Chapter 438
Chapter Title: A Piece of Erebos
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438.
Ar-on wore a tense expression as he looked at Chelsea, who was gazing up at him with sparkling eyes.
“It’s truly an honor to meet you! To think I could meet the Great Hero in person! It’s like a dream!”
“Uh, yeah. I-It’s nice to meet you, too.”
“Gasp?!”
“Wh-What is it?”
Ar-on grew flustered as Chelsea gasped and her mouth fell open.
“Leo! Ar-on said he was happy to meet me!”
As Chelsea cupped her cheeks, at a loss for what to do, Ar-on scratched his cheek.
“Are you that happy to meet me?”
“Of course! You’re the Great Hero who saved this world! Thank you so, so much! For saving the world!”
Ar-on’s eyes widened at her pure, innocent smile.
Chelsea looked slightly flustered as Ar-on stared intently at her face.
Seeing her, Ar-on smiled.
“Yeah.”
Reaching out, Ar-on patted Chelsea’s head.
Chelsea’s eyes went round.
“Thank you for saying that.”
Chelsea looked up at Ar-on’s faint smile and then broke into a grin of her own.
“Ar-on! Me too! Pat my head, too!”
“Alright, alright.”
When Ar thrust his head forward, Ar-on laughed and patted it.
Watching them, Karl spoke up.
“Hey, Chelsea. I’m just saying this to be safe, but the fact that Instructor Akan is actually Ar-on…”
“I know. I know not to tell anyone else. Who do you take me for?”
Chelsea scoffed with a slightly haughty tone.
“By the way, there’s something I’m curious about.”
Lunia wore a thoughtful expression.
“How exactly did you manage to appear in the present day, Ar-on?”
“Through an item called the Hero Record.”
“Just like how Luna and Seirun appeared in this era?”
As Ar-on nodded, Driana crossed her arms.
“Then that raises another question. Why is it that you remember Leo and Ar, but not the rest of us?”
“I’m not sure about that.”
Ar-on shook his head.
After a moment of thought, Lunia raised her index finger and said.
“Could it be that you only remember Leo and Ar because they were the only two who entered your world?”
“That certainly sounds plausible.”
Karl stroked his chin.
“I think that’s likely it. We met Ar-on in Dweno’s world. When Luna appeared in Seirun, she definitely remembered me.”
Lunia said, recalling the image of Luna defeating Jerdiac in Seirun.
Looking at Lunia, Ar-on expressed his admiration.
“You’re smart. Just like Luna.”
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
“Your personalities seem quite similar, too!”
“That’s quite an honor.”
Lunia wore a shy expression at Ar-on’s words.
Hearing this, Ar shouted.
“Ar-on! Don’t be fooled! You’re being deceived right now.”
“Huh? By what?”
“This wicked pointy-ear is just putting on an act. You mustn’t fall for this facade.”
Driana, with her arms crossed, spoke seriously, and Ar nodded vehemently.
“That’s right, Ar-on! Comparing the benevolent Luna to this violent elf is an insult to Luna!”
“You little…!”
With a fiery glint in her eyes, Lunia wrapped her arms around Ar and Driana’s necks in a chokehold.
Of course, since the two of them surpassed Lunia in physical ability, they didn’t stop talking.
“She really is a thug… Gack!”
Karl, who had been snickering and teasing her, was kicked in the stomach and collapsed.
“Indeed, comparing Lady Lunia to Lady Luna is a bit…”
“Eiran! You too!”
Just as Lunia’s glare grew more menacing.
Ar-on burst out laughing at the sight.
“Yeah. Seeing that confirms it. Your personalities are identical.”
“What?”
“Huh?”
“What do you mean by that?”
Everyone stared at Ar-on with dumbfounded expressions.
“What kind of person is the Luna you all know?”
“Well, she’s benevolent and magnanimous… a gentle goddess-like figure, right?”
Eiran answered with a shocked look, and Ar-on tilted his head.
