Chapter 242
Chapter Title: Light in the Darkness
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“He’s on the move?”
“That is correct.”
“How amusing. He’s quite audacious.”
The moment Leo left the villa he was guided to, his movements were reported in real-time to the emperor, Shaou.
Upon receiving the report, Shaou’s lips curled into a smile.
“What are your orders?”
Students from the four great hero academies received the treatment of distinguished guests in any country.
Furthermore, Leo wasn't just any hero candidate; he was the student council president of Lumerne.
Even so, exploring the imperial palace at will without the permission of Shaou, the master of Shan, was unacceptable.
It was a serious matter that could escalate into a diplomatic issue.
However, Shaou didn't dislike Leo's actions.
Besides, he didn't think Leo would be able to find Chen Xia.
‘Finding Xia, hidden in the darkness, is a difficult task even for the most skilled shadows.’
The imperial family of Shan lives in darkness from the moment they are born, trained to become the most perfect shadows.
‘That child dreamed of being a hero and had the talent for it… but her talent as a shadow was even greater.’
Shaou was certain.
He was certain that his daughter would soon reach a level incomparable to himself, or even any of the past emperors of Shan.
That was why he was confident she would fulfill Shan's long-held ambition.
‘To have her name recorded in the Hero Record.’
Long before Shan was founded.
He was certain his daughter would achieve the great feat that even their ancestors, active since the Age of Calamity, could not.
‘The great feat achieved by the first shadow… she would surely be able to accomplish it once more.’
The reason the emperors of Shan had been obsessed with getting their names in the Hero Record as shadows.
It was because a shadow whose name was in the Hero Record existed in forgotten history.
A truth from the other side of history, passed down only to the emperors of Shan.
Among the legacies left by the great shadow Bihar was a Hero Record with a name erased.
A record from 5,000 years ago, when the Hero Record was first created.
A restriction prevented it from being revealed to anyone, so the world couldn't be told.
The great shadow who left a record in the Hero Record had certainly existed.
That was why the emperors of Shan could not abandon their obsession with the Hero Record.
His daughter, whose talent was among the greatest in Shan's long history.
It was because she was such a daughter that he said what he knew would hurt her.
‘You can never be a hero. Do you think the gods would ever acknowledge someone who has stepped into the darkness as a hero?’
He had imprinted those words on her time and time again.
And recently, his daughter had finally given up on becoming a hero.
But if she met Leo, she would waver.
That was why he prevented them from meeting.
‘No matter how great he is, it should be impossible for him to find her, but I can't be complacent. Leo Flove has always made the impossible possible.’
Closing one eye, Shaou recalled Leo's past deeds.
The world called Leo's generation the 'Golden Generation of Lumerne'.
‘It's unprecedented for so many talented individuals to gather in a single generation.’
But Lumerne wasn't the only one with an unusual situation.
‘Seirun, Azonia, and Demian too.’
Shaou's eyes narrowed.
‘There are too many exceptional children in that generation.’
If they all became heroes.
The current political landscape of the continent might change.
It wouldn't be surprising if the long-maintained balance of power with Tartaros collapsed.
‘No, the balance of power is already severely cracked.’
The subjugation of the Demon Queen.
One of the world's 5,000-year-old ambitions, once considered impossible, has already been achieved.
It is an era where Great Heroes and Legion Commanders from the past are revealing themselves.
An era where a new function of the Hero Record has been discovered.
5,000 years ago, the Age of Calamity ended.
Just as a disaster struck 3,000 years ago.
The world might be on the verge of another great cataclysm.
‘And at the forefront, leading the hero candidates, is none other than Leo Flove.’
They say heroes are beings who make the impossible possible, but even heroes have their limits.
But Leo seemed to have no such limits.
Every time he faced a limit, he spectacularly overcame it.
‘If it's Leo Flove, he might just be able to find Xia.’
That would be problematic.
‘She has only just given up the path of a hero and resolved to become a shadow.’
“Make him wander in the darkness until morning.”
“Understood.”
As Shaou's command was given, the captain of the guard vanished into the darkness.
‘I must not let Xia develop unnecessary feelings.’
A chilling killing intent flickered in Shaou's eyes.
‘Because Xia too… might turn traitor, just like *him*.’
***
A room faintly lit by moonlight.
In that room, a small girl sat demurely.
The room was filled with storybooks.
All of them were books about heroes.
Biographies of heroes, read by Chen Xia, who had loved fairy tales since she was young.
When the grueling training became too much, she would draw strength from reading the stories of many heroes.
‘I used to think that one day, I wanted to become a shadow who protects such heroes.’
