Chapter 530
Chapter Title: A Disciple's Legacy
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530.
Leo looked at Rune, who was bowing respectfully to him, and opened his mouth.
“How did you know?”
His voice held a hint of question.
Seeing that Leo didn't deny his words, Rune smiled faintly and replied.
“As the Hero of the Beginning must know, the wisdom of age shows one many things.”
“Unfortunately, I haven't lived as long as you. Well, I understand what you mean, though.”
Watching Leo shrug, Rune gave a bitter smile.
“I had been thinking that something was a little strange.”
From the moment they first met, Rune had sensed something in Leo's eyes.
It was far from a simple feeling of brilliance or the promise of a bright future, as if he would grow into a great figure.
They were the eyes of someone who seemed to have experienced all the trials and tribulations of life.
They were definitely not the eyes a hero cadet, a first-year at that, should have.
Leo's actions were also astonishing.
The most surprising thing was that he had restored the ‘Flower-Blooming Magic’ left by the progenitor of the Nebula.
And it wasn't just a typical restoration.
Rune, too, as an elf, had spent his entire life researching star magic.
In terms of depth of understanding of star magic alone, he was an authority who ranked among the top five living mages.
From Rune's perspective, the Flower-Blooming Magic that Leo restored was on a level that couldn't even be called a restoration.
“It was as if someone who already knew the Flower-Blooming Magic had simply written down the formula they knew.”
It's common for magic that has disappeared, leaving only traces, to be restored by later generations and reappear in the world.
But unless one is from that era, even if a restoration allows the magic to be cast, it can't be perfect.
Moreover, the Flower-Blooming Magic is a complex spell that, even now, well over a year after its perfect restoration, is impossible to fully interpret.
That was why Rune found Leo's existence questionable.
Afterward, Leo's achievements as a hero cadet were also extraordinary.
He started as a top student who was showing promise, but at some point, his deeds became unbecoming of a mere hero cadet.
While marveling at Leo's accomplishments and harboring doubts, his granddaughter, who had conquered Dweno's world, said with a smile.
‘Grandfather! I met Lord Berkia. And you know what! It's about Lord Leo!’
From the moment he heard Eiran, her eyes shining, speak of the heroic tales of their ancestor and Leo.
And after hearing the news of Seirun's second coming and Luna's descent, he began to think even more about the being known as Leo.
And so, after unraveling the complexly intertwined clues one by one, he reached a conclusion.
That Leo was, in fact, the Hero of the Beginning, Kyle.
“When I thought about it, it didn't seem so strange. The Hero of the Beginning, Kyle, was an unprecedented All-Class. And in the history of the world, there have only been two people who were All-Class.”
Kyle and Leo.
“You also didn't receive a title despite having your name on the Hero Record. Thinking about it, if you ‘already’ have a title… I realized you wouldn't need a new one.”
“Indeed.”
“Besides, there are no absolutes. Anything can happen in this era.”
The appearance of a Legion Commander who was subjugated during the Age of Calamity.
And past heroes have returned as the undead.
There are even those whose names are erased from the Hero Record.
Furthermore, great heroes like Luna, the progenitor of the Nebula, Ar-on the Brave Hero, and Seirun, the Comet Mage, have also appeared in the present day.
“In such a situation, I thought it wouldn't be strange for the Hero of the Beginning to be reborn in this world. You were always there at the moments of miracles.”
Moreover, Leo himself continuously achieved great feats that others would struggle to accomplish in a lifetime.
Among them were things that could easily be called miracles.
“Even so, it couldn't have been easy to guess.”
“‘Magic begins with not ruling out any possibilities.’ Those are the words Lord Berkia left for our family.”
“That's what Luna used to nag that Berkia fellow about incessantly.”
Leo recalled the old days.
“Right up to the very moment he left on his final journey.”
“It seems Lady Luna's philosophy of magic was passed down to Lord Berkia.”
