Chapter 91: Result [1]
"Where is Alice?"
The first thing Lumina asked him was about her.
She didn’t see Alice anywhere. Even her mana signature seemed to have vanished.
"Alice?" Leon’s voice trailed for a moment.
He stared into her red eyes.
"She’s gone."
Lumina’s brows furrowed. "What do you mean?"
"Don’t worry, she’s fine," he said simply.
"Didn’t I tell her not to wander off on her own? And why did you let her leave?"
’Ah, fuck,’ Leon cursed himself.
Then, keeping his tone calm for a bit longer, he clarified, "On our way here, we saw a lesser demon running outside the Zone, so Alice went after it. I... will probably see her in a minute or so."
Leon sounded calm, too calm, so Lumina accepted his words for now.
"Is that so..." Seeing Leon’s condition, with his mana completely drained, Lumina believed him. Besides, she didn’t doubt Leon.
Why would he even lie?
Changing the topic, Leon looked towards where the Black Mountain once stood.
"You killed all those demonic necromancers?"
"Mhmm," she nodded, "you said to let the souls of my people leave the chimeras, I needed to kill each one of them."
She walked beside Leon, gazing at the crumbled mountain view. "I didn’t let a single soul escape."
’Yeah, not even Alice’s body should be left.’
Good thing she blasted the mountain.
"Will the souls of my people be at rest now?" Lumina whispered.
It was dark, but due to the light from all the stars and moon, the view was clear.
Leon glanced at her side face.
He saw her eyes getting softened.
Thump!
His heart gave a sharp beat.
’Uh, again with this feeling...’
Shin’s fraction of memory was still with him, but before it vanished, or before Leon vanishes from this story, he decided to at least tell her goodbye.
He would not be able to meet her.
Maybe he will only hear about her in the textbook.
For his time spent with her, Leon discovered a strange sense of respect towards her.
’She said she was all alone...’ Leon thought back to her words.
It was a simulated story world; in reality, Lumina had suffered so much. She never got to see Shin again. After leaving her house title, she moved to the neighbouring capital, which was later named as ’Liora’. There she worked for a mercenary guild, and later in her age, got recruited as a knight. Proving her skill to all, which shook even the mountains, she was named as history’s greatest swordmaiden.
With her skill alone, she had slain plenty of demons, and even took part in the Great Calamity War, making herself registered among the warriors of the past, and even got herself a title of her life in the Library of Astral Tale in her honour.
Her tale was famous in the tragic genre.
[Congratulations on completion.]
A message flashed.
Leon ignored it.
He felt his consciousness pulling away from this world.
But before he left her, he just wanted to say one last thing to her.
He looked at her with his unmoving gaze, and his mind subconsciously called out to her.
"...don’t forget about me. Elizabeth."
"Huh––"
The way he called her made her entire mind go soft.
As she met his eyes, she saw the same familiar warmth and steadiness she once knew. Her own eyes unconsciously mirrored that gaze.
Before Leon’s consciousness pulled away, he saw a last glimpse of Miss Lumina. Her eyes held a strange mixture of expressions, but Leon was somehow able to read her like an open book.
It was a longing gaze, a happy gaze, and above all, a gaze laced with love.
— — —
2nd floor, Library of the Astral-Tale, Eclipse Institute.
White moonlight reflected on the figure, and her strands of silver hair caught the light.
The library was almost empty now, except for Seena and a few professors. Most of them had already left. Not long after, Ethan returned with his partner, having reached 100 percent completion.
He was the first to come back after finishing.
Except for him, most groups had only reached about thirty percent of the story, and those who were actually skilled had managed forty to seventy percent before dying inside the book.
Eula waited for him as the progression bar hit ninety percent.
For some reason, the status seemed to show completed. It was strange, because it should not have said completed at anything less than one hundred percent.
"You seem strangely interested in this guy," Seena asked Eula.
After Alice arrived unconscious and saw what Leon had done, her entire focus had shifted back to the resonator.
The headmaster had rushed her granddaughter to the infirmary without waiting to ask for details. If Eula was right, he would go directly to Leon to question him.
"It’s nothing big," Eula said, her eyes not meeting Seena.
