Chapter 107
“Azonia entrance recommendation?”
“Yeah. When I was younger, I helped Azonia out once. I guess you could say I was forced into it, but I ended up getting a recommendation letter.”
Scratching her head, Reina spoke to the spirit.
“My son is already attending Lumene, so he can”t enroll at Azonia.”
[I see.]
The spirit nodded as if understanding.
[After signing the acceptance notice, just come to three days later.]
“It doesn”t understand a word I”m saying.”
“It”s a messenger spirit.”
“Well, it only delivers what it’s ordered to say.”
“By the way, how did they know I turned fifteen and picked me as a candidate?”
“When I got the recommendation, I kind of made a contract with a spirit. Since it was a blood-marked contract, they must have known you turned fifteen.”
Leo clicked his tongue as he watched Reina grumble.
“You shouldn’t just make contracts carelessly.”
“How was I supposed to know this would happen?”
Leo chuckled at Reina’s grumbling, then checked the letter from Azonia.
He stroked his chin.
“So this means I’m eligible to attend Azonia’s entrance ceremony?”
“That’s right. But you can just ignore it. If you don’t register, they’ll find another recommended candidate.”
Leo looked at Reina, who shrugged her shoulders.
“That sounds fun.”
“What?”
Reina looked at Leo in surprise at his smiling face.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s a rare opportunity.”
“With your skills as Lumene’s class representative, you’ll pass the entrance exam for sure!”
“But it’s still an experience. If I quit partway, my admission will be canceled anyway. And as long as I don’t reveal I’m Leo Plov, it’ll be fine.”
“Just when I thought I’d get to spend a nice break with my son.”
Reina grumbled.
“I’ll go to Azrek in three days.”
At Leo’s words, the messenger spirit nodded and disappeared on the spot.
The summoning was released and it returned to its contractor.
“Azonia, huh. I’m curious about the beastman hero candidates.”
—
Azrek, a city of sea and desert at the continent’s southern tip, was one of the largest cities on the continent.
All trade between the west and east passed through here.
Naturally, the city became wealthy.
It was a metropolis with as much influence as Lumeria City, known as the largest human city.
The difference with Lumeria City was that many different races lived here.
Arriving in Azrek via warp gate, Leo smiled as he walked through the city streets.
“Peaceful.”
For Leo, seeing the scenery of such a bustling metropolis was a pleasure.
This lively energy was proof that Kyle and his companions had saved the world.
As Leo walked, he arrived at the central plaza.
A huge crowd had gathered in the central square.
They were all offering flowers to a statue of a wolf beastman in the plaza’s center.
Sharp eyes, protruding fangs.
Claws bared, roaring with a fierce face—it was someone Leo knew all too well.
“Arron.”
The Hero Arron.
The beastmen’s racial hero and one of the great heroes who once saved the world.
Leo burst into laughter as he saw Arron roaring.
“That’s not like him at all.”
In this era, Arron was recorded as an extremely brave man.
The gods themselves had called Arron the “Hero,” so there was nothing strange about it.
Leo bought a flower from a nearby vendor and went to his friend’s statue.
In front of the statue was an inscription dedicated to Arron.
In honor of the Hero Arron, who possessed indomitable courage
“Indomitable courage, my ass. He used to tremble in fear every battle.”
Letting out a laugh, Leo placed the flower.
Arron, the biggest coward, was always the bravest when it came to his friends, and the other great heroes drew courage from watching him.
“Guys… Ahem. Don’t cry. My role was to protect you. Sorry… that I couldn’t keep my promise to protect you all the way to the end.”
Leo gave a bittersweet smile, remembering Arron, who apologized until his last breath.
After making his offering, Leo left the central plaza.
He started walking to find the lodging where the Azonia Academy candidate students were staying.
“The test starts in three days, right?”
The acceptance notice arrived two days ago.
If candidates didn’t register by tomorrow, their admission would be void.
“Where should I go?”
After thinking, Leo decided to head to where most kids his age were gathered.
Azrek was the testing site.
Since free lectures were held for many beastman nations, naturally the place where the candidates gathered was the registration site.
As expected, there was a place packed with students who looked like Azonia candidates.
Leo stared blankly for a moment as he saw the building.
“Colosseum?”
The students were heading toward Azrek’s colosseum.
“Move it, half-breed.”
Leo ignored the voice behind him.
He figured it wasn’t directed at him.
“Why the colosseum?”
Whack-!
“I said move!”
But when someone irritably pushed his back, Leo frowned and turned around.
There stood three wolf beastman boys about Leo’s age.
Seeing their sneering faces, Leo asked,
“What did you just say?”
“I called you a half-breed. Are you offended?”
“Derkin, cut it out. The half-breeds might get upset. Heh heh heh.”
“You’re worse than him!”
At the boy in the center’s words, the wolf beastman boy and girl on either side snickered.
