Editor : Amethyst00



When they reached the mountain's entrance, the first thing that hit their noses was a sharp, acrid smell of burning.

Reina instinctively furrowed her brow at the stinging stench.

Lunia dropped to her knees, looking like she might vomit any second.

As wielders of flame—especially the pure and powerful Phoenix Flame—they were particularly sensitive to the foul residue left behind by the black fire.

"Lunia, are you alright?"

"Yes, Senior Rune. I'm okay."

Lunia forced a smile as she looked at Rune, who sat down beside her with a worried expression.

"Why are you making such a fuss over this?"

Leo grabbed Lunia's wrist and pulled her to her feet.

"Hey! Can't you see she's struggling?"

Rune shot Leo a fierce glare, but Leo just snorted.

"She's not weak enough to be brought down by something like this."

He turned provocatively to Lunia and added, "Right?"

That made fire spark in Lunia's eyes.

"I can handle this much, you know?!"

Shrugging off Leo's hand, Lunia gritted her teeth and marched forward with stubborn determination.

Rune reached out anxiously.

"Hey, Lunia. Don't push yourself too har—"

Smack—!

Leo caught Rune's wrist mid-air.

Looking at Rune, who was baffled by his action, Leo said,

"She's your successor, right?"

"Yes."

"Then trust her. Stop coddling her so much."

"……!"

Rune's eyes widened.

"Lunia's stronger than you think."

Leo gave him a short answer before walking toward the rest of the group.

Rune watched Leo's back in silence.

Reina was leading the delegation from the Lordren Empire.

They were all renowned knights, mages, and summoners—familiar faces that even Leo recognized.

But even they looked visibly strained under the lingering presence of Erebos.

Eiran and Carl also didn't look well.

The trail where the Flame of Calamity had burned brightly remained vivid.

The place where primeval evil had swept through now reeked with a poisonous miasma strong enough to kill an ordinary human.

The acrid, toxic smell made it nearly unbearable.

"Leo, are you okay?"

"No."

"You say that, but your face looks just fine. Same with the Seiren student council president."

"Well, that's…"

'We're used to it.'

Leo answered internally.

It was a stench he had been immersed in during his past life.

Not that they had built immunity—but both Leo and Rune were simply familiar with it now.

"Even after all this time, it still stinks like hell."

Rune muttered under his breath.

Leo chuckled at that and turned to Reina.

"Shall we move?"

"Yes."

Reina led the investigators forward.

Lunia, Eiran, and Carl followed close behind, with Leo and Rune taking the rear.

"……No doubt about it now. A fragment of Erebos has revived."

A chill crept into Rune's gaze.

Her blood ran cold.

While walking, she pressed a hand to her stomach and gave a crooked smile.

A face filled with malice, hatred, and bloodlust.

It was still vivid.

As was the pain from the wound that had nearly killed her.

"Leo. Doesn't this bring anything back?"

"Not really. I mean, it was incomplete, but I did defeat him. And in my timeline, I took down this very fragment too."

"Hmph~ Fine, good for you."

Acting slightly pouty, Rune turned his head away—then suddenly sparkled and clung to Leo's side.

"But we can take him down again this time too, right?"

"Maybe. But last time, Aaron gave everything he had on his own."

Leo had delivered the final blow, but the one who had restrained and weakened the fragment of Erebos was Aaron, who had emerged from the Hero Record into reality.

'That Aaron was at the peak of his strength.'

At the height of his martial prowess.

He had even broken through his limits to touch the realm of divinity.

Compared to that, Leo had certainly regained strength, but not yet to the full extent of his former life.

'Same goes for Luna.'

Leo clenched and unclenched his fists.

And then, a thought occurred to him.

"Come to think of it… Aaron's Hero Record was in the capital, Delad, right?"

"Huh? Seriously?"

"You didn't know?"

"Nope. I never imagined it would be in some backwater kingdom like this."

"It was even turned into a hero dungeon."

"Then there's no way I wouldn't know."

As Rune shook his head, Leo nodded slightly.

"Still… if it has revived, why hasn't it gone on a rampage yet?"

"Because it's a parallel world. Events can unfold differently, right?"

"Is it really that simple?"

Leo narrowed his eyes at Rune's answer.

From then on, the full-scale investigation began.

Despite withstanding the intense miasma seeping from the scorched remnants of black fire, half a day of searching yielded little progress.

As the sun began to set…

Carl, staring at a part of the forest that hadn't burned, muttered in a strange tone,

"It's… eerie, somehow."

"What do you mean?"

Eiran asked curiously, and Carl folded his arms.

"This forest—there's no wildlife at all."

"Now that you mention it…"

Eiran's eyes widened.

They'd been too distracted by Erebos's poison to notice—but there were no mammals, no birds, not even insects.

Even the plants were all withering.

