Around a Thousand Years Ago
What am I doing here?
It's a wasteland.
Was it always like this?
Where is my foe?
There are no more foes, Clevatess.
It's all over.
Who are you?
I am the Lord of Dark Beasts of the West.
Zavthier of Phantasms.
CLEVATESS
Episode 3: The Hero Legend and the Village of Origin
Hey! Hey!
Klen!
I'm going home with them again today.
No, no wait!
There was a dark beast!
And not just a normal one...
I'm not interested in theories.
Tell me what's going on when you've figured it all out.
Sorry, Alyssa.
We'll be borrowing him.
Bye.
What's with those guys?
My only chance to talk to him in secret is on the way to and from school.
When we speak through the dark ichor,
it's up to him whether he wants to respond.
It's so strange to see him getting along with humans.
Does he have some other goal?
I won't get anywhere thinking about it!
Fine, I'll figure it out on my own.
The other students are just as strange.
Is Nathan getting expelled?
The dark beast aside,
Yeah.
we were told this morning that Nathan collapsed.
That was a crazy thing to do.
But nobody seems put off by it.
That's what this place is.
Is it not that rare?
Hey, can I ask a question?
Have there been others besides Nathan who...
Hey, wait!
She was with Nathan, I heard.
Same as those twins.
Eww. So she's a barbarian, too. Disgusting.
They're treating me like I'm part of a group of delinquents.
Well... they're not going to tell me, I assume.
Hey.
Oh, it's you guys.
Um... Leon and Tygel?
Can we talk?
So?
It's about Nathan Franc.
He's leaving the school today, I heard.
Today?
Magical research is a risky business.
Learning magic and becoming a wizard is just that special.
Especially in this country, where their military is dependent on magical might.
If you can become a wizard here,
you can become a ranking officer in the military as soon as you graduate.
That's why we came here!
We're not here to play around.
We came to reach the top when it comes to magic!
If anything, an environment like this is just what we want.
We want to reach the top and teach a certain person a lesson.
What about you, Hiden girl?
You came here for a similar reason, right?
We think you're pretty strong.
Even if you can't use magic.
No normal person can fight a dark beast with sticks and kicks.
Want to work together with us?
We want to learn how to get a Crest, no matter what it takes.
And you're here to take back the secrets of magic too, right?
Otherwise, you wouldn't have come this far into enemy territory.
That's exactly my goal.
Drel's secret room leads to that.
Is that the same for Sarasa and Edison, too?
They seemed harmless.
They don't look like they're up to something...
What can you do for me?
We can gather information.
There are things we can do that a good girl can't.
And there are things only a good girl can do, right?
So we'll both share our information and reach the answer as soon as possible.
Can you guarantee you won't run off with my info?
None.
We're both just using each other, for as long as that lasts.
They're arrogant and violent, but they're not liars.
If I can end this alliance at any time, it's not a bad idea.
I'm in.
Good.
Tell me immediately if you learn something.
And if you see another dark beast, tell me.
I'll come to you if I think I need more people.
Yeah, you can count on us.
Tell us immediately if you find something out.
Will do!
Does it cause your heart to ache?
The words of the Church of Elds are the words of God.
If the words of ancient Toah, recorded in the sacred texts,
tell us to pursue magic...
then doing so is the duty of the people of Dunn.
He's simply lucky to be alive.
But I don't like seeing a young man's future come to an end.
All is as God wills it.
No luck...
Nobody will answer my questions.
It's so weird that nobody's interested
in the fact that a human turned into a dark beast.
I guess I should ask somebody else.
A teacher, maybe?
That guy from Eslinn? No, no way.
If he figures out who I am, I don't want to have to think of an excuse.
These stones are ancient...
Actually, didn't they say they built this on an ancient ruin?
I kind of like it...
This feeling of resting up against something mossy and ancient...
I was stabbed from behind?!
But why?
Professor...
Everyone's ignoring me! I think I'm being bullied!
Can you please help me, Professor?
Scary! Scary! Scary!
S-So... what do you want my help with?
The bullying, of course.
Isn't that an obvious lie?!
Everybody's being mean and won't answer my questions.
