Chapter 498
Chapter Title: A Star for All Mages
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498.
As the Twilight Festival approached, the entirety of Lumerne buzzed with a festive atmosphere.
The Twilight Festival was a celebration in honor of Lumerne itself.
As such, the students of Lumerne were also making various preparations for it.
Some clubs were even preparing special performances for the occasion.
“Clubs? This academy is certainly lively.”
Luna smiled brightly as she watched the students of Lumerne bustling with their club activities.
“It’s a world apart from the school I attended.”
“Lady Luna, you went to a school?”
Chen Xia’s eyes widened.
“Yes. I attended a school called Barharun, which was meant for raising elves.”
“Barharun! I’ve heard about it from Miss Lunia!”
“Lunia? Ah, the red-haired girl?”
At Eiran’s words, Luna recalled Lunia and nodded.
The memories from the World of Heroes had already been passed on to her.
Thus, she also had the memory of Lunia, who had fought a fragment of Erebos in her past.
“What kind of school was Barharun?”
Chen Xia asked, her eyes filled with curiosity.
Looking at her, Luna said.
“It was a school for selecting High Elves. Specifically, it was established by a god to choose the Elf King.”
“A-A god?”
“That’s certainly different from our current era.”
Eiran’s eyes went wide, and Chen Xia marveled.
A school founded by a god.
It was unimaginable in this day and age.
“Lady Luna, have you ever seen a god in person?”
“Yes, I have.”
“Wow. That’s amazing. To have met a god in person.”
“It’s not just me. He’s probably met them too.”
Luna pointed at Leo, who was walking behind them with a disinterested look.
“There’s no one who made a name for themselves during the Age of Calamity who hasn’t met a god.”
Luna treated the gods as if they were nothing more than pebbles rolling on the roadside.
Watching the nonchalant Luna, Eiran and Chen Xia looked at Leo with admiration.
“The gods must be truly wise, right?”
“Are they really omniscient and omnipotent?”
At their questions, Luna gave a bright smile.
“The beings known as gods are a bunch of foolish, perverted, and incompetent trash.”
Stunned by Luna’s completely unexpected words, Eiran and Chen Xia froze on the spot.
“Not all gods are like that.”
“Right, there are some decent ones occasionally, but for the most part, they’re useless.”
Luna, a non-believer, spoke scathingly.
Leo, too, agreed with that opinion.
Most of the beings called gods, who had lived for eons, were hedonists.
‘You can tell just by looking at the state of those who get their names in the Hero Record.’
They added individuals unworthy of the name ‘hero’ simply for the sake of ‘fun.’
They didn’t care what happened to the mortal world as a result.
They did such things simply because they found it amusing.
That’s why, once you understood the true nature of the gods, you realized they weren’t a trustworthy lot.
Hearing the testimony of the two Great Heroes who had experienced the gods firsthand, Eiran’s face fell.
“It’s completely different from the storybooks and fairy tales.”
“Yes. Reality is a harsh thing. Most of what’s passed down in stories are lies. You become an adult by realizing these realities one by one.”
Luna gently patted Eiran’s head.
Leo spoke to her.
“Yes, just like you.”
“Like me? What do you mean by that?”
Luna’s eyes narrowed.
Leo pulled a book about the Great Heroes from his coat.
It was a book familiar to everyone except Luna.
A fairy tale titled [Heroes of the Beginning].
The first story of heroes that almost everyone in this world encounters.
Leo opened the storybook to the character introduction page.
There was an illustration of Luna with a smile that seemed to hold the warmth of spring.
“The Benevolent Elf, Luna, the Progenitor of the Nebula? What about it?”
“You’re an elf who has nothing to do with benevolence.”
“I am benevolent.”
Answering shamelessly, Luna snatched the storybook from Leo’s hand and swung it at him.
While Leo dodged Luna’s attack.
Chen Xia asked.
“In that case, Lady Luna, were you a candidate for Elf King?”
“No. The elves back then were rotten in many ways.”
Luna said dismissively.
“There was no way they would crown someone of low birth like me as king.”
“There was a similar incident in elven society recently.”
“It seems the elves are a hopeless race after all.”
At Chen Xia’s words, Luna clicked her tongue.
Seeing her, Eiran wore an embarrassed expression, and Leo shook his head.
“That’s not something you, an elf, should be saying.”
Elves were a race with immense pride, but Luna, who had seen their ugliness from a young age, was far from that.
“It’s the truth.”
Luna grinned, playfully pulling the tips of her own ears.
“But I don’t hate all elves!”
Luna pulled Eiran into a hug and nuzzled her cheek against Eiran’s head.
“Aww, aww, my cute Eiran.”
Watching Luna dote on Eiran as if she were Berchia, Leo let out a small laugh.
Eiran didn’t seem to mind, smiling shyly.
“Anyway, I don’t know what it was like in the beginning, but Barharun was a mess of a school. That’s why I like Lumerne much more.”
Chen Xia nodded at Luna’s words.
As they talked, the four of them arrived at the club area.
The reason for their visit was simple.
Luna had said she wanted to look around.
As the four of them entered the club area.
“Eek?!”
“I-It’s Leo Flove!”
“The Student Council President!”
The students, who had been moving about busily, screamed the moment they saw Leo and Chen Xia.
Then, they fled without even making eye contact.
Seeing this, Luna looked bewildered.
“What? Why is everyone running away like they’ve seen a plague patient the moment they see you?”
“Young Master Leo is like the grim reaper among the clubs.”
“The grim reaper?”
“Yes.”
Chen Xia giggled as she explained.
The story of how Leo, after first becoming student council president, had slashed the budgets of several clubs during his tour was all too famous.
It wasn't an arbitrary cut, but the result of a thorough audit.
From then on, club presidents would grovel at the very sight of Leo.
“Which club do you want to see first?”
“It would have to be a club related to magic, right?”
“Then the Magic Engineering Club, I suppose.”
Leo headed towards the Magic Engineering Club.
***
“Kiaaaaaaaaaaaaaah?!”
A fifth-year in the magic department.
The graduating former head of the Magic Engineering Club, James Dect, screamed the moment he saw Leo enter the clubroom, hiding behind a curtain and trembling.
Seeing his terrified reaction, as if he had seen a demon, Luna wore a curious expression.
She took Leo’s hand, positioned him in front of James, and then pulled back the curtain.
“Kieeeeeeeeeeeeeek!”
As if he were a vampire exposed to sunlight, James covered his face, contorted his body, and writhed in agony. Luna closed the curtain again.
When James’s fit stopped, she opened the curtain once more.
“Kiaaaaaaaaak!”
*Swish—!*
“This is pretty fun.”
As Luna’s eyes gleamed with a mischievous smile, Leo pushed her toward Eiran and said.
“I’m not here about the budget today, so please stop.”
“R-Really?”
James peeked his face out from behind the curtain, his eyes filled with terror.
“Yes. And besides, as a graduating senior, it doesn’t matter to you whether the budget gets cut or not, does it?”
“I-It does! Even after I leave, the research of the Magic Engineering Club will continue!”
James said firmly.
“Yes. Which is why I’m not cutting the budget.”
Finally relieved, James fully emerged from behind the curtain.
“Then why are you here?”
Looking at the puzzled James, Leo gestured toward Luna and Eiran.
“We have some prospective visitors.”
“The exchange students from Seirun?”
James adjusted his glasses.
Looking at him, Luna smiled sweetly and asked.
“What kind of magic is the Magic Engineering Club researching?”
“Well, the project we started recently is the [Magic of Blooming Flowers].”
“Pardon?”
Luna’s eyes widened.
Looking at her, James said.
“As a Seirun student, you probably know, but our Leo here restored the magic formula for blooming flowers and returned it to elven society.”
James brought over a blackboard from the corner and spoke.
On it was the magic formula for blooming flowers.
“And it was also revealed that the Magic of Blooming Flowers was the magic that the Progenitor of the Nebula, Lady Luna, had longed for.”
This fact had become known to the world during the conquest of Luna’s world last summer vacation.
“Well, even though the formula has been restored, it hasn’t been fully deciphered yet, so the only mage who can use the Magic of Blooming Flowers is currently Leo.”
James looked at Leo with envy.
The magic a mage yearns for signifies the mage themself.
And to use the magic that mage had longed for meant understanding that person’s heart.
In that sense, Leo was the only mage in the world who understood the heart of the Progenitor of the Nebula.
“We, too, want to understand the heart of the Progenitor of the Nebula. So we’re researching how to use the [Magic of Blooming Flowers] through the [Introductory Guide to Star Magic].”
‘Introductory Guide to Star Magic?’
After a moment of puzzlement, Luna asked.
“Why do you want to understand the heart of the Progenitor of the Nebula?”
“That’s a strange question for an elf to ask.”
James looked at Luna with a bewildered expression and smiled.
“Because Lady Luna is magic itself.”
“……!”
“Every mage in this world reveres her.”
The mark Luna left on magic wasn’t just limited to Star Magic.
She organized all the magic from before the Age of Calamity, leaving behind countless foundations so that magic could firmly take root and flourish for future generations after the calamity’s end.
“Elves may think they are the only ones who truly revere Lady Luna. But all mages see her as a star.”
James grinned.
“That’s why we want to understand her heart. Does that explain it?”
James smiled warmly at Luna, who stood frozen in shock.
“Former President! Come over here for a sec!”
“I told you to call me Honorary President!”
James’s eyes widened as he walked over.
Luna watched them.
Young mages.
From Luna’s perspective, they were her distant juniors.
She had realized upon coming to this era.
That she and her comrades were revered beings.
And she had been quite proud of it.
But it was only now that she understood specifically what she meant to mages.
Her heart pounded.
This was what she had always hoped for.
She had always been confident that she would become such a figure.
But now that it was actually happening, it felt strangely embarrassing and awkward.
“How is it?”
Just then, Leo spoke with a smile.
“How does it feel to be a shining star in the night sky?”
“What?”
“Every mage that exists in this era is a descendant of Luna Rubinance, the Progenitor of the Nebula.”
Leo also looked at the mages of the Magic Engineering Club.
“To mages, you have become, quite literally, their great teacher and their goal. A milestone that shows the way, like a star shining in the night sky.”
Luna wore a dazed expression.
“You were able to do it because it was you, Luna.”
Leo turned his gaze to Luna.
“I’m so happy that you get to see this sight.”
At the sight of his gentle smile, Luna’s face turned bright red.
As if it would burst at any moment.
Covering her face, which was so red it looked like steam might rise from her head, Luna ducked her head low.
“Getting all shy, so unlike you.”
As Leo chuckled, Luna screamed internally at him.
‘This is all your fault, you idiot!’