Chapter 570
Chapter Title: The Hero Festival Begins
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570.
The day after the schedule for the Hero Festival was finalized.
The students of the hero academies headed for the warp gate, sent off by the dragons on the main street of Dragonia.
“The Chaser of the Nebula!”
“Wow… she's beautiful…”
Amidst it all, the one receiving the most attention was, as expected, Lunia.
The young dragons gasped in admiration every time Lunia passed by.
Her brilliant red hair and beautiful face.
Her neatly worn Seirun uniform.
To anyone, she was the picture of a perfect honor student from Seirun.
Furthermore, having her name recorded in the Hero Record as a student, alongside Leo, it was almost an understatement to call her a ‘hero cadet.’
“For some reason, don't you think all eyes are on me?”
While smiling and waving, Lunia wore a look of confusion.
Leo had also gotten his name in the Hero Record.
On top of that, he had played a crucial role alongside Ar-on when the third piece of Erebos was revived.
Not to mention he was an unprecedented All-Class.
Yet even so, the dragons paid far more attention to Lunia.
“Of course.”
At that moment, Halind adjusted his glasses and spoke.
“Leo Flove is certainly ahead of you in every aspect. But people don't care about such internal qualities as much as you might think.”
“Huh?”
“Coming to Dragonia this time, I've realized something. The dragons aren't all that different from us.”
The students of Wisdom or the dragons who lead heroes for the sake of the world might be different.
But most dragons living in Dragonia were just people living ordinary daily lives.
“What the public pays attention to is one's outwardly displayed fame. And in that sense, Lunia, you're being talked about more than any other hero of this era.”
“It's because of my title.”
“Yes.”
The Chaser of the Nebula, Lunia El Lundua.
The first hero to be recognized as the successor to the Great Hero.
While the Heroes of the Beginning are seen as part of the Great Hero's lineage of successors, Lunia is the first to be directly recorded as a successor in the Hero Record.
For that reason, the public's gaze upon Lunia was bound to be special.
“It's a title I don't deserve.”
As Lunia muttered, looking down at her palm, Halind let out a small laugh.
“You just have to become someone worthy of that title.”
“…Yes.”
“The dragons keep cheering, don't they? Why don't you try standing with Leo Flove?”
“…”
At Halind's suggestion, Lunia looked at Leo with an indescribable expression.
The man loved by Luna, the Great Hero who saved the world and the progenitor of the nebula, and the man loved by Lisinas, the King of Wisdom.
‘Please keep this story a secret for now.’
Earlier, while taking the contract, Melina had asked this of everyone present.
Currently, Kyle and Luna are known to the world as lovers.
If the fact that Lisinas was also involved, making it a love triangle, were to be revealed, the world would surely be turned upside down.
It could even tarnish the honor of all three.
‘Besides, his relationship with Lord Lisinas wasn't just that of simple lovers…’
Lunia's face flushed, and her shoulders trembled slightly.
‘A two-timer? Was he just playing with Lady Luna?’
A moment ago, she had been too flustered to properly clear up the misunderstanding.
Just as all sorts of thoughts were racing through Lunia's head.
‘How was it? Much better than Lisinas, right?’
The image of Luna grabbing Leo by the collar and kissing him suddenly came to mind.
‘Kyle, I love you.’
Luna, who had confessed her feelings.
‘So, marry me.’
‘I…’
‘I don't need an answer.’
The image of Luna making her declaration to the world without hearing Leo's reply flashed through her mind.
‘Oh my goodness. Lady Luna was only able to confess her feelings after she had closed her eyes for good…’
She must have had feelings for him, but couldn't bring herself to come between Kyle and Lisinas.
That must be why she only confessed her feelings after she died.
Recalling the sad love story, Lunia wore a pitiful expression.
And so, as misunderstanding met misunderstanding to give birth to a brilliant new misunderstanding, the hero academy students arrived at the gate.
“Why have you been glancing at me since earlier?”
“Huh? W-well…”
Leo clicked his tongue and asked in front of the gate. Chelsea looked completely flustered.
She fiddled with her fingers before speaking cautiously.
“It's just… hearing that you were a married man, Leo, feels strange.”
Hearing this, Leo felt a throbbing pain in the back of his head.
‘What am I going to do with this damn con-artist lizard?’
Just as Leo was about to open his mouth, thinking he needed to clear up the unnecessary misunderstanding before it grew.
“Leo, why didn't you answer Lady Luna's proposal back then?”
Lunia, who had approached at some point, asked in a sad voice.
“What's this now? Explain in detail.”
As Chelsea's eyes widened, Lunia pursed her lips and explained the situation from back then.
“Oh my… to think there was such a story behind it.”
After hearing the story, Chelsea covered her mouth and gasped.
Watching them, Leo gripped the back of his neck.
‘I'm going to lose my mind, seriously.’
He had suddenly become the guy who didn't even respond to a confession that was only barely made after death, from someone who had no choice but to hide her feelings while she was alive.
“You two, come here for a second.”
Leo called the two of them over.
He put his arms around the two girls' shoulders as they approached and pulled them close.
Suddenly pressed against Leo, Lunia and Chelsea gaped.
“Listen carefully. Lisinas and I were not like that.”
“What? But Lady Melina definitely said it was a marriage contract, didn't she?”
Lunia asked, lowering her voice.
Leo clicked his tongue in response.
“Yeah, I'm sure she did. But I signed my name without even knowing it was a marriage contract.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. That damn lizard scammed me.”
