Editor : Amethyst00



Deep into the late-night hours.

The four of them stood before the docks of Lumeria City.

"Hey, Leo. Is there really a secret passage?"

Carl asked, looking bewildered.

"Yeah. There is."

"How do you even know about it?"

A hidden passage connecting Lumeria City and Lumene Academy— Even the Lumene students likely didn't know of such a thing.

'Not even the professors, probably.'

So how could Leo—clearly an outsider—know about it?

It was definitely suspicious.

To Carl's question, Leo just shrugged.

"Honestly, I'm friends with Leah."

"You're friends with Senior Leah?"

"You—you knew Senior Leah?"

Chelsea and Eliana widened their eyes, staring at Leo in disbelief.

Carl scratched his head.

"Well, if that's true, I guess it kind of makes sense you'd know about a secret passage… but I can't just take your word for it, Leo."

"Of course not."

"…Who are you, really?"

He had driven back the Lich King Hell Kaiser with overwhelming strength, He'd taught Chelsea and Eliana powerful, unfamiliar spells. There was no mistaking that Leo wasn't ordinary.

And now he suddenly claimed to be friends with the president of Lumene's student council— And knew a secret route into the academy?

He was suspicious in a lot of ways.

Leo let out a soft laugh at Carl's question.

"My identity's kind of a trade secret."

"Mm…"

"Just trust your gut, Carl."

"What?"

"Whether I'm someone you can trust or not. You've got a good read on people, don't you?"

Carl scratched his head again.

"Well… sure, you're full of weird secrets, but I've kind of been feeling like you are someone we can trust. But that's just me. These two probably won't—"

"Mm-hmm. If Carl says so, then Brother Leo must be trustworthy."

"So… how long have you been friends with Leah?"

"…"

Before Carl could even finish, Chelsea and Eliana were already firing questions at Leo, eyes full of curiosity.

"Hey—are you seriously trusting someone just based on my word?"

"Yeah. You're really good at reading people."

"…Chelsea…"

Carl looked touched by his friend's trust.

"And if something does go wrong, we'll just say we trusted you. Besides—hello? Secret passage? Who wouldn't be curious?!"

"Y-Yeah… I feel the same way."

As his friends chimed in, Carl gave a dry chuckle.

"Fine. So? Where's this secret passage?"

Without a word, Leo began walking toward a secluded part of the docks.

In truth, there wasn't anything particularly secret about it.

Lumene was built over a Record System managed by Rian.

And Leo had once been granted access to the core of that system by Rian himself.

Even if this worldline didn't recognize Leo's existence, the authorization itself still remained.

Leo placed a hand on the wall before him.

A glowing circular magic sigil bloomed across the surface.

Then, without hesitation, Leo stepped forward and vanished into the wall.

Shhh—

Watching Leo disappear into the wall, the other three stared in shock.

"W-Whoa… there really was a secret passage!"

Eliana's voice rose in excitement, and she began bouncing with energy.

She rushed to follow after Leo.

"Hey, shouldn't we be more careful? That's unknown magic!"

At Carl's words, Eliana paused and tilted her head.

"You guys know Leo's not a bad person, right?"

"Well… yeah."

Carl scratched his head again.

Chelsea stared at Eliana and muttered, "You're acting just like you did back in first year."

"Eek!"

Eliana hunched her shoulders on instinct, memories of Leah correcting her bad habits flashing through her mind.

"I-I'm not saying it's a bad thing! It's actually nice—it feels like you again!"

As Chelsea scrambled to reassure her—

"What's taking so long?"

"Wah?!"

Leo suddenly poked his head out of the wall, making Eliana jump back in surprise.

She lost her balance, about to fall—when Leo reached out and caught her, pulling her through the wall.

In an instant, Eliana found herself held close in Leo's arms, the two of them almost close enough to share breath.

"Careful."

"Y-Yeah…"

As Leo let go, Eliana took a step back, mumbling shyly.

"Th-Thanks for catching me, Leo."

Leo looked at her and spoke gently.

"Eliana."

"Mm?"

"You don't always have to hold yourself back."

Eliana blinked in surprise.

Leo reached out and tousled her hair.

"Sure, charging in without thinking is a bad habit. But at the same time, that boldness… that's the most you part of you. This timid side doesn't suit you very well."

Eliana stood there, lips slightly parted in a daze.

At that moment, Chelsea and Carl stepped through the wall.

"Whoa… it is a real secret passage!"

