Chapter 68
That evening.
While the Lumene students were having dinner in the dormitory, a visitor arrived.
“Chelsea! How can you eat this stuff?!”
“Are you complaining about my cooking?”
“Cooking? This is cooking? Don’t insult the word, please?”
“What? You guys are dead tonight!”
“Hey, run! She’s about to use magic!”
“I’m telling Professor Harrid about this!”
“Class rep! Can’t you just take the cooking duty? Yours always tastes the best!”
“I just grabbed a few party dishes from Seiren yesterday.”
Even before the door opened, the dorm was full of loud chaos.
Since the theme of this school trip was self-sufficiency, students were responsible for every meal.
Of course, since most had grown up pampered or far removed from anything culinary, a proper meal was out of the question.
As a result, every Lumene mealtime turned into a commotion like this.
Listening to the antics, Sena covered her face and turned away, while Professor Harrid let out a deep sigh.
“Ha ha! The students are so lively!”
Only Lune greeted it all with a good-natured smile.
“I-I’ll go calm things down first.”
Sena awkwardly smiled and hurried inside.
A moment later, with everything quiet, Sena opened the door.
The entire class was eating quietly and elegantly as if nothing had happened.
“Nice to see you all.”
“Hello, Council Chair Lune!”
The Class 5 students greeted politely in unison.
Of course, even as they greeted him, they kept glancing at Professor Harrid.
“Ha ha. I hope I’m not interrupting your meal. I actually came because I have an announcement.”
“An announcement?”
Carr looked puzzled.
“That’s right. As you all know, multiple undead—including Death Knights—have appeared in the Fairy Forest.”
Everyone’s face grew serious at those words.
“There was a meeting in the council about this. I came to inform you all of the results.”
Class 5 exchanged confused glances.
“The Elsalbekia Grand Council is officially requesting an investigation from both Seiren and Lumene. You are to join forces with Seiren to investigate the abnormal incidents in the Fairy Forest.”
Everyone looked shocked.
“Of course, it would be dangerous for you all to handle this alone, given your lack of experience. That’s why we’ve already put in a request to Seiren. You’ll be working with upperclassmen from Seiren to investigate.”
“Does that mean it’s an official commission?”
“That’s right.”
An official commission.
Lumene first-years normally start with commission practice in the second semester, taking official commissions from the second year onward.
Now, they would be starting that process a whole year early.
“Remember, even though it’s an official commission, it’s still an extension of your practice. If anything happens that you can’t handle, the commission will be canceled immediately. Also, though it’s an official commission, it’s not formal—so there won’t be any reward.”
Some students looked disappointed at that, but the mood quickly shifted.
An official commission!
They truly felt recognized as Lumene students now.
“Did you come in person for the commission, Councl Chair?”
Leo asked with a curious look, and Lune shook his head.
“No. Actually, I came because of you, Leo.”
“Me?”
“Yes. This child wanted to see you.”
Lune smiled and brought Eiran, who had been hiding behind him, to the front.
“So cute!”
“Class rep! How do you know her?”
The Class 5 students gushed over shy Eiran.
Leo answered Eliana’s question plainly.
“She’s Lord Lune’s granddaughter.”
“Ohh.”
“L-Leo, have you been well? Um… I, I came to visit because Lord Lune suggested it…”
“Welcome.”
“You must be close with Leo? Hi, I’m Eliana. Did you eat yet? Want to join us?”
“Hey, Eliana. Don’t give a guest this stuff.”
“Oh, right. Sorry.”
Eliana and Carr cleared all the food off the table.
Chelsea glared daggers at them, choking both Carr and Eliana by the neck.
Eiran was flustered by the chaos.
The atmosphere was totally different from Seiren.
“Did you eat?”
“N-no, not yet.”
“Want to? The kids might complain, but it’s not inedible.”
“Hey! Leo! Don’t feed her that! It’ll ruin the school’s image!”
“Die!”
“Cough! I give up! I give up!”
Chelsea began choking Carr even harder.
“Then I’ll accept your hospitality.”
Eiran cautiously picked up some meat with a fork.
After chewing carefully, Eiran said,
“It’s food made with care.”
“Right? Right? It’s not bad, is it? They’re just picky!”
Chelsea ran over, eyes shining, still choking Carr.
Startled by Chelsea’s sudden friendliness, Eiran shrank back.
Then Lune approached, smiling kindly.
“Our Eiran is a Seiren student too.”
“Really?”
“But she wasn’t at class today.”
“Why not?”
“I didn’t get to talk with the Seiren kids during class earlier, so I’d like to chat now!”
Interest in Eiran spiked even higher after learning she was from Seiren.
As students crowded around, Eiran’s face went pale.
“E-excuse me for a moment…!”
She sprang up and rushed to the second floor to escape.
Class 5 was startled by her reaction, and Lune’s face stiffened.
“Aren’t you going after her?”
Leo asked, and Lune replied quietly,
“Leo, could you go instead?”
“Me?”
“My granddaughter was able to come out today thanks to you.”
He had been shocked when his granddaughter, who never left her room, came to see him today.
“I thought she should spend more time with kids her age, but I didn’t fully understand her feelings.”
At Lune’s words, Professor Harrid nodded at Leo.
Leo followed Eiran up to the second floor.
He noticed the terrace door at the end of the hall was open and went outside.
In the corner of the terrace, Eiran was sitting, knees hugged to her chest.
When their eyes met, she stammered,
“S-sorry for showing such a pathetic side, Leo.”
Staring at her, Leo remembered another elf girl.
‘Velkia.’
Even after thousands of years, Eiran still had traces of her ancestor.
And just like when he’d first met Velkia, she had been gloomy too.
