Editor : Amethyst00



The ruined mine.

Even before it could be developed, it had been abandoned—and now the marks of the fierce battle between Valhar and the will of Erebos remained intact within the collapsed shaft.

Looking upon the site, Leah's expression thinned.

"Kar."

At Leah's call, Kar, who had been standing behind her, stepped closer.

He began sniffing the air.

"I don't sense Erebos's energy in the area."

With his sharpened extrasensory perception, he tried to track Erebos's presence—but found nothing.

Only the acrid smell of scorched air, the signature stench left behind by Erebos's flames, irritated his senses.

At Kar's words, Leah let out a deep sigh.

Then, before she realized it, her hand brushed over her abdomen.

A wound that no longer existed.

But the memory from the past still lingered in her soul, triggering a ghostly pain as if engraved into her very spirit.

Clenching her teeth, Leah turned her gaze to the far-off Mount Erdean.

The final destination of the Arhi party, 5000 years ago.

But in the end, only Kyle had reached it.

Leah, who had been staring at Mount Erdean, opened her mouth.

"Valhar."

Sitting on a fallen tree and puffing on his pipe, Valhar turned to her.

"Are you certain the will of Erebos took on Kyle's form?"

"Leah, among the five of us, I dare say my eyes are the sharpest."

Valhar replied flatly.

"And most of all, there's no way I wouldn't recognize my comrade's face."

As Leah furrowed her brows at those words—

Kar, who had been scanning the surroundings, asked:

"Valhar. This is where you decapitated the remnant of Erebos, right?"

"It is. How did you know?"

"I can smell Kyle."

"You're sure?"

Leah asked urgently, and Kar nodded.

"Yeah. No way I'd forget his scents."

Though the smell now was different, Kar still remembered the scent of his comrades from his past life with perfect clarity.

At Kar's words, Leah bit her lip.

Watching her, Valhar spoke.

"Now's not the time to be bound by the past. You're the only one who can make sense of this situation."

At that, Leah took a deep breath and said:

"If it's a remnant of Erebos… it may have formed using the strongest memory from its final moments."

"……And that form ended up being Kyle?"

"If Kar smelled Kyle, then there's no doubt."

"……"

Valhar took a deep pull from his pipe and asked.

"Then let me ask you this."

"What is it?"

"Is there a chance we'll end up fighting Erebos in Kyle's form?"

"……"

"And if it comes to that, Leah—can you fight without hesitation?"

At Valhar's question, Leah nodded.

"Yes."

"Are you certain? You, who were so trapped in the past?"

"……"

Leah looked directly at Valhar.

Valhar met her eyes without flinching.

A heavy air hung between the two.

Kar, growing anxious, jumped in.

"It's okay! Valhar, you know how dependable Leah is as our leader!"

He placed himself between them.

"And I'm sure—Leah won't falter over that again!"

"And how are you so sure of that?"

"Um… just a hunch?"

Kar scratched his cheek at Valhar's narrowed-eyed question.

Valhar stared at him a moment before letting out a deep sigh.

"I apologize for saying something unnecessary."

"I don't think it's strange for you to feel that way."

"Still, there's one thing I want to say."

"……?"

"Stop teaching the Lumene students Kyle's fighting style."

"……"

"More than anyone, you should know. Kyle isn't someone that can be recreated."

"……"

"You're supposed to guide them to develop their own strengths. What are you doing forcing your standards onto them?"

"I…"

"Those kids can't become Kyle. No one can replace Kyle."

"……"

"We're the ones who must each fill Kyle's role in our own way."

Valhar tapped his pipe to shake out the ash.

"You already know—I've been forging a weapon that can slay Erebos… and Kar has been honing a technique that can cut him down. Isn't that right, Kar?"

"Yeah."

Kar nodded.

"Leah, are you discovering heroes who can help defeat Erebos? And is Rune creating magic that can bring Erebos down?"

Valhar stood from where he sat.

"I…"

"Even if it's a heavy burden—carry it. You're our leader. Arhi's leader."

Leaving those words, Valhar rose to his feet.

"Kar. Let's move."

"Okay. Where to?"

"We need to sweep the area. There might still be residual traces of Erebos's will."

"Got it. Hey, Valhar."

"……?"

"Don't worry too much about Leah and Rune."

"……You're oddly optimistic today. Did something good happen?"

"Yup. I'll tell you later."

"You're no fun."

As the two began to move ahead, Leah silently stared after them.

She looked down at her palm.

'……'

Then, clenching her fist tightly—

She followed after her friends.

bl

In the deep hours of dawn—

Thud—

"We… we finally made it."

Chelsea collapsed right at the gates of Lumeria City.

Right beside her, Eliana toppled over face-first in exhaustion.

Carl sniffled, overcome with emotion.

"I thought we'd never make it back."

