Chapter 430
Chapter Title: The Price of a Clear Sky
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430.
That evening.
The second-year students, looking utterly worn out, staggered along.
*Thump—*
Karl collapsed to the ground.
“Today was this hard… How are we supposed to survive for a month?”
“When I get home, I’m throwing away all my stuffed animals.”
The exhausted students reacted with panic.
As soon as the sun set, they had been warped to one location and were now following a signpost toward their lodgings.
“I’m hungry.”
“Of course you are, we’ve been starving all day.”
“What’s for dinner?”
“I want to eat, take a hot shower, and get clean! I’m a mess!”
“I just want to lie down in bed~”
Hopeful wishes erupted from all around.
“Karl, stop lying there and let’s go.”
Chelsea prodded Karl, who was slumped on the ground, with her staff.
“I don’t want to go.”
“Why?”
“The future I see is nothing but darkness. *Sob, sob*.”
Chelsea frowned as she watched Karl wail.
Grabbing him by the scruff of his neck, she started dragging him along.
“By the way, I don’t see Leo.”
“He probably cleared all the trials we went through ages ago and is already back at the dorm, resting.”
“True. It’s Leo, after all.”
Chelsea nodded as if it made perfect sense.
They finally arrived at the lodgings where they would be staying for the next month.
In a large clearing stood several log cabins.
They weren't as glamorous as one might have hoped, but the students looked satisfied at the sight of the decent-looking accommodations.
“Wow! This is perfect.”
“Doesn’t it feel like we’re on a trip to a villa?”
“Let’s hurry up and eat!”
“We have to wash up first!”
Just as the students were heading toward the log cabins with excited chatter…
“Where are you all going?”
Leo, who had started a bonfire in a corner of the clearing, asked with a puzzled look.
“Ah! Leo!”
Chelsea ran toward Leo with a bright smile, while Karl sighed deeply and plopped down beside him.
Seeing Leo, Lunia approached and linked her arm with his.
“What are you doing out here?”
“What do you mean?”
“Instead of going to the dorms.”
“This is our dorm.”
Leo gestured with his chin toward the vast, empty clearing.
“What?”
For a moment, Lunia wore a look of utter confusion.
A moment later, understanding dawned, and her face turned pale.
“W-wait! You’re saying there are no accommodations provided? We have to sleep outdoors with no equipment?”
“That’s right.”
Leo’s answer was met with screams from all around.
At their reaction, Ar crossed her arms with a smug expression.
“Hmph! So weak! This is why you can’t rely on pampered young masters and ladies raised in a greenhouse!”
Ar puffed out her chest, her white cat tail swishing.
“For us Azonia students, sleeping outdoors is no obstacle at all….”
“We have to find our own food, too.”
“You can’t be serious!”
Ar’s cat tail shot straight up.
“You idiot! If they’re not giving us a place to sleep, why would they provide food?”
“Ugh!”
Ar flinched at Lunia’s words.
“What’s all this commotion?”
Just then, the door of a log cabin opened, and someone emerged.
All eyes turned to the woman.
She had black hair with a faint reddish tint.
A beauty with strikingly long limbs, her most peculiar feature was her ears.
A rabbit beastkin with black rabbit ears.
“Senior Banire!”
It was Banire, who had graduated from Azonia just last year.
The Azonia students crowded around her with happy expressions.
“Senior! It’s good to see you well!”
“We’ve heard of your great deeds!”
“It’s an honor to meet you again!”
Banire stared coldly at her juniors, who were greeting her with booming voices.
“All this chirping is noisy. Brats.”
Every student from the hero academies flinched at the chilling force in her voice.
The second-years from Azonia, however, simply snapped to attention and shouted, “Yes, ma’am!”
Banire pressed her temples as if a headache was coming on.
“So, what’s the complaint?”
A student from Seirun raised his hand.
Banire gestured with her chin, and he began to speak.
“I’d like to know why lodging and meals aren’t being provided. We came here to improve our skills, so wouldn’t it be more efficient to train in top condition?”
“Don’t tell me you thought this was an extension of your academy curriculum?”
“Pardon? Of course, I…”
“You received an invitation from the Dragon Lord and now you’re getting arrogant, acting like you’re the chosen ones.”
Banire swept her bangs aside.
“The Dragon Lord didn’t choose you. She’s testing you.”
