Chapter 583
Chapter Title: The Dragon of Genesis
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Karl looked at the four people before him and swallowed dryly.
*‘Seeing them like this, the pressure is no joke, is it?’*
Before him were five seats.
And all but one of them were occupied.
*‘The Comet Sorcerer Seirun, the Great Warrior Azonia, the Indomitable Demian.’*
The great heroes who had saved the world once again during the Second Coming of the Calamity 3,000 years ago.
*‘Their presence is incredibly imposing when they’re silent.’*
Karl’s gaze, which had been on Lunia, Eiran, and Driana, lingered for a moment on the empty seat.
It must be Lumerne’s seat.
Finally, Karl looked at the woman sitting in the center.
*‘The Dragon of Genesis, Rhodia.’*
If the Age of Calamity had the King of Wisdom, Lisinas.
Then the Second Coming of the Calamity had Rhodia.
Her achievements went beyond simply gathering the heroes who would defeat the fragments of Erebos.
*‘The first conqueror.’*
Rhodia was the one who first discovered the World of Heroes and conquered it.
*‘With such a feat, it’s no wonder she came to be called Genesis itself.’*
Karl shrank back under Rhodia’s gaze, which seemed to pierce through everything.
"The student council president of Lumerne, Clery Jessiang."
"You called for me, Lady Rhodia, Dragon of Genesis."
As Karl bowed his head, Rhodia spoke.
"As you know, the Knight of Twilight, Lumerne, is currently missing."
Rhodia’s eyes narrowed.
"Do you know anything about it?"
At her question, Karl hesitated, unsure how to answer.
He couldn't be certain, but Karl had a good idea of where Lumerne had gone.
*‘To the place where the god is.’*
But he couldn't tell Rhodia the truth outright.
The existence of the god would only become known 3,000 years from now.
Mentioning it would be twisting history.
*‘The Heroes of Genesis might be one thing, but this is a critical matter that a mere student council president shouldn't know.’*
It was absurd for someone as significant as the Lumerne Academy student council president to be called 'mere', but compared to the beings before him, it wasn't strange at all.
"I don't know."
"Is that so? How disappointing."
Rhodia’s eyes momentarily blurred before sharpening again.
*‘Perhaps at this point in time, no one even knows of the god's existence.’*
The Heroes of Genesis left behind countless legends.
But among them, the tale people loved most was, without a doubt, Lumerne's.
Not just humans.
Lumerne's story was beloved by all races.
The reason was extremely simple.
After the Second Coming of the Calamity ended.
Of all the Heroes of Genesis, Lumerne was the one who adventured across the world the most.
Rhodia researched the Hero Record in Dragonia and left her findings for future generations.
Seirun reinterpreted star magic and re-established it as the elves' unique magic, while Demian focused on collecting and restoring the divine artifacts left behind by Dweno.
Azonia, for her part, devoted herself to acquiring the ability to shapeshift into her beast form at will, just like Ar-on.
The 'Brave Hero's Breath' was derived from the knowledge passed down during that process.
But Lumerne was different.
If the others each had something to pass on to posterity in their respective fields.
Lumerne had nothing that needed to be passed down.
*‘It’s because Lord Lumerne didn't inherit any power from Kyle's world.’*
Since he inherited nothing, he had nothing to leave behind.
*‘Leo said that Lord Lumerne wanted to be like him. Perhaps Lord Lumerne blamed himself.’*
For not being able to become like the Hero of the Beginning.
For not being able to take the Hero of the Beginning's place.
He might have thought it was all his fault that he couldn't defeat Erebos.
To later generations, Lumerne's adventures would have seemed like a journey to help people.
But in reality, it was likely a journey to find the key to enter Kyle's world.
A desperate struggle to inherit Kyle's power.
*‘And in the process, he must have discovered the god.’*
Karl clenched his fist.
*‘The Lord Lumerne I know is certainly someone who would do that.’*
Everyone living in the Age of Heroes has a favorite hero.
Karl was no exception.
The hero he had admired most since childhood was none other than Lumerne.
A hero who started from the bottom and saved the world with his own strength.
*‘Because I thought he was similar to me.’*
To a commoner boy, he was bound to be a magnificent object of admiration.
There was even a time when he would seek out anything related to Lumerne, whether it was a folk tale or a history book.
Recalling himself from that time, Karl smiled bitterly.
*‘I had a decent talent since I was young. A mediocre talent, just enough to get noticed, but not enough to stand out.’*
*‘When I was a kid, I was so full of myself, I'd boast about becoming a hero.’*
But after a chance encounter with someone, he cleanly gave up on that idea.
*‘Our damn prince.’*
Moira is a small kingdom.
As such, people are judged by their abilities, regardless of their status.
*‘That’s our kingdom’s greatest strength.’*
Thanks to that, Karl, though a commoner from a family of alchemists, had shown magical talent from a young age and was given the opportunity to attend the Moira National School.
There, he happened to see Duran, who was visiting the school.
*‘Well, he probably doesn’t even remember.’*
Recalling his first meeting with Duran, Karl shook his head.
Seeing Duran made him realize.
What the potential to become a hero truly meant.
*‘For some reason, I couldn’t admire Lord Lumerne as much after that. I was just too precocious as a child.’*
From then on, he stopped talking about becoming a hero.
At some point, he also stopped saying he wanted to be like Lumerne.
*‘Still, I stubbornly clung to the idea of entering Lumerne.’*
To get even a little closer to being a hero.
I wanted to become someone who could approach Lumerne.
That's why I aimed to be a supporter and set foot in Lumerne.
Karl, who had been lost in old memories for a moment, shook off the thoughts.
*‘What’s important now is finding Lord Lumerne.’*
It was certain that Lumerne was somewhere in the academy.
And somewhere here was the god, Lian.
"Lumerne has a ridiculously strong sense of responsibility. Even when it's not his fault."
Rhodia suddenly let out a small sigh.
At Rhodia's words, Karl smiled bitterly.
"Yes. Which is why he's not the type to just disappear like this."
"Mm. That's right. He's not one to just vanish."
"He must be somewhere in the academy."
"Mm. That's why I asked."
"Pardon?"
"..."
"I thought you all would know."
As she said that, Rhodia’s eyes blurred and sharpened once more.
Seeing this, Karl felt something was off.
Rhodia continued to stare at Karl with eyes that seemed to see through everything.
*‘No, this is strange from the start.’*
The Heroes of Genesis have a bond and trust in each other greater than anyone else.
In terms of trust and camaraderie, they are on par with the Great Heroes.
A moment ago, when Karl answered that he didn't know.
Rhodia had openly shown her disappointment.
*‘There's no way a student council president would know something that even the Heroes of Genesis don't.’*
Furthermore, her reaction after that was also strange.
*‘And just now. She definitely said 'you all,' right? Not just me.’*
It could have been referring to the entire student body of the academy.
But he couldn't shake the feeling of unease.
His thoughts reaching that point, Karl swallowed dryly.
"Lady Rhodia... could it be...?"
For a moment, Rhodia brought her index finger to her lips.
Seeing this, Karl was horrified.
*‘She knows.’*
That this place is the World of Heroes.
That she herself is a fake.
*‘And that I and the other Heroes of Genesis are conquerors! She knows everything! What is this? How is she maintaining her sanity?!’*
In the World of Heroes, if a conqueror reveals their identity or is found out, the conquest fails.
*‘Shouldn't a character in the World of Heroes have a mental breakdown, unable to accept the situation, the moment they realize they’re fake?’*
And yet, Rhodia was perfectly fine.
*‘Is she not bound by the restrictions? No, seeing as she gestured for me to be quiet, that can't be it.’*
Karl wore a bewildered expression.
But he soon took a deep breath.
"Lord Seirun, Lady Azonia, Lord Demian."
"...?"
"I have something to discuss with Lady Rhodia alone."
At his words, the three of them looked at Rhodia.
When Rhodia nodded, the three left.
They all shot Karl a baffled look that seemed to ask, 'What are you doing?'
A moment later, Rhodia, now alone in the room, gave a gentle smile.
"You're a clever child, aren't you?"
"I tend to be quick on the uptake."
"Mm. Thank you for sending the others out. I'm in a bit of a precarious state, you see? Can you quickly tell me just what I want to hear?"
To that question, Karl answered.
"Lord Lumerne has gone to find the god that is somewhere within the academy."
*‘He lacks the makings of a hero, but he's a smart kid.’*
A strange light flickered in Rhodia's eyes as she looked at Karl.
He figured out her condition from a tiny clue.
*‘It wasn't that the other conquerors were lacking.’*
The clue Rhodia had dropped was truly minor.
If she intervened any more than that, even Rhodia couldn't guarantee her own mental state.
*‘To not miss that small detail and deduce this much. His powers of observation are excellent.’*
The moment she thought that.
[A system error has occurred. Restarting the Record System...]
Crash—
The moment the message appeared.
Rhodia shattered her own mind.
Her shattered mind immediately returned.
*‘So this is what the people inside the World of Heroes were seeing.’*
Within the World of Heroes, only the core figures can perceive the conquerors.
The reason the conquest fails the moment they perceive the conquerors' existence is simple.
It's because the character from the World of Heroes who has suffered a mental breakdown attacks their surroundings indiscriminately.
Even Rhodia didn't know the exact mechanism.
It was something she had learned through countless experiments.
If a core figure in the World of Heroes becomes unable to continue the conquest, then naturally, the conquest fails.
*‘When an error occurs, the world collapses. But if you deal with the party that caused the error, the world doesn't collapse and continues as is.’*
This was another fact she had discovered through her long research of the Hero Record.
*‘First of all, I am not the master of this world.’*
Lumerne, who had been here until yesterday, suddenly vanished.
And the moment she realized that Seirun, Azonia, and Demian were not themselves but conquerors.
The three of them desperately searched for Lumerne.
*‘If I were the target of the conquest, there would be no reason for them to be that desperate.’*
The moment she thought that, a message appeared.
And upon seeing it, Rhodia destroyed her own ego without hesitation.
She did so because she judged that even if she died in this world, in the worst-case scenario, the world would be maintained.
But for some reason, Rhodia did not die.
*‘The moment the message appears, it feels like a new ego is being overwritten. The ego I killed is the me who will manifest the next world, after this one ends.’*
Rhodia broke into a cold sweat as she deduced the reason she was maintaining her ego.
She had coincidentally slipped through a crack in the system and was now forcibly maintaining the world with her memories intact, but it was by no means an easy task.
What Rhodia was doing now was an act tantamount to killing herself every time an error occurred.
*‘I don't know how much longer my mind can hold out.’*
The shock of destroying her own mind remained fully intact.
*‘I need to conquer this world as quickly as possible before I become a problem... huh?’*
Rhodia looked puzzled.
The conqueror was suddenly looking out the window.
And his face was deathly pale.
"What is it?"
"Black flames..."
"What?"
"Can't you see it? The flames of calamity?!"
"What?"
Rhodia's eyes widened as she looked where Karl was pointing.
[A system error has occurred. Record System...]
Crash—
Her mind grew faint from the aftershock of its destruction.
Clinging to her fading consciousness, Rhodia bit her lip hard.
"I can't see anything."
Karl's expression hardened.
*‘Is this something only conquerors can see?!’*