Editor : Amethyst00



The shared bathhouse of the Knight Department is crowded from early morning.

It was a natural phenomenon, considering many students started their training at dawn and continued until they were drenched in sweat.

Shaaah—creak—squeak—

Turning off the shower, Celia stepped out of the bath.

She lightly dried herself with a towel and stood in front of her locker in the changing room.

Then, using aura, she quickly dried the remaining water from her body and dressed neatly.

"Miss Celia, are you done washing?"

"Yeah. Are you ready to head out?"

"Yes. Let's go together."

Celia and Chen Xia left the bathhouse.

Since they used rooms right next to each other, it was common for them to move together.

"This damn school never fails to surprise people."

Celia grumbled.

"But in a way, it's an honor. We got to spar with Lady Lysinas."

"That's true… But still, it's a shame I couldn't see Leo in the mock battle."

Celia smacked her lips in regret.

Leo hadn't sparred with Lysinas in the last mock battle.

Many students were disappointed, as it had been the big match they were secretly looking forward to.

'If those two were to fight… just imagining it is terrifying.'

If they did, it wouldn't be just a casual spar.

'The whole school might have collapsed.'

Shaking her head at the worst-case scenario that could have actually happened, Chen Xia followed along.

Before they knew it, they arrived in front of their rooms. Celia tilted her head.

"A letter?"

Students living in the Lumene dormitories were used to receiving letters.

Normally, unless it was something serious, they couldn't go home during the semester.

Also, unless it was for a mission, they rarely had a reason to leave Lumeria City, and for regular students, outings from the city were usually only permitted on weekends.

Because of that, numerous letters were delivered to or sent from Lumene each day.

But it wasn't time for mail to be delivered right now.

"There was nothing earlier when I checked."

Celia wore a puzzled expression and opened her personal mailbox in her room.

"I got one too."

Chen Xia also looked at her mailbox, equally puzzled.

Celia flipped the envelope over and checked the seal on the letter.

"It's from the Student Council? Chen Xia, is yours too?"

"Yes. Mine's from the Student Council as well."

Having confirmed the source, Celia and Chen Xia opened their letters to read the contents.

"They want us to come to the Student Council in the morning? What's this about?"

Celia furrowed her brow in confusion as she tucked the letter away.

"You two. What are you doing standing in the hallway?"

Just then, Nella approached with Eliana.

"The Student Council wants to see us immediately."

"Huh? The Student Council?"

Nella tilted her head and checked her own mailbox.

Eliana also flinched and hurriedly opened hers.

"Oh, me too?"

Nella tilted her head again.

Eliana let out a sigh of relief after checking her mailbox and said, "You three… Did you break a school rule or something?"

"Huh? We didn't do anything like that. Why are you suddenly asking that?"

To Nella's question, Eliana folded her arms.

"Usually when the Student Council summons you in the morning, it's because you've seriously broken a rule. A small infraction would be handled on the spot with a penalty."

"That's the first I've heard of that. But how do you know, Eliana?"

"I got called in during my first year."

"Oh right, that did happen, didn't it?"

Nella burst out laughing.

"You came back all pale after going in, even though you were so excited that they were recognizing your talent, right?"

Eliana, frowning at Nella's teasing, said, "Anyway, aside from cases like that, I've never seen the Student Council summon students in the morning."

"But we're not exactly the rule-breaking type."

"Right. Do we look like troublemakers?"

To Celia's comment, Eliana pouted.

"Anyway, let's just get ready and go."

At Nella's words, Celia and Chen Xia nodded.

"Make sure you come back alive."

Eliana waved at them as they left.

bl

Arriving in front of the Student Council room in the morning, the three of them ran into a male student.

"Walden?"

Celia opened her eyes wide.

"You were summoned by the Student Council too?"

"Looks like you were called as well."

Walden responded in his characteristically emotionless voice.

"Eliana said that morning summons usually mean a big mistake. Do you remember doing anything like that?"

