Chapter 474

474.

The refugee city of Leisar was one of the better-off cities during the Era of Catastrophe.

It was the largest city among those that managed to survive at the time, and its condition was better compared to other cities.

“Leisar was a city abundant in resources. Decisively, it had the Guardian of Sky.”

Akon, the teacher of Aron, was the Guardian of Sky.

Before great heroes like Lissinas and Kyle revealed their prominence, he was a man known as the hope of the world.

Akon loved children, so he took in orphans in Leisar.

As long as Guardian Akon lived, the city provided a place for children without a home to look forward to the future.

But after he passed away, a real tragedy began.

The lord of Leisar trained and brainwashed the overflowing street orphans, transforming them into entities designed solely for fighting.

And they were deployed in the war against Tartarus.

The training process was simple: endless competition.

Only those who endured the extreme training were given food.

It was permitted to crush and k*ll opponents to win.

It was literally a living hell.

Perhaps they could have created powerful warriors, but it was unlikely that anyone truly talented would emerge.

“Among them, there were many with outstanding talent.”

There were certainly children with talent and strength that could have truly benefited the world.

But the lord of Leisar only used them as expendables.

The expendable children sent to the battlefield died meaningless deaths, harboring hatred and resentment.

This cycle repeated endlessly.

Until Kyle dealt with the lord of Leisar.

“He was secretly collaborating.”

And during the process of dealing with the lord of Leisar, the mastermind behind the plan was revealed.

“Grand Duke Artkan of Lamentation.”

A trusted servant of the Demon King.

The reason he went through the trouble of planning all this was simple: “To obtain corpses.”

The undead army led by the Demon King Hel Kaiser excelled in necromancy, the art of raising the dead.

Thus, they were most terrifying on the battlefield where fallen companions would rise as undead and attack their former allies.

The experience of seeing a fallen comrade rise as an undead and attack you was never something one got used to.

“Being simply present diminishes morale.”

And the more powerful necromancers were, the better they could replicate a corpse’s appearance and strength from when they were alive.

“And the corpses filled with hatred and resentment were the most powerful weapons.”

High-ranking necromancers could even enhance the abilities of the raised corpses to exceed their original living capabilities.

Similar to how knights and warriors could enhance their weapons with aura.

Of course, if the corpse was too powerful during their life, they could not fully regain that strength.

“There’s one more thing.”

If corpses filled with hatred, resentment, despair, enmity, jealousy, and other dark emotions were the best weapon for necromancers, then pure-hearted corpses could not be controlled by them.

Even if brought back as undead, they resisted and did not follow orders, essentially becoming ineffective tools.

As such, it was also difficult to extract power from such corpses.

“While Lissinas shone with light against Erebus and Tartarus, many noble heroes were born.”

Drawn by the light and hope Lissinas represented, countless heroes were born.

That was what made Lissinas unique.

Even though light and hope didn’t truly exist, he told the people lies.

And in the end, by making those lies into a reality, Lissinas became the ultimate savior of the world.

If Aron was the symbol of courage, King Lissinas was the symbol of salvation and hope.

“Still, it’s an ability I could never hope to match in a lifetime.”

Regardless, the mere existence of Lissinas deprived the Demon King’s legions of powerful weapons.

Hence, Grand Duke Artkan devised a plan: to use Leisar to produce corpses that could be utilized.

That was the reason for the creation of the orphan soldiers.

“The hatred and resentment in the orphan soldiers were fierce.”

Even though they had to crush each other to survive,

their bonds were unbreakable.

If you d*e before becoming strong, it serves no purpose.

Thus, Artkan, who led the plan, implanted this dependency among the orphans.

Giving food to a hungry comrade was commonplace.

There were frequent instances where one would sacrifice themselves during training to save a friend.

For the orphan soldiers, each other were the reasons to live.

“The more comrades they lost, the stronger the hatred and resentment grew.”

At first, their anger was directed solely at Tartarus.

“But when they were forced into the war as expendables and died, the orphan soldiers came to realize.”

That they existed simply to d*e.

When they saw the necromancers harvesting them, their hatred and resentment exploded.

“They were relentless.”

