The Legendary Hero is an Academy Honor Student

“Death King. Why have you come to such ruins?”

The woman standing beside Death King Hell Kaiser asked with her head bowed.

The Blood Queen Elgenie. She was one of Tartarus’s Legion Commanders.

“This place is the tomb of Legion Commander Kinesi, who was once known as the Mirror Queen.”

The one who answered Elgenie’s question was none other than the Grand Duke of Funeral, Atkan.

Elgenie glared at Atkan.

Even if he was a high-ranking Demon who had lived for 5,000 years, Atkan was still merely a Legion Commander’s subordinate.

In terms of status among Demons, Elgenie was higher.

However, Elgenie felt a great sense of threat from Atkan.

And it wasn't just Elgenie.

At present, all the Legion Commanders of Tartarus were wary of Atkan.

Even among Legion Commanders, not everyone stood on equal footing.

The three Legion Commanders who had lived since the Era of Calamity, the Death King, the Monster Queen, and the Giant King, were literally in a league of their own.

And Elgenie had once been Monster Queen Sillatna’s subordinate.

Until she rose to the position of Legion Commander as her subordinate, she had not had much to worry about.

But after Sillatna fell, Elgenie’s position within Tartarus began to waver.

To begin with, there wasn't a single Legion Commander who didn't know that the Death King, Tartarus’s current de facto ruler, looked down on the later-generation Legion Commanders.

'Any incompetent Legion Commander could be purged at any moment. If that happens, he’s the most likely one to take our place.'

If Atkan had not been so excessively capable, he might have already ascended to the rank of Legion Commander.

Just as Elgenie bit her lip.

“Kinesi, the Mirror Queen, was subjugated by Luna here 5,000 years ago,” the Death King muttered calmly.

“I need the grave soil of one who bears resentment.”

“I shall go to the Tomb of the Founder of the Nebula.”

“No, I will go, Death King.”

Elgenie stepped forward and knelt.

“Please give that order to me.”

“Go if you wish, Blood Queen.”

“Yes. I will not disappoint you.”

===

'What was that just now?'

Leo, having cleaned up the pool of blood, wore a serious expression.

The distinct pain and the smell of blood proved that it had been neither an illusion nor a hallucination.

'Is it related to the dream?'

He thought back to the dream he had just had.

The contents of that dream were something he could never forget.

'Because it wasn’t just a dream.'

It was an event that had happened here 5,000 years ago.

The three Great Heroes, having lost Arron and Dweno, had fought a decisive battle against Erebos in this place.

'And... we lost.'

In the end, it had not been a complete defeat.

Just as the Great Heroes had failed to slay Erebos, Erebos had also failed to annihilate the Great Heroes.

In fact, Erebos had taken tremendous damage as well and retreated.

It was the same with Arron, and the same with Dweno.

Being immortal did not mean being immune to damage.

The wounds Arron and Dweno had inflicted on Erebos at the cost of their lives had clearly paved the way for the remaining Great Heroes.

The five fierce battles that took place during the final journey were all crucial steps toward subjugating Erebos.

Nevertheless, the reason Leo regarded the previous four battles as defeats was because he had lost his comrades.

Leo took a deep breath.

'The dream wasn’t from my perspective. It was from Luna’s.'

Leo recalled the third battle.

Leo, who had inherited Arron’s Aura and Dweno’s flames, had taken on the role of holding Erebos back alone at the front.

Leo closed his eyes and recalled the events of 5,000 years ago.

'We buried Dweno and moved east. And then...'

It was during a rest before the third battle.

'...Let’s definitely win. Let’s win and survive, no matter what.'

Luna had said that, as if making a vow.

'The three of us will fulfill Arron and Dweno’s dreams. Let’s live our best lives for their sakes too.'

When Arron closed his eyes, Luna had cried until she fainted.

When Dweno left, Luna did not cry.

She killed her emotions and burned only with murderous intent toward Erebos.

'Just before we set out on the final expedition, all of us were thinking differently.'

Arron had feared his friends dying.