"This is starting to feel like a real covert mission. My heart's racing."

Leo turned to them.

"Let's move."

He led the way, and Chelsea and Carl followed with awe still in their eyes.

But then they noticed Eliana standing frozen in place and tilted their heads.

"What's wrong?"

"Something happen?"

Eliana cupped her cheeks with her hands and murmured,

"Leo… I wonder if he has a girlfriend…"

At her mumbling, Chelsea glanced at Carl.

He held up a hand and waved it in front of Eliana's face, then shrugged.

"She's gone."

Chelsea let out a deep sigh, grabbed Eliana by the collar, and began dragging her along.

"Less nonsense, more moving."

"So, uh… where does this place go, exactly?"

Carl followed behind Leo, tilting his head.

Chelsea narrowed her eyes and said,

"You're thinking something shady, aren't you?"

"Huh? Not at all."

"You were totally thinking about smuggling."

"Excuse me! I was thinking of creating a student-oriented delivery service for essential external supplies. Not smuggling."

"I'm telling Senior Leah everything."

Chelsea scoffed as Carl clicked his tongue.

"Look who's pretending to be a model student now."

"What was that?!"

Chelsea grabbed Eliana and swung her at Carl like a weapon. Carl yelped and dashed behind Leo.

"Leo! Leo! Save me!"

"…Chelsea. I'm not a weapon."

"Who told you to space out?!"

Leo laughed as the three of them bickered noisily behind him.

"No matter where you go, kids will be kids."

bl

A moonlit night under the silver glow.

Lunia stepped up to the window of her dorm and pulled out a cookie.

"Here you go."

Flap! Flap!

The red-feathered fluffball bounced on what could vaguely be called wings—then misstepped and tumbled along the window sill.

Fiora, who had snatched the cookie from Lunia's hand with a crunch! of her beak, suddenly burst into noisy screeches.

Biiiii~!

As Fiora protested in high-pitched fury, Lunia panicked.

"I-It's a sugar-free cookie, Fiora. You've just been… gaining too much weight lately…"

Bwak! BwaaAAAK!

Fiora threw a tantrum, rolling all over the floor in protest.

Lunia looked like she was about to cry.

"If you keep getting fatter like this, Senior Rune really will boil you for dinner one of these days…"

At that moment, Eiran—who shared the room with Lunia—stepped in with an awkward smile and tried to calm Fiora down.

Even so, Fiora continued to roll around like an angry dumpling.

In the end, Lunia pulled out another cookie from her sleeve and handed it over.

Fiora gobbled up the new cookie—and even the old one she'd been mad about—then plopped down on the floor with a smug, satisfied look.

"Aren't you spoiling her too much? She's been getting worse lately."

Eiran looked concerned, but Lunia just picked Fiora up and rubbed her cheek against the fluffball's round body.

"But… she's so soft and cuddly. How can I not?"

That's not 'soft and cuddly,' Eiran muttered inwardly. 'That's just fat, Lunia.'

But she couldn't bring herself to say it aloud—not with both summoner and summon smiling so happily.

"Anyway, is Senior Rune holed up in her room again?"

"Yes. She's never been very interested in the Lumene students."

"That's so strange. Senior Leah has a ton of interest in the Seiren students."

Thanks to Leah's guidance, plenty of Seiren students had raised their grades remarkably.

"But according to Senior Rune, the Lumene students have no individuality whatsoever."

"Hmm. I… kind of get that."

Lumene students had hardly any weak points in battle.

They were outstanding across the board—but none of them stood out in a particular way.

Overall, their standard was incredibly high, yet even Lunia found no one she could feel truly competitive with.

"And yet, their personalities are all kind of weird."

"…I don't think we're in any position to be saying that."

"Not me. At the very least, I don't have a weird reading taste like you do."

Eiran, now sulking, grabbed Lunia by the shoulders and shook her wildly.

bl

Sitting by the window, gazing out at the night sky, Rune murmured in a flat, emotionless voice.

"…The stars seem unusually bright tonight."

Her cloudy eyes drifted upward, unfocused, before slowly settling on the flowerpot by the window.

She stared in silence at the wilted flower, then let out a soft, hollow laugh.

"There was a spell for blooming flowers, wasn't there…"

A spell she once longed to create in her previous life.

A spell that embodied the very essence of her sorcery—born from nothing more than her simple fondness for flowers.

"What a pointless waste."