“Luna isn’t benevolent, nor is she particularly magnanimous. And gentle? A goddess?”
The descriptors, so unfitting for Luna, made Ar-on’s expression turn strange, and by the end, he was grimacing slightly.
“N-No way! That can’t be true!”
Faced with the shocking reality, Lunia clutched her head, refusing to accept it.
“Hey, Leo. You saw Luna with Lunia in the World of Heroes, right? What was she like?”
After a moment of thought at Karl’s question, Leo answered.
“A reckless tomboy?”
“You! Don’t you dare insult Luna!”
“You saw her too, didn’t you?”
“That was when Luna was young and innocent! There’s no way Luna has a personality like mine! There’s no way she’s like me!”
Leo looked pitifully at Lunia, who was screaming in denial.
“She’s well aware she has a bad personality!”
“Yes. As expected of Seirun’s representative. She seems to know herself well.”
Chelsea nodded in agreement with Karl’s admiration.
“You little…!”
As Lunia, eyes blazing, charged at them, Chelsea quickly used Karl as a shield.
“Hey! What are you doing! Chelsea!”
“Friend shield.”
“Hey! Hey? Aaaargh?!”
Karl’s scream echoed through the air.
With credible testimony coming from the Great Hero himself, Leo looked as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
*It won’t be long until Luna’s true nature is exposed.*
***
“Whoa! To think I was being taught by the Brave Hero!”
Chelsea’s expression was still flushed with excitement, her heart pounding.
“Hmph! To be so genuinely happy about receiving Ar-on’s teachings. You may be a mage, but you make sense, Chelsea. Who’s your favorite Great Hero?”
As Ar puffed out his chest, Chelsea answered without hesitation.
“The Hero of the Beginning, Kyle. I’ll have to ask Ar-on about him next time!”
Ar’s face fell at Chelsea’s reply.
“Still, it’s shocking that Luna had that kind of personality.”
“I know, right? And it came from the Great Hero himself… that means her personality is as awful as Lunia’s, doesn’t it?”
Karl stroked his chin at Chelsea’s words.
He remained wary of Lunia attacking, but she still hadn’t recovered from the shock.
Back in Dweno’s world, they hadn’t been able to ask about the Great Heroes in detail, worried it might affect the clear.
*So she’d been holding onto her own fantasy, and now it’s shattered.*
Leo clicked his tongue.
Driana asked Eiran.
“By the way, Eiran, you don’t seem very shocked.”
“Pardon? About what?”
“About Luna’s personality being similar to Lunia’s.”
“Lady Lunia certainly has a violent side, but she’s also a very righteous elf, you know?”
Eiran smiled brightly.
“Besides, Ar-on said it himself, didn’t he? That Luna was incredibly curious and always sincere about magic. I can just imagine what she was like. I’m sure she was a wonderful person… always confident and dignified in everything she did.”
Eiran’s words made Lunia’s ears twitch.
“Right, since she had a personality like mine, she must have beaten up all the bad guys. Yes.”
Lunia started to think positively, her mood lifting.
Watching her, Leo recalled the Luna of old, who would become insufferably arrogant with a little praise, only to dig herself into a bottomless pit of despair when something went wrong.
Remembering the past, Leo said.
“Go on ahead. I’ll catch up.”
As Leo entered the thicket, Eiran approached him.
“Should I come with you?”
“It’d be a little awkward for me if you followed.”
“Huh? What do you mean… Ah! I-I’m sorry!”
Eiran, who had been looking puzzled, turned beet red and scurried away.
Having mulled over his ambiguous reply, Eiran let out a small cry of “Hau!” and covered her face.
As Leo entered, a dragon in his exact likeness, En, bowed its head from a tree above.
“Welcome, Lord Leo.”
“I’m counting on you.”
“Understood.”
En, acting as Leo’s double, slipped out of the thicket.
“Hm? You’re back already?”
“I thought I saw something for a second.”
