The Legendary Hero is an Academy Honor Student

Whoosh—!

A dry wind swept across the plain.

Blood and flesh had been crushed and scattered everywhere, and shattered artifacts lay strewn across the ground.

In the middle of the gruesome battlefield, an elf woman in a brown robe knelt on the ground, muttering to herself.

'I won’t forgive you. I won’t forgive you. I won’t forgive you.'

Step. Step.

People clad in pure white armor and robes approached the elf woman.

“You certainly made quite a mess.”

The mage at the front stroked his beard as he spoke.

“Are you the Iron-Blooded Sorceress, Tiar?”

At the question from the old mage, who gave off a benevolent impression, Tiar did not even spare him a glance.

“I’ll take your silence as confirmation. But my, my. This truly is a remarkable thing.”

The old mage laughed with interest.

“The Iron-Blooded Sorceress is a hero from 1,000 years ago. To think you would suddenly appear in the present era.”

Even at his nonchalant words, Tiar kept clutching her head and muttering.

“Ah, I’m not saying you are not the Iron-Blooded Sorceress herself.”

At the old mage’s words, the knight standing beside him nodded in agreement.

“After all, this is the era in which Arron the Brave, Luna the Founder of the Nebula, and Seiren the Comet Mage are being reincarnated.”

At that moment.

Tiar, who had been blankly repeating the same words, suddenly froze.

“What… did you say?”

Tiar looked at the knight with vacant eyes.

“That’s a lie. That’s impossible. They… they wouldn’t… They couldn’t possibly be like me… They wouldn’t be… as hideous as I am…”

As Tiar started spilling out her anguish again like a broken doll, the Spirit Mage woman in pure white priest robes let out a snort.

“Of course they’re different from you. Their return to this land is the will of the great God.”

A look of disgust appeared on the Spirit Mage woman’s face.

“You are clearly nothing like them, having been resurrected by Tartarus’s wicked Dark Mana.”

But even at those words, Tiar only muttered, “That can’t be.”

Looking at Tiar, the mage in the pure white robe spoke.

“I will now grant you peaceful rest, specter of the past.”

Fwoosh—!

A massive flame erupted from the mage’s hand.

“Out of respect for the achievements you accomplished in the past, I’ll allow you to close your eyes in peace. However… there is nothing I can do about your name falling into the dirt.”

The old mage spoke solemnly.

“A hero is a chosen being meant to lead the world. A hero who was toyed with by the wicked Death King cannot be tolerated.”

To begin with, Tiar, the Iron-Blooded Sorceress, had been regarded as a heretic even among the elves.

“With this as the trigger, I will erase your name from the pages of history.”

Boom—!

The flames surged upward with a violent explosion.

Leaving the towering pillar of fire behind him, the old mage gathered his pure white robe and muttered,

“Everything is in the name of Justice.”

“That ended more anticlimactically than I expected.”

The Spirit Mage woman, the hero known as White Inferno, Keleny, snorted.

“Even if she was once a hero, she’s nothing more than a pitiful soul that fell into the Death King’s clutches. There’s no way she could stand against us, the true heroes.”

“Sir Nergiian is right.”

At the words of the hero known as Piercing Flash, Nergiian, Nogern of the Staff of Purification nodded.

All three of them were heroes listed in the Hero Record and members of the Justice Guild.

“Hehe, with the merit of defeating the Iron-Blooded Sorceress, I should be able to rise to Queen Class now, right?”

“But it was Nogern who did it, wasn’t it?”

“Ah, whatever, whatever. Didn’t we all handle it together?”

“I have no intention of taking all the credit for myself. However, I do wonder whether one can truly be promoted for defeating a mere Corpse, no matter how great a hero they were in the past.”

“I think it’s more than enough to raise the guild’s prestige, don’t you? Hohohoho!”

Watching Keleny burst into laughter, Nergiian clicked his tongue.

Nogern, who had been shaking his head at his two distracted companions, suddenly froze. He looked ahead and muttered,

“Leo Plov.”

“What?!”

“Did you say Leo Plov?”

Keleny and Nergiian stared ahead in shock.

There, Leo Plov stood looking down at the three heroes.

“Ha. Did some arrogant brat come here because he wants to die?”

