"It's already difficult for Lumern students to conquer the Hero's World, let alone for the candidates."
That was true.
Conquering the Hero's World was not an easy task, even for the Hero candidates who received the best education in Lumern.
Yet, to ask the examinees to do it was simply unreasonable.
But Leo thought differently.
"Right now, aren't we being tested for the qualifications of a Hero?"
"Yeah."
"Then, shouldn't we be able to do what a Hero should do? Besides, if it's a test, the trials will be within the range we can overcome."
At his words, Chelsea hesitated.
'Sure, he's not wrong.'
"Hmm! Then what are the conditions for conquest? If it's a trial that examinees can handle, it must be about Albi's early achievements. However, there's almost nothing known about the activities of the Mage of the Evil Eye."
With her arms crossed, Chelsea pondered, and Leo chuckled.
'She's a good one.'
She was a girl with outstanding skills and a strong sense of pride as a member of a prestigious family.
Usually, such children tend not to listen to their peers.
But Chelsea listened to Leo, found his words reasonable, and immediately started thinking about the method of conquest.
'She's flexible in her thinking. That's a good quality for a mage.'
Although still inexperienced, Leo thought she was a girl fitting to be a Hero candidate.
"The probability of a monster extermination is high."
"Indeed."
Chelsea nodded.
If it was a feat accomplished in a place where monsters appeared, it was likely to involve defeating something.
And Leo had a guess about what needed to be defeated.
'Given the time, it could be something else, though.'
After examining the bodies of the monsters earlier, Leo clenched and unclenched his fists, then grabbed Chelsea's wrist.
"What are you doing?"
When Chelsea, surprised by Leo's sudden action, made a sour face, a loud noise interrupted.
Whoosh!
Leo pulled Chelsea towards him.
Thud!
Two arrows flew into the spot where Chelsea had been standing.
Seeing this, Chelsea's eyes widened.
And...
"Huh? Huh?"
Stumble! Thud!
"Ako!"
She lost her balance and fell on her bottom.
Wiping away a tear, Chelsea rubbed her buttocks and flared up.
"If you're going to pull me, you should have held me to prevent me from falling!"
"Ah, sorry. I thought you'd get mad if I held you."
"I'm even more mad that you made me fall!"
"So, shouldn't you say thank you?"
"Hmph! Even without you, those arrows wouldn't have hurt me!"
"They were imbued with aura."
At Leo's remark, Chelsea paused.
"I, I would have blocked them with a shield spell I had memorized in advance!"
Though she said this, Chelsea then spoke in a sulky tone.
"Anyway, thanks."
At her reaction, Leo burst into laughter.
"Tch!"
"From Chelsea Levalin, I could have been eliminated!"
Other examinees emerged from the bushes and glared at Leo and Chelsea.
"You two."
As Chelsea stepped forward, the group of five examinees tensed.
"Let's not fight and cooperate instead."
"What?"
Confused by Chelsea's sudden suggestion, they looked at her.
"Your party is made up of knights only, right? There's nothing bad about having a mage like me in your party. So, cooperating is the right thing to do."
Despite being attacked just now, Chelsea proposed cooperation without showing any ill will.
Since it was a test, eliminating others was a natural part of it.
'If it were a test to eliminate others, I would have attacked without mercy, but now we need to conquer the Hero's World.'
When Chelsea looked back at him for his opinion, Leo nodded.
"Let's cooperate..."
"We are knights, but we have the ability for ranged attacks, so the party balance is fine."
"Huh?"
At that moment, the leader of the group sneered.
"You're only two, right? If we fight now, we have a clear advantage."
"Right, no matter how much you brag about being from a Hero family, you're the same age as us!"
"Who would not know that you proposed cooperation out of fear?"
Thinking Chelsea had backed down, they became more aggressive.
"If we take you down, one strong candidate will be eliminated! Why should we cooperate with you?"
"Right! Right!"
Seeing them prepare for battle, Chelsea tried to say something.
"Stop it, there's no point in talking anymore."
"But..."
Chelsea looked frustrated.
This outstanding girl was annoyed by the other examinees who refused to listen to her.
Leo drew his sword and said,
"If they want to fight, we should give them what they want."
"I guess we have no choice."
Chelsea sighed and raised her staff.
Seeing this, Leo said,
"You support from the back."
"What?"
"It's a waste of mana to use it against such amateurs."
"Are you serious? They use aura!"
"Leave it to me."
"Hmph. I won't help if you get hurt."
Though she said this coldly, Chelsea was ready to help if Leo was in danger.
'I need to repay the favor from earlier.'
Chelsea fiddled with her staff.
Meanwhile, the other examinees glared at Leo.
"What are you?"
"Going to fight us alone?"
"Yeah. Good luck."
"You bastard!"
The examinee with the bow, thinking Leo was ignoring him, immediately drew his arrow.
Whoosh!
An arrow without aura flew towards Leo.
They had decided to save the aura-infused arrows, which wasted aura, for the fight with Chelsea.
'If he dodges, he'll be vulnerable! Then we can surround and finish him off...'
Thud!
"!"
"It's not the time to conserve strength."
Leo caught the arrow and casually broke it.
