Chapter 430
That evening.
The second-years staggered along, looking utterly worn out.
Thud.
Carr slumped down on the ground.
“Today was already this brutal… how am I supposed to survive a whole month?”
“When I get home, I’m throwing out every single stuffed doll I own.”
The exhausted second-years reacted in full-blown panic.
As soon as the sun set, the second-years were warped to one place and were now heading toward the lodgings by following signposts.
“I’m hungry.”
“We were starving all day. Of course you are.”
“What’s for dinner?”
“After we eat, I want to wash up with warm water right away! I’m a mess!”
“I just want to lie down on a bed already~”
Wishes spilled out from all directions.
“Carr, stop sprawled out and get moving.”
Chelsea poked Carr, who was sitting on the ground, with her staff.
“I don’t want to go.”
“Why?”
“The future I see is nothing but darkness, I’m telling you. Boo-hoo-hoo.”
Chelsea frowned at Carr’s wailing.
Grabbing him by the nape, she dragged him along and spoke.
“By the way, I don’t see Leo oppa?”
“He probably cleared the trials we went through ages ago and went back to the lodging to rest first.”
“Well, yeah. It’s Leo oppa.”
Chelsea nodded like it made perfect sense.
They arrived at the place they’d be staying for the next month.
In a wide clearing stood several log cabins.
They weren’t as fancy as expected, but the students still looked satisfied at the sight of proper lodgings.
“Wow! This is perfect.”
“Doesn’t it feel like we came to a vacation cabin?”
“Let’s eat already!”
“First we should wash up!”
The students started toward the log cabins with excited reactions—
“Where are you going?”
Leo, sitting by a campfire in one corner of the clearing, asked with a puzzled look.
“Ah! Leo oppa!”
Chelsea beamed and ran over to Leo, while Carr let out a long sigh, walked up, and dropped down beside him.
Lunia approached with her arms crossed and asked,
“Why aren’t you going in?”
“Going where?”
“To the lodging.”
“Our lodging is here.”
Leo gestured with his chin toward the vast clearing.
“What?”
For a moment, Lunia looked like she couldn’t process it.
Then she understood—and went pale.
“W-wait! You’re saying we aren’t being given any place to sleep? We have to camp out with zero gear?”
“Yep.”
At Leo’s answer, screams erupted everywhere.
Ar crossed her arms and smirked at the reaction.
“Heh! Pathetic! This is why pampered young masters and young ladies raised in greenhouses are hopeless!”
With her white cat tail swishing, Ar puffed her chest out.
“Azonia students won’t be inconvenienced by something like sleeping outdoors, not even a litt—”
“You also have to find your own food.”
“What kind of nonsense is that?!”
Ar’s cat tail shot straight up.
“Idiot! If they’re not giving you bedding, why would they give you meals?”
“Urk!”
Ar flinched at Lunia’s words.
“What’s all this commotion?”
At that moment, a log cabin door opened and someone stepped out.
Everyone’s gaze snapped to the woman.
She had black hair with a faint reddish sheen.
A beautiful woman with strikingly long, slender limbs—but the most distinctive thing was her ears.
A rabbit beastkin with black rabbit ears.
“Senior Vanir!”
The Azonia students rushed over to Vanir with delighted faces.
“Senior! Have you been well?!”
“We’ve heard of your achievements!”
“It’s an honor to see you again!”
Vanir looked at the juniors’ loud greetings with cold eyes and said,
“Yap-yap, noisy. Brats.”
At Vanir’s voice, brimming with killing intent, students from every Hero Academy visibly recoiled.
But the Azonia second-years simply snapped to attention and boomed, “Yes!”
Vanir pressed a hand to her temple like she had a headache.
“So. What are you all whining about?”
A Seiren student raised his hand.
Vanir jerked her chin, and he spoke.
“We’d like to know why bedding and meals aren’t being provided. We came to improve our skills, and training efficiently requires being in top condition, doesn’t it?”
“You don’t seriously think this is an extension of your department schedule, do you?”
“Pardon? Of course it is—”
“You got an invitation from the Dragon Lord and now you’re acting like you were ‘chosen,’ huh.”
Vanir brushed her bangs back.
