Chapter 531
Chapter Title: A Plea in the Night
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Lunia looked at Leo, who was sitting before her, with nervous eyes.
Eiran, pouring black tea into Lunia's cup, wore a puzzled expression.
“Miss Lunia, are you feeling unwell?”
“What? No, I’m fine. Why?”
“You seem uncomfortable for some reason. It looks like you’re breaking out in a cold sweat.”
“Ah, that?”
Lunia glanced at Leo repeatedly with an awkward expression.
When their eyes met, she flinched and lowered her head.
Watching Lunia, Chen Xia, who stood beside Leo, blinked her large eyes a few times before smiling.
“I thought you were a loose cannon, Miss Lunia, but you’re surprisingly well-behaved.”
“What’s a loose cannon? What do you mean by that?”
As Lunia glared at Chen Xia, Eiran placed a finger on her chin, thought for a moment while looking at the ceiling, and then smiled brightly.
“Less a loose cannon and more of a thug, I’d say.”
“What? Why am I a thug!”
“Hmm… a delinquent, then?”
Chen Xia tilted her head, and Eiran smiled brightly as if in agreement.
“You two!”
Lunia, who had shot up from her seat with clenched fists, suddenly met Leo’s gaze, flinched, and sat back down.
“S-sorry for the disturbance… Ah, no! My bad.”
After saying that, she glanced around nervously before mumbling.
“...I apologize.”
Watching Lunia, Eiran moved closer to Chen Xia and whispered.
“Why is Miss Lunia being so cautious?”
“Isn’t it because of how she’s treated Lord Leo until now?”
“Definitely.”
“……”
Lunia squeezed her eyes shut.
She certainly felt a pang of guilt for having acted according to her usual personality around Leo.
But more than that…
‘You guys are the weird ones for being so composed!’
Lunia screamed inwardly.
He was none other than the Great Hero.
And among them, the Hero of the Beginning, the one who defeated Erebos as the last one standing!
‘It’s only natural to be conscious of him!’
From what she could see, all the Lumerne students who knew Leo’s identity were perfectly calm.
‘What in the world is wrong with the way those Lumerne kids think! Has Eiran been influenced by them too?’
She had certainly changed a little after being an exchange student at Lumerne recently.
Watching Lunia look at Eiran with a complicated expression, Leo spoke.
“Eiran, Lunia. I have something to tell you.”
“What is it, Lord Leo?”
Eiran, sitting next to Lunia, looked puzzled.
Lunia, who had been observing Leo’s mood, realized something and asked, just in case.
“Leo. Do you happen to know who attacked the headmaster?”
As Lunia asked with a grim face, Eiran’s expression changed completely.
“Is that true?”
Lunia looked at Eiran, slightly flustered.
Given the circumstances, it was natural for Eiran to be angry.
But even so, she had never heard such a cold voice from Eiran before.
While Lunia was surprised by this unfamiliar side of her.
Eiran’s eyes sharpened.
“Who is the culprit?”
Her aura was so sharp it felt like it could cut someone down.
Seeing this, Leo closed his eyes and took a breath.
“Young Master Leo.”
Chen Xia called out, her voice filled with concern.
Opening his eyes, Leo looked back at Chen Xia and smiled.
“I’m fine.”
He knew what Chen Xia was worried about.
Chen Xia would know as well.
What Berkiya meant to Eiran.
‘That’s all the more reason I have to tell her.’
At first, Leo had hesitated to tell Eiran the truth.
But to the worried Leo, Lun had said.
‘Eiran is the heir to the Ersar family.’
It meant that Eiran had the right to know everything, and that she wouldn’t break even if she learned the truth.
In fact, if it hadn’t been for Leo, Lun would have told Eiran himself.
“What Lunia said is true, Eiran. I know who it was that struck down your grandfather.”
“Who is it?”
Eiran’s eyes gleamed ominously.
Lunia’s eyes also turned cold.
Looking at the two elves, Leo opened his mouth.
“Berkiya.”
At the mention of the sudden name, Eiran and Lunia wore expressions of confusion.
Looking at them, Leo continued.
“The culprit is my disciple… and Eiran, your ancestor, Berkiya.”
Eiran’s face stiffened.
A moment later, her face began to turn pale.
