Chapter 632
Chapter Title: The Legion's Record
-----------------------------------------------------------------
632.
“Yes. He got angry.”
“He got angry…”
Leo mulled over Chelsea’s words.
The illusion of Lisinas that Leo had manifested through Nightmare was indeed correct.
But…
‘What they saw through Nightmare back then wasn’t the illusion of the Lisinas I knew.’
What they had met was likely an imaginary Lisinas born from their own minds.
After one song ended.
Leo and Chelsea returned to their original seats.
The young ladies from other noble families of their age watched Leo with suggestive eyes.
But their gazes soon scattered under Chelsea’s fierce glare.
Sitting down, Leo silently looked down at his palm.
Since the awakening of his Spirit Summoning, Lisinas’s mana would occasionally show a clear will.
Lisinas, the strongest summoner in history, was also the most powerful Spirit Summoner.
‘Hey, you fraudulent lizard. Are you really dwelling within the mana I inherited from you?’
There was no answer.
Lifting his head, Leo silently gazed at the splendid and grand party.
After watching for a moment, Leo rose from his seat.
“Hm? Brother Leo?”
Chelsea’s eyes widened as she followed him.
Leo went out to a deserted terrace and leaned against the railing.
Chelsea also approached and leaned against the railing next to him, then glanced up at Leo.
The Imperial Palace’s party hall, situated high up.
And in the distance, the thriving capital of Rodren was visible.
Looking at it, Leo smiled bitterly.
“I feel this sometimes, but… the world has really gotten better.”
“Huh?”
“Well… it has been 5,000 years.”
“It’s a peace made possible thanks to the Great Heroes,”
Chelsea said with a grin.
“Brother Leo, what do you think when you see this era?”
“I feel like it’s a world they would have enjoyed more than me.”
“…”
“I also think it would have been nice if we had all been revived together. Well, just sometimes.”
Leo looked toward the distant party hall and chuckled.
Even when Ar-on came out of the World of Heroes.
And when Luna revealed herself to the world as a heroic spirit.
Leo wanted to let them live as normal a life as possible.
He knew better than anyone that his friends were the ones who deserved to enjoy this peace the most.
It was too precious to enjoy this peace all by himself.
Of course, it wasn’t that Leo felt guilty or sorry for his dead comrades.
‘After all the hell we went through together, I have a right to this too.’
However.
‘Sometimes, it’s lonely.’
His friends, who were like family.
‘If we could have shared this time together, there would have been so much more to laugh and talk about.’
A long time ago.
Just as Leo was smiling bitterly while reminiscing about the past.
*Pat, pat.*
Chelsea placed her hand on Leo’s head and began to pat it.
“What’s the meaning of this?”
“Hm? A little comfort for my troubled-looking Brother Leo?”
“Isn’t that a bit childish?”
“I am a child. And you look like one on the outside, Brother Leo. Or should I comfort you in a more adult way?”
Leo gave Chelsea a deadpan look as her eyes widened.
“Do you even know what you’re saying?”
“Ahem! I know everything I need to know.”
“Look at this little thing, getting cheeky.”
“Hmph!”
Chelsea struggled as Leo pinched her nose.
Leo chuckled as he wiggled Chelsea around by her nose before letting go.
“I suppose I don’t have the luxury of getting lost in old memories. I can do that after everything is over.”
Chelsea rubbed her reddened nose and said.
“Feeling a little better?”
“Thanks to you.”
Leo looked at the moon and spoke.
“Starting from our third year, it’s going to get really tough. Be prepared.”
“Okay.”
“I’m going to increase the intensity of your training, too.”
“Eek?!”
Chelsea’s face soured.
Looking at her, Leo said.
“What?”
“It’s going to get even harder?”
“Yes. I’ve been going easy on you since you’re still young.”
Leo grinned.
“Hearing you say such cheeky things, I think it’s time to graduate from treating you like a child.”
“Aww, but I’m still little.”
“Not cute.”
“Tch! That still works on my father.”
Chelsea, who had been acting cute with a slightly saccharine voice, clicked her tongue.
Watching her, Leo said.
“It’s time to graduate from babysitting.”
***
After the party, Leo returned to the Jerdinger mansion and sat on the sofa in his room with his arms crossed.
Beside him stood the Dragon Lord, Melina.
A moment later, a door materialized in the air and slid open.
Leo turned his head and sighed deeply.
Beyond the door, Lian was bowing to Leo.
“This lowly being greets the most revered, noble, and virtuous Hero of the Beginning in this world.”
Having said that, Lian squirmed on the ground, passed through the door, and approached Leo.
“Are you a cockroach?”
He threw the abusive remark at a divine being.
Of course, neither Leo, who said it, nor Lian, who heard it, paid it any mind.
No, in fact, the crazy god was delighted by Leo’s words.
“Ah! In Lord Leo’s eyes, a worthless microorganism like myself has a presence comparable to a cockroach! What an honor!”
The most troubled one here was the Dragon Lord, caught between the Great Hero and the god.
‘That being is just…’
Melina simply couldn’t get used to Lian’s genuinely joyful expression.
She had met Lian with Leo several times before.
But each time, the fanatical behavior displayed by the god before her left Melina bewildered.
To Melina’s understanding, the existence known as a god was far too strange.
‘How can Lord Leo remain so unfazed seeing him like this?’
As a Dragon Lord, she had seen many types of people.
But she could say with certainty that there was no one as bizarre as Lian.
And it wasn't simply because Lian was a god.
From Melina’s perspective, Lian was brilliantly insane whenever Leo was involved.
But when Leo wasn't around, he was the very picture of a transcendent, absolute being.
The coexistence of those two incompatible personas was, to Melina, terrifying.
Even now, seeing him rejoice at being called a cockroach, Melina felt an indescribable fear.
