Chapter 237
Drip—drop—splashhhh—!
Pat—pat—rain began to fall.
Bodies were strewn across a rural village.
At the center of it all, a girl was walking.
The cold spring rain washed the earth clean.
Drip—drip—
Red droplets fell from her body.
“Gah—cough!”
A man in dark clothes coughed up blood.
Looking down at the lone survivor, Chen Xia spoke.
“You are executed for colluding with Tartarus.”
“Keh… how merciless.”
The man, gravely wounded, sneered.
“I can’t help but wonder what makes your Shadows any different from us. Such cruelty from a young girl.”
“At the very least, we don’t betray the world for our own greed.”
“Spare me the moral high ground! In the end, you Shadows are nothing but rejects unrecognized by the gods.”
A mocking grin formed on the man’s face.
Slice—!
Just then, a silver flash flew in from behind Chen Xia and severed the man’s neck.
Splurt—!
Blood sprayed out.
Chen Xia’s body, cleansed by the rain, was once again stained in red.
She turned her head.
“Your Highness. Do not sully your ears with the wicked words of the corrupt.”
“Yes.”
Chen Xia replied indifferently and turned away.
The traitors hiding in this village were now dealt with.
‘It’s been a while since I’ve felt this sensation.’
Elsewhere, other Shadows had appeared and were now mutilating the corpses for good measure.
Watching them, Chen Xia let out a deep breath.
‘If the others saw this, they might’ve frowned.’
Tartarus’s dark magic could trigger unexpected events.
For a Shadow, finishing off the dead like this was standard procedure.
But it wasn’t a noble act.
Not in the slightest.
Still, to Chen Xia, it wasn’t unfamiliar.
In fact, she accepted it as only natural.
It was a scene she’d grown up seeing since she was young.
This past year had simply been time spent in another world.
Step—step—
Chen Xia continued walking.
She and the others were Shadows of the Shan Empire.
The Shan Empire.
A powerful eastern nation with an ancient history.
The Shan Empire was known by another name—the Land of Shadows.
The Great Heroes had saved the world.
Thus began the Age of Heroes.
After the Age of Calamity ended, 2000 years passed.
With the return of calamity and the power of the [Hero Record] revealed to the world, heroes came to dominate global affairs.
Many looked up to heroes with admiration and envy.
They praised the achievements of heroes and dreamed of becoming one themselves.
Hero academies were founded, countless Heroic Houses were established, and nations were built by heroes.
Countries poured efforts into producing heroes.
‘But not the Shan Empire.’
The Shan Empire did not foster heroes.
It wasn’t that no heroes were born there, but rather, the Shan Empire valued Shadows more.
‘Even before this country was founded… no, even before the Age of Heroes, we’ve been fighting.’
The Shan Empire’s official founding was 4000 years ago, but Shadows of Shan had existed since 5000 years ago.
Since the Age of Calamity.
Throughout all that time, they had protected the world without ever leaving their names in the [Hero Record].
‘More noble than anyone… yet more wretched than anyone.’
Step—step—
Because they had to live completely in the dark, Shadows adhered to their own sense of justice.
Chen Xia came to a halt.
And spotted two young siblings hiding in an alley.
Perhaps because of the cold spring rain, they were trembling.
Step—squelch—
“Are you alright?”
At her voice, the siblings clung to each other even more tightly.
“Aren’t you cold? Let’s go with big sis…”
“Eek!”
As Chen Xia reached out to help them, the boy hugged his younger sister tightly and squeezed his eyes shut.
At the sound of that scream, Chen Xia’s hand froze in midair.
Hesitating, she eventually let out a bitter smile.
“Sorry. I must’ve scared you.”
She straightened up.
“There won’t be anything frightening from now on. So don’t stay out here—go home. You’ll catch a cold.”
With that, Chen Xia walked out of the alley.
“Big brother, that pretty lady helped us—”
“Shh! Hurry, follow me. That person’s a witch!”
The boy covered his sister’s mouth and hurriedly disappeared deeper into the alley.
‘They saw me hunt.’
Chen Xia looked down at her hand.
It appeared as clean and spotless as usual.
But just moments ago, it had been drenched in blood.
She was used to it.
Taking lives.
Being feared.
What stirred in her heart was…
‘This past year… maybe I dreamed too deeply.’
Perhaps she’d been blinded for a moment by the dazzling days of the past year.
‘Yeah.’
Chen Xia clenched her fist tightly.
‘This is where I belong.’
She closed her eyes.
The faces of the friends she’d studied with for a year surfaced in her mind.
And at the very end, the face of one boy appeared.
A person who seemed born to be a hero.
Someone whose surroundings were always filled with light and hope—pure white.
‘I… could never be like Leo.’
They were simply born in different worlds.
Thinking that, Chen Xia disappeared into the shadows.
—
“Whew.”
Leena let out a deep sigh.
“What a headache.”
Dressed in uniform, she tugged at the tie around her neck and loosened it.
“A problem, right in the first month of my term.”
