Chapter 402

Uargella, the oasis city of Aleham.

The massive oasis at the center of Uargella looked like a giant beach.

An oasis sand beach of sorts, it was one of Uargella’s main tourist attractions.

There, students from Lumene and Azonia were splashing around in the water.

“Everyone’s so carefree.”

Celia Zerdinger swept her hair back as she arrived at the oasis sand beach.

Usually the picture of a flawless honor student, she watched the first and second-year Lumene students playing in the water with a faintly displeased expression.

Behind her stood her mentees, Aina Beidna and Martina Eran.

“This is nice too, Lady Celia. Our practical training mission is finished, after all.”

The Lumene students had nearly completed their mission training schedule.

The suspicion that Aleham was hiding a Hero Dungeon had proven true.

As feared, the concealed Hero Dungeon caused a large-scale anomaly that nearly brought Dovella to ruin, but thanks to the students of Lumene and Azonia, the first invasion ended without major damage.

There were second and third invasions afterward, but by then, upperclassmen from Lumene and Azonia had already arrived as reinforcements.

Afterward, Aleham was swept into an international dispute.

Not only had they concealed multiple Hero Dungeons, but evidence of their collusion with Tartarus was also uncovered.

And with definitive proof that a Hero Hunter had appeared, Aleham couldn’t even attempt to deny it.

Every race and every nation in the world rose up to condemn Aleham.

The world was thrown into chaos.

International relations were a web of tangled interests, but even in such a world, one thing could never be tolerated—colluding with Tartarus.

Because of this incident, Aleham faced a crisis where it wouldn’t have been strange for it to quietly vanish from history.

“They said a world conference will be held at Lumene to decide Aleham’s fate, right?”

“Yes.”

Celia nodded.

Afterward, professional dungeon conquerors from Lumene, Seiren, Azonia, and Damienne were dispatched to clear the rampaging Hero Dungeons.

“I wanted to finish the job with our own hands.”

“But we still helped a lot of people in Aleham, didn’t we?”

Martina said, noticing Celia’s lingering frustration.

While the dungeon conquerors were active, the first and second-year Lumene students helped the people of Aleham who had been left in difficult situations.

Aleham’s king and the core authorities were mostly arrested on charges of colluding with Tartarus and concealing Hero Dungeons.

While the Aleham monarchy still held power, rescuing and helping those in need could have been seen as interference in domestic affairs, but now that the monarchy had collapsed, that was no longer the case.

“You’re right. A Hero is a being who leads the world toward what’s righteous. Helping and saving those in need is also an important duty.”

Celia sighed.

“Yes. Everyone worked hard, so after the mission training ended, Master Leo used his authority as student council president to give us two days of free time, right?”

It was largely thanks to Leo Plov that the Lumene students could play without a care in the world.

“Still, as Lumene students, we must maintain our dignity.”

Celia watched her fellow students splashing around in their swimwear with a faintly disapproving face.

“Celia, you’re here?”

“Nella sunbae, hello!”

“Hello.”

As Nella Carven approached, Martina greeted her energetically, while Aina greeted her in a small, soft voice.

“Nella, you too.”

Celia pressed her temples.

Nella was also dressed for water play, wearing a swimsuit.

“It’s almost summer anyway. We all worked hard, so isn’t it nice to play before we go back to school?”

“Right, right. If you’re going to be a wet blanket while we’re having fun, just go back to your room.”

Chelsea Lewellin said as she appeared behind Nella.

“I’m not saying you shouldn’t play. I’m saying you should set an example as a second-year sunbae. Then again, you’d fit right in with the first-years, Chelsea.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re still a little kid, aren’t you?”

“There’s only a one-year age difference between you and me, you know?”

At that, Celia looked down at Chelsea, let out a small laugh, and swept her hair back.

Chelsea certainly had a youthful look, even for her age.

Chelsea, pouting as she stared at the smug Celia, raised the toy in her hand and aimed it at Celia’s face.

Squeeeirt-!

A jet of water shot out and drenched Celia’s face.

“Hoo.”

Celia took a deep breath.

Then her eyes flew open as she lunged.

“You little brat!”

Chelsea bolted without looking back.

