LHAHS Chapter 547
For both Velkia and Bihar, who had had died long ago, it was truly a dreamlike time.
Velkia had closed her eyes hating the world, and Bihar had closed hers harboring anguish at being unable to stop Velkia.
5000 years passed, and Velkia became an undead while Bihar became a lingering spirit.
The end of both their lives was clearly a tragedy. However…
Velkia looked at Eiran, who was struggling to eat. "Eiran."
"Yes?"
"I'm sorry for showing you such an unsightly side of myself. You were disappointed, weren't you?"
Eiran blinked her large eyes, avoiding Velkia's gaze slightly as she replied, "Rather than disappointed… I was scared."
"……"
"It felt like you weren't the Lady Velkia I knew anymore. I couldn't imagine how much pain you must have gone through… I was scared."
Velkia had shouldered the world entirely, dedicating her all to creating a better one, but what she received in return was betrayal. It was no wonder she became an undead filled with hatred.
"Still." Eiran smiled brightly. "Lady Velkia is Lady Velkia."
The hero who had strived more than anyone for the sake of the world. The fact remained unchanged that Velkia was still the hero Eiran liked and admired the most.
Velkia closed her eyes. She could feel Eiran's unwavering faith.
"I want to become a hero like you, Lady Velkia," Eiran added.
Velkia realized anew. This unchanging faith was her greatest comfort and solace.
Was it like this for Master Luna too?
Even now, it was hatred for the world that kept her, as an undead, lingering on this earth.
She was still sick of it, sick of the fact that she had devoted herself to such a shitty world.
She hated the fact that her close friend had stepped into darkness and strived for a lifetime for such a crappy world.
She abhorred the fact that the Great Heroes had given their all to save such a fucked-up world.
Still… maybe I should have tried a little harder.
Her young descendant's words filled her with regret as much as it restored vitality to her exhausted soul.
Velkia approached Eiran and affectionately rubbed her cheek, just as Luna used to do for her when she was young.
"You can definitely become a hero," she offered the words Luna often used to tell her younger self, giving a bright smile that somehow resembled Luna's.
"You haven't changed even after 5000 years," Leo remarked.
Velkia looked at him. "The path the Great Heroes walked…" She shifted her gaze to Bihar standing beside her. "The path that we followed…" Finally, she took a step back and looked at the three girls. "And now, you intend to follow it."
Generation connected to generation. The world saved by the Great Heroes passed to her. The world she had revived passed to the next generation.
What I did wasn't wrong.
At that moment back then, she felt everything had gone wrong, but it hadn't.
"The world was worth saving after all, Bihar." Velkia smiled brightly at her friend standing beside her.
Seeing Velkia looking somehow relieved, Bihar nodded. [Yes, it's just that the era we lived in was merely the dawn.]
A time before the sun had fully risen. A gray time where darkness and light intersected. An era when the daybreak was slowly brightening.
Velkia nodded at Bihar's words and looked towards the next generation.
"We couldn't stand on the final battlefield. That fact was so infuriating." Her eyes darkened slightly. "The battlefield you will stand on will likely be fierce. So, I ask you. Please don't let what happened 5000 years ago repeat itself."
Velkia said with all her heart, "Move forward, leaning on each other. And after finishing all the battles, make sure you all return together. Come back and…" Velkia looked towards the table. "Spend happy times sitting together like this."
The ordinary daily life they had greeted after the end of the Age of Calamity. She had become so used to it, simply letting the peace flow by day after day without much thought.
Sometimes, however, when she watched the breaking dawn, she would feel the empty space left by the Great Heroes. At times like that, she would realize just how precious that utterly ordinary daily life was.
And she felt regret.
It would have been nice if we were together.
If they could have greeted the morning comfortably in a bright world without any worries.
It really would have been nice.
It was an unattainable dream, but in this moment, that dream came true…for both Velkia and Bihar.
The end of their lives had surely been tragic. Thanks to that, however, they fulfilled their wish even after death.
