Chapter 465

465.

Berkiya Eisar.

The foremother of the Star Cloud lineage—successively hailed as the Fairy Knight and the Comet Wizard—stands as one of the three greatElf luminaries.

She is remembered as the hero who led the effort to rebuild the world and revitalize her race after the end of the Era of Catastrophe.

“But even now, her recognition has been overshadowed by that of Seirun.”

Lord Leo rested his chin on his hand while looking at the textbook.

“It couldn’t have been any other way. There aren’t many records left of Berkiya’s Hero Record, after all. And to be precise, though classified as a hero from the Era of Heroes, Berkiya belonged to the same era as us.”

Spanning no less than 5,000 years.

The anecdotes of Berkiya’s life were passed down through her descendants, the Eisar family, but the details are so ancient.

Furthermore, her Hero Record was damaged 3,000 years ago during the sealing of the Piece of Erebus.

3,000 years ago.

In comparison to Seirun, the one who saved the world again from Erebus, it was natural that she would lose in terms of recognition.

Leo himself had looked into his disciple Berkiya’s records.

However, among the many documents, he was unable to find specific information on Berkiya’s powers.

“But even back then, Berkiya had boundless potential for growth. She must not have stopped her training.”

Thinking of his disciple, Leo’s lips curved into a faint, bittersweet smile.

He had few regrets about his past life.

Though he lived in an era that faced the end of the world, he still had those who felt like family, and in the end, the world was saved.

Although the remnants he passed down were incomplete, they created an opportunity for future generations to end the primordial evil.

It was painful that friends who felt like family had died.

But not one of them regretted their deaths. Not a single tear was shed for an unfulfilled, unseen future.

And so, Leo merely mourned the loss of his friends—not out of pity, but with dignity.

Kyle’s life was similar.

A life that had been taken and lost so much, but still managed to achieve something meaningful. Therefore, there was no regret.

“Still, if there’s any regret, it’s that…”

It was the fact that he didn’t get to see his disciples grow to their full potential.

Especially the life of Bihar weighed heavily on him.

“Though she had the chance to live in the light, she chose the shadows.”

She too walked that path to protect the world the Great Heroes left behind, but for Leo, the bitter taste lingered.

As for Berkiya, the fact that it was such a distant past meant that Leo did not know what happened to her after his d*ath.

Berkiya and Lumeran.

It was difficult to compare the two because of this lack of knowledge.

Leo had no idea how much Berkiya had grown or what heights she might have reached.

However…

“Luna and Aron both recognized her talent. As a swordsman, she had extraordinary sense. Compared to my memory of Berki, I imagine she must have grown significantly stronger.”

Though she didn’t get the chance to learn Luna’s Magic of the Stars, she developed her own firm magical worldview based on the magical knowledge passed down from her teacher.

Though she didn’t receive Aron’s full Aura techniques, she created her own skills with what her teacher had imparted.

“Thinking about it now, I do have some regrets.”

Leo closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh.

“What kind of person did Berki grow into?”

While Leo was reminiscing about Berkiya, amidst the students, opinions varied greatly.

Majority of them favored the Knight of Twilight, someone much more familiar to them.

Seeing this, Mel spoke.

“You all know that after the Great Heroes, Lumeran saved the world again, right?”

Thud-Thud.

“But on the other hand, Berkiya is known for having been the one who rebuilt the world.”

The students nodded their heads.

“But was rebuilding the world really that easy?”

“Hmm, it must have been difficult.”

“Of course, it wouldn’t have been easy.”

“But wasn’t Erebus already gone by that time?”

As students voiced their thoughts, Mel nodded her head.

“Yes, but even after Erebus was gone, did the world immediately gain peace?”

“That…”

The students faltered, and Mel wrote “Great War” on the blackboard.

“You may not have a lot of records about it, but you must have heard about the Great War?”

The Great War.

This was the conflict instigated by Tartarus after Erebus was defeated, with the intention of reviving his will.

“Scholars don’t pay much attention to this war because it was shortly after Erebus was defeated when Tartarus suffered a devastating blow.”

Mel’s words made the students nod in agreement.

“But Tartarus was still a formidable force even after losing their power. With their legions intact, Tartarus remained a powerful faction. According to records, during the 5,000 years of the Hero Era, Tartarus was at its strongest precisely during this time.”

The battle for the fate of the world didn’t end even after Erebus was defeated.

“According to the records, the Great War lasted 10 years. It was Berkiya who led us to victory in that war.”

At this statement, a student raised their hand.

“But didn’t Guardstron repel Tartarus’ attacks even during the time of Erebus?”

“Yes, that’s true. But just like how Tartarus operated without Erebus, the world had entered an era without the Great Heroes.”

The students fell silent hearing this.

Mel smiled faintly.

“The important takeaway from today’s class isn’t whether the former heroes were greater than the latter, or if Lumeran was stronger than Berkiya. The main purpose of today’s lesson is to help you understand that the heroes of the past were just as great and powerful as those of the latter era.”

Ding Dong!

The bell signaling the end of class rang on time.

As she started gathering her books, Mel smiled faintly again.

“For next class, please write a report on the tales of the earlier era’s heroes and the lessons we can learn from them. Dismissed.”

As Mel dismissed them, sighs of frustration erupted from all directions.

It was difficult to find reliable sources about the heroes from the earlier era.

“Tsk! Such a tough homework.”

Iliana scratched her head in frustration.

“But it’s a necessary part of our curriculum. During the last summit meeting, there was confirmation of the existence of the Hero Records from before the Era of Catastrophes, right?”