Leo gritted his teeth as he watched Lian crawl toward him, still in a bowing posture.
“Just stand up and come here quickly.”
“I cannot do that! How could a cockroach like me dare to raise its head before the great Hero of the Beginning!”
“You’re frustrating me, so hurry up!”
“Gasp! To have frustrated Lord Leo! Such blasphemy!”
Lian yelped and rushed before Leo.
Then he started banging his head on the floor, self-flagellating while crying, ‘Ah! I truly am less than a cockroach!’
At that sight, Melina instinctively hid behind Leo.
‘Right. The more you know, the scarier that behavior must be.’
This was none other than the Dragon Lord Melina.
The more she understood the transcendent power Lian possessed, the greater her fear was when that transcendent being displayed such chaotic behavior.
Of course, Leo was so used to gods that he had reached a point where he could just let such displays slide.
Leo’s values regarding gods were fundamentally different from those of the people of this era.
Lian, who had been harming himself, abruptly stopped and took out a small box from his robes.
“Lord Leo! It is lacking, but please accept my tribute!”
“What’s this?”
“It is a crown crafted from the most beautiful jewel I possess!”
Lian’s eyes sparkled.
“This time, Lord Leo, you are ascending to the throne of the King of the World, are you not!”
“What are you talking about? I’m just becoming the king of a small country.”
“No! This entire world belongs to you, Lord Leo! You becoming a king means you are becoming the King of the World! It means you are becoming the absolute ruler of the world!”
Leo sighed at Lian, who was once again assigning strange meanings to things, and opened the box.
On the jewel-encrusted crown, the figures of Kyle and Leo were exquisitely crafted.
It looked less like a crown and more like a sculpture to be worn on one’s head.
“What do you think! A dignified crown befitting the King of the World, is it not…?”
*Clang—! Crack—!*
“Aaaaaah! My masterpiece!”
Leo mercilessly threw the crown, and it shattered to pieces.
As Lian screamed as if he had lost the whole world, Melina hastily went to his side.
“A-Are you all right?”
“Well then, shall we get to the main point?”
“Yes, sir.”
At Leo’s words, Lian stood up straight before him as if nothing had happened.
Melina’s face fell.
She just couldn’t adapt to the god before her, who was chaos incarnate.
Taking a deep breath, Melina stood beside Leo.
“What are you curious about regarding the Hero Record?”
At Lian’s question, Leo spoke.
“While dealing with the Hero Slayer this time, I learned that something called the Legion’s Record exists.”
At those words, not only Melina’s but also Lian’s face hardened instantly.
“The Legion’s Record, you say?”
“Yes. I even entered a place called the World of the Legion, similar to the World of Heroes.”
Leo told Lian the story of what he had experienced.
After listening to the story with a serious expression, Leo asked Lian.
“Finally, I saw traitors who seemed to have become demons. So I’m asking. Does that bastard Erebos also know about the Record system?”
Lian nodded at the question.
“Yes. That abomination likely possesses knowledge of the Record system.”
“Is that so? Then does he have the power to implement a record system like the Hero Record?”
“No. It is true that the abomination is the natural enemy of the gods. However, that does not mean it has the power to implement the Record system, which was created by the combined power of all the gods. Even if it grew stronger by burning this entire world, implementing a system like the Hero Record is impossible for it.”
At those words, Melina cautiously spoke up.
“In that case… does that mean Erebos changed the Hero Record into the World of the Legion?”
“That’s right, Dragon Lord.”
Lian’s face was colored with displeasure.
“With the power of that abomination… it is a possibility.”
The Hero Record was the embodiment of all the gods’ will.
The fact that this power was not only tainted but also being used by their natural enemy was enough to make Lian feel a visceral rage.
“The one who created the Legion’s Record was likely the Necro-King, the abomination’s creation.”
Lian said with a stoic expression.
“That creation possesses a fragment of the abomination.”
Hearing Lian’s words, Leo nodded.
He had expected as much.
But hearing it from Lian, a manager and participant in the creation of the Hero Record, carried a different weight than just his own speculation.
“He could change other pages of the Hero Record into the Legion’s Record too, right?”
“It would be possible. But he won’t do it.”
“Why not?”
“Because even with the abomination’s power, altering the Hero Record itself, the very essence of the gods’ power, would consume an immense amount of energy.”
“Hmm.”
“Besides, the demons from after the Age of Heroes would not be of much help to the current Tartaros.”
Lian bowed his head to Leo.
“They couldn’t achieve victory over the Great Heroes even during their prime, the Age of Calamity. The one called the Necro-King would know best that the power of the demons born in the Age of Heroes is useless before you.”
“That’s true.”
The current legion did not measure up to the power of the past legion.
As such, what needed to be passed down to the current legion was the power of their prime.
“Since many of the Great Heroes’ Hero Records were destroyed… he won’t be able to create many of the Legion’s Records either.”
Of course, even that was an enormous threat.
“Melina, prepare to make a public announcement in the name of the Dragon Lord about the Legion’s Record. Also, research methods to counter it.”
“Yes.”
Melina bowed her head and used a warp to return to Dragonia.
Watching her go, Leo sighed and rested his chin on his hand.
“Things are about to get even busier.”
“Indeed. And you will soon be hailed as the King of the World.”
“Are you on about being the ruler of the world again?”
“While I wish for that… the king I speak of now is not a king in that sense.”
Lian smiled faintly.
“Do you remember what I told you before? That the only King of the World acknowledged by the gods in this world was the King of Wisdom.”
“…”
“It is finally beginning. The first step of the world’s will gathering beneath you. None of the gods will deny it. The fact that you have become this world’s second king.”
Lian bowed his head.
“From now on, a new era will truly begin.”