The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 172

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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 172. Omens (1)
A mountain shrouded in deep darkness.
Atop a towering rock formation sat a young man with white hair and golden monocles, and an elderly figure whose entire body was covered in intricate tattoos.
Mephistopheles, Archbishop of Depravity, and Jackal, Archbishop of Beasts.
The two monsters standing at the apex of Demons gazed down upon the distant Valhalla City and Hero Academy.
“Kekekeke!”
Jackal’s shoulders trembled as he burst into laughter, clearly finding the current situation unbearably delightful.
“My, my, my… the Archbishop of Depravity’s reputation is in quite a state, isn’t it?”
“….”
Mephistopheles clenched his lips tightly against Jackal’s mockery.
This failure had clearly struck a nerve; the face that had maintained an air of composure throughout now appeared rigid and tense.
“Yes… I must confess, I did not anticipate the Blessing of Bitter Cold would be dispelled so easily.”
“Kekeke. How many decades has it been since I’ve seen such an expression on your face… remarkable.”
Jackal laughed with a rasping, phlegmatic sound.
“So, do you intend to abandon this as it stands?”
“That is hardly the case.”
Mephistopheles shook his head with conviction.
“The plan has not yet completely failed.”
It has creaked and twisted, certainly.
But it has not yet snapped.
“A plan… a plan, you say.”
Jackal stroked his chin, his eyes narrowing to slits.
“But there is one thing that intrigues me.”
“Yes, do tell.”
“What exactly is the purpose of this plan?”
“…The purpose?”
Mephistopheles let out a hollow laugh, as if questioning why such an obvious query was being asked.
“Why, naturally, to liberate the Demon God from his seal….”
“Kekekekeke!”
Jackal erupted into laughter tinged with metallic tones before Mephistopheles could even finish his sentence.
“How many years do you think I have known you?”
Jackal’s eyes gleamed with an eerie, piercing intensity as they bore into Mephistopheles.
“You never had any intention of breaking the Demon God’s seal from the beginning.”
“….”
“Quite the opposite, in fact.”
Jackal turned his gaze toward the direction of Hero Academy and continued.
“Making Yuren Helios into the ‘Sun,’ crafting artificial stigmata, and acquiring that witch—all of it served the same purpose.”
His eyes gleamed with an eerie, predatory light.
Grrrrr.
A savage bestial cry echoed through the forest as hundreds, thousands of demonic beasts encircled Mephistopheles.
The tattoos inscribed across Jackal’s body flickered with an ominous light.
“Is it not to interfere with the seal liberation plan?”
“….”
Jackal continued, his shoulders shrugging dismissively.
“Did you truly believe I wouldn’t notice you secretly meeting with the Hero?”
“Haha.”
Mephistopheles swallowed a bitter laugh and shook his head.
“Well, this is rather embarrassing.”
“Embarrassing? I’m the one who should be caught off guard. Now then, will you tell me? Why is a Demon Human like yourself conspiring with a Hero?”
“Hmm. The reason, you ask….”
Mephistopheles offered a faint smile.
“It’s simple. He possessed what I needed, and I possessed what he needed—nothing more.”
“So what exactly is this necessity you speak of….”
“And I also possess something you require, Jackal.”
“…What did you say?”
Mephistopheles adjusted his golden monocle and continued.
“The means to enter the Abyss—would you not wish to know of it?”
“…!!!”
Jackal’s eyes widened in shock.
“H-How do you possibly…?”
“Haha. Did you not also fail to notice what I had been concealing, Jackal?”
Mephistopheles smiled knowingly.
The wrinkles around Jackal’s eyes trembled slightly.
“Well then, what say you?”
Mephistopheles extended his hand toward Jackal.
“For the sake of our respective purposes… would you not join hands with me, if only for a time?”
“….”
Darkness descended upon the Forest.
A profound silence fell like a curtain.
* * *
After the rather awkward incident with Iris.
Iris had barricaded herself in her room under the pretense of illness, refusing all contact.
‘Well… it’s only natural, I suppose.’
I gazed at the message window where no reply had come, exhaling a quiet sigh.
“…I suppose I should be grateful there are no classes this week.”
Since the mentoring sessions for the other divisions hadn’t concluded, there were no “Practical Combat Training” sessions scheduled for this week.
“Sigh.”
As I sighed and collapsed onto my bed.
Ding.
A message notification from the Hero Watch chimed.
‘Is it Lanez?’
Unlike the first day when hundreds of messages poured in, I still received contact at least three or four times a day.
“Hmm? It’s not from Lanez?”
I activated my Hero Watch to check the message, only to find it was from Elisha, not Lanez.
[Dale. Can you come to my office right now?]
The Professor’s Office?
I paused for a moment, wondering what could possibly warrant Elisha calling me at such an early hour before the sun had even fully risen, but nothing came to mind.
‘I suppose I should go.’
I replied to Elisha that I would be there shortly, then left the Dormitory.
Autumn leaves, yellowed by the wind, drifted gracefully through the air.
“It’s getting chilly.”
Since I had returned when spring was just beginning, more than half a year had already passed.
Half a year.
In that span of time—short as it may seem, yet long in its own right—my entire life had been completely transformed.
