Chapter 278 -----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 278
Chapter Title: Flame Emperor
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By the time Lunia arrived at the grand auditorium, Eiran was already deep into her lesson with Leo on the formula for the 'Animus Sword.'
"Eiran. If you were going to leave first, you could have told me."
"Lu-Lunia? What are you doing here?"
"What do you mean? Didn't we agree to come together earlier?"
Eiran's shoulders flinched as she looked at Lunia's dumbfounded expression.
"R-Right! We were supposed to come together! I must have forgotten!"
Lunia stared intently at Eiran, who was smiling awkwardly and trying to brush it off.
"Eiran, did you have another one of your strange fantasies…?"
"Waah!"
Her face turning red, Eiran grabbed Lunia and clamped a hand over her mouth.
After shaking Eiran off, Lunia smirked teasingly.
"Why? What were you thinking this time? Maybe about you and Leo…?"
"Lunia! Sir Leo might misunderstand! I wasn't thinking that! I wasn't!"
On the verge of tears, Eiran clamped her hands over Lunia's mouth again and shook her head frantically.
"Mmph!? Mmph! Mmph!"
As Eiran's hands covered not just her mouth but her nose as well, Lunia began to struggle wildly.
But there was no way Lunia, a summoner, could overpower Eiran, a magic swordswoman, in a contest of strength.
"You can't say strange things, okay? Got it? Got it?"
Oblivious to Lunia's state, Eiran squeezed her eyes shut, shook her head, and pressed down even harder, cutting off Lunia's airway.
Leo, who had been watching the scene unfold, spoke up.
"Eiran."
"Ye-Yes! Sir Leo!"
"She's really going to die if you keep that up."
"Huh? What do you… Gasp?!"
Eiran was horrified to see Lunia's body had gone completely limp.
"Luniaaaaaa!"
Leo muttered to himself as he watched Eiran cry out and shake Lunia's body.
"They get along well."
***
"Hoo…"
Lunia waved her hand dismissively at Eiran, who was kneeling before her with her ears drooping.
"Don't worry about it. It was my fault for teasing you."
Then, she turned to Leo.
"If you were teaching Eiran first, should I join in as a review?"
"It's fine. You and Eiran will be learning different kinds of magic."
"Different magic?"
"Yes."
Leo repeated the explanation he had given Eiran to Lunia.
As she listened to the story about the Shan Empire, Lunia's eyes narrowed.
'Just what is his true identity?'
Leo was always uncovering secrets of the world that no one had been able to reach for ages.
'It was the same with everything related to Lady Luna.'
His accomplishments had long since surpassed what a mere hero candidate should be capable of.
Lunia was looking at Leo with a complicated expression when he spoke.
"I'm going to teach you another magic left by the Progenitor of the Nebula, besides The End."
"A magic left by the Founder?"
"Yes. It was recorded alongside the Animus Sword."
"I'd like to see that grimoire sometime."
"Unfortunately, while the Shan Empire granted me permission to view it, I wasn't allowed to take it with me."
He had already lied, claiming that the grimoire containing Luna's magic was a legacy of the Shan.
The Shan was a great empire shrouded in countless secrets.
As such, it was the perfect excuse for situations like this.
'This is quite convenient.'
Leo grinned inwardly.
Although she looked at him with a hint of suspicion, the mention of the Shan Empire prevented her from questioning him further.
"Alright. So what magic are you going to teach me?"
Lunia glanced over at Eiran.
Her face was filled with envy.
'To think Erquint still existed.'
Erquint.
A legendary sword whose existence was confirmed by the Hero Record, but whose physical form had never been found.
It was forged by the divine blacksmith Dweno for the Progenitor of the Nebula, Luna, who then passed it down to her disciple, the Fairy Knight Verchia.
However, the original was believed to have been lost during the Age of Calamity, and the Ersar family only possessed a Hero Weapon version of it, obtained as a reward from the World of Heroes.
For that reason, it was an ancient sword that even most elves were unaware of.
