Chapter 685
Chapter 685
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 685
Chapter Title: A Wish for Tomorrow
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685.
“Hey! Leo's party is back!”
“Open the gates!”
In front of the fortress walls.
Seeing Leo and his group arrive before the moat, the warriors of Ivaldi bustled about.
“Did you find anything of note?”
To the question from Rahden, the demi-human in charge of the fortress walls, Leo shook his head.
“No.”
“Hmm! They must have hidden it quite secretly! You all! Haven't you already searched the entire area?”
Rahden wore a grave expression.
“We need to destroy the barrier as soon as possible and get help from Gardsrone.”
“We'll find it soon.”
At Leo's words, Rahden nodded.
“You've all worked hard tonight. Everyone, get some rest.”
The search was conducted at night, when the moon and stars were out.
Typically, the demons of Tartaros wield greater power at night.
However, this place was currently the boundary between the Age of Calamity and the present era.
During the day, an ashen sky hung overhead.
Under this sky, the demons became far stronger than they would under the night sky of the present world.
It had become a situation where resting during the day and being active at night was comparatively safer.
Hearing Leo's words, the hero cadets and warrior cadets headed for their tents.
Just as Leo, now alone, was about to walk away.
“Student Leo.”
Artian approached with a serious face.
“There's something I need to talk to you about regarding the entrance.”
Watching Artian cautiously bring up the topic, Leo spoke.
“You're going to say the entrance might be somewhere inside this fortress, aren't you?”
“As expected of you, Student Leo.”
Artian nodded.
Artian, who specialized in Heroics and possessed extensive knowledge of the World of Heroes, had reached a similar conclusion to Leo.
“The people of Ivaldi may have rebuilt the ruined fortress, but looking at its basic structure, it wasn't designed with a war against Tartaros in mind.”
“Then?”
“It's a fortress built for wars between races.”
Artian pieced together the puzzle with the knowledge she possessed.
Despite being within Tartaros's sphere of influence, they had become intoxicated by a long peace, sparking the flames of war among the races.
Those sparks became a great conflagration, which would have weakened the power of the forces in this area.
It was a common tale of eventually falling to Tartaros's invasion.
“During the era of interracial wars in this region, major fortresses were often built with underground labyrinths to facilitate delaying tactics during sieges.”
“You know a lot.”
“Because I like history.”
As Heroics itself was the study of the history of heroes, Artian was also well-versed in world history.
“The entrance must be deep within the fortress's underground labyrinth.”
At Artian's words, Leo fell into thought.
‘They said a spatial distortion occurs inside the path leading to the very center of a Hero Dungeon, didn't they?’
If something like that were on the outside, it should have been discovered by now.
That was why Artian deduced the entrance must be in the dungeon's core.
“I asked the Ivaldi warriors a little while ago. They said they've never seen anything like a labyrinth in this fortress.”
Leo's eye twitched.
“They don't know about the labyrinth's existence?”
“Yes. It must be hidden. That's why the Ivaldi warriors don't know about the entrance either.”
Artian clenched her fists.
“We must start searching for the labyrinth entrance today…”
“No.”
“What?”
“Let's rest for about two days. The past ten days must have been tough.”
“Should we… do that?”
Though slightly bewildered by Leo's response, Artian nodded.
Even though they were professor and student, the current leader of the Ar-hi party was Leo.
Besides, Artian knew well that Leo always had a reason for what he did.
When it came to combat, Artian was keenly aware that Leo was far superior to her.
Whether in strength or experience.
‘He's a truly mysterious student.’
“Well then, Student Leo. Get plenty of rest.”
Artian left with a gentle smile.
Watching her leave, Leo started walking.
The place Leo headed for was the outer area of the fortress.
Where Dweno's workshop was located.
As he approached the workshop, the surroundings were quiet.
It was a time when the sounds of Dweno's hammering and training should have filled the air, but no such sounds could be heard.
Arriving at the workshop, Leo gazed at the empty space.
The workshop was silent, as if everyone had gone somewhere together.
Creeak—
Leo stepped into the workshop and looked around.
And on one side of the workshop.
Leo approached the private back room that only Dweno used.
This was where the weapons Dweno had crafted were stored.
“…”
To a smith, a private storage room was like a treasure vault.
Therefore, outsiders were not meant to enter carelessly.
But Leo reached for the door without hesitation.
Clank—
The door was locked.
It wasn't just simply locked.
It was locked with magic.
Being a smith, Dweno was also an exceptionally skilled mage in the field of magical engineering.
In magical engineering and alchemy, rather than combat magic, he far surpassed Kyle.
For Kyle to open a door locked by Dweno, it would have taken a long time.
Or he would have had to force it open.
Click— Clack—
But Leo analyzed and disarmed the lock pattern without difficulty.
The reason he could undo Dweno's locking magic in an instant was perfectly natural.
