The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 10

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 10. First Lesson (2)
We were given thirty minutes to prepare after the Party was formed.
While Professor Lucas Kane hadn’t disclosed the exact lesson content, following his advice that we’d “be stuck in the mountains for quite a while,” the Candidates gathered equipment necessary for outdoor activities in their respective Party units.
Though the necessary equipment amounted to little more than comfortable clothing, sturdy footwear, and a water canteen.
Once the Candidates finished their preparations, we made our way to the outdoor Training Ground located directly adjacent to the Academy grounds.
Though called a Training Ground, it was actually an entire Mountain converted and repurposed for instruction—from the outside, it appeared indistinguishable from the Academy’s back Mountain.
“Today’s lesson content is ‘Demon Beast Tracking.'”
Professor Lucas Kane gestured toward the Mountain as he continued.
“I’ve released three Demon Beasts into the Training Ground. Your mission is to track the traces these Demon Beasts have left behind and capture the Demon Beast lurking somewhere within the Mountain.”
“D-Demon Beasts?”
Albert asked in a trembling voice.
Demon Beasts.
Creatures—animals and plants alike—transformed by the power of the Demon God, they represented humanity’s most formidable “enemy” alongside Demon Cores.
Their strength and abilities varied wildly depending on the individual specimen, but fundamentally, they possessed enough power to tear apart several people with ease.
“What, are you frightened?”
“N-No! I’m not frightened at all!”
Yet Albert’s expression was rigid with tension.
The other Candidates’ expressions weren’t much different.
During first and second-year lessons, we’d had opportunities to observe Demon Beasts from a distance, but directly tracking and hunting wild Demon Beasts like this was an entirely new experience.
“Not frightened, you say? Your legs are visibly trembling.”
Professor Lucas Kane clicked his tongue disapprovingly and gave Albert’s rigid head a light flick.
Ow!
Albert cried out, clutching his head.
“Let me say this once more—today’s lesson is Demon Beast ‘tracking,’ not hunting.”
Professor Lucas Kane continued with his arms crossed.
“The Demon Beasts you’re to capture have been restricted by magical artifacts—they can only flee, nothing more.”
“Ah.”
“Phew. I thought…”
Only then did the shadows lift from the Candidates’ expressions, accompanied by quiet sighs of relief.
“Well, this is your first lesson, so it’s like this, but starting from the midterm evaluation, there will be no mercy, so prepare yourselves from now on.”
Ugh.
At the Professor’s following words, the Candidates’ expressions darkened once more.
“Anyway, the Party that successfully tracks and captures the Demon Beast released in the Mountain will receive bonus points, so do your best to find it.”
“Yes!”
The Candidates answered with vigor at the Professor’s words.
Knowing that post-graduation treatment varied drastically depending on our comprehensive evaluation ranking during the Candidate Program, we couldn’t help but covet every single bonus point.
“Then let’s depart immediately—”
“Professor! I have a question!”
“Go ahead.”
“What time is the time limit until?”
“Ah, right. I forgot to mention that. The time limit is….”
Professor Lucas Kane’s lips curled into a sinister smile.
“There isn’t one.”
“…?”
At the professor’s words, question marks seemed to materialize in the eyes of every candidate.
“Whether it takes hours or days to capture the released beasts—the class continues until all three are captured.”
“D-days?”
“Um… Professor. What about our other classes…?”
“Practical combat training counts as a legitimate excuse for absence, so don’t worry and focus on this class.”
“….”
Watching Professor Lucas Kane laugh wickedly as if daring anyone to even think of skipping, the candidates’ faces fell.
“Well then, each Party will depart at five-minute intervals!”
Bwahahaha!
With the professor’s hearty laughter, the third-year’s first outdoor class began.
* * *
‘A beast-tracking class, then.’
My memories had been hazy when I first heard we were to form parties.
Now, fragments of my past life were resurfacing.
‘I remember barely managing to capture all three beasts by the third day.’
Of course, my party back then hadn’t even found a shadow of the beasts, let alone captured any.
But I retained vivid memories of wandering the mountains for three days, nearly starving, while waiting for all the beasts to be captured.
“It’s our turn soon.”
“Ah, right.”
