Leo looked at Lune, who was bowing politely toward him, and spoke.
“How did you know?”
His voice carried a hint of curiosity.
Seeing that Leo did not deny his words, Lune answered with a bright smile.
“As the Hero of the Beginning would know, age reveals many things.”
“Unfortunately, I haven’t lived as long as you. Well, I understand what you mean, though.”
Lune gave a bitter smile as Leo shrugged.
“I had been thinking it was a bit strange.”
From the moment they first met, Lune had sensed something in Leo’s eyes.
It was far from the simple impression of someone intelligent or a promising great figure.
They were the eyes of someone who seemed to have weathered all sorts of hardships.
They were not the eyes a Hero Candidate, and a first-year at that, should have.
Leo’s actions were also astonishing.
The most surprising thing was that he had restored the Magic that Blooms Flower left behind by the Founder of the Nebula.
And it was not just a typical restoration.
Lune was also an Elf who had spent his entire life studying Star Magic.
In terms of depth of understanding of Star Magic, he was an authority who ranked among the top five living mages.
From Lune’s perspective, the Magic that Blooms Flower Leo had restored was at a level that could not even be called a restoration.
“It was as if someone who already knew the Magic that Blooms Flower had simply written down the spell formula they knew.”
It was common for magic that had vanished, leaving only traces behind, to be restored by later generations and brought back into the world.
However, unless one was from that era, a restoration could not be perfect, even if it could be activated.
Furthermore, the Magic that Blooms Flower was a complex spell that remained impossible to properly interpret even now, over a year after its perfect restoration.
That was why Lune found Leo’s existence mysterious.
Since then, Leo’s performance as a Hero Candidate had also been unusual.
He had started as an outstanding student showing promise, but from a certain point onward, he displayed feats unbefitting a Hero Candidate.
While marveling at Leo’s achievements with suspicion, his granddaughter, who had raided Dweno’s World, told him with a smile.
'Grandfather! I met Lady Velkia. And you know what? Leo-nim…!'
From the moment he heard Eiran’s words, her eyes sparkling as she spoke of the heroic tales of their ancestor and Leo.
And even more so after hearing the news of Seiren’s return and Luna’s descent, he began to think about Leo’s existence.
Thus, after untangling the complicated clues one by one, he reached a conclusion.
That Leo was indeed the Hero of the Beginning, Kyle.
“Thinking about it, I felt there was nothing strange about it. Lord Kyle, the Hero of the Beginning, was an unprecedented All-Class. And in the history of the world, there have only been two people who were All-Class.”
Kyle and Leo.
“You also didn’t receive a title despite having your name in the Hero Record. Thinking about it, if you ‘already’ had a title… I thought you wouldn’t need a new one.”
“I see.”
“Besides, there is no such thing as an absolute rule. Anything can happen in this era.”
The appearance of a Legion Commander who had been subjugated during the Era of Calamity.
And past heroes returning to life as an Undead.
There were even those whose names had been erased from the Hero Record.
Furthermore, great heroes like Luna, the Founder of the Nebula, Brave Arron, and Seiren, the Comet Mage, had appeared in the present world.
“In such a situation, I thought it wouldn’t be strange if the Hero of the Beginning were reborn into this world. You were always there at the moments of miracles.”
Moreover, Leo himself continued to achieve feats others would struggle to accomplish even once in a lifetime.
Among them were those that would not be out of place if called miracles.
“Even so, it wouldn’t have been an easy guess, would it?”
“Magic begins by not excluding possibilities. Those were the words Lady Velkia left for the family.”
“Those are the words Luna used to say to Velkia until she was sick of hearing them.”
Leo recalled the past.
“Even until the moment they left on their final journey.”
“It seems Lady Luna’s philosophy on magic was passed down to Lady Velkia.”
“Not at all. Luna was someone who, from birth, believed there was no such thing as impossible, and if something didn’t work, she would make it work. She never really had a philosophy on magic. She just nagged Velkia until the end because Velkia never listened.”
Lune smiled brightly as Leo spoke indifferently.
'You could have just let me be moved.'
If it were the last advice and request a master left for her disciple, how beautiful an image would that be?
“Leaving the nagging she heard until her ears were calloused to her descendants? She still hadn’t come to her senses.”
Of course, Leo shattered all the sentimentality, moving or not.
Seeing Lune’s warm smile, Leo plopped down in a chair.
He then leaned toward Lune.
“Did you meet Velkia?”
“Yes.”
“……”
Leo closed his eyes.
'He must have been disappointed.'
No matter how great Lune was, it must have been a shock to see his revered ancestor become an Undead.
And it was certain that the one who struck down Lune was Velkia.
Who could avoid disappointment after seeing an ancestor they revered fall into madness?
It was as Leo bit his lip.
“I can guess what you are thinking, Hero of the Beginning. But you do not need to worry.”
“What?”
At Lune’s calm words, Leo looked at him with slightly surprised eyes.
Seeing Leo like that, Lune gave a faint smile.
“I was not disappointed in Lady Velkia. No one of the Ersar family would be disappointed in her.”
Leo looked at Lune in silence.
He felt no falsehood from Lune.
“As you know, Hero of the Beginning, I have an old body.”
Oof. Lune, who had stood up, patted his lower back.
His appearance might be that of a handsome young man, but Lune’s physical body was old.
His eyes held experience, and the Mana he subtly emitted possessed the depth of years.
“Because I have lived long enough, I know the world isn’t just beautiful. And I know there is no perfect person in the world.”
Lune’s eyes sank.
“I am simply sad. The Lady Velkia I met had very clear eyes.”
As the head of the Ersar family, Lune had once raided Velkia’s world.
And there, he met Velkia.
That was why Lune knew.
Just how great an individual his ancestor was.
