Editor : Amethyst00



"Yeah. She got angry."

"She got angry, you say…"

Leo mulled over Chelsea's words.

Back then, the illusion he had conjured through Nightmare was indeed of Lysinas.

But…

'What they saw through Nightmare wasn't the Lysinas I know.'

What they encountered must have been their own imagined version of Lysinas.

After one song ended.

Leo and Chelsea returned to their seats.

Other young noble ladies around same age secretly cast glances at Leo.

But their gazes quickly scattered under Chelsea's fierce glare.

Leo, now seated, silently looked down at his palm.

Since awakening spirit arts, Lysinas's mana occasionally expressed a clear will of its own.

Lysinas, the most powerful summoner in history, was also an exceptionally powerful spirit mage.

'Hey, you scammer lizard. Are you really dwelling inside the mana I inherited from you?'

There was no answer.

Leo lifted his head and quietly gazed at the grand and splendid party.

After staring for a moment, Leo stood up.

"Huh? Leo-oppa?"

Chelsea widened her eyes and followed behind him.

Leo stepped out onto a quiet terrace and leaned on the railing.

Chelsea joined him, resting herself against the same railing and glancing up at him.

From the banquet hall of the palace, high above.

And in the distance lay the prosperous capital of Lordren.

Looking at it, Leo smiled bitterly.

"Sometimes, I really feel it. The world's gotten a lot better."

"Huh?"

"Well… it has been 5,000 years."

"It's peace made possible thanks to the great heroes."

Chelsea smiled brightly.

"What do you think of this era, Leo-oppa?"

"Rather than me, I feel it's a world those guys would've liked more than I do."

"…"

“Sometimes I think… it would’ve been good if they could’ve come back alive with me. Well. Only sometimes.”

Leo gave a small laugh as he looked toward the distant banquet hall.

When Aaron returned from the Hero's World.

When Luna appeared in this world as a spirit.

Leo wanted to let them to live as normally as possible.

Because he knew better than anyone that his friends were the ones who truly deserved to enjoy this peace more than anyone else.

To enjoy this peace alone felt far too wasteful.

Of course, it wasn’t that Leo felt guilt toward or regret over his dead comrades.

'Since we all suffered through hell together, I also deserve this peace too.'

But still—

'Sometimes, it gets lonely.'

His friends who were like family.

'If they could've shared this time with me, we'd have laughed and joked a lot more.'

In that moment, as Leo bitterly smiled recalling the past—

Pat pat—

Chelsea gently placed her hand on Leo's head and patted it.

"What's this supposed to mean?"

"Hmm? A little comfort for Leo-oppa, since he look like he's struggling ?"

"That's such a childish was of doing it."

"I am a kid. And so are you, on the outside. Or want me to comfort you in an adult way instead?"

Leo looked unimpressed at Chelsea's wide-eyed expression.

"Do you even know what you're saying?"

"Ahem! I'm old enough to know everything I need to know."

"You little brat, acting all cheeky."

"Ack!"

Chelsea squealed as Leo pinched her nose.

Leo chuckled as he shook her around a bit before finally letting go.

"No time to sit around reminiscing about the past.There'll be plenty of time for that once it's all over."

Chelsea rubbed her now red nose.

"Feeling a bit better?"

"Thanks to you."

Leo turned his gaze up at the moon and said.

"Starting from 3rd year, things are really going to get rough. Be ready."

"Okay."

"I'm going to increase the intensity of your training, too."

"Eeek?!"

Chelsea looked horrified.

Leo told her, amused.

"Why?"

"You're saying I can get even stronger?"

"Yep. I've been going easy on you because you're still young."

Leo grinned.

"But now that you're spouting off like that, it's time to graduate from being treated like a kid."

"Aww~ But I am still a kid."

"Not cute."

"Tch! That still works like a charm on my dad, though."

Chelsea clicked her tongue, trying to act cute with a babyish voice.

Leo watched her and said

"Time to graduate from babysitting kids."

bl

After the party, Leo returned to the Zerdinger estate and sat cross-armed on the sofa in his room.

Beside him stood Melina, the Dragon Queen.

A moment later, a door opened in midair with a quiet swish.

Leo turned his head and sighed deeply.

On the other side of the door, Rian bowed deeply toward Leo.

"A lowly being pays respects to the most noble, most exalted, and most sacred Hero of the Beginning."

Still bowing, Rian crept forward and approached Leo.

"Are you a cockroach?"

Leo hurled an insult, asking if this divine being was a cockroach.

Neither Leo nor Rian seemed bothered by it.

In fact, this insane god looked delighted by Leo's words.

"Ah! Even someone as insignificant as me holds the presence of a cockroach in your eyes, Lord Leo! What an honor!"

The one who looked the most troubled here was the Dragon Queen stuck between the Great Hero and the god.

'What in the world…'

Melina couldn't get used to Rian's truly delighted expression.

She had met Rian a few times before with Leo.

But each time, Rian's fanatical behavior in front of Leo threw her off.

To her understanding, gods were simply too bizarre.

'How can Leo-nim stay calm seeing this kind of behavior?'

As Dragon Queen, she had seen all kinds of people.

But she could say for certain, no one was as bizarre as Rian.

And it wasn't just because he was a god.

Melina believed that anytime Rian had dealings with Leo, he completely lost his mind.

