LHAHS Chapter 463
Leo's morning began so early that it couldn't even be called dawn.
Leaving his dormitory room, he headed down to the lounge, where he ran into Chloe.
"Good morning, Leo," she greeted, yawning slightly as she descended the stairs from the girls' dormitory.
She rubbed her eyes, looking as if she hadn't fully woken up yet. This was one of the rare moments when Chloe, who usually never showed any weaknesses, appeared slightly unguarded.
With a dazed expression, she reached toward the table in the lounge, where the dormitory's morning milk bottles were neatly stacked.
After finishing a bottle, her eyes regained clarity. Fully awake now, she grabbed a book and followed Leo outside the dormitory.
This was their normal routine. Leo would do his morning training, and Chloe would read while enjoying the crisp morning air.
Click.
They stepped outside.
Next to the dormitory were individual mailboxes for the students. Leo and Chloe noticed that one particular mailbox was stuffed to the brim with letters.
"Isn't that your mailbox?" Chloe asked, looking bewildered.
"Yeah." Leo opened it, puzzled, and checked its contents.
Seeing the colorful stationery with beautiful handwriting, Chloe's expression turned into one of disbelief.
"Are those… love letters?"
"Seems like it."
He often received letters, but this was on an entirely different level.
Leo looked at the pile with an incredulous expression. "There are a lot of letters from outside the school," he noted, skimming through them.
There were letters from noble daughters of prestigious families across different countries and even some from princesses. Sending letters to Lumene was extremely expensive, yet they had poured in from all over the world, all addressed to Leo.
"Is it because you became a hero?" Chloe asked.
Leo smirked as if he didn't think much of it.
"Are you going to read them all?" she asked cautiously.
"No."
Without hesitation, he shoved the letters back into the mailbox and headed toward the training grounds.
"You're going to the garden to read, right?"
"Yeah. But the autumn breeze is nice today, so I think I'll change things up a bit."
Feeling a strange sense of unease, Chloe followed after Leo.
A short while later…
"President! Now that it's the second semester, I want to start fresh and train in the mornings. Can you help me?"
"Would you mind teaching me magic…?"
"Uhm, I've been thinking about how to deepen my connection with elementals. Can I get some advice?"
The training grounds, usually empty at this hour, were now packed with female students.
Seeing so many girls bursting with enthusiasm so soon after the semester started, Chloe opened and closed her mouth, speechless.
"Yeah, the ones who had just been testing the waters will start moving more boldly now."
Eliana's words from yesterday flashed through her mind.
This is what she meant? She usually lacks awareness, but when it comes to things like this, she's frighteningly sharp.
Pressing her fingers to her temple at the realization, Chloe glanced at Leo.
Her eyes wavered slightly.
I know Leo isn't the type to be swayed by popularity or attention from girls.
But he was still human. It was only natural that he would feel favorable toward girls who approached him warmly and smiled at him.
And the girls approaching him now were undeniably beautiful.
They put on makeup for morning training? Wow, that girl's outfit is ridiculously revealing.
Chloe mumbled internally and glanced at Leo's face.
Leo was looking at the girls with a gentle smile.
Blinking at his expression, Chloe silently left the training grounds.
What? Chloe Mueller just left?
I was annoyed that she was sticking around all morning, but…
Did she just leave on her own?
The female students internally cheered as they watched Chloe walk away.
Leo, unaware of their silent celebration, smiled. "You're all quite passionate this early in the morning. Your determination to get stronger is impressive."
"If you're working hard, we have to push ourselves too," a girl who exuded maturity said as she elegantly brushed her hair back. She had an undeniably alluring presence.
Leo smiled at the sight. "Then I'll do my best to help you all as well."
"Yes! But first, I made this for you."
"Me too! It's a stamina-recovery potion with fruit juice! It should taste good!"
The girls took out bottles of drinks and tried to hand them to Leo.
"You should keep those. You'll need them more than I will."
"Huh?"
The girls looked confused.
"Since it's still early in the morning, why don't we start with a light warmup?"
"Oh, uh, sure."
"Physical training, huh…"
Though they sensed something was off, the girls were still eager to impress Leo.
A short while later…
"Kyaaaaaaah—!"
The early morning was filled with the girls' desperate screams.
Sitting on a bench in the Glory dormitory garden, enjoying the autumn breeze and reading a book, Chloe glanced up.
"Sigh, I feel sorry for them."
"Ughhh."
Morning combat class.
Since it was the first class of the second semester, it was held in the main auditorium.
With all the second-year students gathered, Carl sat next to Leo with a dazed expression.
"Why do you look so exhausted this early in the morning? Did you also get some special training from Leo?" Chelsea, sitting next to Leo, giggled as she asked.
The story of how Leo had put the girls who tried to flirt with him through collective "morning training" earlier had already spread throughout the entire school.
"Do you have any idea how much the second-years and even the upperclassmen tormented me this morning?" Carl replied, his face drained of all life. "Remember that love potion incident? They were all begging me to make one for them."
Chelsea frowned. "Didn't the student council already banned that weird potion?"
The previous year, Carl had brewed a love potion using a recipe from Dweno's Alchemy Book, causing a massive commotion. Although it had been deemed a failure at the time, the student council had still forbidden its production.