"No. And if you were summoned, then that's probably not the reason either."

"Right?"

Celia smiled faintly.

Chen Xia whispered to Nella as she observed them.

"Miss Celia seems to get along well with Walden."

"They had a lot of interactions back in second year as dorm leaders. He even helped mediate between Celia and Chelsea, surprisingly."

Hearing that the highly individualistic Walden acted as a mediator surprised Chen Xia.

"You guys are here too?"

Just then, Chloe and Abad arrived.

Abad glanced at Celia, who was chatting with Walden and smiling.

Celia looked back and forth between Chloe and Abad and nodded.

"Well, this confirms it. It's definitely not a rule violation."

If someone like Chloe, the model student, had been summoned, then any possibility of this being about a school rule infraction could be ruled out completely.

At that moment—

The Student Council room door opened, and Lyl appeared.

"Oh! Third-years! You're here."

Lyl greeted them cheerfully as always and guided them in.

"Come on in."

Inside, Elena and Runeba were sitting on the central sofa of the Student Council room.

"Did Senior Elena summon us?"

Elena, who had just taken a sip from her teacup, pointed upward with her finger.

"Someone above me."

"Then…"

"Yeah, the president."

At those words, all the third years except Walden grew serious.

"With this lineup, are we going off to war or something?"

"Maybe."

Elena clicked her tongue.

Her openly annoyed expression said it all.

The list of students summoned in the morning was no ordinary bunch.

Anyone could see that Leo was planning something troublesome.

As students, led by Elena, began to grow uneasy—

"Isn't it exciting?! I wonder what amazing thing our elder brother is going to do next!"

"Sounds fun."

Lyl clenched her fist in excitement, and Walden slightly curled his lips upward.

Watching them, Elena rested her chin on her hand.

"Just look at that graduated Ulta senior. Summoning Department kids are all messed up in the head."

"Hey. Don't lump me in with Ulta or them. I'm completely normal."

Runeba protested with a wronged expression.

Knock knock—

"Excuse me… Huh? Seniors?"

As the knock came, the door opened and Juen and Betty from the second-year Magic Department, and Shasha from the second-year Summoning Department, entered.

Seeing who was present, Shasha's eyes widened in surprise—then she smirked.

"This looks like it's going to be interesting."

At Shasha's reaction, Elena clicked her tongue.

"Summoning kids, I swear…"

"She's weird too."

"And you're not?"

"I told you, I'm normal! Normal!"

Runeba snapped at Elena's comment.

At that moment, the Student Council President's room door opened.

"You're all here. Head to the conference room."

With that, the students all moved into the conference room.

Sitting next to the head seat, Elena folded her arms and asked, "So? What's the reason for gathering us so early?"

"It's a mission."

"A hero dungeon must have appeared."

"Nope. It's not related to a hero dungeon."

"Then what is it?"

"We're going to intervene in the Davienne civil war."

At those words, Elena furrowed her brows.

"President, Lumene has a duty of neutrality, right? No matter how chaotic the East gets, we can't just intervene in a civil war."

As Runeba tilted his head, Leo spoke.

"Normally, yes. But apparently, Seiren has decided to intervene to support the second prince."

"Wait, where? Seiren?"

Runeba's face showed confusion.

The other students reacted the same way.

Seiren? All of a sudden?

Even Elena, who rarely showed surprise, looked dumbfounded.

"Did they lose their minds? Why are they suddenly interfering in human affairs?"

Seiren is also a Hero Academy like Lumene, but their nature is quite different.

Lumene, as the center of the human race, often plays a role as a mediator between nations.

That's why Lumene remains neutral in all disputes.

But Seiren represents the Elven Union.

The Elven Council is deeply involved in Seiren's operations, and Seiren's stance often reflects the will of the entire elven race.

This is why Seiren once shook entirely due to the Pureblood Society incident.

If Seiren has chosen to support the second prince in Davienne's civil war, then it essentially means the entire elf race supports him.

