Chapter 474
Chapter Title: A Legacy of Hate
-----------------------------------------------------------------
474.
During the Age of Calamity, the city of Leisar was one of the few places where conditions were relatively good.
It was the largest of the cities that had managed to survive at the time, and its circumstances were better than most.
‘It was a city rich with supplies. And crucially, it had the Guardian of the Azure Sky.’
Argon, the Guardian of the Azure Sky, was Ar-on's master.
Before the Great Heroes, led by Lisinas and Kyle, had come to prominence.
He was a man called the hope of the world.
Argon loved children.
That was why he took in orphans in Leisar.
At least while Argon, the Guardian of the Azure Sky, was alive, Leisar was a place where children with nowhere else to go could live with hope for tomorrow.
But after he drew his last breath.
The real tragedy began.
The lord of Leisar trained and brainwashed the orphans overflowing in the streets.
He remolded them into beings meant only for battle.
And they were thrown into the war against Tartaros.
The training process was simple.
They were just forced into endless competition.
Only the children who survived the extreme training were given food.
To win, they were allowed to trample and even kill their opponents.
It was, quite literally, a living hell.
It might have been a way to create powerful warriors.
But it was impossible for a proper person to emerge from such an environment.
‘Among them were many children with outstanding talent.’
There were certainly children with talent and strength that could have truly benefited the world.
But the lord of Leisar used them solely as consumables.
Driven to the battlefield as consumables, the children died in vain.
Clinging to hatred and resentment.
This cycle repeated endlessly.
Until Kyle executed the lord of Leisar.
‘He had been colluding.’
And while executing the lord of Leisar, he discovered who the mastermind was.
‘Artkan, the Grand Duke of Funerals.’
The Necro King's trusted subordinate.
The reason he had gone through the trouble of planning such a thing was simple.
‘It was to obtain corpses.’
The demon legion led by the Necro King, Hel Kaiser—the specialty of the necromancers was necromancy.
They were fiends who wielded immense power using corpses.
That was why they displayed their most terrifying strength in the heart of a battlefield.
The experience of a fallen comrade rising as an undead to attack you was something one could never get used to.
‘Their very existence lowers morale.’
And the more powerful the necromancer, the more perfectly they could replicate the appearance of the deceased in life.
‘And for them, corpses filled with resentment and hatred are the ultimate weapons.’
A high-ranking necromancer could even enhance the abilities of a reanimated corpse beyond what it possessed in life.
It was similar to how knights and warriors enhanced their equipment with Aura.
Of course, if the living person was too powerful, their full strength couldn't be completely revived.
‘And one more thing.’
If corpses filled with dark emotions like resentment, hatred, despair, loathing, and envy were the greatest weapons for a necromancer, then conversely, they could not control the corpses of the noble.
Even if reanimated as the undead, they would resist and refuse to obey.
In a sense, they were like dull weapons.
Naturally, it was also difficult to draw out the corpse's power.
‘When Lisinas became the light and fought against Erebos and Tartaros, noble heroes were born.’
Drawn by the light and hope that Lisinas presented.
Countless heroes were born.
That was what made Lisinas so special.
She deceived people, lying that there was light and hope where none existed.
And Lisinas, who ultimately made that lie a reality, was literally the savior of the world itself.
If Ar-on the Brave Hero was the symbol of courage.
Lisinas, the King of Wisdom, was the symbol of salvation and hope.
‘Well, that’s a skill I could never imitate in my lifetime.’
In any case, the very existence of Lisinas had deprived the Necro King's army of a powerful weapon.
So Artkan, the Grand Duke of Funerals, devised a plan.
To use Leisar to produce corpses they could use.
That was the reason for the birth of the orphan soldiers.
‘The resentment and hatred held by the orphan soldiers was immense.’
Although they had to trample each other to survive.
Their bond was nevertheless strong.
It was useless to die before becoming strong.
Therefore, Artkan, who orchestrated the plan, brainwashed the orphan soldiers to rely on each other.
Cases of sharing one's food with a hungry comrade were innumerable.
It wasn't uncommon to see one sacrifice themselves to save a comrade during training.
For the orphan soldiers, each other was their very reason for living.
‘The more comrades they lose, the stronger their resentment and hatred becomes.’
At first, the blade of their resentment and hatred was pointed at Tartaros.
‘But the moment they are driven to war as consumables and die, the orphan soldiers realize it.’
That they had lived only to die.
Seeing the necromancers harvesting them, their resentment and hatred would explode.
‘It was vicious.’
One of Kyle's disciples.
It was because of this that Vihar could never step into the light, even after the Age of Calamity ended.
‘He was an orphan soldier, after all.’
After everything was over, Kyle had wanted his disciple to live in the light.
He told him not to walk the path of darkness that he himself had walked.
Despite that, Vihar ultimately chose to remain in the darkness and became a shadow.
‘He could never become like Berkia, I suppose.’
Kyle's two disciples, born under a gray sky.
Of them, Berkia walked towards the light, and Vihar towards the darkness.
Feeling a bitter taste in his mouth at the thought of Vihar, Leo averted his gaze from the orphan soldiers.
“Why is His Highness Crown Prince Jeremin managing these children? They look far from ordinary at a glance.”
The aura they exuded was anything but normal.
“I forcibly took these children, whom Duke Dotarn was secretly raising.”
“Did he hand them over willingly?”
“No. But I couldn't just stand by and watch him commit such a horrific act.”
Leo said, looking at Jeremin, whose eyes were filled with anger.
“How much do you know about these children?”
“I only know that they were orphans being raised to be sent to the battlefield.”
“Their existence must be a secret within the country, right?”
“That's right. If I had known such an atrocity was being committed, I would not have let it be.”
