Chapter 380
Dovella.
In the nation of Aleham, where most of the land was desert, it was the only city lush with vegetation.
Ordinarily, it should have been the most developed city in Aleham, but Dovella was one of the most underdeveloped regions in the country.
This was due to Dovella’s geographical location.
No matter how lush the vegetation, if it belonged to the Forest of Monsters, it was not a blessing but a curse.
From the forest, which possessed an infinite life force, monster attacks were relentless.
If the monster attacks were not stopped, the crisis could spread beyond Dovella to the entire nation.
The central government of Aleham continued to provide financial aid to protect the defensive line that was Dovella.
But that was the extent of the central government’s support.
The royal family of Aleham wouldn’t care even if the entire country fell into ruin.
From their perspective, Dovella was nothing more than a nuisance, and they only provided the minimum financial aid necessary to prevent its collapse.
They offered no further management.
Naturally, Dovella saw a constant stream of mercenaries.
The lives of mercenaries, who engaged in life-or-death battles with monsters, were heavily influenced by a get-rich-quick mentality.
Thanks to such mercenaries, the public safety of the neglected city plummeted.
Even in the chaotic state of Aleham, Dovella’s situation could be described as even more severe.
Amidst all this, outside the walls of Dovella.
‘Creeeeak! Crash—!’
A giant tree fell.
‘Guwooooooo!’
“O-Ogres?!”
At the appearance of a pack of high-level monsters, Ogres, the mercenaries let out screams of terror.
The monster at the top of the food chain in the Forest of Monsters was the Troll.
While Trolls were undeniably fearsome monsters, they were creatures that skilled mercenaries could easily subjugate.
But Ogres were fundamentally different beasts from Trolls.
Their hides were so tough that a standard steel sword couldn’t even pierce their skin, and their strength was great enough to easily hurl massive boulders.
Overwhelming durability and power.
To ordinary mercenaries, they were the stuff of nightmares.
At the appearance of a monster that didn’t originally exist in the Forest of Monsters, numerous mercenaries panicked and retreated.
‘Step—’
“All of them were so full of themselves, saying to trust only in their own skills.”
Sighing at the mercenaries fleeing past her, a girl stepped forward to face the Ogres.
Unlike the battle-hardened mercenaries, the beautiful girl drew her sword. ‘Schwing—’
‘Fwoosh—!’
Flames erupted from her body.
‘Whoosh—!’
The Aura of Flame bisected an Ogre that was charging toward the girl, Martina.
‘Thud—!’
The Ogre, split in two, collapsed dead.
“Ooooh!”
The mercenaries who saw it let out cries of admiration.
Just then, a golden flash erupted.
‘Kwa-ga-ga-gak—!’
A blonde girl who had zipped through the Ogres at incredible speed landed on the ground and spun around.
“Woooooah!”
The mercenaries’ cheers grew even louder.
But their cheers didn’t last long.
“You’re both pretty good.”
The rapier-wielding girl, Celia, approached the Ogres with a faint smile.
Elegantly sweeping her hair back, Celia readjusted her grip on her rapier.
‘Tak—!’
“Shall I finish this?”
‘Fwoooosh—!’
Flames of a heat incomparable to Martina’s shimmered from her body.
At the appearance of one of the strongest students from Lumene’s second-year Knight Department, the mercenaries let out desperate screams.
“Lady Celia!”
“Please, don’t step in!”
“Aaaaaaaah! It’s the disaster that turns everything to ash!”
Celia’s face crumpled as she watched the mercenaries make a fuss.
“There’s no need for you to step in, Celia Sunbae. Martina, you too.”
‘Gwoooooo—!’
A golden Aura enveloped Aina’s body.
“Here… I’m more than enough on my own.”
‘Stomp—!’
Aina’s foot dug into the ground.
As she bent her knees, she charged toward the Ogres at an invisible speed.
As Aina’s sword flashed, the Ogres’ heads went flying.
“As expected, the bloodline of the Sword Saint is different.”
“To think she’s dicing up Ogres’ necks like tofu at such a young age.”
“She’s scarier than the monsters.”
