Chapter 191
The next morning at dawn.
Feeling the chill of autumn air, Leo stepped out of the dormitory.
Lily was waiting in the first-year dormitory garden.
“Sorry for calling you out so early, Leo. Shall we go?”
“Yes.”
Leo and Lily headed straight to the dock to catch the first boat to Lumeria City.
It wasn’t the usual time for a boat to operate, but one had been prepared early in the morning for students who needed to make the most of the limited weekend time.
In fact, besides Leo and Lily, a few others were also waiting at the dock.
After arriving in Lumeria early in the morning, Lily led Leo into a restaurant near the dock.
She ordered sandwiches for them and sat down in front of Leo, clearing her throat.
“Ahem. I’ll explain why I asked you to come out to Lumeria with me.”
“What is it?”
“It’s about a mission.”
“A mission, huh.”
A mission.
As students of Lumene, they were considered hero candidates and were sometimes given missions to mediate conflicts around the world or solve mysterious incidents.
Even first-years had participated in mission training previously.
However, those were just simulations—missions designed to be manageable at the student level.
But a ‘mission,’ not a ‘training mission,’ was different.
These were only given to truly capable students, and typically not until third year.
Even so, Lily had received a mission in her second year, despite still being a student—even if she was a class representative.
‘She really is amazing.’
“A mission in your second year… As expected, you’re incredible, Lily.”
“Th-that’s! Don’t flatter me! If you’re going to say that, you’re the incredible one! You became student council president in your first year! That’s a first in Lumene’s history!”
Flustered by Leo’s praise, Lily shook her head.
Leo laughed as he looked at her.
‘Someone this skilled would normally be full of pride.’
She was the undisputed top of second year at Lumene.
Even upperclassmen acknowledged her, calling her a ‘monster,’ yet she considered herself a normal honor student.
‘With a bit more experience, she’ll become an amazing spirit arts user.’
Thinking of Lily’s future, Leo asked,
“So. Are you asking me to join the mission?”
“Yes.”
“There must be other upperclassmen. Why me?”
“This mission is actually a solo assignment given to me. I wanted to ask you to join because I wanted to team up with you at least once.”
The server brought out their sandwiches and placed them in front of them.
Lily took a big bite of her sandwich and said,
“If you refuse, I’ll understand.”
“I’ll come with you. I didn’t have any weekend plans anyway, and I’m curious about the mission you were assigned.”
Leo’s response made Lily smile brightly.
She took a sip of the milk that came with the sandwich and pulled a mission scroll from her pocket.
“Thank you, Leo!”
“So, what’s the mission?”
“I haven’t actually checked the details yet. Since it was a designated mission and I asked to do it with you, they instructed me to check the contents together with you.”
Leo nodded and leaned toward Lily while eating his sandwich.
Lily broke the wax seal on the mission scroll and read it.
[Escort the VIP at the Zerodia Ruins east of Lumeria City.]
That was all it said.
Lily turned it over with a slightly confused expression, but nothing else was written.
“If it’s the Zerodia Ruins, it’ll take about half a day to get there. So that’s why the mission duration was listed as overnight. But why would there be a VIP at that abandoned place?”
Watching Lily’s puzzled face, Leo spoke.
“The school wouldn’t give out a strange request… Let’s just get ready and go.”
“Right! Okay!”
With determination, Lily took another large bite of her sandwich.
She puffed out both cheeks and quickly swallowed the rest before chugging the rest of her milk.
“All right! Let’s go, Leo!”
“I’m not done eating yet.”
“Oops!”
Lily looked flustered.
“S-sorry. I got ahead of myself.”
“It happens.”
Leo let out a small laugh and finished his sandwich.
Then he stood up, gathered his things, and walked out of the restaurant.
“You’ve got kind of a boyish side to you, Lily.”
“Mm, that’s probably because I grew up in a military family. I used to play war games with my older brother when I was little.”
Lily stood straight like a disciplined soldier and marched as she spoke.
Even her tone had a crispness to it.
“Thanks to that, people often say my speech or behavior is weird.”
“I think it’s charming.”
“Oh, thank you, Leo.”
Lily smiled as she and Leo walked away from the restaurant.
“Hooh.”
Flutter—
A man sitting in one corner of the restaurant folded his newspaper.
He narrowed his eyes.
“Second-year representative Lily Luce and first-year representative Leo Plov, huh.”
Clink—
“This should be fun.”
The man stood, placed a few coins on the table, pulled down his hat, and followed after them.
—
“Hey, Leo really went out at dawn with Lily Luce, right?”
“Isn’t he the first first-year to openly brag about staying out overnight with a girl?”
The first-year dormitory was buzzing with a single hot topic that morning.
The rumor about Leo and Lily.
After hearing the chatter, a crowd of girls surrounded Celia.
“Celia! Celia! Is it true that second-year Lily and Leo are dating?”
“It’s not, right? That’s a lie, right? Right?!”
Seeing her teary-eyed classmates, Celia made a displeased face.
“How would I know? And why are you all so worked up?”
“What do you mean why? We’re Leo’s fan club!”
“…Leo has one of those? As expected of a student council president. Even has a fan club now.”
Celia looked surprised.
‘You have one too, you know?’
‘She’s surprisingly clueless about these things.’
The nearby Class 1 students gave her a dumbfounded look.
For reference, Leo’s fan club was recent, but Celia’s had existed since the start of the semester.
Just then, Duran, who had been eating across from Celia, scoffed.
Class 1 students had been gathered, discussing the upcoming Lumeiren selection match.
Since Class 1 had held the top average rank since the start of the semester, they were one of the most motivated groups regarding the Lumeiren team selection.