Leo paused mid-motion, about to pick his ear with his pinky.
There was no ear where it should’ve been.
Instead, “rabbit ears” sprouted from the top of his head.
Right now, Leo was perfectly disguised as a mixed beastman.
With Kirran’s help, he had polymorphed into a mixed beastman.
His white hair had turned black in the process.
Why a rabbit? The reason was simple.
It was Reina’s taste.
Thinking of his mother, Leo sighed and said,
“How about watching your mouth?”
“Oh?”
The big wolf beastman boy on the left twitched his eye, seeing Leo not intimidated at all.
“Pretty bold for a cowardly half-breed rabbit, huh? But you picked the wrong person to mess with!”
Grab-!
“We’re here to attend Azonia’s entrance ceremony, got it?”
The big beastman boy grabbed Leo’s rabbit ear and glared at him.
Azonia entrance.
That alone was a big deal among beastmen.
It meant having earned the right by pushing through those hellish free lectures.
“So what?”
But Leo’s reaction was indifferent.
For Lumene’s class representative, the Azonia entrance candidate status was nothing special or threatening.
“What?”
“So what if you attend the entrance ceremony? Are you even Azonia students yet?”
At Leo’s question, the boy faltered.
“Why are you acting all high and mighty when you’re not even students yet?”
“You little…! Gah!”
The boy, provoked by Leo’s words, raised his fist.
But before the punch could land, Leo’s foot was already in the boy’s stomach.
The big wolf beastman’s body bent like a ‘C’.
Leo struck the bent boy’s back with his elbow.
With that, Leo simply took down the wolf boy.
“If this is the level of Azonia’s entrance candidates, I’m a little disappointed.”
“You damned half-breed!”
The mood turned nasty.
The two who’d declared themselves Azonia entrance candidates began to stir up Aura.
Curious onlookers focused their eyes in interest.
“What are you two doing?”
At that moment, a clear girl’s voice rang out.
A girl with white cat ears and a tail quickly slipped between Leo and the wolf beastmen.
Then the girl among the wolf beastmen shouted,
“Who are you!”
“My name is—!”
“Isn’t that Ar Tune?”
“From the Tune family? Now that you mention it, she looks just like her.”
“She’s a recommended candidate this year, right?”
As the beastmen around started to murmur, Ar stopped her introduction and perked up her ears.
With a catlike expression, Ar’s tail swished happily as people recognized her.
But only for a moment.
Looking at the three wolf beastmen, Ar bristled her white tail in displeasure.
“Ganging up on one person—don’t you think that’s cowardly?”
“No, that half-breed attacked my friend fir—”
“I saw you start it. And—”
Ar’s eyes turned cold.
“You call a fellow beastman ‘half-breed’?”
There was scorn in Ar’s eyes.
Seeing that, Derkin hesitated and stammered, then suddenly yelled, “Uh, I just remembered something urgent!” and dashed away.
“W-wait for me!”
The girl, terrified, dragged off the fallen boy.
The onlookers burst into laughter.
Seeing this, Ar scoffed.
“How did they even make it through the free lectures?”
As the crowd that had gathered for the fight dispersed, Ar approached Leo.
“You’re an entrance candidate too, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Hmph! You’re overflowing with energy! You took on three at once and didn’t even flinch!”
As if satisfied, Ar puffed out her chest, put her hands on her hips, and nodded.
“Is there any reason to back down?”
Even without Ar’s help, Leo could’ve easily dealt with those three.
“I was worried there’d only be boring people, but this is great! You’ll pass the entrance ceremony for sure! Black Rabbit!”
Ar’s eyes turned like a cat’s for a moment as she smiled.
Her gaze turned to a desert butterfly fluttering by.
Ar instinctively swiped with her left hand, trying to catch the butterfly.
But the desert butterfly slipped away from her grasp.
Tail raised, Ar chased after the butterfly and said,
“Well, see you!”
Watching Ar chase after the butterfly like a cat, Leo chuckled.
“Still so true to their instincts.”
Other races might’ve found Ar’s behavior silly, but the other beastmen looked at her with utmost seriousness.
The entrance candidates’ gazes crossed in two ways.
Reverence and rivalry.
“It’s really different from Lumene or Seiren.”
For humans, Lumene students were admired, envied, and cheered for.
For elves, Seiren students were those who carried on the will of the great Founder and were deeply respected.
But for beastmen…
“They’re objects of worship.”
Before heroes were agents of change, they were those who possessed mighty and noble power.
So beastmen’s attitudes toward hero candidates also split in two.
The drive to surpass the strong, and the reverence shown to the strong.
“Definitely unique.”
Leo folded his arms and his eyes sparkled.
It was a completely different atmosphere from Lumene.
“Coming here was a good decision.”
Smiling wryly, Leo went to find the dorm building to register as a candidate for the entrance ceremony.