〈 Chapter 66 〉 Just Wait a Little Longer

*

Her sister and brothers dying before her eyes.

All she wanted was to survive.

That’s why she ran away from the royal palace, following the Divine Seat’s words.

They relentlessly pursued her.

All the way to this place, the Saint City Hailen.

So, while it might look like just a beautiful city on the outside, it was not that way for Princess Ershiarah.

“I will definitely, definitely…”

Get my revenge.

Enrolling in the Hero Academy was part of that plan.

She would gain power and take revenge on them.

“Elsie.”

Suddenly, Gwen called out to her.

“Yes?”

“Loosen your expression. People are staring.”

It seems she had unconsciously frowned.

Her face felt stiff when she touched it.

“I’ll be careful.”

“Elsie, I told you. The real strong ones know how to hide their strength.”

That was certainly true.

But she hadn’t met someone truly strong yet, so it didn’t resonate with her.

Gwen claimed she herself was not at that ‘real’ level either.

‘I’ll probably meet them at the Hero Academy?’

Rumor had it that promising candidates from all over the country gathered there.

Moreover, the faculty were said to be a lot of former renowned powerhouses who had just recently retired from the front lines.

And perhaps…

‘I might run into Allen.’

Of course, it would be impossible to meet him as a fellow student.

He had already climbed up to the ranks of a High-ranking Hero, a place she could not reach.

But still, that meant he might be in Saint City Hailen.

After all, Hailen was a city for heroes.

In fact, on the streets of Hailen, heroes could be seen frequently.

There were many shops targeting products for heroes as well.

Things she hadn’t been able to notice when fleeing from the Leim Kingdom, but that set the city apart from others.

“You’ll be provided with all the necessary gear as soon as you enter the academy,” Gwen told her, noticing her wandering gaze towards the shops.

Sure enough, the things sold in the shops looked cool, but there was nothing practical she wanted to wear.

However, she had a question.

“What about the entrance exam? If we can use real relics, doesn’t that create issues with fairness?”

Before coming to Hailen, she had heard from Gwen about the entrance exam for the Hero Academy.

Gwen was a graduate of the Hero Academy as well, which allowed her to share vivid details about the exam process.

Of course, the content of the exam might have changed since then.

“There’s no problem. In fact, there are hero candidates who can’t show their full power without a relic. They want to evaluate the ability to use the relic as part of skill,” Gwen explained.

“But what if someone with no skills shows up with a five-star relic?”

“First, a five-star relic is not something an utterly skill-less person can wield easily. Just think about the ‘Royal Sword.’ The conditions for handling that sword are extremely stringent.”

“Ah…”

The Royal Sword inherited by the Leim Royal Family.

It truly had incredibly demanding conditions for activation.

Because of that, there hadn’t been a royal family member who successfully activated it for nearly a century.

“And don’t worry too much. The professors conducting the assessments are all veterans. Even if you don’t use a relic, they’ll be able to recognize the potential within you.”

“Okay…”

“Have confidence. Your potential is among the top tier of heroes I’ve seen.”

Gwen placed her hand on her head.

While it felt natural given their master-student relationship, it also seemed odd on the surface.

At first, it might have been different, but now she was about the same height as Gwen.

She naturally swatted Gwen’s hand away.

It wasn’t because it looked silly.

“I’ve told you several times that messing with me disrupts my optical modulation.”

*

The first place they sought out was the Church Headquarters of Hailen.

Specifically, the Hero Registration area within the massive Hailen Church Headquarters.

She had to register as a hero candidate here to qualify for the entrance exam for the Hero Academy.

Of course, to those who sought to become heroes based on passing the Hero Academy’s exam, the status of being a hero candidate might have seemed unreasonable.

However, the entrance exam cost a considerable budget each year, so the hero candidate qualification was a minimal filtering mechanism to deter indiscriminate applicants.

That said, becoming a hero candidate wasn’t particularly hard.

The criteria had simply been raised to require at least minimal combat ability to fight chaos beasts, even without any gear.

The interviewer assessed the candidate’s skills to judge if they could combat chaos beasts, and that standard wasn’t particularly high.

Ershiarah could probably pass easily.

Unless there was something Gwen hadn’t anticipated.

“I thought we’d arrived relatively early.”

Despite arriving two weeks before the entrance exam, the Church Headquarters was crowded with people seeking to become hero candidates.

As a result, Ershiarah had to wait quite a long time for her interview.

After a long wait, her turn finally came.

“I’m Elsie from Basilium. I don’t have a surname.”

