As the Twilight Festival approached, all of Lumene was bustling with excitement.
The Twilight Festival was a celebration held in honor of Lumene.
As such, the students of Lumene were busy making various preparations for the event.
In the case of some clubs, they were preparing separate performances specifically for the festival.
“Clubs? This school is as lively as I expected.”
Luna smiled brightly as she watched Lumene’s campus, bustling with club activities.
“It’s worlds apart from the school I attended.”
“Did you attend school as well, Luna-nim?”
Chen Xia’s eyes widened.
“Yeah. I attended a place called Barharun, a school for raising elves.”
“Barharun! I’ve heard about it from Lunia-yang!”
“Lunia? Ah, that redhead?”
At Eiran’s words, Luna nodded as she recalled Lunia.
The memories from when she was inside the Hero Record had already been transmitted to her.
Because of that, she had memories of Lunia, who had fought against the fragments of Erebos from her perspective in the past.
“What kind of school was Barharun?”
Chen Xia asked, her eyes filled with curiosity.
Looking at Chen Xia, Luna replied, “It was a school for selecting High Elves. Among them, it was a school established by a god to choose the Elf King.”
“A-A god?”
“It really was a different era from now.”
Eiran’s eyes went wide, and Chen Xia marveled.
A school established by a god.
In this day and age, it was something unimaginable.
“Luna-nim, have you ever seen a god in person?”
“Yeah, I have.”
“Wow. That’s amazing. To have met a god personally.”
“It’s not just me. This guy has probably met one too.”
Luna pointed at Leo, who was walking behind them with an air of indifference.
“Among those who made a name for themselves during the Era of Calamity, there isn’t anyone who hasn’t met a god.”
Luna treated gods as if they were common pebbles rolling around on the side of the road.
Watching the nonchalant Luna, Eiran and Chen Xia looked at Leo in admiration.
“Gods are wise beings, right?”
“Are they truly omniscient and omnipotent?”
Luna smiled brightly at their questions.
“The lot known as gods are stupid, perverted, and incompetent pieces of trash.”
Eiran and Chen Xia froze on the spot at Luna’s unimaginable response.
“Not all gods are like that.”
“Yeah, there are decent gods once in a while, but for the most part, they’re useless.”
Luna, the non-believer, spoke scathingly.
Leo also agreed with that opinion.
Being existences that had lived for eons, most gods tended to be hedonists.
'You can tell just by looking at the state of those whose names are listed in the Hero Record.'
They listed those unworthy of the title of hero simply for the sake of fun.
They didn’t care what happened to the Mortal Realm as a result.
They did such things because it entertained them.
Thus, once you realized the true nature of gods, you came to understand they weren’t exactly beings to be trusted.
Eiran wore a troubled expression at the testimony of the two Great Heroes who had experienced divine beings.
“It’s completely different from fairy tales or storybooks.”
“Yeah. Reality is inherently cold. Most things passed down through stories are just lies. You become an adult by realizing reality bit by bit like that.”
Luna patted Eiran’s head.
Leo spoke to Luna.
“Right, just like you.”
“Like me? What’s that supposed to mean?”
Luna’s eyes narrowed.
Leo pulled a Great Hero storybook from his robe.
It was a book familiar to everyone except Luna.
A children’s book titled [Heroes of the Beginning].
It was the first story of heroes that almost everyone in this world encountered.
Leo flipped the book open to the character introduction page.
There, an illustration depicted Luna wearing a smile that looked as if it held the spring.
“Benevolent elf, Luna, Founder of the Nebula? What is this?”
“You’re an elf who has absolutely nothing to do with benevolence.”
“I am benevolent.”
Answering shamelessly, Luna snatched the storybook from Leo’s hand and swung it at him.
While Leo dodged Luna’s attack, Chen Xia asked, “Then Luna-nim, were you a candidate for the Elf King?”
“No. The elves back then were rotten in many ways,” Luna said dismissively.
“There was no way they’d nominate someone of low birth like me as king.”
“There was a similar incident in elf society recently as well.”
“As I thought, the lot known as elves are a hopeless race.”
Luna clicked her tongue at Chen Xia’s words.
Seeing Luna like that, Eiran had an awkward expression, and Leo shook his head.
“You’re an elf yourself, so you shouldn’t be the one saying that.”
“It’s the truth, though.”
Luna pulled the tips of her ears playfully and grinned.
“But I don’t hate all elves!”
Luna pulled Eiran into a hug and rubbed her cheek against Eiran’s head.
“There, there, our cute little Eiran.”
Leo chuckled as he watched Luna doting on Eiran as if she were Velkia.
Eiran didn’t seem to mind, as she smiled brightly.
“Anyway, I don’t know how it was in the very beginning, but Barharun was a mess of a school. That’s why I like Lumene much more.”
Chen Xia nodded at Luna’s words.
Meanwhile, the four of them arrived at the club district.
The reason they came here was simple.
It was because Luna wanted to take a look around.
As the four of them entered the club district...
“Hieek?!”
“I-It’s Leo Plov!”
“It’s the Student Council President!”
The students who were moving about busily screamed the moment they saw Leo and Chen Xia.
Then, they fled without even making eye contact.
Seeing this, Luna wore a bewildered expression.
“What? Why is everyone running away the moment they see you as if they’ve seen a plague victim?”
“Leo-nim is like a Grim Reaper to the clubs.”
“A Grim Reaper?”
“Yes.”