“The Dragon Lord didn’t choose you. She’s testing you.”
At Vanir’s harsh words, the Seiren student’s shoulders trembled.
Not just him.
The other students flinched as well.
“The reason you’re not getting bedding and meals? It’s to see how much skill you can actually bring out even in extreme conditions. If you’ve got complaints about that, withdraw right now. No one’s going to stop you.”
A few students clenched their teeth and lowered their heads.
Vanir snorted at them, went back inside, and shut the door.
In the heavy silence, Chen Xia spoke.
“Let’s split up the work for now. Bedding and food come first, so let’s decide who does what.”
“You’re calm even in a situation like this?”
“I’m used to it.”
Chen Xia smiled gently.
As a shadow, Chen Xia was used to situations like this.
Everyone, dragging their tired bodies, began preparing bedding and food.
Leo watched them in silence.
“Black rabbit, what are you thinking so hard about?”
Ar asked with a puzzled look.
“Nothing.”
Leo smiled faintly.
“Just got reminded of the old days for a moment.”
===
There was a single dense mountain in Plov territory.
A land where no monsters lived.
A plain, large mountain you could find in any countryside, with no notable underground resources.
‘Which makes it perfect as a training ground.’
Melina had already used magic to cut this mountain off from the outside.
And with the Dragon Lord’s power, she’d turned it into the ultimate training site.
‘In the end, no one cleared Stage One today.’
The first-years and second-years were currently separated.
But on the first day of this training camp, not a single person cleared Stage One.
It wasn’t because the Hero candidates were lacking.
Melina’s training regimen was simply that harsh.
‘They need to clear Stage One first before we can move them into individual training.’
As Melina considered the schedule for the coming month, she spoke.
“What is it?”
“An audience with the Lord.”
Behind her, a blond man knelt and bowed his head.
Akatis—Melina’s trusted aide.
His role was to search the western continent for the Hero Records of the Great Heroes and the Heroes of Genesis.
For him to come in person meant something had happened.
“In the capital of the Delard Kingdom—Delan—a Hero Dungeon has manifested.”
“If you came to me directly, then it involves a Great Hero or a Hero of Genesis’s Hero Record, yes?”
Melina sprang to her feet as she asked.
“We haven’t confirmed it precisely yet. However…”
“However?”
“There were reports that black flames surged up in Delan.”
“Black flames…!”
Melina’s expression hardened.
“Where exactly?”
“The Delan Royal Palace’s magic research institute.”
“Go ahead first. Lead the dragons there and stand by. I’ll finish stabilizing things here and follow immediately.”
“Yes.”
Akatis vanished.
Melina took a deep breath, then called out.
“Leo-nim. We have a problem.”
===
The tragedy where every child in an orphanage died was where it all began.
Arron’s master—known as the Guardian of the Azure Sky—said it was an unfortunate accident.
Arron wanted to know the truth, but his master wouldn’t tell him.
‘Arron. You’ve never once seen a clear sky since the day you were born, have you.’
Agon smiled faintly, his face ravaged.
‘To someone who’s never even seen a clear sky… I don’t want to tell you the truth. Forgive me. As the Guardian of the Azure Sky… this is my selfishness, wanting to protect your heart—purer than anyone’s… Forget your younger siblings.’
‘Yes, Master.’
Arron had relied on his master since he was little.
So he had countless questions, but he obeyed.
But after that tragedy, he thought—
‘If I’d been just a little braver… would my siblings have lived?’
He couldn’t know what really happened.
Even with overwhelming power, he was always terrified.
But if he’d only been a little braver, then his master wouldn’t have fallen into despair.
His siblings wouldn’t have left before him.
The tragedy happened while Arron, too afraid to fight, had run away from home for half a year.
Then one day—
They came.
Three people who claimed they would save the world, seeking to recruit Agon, the Guardian of the Azure Sky, as a companion.
“Guardian of the Azure Sky, Agon. We need your power.”
“Lysinas, was it?”
Agon spoke in a broken voice.
“I’m sorry, but… I can’t fight for the world anymore. I can’t go to war for people. My heart… has already snapped.”
Agon politely refused the request of the dragon dubbed the Fool.
