The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 107

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 107. The Blonde’s Too Much (2)
An orphanage located in the slums of Valhalla City.
Commonly called the “Ant Nest” by outsiders, this place bore an infamous reputation for its poor security.
Yet even in mud, flowers bloom.
Among these notorious streets lived children whose souls remained untainted by the world’s grime.
“Waaah! It’s Dale!”
“Iris! I missed you so much!”
“There’s someone new here too?”
“Hah, hah. Camilla… would you step on my cheek just once with those shoes on?”
The moment we arrived at the orphanage, children came pouring out in a rush.
“Why am I….”
Juliet Kang, who had been dragged along half-reluctantly to serve as a porter, looked bewildered as he surveyed the orphanage interior.
I gave Juliet Kang’s back a light pat and chuckled.
“This is your first time volunteering at an orphanage, isn’t it?”
“…This is actually my first time coming to the Ant Nest at all.”
Juliet Kang nodded, his expression uncertain.
Well, that made sense.
What business would a young master from one of the Republic’s most prominent conglomerates have coming to a place like this?
“Since you’re already here, might as well treat it as a new experience and play with the kids.”
“Play with the kids….”
Juliet Kang’s gaze turned toward the orphanage children.
For orphans in such a poor district, they were relatively clean, though their clothes were still caked with grimy dust in places.
“…With those kids?”
An unmistakable look of disgust crossed Juliet Kang’s face.
He backed away from the approaching children as if he’d encountered filthy vermin on the street.
“Oh.”
“Mm….”
Did the children understand what his reaction meant?
The children, who had been approaching Juliet Kang with curious eyes, flinched and froze in place.
“L-Let’s go somewhere else!”
“Y-Yeah!”
The children scrambled back toward the orphanage, hiding behind the door and peering out at Juliet Kang with wary eyes.
Their movements carried an almost practiced naturalness.
The “adults” these orphans typically encountered were probably not so different from Juliet Kang.
“Oh.”
Juliet Kang’s expression grew flustered at the children’s reaction as he glanced at me nervously.
“S-Sorry. It was just so sudden.”
“Why are you apologizing to me? If you’re going to apologize, do it to the kids.”
I gestured toward the children with a tilt of my chin.
Juliet Kang swallowed hard and nodded.
“Um… kids?”
I called out hesitantly, but the children hiding behind the door still hadn’t lowered their wary gazes.
Seeing how reluctant the children were to open up, I suddenly thought of something and opened the backpack slung across my shoulders.
“Um… oh, I picked up some bread from the School Cafeteria on the way here. Want to try some?”
“Huh…?”
“School Cafeteria bread!”
The moment the children saw the bag stuffed full of bread, their eyes lit up.
They moved cautiously, as if tiptoeing past a sleeping beast, and gathered around the bag.
“…Did you buy all this, mister?”
Leo, the boy at the front of the group, asked while looking at me.
I nodded eagerly.
“Y-yes! I bought everything in here myself!”
“Wow, wow! You bought all this bread by yourself?”
“You must be rich, mister!”
“That’s amazing!”
At the mention that I’d bought over a hundred loaves of bread alone, the children’s eyes sparkled with newfound admiration.
“Y-yes.”
I scratched my head awkwardly, offering an uncomfortable smile at their reaction.
“Wait, isn’t this the limited edition ‘Mint Chocolate Bread’?”
“I heard that’s so popular it’s hard to find!”
“How did you manage to get so many limited edition breads?”
The children stared at me with astonished expressions.
As their gazes focused on me, I momentarily looked flustered, then cleared my throat and spoke.
“I have some expertise when it comes to buying bread. Since the School Cafeteria’s bread section is so expansive, you have to search every nook and cranny carefully to find the limited editions.”
“Wow! That’s incredible!”
“You’re the bread king!”
“King of Bread!”
The children gazed at me with sparkling eyes and expressions of admiration.
I blushed, looking embarrassed.
“K-King of Bread? That’s… quite a title.”
“….”
A spoiled young master delighted to be praised for his bread-buying skills.
‘In my past life, I at least had some backbone… how did I end up like this?’
I couldn’t help but wonder.
I let out a hollow laugh while watching Juliet surrounded by the children.
Unlike before when the children’s mere approach made me frown, a faint smile now played at the corners of my lips as I distributed bread to them.
“You’re all hungry, right? I brought plenty, so eat as much as you want.”
“Thank you, mister!”
“Hehe! I thought you were scary at first, but you’re not!”
Only then did the children let down their guard and approach me.
“What’s your name, mister?”
“Are you Dale’s friend?”
The children asked Juliet Kang while looking at him before eating their bread.
Juliet Kang glanced back at me, then carefully opened his mouth to speak.
“My name is Juliet Kang, and Dale and I are… well…”
“We’re friends.”
I draped my arm lightly across Juliet Kang’s shoulder as I spoke.
Juliet Kang turned to look at me, his eyes widening.
His expression grew touched, and tears welled up in his eyes as he nodded vigorously and exclaimed.
“Y-Yes! Dale is my friend!”
“Wow! So you really were Dale’s friend!”
“If you’re Dale’s friend, we can trust you!”
Every trace of wariness that had lingered on the children’s faces vanished completely.
“Hehe! Mister! Thanks for buying us bread!”
“Juliet is so cool!”
“He’s just like Powerman!”
“Yeah! And he has the same blonde hair!”