“I will never forget the grudge of our guild members.”

“That’s strange. I don’t recall killing any members of the Justice Guild.”

At Leo’s words, Nogern spoke.

“I doubt you are unaware that we are assisting the Kingdom of Pettiman, Leo Plov.”

The old mage hero stepped forward and spoke.

“Leo Plov, the leader of Justice, the Light Seeker, has expressed great regret over your hostile actions.”

“To think he’d go as far as expressing regret.”

Leo let out a smirk.

“But before that, he also expressed a strong desire to welcome you into the Justice Guild. He said that if you join the guild, your status as Queen Class will be guaranteed. Furthermore, he said he would overlook the deaths of the guild members.”

“Nogern, is that true?! I can’t accept that! Queen Class for some outsider like him?!”

“That’s right! The position of Queen is too high for someone who’s done nothing for the guild!”

Keleny and Nergiian protested with shocked expressions.

Queen Class.

It was a position reserved for executives.

The Justice Guild called its guild leader ‘King’ and granted the title of ‘Queen’ to the executives who ran the guild.

Among the heroes, knights were given the title of Knight, mages were Rooks, and Spirit Mages were Bishops.

Ordinary guild members were given the title of Pawn.

Queen Class was also a candidate rank for the next King.

As such, it was a position that could only be attained after joining the guild and proving one’s worth.

And yet they were going to grant that position to a brat hostile to the guild.

“This is not merely the guild leader’s will. It is the will of all the executives. And Leo Plov is more than qualified for it.”

At Nogern’s words, Leo spoke.

“Is that Queen position really that valuable?”

“It is. Depending on the rank, one will receive territory in the nation our guild will establish in the future.”

“A nation?”

“That’s right. Our Justice Guild plans to create a new ideal nation ruled by heroes.”

“Nations founded by heroes have existed for a long time. What’s supposed to be new about that?”

“It’s different. We intend to create a nation where heroes themselves are the law.”

“…”

“Heroes are like the agents of God. Only special individuals can become heroes. If so, isn’t it only natural that we have the right to rule the world?”

Nogern spoke in a benevolent voice.

“We have both the right and the duty to lead the foolish masses into the light.”

“Don’t you feel any guilt over becoming heroes by deliberately starting wars that never needed to happen, just to forcibly accumulate Karma?”

“We don’t. Their sacrifice will become the foundation for a righteous world.”

Leo closed his eyes and sighed.

“You are different from the heroes I have in mind.”

“Then what kind of hero do you have in mind?”

“Someone who can fight while risking everything for the sake of others.”

“That sounds like the kind of delusion only a child could say. It’s the sort of thing one can only say when one knows too little of the world.”

“Whether it’s a delusion or not, at the very least, you people aren’t heroes.”

Leo said coldly,

“You’re just fools drunk on the illusion that you’re special.”

“Your personal opinion is unnecessary. The fact that we are heroes is already proven by the Hero Record and by the gods.”

“Then those gods must be idiots.”

Leo knew the true nature of gods.

Some gods were upright and sought order, but others sought chaos.

Hedonists who cared for nothing but entertainment.

If such gods were watching the lower world…

'Seeing people like these strut around all high and mighty as heroes would be more than enough amusement for gods like that.'

At Leo’s words, Nogern replied coldly,

“Do not commit blasphemy. And if you refuse our guild’s offer, the only thing waiting for you is ruin. You may even be hunted down and killed by us here and now.”

At Nogern’s threat, Leo folded his arms.

“Before you worry about me, shouldn’t you worry about what’s behind you first?”

“What did you—”

Boom—!

The pillar of fire vanished, and a dark red magic circle rose into the air.

The heroes of the Justice Guild wore terrified expressions at the horrifying magical power.

“I-Impossible!”

“There’s no way a mere specter of the past could possess such overwhelming magical power!”

Keleny and Nergiian looked on in horror.

Leo narrowed his eyes as he watched the magic.

'Is that Star Magic?'

It was magic so horribly twisted that even Leo felt a chill from it.

The magic left behind by the Iron-Blooded Sorceress had remained as Hero Magic and had even been passed down to Lumene.

However, it was one of the magics people avoided because its complexity and difficulty matched its tremendous power.

'The only user I know is Elena.'