Duran wore his usual arrogant expression.
“Hmph, who cares who Leo Plov dates? Isn’t that right, Chloe?”
He turned to Class 1’s class president, Chloe, with a smirk, as if asking for agreement.
“What?”
Chloe’s icy blue eyes flashed coldly.
The students around them flinched.
But Duran didn’t even glance at her and continued with a curled lip.
“As long as it doesn’t interfere with his training, it doesn’t matter who he dates.”
Ssssshh—
“Eek?!”
“Chloe? Chloe?!”
As the temperature around Chloe dropped sharply, the students quickly backed away.
“Lily is a well-known honor student, so if they’re dating, it’ll probably help Leo Plov too. They’d make a good match. If he rises higher, he’ll be even more worth defeating—”
Creak—
“Hey! Shut up! Read the room!”
As ice started forming around Chloe, Celia couldn’t take it anymore and clamped a hand over Duran’s mouth.
Duran scowled and pushed her away.
“What was that for?”
“Duran, look over there.”
Howl sighed and pointed toward Chloe.
Duran flinched as he saw Chloe wearing an expression as cold as ice.
Even Duran, known for his nasty temper, had to admit she was dangerous now.
“What’s her problem?”
“You! You’re the problem!”
“What did I even do wrong?”
“Ugh! You’re so clueless!”
Celia looked exasperated.
Just then, Chen Xia entered the cafeteria.
“Chen Xia!”
“Today’s the day we finally recruit you!”
“Haaah!”
Students from the Knights Department rushed at her.
The surrounding students watched with amusement.
Chen Xia, the top physical fighter among first-years, was highly sought after by the athletic clubs.
Since she was part of the student council, she wasn’t affiliated with any clubs, but the athletic ones had been eyeing her relentlessly.
As the seniors got more aggressive, Chen Xia made a declaration:
‘If any of my peers can land a hit on me with martial arts, I’ll join that club. Come at me every weekend morning.’
Ever since she said that with her signature soft smile, ambushes had become a weekend ritual in the cafeteria.
Of course, not a single student had succeeded so far.
Because of that, first-years enduring brutal training under club seniors were desperate to land a blow on her.
Flutter—
Chen Xia casually brushed her hands.
Crack!
“Gweh?!”
Bam!
“Guh!”
Snap!
“Kyaaagh!”
With near-supernatural movements, Chen Xia dodged their attacks and unleashed merciless counterattacks.
Fists sent students flying, kicks knocked them across the floor, joints dislocated—
Smiling all the while, she retaliated with terrifying force, and one of the first-years watching murmured,
“Doesn’t she seem rougher than usual today?”
“Yeah…”
Whoosh— Thud!
“…Definitely.”
The observer broke into a cold sweat as another classmate was sent flying.
“She’s seriously scary today.”
Even with her usual smile, her peers trembled in fear.
“Why are they all so hysterical this morning?”
Sitting with Class 5 students during breakfast, Chelsea spoke in a disinterested voice.
“You’re not bothered?”
Tide asked, puzzled.
“About what?”
“Leo and Lily going on a date.”
Chelsea smiled softly at that.
“I’m always close to Leo, and I’ve never once seen any romantic spark between him and Lily.”
“Really?”
“Yup. And if he does date someone else, then that’s that.”
“…”
Chelsea calmly shrugged and put her spoon in her mouth.
Tide turned his gaze to the side.
That morning, Carr and Eliana—who had teased Chelsea—were lying in a heap in one corner of the cafeteria.
Nella was healing them with [Aura of Healing].
They had paid dearly for irritating Chelsea when she wasn’t in the mood.
‘Leo, hurry up and come clear things up.’
Tide sighed deeply as he called out to his classmate in his thoughts.
—
Leo and Lily left Lumeria City and arrived at the Zerodia Ruins after a half-day journey.
Leo tilted his head as he looked at the ruined site.
‘It doesn’t exactly feel like the kind of place where a VIP would be, like the school said.’
This had once been a fortress located in the center of the continent 300 years ago.
It was the place where Zerodia, then principal of Lumene, had single-handedly stopped a legion commander’s advance.
She was known for having summoned endless spirits to halt the invasion.
Because of that, this site was like sacred ground to spirit arts users.
Before entering the ruins, Lily straightened her uniform.
As a student of Lumene—and a spirit arts user—there was reason to pay respects to a great hero of the past.
Leo followed suit, fixing his outfit as they stepped into the ruins.
“Look at that, Leo. That’s where Lady Zerodia summoned the Great Spirit of Wind to block the legion commander’s black magic!”
Lily excitedly pointed at a massive scar along the wall.
“I hope I can summon the Great Spirit of Wind like her one day.”
As Leo watched the starry-eyed girl dream aloud, he let out a soft laugh.
Whoooosh—
A gust of wind blew past.
Leo’s eyes twitched.
Lily also froze.
Craaaack—!
A violent wind slashed toward them.
Leo dodged quickly, adjusted his posture, and narrowed his eyes at the forming shape in the wind.
A summoned Wind Spirit was glaring at them with killing intent.
“Whoever this is, they’ve got quite the sense of humor.”
Lily scowled and raised her [Spirit Power].
“Show yourself! Spirit arts user!”
Whoooosh—!
Powerful winds swirled around Lily.
Leo watched the Wind Spirit and thought,
‘It wasn’t summoned by a spirit arts user.’
He raised his [Spirit Power] as well.
‘It’s a spirit under orders from a higher spirit.’
And the one before them was quite a powerful spirit.
To command something like this—
‘A Great Spirit.’