Chapter 289
Chapter Title: The Great Hero's Home
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289
The heart of Gardsrone.
Leo stood by the window of a drawing-room in a mansion overlooking Gardsrone, gazing at the city's night view beyond the glass.
*...To think the day would come when I'd see this view again.*
It was largely the same as the scenery he had etched into his memory before leaving for the final expedition to subjugate Erebos.
“It's completely dark.”
Karl came up beside Leo, clicking his tongue in amazement.
“For a city this huge... it's too dark, isn't it?”
“It was that kind of era.”
Leo said calmly.
“An era that couldn't be as brilliant as the present.”
“Right. The Age of Calamity.”
An era when the world was on the brink of collapse.
Looking at the red moon in the night sky, Karl felt a chill run down his spine.
“Anyway... we were guided here, but.”
Karl looked around the drawing-room.
And seeing Lunia and Ar, he shrank back.
“They look murderous.”
“Have some confidence. Why the long faces?”
As Driana spoke with her arms crossed, Luna, who had her hand on her forehead, wore a grim expression.
“Your opponent was none other than Lord Dweno. It's incredible that you two fought back as much as you did. I was too scared to even move, wasn't I?”
“...The Black Rabbit fought against Lord Ar-on all by himself, they said.”
Ar, with potion patches made by Karl on her cheek and forehead, said through gritted teeth.
“The two of us couldn't even put up a proper resistance against Lord Dweno.”
Seeing Ar's vaguely resentful expression, Karl gave an awkward laugh.
“Hey, hey. Leo's just unbelievably strong, so...”
“Does that mean you two were being complacent?”
When Driana spoke coldly, the two girls lowered their heads.
Karl covered his face with his hands, approached Driana, and whispered quietly.
“Hey, you should be comforting them. What are you doing talking like that?”
“They looked like they wanted to hear some harsh truths, so I obliged.”
Driana pushed away Karl's face, which he had brought close to her ear, with her dainty hand.
“If one aims higher, one must understand the difference between themselves and those above.”
“Well said.”
Leo chuckled and came to sit in a chair.
“I didn't really fight Ar-on. He didn't fight back. On the other hand, it seems Dweno wanted to test you.”
“A test?”
Lunia lifted her head, looking slightly flustered.
“What kind of test?”
“Even I wouldn't know that.”
*Creek-!*
The drawing-room door opened and Eiran entered.
“Everyone!”
“Eiran! Are you okay?! Are you hurt anywhere?”
Lunia stood up, went to Eiran, and looked her over.
“Yes, I'm fine. But it looks like you and Ar are more seriously injured than I am, Lunia.”
Eiran examined Lunia's and Ar's injuries with wide eyes.
“I'm fine.”
Ar said in a flat voice.
Looking at Ar, Eiran summoned elven magic and cupped Ar's cheek with her palm.
The swelling went down in an instant.
Eiran quickly healed the wounds Lunia and Ar had sustained in their fight with Dweno.
Just then, two people entered the drawing-room.
It was Dweno and Depesere.
At Depesere's appearance, everyone except Leo tensed up.
They recalled the murderous and menacing aura he had when he took Eiran away earlier.
Seeing his friends' reactions, Leo muttered to himself.
*I can tell without even seeing it. He must have raised hell over something related to Verchia.*
Depesere had been Lisinas's trusted subordinate, so he was a dragon Leo knew well.
Eiran looked frightened.
Depesere adjusted his glasses and swept his gaze across the drawing-room.
His emotionless golden eyes looked at each person's face, one by one.
“My apologies.”
After apologizing, Depesere approached Eiran, knelt on one knee, and bowed his head.
“Noble child of the forest. A small misunderstanding has put you in a difficult position. I don't know how to apologize for this...”
“N-no, it's alright. I'm just glad the misunderstanding was cleared up.”
Eiran was flustered by Depesere's formal apology.