Opening her eyes, Xia smiled faintly as she looked at the bookshelf steeped in memories.
That thought soon gave rise to another desire.
The desire to become a hero herself.
She wanted to save many people and stand before them.
Eight years ago.
The day she first had that dream, on her tenth birthday.
She killed a person.
It was the day she executed the low-ranking mages who had made a pact with demons to research black magic.
‘Perhaps I had already crossed a river of no return back then.’
While other children were admiring heroes with sparkling eyes.
She had killed someone as if it were a matter of course.
Until that moment, she didn't understand what the problem was.
She had taken another's life at an age too young to learn about killing, but she felt no guilt.
Traitors are to be executed.
That was what she had been taught, and how she had lived.
It was a day she protected world peace by executing a black mage tainted by evil.
Just as she was rejoicing, thinking she was like the heroes in the storybooks.
‘Tch, this isn't something a hero would do!’
Her fraternal twin, who had always been with her, said those words.
Those words came as a great shock to Chen Xia.
Not something a hero would do?
‘Heroes don't kill people like this!’
Her twin, who had lived the exact same life, was denying everything they had learned.
‘Heroes punish evil in the bright world!’
In the bright world?
‘Punishing evil like this has no value!’
No value?
‘This is just simple slaughter, isn't it? It's not cool at all! People won't acknowledge it!’
Simple… slaughter?
Ten-year-old Xia looked down at her blood-stained hands.
It was only after returning to the imperial palace that the young girl could feel the weight of having killed someone.
Even if it was the life of a traitor.
The people who knew him.
His family doesn't know the truth.
Her twin was right.
Heroes don't punish evil that way.
After that, her twin grew dissatisfied with their work as shadows.
And he began to prattle on to their father about wanting to be a hero, as if singing a song.
At those times, Shaou would only offer a troubled smile.
Even when her twin whined like that, Xia said nothing.
Perhaps she had already given up on becoming a hero back then.
She quickly recovered from the shock of her first mission.
Perhaps it was due to the strong mental fortitude she had trained since childhood.
Or maybe her emotions had worn down, leaving her numb.
The days of executing traitors and walking a path of blood continued.
And then, a new mission was given.
‘Betrayal…?’
‘Yes.’
A new traitor had appeared.
It was her twin, whom she had considered her other half her entire life.
It was a shock.
The news of the betrayal by Sian, who admired and dreamed of being a hero more than anyone, was incredibly shocking to Xia.
She knew he hated being a shadow.
And that he would abandon everything and run away to become a hero.
But that his method would be betrayal was inevitably shocking.
‘Xia.’
Calling his daughter's name, Shaou spoke with a cold gaze.
‘Execute Sian. And become the emperor of Shan.’
She received her orders.
Xia knew Sian's skills and talent better than anyone.
If he became a traitor, he would likely grow into a monster capable of annihilating countless heroes.
Xia pursued her twin to execute him.
And…
*Throb-*
As the memory of that time surfaced, Chen Xia placed a hand on the right side of her chest.
That was two years ago.
‘He must be dead.’
A bloody battle to the death between blood relatives.
When both of their strengths were exhausted, she barely managed to push him off a cliff.
To the returned Chen Xia, Shaou promised the position of emperor and one wish that could be granted as the emperor.
To that, Xia said.
‘I want to be a hero.’
Shaou seemed surprised.
‘I want to enroll in Lumerne.’
‘You can never be a hero. Do you think the gods would ever acknowledge someone who has stepped into the darkness as a hero?’
Shaou endlessly denied his daughter's dream.
But perhaps it was because he had seen Sian become twisted by his desire to be a hero?
Shaou gave her just one chance.
Enroll and become the top of her year.
The restriction was that she was not to use her abilities as a shadow.
On that condition, he allowed her to go to Lumerne.
And so, a year later.
Chen Xia enrolled in the Lumerne she had always dreamed of.
Everything went smoothly.
She easily took the top spot in the eastern division.
On the day her peers gathered.
She saw the other regional top students, none of whom were to be underestimated, but she was confident.
And then she met him.
A boy with white hair, a stark contrast to her own.
‘Young Master Leo.’
Leo, a boy from an ordinary, rural kingdom on the frontier, seemed to have nothing special about him at first glance… an oddly familiar boy.
But on the first day of school, he showed an impressive side during the fight with the kraken.
On top of that, he was the year's representative.
If I could defeat Leo.
I thought I would be one step closer to being a hero.
But…
‘He was someone I could never surpass.’
It didn't take long to realize that.
The boy who seemed to have no outstanding features was an unprecedented All-Class.