Of course, those who had deeply studied the deeds of the Great Hero knew of its existence.
And now, that sword of legend had returned to the heir of the Ersar family.
This was an event that would turn elven society upside down.
'Does Leo perhaps see Eiran as someone special?'
Come to think of it, it was Leo who had convinced Eiran to return to school when she was refusing to attend.
Her personality was also gentle and quiet, unlike her own, and above all, she was cute.
While Lunia was lost in her various thoughts, Leo spoke.
"Flame magic."
"Flame magic?"
"Yes."
Leo spread his palm, and threads of mana wove into the magic circle of one of the Origin spells Luna had created.
"The name of the magic is Flame Emperor."
Leo looked into Lunia's blazing eyes and spoke seriously.
"Theoretically, it's an inextinguishable flame."
Lunia's eyes widened.
She wasn't the only one.
Eiran also wore a shocked expression.
An inextinguishable flame.
They knew all too well what that meant.
The Primordial Evil.
The terrifying calamity that had pushed the world to the brink of destruction.
Erebos's black flame was famous for being an absolutely inextinguishable flame.
'In the end, Luna died without ever surpassing that flame.'
A truth about Luna's final moments that the people of today did not know.
The death of a friend that only Leo, who had been there, knew.
[Magic to Make Flowers Bloom] was the magic Luna had truly wanted to create.
[Stella Radius] was the magic that symbolized Luna herself, and [The End] was the magic that embodied her will to overcome any obstacle in her path.
And [Flame Emperor] was the magic Luna had created to oppose the hateful black flame that had taken so much from her.
'Though she never managed to complete it.'
It was a magic created by Luna, but it was one that didn't suit her.
'If Dweno had learned Star Magic, he might have been able to master it.'
As far as Leo knew, besides Erebos, the one who wielded the most powerful flame was Dweno.
'It didn't suit me, either.'
Even Kyle, who had inherited both Luna's magic power and Dweno's flame, had been unable to complete the magic.
Though Leo had inherited Dweno's power, Dweno's flame was a double-edged sword for him.
Dweno's flame was powerful.
But once it surpassed a certain output, it would burn even its wielder.
That was because Leo, unlike Dweno, did not possess an innate resistance to fire.
Lunia gazed at the formula for Flame Emperor.
"This magic… it's incomplete."
"That's right. The same goes for the Animus Sword I'll be teaching Eiran. You two are the ones who must complete them."
Luna had only created the framework of the Origin.
Though the magic was almost perfectly crafted, a framework alone could not activate it.
The one who had to activate it was the learner.
Even Innocent Magic had ultimately been completed by Leo himself.
"It might be even harder to learn than The End. And it could be dangerous."
Leo knew better than anyone how dangerous an uncontrollable flame could be.
Leo dispelled the magic formula and looked at Lunia.
She scoffed in response.
"I don't care. If Lady Luna created an inextinguishable flame, then I, an elf, know better than anyone what that means."
Lunia, too, had understood Luna's intent.
"If this magic is incomplete… it means Lady Luna was unable to fulfill her wish."
Lunia took a deep breath.
"Leo, you restored the Magic to Make Flowers Bloom, which could be called Lady Luna's greatest desire, and returned it to us elves. If Lady Luna were alive, she would have been overjoyed."
Lunia's red eyes blazed like a roaring fire.
"So I, too, want to fulfill Lady Luna's wish."
Lunia puffed out her chest.
"We are the descendants of the great Progenitor of the Nebula. It is our duty to carry out her will."
At her words, Leo smiled warmly.
"I'm sure Luna would have been thrilled to hear you say that."
"Hmph! Of course."
Lunia's face flushed slightly as she replied coyly.
"So! Shall we start by analyzing the formula?"
"No, there are two other spells you need to master before that."
"What are they?"
"You need to learn the Magic to Make Flowers Bloom."
The Magic to Make Flowers Bloom.
At a glance, it was a spell that did nothing more than make flowers bloom.
