Editor : Amethyst00



Azonia's eyes narrowed as she walked through the night streets.

'The scent is completely gone.'

Because the scent of Carl had completely vanished without a trace.

'Did something happen?'

Since there was no sign of a Tartaros-like stench, it was clear nothing disastrous had happened.

Sniffing the air, Azonia began tracking Carl's trail.

'Looks like he had companions……'

With her sharp sense of smell, she quickly pursued the path Carl had taken.

The trait of an extinct dog beastkin.

And, as the successor of Aaron, Azonia had honed her hypersensory perception to the limit—making such tracking possible.

'As expected of Aaron's successor? Her senses are sharper than mine.'

Azonia chuckled softly as she recalled Leo, who had once admired her extrasensory perception.

'Successor, my ass. The successor is that little brat.'

Azonia thought of Aru.

A white cat who did whatever she said without a hint of doubt.

Aru was different from her.

Of course, that didn't mean Aru resembled Aaron either.

But unlike Azonia, who denied and doubted Aaron, Aru had no suspicion toward the Brave.

Unlike herself, who remained stuck in the distant past, unable to move forward.

The way Aru pushed ahead, overcoming fear, reminded her in some way of the Brave.

'Damn it.'

She felt pathetic for remaining stuck in the past, unable to save anyone.

"Hoo…"

Taking a deep breath, Azonia silently followed the trace of Carl's scent.

Eventually, she arrived at the outskirts of Raysar.

"This place is……"

Raysar, buried beneath the desert for 5,000 years.

The shadows had restored it.

And so, having visited Raysar multiple times, Azonia immediately recognized the place.

'……The orphanage.'

Azonia's hand clenched tightly.

Her mood sank even lower.

Just as she clicked her tongue—

"Wow… S-sir Leo doesn't like sweets? I-I didn't know…!"

A familiar voice came from a corner.

With a puzzled expression, Azonia approached the source.

There, Eiran was rapidly copying something from a notebook into a book.

"This'll make my novel so much richer!"

Seeing Eiran burning with creative passion, a mischievous smile crossed Azonia's face.

"What's got you writing so happily?"

"Eek?!"

Startled by Azonia's voice behind her, Eiran flung her notebook and book into the air.

"Oops. This looks like that Carl kid's notebook… and this?"

Azonia caught the flying notebook and book, examining them.

"T-That's just a hobby. I-I write stories as a hobby…"

As Eiran, face beet-red, lunged to reclaim the book, Azonia wickedly shoved her back with her foot and grinned.

"Oh my? I love stories too. Mind if I read it?"

"N-No!"

"I thought you'd say that."

Smiling sweetly, Azonia opened the book.

Scrawled ideas filled the pages—clearly in the middle of world-building.

"Let's see. The characters are a beautiful beastkin woman and an unbelievably handsome dwarf? What the hell? That's me and Damien!"

"Kyaaaaaa!"

Eiran screamed as Azonia instantly recognized the characters and tried to snatch the book back—but it was futile.

Giggling as she dodged Eiran, Azonia suddenly froze.

It was a romance novel.

A dwarf falls in love with a beastkin.

The problem was, it was a love triangle.

The beastkin woman loved a human.

And Azonia could easily tell who that human was.

'Lumene……'

Azonia's shoulders trembled.

According to the story, Damien loved her, but she loved Lumene.

While the names weren't explicitly written as Damien, Azonia, and Lumene, the settings made it obvious.

With trembling hands, she turned the page.

A structured narrative appeared.

The issue was—the content was very explicit.

"Kh?!"

Azonia reflexively covered her nose.

"Wh-Wh-What is this filth…! I-I mean! From the beginning—!"

"Lady Azonia, p-please give it ba… Huh? Your nose is bleeding…"

"Why am I doing that with Lumene?! He's the one who toyed with me—ugh!"

"Huh?"

Azonia clamped her hand over her mouth, realizing too late what she said.

Eiran blinked with wide eyes, ears twitching sharply.

"C-Could it be… were you and Lord Lumene actually… like that?"

"No! I'm innocent! Nothing ever happened between me and Lumene!"

Azonia shouted, face flaming red, while Eiran gave her a puzzled look.

"But just now, you said Lord Lumene toyed with you…"

Azonia scratched her head.

Then squatted down and wiped the blood from her nose.

"I was just trying to mess with that bastard Lumene and got played instead."

"Huh?! You got played?"

"…What do you think about all day? I told you—nothing happened. He just pulled one over on me."

"Oh… But why?"

"What?"

"Um… According to history, you were known to love many capable men, Lady Azonia…"

"…I'm saying this before you turn me into some weird novel character."

"N-No, I won't. These characters aren't you, Lady Azonia… Ehhh…"

"Lying so shamelessly? You pervy elf."

Azonia pulled on Eiran's cheeks relentlessly.

Eiran held her reddened cheeks, looking like she might cry.

Seeing that, Azonia let out a deep sigh.

Then lowered her head, her face bright red.

"I only… had Damien."

"Huh?"

