133.
For a moment, Elena had a vacant look on her face.
Seeing such an Elena, Leo smiled.
“It’s a joke.”
‘Are you teasing me?’
Elena snorted at the sight of this audacious first-year casually making fun of her, who was called the Queen of the School.
“So, are you joining the party?”
“No. I’ve already chosen a place for my practical assignment.”
“Did you receive an invitation from another raid party by any chance?”
“It’s not that.”
“Then why aren’t you joining the raid party? It would be beneficial for you.”
“Why is joining a raid party beneficial?”
Elena was genuinely startled to see Leo, looking perplexed, question her.
She thought it was an offer a first-year simply couldn’t refuse.
After all, it’s practically the same as announcing she would be handing over the rewards from the Hero Dungeon expedition.
‘But why is he declining? Could it be he doesn’t understand the value of the Hero’s World?’
There’s no way.
Leo is an exceptionally talented student, having even been chosen as the class representative.
There’s no way such a student would fail to understand both the meaning and value of tackling the Hero’s World.
‘Is it just out of pride then?’
But from Elena’s perspective, Leo didn’t seem like someone to act out of such emotions.
“I don’t have anything more to say here. I’ll be on my way now.”
With a slight bow, Leo left his seat.
Watching his retreating figure, Elena narrowed her eyes.
“Hmm.”
Elena twirled a strand of her hair as if the situation displeased her.
The Blue Moon party members glared, alternating their gaze between Leo and Elena.
How dare someone reject an invitation from Elena, known as the Queen of Lumeran!
Other students couldn’t believe it either, staring at Leo.
Furious cries rang out from the Blue Moon party members.
“That insolent brat! How dare he reject Elena’s invitation?”
“Is he blind because he’s the leader of the first-year?”
“Elena, should I teach him a lesson?”
At this opportunity, the members of the Blue Moon Party rushed to speak up.
They hoped that perhaps, by leaving a good impression on Elena now, they might make it into the upcoming raid.
While twirling her hair, Elena smiled at them with a slight smirk.
“Who gave you permission to speak freely to me?”
At her words, even the fourth-year students of the Blue Moon Party, who were older than Elena, flinched and said nothing.
After giving them a light smile, she tapped her heels and walked away from the first-year dormitory.
‘Such disgrace.’
She had her party invitation rejected in front of many others.
Tomorrow, it would surely make a headline in the school newspaper.
Of course, Elena wouldn’t care even if it did reach the papers.
She didn’t pay attention to the murmurs of people who meant nothing to her.
‘My abilities aren’t working on him at all.’
Elena’s pink eyes glowed dangerously.
She’d had an innate charm to lead people ever since she was born.
It wasn’t merely due to her background or talent, nor was it just her looks.
She possessed a bewitching quality akin to a curse that could push both herself and others into misfortune.
However, that curse, combined with her exceptional hero talents, became a powerful tool for her.
With just her gaze, she could make ordinary people submit.
Even someone with strong willpower would feel immense fondness for her.
People who understood her power either feared her or turned against her.
Yet, her charm had no effect on Leo.
“Orbe.”
“Yes, Miss.”
“Please find out which region Leo Flove is heading for his practical assignment.”
Orbe, Elena’s attendant, hesitated upon hearing this.
“Isn’t uncovering another student’s personal information a violation of school rules?”
“Are you really that naïve? Do you think I care about such things?”
While twirling her hair, Elena replied.
“Understood.”
Orbe bowed and disappeared back into the shadows.
Walking alone through the school at night, Elena muttered quietly.
“Leo Flove…”
Elena curved her lips into a faint smile.
“It’s interesting.”
The next morning.
The rumor of Leo rejecting Elena’s party invitation had spread throughout the entire school.
“Fuuha ha ha ha ha!”
Hark, the fourth-year representative, burst into uncontrollable laughter while reading the newspaper with his eyepatch raised.
Lil, the second-year representative, dropped her fork while reading the paper and chewing her breakfast.
“Don’t you think our school’s newspaper section writes articles that are a bit too sensational?”
Each morning, when the school newspaper was distributed to the classes, Chelsea muttered these words. Kal shrugged.
“What can we do? The newspaper staff needs to eat, right?”
On the newspaper’s front page was the headline, [The Queen’s Disgrace], printed in large letters.
“Still, the newspaper staff’s pretty brave, huh?”
“They’re occasionally a bit mad.”
Kal chuckled lightly and then asked Leo,
“How does it feel to bring the Queen dishonor?”
“Eh, nothing much.”
“But with such widespread embarrassment, won’t she seek revenge or something?”
“I don’t think so. He’s not the type to cut his reputation over such things. And he’s the type who won’t care what others say.”
The problem lies with the followers of Elena.
“Her followers tend to be highly jealous,” Lil had mentioned before.
“Not that I care if such bunches run wild anyway. It’s slightly annoying, though.”
Most people were irrelevant to Leo and his concerns anyway.
“To enter the forbidden library, you need Elena’s permission.”
To investigate the Hero Record, one required the permission of the vice-principal delegate, Elena.
Previously, she wouldn’t even listen to him, but now, for some reason, she’s willing to consider his request.
“Even if she agrees, it won’t guarantee access to the forbidden library.”
He could still evaluate and choose to reject.
“And I’d rather not have school life tied up by this.”
Elena was a strong candidate for the next president.
Being involved in her dungeon raid party would surely come with many troublesome matters.
“It’s already quite busy, you know.”
While entering the forbidden library to understand why the Hero Record is fragmented was important, his immediate priority was uncovering the traitor within Lumeran.
“The forbidden library? We can talk about that later.”
Click—
The classroom door opened, and Halind entered.