Rune had never passed down that spell to the next generation.

"What stars shine on someone who only ever hands off responsibilities to others?"

She tore her gaze from the flowerpot with lifeless eyes and gave herself a bitter, mocking smile as she stood from her seat.

"A flower-blooming spell, huh… how ridiculous."

Then she collapsed onto the bed, lying on her back as she stared blankly up at the ceiling.

"If you saw me like this now… what would you say, Kyle?"

As memories of the friend she could no longer meet stirred within hers, Rune slowly closed her eyes.

bl

Under the moonlight, beneath a silent silver sky…

A child of indescribable beauty—with silver hair and eyes so pale they could've belonged to no one and everyone—paused what they were doing and slowly raised their head.

'Who could that be?'

An uninvited guest had entered their sanctuary.

Specifically, the first visitor in three thousand years—a span so long, it had faded into myth.

'The Great Heroes, perhaps?'

If it were them, then perhaps they could have made it this far.

But Rian wasn't pleased.

What truly unsettled them was that the visitor had entered without Rian's awareness.

''Well… they're the kind of people who make miracles routinely, after all.'

Still seated on the sofa, Rian set aside the gem carving they'd been working on and began walking—step, step—toward the outer chamber of the library.

That chamber housed Rian's precious collection.

"Whoa… what is this place?"

"A statue of Lord Kyle?"

"…Is this some kind of cult?"

Voices rang out, filled with shock and disbelief.

The visitors stood before a massive sculpture of Kyle.

'Hmph. At least they have taste.'

Rian smirked proudly.

It was none other than the Hero of the Beginning, Kyle.

And more importantly, their finest masterpiece.

A sculpture carved down to every muscle, every curve. A flawless tribute that Rian considered the most beautiful artwork in the world.

'Even Dweno couldn't create something like this!'

It was a full-body statue—faithful to Kyle's natural form, modestly covered in just the right areas.

A near-nude Kyle, carved in gemstone.

A tribute to divinity, a pinnacle of aesthetic beauty.

Chelsea and Eliana awkwardly looked away, but couldn't help sneaking glances at it from time to time.

'Let's see… Chelsea Lewellin, Eliana Raden… that's Carl Thomas, who was expelled… and that one… who is he?'

The silver-haired, red-eyed boy stared silently at the statue.

'Heh. Must be frozen by Lord Kyle's overwhelming presence…'

CRACK!

"Le-Leo?! What the hell are you doing?!"

"Leo oppa?!"

"I-Isn't that obviously something super valuable!?"

Without hesitation, Leo kicked Rian's massive gem statue.

CRASH—!

It shattered against the marble floor, broken into glittering fragments.

He stepped on the shard that bore his own face and crushed it into dust.

"…Looks like the owner of this place is even crazier than I thought."

Leo clicked his tongue.

And Rian, frozen until now, let out a shriek of pure despair.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Chelsea, Carl, and Eliana flinched at the blood-curdling wail.

Rian, now collapsed to their knees, gathered the fragments in trembling hands and sobbed.

"My… my greatest masterpiece…"

Watching the divine being sob like a child, the three students were utterly lost.

Then, with tear-soaked fury, Rian turned their gaze on Leo.

"You…! How dare you—! How dare you desecrate Lord Kyle!"

In that moment, a wave of divine hatred rippled through the air—and Chelsea, Carl, and Eliana felt the world dim.

Thud—

They collapsed unconscious, unable to withstand the pressure.

Yet Leo stood unfazed, staring down at Rian.

"Unforgivable. Unforgivable. UNFORGIVABLE."

Rian whispered with venom, consumed by rage.

Leo sighed and raised a hand.

Grey aura surged upward.

"You think that kind of aura will do anything to—"

Then came mana. And finally, divinity.

Grey aura, mana, and divine energy spiraled together above Leo's palm.

Rian's thoughts froze.

"…The Hero of the Beginning?"

"I'll warn you now," Leo said, irritation clear in his voice, "if you say some nonsense like plucking my eyes or cutting out my tongue for blasphemy, I'll just leave."

Cutting off Rian's usual fanaticism before it could begin, Leo delivered the truth.

"I'm the reincarnation of Kyle, the Hero of the Beginning—from another worldline."

Thud—

And just like that, Rian fainted.

Leo walked over and looked down at the unconscious deity, eyes rolled back and limbs limp.

He let out a long sigh and stared up at the ceiling.

"…Should I just leave them here?"