Chapter 10
“Clear the world? That’s ridiculous.”
Walking behind Leo, Chelsea shook her head.
“Even for Lumene students, clearing a Hero’s World is a challenge. Would they really expect applicants to do it?”
She was right.
Even for the best-trained hero candidates at Lumene, conquering a Hero’s World wasn’t easy.
To expect that from examinees was unreasonable.
But Leo thought differently.
“We’re being tested for hero qualifications, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then we should be able to do what a hero must do. Besides, since it’s an exam, the trials should be something we can overcome.”
Chelsea hesitated at that.
‘He’s not exactly wrong.’
“Hm! Then what’s the condition for clearing it? If it’s a trial applicants can clear, it’s probably related to Albi’s earliest achievements. But there’s hardly any information about the Mage of the Evil Eye’s exploits.”
Chelsea folded her arms, thinking hard, as Leo gave a small smile.
‘She’s smart.’
A talented girl, proud of her noble house.
Normally, kids like that don’t listen to their peers.
But Chelsea accepted Leo’s logic and immediately started thinking about how to clear it.
‘She’s flexible. That’s a good trait for a mage.’
Still inexperienced, but Leo thought she was fitting as a hero candidate.
“It’s probably a subjugation.”
“Yeah, I agree.”
Chelsea nodded.
If it was an achievement in a place full of monsters, odds were you had to defeat something.
And Leo had an idea who or what the target was.
‘Given the timing, it could be someone else, but—’
Just moments ago, while looking at the monsters’ corpses, Leo clenched and unclenched his fist, then grabbed Chelsea’s wrist.
“What are you doing?”
Chelsea scowled at Leo’s sudden move.
Fwoosh—!
Leo yanked Chelsea toward him.
Thwip, thwip—!
Two arrows landed right where Chelsea had been standing.
Chelsea’s eyes widened.
Then—
“Huh? Huh?”
Stumble—! Thud!
“Ow!”
Losing her balance, she fell on her rear.
Wiping tears as she rubbed her sore backside, Chelsea glared.
“If you pull me, shouldn’t you catch me so I don’t fall?”
“Uh, sorry. I figured you’d get mad if I just grabbed you.”
“Letting me fall makes me even angrier!”
“So, where’s your thank you?”
“Hmph! I could’ve handled arrows like that on my own, you know?”
“They were infused with Aura.”
Chelsea hesitated at Leo’s remark.
“M-my shield spell would’ve blocked them!”
She muttered sullenly, but then said in a grumpy voice,
“A-anyway, thanks.”
Leo burst out laughing at her reaction.
“Tch!”
“I could’ve taken down Chelsea Lewellin right away!”
A group of examinees emerged from the bushes, glaring at Leo and Chelsea.
“You guys.”
When Chelsea stepped forward, the five examinees looked tense.
“Don’t fight—let’s work together.”
“What?”
Surprised by Chelsea’s words, the group looked puzzled.
“Your party’s all knights, right? If a mage like me joins, that’s a bonus, right? So let’s cooperate.”
Even after just being attacked, Chelsea made the offer with no hard feelings.
After all, it was only natural to eliminate others in an exam like this.
‘If the point was to knock others out, I’d attack without hesitation. But right now, the goal is to clear the Hero’s World.’
When Chelsea glanced at Leo for his opinion, he nodded.
“If we cooperate—”
“We’re all knights, but we can do ranged attacks too. Our party’s balanced.”
“Huh?”
Then the leader smirked.
“But there’s only two of you. If we fight now, we’ve got the advantage.”
“Yeah, so what if you’re from hero houses? You’re our age!”
“You think we can’t tell you’re suggesting this out of fear?”
Thinking Chelsea was bowing her head, the group grew bolder.
“If we beat you, that’s one less strong applicant! Why would we cooperate with you?”
“Yeah! That’s right!”
As they got ready to fight, Chelsea started to say something.
“Forget it, they’re not listening anymore.”
“But—”
Chelsea looked frustrated.
A smart girl, she was annoyed by examinees who wouldn’t even listen.
Leo drew his sword.
“If they want to fight, we’ll fight.”
“Can’t be helped.”
Chelsea sighed and raised her staff.
Leo told her,
“Support me from the back.”
“What?”
“It’d be a waste for you to use your Mana on these nobodies.”
“Are you crazy? They’re using Aura, you know?”
“Leave it to me.”
“Hmph. If you get in trouble, it’s not my fault.”
Despite her sharp tone, Chelsea was ready to help if Leo was in danger.
‘Besides, I owe him for before.’
Chelsea fiddled with her staff.
Meanwhile, the other examinees scowled at Leo.
“And you are?”
“Going to take us on alone?”
“Yeah. Looking forward to it.”
“This guy—!”
One of the examinees, feeling insulted, immediately drew his bow and fired.
Swoosh—!
An arrow without Aura flew toward Leo.
Aura arrows were too valuable—they were saving them for a fight with Chelsea.
‘If he dodges, he’ll open himself up. Then we surround him—’
Grab—!
“…!”
“Not the time to be stingy.”
Leo snapped the arrow easily.
“N-no way! He caught my arrow with his bare hand…!”
Swoosh—!
