Leo sat on the hotel rooftop, gazing up at the night sky.
The stars filling it seemed especially bright tonight.
After watching them in silence for a while, Leo lowered his head.
Chelsea was sitting alone in the hotel garden, lost in thought.
Just then—
“Huff! Huff!”
Arron appeared beside him, breathing hard.
“Did Ar chase you or something?”
“I-It was terrifying!”
At Leo’s question, Arron’s body trembled.
“How long are you going to keep trembling every time she rolls her eyes?”
“B-But…! This time was incomparably scarier than anything before!”
“What, did you tell Ar you’re considering her as your successor or something?”
“Yeah.”
“No wonder she went wild.”
Leo clicked his tongue, already picturing Ar’s reaction. Then he noticed Arron making a pained face as he looked at him.
Spotting Chelsea in the garden, Arron sat down on the roof and spoke.
“Ah, Chelsea?”
With a pleased expression, Arron said,
“Leo, I think Chelsea might have…”
“Figured something out, you mean?”
“You knew too, huh?”
“She’s been acting strange since this afternoon.”
Recalling how Chelsea had suddenly been staring at him earlier, Leo spoke.
“I’ve been treating you too casually.”
“Maybe I should’ve been a bit more careful?”
Arron scratched his cheek, and Leo answered nonchalantly.
“Even if you tried, you’re terrible at acting. It would’ve been awkward and made her look at you even more strangely.”
Leo could treat Arron as the Hero all he wanted.
But if he did, Arron would definitely slip up.
'He’d probably get flustered and embarrassed on his own, then start rambling incoherently.'
At Leo’s words, Arron scratched his head.
Then, looking at Chelsea, he said,
“Do you think she figured out Kyle’s identity?”
“She probably can’t be completely sure. It’s something impossible by common sense.”
The god he met in Luna’s world.
Even Pibua found Leo’s reincarnation astonishing.
Even in a situation where countless miracles occur, reincarnation was hard to imagine.
At Leo’s words, Arron spoke.
“I’d rather Chelsea figured out that you’re Kyle.”
“Why?”
“If she learns you’re Kyle, that girl will become a source of strength for you.”
“A source of strength, huh.”
“Right now, Kyle, you’re like Lysinas.”
“Lysinas?”
“Yeah. You’re carrying the world on your shoulders, right?”
Arron took his eyes off Chelsea and looked up at the night sky.
“But even Lysinas back then didn’t carry everything alone. You, Luna, Dweno—so many people drawn to Lysinas’s light supported her.”
“Why are you leaving yourself out of the story?”
At Leo’s words, Arron smiled bitterly and continued.
“The current you tries to take all the responsibility alone, right? Dragon Lord Melina knows your secret, but… I think you need more people to support you right now.”
Arron grinned.
“Chelsea is smart and kind. She’ll definitely become a great source of strength for you.”
“Probably.”
Leo let out a soft laugh.
“But not now.”
“Why? Don’t you trust Chelsea?”
“No, I trust her. I even got an earful from that old man in Dweno’s world.”
“Dweno did?”
“Yeah. He told me to trust the future I chose.”
“Typical Dweno.”
Arron nodded.
“So I decided to trust. But she’s still young. Learning about me can wait until we stand on the same stage.”
At that answer, Arron silently looked at Leo.
“What?”
“Nothing. It’s just that Lysinas once said something similar to me before.”
“Lysinas did?”
“Yeah. On the night after my first battle after joining the party.”
“Her face must have been worth seeing then.”
Leo chuckled.
In his first battle, Arron—still a boy—hid behind Lysinas in fear.
Though he possessed immense power, Arron was immature at the time.
“Was Lysinas’s expression strange then?”
“Don’t you remember?”
Leo smiled wryly.
“Lysinas had high expectations for you back then. I was already cynical before joining, so she didn’t even have expectations. And Luna, who she finally recruited, was a troublemaker.”
The expectations Lysinas had for the boy who joined on the recommendation of the noble hero, the Azure Guardian, were immense.
“But when you hid behind her in fear, her expression… she was practically on the verge of tears.”
It was an expression Leo saw for the first and last time.
“So that’s why Luna laughed so much.”
Recalling Luna’s cackling laughter, Arron scratched his cheek.
“What did you talk about with Lysinas that night?”
“I apologized. Told her I was sorry for running away. But then Lysinas told me this.”
'It’s okay. You’re still young. Finding courage isn’t too late, even after you’re prepared to stand on stage.'
Remembering Lysinas’s gentle smile as she encouraged him, Arron spoke.
“Those words gave me great courage.”
“Typical of her.”
“Right?”
Arron burst out laughing.
“Though I never became fully prepared in the end.”
“Hey, Arron. You keep…”
As Leo frowned and was about to speak—
-Leo-nim. Arron-nim.
Melina’s voice echoed in their heads.
“What’s going on?”
-An abnormal situation has occurred at the training site.
“An abnormal situation? What’s happening?”
Leo furrowed his brow and asked.
-Large numbers of demons and monsters have started appearing.
===
Whoosh—!
Rhys raised his sword.
Intense flames erupting from the blade coiled around it.
He raised the sword high, then plunged it into the ground.
Fwoosh—!
A ring of fire formed around Rhys, expanding into a massive circle that swept through the surroundings.
Groooooooooooar!
Gwaaaaaaaaaaaah!
Demons screamed in pain.
After incinerating every demon in the area, Rhys pulled his sword free.
'The demonic presence is still enormous.'