Chen Xia giggled and explained.
When Leo first became Student Council President and toured the clubs, the story of how he wiped out the budgets of several clubs was a very famous anecdote.
He hadn’t just wiped them out randomly. It had been a rigorous audit.
From then on, the club presidents began to tremble at the mere sight of Leo.
“Which club do you want to visit first?”
“It should be a magic-related club, right?”
“Then I suppose it’s the Magical Engineering Club.”
Leo headed toward the Magical Engineering Club.
“Kyaaaaakh?!”
A fifth-year student in the Magic Department.
James Deckt, the former head of the Magical Engineering Club who was in his graduating year, screamed the moment he saw Leo entering the clubroom. He hid behind a curtain and began to shake uncontrollably.
Luna wore a look of fascination at his fear-stricken reaction, as if he had seen a demon.
She then grabbed Leo’s hand, stood him in front of James, and pulled back the curtain.
“Kieeeek!”
Luna pulled the curtain shut again as she watched James, who was shielding his face and twisting his body in agony like a vampire exposed to sunlight.
Once James stopped convulsing, she pulled the curtain back again.
“Kyaaaaakh!”
Shh—!
“This is actually really fun.”
Leo spoke as he pushed Luna, who was glowing with a mischievous smile, toward Eiran.
“I’m not here for the budget today, so please stop.”
“R-Really?”
James peeked his face out from behind the curtain with terrified eyes.
“Yes. And Sunbae, you’re in your graduating year anyway, so it doesn’t matter to you whether the budget is cut or not, does it?”
“I-It does! Even if I leave, the research of the Magical Engineering Club continues!”
James spoke firmly.
“Yes. That’s why I’m not cutting the budget.”
Only then did James fully reveal himself from behind the curtain, looking relieved.
“Then why are you here?”
Seeing James’s puzzled expression, Leo pointed toward Luna and Eiran.
“Because there are people who wish to take a tour.”
“Are they exchange students from Seiren?”
James adjusted his glasses.
Luna smiled brightly at James and asked, “What kind of magic is the Magical Engineering Club researching?”
“If you mean our recently started research project, it’s [Magic that Blooms Flower].”
“Pardon?”
Luna’s eyes went round.
Seeing Luna like that, James said, “If you’re a student from Seiren, you probably know, but Leo here restored the Magic Formula for [Magic that Blooms Flower] and returned it to elf society.”
James brought over a blackboard from the corner.
Drawn on it was the Magic Formula for [Magic that Blooms Flower].
“And it was also revealed that [Magic that Blooms Flower] was the magic that Luna, Founder of the Nebula, longed for.”
Last summer vacation.
It was a fact made known to the world while conquering Luna’s world.
“Well, even though the Spell Formula was restored, it hasn’t been perfectly interpreted yet, so Leo is currently the only mage who can use [Magic that Blooms Flower].”
James looked at Leo with envy.
The magic a mage longs for represents the mage themselves.
And using the magic that a mage longed for also meant understanding that person’s heart.
In that sense, Leo was the only mage in this world who understood the heart of the Founder of the Nebula.
“We want to understand the heart of the Founder of the Nebula, too. That’s why we’re researching how to use [Magic that Blooms Flower] through [Introduction to Star Magic].”
'Introduction to Star Magic?'
Luna, who wore a puzzled expression for a moment, asked, “Why do you want to understand the heart of the Founder of the Nebula?”
“You’re an elf, yet you ask a strange question.”
James laughed as he looked at Luna, appearing as if he didn’t understand her question.
“Because Luna-nim is magic itself.”
“...!”
“Every mage in this world respects her.”
The footprints Luna left in magic weren’t just Star Magic.
She organized all the magic from before the Era of Calamity and left behind countless foundations for future generations so that magic could firmly take root and flourish even after the end of the calamity.
“Elves think that only they truly respect Luna-nim. But every mage regards her like a star.”
James grinned.
“That’s why I want to understand her heart. Does that explain it?”
James smiled warmly at Luna, who stood frozen as if she were in shock.
“Former Head! Come here for a second!”
“I told you to call me Honorary Head!”
James glared and walked away.
Luna watched them.
Young mages.
From Luna’s perspective, they were juniors from the distant future.
Since coming to this era, she had realized that she was a revered existence.
So she had bragged quite a bit.
But it was only now that she specifically learned what kind of existence she was to mages.
Her heart raced.
It was something she had always hoped for.
She had always been full of confidence, saying it would surely turn out that way.
But now that she was actually facing this, it felt somewhat embarrassing and cringeworthy.
“How is it?”
Leo asked with a smile.
“How does it feel to have become a shining star in the night sky?”
“What?”
“Every mage existing in this era is a descendant of Luna Lubinence, Founder of the Nebula.”
Leo also looked toward the mages of the Magical Engineering Club.
“To mages, you have literally become a great master and a goal. You’ve become a signpost that points the way, like a star shining in the night sky.”
Luna wore a dazed expression.
“It’s because it was you that you were able to become that, Luna.”
Leo turned his gaze toward Luna.
“I am very happy that you are able to see this sight.”
Luna’s face turned bright red at his gentle smile.
As if she were about to explode.
Luna ducked her head, hiding her face that had turned so red it looked like steam might rise from it.
“Getting embarrassed when it doesn’t suit you.”
Luna screamed internally at Leo, who let out a snicker.
'It’s because of you that I’m like this! You idiot!’
***
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