The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 111

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

Chapter 111. Final Evaluation (1)
If you asked the Candidate Program students at Hero Academy what mattered most to them, nine out of ten would answer without hesitation: “Overall Evaluation Ranking.”
Whether they were superhuman blessed with stigmata by the Seven Gods, or saviors rescuing humanity from the hands of Demons and Demon Beasts.
Heroes were no different from ordinary people without stigmata in that they remained fundamentally “human.”
And fundamentally, humans lived for their own interests and security.
Heroes were no exception.
Even now, despite sharing the same school as fellow Candidate Program students, their positions would diverge dramatically after graduation.
Some would receive high positions in their home nations or join major Guilds, living lavishly.
Others would enter modest mid-sized Guilds, scraping by.
Still others would join obscure Mercenary Companies, rolling in the dirt as foot soldiers.
‘No wonder the Candidates are so obsessed with their Overall Evaluation Ranking.’
In any case.
Several factors influenced this Overall Evaluation Ranking.
First was classroom attitude and diligence.
In truth, this carried minimal weight.
Unless one caused serious trouble, rankings rarely shifted based on this alone.
Second were bonus points earned during classes.
This meant little for lower-ranked Candidates, but for top-tier students, it was a significant factor in determining grades.
And finally, midterm and final evaluation scores.
The element with the greatest impact on overall ranking, the final evaluation in particular was so crucial that one could say an entire semester’s grades hinged on this single exam.
Especially since most final evaluations consisted of Party assessments.
Since your own performance could vary depending on who you partnered with beforehand, it was only natural that the entire school descended into chaos during exam season, like a bustling marketplace.
“Morris. Did you manage to find a Party for the finals?”
“Hey, if you’re free, want to Party with me?”
“Is there anyone from the Magic Department who hasn’t found a Party yet?!”
“No, you crazy leader! What are you doing putting five Warrior Department members in a five-person Party?!”
“I don’t know anyone in Support or Magic Department, so what do you expect me to do?!”
“Argh! I need Support! I need Support Department members!!!”
“Seeking a Lordship to join the final evaluation with (immediate execution for slowness and incompetence).”
Walking into the Classroom, I felt the oppressive heat and fervor of stepping into some cult gathering.
‘It’s absolute chaos.’
Well.
If you failed to secure Party members within the designated period, Parties were formed through automatic random selection, infamously called “the Lottery,” making competition all the more fierce.
‘In my past life, I was perpetually stuck in the Lottery.’
The bitter expression my fellow Party members wore when I joined them remained a stinging memory even now, long after.
‘But.’
My situation was different now.
“Hmm.”
I settled leisurely into a seat at the back of the Classroom, crossing my legs.
Leaning against the backrest with a relaxed expression, I observed the Candidates scrambling to secure Party members.
The Candidate Program students’ gazes suddenly concentrated on me.
‘Well, it’s only natural.’
Generally, Support Department and Magic Department candidates, who are numerically smaller than the Warrior Department, receive aristocratic treatment.
But that was only the case in ‘general’ circumstances.
‘Top-tier Warrior Department candidates are actually the ones that Support and Magic Department candidates line up to join as party members.’
Of course, my current grades are nowhere near top-tier—I’m at the absolute bottom.
But unofficially, the prevailing assessment was that I’d rank within the top five of the entire Warrior Department.
‘Because I’ve shown what I’m capable of.’
Slaughtering dozens of demonic beasts during the Seal Festival and overwhelming Vincent during sparring practice had become quite the topic of conversation throughout the Academy.
In other words.
By rumor alone, I now stood shoulder-to-shoulder with top-tier Warrior Department candidates like Yuren, Morris, and Camilla.
At this level, wouldn’t there be quite a few candidates eager to recruit me as a party member?
‘I’m not some toxic asset that nobody would even glance at, like in my past life.’
Ah, what a miserable time that was.
Defective goods, dregs, expired garbage—
The memories of all those insults and mockery from my past life flashed through my mind, making my chest tighten.
‘I thought I’d forgotten most of it, having experienced so much in my past life.’
There’s a saying that school-days trauma lasts a lifetime.
No matter how much time had passed, the despair and helplessness I felt back then remained embedded deep within my memory, refusing to fade.
‘But now the positions are reversed.’
If I was the subordinate in my past life, now I’m the superior.
If I was the commoner people shunned, now I’m the noble they must revere.
‘Come on then! Come here and wag your tails eagerly, you bastards!’
I smirked as I watched the candidates glancing toward me.
And then.
“Damn… we need a few more warriors.”
“Isn’t there anyone decent in the Warrior Department?”
“Should we ask Yuren?”
“Hey, would Yuren even join our party?”
….
“What about Camilla then?”
“Camilla’s good too, but… she’ll definitely follow the Saint.”
“Y-yeah, that’s true.”
….
“Oh, Juliet! What about Juliet Kang?”
“Juliet already found a party, I heard. You know, that party with the Republic nobles?”
“Damn… even here it’s all about connections?”
“This is unfair, so unfair. How are those of us with nothing supposed to find a party?”
….
“I heard the upper ranks of the Warrior Department have already found parties.”
“Sigh… Is there really no one?”
“Can’t be helped. Let’s try to recruit Felix.”
“Felix is fine in every way, but his personality is a bit…”
Hmm?
“He’s late.”
At this rate, am I going to get spun around in circles?
‘What is this?’
No, fine.
Even if I’m willing to concede a hundred times that I lose to Yuren or Camilla, how am I losing to Juliet Kang and Felix too?
