The Legendary Hero is an Academy Honor Student

Leo’s mornings started early.

At an hour anyone would call dawn.

Leaving his dorm room, Leo went down to the common room.

“Leo, good morning.”

Chloe was coming down from the girls’ dormitory, letting out a small yawn.

Rubbing her eyes as she descended the stairs, Chloe looked like she still hadn’t fully woken up yet.

This was one of the few times the usually composed Chloe let her guard down.

With a slightly dazed expression, she reached for the table in the corner of the common room.

The milk bottles provided to the dorm students every morning were neatly lined up there.

After draining a bottle of milk, life returned to Chloe’s eyes.

Now fully awake, Chloe picked up a book and followed Leo outside the dormitory.

Leo was heading to his dawn training.

Chloe intended to read while enjoying the morning air.

Click!

They opened the door and stepped outside.

Next to the dormitory were the mailboxes for each student.

Leo and Chloe noticed one particular mailbox stuffed so full it looked ready to burst.

“Isn’t that your mailbox?”

Chloe asked with a surprised look.

“It is.”

Leo opened the mailbox with a puzzled expression and checked its contents.

Seeing the colorful stationery and neat handwriting, Chloe asked in disbelief,

“Don’t tell me those are all love letters?”

“Looks like it.”

He received letters from time to time, but this was on a completely different level.

Leo looked dumbfounded.

“A lot of these are from outside the school too.”

There were letters from the daughters of prestigious families in other countries, and even some that seemed to be from a princess of a certain nation.

The cost of sending a letter to Lumene was quite high.

And yet all kinds of letters had come flying in for Leo from all over the world.

“Is it because I became a Hero?”

Leo chuckled as if it were nothing serious.

“Are you going to read all of them?”

Chloe asked, glancing at him carefully.

Leo shook his head.

“No.”

Stuffing the letters back into the mailbox, Leo headed toward the training grounds.

“Aren’t you going to read in the garden?”

“I was. But the autumn breeze feels so nice today that I feel like changing the scenery.”

Feeling an inexplicable sense of unease, Chloe followed after him.

A moment later,

“President! Since the second semester has started, I want to begin my morning training with a fresh mindset! Could you help me?”

“I want to restart my magic training too...”

“Hey! I’ve been wondering how I can improve my connection with my Spirit. Could you give me some advice?”

The usually quiet training grounds were packed with female students.

Chloe’s mouth fell open as she watched the girls, burning with enthusiasm from the very next day after the semester started.

‘Right, even the ones who were just testing the waters before are going to start making more blatant moves.’

Eliana’s words from yesterday flashed through Chloe’s mind.

‘So this is what she meant? She’s usually so clueless, but when it comes to things like this, she’s weirdly sharp.’

Chloe pressed her temples, thinking of Eliana, who had predicted this exact scene, then looked at Leo.

Her gaze wavered slightly.

‘I know Leo isn’t the type to be swayed by popularity or attention from girls, but...’

Still, since Leo was only human, wouldn’t he inevitably feel some fondness for girls approaching him with bright smiles?

And the girls openly making advances on Leo were all exceptionally beautiful.

‘They even put on makeup for morning training. Wow, that one’s outfit is seriously revealing, isn’t it?’

Muttering to herself, Chloe glanced at Leo’s face.

Leo was smiling gently as he looked at the female students.

Blinking as she watched him, Chloe silently turned and left the training grounds.

‘What? Chloe Mueller is just leaving?’

‘She’d been with him since dawn. It was getting on my nerves.’

‘Is she taking the hint and backing off on her own?’

The female students inwardly cheered as they watched Chloe leave.

“You’re all full of passion this morning.”

Leo said with a smile.

“Your desire to become stronger is impressive.”

“You work so hard, so we have to work even harder too.”

One of the more mature-looking female students said as she elegantly brushed back her hair.

She gave off a subtly alluring air.

Leo smiled at the sight.

