Chapter 274 |
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[Translator – Night]
[Proofreader – Gun]
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A ‘Hero’ has appeared in the North.
The children’s reactions to Ban’s statement were divided into two main types.
“Suddenly? What hero?”
One group was clearly hearing about this for the first time.
“I’ve heard of it. Recently, a new hero has been making an incredible impact.”
“Oh, I’ve heard about it too. What was their name again?”
“It was a very grand name.”
Ban placed a document on the round table and spoke.
“Arpheus.”
The children’s eyes were drawn to the portrait attached to the document.
Gerald muttered,
“He’s as handsome as I am.”
Karen frowned, showing she absolutely did not agree.
No wonder, because this “Arpheus” was a strikingly handsome figure.
His face gave a neat and clean impression, with a moderately sharp jawline and thick, distinct eyebrows.
Slightly upturned eyes seemed to convey his confidence and arrogance.
He was an attractive man with a somewhat haughty and proud air.
“Arpheus, huh? Sounds like a name fit for a mythical hero.”
“Who knows if that’s his real name.”
Ban nodded.
“Right. They say he has tremendous skills, but I’ve never heard his name before.”
Arpheus’s fame had started to spread only a few months ago.
The children, too, looked at Arpheus’s portrait with curious eyes.
“He looks about our age…”
“They say he’s active in the north.”
The north had long been the most dangerous area due to frequent invasions by Theo’s 2nd Legion.
Could such a skilled person have remained unknown in such a den of evil?
‘Of course, he could have been training in seclusion in some hidden valley…’
The children fell silent simultaneously, as if they had made a pact.
They were all thinking the same thing.
“Could it be the professor?”
“Exactly.”
“Isn’t it possible the professor started a new identity?”
Luke shook his head slowly.
“I doubt he would act so openly.”
Evergreen added,
“And I don’t think he’d operate under a similar age as us.”
Karen spoke with a sullen face.
“That’s true.”
A heavy silence descended again.
Nearly three years had passed since their master had left Rosenstark.
Three years was not a short time.
However, it was too short to forget the most enjoyable year of their lives.
After protecting them from Yol’s deadly attack, their master had left, battered and bruised. Thinking of their master brought a heavy emptiness to their hearts.
Even though they laughed, chatted, and lived earnestly, they always felt a part of their hearts was empty.
If contact had been completely cut off, it would have been really tough.
That’s right.
Contrary to expectations, the hero continued to send them messages.
…The problem was that it was very one-sided.
“When was the last time we heard from him?”
“About a year ago now.”
“I thought it was two years.”
Gerald looked at his weapon leaning on the round table.
The Shadow Spear, Umbra.
It had been sent to the Bryce family mansion early one morning.
Inscribed on the spear shaft was the same phrase, “To my dear disciple Gerald.
With love and support,” written in the hero’s unique clumsy handwriting.
There was no mistaking whose handwriting it was.
It was the same writing that had been on the blackboard throughout the lectures.
Not only Gerald, but other children also gradually received the 17 Valber weapons.
Detailed instructions and functions of the weapons were included.
How many times had these powerful weapons saved their lives?
The hero protected them from afar.
The assistance wasn’t limited to the weapons.
The hero seemed to be watching over them from somewhere, sending suitable advice in writing whenever their growth was blocked.
…But unfortunately, there was no way for them to contact him.
It’s been almost a year since even the sporadic, one-sided messages had stopped.
The children were not only missing their master but were also deeply worried that something might have happened to him.
Evergreen dropped her head onto the round table with a deep sigh.
“Professor… where on earth are you and what are you doing?”
A brief silence. Luke answered her question in a calm voice.
“Wherever he is, he must be striving for everyone’s best.”
At his words, the children wore longing expressions, as they had in recent years.
Karen pouted and brushed her hair back, her tanned face looking sorrowful.
“Of course, he would.”
Her jet-black eyes turned towards a picture hanging in one corner of the tent.
It was a drawing Leciel had made during the first semester festival.
One of the few remaining drawings by Leciel.
“……”
The hero stood among the children gathered in front of the tavern.
Though his expression seemed stoic at first glance, none of them could miss the gentleness and hint of a smile on his face.
“I just miss him,”
Karen murmured as she turned away.
“Everyone worked hard late into the night,”
Ban said as he concluded the meeting after addressing a few more items.
“In any case, it’s definitely a good thing that a new hero has appeared. Being called a ‘hero’ means he’ll be a great help. People will have hope. There will definitely be areas where we can cooperate, so I’ll try to contact him.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
“Hope he’s a good person.”
“A handsome comrade is always welcome.”
“…Tch.”
“Ban, you should get some rest too.”
“Everyone, you worked hard! Sleep well!”
Night had deepened.
The children exchanged tired farewells and left Ban’s tent.
“I need to feed Shadow and then sleep.”
When Karen, the last to remain, finally left, the tent plunged back into silence.
But only for a moment—
Awooo—
The faint sound of Shadow’s howl and the scratching of Ban’s pen overlapped.
Scratch, scratch—
Ban’s bedtime was still far off.
The Lotus Knights had been recognized for their efforts and had begun cooperating with the royal family.
They were receiving real-time information from the intelligence department about nearby monsters and demons.
Ban was busy planning the optimal routes and strategies.
‘I’ve been up for two nights straight.’
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[Translator – Night]
[Proofreader – Gun]
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Even for someone as robust as him, the fatigue was overwhelming.
However, he couldn’t afford to rest.
A single mistake in his plan could cost many lives.
‘…The professor must have lived with this kind of pressure every moment.’