“Instead… take my disciple. This child is far stronger than I am. He’s different from me. He doesn’t hate people, and he doesn’t hate the world. His heart is as clear as a blue sky.”
Agon smiled as he looked at Arron.
“He’ll step forward without hesitation to protect others.”
“This timid-looking kid?”
The elf perked her ears and leaned her face in close to Arron’s, as if fascinated.
So beautiful—Arron’s face reddened before he could stop it.
‘P-pretty.’
“Oh my, how innocent. He’s blushing! Cute!”
“Stop interrupting.”
“Ack-ow-ow! Let go! Let go! I won’t—chomp!”
“Aagh! You damn pointy-eared—!”
In less than three seconds, the image of “pretty” shattered as she bit down on the human man’s hand that was yanking her ears.
Arron, frightened by these terrifying people, flinched—until the dragon dubbed the Fool approached him.
“Arron. Won’t you come with us?”
Lysinas smiled gently.
“If you were born with such immense power… then there must be a reason.”
“The reason I was born…?”
“Yes. What do you want to do right now?”
“…I want to make a world where children can smile in peace under a blue sky.”
At that answer, Lysinas’ eyes widened, and then she broke into a bright smile.
“Then won’t you come with us? We’re trying to reclaim the blue sky, too.”
Even though a harsh journey waited ahead…
Even though it was obvious they carried despair worse than his…
That hopeful smile captivated him.
Empowered by it, Arron gathered the greatest courage of his life and stepped into the world.
Later, a strange dwarf named Dweno joined.
There were many days he was too scared to fight.
But his companions… his friends believed in him.
And Arron squeezed out courage to live up to that faith.
In that way, the world began to recover hope.
Then, before they embarked on their final journey—on the last night in Guardslone—
“Kyle, is there anything you really want? Anything you want to accomplish?”
“Not right now.”
Kyle smirked, took a sip of alcohol, and asked,
“What about you? You got anything you want?”
“I want to make a world where children can smile.”
“Not that.”
“Huh?”
“Luna’s goal is to spread her name through the ages. Dweno’s goal is to leave behind a work of art. Those are wishes for themselves.”
“Lysinas just wants to save the world too, doesn’t she?”
“That’s because she’s an idiot.”
Kyle said flatly.
“You don’t have to live for the world just because that dragon does.”
Kyle looked at Arron.
“Find what you want.”
And then they set out on the final journey.
As he climbed the mountain, Arron looked up at the sky.
Beyond this mountain… was the mastermind who had made the world this way.
They’d encountered it again and again, but never fought it head-on.
Tremble, tremble, tremble.
His hands shook.
Just like always.
This moment terrified him so much he wanted to run.
Then—
Arron’s hyper-senses suddenly flared.
A transcendent sensation, almost like foreseeing the future.
Arron’s face turned white.
‘We’re going to lose this fight.’
“Lysinas!”
“Hm? What is it?”
“This fight—we shoul—”
The moment he tried to speak urgently,
that cursed hyper-sense told him something else he didn’t want to know.
He couldn’t understand what would happen.
The future it showed him was only the ‘result.’
But in that moment—
For the first time ever, he felt an outcome with terrifying clarity.
Arron’s gaze went to Kyle and Luna.
‘If I run away right now…’
Arron squeezed his eyes shut.
‘Kyle and Luna die.’
Those two, like an older brother and sister…
Family itself.
‘What do I do? What do I—’
Fear far beyond anything he’d ever known swallowed him whole.
It felt like his breathing stopped.
‘What do I do…!’
As he clenched his eyes shut, Arron’s hyper-sense offered him a way.
“Arron?”
Lysinas called him, looking slightly flustered.
“Lysinas. Let’s not run from this fight.”
“Huh? Of course.”
Arron smiled at Lysinas.
It was the same hopeful smile Lysinas had given him on the day they first met—the smile that had given him the courage to step into the world.
“We can win. I’m sure of it.”
In this fight, they would lose.
But…
‘If we don’t run and we face it head-on… Kyle and Luna won’t die.’
Arron walked at the very front.
The fear vanished, replaced by a strange calm.
‘If it’s just me… then it’s enough.’
************************************************************
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