Chapter 684
Chapter 684
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 684
Chapter Title: Worlds Apart
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684.
*Crackle, crackle-*
The campfire burned a brilliant red.
Gathered before it, boys and girls were taking a rest.
“This is delicious!”
“Yeah! It's so good! I could eat this forever and not get tired of it!”
“I've never eaten anything this tasty before!”
The beastkin and dwarf warrior candidates wore blissful expressions as they ate.
Watching them, Artian covered her mouth.
“*Sniffle!*”
Artian's eyes were moist as she looked at the warrior candidates.
What the warrior candidates were currently eating were the combat rations distributed by Lumerne for long-term missions.
Regardless of the academy, when hero candidates were sent on long-term missions, they were often pushed into extreme situations.
And to maintain strong mental fortitude for extended periods in such situations, a nutritious diet was essential.
As such, each hero academy invested a great deal of effort into creating combat rations that maintained their freshness in sub-space.
In fact, the combat rations of the hero academies were so distinctive for each race that they had become renowned specialties representing their respective schools.
The hero academies were even conscious of this, pouring resources into research and development.
Their taste was guaranteed.
*'This is the biggest difference from our time.'*
Leo mumbled to himself as he chewed on the jerky from his rations.
Lisinas, too, had done his best to manage their supplies.
But in a world already teetering on the brink of ruin, there was a limit to what they could procure.
Not even the fraudulent savior who led the world with hope.
Not even the eccentric magical genius who showed a brilliant light in despair.
Not even the perverted smith who forged weapons praised by the gods.
None of them could do anything about that.
*'Kids these days have it so easy.'*
Of course, it wasn't as if the hero candidates were completely spoiled by convenience.
Supplies had their limits.
A hero candidate was expected to be tough enough to carve and eat the flesh of monsters or demonic beasts and purify their blood for drinking if food and water ran out.
*'Well, it's best not to be pushed into that kind of situation in the first place.'*
After the mission began, the warrior candidates couldn't help but be amazed when they tasted Lumerne's combat rations.
These were warrior candidates born in an age where scarcity was the norm.
When things were bad, it was common for them to go two or three days without food.
The last banquet had been a very special occasion.
By leaving Ivaldi and coming to the fortress in the present world, they had managed to get their hands on supplies dormant in the basement, allowing them a brief period of abundance.
Even that was only considered abundant from Ivaldi's perspective; to a hero candidate of the current era, it was a meager amount.
Given their circumstances, it was only natural for the Ivaldi warrior candidates to be moved after tasting combat rations that Lumerne had deliberately made delicious to reduce mission stress for its students.
The soft-hearted Artian teared up at the sight.
“Tere, aren't you going to eat more?”
“No, I've had plenty.”
The bear beastkin boy, Tere, who stood two meters tall, gave an awkward smile.
But soon, his stomach rumbled.
“We don't know when enemies might attack, so shouldn't you eat your fill?”
To Chelsea's words, who was eating beside him, Tere replied.
“I want to save some for my little sister.”
At his words, Chelsea glanced around.
Besides Tere, there were several other warrior candidates saving their food.
At this sight, Artian's already moist eyes welled up with tears.
“Everyone! We'll give you supplies when we return to the fortress, so please don't worry about that and…!”
“No! You can't do that!”
Canea shook her head in surprise.
“You said supplies, right? We don't know when those Tartaros bastards will invade. You can't just hand things like that out to civilians!”
At those words, Artian flinched and her shoulders slumped.
“Y-You're right. For a professor to be swayed by emotion… I was foolish.”
“N-No, it's not that. You were just thinking of us, right?”
Canea said hurriedly to Artian.
The warrior candidates on this scouting mission had not only grown close to the hero candidates but had also come to follow Artian well.
As long as terrifying heroic spirits weren't involved, Artian's capacity for acceptance was considered the best in Lumerne.
It was only natural that the warrior candidates would come to follow her.
Leo, who had been observing the situation, spoke up.
“Whether you take it to your families or not, that's something you can do after you make it back alive. Don't starve yourselves, end up powerless in a critical moment, and get killed or drag everyone down. Just eat.”
At his cold words, the warrior candidates who had been saving their food flinched and then nodded.
“Leo Flove, do you know how brutally cold you can be sometimes?”
Even the cynical Eliza felt pity when she looked at the warrior candidates.
The stark contrast with her own life in an age of abundance made her feel it all the more.
The same was true for Duran.
In contrast, Leo was astonishingly cold.
*'It's not like Leo Flove has a kind personality.'*
In fact, Leo was on the nastier side.
He just didn't show it often.
In a good sense, he was mature; in a bad sense, he was twisted.
“They're not in a position to be swayed by sentiment, so I just gave them some advice.”
Canea gave a bitter smile at his words.
“You're right about that.”
Canea, agreeing with Leo, spoke as if she found something fascinating.
“Watching you, Lady Artian, is truly fascinating.”
“What is?”
“It's like... you seem like someone from a different world than us.”
At that, Artian laughed awkwardly and scratched her cheek.
“It's not just Lady Artian. You guys are around our age, right? But you're completely different.”
“How are we different?”
“Hmm.”
Canea thought for a moment, then spoke.
“Kind, I guess?”
“I don't know about Leo and me, but these two are far from kind. They have absolutely rotten personalities.”
“If you're trying to pick a fight, say it to my face, Chelsea Llewellyn.”
“I don't think you, who possess not even a tenth of Abad Llewellyn's character, have any right to say that.”
Duran spoke menacingly, and Eliza sneered coldly.
“From where I'm standing, all three of you have bad personalities, so stop fighting.”