At Iris’s call, I rose to my feet.
“Ugh… Holy Maiden. Do I really have to travel with this ruffian?”
“It’s a Party class. Of course we have to go together.”
“W-well, I suppose…”
Camilla Bediche glared at me with obvious displeasure.
“Why did you even propose forming a party with such a scoundrel in the first place?”
I was curious about that myself.
‘Why did she ask me to be in the same party?’
Wasn’t this the same person who’d been slapping me and hurling curses at me not long ago?
Since we hadn’t crossed paths or spoken since then, the resentment between us surely hadn’t dissipated.
“Hmm… I wonder?”
Iris turned to face me with an enigmatic smile playing at her lips.
“It’s a secret.”
“Ugh.”
“Anyway, if we don’t leave soon, the professor will scold us, won’t he?”
“Sigh. Yes, understood.”
Camilla Bediche let out a resigned sigh and turned to face me.
“I hear you’ve been hiding your strength all this time?”
“Well… I had my reasons.”
I hadn’t actually been concealing my power, but since the rumors had spread that way, there was no point in denying it.
Besides, who would believe me if I claimed to have regressed through time?
“I don’t know what your reasons are, but you won’t catch me off guard like last time, so don’t get any foolish ideas.”
Camilla Bediche gripped the hilt of her sword at her waist and glared at me fiercely.
I swallowed a stifled laugh and nodded in acknowledgment.
I had no intention of losing control of my emotions and acting recklessly like before, but a natural question surfaced in my mind.
‘Could I defeat Camilla Bediche if she fought at full strength right now?’
To be honest, the reason I’d been able to subdue her with one hand previously was largely because she’d let her guard down.
At that time, she hadn’t even activated her stigma.
If I faced her again at full power…
‘I’m not entirely sure.’
Even though I’d found a way to accumulate mana unlike in my previous life, only a week had passed.
I couldn’t compare myself to her, who had grown steadily through breathing techniques since childhood.
Of course, in terms of pure technique alone, I could confidently say I’d reached a level she couldn’t hope to match, but that was only when considering technique in isolation.
‘Honestly, I don’t even know what level I’m at right now.’
In my previous life, there were three periods when I experienced significant growth.
The first was during my time as a mercenary at the bottom of the barrel.
The second was while learning from comrades like Yuren, Berald, and Sophia.
And the last was…
‘Wandering the Continent alone in search of the Primordial Flame.’
During that time, there was no one to compare myself against, making it difficult to gauge exactly what level I’d reached.
But there was one thing I could say with certainty.
‘I won’t lose easily.’
No matter how promising a candidate Camilla Bediche was for the Sword of Holy Nation.
Right now, she was merely an inexperienced candidate who had never fought a real battle.
“Why are you dawdling?”
“Oh, sorry.”
“Hmph. Don’t think you can slack off just because it’s a lesson. Since you’re now a member of my party, treat this as real combat and move accordingly.”
Camilla scoffed and walked forward with determined strides.
“So, where should we begin tracking from?”
Iris looked around with an expression of uncertainty.
Finding a demonic beast lurking somewhere in this vast mountain was easier said than done.
“Hehe. You needn’t worry about that, Holy Maiden!”
Camilla puffed out her chest with confidence.
“I scored quite well in the tracking techniques class I took last year. Just trust me and follow along.”
“Oh right. You came bragging to me about it back then. Said you got first place.”
“Th-that was… ahem. I’d appreciate it if you’d forget about that.”
“Why~ it was adorable.”
“Come on, let’s get moving. At this rate, another Party will steal our prey.”
Camilla Bediche’s cheeks flushed as she quickened her pace, fleeing as if embarrassed.
* * *
The hunt for the Demon Beast began under Camilla Bediche’s command.
Indeed, her tracking skills proved exceptional—her reputation as the top student in the tracking course was no exaggeration.
“The direction the branch snapped and the footprints suggest it moved this way.”
Camilla examined her surroundings meticulously, following the creature’s traces with practiced precision.
We must have traveled for about an hour.
“Huh…? Wait?”
Camilla Bediche’s expression twisted in confusion as the trail vanished abruptly.