In certain countries like the Leim Kingdom or Sakh, identification papers existed.

However, there were plenty of heroes from places like Basilium without such papers, so the Church didn’t require it.

The interviewer simply wrote down her name on a piece of paper.

Watching this scene, Ershiarah solidified her resolve.

‘From now on, my name is completely Elsie.’

At least until she finished her revenge.

In truth, the name Elsie had popped up in her mind when she answered Allen’s question on instinct.

Honestly, even she thought it was a haphazardly chosen name.

But she didn’t want to abandon it. Allen would probably remember her as Elsie.

In a situation where she had changed her appearance using ‘Optical Modulation,’ if she changed her name too, he wouldn’t recognize her. Sticking to her black hair was because of that as well.

“Do you have any relics you will be using?”

Elsie handed her sword to Gwen, who had just stood by.

The interviewer placed the sword on a strangely designed device.

It seemed to be a relic measurement device.

“Two-star relic [Breeze Bringer] confirmed.”

He handed the relic back to Elsie.

“Now, I’d like to see your basic combat capabilities.”

He pointed to a scarecrow standing in a corner.

“This scarecrow is processed to be of a similar strength to an average chaos beast. You have one minute. Apply as much damage as possible using any means necessary.”

Elsie gripped her sword tightly and approached the scarecrow.

While it looked like an ordinary piece of wood, if it was on par with a typical chaos beast, it undoubtedly had to be tougher.

But since she intended to give it her all, that didn’t matter.

Thwack!

Her sword struck down, embedding deeply into the scarecrow.

Even with her full power behind it, it wasn’t completely splintered, indicating its durability.

But that was where it ended.

Elsie’s sword dance began to whirl violently.

It was a furious dance of blades filled with rage.

In an instant, the scarecrow became ragged and indistinguishable.

“T-that’s enough,” the interviewer stammered as he stopped her just 20 seconds in.

The scarecrow was hardly recognizeable anymore.

“So, I’ll register you as a hero candidate.”

The interviewer’s face was pale for some reason.

Watching the interviewer hurriedly drafting the documents, Gwen placed her hand on Elsie’s head.

“Elsie.”

“I know.”

“Then it’s settled.”

“But didn’t I tell you not to put your hand on my head?”

Gwen awkwardly pulled her hand away.

*

After completing her registration as a hero candidate and leaving.

She suddenly saw another interview area.

The types of weapons handled by heroes were many, so at least the Church Headquarters had interview spots for each type.

Among them, what caught her attention was the archery interview area.

There wasn’t a specific reason.

It was just that a lot of people were gathered there.

“Gwen, didn’t you say that archery wasn’t that popular?”

Gwen had definitely said so.

And she distinctly remembered the reason clearly.

Most higher-ranked relics took the form of swords, making it nearly impossible to find relics that were bows.

“Yeah, that was the case originally. But this year is different.”

“Really?”

“One of the few high-ranking heroes who uses a bow, Ludmilla, failed to find a successor among last year’s graduates. That means the opportunity shifts entirely to this year.”

She glared at the archery interview area with cold eyes.

“Most of those people are just those who fell behind in swordsmanship. But they’re crawling in, thinking archery might be a bit better.”

But that seemed odd.

“But if that many people gather, wouldn’t it instead disrupt the process?”

“Exactly. So, most of them will naturally get filtered out again.”

Gwen’s gaze lingered on a black-haired man.

“Gwen?”

Elsie called out to Gwen, who seemed to be in a daze.

At that, Gwen finally turned her attention back.

Muttering to herself, she said, “No way. There’s no resemblance at all. He shouldn’t even be here. No way he’d use a bow.”

Elsie, hearing Gwen’s cryptic muttering, looked at the man.

A black-haired, black-eyed man.

‘Allen?’

For some reason, he came to mind.

Despite being of a much larger build, and his appearance being different.

But still…

‘There’s no way Allen would be here.’

She too turned away.

Following Gwen, she began to walk away.

Behind them, the black-haired man released an arrow.

The moment it left his fingertips, a gust of wind followed.

The arrow shot forward, hitting the target perfectly.

“Oh, not bad. You’ve passed.”

The examiner, watching from the side, asked, “What was your name and your place of origin?”

“I’m Sung Yoo-rang from Sakh.”

He turned his head and glanced at the two women walking away quite a distance.

Then, with a hint of regret, he said, “We promised we would meet again.”

It seemed that keeping that promise would be difficult.

If it happened, it’d likely be a bit later.

‘For your sake. Just wait a little longer.’

*