LHAHS Chapter 380
Dovela. The only city in Aleham, a land mostly covered in desert, where lush vegetation thrived.
By all rights, it should have been the most developed city in Aleham. However, Dovela was one of the most impoverished regions in the country.
Its geographical location was to blame.
No matter how abundant its vegetation, if that greenery belonged to the Monster Forest, it was not a blessing but a curse.
A forest overflowing with life also meant an endless onslaught of monsters.
If the monster attacks weren't contained, the crisis wouldn't stop at Dovela, it could spread to the entire nation.
Aleham's central government provided financial aid to maintain Dovela as a defensive line, but that was the extent of their support.
The Aleham royal family, indifferent to the suffering of their people, considered Dovela nothing more than a burden. They provided only the bare minimum to prevent its collapse and made no further efforts to manage it.
Naturally, the city became a hub for mercenaries.
Battles with monsters, where life and death hung in the balance, attracted mercenaries driven by the promise of a big payday.
And with such mercenaries came lawlessness.
Even in the already chaotic Aleham, Dovela was in a league of its own when it came to lawlessness and disorder.
Outside the city walls…
Crack! Boom!
A massive tree crashed to the ground.
Grrraaaaagh!
"O-Ogres?!"
The sudden appearance of a horde of ogres, a high-ranking monster, sent the mercenaries into a panic.
In the Monster Forest, trolls sat at the top of the food chain. Trolls were indeed formidable creatures, but experienced mercenaries could take them down without much trouble.
Ogres, however, were fundamentally different beasts. Their hide was so tough that even ordinary steel blades couldn't pierce it. Their strength was monstrous, easily allowing them to hurl boulders with a flick of the wrist.
With their overwhelming durability and power, they were nightmares for ordinary mercenaries.
These creatures had never been sighted in the Monster Forest before. The sudden emergence of such a monster threw the mercenaries into chaos, sending many scrambling for safety.
Step.
"Tch. You all acted so high and mighty, bragging about your skills."
As the mercenaries fled, a young girl let out a sigh and stepped forward to face the ogres. Unlike the battle-hardened mercenaries, the girl stood out with her striking beauty.
Srrng—!
She drew her sword.
Fwoosh—!
Flames surged around her body.
Whoosh—!
An ogre charged at Martina, only for a fiery aura to cleave it in two.
Thud—!
The ogre, split cleanly in half, collapsed to the ground.
"Oooooh!"
The mercenaries let out awed gasps.
Then, a golden flash streaked through the air.
Shhhk—!
A blonde-haired girl wove through the ogres at blinding speed, landing gracefully before spinning on her heel.
"Uwoooooo!"
The mercenaries' cheers grew even louder, but their excitement didn't last.
"You two aren't half bad."
A girl wielding a rapier—Celia—smiled as she approached the ogres. Brushing back her hair with elegance, she readjusted her grip on her weapon.
Tap—!
"Shall I finish this?"
Fwoosh—!
Flames flickered around her body—far hotter than Martina's.
The sight sent the mercenaries into a panic.
"C-Celia, my lady!"
"Please, I beg you, don't get involved!"
"Aaaaaah! She's a walking disaster! She'll burn everything to ashes!"
Celia's face twisted in irritation as the mercenaries threw a fit.
"There's no need for you to step in, Celia-senpai," Aina said. "Martina, that goes for you too."
Whoooosh—!
A golden aura wrapped around Aina's body.
"This… is something I can handle alone."
Boom—!
The ground caved slightly beneath Aina's foot. With her knees bent, she exploded forward at an invisible speed, closing the distance to the ogres in an instant.
Her sword gleamed, and moments later, the ogres' heads tumbled to the ground.
"Wow… I guess the blood of the Sword Saint really is something else."
"She's cutting down ogres like she's slicing tofu at that age…"
"She's scarier than the monsters."
The murmurs of the mercenaries grew uneasy.
Celia narrowed her eyes. In just a single day, Aina had become a figure of fear among them, and it wasn't just because she had overwhelmed the monsters.
Zerdinger's flames were far better suited for dealing with large groups of enemies. If they were counting numbers alone, Celia had taken down more foes.
Yet it was Aina who frightened them.
She exuded killing intent at all times. She never hesitated, never faltered.
The sight of a young girl, drenched in blood, swinging her sword like a butcher hacking apart animals—was unnerving.
Having wiped out the entire ogre horde, Aina flicked the blood from her sword and slid it back into its sheath.
Step. Step.
Celia sighed as Aina, covered in gore, approached.
The mercenaries averted their eyes.
"Aina, you're too impatient," Celia said.
"……"
"What's the rush? Among the first-years, you're the best."
"That means nothing if I haven't earned Senior Leo's recognition."
Celia already knew that, for some reason, Aina was obsessively fixated on earning Leo's acknowledgment.
I'll have to talk to Leo about this.
She let out a sigh.
At that moment…
"Ladies! Thank you so much!"
A burly man, presumably the leader of the mercenaries, approached with a beaming smile.
"Thanks to you, our mercenary group earned a month's worth of pay in a single day!"
"Ah… I see."
Celia had come to Dovela to explore the Monster Forest with her mentees, Aina and Martina. She had sought out a well-established mercenary group with a decent reputation, striking a contract with them.
Since they had operated in Dovela for a long time, they had their own structured system and extensive knowledge of the Monster Forest's terrain, making them useful guides for exploration.
The payment was simple—the corpses of slain monsters.
Mercenaries in Dovela were paid by presenting proof of their kills.
That was why they had panicked when Celia had tried to step in.
