When they left the tavern, Cecil wanted to say goodbye to Anya, but the place was so busy she couldn't even find where the catgirl was.
Evan packed up a takeout dinner for the goddess.
Then—
Even though their destinations were completely different, they still escorted Lefiya first, heading to the Pure White Healing House on Northwest Street—Adventurer Street. That was the Dian Cecht Familia's base. All the School District kids who had been injured in the Dungeon today were being treated there.
The School District's ship was currently docked at the harbor city of Melen, not far outside Orario. According to Lefiya, teachers would come pick them up and take them back.
So after leaving the tavern, the three returned to the Central Plaza, then turned into Northwest Street near West Main Street.
The bustling long street was loud.
At a glance, the first thing you saw was the Hephaistos Familia's equipment shops—endless-looking display windows packed with armor and weapons so expensive they made your jaw drop.
There were countless item stores, potion shops, and specialty stores selling magic staves and robes…
It was called Adventurer Street for a reason.
Every shop was built around the adventurer profession—so naturally, the people coming and going were adventurers too.
Big burly men, bold-looking women who radiated swagger, stern-faced elves who kept their distance, dwarves who were obviously drunk and shouting nonsense, pallum who either looked timid or stubbornly hardened…
And—
Amazons whose eyes kept drifting toward Evan.
Beastfolk with every imaginable fur color, ear shape, and tail type were even more common.
Lefiya clearly wasn't used to this atmosphere, so she looked stiff and uneasy. To her, most of these people felt… scary.
And without realizing it—
She ended up squeezed between Evan and Cecil, getting "bumped" now and then by the pair at her sides.
It couldn't be helped. The boy and girl were too familiar with each other. When they walked together, they simply didn't have the concept of "watching their distance."
Which only made Lefiya even more embarrassed.
And so—
They finally arrived at the Pure White Healing House, not far from the city gates, directly across from the Guild's headquarters—the Pantheon.
The Dian Cecht Familia's white-stone building looked like the hospital Evan remembered… but also, in a sense, like a "temple."
Its emblem—an orb of light intertwined with herbs—was formed from colored tiles.
The first floor held potion shops and consultation rooms. The upper floors were nothing but wards—and they were always full.
Orario was the city of adventurers.
Tens of thousands lived here. Even if many belonged to production or business familias and never set foot in the Dungeon, the numbers were still far beyond what the Dian Cecht Familia could handle. Even as the city's largest medical familia, with multiple healers, they were constantly overwhelmed.
And with so many adventurers, there were endless messy problems in the city. Street brawls were practically routine.
Conflicts between familias could be even more brutal. Sure, there were War Games, judged by the gods and the Guild—but most of the time those only happened when one familia was being suppressed so hard they couldn't fight back, leaving them no choice but to seek a "fairer" resolution.
Most of the time—
Familia "wars" were settled in the shadows. A familia getting wiped out overnight and erased from Orario wasn't even rare.
After saying goodbye to Lefiya—
Standing at the hospital's entrance, Evan and Cecil watched several adventurers drenched in blood being carried inside, where Dian Cecht's healers had to use emergency magic on them first.
One of them even had a short sword stuck in his head. The fact that he was still alive was a miracle.
Even more unbelievable was what happened next:
A petite girl with silver-white hair—so delicate she looked like a doll—came running over with other healers. She cast a healing spell on the man with the weapon in his head.
A gentle white light flashed.
Then the girl calmly pulled the sword out of his skull—and his wound sealed shut instantly.
He looked weak, but otherwise completely fine.
That's… insane.
Evan thought, So besides my skill that can revive and heal, there are healing spells this ridiculous too?
After finishing, the girl collapsed onto a bench, exhausted. Other familia members handed her a potion—probably something to restore mind and spirit—and she drank it down in one go.
Then she sprang back up and hurried away again.
She really was that busy.
"Let's go. Time to head back."
"Yeah."
Evan called to Cecil, but she was staring at the injured adventurers as if thinking about something.
Only when Evan tapped her forehead did she snap back to reality and turn to leave with him…
…
"Arisha, what do you think justice is?"
"Justice is obviously Instructor Leon!"
"You airhead!"
Lefiya sat by her friend's bed, rolling her eyes with an expression that said, I knew you were going to say that.
"How are Badain and the others?"
"They're fine—already out of danger. But Instructor Leon told us the school's decision. That guy's been confined. Before we leave Orario, he and Nason aren't allowed to leave the School District, and when we get back he has to write a self-reflection report and all that. He's cooked…"
"As long as they're alive, that's good."
"Yeah…"
For once, Arisha wore the same expression.
She had actually been badly hurt. She wasn't suited to combat at all—she'd always been trained as a future researcher, valued for her excellence in alchemy.
Her dream was to stay in the School District, doing production, research, and teaching.
Even though she was Lv.2, among adventurers she was… frankly weak.
Today, Lefiya had thought Arisha was going to die.
Even healing magic couldn't mend wounds that severe—at least, the timid healer at Lefiya's side back then couldn't.
Until Evan approached, pulled out a gourd, and poured the liquid inside into Arisha's mouth.
Twice.
Only then did her injuries recover and she woke up—so lively now that she was the most energetic one among all their classmates.
Thinking back, Lefiya could only call it miraculous.
What kind of precious restorative potion—or healing magic—was that?!
"Let's not talk about sad stuff. Arisha—has the teacher arrived already?"
"Mhm~ It's Instructor Leon!"
"W-What?! Instructor Leon is here? Where is he? I want to ask him something…"
Lefiya wanted to ask Leon what justice really was—and also tell him her decision to intern with the Astrea Familia!
Instructor Leon wasn't a god.
In Orario terms, he was the captain of the Baldr Familia—and also their homeroom teacher.