“You! Get back here!”

“Am I crazy? You think I’d get into a physical fight with you, a student from the Knight Department?”

Chelsea glanced back, tugged down the skin beneath her eye with her index finger, and stuck out her tongue.

Watching them, Nella laughed and shouted.

“No using abilities on the oasis sand beach!”

Then she looked at Aina and Martina.

“Heehee—those two. Don’t they look like they get along really well?”

“Uhm… do they?”

Martina laughed awkwardly.

Meanwhile, on the oasis sand beach—

“Come and get it! Get it here! A hit product even the second-year honor students are having fun with! The Water Gun Staff! Water Bombs! And delicious ice cream and drinks to cool you down in this hot oasis!”

Carr Thomas had set up a stall and was loudly hawking his goods.

Business was booming.

With summer approaching, the students’ desire for water play was already surging, and once Chelsea, Eliana Laden, Nella, and Tide Markoa started using the toys Carr had handed out for promotion, demand skyrocketed.

On top of that, he was selling ice cream and drinks to beat the desert heat.

There was no way it wouldn’t sell.

“Sunbae! A Water Gun Staff, please!”

“Me too!”

“Here you go!”

Carr handed over the water gun toys with a wide grin.

As the money piled up in his pocket, Carr’s smile only grew.

“Hahaha! Juen! We’re going to be rich!”

At his words, Juen Torbina made a sour face.

“Aren’t you going to play, Carr sunbae?”

“I am playing right now, aren’t I?”

“Don’t you feel down doing business while everyone else is playing?”

“I do feel down. But when I look at the sales, that gloominess vanishes!”

Watching the genuinely happy Carr, Juen shook her head.

“By the way, aren’t these water gun toys made using a patented Magic Formula from the Southern Magic Tower?”

“They are! And I’m very grateful for it!”

The toys Carr made were items created by applying the Magic Formula from Juen’s Magic Staff.

“I guess your talent for hitting it big by making and selling cheap toys with something like that is certainly amazing, Carr sunbae.”

“Right?”

“You do know you have to pay 80% of the profits to the Southern Magic Tower as royalties, right?”

Crack-

Carr’s face froze.

With a woeful expression, he grabbed Juen’s ankle and clung to her.

“Have mercy! If it’s 80%, I’ll go bankrupt! Have mercy!”

“L-let go of me.”

Juen struggled, flustered, trying to shake him off.

“Hmph, playing with toys like that. How pathetic.”

Eliza Hergin, lounging on a sunbed beneath a parasol with sunglasses on, snorted at the sight.

Eliana, passing by, said casually, “This is actually pretty fun.”

“Hmph. What’s so fun about a crude toy like that?”

“Look.”

Squirt-

Eliana adjusted the pressure lower and shot Eliza in the face.

Eliza wiped her face in silence with a nearby towel, then picked up her whip.

“If your intention was to displease me, that was an excellent choice. Shall I carve whip marks onto that white skin of yours?”

“Hiiiek?!”

Eliana shrank back, covering herself, when Chen Xia stepped in and stopped Eliza.

“No violence.”

Chen Xia was practically the only student Eliza listened to.

Eliza clicked her tongue at Chen Xia’s appearance.

Then she snatched the Water Gun Staff from Chen Xia’s hand and drenched Eliana’s face.

“Ack! Gack!”

“Hmph.”

After snorting at Eliana, who shook her head wildly, Eliza was about to hand the staff back to Chen Xia.

Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-!

Chelsea came sprinting across the sand.

She hurled a Water Bomb at Celia, who was chasing her.

With a snort, Celia snatched it out of the air and tossed it aside as if flicking away trash.

Roll-roll-thud-!

The Water Bomb rolled to a stop at Eliza’s feet.

“…What is this?”

Eliza narrowed her eyes, and Chen Xia and Eliana dove out of the way without hesitation.

BOOM-!

The Water Bomb exploded, releasing an enormous burst of water.

It was a simple formula that compressed water, but the power was immense.

The water pressure sent the parasol and sunbed flying, and Eliza ended up face-down in the sand.

“……”

“……”

Everyone nearby swallowed hard.

