Chapter 057
Chapter Title: The Reclusive Elf
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Leo stared at the room key in his hand and thought.
‘No matter how you look at it, giving a strange man the key to your granddaughter's room seems a bit much, doesn't it?’
According to Rune, she had locked herself in her room and refused to come out.
‘Rehabilitating a shut-in, huh.’
He scratched his head.
‘Will seeing me actually motivate her?’
Lumerne and Seirun were rival academies.
Even so, would introducing the top first-year from Lumerne really do anything for a gloomy elf who's already given up on competing?
‘Well, whatever. It's not like there's any penalty if it doesn't work.’
With a casual mindset, Leo arrived at the door Rune had mentioned.
And he knocked.
After all, he couldn't just barge into a young lady's room, could he?
But, as expected, there was no response to his knock.
Next, he tried the doorknob, but it was locked.
Leo used the key in his hand to open the door and went inside.
The state of the room was appalling.
Empty snack bags were strewn across the floor, and discarded clothes were carelessly tossed in a corner.
Among the scattered clothes, even her underwear was plainly visible.
Had Leo been an ordinary teenage boy, it might have been quite a stimulating sight, but Leo's sensibilities were not those of a teenager.
In other words, to Leo's eyes, this place was nothing more and nothing less than a pigsty.
However, there was one area that was impeccably clean.
It was the collection of pictures that covered an entire wall.
‘Lisinas, Luna, Ar-on, Dweno?’
The pictures were of his companions, now known as the Great Heroes.
To each race, the Great Heroes were proud figures, their tales the most popular of all heroic sagas.
As a result, there was a great deal of related merchandise.
‘I knew there were kids who collected this stuff, but this is a bit fanatical, don't you think?’
Squinting, Leo noticed something else that was clean.
A school uniform, hanging neatly in the closet.
‘Is that a Seirun uniform?’
"Grandfather. Isn't it a bit much to just walk into your grown granddaughter's room like this?"
Just then, something that had been hiding under the covers on the bed squirmed and peeked its head out.
And its eyes met Leo's.
"Hieek! Wh-who are you?!"
Seeing a stranger, the elf girl shrieked and tumbled off the bed, still wrapped in her blanket.
Then, her eyes widened as she saw Leo's ears.
"Hello. My name is Leo Flove."
Despite Leo's introduction, the girl remained frozen.
As he watched her, she seemed to snap back to her senses with a gasp and asked with a flustered expression.
"H-how did a human get in here?"
A human boy, who shouldn't have been in elven territory, had suddenly appeared in her room. It was bound to be a shock.
It was enough to make her wonder if she was dreaming.
Leo offered a gentle smile in response to the girl's question.
"I came to talk to you at your grandfather's request."
"M-my grandfather?"
Flustered, Eiran finally emerged from the blanket and got to her feet.
"P-please, have a seat."
She gestured for Leo to sit on the guest sofa in the corner of the room.
The elf girl, still in her pajamas, approached a tea set prepared in another corner.
Serving guests freshly brewed tea was a part of elven culture.
As she was about to make the tea, she noticed the clothes scattered about the room, and her face turned bright red.
She hastily scrambled to shove them into a corner, covered them with a blanket, then prepared the tea and brought it to Leo.
"I-I'm Eiran Ersar."
The reclusive elf with disheveled, long silver hair and clear blue eyes, Eiran, hesitantly introduced herself.
"You said you were my grandfather's guest, but how did a human come to El Salvakia...?"
Looking at Eiran's puzzled expression, Leo took a sip of tea and replied.
"I'm a student at Lumerne. I came to El Salvakia on a school trip."
"Lumerne?"
Eiran was surprised.
"Lord Rune said his granddaughter was a student at Seirun and that meeting each other might be mutually beneficial, so here I am."
The real reason was to motivate the reclusive Eiran, but he couldn't very well say that outright.
Eiran swallowed hard and looked at Leo.
‘A student from Lumerne, the human hero academy.’
He was the first human she'd ever met, and not only was he her age, but he also attended a hero academy just like her.
That alone made Eiran immensely curious about Leo.
‘A b-boy I've never met is in my room...!’
The situation of a boy her age visiting her room was quite a thrill for an adolescent girl.
More than anything, it was the first time Eiran had ever had a friend in her room.
In fact, being introverted, she didn't have many friends to begin with.
‘Snow-white hair and beautiful, ruby-like eyes.’
As Eiran studied Leo's face, their eyes met for a moment, and she blushed slightly.
Meanwhile, Leo was wondering what he should talk about with Eiran.
After a moment's thought, Leo pointed to one side of the room.
"You seem to like the Great Heroes."
"Yes! I-I love them!"
Eiran said, clasping her hands tightly.
"They're the admirable figures who saved the world! I fell in love with them after reading fairy tales about them as a child! So, collecting things related to them is my hobby!"
The once-introverted Eiran's eyes were now sparkling.
"Do you have a favorite story about the Great Heroes, Leo?"
"The Battle of Darnos."
"You mean the battle where they defeated Tiberka, the legion commander of Tartaros? The first battle the Great Heroes fought together as comrades!"
It was an anecdote that didn't exist in the Hero Record, only in written texts.
"Do you also know where they defeated the forces of Legion Commander Jirga?"
"Edbelic. The place where Luna first tested her stellar magic."
"That's right! Most people don't know the records that only exist in texts!"
