Chapter 26

【26】25

Kal fled in fear after witnessing Leo’s special stamina training.

On the first day of training with Leo, Chelsea felt that something had gone terribly wrong.

But it was already too late to turn back.

At first, Celia refused to participate but eventually gave in and joined Leo’s training.

The silver lining was that she had already experienced it before, so it was somewhat more bearable this time around.

“Is this actually working?”

“It does. Leo’s training might be crude, but it’s unnecessarily systematic.”

On their way back to the girls’ dormitory, Chelsea asked Celia, who replied with a vacant look before smiling wickedly at her.

“Welcome to hell, Chelsea LeWalyn.”

At the sight of that smile, Chelsea’s face went pale with fear.

“Seems like you’re finding it easy, huh, with how you’re chatting?”

“Stop joking! You demon!”

As Leo chuckled, Celia grabbed the collar of his shirt with trembling arms and shook him.

Thus, for some, it was a honey-sweet weekend; for others, it was a weekend from hell. The second week at Lumeran had begun.

Kal approached Chelsea, who was slumped over her desk, trembling her limbs.

“Chelsea, are you still alive?”

“No… I feel like I’m dying.”

“This. I got you the highest-grade pain-relief patch yesterday when I went to Lumeria.”

“For me?”

“Yeah, we’re classmates, right?”

Kal handed Chelsea a muscle-recovering patch.

With a slightly moved expression, Chelsea accepted it.

Then Kal held out his palm toward her.

“What does this hand mean?”

“I’ll sell it to you at a special 30% discount since we’re friends.”

“Go d*e.”

Chelsea coldly threw the patch at Kal’s face.

Chuckling, Kal placed the patch on Chelsea’s desk.

“You gotta keep going, right? If you’re aiming to be a battle mage, it’s something you have to endure.”

“Do you want to join? I can ask my brother, Leo, to let you join, too.”

“No, I’m fine,” Kal said uncomfortably while shaking his head and whispering to Leo.

“Didn’t you think you should’ve gone a little easier on her?”

“It was done while keeping an eye on her.”

“Was it?”

Kal firmly decided that he would never train with Leo again.

“Anyway, who’s our homeroom professor going to be?”

Leaning back in his chair, Kal interlaced his fingers and placed them behind his head.

“It’d be nice if she were a pretty female professor.”

Just as he finished speaking, the classroom door creaked open, and a poorly dressed middle-aged man entered, carrying an attendance sheet.

The students, startled by his heavily dark-circled eyes, quickly returned to their seats.

The man stood at the podium, dropped the attendance book carelessly, picked up a piece of chalk, and wrote his name on the board.

Clap-clap.

Upon seeing the name on the board, the faces of the Class 5 students paled.

“Good to meet you all. I’m Halind Edmond, your homeroom professor.”

He was the most famous teacher at Lumeran.

Halind usually handled higher grades, such as fourth or fifth years!

His nickname was “The Wall of Lamentation”!

He was the professor at Lumeran who expelled the most students!

The reactions from his classmates were already ominous when Leo quietly asked Kal, who sat in front of him.

“Is he a famous professor?”

“It’s not just famous… This man has been teaching at Lumeran for nearly 20 years.”

Kal swallowed audibly as he whispered.

“Many of his students became heroes, but just as many have been expelled. He usually only takes on senior classes… Why is he our homeroom teacher?”

Halind opened the attendance book.

“I will now take attendance. Kal Thomas.”

“Yes, yes, sir!”

“Iliana Laden.”

“Present.”

Even though the professor was merely calling attendance, the students of Class 5 were tense.

Leo’s name was called last among the 45 students.

“Leo Flove.”

“Yes.”

Pfff!

Halind closed the attendance book and said with a weary look.

“Some of you might be wondering why I have been assigned as the homeroom teacher for first-years.”

Casually slipping his hands into his jacket pockets, he said without much enthusiasm.

“This year’s batch has, on average, scored higher on the entrance exams than your predecessors, attracting the attention of the Lumeran upper levels.”

The students, who hadn’t been aware of this fact before, were stunned and immediately felt a surge of pride when they realized they were under expectations.

Then a female student raised her hand.

“Yes? Iliana Laden.”

“Is it true that the other professors didn’t usually take on first-year classes?”

“That’s correct.”

“Is the homeroom teacher assignment random?”

“No, we each chose the class we wanted, and I selected you.”

Halind was not just famous for expelling many students; he was also a highly capable teacher who had trained numerous outstanding students.

Hearing that, the students of Class 5 couldn’t help but feel elated.

“Do you have any particular reason for choosing us?”

“Because your class has the lowest average entrance exam score among the ten classes.”

The excited atmosphere quickly cooled.

“Do you know why I expel the most students? Iliana Laden.”

“A-actually, no.”

“Efficiency.”

Halind looked at Iliana with a deadpan expression.

“Isn’t it better to filter out students who have no prospects early and focus on teaching those who do? Don’t you think so too?”

