The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 110

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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 110. Intermission – Queen of Bread
“You… you really caught the culprit?”
Antonio Priest stared at me with wide, astonished eyes.
I nodded and handed him the black robe the culprit had been wearing—which I’d removed before incinerating the corpse.
“Yes. The body was too damaged during combat for me to identify the culprit’s true identity, but there won’t be any more victims.”
“Remarkable… even Powerman couldn’t apprehend this criminal, yet you’ve captured them so effortlessly.”
Antonio Priest accepted the black robe and examined it carefully from every angle.
Inside the robe’s pockets lay a small box containing the strands of hair the culprit had collected from the victims.
“….”
Antonio Priest’s eyes narrowed as he gazed upon the hair within the box.
The thought that those locks could have belonged to the children here, had I failed to stop the culprit, sent a chill racing down my spine.
“Phew. At least now we can rest easy.”
Antonio Priest placed a hand over his heart and bowed deeply to me.
“Thank you, Dale.”
“I didn’t catch them alone.”
The reason I’d apprehended the culprit so smoothly was thanks to Juliet Kang’s spirit(?) dwelling within the smoke.
“Of course, I’m grateful to Juliet Kang as well. To undertake such a dangerous role while cross-dressing… even the Seven Gods must have admired your courage.”
Antonio Priest turned to Juliet Kang with a gentle smile.
Juliet Kang, unaccustomed to receiving such gratitude, offered an awkward smile while gripping the hem of her skirt tightly—she still hadn’t changed out of it.
“Oh, no. All I did was walk around…”
“But thanks to you, we were able to apprehend the culprit so easily, were we not?”
Antonio Priest turned to both of us and made the sign of the cross.
“May the blessings of the Seven Gods accompany you both on your path forward.”
“Yes, yes…”
Juliet Kang clumsily mimicked Antonio Priest’s gesture.
“You must be exhausted, Dale.”
After finishing my conversation with Antonio Priest, Iris approached me.
“Are you injured anywhere?”
“As you can see, I’m perfectly fine.”
I shrugged and spread my arms wide to demonstrate.
“Hmm. Let me just check once more.”
Iris ran her hands over my body like some kind of security inspector, examining me for wounds.
“Gulp… y-yes, such firm muscles no matter when I touch them… and the abs too… wow, I could just do laundry on these.”
“….”
Is this really… checking for injuries?
“A-ahem! W-well, I can confirm there are definitely no wounds.”
“You were checking for wounds, right?”
“O-of course!”
Iris jumped in surprise and averted her gaze.
She broke into a cold sweat and hastily changed the subject.
“B-but why was the culprit so obsessed with blonde hair anyway?”
“Who knows… everyone has their own preferences.”
In truth, preferring blonde hair was quite a mainstream taste.
‘Especially among Republic citizens—many of them harbor peculiar fantasies about blonde hair.’
Time has passed and hair colors have become varied now, but I’d heard that most Republic citizens in the past possessed black hair.
I recalled seeing records once that stated blonde was the most popular hair color among Republic citizens of that era, regardless of gender.
“…Is that true for you as well, Dale?”
“Hm? What do you mean?”
“Do you like blonde hair?”
Iris twisted her pale pink locks between her fingertips, her eyes narrowing delicately.
“No, I don’t particularly prefer blonde or anything like that.”
“Then what hair color is your preference?”
“Hmm. Hair color, you say…”
Truthfully, I don’t pay much attention to hair color regardless.
“Pink suits me fine.”
“Really? You’re not just saying that because of me, are you?”
“I swear it on my parents’ names.”
“…But you’re from the Orphanage, Dale.”
“That’s precisely how sincere I am.”
“…”
Iris regarded me with a suspicious expression.
Just as she seemed about to press further, taking a step toward me—
“Ugh… what are you all doing out here at this hour?”
“Yawn. So noisy…”
Perhaps the commotion outside had roused them.
The children who had fallen asleep early emerged from the Orphanage.
Upon seeing Juliet Kang, their eyes widened in astonishment.
“Who is this lady?”
“She looks really similar to Juliet hyung.”
“…Wait? Isn’t that Juliet hyung?”
“Oh! It really is!”
Having been exposed in her feminine disguise to the children, Juliet Kang stumbled backward with a pallid, stricken expression.
“N-no, kids. You see, this is…”
The children swarmed toward Juliet Kang as she desperately attempted to explain.
“Wow, how amazing!”
“You really look like a girl, hyung!”
“Should we call you oppa? Or noona? What do we call you?”
The children found the cross-dressed Juliet Kang utterly fascinating, their eyes gleaming with curiosity as they bombarded her with questions.
“…Huh?”
Juliet Kang wore a bewildered expression, clearly caught off guard by their reaction.
“Huh, it suits me?”
“Yeah! You look even prettier than our girls!”
“Hey! What kind of thing is that to say?”
“Aaah! Stop hitting me!”
A boy surrounded by girls, getting pummeled for his careless remark.
Juliet Kang watched the children with an expression of shock, standing frozen in place as she whispered softly to herself.
“…You don’t despise me.”
When I was young.
