Chapter 137

137.

“Ah, Teacher Akinte! So, um… this is how it is!”

Luna looked at Leo while hurriedly speaking.

Upon hearing her words, Leo, who had been frozen in place, regained his composure.

‘Akinte?’

Leo slightly moved his eyes and plunged into deep thought to assess the situation.

“I may have missed class, but… well! It’s for the sake of magic research, you could say! That’s why I missed it!”

The young Luna hastily made an excuse.

While listening to Luna’s words, Leo stroked his chin and suddenly glanced at the wide window next to the hallway.

Looking at his faint reflection, he completed his assessment of the situation.

‘So, it’s a soul fusion type.’

The Hero’s World comes in various forms.

The Hero’s World that Leo had entered this time was of the type where one’s soul fuses with the body of a historical figure.

In other words, Leo’s soul had entered the body of a man named Akinte.

Fortunately, Akinte was someone Leo knew about.

‘Akinte Rubisha, one of Luna’s magic teachers.’

He had never met Akinte in person when he was Kyle, because Akinte had already passed away during Kyle’s time with Luna.

However, Akinte was someone often mentioned when Luna would tell stories about her past. She spoke of him fondly as her benefactor and someone like a father to her.

While recalling Luna’s nostalgic expressions, Leo knelt down and helped her pick up the books she had dropped.

Seeing Leo’s actions, Luna’s eyes widened.

“Where are we going?”

“Huh?”

“I mean, where are we going?”

“Are you not going to scold me?”

“You secretly skipping class isn’t exactly new, you know.”

“Uh…”

Leo’s words made Luna flinch.

Seeing this, Leo chuckled and easily lifted the pile of books that would have been heavy for Luna while responding,

“I’ll help you.”

Watching Leo willingly assist her, Luna was initially baffled but quickly cheered up and started humming a little tune.

‘She’s simple, whether she’s young or grown-up.’

A laugh escaped Leo as he thought about this time period’s Luna, who would later be known as the benevolent ancestor of the Star Cloud.

‘Benevolent she may be now… but back then, she was just an eccentric hot-head.’

Her personality was extremely straightforward and eccentric.

‘If the present-day elves were to see the real Luna, they’d be greatly shocked.’

While thinking about the image of Luna as depicted in fairy tales and documents, Leo shook his head again and again.

But the drive and determination she displayed when she got serious about something were impressive.

The Magic of the Stars was a product of her burning desire to become a great wizard.

As Leo watched Luna’s retreating figure skipping along lightly, with his mood brightened, he smiled faintly.

‘I’d like to talk with her more, but…’

Deep conversations were not possible.

This time, Luna was in her time period way before she met Kyle.

Leo knew Luna, but she didn’t know him.

Even though they’d met inside the Hero’s World, it was disheartening that they couldn’t share stories with each other.

Before long, Luna arrived in front of a room.

It was a shabby storeroom.

“Here it is, Teacher Akinte. Please give me the magic books. I’ll study here.”

Following her words, Leo handed her the books he was holding.

The stack of magic books blocked Luna’s view.

Leo opened the storeroom door for her.

“Thank you, Teacher Akinte!”

Smiling widely, Luna stepped inside.

“KYAAK!”

Then, her foot got caught, and she fell over.

Watching this, Leo burst out laughing and closed the door.

As the thought of wanting to stay longer came to Leo, he reminded himself that there were tasks to be done.

‘First, I need to understand the Hero Dungeon. Then, I have to find the other three.’

Thud, thud.

While walking down the hallway, Leo thought.

‘I passed through a warp gate headed towards Guardstron before entering the Hero Dungeon directly.’

Remembering just before entering the Hero Dungeon, Leo narrowed his eyes.

‘I heard that the Hero Dungeon phenomenon happens when a Hero Record goes berserk, didn’t I?’

Initially, the Hero Dungeon merely intrudes into a part of reality, creating only an ‘entrance.’

However, if the chaos persists, the Hero Dungeon distorts reality itself.

If it isn’t cleared quickly, it transforms into a catastrophe.

‘There will be incidents where monsters from the Hero Dungeon invade reality.’

Additionally, there’s a phenomenon where the surrounding area gets absorbed.

‘This world belongs to Luna.’

Even though their names were erased upon entering the Hero Dungeon, it was clear.

Barharun.

This was the name of the elf city that existed before the Era of Catastrophe.

‘More accurately, it’s a huge academy.’

An academy where only the chosen elves could enter.

At that time, those who graduated from Barharun were recognized as High Elves.

Like the present-day Seirun, Barharun was also a place for nurturing future candidates.

’THe Elf King.’

The Elf King is not a hereditary position based on lineage but rather an honorable elf is chosen from among the High Elves.

The title of the Elf King disappeared in the Era of Catastrophe.

Along with it, Barharun was also forgotten in the annals of history.

‘This was around the time Luna was fifteen years old, right?’

Luna’s time in Barharun was before the Era of Catastrophe.

’What exactly were her great accomplishments during this period?’

Even Leo didn’t know exactly what feats Luna achieved during this time.

Luna, the genius of magic, was an elf whose very existence was considered a great accomplishment.

