LHAHS Chapter 531
Lunia looked at Leo, who was seated before her, with tense eyes.
Eiran, seeing Lunia's expression, poured tea into her cup with a puzzled look. "Lunia, are you feeling unwell?"
"What? No, I'm fine. Why?"
"You seem a bit uncomfortable. You're even sweating a little."
"Oh, that?" Lunia wore an awkward expression and stole glances at Leo, but when their eyes met, she flinched and quickly lowered her head.
Chen Xia, who stood beside Leo, blinked a few times before smiling. "I thought you were the reckless type, Lunia, but you're surprisingly studious."
"What do you mean, reckless?!" Lunia glared at Chen Xia, but before she could say more, Eiran rested her finger on her chin, gazed at the ceiling in thought, and then broke into a bright smile.
"Rather than reckless, she's more like a delinquent," Eiran remarked.
"What?! Why am I a delinquent?!"
"Hmm… then maybe a troublemaker?" Chen Xia tilted her head.
Eiran smiled as if she agreed.
"You little…!" Lunia clenched her fists and shot up from her seat, but the moment her eyes met Leo's, she flinched and immediately sat back down. "I-I apologize for causing a disturbance… I mean! Sorry."
She hesitated, stole another glance at Leo, and mumbled, "…sir."
Eiran leaned in close to Chen Xia and whispered, "Why is Lunia so nervous?"
"Probably because she's been acting informally with Sir Leo this whole time."
"That's true."
"……" Lunia tightly shut her eyes. She did feel a little guilty about how she had treated Leo before, but more than that…
You guys are the weird ones for being so calm! She screamed in her mind.
Leo was no ordinary person. He was a Great Hero, the Hero of the Beginning, the last surviving hero who defeated Erebos!
It's only natural to be conscious of that!
Judging by the way the Lumene students who knew Leo's identity were acting, they seemed completely unfazed.
What kind of mindset do Lumene students even have?! Has Eiran been influenced by them too?!
Now that she thought about it, Eiran had changed since going to Lumene as an exchange student.
Lunia looked at Eiran with a complicated expression.
Leo said, "Eiran, Lunia. There's something I need to tell you."
"What is it, Sir Leo?" Eiran, sitting beside Lunia, looked at him curiously.
Lunia, who had been observing Leo's expression, seemed to realize something and asked in disbelief, "Leo, do you know who attacked the headmaster?"
Eiran's expression immediately changed. "Is that true?"
Lunia glanced at Eiran with slight surprise. Given the circumstances, it was only natural for Eiran to be furious, but even so, Lunia had never heard her voice sound so cold.
Before Lunia could fully process the unfamiliar side of her friend, Eiran's sharp gaze turned to Leo, as sharp as if she were ready to strike at any moment. "Who's the culprit?" she demanded.
Leo closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"Sir Leo…" Chen Xia called out worriedly.
Leo opened his eyes, looked at her, and smiled. "It's fine."
He understood what she was worried about. Chen Xia knew as well as anyone, just how much Velkia meant to Eiran.
That's why she needs to know even more.
At first, Leo had hesitated to tell Eiran the truth, but Rune had told him, "Eiran is the heir of the Ersar family."
She had the right to know everything, and she was strong enough to bear the truth.
If not for Leo, Rune himself would have told her.
"Lunia was right, Eiran. I know who struck down your grandfather."
"Who is it?" Eiran's eyes gleamed ominously.
Lunia's gaze also turned cold.
Looking at the two elves, Leo finally said, "Velkia."
Both Eiran and Lunia blinked in bewilderment.
Seeing their reactions, Leo continued, "The culprit is my disciple, and… Eiran's ancestor, Velkia."
Eiran's expression stiffened, but a moment later, her face began to turn pale.
Leo said"Tonight, I plan to leave in search of Velkia," Leo added.
Chen Xia asked worriedly, "Will you be able to find Lady Velkia in the vast northern continent?"
"I've already figured out which direction she went," Leo replied.
Chen Xia looked slightly surprised at that, but she soon accepted it. Before coming to the Ersar family's estate, the two of them had visited the crime scene and found countless clues.
If it was Leo, it wouldn't have been difficult to determine where Velkia went.
Sir Leo is the first Shadow, after all.
Shadows had to excel at tracking, and there was no way Leo wouldn't be capable of that. Chen Xia knew well that Leo's skills in that area were on an entirely different level.
Leo sighed, "I won't force you to come. It's too dangerous."
Lunia asked gravely, "Leo… does that mean you can't defeat Lady Velkia?"
"I can't say for sure. If I were still Kyle, maybe, but in terms of pure strength, Velkia far surpasses me as I am now," Leo explained calmly. "Moreover, right now, Velkia won't listen to anything I say. She might even kill me."
Chen Xia said, "Even if you try to stop me, I will follow you. If it's a dangerous place, all the more reason I should go."
"I'm going too. Lady Luna must have been worried about Lady Velkia," Lunia said resolutely.
"I don't know if I'll be of any help, but… I want to do my best to persuade Lady Velkia."
Leo nodded and turned to Eiran.
"I…" Eiran hesitated, her lips trembling. Then, lowering her gaze, she said determinedly, "I want to see Lady Velkia."
The image of Velkia she had seen in the Hero Record flashed through her mind.
She still couldn't believe it. That Velkia had fallen and become an undead? Had transformed into a being consumed by hatred?
However, she knew all too well that Leo would never lie about something like this. It was shocking, but she refused to turn away.
"I want to meet her and speak with her."
