Chapter 64
“Death Knight?”
“A Death Knight in the sacred sanctuary?”
Upon hearing Leo’s report, Professor Harrid and Lune both looked serious.
“I can’t believe it.”
But an elf wearing glasses, who was seated in Lune’s office, raised a question.
“It’s true that, unfortunately, monsters have been appearing in the Fairy Forest for a long time. But a Death Knight? There’s never been such a case, has there?”
Shaking his head, the elf turned to Leo.
“Are you certain you really saw a Death Knight?”
“Why would I say I saw something I didn’t?”
“I’m not accusing you of lying, Lumene student. Our students reported the appearance of skeletons, which is why I came here to speak with the Council Chairman. But we received no report about a Death Knight.”
‘He must be a professor from Seiren.’
The Seiren teacher adjusted his glasses and asked,
“Lumene student, have you ever seen an undead before?”
“Not in this life.”
“Then you might have mistaken a Skeleton Knight for a Death Knight. It’s a fairly common error.”
‘There’s no way I’d make that mistake, considering I took down Death Knights by the dozen in my previous life.’
Leo let out a snort and replied,
“Do Seiren students often make such mistakes?”
At that, the Seiren teacher hesitated, then cleared his throat.
“Ahem. It’s a mistake our students occasionally make.”
Changing the subject, the Seiren teacher continued.
“In any case, Lumene student, facing a Death Knight would make it hard to escape alive. Even our top first-years in Seiren would struggle to handle one alone. Are you saying you escaped on your own?”
“Yes.”
“You must be quite confident in your abilities.”
Curling his lips, he turned to Professor Harrid.
“What do you think, Professor Harrid?”
“I believe my student. Professor Herdeum.”
Professor Harrid answered firmly, making Herdeum frown and turn to Lune.
“And you, Council Chairman?”
“He’s not the kind of kid who would lie.”
Lune smiled, and Herdeum had no choice but to accept it.
“Let’s discuss the matter of the Death Knight further another time.”
At Lune’s words, Professor Harrid and Herdeum nodded.
“Professor Harrid, Leo. You may go. I have something to discuss with Professor Herdeum in private.”
“Understood.”
After Professor Harrid gave a bow, he left the office with Leo.
“The schedule’s about to change.”
Once they were outside, Professor Harrid muttered.
Leo gave him a curious look.
“The schedule’s changing?”
“Professor Herdeum is the homeroom teacher for Seiren’s top first-year class. It turns out their whole class is here for a mission exercise.”
Professor Harrid let out a little laugh.
“Since he found out we’re here for a school trip, Professor Herdeum requested a joint class.”
“A joint class?”
“We’ll get to experience Seiren’s teaching style, and they’ll get to experience ours.”
“That sounds interesting.”
“It will be. But it shouldn’t just be fun—this is a valuable opportunity to broaden your horizons. Not everyone gets a chance like this. In that sense, our class is lucky.”
“That’s true.”
“The top first-year class is the most outstanding group of students in Seiren. It will benefit us greatly.”
“Oh.”
“Professor Herdeum invited us for dinner tonight. Go inform the class.”
“Yes.”
—
“Wow! We get to meet the Seiren students!”
“Hey, how’s my hair? Is it set well?”
“Does this necklace look good on me?”
The students of Class 5 were in high spirits as the evening banquet approached.
“Carr, what are you doing?”
Leo looked at Carr, who was seated on the first floor putting together a booklet, and gave him a puzzled look.
“Making a catalog. Don’t you think the things I sell could be useful to the Seiren students too?”
Seeing Carr’s sly grin, Chelsea crossed her arms in disbelief.
“You’re going to do business here?”
“It’s just advertising. I’m not planning to sell anything at the party. I’m preparing for some business during the joint class starting tomorrow.”
Chelsea nodded at that.
“It’s time. Let’s go.”
Leo checked the time and spoke, and the students got up from their seats.
As soon as they stepped outside—
“It’s freezing!”
“So much for my hair! This wind ruins everything!”
They screamed as the blizzard hit.
Carr snickered as he watched.
“Are you all idiots?”
He earned a barrage of snowballs for that comment.
“At least it’s close by.”
Nella smiled.
The Seiren dorm was a luxury hotel right across from the Lumene dorm.
“So Seiren rented the whole place. Wow—must be loaded.”
Carr snorted, and Chelsea shrugged.
“Seiren is the richest of all the Hero Academies.”
The status of the Hero Academies differs by race.
For example, many factions are dissatisfied with the current system at Lumene.
Because of the Hero Record, each nation is forced to send its best talents to Lumene.
Some graduates do get good positions at home, but many also join the hero guilds Lumene runs.
Naturally, this leads to resentment over losing talent.
But Seiren is different.
Seiren is the central power of the Elven Federation, a massive force uniting all elves.
“I’ve heard that what Lumene provides for its students doesn’t even compare to Seiren, right?”
“Yeah. Especially since elves value ‘bloodline’ much more than humans do. That’s why it’s almost impossible to find students from minor noble or commoner families at their school.”
“So their sense of superiority must be intense.”
As Carr clicked his tongue, Class 5 arrived at the hotel.