’She bragged a lot about how amazing she was during her school days.’

Leo recalled the tales of grandeur that Luna had proudly told at times, which only added to his confusion.

Leo roughly scratched his head.

‘First, I need to reunite with Lunia, Elena, and Hardin.’

Similar to how Leo’s soul had fused with Akinte’s body, the three of them must have also fused with others’ bodies.

‘Then, it will be hard to find them because their appearances would have changed.’

“Akinte teacher! What are you doing here?”

“Huh?”

Startled by someone rushing towards him, Leo turned around to see a male elf in his early twenties standing there.

“Who is this?”

“There’s no time for jokes! You’re late for class! The students have gone berserk!”

Realizing the situation, Leo scratched his head.

‘I’m a teacher, that’s right.’

His mind had been preoccupied with thoughts about the Hero Dungeon so he had forgotten.

‘In order to properly tackle this Hero World, I need to fully play my role as well.’

In the fusion-type Hero’s World, one must truly become the person whose body they’ve fused with.

Since Barharun teachers were no exception, any negligence could hinder their progress.

Even the slightest misstep could ruin the whole mission.

‘This world is more complicated than the others I’ve tackled so far.’

With a sigh, Leo followed the elf who had come to fetch him toward the classroom.

When they arrived, it wasn’t just any regular place; a massive training ground sprawled before them.

There, the elves were lined up.

“Sorry I’m late.”

In response to Leo’s apology, the representative-looking elf showed his dissatisfaction.

“It’s not something that can be excused by just saying you’re late, Teacher Akinte!”

Other elves nodded in agreement with his statement.

“We are all candidates for the Elf King! We stand here with the pride of our families and our race! How can we trust and follow a teacher who slacks off like this!”

With this strong declaration, Leo inquired,

“And what exactly do you want?”

“We demand that you be replaced as our teacher!”

“We demand it!”

As the representative shouted it, the other students echoed it.

At this response, Leo wore an expression that showed he found it absurd.

‘To request teacher replacement because I was late for class? Are they in their right minds?’

Also, according to Luna, Akinte was an exceptionally skilled teacher.

“Hey, what’s your name?”

“…? That’s a strange question. Hirkyan Besron.”

‘Hirkyan? This guy?’

Leo’s eyes turned cold.

Though he had never met him personally, the elf was someone Kyle knew.

An infamous elf from the Era of Catastrophe.

‘The kin-murderer Hirkyan Besron.’

The Besron family was a prominent elf lineage that existed before the Era of Catastrophe.

This family, who had produced many Elf Kings through the generations, wielded significant influence in the elf society before the disaster.

‘The Besron family became a calamity to the elves.’

Barharun didn’t simply fade into obscurity because it was old.

It was hated by the survivors.

‘They not only let down the mighty force of elves during the first invasion of Tartarus but also ended up surrendering Barharun to Tartarus itself.’

The High Elves, who boasted of their pride, were the first to abandon their race and the land and raised their weapons against their own kind.

‘All High Elves didn’t betray their race, though.’

Among them, some highly esteemed High Elves like the Fairy Knights remained until the end, protecting their race.

But the fact that the High Elves, once a symbol of the racial pride of elves, abandoned their own kin was a shocking event.

As a result, the High Elf title became a derogatory term among elves during the Era of Catastrophe.

The position of the Elf King also became a subject of mockery.

Eventually, due to these repercussions, Barharun and the Elf King faded into the recesses of history.

And standing before him was the leading figure of that betrayal.

Hirkyan, with his inflated pride, was trying to meddle with even the affairs of teachers at Barharun, relying on the power of his prestigious family lineage.

“Suggesting the replacement of a teacher because of being a little late for class doesn’t make sense.”

Leo said coldly.

“What’s the real reason?”

At Leo’s icy tone, Hirkyan flinched for a moment.

But then, as if unwilling to back down, he raised his chin.

“It’s because you lack the qualities suitable for a proud teacher of Barharun.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Isn’t ‘Luna Lubinence’ considered shameful to our race, and yet you favor her?”

At this, Leo’s eyes gleamed with killing intent.

From the perspective of Leo, the world savior, calling Luna the shame of her race was absolutely unacceptable.

And with Hirkyan being the one to make that remark, it was even less forgivable.

‘Hero Dungeon or not, I’ll obliterate you…’

Just as Leo was about to grind his teeth,

“Who do you think you are calling who shameful to the race?”

A voice filled with murderous intent rang out.

All eyes turned toward a male student.

The boy, small in stature and seemingly frail, was emanating a terrifying aura that didn’t match his appearance.

“How can an elf spout such nonsense! Do you know who she is?”

Upon seeing the male student burst with anger instinctively, Leo immediately realized who he was.

This era was long before Luna became a renowned figure among elves.

So, the fact he reacted this way could only mean one thing—

‘Not Lunia… It must be Hardin. A third-year at Seyrun, right?’

*

A tower located on the outskirts of Barharun.

Referred to as the Tower of God, a man stood there gazing upward at the sky with a bored expression.

“Curious.”

The man’s previously vacant face lit up with life.

“Souls blessed by God.”