“Not at all. Luna was the type who, from birth, had ‘nothing is impossible, if it doesn't work, make it work’ drilled into her head. She never really had a philosophy of magic. She just nagged Berkia until the very end because the guy was so stubborn.”
Watching Leo speak so nonchalantly, Rune smiled faintly.
‘He could have just let me be moved.’
How picturesque would it have been if it were the final piece of advice and request from a master to their disciple?
“Leaving the nagging he heard until his ears bled to his descendants? He never learned.”
Of course, Leo shattered any semblance of a touching moment.
Looking at Rune's warm smile, Leo plopped down onto a chair.
He faced Rune and asked.
“Did you meet Berkia?”
“Yes.”
“……”
Leo closed his eyes.
‘He must have been disappointed.’
No matter who it was, even for Rune, it must have been a shock to see the ancestor he considered great become one of the undead.
And it was surely Berkia who had struck Rune down.
Who wouldn't be disappointed in an ancestor who was rampaging madly?
Just as Leo was biting his lip.
“I can guess what you are thinking, Hero of the Beginning. But you need not worry.”
“What?”
At Rune's calm words, Leo looked at him with slightly surprised eyes.
Looking at Leo, Rune smiled faintly.
“I was not disappointed in Lord Berkia. No one from the Ersar family would be disappointed in him.”
Leo looked at Rune without a word.
He could sense no falsehood from Rune.
“As you know, Hero of the Beginning, I have an old body.”
With a grunt, Rune stood up and patted his lower back.
His outward appearance may be that of a handsome young man, but Rune's body was old.
His eyes showed his great age, and the mana he subtly emitted held the depth of time.
“Having lived a long life, I know that the world is not simply beautiful. And that there is no such thing as a perfect person.”
Rune's eyes darkened.
“It is merely sad. The Lord Berkia I met had very clear eyes.”
As the head of the Ersar family, Rune had once conquered Berkia's world.
And there, he had met Berkia.
That was why Rune knew.
How great a figure his ancestor was.
And also, how warm a person he was.
Feeling a terrible sadness, Rune spoke.
“Hero of the Beginning, do you know what happened to my ancestor?”
Leo walked over to the portrait of Berkia hanging on one side of the office.
The Berkia in the painting was expressionless.
He usually was expressionless, but… he looked sharp-edged for some reason.
‘This must have been painted after that tragedy.’
Looking at his disciple in the painting, Leo began to speak.
He told him the truth he had seen through the Akashic Records, a truth not even passed down in the Ersar family.
After hearing the whole story, Rune's hands trembled.
Closing his eyes tightly, Rune said.
“If only I could, I would want to ease his sorrow and pain.”
Rune bit his lip hard.
“But my voice will not reach Lord Berkia.”
Rune clenched his fists.
It would likely be impossible for anyone in the world.
Except for the one person before him.
Rune bowed his head to Leo.
“Hero of the Beginning, I know this is a shameless request from a descendant. But I implore you. Please… I beg you to save Lord Berkia. Please soothe his pain.”
‘Your descendants, even after 5,000 years have passed… even though they don't know you well and have suffered terribly at your hands, they still respect and love you, Berkia.’
He could feel Rune's unwavering respect for Berkia.
It wasn't simply because Berkia was the founder of the Ersar family.
Beyond that, it was because he knew all too well that Berkia was a person worthy of respect.
The world had forgotten the great deeds Berkia had accomplished.
The feat of rebuilding the world following the Great Heroes, and saving it once again when it faced a crisis of despair.
It wasn't that the world had turned its back on Berkia.
With the passage of time, all things are naturally forgotten.
But the people of the Ersar family had never forgotten that fact.
Through generation after generation.
They had passed down the deeds left by Berkia to their descendants.
‘With the power and history of the Ersar family, they could have ensured Berkia was not forgotten by history, but they didn't.’
Not a single one of them had done so.
‘They must have wanted to carry on Berkia's will.’