"Carl, your eye for detail is impressive."

"Well, thanks."

"Maybe it's because you're less affected by Erebos's poison?"

Lunia grumbled, still clearly suffering from its effects.

Then Eiran sniffed the air.

"More importantly… do you smell something delicious?"

"Now that you mention it…"

Carl tilted his head.

The investigation team from Lordren began murmuring too—they'd caught the scent as well.

"That'd be Leo."

At that moment, Rune, who had been casting a wide-range detection spell, commented offhandedly.

"Leo?"

"Yeah. Looks like that guy's cooking dinner."

Just as Rune said, as the sun began to set, Leo was preparing dinner not far from where they stood.

As people began to gather, Leo started ladling stew from a large pot into bowls.

"…What do you think you're doing?"

"Cooking, obviously."

"In this situation?"

They were standing in the heart of a dangerous zone, a place tainted by Erebos's lingering power. The corruption was vivid and severe. That Leo was calmly preparing dinner in such a place left Reina utterly dumbfounded.

'Is he just fearless? Or thoughtless… no, it's not the latter.'

Leo handed Reina a bowl of stew as he answered.

"You'll need a full stomach to be ready for anything. All we brought are ration packs, right?"

"Well, that's true, but…"

"There's no immediate danger right now, so it's best to keep our minds and bodies in top condition. Besides, it's pretty tasty."

At Leo's words, Reina stirred the stew with the spoon she was handed and took a bite.

Her eyes widened.

"…Somehow, the heaviness in my chest feels like it's lifting."

"I mixed in some herbs that neutralize the poison in the air."

"Oh?"

Reina's eyes sparkled with interest.

One by one, the investigators began tasting Leo's stew—and soon, they were all murmuring in admiration.

"Wow, this is delicious!"

Carl exclaimed.

"Leo! You'd make a great husband!"

"It's really good."

Eiran bit into a chunk of meat and wore a blissful expression.

Mentally worn out, everyone found Leo's stew especially comforting.

"Rune-sunabe, aren't you going to eat?"

Lunia, halfway through her stew, tilted her head curiously as Rune stared blankly at the food.

"…Yeah, I'll eat."

Smiling faintly, Rune picked up her spoon and took a mouthful.

'…It hasn't changed at all. No—his cooking's gotten even better.'

She looked at Leo, who was laughing and chatting with Carl.

'I hope he doesn't go back.'

A thought too frightening to say aloud.

Their eyes met for a brief moment—Rune flinched and immediately went back to eating, trying to focus.

RUMMMMBLE—!

Suddenly, the ground shook.

Everyone tensed.

"W-What was that…?"

Lunia looked around in alarm.

"…Seriously now."

Rune sighed lightly.

Even as the ground trembled violently, Leo continued calmly eating his stew.

"No time to get lost in thought, huh."

Rune downed the rest of the stew in one gulp and wiped her mouth with her elbow.

Both of them knew.

They knew exactly what was causing this shaking.

Leo and Rune stood at the same time.

"Get ready," Rune said calmly, arms crossed.

"Ready for what?"

Lunia looked baffled. Leo answered without looking at her.

"You'll see soon enough."

He drew his sword.

"The Flame of Calamity."

KRA-KRA-KRA-KRA-BOOM—!!

Not far away, black flames shot into the sky like a volcanic eruption.

The sky, just starting to blush with twilight, turned a deep, bloodstained red.

Leo's eyes narrowed as he watched the scene.

'Something's different. This isn't how I remember it.'

There was no sign of the massive flame giant he knew.

But the presence—that presence—was unmistakable.

As Leo furrowed his brow…

"Hey… someone's approaching."

Carl pointed toward the forest, confusion written across his face.

Leo followed his gaze—and his expression tensed.

Step— Step—

Emerging from the forest was a man with a blank expression.

Emotionless face.

Ashen gray hair and eyes, like dust and smoke.

"Wait a second… that face looks familiar…"

Lunia squinted.

Then Eiran's eyes went wide.

"Isn't he the guy from that painting of the Great Hero found recently?"

The painting—believed to have been drawn by Dweno during the Age of Calamity—was something Leah had discovered while chasing traces of Kyle. Though modern academia dismissed it as a later reproduction, it had still helped solidify the popular image of the Hero of Beginnings.

And now, the very man in that painting had suddenly appeared.

Step— Step—

The gray-haired man stopped before the group and swept his gaze over them.

Finally, his eyes landed on Leo and Rune.

"Pleased to meet you."

He spoke in a flat, detached tone.

"My name is Kyle."

His lips twisted into a faint, crooked smile.

"The one you call the Hero of Beginnings."

Everyone's eyes widened.

'Now that's a hell of a stunt.'

Leo's killing intent sharpened as he glared at the Erebos fragment wearing his former self's face.