Chapter 55 -----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 55
Chapter Title: The Phoenix's Contract
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Leo felt a cold sweat run down his back.
The demon queen, Silatuna.
A Legion Commander of the demon race, existing even before the Age of Calamity.
And 5,000 years ago.
She was one of the three Legion Commanders the Great Heroes had failed to finish off.
'She was using a perception-dulling spell.'
The moment Leo recognized the spell, it broke.
'I expected a high-ranking demon to be pulling the strings, given the connection to the Demon God's artifact, but I never imagined it would be this one.'
*Grit! Grrrind!*
[A student? A sensitive little brat, I see. To have noticed my magic.]
Leo tensed his body.
Of the ten Legion Commanders who existed during the actual Age of Calamity, seven were vanquished by Kyle and his comrades.
'But in the end, three remained.'
The reason was simple.
The remaining three Legion Commanders were monsters on a completely different level from the others.
Behind their terrifying power, they possessed a cunning intellect.
Back when he was Kyle, he had never clashed directly with Silatuna.
Kyle had been in charge of fighting the other Legion Commanders.
The Necro King and the Giant King.
The ones who handled Silatuna were Luna and Ar-on.
'She retreated when I went to support them.'
Ultimately, they never crossed paths until the end of the Age of Calamity.
And now, he was facing that formidable foe.
[You should resent those needlessly sharp senses of yours.]
Silatuna scoffed and swung her hand toward Leo.
*Whoooosh-!*
Her elongated arm shot forward to pierce him.
*Fwoosh-!*
At that moment, the flames of his aura flared up.
*Fwoooar! Craaaash-!*
Silatuna's eyes twitched as she watched her own hand crumble into ash.
[I thought you'd lost the will to fight.]
Legion Commanders were armed with a curse of fear.
Those exposed to the curse would be paralyzed by terror, losing their will to fight.
But such mental curses had no effect on Leo.
'This is a clone made from a mass of flesh. If it were the main body, it couldn't have hidden itself even if it tried!'
Without a moment's hesitation, Leo shattered the shop window and jumped outside.
Even as a clone, it was an existence far more dangerous than Chubarn.
'There's nothing I can do right now. I have to get out of here and…!'
[Didn't your professors teach you to watch your back?]
"Kuh!"
Hearing a mocking sneer from behind him, accompanied by a wave of killing intent, Leo quickly twisted his body.
*Swish-!*
A whip of flesh grazed his back.
Feeling a sting from behind, Leo spun around.
*Fwoooosh!*
*Booooom-!*
A blaze of aura, incomparable to the one before, incinerated Silatuna's arm.
Silatuna's eyes twitched.
The flesh whip moved like a living snake, trying to impale Leo.
Leo's red eyes rapidly tracked the trajectory of the attack.
'I'm slower.'
Leo's body was still that of a boy.
It had not yet reached its full potential.
'I have to predict its moves and act first!'
Afterimages of Leo multiplied.
But as he moved, he was slowly but surely creating distance from Silatuna.
Silatuna narrowed her eyes.
'Just a mere student.'
Leo's movements, narrowly evading her grasp, were extremely irritating.
Silatuna was clearly superior in both power and speed.
Realizing that Leo's technique was what bridged that gap, Silatuna grinned.
[It seems you're a brat I must kill right now.]
*Whoooosh-!*
The flesh spread out like a giant net, descending upon Leo.
[I'll crush you just like this.]
Seeing this, Leo hurriedly pushed his aura's firepower to its maximum.
*Fwoooooooosh-! Craaaaaash!*
The fiercely burning flames incinerated the flesh.
The sickening stench of burning meat filled the air.
[The flames of a phoenix?]
Silatuna was surprised.
*Tssss-!*
Smoke rose from Leo's body after he unleashed his maximum firepower at once.
He had sustained burns as a price for using more power than his body could handle.
[Impressive, but how many more times can you muster that kind of firepower?]
Just as Silatuna was chuckling.
Leo glanced upward.
Following his gaze, Silatuna also flinched and looked at the sky.
*Crack-! Whoooooooosh!*
With the sound of something shattering, shards of light rained down on Silatuna.
