Editor : Amethyst00



“Did you say Kyle?”

“Are you saying Kyle was a real person?”

The students reacted in shock.

In an instant, the large lecture hall became noisy.

Until now, the Hero of the Beginning, Kyle, had only existed as a name in storybooks.

‘Because my Hero Record didn’t left behind.’

But even as a fictional figure, he was an incredibly famous one.

For at least thousands of years, his name had been mentioned alongside other great heroes.

That was why the academic world of Hero Studies had long tried to uncover the origin of the person called Kyle.

However, since there was no evidence that he truly existed, he had eventually been dismissed as a nonexistent figure.

And now, that very name, Kyle, had been mentioned in the world of [Brave].

As the students murmured among themselves, Artienne spoke.

“Everyone, calm down. It’s only the name that’s been mentioned for now. Besides, we don’t yet know if he’s the same person as the Hero of the Beginning.”

At his words, the students settled down.

Then Chloe raised her hand.

“Yes, Chloe.”

“If the real ‘Hero of the Beginning’ truly existed, what would that mean?”

“If that’s the case, the entire foundation of Hero Studies would be overturned. Among the pages of heroes we’ve found so far, there are some whose owners we haven’t been able to identify, right? One of those could very well belong to Kyle.”

“Oooh!”

“Then that would mean there’s a Great Hero among humans too, wouldn’t it?”

The students became excited.

There were five races that existed on the continent:

Humans, Elves, Beastkin, Dwarves, and Dragons.

Among them, only humans had no Great Hero.

Because of that, they had always, knowingly or unknowingly, harbored a sense of inferiority when comparing themselves to other races.

If Kyle were proven to have truly existed, then humans too could stand proudly before the others.

“Of course.”

As Artienne smiled faintly, the students’ eyes sparkled.

‘So it’s spreading like this.’

Leo also felt some dissatisfaction about being forgotten.

Then Celia raised her hand.

“Professor, if Kyle really existed, do you think he was truly an All-Class?”

“The chances are high. After all, there’s someone who’s All-Class right here at our school.”

As soon as Artienne said that, all the students’ gazes turned to Leo.

More than three hundred eyes focused on him at once — enough to make anyone flinch — but Leo remained calm.

“What are you looking at?”

At his reaction, the students quickly turned back to Artienne.

“In any case, it’s true that an interesting topic has been brought up about Kyle. That’s why many scholars studying Hero Studies are now heading to Azonia.”

“What does ‘Surviving Hero’ mean?”

“They say even the Challenger didn’t know the details. It was simply a name mentioned by the hero of that era, ‘Guardian of the Azure Sky,’ who was Aaron’s mentor.”

“Lord Aaron had a mentor?”

“Well… nothing strange about that.”

“Wow, that’s amazing. That means they actually met Aaron in person!”

“Even among our first years, the class representatives met Lady Lysinas, remember?”

Back in the first semester, Kyle’s page had opened here.

At that time, the class representatives had met Lysinas.

“Now then, today’s lecture will be about [The Hero of the Beginning], Kyle. How much do you all know about him? Any students who can tell me about one of Kyle’s representative feats?”

At Artienne’s question, everyone looked troubled.

He was a famous figure, but since he was treated as fictional, few actually knew much about him.

Even the countless heroic deeds mentioned in storybooks were too many to keep straight.

Still, there was a student who had studied Kyle purely out of love for those tales.

“Yes! The Hero of the Beginning Kyle’s most famous achievement was the Battle of Dateflan against the Lich King, Hell Kaiser!”

Chelsea raised her hand high and answered.

“That’s right. Ten points to you, Chelsea.”

Chelsea clenched her fist tightly in triumph.

After that, Artienne began the lecture about Kyle.

She covered the academic evaluation of Kyle up to now, and the possible ways that view might change in the future.

As expected from a class in Lumene that specialized in Hero Studies, the lecture was fascinating and in-depth.

Every student was absorbed in it.

After class ended and break time began, Chelsea mumbled as she organized her notes.

“But why is he called the Surviving Hero?”

“Well, because he survived, obviously.”

Leo gave a simple answer to her question.

“He probably got that name because he was strong — strong enough to survive countless battles.”

Leo explained why he had once been called the Surviving Hero.

“Hmm! It sounds almost too simple, but I guess for now that’s the right way to interpret it.”

Chelsea nodded.

Leo rested his chin on his hand and recalled the past.

‘Well, it wasn’t exactly a nickname I liked.’

At the time, it was closer to an insult.

Before joining the Subjugation Party, Kyle had built his reputation as a mercenary by participating in many battles.

And while countless others were wiped out, he alone would return alive.

At first, people praised him as incredible, but as it kept happening, he eventually became a symbol of misfortune.

‘Because of that, no one wanted to team up with me anymore.’

Then, the one who came to him was none other than Lysinas, who was then called a fool.

Lost in thought, Leo looked at his classmates passionately discussing Kyle and smiled faintly.

‘To think I’d ever study about Kyle in Lumene.’

Of course, this was the situation Leo had wanted.

He had saved the world just like his comrades, yet only they were remembered — it had felt unfair.

But now that he was actually sitting through a lecture about himself, the feeling was oddly complex.

‘I’m probably the only one who has to personally work to pass down my own achievements to future generations.’

