Chapter 517
Chapter Title: Breaking the Wall
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517.
The lounge of the Noble Dormitory.
As always, Eliza sat in her luxurious, exclusive chair, legs crossed, filing the tips of her nails.
Around her, the other students from the Summoning Department of the Noble Dormitory stole nervous glances at her.
“Uh, Eliza. You haven’t been going out at all lately, have you?”
A female student from the Summoning Department cautiously spoke to her.
Eliza blew on her nails—whoosh—and inspected her manicured fingertips.
Seeing her reaction, the other summoning students wore frustrated expressions.
Eliza was the de facto leader of the second-year Summoning Department.
Of course, that didn't mean she was the top honor student in her department.
In terms of grades alone, she was an honor student who vied with Woreden for first and second place, but she frequently skipped class.
Her class participation was low, and she even slept through them often.
She even frequently sent the students who followed her on personal errands.
Aside from her grades, she was a textbook delinquent.
Still, the reason she was the leader of the second-year Summoning Department was that Woreden was inherently and strongly individualistic.
Eliza, despite her insincerity, definitely led the summoning students as their leader.
The Summoning Department professors also acknowledged her, thanks to her excellent grades and that particular disposition.
And for the past week.
Eliza had done nothing but stay in her dormitory.
She didn't attend classes, nor did she participate in the reconstruction of Lumeria City.
While she always wore a bored expression, for the last few days, any trace of expression had vanished from her face.
As a result, the summoning students who followed her felt like they were suffocating.
‘What’s wrong with her?’
‘I-I don’t know. Did something happen?’
Just as the summoning students were exchanging glances.
“How annoying.”
Eliza, who had been ignoring her surroundings for days, suddenly spoke.
“What?”
“All of you, disappear.”
“What do you mean…”
“It’s annoying, so get out of my sight.”
Watching Eliza speak with irritable annoyance, the summoning students flinched and then scattered.
Though she had a tyrannical streak, Eliza was generally lenient with her followers. This was the first time since their enrollment that the students of her faction had seen her so openly irritable.
Left alone in the lounge, Eliza remained silent for a moment before gritting her teeth—grit—and rising from her seat.
‘Pathetic.’
The reason she had been cooped up in her dorm was because of what happened a week ago.
In that gathering of the second-year top students, Eliza had felt it.
‘I’m the only one who hasn’t grown.’
Feeling a sense of suffocation, Eliza entered her dorm room.
Creeak— Click—
She closed the door and collapsed face-down onto her bed. Flop—
‘Before the summer vacation started, I never once thought I was falling behind anyone in the second year.’
As she thought that far, Eliza paused, then gave a self-deprecating smile.
‘No, there was one person.’
There was one person she had started to consider an exception at some point.
‘Leo Flove.’
To Eliza, Leo was the first wall she had ever encountered in her life.
That was why she was always conscious of him.
‘Other people might not know, but at least I’m not like them.’
Eliza wore a sullen expression.
For Eliza, Leo was the ‘benchmark.’
‘As a summoner, and as a hero. The human named Leo Flove is perfect.’
There were no other special feelings beyond that.
She could never tolerate someone being above her, but she had no choice but to acknowledge Leo.
‘And yet…’
Eliza’s face twisted miserably.
When the Necro King attacked Lumerne.
She had been forced to see the backs of the peers she had considered her equals.
Before enrolling in Lumerne.
Eliza had never doubted that she was the best.
In reality, her talent was second to none, worthy of being called the best of her generation.
Now, she was well aware that she couldn't be the best, thanks to the unfathomable monster named Leo Flove.
Even so, she had been confident that she wasn't falling behind, at least among her classmates.
That confidence of hers had been shattered.
‘My limit?’
Eliza bit her lip hard and stared down at her palm.
Even if she tried not to think about it, she couldn't help it.
She had seen countless students who, after a lifetime of swaggering around thinking they were the best, ended up as dropouts at Lumerne.
She had laughed at them then, but not anymore.
What if she was the only one sitting still while everyone else was running ahead?
What if she, too, ended up dropping out like the ones she had ridiculed?
Within the competitive system of Lumerne, Eliza felt fear for the first time.
‘It’s my problem, yet I’m taking my frustration out on those around me. I’m hopeless too.’
Just as Eliza smiled bitterly and buried her face in her pillow.
Shhk-!
She heard the sound of something sliding under her dorm room door.
Slightly lifting her upper body, she turned her head to see a letter.
‘How annoying, at a time like this.’
Eliza’s face crumpled.
While she rivaled Duran for having the worst temper among the second-years, Eliza was nonetheless a great beauty.
She had many admirers of her haughty demeanor.
On top of that, she held the position of heir to the Hergin family, the most prestigious summoning family in the northern part of the continent.
She had received hundreds of love letters.
Of course, Eliza had never read a single one.
She burned every letter she received.
‘Hmph. If you like me that much, you should confess with confidence.’
She had no interest in a confession from someone who lacked the courage to even say it to her face.
Of course, even if they did confess to her face, she had no intention of accepting.
It was impossible for someone she had no interest in to suddenly catch her eye.
Eliza approached the door, intending to tear the envelope to shreds.
Then she paused, noticing the name written on it.
‘Karl Thomas?’
Eliza’s eyes twitched.
‘Why is this man writing me a letter?’
She scoffed, but her curiosity was piqued.
Normally, she would have torn it up without a second thought, but without realizing it, Eliza opened the envelope and checked its contents.
