Dragon System: Red Dragon Legacy-Chapter 57: Relics Of The Past Heroes

While Orion and Sofia were lost to their passion elsewhere, the academy itself was alive with celebration.

A dinner party was held to welcome the newly arrived Hero Candidates. The large hall was crowded with teachers and nobles, their chatter filling the air beneath the bright chandeliers.

"Thank you for this wonderful welcome, Headmistress," said a bubbly young woman with bright blue hair, her eyes sparkling. She was one of the Hero candidates.

"Oh, don’t mention it," Headmistress Evelyn replied warmly. "It is an honor that you all chose to be at our academy."

The blue-haired girl giggled. "You don’t have to flatter us, Miss Evelyn." Then her excitement bubbled over. "I have to say—I’m a huge fan of yours, Queen Evelyn. Your work on magic formulas completely changed how I view spell construction."

Evelyn blinked in surprise, then smiled. "Thank you, Josephine. And please—no ’queen’ inside the academy. Just call me Miss Evelyn."

"Oh, but—" Josephine began, only to be interrupted.

Clink.

The sharp sound of a spoon striking a wineglass echoed through the hall.

"May I have everyone’s attention, please?"

All eyes turned toward a dark-haired boy with refined Eastern features.

"Hello... my name is Aguri Katayama. First of all, I want to thank you all for giving us such a warm welcome. We all know a great danger lies ahead, so we need to stay strong and united. We’re in this together."

"Hear, hear!"

Glasses were raised across the hall.

Aguri smiled politely and sat down. He was seated beside Lilian. He wanted to speak to her, but no matter how much he tried, the words refused to come.

The ashen-haired boy sitting across from them saw this and couldn’t help but feel amused.

He casually slid into the seat on Lilian’s other side.

"Hello," he said with a grin. "I’m Revo Santana, from Oceania. And I must say—I really like your hair."

Lilian turned to him and stared flatly, unimpressed by the clumsy attempt at flirting.

Aguri, on the other hand, was seething. He glared daggers at Revo.

Revo laughed, unfazed. "Alright, alright. I get the message."

He stood and wandered off toward Princess Julia and Princess Felicity, leaving Lilian and Aguri alone.

Aguri swallowed, then finally gathered his courage.

"So... you’re the Hero of Justice. That’s really amazing. I’m the Hero of Valor myself."

Lilian nodded absentmindedly. Her thoughts were elsewhere. All she wanted was to go home and corner Orion—demand answers about how he defeated a B-rank monster.

...or at least, that was her excuse to spend time with Orion.

Seeing her lack of interest, Aguri’s courage drained away, and he fell silent once more.

"Lilian! Come here!"

Julia’s voice rang out from behind. Grateful for the escape, Lilian immediately stood and joined them.

"What’s going on?" Lilian asked.

"Oh, nothing," Julia said innocently. "We were just talking about you."

"...About me?" Lilian narrowed her eyes.

"We were just talking about how that Aguri guy is totally smitten with you," Julia teased. "So? What do you think about him?"

Lilian glanced back at Aguri. "I guess I don’t hate the guy," she paused. "I just... feel nothing."

"Ouch," Julia winced—then burst into laughter. "If you tell him that, it’s gotta hurt even more than being rejected."

"Oh, by the way—you won’t believe this," Julia said, barely holding back her laughter. "That Revo guy actually had the nerve to hit on—"

"Can we not talk about this?" Felicity interrupted sharply.

"Oh come on, it’s hilarious! I promise, nobody else will know!" Julia pleaded.

Felicity sighed in defeat.

"Just tell me," Lilian said, now curious.

"Well," Julia said, then immediately started laughing again, "Revo tried to flirt with Felicity, and she told him she’d consider being his girlfriend—if he agreed to become her dog."

Revo, who had overheard everything, felt his soul leave his body. He seriously considered digging a hole and disappearing forever.

As the night went on, the crowd in the hall thinned, leaving only the Hero Candidates and Headmistress Evelyn, accompanied by her two confidants, Rachel and Pirelli.

Headmistress Evelyn stood.

"Ladies and gentlemen, now that we’ve had our dinner and introduced ourselves to each other, it’s time for the real reason we’re all gathered here."

Everyone nodded.

And, Headmistress Evelyn led them into the academy’s strategy room, where a massive round table took up most of the space.

"You all know the situation," Evelyn said as she took a seat. "The prophecy of the Demon Queen’s seal being broken is about to come true. We know someone will try to break it, but we don’t yet know who that person is, so we cannot act directly against them."

Everyone nodded.

"What we can do," she continued, "is make their task far more difficult."

She paused, letting the weight of her words settle.

"You all know of the Seven Relics used to seal the Demon Queen, correct?"

"Yes," Josephine spoke up. "I believe the heroes who wielded those Relics each created a separate dungeon to safeguard the relics. Only someone with divine energy can enter those dungeons, so in practice, only the Hero Candidates can."

"Correct," Evelyn said. "Three of those dungeons lie within this kingdom. We plan to secure the relics before that person can reach them."

Revo raised his hand hesitantly. "Um... if the relics are the only way to break the seal, why didn’t the previous heroes just destroy them?"

The room fell silent.

Everyone stared at him as if he were the dumbest person on earth.

"If those relics were destroyed, the seal would break as well," Evelyn explained slowly. "And besides, they are divine relics... so even if destroying them worked, it would be nearly impossible to actually do so."

Revo’s face burned red. He had read about that when he was appointed a Hero Candidate... he’d just forgotten. This was the second time he’d embarrassed himself, and all he wanted was to go home.

Aguri spoke up next. "If only those with divine energy can enter the dungeons... how would that person get inside? I doubt they have any divine power."

Evelyn sighed. "There is always an alternative route. And I believe that person knows it."

"So we’ll have to form a team... may I ask who will be going with us? I’m guessing you won’t send us in unsupervised."

"Of course not," Evelyn said. She pulled a document from her drawer.

"Alongside Hero Candidates, four elite teachers and two S-rank adventurers will accompany the expedition."

A ripple of relief spread through the room.

"But that’s not all," Evelyn continued calmly.

"The final member of the team will be a student."

She paused.

"His name is Orion."

Lilian shot to her feet.

"WHAT?!"