The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 19

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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 19. Interlude – Seven Eyes
Iris led me to her Dormitory room.
Unlike the shabby Dormitory where Candidates like me, supported by government funding, lived, her quarters possessed an elegance and refinement that would put even a luxury hotel to shame.
“This is my room.”
Click.
She unlocked the door with her Hero Watch and carefully pushed it open.
‘Iris’s Dormitory room.’
An unexplored territory I’d never witnessed in my past life now lay before my eyes.
“Oh….”
My first impression upon entering was how spacious it felt.
Unlike my cramped quarters where a bed and desk left no room to spare, her chamber was generous enough to comfortably accommodate a family of four.
“It’s incredibly neat.”
My second observation was how meticulously organized everything appeared.
Every piece of furniture was positioned at precise angles as if undergoing military inspection, and the surfaces gleamed without a speck of dust.
“This is the first time I’ve shown my room to anyone besides Camilla Bediche.”
Iris smiled shyly and moved toward the dining table.
True to her word, the table was already laden with prepared dishes.
“Please, sit.”
“Where are the cooks?”
“After they finish setting up, they wait outside until I’m done eating.”
“I see.”
So we were truly alone in this spacious room—just Iris and me.
‘This feels oddly strange.’
Sharing a meal alone like this had rarely happened even in my past life.
We’d only become lovers after forming a Party with Yuren, Berald, and Sophia, so we always ate together as a group.
“Let me see….”
I surveyed the array of dishes spread across the table.
As expected from Holy Kingdom cuisine, the meal consisted primarily of vegetable-based dishes.
“Ugh….”
Not that I particularly disliked vegetables.
But seeing this much greenery gathered in one place made my mouth water involuntarily.
“These are all nutritious foods, so eat without complaining.”
“Fine, fine. I got it.”
Vegetable-only diets, despite their reputation, typically lack proper nutritional balance.
‘Holy Kingdom cooking is different, though.’
I couldn’t fathom what magic they’d woven into these vegetables, but they’d somehow managed to pack complete nutrition into purely plant-based meals.
Of course.
They’d sacrificed flavor in the process.
‘Still… I need to focus on physical conditioning.’
At least this was healthier than bread and milk from the Convenience Store.
“I’ll eat well.”
As I was diligently shoving vegetables into my mouth—a bowl overflowing with them under the guise of health—
I caught sight of Iris gazing at me with hesitant eyes.
“What is it?”
“I… well, there’s something I’d like to ask of you.”
“What?”
“Hmm. Just a moment.”
Iris carefully retrieved something from the kitchen shelf.
What she held in her hands was…
“…Ramen?”
“I… I’ve been craving the ramen you made, Dale.”
“…”
Wait, hold on.
So that’s why she was humming and seemed so pleased earlier?
“You’re giving me nothing but vegetables while you eat ramen?”
“I eat it so often normally, so it’s fine for me!”
“This is too much, really too much. I never took our saintess for this kind of person…”
“…So you won’t make it for me?”
Iris looked at me with a completely dejected expression.
Her eyes held the pitiful gaze of a puppy abandoned by its master, and my heart stirred in that instant.
‘This is playing dirty.’
Past life lover or whatever—is there really a man in this world who could resist making ramen in this situation?
“Fine. I’ll make it for you.”
“Yes!”
Iris clenched both fists tightly and cheered, as if she’d never been downcast at all.
“There are eggs here, right?”
“Yes, there are… but why eggs?”
“Heh heh. Just wait and see.”
I’ll show you a taste of heaven.
—Bubble, bubble.
I added the broth and noodles to the boiling water first, and when the noodles began to soften, I dropped in an egg.
Five minutes after entering the kitchen, I brought the appetizing ramen to Iris.
“Wow.”
Iris’s eyes sparkled as she gazed at the bubbling ramen.
“Try it. It’ll be different from what you had before.”
“Okay.”
Iris picked up noodles and a half-cooked egg together, then slurped them down.
And then.
“Mmmmmmmm!!!”
She made a delighted sound through her nose, her legs kicking beneath the table like a duck’s.
“How is it? Delicious, right?”
“What on earth is this?! How can just one egg make such a difference in taste?!”
Watching Iris slurp down her ramen with such excitement, I couldn’t help but smile.
‘Seeing Iris eat like that… now I’m craving ramen too.’
There’s nothing quite as appetizing as watching someone else eat.
“Then maybe just one bite for me….”
“No way.”
The moment I reached out with my chopsticks, Iris whisked the pot away as if guarding treasure itself.
“You need to finish your ‘healthy meal’ first, Dale.”
“No.”
“Hehe. It’s your own fault for always eating junk food from the Convenience Store, Dale.”
As Iris grinned and pointed at the vegetables, the gentle visage of a saint seemed to vanish, replaced by the cunning expression of a mischievous demon.
“Pfft.”
My dejected face must have looked quite amusing.
Iris covered her mouth as she burst into delighted laughter.
“I was just joking, so don’t make that face. Here, let me share some with you in this bowl.”
