Chapter 253
Chapter Title: The Mentee Scramble
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“Corner him!”
“Attack!”
Countless first-years rushed toward Leo.
There wasn't a hint of hesitation in their movements.
It was a clear departure from the entrance exam.
Back then, there was the pressure of instant elimination the moment Leo defeated them.
But not now.
The entire first-year class actively launched an assault on Leo.
And a single thought ran through all their minds.
‘If we keep pressing him like this, even the great Leo Flove will get tired eventually! That'll be our chance!’
The entire first-year class was waiting for the moment Leo would tire.
“Place your bets, place your bets! Who will be Leo’s mentee? Here are the current odds!”
Karl promptly displayed a board with the betting odds.
“Oh? I'll bet on Aina Veydean.”
“You got it, senior!”
Once the commotion began, first-years aiming for the mentee position heard the news and flocked to the Magic Department building.
It was such an entertaining spectacle that not only second-years but also third and fourth-years, aside from the fifth-years who were off-campus on missions, came to watch.
“How do you think this will turn out?”
Meanwhile, Abad, who was watching from a distance, asked.
“How do you think?”
Duran, who had come to watch after hearing the news, scoffed.
“There's no way the first-years can land a clean hit on Leo Flove right now. Especially not in this chaos.”
“True.”
Abad nodded.
“Leo Flove doesn't get tired. And if he starts using hit-and-run tactics… the first-years will just destroy themselves.”
He was right.
Leo leisurely dodged or blocked the first-years' attacks, weaving through their ranks.
Each time he did, the first-years would end up attacking each other.
Some were even doing it on purpose to reduce the competition.
“You can't even call these first-years true hero candidates yet.”
The freshman year was a time of the most significant skill improvement during one’s time at Lumerne.
It was common for students to discover unexpected talents or for those with low entrance exam scores to rise to the top ranks.
For such inexperienced freshmen, landing an effective blow on Leo was practically impossible.
“They'd actually have a better chance fighting him one-on-one.”
Duran was right.
Right now, the attackers were more disoriented than the one being attacked.
It meant they couldn't observe Leo's movements in detail.
*Fwoosh-!*
Leo flew into the air.
“I've been waiting for you!”
Sasha, riding a flying familiar, quickly flew toward him.
Seeing this, Leo smirked and used Fly magic.
*Shwaaang-!*
“Hah!”
Sasha was startled by his incredible maneuverability and speed.
“I-Is it possible to move like that with Fly magic?”
The first-years’ jaws dropped.
“They still haven't gotten used to how things work at Lumerne.”
“Well, they are first-years.”
The upperclassmen watched the astonished first-years with an air of amusement.
Some of the first-years' attacks even flew toward the spectators.
Of course, no upperclassman was going to get hit by such an attack.
In the end, not a single first-year managed to land a hit on Leo by the time the lunch break was over.
The preliminary bell signaling the start of class rang.
“*Gasp! Gasp!*”
“I, I can’t move anymore… *Urp!*”
“*Kehek! Kehek!*”
The first-years collapsed on the ground, suffering from mana and stamina depletion.
Seeing this, the upperclassmen laughed and dispersed.
“Ah, that was fun.”
“Lots of interesting things happening at the start of the semester this year.”
The third and fourth-years chuckled as they returned to their classrooms.
The second-years gave the first-years a pitying look before heading back to class.
Leo looked at the exhausted first-years sprawled on the ground and asked.
“Isn’t your next class the joint Heroics lecture with Professor Artian?”
“Yes.”
“Y-Yes, it is, senior.”
“Then you’d better get going.”
Leo said, glancing at the clock tower on the Magic Department building.
“You’ll be in big trouble if you’re all late for class, so hurry up.”
“B-But we can’t move a muscle.”
“Professor Artian is kind, so won’t she let it slide if we’re a little late?”
Groans erupted from among the first-years.
Hearing this, the second-years paused.