Lunia, Ar, Karl, and Driana also looked surprised at his sudden change in attitude.
*It's good to see you again.*
Depesere, who had overseen Gardsrone's internal affairs, had his greatest achievement in establishing an orphanage for orphans.
He always said that young sprouts were the hope of the future and truly cherished the children of Gardsrone.
That's why he must have been genuinely enraged at the thought that Verchia might have been harmed.
While the atmosphere had eased somewhat due to Depesere's polite demeanor.
Dweno spoke.
“The charges against you have been dropped. So I ask. Where are you from?”
At his words, the party, excluding Leo, flinched.
“You're all wearing clothes woven from mana threads, and the designs are similar.”
Dweno narrowed his eyes.
“Not to mention your extraordinary skills, which don't match your age.”
Dweno stroked his beard as he carefully observed each member of the group.
“It seems impossible for you not to be famous.”
*W-we're in big trouble.*
*How should I explain this?*
One of the ironclad rules of conquering the World of Heroes was that you must not reveal to its inhabitants that their world was fake.
From the conqueror's perspective, the World of Heroes was a fake world, but to its characters, this world was real.
Those who revealed they were conquerors to the residents of the World of Heroes had their conquest marked as a failure, regardless of their intentions.
And failure in a Hero Dungeon meant death.
Therefore, they couldn't say something like, "We came from 5,000 years in the future," to the Great Heroes of the past.
But they couldn't think of an answer to overcome this question either.
Hero cadets study and learn the situations and common knowledge of various eras so they can respond naturally no matter which period's World of Heroes they enter.
However, most records of the Age of Calamity have been lost by the present day.
That's why even in the Hero Academy's history classes, the Age of Calamity couldn't be taught properly.
They had to make something up.
Their suspicions had just been cleared; if they failed to answer or gave a strange response, they might be sent back to prison.
But even making things up required some knowledge.
Just as they were floundering, unable to find their bearings.
“We're from the slums of Reisahr.”
Dweno's gaze turned to Leo.
“You're all looking pretty fine for slum kids.”
“We had talent, so the Lord of Reisahr took us in and trained us.”
Leo looked Dweno straight in the eye.
“To subjugate Erebos.”
“...”
The story of the Lord of Reisahr taking in orphans from the city and training them to fight Erebos and Tartaros was well-known.
*Of course, that bastard was a traitor.*
His reason for taking in orphans and putting them through harsh training was ultimately to preserve his own position.
Whatever the reason, it was true that the Lord of Reisahr had taken in orphans and given high positions to the most outstanding among them.
Hearing Leo's words, Depesere spoke.
“I see no reason why the Lord of Reisahr would send such talented individuals as yourselves to Gardsrone.”
Depesere said, adjusting his glasses.
At those words, Leo narrowed his eyes.
*Come to think of it, Ar-on and Verchia said that Lisinas, Luna, and I are currently absent, right?*
Ar-on had said the three of them went to support Reisahr.
It wasn't unusual to be sent to another city for support or dispatch, so there was nothing strange about it.
However...
*Lisinas, Luna, and I are absent. From what I've heard, the Lord of Reisahr is still alive. Depesere is alive as well. And Verchia is 17 years old.*
Leo synthesized the information he had gathered since entering the World of Heroes.
*On top of that, the Giant King is in this world right now.*
For what reason would the Giant King have come here?
Previously, in Luna's World of Heroes where the fragment of Erebos was, it wasn't the Legion Commanders but their subordinates who had entered.
*For that cautious bastard, the Giant King, to move personally...*
Leo narrowed his eyes.
*This world is either important enough for a Legion Commander to act... or it's a personal grudge of his.*
Having gathered information up to that point, Leo reached a conclusion.
*The Giant King must hold a strong grudge against Dweno. The only event that could have caused such a grudge was when he was utterly crushed by Dweno. This is that time.*
The Giant King, also the creator of the Demonic God's Arms, suffered a thorough defeat at Dweno's hands in a certain battle.