“That’s true. More and more of these Hero Records are being discovered. Perhaps someday we’ll analyze the records of those great heroes. Preparing ourselves for that moment wouldn’t be a bad idea.”

Chen Sia smiled gently as she turned to look at Leo.

“Lord Leo, which hero are you planning to write about?”

“The Fairy Knight, Berkiya.”

He was thinking of writing about his disciple to take an easy way out.

“Oh ho, is that so? Then perhaps I should also write about Berkiya from the perspective of a swordsman…”

“I won’t show it to you.”

“How mean!”

While Iliana rubbed her chin, she immediately got upset upon hearing Leo’s response.

“Hey! The news is out!”

At this moment, Kal, who was chatting with a janitor, suddenly looked up and ran towards where Leo was sitting.

“What is it?”

Kal grinned at the gleam in Iliana’s eyes as he spoke.

“There’s a new notice board for quests in the shared garden of the second-year dormitories!”

The surrounding students froze at this revelation.

The Quest Board.

It was undoubtedly the one announced by Sedgen this morning to assign combat evaluation tasks for the second semester.

As students rushed towards it, a sudden flick of a whip whistled through the air, catching Kal’s neck.

“Why do you give such crucial information to other dormitory students first, Kal Thomas?”

“What’s the problem? Isn’t sharing knowledge better…?”

“Have you forgotten that you belong to the Nobel house?”

As Eliza coldly chastised him, Iliana smirked, crossing her arms with a ‘hmmph!’

“Didn’t you know? Kal is our spy in the dorms! Anyways, come on! We better hurry or all the good quests will be gone!”

Iliana bolted off.

“Hey! Why don’t you take care of your own spies?”

“You’re a Nobel student!”

Watching Iliana mercilessly taunt him, Kal sighed with a wistful smile.

“Such a touching friendship.”

Eliza snorted derisively, but Kal retorted.

“At least Leo, Chloe, and Chelsea are still here, right? You’re all I’ve got!”

“You’re just here because it doesn’t matter much to us what quest we take.”

Chelsea’s words were cold, but Kal laughed cheerfully.

“In that case, I guess these papers won’t be necessary?”

Kal pulled out a few sheets of paper from his coat.

Upon seeing them, Chloe’s eyes widened.

“Are those quests?”

“Of course. I had the staff reserve the best quests as soon as the notice board went up. Connections are important, after all, right?”

Kal stroked his chin, smirking proudly.

“I figured you wouldn’t just blab all that precious info so willingly.”

Chen Sia’s smile was faint as Chelsea voiced her query.

“Then why didn’t you hint to Iliana about them?”

“Revenge for forgetting about me.”

Kal grinned mischievously, flipping through the quest sheets.

“Anyway, Leo. Since I only brought a few quests, distributing them won’t violate school rules as long as we keep quiet about it.”

Kal glanced at Leo as he spoke.

“I won’t rat you out.”

Leo grinned, and Kal breathed a sigh of relief.

“There are definitely some great quests in here.”

Among the A-rank quests, several had high rewards, low difficulty but large evaluation scores.

“Kal, which quest are you taking?”

“The Northern Tower needs an alchemy assistant. Chelsea, you know Anyas, the daughter of the tower master, right?”

“Yeah, though she’s half-elf, she’s a good person.”

“Oh, alchemy! If three assistants are needed, may I also join?”

Chen Sia showed interest as the conversation unfolded.

With their voices in the background, Leo reminisced about Anyas Begs.

“Anyas? That kid with the vacant eyes?”

Officially, she was the daughter of the Northern Tower’s master, but in reality, she worked as a Shadow agent.

Chen Sia understood the truth, which explained her interest.

“Lord Leo, what about this quest?”

“I have something else in mind.”

“Is that so?”

Chen Sia revealed her disappointment as Chelsea spoke up.

“Then I might take it.”

Chelsea showed some interest.

“Leo, which quest are you planning to take? Did anyone specifically request you?”

Chelsea tilted her head curiously, making Leo narrow his eyes.

“No, just a quest that caught my attention.”

*

A week later.

The second-year students filled the Warp Gate’s entrance.

Starting today, the second-year students were deployed on missions outside the school.

Leo’s destination was none other than the remote outskirts of the continent’s northeastern region.

His chosen quest was the [Investigation of the Plundered Hero’s Tomb], which he had seen earlier in Central Plaza.

“The northeastern part of the continent is where several small kingdoms vie for supremacy, right?”

This was currently the most chaotic area in terms of security and politics on the continent.

“The kingdom that requested the quest is a viscount’s family from the Kanel Kingdom.”

While Leo was reviewing the quest details inside his mind, something unexpected caught his attention.

“By the way, isn’t someone else assigned to this quest besides me?”

Considering the mystery-laden nature of the quest, Leo had assumed no one else would take it.

“Could someone have followed me?”

With the recent attention some female students had been giving him, this thought crossed his mind.

It was unlikely that anyone else besides a major oddball would take this quest.

As Leo mulled this over, a familiar voice called out.

“Oh? Is it true, Leo? You’ve also been assigned to the [Investigation of the Plundered Hero’s Tomb]?”

A cheerful voice addressed Leo from behind.

Looking over, Leo saw a female student walking gracefully toward him with deliberate steps – none other than Lil Luche, the representative of the third-year students.

“Could you be my partner, Senior?”

“That’s correct! Leo, who would have thought you’d share my love for mysteries!”

Lil cheerfully grabbed Leo’s hand and shook it with obvious excitement.

“Senior, any particular reason you took this quest?”

“Yes! Because it’s a mystery!”

‘As I thought, she’s a real oddball too.’

Leo silently chuckled to himself.