Chapter 528
Chapter Title: A Moment's Respite
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528.
The dungeon door opened.
“Leo.”
At that, Mel, who had been waiting, rushed over.
“Are you all right?”
“Do you think I’d be beaten by a bunch of greenhorn juniors?”
“That’s not it, but…”
Mel shook his head, looking at the chuckling Leo.
He knew that Leo had not yet fully recovered the power of his past life.
And that in terms of pure power, the Heroes of Genesis held the upper hand.
However…
‘His experience is on a different level.’
The Heroes of Genesis were also heroes who had prevented the world’s destruction.
They were incredible heroes who had righted a shaking world, defeated the fragments of Erebos, and driven back Tartaros.
But Leo was the Great Hero who had saved a world on the brink of annihilation.
He had lived through a more desperate era than the Heroes of Genesis and had triumphed in endless battlefields.
It wasn’t that the Heroes of Genesis lacked experience.
It was just that what Leo had accomplished was so immense it was hard to fathom.
Because of that, he felt that even with a clear difference in power, the current Leo could more than make up for it.
“Well, if it had been the real ones, I would have had a tough time. But with those dolls…”
Mel was impressed.
He knew Leo was Kyle, but it was still astonishing.
“By the way, what kind of hero dungeon was it that dolls mimicking the Heroes of Genesis appeared?”
Mel’s expression became endlessly serious.
They had been able to stop it without much damage because Leo was there; without him, the damage would have been immense.
Looking at Mel, Leo secretly thought.
‘What kind of face would he make if I told him a god created the dolls to test me, but they went berserk and escaped to the outside world?’
“What on earth was inside?”
At Mel’s question, Leo recalled what was inside.
‘Oh, great Hero of the Beginning! Please stay a while longer! This humble servant of yours wishes to serve you more! I wish to gaze upon your noble face a little longer! Please do not go! At least one more cup of tea!’
He recalled Rian, who had clung to his pant leg and wept sorrowfully even as he was being kicked away.
“A madman… no. A zealot was in there.”
“Pardon?”
Even the Dragon Lord, a descendant of the King of Wisdom, Lisinas, could not comprehend those words.
Looking at Mel's bewildered expression, Leo said.
“We can talk about what happened inside later.”
Leo took a deep breath.
“It seems I’ll have to move myself to find Berchia.”
“Ah…”
At Leo’s words, Mel’s eyes widened.
***
“Class rep, your mood has been strange since yesterday.”
The next day.
During Heroics class.
In a gathering of all the second-year students, Iliana muttered quietly, furtively glancing at Leo.
Iliana wasn’t the only one watching Leo.
His dorm mates, and indeed the entire second year, were staring at the expressionless Leo.
“He seems to be in a bad mood. Chloe, Xia, do you know anything?”
Iliana asked Chloe and Chen Xia, who were representatives for the same dorm as Leo.
The two girls looked at each other and shook their heads.
‘Did something happen yesterday?’
Chen Xia stared at Leo with a serious expression.
The Leo she knew was someone who never lost his composure.
‘Being the Great Hero, it’s only natural that he wouldn’t bat an eye at most things.’
A trial that Chen Xia might feel was a typhoon would be nothing but a gentle breeze to Leo.
That was why Leo’s heavy, somber mood weighed on Chen Xia’s heart.
‘It must be related to Lady Berchia, right?’
She couldn’t think of anything else that would make Leo react like this.
Chen Xia clenched her fists.
‘I’m still not good enough.’
Currently, the shadows of Shan are tracking Berchia’s movements.
Of course, the fact that Berchia might have been resurrected as an undead was being kept strictly under wraps.
Even for the Empire of Shadows, it was not an easy task.
‘I need to be of help to him.’
Chen Xia bit her lip hard.
It wasn’t just Chen Xia.
Chloe, as well as Celia and Abad, were watching Leo with concern.
Even Duran, Eliza, and Woreden kept sneaking glances at Leo, clearly concerned.
The atmosphere was heavy.
Everyone knew.
This was the Leo who had remained unshaken in the face of any hardship or trial.
Such a heavy mood from him was enough to weigh down the entire second year.
