Editor : Amethyst00



"Ah… I really hate one-on-one duels like this."

Carl let out a sigh as he looked ahead.

In front of him, a slightly short beastkin girl was stretching her body.

Her eyes burned with determination.

Standing face-to-face like this, he could feel it.

'This is intense.'

Carl had seen many aggressive students at Lumene.

Not only from Lumene.

During his three years at the academy, he had several interactions with students from Azonia as well.

But the energy radiating from the beastkin girl in front of him was different from even the Azonia students.

'Much more savage.'

It wasn't just about personality.

'She's wilder.'

Carl assessed his opponent.

The beastkin girl wrinkled her nose at Carl's gaze.

She could feel that he was studying her closely.

"That's creepy."

"Ah, sorry if it made you uncomfortable."

Carl smiled and raised both hands.

"I was just trying to see if you had any weaknesses."

"You think you can find something like that without fighting?"

"Normally, no. But I'm not great at fighting, you see."

Carl shrugged, speaking nonchalantly.

"I gotta observe my opponent at least a little to increase my odds, right?"

"You're clearly weaker than me."

"I know."

"And you still think you can win?"

"Of course."

Carl grinned, and the beastkin girl stared at him for a moment before speaking.

"You're frivolous and reckless."

"Yeah, I get that a lot."

"But maybe I misjudged you just based on that. My name's Kania. You?"

"Carl."

When Kania introduced herself, Carl smiled and introduced himself too.

Seeing him, Kania curled her lips into a grin.

"Ready, Carl?"

"Yeah."

With that, Kania charged straight at Carl.

Carl reached into his coat with both hands and pulled them out.

Between his fingers were long, thin potion bottles.

Whoosh—!

Carl threw the potion bottles toward Kania.

"Is that an alchemy bomb?"

Eliza, who was sitting atop a plush-looking summoned beast, muttered with a bored expression.

Then Drianna, who had settled into her seat, crossed her arms and shook her head.

"Doesn't look like it."

"Huh?"

Kania dodged the potion bottle.

Clang—! Sssssss—!

As the bottle shattered on the ground, smoke began to rise.

Kania snorted when she saw it.

"Poison?"

"That's right."

Carl grinned wickedly, bit the cork off another bottle he held, and chugged it.

It was an antidote.

"Ugh… What are you guys gathering here for?"

"Huh? What's Carl doing in a fight?"

Aru and Eliana appeared with nearly dead voices.

Then they saw the duel in front of them and jumped in surprise.

"Looks fun."

Dweno, who had come with them, stroked his beard and smiled.

"That kid used poison?"

"Poison, huh."

"Seems a little underhanded."

"A lot underhanded."

Luke, Haviden, and Aina shook their heads.

"Hmph. Sounds like Carl's kind of strategy."

"Not a bad plan."

"A decent tactic."

Eliza, Chelsea, and Duran praised him, leaving the second-years looking confused.

The second-years looked at their seniors with bewildered faces.

"Isn't that kind of dirty?"

To Haviden's remark, Drianna replied.

"If you fall for it, it's your own fault."

"Right, right."

Aru nodded in agreement.

Seeing this, the second-years turned to the other side.

"That poison… I've never seen it before."

"He even brought an antidote to a sudden duel. He's well-prepared!"

"He's an enemy, but impressive!"

Even the warrior trainees from Ivaldi were praising Carl.

Finally, Dweno and Enniha spoke.

"Seems like he specializes in tricks."

Enniha narrowed her eyes.

'Ah, the adults are giving a negative opinion, as expected…'

"Impressive."

"Yeah. Impressive."

At Dweno's comment and Enniha's agreement, the second-years shrank back.

'Are we the weird ones?'

"You're not weird or anything."

Leo, standing beside them, smiled and said.

"You'll be just like your seniors when you're third-years."

Life in the second year is never easy.

'Being a hero isn't as romantic as it sounds.'

The image of a hero who defeats enemies honorably only exists in fairy tales.

In reality, you do whatever it takes to survive.

Heroic feats are only granted to those who endure the trials.

"Leo Plov."

"What is it, Duran?"

"You said that beastkin girl had something we didn't — that she was always prepared to die, right?"

"Yeah."

"I don't get it."

Duran squinted as he looked at Carl and Kania.

"As long as we attend Lumene — no, as long as we aim to become heroes — we'll face countless life-threatening situations. Of course, I don't intend to die. I'll struggle through any crisis."