“That’s our saint for you.”
I had never doubted Iris for even a moment.
“But you need to take care of your health too, so you must eat your vegetables, okay?”
“Got it.”
Really.
‘Iris is Iris, through and through.’
Watching her care for my well-being, memories from my past life came flooding back.
As Iris and I continued our lunch together in comfortable harmony.
“By the way, were you okay? With that thing?”
“Hm? With what?”
“That grotesquely-looking tentacle monster.”
“Ah….”
Iris offered an embarrassed smile, twirling a strand of her pale pink hair around her fingertip.
“Actually, I didn’t see it—that grotesque tentacle monster.”
“You didn’t see it?”
“No. My eyes possess a special power that renders illusions ineffective.”
“…A special power?”
“Just a moment.”
Her beautiful blue eyes, as clear as the sky itself, turned toward me.
And then, in an instant.
Iris’s eyes shifted to a rainbow hue.
“That’s….”
“The elders of the Holy Kingdom—well, they call it the ‘Seven Eyes.'”
Seven Eyes.
Evidence of the blessing of the Seven Gods, and the reason she came to be revered as the ‘Saint’ of the Holy Kingdom.
“Thanks to these eyes, I was able to pass the test without falling victim to the illusion. Professor Morpheus must have known—he didn’t say anything even after the illusion magic failed.”
“….”
Gazing at her irises shimmering with that beautiful rainbow light, I pressed my lips firmly together.
Suddenly.
A conversation I’d had with her in my past life surfaced in my mind.
-How did your eyes end up like that?
-Ah. My eyes?
According to what she told me.
During her fourth year at Hero Academy, her vision gradually began to blur over the course of several months, until one day she could no longer see at all.
-It was a curse.
-…A curse? Who on earth would do such a thing?
Who could possibly dare curse the Saint of the Seven Star Church?
-Ashtaroth, the Archbishop of Phantoms.
The Demon God Church.
A religion that stood in direct opposition to the Seven Star Church, formed by Demons blessed by the Demon God.
Among them, Ashtaroth, the Archbishop of Phantoms, was one of the six most powerful Demons, wielding immense authority and strength.
-He… coveted the power dwelling in my eyes and cast a curse across the entire Academy.
-Wait, he cursed the entire Academy?
-You probably didn’t know, Dale. Or rather… no one knew.
No matter how powerful an ‘Archbishop’-class Demon might be.
Who could have predicted that someone would scatter a curse across all of Hero Academy?
-It was a curse that affected no one else, only those who possessed the ‘Seven Eyes’.
That’s why no one noticed.
That’s why I didn’t realize.
-As my vision grew dimmer day by day… I foolishly believed I had incurred the wrath of the Seven Gods.
Iris offered a self-deprecating smile as she adjusted the black blindfold covering her eyes.
-By the time I realized that it wasn’t divine wrath that took my eyes, but a Demon’s curse, I had already lost everything.
The ‘Seven Eyes’ blessed by the Seven Gods.
The life I lived as a revered Saint.
And.
-My… most precious friend as well.
How she, who had lost the Seven Eyes and been half-exiled from the Holy Kingdom, managed to reclaim her position as ‘Saint,’ I could not know.
At that time, I was merely a lowly mercenary struggling to survive day by day.
‘But.’
One thing I could say with certainty.
‘Iris had lost much on her path to reclaiming her position as Saint.’
That playful smile I never saw on her face in my past life was surely one of those losses.
“Dale?”
“Oh, yes.”
“Hehe… I suppose these rainbow-colored eyes do look a bit strange, don’t they?”
“No, that’s not it at all.”
I shook my head, gazing into Iris’s eyes as they shimmered with iridescent light.
“They’re beautiful.”
Beautiful enough that I would sacrifice everything I have.
Beautiful enough to make me want to protect them.
“Ah…!”
Iris quickly turned her head away.
Her eyes had already shifted from that rainbow brilliance back to their usual azure hue.
“Y-you shouldn’t praise me like that. I won’t be able to show you this for long anyway. I still can’t properly control the ‘Seven Eyes’ yet.”
Iris rose from her seat, as if trying to hide her flushed cheeks.
“The kitchen staff will be coming to clean up soon.”
“Ah, yeah.”
“There are no classes this afternoon—would you like to grab a coffee outside?”
“Sorry. I have something I need to take care of.”
“…Is that so?”
Iris poked at the floor with the tip of her shoe, her disappointment evident.
“Let’s have lunch together again next week.”
“Ah… Yes! Of course!”
“You won’t leave out Camilla Bediche again this time, right?”
“Hmm~ I’m not sure what you mean~?”
Iris feigned ignorance, her face full of mischievous delight.
“….”
A smile I had never seen on her in my past life.
Childlike. Impish.
A side of you
I never knew.
-Click.
I closed the door behind me and leaned my back against it.
“It’s alright.”
A vow she could never hear. A promise I could never keep.
I whispered it to her through the door.
“This time, you won’t lose anything.”
I
will make sure of it.

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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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