Unlike other students and most professors, Seena stayed by her side. She did not want to leave her beloved princess alone waiting for some stranger. To be honest, she also wanted to see this Leon herself. His progress was insane. Even if he was last to arrive, with his ninety percent, he should receive a single-digit rank without breaking a sweat.
"Valentine..." Seena muttered.
The elder brother was a prodigy, and not to forget the main star of the Valentine family, Lady Veronica.
Compared to them, Leon was said to be a failure, a stain on the name of Valentine. He had no great reputation and was considered trash in both magic and swordsmanship.
Seena glanced at the progress bar and thought,
’That’s not how trash acts though...’
At first, she had thought it was Alice Nightson whose actions had pushed the book so far, but after Alice died and returned, she realized it had all been Leon.
The insane surge of progression was his doing. From the reactions of Eula and Raizen, she understood that this youngest son of the Valentine family was yet another prodigy.
Ting-! Ting-!
The resonator gave two long beeping sounds after the lights on it simmered, and a figure started forming right before it.
Golden light emitted as a human figure began to take shape.
Eula’s eyes locked on it, and so did Seena’s.
His body formed from the feet upward. By the time it reached his head, Seena had already walked and stood right next to Eula.
Even the staff was witnessing this.
The golden light carved a sharp golden gaze as it locked on Eula first. Seena saw it clearly.
"?!"
As soon as his eyes formed, they scanned a full 270 degrees, capturing every single detail, before finally locking on Eula. It took almost five seconds for his entire body to fully form.
’What the?’ She noticed Leon’s eyes.
"It’s already dark," Leon muttered.
"Apologies for taking this long, Princess." He bowed, showing respect to Eula.
Eula simply stood with her arms crossed. Her eyes fell on Leon as she said, "Not at all, I enjoyed all of it."
For some reason, Leon’s eyes twitched at her words, as if he did not like what she said.
Seena saw the brief exchange and understood that it spoke far more than it seemed.
Then Leon’s eyes fell on the figure standing beside Eula.
He greeted her, "Good evening to you too, Miss Seena."
Seena raised her brows, not expecting him to know her name.
"Good evening," she replied calmly, lifting her skirt in courtesy. "Leon Valentine, eh? I did not get to see what you did in there, but examining Princess Eula’s reaction, I can tell it was something worth inspecting."
Leon simply shook his head. "Not at all, Miss. It did not go well, and even Alice died."
After he said that, Eula suddenly spoke.
"It is getting late." She turned to Seena. "Seena, I will wrap it up. You can inform the professors and prepare the ranking chart early in the morning."
Seena did not protest. She gave her a salute and a strange expression, as if she were flustered.
"As you say, Princess."
After that, Seena went upstairs along with the remaining staff, leaving Eula and Leon alone.
Silence stretched as they both stood.
’Well, this is awkward,’ Leon thought.
Eula had seen everything. It would not have taken long for her to inspect him. But now that the exam was over, Leon decided to just go to his dorm.
"It’s really getting late; well, we will see each other again. Good night, Princess," he said, moving in the direction of running away.
But before he turned, Eula stopped him.
"Leon Valentine, do you not think you are forgetting something?"
Leon paused. He met her usual cold stare.
"I... do not think so," he said.
’Just let me go. Can’t we do that all tomorrow?’
Eula turned her back to him and, without waiting, called out,
"Come with me."
She gave him no choice.
Leon expected it and sighed.
They walked down to the ground floor. Leon noticed that the library was almost empty.
’I wonder what time it is...’
After stepping out of the library, he followed behind Eula.
She had her hands behind her the entire time, taking each step ahead toward the main road.
After walking further, she stopped. And so did Leon.
She turned, and as she did, Leon saw her eyes glowing deep blue.
’A skill?’ Leon alerted his mind, clicking his tongue. ’Fuck.’
Eula activated a skill, and after she did, her mouth moved, carrying a pleasant and irresistible tone, as if she were commanding a minion.
"Why did you kill Alice?" she asked, staring at Leon, her eyes glowing.
Leon acted calmly.
After a moment, he smiled and said, "What do you mean, Princess?"
Looking at his face, Eula grinned too.
She stopped her skill and brought her fingers to brush her hair back.
"As I thought," she said, glancing back at him again. "Command of Grace... you have it too."