Editor : Amethyst00



[Strategy Reward: Polyum]

The reward list unfolded before his eyes.

Whoosh—!

Thud! Flop—!

With a bright flash, four figures appeared in midair.

“W-wait?”

Lunia’s flustered cry rang out.

Unlike an ordinary Hero’s World, once a Hero Dungeon is cleared, it ejects the challengers at random around the area.

“Oh my, looks like Miss Lunia’s the lucky one.”

Seeing Lunia flailing helplessly in the air, Elena smiled faintly.

While Leo, Elena, and Hardin landed safely on the ground, Lunia simply fell straight down.

She tried to cast a spell in panic, but there was no time.

Plop—!

Leo caught her in his arms.

Unintentionally, Lunia ended up being held princess-style by Leo, her face flushing red.

“Th-thanks.”

“No need to thank me.”

Leo set Lunia down.

The glow of the Hero Record faded.

Flutter~

But then a page of Luna’s floated down through the air and landed on Leo’s palm.

It was scorched in places, no longer whole.

Thankfully, it wasn’t in the catastrophic condition Kyle’s page had been.

‘So damage doesn’t restore itself.’

The light faded from Luna’s page.

And darkness fell.

Seeing that, Hardin raised his hand and cast Light magic.

Whoosh—!

The spell brightly illuminated the surroundings.

In the glow, Lunia asked,

“Did anyone receive a strategy reward?”

“I didn’t get anything.”

Hardin shook his head.

Elena spoke matter-of-factly.

“Even if you clear a Hero Dungeon, it doesn’t guarantee you’ll get a reward. Especially since we hardly contributed to this world’s conquest, right?”

Normally, clearing a Hero’s World guaranteed a reward, but when contribution was low, rewards weren’t given.

In this case, Lunia, Elena, and Hardin hadn’t played a major role.

So it was only natural they received nothing.

“But still, we defeated Erebos…”

Lunia looked disappointed, and Hardin folded his arms.

“The appearance of Erebos was an irregularity, unrelated to the world’s conquest. So even if we defeated him, it doesn’t affect contribution scores.”

Hardin spoke seriously.

“Meeting the Poet, speaking with her, fighting alongside her—that alone was tremendous. And even if it was just a fragment, we defeated Erebos. On top of that, we learned that Tartaros is invading the Hero’s World. Those achievements are invaluable.”

“Well… true.”

Nodding, Lunia glanced toward Leo—and her eyes widened.

“Wait. Leo, that staff in your hand—isn’t that Polyum?”

Only now spotting the magic staff he held, Lunia shouted.

Elena and Hardin also looked stunned.

Leo looked down at the Polyum in his hand and said,

“Yeah. Though… it’s just an empty shell now.”

Just as he said, Polyum no longer shone with light.

No magic could be felt from it.

It was literally nothing more than a husk.

“Let me see?”

Lunia, looking curious, held out her hand.

Leo passed it over.

“Huh?”

At once, Polyum scattered into particles of light and vanished.

“Anything obtained as a strategy reward can’t be used by others. Only the challenger can wield it.”

Elena explained, then grinned mischievously as she teased Hardin.

“To think the first person in the world to receive Polyum as a reward isn’t a Seiren student, but a Lumene student. If this gets out, Seiren will be absolutely furious, won’t they?”

“Ugh!”

Lunia bristled at Elena’s words.

Hardin stepped up to Leo with a serious look.

“Leo Plov.”

“Yes.”

“You, who deciphered the Poet’s magic and now hold the symbol of the Poet—I cannot accept that you’re a student of Lumene.”

“W-wait, Hardin-sunbae!”

As Hardin, with his Seiren pride, pressed harshly, Lunia panicked, trying to calm him.

Elena chuckled quietly.

‘Elves are always so fun. They’re so rigid in their thinking that just a little provocation makes them flare up…’

“So?”

“School transfer.”

“……”

Leo stared at him incredulously.

“What the hell? Trying to pull tricks on me?”

Elena scowled deeply.

Hardin said as if it were only natural,

“Seiren’s uniform looks better than Lumene’s.”

“What kind of human changes schools for such childish reasons? And what’s wrong with our uniforms, anyway?”

Elena glared.

As the seniors bickered, Leo ignored them and scanned the surroundings.

Lunia, standing close by, wore a tense expression.

“Where are we?”

They were surrounded by pitch darkness.

Lunia cast Light magic too, scanning around.

Then she froze.

“This is…”

A statue.

“Lady Luna.”

The first one she spotted was Luna’s statue.

Not the young girl from earlier, but the Luna everyone knew—“The Poet of the Stars.”

As Lunia looked up in awe, she searched further.

And found another statue some distance away.

“This is Lord Dweno!”

Lips pressed firmly shut, eyes wide open with overwhelming presence.

From his hands, countless armaments had been born, paving the way for great heroes.

“These are statues of the Great Heroes! Sunbaes! Look! The Great Heroes’ statues are here!”

At her shout, Elena and Hardin stopped arguing and came closer.

Seeing the statues of Luna and Dweno, they tilted their heads.

Leo realized where they were.

‘The Plaza of Heroes.’

Before the final campaign, the people of Godthrone had built this plaza to honor the deeds of the great heroes.