Leo looked at Jeremin, who spoke with determination, then turned his gaze back to the orphan soldiers.
‘Well, if that Duke Dotarn fellow knew what these children truly were, he never would have handed them over to the Crown Prince.’
The Crown Prince and the Duke, being ordinary people, hadn't noticed.
‘Every single one of those orphan soldiers is stronger than an average knight. They have all already been initiated into Aura. Two or three of them are at a level where they could enroll in Lumerne.’
In a small kingdom like Kanel, they were a force capable of attempting a rebellion.
The northeastern part of the continent was a place of incessant war.
As such, procuring orphans would have been easy.
“What kind of life do you wish for these children to live, Your Highness?”
“It may be difficult, but I would like them to live a life far from war.”
The Crown Prince looked at them with pity.
They had lost their parents to war, been captured, and subjected to horrific training.
He was genuinely saddened by it.
‘At least the Crown Prince seems to be a decent man.’
He was a king of a different caliber compared to this country's debauched king and his ministers.
“Are you really sure about handing over the legacy of the Nether Knight to Lumerne?”
“Of course. To be honest, it’s obvious we wouldn't be able to use it properly even if we kept it in our country. No matter how great a legacy is, it's worthless if it can't be utilized, isn't it?”
Jeremin crossed his arms and grinned.
“It would be good for Lumerne to manage our kingdom's artifact. Besides, I must become king to give you the key. Until then, maintaining a transactional relationship with the hero Leo Flove would be very helpful, wouldn't it?”
“You've thought that far ahead.”
As Lil’s eyes widened, Jeremin smiled faintly.
“These children don't know much about heroes or heroic tales. So I also want to let them meet a real hero.”
Jeremin bowed his head to Leo with a serious expression.
“I beg of you, Leo Flove. Please help these children live a normal life.”
It isn't easy for someone of a Crown Prince's stature, no matter how small the kingdom, to bow his head.
Even if it was to someone who held the title of hero.
Looking at the Crown Prince, Leo said.
“I understand.”
“Thank you, thank you so much!”
Jeremin smiled brightly.
Watching him, Leo said.
“Now that I know of their existence, I couldn't just leave them be anyway.”
***
The orphan soldiers were waiting for Leo and Lil, lined up in disciplined formation.
Their gazes were fixed on Leo.
Their faces were dotted with scars.
Their eyes were all sharp.
The orphan soldiers were observing Leo intently.
‘Their average age is about 13 to 14.’
They were still very young.
Among them were some who, though they'd just barely make it, were at a level where they could enroll in Lumerne.
‘The others could also reach that level depending on what happens from now on. Of course, their disposition is completely incompatible with Lumerne.’
One couldn't get into Lumerne just by being strong.
“You want to go to the battlefield?”
At Leo's question, the boy at the front answered.
“Yes. Are you the one who will send us to the battlefield?”
The boy's question made Leo smirk.
“No.”
At those words, the boy's eyes twitched.
“Why on earth do you want to go to the battlefield?”
“To get revenge on the bastards who made us this way!”
“They told us the ones who killed our parents are on the battlefield!”
“I killed my friends to be here because of those bastards!”
“We’ll kill them!”
Voices filled with hatred erupted.
Seeing this, Lil raised her hand.
“Now, now, please calm down, everyone.”
“This is no business for pampered ladies like you, is it?”
A girl standing next to the boy shouted fiercely.
“Isn't it better for you people if we go snap our enemies' necks?”
The girl, whose speech was particularly rough, even showed killing intent towards Leo and Lil.
As Lil wore a troubled expression at the sight.
Leo chuckled.
“Alright, if you want to go that badly, I'll send you.”
“Master!”
Lil called out to Leo in a flustered voice.
Leo brought Lil in front of him, pushed her towards the orphan soldiers, and said.
“On one condition. I'll send you if you can beat her.”
At Leo's words, the orphan soldiers' murderous gazes turned to Lil.
Lil wore a bewildered expression.
“M-Master. Why do I suddenly have to fight?”
“It's your first order as my student.”
“Gah?!”
“Subdue these kids.”
At Leo’s words, Lil nodded.
Her expression now filled with resolve, Lil stood before the orphan soldiers.
“Come at me.”
At her words, the boy and girl at the front looked at each other and nodded.
The first to step forward was the girl.
Showing off a trick, twirling the dagger in her hand, the girl spoke in a menacing voice.
“You'd better be ready, noble miss.”
Looking at the girl, Lil said.
“Who said to come one at a time?”
“What, you’ll take on both of us by your….”
“All of you here, come at me at once.”
“What?”
The orphan soldiers all wore dumbfounded expressions.
Lil said with a blank face.
“I will show you just how powerless you are.”
***
‘I told her to subdue them, but to think she'd take them all on at once. She seems timid, but she thinks on a surprisingly grand scale.’
Leo chuckled as he looked at Lil, then turned his back.
The reason he entrusted the orphan soldiers to Lil was simple.
‘It's best for someone closer to their age to deal with them.’
Whatever his outward appearance, the mental age gap between Leo and the orphan soldiers was too vast.
‘It's better to leave forming a connection to a peer. Besides, in a way, Lil's values are completely different from the orphan soldiers'.’
Someone who knows darkness can understand darkness.
But someone who has lived in the light finds it hard to understand darkness.
‘For kids like them, it's better for them to have their worldview shattered by a head-on collision with a different ideology.’
Crucially, Leo had something else to do.
Leo's red eyes glinted.
‘If there are orphan soldiers raised this way in this country, it means that bastard, the Grand Duke of Funerals, is hiding somewhere in this nation.’
A chilling killing intent formed in Leo's eyes.
‘Shall we begin the hunt?’