The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 190

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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 190. Treasure Hunt (5)
‘I should head back.’
Of course, bonus points mattered.
But there was something far more pressing I needed to attend to.
As I slowly opened my closed eyes, the Mental Realm crumbled away, and my vision flickered back into focus.
“Gasp!”
I exhaled the breath I’d been holding and looked around.
I saw Grace staring at me with eyes wide in shock, and the Cavern now devoid of flames.
“The primordial flame?”
[It… it’s gone. Absorbed into you… completely.]
Just as she said, the massive inferno that had been burning at the center of the Cavern—large as a house—had vanished without a trace.
‘Though the heat remains.’
The primordial flame was gone, but the scorching heat that had filled the Cavern still radiated with undiminished intensity.
‘Well, just because a fire goes out doesn’t mean heated metal cools instantly.’
And this wasn’t merely heated metal—it was tens of kilometers of earth itself.
It would likely take decades for all the heat trapped here to dissipate completely.
“That’s fortunate.”
[…What’s fortunate about that?]
“The hot springs of the Termal Region. I’ll be able to enjoy them leisurely until the field trip ends.”
Of course, with the primordial flame gone, the hot springs of the Termal Region would gradually fade, but there was no helping that.
‘I couldn’t leave a ticking time bomb beneath the surface just to preserve the springs.’
The primordial flame was far less stable than the Primordial Fire itself.
That’s likely why Grace had built her own tomb above it, using its power to suppress the flame.
[Sigh. Worrying about hot springs in a situation like this…]
Grace shook her head as if I were hopeless.
“Regardless, the flame is completely gone now, right?”
[Yes.]
Grace gazed around the now-flameless Cavern, a faint smile crossing her face.
[My purpose… it’s all fulfilled now.]
Her voice carried a melancholic weight.
I turned to look at Grace, my lips pressing firmly together.
“Then that means…”
[I won’t be drifting around as a lingering spirit anymore.]
“…”
Our time together had been brief.
Yet the thought of Grace disappearing left an inexplicable emptiness in my chest.
[What? Are you going to miss me?]
Grace turned to me with a mischievous smile.
“Well, it’d be a lie to say I won’t miss you.”
Especially knowing she was like a mother figure to Iris, the sense of loss only deepened.
For Iris, who came from the Orphanage, the concept of a “Mother” could only feel profoundly special.
As for me, so much time has passed that I feel nothing at all.
Iris is different.
Or rather, I’m the exceptional case—most children from the Orphanage would harbor complex emotions toward the concept of parents.
In my previous life, I too spent countless sleepless nights yearning for parents whose names I never even knew.
[You’re… a warm person, aren’t you?]
Grace smiled faintly as she looked at me.
She drifted slowly toward me and placed her hand upon my chest.
In her spectral form, I should have felt nothing, yet somehow the place where her hand touched felt warm and comforting.
[It hasn’t been a long time, but watching you made me think this.]
Her voice trailed softly.
[That you are more wounded and broken than anyone I’ve ever seen.]
[You may not have realized it yourself, but right now your soul is so damaged it’s pitiful to behold.]
[Worn away until its form is unrecognizable, depleted until its shape is indiscernible, twisted until its image is distorted.]
[It’s almost miraculous that you can pretend everything is fine.]
At some point.
Grace spoke the same words I had once heard from Elisha.
“It’s not pretending….”
[Not pretending? Do you really believe that?]
Her gaze pierced through me with an intensity that seemed to penetrate my very being.
[You know it too. That you’re not in a normal state right now.]
“….”
I turned to look at Grace, my lips pressed firmly shut.
Yes.
I know.
Having lived through my previous life, something within me has been irreparably shattered.
My life was never one that a “normal” human could endure.
A life where I must end myself multiple times a day, where each use of power sears my bones and tears my flesh with agony, where I must willingly accept hundreds or thousands of deaths if necessity demands it.
To expect someone living such a life to be normal—isn’t that an excessive luxury?
‘And yet.’
Still.
“Even if broken, a person can live.”
I gazed at Grace and offered a faint smile.
“If there’s something more precious than that.”
[….]
Grace’s eyes trembled softly.
She clasped her hands together in prayer and bowed her head.
[May the blessings of the Seven Gods fill your path ahead.]
Why was it?
It was a blessing I had heard countless times before, yet tears threatened to spill from my eyes unbidden.
“…So I’m not truly a great hero after all.”
[Hm? What did you say?]
“Nothing. It’s nothing.”
[Hehe. Shall we head back then?]
Grace lifted herself into the air and retraced the Corridor she had descended through.
Following behind her and passing through the gate, I caught sight of Grace’s statue that I had seen upon my first arrival.
[If you head straight up along the Entrance from here, you should be able to exit to the Ruins.]
“Then you….”
[I’ve completed my mission. There’s no reason for me to remain here any longer.]
“….”
Grace soared into the air and waved her hand toward me.
[Take care.]
Her form grew increasingly faint.
Grace’s voice crackled in my mind like a broken radio, fragmenting as it came through.
[And… be… careful.]
“Be careful? Of whom?”
[The sixth… hero….]
“What?”
I furrowed my brow, straining to hear the voice echoing in my mind.
[Be careful of… the sixth… hero….]
With those words.
Grace’s voice vanished completely.
“Be careful of the sixth hero…?”
What on earth could that possibly mean?
‘She couldn’t be referring to a hero of the present day.’
There was no way she, who had been trapped here alone for five hundred years, could know of any heroes existing in the world beyond.
Then.
She must be warning me about a hero from five hundred years ago.
‘But who is the sixth hero?’
The number of great heroes was five.
I had never heard of a sixth hero—not even in my previous life.
“…What could this be?”
As I continued to ponder this mystery, furrowing my brow.
Clink.
A clear metallic sound reached my ears.
“Huh?”
Looking down, I saw a pristine white jewel lying on the ground.
‘This is….’
A sacred relic.
A precious object imbued with divine blessing.
“At this size, I could have it made into a pendant to wear around my neck.”
I lifted the gemstone, which was about the size of two finger joints.
‘I should give this to Iris later.’
With the jewel tucked in my pocket, I turned to look at Grace’s statue one last time.
“May you rest in peace.”
After making an awkward sign of the cross, I followed the path Grace had shown me and emerged from the tomb.
“Well then, back to the treasure hunt….”
“D-Dale! There you are!”
Just then.
A crowd of people came rushing from one end of the corridor.
“You bastard! You didn’t answer any calls—where the hell have you been holed up all this time?!”
Lucas Kane shouted with an angry expression.
‘Why does everyone look so serious?’
It seemed like only 1 to 2 hours had passed since I absorbed the Primordial Flame following Grace, yet everyone was making such a fuss about it.
“Is there some kind of problem….”
“Some kind of problem?! Do you have any idea how many hours have passed since your Hero Watch signal went dead?!”
“…How many hours have passed?”
“Twelve hours! Twelve hours! The day’s almost over, you madman!”
“…What?”
Twelve hours?
* * *
Late at night.
After all the Candidates who had been mobilized to search for me had returned to their rooms, I was summoned to Lucas Kane’s office.
“Unauthorized departure and trespassing into a sacred site… What on earth were you thinking doing this?”
Sigh.
Lucas Kane tore at his hair and let out a deep breath.
“…Trespassing into a sacred site?”
“Don’t you know where you crawled out from? That’s where Grace’s Tomb is located.”
“….”
Grace’s Tomb, located beneath the Ruins.
Naturally, it was classified as a sacred site where ordinary civilians were strictly forbidden from entering within the Holy Kingdom.
And it was also the place where I, who had been missing for a full twelve hours, was discovered.
“Fortunately, Pope Marian showed mercy, otherwise according to Holy Kingdom law, you’d be heading straight to prison.”
“….”
“Phew. In any case… you’ll face disciplinary action when you return to the Academy later.”
Disciplinary action?
Discipline again?
“No, wait! Just a moment!”
I jumped to my feet and cried out urgently.
“This was a situation I couldn’t control!”
“What exactly happened?”
“Well, you see….”
I recounted to Lucas Kane the story of my encounter with Grace’s lingering spirit—naturally, omitting any mention of the Primordial Spark.
“Hmm. So what you’re saying is…”
A hollow chuckle escaped Lucas Kane’s lips as he processed my account.
“You happened to run into the spirit of Grace, who died five hundred years ago, and crawled into her tomb?”
“To be precise, once I crossed through the gate, I was already inside the tomb.”
“Ha ha. Dale… you foolish bastard….”
Lucas Kane seized me by the collar and roared ferociously.
“What? You encountered Grace’s spirit and entered her tomb? Huh? Do you actually think that sounds reasonable, you lunatic?”
“No, it’s the truth! What do you want me to do about it!”
“Evidence? You have evidence, right?”
“….”
As for evidence, there was indeed a sacred relic that Grace had left behind.
But if I showed that as proof, the charge wouldn’t be merely wandering into Grace’s Tomb by accident—it would add the crime of grave robbing to my record.
In that case, there would be no leniency or excuses. It would be straight to the Holy Nation Prison.
“Uh… well, you see…”
Desperately searching for something to say, I finally opened my mouth weakly.
“…After some time passed, she said she’d fulfilled her purpose and disappeared.”
“Ha ha. Well, of course she would.”
Lucas Kane placed a hand on my shoulder with a broad smile.
“Congratulations, Dale. Your fourth suspension.”
“….”
So in other words.
Setting aside the Primordial Spark, the Calamity Flame, and all those secrets I couldn’t share with anyone.
Looking purely at the surface results of this field trip.
‘Zero bonus points and an additional suspension.’
Ha ha.
‘My life is a disaster.’
Why is this happening to me, anyway?

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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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