Hunter Academy: Revenge of the Weakest-Chapter 1005 - 236.2 - Divine

The infirmary doors whispered shut behind Sylvie, the faint hum of the wards fading as she stepped onto the wide stone landing outside. Cool evening air kissed her cheeks, carrying with it the scent of fresh rain on old stone and the quiet, distant echoes of students sparring in the lower fields.

She exhaled, releasing a breath she hadn't realized she was holding.

And then—

A figure leaning casually against the base of a lamppost caught her eye.

For a moment, her mind didn't register it. The evening light painted everything in hues of silver and gold, the breeze tugging at his cloak, making him look almost like part of the scenery.

But then he shifted—straightened—and she saw the unmistakable glint of yellow in his gaze.

Her breath hitched.

"…Brother?"

He smiled easily, as if they had agreed to meet here all along. His cloak bore an unfamiliar crest now—a half-risen sun over a distant horizon, stitched neatly onto his shoulder.

Solstice Dawn.

Sylvie's eyes flickered briefly to the emblem, confusion passing across her face, but she quickly masked it.

Leonard pushed off the lamppost with a casual grace, his hands slipping into his pockets. "Thought I might find you here."

His voice was light, familiar—but Sylvie didn't miss the way his eyes swept over her from head to toe, assessing. Not critically. Almost… proudly.

"You were watching?" she asked, folding her arms loosely over her bag, half defensive, half wary.

Leonard chuckled, a low, warm sound. "Not inside. I wouldn't interfere with an exam." He tilted his head slightly. "But yes. I was told the healers were being evaluated today. Thought I'd check on a certain little sister of mine."

Sylvie's lips twitched despite herself. "You could have just sent a message, you know."

Leonard shrugged. "Wouldn't have been the same." His gaze softened, the golden hue of his eyes catching the last edge of the sun's light. "Besides… I wanted to see it myself."

She hesitated—then asked, more quietly, "And?"

He grinned. "You were good. Better than good. You didn't panic, you didn't overreach, and you didn't waste a single drop of mana. Whoever's teaching you should get a bonus."

Sylvie looked away, hiding the faint color rising to her cheeks.

It shouldn't have mattered. She didn't need validation. She didn't need his validation.

And yet...

A small warmth settled somewhere beneath her ribs.

"Thank you," she said, softer than before.

Leonard walked forward a few steps, his boots silent against the worn stone, until he stood just a few feet from her. Not invading her space—but close enough that his presence filled the air between them.

"You've grown a lot," he said, almost to himself. "Stronger. Smarter. I'm proud of you."

Sylvie's chest tightened again at those words, and she cursed herself silently for how much they still meant to her.

She tried to focus on something else—anything else. "You're a scout now?" she asked, nodding lightly toward the crest on his cloak.

Leonard smiled, something sly flickering behind the easy expression. "For the time being. Solstice Dawn's running a few new recruitment circuits. I got assigned here." He glanced around, feigning casual interest. "Pretty convenient, huh?"

Sylvie didn't answer immediately.

A strange undercurrent ran beneath his words. An odd coincidence—or something more?

She studied him closely, but Leonard's mask didn't falter.

Not yet.

"Convenient," she agreed finally, her voice carefully neutral.

Leonard's smile widened just a fraction.

He knew she didn't fully believe him.

And that was fine.

There was still time.

He reached out and ruffled her hair lightly, in the same easy, affectionate way he used to when they were children.

Sylvie batted his hand away with a quiet huff, but the tension between them eased, just a little.

"Come on," Leonard said, turning back toward the main path. "You're free now, right? Let's grab a late dinner. My treat."

Sylvie hesitated only a moment before falling into step beside him.

*****

As they walked side by side, their footsteps weaving a steady rhythm along the stone path, Leonard's mind ticked quietly beneath his outward ease.

'She has awakened sooner than expected,' he mused, his golden eyes half-lidded in thought. 'And it seems someone else has noticed this too.'

There was no way—no possible way—that he, the one appointed directly by His Holiness, could have missed it.

The faint ripple he felt earlier at the infirmary wasn't coincidence. It wasn't imagination.

It was resonance.

Real. Tangible. Subtle enough that even seasoned mages might have missed it—but not him. Not someone trained to feel the quiet birth of power woven into blood and bone.

Of course, Leonard had always known.

From the moment he first laid eyes on her, when they were still just children fumbling through half-lit prayers and whispered lessons of faith, Leonard had known she was different.

Different—and chosen.

The fate she carried was not the fate of a mere healer or a scholar tucked safely away in the Academy's shadow.

It was heavier.

Older.

Drenched in threads of prophecy long woven before either of them were born.

He cast a sidelong glance at Sylvie, who was talking lightly about the infirmary staff—an innocent smile playing at her lips as she recounted how one of the older instructors had grumbled about "youth wasting their talents" while bandaging his own clumsily burned hand.

She was laughing softly, the sunlight catching in her hair, her expression unguarded for once.

And beneath that innocence, the pulse of something vast and half-sleeping stirred.

Leonard's smile remained easy, his posture relaxed—but inwardly, he exhaled in something closer to resignation than satisfaction.

'Well, since the agreement is nullified,' he thought, his steps slow and deliberate, 'I suppose it's better that she awakens soon.'

He turned his gaze forward again, past the flowering trees and rising arches of the Academy's central courtyard.

'We don't need to waste a talent like her after all.'

The old agreements—the ones that would have restrained her, shackled her future in chains of ritual and submission—were ashes now. Burned away by necessity.

She was no longer a trade good.

She was a potential weapon.

Just then, Sylvie's voice broke softly through the quiet between them, tinged with casual curiosity.

"Brother," she said, glancing sideways at him, "that symbol on your shoulder... what is it?"

Leonard slowed his steps slightly, as if remembering the existence of the crest only now.

He followed her gaze down to the half-sun emblem stitched neatly onto his cloak—the insignia of Solstice Dawn catching the fading light with a muted gleam.

"Ah, this..." he said, tapping the crest lightly with two fingers, his tone relaxed, almost offhand.

He offered her a lopsided smile, one that seemed perfectly natural—too natural.

"It's for my new job," he said simply. "I'm here as a scout now."

Sylvie's brows lifted slightly, a mix of intrigue and mild suspicion flashing across her face. "A scout?"

Leonard chuckled under his breath. "Not quite the hunter you imagined I'd become, huh?"

She shook her head lightly, still studying him. "I just didn't expect you to join a guild like... that."

"Solstice Dawn?" he prompted.

Sylvie nodded.

Leonard shrugged, as if it were the most ordinary decision in the world. "It's a newer guild. More specialized. We find talented cadets and guide them toward the right places. You know how it is—these days, everyone's desperate for new blood. Especially after the last few major incursions."

Sylvie's expression darkened a little at the mention of the incursions, but she said nothing.

Leonard continued easily, steering the conversation back toward lighter ground. "I guess you could say I'm one of the lucky ones. I get to travel, meet new talents, and... maybe even steal a few stars away before the bigger guilds grab them."