One of Kyle’s disciples, Bihar, couldn’t leave the darkness even after the Era of Catastrophe ended because of this reason.

“Because he was also an orphan soldier.”

Kyle hoped, after everything ended, that his disciple could live in the light.

He told him not to walk the dark path that he himself had once walked.

Still, Bihar chose to remain in the darkness, becoming a shadow.

“In the end, he couldn’t become like Berkiya.”

Under the gray skies, Kyle had two disciples: Berkiya who chose the light, and Bihar who chose the darkness.

Thinking about Bihar, Leo turned his gaze away from the orphan soldiers.

“Why is Prince Jeremin overseeing these children? They seem unusual at a glance.”

The aura they emitted was certainly unusual.

“I forcibly brought these children who were secretly raised by the Duke of Dotarn.”

“Did he give them up willingly?”

“No. But I couldn’t bear to watch such horrible deeds.”

Leo looked at Prince Jeremin, whose eyes held anger.

“Do you know much about these children?”

“Just that they’re orphans raised to be sent to the battlefield.”

“Their very existence must be a secret within the nation?”

“If I had known they were doing such heinous deeds, I would not have left them be.”

Prince Jeremin spoke firmly as Leo observed them.

“Well, even if the Duke of Dotarn knew what kind of children these are, he wouldn’t have handed them over to the prince.”

Ordinary civilians like the prince and the duke didn’t realize it yet.

“Each of these orphan soldiers is stronger than an average knight. They’ve all entered the realm of aura. A few are at the level where they could enroll in Lumeran.”

In a small kingdom like Kanel, they could have potentially raised a rebellion.

The northeastern part of the continent, where war doesn’t cease, must have made it easy to procure orphans.

“What kind of life does the prince hope these children will have?”

“A life as far away from war as possible. I know it might be difficult, but that’s what I wish for them.”

The prince expressed his compassion.

They had lost their parents to war and undergone atrocious training.

The prince truly regretted such a situation befalling them.

“At least the prince seems like a decent person.”

He was incomparably better than the decadent king and ministers of this nation.

“Is it really fine to give the legacy of the Hero of Heaven to Lumeran?”

“Of course. In truth, keeping it in our country wouldn’t yield much use. A legacy, no matter how grand, holds no value if we cannot utilize it, right?”

Prince Jeremin crossed his arms and smiled slyly.

“It’d be good for our legacy to be managed by Lumeran. Moreover, if I am to hand over the key, I need to become king. Until then, maintaining a trade relationship with Hero Leo Flove will be very helpful, wouldn’t it?”

“You’ve thought this through.”

Lil widened her eyes as Prince Jeremin grinned.

“These children also know little about heroes or heroic tales. That’s why I’d also like them to meet a true hero.”

Prince Jeremin bowed earnestly to Leo.

“Please help make it so these children can live ordinary lives, Leo Flove.”

No matter how small a kingdom, it’s not easy for someone of royal bl**d to bow their head.

Even to someone who has reached the status of a hero.

Seeing this prince, Leo spoke.

“Understood.”

“Thank you, truly thank you!”

Prince Jeremin beamed.

Seeing his smile, Leo said.

“In any case, since I’m aware of their existence now, I can’t just leave them alone.”

“Though I did say to subdue them, trying to take on all of them at once is quite bold of her, isn’t it. She seems cautious on the surface, but she secretly has a grand scale.”

Looking at Lil, Leo smirked and turned around.

The reason Leo entrusted the orphan soldiers to Lil was simple.

“A few years older peer would be the best.”

Though it may not be apparent on the surface, Leo’s mental age gap was too great compared to the orphan soldiers.

“Trust these kinds of interactions to someone of the same generation. Moreover, in a certain sense, Lil’s values will be completely different from the orphan soldiers.”

A person who knows the darkness can understand it.

But someone who has lived in the light has difficulty understanding the darkness.

“Such children are better off confronting and breaking against ideas that oppose their own.”

Decisively, Leo had something to do.

Leo’s red eyes shimmered.

“If there are orphan soldiers bred in such a way in this country, it suggests that the Grand Duke of Lamentation could be hiding somewhere in this country.”

A chilling intent to k*ll flickered in Leo’s eyes.

“Should I start the hunt?”