When Karl asked with a curious expression, En, in Leo’s form, shrugged and replied.
After leaving En to take his place, Leo immediately returned to Ar-on.
Ar-on was already gazing at the night sky, now filled with starlight as the sunset faded.
>—He really loves the night sky.
Kiruan, who had appeared, muttered with his arms crossed.
“He does. I wonder if he ever gets tired of it.”
Piora, now in her human form, also crunched on a piece of candy, looking intrigued.
>—You’re going to get fat again if you keep that up.
Kiruan teased, but Piora paid him no mind.
>—You all wouldn’t understand.
Just then, Elsie spoke.
>—For someone born in the Age of Calamity, the beauty of this night sky is… beyond imagination.
Elsie smiled gently.
Leo approached Ar-on and said.
“Did you have a nightmare? Why did you suddenly transform earlier?”
“I don’t know. I think I smelled something strange. Did anything happen while I was asleep?”
“There was an earthquake.”
“Was that it?”
Ar-on tilted his head but continued.
“That girl, Chelsea. She reminded me of the younger kids at the orphanage.”
“Chelsea does have a naive side to her.”
Although she was only a year younger, she was far more innocent than the other students.
Yet, she also had a sharp side.
“So? Did it make you feel like you did a good job saving the world after all?”
“Yeah. I realized that my wish had come true.”
Ar-on smiled brightly.
Chelsea didn’t know it, but the greeting she had offered had saved Ar-on.
“So now, I want to find it.”
Having come to the future and seen what he desired, Ar-on found a new goal.
“Kyle, the thing you mentioned—something I want to do for myself.”
“Right.”
“How much time do you think I have left?”
“…”
Leo fell silent at Ar-on’s question.
*When Luna came from the World of Heroes to the present, she couldn’t stay for long.*
Unlike Luna, Ar-on had been lingering in this era for a long time.
The reason was simple.
*Luna had used an immense amount of magical power to defeat Jerdiac and Silatuna.*
Consequently, the divine power that constituted Luna’s body was also consumed at a tremendous rate.
Unlike Luna, Ar-on had used almost no Aura.
That was why the consumption of his divine power was slow.
*If he participates in even a single battle… Ar-on will disappear too.*
“Enjoy it as much as you can, this peace.”
“Yeah.”
Ar-on smiled and nodded.
“Ah! There’s something I want to do.”
Ar-on stood up, smiling brightly.
“You said Silroad is still alive, right? I want to meet Silroad!”
“That’s a great idea. I’m sure Silroad will be happy, too.”
***
It wasn’t difficult to open a warp to Fairy Land through Melina.
>—Welcome, Lord Leo Flove. The King has been awaiting your visit.
Although it was a land of fairies where outsiders were forbidden, Leo and Ar-on received a grand welcome.
Guided by a fairy, Leo headed toward the Fairy King’s residence.
>—It’s a shame Kiruan couldn’t come. This is his homeland.
Elsie muttered, perched on Leo’s shoulder.
“What can you do? He’s an exile.”
Kiruan was depressed about not being able to return to his home.
“It’s just deserts.”
>—Wow! Lady Piora! You’re using big words now!
“Ahem!”
Piora, who was sticking close to Leo, placed her hands on her hips and lifted her chin.
Soon, they found that only Silroad was inside the Fairy King’s residence.
>—It really… is you, Ar-on.
“Have you been well? You’re still a crybaby.”
>—And you’re still a coward, Ar-on.
Silroad flew before Ar-on, wiping away tears.
Smiling gently at Silroad, Ar-on’s expression suddenly turned puzzled.
“What’s wrong?”
Leo asked, looking confused, and Ar-on replied.
“No, I just smell something strange coming from Silroad.”
As Ar-on slightly furrowed his brow, Silroad spoke.
>—Ah. It is likely because of that.
“That?”
>—Yes.
Silroad nodded gravely.
>—A piece of Erebos.