Even after wiping out demons over a wide range, the momentum of their emergence showed no signs of slowing.
'What in the world is going on? Did a Legion Commander invade or something?'
The emergence of demons was abnormal.
At first, low-level monsters or demons appeared.
But the grade of the emerging creatures kept rising.
The atmosphere was ominous.
'At this rate, it wouldn’t be strange if Demons showed up.'
It was believable—truly—that Tartarus was moving on a large scale.
But that didn’t mean Demons had revealed themselves yet.
'Could a Hero Record have gone berserk somewhere nearby?'
Not long ago, there had been a large-scale Hero Dungeon rampage.
So that suspicion rose as well.
After pondering briefly, Rhys shook his head.
'No, this area is managed by Dragon Lord Melina.'
With Melina present, a Hero Dungeon would’ve been detected long ago.
'On top of that, Arron-nim is also here.'
Rhys tightened his grip on his sword.
'Anyway, stopping these demons is the priority right now.'
“Rhys!”
Just then, Torua’s voice rang out.
“Over there!”
Torua urgently pointed to the sky.
Seeing the wyvern-like Demonic Beasts that appeared, her eyes twitched.
Black-scaled wyvern-shaped Demonic Beasts.
Rhys was seeing them in person for the first time as well.
But he knew what they were.
'Fafnir.'
The most threatening Demonic Beasts during the Era of Calamity.
Creatures that were completely exterminated by the Genesis Heroes.
But they had appeared several times in the present world recently, so research was being conducted on them.
Even Fafnir had appeared.
“If they attack the first-years, it’ll be a disaster! Torua!”
“Leave it to me!”
Torua summoned her Magic Staff, mounted it, and shot up into the sky.
Hum!
Magic circles formed all over Torua’s body.
From her mouth, Runic Language poured out without pause.
Reaching the front of the Fafnir unit, Torua released her spell.
“Star Magic: End.”
Flash—!
“End?!”
“Could it be graduated sunbaes?”
“Casting [End] at that scale… amazing.”
The Seiren students holding back the monsters stared in awe at the magic that lit the surroundings as bright as daylight.
Meanwhile, Juen—hunting Demonic Beasts by firing Magic Bullets—paused and muttered.
“Doesn’t seem like an elf?”
“It’s not an elf.”
Lea, using magic beside Juen, perked up her ears.
“It’s Star Magic used by a human.”
“Hmph, then there’s only one mage who can use magic of that caliber.”
Juen smirked.
“It’s Torua unni!”
“Amazing.”
Lea admired her sincerely.
Other Seiren students also widened their eyes as they listened.
“I’d like to hear about Star Magic from her sometime.”
Just as Lea was admiring—
Groooooooooar!
A giant ogre roared and charged.
The moment Lea tried to use magic—
Fwoosh—!
With a golden flash, Aina severed the ogre’s neck.
Thud—! Its severed head soared into the sky.
A chillingly fast, razor-sharp strike.
But the ogre—its vitality tenacious—charged toward the first-years as if it meant to take at least one life before its last breath.
“As expected of an ogre. Tenacious.”
The moment Lea tried to unleash her magic again—
Flash—!
This time, a silver flash flew in and bisected the headless ogre at the waist.
“Ooh, amazing.”
“Small but strong.”
“As expected of Lumene’s first-year President!”
As other students admired Luke—
“Luke Elda! Who told you to take the initiative?!”
“Eek?!”
Lea’s eyes shot wide as she shouted, “Wah—!”
“Why do you go crazy every time you see Luke?”
“He dared to have Leo sunbae as his mentor! Before me!”
“You’re throwing a fit just because you can’t stand that Luke got something you didn’t?”
As Juen stared in disbelief—
Grrrrrrrrrrrrr—!
The ground shook violently.
The first-years staggered.
“This earthquake is way worse than the last one?”
Juen looked startled.
===
Arriving at the Plov family territory through the Warp Gate Melina opened, Leo narrowed his eyes.
Arron flicked his hand lightly at the demons roaring as they charged.
Fwoosh—!
Golden Aura erupted from Arron’s fingertips and tore the demons apart.
“Arron, do you smell any Demons?”
At Leo’s question, Arron shook his head.
“No. Only the stench of Demonic Beasts and monsters.”
“What in the world is going on?”
'Hearing Melina’s report, I wondered if Death King Hell Kaiser had moved. But that’s not it, apparently.'
It wasn’t other Legion Commanders either.
Demons couldn’t possibly slip past Arron’s sense of smell or perception.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr—!
Just then, the ground began to shake violently.
'An earthquake?'
It was powerful.
Crackle—!
The earth bucked and trembled.
The ground split open.
'The Plov territory isn’t an area where earthquakes of this magnitude occur.'
The crust of the Delard Kingdom was extremely stable.
The earth spirits and the fire spirits dwelling in the magma below were docile.
An earthquake like this was abnormal.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr—!
The trembling stopped.
'Could this abnormal situation be connected to the earthquake?'
Just as Leo frowned—
“Huh?”
Arron’s bewildered voice rang out.
“What?”
“I smell it.”
“Smell?”
“A stench I’ve smelled before.”
Arron stared down at the ground, his face stiff.
A stench that stabbed at his sensitive sense of smell.
Like burnt ashes.
“…It’s the same smell I caught in Fairy Land—from Erebos’s fragment.”
“What?”
Leo’s face hardened.
“But… it’s not completely the smell of ashes, Kyle.”
Arron’s face turned pale.
“It’s burning.”
***
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