The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 218

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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 218. Seven Star Cultural Festival (4)
I spent several hours nestled between two Maids(?), basking in undeserved fortune.
Noticing it had become 4 PM, I bid farewell to Iris and Yurina before heading off to meet Elisha.
Elisha stood in the Central Plaza with sharp eyes, observing how the crowd had grown considerably more bustling compared to this morning.
“So you were here.”
“Ah, Dale. You’ve arrived.”
Elisha turned her gaze toward me.
“Hehe. Have you been enjoying the Festival?”
“Well… I’d say I’ve been enjoying it reasonably well.”
Though truthfully, I’ve been enjoying other things more than the Festival itself.
Anyway.
“Have you been watching over this place since this morning, Professor?”
“Well, yes. It’s also a professor’s duty to ensure the Candidates can enjoy the Festival safely, isn’t it?”
Elisha shrugged as she spoke.
“Have you eaten?”
“That… I haven’t yet.”
Tsk.
I knew this would happen.
“I brought some food for you.”
“Is this… omurice?”
“Yes. No matter how important surveillance is, you should eat while you do it.”
“Hmm. To think I’d hear such nagging from Dale, who’s always skipping meals to train.”
“Ugh. That’s….”
“Hehe. I’m joking.”
Elisha smiled faintly as she ate the omurice I’d brought in the bento box.
“Have you noticed anything suspicious?”
“Fortunately, not yet.”
Munch, munch.
Elisha ate the omurice with relish, apparently quite hungry.
I chuckled softly and offered her the green tea I’d brought along.
“Hmm.”
Elisha gulped down the green tea, then fixed me with a narrow-eyed stare.
“What is it?”
“Nothing. I was just thinking that Dale seems quite skilled at handling women.”
“…Is bringing a bento box and green tea really something that warrants such a comment?”
“Hehe. Women are more complex than you’d think, yet simpler than you’d imagine.”
“That’s like saying warm cold noodles.”
I stifled a laugh and sat down beside Elisha.
“Besides, it’s difficult for me to enjoy a date with Dale today anyway, so was there really a need to make time like this to meet? Wouldn’t it be better to spend more time with my other lovers….”
“Professor, you’re one of my lovers too, aren’t you?”
“….”
She flinched.
Elisha’s shoulders trembled before she whipped her head around.
“Wait, when did I become Dale’s lover?”
“Pardon? Weren’t we already in a relationship?”
We’d even bathed together at the Hot Spring.
“That… I distinctly remember saying there was no need to become lovers right away.”
“Ah.”
Now that she mentioned it, I had said something like that.
I’d told her there was no need to formalize our relationship since I understood my situation was complicated at the time.
“Well then, let’s just be lovers from today onward.”
There was a time when I used to agonize over this abnormal relationship.
But ever since I resolved to make everyone happy without leaving anyone out, I decided not to worry about it anymore.
“Dale, you….”
She hadn’t expected me to declare it so straightforwardly.
Elisha stared at me with wide eyes, then quickly turned away, avoiding my gaze.
“Why did you suddenly turn away?”
“I’m… looking to see if there’s anyone suspicious around.”
“Your ears are red, though.”
“Quiet!”
Elisha’s face flushed crimson as she grabbed and stretched my cheek.
As expected.
She was quite shy underneath it all.
I suppressed a chuckle internally while watching her flushed face.
“Phew. Get up. Let’s walk together for a bit.”
Elisha fanned herself with her hand as she stood up.
“Hmm? Is it alright to stop watching this place?”
“It’s a patrol, a patrol.”
Elisha shrugged and walked briskly ahead.
I wanted to hold hands like other couples, but since we were officially on “guard duty,” that wasn’t really an option.
Instead of holding hands, I closed the distance so our shoulders brushed as we walked through the Academy together.
“It’s a strange feeling.”
“What is?”
“Walking through the festival like this with my student… no, my lover.”
Elisha glanced back at me with a faint smile.
“I used to not care whether festivals happened or not.”
“Same here.”