Watching the three of them, Leo stood behind with his arms crossed, speaking in his usual flat tone.

"Quit whining."

"This isn't whining!"

Eliana shot up with a pouty face.

"We barely slept for a whole week! What was that even?!"

Her voice laced with pent-up frustration, Eliana glared as Leo chuckled lightly.

"Looks like you've got your energy back."

"Ugh!"

She covered her mouth on reflex, then blushed and hid her face with both hands.

Chelsea and Carl exchanged amused looks.

"Haven't seen her like that since our first year."

"Right? Kind of refreshing, actually."

They smiled, recalling the spirited Eliana from when they first met.

Then Chelsea groaned and pushed herself up.

"Skipping out for a whole week was nice and all, but… I'm seriously worried about the consequences."

They were supposed to finish the mission and return to Lumeria City in two days.

Instead, they ended up following Leo and returning a week later.

"I bet we'll be writing a mountain of apology letters."

"You think they'll let us off with just that?"

Carl snickered.

"We'll probably get locked in the confession room for a week."

"Ugh…"

Chelsea winced at the thought, and just then, Eliana peeked her head up and grumbled.

"If it gets me out of Leo's training, I'll take anything."

"…Thinking about it that way, the confession room sounds pretty good."

Chelsea rubbed her chin and let out a small "hoh?" of realization.

And indeed, their week had been far more grueling than expected.

"But seriously… did we really get stronger?"

Chelsea wore a strange expression.

What Leo had done for them was simple.

He hadn't pushed them through brutal physical training, nor increased their mana reserves.

All he did was help them reclaim the methods that suited them best.

"So you don't mimic me."

He simply showed them how Chelsea and Eliana had moved in his own worldline.

And he passed on the magic they had originally used.

Since it was their own fighting style, they picked it up quickly.

Teaching someone another person's skills was one of Leo's specialties—he had no trouble at all.

Chelsea and Eliana also realized immediately that the combat techniques and spells Leo taught them fit them perfectly.

"Like putting on a tailor-made outfit."

But still, doubt lingered.

"Did we really get stronger?"

Because there hadn't been any drastic change in their stats or capabilities, it was hard to feel the difference.

To Chelsea's uncertainty, Leo responded flatly.

"You got stronger."

"I didn't really feel it when I sparred with Eliana though."

"That's 'cause Eliana got stronger too."

"I didn't feel much difference when I fought you either, Leo-oppa."

"There's just too big a gap between us."

Chelsea puffed her cheeks in a pout—but she couldn't argue with that.

"You definitely move better than before, though."

Carl chimed in to back Leo up.

"Mm!"

Chelsea folded her arms in thought, then broke into a cheerful smile.

"Well! Getting stronger's always a good thing!"

Apparently, she still didn't believe she'd surpassed Abad yet.

And so, the group headed to Carl's inn to recover from the past week's exhaustion.

On the way, they caught wind of all kinds of talk drifting out from Lumeria City's taverns.

"Senior Leah still hasn't returned from Damien, huh?"

"She's been gone a while."

"I also heard the Seiren student council president arrived at Lumene."

"Eh? The Seiren student council president?"

Chelsea made a sour face.

"What, you don't like her?"

"Well, how do I put it… she doesn't really like us," Eliana cautiously answered Leo's question.

Hearing that, Leo tilted his head.

If it was the Luna he knew, she would've been thrilled by how full of potential the Lumene students were.

'Is it because that Lysinas brat's been copying me?'

Leo reached his own conclusion and said, "Well, that works out."

"Huh? What does?"

"Now you'll get to test just how strong you've really become."

At those words, Chelsea and Eliana widened their eyes.

"How?"

Both girls looked at Leo with eager expressions—clearly dying to know how far they'd come.

"Let's go to Lumene right now."

"We can't go to Lumene now. It's past curfew!"

"There aren't even any ships going right now."

Chelsea and Eliana shook their heads at Leo's suggestion.

But Leo just smiled gently in response.

Seeing that smile, Carl's expression turned nervous.

"You're not seriously planning to sneak into Lumene right now, are you?"

Chelsea and Eliana burst out laughing.

"Oh, come on."

"How would we even sneak into Lumene?"

The two girls laughed off Carl's wild guess—until they turned to look at Leo.

And then they realized… something was wrong.

"Leo-oppa… You're not serious, right?"

Chelsea cautiously asked—but Leo just kept smiling.

"Say something. You're not serious, right?"

"Let's go."

"W–Where?"

"To Lumene. I'll take responsibility."

"It's going to cause a huge commotion! It'll be chaos!"

Chelsea shouted in a panic, but Leo replied calmly.

"We'll go in quietly."

"How?!"

"There's a secret passage I know."

All three of them widened their eyes.

A secret passage? That exists?

'Though we'll have to deal with one very loud nuisance.'

Leo clicked his tongue lightly as he recalled the fanatic.