I once secretly tried on a skirt that the other girls wore because it looked so beautiful, and my father caught me.
‘I got scolded so badly.’
The image of my father’s eyes filled with contempt as he looked at me that day remained vividly etched in my mind.
Like a mark that would never fade.
“….”
I had never truly wanted to become a woman.
I simply enjoyed wearing pretty clothes and dressing up.
In those moments of cross-dressing, it felt as though I had become someone new entirely.
‘But.’
I knew well enough that this was a hobby difficult for others to accept.
So I hid my hobby in secret, as if I were committing some crime.
‘And yet….’
Juliet Kang clenched her fists tightly and looked around at the children surrounding her.
“The King of Bread was actually the Queen of Bread!”
“Juliet oppa—no, unnie! It really suits you so well!”
“Hah, hah. Male or female… doesn’t it all come down to taste in the end?”
Juliet Kang felt her chest tighten as she looked at the children gazing at her without any prejudice.
Suddenly.
The memory of how I had looked at the orphanage children with eyes full of contempt when I first met them flashed through my mind.
“…Ah.”
My face burned with heat as guilt pressed down upon me.
“Well then, since we’re running late, we should head back to the Academy.”
“Yes. Thank you once again.”
After saying goodbye to the children, I turned to leave the orphanage.
“Hm? What are you doing standing there like that?”
“Oh, sorry.”
“If we get any later, the School Gate will close, so hurry up and change back into your uniform.”
“Y-yeah. Got it.”
Juliet Kang nodded with a somewhat dazed expression.
* * *
A few days after returning from the orphanage.
I walked through the Academy streets, which were beginning to grow restless with final evaluation preparations, heading toward the School Cafeteria.
I decided to grab some bread for a light lunch today.
As I headed toward the bread section with that thought in mind.
“…Juliet Kang?”
I spotted Juliet Kang at the bread counter, purchasing an entire box of bread.
‘That’s strange. I haven’t asked her to buy bread recently.’
Tilting my head curiously, I approached her.
“What are you doing here?”
“Oh, huh? Dale?”
“Who are you buying all that bread for?”
“Ah….”
Juliet Kang scratched her head sheepishly before continuing.
“I found out there are people who deliver items purchased from the School Cafeteria to Valhalla City. So I thought I’d buy some bread and send it to the orphanage children.”
“…To the orphanage children?”
“Yeah. The kids love the bread from our School Cafeteria, you know.”
Juliet Kang smiled faintly as she filled the box with bread.
“…Huh.”
I stared at her and swallowed a hollow laugh.
‘Juliet Kang buying bread to send to the orphanage children?’
In my past life, the Juliet Kang I knew could never have imagined such an action.
“What sudden change of heart is this?”
“Well….”
Juliet Kang trailed off, her smile turning bitter.
“Since childhood, I was taught that I should never associate with people who have no parents and are poor.”
She suddenly brought up her past.
“I thought such people lacked consideration for others, had no manners, and were beneath me.”
“Well… that’s what comes from being born into a conglomerate family.”
Not all Republic conglomerates are like that, but most of the wealthy are taught to despise those without means.
It’s not that they’re inherently evil—it’s simply that the world they inhabit is entirely different.
“But… seeing it firsthand, I realized it was completely different.”
Juliet Kang held the box of bread in her hands as she continued.
“It wasn’t those people who lacked consideration and manners—it was me.”
“….”
“Once I realized that, I wanted to help them somehow….”
“So that’s why you’re buying them bread?”
“Yeah. You called me the ‘Queen of Bread’, didn’t you?”
Juliet Kang giggled and offered me a piece of bread.
“Want one, Dale?”
“…Sure.”
As I accepted the bread from her, I recalled the Juliet Kang from my past life.
Arrogant, conceited, and contemptuous of others—that was who she had been.
‘The future is changing, La.’
Yes.
The future continues to shift and transform.
In directions I could never have predicted.
‘But.’
That didn’t necessarily mean it was for the worse.
Just as it had been with Iris, just as it had been with Yurina, just as it had been with Berald.
There were futures that had changed for the better.
And at the center of it all.
‘I stand.’
A future I had changed.
A future I had created.
A transformation born from a lowly hero who could do nothing, who was too busy chasing the shadows of others.
“….”
I tore open the bread’s plastic wrapper and took a bite.
“It’s delicious, isn’t it? This is a new product they just released.”
“Yeah, it’s good.”
“Ah… and the change is….”
“No, keep it.”
I shook my head, gently catching Juliet Kang’s arm as she hesitantly reached for her wallet.
“From now on, you don’t need to worry about change. And you don’t need to run errands for me anymore.”
“…What? Why, why?”
Juliet Kang looked at me with an anxious expression.
“Did I do something wrong? Did I… did I buy too much bread just for the kids?”
“No, that’s not it….”
“If that’s not it, then I want to keep running errands for Dale! And… if you ever need money, I can lend it to you!”
Juliet Kang gripped my hand tightly, her eyes burning with intensity.
‘Now I feel like a complete scoundrel for saying that.’
I let out a hollow laugh and nodded.
“Do as you wish.”
“Okay!”
Juliet Kang nodded with a radiant smile.

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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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