‘No, weren’t people making a huge fuss about how I was stronger than Yuren at some point?’
Then naturally, shouldn’t people swarm around me like a hive of bees, showing signs of courtship asking me to please join their party?
But why.
“Ugh, there’s really no one to recruit.”
“I already feel like this exam is going to fail…”
“Let’s try recruiting from the Support Department first. If we have someone from the Support Department in our party, we can easily recruit high-rankers from the Warrior Department too.”
Not a single person came looking for me?
‘Sigh. They said my reputation had spread even among the fourth-years, so was it all nonsense?’
As I was sighing at this incomprehensible situation.
—Ah, right. That guy. The crazy one among the third-year Candidates who’s hiding his abilities and deliberately keeping his comprehensive evaluation scores low.
Laios’s words suddenly crossed my mind.
“…Ah.”
Only then did I understand the cause of this incomprehensible situation.
‘Come to think of it, the rumor had spread that I was deliberately keeping my comprehensive evaluation scores low.’
In other words.
From the Candidates’ perspective, I was someone with unique scoring preferences—no matter how skilled I was, I was deliberately trying to maintain a low rank.
“Damn it.”
Who would willingly maintain a bottom position?
“Sigh.”
Honestly, I had thought school grades didn’t matter much either way.
What mattered was saving my comrades and changing the future in preparation for the coming catastrophe—not school grades.
‘But now that it’s come to this, I’m actually annoyed.’
I never imagined that the label of “last place” that had dogged me my entire life would continue to follow me even after my regression.
“Ugh.”
As I sat there holding my head and drooling.
“Ah… Is this Dale’s classroom?”
A familiar voice reached my ears.
“Oh! It’s Y-Yuren!”
“Is that Yuren Helios from Class A? The one they say is a descendant of the Sword Saint of the Sun?”
“They say he’s stronger than the professors?”
“Wow… He’s seriously so handsome.”
“What’s going on with Yuren in Class C?”
The classroom began to stir the moment Yuren appeared.
Yuren approached me with an unhurried gait, as if accustomed to all eyes turning toward him.
“There you are, Dale.”
“What’s up?”
“Well, it’s like this…”
Yuren continued, gauging my reaction carefully.
“For the final evaluation this time… would you want to form a party with me?”
“…!”
If you asked whether I hadn’t anticipated such a proposal, you’d be wrong.
Yuren—or rather, Yurina and I had been training together almost daily, and we got along well, so I’d naturally assumed there was a good chance we’d form a party together for the final evaluation.
But.
Thinking about something in your head and hearing a direct proposal were entirely different matters.
Especially in a situation where my expectations had been so thoroughly dashed.
“There’s no one but you, Yuren!”
“Huh? W-What? Dale?”
Overwhelmed by emotion, I pulled Yuren into a tight embrace.
Yuren looked flustered, glancing around nervously before clearing his throat and flushing red.
“B-Because with your skills, Dale, I can trust you.”
“Heh. Yeah, just trust me.”
I grinned widely and patted my chest.
As Yuren and I were getting cozy like that, Iris approached me.
“Hmm. So our party’s fourth member is Yuren?”
“…Huh?”
Our party?
Fourth member?
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Oh, no… did we ever say we’d form a party together before?”
“No. Do I really need to say something like that? Me, Camilla, and you are definitely in the same party.”
Iris tilted her head as if I’d asked something obvious.
“You weren’t thinking of recruiting some other support-type candidate instead of me, were you?”
“Come on, who’s a better candidate than our holy maiden?”
I shook my head hurriedly and forced an awkward smile.
‘So it’s me, Yuren, Camilla, and Iris in one party.’
The descendant of the Sword of the Sun, the next candidate for the Sword of the Holy Nation, and the holy maiden of the Holy Nation all in the same party.
‘This is…’
Honestly, it was such a powerful party that anything less than first place would be inexcusable.
‘Finally, I’m going to achieve first place for the first time in my life.’
As I was already declaring victory before the final evaluation even began, Camilla approached and asked.
“By the way, do you have someone in mind for the last party member?”
“Hmm. The final party member, then.”
Berald couldn’t be recruited since he was in a different year, and from what I’d heard earlier, Juliet Kang had already found her party.
‘Honestly, with members of this caliber, it would actually be more advantageous to accept a lower-tier party member.’
The main component of the final evaluation was party performance, but within that, individual contribution was assessed separately and awarded bonus points.
‘Those bonus points are quite substantial.’
It was a kind of penalty system created to prevent only the highest-ranked candidates from forming parties together.
In other words, candidates had to weigh whether to prioritize the party’s overall performance or the additional bonus points earned through individual contribution.
From that perspective, with party members already gathered who were excessively capable, there was no need to deliberately add more competition to our group.
“Well, couldn’t we just randomly draw for the last spot?”
“Hmm… I’d prefer not to form a party with someone I don’t know, but I suppose there’s no helping it.”
“I agree.”
Iris and Yuren both concurred with my suggestion.
‘The only one who’ll suffer is whichever candidate gets randomly drawn into our party.’
Honestly, who among these formidable members could possibly secure any meaningful contribution points?
‘Well, that’s not really my concern.’
I smiled wryly and expressed my sympathies for the final party member who would be randomly selected.
* * *
And on the day of the final evaluation.
The final party member selected through the random draw was.
“Uh… ah, hello?”
A face full of freckles with an awkward impression.
A candidate nervously glancing around, constantly turning his head to gauge the atmosphere.
“I’m, I’m Albert!”
‘The Chosen One’, Albert Huber.

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