The Seirun student’s shoulders trembled at Banire’s harsh words.
He wasn’t the only one.
The other students flinched as well.
“The reason you aren’t provided with food or shelter? It’s to see how well you can perform under extreme conditions. If you’re going to whine about something like that, you can leave right now. No one will stop you.”
Several students bit their lips and lowered their heads.
Banire scoffed at them before turning around, entering the cabin, and shutting the door.
In the heavy atmosphere, Chen Xia spoke up.
“Shall we divide up the tasks? Preparing a place to sleep and finding food should be our priorities, so let’s get that sorted out.”
“You’re so calm in a situation like this?”
“I’m used to it.”
Chen Xia smiled gently.
As a Shadow, she was accustomed to such circumstances.
Dragging their exhausted bodies, the students began to prepare their campsite and search for food.
Leo watched them in silence.
“Black Rabbit, what are you thinking so hard about?”
Ar asked with a curious look.
“It’s nothing.”
Leo smiled faintly.
“Just thinking about the old days for a moment.”
***
On the Flove family’s territory, there was a dense mountain.
It was a land where no monsters lived.
A large, ordinary mountain with no particular underground resources, the kind you could find in any rural area.
*Which makes it the perfect place for training.*
Melina had already used magic to seal this mountain off from the outside world.
And using the Dragon Lord’s power, she had transformed it into the ultimate training ground.
*In the end, no student managed to pass the first stage today.*
The first and second-year students were currently separated.
But on the first day of this training camp, not a single person had passed the first stage of training.
It wasn't that the hero candidates lacked skill.
It was simply that the training Melina had designed was that grueling.
*They need to at least pass the first stage before we can move on to individual training.*
As Melina contemplated the month-long schedule ahead, she spoke.
“What is it?”
“My greetings to you, my Lord.”
Behind her, a blond-haired man knelt and bowed his head.
It was Melina’s trusted subordinate, Akatis.
His role was to search for the Hero Records of the Great Hero and the Heroes of the Apocalypse in the western part of the continent.
For him to come to her in person, Melina sensed that something had happened.
“A Hero Dungeon has appeared in Delan, the capital of the Delad Kingdom.”
“If you’ve come to me directly, it must be the Hero Record of the Great Hero or one of the Heroes of the Apocalypse, correct?”
Melina shot up from her seat as she asked.
“We have not yet identified it with certainty, but.”
“But?”
“There have been reports of black flames erupting in Delan.”
“Black flames…!”
Melina’s expression hardened.
“Where is the exact location?”
“The Delan Royal Palace’s Magic Research Institute.”
“Take the dragons and wait for me there. I will handle things here first and join you shortly.”
“Yes, my Lord.”
Akatis vanished.
Melina took a deep breath and called out to him.
“Leo. A problem has arisen.”
***
The tragedy where all the children of the orphanage lost their lives was the beginning of everything.
Ar-on’s master, known as the Guardian of the Azure Sky, had called it an unfortunate accident.
Ar-on had wanted to know the full story, but his master never told him.
*‘Ar-on. You’ve never once seen a clear sky in your life, have you?’*
Agon forced a weary smile onto his haggard face.
*‘I do not wish to tell the truth to you, who has never even seen a clear sky. Forgive me. As the Guardian of the Azure Sky… this is my selfish desire to protect your heart, which is purer than anyone’s… Forget your younger siblings.’*
*‘Yes, Master.’*
Ar-on had relied on his master since he was young.
So, despite his many questions, he obeyed his master’s words.
But after that tragedy, he couldn’t help but think.
*‘If I had been just a little braver, could my siblings have been saved?’*
He didn’t know the specifics of the incident.
He possessed immense power, yet he was always terrified.
But he believed that if he had just a little more courage, his master wouldn't have fallen into such despair.
His siblings wouldn't have departed before him.
The tragedy had occurred during the six months Ar-on had left home, too afraid to fight.
Then one day.
They arrived.
Three people who came to recruit Agon, the Guardian of the Azure Sky, as a comrade, claiming they would save the world.
“Lord Agon, Guardian of the Azure Sky. We desperately need your power.”
“You said your name was Lisinas?”
Agon spoke in a depleted voice.
“I’m sorry… but I can no longer fight for this world. I cannot step onto the battlefield for its people. My spirit… is already broken.”
Agon politely refused the request of the dragon known as the Foolish One.