Eiran bit her lip. She didn't know what she would say. Her mind was still in disarray from the shock. She was so confused that she wasn't even sure why she wanted to see Velkia.
All she knew was that she had to stop her somehow.
"We'll leave as soon as we're ready," Leo said, then walked out of the room.
The three girls clenched their lips tightly at the clear shift in atmosphere.
A difficult journey awaited them.
A week had passed since Leo's group began pursuing Velkia.
Leo had been tracking the lingering traces of Velkia's mana that he remembered, but after a week, even those traces had vanished.
Whoooosh…!
Standing in a snowstorm within a dense forest, Leo let out a deep sigh. "This is troublesome."
No matter how skilled he was, he couldn't create a trail that no longer existed.
"It looks like we'll have to spend the night in this forest," Chen Xia suggested.
Leo nodded. "Yeah."
It was already late, and continuing forward wouldn't yield any results.
The group quickly set up camp.
Lunia retrieved a tent from her subspace. In the northern continent's harsh winter, the extreme cold arrived much earlier than in other regions, and it was brutal. No matter how trained hero candidates were, sleeping under the blizzard would be unbearable.
That was why Seiren Academy taught survival skills thoroughly from the first year.
Stepping inside the tent, Chen Xia muttered in wonder, "Still, it feels strange. I never expected elves, with their refined image, to be so accustomed to camping."
"What, did you think we conjured a mansion every time we slept outside?"
Chen Xia nodded seriously with a straight face. "Yes. If it's Seiren, I wouldn't be surprised."
Lunia let out a sigh. "Now I see how other schools think of us."
Clicking her tongue, she removed her coat in the tent.
Whoosh…!
With a flick of her magic, the tent, spacious enough for four people to sleep comfortably, warmed up.
Lunia unfolded a round table from her subspace and called out, "Everyone, gather around."
Leo, Chen Xia, and Eiran sat beside her.
Lunia spread a map of the northern continent on the table. "This is the route we've traveled so far."
From the moment they left El-Salbekia, their week-long journey was marked on the map.
"We've been wandering aimlessly."
"Velkia's not in a normal state of mind," Leo remarked, looking at the plotted path of Velkia's movements. It was obvious she had been wandering around erratically.
Lunia nodded. "Right. Lady Velkia doesn't know about this era, and she hasn't revealed herself to anyone either."
There were numerous villages along their route over the past week, but every single one had reported no visitors from outside.
"This is just my opinion, but… even if she's become an undead, Lady Velkia is still Lady Velkia. She would never harm innocent people. She's probably only targeting specific individuals." Lunia's crimson eyes scanned the map. "If that's the case, then she's most likely headed here."
She pointed to a location on the map not far from their current position. It was a small city-state called Eldon.
Chen Xia groaned, "Isn't that the city where the Pureblood Society holds the most power in the northern continent?"
"Yes, that's right." Lunia frowned.
Eldon was a nation where even the parliament and the citizens were steeped in pureblood ideology. To put it nicely, they had a strong sense of racial pride. To put it bluntly, they were the epitome of narrow-minded elves.
Because of that, she wasn't exactly thrilled about setting foot there.
"That's why I thought we should investigate this place. What do you think?" she cautiously asked while watching Leo's expression.
Leo, who had been listening to the explanation, nodded. It was a reasonable judgment, especially coming from Lunia, who was well-versed in the northern continent's political landscape. "Good idea. Well thought out."
Lunia smiled. Their destination was set.
After that, they discussed their plan for when they entered Eldon.
However, throughout the entire discussion, Eiran only stared blankly, lost in thought.
Lunia and Chen Xia exchanged worried glances as they looked at her.
"Eiran, are you really okay?"
"Yes. I'm fine." Eiran nodded, but her voice was weak.
She had been like this for the past week.
Lowering her head, she bit her lip.
Whoooosh…!
The howling of the blizzard echoed inside the dark tent. Outside, it was a snowy, stormy night, and even within, there was no light, yet Leo lay awake in his sleeping bag, eyes open.
Even in the darkness, he could clearly see the dagger in his hand.
Bihar.
The weapon he held was none other than Bihar's dagger.
How the hell am I supposed to get through to that stubborn idiot?
In the pitch-black void, he directed a question to another of his disciples—one who would never hear it.
And… can you forgive Velkia?
Bihar had lost her life because of injuries sustained in her battle with Velkia. She had died suddenly, unable to pass on her will fully to her children. If she had lived a little longer, her descendants' lives might have been very different.
What did she think about in her final moments? She must have resented Velkia.
Leo slowly closed his eyes and tightened his grip around the dagger.
Whoosh—crunch, crunch.
His sharpened senses caught the sound of footsteps on the snow.
Rustle! Whoooosh…!
The sound of the tent entrance carefully being opened was accompanied by the fierce wind.
Crunch—crunch.
Someone stepped inside, treading cautiously toward Leo. With a trembling voice, the intruder said, "Sir Leo… are you awake?"
The one who had snuck into his tent in the middle of the night was none other than Eiran.
"Can't sleep?" Leo asked.
"…Yes."
Eiran, Lunia, and Chen Xia had been sharing a tent, while Leo had taken a smaller one for himself. Since they needed space to wash up and change clothes, separating tents was natural.
Leo looked at Eiran in the darkness. Her clothes were wet, likely from pushing through the snowstorm in just her nightwear. On top of that, her body trembled from the bitter cold.
"Wait a moment. I'll make you some warm tea," he said.
"I don't need tea." Eiran shook her head, her voice trembling. Moving closer to Leo, she mumbled, "I just… Sir Leo, can I sleep with you?"