Once the students hastily took their seats, Halind, standing at the podium, said,
“Have all the assignment requests been confirmed from yesterday?”
“Yes!”
“If so, submit a brief mission plan report for the assignment you chose yesterday.”
“Understood!”
The fifth class quickly drafted their assignment plan reports.
Afterwards, Halind meticulously reviewed them to ensure the chosen requests weren’t excessive for the students’ capabilities.
While doing this, Halind paused upon reading Leo’s mission plan.
Usually, first-years choose assignments appropriate to their abilities during their first practical assignment.
Occasionally, some choose assignments beyond their capacity, but it’s extremely rare to see them pick an assignment beneath their capabilities.
A simpler task might be chosen by upperclassmen who have already met their mission point requirements but still need to complete an obligatory number of missions.
“Is it really the thievery elimination mission at Garan region? Leo Flove.”
“Yes.”
“Hmm. You surprise me in many ways.”
Rubbing his chin, Halind pondered.
It was the professor’s duty to guide students attempting assignments mismatched with their abilities. In this case, though, he was unsure what to do.
“Perhaps he does have his own reasons.”
Halind thought Leo certainly had some plan in mind.
With that thought, Halind chuckled.
“Who would’ve thought I’d trust a first-year so much?”
Shaking his head, Halind stamped Leo’s practical assignment form.
As their brief discussion ended, Halind said,
“The start of your practical assignment will be in two days. Prepare yourselves.”
“Yes!”
Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh!
The cold wind howled.
A land where winter was fierce throughout the year.
The place where beautiful elf students studied to become heroes. Seirun.
“Choo!”
While walking through the corridor of Seirun, the red-haired girl Lunia sneezed.
“Khuueng!”
Wiping her nose and making congested noises, Lunia caused Eiran to worry and speak up.
“Lunia, are you okay?”
“Yeah. Hic—!”
Since elves lived in cold climates, they were naturally strong against winter.
Especially Lunia, the heir of the Lundar family, who wielded the power of the Phoenix, was almost immune to the cold.
However, being resistant to it and liking it were two different things.
Lunia particularly disliked the cold.
“By the way, it was mentioned that Mr. Herdium’s exchange student proposal, including Leo, might take place. What’s the status?”
Shaking her head, Lunia responded,
“It’s unlikely. They proposed a near semester stay for him here, but there’s no way Lumeran would send someone like Leo away for so long.”
Leo Flove had become so famous that hardly anyone in Seirun hadn’t heard of him.
‘That guy is always staying ahead. And it’s not as though Leo is the only exceptional student from Lumeran’s first year.’
Thinking about the competition with Lumeran’s first-year students whom she’ll face throughout her school life, Lunia smirked.
“It’ll be fun.”
As she grinned fiercely and her eyes sparkled, a stern voice interrupted her thoughts.
“Your expression doesn’t suit someone who is a class representative.”
Upon seeing the approaching male student, Lunia’s expression turned irritable.
Eiran instinctively bowed low.
“Big Brother Hardin, hello.”
“Hmph. Eiran, I hear you’ve pulled yourself together a bit recently.”
Hardin adjusted his glasses with a cold smile as he observed Eiran.
“You’re well aware of the disgrace you’ve brought upon the school as the class representative, right?”
At Hardin’s words, Eiran flinched.
“Don’t do anything that undermines the dignity of our school while representing this class.”
Eiran couldn’t respond.
Lunia watched Hardin with an unimpressed look.
“And Lunia, how many times have I told you not to make that face?”
“What’s so wrong with my face?”
“It’s the face of a street thug.”
Even as he criticized her manner, Hardin Hardtian, the third-year class leader, scrutinized Lunia’s untidy uniform.
With the top few buttons of her shirt undone and her uniform carelessly left untucked, Lunia was dressed rather casually.
“In addition, that unruly outfit again.”
The prideful third-year was always quick to criticize the class representative Lunia.
“As the class representative, you should maintain proper behavior. Haven’t I told you this multiple times?”
“Yeah, yeah, I know.”
Lunia lazily replied while redoing her shirt buttons and tidying up her uniform.
“Happy now?”
“Hmph.”
Hardin adjusted his glasses and scoffed.
“By the way, what brings you to the first-year classroom?”
“We are scheduled to go on a mission together this time.”
“….”
Lunia’s face showed sheer exhaustion.
“It’s not like you have to be this pleased.”
“Does it look like I’m pleased?”
“Anyway? Where are we going for our practical assignment?”
“The area called Garan, at the southwestern end of the continent.”
“Garan?”
‘At least it sounds warm, so that’s good.’
“EIsn’t that the territory of humans and beastmen? Why are we going there?”
At Eiran’s puzzled expression, Hardin explained:
“Heard from the principal that there might be an ‘undiscovered Hero Dungeon’ there. Anyhow, Lunia, we’re leaving in two days. Prepare thoroughly.”
With that, Hardin left.
As he did so, he recalled,
“Eiran, keep up the good work.”
“Understood.”
“Hmph.”
He scoffed coldly before walking away.
As Lunia watched his departing figure thoughtfully, her eyes soon began to gather snow.
Not forgetting to place a small stone inside the snowball, Lunia meticulously formed it.
She then readied herself to throw it directly at Hardin’s head.
Eiran panicked and clung to Lunia’s arm.
“Lu, Lunia, that’s going to start a fight with the older student!”
“It’s fine. That annoying guy won’t be hurt from something like this.”
“It’s not okay!”
Eiran insisted, preventing the snowball from being launched.
![[TS] The Protagonist is Conquered](https://i3.wp.com/novelhitam.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1743806812-5548-TS-The-Protagonist-is-Conquered.png?resize=85,105 "[TS] The Protagonist is Conquered")