Carl had no interest in getting blacklisted by the student council for making a useless potion.
Well, it was actually a complete success.
It had just been created under the unique sensibilities of Dweno, leading to effects quite different from what people had expected.
Either way, using that thing on students would cause all sorts of trouble.
"They have some nerve. Who requested it?" Chelsea asked.
"I don't know. It was an anonymous request. I was so busy reporting it to the student council this morning that I didn't get enough sleep."
"What kind of idiot would want something like that?"
"Probably one of the girls targeting Leo."
"Why are they suddenly resorting to illegal potions to go after Leo?"
Carl smirked. "Our innocent little lady still doesn't understand how the world works."
"I'll make your future very dark."
"Gyahhh! Stop! Stop!"
Carl screamed and struggled as Chelsea grabbed his face with both hands and pressed her thumbs into his eyes.
Barely escaping her grasp, he groaned, "It's because Leo has officially become a hero! He was already like a lottery ticket with a guaranteed win, but now imagine that ticket suddenly skyrocketing in value by an insane amount. If they can just get Leo, their lives will be completely transformed. The girls who were already after him must be going crazy now."
Resting his chin on his hand, Carl turned to Leo. "Don't you think it's a waste? You could date any girl you wanted. Why not enjoy a school life straight out of a novel? If it were me—ahh, man~"
"Gross."
"Hey now! Gross? I'm just advocating for a healthy, bittersweet, heart-pounding, and slightly dangerous romance between men and women! If you don't experience that as a student, when will you?"
"Wow, what a pervert."
"Hey, Leo, tell me. You're at least a little interested in that, right?" Carl, feeling unfairly criticized by Chelsea, turned to Leo.
"Not really." Leo smiled.
"See? Leo is different from you."
"How can you not be interested? You're a guy too!"
"Think of me as an adult with more experience than you realize."
"You're the same age as us, and all you do is study and train. What experience could you possibly have?" Carl asked, confused, knowing Leo's daily routine well.
On the other hand, Chelsea opened and closed her mouth, realization dawning on her.
Now that I think about it, Leo really is an adult, isn't he?
Leo was a legendary Great Hero. He wasn't just a student.
If he's an adult, then…
"Hey, are you feeling sick? Why is your face suddenly red?"
"N-No, it's nothing?" Chelsea shook her head frantically in response to Carl's question.
As Leo chuckled at Chelsea's reaction…
Bang!
"Students! Did you have a good vacation?"
The doors swung open, and Sedgen appeared.
"I hear some of you had quite the elegant vacation!" He scanned the gathered second-years. "Experiencing things at your age that you normally wouldn't is a good thing. Use those experiences as stepping stones for greater progress! And for those who didn't, don't be discouraged! You are still young—no, you are still children!"
Clearing his throat, Sedgen folded his arms. "On that note, I will now explain the second-semester combat training evaluations!"
The students stared blankly. As seasoned second-years, they weren't surprised to hear about evaluations on the first day of class.
At that moment, Duran raised his hand.
"What is it, my dear student, Duran?"
"For this semester's combat training evaluations, will they only last until midterms? Or will they continue for the entire second semester?"
"It will be a semester-long evaluation. Also, from today onward, all second-year combat classes will be self-directed."
The students' eyes widened in shock.
This was unprecedented. Combat training was as important as academic classes. Yet now, they were being told it would be self-directed for the entire semester.
"Well, in truth, the entire second-year curriculum will have a strong self-directed component," Sedgen grinned. "Because your second-semester combat rankings will be determined by your mission scores."
"You mean…"
"That's right. Starting this semester, you will officially take on commissions as hero candidates and be dispatched across the world!"
"Wow, this is seriously unexpected."
Lunchtime, after class.
Carl shook his head in disbelief as he ate at the plaza restaurant in front of the Tower of Heroes.
"I didn't think they'd make the classes fully self-directed. This is basically a third-year first-semester curriculum."
It was true that second-years began taking on commissions in the second semester. However, it was usually within a controlled structure. Most commissions were tailored to match their skill level.
A select few students had different cases, but that was only for the top-ranking ones. Giving the entire grade this level of autonomy was unheard of.
"The higher-ups have high expectations for our generation. Plus, the professors must think we're capable of handling it," Chelsea commented as she scanned the menu.
"Can't they spare a thought for the weaker students too?"
"Carl, we'll step on your corpse as we move forward."
"Don't just kill me off! And don't use me as a stepping stone either!" Carl wailed.
"But what's Leo doing at the bulletin board?"
Carl looked over at Leo, who was standing in front of the plaza's commission board.
"Seems like he's looking at missions."
"But aren't the commissions on the plaza board mostly the hardest ones with the lowest point values?"
"Yeah."
"Why's he even looking at those? He could pick any easy commission he wanted. I heard high-ranking escort missions have great rewards and practically feel like vacations," Carl muttered enviously.
Chelsea, still reading the menu, replied, "It's Leo. He probably has a deeper reason."
While Chelsea and Carl placed their orders, Leo narrowed his eyes at one particular commission on the board.
On a gray commission sheet, the words [Investigation of Hero's Tomb Robberies] were written.
At a glance, it seemed like a simple request. However…
The fact that all the looted graves belong to heroes bothers me.