47.
Alia observed Leo conversing at a distance and thought to herself.
“He reminds me of my brother.”
Though their personalities and demeanors were different, the essence they exuded was remarkably alike.
“Isn’t it a little strange?”
The boy gripping the lance, Tehyad, furrowed his brow.
“What is?”
“He called himself the rescue team, right? But just the two of them is the entirety?”
“Definitely strange.”
“Could it be some kind of trap from Tartarus?”
Dina, the swordsorcerer, and Louis, the summoner, also agreed with Tehyad.
But Belak from the Department of Knights shook his head.
“If they were the enemy, they wouldn’t join forces with us to fight the demons.”
“Yeah. These people aren’t the enemy.”
Alia said firmly, making Tehyad ask in a bored tone.
“How can you be so sure?”
“Isn’t it a very familiar feeling? Moreover….”
“Moreover what?”
“A little bit charming too.”
Seeing Alia’s slightly reddened face, Tehyad was astonished.
“Charming? Hey! Hey! Alia! Snap out of it! You haven’t even looked at a guy since you entered school!”
“Of course not. Out of all the freshmen, who’s suitable for Alia anyway? Moreover, since she’s Alby-senpai’s younger sister, she’d probably have high standards.”
“But still! What’s so charming about that guy?”
“Isn’t he charming?”
“Dina? You too?”
Tehyad clutched his head in frustration.
While they were arguing, Leo and Chloe, after concluding their talk, approached.
“This crowd is quite noisy, huh.”
“Ah! Sorry! We shouldn’t be getting excited during an emergency like this!”
“I wasn’t complaining. Just that, any group or year tends to be noisy.”
“To any group? Are you from our school?”
Ilia, her eyes sparkling, asked. It was Chloe who replied.
“Yes, though not anymore.”
“Ah!”
Ilia, mistaking the two for dropouts, was flustered.
“Sorry! My unnecessary speech is what’s wrong…”
“It’s fine.”
“Let me explain the current situation.”
“Do we need an explanation? Isn’t it obvious that the demons have appeared in this forest?”
Tehyad bluntly answered Leo’s statement.
“If it was only demons appearing, there wouldn’t be any need for an explanation. But there’s a level 3-ranked demon in this forest, beyond your capability.”
“How strong is a level 3 demon to cause all this fuss?”
“Level 3.”
“Wh-what?!”
“L-le- Level 3?”
“That’s clearly beyond the scope for 1st-year students!”
Dina asked urgently.
“What about the others? Is everyone else in the other party safe?”
“They’re safe. You just need to get out of this forest. So henceforth, it would be good if you followed our instructions.”
At this, Tehyad asked Dina, who sighed in relief.
“Do you have the strength to take down a level 3 demon?”
A level 3 demon was a high-level threat capable of wiping out an entire brigade.
“I can’t confidently say I can defeat a level 3 demon with my current abilities.”
“Then is there any reason we should follow your instructions?”
“Of course.”
But Leo gave a relaxed smile.
“What’s the reason?”
“Because I have the skills to get everyone out of here safely.”
“What kind of baseless confidence is that…?”
“Alright, I’ll follow your instructions.”
“Hey, Alia!”
Tehyad was looking perplexed.
“You saw this guy fight earlier, didn’t you? And he probably understands the situation way better than us.”
Alia tried to persuade her group.
“A level 3 demon is certainly beyond our current abilities. Hence, it’s right to follow the rescue team who knows how to handle this situation better than us.”
The team looked at each other before nodding after Alia’s persuasion.
“If Alia says so, that’s good enough.”
“Nothing bad has happened by listening to you so far, right?”
“Ugh! Seriously!”
Tehyad scratched his head while glaring at Leo.
“However! If you’re even a bit unreliable, I won’t follow your instructions. Got that?”
“I’ll meet your expectations, so don’t worry.”
“Search for precedents regarding the Hero Dungeon in the Hero Record!”
Inside the Hero’s Tower, the administrative hub overseeing the practical matters of Lumeran Academy, professors and teaching assistants were moving busily.
It was a sensitive period after the appearance of monsters during the Summoning Practical Examination.
To pile onto the situation, an unprecedented case involving the Hero Dungeon from the Hero Record occurred, throwing Lumeran into emergency mode.
In the middle of this, Kalyan, the principal, was pressing his temples as if suffering from a headache inside his office on the top floor of the Hero’s Tower.
“Should we consider it a positive sign that we can’t yet enter yet?”
“Yes.”
Alby glanced at his own Hero Record which was going berserk while answering.
A Hero Dungeon can’t accommodate more entrants if there are already users inside. Hence, it means Leo and Chloe were still alive.
“It’s been three hours since the two students entered the Hero Dungeon. It must be night within the Hero’s World by now. Alby, wasn’t the time when you defeated Chubarn decades ago around midnight?”
“It was close to midnight.”
“Did we leave everything to you from the past?”
Kalyan sighed deeply.
At that moment, Erena, Kalyan’s secretary, entered the principal’s office.
“Principal, we found the person who sold the catalysts used for monster summoning to Riu.”
“Who is it?”
Alby’s eyes brightened.
Erena, reporting the matter, was pale-faced. The veins in his left eye were bloodshot, and a deformed magic circle appeared in his pupil.
It was fairy magic.
Thirty years ago.
Alby, who lost his younger sibling to demons, was a man filled with deep hatred for Tartarus.
“Alby, calm down.”
Following Kalyan’s words, Alby’s eyes returned to normal.
“I’ll go cool my head for a while.”
Saying that, he left the office.
