The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 144

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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 144. Let’s Go to the Beach (3)
Darkness had settled over the shoreline.
The sound of crashing waves and the refreshing sea breeze swept across the beach in a way that felt wonderfully pleasant.
Beneath the moonlight pouring down from above, the silver-haired woman standing in quiet repose was so impossibly, ethereally beautiful.
“….”
I found myself at a loss for words, my gaze fixed on Yurina with a vacant expression.
“…Dale?”
Perhaps it was because I remained frozen in silence.
Yurina, embarrassed by her swimsuit, turned slightly toward me while shielding her chest with her arms.
“What’s wrong?”
Splash, splash.
Yurina approached, her wet feet padding across the sandy beach.
Her silver eyes gazed directly at me.
“…It’s nothing.”
How could I possibly confess to her that I was momentarily speechless because she was so beautiful?
I swallowed hard and turned my head away, trying my best to avoid meeting her gaze.
“Dale.”
Yurina narrowed her eyes and stepped closer to me.
She cupped my cheeks with both hands and turned my head toward her, forcing our eyes to meet directly.
“Why are you avoiding my gaze?”
“Well… that is….”
“Oh, you! You! Don’t tell me you were thinking ‘she’s not as good as Professor Elisha’?!”
Yurina glared at me fiercely, her eyes sharp as daggers.
Her unexpected words drew an involuntary laugh from me.
“I wasn’t thinking that.”
“…Really?”
Yurina looked down at her swimsuit, seeming anxious about something.
Ugh.
She puffed out her cheeks as she gazed down at her own body.
“I thought I could hold my own anywhere… but that’s just unfair.”
The moment I recalled Professor Elisha, her confidence crumbled entirely.
Her body was just as toned and flawless, and her chest, waist, and hip lines were no less impressive.
‘But the legs… the difference in leg length!’
Between her, who stood at an average height for women, and Professor Elisha, who towered taller than most men, there existed an unbridgeable gap.
Yes, what was commonly called ‘line appeal’.
An absolute disparity born from pure physical difference.
‘And Professor Elisha has that certain… quality that even as a woman, I find somewhat… alluring.’
That subtle sensuality only an adult woman could possess.
Unlike Professor Elisha, whose natural elegance and undefined allure effortlessly permeated her every movement, I felt like a naive girl desperately trying to appear mature.
‘That’s why I kept hesitating about whether to show myself to Dale….’
Still, wasn’t it a shame to end this brief vacation without wearing the swimsuit I’d secretly purchased to avoid the eyes of my other comrades?
‘…I’m also curious about Dale’s reaction.’
I cracked open my eyes slightly and studied Dale’s expression.
“So… um….”
A small sound escaped him.
Dale, whose lips had been moving as if searching for words, swallowed that small sound and opened his mouth.
“…because you’re so beautiful.”
“Huh? What did you say?”
“You’re so beautiful that I lost myself staring.”
“…!”
My eyes widened at his answer, which far exceeded what I’d expected.
If someone else had heard it, I might have called it hopelessly corny.
“Uu… uuuuu!”
But I was happy.
The man I’d given my heart to had been so shaken by the sight of me that he’d lost his composure.
The fact that to him, I was being accepted not as ‘Yuren’ but as ‘Yurina’.
I was so delighted and happy that I couldn’t help but bounce on my feet and let out little sounds of joy.
“He, hehe. Dale, where on earth did you learn such a cheesy line?”
I twisted my body and grinned widely.
“Well… it was a bit cringey, wasn’t it?”
Even as I said it myself, I felt my face burn with embarrassment.
I swallowed a bitter laugh and shook my head.
“I won’t do it again….”
“No! Keep being that cheesy, Dale!”
“What?”
“Being a little cheesy is what makes you most like Dale!”
“No.”
Was that really something to say to someone’s face?
“Standing here feels awkward… should we sit?”
“Let’s do that.”
Dale and I settled onto a rock a short distance away from the Beach.
Whoosh, whoosh.
The pleasant sound of waves echoed across the white sand.
We sat in silence, gazing up at the moonlit sky.
“By the way, doesn’t it feel uncomfortable?”
“Huh? What doesn’t?”
“Having to keep pretending to be ‘Yuren’ all the time.”
Though it was something I’d been doing for half my life, it wasn’t something Yurina had chosen for herself.
