Clevatess (クレバテス-魔獣の王と赤子と屍の勇者)

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?

Yeah.

That was a crazy thing to do.

The dark beast aside,

we were told this morning that Nathan collapsed.

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.

Hey.

Oh, it's you guys.

Um... Leon and Tygel?

Can we talk?

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?

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.

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