*Thud-thud-thud-thud-!*
The shards of light mangled Silatuna's body.
[You've come.]
Shaking off the shards of light stuck to her body, Silatuna gave a deep smile.
[The Sorcerer of the Evil Eye.]
In the sky, to the left, stood Albi, who had unleashed his golden Mystic Eye.
"A remnant of flesh."
[Remnant? Such an irreverent word to describe my noble self.]
"I have no interest in remnants."
Albi's Mystic Eye erupted in a brilliant glow.
A rectangular, golden curtain of light materialized.
*Shatter-!*
Cracks formed on the curtain of light before it broke into sharp fragments.
Leo's eyes widened.
'Fairy magic.'
Magic that only fairies could use.
A human was using it.
'So this is the Hero Record… the power that nurtures heroes.'
While Leo watched in awe.
Silatuna flicked her tongue, a murderous smile on her face as she watched the shards of light pour down on her.
[One day, I'll gouge out that left eye of yours.]
*Stab-!*
Before she could finish her sentence, one of the light fragments embedded itself in the clone's face.
Struck by countless shards of light, Silatuna disintegrated into a pile of meat.
The aura flames burning on Leo's body subsided.
"So you're Leo Flove."
Albi, his eyes returning to normal, adjusted his glasses.
"How did you end up being chased by this monstrosity?"
"It suddenly appeared while I was investigating Lutech."
"Lutech?"
Albi's cold gaze turned to Leo.
"Lumerne has already concluded its investigation there. You're saying that thing was discovered?"
"It was under a cognitive dissonance spell."
"Cognitive dissonance… I see."
Albi, looking as though he understood, didn't press further.
Leo looked at him with a puzzled expression.
'I heard he's incredibly persistent when it comes to matters related to Tartaros.'
Albi Jer-on.
He was a professor at Lumerne but didn't teach any classes.
He became a professor at Lumerne purely to enjoy the benefits.
The authority to cross borders freely and intervene in any incident related to Tartaros.
A professor at Lumerne held such privileges.
For a man who had spent his entire life chasing Tartaros, his indifferent reaction to Silatuna, who was connected to his sworn enemy, was strange.
"Weren't you out preparing for the school trip?"
"Yes."
"Then you may go."
"Pardon?"
"Why are you surprised?"
"Well… is there no punishment regarding this incident?"
The moment he saw Albi, Leo had braced himself for punishment.
Although Leo was involved in the midterm exam incident, he was not permitted to delve deeper into the matter.
This was, by all accounts, a solo act.
He would have been punished by any other professor, not just Albi.
But Albi said nothing of the sort to Leo.
Instead, he told him to leave.
Seeing Leo's bewildered expression, Albi spoke listlessly.
"It would be ridiculous for me to hand out punishments when I don't even properly act like a professor. And…"
A gentle warmth spread across Albi's cold face.
"I am grateful to you, Leo Flove."
"Pardon?"
"Thank you for saving that child."
At those words, Leo thought of Alia.
"If there's anything I can help you with in the future, I will."
With those words, Albi headed toward the Lutech general store.
Any student or professor who knew him would have doubted their own eyes if they had seen it.
But to Albi, Leo was nothing short of a savior.
'He must have had to hear time and again that he couldn't save his sister.'
He had opened his World of Heroes for the sake of future generations, but each time, Albi must have been forced to recall his sister's death.
Leo had, in a way, resolved Albi's lingering anguish.
Watching Albi's back, Leo smiled, then a thought occurred to him.
'The Jer-on family is one of Lumerne's three great families, wasn't it?'
The Lumerne Council, which governed the great, unaffiliated city of Lumeria and the hero academy Lumerne, was comprised of three great hero families.
The Jer-on family was one of the pillars, a noble house among noble houses.
'If I ask Professor Albi, maybe I can get access to the forbidden archives? I should try asking him next time.'
Making a mental note for the future, Leo looked at where Silatuna's clone had vanished.
'This confirms it. Silatuna was the one pulling the strings behind both the chedmurders incident and this one.'
Silatuna, one of the de facto rulers of Tartaros, had made her move.
