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Chapter 94




【94】93.
“Who is it?”
“It’s me, Elena.”
“Senior Elena? Really?”
Chloe’s eyes widened.
“Yeah.”
“I’ve been reading the magical papers you wrote!”
“Huh?”
“I found the part about the influence of mana vibrations in the air on magic particularly interesting!”
“Did you really understand that difficult content?”
“Yeah!”
“Goodness, such a cute junior has entered?”
Elena, who was floating in the air with magic, grabbed Chloe’s cheeks with both hands and leaned in close.
Seeing Chloe’s slightly flustered expression, Elena’s eyes twinkled.
Just as Chloe felt a slight shiver from that gaze.
“Elena, what’s going on here?”
“Aunt!”
Elena flew over to Albi.
“I came when I heard that you were giving a lecture! I thought I’d listen in!”
“It’s not a special lecture. I’m just giving some advice to the first-year students. And you can’t attend first-year classes. Go to your third-year classes.”
“Such a boring class. It’s not worth listening to.”
Elena said with a snort.
“If that’s the case, don’t disturb the class and leave.”
Elena frowned at that.
And just as she muttered “boring” in a low voice and was about to leave.
“Senior.”
“Why are you calling me, Leo?”
“There’s something I want to ask. Can I visit your mansion after school?”
“Ask?”
Elena tilted her head and crossed her arms, looking unimpressed.
“Why should I grant your request? You just rejected mine, didn’t you?”
“That was a request?”
“Of course it was.”
Elena, who was sitting cross-legged in the air, smiled and floated away.
“I’ll leave before the other professors come and start nagging.”
Elena waved playfully and flew off somewhere.
Seeing this, Chloe had a look of disbelief.
For a model student like her, skipping class to play around was a cultural shock.
“Is that okay?”
“It’s not. There are more than a few professors who are waiting for this.”
“But why don’t you say anything? She’s your niece.”
“She’s making her own choice, so I have no reason to say anything. Even if I did, she wouldn’t listen. You should focus on your practice.”
With that, Albi returned to his original spot.
Leo looked in the direction Elena had disappeared.
To enter the restricted library, Elena’s permission was needed.
‘From the looks of it, she’s quite self-centered.’
It was clear that even if he showed her Albi’s recommendation letter, she wouldn’t be very interested.
‘I’ll focus on the inter-departmental competition for now.’
Now was the time to focus on the upcoming departmental event.
***
About two weeks after the academy lockdown was announced.
Iliana, who was studying in the classroom during a free period, grumbled.
“How can there be no snacks during such a study session? Is this even reasonable?”
Most of the students at Lumern were from noble or upper-class families, so they usually studied with snacks during study sessions.
Of course, after the lockdown, not even a crumb of a snack could be found.
“Why do you need snacks and tea to study?”
“Class President! Studying requires a source of energy!”
“By the way, where’s Karl?”
Just as Nella looked puzzled.
Creak-
The classroom door opened, and Karl came in pushing a snack cart.
Chelsea and Iliana jumped up from their seats.
“Karl! What’s that!”
Seeing the two girls’ eyes light up, Karl greeted them elegantly like an excellent butler.
“Although I couldn’t get any cake or cookies.”
Click-
“Oh!”
When he opened the cart’s cover, a teapot and teacups were set up.
“I’ve prepared it with care, ladies.”
“Oh! Black tea!”
“Just the black tea is enough!”
Considering how hard it was to get tea leaves these days, this was more than enough.
Squish-!
A clear, transparent liquid was poured into the teacups.
“It’s just water.”
“...”
“...”
“Haha! Hahaha! Look at your faces! Got you! Got yo... cough?”
Seeing Karl teasing them, Chelsea’s face turned vicious, and she kicked him in the stomach.
Together with Iliana, she kicked the fallen Karl repeatedly.
“Hey, stop! I’ll get hurt... Ow! Sorry! Sorry!”
Karl’s agonized scream echoed.
“I have some big news.”
“What is it?”
“The location for the inter-departmental competition has been decided!”
“What? Where?”
The students of Class 5 gathered around.
With a cough, Karl spoke in a serious tone.
“Neygrang.”
“Neygrang?”
“Isn’t that a restricted area?”
Neygrang.
A city located in the southeastern part of the continent, it became famous for its sudden downfall due to the Hero Dungeon’s rampage.
The tragedy of Neygrang, which had concealed the Hero Dungeon, was widely known as a cautionary tale across the continent.
Although the dungeon was later cleared, the land was cursed by the Hero Dungeon, making it uninhabitable for humans.
“Can we really go to such a place?”
The students swallowed hard.
“I heard it’s not an extremely dangerous area, even though it’s a restricted zone.”
Nodding at Chelsea’s words, Nella agreed.
“It’s true. It’s dangerous, but only with mid-to-low-level monsters appearing and curses spread throughout.”
For ordinary people, it was a significant threat, but for Hero cadets, it was a manageable risk.
Once the battlefield for the inter-departmental competition was decided, the entire Class 5 started researching Neygrang using geography books.
Unlike the world of Heroes, there were unpredictable threats, so the students studied Neygrang more seriously than ever.
Leo opened the geography book he had received and looked for a map of Neygrang.
‘Neygrang... Neygrang... Here it is.’
Leo paused as he opened the book.
‘This place?’
The names in Leo’s memory and those from Kyle’s era were different.
Considering the time that had passed between the two eras, this was to be expected.
However, he remembered what had happened in this region in the past.