Before the words were out, Leo charged in.
“S-stop him!”
“Surround him!”
As swords came at him from all sides, Leo quickly assessed the situation.
But the examinees couldn’t focus all their attention on Leo.
‘Even without joining the fight, just being there is enough to keep them in check.’
Unlike the unknown Leo, Chelsea was a name-brand examinee, so everyone’s attention was drawn to her.
‘Works for me.’
Clang—! Thud!
“Guh?”
Leo knocked aside a sword and slammed his fist into an opponent’s solar plexus.
“That guy! He’s not even using Aura?!”
“Of course, I’m bare-handed.”
Leo replied calmly, watching his confused opponents, then spun his body.
One attacker aiming for his back froze as Leo dodged as if he had eyes in the back of his head.
Thud—!
“Urk!”
After landing a kick to the ribs, Leo turned to the last two remaining examinees.
“Use Aura!”
“Damn it!”
Leo overwhelmed all five by himself.
Meanwhile, watching from behind, Chelsea’s eyes widened.
‘How can he move like that without using Aura?’
Even though she was a mage, as an aspiring battle mage Chelsea trained hard in martial arts too.
So she could vaguely tell just how incredible Leo’s movements were.
‘He’s amazing!’
Her heart thudded in her chest, and Chelsea jolted in surprise.
‘No! He’s the guy who hung out with Celia Zerdinger! Get a grip, Chelsea!’
She shook her head vigorously, but still couldn’t take her eyes off Leo.
* * *
The examinees were eliminated quickly.
They’d pushed too hard to take out their competitors.
‘They must think they’re being proactive.’
Albi watched a few students.
Some were bragging about how many they’d eliminated.
Of course, it had nothing to do with passing the exam.
After about an hour, only around fifty of the original 569 examinees remained.
“Mr. Albi. What about those examinees…”
“They’re out.”
Albi’s cold reply startled the Lumene aide beside him.
“B-but, Mr. Albi, they’re all quite talented. And usually a hundred students are accepted from one test—”
Albi’s chilly gaze turned to the aide.
The aide caught his breath under that stare.
“When the headmaster appointed me as examiner, I said the same thing as you. That if I were in charge, anyone who didn’t meet my standards would be eliminated. But he still made me examiner.”
“Ugh!”
“As examiner, I decide who passes. Don’t bring it up again.”
Albi cut him off and turned his attention back to the magic mirror.
And on it, he saw none other than Leo.
‘Looks like he noticed the anomaly in the forest.’
Albi touched his left eye.
‘Can he really clear this world?’
* * *
“Chelsea, you’re safe.”
“Of course, brother.”
About two hours after the test began.
Leo was able to meet up safely with Celia and Abad’s party.
“You made it too, I see. But you were with Chelsea Lewellin?”
“We met early in the test and cooperated.”
“Huh? She’s got a lot of pride and stubbornness. She really cooperated with you?”
“I persuaded her.”
Celia thought to herself as she saw Leo’s meaningful smile.
‘He must’ve done something.’
After a week together, Celia knew all too well how ruthless her cousin could be.
“So, after all that talk about him being greasy and annoying, you still worked together.”
“We couldn’t just fight blindly when we didn’t know the criteria to pass.”
Celia brushed her hair back as she answered.
“Quite a group you’ve gathered.”
“Abad and I can move fast. We scouted the forest and gathered people willing to cooperate. Most are from the Rodren Empire.”
The empire’s two great families—if Zerdinger and Lewellin called for cooperation, no imperial citizen would refuse.
“Good work.”
“Huh? Why?”
“I think I know how to clear this test.”
“Oh? You figured it out?”
Celia’s eyes shone.
“We have to clear this world.”
“Clear the world?”
Celia tilted her head, then nodded.
“True, this exam is too different. Wouldn’t be strange if it required world clearance.”
“Right?”
“But then the problem—what’s the condition for clearing it?”
Every Hero’s World has a condition for clearing it.
That’s why the study of heroics is so important.
Researching and investigating heroic deeds is directly tied to strategies for clearing Hero’s Worlds.
But there are heroes whose exploits are recorded—and some who aren’t.
Especially for living heroes, their worlds are rarely cleared.
And even if you do, there’s no reward; only the hero themselves can open their world.
Only the worlds of past heroes can be opened and cleared by others.
“Albi is famous, but almost nothing is known about his exploits. There aren’t any clues to clearing it.”
“I have an idea about that too.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
Leo sighed.
“There’s something strange going on in the Forest of Monsters right now.”
“Something strange?”
“Yeah. Don’t you think there are way too few monsters for this place?”
“You’re right…”
Normally, monster attacks should come one after another.
But in Albi’s world, the spawn rate was far too low.
‘It’s like something’s scaring them all.’
When Celia reached that conclusion, her expression turned grave.
“There must be a top-level monster frightening the rest.”
“Albi must’ve defeated it to achieve his feat.”
“Right.”
“What kind of top-level monster could terrify the entire Forest of Monsters? I’ve never seen any record of such an incident.”
“That’s…”
Just as Leo was about to answer Celia’s question—
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaah—!”
A scream echoed from far away.
“Looks like it just showed up.”