Eliza pushed herself up, brushed sand off her face, then spat out the sand that had gotten into her mouth.

She watched Chelsea and Celia’s chase with eerily calm eyes, then walked straight to Carr’s stall.

Carr and Juen stared at her, mouths hanging open.

“Carr Thomas. Do you have anything more powerful than a Water Gun Staff or a Water Bomb? I don’t care how much it costs.”

At Eliza’s surprisingly calm tone, Carr swallowed and handed her a large cylinder.

“It’s a prototype Water Cannon, but it’s so strong it’s dangerous…”

“Those two won’t die from something like this, so I don’t care.”

Eliza turned, Water Cannon in hand.

A grinding sound slipped from between her teeth.

“You’re dead.”

The sand beach began to be reduced to rubble.

—

In a quieter spot on the sand beach, Leo lay on a sunbed beneath a parasol’s shade, looking out over the oasis.

Beside him, Chloe Mueller sat on another sunbed, reading.

She carried the relaxed air of a vacation, and every so often, she would glance sideways at Leo.

From the center of the oasis, air bubbles rose continuously.

Bubble-bubble-bubble-

“Puah-!”

A moment later, Ar surfaced.

Chloe, who had been sneaking glances at Leo, quickly dropped her eyes back to her book.

Ar scrambled ashore and shook the water from her body.

Panting, she looked ready to cry.

“Black Rabbit, I’m so tired! I want to stop now!”

Seeing Ar on the verge of tears, Leo stood up.

Walking across the sand toward her, he said, “You’re the one who asked for special training for your Howling.”

In the last battle, Ar had gained the ability to awaken other Beastmen’s Beast Transformation through her Howling.

It was an unknown ability, even to Leo.

‘And it’s also the ability Arron wanted so badly.’

Arron had wanted his Beast Transformation to be passed on to other Beastmen.

If it had been, more of his kin could have survived on the battlefield.

But in the end, Arron couldn’t achieve it.

Not just Arron—no one after him managed to gain the ability to use Beast Transformation freely.

A Beastman who fully acquired Arron’s Beast Transformation only appeared 5,000 years after Arron’s death.

‘It seems they acquired Beast Transformation in Tartarus using a fragment of Arron’s Hero Record… but that’s impossible without a Fake Brave, so we’ll set that aside.’

And according to the testimony of those who fought them, that Beast Transformation didn’t seem complete.

In any case, Ar had unintentionally obtained the ability Arron had longed for.

Ar had been thrilled when she first learned what she could do.

But after realizing she couldn’t control it properly, she finally came to Leo for help.

The first thing Leo did was shove her into the water.

First, because her Howling would be a nuisance to everyone nearby, and second, because regulating her breathing underwater made it easier to use Howling.

But Ar, a cat Beastman, detested water.

Of course, Leo wasn’t the type to care.

“I hate water now! I hate it!”

“You have no choice, even if you hate it. Get in.”

At Leo’s cold words, Ar’s eyes darted around.

‘If it’s come to this!’

Ar chose to flee.

Grab-!

Leo caught her by the tail, and she pitched forward.

“Ugyaaaaah!”

Ar flailed.

Leo sighed, walked over, and crouched down in front of her.

“Ar, you’ve set foot in a realm that not even the Hero could achieve.”

Ar froze and looked up at him.

“As the Hero’s successor, you’ve accomplished something even the Hero couldn’t.”

“Ooh-!”

Ar clenched her fists.

“And you’re going to run away?”

“No!”

“Arron might be disappointed if he saw you like this. Are you okay with that?”

“Absolutely not!”

Leo smiled gently and stroked her white hair.

Ar made a cat-like expression in response.

Leo removed his hand, slipped both hands under her armpits, and lifted her up.

With her ears perked, Ar stared intently at him with wide, cat-like eyes.

Leo grinned.

“Then, Ar.”

“Yeah?”

“Get back in.”

Whoosh-!

“Hey! You damn Black Rabbiiiiiiit!”

Splash-!

After mercilessly throwing Ar into the water, Leo crossed his arms.

Watching the scene, Chloe sighed.

“I see why Celia and Chelsea can’t stand him.”