Leo ground his teeth.
At his answer, Chelsea tilted her head.
“Then what about Lady Luna?”
“I had nothing going on with Luna either.”
“So, in your past life, you didn't know about their feelings?”
Leo paused for a moment at Chelsea's question.
How should he answer?
What if he said that Luna had confessed outright, but he didn't get it because it was the elven way, and that Lisinas never said anything but dropped hints that he failed to notice?
‘You really are an idiot.’
The voice of that rotten knife-ear who had kicked him in the ass echoed in his head.
‘He's going out of his way to teach you draconic etiquette you don't even need to learn. If you can't figure it out from that, you're a real moron.’
‘Don't give me that bullshit.’
The voice of the damn lizard who he had smacked on the head also rang in his ears.
Leo ground his teeth, recalling Seirun and Rodia, who had gotten big heads and spoke rudely to their great senior without hesitation.
‘Those bastards… next time I see them, I'll shave all their hair off.’
“It was the era it was. We just pretended not to know in our hearts.”
“Ah…”
At Leo's lie, Chelsea nodded innocently.
But Lunia narrowed her eyes.
“Really?”
Leo grabbed the back of Lunia's neck, pulled her close, and asked emphatically as she questioned him suspiciously.
“Do these eyes look like they're lying?”
Their foreheads touched lightly.
Leo's red eyes were right in front of her.
Just as Lunia's frozen face began to turn red.
“What are you two talking about so secretively?”
“Gasp!”
Ar Tune suddenly inserted herself between the two.
“Alright, I get it, now break it up.”
Chelsea pulled the two apart with an annoyed voice.
Whipping her head away, Lunia coughed repeatedly.
In the meantime, the warp gates to each academy activated.
Watching this, Leo spoke.
“As I said yesterday, I ask for the full cooperation of each academy in preparing for the Hero Festival.”
“Since we're doing it anyway, it wouldn't be bad to make it spectacular.”
Merigold nodded.
“Don't worry about that.”
Halind adjusted his glasses.
Listening to the conversation, Dorbeman grinned.
“Azonia will be taking the victory.”
At his words, Merigold and Halind looked at Dorbeman.
“Through this Hero Festival, we will announce to the world. That we have arrived.”
Halind's lips curled into a smirk.
“A fine ambition. But unfortunately, the victory belongs to Seirun.”
“You're all saying strange things. The winner will be Lumerne.”
The three academies, their pride as representatives of the hero academies for their respective races flaring up, began to posture and make threats.
Watching them, Chelsea said.
“The winner will be Lumerne! Right, Leo?”
“Who cares who wins?”
“Huh?”
Chelsea looked bewildered by Leo's words.
“Let's all just do our best.”
Seeing Leo's faint smile, Chelsea felt a sense of unease.
‘Just what is Leo planning?’
***
Leo and Chelsea took the warp gate and returned directly to Lumerne.
“Leo! What happened with the joint competition?”
“You didn't set a date, right? The other schools couldn't make the schedule work, right!”
When they went to the student council room, the council members, buried in work, swarmed them with questions.
Their faces were clinging to a sliver of hope.
“We set a date.”
“No!”
“How could that be possible!”
Screams erupted from all over at Leo's words.
“Oh? Does everyone have time to scream? Then perhaps we should increase today's quota…”
“No, ma'am!”
“It's hard enough as it is!”
“We're sorry for screaming!”
At the words of Elena, who had recently started being called a tyrant, the student council members let out wails and quickly scattered to get back to work.
Leo immediately went into the student council president's office with Elena.
In the president's office, Karl was sleeping inside a sleeping bag.
Chelsea walked over to Karl and nudged him with her foot.
“What? Why are you sleeping here? Go sleep in your dorm.”
“Ughhh—I'll work harder when I wake up. So please, just let me sleep a little.”
Karl squirmed in agony.
Chelsea looked at Elena, who smiled faintly.
“He did everything I asked without a hitch, so I might have pushed him a little too hard. Karl is more high-performing than I expected.”
‘This is why you shouldn't be unnecessarily competent.’
Chelsea shook her head as she watched Karl's labor being thoroughly exploited.
‘Chelsea, about Karl. How about we recruit him into our family after graduation?’
‘Karl? That slacker?’
‘Yes, I've become certain this time. That he'll be a great help to the Llewellyn family.’
Lumerne was also a path to securing a good job in the future.
The noble hero families actively recruited talent through the connections made at Lumerne.
‘If we just ask Karl to come, he'll probably jump at the chance, right?’
‘I don't think it'll be that easy. Duran's been looking at Karl strangely lately. But still, Karl is your best friend.’
Recalling Abad's delight at the high probability of Karl joining the Llewellyns since they had been close friends since their first year, Chelsea looked at Karl with a hint of pity.
Meanwhile, Leo was telling Elena about the Wisdom students.
“Perfect. We were already in need of more labor.”
After hearing the whole story about what happened in Dragonia, Elena was truly delighted.
To Elena, the dragons of Wisdom were excellent labor.
Nothing more, nothing less.
“So, is that everything?”
“Yep. Now we just have to prepare diligently.”
***
Before long, autumn passed and winter approached.
Peeeeee—! Bang—! Bang—!
Fireworks exploded ceaselessly in the skies above Lumeria City.
“Waaaaaaaaaah!”
Today, at last, the celebratory cannons signaling the start of the Hero Festival began to fire.