‘This is where Rishinas and I first defeated a Legion Commander.’
***
Time passed despite the growing dissatisfaction among students due to the school lockdown.
Especially the first-year students were having a hectic time.
Crackle! Crack!
Duran clenched his fist, looking at the aura in his hand.
Boom-!
In response to Duran’s strength, the current exploded and shot out in all directions.
“Amazing! Duran! You’re almost mastering the Breath of the Hero!”
One of Duran’s faction students shouted excitedly, but Duran replied irritably.
“What do you mean by ‘mastering’? I can’t even use it naturally yet, and...!”
Crack-!
Duran broke the wooden sword he was holding in frustration.
“Compared to the sword strikes that Leo Flaubert emitted, this is nothing!”
“Of course, but Leo Flaubert will also take damage from the backlash when he uses such a powerful attack, right?”
A female student crossed her arms and said.
“There’s a limit to such a destructive method. At best, it’s a last resort for emergencies.”
Hearing the female student’s analysis of Leo, Duran snorted.
“This time, I’ll knock Leo Flaubert down and show everyone who the true number one is. And...”
Duran’s eyes glanced sideways.
“I’ll also knock down Selia Zerdtinger.”
Whoosh-!
“Selia, to control the flames of aura to this extent is impressive.”
Selia brushed her hair back at her classmate’s comment.
“This is just the basics.”
Selia extinguished the flames with a confident expression.
Over the past month, Selia had focused on training to control her aura finely.
Selia’s eyes met Duran’s.
Selia made a sullen face, pointed at Duran with her finger, and mimed slicing her neck.
Duran, feeling a surge of anger, responded by dropping his thumb from top to bottom.
Meanwhile, at the magic practice field...
Whoosh!
Chelsea looked at Abad with wide eyes.
‘Amazing, as expected of my brother.’
His ability to control wind magic so finely was jaw-dropping.
Thud- Thud-!
When Abad released his mana, the rocks floating in the air fell to the ground.
“To be able to control such power so delicately! As expected of my brother!”
Abad, seeing Chelsea’s bright smile as she approached, wiped the sweat from his forehead and spoke.
“Chelsea.”
“Yes!”
“How do you compare me to Leo?”
“...!”
At Abad’s question, Chelsea closed her mouth.
From Chelsea’s perspective, purely in terms of magical ability, Abad was superior.
But when considering everything else...
‘Who should I support?’
Abad, whom she respected as a mage.
Leo, whom she respected as a Hero candidate.
Seeing Chelsea’s conflicted expression, Abad smiled.
“So, Leo is the better one.”
“B-Brother! That’s what I meant. I... I...!”
“It’s not bad.”
“Huh?”
“To have someone to challenge.”
Seeing Abad’s deep smile, Chelsea was surprised.
Meanwhile, Leo was sitting in the library, surrounded by a stack of books related to Neygrang.
‘There are five large lakes within Neygrang.’
As a major city, it had five large lakes.
“Which one is Lake Erdiana?”
Leo scratched his head.
While other students were busy preparing for the inter-departmental competition, Leo was focused on something else.
He was reminded of an old memory.
‘Considering the time that has passed, it’s unlikely that it’s still there, but...’
Leo crossed his arms.
In the past, a spirit had been sleeping in Lake Erdiana.
A spirit he no longer remembered.
But until the Age of Catastrophe, it was a powerful spirit, a Great Spirit, revered for its strength.
Rishinas’ lost pact spirit.
‘The Great Spirit of Radiance, Luminous.’
Leo closed the book and stood up.
‘I’ll have to visit all five places.’
***
At the central training ground, Erech, of Lumern Academy, a large crowd had gathered.
Not only students of Lumern Academy, but also many visitors.
“Oh! Let me see our daughter! How has your school life been!”
“It was great!”
“Son! You are the pride of our family!”
“I know!”
“Be careful not to do anything that would tarnish the family’s honor.”
“Yes.”
Normally, only authorized individuals could enter Lumern Academy.
However, for the large-scale inter-departmental competition, today, family members of the participants were allowed to visit.
Of course, this was also to counteract the negative public opinion caused by the month-long academy lockdown.
Thanks to this, Lumern was experiencing an unexpected festival atmosphere.
Of course, with more external visitors, there were also more problems.
“Hey! I want to see where my son studies! Why can’t I do that!”
“Due to security regulations, external visitors are not allowed to enter. Please use only the authorized areas.”
“Hmph! Do you know who I am!”
Given that Lumern was usually off-limits to outsiders, many were curious and tried to enter unauthorized areas.
Of course, such individuals were stopped by the teaching assistants, but many were stubborn.
At the top of the Tower of Heroes.
Kallian was looking down at Erech from a spot where the entire academy could be seen.
“Receiving so many outsiders at once is worrying. What if intruders sneak in?”
Professor Yura said with a worried face, and Kallian sighed deeply.
“Fortunately, the strong suppression force has returned, so it shouldn’t happen like last time.”
Seeing the red-haired woman sitting on the guest sofa and enjoying tea, Yura, who was a summoner, felt an itch to talk to her.
Phoenix Phyllina.
‘I want to talk to her, but...’
Unlike Leo’s Fyora and Ulta’s Aria, Phyllina was a fully matured spirit.
The ultimate dream and legend of a summoner, capable of wielding absolute power.
‘I can’t hide this fact forever. I need to announce it publicly through cooperation with Seirun.’
Kallian’s eyes took on a serious light.
‘To prevent the Tartaros from causing more trouble.’
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