The children beamed as they ate their bread.
Juliet Kang looked around at the children surrounding him and scratched his head bashfully.
“Y-Yeah. Thanks. By the way… Powerman?”
“A hero famous among the children in the slums these days. He punishes vicious criminals in the impoverished districts and protects the weak—a true savior.”
An elderly priest with a benevolent expression emerged from the Orphanage.
“You are…?”
“I’m Antonio, responsible for this Orphanage. You’re Juliet Kang, correct?”
“Ah, yes.”
“Thank you for providing bread for us. The children have been clamoring so much about wanting Hero Academy School Cafeteria bread… hehe. Thanks to you, we’ve finally found some peace.”
Antonio Priest made the sign of the cross and bowed his head.
“It’s been a while, Dale.”
“How have things been with the Saint lately? Has there been any progress?”
“P-Priest! That’s the first thing you ask when you see me?!”
Iris’s face flushed crimson as she let out a yelp.
Antonio Priest gazed at Iris with a gentle smile playing at his lips.
“For an old man like me, there’s nothing more important. Surely I must witness the Saint bearing children before this old body gives out, no?”
“B-But we haven’t even married yet, and you’re already talking about children…?”
Iris cast a furtive glance my way and cleared her throat awkwardly.
She approached Antonio Priest and whispered softly into his ear.
“How many children would be good to have?”
“Three would be ideal.”
“T-Three?”
Iris swallowed hard and clenched her fists tightly.
“….”
I’d rather pretend I didn’t hear that.
“By the way, has anything unusual been happening at the Orphanage lately?”
“Hmm. Unusual, you say….”
Antonio Priest’s expression suddenly darkened.
I had expected the typical response of “Of course not, hehe,” so I tilted my head curiously and pressed further.
“Is something wrong at the Orphanage?”
“It’s not so much an issue at the Orphanage itself, but rather some unsettling incidents have been occurring recently in the Ant Nest.”
“Unsettling incidents…? What kind of incidents?”
Iris’s eyes widened with interest—clearly this was news to her as well.
“Well, you see….”
Antonio Priest furrowed his weathered brow and continued.
“Recently, there have been assaults targeting blonde women in the slums.”
“Assaults?”
“According to the victims, the perpetrator suddenly attacks from behind, and then cuts off a portion of their hair.”
“…They cut off their hair?”
“Apparently, the attacker even smells their hair before cutting it.”
“Ugh.”
It was beyond unsettling—it was genuinely disturbing.
Antonio Priest exhaled deeply and continued.
“The problem is that among the victims are Heroes. Quite powerful ones, at that.”
“Heroes are among the victims…? Then you’re saying it’s the work of another Hero?”
“That’s likely the case.”
Without an army equipped with magical artifacts, only another Hero could realistically confront a Hero.
Or perhaps a Demon Human blessed by the Demon God.
“It certainly is a disturbing case.”
“Of course, no incidents involving the children have occurred yet… but it’s still unsettling.”
There were several blonde-haired girls within this Orphanage.
“Has the Valhalla City Security Force taken action?”
“Since the incidents are occurring within the Ant Nest, and there have been no direct casualties—only hair being cut—they haven’t prioritized it.”
Antonio Priest shook his head with a bitter expression.
“Still, because the case is so disturbing, Powerman and several other Heroes have been tracking the perpetrator… but they’ve either been overwhelmed or lost the trail entirely.”
“The perpetrator must be quite strong.”
“Yes.”
Antonio Priest nodded and let out a heavy sigh.
“Alas. How the Seven Gods could bestow their stigma upon such a depraved individual….”
“Is there no possibility it’s a Demon Human?”
“According to the victims, they felt no demonic aura. And if it were a Demon Human… it likely wouldn’t have stopped at merely cutting hair.”
“That’s true.”
I nodded and narrowed my eyes thoughtfully.
‘A hero who ambushes blonde women and cuts off their hair.’
Regardless of whether there were casualties, it was certainly a disturbing incident.
However, the reason this incident felt even more unsettling to me was.
‘I’d never heard of such an incident in my previous life.’
Even if it happened outside the Academy, an incident this chilling should have reached my ears through gossip eventually.
‘In fact, in terms of notoriety alone, it surpassed even murder cases.’
A perverted hero who attacks blonde women and cuts off their hair.
Wasn’t this exactly the sort of scandal that would set tongues wagging?
‘An event that never occurred in my previous life was now happening….’
This incident was likely one of the ‘changes to the future.’
‘I have no idea what could have caused such a change, but.’
It was certainly worth investigating.
“You said the perpetrator is targeting blonde women?”
“Yes. Apparently, they primarily target beautiful young women.”
“Beautiful blonde women, then….”
Come to think of it, the only blonde woman I knew was Rosanna Helios.
‘But I can’t exactly call Rosanna here for this.’
Just as I was pondering this, a brilliant idea suddenly struck me.
‘Wait. Hold on.’
Now that I thought about it, wasn’t there a beautiful blonde flower blooming right beside me?
“…Huh?”
Juliet Kang’s expression shifted to one of disbelief at my gaze.
“Juliet Kang.”
“Dale… you’re not… are you?”
“Hahaha.”
“No, don’t laugh!!!”
I grasped Juliet Kang’s shoulder and flashed a grin.
“You said we were friends, didn’t you?”
Friends should help each other when times are tough, right?

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