As if that wasn't enough, he surpassed me in an instant, and at some point, he became impossible to catch up to.
A despairing difference.
But Chen Xia did not despair.
There was no time to feel such an emotion.
Her heart just pounded.
The shock was like meeting a character from a childhood fairy tale.
To Chen Xia, Leo was a light that was too bright.
A light so bright it felt like it would blind her just by looking at it.
That's why he was someone she couldn't take her eyes off of.
Just watching him was enough to feel fulfilled.
But the others were different.
They gritted their teeth and chased after Leo.
When she realized that it was a challenge against the impossible.
Chen Xia realized.
She, who was content to just stand there and gaze at the bright light.
And the people who tried to move toward that light.
With her feet sunk in darkness, she couldn't bring herself to approach the light.
‘I'm different from these people.’
Her desire to be a hero hadn't changed.
But the more she felt that way, the more she realized she was a person suited to the shadows.
She learned through her interactions with the hero candidates.
The fact that she was fundamentally different.
Her way of thinking was different.
The environment she grew up in was different.
She could feel the darkness she had accumulated from her past holding her back.
‘Father was right. I can't be a hero.’
In that case, even if I have to do all sorts of dirty work.
‘Because it's something a hero shouldn't do, I must be the one to do it.’
Even if I have to live in the darkness.
‘Because it's a job someone has to do.’
Even if it's a worthless slaughter.
‘If it's for Young Master Leo… if it's for the heroes… wouldn't it have value?’
She admired heroes.
But she had to stop at admiration.
‘Because I can never be a hero.’
It was just as Shaou had said.
There was no way the gods would acknowledge her, who had done all sorts of dirty work.
“Lady Xia.”
“What is it?”
“I have come to deliver a message from His Majesty the Emperor.”
“From my father?”
Xia wore a puzzled expression.
“Is it a new mission?”
“Yes. He has given you a mission to hide yourself deep in the darkness.”
“Why?”
Faced with this unusual mission, Xia looked utterly confused.
The shadow replied to her.
“Currently, the student council president of Lumerne, Leo Flove, is visiting the imperial palace.”
At those words, Chen Xia felt a stir in her heart.
The reason she had left without saying goodbye was because she feared her resolve would waver the moment she saw him.
And now, he was here.
“He says he has come to escort you, Princess, back to Lumerne.”
Chen Xia's eyes wavered.
Her heart was pounding.
“His Majesty the Emperor's command is that you are not to meet with him.”
“What are my father's orders regarding Young Master Leo?”
“He ordered that he be trapped in the darkness until daybreak.”
It was impossible for anyone to pierce through the darkness of Shan and find her.
All sorts of skilled shadows would stand in Leo's way.
Therefore, they would not meet.
‘But… if it's Young Master Leo…’
He might just find me in that darkness.
If she met him now, the resolve she had worked so hard to build would surely crumble.
A shadow. She could not be a hero.
If she were to dream a fleeting dream, she would become a useless being, neither one thing nor the other.
Rather than let that happen.
‘Becoming a shadow and helping Young Master Leo would be a much more valuable endeavor.’
Rather than clinging to a worthless dream.
Chen Xia thought it was far more valuable to be of help to the boy she admired.
“I understand.”
Chen Xia rose from her seat.
She opened the door and stepped out.
A pitch-black darkness unfolded before her.
The interior of the Shan imperial palace, settled in darkness, was like a labyrinth where one couldn't see an inch ahead.
But to the shadows, this darkness was all too familiar.
Chen Xia melted into the darkness.
The shadow attending to Chen Xia did the same.
Presence, sound, sight.
In the darkness where nothing existed, Chen Xia moved without any difficulty.
Following behind her, the shadow marveled.
‘As expected of Princess Xia, she is on a different level.’
He was certain.
‘Leo Flove will never be able to find the princess—’
“This is a bit much.”
Chen Xia stopped in her tracks.
*Fwoosh-*
From behind, the surroundings were illuminated by Light magic.
“I thought this was hide-and-seek, but it was tag? No wonder you were so confident I wouldn't find you.”
The shadow turned around, his face a mask of astonishment.
“How?”
How could someone who has only ever lived in the light find a shadow in this darkness?
Chen Xia's fingertips trembled slightly.
Her heart quivered at the familiar voice.
The voice that had made her dream, and yet also made her give up on that dream, spoke to her in a friendly tone.
“Chen Xia, let's go back to Lumerne.”
Chen Xia's heart was telling her.
“I came to get you.”
If she turned around now… she would find herself endlessly reaching for a dream she could never attain.