[Master.]
"What?"
[Want to go for a walk?]
"…It's bothersome." Leo replied listlessly.
Velkia went behind Leo and forcibly pushed his back. "Just go, old man."
"It's bothersome," Leo grumbled again, but went outside without much protest as Velkia pushed him.
The three girls who had been eating also hurriedly followed.
Creeak-!
As sound of the door opening echoed, they saw that the world outside was painted white by the snow that had fallen again, without them realizing it.
Crunch- Crunch-
They walked through the ruined streets, with Velkia and Bihar standing on either side of Leo.
"Master."
"What?"
"We really worked hard."
"So what?"
"……"
[Don't you have anything to say?] Bihar asked bluntly.
Leo chuckled at her words and raised both hands. He reached out and placed his hands on his disciples' heads. "You both did really well."
It was a simple statement. Sincere praise, neither understated nor excessive.
"Thank you so much for not letting our sacrifices be in vain."
He sincerely expressed his gratitude to the disciples who had lived their best for the sake of the Great Heroes, including himself.
His young disciples had grown into adults, dedicated their lives to the world just as he had done in the past, and then met their deaths. Things had gone astray sometimes, but what did it matter?
It wasn't as if their accomplishments would disappear because of it.
Dawn had now completely broken. Sunlight poured down, shattering as it struck people and objects and completely driving away the darkness.
A perfect morning.
However, this miraculous moment also announced the end of the dream.
Leo, who had been stroking his disciples' heads, gently pushed their backs, and Velkia and Bihar walked towards the sunlight without any lingering attachment.
They shook off the regrets that had made one an undead and the other a lingering spirit. Even the small regrets they held from life.
"Ah." Velkia, who had been walking away, stopped as if she had remembered something.
The gloomy, deathly aura around her had vanished completely without a trace. Only a clear, bright energy like Bihar's enveloped her surroundings.
Velkia whispered something softly into Bihar's ear. Bihar nodded, and then she and Velkia simultaneously looked back towards Leo.
Leo wore a puzzled expression as he watched his two disciples standing with the morning sun behind them.
"Cheer up, Dad!" The two shouted in unison, giggled merrily at Leo's dumbfounded expression, and then disappeared into the sunlight.
"Haa…" Leo sighed as if dumbfounded. "Who do they think they're calling Dad!? Damned brats."
Murmuring softly, Leo gazed for a long while at the spot where his two disciples had disappeared.
The three girls watching him couldn't tell what kind of expression Leo ultimately wore.
Rustle- Rustle-
Leo walked across the school grounds covered in fallen leaves. The leaves crumbled under his feet.
Lunia, Eiran, and Chen Xia followed silently behind him.
"Miss Lunia, why are you following us all the way to Lumene?"
"After something like that happened, how could I just let you guys go alone?" Lunia looked worriedly at Leo's back. Gazing at his figure, which looked somehow lonely, Lunia said, "I wonder how he feels?"
"I can't even imagine." Chen Xia shook her head.
The two girls silently watched Leo walking ahead of them. They couldn't easily bring themselves to speak to Leo, because they keenly felt anew just how heavy the burdens he carried were.
Tap-tap-tap-!
"Ah? Miss Eiran?" Lunia gasped.
"What is she doing?!" Chen Xia muttered, startled.
Eiran, who had been beside them, was running towards Leo.
"Sir Leo!"
"…?"
"Please give me special training starting today!" Eiran shouted. "I'll take any kind of training! I'll work harder! Just like Lady Velkia and Lady Bihar did! Just like the other Great Heroes did, I want to be helpful to you, Sir Leo!"
Leo chuckled watching Eiran speak with clenched fists, then roughly ruffled her hair.
"I'll work harder than now too!"
"Me too."
Lunia and Chen Xia, who had approached from behind, said energetically.
Leo chuckled as he watched them speak as if making a vow.
"Oh? Isn't that Leo?"
"Where? Where? Ah! It really is Leo!"