Dweno had resolved to sacrifice himself for others.

Lysinas had vowed to save the world, no matter the cost.

'I was prepared for failure.'

Leo’s eyes sank.

When everyone else was prepared for sacrifice, Luna was the only one among the five who believed that no one would die.

Luna’s optimistic personality played a part, but more than that, Luna probably could not even imagine it.

'A world where even one of the five was missing.'

Though their races were different, they were family.

She could not accept losing even a single one of them.

'Let’s create the world full of happy children that Arron wanted... and the world full of beauty that Dweno dreamed of. And then... let’s definitely be happy.'

Those were the words Dweno had left for Luna in his final moments.

To Lysinas, he left words of trust. To Kyle, he left the words to keep moving forward.

And to Luna, he left the wish for her to be happy.

Luna and Dweno had bickered the most in the party.

Their races were naturally antithetical, and their personalities and pursuits were different.

Even so, they were the closest drinking buddies.

'They were like a niece and an uncle.'

That was why Dweno had truly worried about Luna, who was not prepared to let anyone go.

Luna, who had smiled at him and Lysinas while saying they should be happy.

That had been the last sincere smile Luna ever made.

Then the third decisive battle began.

Erebos’s appearance was different from before.

The massive Primordial Evil transformed into the size of an ordinary human and appeared before the three of them.

Seeing the Demon’s sudden change in appearance, the three could tell whose presence he was wary of.

'That bastard was most wary of Luna’s Magic.'

At the time, Luna’s Magic had reached a level that was lethal even to a god-like being like Erebos.

Though it was impossible for her to kill the immortal Erebos since she did not possess the Mana of Purity trait, if he had faced Leo after taking a direct hit from Luna’s Magic...

'That would have been the end of him.'

That was why he had shrunk his body to reduce the size of the target.

Once the battle began, Erebos persistently targeted Luna.

'But Luna was a genius beyond even Erebos’s expectations.'

During the battle, Luna modified the [End] magic formula, which had originally been designed to threaten Erebos, into an anti-personnel spell.

As a result, while Erebos succeeded in inflicting a fatal wound on Luna, he too suffered profound damage from her Magic.

Afterward, Leo stood alone against Erebos, who had returned to his original form, to strike him down.

'I should have finished him then.'

Leo’s face contorted as he recalled that time.

Leo had not been able to stop Erebos alone.

Instead, he had suffered a fatal wound.

While Lysinas fought Erebos alone in place of the two injured heroes, Luna had looked at Leo and smiled, as if to reassure him.

It was called a smile, but the moment he saw her face, twisted and on the verge of tears, he understood.

That Luna, too, intended to leave everything to them and depart.

'Hey...'

'Kyle...'

'Don’t do it.'

'If one of us has to live... you know it should be you, the one carrying Arron and Dweno’s burden, right?'

'I said don’t do it! You damn bitch!'

'This is for the best. You would’ve done the same if you were me.'

'No... I wouldn’t!'

'Sorry for burdening you with me too.'

Recalling the past, Leo looked down at his hands.

He had heard it from Lysinas before.

That sometimes, one dreamed of the experiences a Spirit had gone through.

But even so, wounds sustained in a dream did not manifest in reality.

Leo’s expression turned grave.

This was something from 5,000 years ago.

Spirits were beings that remained because of lingering attachments to the world.

And Leo did not think his comrades would have left any attachments behind in this world.

Even though they had closed their eyes without seeing the world saved, they had believed.

That the friends left behind would save the world.

And indeed, the world had been saved.

With that, his comrades’ greatest wish had been fulfilled.

'If that dream was Spirit Magic... did that girl Luna have some other worry?'

It was while Leo wore a serious expression.

Knock knock— Creak—

“Leo-nim, are you awake?”

With the sound of a knock, the door cautiously opened, and Chen Xia poked her head in.

“I’m awake.”

“Yes. Please come and eat.”

“Alright.”

It had been dawn when he woke up, but it was already morning.

“What do you plan to do today?”

