LHAHS Chapter 388
With the start of the Age of Heroes, knights and warriors who wielded aura, as well as mages, advanced. Summoners were no exception.
Due to the influence of the Hero Record, more powerful individuals were born than even in the Age of the Gods.
Compared to the past, this era makes it easier to learn aura, easier to use magic, and easier to summon spirit beasts.
The world had certainly progressed.
However, in some ways, summoners had regressed.
After the loss of two leaders of the Three Great Summons, no one was able to fill the void.
The Flame Emperor and the White Queen—both had been lost in the battle against Erebos. Lysinas and Kyle had lost their pact-bound partners, Katariou and Albus.
Neither had left successors. As a result, in this era, the only remaining sovereign among the spirit beasts was the Fairy King.
Even then, Sylord has gone 5000 years without forming a contract with anyone, making his title almost meaningless.
Seiren had once succeeded in summoning Sylord. However, since Sylord could not leave Fairyland, the summon was never publicly recognized.
With three of the strongest spirit beasts now lost to history, summoning had undeniably declined.
Leo was walking through the streets of Godthrone when a voice called out to him.
"Kyle! Did you sleep well last night?" Rodia greeted.
"More or less. Did you find a place to stay? Godthrone in this era isn't exactly easy when it comes to lodging."
"That's nothing for me. Do you know how many times I've attempted to clear this world?" Rodia said smugly.
Leo chuckled.
"I thought you'd be moving with Lysinas," she added.
Having attempted the Hero World several times, Rodia knew that Lysinas was currently gathering allies for the journey.
"In the original history, I wasn't with her at this point," Leo replied.
"I always stayed by Lysinas' side to help," Rodia said, folding her arms. "She didn't like it much, though."
"That doesn't sound right. Knowing her, she might have been annoyed, but she wouldn't have outright disliked it," Leo mused, narrowing his eyes. "You didn't do anything weird while using my body in front of her, did you?"
"……" Rodia fell silent.
Seeing her avoid answering, Leo cracked his knuckles.
Rodia immediately panicked. "B-but! It's Lysinas we're talking about! The Wise Queen Lysinas! You know better than anyone what she means to dragons!"
"And? You think that's a good enough reason to do weird things while in my body?"
"I didn't do anything weird! I just…"
"Just?"
"I just… acted a little more friendly, maybe curled my body a bit… approached her enthusiastically… and talked to her more actively."
Leo's expression darkened.
Rodia quickly added, "And I got scolded a lot for it!"
"What kind of scolding?"
"She hit me."
To Rodia, meeting the Wise Queen—the person she respected most—was a moment of overwhelming joy. But from Lysinas' perspective, the same person who had been aloof and prickly the day before was suddenly clinging to her. Of course, she was taken aback.
"Especially when I looked at her with a flushed face… That's when she hit me the hardest."
"You deserved it," Leo said without hesitation.
Feeling wronged, Rodia protested, "This is all your fault, Kyle."
"Why is this my fault?"
"Because you never realized Lysinas' feelings! She was so pitiful that I just…"
"…We had just become comrades. There's no way she had those kinds of feelings for me yet. And besides…" Leo let out a long sigh. "I knew."
Rodia blinked. "What?"
"I knew how Lysinas felt."
"Then why?"
"But at the time, saving the world had to come first. Lysinas knew that too. That's why she never directly told me how she felt. And I… I knew but had to ignore it."
"Kyle…"
Watching Leo's bitter smile, Rodia's face twisted in frustration.
"Don't lie to me," she muttered.
"You little lizard, is there anything you won't say?"
"I respect you, Kyle, but Lysinas is the person I respect the most. If I have to be disrespectful to you for her sake, I won't hesitate."
"Oh, yeah? So that's why you called me an idiot?"
"Do I look like the kind of dragon who would say something that rude?"
"You absolutely do, you damned lizard."
Leo growled and grabbed Rodia, mercilessly knocking his fist against her head.
The Great Hero who had ended the Age of Calamity and the Heroes of Dawn who had stopped the resurgence of catastrophe… Respected by the entire world, studied by hero scholars and historians across all races… An impossible meeting between two generations separated by time.
Many scholars had imagined it. What would it be like if the Great Hero and the Heroes of Dawn met, not in the Hero World, but in reality?
An encounter that could never happen. A miracle that, if realized, would surely bring tears to their eyes.
Just the thought alone was thrilling.
Thud—! Crack—!
"Ack! I surrender! I surrender! I was wrong!" Trapped in a headlock, Rodia screamed in agony.