No matter what anyone said, Leo was their leader.
Just as Lisinas had been, 5,000 years ago.
Just then, Chelsea sat down next to Leo.
“Leo?”
Chelsea called out to him cautiously.
But Leo, lost in deep thought, didn't hear her.
The events of that dawn resurfaced vividly in Leo's mind.
His disciple, who had ultimately been consumed by darkness.
‘It wasn’t Tartaros that made Berchia that way.’
The one who took the lives of Berchia's loved ones was undoubtedly the Demon Queen.
But in the end, the root cause was the malice of people steeped in greed.
She lost her reason and went on a rampage.
She tried to judge all who had sinned.
Leo, too, had no intention of showing mercy to those who trampled on others for their own desires.
But even so, he couldn’t judge everyone who had committed a ‘sin’.
‘Because that, too, is a part of the world.’
But Berchia tried to pass judgment without mercy on anyone who sinned, regardless of the reason.
‘That was clearly wrong.’
The world’s affairs are complex.
If someone were to ask the past Kyle if the world was bright before the Age of Calamity came...
Kyle would have answered without hesitation that it was not.
It’s the same now.
The current world is also rotten in places.
But if you were to cut out all the rotten parts, there would be no world left.
‘I’m not exactly a saint myself.’
Good people commit evil deeds.
Evil people perform good acts.
The world is entangled in complex interests and cannot be simply divided into good and evil.
Berchia couldn’t have been ignorant of that.
She must have just lost the ability to look forward.
‘The gods said the Age of Calamity began because their era was too bright a world.’
The gods drove Erebos, the primordial evil, beyond the darkness for the benefit of the world.
Thanks to that, the world did not face a being of destruction for a long time.
But that was what brought about the calamity that turned the entire world to ash.
It was the same with Berchia.
The more she wanted to lead the world into the light,
the deeper the shadows grew in defiance.
However…
‘That wasn’t wrong, by any means.’
That’s what made it difficult.
What to say to Berchia, who had known darkness less than anyone, yet had gazed into an abyss deeper than any other.
Whether his words would even reach Berchia, who had closed her ears to the world.
And…
‘Whether I can stop Berchia’s rampage, which even took Bihar’s life.’
He had no intention of giving up on Berchia.
He wanted to make her come to her senses, no matter what it took.
But…
‘In the worst-case scenario, I might have to grant her eternal rest.’
Even for Leo, that part was terrifying.
He had spoken confidently to Rian, but he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to lift up his disciple who had fallen helplessly into darkness.
‘What if I can’t save Berchia?’
Just as Leo bit his lip,
Whoosh-!
Someone forcefully pulled him.
Sky-blue eyes entered Leo's field of vision.
The surrounding students either covered their mouths or let out surprised gasps.
Leo, too, looked with surprised eyes at the person who had grabbed his face with both hands and pulled him close.
Meeting Leo’s gaze, Chelsea blinked her large eyes several times.
They were so close their breaths could mingle.
Their gazes locked, so close, for several moments.
Chelsea slowly let go.
Forced to meet her gaze, Leo rubbed his neck.
“My neck hurts a little.”
“Well, that’s because you didn’t answer after I called you so many times.”
Chelsea pouted and grumbled.
It was a somewhat childish action.
But it was an action that perfectly suited a girl her age.
Chelsea glared at their surroundings.
“What are you looking at? Is there a show?!”
At that, the gazes that had momentarily focused on them scattered in all directions.
The only people Chelsea was ever obedient to were Leo and her own brother, Abad.
In front of those two, she was a little angel, but to everyone else, she was a little devil.
‘Even calling her obedient isn’t quite right; it’s different from just being well-behaved.’
Fundamentally, Chelsea has a fiery temper.
Even when training with Leo, she had charged at him in a fit of rage several times.
‘And then she’d just smile again as if nothing had happened.’
Like a fickle wind.
“What are you thinking about so hard?”
Chelsea tilted her head.
Celia, Chloe, Duran, Abad, Eliza, Woreden, and the others.
Those who didn't know Leo's true identity wore quite serious expressions upon seeing his mood today.