'Did she act merely to nip potential heroes in the bud?'
He couldn't shake the unsettling feeling.
'What is she really after?'
***
*Whoooooosh-!*
Deep in the northern part of the continent.
Wind howled in the coldest place in the world.
This land, covered in snow and ice year-round, had been a sanctuary for elves since before the Age of Calamity.
Within this sanctuary stood an ancient elven castle, boasting a long history.
It was now known as the elven hero academy, Seirun.
Students were moving about the Seirun campus.
Among them, an elven girl with red hair and red eyes, a scarf wrapped snugly around her neck, walked through the snow.
"To dress like that in this weather. Are you trying to boast about your powerful magic?"
"As expected of someone from a family with no pedigree, you don't know the virtue of humility. Then again, you're not even a pure elf, are you?"
"To think an elf like you is one of the class representatives of the great Seirun! It's truly deplorable."
Hearing the voices from afar, the elven girl scowled in annoyance and strode over.
"What a bunch of bullshit! Seriously! If he's not cold, he can dress comfortably. Are you really ganging up on him for something so pathetic? Have you no shame? Where's your pride as a noble family?"
At the elven girl's words, the group of elves who had been speaking to a boy in front of a frozen fountain flinched.
"M-Miss Lundua! That's too harsh!"
"That's right! And for you, a scion of a noble family, to use such vulgar language! You should be ashamed!"
"The teachers won't let this stand!"
"What nonsense. You're the ones who are being harsh and shameful, ganging up on one person. The teachers won't let *you* get away with it."
The girl flashed a belligerent smile, unbefitting of an elf.
"If you've got a problem with what I said, why don't you duel me?"
The faces of the three elves turned pale.
Lunia El Lundua.
The heir to the elven hero family, Lundua, and a first-year student at Seirun, this girl was a prodigy who held the position of class representative.
She had achieved a remarkable record of 29 consecutive wins in the first-year dueling evaluations.
The other first-years, aware of this fact, flinched and scattered as if fleeing.
Lunia snorted with a "Hmph!" and approached the thinly dressed boy.
"Luka. I told you other people would pick on you if you walk around like that."
"That's true, but someone stole all my clothes."
"What? Those bastards, really!"
It was almost certainly the work of the group from before.
Sighing, Lunia unwrapped her scarf and draped it around Luka's neck.
"M-Miss Lunia! If you do this, you'll be cold!"
"I'm dressed warmly enough. Besides, you feel the cold less, but it's not like you don't feel it at all, right?"
Lunia smiled sweetly and entered the school building with Luka.
"Achoo!"
The moment she stepped inside, Lunia sneezed.
"This is my fault."
"Kngh! Don't worry 'bout it! Don't worry."
Lunia rubbed her nose and waved her hand, her expression saying she was fine.
"You seem to be in a good mood today."
"Yup! Dad… I mean, Teacher Ellen summoned me."
Lunia puffed out her chest.
"It seems my contractor has finally hatched!"
"Ah! Congratulations, Miss Lunia!"
Luka beamed.
"Thanks. I'm gonna go on ahead! Luka, if anyone else bothers you, let me know!"
Lunia ran down the hallway.
Soon, she entered a teacher's office and asked.
"Dad! My contractor was born, right? That's it, right?"
"I believe I told you to call me 'Teacher' at school."
"No one's looking! More importantly, my contractor did hatch, right?"
The Lundua family had a long history of contracting with phoenixes.
And Lunia was scheduled to form a contract with the offspring of Pirina, the contractor of the current family head, Ellen Lundua.
Ellen looked at the letter sent by his own bonded partner.
He let out a deep sigh.
"It says Pirina's child has hatched."
"I knew it!"
*Clap!* Lunia clapped her hands and cheered.
"So! When can I meet it? Right now?"
'How should I explain this.'
"Lunia, sit down first."
Lunia sat in front of Ellen.
Looking at his daughter, Ellen took a deep breath and began to speak.
"Lunia. About your contractor."
"Yes!"
"…It seems it has already formed a contract."
*Crack-!*
Lunia's body froze solid.
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