He had no regrets about the lies he had told.
But understanding the anxiety and worries that must have felt like walking a tightrope pained him.
What one sees changes based on their position.
Scratch, scratch—
The sound of the pen continued.
It was several hours later when the lights in the tent went out.
Winter mornings are far from dawn.
Though it was still dark outside, he had to sleep.
A large-scale subjugation was scheduled for tomorrow.
He planned to take up his sword as he couldn’t leave it solely to his subordinates.
Shhh—
Sitting on his makeshift bed, Ban suddenly reached out and opened a box on the floor. Inside was a meticulously maintained communication orb.
Beeep—
The connection sound continued for a long time.
But as usual, there was no response.
“……”
It took Ban quite some time to fall asleep, momentarily reverting to a boy and erasing the face of the red-haired girl from his mind.
* * *
Wooong—!
A massive surge of magic swirled with a strange noise.
Two silhouettes stood around a magic circle so complex that even a grand mage would have difficulty interpreting it.
They continuously chanted incantations without pause.
…Of course, there were complaints mixed in between.
“Damn, this is really hard!”
The overwhelming magic they emitted was too much for just two people.
The extremely concentrated powerful energy flowed along the barrier’s boundary, strengthening the seal within.
Wooong—!
If anyone with even a bit of knowledge about magic were present, they would have been shocked by the scene before them.
The power of the dragon race and the arcane secrets of the First Era.
A force that completely surpassed existing magical systems was swirling here.
Whooosh—
In the gale created by their combined powers, their light blue and silver hair intermingled and fluttered in the air.
“…Just a little more!”
As they poured all their magic into it, the barrier’s color gradually shifted from a dull gray to a subtle blue.
Finally, their tense faces relaxed.
Larze and Cuculli looked at each other and then collapsed to the ground without needing to speak.
“It’s finally over. Good job, young dragon.”
“Wow, and we have to do this again next month. It’s really troublesome.”
“I told you. Getting involved with that guy means being used roughly.”
“Ugh. Where did it all go wrong? Rosenstark?”
“Probably?”
Cuculli wiped her sweat as she sprawled on the floor.
Surprisingly, except for slightly larger horns, she looked almost the same as she had three years ago.
However, her abilities had grown immensely, now able to fully control the power of the Ice Dragon.
This was also why she was entrusted with one of the ‘Five Seals.’
Wooong—
It was then that Larze’s communication orb rang.
Cuculli and Larze both sprang to their feet, staring at the orb with tense eyes. Larze cautiously checked the received message.
Larze cautiously checked the received message.
“…What does it say?”
“No problems.”
Fortunately, it seemed that Izaro and Maktania’s side had also successfully completed the maintenance.
The two collapsed back onto the ground.
The seal they regularly maintained was called the “Five Seal.”
Barrett Namsov, along with Izaro, Maktania, Larze, and Cuculli, had created the seal two years ago with the help of top-tier mages.
The function of the Five Seal was “dimensional severance,” in simpler terms, to block the pathways of this dimension so that the “doors” could no longer be opened.
The Namsov family had been adept at dimensional magic for generations.
Even during the First Era, they could traverse beyond the doors and expand the scale of the doors themselves.
Barrett had despised Platooz, but he did not abandon this specialty.
Instead, he believed that the solution to the tragedy caused by dimensional magic lay within the magic itself, leading him to research it for hundreds of years.
As a result, the arcane technique of “dimensional severance” was born.
‘The moment it was confirmed that the Demon King had crossed to the Demon Realm, it was cast immediately.’
Swish—
Having recovered her mana, Cuculli slowly rose from her spot.
“So, we’ve bought about a month of time?”
Larze replied in a languid voice, still lying down.
“Yeah, even that guy can’t cross over for now.”
“But still…”
“Yeah, it’s nearing its limit. We need to come up with a solution.”
The magic was so grand that it severed this dimension from others.
No matter how outstanding the gathered mages were, perfect implementation was difficult.
Despite Barrett Namsov sacrificing centuries of accumulated life force and the power of a doppelganger, catastrophe was approaching rapidly.
Although they had gained a month’s reprieve this time, there was no guarantee it would be the same for the next maintenance.
There was even a chance that the maintenance might fail, causing the dimensional pathway to fling open wide.
‘…That would be the end.’
It had been exactly four years since the great battle in which Ted Redymer fell.
The Demon King must have fully recovered his original power by now.
The thought of him crossing over in his full might was terrifying.
Cuculli sighed deeply.
“Sigh… This is so depressing.”
Larze, uncharacteristically, also wore a serious expression.
Of course, it wasn’t out of some lukewarm concern for humanity.
She was afraid that the exhilarating life she currently enjoyed would be disrupted.
‘Things are so fun right now, and it’s going to end already?’
Izaro, the homunculus of Zero, and Barrett Namsov, the living witness of the First Era—Larze had literally screamed with joy when she discovered their existence.
‘They even taught me arcane magic.’
As a result, Larze was living the happiest days of her life.
She still had mountains of knowledge to explore, and the idea of the Demon King appearing suddenly to snatch away all this enjoyment was unacceptable.
Hence, Larze voluntarily helped maintain and repair the “Five Seal” without expecting any compensation from the hero.
‘Well… It’s not like I could get compensation even if I wanted to.’
Larze reached out and patted Cuculli’s head.
Cuculli enjoyed the touch, purring like a cat.
“Our troublemaker needs to come back soon.”
“Mm… Indeed.”
The false hero and their focal point, the doppelganger, had been unconscious for a long time.
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[Translator – Night]
[Proofreader – Gun]
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