Leo tightened his grip. "Then why did you do it in the first place?"
Rodia, unable to endure any longer, began desperately pinching the back of Leo's hand.
If the world's scholars had witnessed this scene, they would have wept—though not in admiration, but in despair.
"So? Where were you headed?"
"I'm going to find Albus."
"Albus… You mean the last king of the pegasus?" Rodia's eyes widened in surprise.
"Yeah. I'm going to form a pact with him."
"But Kyle, didn't you only form your contract with Albus after Dweno joined?"
"That's right. I only sought out Albus after Lysinas told me about the nature of my mana."
"…Purity," Rodia murmured.
Mana that did not belong to any element. A force that, even when awakened into aura, did not lose its nature; that remained unchanged when converted into magic power; that, even when sublimated into spiritual energy, always reverted back to its original form.
Unbound by anything.
The only mana capable of countering the immortal flames.
The reason the Hero of the Beginning, Kyle—no, Leo Plov—was the natural enemy of the Primordial Evil.
The reason we… failed to defeat Erebos.
Rodia's expression darkened.
Leo reached out and ruffled her hair.
"…?"
"Don't blame yourself. What you all accomplished was incredible. I acknowledge that."
Rodia, looking deeply moved, lowered her gaze slightly. "That's an honor beyond words."
Then, she hesitated before asking, "So… is the pegasus king really in Godthrone?"
"Yeah. He and the pegasus have carved out their own domain within the city."
"I had no idea."
"Neither did I, until Lysinas told me."
Honestly, I don't need to go to Albus—I can summon him right now.
Leo glanced down at the back of his left hand, where the mark of their contract was inscribed.
It wasn't a pact formed by Leo Plov but by Kyle. A contract not bound to his body but to his soul—one that had reawakened now that he had returned to the past.
Yet, he hadn't summoned Albus.
To Albus, this contract had never been made. Forcing him to honor it would only risk straining their relationship.
I need Albus' strength to defeat Jörmungandr.
Even in his past life, it had been a close fight.
And right now, I haven't regained even the full strength I had at this time.
Rodia was here, but that alone wasn't enough.
What I have now that my past self didn't…
Was knowledge of the future.
And overwhelming experience.
I have to use everything I have to even get close to my past self.
"Kyle, I have a question," Rodia said.
"What is it?"
"Lysinas was known as the strongest summoner in history, right?"
"Yeah."
"Then why didn't she ever form a contract with the pegasus?"
Leo glanced at her before answering. "Lysinas said the pegasus never responded to her summons."
"Why not?"
"I don't know the details either. I don't know everything about her."
Just as he had secrets he had never shared with her, Lysinas must have had things she never told him.
Leo had no intention of prying.
Though I do have my suspicions.
Just as that thought crossed his mind, something else came to him.
"Come to think of it…" He turned to Rodia. "I heard you left behind a treasury in your homeland?"
"…I suppose Laruel told you I was badmouthing you."
"Yeah. I even formed a contract with her. I couldn't bring her with me since I got pulled into Hero World all of a sudden, though."
Originally, he had planned only to scout, so he hadn't brought any spirit beasts with him. And since they were noisy when tagging along, he usually left them behind at his lodging.
"Laruel may be soft-hearted and too kind for her own good, but she has a strong will when it counts. She'll be a great help."
"Soft-hearted?" Leo frowned.
"Yes. She's adorable when she talks about how beautiful the world is."
Leo smirked wryly, recalling Laruel, who constantly muttered the world is rotten.
Even after forming a contract with him and being influenced by Elsie, she had never stopped saying it.
Kiran had been so startled by her ominous aura that he had backed away, while Arty had covered Fiora's ears to prevent her from hearing Laruel's words.
If you put Elsie and Laruel together, you'd have a hard time telling which one is the darkness elemental and which one is the light elemental.
Clicking his tongue, Leo sighed.
Why are all my contractees so weird?
Deciding to keep Laruel's true nature a secret, he asked, "So, what exactly did you leave in that treasury?"
Rodia's expression stiffened slightly.
"I sealed away Lysinas' power."
"Lysinas' unique magic?"
"Yes."
She bowed her head slightly.
"It was too dark. It was definitely Lysinas' power, but just touching it felt like it could swallow you in darkness.
Not just me—Seiren, Lumene, Azonia, even Damien couldn't control it.
We deemed it too dangerous to handle and sealed it away in the treasury, leaving Laruel in charge of revealing its location to whoever was worthy."
Leo clicked his tongue.
The power of Lysinas' that even I didn't know about.