Chapter 120
Chapter Title: An Unexpected Reveal
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120
“You still haven't found a way to disable the World of Heroes?!”
“W-we can’t! It’s a Hero Dungeon; there’s no way to control it!”
“Grrgh!”
A sense of urgency flickered in Berga’s eyes, his composure lost.
An hour had already passed since Ar-on’s world had opened.
The fact that the World of Heroes hadn’t closed meant Leo and Ar were holding out, but that wasn’t entirely a reason to celebrate.
*Ar! Kyle!*
“Hurry up and find a way to get this under control!”
“Aaaah! I-Instructor Berga!”
Just as everyone stared in shock at Berga grabbing the vice-instructor by the collar.
“Calm yourself, Berga.”
A cool voice rang out.
Berga turned his head, saw a man approaching, and released his grip on the vice-instructor's collar.
“Ain.”
Yura followed behind Ain, her expression just as grave.
“What are professors from Lumerne doing here?”
Ain answered Berga's question nonchalantly.
“It's related to the World of Heroes. It would be best to share our experiences. Our academy also had several unfortunate incidents this first semester.”
Yura shot Ain a horrified look and poked him in the side.
The Hero Dungeon incident during midterms.
The departmental competition at the end of the semester.
While both incidents were resolved, they were considered blemishes on Lumerne's reputation by outsiders.
Yura was naturally flustered that he had so casually brought them up to an outsider.
“Azonia is different from Lumerne! This is just an accident!”
“Even so, there's no harm in joining forces. My junior and I have experienced things you and the instructors at Azonia have not. We won't be a hindrance.”
Hearing this, Berga closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
Ain's perpetually calm words helped soothe his agitation.
“My apologies. I apologize for speaking rashly in my excitement.”
“It’s fine.”
Yura waved her hands dismissively.
“By the way, how many years has it been since a new page of a Great Hero was opened?”
“I heard one opened at Lumerne early this year, no?”
“It did, but ours opened and closed very briefly.”
“What was it like when it opened?”
“Ours was also a sudden overload. So we couldn't determine the cause.”
Just as Berga's expression grew serious.
*Vwoom—!*
Suddenly, Ar-on's page began to glow.
The faces of those watching hardened.
When a Hero's page reacted, it meant one of two things: either the World of Heroes had been conquered, or it had closed due to the death of the challenger.
As everyone tensed, Leo and Ar shot out from Ar-on's page.
“Ar!”
“Father!”
Ar smiled brightly as Berga embraced her, tears streaming down his face.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“No, Father! I conquered Lord Ar-on's world!”
“That doesn't matter! Ar! My daughter! Do you have any idea how worried I was!”
Clinging to his daughter, Berga was genuinely overjoyed.
It was true he had trained his daughter harshly from a young age to make her a hero.
But that was only so she could develop the strength to overcome trials without dying.
Ar knew this as well, so she never hated or resented her father, Berga.
Meanwhile, Leo wore a bewildered expression.
*Hey! What are you! Why are you here?*
Leo was stunned by the presence of Elsie he felt within the Orb of Light.
When he saw the list of conquest rewards, he couldn't help but be astonished.
How could Elsie, a spirit of the past, be a conquest reward?
The contract he had just made with Elsie was also still valid.
This was, quite literally, like the dead returning to life.
*Elsie?*
[...]
Despite Leo's call, Elsie remained silent, as if asleep.
Just as Leo was scratching his head in confusion.
“Father! I never would have conquered it without the black rabbit here!”
“...”
Berga's gaze shifted to Leo.
Meeting his gaze, Leo scratched his cheek.
Berga, who had quickly returned to his usual dignified demeanor, stood before Leo with a solemn expression.
“Kyle.”
The way Berga addressed Leo had changed from "Reina's son" to his name.
It was a sign that Berga acknowledged him.
“Astounding. To think you conquered Lord Ar-on's page.”
“I didn't do it alone.”
“Hah, modesty.”
Berga chuckled and clenched his fist.
“Whatever the reason, you and Ar conquered Lord Ar-on's world! This is definitive proof that you are worthy of being a student at the hero academy, Azonia! I am delighted!”
Berga crossed his arms and shouted with authority.
“I, Berga, will do my utmost to teach you so that you may walk the path of supremacy!”
At Azonia Academy, students had to choose a supervising instructor.
And it was only natural for students to flock to the famous instructors.
And Berga was the top instructor whom everyone wished to learn from.
For him to personally declare he would take Leo as his student was significant.
It was a great honor, and it was no exaggeration to say his school life was now guaranteed.
“Black rabbit! Let's do our best!”
Just as Ar also welcomed Leo with a bright smile.
*Grab—!*
A woman's hand shot out and grabbed Leo by his rabbit ear.
“Pardon the interruption.”
Yura asked for Berga's understanding before turning to Leo with a beaming smile.
“Mr. Class President? What might you be doing here?”
“Who are you?”
Leo said shamelessly.
He didn't know why Yura was here, but he had a gut feeling that getting caught would be a massive headache.
“Who am I? *Who am I?* You little brat! Can't you recognize the professor who taught you so diligently for an entire semester? Or what? You think you can fool your professors just because you used a little magic?”
Yura glared, her eyes sharp as axes, and tightened her grip.