A servant waiting out front opened the door with a bow.
“Welcome, everyone.”
“May I take your coats?”
“Please, hand them over.”
Servants politely took their coats in the lobby.
Some students, like Chelsea, handed them over naturally, while others, like Carr, fumbled with theirs.
“This way, please.”
Guided by the servant, the students entered the grand banquet hall.
“What is all this?”
Carr murmured in awe.
The banquet hall was the very image of luxury.
“This is on par with a party hosted by His Imperial Majesty.”
Even Chelsea, direct descendant of the prestigious Lewellin family, thought it was over the top.
While everyone was marveling—
Herdeum approached.
“Welcome. First-year Class 5 of Lumene. I am Herdeum Wintel, a teacher at Seiren. Please call me Professor Herdeum.”
“Thank you for inviting us, Professor Herdeum.”
The students greeted him politely.
“I hope this will be a valuable opportunity for both Lumene and Seiren’s first-years to deepen their friendship.”
After finishing his words with a smile, Professor Herdeum returned to his seat.
Professor Harrid and Sena had already arrived and were eating.
“First, let’s eat. I’m starving.”
Carr rubbed his hands, only for Chelsea to shoot him a glare.
“Don’t act like a barbarian as usual. The Seiren students are watching.”
“I know. I don’t want to embarrass our school either.”
Though curious about Seiren Academy, Lumene and Seiren have long been rival hero schools.
Especially in recent years, Seiren has been ahead of Lumene at every event.
Lumene has been looking for a chance to surpass Seiren, while Seiren is intent on maintaining its lead.
In a broad sense, this was also a gathering for meeting future rivals from another academy who they’d compete with throughout their school years.
Everyone had paid extra attention to their appearance because no one wanted to show any weakness.
And so, the party began.
Lumene and Seiren students mingled, full of curiosity and cautious exploration.
At first, things were awkward, but as fellow youths and aspiring heroes, conversation soon became lively.
Several Seiren students approached Leo, curious.
“I study spirit arts at Seiren. What about you?”
“I’m in summoning studies too.”
“Oh? How are Lumene’s spirit arts classes?”
The first student introduced himself as a spirit mage.
“I train in spear techniques.”
“I’m in the knight course too.”
“Oh, I’d love to learn more about Lumene’s knights. May I challenge you to a duel tomorrow?”
“Anytime.”
The second student introduced himself as a knight.
Many students came and went after that.
But Leo found something odd.
‘Why isn’t there a single student studying magic?’
Meanwhile, the party music kept changing.
Sometimes there was soft music for conversation, sometimes lively music would suddenly play.
The elves would break into dance whenever the mood struck.
Class 5, on the other hand, seemed uncomfortable with this.
At human parties, dance time is usually a separate segment.
But for Leo, this was a familiar sight.
‘Elves have always loved dancing, past or present.’
Elves have always been a race that loved singing and dancing.
It was common for them to woo others through song and dance.
Luna often sang and danced around the campfire.
The dance the Seiren students performed was the same one Luna used to dance long ago.
‘Dweno used to call it an art form.’
‘How could someone with such a difficult personality sing and dance so beautifully?’
‘…and then we’d get into a fight over nonsense like that.’
As Leo reminisced, someone approached.
“And you?”
“Hello, we meet again.”
Lunia smiled brightly.
Right on cue, dance music started to play.
Lunia asked,
“Would you like to dance?”
“Shall we?”
Leo held out his hand, and Lunia took it.
They started dancing lightly.
“You know the elf dance?”
“I learned it a long time ago.”
Lunia asked in surprise, and Leo answered as if it was nothing.
“Are you enjoying the party?”
“Yeah. But I’m a little curious—doesn’t Seiren have a magic department?”
“We don’t divide into departments like Lumene does. We focus on developing each student’s main area of study.”
“I see. That fits what I noticed.”
He thought back to the earlier students introducing themselves as spirit mages, summoners, spear knights, and sword knights.
“But none of them seem to study magic.”
“You must not know much about Seiren. Magic is a requirement here.”
“A requirement?”
“Yes. We’re a race of magic.”
“But there must be students whose aptitude isn’t suited to magic, right?”
“Such people can’t get into Seiren.”
‘So everyone’s basically dual-classed.’
Lunia continued to step lightly, and Leo easily followed her lead.
Lunia found herself enjoying the dance even more because Leo was such a skilled partner.
‘He’s really good!’
She was having more fun than usual.
When the dance ended, Lunia stepped back with a hint of regret and asked,
“Come to think of it, I never got your name. What is it?”
“Me? Leo Plov.”
“…?”
As she was about to let go of Leo’s hand, Lunia’s face froze.
Leo looked at her, puzzled.
“What’s wrong?”
“So it was you?”
“What?”
The friendly, honor-student demeanor from a moment ago vanished.
Radiating an intimidating air that could be called downright menacing, Lunia glared at Leo.
“You’re the thief who stole my contracted spirit?”
“Oh.”
Leo nodded in understanding, then grinned.
“I’m putting it to good use.”
“How dare you say that!”
An agitated Lunia grabbed Leo by the collar.
“It’s a fight! They’re fighting!”
The party hall erupted into chaos.