Iliana, who caught the piercing gaze of Halind that had even made the fifth-years shiver, teared up.

When all the students of Class 5 except Leo held their breath as Halind observed them, a young woman in her mid-twenties wearing glasses entered the room and saved Iliana.

“Tsk! Professor Halind! What are you doing frightening the students on their first day?”

Letting out a deep sigh, she stood beside Halind.

“Hello, Class 5! I’m your assistant teacher, Sena Tillyah.”

The woman with chestnut hair and a bright personality was clearly the opposite of the stern Halind.

“You don’t need to be too scared of Professor Halind! He may seem like this, but in fact, he truly cares about…”

“Sena Tillyah. Come out with me.”

Sena, who was trying to reassure the students, was called out.

“You haven’t changed since your student days. How many times have I told you to fix that silly personality of yours?”

“I’m sorry! I’ll fix it! I promise I won’t do it again!”

Through the slightly opened classroom door, the students could see Sena, visibly pale, frantically bowing.

“I like our assistant teacher.”

“Me too. It’s good to have someone with a kind personality, even if they’re an assistant.”

With a chuckle, Chelsea nodded, as did Kal, and the mood in the class lightened a bit.

After a while, the two teachers returned to stand in front of the blackboard again.

“Earlier, I said I chose your class because you had the lowest average entrance exam score.”

“Y-yes…”

The students answered despondently, and Halind’s face became even more aloof.

“At Lumeran, entrance exam results become irrelevant after three months.”

The students gaped in surprise.

“No matter what education you received before entering Lumeran, it will teach you far more. Therefore, the academic performance of first-year students at Lumeran tends to fluctuate wildly. Top students often plummet, and sometimes, bottom students rise.”

Halind slammed his hand on the podium.

“You might even produce the top student in the school during the midterms.”

The atmosphere in the entire class stirred.

“But remember this. Entering the Hero’s World is undoubtedly the privilege of hero candidates, but it’s also an obligation. Does anyone know why it’s an obligation?”

Chelsea raised her hand.

“Chelsea LeWalyn, answer me.”

“Because there is a possibility of losing one’s life.”

“Correct.”

Halind said coldly.

“For the past 20 years I’ve been teaching at Lumeran, I’ve conducted the funeral services for countless students.”

There were audible gasps in the classroom.

“As long as you’re a student at Lumeran, you cannot refuse the duty of attacking the Hero’s World. That means risking your life—I only want to send students there who are capable of surviving. And for those who cannot…”

Halind proclaimed with great emphasis.

“I’ll expel them before they meet an inglorious d*ath. That’s why I’ve taken your class, who have the lowest average scores.”

After finishing, Halind handed the attendance sheet to Sena.

“That’s all I have to say. Now, let’s start battle training. Change into your track suits and head to the training ground.”

Halind exited the classroom with a swift whoosh.

“Then see you at the training ground!”

Sena left the classroom after smiling at the students.

The students grabbed their gym clothes from the lockers at the back of the classroom and headed to the changing rooms.

“He doesn’t seem to be just a scary teacher.”

“True. If you think about it, Professor Halind is one of the most respected teachers at Lumeran.”

A classmate walking beside Kal in the boys’ locker room said that.

“His student mortality rate is the lowest.”

The number of student deaths at Lumeran every year is not insignificant.

It’s not because the academy drives them to the edge.

On the contrary, Lumeran places the student’s safety above all else.

The reason there are deaths is because the path the students pursue is that of a hero.

A hero is one who jumps into trials to save others.

Exploring the Hero’s World, venturing into Hero Dungeons, and resolving incidents around the world.

Life at the Rumearn Academy is inherently fraught with peril.

“Professor Halind scared you guys at the beginning to remind us of these facts. So, let’s work hard going forward.”

As Tid, who had mentioned before, spoke, all the students nodded solemnly.

“Ooh? You’re the skinny type when you wear clothes?”

Suddenly, a soprano voice came from the window.

Clatter! The clamor of chattering girls followed.

Now that he thought about it, the girls’ locker room was right next to the boys’.

Upon hearing the voices from the window, the boys put on serious expressions and gathered in the center of the changing room, lowering their voices.

“Who’s the skinny one?”

“Is it Iliana?”

“No, I think that was Iliana’s voice a moment ago.”

They had a surprisingly serious discussion about who it could be.

“Maybe it’s Nella.”

When Kal mentioned the petite and cute Nella Kaven, the boys gasped in excitement.

“There’s some truth to that!”

“Yeah! Nella seems like the type with hidden appeal.”

Leo shook his head at their utterly unnecessary seriousness.

‘Are these guys really hero candidates?’

But to anyone watching, they might question whether these people could really be hero candidates, considering their discussion.

Leo knew someone who could deeply discuss such topics even in the face of life-or-d*ath conflicts.

A hero.

Not just any hero, but the Great Hero himself.

The “God’s Blacksmith” Dwenno.

‘How is it that a guy like that is respected and remembered, but I’m forgotten?’

Leo felt another pang of injustice.