Sighing deeply, Leo lamented his situation.

By the end of the first day of classes, all the students were exhausted.

It felt like their dulled senses during the vacation were tightening back into place.

“Yaaawn! I’m so tired! So tired!”

After taking a bath together, Carl stretched and asked,

“Leo, want to go to the store?”

“No, I think I’ll turn in a bit early today.”

“Alright, got it.”

Nodding at Leo’s reply, Carl headed off alone toward the store.

Back in his room, Leo took out Elsie, who had been inside his necklace.

Flying to the window, Elsie gazed up at the night sky, her eyes shining.

Since coming to the modern world, stargazing every night had become one of her routines.

“Elsie.”

“Yes, Leo.”

“I’ll introduce you to my summoned beasts now.”

“Ah! You mean the phoenix and the fairy you mentioned before.”

“Yeah. But as I said before, don’t tell them that I’m Kyle.”

Leo sighed, thinking of the noisy personalities of Fiora and Kiran.

It wasn’t that his two familiars would intentionally spread their master’s secrets.

But given their temperaments, there was a high chance they’d accidentally blurt it out.

‘The fewer who know a secret, the better.’

If Tartaros were to learn that Leo was the reincarnation of Kyle, it would be a disaster.

They would surely try to eliminate him before he could regain the full strength of his prime.

‘Even if it’s revealed someday, it should only be after I’ve recovered enough power.’

Thinking that, Leo summoned Fiora and Kiran.

“Your contractor, Fiora, answers your call.”

[Leo! You’re back!]

Fiora gracefully lifted the hem of her dress and curtsied, while Kiran waved his hand.

Then they both froze when they noticed Elsie.

“Who’s that?”

“She’s a elemental I recently formed a contract with.”

[My name is Elsie.]

As Elsie smiled gently and greeted them, Kiran let out a curious “Hoh?”

[A newbie, huh? I’m Kiran, the captain of Leo’s summoned beasts.]

“I’m the captain.”

[Why would you be the captain?]

“Because I was the first to form a contract with Leo, obviously.”

Fiora looked smug.

[The captain should be the most dignified, the highest-ranked familiar — like me.]

“This fairy’s out of his mind, so just think of me as the captain.”

[You little piglet chick!]

As the two bickered noisily, Leo sighed deeply.

Among his familiars, the first he had contracted with — and by far the highest-ranked — was none other than Elsie.

Compared to her, an Elemental Lord from his previous life, Fiora and Kiran were still just rookies.

[They’re lively children.]

Apparently pleased by the bustling atmosphere, Elsie smiled brightly.

Seeing her look at them like an affectionate older sister, Leo shook his head.

“That’s not liveliness — that’s immaturity.”

bl

The students were busy from the very first day of the new semester.

However, the first-years, who had gone through plenty of trials already, adjusted without much trouble.

After finishing the core general courses, the specialized classes began.

The first of them was none other than the Magic Department’s lecture.

Together with Chelsea and Carl, Leo headed to the practice hall they’d been told about.

“Practical training for the first class? That’s not like Professor Len.”

Chelsea tilted her head.

Len was a professor who valued theory.

It wasn’t that he ignored real combat, but he held a firm belief that magic was a discipline founded on research and exploration.

So having the very first class of the semester take place in the practice hall was definitely unusual.

The first-years gathered in the hall, waiting for Len.

After a moment, Len appeared together with Associate Professor Anna.

Standing at the center, Len smiled softly.

“Everyone, did you enjoy your vacation?”

“Yes.”

“Professor Len! We missed you!”

Several female students greeted him with sweet voices.

Thanks to his handsome looks and kind demeanor, Len was especially popular among the girls.

Of course, he sometimes went overboard, but even that was seen as part of his passionate charm for magic.

Nodding at the students’ response, Len spoke.

“I’d like you all to submit the assignments you worked on during the break.”

At that, the students handed in their reports.

Anna organized them and stored them into a subspace.

Meanwhile, Len began.

“I’ve been thinking a lot over the break about how best to teach you all this semester.”

The students looked puzzled.

“As you know, your year has drawn a lot of attention from the academy as a whole.”

Len swept his gaze across the students.

“That’s why we had high hopes for you during the inter-department tournament last semester.”

Emio raised his hand.

“And during that tournament, we first-years defeated the Gigantes!”

Although it had been nine students who took it down, it was true that the victory wouldn’t have been possible without everyone’s support.

So Emio liked to say they had defeated it “together.”

“That’s true. But that didn’t exactly prove the superiority of the Magic Department.”

It had been the victory of the entire first-year class, not of any specific department.

“Did you know? Among the professors, your seniors in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th years haven’t earned a great reputation.”

“What?”

“Wasn’t the Magic Department always neck and neck with the Knight Department?”

The students, who were competitive with other majors, looked confused.

Len folded his arms.

“Well, that’s how outsiders see it.”

His eyes gleamed.

“But among first-years in the past three years, the Magic Department has never beaten Seiren in the Lumeiren Competition!”

The students flinched at his words.

“The Magic professors agreed that we cannot endure a fourth consecutive humiliation. So, for this semester, we’ve prepared classes aimed at the end-of-term Lumeiren Competition.”

At Len’s declaration, the students gasped.

“Starting today, you’ll be learning Hero Magic.”