And also how warm a person she was.
Feeling a deep sadness, Lune said,
“Hero of the Beginning, do you know what happened to my ancestor?”
Leo approached the portrait of Velkia hanging on one side of the office.
Velkia in the painting was expressionless.
She was usually expressionless… but she looked somewhat on edge.
'It must be a painting of her after that tragedy occurred.'
Gazing at his disciple in the painting, Leo spoke.
He told Lune the truth that had not been passed down even to the Ersar family, the truth he had seen through the Akasha Record.
Lune’s hands trembled as he listened to the end.
Closing his eyes tightly, Lune said,
“If I could, I would want to ease her sorrow and pain.”
Lune bit his lip hard.
“But my voice will not reach Lady Velkia.”
Lune clenched his fist.
Probably no one in the world could.
Except for the one person before his eyes.
Lune bowed his head toward Leo.
“O Hero of the Beginning, I know it is a shameless request for a descendant to make. But I beg you. Please… please save Lady Velkia. Please comfort her pain.”
'Your descendants… despite 5,000 years passing… despite not knowing you well and being treated harshly by you, still respect and love you, Velkia.'
He could feel Lune’s unwavering respect for Velkia.
It was not simply because Velkia was the founder of the Ersar family.
Setting that aside, it was because he knew all too well that Velkia was a woman worthy of respect.
The world had forgotten the feats Velkia achieved.
The feat of rebuilding the world after the Great Heroes and saving it again when it faced a crisis of despair.
It was not specifically because the world had turned its back on Velkia.
As time passes, everything naturally fades into oblivion.
But the people of the Ersar family never forgot.
Through generation after generation.
They passed down the feats Velkia left to their descendants.
'With the power and history of the Ersar family, they could have ensured Velkia wasn’t forgotten by history, but they didn’t.'
Not a single person did that.
'They must have wanted to honor Velkia’s legacy.'
A noble life sacrificed silently for the sake of the world.
She probably thought it did not matter if no one recognized it.
Because the world itself was valuable.
The people of the Ersar family, foolishly enough, respected their ancestor’s wishes and followed in her footsteps.
'I am proud of you. If I had left descendants, they wouldn’t have become like yours. However.'
Leo gritted his teeth.
'However, you could have been selfish at least once, couldn’t you?'
In the life of Velkia that Leo saw, Velkia never once lived for herself.
She never thought of her achievements as special.
She never lost her attitude of humbling herself and striving to improve further.
The image he saw through the Akasha Record was still etched in his mind.
It would not have been this heartbreaking if Velkia’s personality had been like that originally.
'Just you wait. When an era of peace comes, I’ll become more famous than Master Kyle and overshadow his reputation. I’ll make it so future generations say Kyle wasn’t as good as the other Great Heroes. Bleh!'
The memory of her irritating, playful self, sticking out her tongue and teasing him whenever she had the chance, came to mind.
'She used to say it like a habit. That when the era of peace came, she’d become a great person, a figure whose name would be on the lips of future generations forever, like Luna.'
But despite achieving feats that should have been widely known to posterity, she could not raise her head, as if she had done something wrong.
As if apologizing to someone.
She did not enjoy what she should have fully enjoyed and whipped herself without rest.
As if being chased by something.
She offered her life to the world.
That must have been the same for Vihar as well.
'We dumped the burden on you.'
At the moment he closed his eyes for the last time after subjugating Erebos.
Leo did not worry about the world.
Because he believed in his disciples.
He had not doubted for even a second that they could regain their former selves even without him.
And the two of them put the world on a solid foundation, one in the light and one in the shadows.
For their entire lives.
Leo had failed to anticipate that the two of them would spend their whole lives unable to escape the sense of duty to take responsibility for the world saved by the Great Heroes.
Like Lysinas.
Like Luna.
Like Arron.
Like Dweno.
Like Kyle.
They thought they had to live a life of devotion to the world.
'You didn’t need to live like that too.'
Leo gritted his teeth and clenched his fist.
If they were the generation robbed of what the other Great Heroes, except Arron, had enjoyed.
Velkia and Vihar were the generation that could not even enjoy it in the first place.
Because they had been robbed, they were desperate.
If the Great Heroes had survived.
Even Lysinas would not have been able to live as desperately as Velkia and Vihar.
He had overlooked that the world that was natural to Kyle was an unknown world to those two.
That they did not need to take responsibility for everything.
He should have told them that they could find their own lives and live them.
The lives of the two who had never learned that were too terrible.
'We took your lives away.'
And the descendants of his disciples were carrying that heavy burden.
Vihar’s descendants lived in the shadows all their lives.
Velkia’s descendants lived in humility all their lives.
Velkia and Vihar.
Were those two inferior to the Great Heroes?
Could they be said to be inferior to the Genesis Heroes?
“I have one condition.”
“Please, speak.”
“Don’t live like Velkia.”
“Pardon?”
Lune, who had his head bowed, looked at Leo with surprised eyes.
“I can roughly guess how the Ersar family has lived for 5,000 years.”
Leo’s eyes sank.
“You must have existed as the cornerstone supporting the world… and the race of Elves.”
Looking at Lune, Leo looked back at Velkia.
“I never taught anyone to sacrifice everything. Your family has done its best. You… the Ersar family… are a more noble family of heroes than anyone else in the world, so…”
Leo spoke as if making a declaration.
“You no longer need to lower yourselves.”
“……”
Lune bowed his head.
For some reason, the rims of his eyes were red.
'I’m acting unseemly at my age.'
But the fact that the work they had silently done for 5,000 years, and their history, had been recognized by someone else, not themselves, made his heart tremble.
“Velkia would surely want that too.”
'Ancestral heads of the family. Could there be any greater honor than this?'
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter