Editor : Amethyst00



“We have to conquer the world? That’s ridiculous. Isn't it?”

Chelsea shook her head as she followed behind Leo.

“Even for Lumene students, conquering a Hero’s World is a challenging task.and you think they would expect exam applicants to do it?”

She was right.

Even for the best-trained hero candidates at Lumene, conquering a Hero’s World wasn’t easy.

And yet they were asking exam candidates to do something so difficult?

It was absurd.

But Leo thought differently.

“We’re being tested for hero qualifications, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then we should be able to do what a hero must do. Besides, since it’s an exam, surely the trials should be something we can overcome.”

Chelsea hesitated at that.

‘He’s not exactly wrong.’

“Hm! Then what’s the condition for conquering it? If it’s a trial applicants can clear, it’s probably related to Albi’s earliest achievements. But there’s hardly any information about the Mage of the Mystic Eye’s exploits.”

Chelsea folded her arms, thinking hard, as Leo gave a small smile.

‘She’s smart.’

A talented girl, with strong pride as a noble house descendant.

Normally, kids like that don’t listen to their peers.

But Chelsea accepted Leo’s logic and immediately started thinking about how to clear it.

‘She’s flexible. That’s a good trait for a mage.’

Still inexperienced, but Leo thought she was fitting as a hero candidate.

“It’s probably a subjugation.”

“Yeah, I agree.”

Chelsea nodded.

If it was an achievement in a place full of monsters, odds were you had to defeat something.

And Leo had an idea who or what the target was.

‘Given the timing, it could be someone else, but—’

Recalling the monster corpses from earlier, Leo clenched and unclenched his fist, then grabbed Chelsea’s wrist.

“What are you doing?”

Chelsea scowled at Leo’s sudden move.

Fwoosh—!

Leo yanked Chelsea toward him.

Thwip, thwip—!

Two arrows landed right where Chelsea had been standing.

Chelsea’s eyes widened.

Then—

“Huh? Huh?”

Stumble—! Thud!

“Ow!”

Losing her balance, she fell on her rear.

Wiping tears as she rubbed her sore backside, Chelsea glared.

“If you going to pull me like that, shouldn’t you catch me so I don’t fall?”

“Uh, sorry. I figured you’d get mad if I just touched you carelessly.”

“Letting me fall makes me even angrier!”

“So, where’s your thank you?”

“Hmph! I could’ve handled arrows like that on my own, you know?”

“They were infused with Aura.”

Chelsea hesitated at Leo’s remark.

“M-my shield spell I memorized in advance would’ve blocked them!”

She muttered sullenly, but then said in a grumpy voice,

“A-anyway, thanks.”

Leo burst out laughing at her reaction.

“Tch!”

“I could’ve taken down Chelsea Lewellin right away!”

A group of examinees emerged from the bushes, glaring at Leo and Chelsea.

“You guys.”

When Chelsea stepped forward, the five examinees looked tense.

“Don’t fight. Let’s work together.”

“What?”

Surprised by Chelsea’s words, the group looked puzzled.

“Your party’s all knights, right? If a mage like me joins, that’s a bonus, right? So let’s cooperate.”

Even after just being attacked, Chelsea made the offer with no hard feelings.

After all, it was only natural to eliminate others in an exam like this.

‘If the point was to knock others out, I’d attack without hesitation. But right now, the goal is to conquer the Hero’s World.’

When Chelsea glanced at Leo for his opinion, he nodded.

“If we cooperate—”

“We’re all knights, but we can do ranged attacks too. Our party’s balanced.”

“Huh?”

Then the leader smirked.

“But there’s only two of you. If we fight now, we’ve got the advantage.”

“Yeah, so what if you’re from hero houses? You’re our age!”

“You think we can’t tell you’re suggesting this out of fear?”

Thinking Chelsea was bowing her head, the group grew bolder.

“If we beat you, that’s one less strong applicant! Why would we cooperate with you?”

“Yeah! That’s right!”

As they got ready to fight, Chelsea started to say something.

“Forget it, they’re not listening anymore.”

“But—”

Chelsea looked frustrated.

A smart girl, she was annoyed by examinees who wouldn’t even listen.

Leo drew his sword.

“If they want to fight, we’ll fight.”

“It can’t be helped.”

Chelsea sighed and raised her staff.

Leo told her,

“Support me from the back.”

“What?”

“It’d be a waste for you to use your Mana on these nobodies.”

“Are you crazy? They’re using Aura, you know?”

“Just leave it to me.”

“Hmph. If you get in trouble, it’s not my fault.”

Despite her sharp tone, Chelsea was ready to help if Leo was in danger.

‘Besides, I owe him from earlier anyway.’

Chelsea fiddled with her staff.

Meanwhile, the other examinees scowled at Leo.

“And you are?”

“You going to take us all on alone?”

“Yeah. Look forward to it.”

“This guy—!”

One of the examinees, feeling insulted, immediately drew his bow and fired.

Swoosh—!

An arrow without Aura flew toward Leo.

Aura arrows were too valuable for their Aura, they were saving them for a fight with Chelsea.

‘If he dodges, he’ll leave an opening. Then we surround him and finish him—’

Grab—!

“…!”

"This isn’t the time for you to be saving your strength."

Leo caught the arrow with his bare hand and easily broke it.