‘There’s something I need to talk to you about. I’ll be waiting at the dormitory training grounds at midnight tonight. Karl Thomas.’
“How arrogant.”
The incredibly simple content made Eliza look dumbfounded.
“Is this a joke? Who does he think he is, telling me to come and go? He needs to know his place.”
Eliza let out her characteristic sneer and neatly folded the letter back into its envelope.
Click-clack—
Flick— Tossing the letter onto her desk, Eliza started to lie down on her bed but stopped in front of the full-length mirror in the corner of her room.
Glancing at her reflection in the mirror, Eliza adjusted her hair.
For some reason, she felt the gloom that had been weighing on her lift a little.
Without realizing it, she started humming a small tune as she sat down at her vanity.
Then she smiled brightly.
‘Crushing him mercilessly could be fun.’
***
“…”
Eliza’s face crumpled as she saw the person standing at the appointed place.
“I was waiting for you, Eliza.”
At Leo’s words, Eliza crossed her arms.
“To think that someone as great as the student council president was waiting for me. I’m overwhelmed. But wasn’t it Karl Thomas who called me here?”
“I’m here too!”
Karl, revealing himself from behind Leo, gave a thumbs-up and smiled playfully.
“So the one who had something to say to me wasn't Karl Thomas, but you, Leo Flove?”
“That’s right.”
“Hah. I should have just gone to sleep.”
Eliza muttered in annoyance.
Looking at her, Leo said.
“It’s important.”
At his words, Eliza paused, then scoffed.
“It had better be important enough to call me out at this late hour.”
Of course, Eliza knew well that Leo wasn't one to talk nonsense, so she was aware it was probably something truly important.
It was just in her nature to get a word in, just to satisfy herself.
Leo nodded at her.
Karl looked at Eliza and said.
“By the way, Eliza. You look especially pretty today.”
“I’m the same as always.”
Eliza answered indifferently.
However, unlike usual, her tone was a little softer.
“Perfect, full makeup at this hour of the morning… I get it! You’re planning to meet a guy after this is over, aren’t you…?”
Whoosh-! Crack-!
“Gahk? Kkh-khk-khk!”
“Do you see me as some promiscuous woman who goes out to meet men in the middle of the night?”
“W-Well, you’re popular, so I thought you might go on a date since you were out…”
“I don’t do that kind of thing.”
Squeeze-!
“Gkh-gkh-gkhk!”
Whipping the whip she always carried around Karl’s neck, Eliza pulled him toward her and began to choke him frantically in a fit of hysterics.
Watching this, Leo commented nonchalantly.
“You two get along as well as ever.”
“Who said we get along?”
Eliza replied sharply, pushing Karl aside.
“So? What is this important thing you wanted to talk about?”
“I heard from Karl. He said you seemed quite anxious.”
“And? Are you here to laugh at me for running in place by myself?”
Eliza responded sharply.
From the beginning, Eliza had seen Leo as a rival to be surpassed.
As such, she was in a position where she couldn't simply accept Leo’s concern or help at face value.
Leo looked at the ‘competitive spirit’ in Eliza’s eyes and burst out laughing.
“Go on, laugh all you want. Leo Flove.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
Leo shook his head.
“Sometimes, I forget that you all are just kids.”
“…That’s a very strange thing to say. I know you have a tendency to act like an old man, but for the record, I’m older than you.”
The unexpected comment made even Eliza let out a hollow laugh in disbelief.
Looking at her, Leo said.
“It’s not that you’re particularly lacking compared to the others. It’s just that your circumstances are a little different.”
“…”
“Chloe and Abad, knowingly or not, motivate each other. They have similar aspects and debate often. They are certainly good rivals.”
“And there’s Chelsea, too. Well, in Chelsea’s case, it’s more that she’s grinding her teeth, thinking, ‘I can’t lose’ to Celia.”
After giving examples from the Magic and Knight departments, Leo continued.
“Celia, Duran, and Chen Xia also consider each other rivals.”
“But you don’t have a rival.”
There was Woreden, but he wasn't the type to be particularly competitive.
He was the type to simply pursue ‘strength’ and charge straight ahead.
He had completely ignored Eliza’s provocations when they were first-years.
“And as for me being a rival… you know what I mean, right?”
“Hmph!”
Eliza ground her teeth.
Looking at her, Leo said.
“Crucially, summoners are also slow to grow.”
“Are you advising me not to be anxious because time will solve it? What truly grateful advice.”
Eliza sneered.
Watching her, Leo plopped down on a nearby bench and said.
“Well, you’d overcome the wall soon enough. But while overcoming a wall is good, isn't this the right time to learn how to forcibly break it down?”
“What do you mean by that?”
The corners of Leo’s mouth curled up.
“How long are you going to make me wait?”
At those words, Eliza’s face instantly hardened.
She clenched her fists and ground her teeth.
That gaze, looking down on her from a dizzyingly high place.
It was the same look Leo had shown her before.
‘I really hate that attitude, as if he’s waiting for me!’
Sparks flew in Eliza’s eyes.
Looking at her, Leo said.
“Besides, Karl was very worried about you.”
“Karl Thomas was?”
Eliza glanced at Karl.
Karl shrugged.
After looking at Karl for a moment, Eliza took a deep breath.
“So? How can you help me?”
“Are you prepared to do whatever I tell you to?”
“As long as you don’t ask for anything strange.”
“Then.”
“Are you prepared to die?”