"Only Damien mattered to me. Other than him, my relationships were clean."

"……"

Eiran fell silent, eyes widening.

"You two were lovers?"

"No. Not lovers."

"Then why did you act like you loved all sorts of men?"

Azonia scratched her head again.

"That damn dwarf never paid me any attention, so I just wanted to catch his eye… but it backfired completely."

"Then why not tell him honestly…"

"It's embarrassing. And I doubt he'd believe me now."

Pouting and grumbling, Azonia looked away, and Eiran tilted her head in curiosity.

"What are you looking at?"

"Oh, nothing. Just surprised… Even the Heroes of Dawn aren't so different from us."

Azonia pouted further as Eiran giggled behind her hand.

"But what did you mean by Lumene 'toyed' with you?"

"That bastard teased me, and I flopped over."

"Oh my?"

"I panicked and shouted that Damien was the only one for me, and he just laughed and said to be honest… Ugh. Seriously. That guy's way too good with women."

"Whoa. Whoa. Whoa…"

"You really love this kind of story, huh?"

"N-No!"

Eiran shook her head frantically.

"Anyway, don't you dare tell anyone."

Azonia stood with a sigh.

Then handed Carl's notebook to Eiran.

"By the way, where did you get this notebook?"

"Found it over there."

"Found it?"

Azonia walked to where Eiran pointed.

"Exactly here?"

"Yes."

Azonia looked around, puzzled.

'Nothing seems odd.'

"Go back and report to Lord Leo. I'll look around a bit more."

"Okay."

After sending Eiran off, Azonia scoured the area further.

But found nothing unusual.

A little while later—

Azonia went to report to Leo and was shocked.

"Eiran didn't come?"

Leo's face turned grim.

"Something's happened."

As Leo began to think—

"What?!"

Azonia's flustered voice rang out.

"Hero's World…? No. A dungeon?!"

At her shocked cry, Leo sprang to his feet.

'What? I didn't see any message?'

Azonia was swept away in light.

Seeing Leo untouched by it, Azonia cried out.

"It's Aaron's world! The chapter is Raysar's Destru—"

Before she could finish, Azonia vanished into the Hero's World.

Leo frowned as she disappeared mid-sentence.

'…I don't know what's going on, but it looks like Hero Dungeon entrances are forming randomly. Carl, Freyna… and now Eiran and Azonia got swept in.'

It made no sense—but then again, Hero Dungeons were born from the Hero Record's rampage.

It wouldn't be strange if entrances randomly appeared and vanished.

'No—maybe this entire Raysar is the entrance.'

Thinking that far, Leo recalled Azonia's last words.

'Aaron's world. Raysar's destruction.'

It wasn't hard to figure out the situation.

Leo closed his eyes and recalled the fall of Raysar.

At the time, even bringing all of Godthrone's forces to Raysar wasn't enough to prevent its destruction…

'Because back then, we weren't ready yet.'

Gritting his teeth, Leo recalled the true cause of Raysar's fall.

It wasn't some army commander.

'It was Erebos, summoned by the commanders.'

bl

Azonia, regaining her senses, calmly surveyed her surroundings.

After the chapter of Aaron, she hadn't entered any more Hero's Worlds.

But having cleared multiple worlds of the Great Heroes besides the Hero's own, she was used to them.

'Still can't get used to that damned ashen sky.'

With fierce eyes, Azonia looked up.

Then glanced around the area.

'Raysar.'

Her gaze grew heavy.

This wasn't the clean Raysar she had just seen.

The Raysar uncovered during the Age of Peace had been restored and orderly.

But this refugee city of the Age of Calamity was full of gloom.

Despair hung on every face.

'If a message showed up upon entry, this must be Raysar just before its destruction.'

Then it would be even more tragic than the Raysar she knew.

'Master… was he still alive back then?'

Azonia recalled Agon, the Guardian of Azure Sky.

The master who had despaired of the world during the Age of Calamity.

The beastkin warrior who had been broken.

She didn't know how long he had lived.

'Even after Lord Aaron left Raysar, the other Great Heroes didn't know what happened to him.'

Letting out a deep sigh, Azonia looked at the crowded streets.

Everyone looked drained of strength.

Then her eyes widened.

"Master?"

A familiar wolf beastkin passed through the crowd.

"M-Master Agon!"

Azonia frantically called out and pushed through the crowd.

'His scent…'

Just as she tried to activate her sense of smell—

Clang clang clang!

Blades thrust toward her.

"Did you just say… traitor Agon?"

The low, grim voice of a beastkin made Azonia's eyes go cold.

'……Should I kill him?'

Azonia knew.

She knew who had killed the orphans at the orphanage.

Just as her sharp teeth were about to show—

A message appeared before her.

[Clear Objective: Ensure Brave Aaron survives.]

Azonia's expression froze.

Even from that one message, she understood.

This world's difficulty was utterly absurd.

'For now, don't cause a scene.'

Deciding that clearing the mission came first, Azonia allowed herself to be bound by Raysar's guards.