The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 194

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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 194. The Witch’s Resolve (1)
After the school trip ended.
Everyday life returned to the Academy.
The Candidates diligently attended classes, steadily accumulating experience and knowledge to become “Heroes.”
And in the midst of all this, I….
“Suspension again.”
That’s right.
Due to the incident I’d caused during the school trip, I was facing a two-week suspension, and I writhed on my Dormitory bed like a worm.
‘Less than a year since I regressed, and this is already my fourth suspension.’
Honestly, at this point, I could almost feel the malice of the world itself.
“Sigh. I might as well go train.”
Since I’d be cooped up in my room with nothing to do anyway, I was heading to the Training Ground to familiarize myself with the “Fear Flame” I’d obtained before.
Ding.
My Hero Watch alarm chimed.
It was a message from Lanez.
[Dale, can you help me train today?]
“Hm?”
Training all of a sudden?
[What about class?]
[Ah… it’s fine. Today is… self-study time.]
[Really?]
[Yeah.]
[So when should we meet?]
[L-let’s go right now!]
Lanez suddenly burning with enthusiasm.
I tilted my head curiously as I replied.
[Got it. Let’s meet in thirty minutes then.]
[Okay.]
After finishing my conversation with Lanez.
I quickly washed up, changed into training clothes, and headed to our meeting spot.
“Ah… D-Dale!”
When I arrived at the meeting place, I saw Lanez in her training outfit, adorably waving her hands back and forth.
Upon spotting me, she came running over like a puppy greeting its owner.
“We’re going to the Back Mountain like last time, right? Let’s go right now, Dale!”
I suppressed a chuckle as I watched her tugging at my hand.
“By the way, why are you suddenly so eager to train?”
“Huh? That’s… well….”
For a moment, Lanez’s expression darkened, but she quickly smiled again and shook her head.
“Hehe. It’s nothing. I just… wanted to get better at controlling my blessing.”
“Is that so?”
“Y-yes! That way I’ll be able to help Dale so much more in the future!”
Lanez cried out with fervent determination, her fists clenched tight.
I nodded and followed her toward the Back Mountain.
When we arrived at the usual training spot where Lanez and I practiced together, a vast empty lot stretched before us—utterly barren, not a single weed in sight.
‘All this training has really done a number on this place.’
The sight of a perfect circular clearing carved through the dense forest like some bizarre alopecia made me chuckle involuntarily.
‘Well… this is why we avoid the Academy’s Training Ground.’
Better to burn a clearing into the wilderness than risk losing control again and incinerating the school buildings like before.
“Shall we begin?”
“Y-yes.”
Lanez nodded and moved toward the empty lot.
As I took a step to follow her.
“T-today, I’ll do it alone.”
“Alone? You mean by yourself?”
“Yes. I need to be able to control my power even without Dale beside me.”
“Well… I suppose that’s true.”
Though she’d improved dramatically since the beginning, she still wasn’t quite ready to handle the Blessing of the Harsh Winter’s power entirely on her own.
“Dale, you train on your own too, and if things get dangerous, help me then.”
“Understood.”
I was concerned, certainly.
But if Lanez wanted this, there was no reason to object.
As she said, eventually she would need to master the Blessing of the Harsh Winter by herself.
“S-so I’ll be training over there!”
With that, Lanez dashed off to a distant spot.
‘Well then.’
I couldn’t just stand idle either.
“Breathe.”
I drew in a slow breath and awakened the Primordial Flame slumbering deep within my heart.
Whoosh.
Gone was the wild, unleashed beast it had been when I first absorbed the Flame Seed—now it burned like a docile lamb, obedient to my will.
‘The amount of Primordial Flame I can control has definitely increased since absorbing the Flame Seed.’
When I first regressed, I could barely manage a candle-sized flame, but now I could command fire vast enough to dwarf my own body and engulf my surroundings.
Of course.
Whoooosh!
‘But I’m still far from mastering the Primordial Flame completely.’
I watched the distant flames burning wild and untamed, refusing to bend to my will.
If the day ever came when I could command even that inferno perfectly.
‘What would I become then?’
It was difficult to imagine at present.
It was difficult to imagine easily at this point.
‘Perhaps I’ve become something even more absurd than the Demon God itself.’
If the Demon God’s power stemmed from the primordial flame, then within me dwelled not only that same primordial fire but another force entirely.
‘The power to extinguish flame.’
I still couldn’t fathom what that power truly was or why it resided within me.
But one thing was certain.
The moment I grasped all of it in my hands.
‘I could change it.’
That desolately white future.
“Hah.”
I exhaled slowly and drew the flame upward.
Ash-colored fire blazed across my body.
Gray smoke billowed through my pores, settling like mist.
‘At first… about ten meters.’
Whoosh!
The moment I activated Dread Flame, flames encircled me in a perfect ring.
“Ugh…!”
Mana drained away at a frenzied pace.
My reserves plummeted as if a dam had burst.
‘This mana consumption is far beyond what I imagined.’
I’d anticipated heavy mana drain from a technique that fundamentally altered the physical laws of space itself, but this far exceeded even those expectations.