Chen Xia and Karl, who did know his identity, looked even more serious.
But Chelsea didn’t care.
She simply approached him like a gentle breeze and asked why.
That, in turn, put his mind at ease.
‘Come to think of it, Chelsea is the only one whose attitude hasn’t changed at all, even after finding out my identity.’
Lunia, Eiran, Chen Xia.
Even the easygoing Karl’s way of treating him had subtly changed.
They were still as close and casual as before.
‘But how should I put it? Yes, it’s like… respect.’
There was nothing he could do about that kind of gaze.
But Chelsea was different.
She was consistent.
Whether Leo was the Great Hero or not.
Whether he had saved the world or not.
He was simply an object of her admiration.
Someone to follow, someone whose side she would one day stand by.
Chelsea swung her legs cheerfully and muttered to herself.
‘I’m just doing what I want to do.’
‘Kyle has shouldered too many burdens. He’ll never try to share them. So please, as his sister… be a source of strength for Kyle… for Leo. Create a space where Leo can smile freely.’
Chelsea recalled the words Ar-on had left her with before he departed.
She wanted to share the burdens Leo carried, if possible.
But if he wouldn’t share them,
‘I can still be there to catch him if he falls.’
Sometimes, she could support his back.
She couldn’t be his equal.
The years they had accumulated were different, the paths they had walked too divergent.
He was someone she would have to follow for the rest of her life, looking up to him with admiration.
She would spend her whole life in Leo’s shadow.
But because of that,
‘I can support him.’
If others heard, they might have scoffed, wondering how she could possibly help the Great Hero.
But Chelsea didn’t care.
Chelsea smiled brightly and looked up at Leo.
‘Because Leo is Leo.’
My hero, the first one I ever admired.
That innocent smile somehow reminded him of Berchia.
Leo reached out and stroked her sky-blue hair.
“Ehehehe-”
As if enjoying the touch, Chelsea smiled like a cat.
“Chelsea, if you were to go down the wrong path, what would I have to do to make you listen to me?”
“Huh?”
At Leo’s question, Chelsea’s eyes went wide.
She rolled her eyes back and forth a few times, then finally spoke.
“Am I in a state where I won’t listen to reason?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm! That’s a tough one!”
Chelsea crossed her arms and frowned, deep in thought.
“Well, if it’s you, Leo, you’d probably smack me on the head, right?”
“Right.”
“And you’d kick my butt, wouldn’t you?”
“Of course.”
“Stop harassing my butt.”
“When did I ever harass it?”
“During the entrance exam, you tried to set my butt on fire in front of all those people. My marriage prospects are ruined, take responsibility.”
“You should have listened to me back then.”
That was the only time Chelsea had been full of defiance toward Leo.
Looking at Leo, who was acting annoyingly without batting an eye, Chelsea made a sullen face and fell back into thought.
“Still, if I didn’t come to my senses, it would be scary.”
“Hm?”
“You’d do something harsh even if I did come to my senses.”
“You know me well.”
“I think I’d snap out of it just to avoid that.”
At Chelsea’s words, Leo rested his chin on his hand and smiled.
“Really?”
His heart felt much lighter.
‘Right, I just have to keep at it until she snaps out of it.’
Why was I thinking about it so complicatedly?
Leo, who had burst out laughing, soon settled into a gentle smile.
‘I guess I should be more worried about that damn disciple of mine resisting because she’s stronger now.’
The power Berchia had displayed in the Akashic Records was so immense that the current Leo would find it hard to handle.
‘Right, this wasn’t the time to wonder how to persuade her, but to figure out how to beat her up.’
Just as Leo was stroking his chin,
Slam-!
The classroom door burst open, and Eiran entered.
At her appearance, all the second-year students looked puzzled.
As an exchange student, she was an incredibly diligent honor student.
Arriving early for class was second nature to her.
But to arrive just barely before class started?
Moreover, all the students she was close with were already in the classroom.
While everyone was wondering, Eiran approached Leo, her face pale.
Then, with a face on the verge of tears, she shouted.
“Leo! My grandfather… my grandfather!”
Seeing Eiran like this, Leo’s face hardened.