“Alby-sensei still seems dangerous, doesn’t he?”
“Alby reached his position as a hero driven by hatred.”
Thirty years ago.
Upon losing his sibling so thoroughly that not even remains or mementoes could be found, Alby dropped out of Lumeran and started hunting demons fervently. As a result, he was acknowledged by the gods and became a hero.
However, his thorough destruction of anything connected to Tartarus caused significant damage around him. Thus, among the general public, Alby wasn’t praised but feared.
“I still can’t believe Alby-sensei accepted a teaching position.”
“At least, he listens to me.”
Kalyan smiled grimly, but his expression abruptly changed.
“So, who is it?”
“This year, in one of the back streets of Rumelia City, there’s a fence. Not well-known among upperclassmen but quite famous among the freshmen. Some of the freshmen bought items from this merchant, including monster-summoning catalysts.”
“Is that to say an agent of Tartarus infiltrated Rumelia City?”
“Upon investigation, it wasn’t someone directly linked to Tartarus. However, it’s clear that Tartarus leaked a good few items this way.”
“… I can’t understand. Why would they do something like that?”
“I can’t figure out their intent. Here’s the merchant’s trading ledger.”
Kalyan took the ledger, flipping through the pages.
Rustle! Rustle!
Kalyan’s hand paused over a page.
“Chloe Mueller: Black Magic Book.”
As he stared intently at the entry, Kalyan spoke.
“Erena, summon professors Sedgen and Ren to my office immediately. Tell them I want to question anything related to student Chloe.”
“Did you discover something specific?”
“No, but I have a hunch.”
“Hunch? Are we moving on a hunch?”
Seeing Erena’s flustered expression, Kalyan chuckled.
“Erena, I’m old. My reputation as the Swordsman is outdated and just an echo of past glory now. But—”
The eyes of the old Swordsman sparkled.
“I pride myself on the instincts that have helped me survive countless life-or-d*ath edges.”
The sunset had completely disappeared, and darkness had settled.
The group, having finished their battle just moments earlier, were all gasping for breath.
“Let’s take a short break.”
Following Leo’s words, groans came from everyone.
“Everyone seems to be nearly at their limit. Has it been about three hours since entering the Hero’s World?”
Considering that the previous groups cleared the area in about an hour, this group was taking three times longer.
But it couldn’t be helped.
The other groups had fulfilled the clearing conditions simply by rescuing parties in trouble. However, Leo and Chloe were different.
Chloe anticipated that the [Safety Assurance] condition for Alia’s group meant they needed to get completely away from the threat of Chubarn.
They were thus moving directly out of the forest while avoiding battles as much as possible, unlike earlier when Leo and Chloe were utilizing their mobility to bypass confrontations.
‘Then again, we’re almost there.’
While drawing a sigh, Leo suddenly felt a pounding headache and his vision blurred.
‘d*mn, was I overusing Extrasensory Perception?’
Extrasensory Perception was a skill that maximized sensations, forcing the brain to process more than twice the ordinary amount of environmental information. Thus, the accumulation of mental fatigue was inevitable.
‘Just hold on a little longer.’
Closing his eyes, Leo took a deep breath, and the group could only marvel.
“How does he not seem tired?”
“He must be incredibly skilled.”
“Hey! When Teyad asked, ‘Do we have any reason to follow your instructions?’, he was talking about someone like that?! I wouldn’t even dare to look up from shame!”
“Shut up!”
Teyad yelled, reddening furiously due to his teammates teasing him.
On the other hand, Chloe, seated beneath a tree, pulled out the Black Magic Book from her embrace and examined it.
At that moment, Alia approached.
“Can we talk a bit, Chloe-sama?”
“What would you like to talk about?”
“About Leo-sama.”
Alia smiled and sat beside Chloe.
“What’s your relationship with Leo-sama?”
“What relationship?”
“Is there maybe… a romantic involvement?”
“No way!?”
Chloe immediately shook her head in agitation.
“Judging by your reaction, it’s definitely not the case, huh!”
Chloe chuckled awkwardly.
‘Huh, first-years are first-years, whether they entered 30 years ago or now.’
It felt like chatting with her classmates from her first year.
Most of the female students of the first year were deeply interested in matters of love.
“Why are you asking that? Are you interested in Leo-sama?”
“Of course. My heart beats faster when I see him.”
“Love at first sight, huh?”
“Maybe it’s love, or the feeling is just very nostalgic, like someone else I know.”
“Who?”
“My brother.”
“Do you mean Alby Zeruon?”
“Yes. However, if you compare Leo-sama to my brother, well, Leo-sama is obviously much cooler. My brother tends to be clumsy and makes mistakes frequently.”
At this, Chloe momentarily doubted her ears.
‘Clumsy and makes frequent mistakes? Who? The Sorcerer of the Evil Eye?’
The description didn’t match the one-and-only hero feared by the public, the Sorcerer of the Evil Eye.
“But he’s like a hero from a fairytale, someone who challenges the impossible with no hesitation and achieves it all eventually. Hence, I admire my brother.”
“That sounds like Leo indeed—someone who challenges the impossible without hesitation.”
Chloe’s expression darkened.
“Leo is extraordinary. He always knows how to lead people well. He has good grades, and he manages to achieve what others think is impossible easily. He truly is a perfect person, just like you said, Alia. Leo really is like a hero.”
Chloe then laughed mockingly.
“You asked about my relationship with Leo? At first, I thought we were friends and rivals. But lately…”
“What lately?”
“I find myself feeling envious.”
—
![[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")
