The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 183

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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 183. School Trip (2)
The day of the school trip.
After the candidates arrived at the Holy Kingdom via warp gate, they were divided into separate groups and boarded large magical carriages following the instructions of the commanding professor.
The candidates settled into their seats with excited expressions, thrilled by this unexpected school trip.
“Ugh… I really wanted to sit next to Dale….”
Iris turned to look at me across the aisle, her voice tinged with disappointment.
“I told you that wouldn’t be possible.”
Camilla Bediche, seated beside her, shook her head with a resolute expression.
“We are in the Holy Kingdom. There may be watchful eyes, so we must be mindful of our conduct.”
“…Who’s going to peek inside a moving carriage?”
“It is my duty as a guard to prepare for even the slightest possibility.”
“Hmm. Is that so?”
Iris fixed Camilla Bediche with a narrow, penetrating gaze.
“…Why are you looking at me like that?”
“It’s just that you don’t want to sit with anyone else, right? Besides me and Dale, you don’t really get along with anyone.”
Iris delivered a blunt, undeniable truth directly to her face: ‘You don’t have any friends, do you?’
Camilla Bediche’s face flushed crimson.
“W-who says I don’t have people I get along with?”
“Hmm. Who then?”
“That is….”
Tch.
Camilla Bediche bit her lip and turned her head away, avoiding Iris’s gaze.
It seemed that the fact she had forced me to sit beside her partly because she truly had no other friends was actually true.
Iris, wearing a mischievous smile, poked Camilla Bediche’s ribs repeatedly.
“Anyway, Camilla Bediche is really cute when you look at her like this, you know?”
“Q-quiet!”
Camilla Bediche bickered with Iris in a hushed voice so others wouldn’t hear.
‘Iris really does become a total tomboy when she’s with Camilla Bediche.’
Watching their obvious deep friendship unfold, I couldn’t help but smile faintly.
Well, anyway.
Because of that situation, Iris and I ended up sitting across the aisle from each other.
Instead, the one who sat beside me was….
“U-um… D-Dale.”
A face covered in freckles and a slender frame.
Albert Huber, our Class C’s representative candidate, was the first person who came to mind as fragile.
“I b-brought some snacks. Would you like to have some?”
If Lanez were a male classmate, this would be exactly what she’d be like.
Albert Huber hesitantly and carefully pulled snacks from his bag.
“Thanks. I’ll enjoy them.”
“Y-yeah. I brought plenty, so eat as much as you’d like.”
“….”
Albert, so meek he couldn’t kill a single insect with his bare hands, had assembled the candidates faster than anyone the moment war broke out and led them directly to the battlefield himself.
‘Is this also part of the changed future?’
In truth, I’d barely exchanged words with Albert in my previous life, so I couldn’t tell whether he’d changed because of me or if this was simply his true nature.
“A school trip… I’m really looking forward to it. Aren’t you?”
This new connection, something that hadn’t existed in my past life, was quite welcome to me as well.
“Yeah.”
“By the way, Dale and Iris seem pretty close… is that okay?”
“Is that okay?”
“Oh, well… Dale and Professor Elisha are… you know, that kind of relationship, right?”
“Ah.”
I’d completely forgotten about it.
The memory of Albert catching me giving Professor Elisha a massage came rushing back.
“That’s a misunderstanding….”
“Everyone, pay attention!”
Before I could finish my explanation, Professor Lucas Kane’s resonant voice echoed through the magical carriage.
“We’ll arrive at the Termal Region, our destination, in about two hours! Once we get there, we’ll first assign lodging, then have a banquet I’ve prepared in advance!”
“Wooooooo!”
Cheers erupted from the candidates.
“By the way, the banquet is being prepared with support from the Holy Kingdom—featuring Holy Kingdom specialties.”
“Ah….”
“W-wait, Holy Kingdom specialties?”
The atmosphere deflated instantly at the mention of Holy Kingdom specialties.
Professor Lucas Kane chuckled at the candidates’ reaction, his shoulders shaking with amusement.
“I anticipated this, so I specially requested the Holy Kingdom to prepare menus loaded with meat, so don’t worry.”
“Yes!”
“Professor Lucas Kane is truly the only one we can trust!”
Professor Lucas Kane shook his head at the excited candidates.
“You kids, your mood is completely different from during regular classes, isn’t it?”
“Ahem.”
“Hehe. Well, I understand the sentiment.”
Professor Lucas Kane continued with a light laugh.
“As I mentioned before, this school trip is a gift of sorts, prepared for you candidates who brilliantly repelled the Beast Legion’s assault.”
Professor Lucas Kane continued speaking, microphone in hand.
“However, no matter how much this is a trip, don’t forget your true purpose. You are future hero candidates, guardians who must fight the Demon God’s minions for the sake of humanity.”
His heavy voice resonated through the magical carriage.
“Anyone who causes trouble will be sent to the bottom of the hot spring, so be prepared.”
“Yes, sir!”
“We understand!”
“Well, you certainly know how to answer properly.”
Lucas Kane clicked his tongue as he glanced back at the candidates.
‘Well… hero candidates or whatever, they’re still just kids at heart.’
Though they were all over twenty years old and technically adults.
But becoming an adult didn’t transform you like a chrysalis becoming a butterfly—people didn’t change so easily.
And besides, the word “travel” possessed an almost magical power to stir the hearts of people regardless of age.
As clear evidence of this.
“In that spirit!!! With two hours remaining until we reach our destination! I hereby declare a talent show where you can finally showcase the singing skills you’ve been hiding all this time!!!”
Even Lucas Kane, who had long since crossed into adulthood, was just as excited as the candidates—no, even more so.
“S-singing skills?”
“Even so, singing is a bit much….”