Celia narrowed her eyes as she watched the murmuring mercenaries.
In just a single day, Aina had become a figure of fear among the mercenaries.
It wasn’t simply because she subjugated monsters with overwhelming power.
Zerdinger’s Flame was a power far better suited for dealing with multiple enemies.
If one were to count the number of monsters subjugated, Celia would come out on top.
And yet, the reason Aina had become an object of fear was that she constantly radiated bloodlust.
She didn’t even care about getting blood on her body.
Even if she was a hero candidate, the sight of a young girl, covered in blood in a way that didn’t suit her, beheading monsters like a butcher was more than enough to be unsettling.
Having annihilated the Ogre pack in an instant, Aina flicked the blood from her sword and sheathed it.
‘Trudge— Trudge—’
Celia sighed as she watched Aina approach, covered in blood.
The mercenaries furtively avoided Aina’s gaze.
“Aina, you’re too impatient.”
“……”
“Why are you like this? You’re the best among the first-years.”
“That means nothing if I haven’t been acknowledged by Leo Sunbae.”
Celia knew that for some unknown reason, Aina was obsessed with gaining Leo’s approval more than necessary.
‘I should have a talk with Leo.’
Just as Celia sighed.
“Young ladies! Thank you so much!”
A man who appeared to be the mercenary captain approached with a wide grin.
“Thanks to you ladies, our mercenary group earned a month’s pay in a single day.”
“Ah, yes.”
Celia had come to Dovella to explore the Forest of Monsters with her mentees, Aina and Martina.
And in Dovella, Celia found and contracted a mercenary group that had been active for a long time and had a relatively decent reputation.
Having been active in Dovella for so long, they had their own system and were well-versed in the geography of the Forest of Monsters, which was helpful for the exploration.
Their payment was the corpses of the subjugated monsters.
The mercenaries of Dovella received their pay using the subjugated corpses as proof.
That was also why the mercenaries had screamed in despair when Celia was about to step in.
Celia’s flames completely incinerated the monsters, leaving no corpses to be had.
Since they could earn a profit just by guiding the overwhelmingly strong hero candidates, the mercenary group welcomed the three of them enthusiastically.
“You’re saying today was the first time you’ve seen an Ogre?”
“That’s right! I’ve been a mercenary in Dovella for five years! But this is the first time I’ve seen an Ogre!”
‘Just as I thought. This is definitely an anomaly.’
Just as Celia narrowed her eyes.
‘Rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble—!’
The very earth began to shake.
“Wh-what is it?”
“Monsters are moving on a massive scale,” Celia said, her senses sharpened.
“The money is just rolling in!”
The mercenary captain beamed.
“Well, I don’t think that’s quite it.”
“Pardon?”
Just as the mercenary captain looked bewildered.
‘Whoosh—!’
“Hello, Celia.”
“Hmph. So it’s Celia.”
Parting the bushes, Abad and Duran appeared.
Behind them were their mentees, Fritz and Haviden, and their own mercenary group.
“Oh my! Celia Sunbae. You were here?”
From the sky, Sasha, the top student of the first-year Summoner Department, appeared, riding a giant eagle-shaped Greater Spirit Beast.
Next to her stood her mentor, Walden, with his arms crossed.
Abad and Duran had had the same idea as Celia and had hired mercenary groups.
They had been looking for a good spot to subjugate a monster horde and had ended up where Celia was.
Celia’s lips jutted out in a pout.
Unlike her, with her flame attribute, her other classmates could fight as much as they wanted since they could leave monster corpses behind.
“Another chance to increase your income, I see,” Celia said coyly to the mercenary captain.
At that, the mercenary captain’s expression turned serious.
“It is time for Lady Celia to step forward!”
“Pardon?”
“A rule among mercenaries. No matter if you hunt the prey together, the one who finds it first gets all the pay. Even if we help, not a single penny will fall to us. But if we avoid the fight, we’ll just get cursed out.”
“So.”
“If we can’t have it, we burn it!”
“……”
In the end, he was saying it was better to burn everything than to work hard for someone else’s benefit.
Sighing, Celia readjusted her grip on her sword.
“Burn them all to the ground!”