Celia's flames left nothing behind.
Since guiding hero candidates as powerful as them was already a lucrative opportunity, the mercenaries had eagerly welcomed the three.
"Ogres appeared today for the first time?"
"That's right! I've been a mercenary in Dovela for five years, but I've never seen an ogre before!"
Celia narrowed her eyes. As expected. Something is definitely wrong.
Rumble—!
The ground began to tremble.
"W-What's happening?"
"A large number of monsters are moving at once," Celia said, sharpening her senses.
"This is money falling right into our laps!" The mercenary leader beamed.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Celia replied.
"What?"
Just as the mercenary leader faltered…
Whoosh—!
"Hello, Celia."
"Hmph. So, Celia's here too."
Pushing through the underbrush, Abad and Duran appeared. Behind them were their mentees, Fritz and Haviden, along with their own mercenary group.
"Oh my! Celia-senpai, here you are!"
Above them, riding a massive eagle-shaped high-tier spirit beast, was Sasha, the top student in the first-year summoning class. Beside her, arms crossed, stood her mentor, Walden.
Like Celia, Abad and Duran had also hired mercenaries, thinking along the same lines. As they searched for a good location to hunt the monster horde, they happened upon Celia's group.
Celia pursed her lips. Unlike her, who wielded fire magic, the others could leave behind intact monster corpses. They could fight all they wanted.
"Another chance to make a profit," she said coyly to the mercenary leader.
The mercenary leader's face turned serious. "This is your time to shine, Lady Celia!"
"Huh?"
"The rule among mercenaries is simple. No matter how many people are involved in the hunt, the ones who find the prey first take all the rewards. Even if we help, we won't get a single coin. But if we refuse to fight, we'll only get scorned."
"So?"
"If we can't have it, we burn it all!"
"……"
He was basically saying that rather than letting others reap the benefits, they might as well destroy everything.
Celia sighed and adjusted her grip on her sword.
"Burn it all!" someone cheered from behind.
She shook her head.
That evening, Celia sat in a tavern at the center of Dovela. Across from her sat Abad, Duran, and Walden, whom she had encountered in the Monster Forest earlier.
"So." Duran crossed his arms, his expression skeptical. "Why did you call us here, Walden Tiden?"
The one who had arranged the meeting was none other than Walden.
"I realized the need to exchange information."
"Hah. That's a surprise. You, asking for cooperation?"
"This isn't a competition," Walden said calmly.
Abad chuckled. "If you feel the need to cooperate, it means you found something unusual."
Celia's question was met with Walden pulling a dark red orb from his coat.
Abad stroked his chin. "A golem core."
"I encountered a golem wandering in the Monster Forest today. I took it down and retrieved this," Walden said. "Abad Lewellin, you should be able to tell which era it's from."
Abad nodded and reached for the mana core.
Meanwhile, Walden turned to Celia and Duran. "My mentee and I spent the entire day scouting the Monster Forest from above."
Walden had opted to move independently with Sasha rather than hiring mercenaries.
Celia tilted her head. "The air currents above the Monster Forest make flying nearly impossible, don't they? Even that butterball gave up, saying it was too much trouble."
"Mages and summoners are fundamentally different. While wind mages control the atmosphere, summoners dominate it."
"So, what's your point?" Duran asked.
"As soon as we began scouting, we discovered that something was very wrong. Monsters that don't belong in the Monster Forest have appeared in large numbers. You all noticed this too, right?"
"Yeah," Celia said.
"And every single one of those monsters had characteristics of creatures from the southern continent."
Even among the same species, an ogre from the northern regions had different traits from one in the south.
"You're saying it's a Hero World from the southern region?" Celia frowned.
"It's more than that," Walden said, his eyes narrowing.
"What do you mean?"
"The monsters we encountered showed characteristics from different historical eras."
Monsters were intelligent creatures. Some species even had high intelligence, allowing them to develop distinct cultures. Their culture was often reflected in their weaponry, which evolved over different periods.
For monsters from vastly different eras to appear in the same place…
"It means there might be more than one Hero Dungeon," Duran muttered.
Walden nodded.
Just then, Abad, who had been analyzing the golem core, spoke with a perplexed expression. "I've identified the era this core comes from."
"What era?" Duran asked.
"Based on the foundational spellwork embedded in it, it predates the Age of Heroes."
"What?!"
Everyone's eyes widened.
"You're saying it's from the Age of Calamity?" Celia asked urgently.
"It is," Abad confirmed. "But I can't say for certain that this core is actually five thousand years old."
"What do you mean?"
"The mana circuit running this core uses spell structures from three thousand years ago. I've never seen anything like this before. We need to study it further, but if my guess is right, this could be a discovery that turns the entire field of magic on its head."
Fwoosh—!
At the heart of Dragonia, a bright light flashed, and a girl collapsed onto the ground.
The girl frantically scanned her surroundings, trying to make sense of her situation.
Then, she saw it…
[Failure to Clear]
Seeing those words, she let out a bitter laugh.
"So, it's here." Rodia nodded to herself as she got to her feet.
She recognized this place immediately. This was from her childhood, probably the first page of her Hero Record.
It was the day she first realized the limitless potential of Hero Records.
Rodia reached out and touched the intact, unfragmented pages of the Hero Record before her.
The page of the great Wise Queen, Lysinas.
Her favorite hero's tale.
A page she had attempted to clear over and over again.
However, in the end, she had never succeeded.
Rodia knew why.
Because of a single missing person.
"Kyle. If anyone could clear this world… it would be him."