“Isn’t the professor the most excited one here?”
The candidates were actually burdened by his enthusiasm.
“So, who wants to volunteer a song first?”
Lucas Kane raised the microphone in his hand and looked around the interior of the magical carriage.
“….”
“….”
The excited atmosphere from moments before had vanished, replaced by silence as if cold water had been poured over everything.
Even with travel fever heating their minds, few possessed the courage to confidently sing in front of dozens of people.
“Hmm? No one?”
“….”
“….”
The silence continued.
The candidates’ gazes naturally converged on one person.
“…W-wait, surely not.”
Albert saw the candidates’ eyes focusing on him and shook his head with a face drained of all color.
“N-no way! Anything but singing! I’m telling you, I can’t sing!”
“Come on~ you’re our Class C representative!”
“This is exactly when we need someone to sing!”
“Albert! Albert! Albert!”
Albert’s name echoed throughout the magical carriage.
“Albert! You’re the only one!”
“Show us your skills as our Class C representative!”
“I-I said no…!”
Albert trembled as if he might burst into tears at any moment, shaking his head firmly to refuse.
“Everyone, stop.”
Lucas Kane’s voice cut through the chaos of the magical carriage.
He glanced back at the candidates and clicked his tongue disapprovingly.
“Didn’t you hear Albert say he didn’t want to? Tsk tsk. You all always turn to Albert first for everything… What, is Albert some kind of punching bag?”
“….”
“W-what…?”
The candidates turned to look at Lucas Kane with bewildered expressions.
If I were to put the question flickering in their eyes into words, it would be something like: “Who the hell are you to say that?”
“If no one volunteers, I suppose I have no choice….”
Lucas Kane let out a deep sigh and gripped the microphone.
“I’ll do the singing myself.”
…What?
What did I just hear?
It wasn’t just me thinking that—the candidates stared at Lucas Kane with wide eyes.
Lucas Kane grinned wickedly and brought the microphone close to his lips.
And then.
“Your memories are miiiiiine!!! My lost loooooove!!!”
If nightmares could be expressed as a song, this would be exactly it.
An explosive vocal volume that shook the windows of the magical carriage, pitch twisted like metal struck by a hammer, and a rhythm that touched the realm of creation itself.
When all three elements combined in Lucas Kane’s singing, it produced a melody so utterly despairing it could serve as torture.
“Becoming the thorns that pierceeeeee through my soooouuuuul!!!”
“Kwaaaaaaaah!”
“P-please stop…!”
“S-stop!!! S-someone pleeeease…!”
Accompanied by a dirge that seemed to tear souls asunder.
Our magical carriage pressed onward toward our destination.
* * *
“Huff… huff….”
“W-we… we survived.”
The candidates stumbled out of the magical carriage with ashen, drained expressions.
Before us stood an enormous Hot Spring Inn building easily capable of accommodating a thousand people, and in front of it gathered candidates from other groups who had arrived earlier.
“Ah, Dale!”
Yuren approached our group as we stepped out of the carriage.
He tilted his head, observing the sickly pallor on the candidates’ faces.
“You all look terrible… did something happen?”
“…No. Nothing happened.”
I couldn’t bring myself to explain the catastrophe(?) that had unfolded during our journey, so I simply shook my head.
“By the way, why is everyone standing outside instead of going into the inn?”
“Oh, they said we’d be assigned lodging first.”
Now that I thought about it, they had mentioned assigning lodging upon arrival.
“Well then, now that everyone’s arrived, let’s assign the lodging!”
Lucas Kane called out, turning to face all the candidates gathered in front of the inn.
“Normally, lodging is assigned randomly with six people per room… but those candidates who received commendations this time will be granted special privileges!”
“Special privileges?”
“What kind?”
The candidates tilted their heads in curiosity at the mention of special privileges.
“Candidates who receive commendations will be assigned private rooms in the Annex Building, and they can select one candidate of their choice to invite to their room.”
“…!”
The moment the candidates heard the words “private rooms in the Annex Building,” their eyes lit up.
They gazed at the commended candidates with sparkling, eager eyes.
The candidate who drew the most attention was undoubtedly.
“Ah, Albert! We’re friends, right?”
“Albert… I’ve had my eye on you for a while.”
“You’re a man, though.”
“I’m actually gay.”
“What.”
Candidates swarmed toward Albert, who appeared to be the most approachable(?) among those who received commendations.
In contrast, not a single candidate dared approach Iris or Yuren to suggest sharing a room.
‘Well, of course.’
Both of them were renowned figures within the Academy who seemed unapproachable in some indefinable way.
Most candidates likely lacked the courage to speak up, even if they wanted to share a room with them.
“D-Dale! Then let’s share a room together!”
Iris approached with sparkling eyes.
I was genuinely grateful that she had spoken to me the moment she heard about the invitation privilege.
“Ah, but of course. The invitation privilege can only be used between candidates of the same gender.”
“…Ugh.”
At Lucas Kane’s words, Iris’s expression crumpled.
“This is unreasonable!”
“Well… there’s nothing we can do about it.”
No matter how much the candidates were all adults who knew everything about each other, the Academy couldn’t allow men and women to share rooms on a school-sponsored trip.
As Iris pouted with a disappointed expression.
“Then I suppose there’s no choice.”
Yuren approached me with an unhurried gait.
“Dale, let’s share a room together.”
“Yurina… Ah, no. Yuren! What are you saying?!”
“What do you mean ‘what am I saying’? You heard it too, didn’t you, Iris? The invitation privilege can only be used between candidates of the same gender.”
With his arm draped across my shoulder, Yuren flashed a sly smile.
“I’m a ‘man’ just like Dale, so there’s no problem with us sharing a room, right?”

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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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