A noble life of silent sacrifice for the world.
They must have thought it didn't matter if no one recognized it.
Because the world itself is valuable enough.
The people of the Ersar family had stubbornly respected their ancestor's wishes and followed in his footsteps.
‘I'm proud of you. If I had left descendants, they wouldn't have turned out like yours, but.’
Leo gritted his teeth.
‘But you could have been selfish, just once, couldn't you?’
In the life of Berkia that Leo had seen, Berkia had never, not for a single moment, lived for himself.
He never once considered his achievements to be special.
He always humbled himself and never lost his resolve to strive harder.
That image he had seen through the Akashic Records was still seared into his eyes.
If that had been Berkia's original personality, it wouldn't have been so heart-wrenching.
‘Just you watch. When a peaceful era comes, I'll become more famous than Master Kyle and overshadow his reputation. I'll make future generations say that Kyle was inferior to the other Great Heroes. Pfft-!’
He remembered the annoying sight of him frequently teasing, sticking his tongue out.
‘He used to say it like a habit, that when the age of peace came, he would become a great person and a luminary whose name would be remembered by posterity for all time, just like Luna.’
But despite achieving deeds that would be widely known to future generations, he couldn't hold his head high, as if he had done something wrong.
As if apologizing to someone.
Unable to enjoy what he fully deserved, he relentlessly pushed himself.
As if being chased by something.
He dedicated his life to the world.
That must have been the same for Bihar as well.
‘We pushed our burden onto you.’
In the moment he subjugated Erebos and closed his eyes for the last time.
Leo hadn't worried about the world.
Because he believed in his disciples.
He had no doubt that they could restore the world to its former state even without him.
And the two of them, in the light and in the darkness, placed the world on a firm foundation.
For their entire lives.
Leo had never expected that the two of them would be unable to escape the sense of duty to protect the world saved by the Great Heroes for their entire lives.
Like Lisinas.
Like Luna.
Like Ar-on.
Like Dweno.
Like Kyle.
They thought they had to live lives dedicated to the world.
‘You didn't have to live like that, too.’
Leo gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.
If the other Great Heroes, excluding Ar-on, were the generation that had what they enjoyed taken away…
…then Berkia and Bihar were the generation that couldn't even enjoy it in the first place.
They were desperate because they had experienced having it taken away.
If the Great Heroes had survived.
Even Lisinas wouldn't have lived as desperately as Berkia and Bihar.
He had overlooked the fact that the world that was natural to Kyle was an unknown world to the two of them.
That you don't have to take responsibility for everything.
I should have told you that you could also find and live your own lives.
The lives of the two who never learned that were so cruel.
‘We stole your lives from you.’
And now, the descendants of his disciples are carrying that heavy burden.
Bihar's descendants lived their entire lives in the shadows.
Berkia's descendants lived their entire lives in humility.
Berkia and Bihar.
Do those two fall short of the Great Heroes?
Can they be said to be inferior to the Hero of Genesis?
“I have one condition.”
“Please, tell me.”
“Don't live like Berkia.”
“Pardon?”
Rune, who had been bowing his head, looked up at Leo with surprised eyes.
“I have a rough idea of how the Ersar family has lived for 5,000 years.”
Leo's eyes darkened.
“You must have endured as the cornerstone supporting the world… and the elven race.”
Leo, who was looking at Rune, turned his gaze back to Berkia's portrait.
“I never taught him to sacrifice everything. Your family has done its best. You… the Ersar family… are a greater noble house of heroes than any other in the world. So.”
Leo said, as if making a declaration.
“You no longer need to humble yourselves.”
“……”
Rune lowered his head.
For some reason, the rims of his eyes were red.
‘Getting sentimental in my old age.’
But the work they had done in silence for 5,000 years.
The fact that their history had been acknowledged by someone other than themselves made his heart tremble.
“Berkia would surely want that, too.”
‘O, former heads of the family. Could there be anything more glorious than this?’