"What happened to Nathan?"
"How do you acquire a Crest?"
"Have you seen a dark beast?"
Or...
"Do you know where I can find Drel's secret room?"
You just blurted it out!
You haven't actually been asking everybody that last question, right?
The last one was a joke.
I'm not stupid enough to go around telling people my real goal.
I'm pretending to be just a student
who's interested in magic and worried about Nathan.
I don't think you're supposed to tell me that.
Well, you already know who I am, but you haven't told the school.
In other words, you're on the three kingdoms' side.
This school is on holy ground and the Emperor can't control it,
so he sent you in as a Boelate spy.
Am I wrong?
You're not wrong, but I am still your enemy.
I'm not going to help you.
Even if I offer to help you?
I know what the Emperor wants.
I was there when they all talked about it.
The Emperor wants us to find it so he can steal it at the last minute.
He'll be sending in his army.
He only sent us here as an excuse to use his army on holy ground.
And the reason he hasn't done that yet is that
he really doesn't know this place's secrets.
He's waiting for Eslinn or Hiden, or perhaps you, to find them.
Am I wrong?
Eslinn wouldn't just stand by silently if Boelate attacked this place.
I'm sure they already have a powerful army ready and waiting.
Either way, this place will become a battlefield.
And some of the students will die.
As a hero, I want to avoid that.
And what do you want me to do?
The best option we have is to find whatever secrets this place has
and destroy them before the army arrives.
That'll give them no excuse to attack.
You can report that you found the secrets.
And I can protect the kids.
You're going to give me time to tell the Emperor, right?
Yes. When I find them, I'll tell you first.
By the way, I'm already working together with those Eslinn twins.
I swear on my name as a hero that I won't tell them where I learned anything.
You'd better not.
And I promise that if there is a war, I won't hurt you.
Which means that if I don't help, you will hurt me!
You're basically blackmailing me!
Can I ask something?
What?
Why are you a tiny Hidenean now?
I suppose you would be curious.
Capital of Eslinn, Esleburg
Elden Castle
Rhode and Miquel are talented men.
But Dean Romain, the Cardinal of the Church of Elds, is a cautious man.
Shall I go, my lord?
Not yet, Sword Saint.
Acting too quickly will create problems we don't need with the Church of Elds.
We can't get inside that holy ground without proof of the evil within.
At least as long as the current Pope is alive.
From what I've heard, the next Pope is to be the Dean of Solsein.
Elro Romain.
If he assumes the role, the place will be beyond our reach.
So what we can do now is...
Sword Saint Owen Koath, I give you this order.
Take 500 soldiers to Hiden!
Take Luna Mountain while its master is absent!
Hiden Capital City Hiderat
Royal Sanctuary "Moonlit Belvedere"
Lu... na!
Amazing, Lord Luna!
That's right!
It's amazing that you've learned to read,
but you can also make the blocks float!
I knew he had magical talent, but...
He's so strong.
The throne is engraved with the names of those kings who have
gone through the naming ceremony and received their true names.
He has yet to go through the naming ceremony,
but the word "Luna" is engraved above the previous king's name.
This must be because of Klen, who gave him his name.
My master is really amazing!
Ma!
So how does one obtain a Crest, Professor?
Do you know where it happens, or anything like that?
If I knew, I'd have told the Emperor already.
When I got my crystal,
I lost my memories of what happened before and after.
I'm sure it's the same for the other students who have one.
All I know is that it involves a trial, and the chosen ones receive a revelation.
A revelation?
You're given a revelation that guides you to a trial.
Wait, do you mean...?
Yes, that's right.
It's just like the Village of Origin in the Hero Legend.
That's what it's like in Slada?
It is!
So we've been followed?
She was doing it yesterday, too.
How did you do that?
Those are fake versions of us?
Is that magic?
No, those are shadows.
Shadows?
They'll disappear when they enter another shadow.
And when they do, she'll think she's lost us.
Clever.
Almost like Zavthier of Phantasms, Lord of the West.
I can do it too.
And also make a shadow barrier that blocks vision from the outside.
But why follow us?
I don't care who she is.
More importantly...
I erected this barrier for you.