"Sure."

"But that doesn't mean I'm not prepared to die."

Duran looked at Leo.

"So how is her resolve any different from mine?"

In response, Leo looked at Kania, Deet, and the other warrior trainees and spoke.

"She was born in a different era."

"A different era?"

"Most people think determination and resolve are the same for everyone when it comes to battle."

Leo looked at Kania.

"But someone born in a bright world is fundamentally different from someone born in darkness."

"Fundamentally different?"

"Yeah. Duran, what's your goal?"

"You already know."

"Yeah."

Leo laughed and said, "She doesn't have one."

"……."

"They probably have no sense of accomplishment, no moments of pure joy, and not even many happy memories."

From the moment they were born, all of that had already vanished.

"Failure is not allowed."

Unlike today's hero candidates who can try again and again, back then, death was as natural as breathing.

They lived in an era where annihilation could happen at any moment.

'And it wasn't just the kids.'

The adults were the same.

They merely survived day by day, aimlessly.

Tomorrow could vanish at any time.

That was the kind of world the Age of Calamity was.

"Duran, could you keep trying if your efforts always ended in failure?"

"I'd just make sure I don't fail."

"What if you can't control the outcome? What if the result is predetermined?"

"……."

Duran didn't answer.

"That's the kind of era it was."

A time that people born in peaceful days could never understand.

"But even then, there were always fools who struggled anyway."

Moths drawn to the flame of an obvious end.

People who fought desperately just to live one more day.

They never had their names passed down.

They were the heroes of an era not recorded in the Hero Records.

'I was one of them. So was Luna, and so were Aaron and Dweno.'

Every hero of that time knew how it would all end.

'No — we thought we did.'

Except for one.

There was only one person who truly shouted that they would save the world.

Even Luna never had such thoughts until she met that one person.

'That's why she was special.'

"Watch that kid Kania closely."

Leo spoke.

Not just to Duran — but to all the hero candidates.

"Even though she's been sentenced to a doomed future, she still fights."

"And you claim to understand how that feels?"

"Not really. I wasn't born in that era."

He wasn't lying.

Leo was born in an era of peace.

His generation was similar to, but not quite the same as, those of the Age of Calamity.

Still—

"I've seen more people like her than you have. That's why I understand."

He had watched them while living in that age.

But everyone except Chelsea remembered that Leo had cleared the Great Hero World multiple times.

While all others nodded in doubt—

Leo looked at Kania.

A meaningless struggle.

But because it was meaningless, it was special.

Even if she was weaker than any other hero candidate here.

Kania represented the warrior — no, the hero candidate — of this era.

'Kids like her grew up to become Aaron, Velkia, and Bihar.'

A seed that couldn't sprout.

A life that would vanish without leaving anything behind.

But their will alone was passed down to the next generation.

Leo looked at Dweno.

'You said you failed?'

Dweno, who had blamed himself as a failed leader.

'What exactly did you fail at?'

Leo looked at Kania and the other warrior cadets.

He could tell just by looking at those kids.

'Even just looking at the warriors who fought against the Giant King's army yesterday proves it.'

Leo exhaled.

'Not a single one of them had broken.'

If you had to name the most hopeless stronghold that survived during Ivaldi's time, it would definitely be Ivaldi.

Strongholds like Godthrone and Raysar could communicate with each other.

Even the elven resistance could support each other.

But Ivaldi was isolated in the middle of the Tartaros forces.

Help was out of the question.

That the Arhi Party, led by Lysinas, even reached Ivaldi was nearly a miracle.

And yet, the warriors of Ivaldi burned with fighting spirit even in such despair.

Even Godthrone, which had better conditions and a stronger force, was filled with people who had lost the will to fight.

Lysinas had a hard time reviving hope in Godthrone.

That's how much despair and resignation filled the place.

But Ivaldi showed none of that.

Was it because they had seen the starlight?

'No, if they hadn't been prepared in the first place, they couldn't have repelled yesterday's invasion.'

Sure, Leo's Arhi Party helped greatly.

But in the end, it was Ivaldi's warriors who truly repelled the attack.

Eventually, they will all die.

The outcome may be predetermined as a failure.

But still—

'And you call the leader of such warriors a failure? Then what does that make me, you damn old man.'

Leo clicked his tongue as he recalled his pathetic former self, who only cared about surviving one day at a time.

'You're not a failure, Dweno.'