Chapter 136
It took Leo and Lunia only half a day to completely wipe out the local bandit groups in the area.
Since they were just rural bandits, they were no match for Leo and Lunia at all, so the bandit gang was defeated in an instant.
“This is a great stress reliever!”
Crackle, crackle—
As the sun set and darkness fell, Lunia, who had built a campfire, stretched with a groan.
“Tomorrow, we’ll be able to sweep up the ones who ran away too, right?”
Plopping herself down in front of the fire, Lunia sank into thought.
‘Leo said he’s on a practical assignment, right? Then, once the bandits are cleared out, will he go straight back to Lumene?’
That thought made her feel a bit regretful.
‘We finally met again after so long.’
With her free-spirited personality, Lunia enjoyed spending time with Leo, who didn’t care about what others thought and could interact with her without any reservations.
‘Should I ask him if he wants to explore a Hero Dungeon together? No, that’s not something I can decide on my own. And even if we do explore together, the upperclassmen will definitely dislike Leo.’
Resting her chin on her hand and agonizing, Lunia glanced inside the ruins.
‘By the way, what has he been doing over there all this time?’
She got up with a puzzled look and walked into the ruins where Leo was.
“What are you doing over there?”
“I was just investigating these ruins a bit.”
At Leo’s words, Lunia tilted her head, looking at the remains of Guardslone’s castle.
“There’s nothing special about this place.”
Ruins related to heroes were treated as very important, since you could obtain artifacts that might fulfill activation conditions for the Hero Record.
But the ruins in this area had already been deemed to have nothing special other than being old.
‘The existence of Guardslone has probably already been forgotten.’
People today knew that Guardslone had existed.
However, aside from confirmation of its existence in literature and in the Hero’s World, there was no other information about Guardslone.
‘It must be Tartarus’s handiwork.’
To Tartarus, Guardslone’s walls would be an object of hatred.
Because Guardslone held out to the end without falling, the surface races were able to begin their counterattack.
And after the age of peace arrived, they surely didn’t want to leave this symbol of hope untouched.
‘Even before the Age of Calamity, this wasn’t exactly the most hospitable land.’
After the Age of Calamity ended, people left Guardslone to find new places to settle.
‘The Guardslone people who left were probably attacked by Tartarus and buried underground afterward.’
The faint dark magic flowing through this land was likely the result of that influence.
‘So the entire city was buried in the earth.’
Leo felt a pang of bitterness at the thought that a place where traces of his former companions remained had completely disappeared.
“For now, let’s get some rest for tomorrow. You can continue investigating the ruins in the morning, right?”
At Lunia’s suggestion, Leo nodded.
Then he headed back toward the campfire.
“Huh?”
Lunia, noticing two men and women sitting by the fire, was a little flustered.
“Senior Elena?”
“Senior Haddin?”
Leo and Lunia called out their names at the same time.
“Are you two sleeping together at night? I hope I’m not interrupting your date?”
“That’s not it at all!”
Lunia shouted with a flustered face at Elena’s question.
Seeing this, Haddin asked,
“Are the bandits not all taken care of yet?”
“There are some remnants left. But who is this person…? You look like a Lumene student.”
“Hello. My name is Elena Zeron.”
As she gracefully lifted her school skirt and greeted them, Lunia’s eyes widened in surprise at Elena.
“The third-year representative from Lumene?”
Even among Lumene students, Elena was especially famous.
Having easily faced off against the senior students of Seiren during the Lumeiren, she was the number one person the Seiren students were wary of.
Now that she had suddenly appeared, it was only natural for Lunia to be taken aback.
“What brings you here? Didn’t you say you were exploring a dungeon in another region, Senior Elena?”
“That? I left it to my other party members.”
Leo looked at Elena in disbelief as she answered as if it was nothing special.
Elena was the leader of the Blue Moon party.
For a leader to abandon her team and come here like this—
“I’m more interested in you than in dungeon exploration.”
Elena’s pink eyes sparkled.
“What about the other seniors?”
“Your seniors were rude, so I taught them some manners.”
“What?”
Lunia didn’t seem to understand, but Leo could more or less guess what she’d done.
Haddin adjusted his glasses and spoke.
“Don’t you think you were a bit too harsh, Elena Zeron?”
“I definitely gave them a chance to apologize. They were the ones who threw that chance away.”
Elena replied nonchalantly, and Haddin let out a deep sigh.
This incident could very well turn into an inter-academy issue.
“Anyway, Leo, take care of the bandits later! You know there might be a Hero Dungeon here, right?”
“Seiren was searching first, though?”
“What does that matter? The Hero Dungeon goes to whoever finds it first.”
