Chapter 136
Chapter Title: Barharun
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It took Leo and Lunia half a day to completely wipe out the bandits in the surrounding area.
They were just countryside thugs, no match for Leo and Lunia in the slightest, so their subjugation was, quite literally, over in an instant.
“That was a good stress reliever!”
*Crackle- crackle-*
As the sun set and darkness fell, Lunia, who had built a campfire, let out a groan and stretched.
“Tomorrow, we'll be able to wipe out all the ones who ran away, right?”
*Heave-ho-* Lunia sat down in front of the campfire, lost in thought.
‘That Leo guy. He said he was in the middle of a mission practicum, right? Does that mean he'll head straight back to Lumerne once we've dealt with the bandits?’
The thought made her feel a little disappointed.
‘We just reunited after so long.’
With her free-spirited personality, Lunia found it comfortable and enjoyable to be with Leo, with whom she could act freely without worrying about what others thought.
‘Should I ask him to explore the Hero Dungeon with me? No. That's not a decision I can make on my own. And even if we did explore it together, the upperclassmen would definitely not like Leo.’
As Lunia agonized over it with her chin in her hand, she suddenly glanced toward the inside of the ruins.
‘By the way, what's he been doing over there all this time?’
With a curious expression, she got up from her seat and walked into the ruins where Leo was.
“What are you doing in there?”
“Just investigating the ruins here.”
At Leo's words, Lunia looked at the ruined part of the Gardsrone castle site and tilted her head.
“There's nothing really special about this place.”
Ruins related to Heroes were treated with great importance because one could obtain artifacts that might be activation conditions for a Hero's Page.
However, the ruins in this area had been concluded to be nothing special, just old.
‘The location of Gardsrone has likely been forgotten by now.’
People today knew that Gardsrone actually existed.
But its existence had only been confirmed through literature or the World of Heroes; no other information about Gardsrone was known.
‘It must be the work of Tartaros.’
To Tartaros, the walls of Gardsrone would have been an object of hatred.
Because Gardsrone held out to the end without falling, the races of the surface were able to begin their counterattack.
And after the era of peace arrived, they wouldn't have wanted to leave this symbol of hope alone.
‘This area itself wasn't a great place for people to live, even before the Age of Calamity.’
After the Age of Calamity ended, people left Gardsrone in search of new homes.
‘After the people left, Gardsrone was likely attacked by Tartaros and buried underground.’
The faint dark magic flowing through this land must be a lingering effect of that.
‘Was the entire city buried under the earth?’
Leo felt a sense of bitterness at the fact that the place where traces of his past comrades remained had completely vanished.
“Let's rest for now to prepare for tomorrow. We can investigate the ruins in the morning, right?”
Leo nodded at Lunia's words.
And he headed toward the campfire.
“Huh?”
Lunia was slightly taken aback to find a man and a woman warming themselves by the campfire.
“Senior Elena?”
“Senior Hadin?”
The names of the two came from Leo and Lunia's mouths at the same time.
“Are you two sleeping together in the middle of the night? I'm not interrupting a date, am I?”
“It's not like that!”
Lunia shouted with a flustered face in response to Elena's question.
Watching this, Hadin asked.
“Haven't you subjugated all the bandits yet?”
“There are still some remnants. But this person here…? I believe she's a Lumerne student?”
“Hello. My name is Elena Jer-on.”
As Elena greeted her elegantly, lifting the hem of her school uniform skirt slightly, Lunia's face showed surprise.
“Lumerne's 3rd-year representative?”
Elena was a particularly well-known student among those at Lumerne.
Having shown she could easily handle even Seirun's upperclassmen in the Lu-Se Games, she was literally Seirun's number one target of caution.
For such a person to suddenly appear, Lunia couldn't help but be flustered.
“What are you doing here? Senior Elena, didn't you say you were going to explore a dungeon in another region?”
“That? I left it to my other party members.”
Leo looked at Elena, who answered as if it were nothing, with an expression of disbelief.
Elena was the leader of the Blue Moon party.
For a leader like that to just ditch them and come here.
“I'm more interested in you than in dungeon exploring, you know?”
Elena's pink eyes sparkled.
“What about the other seniors?”
“Your seniors were rude, so I taught them a thing or two about manners.”
“What?”
Lunia looked completely clueless, but Leo could roughly guess what she had done.
Hadin adjusted his glasses and said.
“Don't you think you were a bit too harsh? Elena Jer-on.”
“I definitely gave them a chance to apologize. It was your juniors who kicked that chance away.”
As Elena replied in an indifferent tone, Hadin sighed deeply.
This incident could escalate into a problem between the schools.
“Anyway, Leo. Let's deal with the bandits later! You know there might be a Hero Dungeon here, right?”
“But Seirun was looking for it first?”
“What does that matter? With Hero Dungeons, it's finders keepers.”