Leo cast a stronger Light spell.

Whoosh—!

The vast magic lit up the entire area.

The scenery, hidden until now by darkness, was revealed.

Back in the Age of Calamity.

The sight of the great city that had endured attacks from Erebos and Tartaros unfolded before them.

“A city?”

“Where on earth is this…”

“Look! Over there are the statues of Lady Lysinas and Lord Aaron too!”

Lunia pointed at them excitedly.

“And… huh?”

Her startled voice rang out.

Elena and Hardin reacted the same.

Their eyes landed on a statue.

An unfamiliar figure.

And yet, he stood shoulder to shoulder with the Great Heroes, as if it were only natural.

‘Who is this man? Why is he among the Great Heroes?’

As that question crossed their minds, a single name flashed through them.

The First Hero—Kyle.

“L-Leo! Come here!”

Lunia called urgently, turning her head.

But Leo was already standing before a monument at the center of the plaza.

Lunia hurried to his side.

And when she read the inscription, she gasped.

—In honor of Lysinas, Kyle, Luna, Aaron, and Dweno.

Her eyes trembled at the name Kyle.

“No way…”

Lunia swallowed dryly.

“Kyle was… real?”

Rumble rumble rumble—!

At her words, the entire city began to shake.

“What’s happening?”

Lunia’s face was stricken.

Leo looked up at the sky.

This was Godthrone.

Long ago, buried deep underground by Tartaros’ attack.

‘Why is it collapsing now, after holding out all this time?’

He felt the protective barrier of Godthrone crumble.

Leo looked at Luna’s page in his hand.

‘Was the Hero Dungeon inside Godthrone?’

It seemed the dungeon’s space-distorting power had been maintaining the barrier in its place.

If his guess was right, then Luna’s world had been protecting the last trace of Kyle left in existence.

Leo let out a bitter smile.

“There’s a warp gate over there!”

Pointing to the gate they had used to enter, Leo shouted.

At his words, the four of them sprinted toward it.

Rumble rumble rumble—!

The Light spell illuminated crumbling debris all around.

Just barely, the four reached the warp gate.

Leo activated it.

Flash—!

Crash—! With a bright light, the plaza collapsed.

That was the last sight Leo had of Godthrone.

After escaping Godthrone, Leo’s group immediately reported the incident to both Lumene and Seiren.

Faculty and administrators, alarmed at the news, arrived in the Garan region.

The discovery of Luna’s Hero Dungeon alone was astonishing.

But added to that were reports of Tartaros, and even of a Fifth Great Hero.

The situation was tangled beyond belief.

A crisis so severe, it could turn the world upside down.

Normally, Leo would have been dragged from place to place, buried in reports.

But now, he was resting in Lumene’s infirmary.

Thanks to Elena’s intervention.

‘Oh my? Were you really planning to keep someone injured from resting?’

Elena was no mere third-year representative.

She was the daughter of Lumene’s Director, currently serving as acting director herself.

With a single word from Elena, anyone who might have bothered Leo disappeared.

Thanks to that, Leo could relax in a private ward.

Yet his condition hadn’t improved even after more than a week.

‘Even if it was just a fragment, I took Erebos’ flames head-on.’

Leo clicked his tongue, staring at his burns.

The wounds inflicted by Erebos’ flames were as strong as a curse.

No healing ability worked.

The flames even suppressed natural regeneration.

So recovery was agonizingly slow.

Even after the practical mission period ended, he had to remain hospitalized.

Ten days passed, with even visitors turned away.

Then Kalian and Elena came to visit.

“Good to see you, Leo. How’s your body holding up?”

Elena greeted with her usual bright voice. Leo shrugged.

“Same as before.”

“Tough guy, huh.”

Elena smiled faintly, sitting down beside him.

“Heh. Here’s a get-well gift, Leo.”

Kalian set down a luxurious fruit basket in the room.

Leo glanced at it and asked,

“By the way, is it okay for me to just stay here in the infirmary? There must be a mountain of things to deal with.”

Though resting leisurely, he knew it wasn’t really the time.

“No need to worry about that. Elena here has been handling matters diligently in your place. Even the academic report you were supposed to submit has been taken care of. So there’s nothing left for you to do.”

Kalian chuckled as he spoke.

Leo turned to Elena.

She gave him a sweet smile.

“This sister’s pretty capable, you know.”

“…It’s not like you half-assed it so I’ll have to redo it later, right?”

At that, Elena pouted and moved as if to punch his side.

Leo blocked it without batting an eye, as Kalian continued.

“The reason we came today was to check on your condition. You’re not fully recovered, of course, but it’s about time you rejoin classes.”

The whole academy was already abuzz with the news that Leo had cleared Luna’s world.

Of course, anything regarding Erebos or Tartaros was kept secret.

If such information spread globally, chaos would follow.

“What about Kyle? Was that kept secret too?”

“No. Quite the opposite. We’re making sure the world hears of Kyle.”

Until now, he had been thought a fictional figure.

Now, proof of his existence had surfaced.

There was no reason to hide it.

“But in connection to that, I want to ask you something.”

Kalian’s expression grew serious.

“Leo… are you, by any chance, related to the First Hero?”