“Hey! Why are you here? What do you think you're doing? Spit it out. Are you trying to play Lumerne and Azonia against each other? You wanna die? Do you want to die? Huh?”
Veins popped on Yura's hand as she effortlessly lifted Leo into the air.
Leo dangled like a rabbit held by its ears.
“What in the world is this about?”
Berga asked with a bewildered face, and Ain sighed.
“It seems a student from our academy has been rude. I'm not sure how he managed to participate in Azonia's entrance ceremony, but allow me to introduce him.”
Leo, extricating himself from Yura's grasp, decided he could no longer hide and released his polymorph magic.
A faint light flowed from Leo's body.
The rabbit ears vanished and his hair turned white.
Berga and Ar's jaws dropped as they watched Leo return to his human form.
“This is Leo Flove. The first-year class president of Lumerne.”
“Hello, my name is Leo Flove.”
*
After Leo's identity was revealed, all hell broke loose.
‘It doesn't matter if he's Lumerne's class president! Azonia's doors are open! Kyle! No, Leo Flove! You just have to enroll in Azonia!’
‘What nonsense are you spouting about a student from our academy's Knight Department?’
‘Why the Knight Department! He's in the Summoning Department!’
Ain and Yura bickered in response to Berga's shouting.
Ar had a somewhat shocked expression on her face.
Leo tried to apologize, but it was too chaotic for him to get a word in.
‘Student Leo, I'm begging you. Please restrain yourself. This is too much for us!’
Vice-Instructor Carlo pleaded with Leo, tears in his eyes.
The professors were already engaged in a growing war of nerves over which department Leo belonged to.
If another hero academy got involved, it would be the vice-instructors and assistants who would suffer the most.
And so, Leo explained the story of how he came to attend Azonia's entrance ceremony.
Since nothing illegal had occurred, it was passed off as a simple incident.
However, the officials from Azonia gave Leo looks of longing.
A new student conquering Ar-on's world before even enrolling was unprecedented.
Ar had also accomplished it, but it would have looked better if both conquerors enrolled together.
“You're probably the first in Lumerne's history to cause this kind of trouble during the break!”
Yura rapped Leo on the head.
“It doesn't matter, since nothing that could cause a major problem happened.”
Ain reacted nonchalantly.
It seemed he viewed Leo's visit to check on the rivals at another hero academy quite positively, as befitting the class president.
“Well, I didn't get to attend the entrance ceremony, though.”
Leo couldn't participate in the desert-crossing marathon.
“Of course not! You! If you had attended the ceremony, you might have been forcibly enrolled in Azonia!”
“I suppose that's true.”
Leo burst out laughing.
“Anyway, it's a shame about the conquest reward.”
Ar's conquest reward was Ar-on's Breath.
It was revealed to be Ar-on's beastification ability, something only mentioned in texts.
Of course, a gag order was issued, as a massive fallout was expected if the details of the reward were made public.
It was a measure taken because Ar might not be able to have a proper school life otherwise.
The only ones who knew about this conquest's reward were the few people present and the conquerors themselves.
“As a human, you couldn't use a reward like that even if you got it.”
“I'll have to be satisfied with just having conquered Ar-on's world.”
“That fact can't get out either, you know?”
Yura narrowed her eyes.
Even if it was dismissed as an incident, nothing good would come from it being known.
On the surface, it seemed he had gained nothing.
But Leo had obtained a conquest reward others couldn't even imagine.
*Just what happened with Elsie?*
Rewards related to summoning were usually summoning catalysts or the right to a contract.
There had never been a case where a summoned beast itself was the direct reward.
*I'll think about that when I get back... I'm a little worried about Ar. She didn't seem to have proper control over Ar-on's Breath.*
Leo clicked his tongue, recalling how Ar couldn't fully beastify and was unable to control her power.
Having gained Ar-on's power overnight, it was only natural that she couldn't control it properly.
*If I could be by her side, I could help.*
“Anyway! Don't cause any more trouble this break, you hear?”
Yura said warningly as they arrived in front of the warp gate.
The two professors, Ain and Yura, had followed him all the way to the warp gate to make sure their unpredictable class president would obediently go home.
*It's not like I plan on causing any more trouble.*
He thought so, but having already been caught after causing a huge incident, he knew his words would fall on deaf ears.
“I'll see you in the second semester, Professors.”
“Alright! See you after the break!”
“Rest well, Leo Flove.”
After bidding the professors farewell, Leo stepped into the warp gate.
With a flash of light, Leo left Azrec.
“He's so quiet during the school year, so why does he cause these huge incidents sometimes?”
Yura looked exhausted.
“Still, Azonia let it slide, so there shouldn't be any more problems, right?”
“Can't you tell from the letters I get every month asking me to become an official instructor there?”
Yura's face grew serious.
“Eh, no way. He's doing fine at our academy, why would he try to switch...”
“You never know. After all, Azonia is a hero academy on par with ours.”
Ain heaved a deep sigh.
“According to Professor Halind, Seirun also made him a transfer offer.”
“...”
Yura's expression became even more grave.
The two colleagues, senior and junior, looked at each other and thought.
*This is...*
*This might not be a situation where we can just fight amongst ourselves.*
Faced with the unprecedented situation of an external power joining the student recruitment war, the two professors could only sigh deeply.