“Looks like they don’t know Professor Artian’s true self yet.”
The second-years' guide for their entrance ceremony last year had been Artian.
And they had experienced her terror on the very first day.
That was why they couldn't even fidget in front of her from the very first class.
But it seemed the first-years still didn't know much about Artian.
About the Artian who was on par with Halind.
No, in some ways, she was even more terrifying than Halind.
The second-years all thought the same thing.
‘They’re dead.’
***
That evening.
Leo, who was resting in the Glory Dormitory, went outside to meet the first-years who had come to see him.
The visitors were five students from the Knight Department.
“Good evening, Young Master Leo. We’re sorry for the late greeting; things have been chaotic.”
The representative among them, Martina, greeted him with a smile.
They were none other than the members of his knight order, the Slayer Knight Order.
“It’s fine. By the way, you guys didn’t attack me during lunch, did you?”
Leo smiled as he looked at his knights.
At his question, the knights flinched.
“Looks like you don't want to be my mentee, huh?”
At Leo's question, Jullan and Carin frantically waved their hands.
“Th-That’s not it.”
“You already helped us so much with various things when we were entering the academy! We couldn’t possibly accept your help after enrolling too!”
“Yes! We wanted to make it at Lumerne with our own strength!”
Martina, Austin, and Valerie also nodded their heads in frantic agreement with Jullan and Carin's words.
It was true.
The five of them had rapidly improved their skills after receiving special training from Leo before the entrance exam.
It was also true that they had been able to pass the Lumerne entrance exam thanks to that.
But on the other hand, they were also afraid of becoming Leo’s mentees.
Having experienced Leo’s training, it was utterly daunting for the knight order.
‘I can’t even imagine what comes after the sea of fire!’
Leo chuckled at his knights’ frantic explanations and asked as he sat on a bench.
“What happened after lunch?”
“It was absolute chaos.”
Martina’s face turned pale.
“I never dreamed Professor Artian could be so terrifying.”
Fewer than fifty students had made it to Artian's Heroics class on time.
Since it was a provisional class period, there was no important lesson content, but being late as a group was not something that could be forgiven.
Artian, who had initially been dejected, had apparently transformed the moment the late students arrived en masse.
‘Whaaat?! You're late because you were busy brawling with Leo Flove? If you love fighting so much, then let's make the lesson a brawl tooooooo!’
Artian, her body possessed by a hot-blooded hero through necromancy, had apparently gone berserk.
The first-years, already drained of stamina by Leo, were said to have been completely trampled by Artian's fury.
“I-It was terrifying…!”
“I now understand all too well why Lady Celia told us to be careful around Professor Artian.”
Carin hugged her arms and shivered, while Valerie broke out in a cold sweat.
Leo sighed as if he had expected it.
“By the way, Young Master. Do you have any intention of taking on a first-year as a mentee?”
Martina asked politely.
Having been trained by Leo, the Slayer Knight Order knew his skills all too well.
Most of the current first-years held onto the hope that Leo would eventually show an opening.
‘But Young Master Leo has no openings.’
Leo’s movements were godlike, without a single blind spot.
With Ar-on's ‘Hyper-Sense,’ Leo had no blind spots.
‘And he never gets tired.’
Most first-years thought they could become Leo’s mentee through luck or a fluke, but in Martina’s eyes, they had absolutely no chance.
‘He’s essentially saying he won’t take a mentee.’
Seeing Martina’s puzzled expression, Leo smirked.
“Well. There are five with potential.”
“I assume you mean the princess, the crown prince of Birsen, the daughter of the Southern Magic Tower's master, and the Sword Saint's granddaughter.”
“That’s right.”
Martina nodded.
In her eyes as well, those four were in a different league.
Aina Veydean, in particular, was so skilled that even Martina, who had seen countless sword geniuses as a trainee of the Jerdinger Family, was left speechless.
“Who’s the other one?”
Carin asked, her eyes sparkling.