“Instead… take my disciple. This child will be far stronger than I. He will be different from me. He does not hate people, nor does he hate the world. His heart is as clear as the blue sky.”
Agon smiled, looking at Ar-on.
“He is a child who will charge forward without hesitation to protect others.”
“This timid-looking kid?”
The elf’s ears twitched as she leaned in close to Ar-on, her face filled with curiosity.
As the breathtakingly beautiful elf examined him, he couldn’t help but blush.
*‘S-she’s pretty.’*
“Oh my, how innocent. He’s blushing! How cute!”
“Don’t interrupt the conversation.”
“Owowow! Let go! Let go! Let g—*chomp*!”
“Aargh! You damn knife-ear!”
Of course, less than three seconds after thinking she was pretty, the image shattered as she bit down on the hand of the human male who was pulling her ear.
As Ar-on trembled in fear, thinking they were terrifying people, the dragon called the Foolish One approached him.
“Ar-on. Won’t you come with us?”
Lisinas smiled gently.
“If you were born with such immense power… there must be a reason for it.”
“A reason I was born?”
“Yes. What do you want to do right now?”
“…I want to create a world where children can laugh safely under a blue sky.”
At his answer, Lisinas’s eyes widened, and then he broke into a radiant smile.
“Then won’t you come with us? We, too, are on a journey to reclaim the blue sky.”
Even though a difficult journey surely awaited them…
Even though they must have felt a despair far greater than his own, the hopeful smile they wore captivated him.
Empowered by that smile, Ar-on took his first great leap of courage and stepped out into the world.
Later, a strange dwarf named Dweno joined them.
There were many days when he was too afraid to fight.
But his comrades… his friends believed in him.
And Ar-on, to live up to that faith, squeezed out every ounce of courage he had.
Slowly, the world began to find hope again.
And on the last night in Gardsrone, before they set off on their final journey.
“Kyle, is there really nothing you want to do or achieve?”
“Not really, no.”
Kyle chuckled, taking a sip of his drink.
“What about you? Is there anything you want?”
“I want to create a world where children can smile.”
“Besides that.”
“Huh?”
“Luna’s goal is to make her name known for generations, and Dweno’s is to leave behind works of art, right? Those are all wishes for themselves.”
“Lisinas just wants to save the world, too.”
“That’s because he’s an idiot.”
Kyle said dismissively.
“There’s no need for you to be like him and live for the world, is there?”
Kyle said to Ar-on.
“Find something you want for yourself.”
And so, they embarked on their final journey.
Climbing the mountain, Ar-on looked up at the sky.
Beyond this mountain… lay the source of the world’s ruin.
They had encountered it several times but had never fought it head-on.
*Tremble, tremble—*
His hands were shaking.
It was the same as always.
This very moment was so terrifying he wanted to run away.
At that instant.
Suddenly, Ar-on’s super sense activated.
A transcendent sense, almost akin to foresight.
Ar-on’s face turned white.
*‘We will lose this fight.’*
“Lisinas!”
“Hm? What is it?”
“This fight! We have to—”
As he urgently tried to speak.
Cursedly, his super sense once again told him something he didn’t want to know.
He couldn't see what would happen.
The future his super sense showed him was only the ‘result’.
But in this moment.
He felt the outcome of the future with a clarity he had never experienced before.
Ar-on’s gaze shifted to Kyle and Luna.
*‘If we run now…’*
Ar-on squeezed his eyes shut.
*‘Kyle and Luna will die.’*
The two who were like a brother and sister to him… who were his very family, would die.
*‘What should I do? What do I do…’*
A fear far greater than any he had ever known washed over him.
It felt like his breath was being choked out of him.
*‘What do I do…!’*
As Ar-on squeezed his eyes shut, his super sense momentarily showed him the way.
“Ar-on?”
Lisinas called to him, his face showing a hint of concern.
“Lisinas, let’s not run from this fight.”
“Huh? Of course not.”
Ar-on smiled at Lisinas.
It was a hopeful smile, just like the one Lisinas had given him at their first meeting—the smile that had given him the courage to step out into the world.
“I’m sure… we can win.”
They would be defeated in this battle.
But…
*‘If we don’t run, if we stand and fight… Kyle and Luna won’t die.’*
Ar-on walked to the very front of the group.
The fear vanished, replaced by a sense of peace.
*‘All it will take is me.’*