The Lohengrin Empire, which forms the core of *D/Z SAGA*.
The First Emperor who founded this empire—**Hark von Lohengrin**—is so powerful that he could literally claim to be a “god” himself.
According to official settings, and if you visit his memory dungeon, you can possess him and play as him, at which point you can see his stats.
Strength 25, Health 25, Dexterity 22, Magic Power 22, Will 30.
Those are his base stats with no buffs and no equipment equipped, per official lore.
With his bare hands he could grasp a mountain, with a kick he could leap across the sea, with a crush he could bring the sky crashing down to the earth, and with a stomp he could shatter the world.
At the time, the Human Realm was said to be shared territory between the Celestial and Demon clans.
Because of that, they enticed humans to gather faith, fed on hatred and rage, freely filled themselves with blessings and curses, and exploited them.
It was **Hark** who rose up with the conviction that humans must protect their own dignity, and that the Human Realm belongs solely to humanity.
Born in Lohengrin—the land that has now become the imperial capital—Hark displayed feats of martial prowess close to that of a divine being from a young age, and could not help but lament the wretched reality of the Human Realm.
He raised an army, proclaimed himself emperor, unified the continent, and then rallied the dragons who had been watching over humans while also acting as guardians of the Middle Realm.
At the side of the emperor who unified the continent were the Lohengrin Regular Army, the Royal Knights, the Royal Guard, the Imperial Mage Corps, an empress called “God’s Match,” the Ten Elders who followed the emperor, and the dragons.
Afterward, he invaded the Celestial Realm and the Demon Realm, defeated the Grand Seraph and the Demon King, secured autonomy for the Human Realm, and then established this academy island—**Zefflin**—which is recorded as his final achievement in life.
And then he vanished.
He’s literally an absurd character. Even cheating should have some limits.
Was the developer insane? No matter how much you shove a “beginning of all stories” character into the setting book, there ought to be some decency, right? Huh?
**Eve von Lohengrin.**
After she grows, she literally becomes a goddess of magic with no equal in-game.
Right now, she’s tied up with student council work and constantly has “Soul Change” active, so she can’t fully utilize her magic power, but by the middle-to-late part of her route, once freed from her duties, Eve goes around spamming magic.
The student council president whose Starlight Cannon is a normal attack, hits twice, and is AoE. Eve von Lohengrin matches the First Emperor only in one stat—**Magic Power**.
So then.
Where are the weapons and tools that monster—who wrecked the Celestial Realm, trampled the Demon Realm, and established humanity’s dominion, who boasted of reaching divine status—used in his lifetime, and the treasures he collected?
First, the Imperial Treasury.
Second, the heirlooms of the Ten Elder families.
Lastly, right here in Zefflin.
In particular, Zefflin doesn’t just hide tools—it also conceals his personal secret techniques and magic, all because of the First Emperor’s directive: *”Even in a future without me, may those who rival me, those who surpass me, grow and strive for humanity’s future.”*
In *D/Z SAGA*, the First Emperor’s buried treasures are scattered all over the place, and even I can’t say I’ve found all of them. After all, what I was doing before I regressed was a treasure-hunting game on the true heroine route.
Anyway.
Finding them is obnoxiously difficult.
Among them, the place where Hark’s legacy lies dormant—though its quality isn’t exceptionally high—is precisely **Phitia’s treasure vault**.
In fact, some players first encounter Hark’s legacy here, which shows how staggering the difficulty is.
So, what are most of Hark’s legacies like? They really reflect his personality.
—
“Eccentric.”
“…Huh? What did you say?”
“Nothing. I didn’t say anything.”
“I see… We’re here. This is it.”
“Hm.”
Hark’s storehouse.
No—this was the Hall of the Throne.
Small, but with a throne, and famous paintings on the walls. A red carpet spread out, and lined up beside it were dozens of full-plate armors, each holding a demon sword in their hands.
And all of this is treasure.
“Pick just one from here.”
“Hm.”