Elena pushed Leo toward the ruins.
“Come on, come on! Juniors must follow their seniors! Let this big sister teach you about exploring Hero Dungeons.”
Watching them go, Haddin spoke.
“Lunia, let’s follow them.”
“Huh? What about the other seniors?”
“They’re currently injured and out of commission. They’re in no state to investigate right now. I can’t let myself lose to that fox-like woman.”
Haddin’s competitive side was showing.
Haddin Dertean, Seiren’s third-year top student.
He wasn’t just the best in the third year—he was among the strongest students in the entire academy.
Yet, every year in the Lumeiren, he’d tasted utter defeat at Elena’s hands.
‘I can’t lose this year.’
Clenching his fist, Haddin glared at Elena’s back.
‘Now it’s become a competition all of a sudden.’
Lunia, who’d just been working together with Leo, felt a tinge of disappointment.
‘But I can’t lose either.’
As the representative of Seiren’s first years, Lunia felt motivated and followed after Leo and Elena.
—
“Leo! You’re amazing! You really don’t seem like a first-year, do you?”
Ever since they started exploring the Hero Dungeon, Elena had been fussing over Leo, showering him with praise.
It wasn’t just empty compliments—Leo really did navigate the dungeon with a proficiency uncharacteristic of a first-year.
A Hero Dungeon was an abnormal place created by a runaway Hero Record.
Because of that, it required very cautious exploration.
First-year students, with their inexperience, only learned the theory of Hero Dungeon exploration—there were no practical sessions.
Even though it was clearly an unfamiliar task, Leo calmly used mana detection to explore the area with no trouble.
Seeing Elena like this, Leo made a strange face.
“Huh? What is it?”
“You seem like a completely different person.”
“How was I before?”
“At school, you had this dignified queenly aura.”
“Oh my? So that’s how you saw me? How adorable.”
Elena laughed as she patted Leo’s white hair.
“How do I look now?”
“Goofy.”
“Not a kind senior who cares about her juniors?”
“No.”
Elena narrowed her eyes.
If her peers or second-year juniors saw this, they’d be shocked, but Leo didn’t even bat an eye.
With her arm around Leo’s shoulders, Elena said,
“Leo, look over there.”
She pointed at Haddin.
“Haddin is serious about everything. People like that are fun to tease.”
“How are you going to tease him?”
“Watch.”
With a smile, Elena raised her voice.
“See? Our first-year representative is way better than Seiren’s first-year rep!”
“I can’t accept that.”
Just as Elena said, Haddin responded immediately.
He strode up to Elena.
Elena let go of Leo and stood in front of Haddin.
“What do you mean?”
“Lunia is in no way inferior to Leo Plov.”
“Our Leo here deciphered the Founder of the Nebula’s magic and played a key role in subjugating the Gigantes! Has your junior achieved any greater feats?”
“You shouldn’t judge a person by their feats alone. Lunia may still be a first-year, but she’s already being considered for student council president. Do you think Leo Plov could be a candidate at that age?”
“A candidate for student council president? Me?”
Lunia, hearing this in a bewildered voice, saw Elena smile slyly.
“She looks completely caught off guard! And you’re the next student council candidate for Seiren, aren’t you? I know you want to compete with our Leo, but you shouldn’t just make things up. A first-year student council candidate—what a joke.”
“Lunia is still inexperienced, sure. But she’s greater than I am. Since I personally recommended her, Lunia is definitely a candidate for president. She may not have achievements yet, but Eiran and Luca—these three will all become legendary students of Seiren in the future.”
Elena’s eyes twitched at Haddin’s words.
And Lunia looked shocked.
‘Wait, doesn’t he dislike us?’
Lunia, Eiran, and Luca.
The current first-year representatives of Seiren.
Whenever he saw them, Haddin would always scold them with a disapproving look.
But now, in front of their Lumene rivals, he was showing his faith.
‘And he even recommended me as a student council candidate?’
A first-year student council candidate.
Unprecedented in Seiren’s history.
And it wasn’t just a flustered response.
With his picky personality, Haddin would never say something like that as a joke.
While Lunia was stunned, Elena, who had been wearing a sullen expression, laughed.
“Well then, our Leo is the next candidate for student council president too.”
“Excuse me, don’t make things up.”
“I can just nominate you when we get back.”
Watching his seniors have a pointless pride battle, Leo sighed and suddenly turned his head.
He moved toward the place where he sensed a subtle magical wave.
“Did you find something?”
Lunia walked over to Leo with a curious look.
Leo knelt down and swept the ground with his hand.
Seeing this, Lunia also looked puzzled and focused.
