The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 151

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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 151. The Consecutive Disappearance of Candidate Program Members (5)
A space shrouded in darkness.
A man sat alone in a room permeated with the stale, musty stench of mold.
He gazed at the luminous blue liquid contained within a glass vial, his lips trembling slightly.
“Just one more… if I can gather just one more…”
Sinister eyes gleamed within the darkness.
A voice tainted with madness and obsession echoed through the decrepit room.
The man withdrew a soiled photograph album from his breast pocket.
Within its pages lay a photograph of a red-haired youth, his face radiant with a brilliant smile.
“We will… be able to achieve our dream.”
The man’s hand trembled violently as he held the album, his eyes shut tight.
But that moment passed quickly.
His gaze shifted toward the magical stone resting upon the table.
Unlike ordinary magical stones, this one shimmered with an ominous black luminescence.
Conflict flickered across the man’s eyes as he beheld it.
The man remained frozen, staring at the stone for a long while.
Slither. Slither.
With the sound of something crawling across the ground, a pristine white serpent ascended the chair upon which he sat.
A woman’s voice emerged from the snake’s mouth, which flickered with a long, delicate tongue.
“Surely you’re not having second thoughts now?”
A sweet whisper caressed his ears.
The man bit his lip firmly and opened his mouth.
“I told you not to enter the Laboratory.”
“Oh my, how frightening.”
The pristine white serpent burst into laughter, then slowly coiled itself around the man’s neck.
“Don’t forget—don’t hesitate, don’t be afraid.”
The serpent’s whisper continued.
“You have a goal you must achieve, don’t you?”
“….”
The man clenched his jaw and shut his eyes tightly.
Yes.
He possessed a goal worthy of sacrificing everything to achieve.
‘With our own hands… we will save the world.’
Placing the worn photograph album back into his breast pocket, the man slowly rose to his feet.
* * *
“…Is this really okay?”
Sophia let out a hollow laugh as she gazed down at Laios, who lay unconscious.
I turned to look at Sophia and shrugged my shoulders.
“It’s not as though we could have obtained his cooperation through words alone, could we?”
“I suppose that’s true, but…”
Sophia pressed her forehead as if her head ached.
She then exhaled a deep sigh and nodded.
“Alright, fine. So the tracking spell is set, then?”
“Yes. Now we simply wait for the fish to bite the bait.”
I left the unconscious Laios as he was and returned to the Annex Cafe with Berald and Sophia.
As we huddled around the table and activated the tracking spell, an aerial view of the Hero Academy rendered in luminous threads materialized, and a yellow dot glimmered upon it.
“With this, we can monitor Laios’s condition and location.”
….
Sophia’s eyes narrowed as she observed the tracking spell I had unfolded.
She turned to face me and asked.
“Where did you learn magic like that?”
“Pardon?”
“This tracking spell and that mana-blocking barrier from earlier—they’re not the kind of magic a Warrior Department candidate should be capable of using.”
Sophia regarded me with suspicious eyes, as though she had never expected my magical prowess to reach such heights.
I swallowed a bitter smile at her question.
‘From someone, certainly.’
Watching Sophia tilt her head in confusion, I spoke softly.
“I learned from the greatest mage on the Continent.”
“The greatest mage on the Continent?”
“Yes.”
“Ha.”
At my answer, Sophia let out a hollow laugh and her eyes sharpened.
“That’s absurd. You think Jade Bastian is the greatest mage on the Continent?”
“Pardon?”
“Of course, I acknowledge Jade Bastian’s skill. After all, he’s the successor of the Great Sage himself. But don’t you think calling a professor who couldn’t even protect his own student the ‘greatest mage on the Continent’ is a bit much?”
….
She had clearly misunderstood.
Then again.
From her perspective, not knowing I was a returnee, Jade Bastian would naturally come to mind.
“I misspoke. My apologies.”
“Sigh… No, I’m sorry for snapping at you for no reason.”
Sophia placed a hand over her chest and exhaled a short breath, as if composing herself.
Berald, who had been quietly observing, stroked his chin and spoke.
“Hmm. Did something unpleasant happen between you and Jade Bastian?”
….
Sophia’s expression stiffened slightly.
She averted her gaze and answered coldly.
“No, nothing happened.”
“That’s odd—you seemed quite agitated the moment his name came up.”
“…That’s none of your concern.”
“Hehe. Judging by that expression, something certainly happened.”
Berald asked lightly with a smile, as if trying to ease the stiffened atmosphere.
But perhaps that had the opposite effect.
“Are you being presumptuous?”
Sophia glared at Berald with eyes that had grown even colder.
“What business is it of yours what happened between me and Jade Bastian? Huh? Who do you think you are, sticking your nose into my affairs?”
“Hmm. If that’s how you felt, I apologize.”
“Don’t meddle in other people’s matters.”
Toward Sophia, who turned her head away coldly,
Berald opened his mouth quietly.
“Still, I’d like to hear what happened.”
“You…!”
“I’ve been through something like that before.”
Berald smiled faintly and gazed up at the sky beyond the window.