With an annoyed expression, Leena took a bottle of liquor from the cabinet beside her desk.
Pouring a glass, she drifted into thought.
‘So in the end, they’re doing whatever they want?’
On the edge of her desk sat an envelope containing a letter from the Shan Empire.
The content was simple.
It stated that the Shan Empire’s princess, Chen Xia, would be withdrawing.
‘The Emperor probably doesn’t want Shan’s talents leaking to outsiders.’
The royal family of Shan lives behind a strict veil.
Only the Emperor may show their face to the world.
Even the heir to the throne cannot appear publicly until they’ve become Emperor.
A tradition upheld for thousands of years.
Talented royals who don’t become Emperor live not as heroes, but as Shadows.
That was the tradition of Shan.
‘That country… I just don’t understand it.’
Leena herself had lived most of her life as one of Lumene’s Shadows.
She was originally a student at Lumene.
But as she neared graduation, the Shadows of Lumene made her an offer.
Accepting it, she began her life in the shadows.
‘If it were me, I wouldn’t force my own child into something so vile. I’d let them live in the light!’
If the Emperor were in front of her right now, she’d chew him out.
She didn’t regret her life as a Shadow.
She had walked a blood-soaked path, but never thought it was wrong.
Even if she went back in time, she’d choose the same life.
However…
‘That doesn’t mean you should push kids into it on purpose.’
Judging solely by first-year grades, Chen Xia was an excellent hero candidate.
To force someone with that kind of potential onto the path of a Shadow?
‘That country really is insane.’
Leena sighed again.
‘The worst part is that Chen Xia herself seems willing to give up being a hero candidate.’
You couldn’t drag someone back if they didn’t want to come.
And this wasn’t just any Heroic House—this was the imperial family of the Shan Empire.
And she was a princess.
‘I guess I’ll have to visit her in person…’
Just as that thought crossed Leena’s mind—
Knock knock—
“Come in.”
The door opened.
Seeing who entered, Leena tilted her head.
“The Student Council President? What brings you here at this hour? Shouldn’t you be in class?”
“I skipped.”
“For the top student in Lumene’s history, you’re unexpectedly rebellious.”
“You’re drinking in the middle of the day too, aren’t you?”
At Leo’s remark, Leena set down her glass with a clack and said,
“Had my reasons.”
She stepped down from her desk and gestured to the guest sofa.
“Sit. I’m guessing there’s a reason the Student Council President came to see me.”
Leo sat down.
“So, what brings you here?”
“It’s about Chen Xia.”
“Chen Xia.”
Leaning back into the sofa, Leena spoke.
“You heard from Dorm Supervisor Sena, right? That she might withdraw due to family circumstances.”
“Yes.”
“Then even as Student Council President, there’s nothing you can do. Lumene isn’t special. As an educational institution, we teach those who are qualified. We can’t teach someone who isn’t.”
“By qualified, do you mean their will? Or their ideology?”
“What are you getting at?”
“I have a feeling she’s withdrawing because she’s a Shadow.”
“…”
Leena’s expression subtly shifted.
“Did Chen Xia say that?”
“No. Just a vague feeling I had.”
“You really are something. The youngest Student Council President truly is different.”
Leena stroked her chin in admiration.
“Then I find it even harder to understand. You know that while heroes and Shadows share the same goal, their ideologies can never mix, right?”
She smiled wryly.
“Many hero candidates hate Shadows.”
She wasn’t wrong.
Among hero candidates, some with obsessive ideals hated Shadows.
The work Shadows did was a far cry from that of heroes.
“Especially the radical ones. They don’t hesitate to torture or massacre. All in the name of eradicating traitors. But they often end up harming innocents.”
Leena looked at Leo and sneered.
“Tell me, Leo Plov. Weren’t you born to be a hero?”
She rested her chin on her hand and crossed her legs.
“You’re interested in Chen Xia because she’s your friend, right? But there’s no need for you to get involved with Shadows. Just stay a lofty hero.”
“A lofty hero, huh…”
Leo smiled as if amused.
“You’re the one who accepted Shadow candidates into Lumene.”
Leena’s cold gaze turned to Leo.
“I noticed it during the escort mission. Some of the juniors were raised as Shadows.”
Leena let out a chuckle.
“There are radicals among heroes too. Plenty of them have slaughtered innocents. The only difference is whether they had a ‘just cause.’ To me, they’re the same.”
“The same?”
Leena grinned.
“Yeah. In terms of fighting Tartarus, heroes and Shadows are the same. But…”
Her eyes narrowed.
“There’s one crucial difference.”
“A crucial difference?”
“Yes.”
Rising from her seat, Leena grabbed her glass from the desk and downed the rest.
Then she looked at Leo and said,
“No matter how great their achievements, Shadows can never be recorded in the [Hero Record].”
She sighed deeply.
“The gods praise the deeds of heroes—but they do not praise those of Shadows.”
Clack—
Setting the glass down, Leena smiled bitterly.
“Shadows are beings abandoned by the gods.”