But when Leo wasn't around, Rian was the very definition of a transcendent being.

Those two irreconcilable faces made him terrifying to Melina.

Even now, as he grinned being called a cockroach, Melina felt an indescribable fear.

Watching Rian crawl toward him while still bowing, Leo clenched his teeth.

"Just stand up and get over here."

"I cannot! How could a lowly cockroach like me dare raise my head before the Great Hero of the Beginning?!"

"You're frustrating me—just get over here!"

"Gasp! I made Lord Leo feel frustrated! What a blasphemy!"

Rian panicked and ran up to Leo, then started banging his head on the floor.

"Aaaah! I'm worse than a cockroach!" he cried, even harming himself.

Watching this, Melina unconsciously hid behind Leo.

'Yeah. For someone like her, the more you know about him, the scarier this becomes.'

Even as Dragon Queen, Melina could not bear it.

She understood Rian's overwhelming power. So seeing such a transcendent being act so chaotically was terrifying.

Leo, however, was long past being surprised by gods. This kind of behavior was business as usual for him.

His views on gods and people were simply different from those of the current era.

Rian, mid self-harm, suddenly stopped and pulled out a small box from his robes.

"Leo-nim! Please accept this humble offering!"

"What is it?"

"A crown carved from the most beautiful jewel I possess!"

Rian's eyes sparkled.

"Now that Leo-nim is about to ascend to the throne of the world!"

"What are you talking about? I'm just becoming the king of a small country."

"No! The entire world belongs to you, Leo-nim! You becoming king means you are now the King of the World! The absolute ruler!"

Watching Rian assign weird meaning to everything, Leo sighed and opened the box.

Atop the jewel-crafted crown were detailed carvings of Kyle and Leo.

It looked more like a sculpture than a crown.

"How about it?! Isn't it a regal crown befitting the World's King—"

CLANG—! CRACK—!

"Aaaaaah! My masterpieceeee!"

Leo hurled the crown without hesitation, smashing it to pieces.

Rian screamed as if he'd lost the world, while Melina rushed to his side.

"A-Are you alright?"

"Now then. Let's get to the main topic."

"Yes, sir."

As soon as Leo spoke, Rian straightened up like nothing happened.

Melina looked stricken.

She still couldn't get used to this chaotic god before her.

Taking a deep breath, she moved to stand next to Leo.

"What would you wish to know about the Hero Record?"

Leo replied to Rian's question.

"This time, while I was dealing with the Hero Slayer, I learned of something called the Legion's Record."

At that, both Melina's and Rian's faces stiffened.

"The Legion's Record?"

"Yeah. I even entered the Legion's world, just like the Hero's World."

Leo recounted what he experienced to Rian.

Once finished, he asked seriously

"I even saw traitors who seemed to have become monsters. So I need to ask you— does that Erebos bastard know about the Record system?"

Rian nodded.

"Yes. That abomination surely possesses knowledge of the Record system."

"I see. Then does he have the power to create a system like the Hero Record?"

"No. While that abomination is the bane of gods, it still lacks the power to replicate the Hero Record—created by all the gods combined. Even if it burned the whole world and grew stronger, it cannot reproduce such a system."

Melina cautiously asked.

"Then… does that mean Erebos altered the Hero Record into the Legion's Record?"

"Exactly, Dragon Queen."

Rian's expression turned sour.

"With that abomination's power… it's possible."

The Hero Record was a power imbued with the wishes of all the gods.

Knowing it had been defiled and now used by their greatest enemy, Rian couldn't help but feel primal fury.

"The one who likely created the Legion's Record is the Lich King, a creature made by the abomination."

Rian's face went blank.

"That creature possesses a fragment of the abomination."

Leo nodded. He had expected as much.

But hearing it from Rian, who helped create the Hero Record, gave it a weight his own assumptions never had.

"Could they also turn other pages of the Hero Record into Legion Records?"

"It's possible. But they won't do it."

"Why not?"

"Because even with that abomination's power, altering the Hero Record, an essence of divine strength would consume immense power."

"Hmm."

"And besides, demons from after the Age of Heroes wouldn't be of much help to today's Tartaros."

Rian bowed his head toward Leo.

"Even in their golden era, the Age of Calamity, they couldn't defeat the Great Heroes. The demons of the Heroic Age stood no chance against you. That Lich King must know this best."

"That's true."

The Legion of now was weaker than the Legion of the past.

So what they needed to inherit was the strength of their golden age.

"And since many of the Hero Records of Great Heroes were destroyed… they won't be able to create many Legion Records either."

Still, that was more than enough of a threat.

"Melina. As Dragon Queen, prepare to make a public declaration about the Legion Record. And start researching countermeasures."

"Yes."

Melina bowed and used a warp to return to Dragonia.

Watching her go, Leo rested his chin in one hand and sighed.

"Looks like things will get even busier now."

"Indeed. Especially since you'll soon be crowned King of the World."

"There it is again—'King of the World.'"

"I do hope for that… but the king I'm talking about now is something different."

Rian smiled gently.

"Do you remember what I told you before? That only one person in this world had ever been recognized by the gods as King of the World, The Wise Queen."

"…"

"It's finally beginning. The first step where the will of the world gathers beneath you. No god will deny it. That you are this world's second King."

Rian bowed deeply.

"From here on, a truly new era will begin."