“I lived alone, suppressing my sorrow and crushing down my anger. I thought that was the wise way to live.”
“….”
“But when I looked back later, it wasn’t.”
Berald gave a bitter smile and glanced back at me.
“No matter how painful or agonizing things were, once I opened my heart to another person, my mind became so much lighter.”
“…What do you know?”
“Nothing. I don’t know what circumstances you carry, or what emotions you lock away. I’m not that clever, so I probably wouldn’t understand even if you told me.”
But.
Even so.
“If I can be of help, I want to be there for you, Sophia.”
Berald looked at Sophia and smiled gently.
“We’re not strangers—we’re in the same Party, aren’t we?”
“….”
Sophia’s pupils trembled faintly.
She flinched in surprise, hastily turning her head away to avoid Berald’s gaze.
“Tch, how presumptuous for a junior.”
“Hehe. My apologies.”
“…Hmph.”
Sophia let out a small scoff and clenched her fists.
“…I had an older brother.”
Sophia opened her mouth quietly.
“From childhood, he was unnecessarily spirited, loud, and a busybody just like you.”
Sophia looked at Berald and offered a bitter smile.
“After entering the Magic Department, my brother suddenly wanted to research stigmata and went to find Jade Bastian. And then….”
Dark clouds gathered over Sophia’s expression.
“Could it be… the Candidate Program member who was caught in an accident during Jade Bastian’s magical research two years ago was….”
“That’s right. He’s my brother.”
“….”
I clamped my lips shut and lowered my head.
I wanted to offer some words of comfort, but nothing came to mind.
After a long moment of deliberation, what emerged was an apology.
“…I’m sorry for asking something unnecessary.”
“What? Weren’t you just saying it’s good to bare your heart a moment ago?”
Sophia asked with a slight laugh.
“I-I never thought it would be something this serious!”
“Pfft.”
Watching me answer while cold sweat dripped down my face, Sophia burst into light laughter.
“…You’re right.”
Sophia’s expression brightened considerably, and she offered a faint smile.
Just as the heavy atmosphere had returned to normal.
Beep beep beep!
A yellow dot blinked rapidly on the tracking spell suspended in mid-air.
“What’s happening?”
“Laios is being dragged somewhere at high speed.”
I watched the yellow dot receding at rapid velocity and jumped to my feet urgently.
The location was the mountain behind the Academy.
It was the place where I had once searched for Seven-Star Grass imbued with magical energy on Jade’s errand.
“Let’s go!”
Sophia, Berald, and I rushed quickly toward the Mountain Behind Academy.
* * *
The mountain behind the Academy.
Three figures were sprinting at high speed through the dense undergrowth.
Or rather, two were sprinting rapidly while the remaining one lagged behind, breathing heavily.
“Haa, haa!”
“Get on my back!”
“What? Kyaa!”
Berald hoisted the lagging Sophia onto his back and charged forward with rough strides.
“Hey, aren’t you going to put me down?!”
“It’s hard to run if you keep moving!”
“Ugh….”
Sophia bit her lip and settled obediently against Berald’s back.
After running for some distance longer.
I caught sight of Laios lying unconscious on the ground and a masked man standing over him.
“Laios!”
Berald was the first to rush toward Laios.
“Hah!”
He created mana bullets while running and hurled them at the masked man.
As the man extended his hand forward, a blue barrier materialized, blocking his path.
Then.
Whoooosh!
The mana bullet that had been flying in a straight line suddenly curved sharply, bending its trajectory.
A curveball drawn as if by an artist’s hand.
“…!”
The man hastily rotated the blue barrier to block the mana bullet.
Boom!
An intense explosion echoed that seemed impossible for a mere mana bullet to produce.
But.
“…Heh.”
The blue barrier remained without a single scratch.
Sensing that his opponent was no ordinary practitioner, Berald bit his lip and adjusted his stance.
“Fall back.”
Sophia stepped forward and aimed her staff at the masked man.
Uuuuuung!
Red mana rippling at the tip of her staff.
“Explosion Sphere!”
Mana compressed into the form of a long spear surged toward the man.
“….”
The man, who had been staring intently at the crimson spear imbued with terrifying mana, formed a hand seal.
It was a method of magic manifestation less efficient than chanting spells aloud in every respect except for its ability to be used discreetly.
Crackle crackle crackle!
Blue light streamed forth from the man’s hands.
The intertwined lights formed a fractal pattern, beautifully adorning the empty space.
The crimson spear of mana that had been hurtling toward the man with terrifying force shattered into fragments and scattered.
“Tch…!”
Sophia swallowed hard and stepped backward.
“….”
“….”
A brief silence fell as their gazes crossed.
The masked man, who had been alternating his conflicted gaze between Laios collapsed on the ground and our party, ground his teeth and turned his body.
Just as the man was about to turn and flee.
“Sigh.”
I exhaled deeply and blocked his path.
With eyes heavy and piercing, I fixed my gaze on the masked man and spoke quietly.
“What exactly are you doing here, Professor Jade Bastian?”
“….”
The man’s shoulders trembled.

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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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