Elena pushed Leo's back, heading toward the ruins.
“Come on, come on! Juniors are supposed to follow their seniors! This big sister will teach you all about exploring Hero Dungeons.”
Watching them go, Hadin said.
“Lunia, we're following.”
“Huh? What about the other seniors?”
“They're injured and down for the count right now. They're in no condition to explore. We can't just lose to that fox-like woman.”
Hadin revealed his competitive spirit.
Hadin Dertian, Seirun's top 3rd-year.
He was a powerful figure, counted among the best not just in Seirun's third year, but across all years.
But despite that, Hadin had tasted thorough defeat at Elena's hands every year in the Lu-Se Games.
‘I can't lose this year.’
Hadin clenched his fist, glaring at Elena's back.
‘This suddenly turned into a competition.’
Having just been working together with Leo, Lunia couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.
‘Still, I can't lose.’
As Seirun's year representative, Lunia mustered her motivation and followed after Leo and Elena.
***
“Leo! You're amazing! You don't seem like a 1st-year at all, do you?”
Ever since they began exploring the Hero Dungeon, Elena had been busy making a fuss and praising Leo.
It wasn't just empty praise; Leo was indeed exploring the dungeon with a skill unbefitting a 1st-year.
A Hero Dungeon was an anomalous place created when a Hero's Page went berserk.
As such, one had to explore it with caution.
1st-years, who were bound to be lacking in many ways, only learned the theory of Hero Dungeon exploration; they didn't do any practical training.
Despite it clearly being an unfamiliar task, Leo explored the surrounding area using mana detection without much difficulty.
Watching Elena, Leo made a strange expression.
“Hm? Why?”
“It's just that your character seems to have changed so much.”
“What was my character like before?”
“At school, you had the air of a haughty queen.”
“Oh my? You saw me that way? How admirable of you.”
Elena smiled and patted Leo's white hair.
“How do I seem now?”
“A scatterbrain.”
“Not a kind-hearted senior who cherishes her junior?”
“No.”
Elena's eyes narrowed.
It was a look that would have made her classmates or 2nd-year juniors freak out, but Leo didn't even bat an eye.
Elena put her arm around Leo's shoulders and said.
“Leo. Look over there.”
Elena pointed a finger at Hadin.
“Hadin is the serious type about everything. People like that are fun to tease.”
“How are you going to tease him?”
“Watch.”
Elena smiled sweetly and spoke loudly enough for him to hear.
“See? Our 1st-year representative is so much better than Seirun's 1st-year representative.”
“I cannot accept that statement.”
Just as Elena predicted, Hadin reacted immediately.
Hadin strode over to Elena.
Elena released her arm from Leo's shoulder and stood before Hadin.
“What about it?”
“Lunia is in no way inferior to Leo Flove.”
“Our Leo deciphered the magic of the Progenitor of the Nebula and played a huge role in the Gigantes subjugation. Has your junior accomplished any feat greater than my junior?”
“One should not judge a person solely by their achievements. Lunia is still a 1st-year, but she is an outstanding student, to the point of being mentioned as a candidate for student council president. Do you truly believe Leo Flove could become a candidate for student council president at his age?”
“A candidate for student council president? Me?”
Seeing Lunia ask in a bewildered voice, Elena grinned.
“The person in question looks like she's hearing this for the first time. Besides, aren't *you* the next candidate for Seirun's student council president? I understand you want to compete with our Leo, but you shouldn't just make things up. A 1st-year candidate for student council president. What a ridiculous notion.”
“Certainly, Lunia is still inexperienced. But even so, her potential is greater than mine. I personally recommended her, so Lunia is indeed a candidate. She may not have built up a track record yet, but Eiran and Luka. These three will grow to become students of Seirun who will achieve tremendous fame in the future.”
At Hadin's words, Elena's eye twitched.
And Lunia wore a surprised expression.
‘This guy, didn't he hate us?’
Lunia, along with Eiran and Luka.
The current 1st-year representatives of Seirun.
Hadin was the type to point out their flaws with a displeased look whenever he saw the three of them.
But to show such faith in front of students from their rival school, Lumerne.
‘And he recommended me as a candidate for student council president?’
A 1st-year candidate for student council president.
Unprecedented in Seirun's history.
It wasn't something he just blurted out in a fit of pique.
With his strict personality, Hadin wasn't the type to make empty remarks, not even as a joke.
While Lunia was still surprised, Elena, who had been pouting, smiled.
“Then our Leo is a candidate for the next student council president too.”
“Hey now. Don't make things up.”
“I just have to actually recommend you when we get back.”
Leo, who had been sighing at his senior's pointless pride battle, suddenly turned his head.
And he headed toward a place where he could feel a subtle fluctuation of mana.
“Did you find something?”
Lunia approached Leo's side with a curious look.
Kneeling, Leo swept his hand across the floor.