Anyone would think the armor or demon swords are the treasures, but amusingly, this carpet, the paintings, even the candlestick over there—all are treasures personally selected by the First Emperor.
Of course, not all of them are amazing.
For example:
**【Candlestick of Pride】**
**【5T】**
**【When you light this candlestick, the effect ‘Wide-Range Heat Preservation’ activates. All beings within the field will never be afflicted with the ‘Chill’ or ‘Freeze’ status ailments. Also has the function of repelling monsters at night.**
See?
Pretty interesting, isn’t it? I couldn’t help but smile.
I walked toward the throne, sorting through the treasures in my head.
Now. If the world’s strongest assassin and a imperial descendant with Health 2 are going to fight, what would be the best choice?
The item I had to take from here from the start was already decided.
*For the crime of making a veteran gamer salty.*
“For the crime of making a veteran gamer salty.”
Take it gracefully.
—
Inside Zefflin, an uneasy atmosphere was circulating.
Regardless of grade level, everyone’s presence had become sharper—or rather, they were no longer hiding their intent from each other.
The first-year fledglings were now treated as proper members of Zefflin.
No—they themselves were aware of it.
The reason they were put through the wringer so harshly from enrollment through midterms was that if you couldn’t even survive that grinding, becoming a member of Zefflin was out of reach.
And the first-years who survived those midterms now understood what the final exams meant.
The fact that they’d be paired in sparring matches in the exam itself—that is, it clearly distinguishes the superiority between you and your opponent.
If you have no talent, you can’t survive; if you have talent but don’t work hard, you can’t survive; and even if you have all of that, this is a world where you can still fall into the abyss.
That is Zefflin, and they now realize with their very skin and soul that they stand on the true testing ground.
And naturally, defeatists cannot survive in Zefflin; everyone looks upward.
That is—the top of the grade has no further rise, and must accept challenges from everyone below.
Second-year Knight Department Nepterian, second-year Magic Department Eve von Lohengrin,
and third-year Magic Department Ayla Triasta as well.
But they have proven their positions for at least a year or more.
Therefore, everyone’s gaze turns to the **supernova** that is now **worth aiming at**.
That name—**Millefeuille von Sabre**.
The Royal Loader walking the most shocking path in Zefflin today.
From weakest to strongest.
She has beaten the top student of all grades, Kelter, twice in a row, completely crushed Gale—the second place—caught the attention of current student council president Eve von Lohengrin, and stays by the side of former student council president Wolfram.
With that suffocating weight on both shoulders, the pink-haired young hawk—what is she doing right now?
“Vanilla, Yogurt. I’m going to the convenience store tomorrow… What should I wear?”
“Uniform.”
“Uniform.”
“R-really…?”
Filled with youth and dreams.
—
With the final exams just around the corner,
I set to work repairing the “treasure” I’d obtained that day together with Phitia.
“Little brother. Are you really going to use this?”
“Hm. Of course. Can you install the options I requested?”
“…Of course I can. That’s easily possible. How do you even come up with such ideas? And to ask your big sis to directly modify Papa’s treasure… You really are a bad kid.”
“Don’t you like it?”
“I-I didn’t say that! It’s our first joint project as siblings, isn’t it!”
Phitia looked at me with sparkling eyes and began to join in on my “plan.” She was so happy that when she said “joint project,” it rang loudly enough to make my ears ring.
“Phitia.”
“Hehe. I thought modifying Papa’s treasure would defile the memories… but since it’s a treasure my little brother obtained, isn’t it okay?”
“…Phitia.”
“Ah, this sin of committing a taboo… I know I shouldn’t, but it’s a precious memory, this guilt pressing down on my chest…”
“……Phitia?”
“Fu, fufu. I feel like I’m going to fall and become a demon dragon…”
And then she plunged completely into modifying the treasure.
Hmm.
When I think about it, she’s also a kid who’s been playing alone for three hundred years, so she has no friends.
She acts like a big sister because she’s a dragon, but in reality, she’s never had a younger sibling—a pitiful one.