‘I can’t just leave her alone—it keeps reminding me of Velkia.’
Leo gave a bitter smile and draped his coat over Eiran.
“W-won’t you get cold, Leo?”
“Don’t worry about me.”
Ignoring Eiran’s embarrassment, Leo leaned his back beside her, hands in his pockets.
“So, why did you run away from Seiren?”
“At first, I really wanted to go to Seiren. I admired heroes.”
Eiran spoke, hugging her knees.
She’d started out in the intermediate class.
Talented and hardworking, but Eiran had never given her all to swordsmanship and magic.
She preferred reading tales of heroes over fighting.
Being in the same space as hero candidates was enough for her.
But as the heir of one of the greatest elven houses, Eiran’s lack of ambition made her a target for ridicule.
The shy girl struggled with that.
“When Seiren life got too hard, I met someone like the sun.”
“Who?”
“Lunia.”
Eiran beamed.
“Lunia is truly amazing! There’s nothing she can’t do! She’s always confident and kind to everyone! She’s like a real hero!”
Her face shone just like when she spoke of hero stories.
In a way, Lunia was the closest thing to a hero Eiran had met among her peers.
That was enough to capture the heart of a girl who loved heroic tales.
“So I started admiring Lunia. She’s so different from me… I wanted to follow in her footsteps.”
With that small goal in mind, Eiran’s talent bloomed, and she quickly moved up to the advanced class.
“When I made it to Advanced Class 1, Lunia was really friendly to me. But… at some point, she started to scare me.”
“Why?”
“I think I made a big mistake during a duel evaluation, and she’s hated me ever since.”
Leo looked puzzled.
‘With her personality, I doubt she’d do something to make someone hate her… And Lunia’s not the type to dislike someone over something small… I should ask about this later.’
As Eiran grew distant from her idol, she was left with nothing but the envy and jealousy of those she’d surpassed.
Once considered beneath them, Eiran’s sudden rise became a target for resentment and isolation.
‘Did that trauma make her afraid of her peers?’
Someone like Leo might have scoffed, but Eiran was just too soft.
“For someone afraid of her peers, you’re pretty comfortable with me, aren’t you?”
“Well, you’re like my grandfather, Leo!”
“Grandfather?”
Eiran, who’d been smiling, suddenly panicked.
“N-no! I didn’t mean you’re old! It’s just that! Um, you have that… mature charm… What am I saying!”
Embarrassed, Eiran buried her face in her knees.
Leo laughed and asked,
“Did you leave Seiren because you thought you were just getting in the way, since you’re not aiming to be a hero like the others?”
“…Yes.”
‘She’s kind.’
The girl just didn’t have the ambition a hero should have.
‘If she’d truly given up, there’d be nothing I could do.’
Remembering the spotless Seiren uniform in her room, Leo asked,
“Do you like Velkia’s story?”
Though sudden, Eiran answered enthusiastically.
“Yes! She’s my ancestor! I love her story almost as much as the great heroes!”
“Then you know why Velkia was able to become a great hero, right?”
“Huh?”
“Velkia admired her teachers, the great heroes, and followed in their footsteps. That’s how she became a hero.”
“…!”
You don’t have to have huge dreams to be a hero.
‘If you look at us, not counting Lysinas, not a single one of us was suited to be a hero. No, Luna, Dweno, and I were all completely hopeless.’
Thinking of his friends, Leo continued.
“Why worry about how others see you? Just go down the path you want.”
Eiran’s eyes widened.
Leo laughed.
‘Different personality, but she’s just like her ancestor.’
That look of admiration.
Even when she acted prickly, Velkia used to look at Kyle the same way.
Leo held out his hand, and Eiran hesitated before taking it.
“Let’s go down. The Lumene kids are all nice.”
Led by Leo, Eiran returned to the first floor and was welcomed by Class 5.
“Oh! She’s back!”
“Sorry if we made you uncomfortable.”
“No, maybe she ran away after tasting Chelsea’s cooking.”
“You jerks!”
Chelsea glared but stopped herself in case she scared Eiran.
Eiran, who had been so flustered by the new environment, soon found herself laughing without realizing it.
Before long, she naturally began mingling with the other boys and girls.
Lune looked on, deeply moved.
“My granddaughter is making friends with kids her age!”
“I heard Eiran is one of the top five among Seiren’s first-years. Why did she leave school?”
“Until recently, I thought it was because of a student she couldn’t surpass, but that wasn’t it. The problem is Seiren’s school culture.”
“The school culture?”
“As you know, Seiren gives many advantages to advanced students. The lower-ranked naturally fall behind.”
“It’s the same at Lumene.”
“Yes, that’s just how schools are. But it’s much stronger at Seiren.”
With an entire class system in place, it was only natural.
“That must have been a heavy burden for my granddaughter.”
Lune smiled bitterly.
“I went to Seiren, and I’ve worked there all my life, so I never saw it as a problem. But for her, Seiren’s system just wasn’t right.”
Lune looked at Leo.
‘I never understood Eiran’s fear. Meeting Leo… was a real stroke of luck.’
Feeling grateful to the human boy who gave his granddaughter courage, Lune wiped away a tear.
Seeing this, Professor Harrid spoke.
“To move forward, you have to overcome it. Eiran has the ability, so she’ll get through it.”
“Yes. But I’ve just thought of an even better way.”
“What is it?”
“Professor Harrid.”
“Yes, President.”
With Lune’s expression turning serious, Harrid also grew solemn.
“Does Lumene accept transfer students?”
Professor Harrid let out a deep sigh.
‘First I was asked to send someone away, now someone wants to come. Why are there so many elves wanting to transfer lately?’