‘The mana I recover through Ignition can’t keep pace with the depletion.’
If I used Escalation here to boost my mana reserves, I could maintain it longer than now, but that was merely a temporary measure.
“It’s definitely different… using it in the Mental Realm versus actually deploying it.”
Dread Flame’s power and effects were just as formidable as when I’d used it in the Mental Realm.
‘The problem is proficiency.’
Actually using it revealed wasteful mana expenditure far beyond my calculations.
Like drinking water from a cup with holes in it.
Not only did Dread Flame consume more mana than I’d imagined, but the unnecessary waste exceeded even that.
‘Let me try reducing the range to about one meter.’
Whether I could truly call it a grand “domain deployment” by merely altering a mere one-meter radius around me was questionable.
But that was better than recklessly expanding the range only to have it fizzle out moments later.
“Alright then, shall we try again?”
Whoosh!</
As if answering my question, the ash-colored flames roared to life.
* * *
After several hours devoted to training Dread Flame.
'I wonder how Lanez is doing.'
As I approached where Lanez was training, I saw her drenched in sweat, carefully controlling the Blessing of Bitter Cold.
"Lanez. How's your training progressing?"
"Ah, u-um, yes."
Lanez nodded with an awkward smile.
I picked up a towel and wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead.
"Let's take a break and eat something."
"No, no! I can keep going!"
"You still need to eat first."
"But…."
"Come on, let's go."
I took Lanez's hand and pulled her toward a tree stump.
"Let me see. What did we bring for lunch today…."
"B-bread from the Convenience Store… I brought some."
Lanez rummaged through her backpack and pulled out bread.
I widened my eyes as I watched her retrieve the bread.
'Bread instead of a packed lunch?'
Whenever I trained with Lanez before, we always ate the homemade lunch boxes she brought.
'Was she busy today?'
Well, it made sense.
Making a lunch box every time wasn't an easy task.
"I'm sorry I couldn't make a proper lunch box."
"Don't be. I'm always mooching off you anyway."
I wasn't so shameless as to complain about this.
"Convenience Store bread tastes good after so long."
"…Yeah."
Lanez nodded weakly and chewed the bread without much enthusiasm.
"…Lanez."
"Huh? What?"
"Is something wrong?"
I'd noticed a dark shadow hanging over her face since earlier.
"Oh, it's nothing. I'm just a bit tired."
"Hmm… Should we stop training for today then?"
"No, no! I want to keep going! I mean, I'm going to keep going!"
Lanez cried out urgently.
I furrowed my brow and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"I told you before. Pushing yourself too hard only diminishes your training results."
"…."
Lanez clenched her lips firmly and lowered her head.
"…You always do."
"Huh?"
"Dale… you always push yourself too hard."
"That's…."
"Dale… you don't die, do you?"
"No, that's not quite it."
"But you still feel the pain the same way, don't you? When you're hurt, it aches. When you're wounded, it torments you."
"…."
Her voice felt so fragile, as if the slightest misstep would shatter her entirely.
Lanez's trembling words carried an unmistakable vulnerability.
She gripped my hand tightly with both of hers, her lips pressed together in determination.
"Dale also… doesn't want to hurt… yet you endure the pain and hardship… and keep trying anyway."
"Lanez."
"So can't I… just try a little harder too…?"
"…."
Why was it?
An instinct seized me—I couldn't leave Lanez alone like this.
"Let's go back."
"…Dale."
"But let's train together again tomorrow. That would be fine, right?"
Besides, I was under suspension, so there would be no classes anyway.
I had plenty of time to help with Lanez's training.
"Yes, I understand."
Lanez nodded with a faint smile playing at her lips.
She rose to her feet, wrapped her hand around mine, then gently released it.
"Dale really is… kind."
"What are you suddenly talking about?"
"Hehe. It's nothing."
After a simple lunch, Lanez and I returned to the Academy.
"I'll contact you tomorrow."
"Yes. See you tomorrow, Dale."
I headed toward my room, leaving Lanez waving lightly behind me.
"…."
Unaware that Lanez was watching my retreating figure intently.
* * *
After parting with Dale.
Lanez headed not toward the Dormitory, but toward the School Back Mountain where she had trained with Dale.
-Dale… um, what if… what happened to me in my past life…?
A few days ago.
The conversation I had shared with Dale resurfaced in my mind.
No, "resurfaced" wasn't the right word.
Since that day.
That thought had consumed my mind entirely.
-What about Lanez….
-Please, tell me honestly. I'm begging you!
I wish I hadn't.
I wish I had remained ignorant.
"The Witch of the Night."
Dale told me not to worry.
The future had changed, and I would never become that witch, he assured me.
I know it too.
The future has changed.
I no longer have to tremble in the cold.
But.
'Yet here I am… like this.'
I slowly summoned the power of the blessing.
A howling blizzard engulfed me.
Beads of sweat traced down my forehead.
Even as I concentrated so intensely that blood seeped from my clenched lips, the blessing of bitter cold refused to obey my will.
"Ah… ugh."
Tears welling at the corners of my eyes mingled with sweat and fell.

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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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