The face of Elena Zeron, the fourth-year Magic Department student at Lumene with the rotten personality, came to mind.

'Now I see why she was ostracized as a heretic among the elves.'

Tiar’s magic was overflowing with hatred.

'With that much hatred, she would have been the perfect material for the Death King to turn into undead.'

Just as Leo frowned—

“Sir Nergiian! Keleny! Take your positions!”

Nogern gripped his staff tightly.

“We have to eliminate that specter!”

At those words, Nergiian released his Aura, and Keleny summoned a Spirit.

“I’ll show that specter, who defiles the name of a hero, what the power of a true hero really is!”

===

The battle between heroes, a clash like a natural disaster, came to an end.

In the middle of the devastated battlefield—

“Damn it… How dare… how dare a filthy Corpse…”

Nogern, whose lower body had vanished, struggled to flee the battlefield.

Tiar approached to finish him off.

Thud.

Leo stepped in front of Nogern.

“L-Leo Plov. S-Save me…”

At those words, Leo looked down at Nogern with cold eyes.

“We are heroes listed in the Hero Record… Shouldn’t we join forces against the undead of the wicked Tartarus?”

Leo looked down at Nogern, then walked past him toward Tiar.

“Eek! You reeking brat! Sa… Save me! I’m not someone who should die in some worthless place like this… Gugh!”

Nogern, who had been screaming for his life in rage, coughed up blood and collapsed.

The three heroes of the Justice Guild had fallen in the blink of an eye.

The difference in ability between the Iron-Blooded Sorceress and the three heroes had simply been too vast.

'Well, I guess that’s the limit of manufactured heroes.'

Unlike them, who had been made by accumulating Karma, the mage standing before him was a true hero.

Even though she had been resurrected as a Corpse through the Death King’s scheme, and now burned with endless hatred toward the world, that did not change the fact that the efforts and achievements this hero had built with her own hands were real.

Leo looked at Tiar’s face.

Her eyes were unfocused.

All that remained within them was hatred toward the world.

A Corpse resurrected by Death Magic harbors hatred for all living things.

Leo knew that well, having dealt with countless dead.

'But this one is fundamentally different.'

A mage could tell a great deal about a person just by looking at their magic.

The very essence of the Iron-Blooded Sorceress’s magic had been twisted by hatred.

As far as Leo knew, every elf in this world revered Luna.

They treasured the Star Magic she had left behind.

Because magic was the heart of a mage.

To recklessly defile the great legacy Luna had left behind was considered an act of blasphemy against Luna herself.

'It couldn’t have been any different for her.'

Vwoooom—!

“Iron and Blood.”

An incantation flowed from Tiar’s lips.

A cruel magic that tore the enemy apart with iron and blood.

No reason remained within Tiar.

Only hatred that wanted to tear everything to pieces.

'I can’t leave this alone.'

An undead filled with hatred was a disaster that caused slaughter simply by existing.

She would not stop killing everything in sight until she herself disappeared.

'I’ll put her down.'

The moment Leo released his magical power—

Flash—!

Pitch-black Mana suddenly burst from Leo’s hand.

“What?”

Leo’s face hardened as he stared at the Mana moving beyond his control.

'A rampage?'

That thought crossed his mind for a moment.

But the Mana did not rampage.

Leo hurriedly dodged Tiar’s magic and landed on the ground.

Then he looked down at the pitch-black Mana still flowing from his right hand.

'Lysinas’s Mana?'

The moment Leo was thrown into confusion by the sudden appearance of Lysinas’s Mana—

The pitch-black Mana began to shine brilliantly.

Flash—!

“Ugh?”

Leo shut his eyes.

“Please… may you find peace in your next life.”

In the middle of the battlefield—

Lysinas was kneeling there, praying.

Pure white Spirit Energy flowed out from around her.

It was the image of Lysinas, as a Necromancer, mourning the souls of the thousands of Death Knight troops she had slain after the Death King manipulated them.

Flash—!

The light vanished.

And before he knew it, the pitch-black Mana had turned into pure white Spirit Energy.

Leo asked blankly,

“Are you telling me… to save her?”

Wooooong—!

As if answering Leo’s question—

Lysinas’s Spirit Energy resonated.

***

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