Watching her, Leo spoke.
“This evening, I plan to leave to find Berkiya.”
At Leo’s words, Chen Xia spoke.
“Will we be able to find Lord Berkiya in this vast northern continent?”
Looking at Chen Xia, who asked with a hint of worry, Leo said.
“I’ve figured out which direction Berkiya headed.”
Chen Xia looked slightly surprised at his words.
But she soon understood.
Before coming to the Ersar family estate.
Leo and Chen Xia had visited the scene of the incident.
There were countless clues at the scene.
For Leo, it wouldn’t have been difficult to find clues there about where Berkiya had gone.
‘Young Master Leo is the first Shadow, after all.’
A Shadow had to be skilled in tracking.
There was no way Leo couldn’t do it.
Chen Xia knew well that in that field, Leo had reached a level far beyond her own.
“I won’t ask you to follow. It’s dangerous.”
At Leo’s words, Lunia asked carefully in a heavy voice.
“Leo, can you not beat Lord Berkiya either?”
“I can’t guarantee it. It might be different if I were Kyle, but in terms of pure power, Berkiya has far surpassed my current self.”
Leo said calmly.
“And my words won’t get through to the current Berkiya. You could lose your lives.”
At his words, Chen Xia spoke.
“Even if you try to stop me, I will follow you, Young Master Leo. Especially if it’s dangerous.”
“I’m going too. Lady Luna would have surely worried about Lord Berkiya.”
Lunia said, her voice filled with resolve.
“I don’t know if I’ll be much help, but I want to do everything I can to help persuade Lord Berkiya.”
After hearing them both, Leo nodded and looked at Eiran.
“I…”
Eiran’s lips trembled.
Eiran, who had been looking down, spoke with strength.
“I want to see Lord Berkiya.”
The image of the Berkiya she had met in the Hero Record came to mind.
She still didn’t want to believe it.
That such a person had fallen and become undead?
That he had become a being consumed by hatred?
But she knew all too well that Leo wouldn’t lie about something like this.
It was a shock.
But she didn’t want to look away.
“I want to meet him and talk to him.”
She didn’t know what they would talk about.
Her mind was still blank from the shock.
She was so confused she didn’t even know why she wanted to meet Berkiya.
All she could think was that she had to stop him, somehow.
Eiran bit her lip.
Looking at the three girls, Leo said.
“We leave as soon as we’re ready.”
Leaving those words behind, Leo left the room.
In the distinctly different atmosphere, the three girls bit their lips tightly.
A difficult journey surely awaited them.
***
A week passed since Leo’s party began their pursuit of Berkiya.
Leo followed the lingering traces of Berkiya’s mana that he remembered.
But after a week, those traces of mana had also vanished.
Fwoooosh—!
In the middle of a swirling blizzard, Leo let out a deep sigh.
“This is trouble.”
Even Leo couldn’t conjure a trail that had disappeared.
“For now, it seems we’ll have to spend the night in this forest.”
“Right.”
Leo nodded at Chen Xia’s words.
It was already late.
They wouldn’t gain anything by moving any further.
The group quickly prepared to rest for the night.
Lunia took a tent out of her subspace.
In the northern continent, a land of cold winters, the severe cold also arrives earlier than in other regions.
And that cold is exceptionally harsh.
Even for trained hero cadets, sleeping through a blizzard was an ordeal.
That was why, at Seirun, such camping preparations were taught thoroughly from the first year.
Chen Xia, having entered the tent, muttered in fascination.
“Even so, I can’t quite get used to it. To think that elves, with their refined image, are so accustomed to camping.”
“So what? Did you think we build a mansion with magic every time we sleep outdoors?”
“Yes, I thought Seirun would be more than capable of that.”
Watching Chen Xia nod with a serious expression, Lunia sighed.
“Now I see what students from other academies think of us.”
Clicking her tongue, Lunia took off her coat in a corner of the tent.
Fwoosh—!
As Lunia used magic, the inside of the tent warmed up.
The tent was spacious enough for the four of them to sleep without issue.
Lunia unfolded a round table she had taken from her subspace in the middle of the tent and spoke.
“Alright, everyone gather around.”
At her words, Leo, Chen Xia, and Eiran gathered around Lunia.