Lord Baldr was the founder and current leader of the School District. Of course, many other gods were there too, each with their own familias operating as "Class XX."
To Lefiya and the others, Leon was like a guide—an experienced senior who helped them resolve worries and confusion.
And—
Leon had another identity.
He was one of only two Lv.7 adventurers in the world, a figure on par with the Freya Familia's captain—the man known as the Mighty, Ottar.
Leon Vandenberg, titled The Ultimate Knight—the pride and banner of every School District student.
"Not sure. Someone from the Guild came earlier—really mysterious."
"Someone from the Guild?"
"Because we ran into a weird monster, right? After reporting to the teacher, I guess he told the Guild, so they sent someone over. Then some strange guy took Instructor Leon away."
Arisha spoke with the gossip tone only teenage girls could master.
"That guy was covered in a black robe from head to toe. You couldn't see anything. If he hadn't said he was from the Guild, he'd look like a final boss villain."
"Ah…"
"Oh, right, right—Lefiya, that person who saved us was named Evan, right? Did you treat him to a meal properly? Should you give him a gift? Or visit him personally—"
"No!"
For some reason, watching her friend chatter on like that, Lefiya suddenly didn't want Arisha to meet Evan at all.
"Get some rest. I'm going to look for Instructor Leon!"
"Huh?! Why are you leaving?!"
"Good night!"
…
Under the moonlight—
Behind the Pure White Healing House, in the residential building where Dian Cecht Familia members lived, there was a reception room reserved for gods.
But tonight, it was being used by the School District's strongest adventurer and a representative of the Guild.
"It hasn't been that many years. I've never heard of that kind of monster appearing in the Dungeon. Is something happening?"
Leon lowered his eyes.
He had short, slightly messy brown hair brushing his shoulders, an unusually tall and slender frame—so thin it almost felt excessive.
He wore the teachers' dark suit-style uniform, with a neat reddish-brown shirt collar and a dark bowtie of a rather strange design.
On his chest was the Baldr Familia emblem: a pure white ship drifting amid boundless waves.
"Lord Ouranos says not to worry. A change in the Dungeon is a good thing."
The reply came in a hoarse, uncanny voice from beneath the black robe.
"You know."
He continued.
"The time is almost here."
"Less than five years…"
Leon murmured, as if marveling at how quickly time had passed.
"Will that be enough?"
"If we take extreme measures… even one year is enough."
"That's from Lord Ouranos?"
"Yes."
The robed figure nodded slightly, then went on.
"And besides… aren't many children already aiming for it?"
The hoarse voice paused.
Then, with solemn weight, he spoke the word.
"Hero."
The world longs for heroes.
The gods long for heroes too.
To fulfill the adventurers' ultimate wish and complete the Three Great Quests, a hero must step forward.
Now, the King of the Land and the Tyrant of the Sea had already been slain.
The only one remaining was the One-Eyed Black Dragon.
Nearly ten years ago, the Zeus and Hera Familias went to the Dragon Valley to complete the final quest—
And were annihilated.
Those two strongest familias, with Lv.9 and Lv.8 adventurers and multiple Lv.7s, were erased from the city. And that, in turn, triggered an Evilus uprising—those who had once lurked in the shadows.
It ultimately led to the Great Feud three years ago, nearly destroying Orario itself.
"So the gods just sit and wait for children—kids—to shoulder the task of saving the world?"
Leon's words carried open sarcasm.
As for the man before him—
He was Lord Ouranos's messenger, the first being to descend from the heavens to the mortal realm, who built Orario and the Guild, driving the monsters ravaging the land back into the "Pit."
A close attendant of the Great God.
He only answered:
"It wasn't the gods who saved the Lower World. People saved themselves."
"A thousand years ago, the ancient heroes fought the monsters pouring out of the Great Hole. Even without the gods' blessings—some even without the spirits' protection—they fought on, and laid the foundation that would become Orario."
"Even without gods, humans would still take up weapons against monsters—one after another, endlessly."
In the era before the gods descended, a thousand years ago, the great hero Albert wounded the Black Dragon that had just crawled up from the Dungeon to the surface, forcing it to flee in disgrace.
That dragon became the One-Eyed Black Dragon, and the spirits seized the chance to seal it in the Dragon Valley.
A feat no one had ever repeated since.
"We believe in the children of the Lower World, just as this world has always believed in them."
"That is Lord Ouranos's exact words. Heroes will always appear—not only in the past, and not only in the future. Even now, in this very moment, someone is moving toward becoming a hero… even if they themselves have no idea."
The Guild's messenger rose and bowed slightly to Leon, preparing to leave.
"And Leon."
At this point, he spoke like an old friend.
"Aren't you preparing too… hero candidate?"
"…"
As if in response to those words, several immense figures floated up from the depths of Leon's memory—
Swordsmen whose strikes could cleave mountains and split cities.
An unreachable chasm of power in the past.
A hero should be a conqueror.
That was how the strongest of old had thought.
They charged forward, fearless, smashing even destruction itself and devouring it whole—
And yet they failed.
A pitch-black end swallowed everything.
All that remained was the last embers of their pride and dignity, turning into kindling, passing the hope of the future onto the next generation.
So a hero is not a conqueror.
The answer of those who failed should be denied. If you followed their road, you would reach no result either.
They were only an afterglow that once illuminated the world.
New heroes would still be born, and find their own answers—
What is a hero?
For now, no one could give a new answer.
And as for himself…
"I'm not a hero candidate. And I won't become a hero."
One of the world's strongest adventurers, bearing the title The Ultimate Knight, stood up and spoke solemnly to the Guild—
No, to Lord Ouranos's only messenger.
"I'm just a bastard still scattering the afterglow."
The robed listener gave no comment, only leaving the reception room in silence.
-------
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