Antihero In the Hero Academy: I Can Connect the Past Heroes
Chapter 188: Gotta Be One

Chapter 188: Gotta Be One

[Help me, and I will give you everything you have ever dreamed of.]

It was an incredible reward. He knew that as Baron, he could save thousands, tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of people, including those of other races.

It was an opportunity. It was an opportunity to become the first Duke of the Duchy, the first vassal of Atlas Shorekeeper.

Lynx stood up suddenly after comprehending the meaning of these words and approached Atlas. When Emma reached for her sword, Atlas stopped her with a single glance.

Lynx immediately knelt on both knees and, without hesitation, looked at Atlas and said, "If you promise this, I will do everything in my power, my lord."

Atlas stood up without saying a word, and Lynx immediately picked up a pen from the table and broke it in half. Atlas sensed the flow of mana in the room. It was a communication spell.

Within just three minutes, the door to Lynx’s room opened, and a man with golden hair, covered in wounds and bandages, entered.

The man immediately saw Atlas and Emma behind him, but without saying a word to them, he turned to Lynx and said, "You called me, sir."

As Lynx gestured to the man with his hand and then turned to Atlas, saying, "Sir, this man’s name is Crow. He found the region where the devil worshippers reside after only an hour of investigation and rescued nearly a hundred girls from prison without anyone noticing. Unfortunately, he was severely injured while trying to escape, which is why he is in this condition."

When Atlas looked into Crow’s eyes, he could see the coldness in them. He resembled the people he had known during the war so much that his whole body trembled with a strange feeling of nostalgia.

"Thank you," Atlas said suddenly, looking at the man in front of him.

He didn’t even know what to do to repay this man named Crow for what he had done. That was why he could only manage to thank him.

Still, even that was enough to show how good Lynx’s group was.

Of course, it was not for nothing that they said a good man attracts only the best people around him.

Crow was surprised but said nothing, merely bowing his head in acknowledgement. After that, Atlas’s gaze returned to Lynx.

"So the girl is safe. Is that right? She’s fine, just as you said," said Atlas, as if he just wanted to be sure.

"Yes, sir. Leona is safe. She’s just a little... traumatised, as you can imagine," Lynx said.

Atlas took a deep breath and said, "Take me to Leona," and followed Lynx, who had suddenly started moving.

Before leaving the room, he touched Crow’s shoulder and said, "Well done."

Leaving the bakery with Lynx, Atlas walked for nearly fifteen minutes before entering a two-storey house that could be considered luxurious.

As soon as he entered, he could see a group of nearly forty, perhaps even fifty, women surrounding Lynx. Each of their faces bore an expression of looking at their saviour... pure and bright.

With just a glance, Atlas could see Leona sitting on the couch at the edge of the room, and he walked past Lynx and the crowd towards her.

When Leona saw Atlas, she was literally glued to the couch; the emptiness and sadness in her eyes were enough to reveal the trauma she had experienced.

When Atlas tried to touch the wound on Leona’s face, she recoiled so violently she nearly fell off the chair, and Atlas immediately understood the extent of her trauma.

Despite the Shorekeeper emblem on her armour, Leona was still afraid of Emma’s gaze.

"I came looking for you, Leona. I promised your father, after all," Atlas said suddenly.

When Leona heard these words, she suddenly stopped being afraid and looked into Atlas’s eyes.

"My father...Is he okay? Who are you?" Leona asked two questions at once.

Atlas shook his head and was about to finish his sentence, "Yes, he is fine, all of them are. As for me..." when Emma stopped him.

In an environment where high-ranking nobles like dukes were present, the person introducing them would be their closest knights or the owner of the place.

In this case, that person was Emma herself.

"Pay your respects, young lady!" Emma said suddenly.

"The person you see before you is Atlas Shorekeeper, the first Duke of the Fourth Duchy of the Epsilon Empire. He is the younger brother of Aura Master Eva Shorekeeper and the first and only student of Sage of Eternity Cordelia," Emma added to her own words.

Meanwhile, everyone in the room had their eyes fixed on Atlas, who shook his head and said, "Well done."

Immediately afterwards, Atlas looked at Leona.

"As I said, we set out to find you because your father was worried about you. Thanks to Lynx, we found you. If I hadn’t encountered your father and seen the paintings you drew, you would most likely be dead by now. But don’t worry, we’ll take revenge. My sister and I will go to that place, kill every last one of them, and then we’ll go to Shorekeeper City with you." He then turned to Lynx and said:

"Lynx. If you learned about the region of the devil worshippers from Crow, take this information to the Sun Palace. Take this, too." Atlas said, reaching into his inventory and handing Lynx his family’s coat of arms.

"You must take this information directly to my sister, uncle, or aunt," he added.

Lynx took the crest directly from Atlas’s hand, bowed before him, and quickly left the house. Within seconds, Lynx had disappeared.

Atlas, on the other hand, was thinking about what to do with the women here. He turned his head towards Emma, hoping to get an idea.

At that moment, Leona spoke up:

"Please don’t discard them; they are the ones who keep me alive..."

Atlas paused upon hearing this sentence, looked at Leona for a few seconds, and then asked, "What are you trying to say?"