"Leo, Xia, Eiran, you're here?"
"How was the mission?"
Suddenly, Karl, Chelsea, Chloe, and Abad spotted Leo and waved.
"Xia!" Just then, Eliana ran over towards Xia, looking tearful. "The kids from the Knight Department and Magic Department have been treating me like a pest since yesterday!"
"Miss Eliana certainly does act like a pest, doesn't she?" Chen Xia said coldly.
"Prezzzz! The kids are treating me like a pest! This means they're treating you, the all-class president, like a pest too! Punish them!" Eliana complained to Leo this time.
"How pathetic." Celia snorted. "It's not like this is the first or second day, right?"
Nella shook her head, and Duran wore a chilly expression.
"The student council president of Seiren is here too. Why did she come?"
"There must be a reason."
Eliza and Walden showed more interest in Lunia.
It seemed they were moving by department, and it wasn't just the second years. The entire student body seemed to be moving.
Watching the scene, Leo wore a slightly peculiar expression.
"Class prez! Class prez! Are you listening to me?"
"Stop bothering Leo, he just got back from a mission."
"Grow up already, you pest."
Celia and Chloe grabbed Eliana and dragged her away.
Leo chuckled watching them. Seeing the noisy scene naturally brought back memories of the old days.
For a moment, the hectic days at Godthrone, where they were always busy snarling at each other, seemed to overlap with the present.
It's the same.
The admiration that began 5000 years ago. The starting point of all existing heroes.
He clenched his fists as he looked at the candidates, the heroes of the future.
What will the world look like when they ascend to the position of heroes?
5000 years ago, the Hero of the Beginning, Kyle, didn't think about the future. It was his close friends who dreamed about the future in his stead.
I just leaned on and followed the future those guys drew.
Leo looked up at the sky. There was no future left to lean on now.
So, I have no choice but to draw it myself now.
The feeling wasn't bad at all.
Thinking about it makes my heart flutter.
Imagining the future when he would someday lay down all his burdens, the Hero of the Beginning smiled faintly.
The entire student body gathered. Amidst them, everyone's gaze focused on one spot.
"What's the student council president of Seiren doing here?"
"Dunno. Heard she came with the class president today?"
"Isn't this a special class for our school? Is a Seiren student allowed to participate?"
"If you put it that way, there are exchange students too, right?"
"Hmm… that's true."
The Lumene students nodded to each other.
Hmph, how brazen. Even though hundreds of students were staring only at her and murmuring, Lunia didn't bat an eye. Instead, she wore a confident expression.
Just then, Elena Zeron, a 4th year at Lumene and the strongest in the Magic Department, sat down beside Lunia. "Oh my. Hello, Lunia?"
"Ugh? Miss Elena?" Lunia showed a look of discomfort at Elena's appearance.
The two had previously worked together to conquer Luna's world. Elena had been very reliable then, but at the same time, Lunia found her burdensome. Now that Elena approached and greeted her, she felt intimidated for some reason.
Elena looked at Lunia, smiled brightly, and said. "Lunia, won't you transfer to our school?"
"I'm the student council president of Seiren, though?"
"Yep, I know. That's why I'm asking you to transfer. If you transfer, I'll make you vice president. Well, you'd be vice president, but your actual authority would be as powerful as the Seiren student council president's."
"I refuse."
"That's a shame." Elena shrugged her shoulders.
Creeak-!
The door to the large lecture hall opened. At the same time, all the students fell silent.
The one who appeared was a child with beautiful features, gray hair, and gray eyes, making it hard to distinguish whether they were a boy or a girl.
Melina followed behind him.
Leo's eyes, sitting with Karl on one side, twitched.
"Greetings, hero candidates who carry on the spirit of Lumene, successors to the Hero of the Beginning, Kyle. My name is Rian."
The entire student body stared at Rian with puzzled faces.
"Explaining my introduction in detail would make things very complicated, so I'll keep it simple." Rian grinned. "I am a god."