cleared his throat and said in a serious voice.
“Neighgland.”
“Neighgland?”
“Isn’t that a restricted area?”
Neighgland.
It was a city located in the southeastern part of the continent, famous for being destroyed overnight due to the rampage of the Hero Dungeon.
The tragedy of Neighgland, which concealed the Hero Dungeon, became a widely known cautionary tale across the continent.
Although the dungeon was later cleared, the Hero Dungeon’s influence turned it into a cursed land where humans could not live.
“Can we go to a place like that?”
The students swallowed dryly.
“Although it’s a restricted area, I heard it’s not extremely dangerous.”
Chelsea nodded at Nella’s words.
“That’s right. It is a dangerous place, but it’s just that mid-to-low-level monsters appear and curses are spread here and there?”
While it was a great threat to ordinary people, it was a manageable danger for hero cadets.
Once the battlefield for the departmental competition was decided, the entire Class 5 brought out geography books and began to study.
Unlike the world of heroes, there were unpredictable threats, so the students studied Neighgland more seriously than ever before.
Leo also opened the geography book he received and looked for the map of Neighgland.
‘Neighgland… Neighgland… Here it is.’
Leo froze as he opened the book.
‘Where is this?’
The place names Leo remembered were different from the place names of Kyle’s era.
This was natural considering the time between the two eras.
However, he remembered what event had happened in this region in the past.
‘This is where Lissinas and I defeated the first Legion Commander.’
***
As time passed amidst the students’ growing dissatisfaction due to the academy lockdown, time flowed on.
Especially for the first-years, the days were hectic.
*Crack! Crack!*
Durran looked at the aura gathering on his hand and clenched his fist tightly.
*Fsssssss-*
Reacting to Durran’s power, electric currents exploded outwards.
“In- Incredible! Durran! You’ve almost mastered the Breath of the Brave!”
One of Durran’s faction students shouted excitedly, but Durran said irritably.
“What do you mean mastered? I can’t even use it naturally yet, and…!”
*Crack-!*
Durran snapped the wooden sword he was holding in annoyance.
“Compared to the sword strike that Leo Flove unleashed that time, it’s pathetic!”
“Of course, but Leo Flove suffers damage himself from the backlash when he uses such an attack, right?”
A female student said, crossing her arms.
“There’s a limit to such destructive methods. It’s at best a trump card for emergencies.”
Durran scoffed at the female student’s analysis of Leo.
“This time, I will defeat Leo Flove and show everyone who the true number one is. And…”
Durran’s eyes flickered sideways.
“I will defeat Celia Zerdinger too.”
*Flare-!*
“Amazing, Celia, to control the aura flames to this extent.”
Celia brushed her hair back at her classmate’s remark.
“This much is basic.”
With a confident expression, Celia extinguished the flames.
For the past month, Celia had been focusing on the delicate control of aura.
As Celia withdrew her flames, her eyes met Durran’s.
Celia made a sullen expression, pointed a finger at Durran, and made a throat-slitting gesture.
Angered, Durran responded by flicking his thumb downwards.
Meanwhile, in the magic practice ground…
*Whoosh-!*
Chelsea's eyes widened as she looked at Abad.
‘Amazing, just as I expected from my older brother.’
She was so impressed by his precise control of wind magic that her jaw dropped.
*Thump- Thump-!*
As Abad released his magic, the rocks that had been swirling in the air fell to the ground.
“To control even this much output so delicately! You truly are my older brother!”
As Chelsea approached him with a bright smile, Abad wiped the sweat from his brow and spoke.
“Chelsea.”
“Yes!”
“How do you compare him to Leo?”
“……!”
At Abad’s question, Chelsea closed her mouth.
In terms of pure magical ability, Chelsea thought Abad had the upper hand.
But overall…
‘Who should I root for?’
Abad, whom she respected as a mage.
Leo, whom she respected as a hero candidate.
Seeing Chelsea conflicted, Abad smiled.
“So, Leo is superior.”
“O-Older brother! I mean, that is…”
“It’s not bad.”
“What?”
“Having someone to challenge.”
Chelsea was surprised by Abad’s deep smile.
Meanwhile, Leo sat in the library, surrounded by books related to Neighgland.
‘There are five large lakes within Neighgland.’
As a large city, there were five large lakes.
“Which one of these is Lake Erdia?”
Leo scratched his head.
While other students were busy preparing for the departmental competition, Leo was focused on something else.
A memory from long ago surfaced.
‘Given the passage of time, I don’t think it would still be here.’
Leo crossed his arms.
In the past, at a place called Lake Erdia, a spirit had been sleeping.
A spirit that was now not even remembered.
However, it was a Great Spirit, revered as a powerful spirit until the Age of Calamity.
Lissinas' lost covenantee.
‘The Great Spirit of Radiance, Luminous.’
Leo closed the book and stood up.
‘I guess I’ll have to visit all five places.’
***
At Erekh, the large training ground at the center of Rumon Academy, a large crowd had gathered.
Not only students from Rumon Academy but also many visitors had gathered.
“Ohh! Let me see my daughter! How was school!”
“It was fun!”
“Son! You are the pride of our family!”
“I know!”
“Please refrain from any actions that would bring shame to the family.”
“Yes.”
Originally, only authorized personnel were allowed to enter Rumon Academy.
However, for the large departmental event, the departmental competition, visitors who were family members of related individuals were permitted to visit today.
This was also to help dissipate the negative public opinion regarding the academy’s lockdown for the past month.
As a result, Rumon was experiencing an unexpected festive atmosphere.
Of course, with so many external guests, there were bound to be problems.
“Hey! I want to see where my son is studying, and you’re saying I can’t!”
“Due to security regulations concerning student research assignments, external access is prohibited. Please use only the permitted areas.”
“Hmph! Do you know who I am!”
As Rumon Academy, where external access was normally prohibited, had many people who were curious and tried to enter areas other than those permitted.
Of course, such individuals were restrained by the assistants, but there were also many who were unreasonable.
Atop the Tower of Heroes.
Kallian looked down at Erekh from a place where the academy’s panorama was visible at a glance.
“I’m worried that if we allow so many external visitors at once, intruders might sneak in.”
Professor Yura said with a worried expression, and Kallian sighed deeply.
“Fortunately, a powerful deterrent has returned, so there won’t be a repeat of what happened last time.”
At Kallian’s words, Yura cautiously looked at a red-haired woman enjoying tea on a guest sofa.
It was Phoenix Pirina.
‘If only I could talk to her!’
As a Beast Tamer, facing the strongest beast, Yura's mouth itched to talk to Pirina.
Unlike Leo’s Fiora and Ulta’s Aeria, that was a complete adult.
She was the ideal and legend of Beast Tamers, wielding absolute power.
‘We can’t hide this fact forever. We must make it public through cooperation with Seirun.’
Kallian’s eyes held a serious light.
‘So that the Tartaros bastards can’t run wild anymore.’