“Then I suppose I’ll have to do my best to help you all.”

“Yes! But before that, I made this for you.”

“Me too! It’s a [Stamina Recovery Potion] mixed with fruit juice! I’m sure it tastes great!”

The female students took out bottles of drinks, intending to offer them to Leo.

“You should keep those. You’ll need them more than I will.”

“What?”

The girls looked utterly confused.

“Well then, since it’s still early in the morning, shall we start with some light physical conditioning?”

“Uh, sure.”

“Physical conditioning is fine.”

Though they sensed something was off, the girls were burning with determination.

If they wanted to catch Leo’s eye, they had to make a good impression.

A moment later,

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaah!”

The girls’ desperate screams echoed through the dawn.

Chloe, who was enjoying her reading on a bench in the Glory Garden amid the autumn breeze, looked up.

“Too bad for them.”

===

“Ughhh.”

Morning Combat Studies.

Since it was the first class of the second semester, it was being held in the main auditorium.

With all the second-year students gathered together, Carr sat beside Leo looking utterly drained.

“Why are you so exhausted this early in the morning? Did Leo put you through some special training too?”

Chelsea, sitting next to Leo, asked with a giggle.

The story of how Leo had put the girls who came to hit on him through something like a group punishment training session at dawn had already spread throughout the school.

“Do you have any idea how badly I got pestered this morning? Not just by second-years, but by sunbaes too.”

Carr replied, looking like his soul was about to leave his body.

“That [Love Elixir] that caused such a huge commotion last time. They all want me to make it for them.”

“The student council banned the production of that weird potion, didn’t they?”

Chelsea scowled deeply.

The [Love Elixir].

It was a potion Carr had created last semester using a recipe from Dweno’s Alchemy Book, and it had caused an enormous uproar.

Although it had been judged a failure at the time, the student council had forbidden its production.

Carr had no desire to get on the student council’s bad side by making an ineffective potion, so he had lost interest.

‘Well, it was actually a complete success.’

It was just that the potion, created with Dweno’s signature sensibilities, had an effect different from what people expected.

‘In any case, it’s a potion that would cause all kinds of trouble if it were used on a student.’

“They’ve got some nerve. Who even commissioned that?”

“I don’t know. The request came in anonymously. I had to report it to the student council, so my whole morning was a mess.”

“What kind of idiot would want a potion like that?”

“It must’ve been one of the girls going after Leo.”

“Why are they suddenly trying to use illegal potions just to go after Leo?”

“Our innocent little lady is still so naive about the ways of the world.”

“I’ll turn your future dark.”

“Aaaack! Stop! Stop!”

Carr shrieked and struggled as Chelsea grabbed his face with both hands and dug her thumbs into his eyes.

After barely escaping Chelsea’s grasp, Carr said,

“It’s because Leo became a Hero this time. He was already like a winning lottery ticket with a 100% success rate. Now imagine the prize money on that ticket shot way up. If someone manages to secure Leo, they’re set for life. Don’t you think the girls who were already after him would get even more desperate?”

Carr rested his chin on his hand.

“Leo, isn’t it a waste? You could date any girl you want. Why not take this opportunity to enjoy the kind of school life you only see in novels? If it were me, man... phew~”

“That’s lewd.”

“Hey! How is that lewd? I’m just recommending a healthy, sweet, bittersweet, heart-pounding, and dangerous romance between a man and a woman! When else are you going to experience something like that if not as a student?”

“It’s lewd.”

“Hey, Leo, tell her. You’re interested in that kind of thing too, right?”

Wounded by Chelsea’s repeated rebukes, Carr turned to Leo.

“Not particularly.”

Leo smiled faintly.

“See? Leo is different from you.”

“Why aren’t you interested? You’re a man too!”

“Just think of me as a much more experienced adult than you think.”

“You’re calling yourself an adult when we’re the same age? Besides, what kind of experience could you possibly have when all you do is study and train?”