A moment later, she felt a faint magical wave.
‘He noticed that subtle magical wave?’
It was a wave as faint as an afterimage.
If not for Leo’s reaction, Lunia would never have noticed it.
Lunia, amazed at Leo’s keen senses, approached Elena and Haddin.
“Excuse me. I think Leo found something.”
“As expected! That’s our Lumene first-year representative!”
“Grr!”
Elena smiled with satisfaction, and Haddin looked frustrated.
Seeing this, Lunia made a subtle face.
“What’s wrong?”
“Didn’t you dislike me? You always nagged me whenever you saw me.”
“I just hoped you’d conduct yourself properly as Seiren’s representative.”
Returning to his usual strict expression, Haddin adjusted his glasses.
“I never disliked you.”
“You could have been a bit nicer. I ended up misunderstanding you and disliking you for nothing.”
Watching Lunia grumble, Haddin chuckled.
“You disliked me?”
‘…Is being so self-assured part of his nature?’
Lunia shook her head with a hollow laugh.
The three gathered around Leo.
“That’s a peculiar magical wave.”
Haddin adjusted his glasses, and Elena gave him a curious look.
“It seems like a magic formula is set up, but I can’t unravel it. It must be some ancient magic from thousands of years ago.”
The structure of the spell was entirely different from today’s—ancient magic from thousands of years ago.
Unless you were an expert in ancient magic, it was impossible to decipher the formula.
Of course, if you couldn’t decipher the formula, the magic wouldn’t activate.
Elena, Lunia, Haddin.
The three looked uncertain, but Leo was different.
‘A Warp Gate.’
Having deciphered the magic formula and figured out the coordinates, Leo looked surprised.
The coordinates were a location he remembered.
‘Guardslone’s Warp Gate.’
There was definitely a Warp Gate below.
‘If the Warp Gate is still functioning, that means Guardslone is intact beneath us?’
He thought the entire city had been buried underground, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
If the city had really collapsed, the Warp Gate couldn’t have survived.
After a moment’s thought, Leo summoned his magic.
Vmmm—!
The three looked at Leo in surprise.
Leo instantly constructed a temporary gate linked to the Warp Gate on the other side.
Vmmm—! Vmmm—!
“A Warp Gate?”
Haddin’s face twisted in shock.
Elena narrowed her eyes.
“How did you make it?”
“I just deciphered the magic formula and realized it was a Warp Gate, so I made a temporary one. It seems the entrance on the other side is still active.”
Leo replied calmly.
Making a brand new Warp Gate is difficult, but for a student at the Hero Academy, creating an entrance to an already installed gate isn’t so hard.
Everyone here could have done it.
‘But deciphering ancient magic formulas is another story. For him to unravel the formula so quickly without being an expert… No wonder Professor Len and Senior Torua, always praise him for his skill with magic formulas.’
“I wonder where this Warp Gate leads?”
“Well, we’ll find out once we go through.”
Elena laughed and stepped onto the gate.
Haddin and Lunia stepped onto it too.
“Leo. Hurry up.”
At Lunia’s urging, Leo nodded.
‘…Could Guardslone really be intact below ground?’
Remembering the place full of memories with his friends from a past life, Leo felt his heart pounding.
As Leo stepped onto the temporary Warp Gate, Elena summoned her magic.
Flash—!
With a burst of light, the Warp Gate activated.
And then…
[Hero Record Open.]
“What?”
“The Hero’s World?”
The four of them gasped at the message that appeared before their eyes.
[■■’s World. Chapter: Prologue – Barharloon]
At the additional message that followed, all four immediately understood.
It was a Hero Dungeon.
But Leo’s eyes widened at the word ‘Barharloon.’
‘Barharloon…!’
Whoosh—!
His vision vanished.
Before he knew it, he was standing in the middle of a corridor.
Having experienced the Hero’s World multiple times, Leo immediately checked for a strategy objective.
[Strategy Objective: –]
‘As expected, there’s no objective in a Hero Dungeon.’
Leo took a deep breath.
‘First, I should regroup with the others…’
Thump!
Rumble—!
“Ah! I’m sorry!”
At that moment, someone bumped into Leo’s back.
There was a sound of something falling.
A flustered girl’s voice.
Leo turned his head.
He widened his eyes at the sight of a girl frantically gathering books.
When she saw Leo’s face, the girl let out a startled “Ack!”
She wore an expression that screamed, ‘I’m in trouble!’
Seeing that, Leo felt his heart tremble.
Even though they were not the same age, she was someone Leo definitely knew.
With his chest tightening, Leo struggled to call out her name.
“…Luna.”