“N-no way! He caught my arrow barehanded…!”

Swoosh—!

Before the applicant could finish, Leo charged in.

“S-stop him!”

“Surround him!”

As swords came at him from all sides, Leo's eyes darted quickly.

But the examinees couldn’t focus all their attention on Leo.

‘Even without joining the fight, she just being there is enough to keep them in check.’

Unlike the unknown Leo, Chelsea was a name-brand examinee, so everyone’s attention was drawn to her.

‘That's works for me.’

Clang—! Thud!

“Guh?”

Leo knocked aside a sword and slammed his fist into an opponent’s solar plexus.

"This guy! I didn’t see any sign of aura use?!"

“Of course, I’m bare-handed.”

Leo replied calmly, watching his confused opponents, then spun his body.

One attacker aiming for his back froze as Leo dodged as if he had eyes in the back of his head.

Thud—!

“Urk!”

After landing a kick to the ribs, Leo turned to the last two remaining examinees.

“Use Aura!”

“Damn it!”

Leo overwhelmed all five by himself.

Meanwhile, watching from behind, Chelsea’s eyes widened.

‘How can he move like that without using Aura?’

Even though she was a mage, as an aspiring battle mage Chelsea trained hard in martial arts too.

So she could vaguely tell just how incredible Leo’s movements were.

‘He’s amazing!’

Her heart thudded in her chest, and Chelsea jolted in surprise.

‘No! He’s the guy who hung out with Celia Zerdinger! Get a grip, Chelsea!’

She shook her head vigorously, but still couldn’t take her eyes off Leo.

bl

The examinees were eliminated quickly.

They’d pushed too hard to take out their competitors.

‘They must think they’re being proactive.’

Albi watched a few students.

Some were bragging about how many they’d eliminated.

Of course, it had nothing to do with passing the exam.

After about an hour, only around fifty of the original 569 examinees remained.

“Mr. Albi. What about those examinees…”

“They’re out.”

Albi’s cold reply startled the Lumene aide beside him.

“B-but, Mr. Albi, they’re all quite talented. And usually a hundred students are accepted from one test—”

Albi’s chilly gaze turned to the aide.

The aide caught his breath under that stare.

“When the headmaster appointed me as examiner, I said the same thing as you. That if I were in charge, anyone who didn’t meet my standards would be eliminated. But he still made me examiner.”

“Ugh!”

“As examiner, I alone decide who passes. That is my authority. So don’t speak further on this matter.”

Albi cut him off and turned his attention back to the magic mirror.

And on it, he saw none other than Leo.

‘Looks like he noticed the anomaly in the forest.’

Albi touched his left eye.

‘But can he really clear this world?’

bl

“Chelsea, you’re safe.”

“Of course, brother.”

About two hours after the test began.

Leo was able to meet up safely with Celia and Abad’s party.

“You made it too, I see. But you were with Chelsea Lewellin?”

“We met early in the test and cooperated.”

“Huh? She’s got a lot of pride and stubbornness. But she really cooperated with you?”

“I persuaded her well enough.”

Celia thought to herself as she saw Leo’s meaningful smile.

‘He must’ve done something.’

After a week together, Celia knew all too well how wicked her cousin could be.

“So, after all that talk about him being greasy and annoying, yet you still worked together.”

“We couldn’t just fight blindly when we didn’t know the criteria to pass.”

Celia brushed her hair back as she answered.

“Quite a group you’ve gathered.”

“Abad and I can move fast. We scouted the forest and gathered people willing to cooperate. Most are from the Lordren Empire.”

The empire’s two great families. If Zerdinger and Lewellin called for cooperation, no imperial citizen would refuse.

“Well done.”

“Huh? Why?”

“I think I know how to pass this test.”

“Oh? You figured it out?”

Celia’s eyes shone.

“We have to conquer this world.”

“Conquer the world?”

Celia tilted her head, then nodded.

“True, this exam is too different. Wouldn’t be strange if it required world conquest.”

“Right?”

“But then the problem. What’s the condition for conquering it?”

Every Hero’s World has a condition for conquering it.

That’s why the Heroes Studies is so important.

Researching and investigating heroic deeds is directly tied to strategies for clearing Hero’s Worlds.

But there are heroes whose exploits are recorded and some who aren’t.

Especially for living heroes, their worlds are rarely cleared.

And even if you do, there’s no reward; and only the hero themselves can open their own world.

Only the worlds of past heroes can be opened and cleared by others.

“Albi is famous, but almost nothing is known about his past exploits. There aren’t any clues to conquer it.”

“I have an idea about that too.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Leo sighed.

“There’s something abnormal going on in the Forest of Monsters right now.”

“Something abnormal?”

“Yeah. Don’t you think there are way too few monsters for this place?”

“You’re right…”

Normally, monster attacks should come one after another.

But in Albi’s world, the spawn rate was far too low.

‘It’s like something’s scaring them all.’

When Celia reached that conclusion, her expression turned grave.

“There must be a high-level monster frightening the rest.”

“Albi must’ve defeated it to achieve his feat.”

“Exactly.”

“What kind of high-level monster could terrify the entire Forest of Monsters? I’ve never seen any record of such an incident.”

“That’s…”

Just as Leo was about to answer Celia’s question—

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaah—!”

A scream echoed from far away.

“Looks like it just appeared.”