Carr, who knew Leo’s daily routine well, looked utterly baffled.

Chelsea, on the other hand, stared blankly.

‘Come to think of it, Leo really is much older, isn’t he?’

The legendary Great Hero.

He wasn’t a student.

‘I-If he’s an adult, then of course...’

“Hey, are you sick? Why is your face suddenly so red?”

“I-It’s nothing!”

Chelsea shook her head violently at Carr’s question.

Just as Leo was watching Chelsea with a gentle smile...

Bang!

“Gentlemen! Did you have a good vacation!”

The door flew open, and Sedgen appeared.

“I hear that some among you had a rather splendid vacation!”

Sedgen said as he looked over all the second-year students.

“It is a good thing to have experiences you normally could not have at your age! I hope you all use those experiences as a foundation to take an even greater step forward! As for those of you who did not, do not feel discouraged or shrink back! You are not only young, you are still children!”

Hmph, hmph!

Sedgen, who had been encouraging the students with his arms crossed, suddenly opened his eyes wide.

“In that spirit! I will now speak about the practical evaluation for the second semester of second-year Combat Studies!”

At that declaration, the students stared blankly at Sedgen.

They were second-years, already jaded enough by school life.

There was no reason to be surprised by the mention of the second semester’s practical evaluation on the very first day of class.

Just then, Duran raised his hand.

“What is it! My dear student, Duran!”

“Is the Combat Studies practical you’re announcing for the midterms? Or for the entire second semester?”

“It is for the entire second semester. And starting today, second-year Combat Studies classes will be self-directed.”

The students looked surprised at his words.

This was a little radical.

Combat Studies was a class that carried as much weight as their academic subjects.

For a class like that to be self-directed for the entire second semester...

“Well, to be precise, the second semester of the second year itself will have a strong self-directed component.”

Sedgen grinned.

“The second-semester Combat Studies rankings will be determined by Commission Scores.”

“By that, you mean...”

“That’s right. Starting this second semester, you will officially take on commissions as Hero Candidates and be dispatched to various parts of the world!”

===

“Wow, that’s seriously radical.”

After class, at lunch.

At a restaurant in the plaza in front of the Tower of Heroes, Carr clicked his tongue.

“I can’t believe they’re making the class itself self-directed. Isn’t this basically third-year, first-semester material?”

It was true that they were supposed to start taking on commissions in earnest from the second semester of the second year.

But not in a self-directed form like this.

Normally, the school would arrange commissions suitable for the second-year level, and that would be the end of it.

A few students were exceptions, but those were only the top-ranked ones.

The entire year was never given this much autonomy.

“The higher-ups have high expectations for our generation. Besides, it seems the professors think we’re capable enough for it.”

At Chelsea’s words, Carr made a gloomy face.

“Can’t they show a little consideration for the students at the bottom?”

“Carr, we’ll use your corpse as a stepping stone and move forward.”

“Don’t just kill me off! And don’t use me as a stepping stone!”

Carr cried out in despair.

“Anyway, what’s Leo doing over at the bulletin board?”

Carr looked at Leo, who was standing in front of the bulletin board in the plaza with a puzzled expression.

“Looks like he’s looking at commissions?”

“Aren’t most of the commissions posted on the plaza bulletin board difficult, low-score jobs?”

“That’s right.”

“Then why’s he looking at those? He could pick and choose any easy commission he wants. I heard bodyguard commissions for high-ranking officials score well and pay great too. They’re practically a vacation.”

As Carr spoke enviously, Chelsea replied while looking at the menu,

“It’s Leo. I’m sure he has his reasons.”

While Chelsea and Carr were ordering,

Leo narrowed his eyes at a single commission request on the bulletin board.

The gray commission request read, ‘Tomb Raider Extermination.’

At first glance, it looked like a trivial commission.

But...

‘What bothers me is that every tomb that was raided was a Hero’s Tomb.’

***

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!