I know that three hundred years ago she was practically a baby. *Eung-ae.*
That’s why they left Phitia here in Zefflin—the safest among the “dragons guarding the Middle Realm”—and gave her the safest job: guarding the Eight Gates.
The other dragons? I know they’re literally bleeding from battle. I’ve never met them, though.
Anyway.
Now that I’ve won over this cute dragon who acts tough but is weak to offense, and who’s never actually been a big sister but wants to be one… next, I need to devise a way to defeat that strongest assassin.
“Senior…?”
“Millefeuille?”
Just then, I heard my junior’s low voice from behind.
“Th-that person… who is she…? A-another one…? You’ve added another…? An incredibly beautiful woman… I, I can’t be like that… And a joint project…?”
Millefeuille started muttering something.
“Let me introduce you.”
“…Yes. Please introduce her. Who is that person? Tell me.”
Whoa.
I’ve heard this voice somewhere before.
Where was it? A similar feel… Ah, Regina Sierra just before a bad ending.
But that can’t be.
She’s a good junior who trusts and follows me like a father, right?
“Phitia Blue Breeze. My older sister.”
“……Yes? Oh, I’m sorry! I misunderstood.”
“What misunderstanding?”
“She’s from the Imperial family, isn’t she? I didn’t expect you to have such an older sister figure…”
“That’s not it. She’s not unrelated to the Imperial household, but… she’s not blood-related.”
“……?”
Hmm.
If you ask like that, it’s a bit hard to explain.
“She’s the adopted daughter of our great ancestor. Her race is dragon. Through fate, we became sworn siblings.”
“……Yes?”
“You don’t have to believe me. It’s an unbelievable story.”
“S-sworn… siblings?”
“That’s right.”
“I’ve seen that in the novels Yogurt reads.”
“Hm?”
Without answering my question, Millefeuille began muttering rapidly.
“Normally siblings… at some point… eyes meet… heart pounding… strong attraction… but in the end they can’t hide their feelings… eventually from siblings… but they’re not blood-related… their feelings for each other… only guilt remains… taboo and legitimacy at the same time… the most cowardly… like having both home-cooked and restaurant food on the same table at the same time…”
“……?”
It was too quiet for me to hear.
Home-cooked and restaurant food?
After muttering to the end, Millefeuille came to an abrupt stop.
What’s wrong with her all of a sudden?
“Ah. That makes sense then.”
“……?”
But after that, Millefeuille smiled as usual.
Thank goodness. She’s back to normal.
“Senior.”
“Hm. Speak.”
“You promised earlier that if I kept the top spot in the final exams, you’d go out with me for a day. You remember, right?”
“Of course.”
“I’m glad. Senior. Then, I have one more favor to ask.”
“What is it?”
“It’s about my cartridge-type Peep Punch. Do you happen to have a mk.3 ready?”
“……”
Millefeuille stared at me without averting her gaze.
I see.
You want that power.
“It’s still incomplete. It needs a few adjustments.”
“……That’s fine.”
“I see.”
I understand your upward-striving desire.
I, too, lived without being acknowledged, treated like an incompetent fool.
“Alright. I’ll make it for you.”
“Yes. Thank you, Senior. I have one more thing to ask.”
“What is it?”
“When you adjust it, please prioritize power as much as possible.”
“Why?”
“Because… I have to defeat them all.”
Defeat whom?
Well, who else.
“Ah. Are you talking about your sparring opponents?”
“Yes! Who else would it be? Fufu.”
Millefeuille looked at me and beamed brightly.
“A desire to win them all, is it. Fine. I’ll make it as power-focused as possible. However, it will become proportionally slower. Is that okay?”
“…Yes! If it comes to it, I’ll grab them tight so they can’t run away, Senior!”
Saying that, Millefeuille grasped both my hands firmly.
As a senior who has such expectations from a junior, my heart races too.
But why does that racing feel like when I watch a horror movie…
“Senior. I’m counting on you!”
Millefeuille smiled brightly at me.
Giving up on inferring her emotions, I nodded.
Fear?
Nah, no way. That can’t be.