“Ugh…”
Camilla Bediche turned to face Iris, who followed behind, and shifted her weight anxiously from foot to foot.
“Don’t make that face. This is your first time tracking a Demon Beast directly, isn’t it?”
“B-but!”
“It’s fine, really.”
Iris offered a gentle smile, soothing Camilla Bediche’s worries.
She turned to me and continued.
“I suppose we’ll have to start from the beginning again.”
“No, there’s no need for that.”
I shook my head and stepped forward.
“No need? What do you mean?”
“The trail didn’t disappear—we simply missed it.”
“What?”
I pointed to a thin black hair caught in the bark of a nearby tree.
Lodged at a height of ten meters, it was a trace impossible to spot without tilting one’s head back considerably.
“Ah!”
“There are no claw marks on the trunk, yet fur appears at this height. Fundamentally, this creature is an excellent climber.”
Why had it suddenly scrambled up into the trees after traveling along the ground?
I swept aside the fallen leaves accumulated beneath the tree.
As expected.
Feces, presumably from the Demon Beast, lay scattered there.
‘Defecation is when both humans and Demon Beasts are most vulnerable.’
It had likely climbed into the trees for safety.
“It hasn’t been long since it was excreted.”
I picked up a small piece of the feces from the ground and placed it in my mouth.
Eek!
Gasps of horror erupted from the two women behind me.
Ptooey.
I spat out the feces and continued speaking.
“Low moisture content, with a strong stench and bitter taste. It’s increasingly likely this is a feline carnivore that transformed into a Demon Beast.”
Considering her skill at climbing trees, I could say with near certainty that she was the culprit.
“The faint taste of blood suggests her health isn’t in the best condition.”
This was likely due to the magical artifact Professor Lucas Kane had mentioned.
“Given her movement patterns and health status so far, she wouldn’t have been able to travel far by climbing through the trees.”
“….”
As I rose to my feet, Camilla Bediche shuffled backward hesitantly.
“What?”
“You, you just… the Demon Beast’s droppings….”
“There’s no more reliable way to assess a Demon Beast’s condition than through its excrement. It’s even in the tracking manual, isn’t it?”
Regardless of being a Demon Beast, it was still a creature that ate, slept, and defecated.
“I understand that, but….”
Normally, people would simply observe and leave it at that—even seasoned heroes rarely went so far as to put it in their mouths.
Only low-ranking mercenaries living hand-to-mouth would resort to such measures.
“Observing with your eyes alone is far less accurate than this.”
“Still, there’s no real need to actually consume it, is there?”
“This is just training, so it doesn’t matter much, but what if this were real combat? What if the creature could hide and target you at any moment?”
In such a scenario, assessing the Demon Beast’s condition beforehand could mean the difference between life and death.
“That’s….”
“I seem to recall it was you, not me, who suggested we treat this like real combat rather than mere training?”
“….”
Camilla Bediche swallowed hard, lowering her head as she found herself without a counterargument.
Her clenched fists trembled visibly.
She looked ready to burst into tears at any moment.
‘I suppose.’
She had boasted confidently before the Saint she served, insisting everyone trust and follow her, only to lose the trail midway.
She had been completely overwhelmed—both in logic and in skill—by the Candidate who had humiliated her just a week prior.
For someone as prideful as her, the blow to her mental state must have been severe.
“Damn it….”
Camilla Bediche, who had been biting her lip, approached me with tears welling in her eyes.
Thud!
She stomped her foot roughly and grabbed me by the collar.
“I can do it too!”
“Huh?”
Do what exactly?
“I can eat shit too!”
“….”
No, wait.
I understand what she means, but….
Hearing it phrased like that sounds rather odd.
“What’s the big deal about eating some shit that you have to be so smug about it?”
“What kind of life allows someone to boast about eating shit?”
“Me? Well, if I set my mind to it, I could eat it too!”
“Sure, sure. I get it.”
Please, just calm down already.
“Hmph! What do you get? I mean, what you’re saying is… you want me to put that filthy thing in my mouth right in front of you, don’t you?!”
“Huh?”
What nonsense is this lunatic spouting now?
“You… you bastard…!”
“No.”
Stop this, please.
The genre’s taking a weird turn.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————