To the point where my life before regression felt like nothing more than a dream.
‘No.’
I close my eyes.
A pristine Snowy Wasteland unfolds in my mind.
White frost settling upon my skin, blizzards howling mercilessly.
The sight of my comrades dying, and my own helpless cries.
‘It wasn’t a dream.’
That’s right.
It couldn’t have been a dream.
That distant time, that endless nightmare—it is what made me who I am now.
‘I cannot afford to let my guard down.’
I cannot continue to be intoxicated by the sweet happiness this life offers.
No matter how much I have changed, there is no guarantee that those changes will lead only to a better future.
“…Let’s go.”
Pushing aside my complicated emotions, I made my way toward Elisha’s office.
Knock, knock.
I gently rapped on the door and entered, finding Elisha seated in her chair with her legs crossed, smoking a thin cigar.
“You came.”
“What brings you to call me at such an early hour?”
“Hmm. How disappointing. Is it wrong for me to summon Dale if there’s no particular business?”
Elisha stubbed out her cigar in the ashtray and rose from her seat.
She approached me with an unhurried gait, a playful smile on her face, and gently caressed my cheek.
“There are no classes this week anyway. Can’t I simply have called you because I wanted to see Dale’s face?”
“Well… I suppose there’s no reason why not.”
“Hehe. I was only joking.”
Elisha laughed, pinching the cheek she had been caressing.
Perhaps because she rarely smiled, every time I caught glimpses of Professor Elisha’s rare smile, my heart would flutter with an inexplicable warmth.
“Anyway.”
But it was short-lived.
The smile faded from Professor Elisha’s lips as her violet eyes gleamed with sudden intensity.
“You smell like an unfamiliar woman.”
“Pardon?”
“Hmm. It’s neither Iris nor Yurina.”
Professor Elisha scrutinized every corner of my body with sharp, piercing eyes as if seeing right through me.
“Have you been spending time with another woman recently?”
“….”
Wait, what kind of performance does the Blessing of Insight have?
She could tell that just from a scent?
As I stared at her with an expression of disbelief, Professor Elisha furrowed her brows and released a deep sigh.
“Sigh. I turn my back for a few days and you’ve already charmed another woman… You really are impossible to keep an eye on, Dale.”
“No, I didn’t charm her….”
“Sure, sure. You had absolutely no intention of charming anyone. As always.”
Professor Elisha tightened her grip on my cheek, narrowing her eyes with a mischievous glint.
“…So what did you call me here for?”
Judging that continuing this conversation would lead nowhere, I forcibly changed the subject.
Professor Elisha, who had been regarding me with disapproving eyes, turned her body toward the desk.
She settled into her chair and placed a cigarette between her lips.
“I called you because of a report I received during the mentoring class this time.”
“What kind of incident?”
“A Rank 10 Demonic Beast was spotted near the Academy.”
“…Near the Academy?”
Not all mentoring classes took students to the Southern Region like the Aaron Party, where Demonic Beasts appeared frequently.
In fact, only a small minority ventured into the dangerous Southern Region.
Most mentoring classes took place at hunting grounds not far from Hero Academy, where Rank 3 and Rank 4 Demonic Beasts typically appeared.
But a Rank 10 Demonic Beast—not even Rank 6 or 7—had been spotted there?
“Of course, there’s no concrete evidence. The Candidates who spotted the beast fled in panic and said they didn’t get a good look at it.”
“Hmm.”
“In my personal opinion… I think it’s more likely the Candidates misidentified it.”
Fair point.
If the Candidates had gotten close enough to visually confirm a Rank 10 Demonic Beast, they wouldn’t have escaped—they would have been caught and annihilated in an instant.
“Still, we should investigate just in case. If a Rank 10 Demonic Beast really has appeared near the Academy… we can’t just ignore it.”
A Rank 10 Demonic Beast was a formidable creature that only top-tier Ranked Heroes could face.
If such a beast had truly appeared near the Academy, it could result in massive casualties.
“So that’s why you called me?”
“Hehe. A delicate woman like me can’t conduct an investigation alone, can I?”
Professor Elisha smiled playfully as she lit her cigarette.
‘A delicate woman.’
Elisha and a delicate woman.
The mismatched pairing drew an involuntary laugh from me.
“Well, to be honest, I haven’t had much time to spend with Dale recently, so I was thinking of an excuse to meet when this perfect opportunity came up.”
“…Isn’t that a bit too honest?”
“Why? Do you dislike honest women?”
Elisha flashed a knowing smile.
Faced with her shameless demeanor, I shook my head in resignation.
“Well, I understand. There are no classes anyway.”
“It seems Dale is last in grades but quite conscientious about attendance.”
…
No.
If she puts it that way, what does that make me?
“I’m joking.”
As I clutched my chest at the heavy truth, Elisha’s face broke into a playful smile.
But it was fleeting.
“Well then.”
The smile vanished from Elisha’s lips as her violet eyes gleamed menacingly.
“This new woman in Dale’s life—who exactly is she? We’ll investigate together, and you’ll tell me everything, every detail, without leaving anything out.”
…
I had the distinct feeling
that I’d walked straight into a spider’s web.

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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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