And this was the first time in Seiren's history.

Because one of the fundamental principles of the Elven Council was non-involvement in other races' wars.

That principle had just been broken.

"Elves especially tend to look down on humans, right?"

Not all elves despised humans.

Many elves regarded humans as friends.

In fact, several Lumene students had friendships with Seiren students, exchanging letters and staying in touch.

But even so, changing the perception of an entire race wasn't easy.

Elven arrogance was so extreme that even beastkin and dwarves would shake their heads.

The history of the world is a history of war.

Among all races, the one that started the most wars and fought endlessly among themselves was humans.

It's not an exaggeration to say that human history is a history of war.

And most of those wars stemmed from "greed."

Elves considered humans—who constantly waged war for wealth and power—the most barbaric and vulgar of all races.

That's why they especially looked down on humans.

And now Seiren had joined the Davienne civil war—the very kind of power struggle they viewed as the most vulgar?

Everyone was left speechless.

As Elena stared blankly, Leo clicked his tongue.

"From what I've heard, the whole race has gone insane."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Everyone looked confused.

Leo scratched his head.

"Elves seriously lack moderation."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Elves are a race of strong convictions."

Leo sighed and began explaining.

"Convictions don't change easily, but they can be distorted. And elves tend to blindly follow even those distorted beliefs."

That made elves easy to influence.

If their convictions were righteous, the whole race could become virtuous.

But if twisted, they could easily become twisted as a whole.

"And what does that have to do with Seiren entering Davienne's civil war?"

Celia asked with a puzzled look, and Leo clicked his tongue.

"Do you know what the hottest trend is in Seiren—or rather, elven society lately?"

"How would we know?"

"Human culture."

"What?"

"Human cuisine, fashion, architecture, literature—you name it. It's all trendy."

"Didn't elves hate human culture and think it was vulgar?"

Chen Xia asked, bewildered.

Even Eiran, who admired humans and was obsessed with their culture, was considered an eccentric in Seiren.

"Yeah. But now it's a trend."

Leo covered his face with his hands.

"They even treat us like sibling races now."

"…What is that? Why are they suddenly acting creepy?"

Elena grimaced.

"It's because of the Poet of the Star."

"What?"

As Elena looked confused, Abad stroked his chin.

"Lady Luna's declaration the other day."

"That's right."

Leo remembered it.

"I like Kyleeeeeee!"

The historic cry of the Poet of the Star.

That one confession had flipped the entire ideology of the elf race.

If Luna said something cold was hot, elves would insist it was hot and that Luna had confessed to Kyle, the human Great Hero.

On top of that, it had recently been revealed in the elven hero studies field that Velkia—known as Luna's disciple—was actually Kyle's disciple.

'There's even a rumour that Velkia is actually a half-elf born from me and Luna, right?'

Until recently, calling an elf hero a half-elf would've gotten you arrested for blasphemy.

But now, even with Ersar vehemently denying it, such wild rumors were spreading.

"Still, how does a whole race go from hating humans to liking them overnight?"

"Apparently, the most popular romantic partners in Seiren are Lumene students now."

"What the hell. That's scary."

Leo gave a dry laugh.

"In desperation, the second prince's side asked Seiren for help."

Naturally, they must have emphasized their justification.

"And they fell for it?"

Lyl asked in disbelief, and Leo smiled bitterly.

"Seems like they believed it without thinking twice. Decided to help the poor humans."

"…Are they idiots?"

Lyl looked shocked.

"We can talk more about the elf lunacy later. Anyway."

Leo continued.

"Everyone here is going to Davienne tomorrow. Be ready by tonight."

The students nodded.

"Dismissed. Oh, seniors from fourth and fifth year, please stay."

With that, the others left, leaving only Elena, Runeba, and Lyl.

"You have more to say?"

"This is confidential."

Leo looked at the three with a serious expression.

"There's a high chance that a fragment of the resurrected Erebos is in Davienne."