The fact that she was now showing me her swimsuit like this, calling me out separately, suggested she too harbored a desire to live as ‘Yurina’ rather than ‘Yuren’.
“Hmm… I’m not sure.”
Yurina kicked at the sand on the beach with her toes and shrugged her shoulders.
“To be honest, it would be a lie to say it’s not inconvenient at all.”
Since I’d lived as Yuren for such a long time, I was accustomed to it, but familiarity didn’t necessarily mean comfort.
“It’s inconvenient when I need to use the Restroom outside, and whenever I spot pretty clothes I’d like to wear, I have to just pass them by. Shopping for new undergarments is awkward too… and I feel bad toward the female Candidates as well.”
“Why the female Candidates?”
“Well, um… I receive quite a lot of confessions.”
Yurina scratched her head with an awkward smile.
“Ah, now that I think about it, I was the most popular guy at our Academy.”
“Ugh… even you’re saying that, Dale? Sigh. Honestly… rejecting them every time is exhausting.”
Yurina puffed out her cheeks and jabbed my side with her elbow.
“It’s also difficult to forcibly control my mana and make my aura appear golden when I need to use it… there are many frustrating things like that.”
Yurina’s expression darkened slightly.
“But the hardest part is having to keep lying to the people I care about most.”
Before meeting Dale, there had been no one in her life she could call truly precious.
But since meeting him, new connections had gradually formed in her life, one by one.
“Iris and Berald, Camilla… and people like Juliet and Professor Elisha are all good people, aren’t they?”
Party members who explored the Ruins together and helped with my training.
And Professor Elisha, who offered sincere advice without hesitation to guide her disciples, and Juliet, who extended a helping hand without expecting any reward in a difficult situation.
It had only been half a year since meeting Dale.
In her previously empty life, so many new connections had been formed.
“If it were the old days, I never would have imagined having relationships like these.”
Recalling memories from half a year ago when I was still ‘Yuren’, the present felt like a miracle bestowed by the Seven Gods.
“…Yurina.”
I gazed at Yurina’s face illuminated by moonlight and hardened my expression.
For someone as sincere and honest as her, the very fact of having to continue lying to those around her must have been a source of stress.
“You don’t have to make that face, Dale.”
Yurina smiled faintly and leaned her head slightly against my shoulder.
“Because I don’t have to lie to the person most precious to me.”
“….”
Watching her say “the person most precious to me” without hesitation, my heart ached with a tender sting.
Hah.
I exhaled softly and opened my mouth.
“…What about telling them?”
“Huh?”
“Iris, Berald, Camilla… well, it wouldn’t hurt to tell trustworthy comrades like them.”
The reason she was continuing to pretend to be ‘Yuren’ now was solely because of the Academy.
If it became known that ‘Yurina Helios’, not ‘Yuren Helios’, was disguised as her brother and attending Hero Academy, it would create many troublesome complications.
“Hmm… that could be true.”
Yurina, who had been lost in thought for a moment at my suggestion, soon shook her head quietly.
“But for now, this is better. It feels like… a secret just between us, you know?”
Hehe.
Yurina smiled brightly, clinging to my arm.
Her face, illuminated by moonlight, was breathtakingly beautiful, and I found myself speechless once more, simply gazing at her.
“…Why? Lost in admiration again?”
Yurina regarded me with a mischievous glint in her eyes.
She tilted her head toward the night sky, looking up at the moon as she continued.
“Does this remind you of that time?”
“…When?”
“When I first appeared before you in this form, of course.”
“Ah.”
Now that she mentioned it, that night too had been bathed in moonlight just like this.
“If you hadn’t seen through my deception that day… by now, I would have become the ‘Sun,’ wouldn’t I?”
A distorted sun casting false light across the heavens.
“Thank you, Dale. For letting me remain the Moon.”
Yurina’s silver eyes turned toward me.
Our gazes intersected.
My heart trembled as though it had shattered.
“….”
“….”
In this world, there are feelings that transcend words.
Yurina and I, gazing silently at each other, slowly leaned closer.
Our lips drew near enough to feel each other’s breath.
“My, Mr. Dale.”
A low voice froze the summer sea.
“Who is this person?”
Blue moonlight poured down from above.
The Saint stood watching us with a gentle 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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