Lunia spread a map of the northern continent on the round table and said.
“First, this is our travel route so far.”
Their route for the week since leaving Elsalvekia was all marked on the map.
“We’ve been wandering aimlessly.”
“He’s not in a normal state of mind.”
When they organized the route they had taken while chasing Berkiya, it looked as though he had been wandering aimlessly, unable to find his bearings.
Lunia nodded at Leo’s words.
“Right. Lord Berkiya doesn’t know about the current era. And he hasn’t shown himself to anyone else either.”
Along their route over the past week, there had been towns of various sizes.
But from those towns, they only heard that there hadn’t been a single outsider.
“This is just my thought, but even if he’s become undead, Lord Berkiya is still Lord Berkiya. He’s not someone who would ever harm the innocent. So he must be planning to eliminate only his targets.”
Lunia’s red eyes turned to the map.
“If so, isn’t it highly likely he headed here?”
Lunia pointed to a spot on the map.
Not far from their current location was a small city-state called ‘Eldon’.
Looking at it, Chen Xia said.
“That’s where the Pureblood Society’s influence is strongest in the northern continent.”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
Lunia grimaced.
Eldon was a nation filled with pureblood ideology, from its council down to its citizens.
To put it nicely, they had strong pride in their race; to put it badly, they were typical, narrow-minded elves.
That’s why, even for Lunia, it was a place she was reluctant to set foot in.
“So, I was thinking we should investigate this place. What do you think?”
Lunia asked cautiously, watching Leo for his reaction.
Leo, who had been listening to her explanation, nodded.
It was a judgment she could make because she knew the political situation of the northern continent well.
“That’s a good idea. Excellent.”
Lunia smiled brightly at his words.
Their destination was set.
They then discussed what to do after entering Eldon.
But throughout the conversation, Eiran just sat there with a dazed expression.
Lunia and Chen Xia looked at Eiran with concern.
“Eiran, are you really okay?”
“Yes. I’m fine.”
Eiran nodded, her voice somehow lacking energy.
She had been like this for the entire week.
Eiran lowered her head and bit her lip.
***
Fwoooooosh—!
The sound of the raging blizzard echoed inside the tent.
The tent was dark.
Outside, the dark night was filled with a blizzard, and there was no light inside the tent either.
But Leo lay awake in his sleeping bag inside the tent, his eyes open.
Even in the darkness, Leo could clearly see the dagger in his hand.
‘Vihar.’
What Leo held in his hand was none other than Vihar’s dagger.
‘How can I get that damn brat to listen?’
In the pitch-black darkness, he posed an unanswered question to another of his disciples.
‘And you… can you forgive Berkiya?’
Vihar had lost her life because of the wounds she sustained in Berkiya’s battle.
Vihar, too, had suddenly lost her life due to Berkiya’s rampage.
She had closed her eyes without being able to fully pass on her will to her children.
If Vihar had lived a little longer, the lives of her descendants might have been a little different.
What was Vihar thinking as she closed her eyes?
‘She must have resented Berkiya.’
He was closing his eyes and tightening his grip on the dagger when it happened.
Fwoosh— Crunch— Crunch—
The sound of footsteps crunching in the snow reached Leo’s sensitive ears.
Swish! Fwoooooosh—!
The sound of the tent flap opening carefully was accompanied by the fierce howl of the blizzard.
Shhh— Shhh—
The person who entered the tent approached Leo’s side with cautious steps.
Soon, the intruder spoke in a trembling voice.
“Lord Leo… are you asleep?”
The one who had come to Leo’s tent in the middle of the night was none other than Eiran.
“Can’t sleep?”
“No.”
Eiran, Lunia, and Chen Xia were sharing one tent, while Leo was using a smaller one by himself.
It was only natural to separate their spaces, as they needed to wash up and change clothes.
In the darkness, Leo looked at Eiran.
She must have come through the blizzard in her sleepwear in this cold, as her clothes were soaked.
On top of that, her body was trembling from the freezing weather.
“Hold on, I’ll make you some warm tea.”
“I don’t need any tea.”
Eiran replied in a trembling voice, shaking her head.
“I just…”
Eiran closed the distance between them.
“Can I… sleep with you, Lord Leo?”