Watching Leo, Lunia also focused with a puzzled expression.
A moment later, she felt a faint fluctuation of mana.
‘He felt this mana fluctuation?’
It was a mana fluctuation like a faint, lingering echo.
It was a fluctuation she could only perceive because she knew something was there from Leo's reaction; if she had been alone, she never would have noticed it.
Amazed by Leo's keen senses, Lunia went over to Elena and Hadin.
“Hey. I think Leo found something.”
“Of course! Just what I'd expect from Lumerne's 1st-year representative!”
“Kuh!”
Elena smiled with satisfaction, while Hadin looked vexed.
Watching them, Lunia made a strange expression.
“What's wrong?”
“Didn't you dislike me? You nagged me every time you saw me.”
“I said those things in the hope that you would conduct yourself properly as Seirun's year representative.”
Returning to his characteristically strict expression, Hadin adjusted his glasses.
“I have never once disliked you.”
“You could have been a little kinder. I misunderstood you all this time and was the only one who disliked you.”
Watching the grumbling Lunia, Hadin let out a small laugh.
“You disliked me?”
‘…I guess this unflappable attitude of his is innate.’
Lunia let out a hollow laugh and shook her head.
The three of them gathered around Leo.
“A peculiar mana fluctuation.”
As Hadin adjusted his glasses, Elena showed a curious expression.
“It seems like a magic formula is constructed here, but I can't unravel it. It seems to be ancient magic from thousands of years ago.”
Magic from thousands of years ago, with a formula structure completely different from the present.
Unless one was an expert who studied ancient magic, it was not easy to decipher the formula.
Naturally, since deciphering the formula was impossible, the magic couldn't be activated either.
Elena, Lunia, and Hadin.
The three of them looked troubled, but Leo was different.
‘It's a warp gate.’
Having deciphered the magic formula and figured out the coordinates, Leo looked surprised.
The coordinates were for a place that existed in Leo's memory.
‘The warp gate of Gardsrone.’
There was definitely a warp gate beneath this spot.
‘The fact that the warp gate is active means that Gardsrone is intact underground, not destroyed?’
He thought the entire city had been buried underground and vanished, but it seemed that wasn't the case.
If the city had been buried, it was impossible for the warp gate to still be active.
After a moment of thought, Leo summoned his mana.
*Vwooom-!*
The three of them stared at Leo with surprised eyes.
In an instant, Leo constructed a temporary gate connecting to the warp gate on the other side.
*Vwoom-! Vwoom-!*
“A warp gate?”
Hadin looked astonished.
Elena narrowed her eyes.
“How did you make that?”
“I was just deciphering the magic formula and it seemed to be a warp gate, so I tried making a temporary one. It looks like the entrance on the other side is still active.”
Leo said calmly.
Creating a new warp gate is difficult, but creating an entrance that connects to an already installed gate is not that hard by Hero Academy student standards.
It was something that those present could also do.
‘But deciphering an ancient magic formula is another story. To decipher it so quickly without being an expert… Professor Ren and Senior Torua were right to praise his skills with magic formulas.’
“I wonder where this warp gate leads?”
“We'll find out when we go.”
Elena smiled and stepped onto the gate.
Hadin and Lunia also got on the gate.
“Leo. Hurry up and get on.”
Leo nodded at Lunia's words.
‘…Is Gardsrone really intact underground?’
Thinking of the place that held memories of his friends from his past life, Leo felt his heart tremble.
As Leo stepped onto the temporary warp gate, Elena summoned her mana.
*Flash-!*
The warp gate activated with a bright light.
And…
[Hero Record Open.]
“What?”
“The World of Heroes?”
The four of them let out cries of shock at the message that appeared before their eyes.
[World of ■■. Chapter: Prologue-Barharun]
At the additional message that appeared, all four of them had a gut feeling.
That this was a Hero Dungeon.
But Leo's eyes widened at the word ‘Barharun’.
‘If it's Barharun…!’
*Whoosh-!*
His vision disappeared.
Before he knew it, he was standing in the middle of a hallway.
Having experienced the World of Heroes several times, Leo first checked the objective.
[Objective: -]
‘As expected of a Hero Dungeon, there's no objective.’
Leo took a deep breath.
‘First, I should regroup with the others…’
*Thump!*
*Clatter-!*
“Ah! I'm sorry!”
Just then, someone bumped into Leo's back.
He heard the sound of something spilling.
The flustered voice of a girl.
Leo turned his head.
And his eyes widened as he saw a girl hastily stacking books.
The girl saw Leo's face and let out a gasp.
It was as if she were thinking, *I'm so busted!*
…the girl wore such an expression.
Seeing her, Leo felt his heart tremble.
Their ages were different, but she was definitely someone Leo knew.
Feeling his heart ache, Leo struggled to call out her name.
“……Luna.”