“Here he comes now.”
Leo said with a smirk.
At his words, the knights' gazes turned in the direction Leo was looking.
And they were shocked.
“Luke Elda?”
The lowest-ranked first-year was timidly approaching Leo.
***
Leo stood in the training yard of the area where the second-year dormitories were gathered.
Across from Leo, Luke stood with a tense expression, gripping a wooden sword.
‘This kid was there during lunch too.’
And Luke hadn't moved an inch to attack Leo.
He had merely stayed at a distance, observing Leo's movements.
“Th-Thank you for your time.”
“I was the one who said to come at me anytime. Don’t worry about it.”
Leo chuckled at the thoroughly intimidated Luke.
Seeing Leo, Luke’s face flushed.
‘It’s different from the entrance exam. Now, I’m a Lumerne student, just like Leo!’
The person he'd admired for so long was right in front of him.
Leo Flove, a person Luke had only read about in long-outdated newspapers in his quiet country village, had instantly become his idol.
A man like the Great Heroes he had read about in fairy tales as a child.
Of the five Great Heroes, the one Luke liked most was none other than the Hero of the Beginning, Kyle.
Most people didn't like the Hero of the Beginning, Kyle, even considering him a fictional character.
But for Luke, who came from the countryside, whether he was a real hero or not didn't matter much.
An All-Class like that very Kyle.
And on top of that, his heroic deeds made Luke’s heart tremble.
To Luke, Leo was like a person who had stepped right out of a fairy tale.
It was, in the truest sense, pure admiration.
And he was in the same place as that person.
‘Am I even worthy?’
Luke smiled awkwardly.
But he wanted to talk to Leo.
“Hoo.”
Luke took a deep breath and got into his stance.
*Fwoosh-!*
Luke closed the distance to Leo and swung his sword.
The sword moved swiftly.
But Luke was clearly following Leo’s movements.
‘This kid is definitely the weakest among the current first-years.’
Leo easily dodged Luke’s attack.
‘His swordsmanship is crude, and his aura control is clumsy.’
Seeing Luke’s sword, imbued with aura, aiming for his neck, Leo flicked his finger.
*Poong-!*
“Kuh?!”
Just blocking the attack made Luke’s body stagger.
Normally, even if the opponent doesn't counterattack, seeing such an overwhelming difference in skill would make one lose their will to fight.
It would also lead to despair.
The same was true for Luke.
And not just Luke.
By the time lunch ended today.
Every single first-year had the same look in their eyes as Luke.
They felt despair at the overwhelming difference in skill.
However.
Gritting his teeth, Luke swung his sword again.
Watching him, Leo smiled.
‘Of course his skills are terrible. He learned entirely on his own.’
Luke had truly entered Lumerne purely on his own strength.
Moreover…
*Woong-!*
Luke’s mana stirred.
‘I felt it during the entrance exam, but now I’m sure of this kid’s mana trait.’
His aura grew even larger.
‘Mana amplification through emotion, is it?’
Even in despair, he refuses to stop moving forward.
He heightens his emotions and charges again.
No one taught him to do that.
He’s doing it unconsciously.
‘That's what the world calls a hero.’
***
“*Gasp—gasp—Ugh!*”
Luke clamped a hand over his mouth, barely stopping himself from vomiting.
He didn't have the strength to lift a single finger.
He had moved with all his might, but he still hadn’t even grazed him.
‘Amazing.’
Luke looked at Leo, who was sitting calmly before him, and marveled.
“Leo.”
“What is it?”
“Can I... become a hero too?”
“Who knows about that.”
Leo smirked.
“But as long as you don’t stop challenging the impossible, people can always achieve great things.”
“Ah, that's what Lisinas said!”
“Yeah. I don't really care about taking on a mentee, but give it your best shot.”
Leo chuckled.
“Surpassing one's limits is the mark of a hero, but making the impossible possible is also a hero's duty.”