Leo shrugged.
Watching them, Canea laughed, “Ahaha,” and said.
“When I say kind, I don't mean personality-wise. Hmm... altruistic, maybe?”
Canea nodded.
“You all fight for others, right? That's what's fascinating.”
“You and the other warriors of Ivaldi fight to protect the fortress, don't you?”
“That's... because we're all like one big family.”
A vast, extended family.
Helping each other was a given.
If they didn't, they would die.
But they couldn't help but be wary of outsiders.
It was only because Dweno, the leader of Ivaldi, had vouched for them that they had grown close so quickly.
Normally, becoming this close would have been impossible.
Among the warrior candidates, almost none had their biological parents.
If it weren't for Enniha, who ran Ivaldi's orphanage.
And if it weren't for Dweno, who supported Enniha.
Most of the warrior candidates here would not have survived.
In that sense, they were all brothers and sisters with parents named Dweno and Enniha.
“It's amazing that you, who have nothing to do with us, are fighting this hard for our sake. If our situations were reversed... the me from before would have definitely turned my back on you. We're pretty... terrible, aren't we?”
Led by Canea, the warrior candidates wore expressions of shame.
“Watching you guys, I feel like you're shining.”
Canea's face clouded over.
“You're different from us.”
Seeing Canea's darkened expression, Leo spoke.
“What about the you of now?”
“What?”
“The you of now, after meeting us? Even now, if the situations were reversed, would you turn your back on us?”
“No.”
“Then that's all that matters.”
Canea and the warrior candidates of Ivaldi, born in an age of calamity, simply hadn't known.
That there was another way to live in this world.
Turning a blind eye to another's crisis isn't wrong.
*'Especially in an era like this.'*
It was an era where they didn't know how to act otherwise, an era where they couldn't survive by living that way.
As far as Leo knew, there was only one person born in this dark age who could shine so brightly.
*'Verkia.'*
Verkia, one of his disciples, was someone who illuminated their surroundings like the sun.
*'That's why he was special.'*
Even Ar-on hadn't been able to do that.
“What's important isn't who you were in the past. It's that you've changed now.”
Leo let out a small laugh.
“You've changed, taken a step forward, and grown. That's a remarkable thing, so be proud.”
At Leo's words, Canea scratched her cheek.
“You really do feel similar to us.”
To Canea, Leo was the only one in this group with whom she felt a sense of kinship.
Of course….
“It's just a similar feeling; you're still completely different.”
Aside from that sense of kinship, they were completely different.
“It's like... when I look at you, it feels like I'm looking at Lord Dweno.”
*'Her intuition is sharp.'*
“The old me would have definitely fallen for you. Well, I'm completely smitten with Karl now, though!”
“That Karl fellow. He's popular.”
Duran responded to Leo's mumble.
“Hmph. As a hero, it means he has a certain charm that draws people in, I suppose.”
“What's this? Praising Karl?”
“I merely stated a fact.”
Duran scoffed and continued.
“And if he has appeal as a man, I, for one, welcome it.”
At Duran's words, Leo made a strange face.
“What's with that unpleasant look?”
“So your tastes run that way?”
“If you're trying to pick a fight, I welcome it. Leo Flove.”
Facing the fiercely growling Duran, Leo raised both hands.
“My apologies. But why do you welcome it?”
“It's more than he deserves, but I'm merely considering him as a candidate for my younger sister's hand. That's why I, as her older brother, welcome it.”
“What kind of nonsense is that?”
Duran replied nonchalantly to Eliza's question.
“Nonsense? Karl Thomas is a citizen of Moira. I am the ruler of Moira. As a king, considering marriage to a royal to secure outstanding talent is the most basic of basics. I never dreamed the heir to the Hergin family would be ignorant of something so simple.”
Eliza's shoulders trembled.
“Why are you the one getting upset, Eliza Hergin?”
Watching this, Chelsea muttered to herself.
*'Is that Duran guy doing that on purpose, or is he just clueless?'*
Shaking her head, Chelsea looked at Leo.
“Leo, is something bothering you?”
“It's been over ten days since the search began.”
“Yeah, that's right. We've already searched every inch up to the Wall of Constraint.”
Artian added to Chelsea's words.
“It seems to be well hidden.”
The area around the fortress, enclosed by the Wall of Constraint, wasn't that large.
*'The fact that Gias is nowhere to be seen is also bothering me.'*
It wasn't just Gias.
The entire Giant King's Legion was nowhere in sight.
*'Does that mean they went outside the Wall of Constraint?'*
*Is that possible?* Leo wondered, forming a hypothesis.
The inside of the Wall of Constraint was part of the real world, but it was also a dungeon's domain.
In other words, a place where reality and the dungeon world intersected.
The laws of a dungeon applied.
And Leo knew a way to ignore the laws of the World of Legions—or more precisely, the World of Heroes.
*'A method using divine power.'*
Just as Leo had used divine power to bring Luna and Ar-on into the real world.
Tartaros might also be able to use Erebos's power to take those from the World of Legions outside.
*'That invasion back then... was it to reduce their numbers?'*
Leo clicked his tongue, recalling the previous invasion.
It was obvious what the Giant King's Legion would do now that they were outside.
*'Strengthen their forces.'*
It's coming soon.
A massive invasion, incomparable to the one in the original history.
*'If I destroy the Legion's Record before that, the problem will be solved.'*
But he couldn't find an entrance to the World of Legions anywhere in the surrounding area.
Having thought that far, Leo casually turned his head.
He looked in the direction of Ivaldi's fortress.
*'Is the entrance inside the fortress?'*