‘Because I experienced it all myself.’
Leo smiled faintly.
Having met someone she could talk to so easily, Eiran's tension eased, and her spirits lifted.
Then, she caught herself with a gasp.
"I-I'm sorry, I feel like I've just been asking you pointless questions."
"Not at all. Don't you think the Great Heroes would have been thrilled to know there was someone like you?"
‘Actually, aside from Ar-on, the rest of them would've loved being worshipped like this.’
Hearing Leo's words, Eiran's expression grew even brighter.
After that, Eiran began to introduce her collection.
Since the known images of the Great Heroes in this era were all based on their appearances in the Hero Record, the depictions of his friends in Eiran's collection were as vivid as they had been in life.
Seeing them, memories of that time resurfaced in Leo's mind.
"This is one I especially cherish. It's said to be a depiction of the Great Heroes just before they left on their final expedition!"
"I see. It's exactly the same."
"The same?"
Eiran paused.
"You speak as if you saw it in person, Leo."
Leo replied to the sharp question.
"We have things like this in human society, too. I meant it looks the same as those."
"I see!"
The innocent girl was easily convinced.
Leo looked at the drawings of his friends on the desk and gave a bitter smile.
"I've never shown my collection to anyone else before. This is really fun."
Her gloomy demeanor gone, Eiran smiled brightly and spoke cautiously.
"This is just my opinion, but... while there are four historically confirmed Great Heroes, I think a fifth might have existed... What do you think, Leo?"
"You mean Kyle?"
"Yes. Others laugh and call it a delusion... but just because there's no Hero Record of him doesn't mean anything. There are plenty of written records about Sir Kyle."
As she said this, Eiran blushed.
"It's so easy to talk to you, Leo, I ended up saying something strange without thinking..."
"I think the same thing."
"Huh?"
"I believe Kyle was real, too. I don't collect memorabilia like this, but I'm planning to start a school club to research his exploits."
He hadn't been able to get around to it due to various other matters, but he planned to start the club soon after returning to the academy.
"O-oh, I see! So that's why you knew so much about the Great Heroes."
Eiran clasped her hands in admiration.
She thought she had met someone with a similar hobby.
Leo watched the now-unguarded Eiran with a puzzled expression.
‘She doesn't seem like the type to refuse to go to school.’
Seirun, like Lumerne, was a boarding school.
For her to leave school and come home in the middle of the semester was a serious matter.
Rune had said that the reason he'd asked Leo, a complete stranger, to meet Eiran was because she could be expelled if she didn't return soon.
‘At first, I wondered if she was completely unable to talk to people... but while she's introverted and passive, she seems fine otherwise.’
And besides, she even has the admirable quality of believing in Kyle's existence.
‘She's so cute and admirable, it's hard to believe she's a descendant of that arrogant Verchia.’
"Actually, Lord Rune is very worried about you not going to school."
"Ah..."
Eiran's face suddenly clouded over.
"Lord Rune told me you're an excellent student... so why aren't you going to school?"
Rune had said it was because of a student she could never surpass.
But from what Leo could see, that didn't seem to be the case.
At the mention of school, Eiran's expression darkened.
"S-Seirun... it doesn't feel like a place I b-belong."
"Why?"
"The students at Seirun are... they're all incredible hard workers... and they all have such an intense passion to climb higher. They're all people who are genuinely striving to become heroes. There wasn't a single person like me, who dreams of being a hero with such a frivolous heart."
Drooping her ears, Eiran looked down, and Leo crossed his arms.
"Dreaming of being a hero with a frivolous heart, huh..."
‘Elves certainly have a subtly different mindset than humans.’
Elves tend to value order.
As such, they plan their futures meticulously.
‘Some humans are like that, but for elves, it's almost a racial trait. Still, refusing to go to school just for that reason is strange.’
Seeing the shadow on Eiran's face, Leo tilted his head.
‘Did someone say something hurtful to her?’
He thought that perhaps her spirit had been broken by someone's hurtful words.
Leo glanced at Eiran's uniform.
‘But the fact that she's keeping her uniform so carefully means she hasn't given up yet, right?’
Leo smiled.
"My entire class is here in Verchia with me, you know."
"Huh?"
"I told you, we're on a school trip. I bet if they heard about you, they'd really want to meet you."
At his words, Eiran frantically hid behind the sofa.
"A-are you going to take me with you? I-I don't want to leave my room!"
"I'm not that rude of a human."
"B-but at school, they said all humans are rude... Ah! No! I didn't mean you, Leo!"
Eiran waved her hands in a panic.
Leo chuckled at the sight and stood up.
"We'll be staying in Verchia for ten days. If you're interested, our head professor and assistant professor are at the mansion, so feel free to visit our lodging."
"..."
Eiran subtly averted her gaze.
It seemed that wasn't going to happen.
"There's a girl in my class named Chelsea who collects this kind of stuff. She has a lot of things you don't."
"...! C-collections of the Great Heroes made in human society!"
Eiran's eyes widened, her expression showing she was tempted.
"You two would probably get along well."
Leo glanced out the window.
The sun was already setting.
They had been talking about the Great Heroes for quite some time.
"It's getting late, so I should go."
"Ah! Um, th-that is... Leo."
"Hm?"
"Ah. Goodbye."
"See you later."
Leo smiled and left the room.
"Ah..."
Staring at the now-empty doorway, Eiran let out a sigh of disappointment.