As Chen Xia asked, standing beside Leo as he stepped out of the room, Leo spoke flatly.

“There’s something I need to find.”

“Something to find?”

“Yes.”

“What are you looking for?”

At Chen Xia’s curious question, Leo replied briefly.

“A tomb.”

===

After breakfast, Leo immediately headed deep into the forest.

“Leo-nim. Xia said you were looking for a tomb. Whose tomb are you looking for?”

“Luna’s tomb.”

“Ah, Luna-nim... wait, what?”

Eiran, who had been nodding as if he understood, widened his eyes.

Then he stammered, his mouth hanging open.

“Lu, Luna-nim?”

“That’s right. This area is where Luna died.”

“M-My goodness!”

Eiran’s eyes went wide.

Seeing the startled Eiran, Leo placed his index finger to his lips.

Eiran quickly covered his mouth.

“What secret story are you two discussing so interestingly?”

Chen Xia, approaching from a distance, wore a curious expression.

“It’s nothing much.”

He could not exactly tell Chen Xia, who did not yet know Leo’s true identity, about Luna’s tomb.

And so, the three began searching for the tomb in the forest.

“Do you not know the exact location?”

“I’m not sure.”

Leo replied calmly to Chen Xia’s question.

'There’s a high chance that no trace of the tomb remains.'

By the time the sun was high in the sky.

Leo’s eyes twitched as he thought about Luna’s tomb.

“Leo-nim?”

It was just as Chen Xia looked puzzled by the sudden change in Leo’s atmosphere.

“Are these Hero Candidates? Why are such wet-behind-the-ears brats here?”

A sneering voice drifted toward them.

Crunch, crunch—

Along with the sound of someone trampling through the brush, a woman with red hair and red eyes revealed herself.

“A Demon?”

Chen Xia frowned as she felt the aura radiating from the woman.

“I am no ordinary Demon, human girl.”

The Blood Queen Elgenie curled the corners of her mouth.

“I am Blood Queen Elgenie, a Legion Commander of the great Tartarus.”

Chen Xia and Eiran flinched at the sudden appearance of such a major figure.

“What is a Legion Commander doing here?”

Leo asked expressionlessly.

“I have no reason to tell you, but hmph. I’ll at least let you know that I came here on the Death King’s orders.”

Elgenie said with a sneer.

The reason she mentioned the Death King’s name was simple.

Death King.

That name alone had the power to plunge an opponent into terror the moment it was mentioned.

She meant to instill even greater fear into the Hero Candidates, who would already be feeling extreme terror from her own presence.

The Blood Queen intended to kill the three of them while drowning them in absolute dread.

“The Death King.”

The corners of Leo’s mouth curled up.

“If that bastard went as far as sending a Demon of your rank all the way here... are you here for Luna’s tomb?”

“How do you know that?!”

Elgenie’s complexion changed instantly.

And in that moment.

Leo’s eyes flashed.

The surroundings were flooded with a terrifying killing intent radiating from Leo’s body.

Chen Xia’s face turned pale.

As someone contracted with a Water Spirit, she could feel the Spirits fleeing in terror.

Eiran’s lips trembled uncontrollably.

A primal killing intent.

Then, in an instant, it vanished.

“I wasn’t planning to let a Demon die peacefully the moment you set foot here anyway.”

Leo was smiling.

“If your purpose is Luna’s tomb, I’ll have to take even greater care.”

'What is this human?'

Elgenie’s face was dyed with horror.

It was not merely eerie or frightening.

As someone called the Blood Queen, she was a Legion Commander with the ability to manipulate blood.

And the moment her eyes met Leo’s red eyes.

She felt a suffocating scent of blood.

'The smell of Demon blood.'

She was overwhelmed just by meeting his gaze.

Her instincts were screaming.

That the human before her had slaughtered unimaginable numbers of Demons.

The moment Elgenie, seeing Leo looking at her as if she were livestock to be butchered, instinctively decided to flee.

Slash—!

“Aaaaargh!”

Leo’s sword was already carving through Elgenie’s neck.

***

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