He wasn't just defeated by Dweno in terms of strength; he was completely broken as a blacksmith as well.
*The Siege of Gardsrone.*
The moment his thoughts reached that point,
[Dweno's World. Chapter: Mid-part - The Siege of Gardsrone.]
[Conquest Objective: Thwart the Giant King's invasion.]
“Gasp!”
“Hk?!”
“Keck?”
The group let out groans that were close to screams.
“Why are they all suddenly acting like that?”
Dweno asked with a puzzled expression, and Leo shook his head.
“A bad memory came up.”
Leo, having accurately grasped the current point in time, spoke.
“The Lord of Reisahr... we just couldn't trust him. That's why we came to Gardsrone.”
“Does that mean... you fled to Gardsrone?”
Depesere asked with a sharp expression, and Leo nodded.
“I see. It seems Lord Kyle's prediction was correct.”
Depesere, adjusting his glasses with a murderous look in his eyes.
At this time.
There was only one reason why Kyle had left Gardsrone.
*To punish the Lord of Reisahr for his betrayal.*
Lisinas and Luna had gone to support Reisahr, but Kyle was originally scheduled to remain in Gardsrone.
But he left with them as a shadow to execute the Lord of Reisahr.
*But in the end, it was just bait from that bastard, the Giant King, to weaken Gardsrone's defenses.*
Leo clenched his fists tightly.
Depesere's face was tinged with sadness.
“To think of the hard times you must have spent under such a wicked man... and you're all so young... *Sob!*”
Depesere said, covering his mouth and struggling to hold back tears.
“Lord Dweno! These children will surely become great hopes for the future! They must have been abused by the wicked Lord of Reisahr and spent their days in hardship!”
“...They look a little too well-bred to me.”
“How cruel! How can you say such cold words to children who have suffered so!”
Depesere, who had arbitrarily pieced together a story based on Leo's words, took the group's side.
Depesere had a huge soft spot for children.
“Did you not see how frightened these children were when the Lord of Reisahr was mentioned!”
Depesere, who had wonderfully mistaken their trembling at the conquest objective for fear, came to their defense.
As soon as he saw this, Karl put on a pained expression.
“It was hard... We had to endure harsh competition every single day.”
At Karl's words, Lunia and Ar also hurriedly put on pained expressions.
“Aah! We couldn't survive if we didn't trample over the other children.”
“It's painful! So painful!”
*What is with that terrible acting!*
Karl screamed internally.
It was obviously exaggerated acting, but it worked well on Depesere, who was already seeing them through rose-colored glasses.
“I'm sorry for doubting you! I had no idea you had such a sad past!”
Dweno watched this and let out a deep sigh.
“Alright. They may be suspicious, but they don't seem dangerous or likely to harm the city, so there's no need to imprison them. They're children with incredible skills, so they'll be a great help in saving the world.”
“Yes!”
“Give them a place to stay.”
“Understood!”
Depesere nodded at Dweno's words.
“The only empty place right now is... yes.”
Dweno took a long-stemmed pipe from his clothes and put it in his mouth.
“We can let them use Kyle's house.”
“What? Lord Kyle's house? It's certainly empty, but I don't think Lord Kyle would be pleased to find out.”
“I'll handle that. It's not like his house has any big secrets like Lisinas's or Luna's, right? Besides, I hear that fellow is an All-Class.”
Dweno's gaze turned to Leo.
Depesere looked at Leo with wide, surprised eyes.
“When Kyle returns, I want him to be the first one to meet him.”
“Ah, understood.”
Depesere bowed his head respectfully.
Suddenly, in the Great Hero's house.
The group, now on their way to the house of the Hero of the Beginning—about whom almost nothing was known in the current era—wore expressions of shock.
Just the thought of going to the place where the Great Hero had lived was enough to make their hearts flutter.
Leo, too, was overcome with a strange feeling.
*My... home.*