At the shout from behind her, Celia shook her head.
* * *
That evening.
Celia sat in a tavern in the center of Dovella.
Across from her sat Abad, Duran, and Walden, whom she had encountered in the Forest of Monsters during the day.
“So.”
Duran, arms crossed, wore a cantankerous expression.
“What’s the reason you called us all here, Walden Thaiden.”
The one who had organized this meeting was none other than Walden.
“I felt the need to exchange information.”
“Hmph. How unusual. For you to request cooperation.”
“This mission practicum isn’t a competition,” Abad said with a faint smile.
“Feeling the need for cooperation means you’ve found something unusual, right?”
At Celia’s question, Walden took a dark red orb out from his coat.
Seeing it, Abad stroked his chin.
“A Golem Core.”
“A golem was wandering around the Forest of Monsters today. This is what I obtained after dealing with it. Abad Lewellin. You should be able to tell what era this is from, right?”
Nodding at Walden’s words, Abad reached for the mana core.
Meanwhile, Walden looked at Celia and Duran and said, “My mentee and I spent the day scouting the skies above the Forest of Monsters.”
Walden hadn’t hired a separate mercenary group and had moved independently with Sasha.
Hearing that, Celia tilted her head.
“Isn’t it hard to approach the skies of the Forest of Monsters by flight because of the abnormal air currents? I heard even that butterball gave up, saying it was too much of a hassle.”
“Spirit users and mages are fundamentally different. While a wind mage controls the surrounding atmosphere, a spirit user can dominate it.”
“So, what are you trying to say?”
“As soon as I scouted the Forest of Monsters, I realized an anomaly had occurred in the forest. A large number of monsters that don’t exist in the Forest of Monsters have appeared. You all should know this as well.”
“Right.”
“And all of those monsters showed characteristics of monsters from the southern region of the continent.”
Even among Ogres, Ogres from the northern region and Ogres from the southern region show different characteristics.
“Are you saying it’s a Hero Record from the southern region?”
As Celia tilted her head, Walden narrowed his eyes.
“That’s not all.”
“Then what is it?”
“The monsters that appeared each bore the characteristics of different eras.”
Monsters are intelligent beasts.
Among them, some possess high intelligence.
They have their own cultures, and these cultures are revealed through the monsters’ state of armament.
That’s why the state of a monster’s armament would subtly change from era to era.
For monsters with such diverse characteristics to appear in one place.
It meant only one thing.
“Are you saying there might be more than one Hero Dungeon?”
Just as Walden nodded at Duran’s words.
“I’ve figured out which era this Golem Core is from.”
At that moment, Abad spoke with a confused expression.
“Which era is it from?”
“Based on my analysis of the fundamental formula that makes up the core, it’s an item from before the Age of Heroes.”
“What?!”
At Abad’s words, everyone’s eyes widened.
“Are you saying it’s an item from the Era of Calamity?” Celia asked urgently.
“It is an item from the Era of Calamity. But I can’t guarantee that this core is from 5,000 years ago.”
“What does that….”
“The activation formula that drives this core’s mana is from 3,000 years ago. I’ve never seen or heard of anything like this. I’ll have to look into it in more detail, but this is a major discovery that could turn the world of magical studies upside down.”
* * *
‘Whoosh—!’
With a bright flash of light, a girl collapsed onto the ground.
In the middle of Dragonia.
The girl frantically looked around to grasp the situation.
Then, she discovered the words [Clearance Failed] before her eyes and laughed hollowly.
“……So this is the place.”
The girl, Rodia, nodded and pushed herself up.
She knew exactly where this was.
Her childhood.
This was probably the very first page of her Hero Record.
The day she first confirmed the infinite possibilities of the Hero Record.
Rodia reached out, her hand extending toward the undivided, complete form of the Hero Record.
The page of Lysinas, the great King of Wisdom, was open.
Rodia’s favorite heroic tale of Lysinas.
A page she had attempted to clear countless times for that very reason.
But a page she had never managed to clear.
Rodia knew why.
It was because of the absence of one person.
“Lord Kyle. Perhaps he is the only one who can clear this world?”