'And in reality, that's all it does. It's a magic with an extremely simple effect.'
But in terms of difficulty, it was the hardest of all Star Magic.
It was, quite literally, the magic that contained the very essence of Luna.
"There aren't any elves who can use the Magic to Make Flowers Bloom yet, are there?"
"No, there aren't."
Eiran's ears drooped.
The reason the Magic to Make Flowers Bloom was so difficult…
Was because it was a magic that stepped into the realm of 'birth.'
It was a magic that literally bloomed life, a flower, in a place where there was nothing, without any restrictions.
It was a miracle that transcended magic.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it was a phenomenal spell that had one foot in the domain of the gods.
'Though the fact that a magic that entered the realm of miracles has an effect as trivial as blooming a flower just goes to show how eccentric she was.'
Leo spoke, thinking that Luna would have grabbed him by the collar and shaken him senseless if she heard his thoughts.
"Once you can use the Magic to Make Flowers Bloom, you'll be able to learn any Star Magic. That spell is, quite literally, the essence of all Star Magic."
At Leo's words, Lunia recalled how he had modified the Lundua family's secret magic to suit himself.
'Even if it's a secret magic, it's still Star Magic at its core. So that's how he was able to crudely imitate my magic.'
Feeling as though one of her questions had been answered, Lunia spoke.
"So, until then, are we putting learning the Animus Sword and Flame Emperor on hold?"
"No. You can practice them separately. Eiran, you'll learn how to control fairy mana from this guy."
Leo snapped his fingers.
A summoning circle opened, and Kiruan appeared.
[This one, appears.]
"Sir Kiruan, it's been a while."
[Oh! Long time no see! Lustful Elf!]
"Wh-Why am I a lustful elf?!"
[Why, you ask? Because the moment you saw Leo and that bad-tempered elf over there go into the same room, you thought they were doing this and that…]
"Waah! Waah! Waah!"
Eiran grabbed Kiruan and shook him back and forth violently.
[Ughhhhhh!]
Caught in her grip, Kiruan flailed in Eiran's hands like he was in a thresher.
"That frivolous fairy is the same as ever."
Lunia glanced at Kiruan and wore a smug expression.
"He should be elegant and dignified like my Piora. So, Leo. What about me?"
"You'll need to become more familiar with flames. Why don't you start by training to get used to Piora's fire?"
With that, Leo summoned Piora.
"…"
Lunia stared blankly at the Piora that appeared on Leo's palm.
Chirp-!
Piora raised a wing as if in greeting.
Chirp-! Chirp!
In Piora's mind, Lunia was imprinted as 'the person who gives tasty things.'
So, chirping insistently as if wanting something, it flapped its wings to fly to Lunia and leaped from Leo's palm.
Flap-! Flap! Thud-! Tumble, tumble, tumble-!
But it failed to take off, plummeting to the floor and rolling to a stop at Lunia's feet.
Chirp-! Chirp!
"What in the world did you do to my Piora!"
Lunia's eyes widened as she grabbed Leo by the collar.
Leo said.
"Let me be clear. I did nothing wrong. How was I supposed to know she'd be going around getting snacks from all the kids in our school's Summoning Department?"
Piora was currently so fat that she couldn't even fly properly.
Chirp- Chirp-!
Lunia clutched her head as she watched Piora, who had become a fat chick, roll around like a ball.
After struggling for a moment, Piora managed to right herself and began chirping insistently at Lunia's feet, begging for a snack.
"Piora, don't worry. I'll make sure to put you on a diet."
As Lunia hugged Piora tightly and made her vow, Kiruan, who had escaped from Eiran's grasp, muttered.
[Leave her for a week, and she'll be 1.5 times bigger.]
At those words, Leo sighed.
'A morbidly obese phoenix, a fairy prince exiled for playing pranks on the Fairy King, a perverted pegasus. Why are all my summons like this?'
Leo thought it was a relief that at least Elsie was normal.
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