So why don't you get started,
Orggite Shamaness Godspeaker
Sarasa Rue Eira Raphoka?
Oh, so you did know.
Indeed. I am the Shamaness Godspeaker.
The next queen of the Orggites.
Q-Queen?!
Hey, Eddy.
Stop freaking out over everything.
I shall now manifest Zavthier, the god of the Orggites.
Now...
Th-This is... the Lord of Dark Beasts of the West.
Zavthier of Phantasms?!
It's been many years,
Lord of Dark Beasts of the South,
Clevatess of the Moonlight.
Your current Shamaness is pretty tiny,
you old hag.
Silence, young one.
Now, then...
It's your turn next.
How long do you plan to remain hidden,
Rathwell of Azure, Lord of Dark Beasts of the East?
No, I'm, uh...
Silence, Eddy.
Just go to sleep.
I'll do the talking.
W-Wait!
I'm not ready—
Shut up.
I'm coming out, and that's how it's going to be.
I'm here, Lord of the West, Lord of the South.
You are a collective and a parasite.
I could tell that was the case just by looking at him.
Well, I latch on to a lot of different creatures for fun.
He's one of them.
This is outside my territory,
but I could easily send out three or four of me.
Clevatess, how'd you get outside your territory?
Have you shrunk down that body quite a bit?
I'm sure there's a reason you've summoned us.
Indeed.
The Lord of Dark Beasts of the North, Vordin of Scorchfire.
I know for a fact that he's working with a group of humans on some kind of plot.
And that he has a dark ichor avatar here as well.
That's why you're here as well.
Yeah. I could sense something ominous, I guess.
I had a bad feeling, so I came.
I'd heard about what happened with Clevatess and Hiden, too.
So, what do we do?
Find him and make him talk?
He's not the sort to resort to talking.
But we can find what he's up to and render judgment.
"Judgment" will be a bit tough.
We Lords of Dark Beasts can't leave our territory.
But we can find what he's after and destroy it.
What he's after?
It must have something to do with the Hero Legend.
Most likely.
Yeah, about that.
I really don't know much about the Hero Legend.
It'd help if you could give me a quick summary.
I intend to.
I'll tell you everything
that occurred before your predecessors perished.
The Hero Legend.
The Hero Legend
Chapter 1: The Temple.
Chapter 1 The Temple
An awakening on an altar of stone.
The Hero looks up at the light and knows their destiny.
Chapter 2: The Village of Origin.
Chapter 2 The Village of Origin
There the Hero receives a revelation from God, and is guided.
They undergo a trial and awaken their power.
Chapter 3: The Forge.
Chapter 3 The Forge
The sword is forged in flames that contain the power of God.
It is called a Regalia and becomes the Hero's ultimate weapon.
Chapter 4: Heavens and Earth.
Chapter 4: Heavens and Earth
He slays many dark beasts and saves many lives.
He stands atop a pile of many corpses,
and gazes beyond the peaks.
Final Chapter: New Horizons.
Final Chapter: New Horizons
He defeats the four dark beast lords and guides the people.
Beyond the membrane.
The deeds of God.
He retakes the world.
Awaken, Hero. Hear the words of God.
The time of true awakening...
As you know, that's the whole thing.
There's no more to it.
The story of the Village of Origin is well known as a legend,
but the word "magic" doesn't appear in the story at all.
But that's true of the part about the forge as well.
There's nothing in the text about Hiden,
or how the Regalia are made, but they're real.
There's probably a book or something in each land
that contains details not in the main text.
Just like the "Book of Toah" that Klen found.
Is there a book for each chapter, maybe?
If Drel was always after the book and not the forge...
Does that mean he knew about the book from the start?
Could he have already seen another book?
And if that book was this land's...
From the second chapter...
The book of the Village of Origin?
Hero?
The divine revelation... The trial...
If it was possible to read and understand it, then replicate it...
I think I know what the secret room is.
Wait!
That's not fair!
Klen cut his connection to me, damn it!
I want to tell him now, but...
That's the #3 student at the school...
A snail?
What?
I can see a reflection of myself in its goo...
What was that?
Something feels wrong...
What?
What the hell's going on?!