"It, it's impossible! You caught my arrow with your bare hands..."
Whoosh!
Before the examinee could finish his sentence, Leo charged forward.
"Block it!"
"Surround him!"
Seeing the swords coming from all directions, Leo's eyes darted around.
But the examinees couldn't focus entirely on Leo.
'Even without participating in the battle, her presence alone is a deterrent.'
Unlike the unknown Leo, the named examinee Chelsea was a distraction.
'I'm grateful for that.'
Clang! Thud!
"Ugh?"
Leo deflected the sword and punched the examinee in the chest.
"You bastard! You didn't use aura?!"
"Of course, I'm using my bare hands."
Seeing the opponent's mistake, Leo calmly spoke and spun his body.
The examinee aiming for Leo's back was surprised to see Leo dodge as if he had eyes on the back of his head.
Thud!
"Gah!"
Leo kicked the examinee in the side and turned to the two remaining examinees.
"Use aura!"
"Damn!"
Leo overwhelmed the five examinees alone.
Meanwhile, Chelsea, watching from behind, widened her eyes.
'Wow, how can he move like that without using aura?'
As a mage aspiring to be a battle mage, Chelsea had also trained in martial arts.
Thus, she could vaguely understand how extraordinary Leo's movements were.
'Impressive!'
Feeling her heart race, Chelsea was startled.
'No! He's the one who used to hang out with Selia Zerdenge! Focus! Chelsea!'
Despite shaking her head, Chelsea couldn't take her eyes off Leo.
***
The examinees quickly dropped out.
It was the result of their excessive movements to eliminate competitors.
'They must think they were being proactive.'
Albi observed some of the students.
Some were proudly boasting about the number of students they had eliminated.
Of course, it had nothing to do with the test.
About an hour into the test.
Out of 569 examinees, only about fifty remained.
"Mr. Albi, those examinees..."
"Failed."
Seeing Albi's cold expression, the assistant dispatched from Lumern was taken aback.
"But, Mr. Albi, they are all excellent talents. Moreover, on average, over a hundred students are selected from one test..."
Albi's chilly gaze turned to the assistant.
The assistant took a deep breath at his gaze.
"When the principal appointed me as the examiner, I also said the same thing. I said that if I were the examiner, I would fail those who didn't meet my standards. Yet, the principal still appointed me as the examiner."
"Hmm!"
"As an examiner, it's my authority to decide which students pass. So, let's not talk about this anymore."
Albi turned his gaze to the magic mirror.
The person in his sight was none other than Leo.
'It seems he noticed the anomaly in the forest.'
Albi fiddled with his left eye.
'Can he really conquer that world?'
***
"Chelsea, you're safe."
"Of course, big brother."
Two hours into the test.
Leo successfully joined Selia and Abad's party.
"Sure enough, you're safe. But you were with Chelsea Levalin?"
"We met early in the test and cooperated."
"Huh? She has a strong sense of pride and stubbornness. Did she cooperate willingly?"
"I convinced her well."
Seeing Leo's meaningful smile, Selia muttered to herself.
'What did you do?'
After a week of living together, Selia had a good grasp of her cousin's deviousness.
"You also said she was butter and unlucky, yet you traveled together."
"Without knowing the passing criteria, we couldn't just fight recklessly."
Selia ran her hand through her hair and replied.
"Anyway, there are a lot of people in your group."
"Abad and I can move quickly, so we scouted the forest and gathered people to cooperate. Most are from the Rodren Empire, though."
The two major families of the Rodren Empire.
No one from the empire would refuse cooperation from the Zerdenge and Levalin families.
"Good job."
"Huh? Why?"
"I think I know how to pass this test."
"Oh? You figured it out?"
Selia's eyes lit up.
"Conquering the world."
"Conquering the world?"
Selia tilted her head.
Then she nodded.
"Well, this test is too unconventional. It wouldn't be strange if it involved conquering a world."
"Right?"
"Then there's a problem. What are the conditions for conquest?"
The Hero's World has conditions for conquest.
This is also why the study of heroes is important.
Researching and studying the deeds of heroes directly leads to methods for conquering the Hero's World.
However, while some heroes have tales, others do not.
Especially, the worlds of living heroes are rarely conquered.
Even if they are, there's no reward, and only the hero themselves can open the world.
The worlds of past heroes are the only ones that can be opened by others meeting the conditions.
"Albi is a hero with high fame but almost no known past deeds. There's no clue for conquest."
"I have a guess about that."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
Leo sighed.
"The Monster Forest is currently in a state of anomaly."
"Anomaly?"
"Yeah. Aren't the monsters appearing less frequently than they should in the Monster Forest?"
"Indeed..."
Normally, the attacks of monsters should be relentless.
But in Albi's world, the frequency of monster appearances is too low.
'As if they're scared of something?'
Thinking this, Selia's expression turned serious.
"Perhaps a higher-level monster that scares the forest's monsters has appeared."
"Albi must have exterminated it to achieve his feat."
"Right."
"But what higher-level monster could scare the entire Monster Forest? I've never seen any records of such an anomaly."
"That's..."
Just as Selia was about to ask, a scream echoed from afar.