If they had spent the same amount of time, he would never have been able to catch up.
But Dweno's time was stopped, while Leo's time continued to flow.
And by that much time, Leo had moved forward.
Creeak—
Leo opened the door.
And after seeing what was inside the room, he clenched his fist.
As he was checking the contents of the room, a voice came from behind.
“Since when did you know?”
Leo turned around.
Dweno was standing at the workshop's entrance with a bitter smile.
“You're frustratingly sharp when it comes to things like this, Kyle.”
***
Leo looked at Dweno for a moment before turning his gaze back to the inside of the room.
There, Ar-on's greatsword and Luna's ring were emitting powerful lightning and a cold chill.
They had been perfectly restored to their original forms.
And on one side, the broken Brave had regained its original shape.
Of course, Brave was not yet in its complete, original form.
Even so, with Dweno's skill from this time period, it would be impossible to restore Brave to that extent so quickly.
Leo closed the door.
And turned his body completely toward Dweno.
“I had my suspicions ever since you executed Gimeon.”
Leo said calmly.
“When the thought occurred that the entrance was somewhere in this city, it turned into near certainty.”
Dweno was a man who had long stood at the forefront, not only in Ivaldi but also in the defense of Gardsrone.
“The you I know would have thoroughly familiarized himself with the fortress he had to protect.”
In that process, he would have surely discovered the labyrinth entrance as well.
But the warriors of Ivaldi didn't know that.
There was a high probability that someone had intentionally hidden the labyrinth's existence.
Piecing the puzzle together up to that point, Leo reached the conclusion that Dweno had his memories.
“I was completely sure when I opened this door.”
Leo gestured with his thumb at the door behind him.
“The magical engineering formula used to lock this door. You tried to hide it, but it was at the level of your magical skill when we set out on our final expedition. Crucially.”
Leo narrowed his eyes.
“You would never lock a door like this.”
Dweno has no attachment to the work of a smith.
As such, he has no attachment to the weapons he creates.
Overcoming the Age of Calamity, there was only one weapon he called a masterpiece and gave a name to.
Most of the divine artifacts with names were named by their users, not Dweno.
That alone was enough to understand Dweno's disposition.
The very fact that such a man would lock the door meant there was something inside he didn't want to be seen.
“…”
Dweno closed his eyes, then let out a hollow laugh.
“I've felt this before, but you're sharp when it comes to things like this.”
“Since when did you have your memories?”
“The future… no. My memories returned the moment I came to this era.”
Dweno looked down at his hands.
“I remember it clearly. After Ivaldi fell. The memories of joining Ar-hi and journeying with my comrades.”
Dweno's expression turned bitter.
“When Gias invaded Gardsrone. Even the memory of you, Kyle, coming from the distant future with those children.”
The moment he came to the present.
Dweno had reached even the memories of the future.
“…It seems you know a bit more of the future now, though?”
“It's because of Brave.”
“Brave?”
“That broken Brave showed me. Ar-on's final moments.”
Dweno's gaze went past Leo, toward the storage room behind him.
Dweno's eyes grew somber.
Even if it was a fake.
It had conveyed its master's end to its creator.
‘So that's why back then…’
Recalling Dweno crying while holding the broken Brave, Leo let out a deep breath.
Leo and Dweno were different.
After Ar-on died.
Leo had sent off Dweno, then Luna… and in the end, even Lisinas.
Leo remembered all of their final moments.
‘But I was reincarnated.’
Reborn in the present, he continued to grieve for his friends' deaths and commemorate them.
His comrades' sacrifices.
Seeing the result of his own sacrifice.
He let his sorrow drift away in time.
That didn't mean the sorrow disappeared, but at least he was no longer buried in death.
But Dweno was not the same.
Even knowing that he and his comrades would die.
Even knowing that the world would be saved as a result.
Witnessing Ar-on's death firsthand through the memory Brave had shown him must have been a great sorrow for Dweno.
Breaking the silence, Leo spoke.
“Dweno. You know where the entrance is, don't you?”
“I do.”
Dweno looked directly at Leo.
“But I can't tell you where it is until I achieve my goal.”
“What's your goal?”
“To show the people of Ivaldi a world that has been completely saved. A tomorrow where the sun rises.”
“…”
“I know my future. Their future. I know that I am a fake. I know that my stubbornness is meaningless.”
Dweno wore a sorrowful expression.
“But these people died in despair, without ever seeing a sliver of hope.”
What Dweno himself had called a failure.
Dweno's past, a great lingering regret that Leo had not known.
The people of Ivaldi had died in utter despair.
Isolated, without ever seeing the hope of being saved.
They had simply died amidst despair and lamentation.
“I want to take them even a little way into the future. At least that much…”
Dweno bit his lip hard.
“Isn't it okay to grant a wish like that?”