No matter how much I searched my past life’s memories, I had no special recollection of the Seven Star Cultural Festival.
“I used to wonder why everyone made such a fuss over a mere festival… but now I’m beginning to understand that feeling.”
Elisha let out a soft laugh as she watched the Candidates gathered in the Central Plaza, noisily enjoying the festival.
“Now that I think about it, there certainly are a lot of couples around because of the festival.”
“Aren’t we a couple as well?”
“Well, I suppose that’s… true enough.”
As I engaged in idle conversation with Elisha, enjoying what was ostensibly a patrol but was really a date, I noticed something.
“S-Sophia! Where exactly are you dragging me to?!”
“Quiet. Just keep up.”
I could see Berald being pulled along by Sophia’s hand.
‘So that’s where they went. They’re enjoying the festival in their own way.’
Sophia was tugging at Berald’s clothes, leading him toward the center of the Plaza.
“Oh? Since when have Berald and Sophia been dating?”
“Well… I don’t think they’re officially dating yet.”
Even if Sophia had feelings for Berald, there was something slightly problematic about him.
“Hehe. Still, seeing them together like that, it seems like it won’t be long.”
“I suppose…”
People’s preferences don’t change so easily, after all…
I swallowed the words that had risen to my throat and watched as Berald and Sophia’s figures grew distant.
“They seem to be heading toward the center of the Plaza… shall we follow?”
“Of course.”
Elisha and I followed the two toward the center of the Plaza.
As we moved toward the center, the number of couples increased dramatically.
The Candidate couples weren’t wandering around viewing the festival—instead, they seemed to be waiting for something, sitting on benches or mats spread on the ground, eating snacks purchased from nearby Street Stalls.
“It feels like there are more and more couples gathering.”
“Well, I imagine they’re all here hoping to see the heart-shaped fireworks.”
“Heart-shaped fireworks? What’s that?”
“Hmm? You didn’t know about it?”
Between preparing for the festival, searching for the Beastkin Group, and everything else, I’d been too busy to hear the rumors about heart-shaped fireworks.
“You know the rumor, right? During the Cultural Festival’s fireworks display, heart-shaped fireworks burst once, and if lovers kiss at that moment, they’ll be together for life.”
“I see…”
Elisha crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes slightly.
“That’s nonsense.”
“Haha. I thought so too. Well, superstitions like this are common at festivals…”
“No, that’s not what I mean.”
“Pardon?”
“There are no heart-shaped fireworks.”
“…There aren’t?”
But the rumor had already spread throughout the Candidate Program.
How could she say there are no heart-shaped fireworks now?
“There was no mention whatsoever of heart-shaped fireworks in any of the documents related to this Cultural Festival’s fireworks display.”
“…Could it be a surprise event?”
“Hmm. Wait a moment. The fireworks were definitely… Bianca’s responsibility.”
Elisha pulled out her Hero Watch and contacted someone.
A familiar woman’s voice flowed through the holographic window.
[I was already troubled by that rumor. Should I make it now? There isn’t enough time to create it at this moment….]
A clear denial from the very person who had prepared the fireworks.
“Then you’re saying all those rumors were false?”
“Well… you could say that.”
“Hmm.”
It was strange—I had no memory of hearing such rumors in my previous life, yet they turned out to be nothing but fabrications.
“…Something feels off.”
Elisha narrowed her eyes and stroked her chin thoughtfully.
“Dale, you said you heard this rumor from Berald, correct?”
“Ah, yes.”
“Do you think Berald is the type of person who takes interest in such rumors?”
“Not at all.”
If anything, he was more interested in the Candidate Cafeteria’s daily specials—he wasn’t the sort to concern himself with such romantic gossip.
“Yet even Berald heard the rumor, which means it spread quite widely.”
Elisha’s eyes gleamed with sharp intensity.
“Something is suspicious.”
“Are you saying someone intentionally spread the rumor?”
“I can’t be certain, but it’s certainly possible.”
….
Now that I thought about it, Berald had mentioned the rumor spreading suddenly over the past few days.
‘The question is who spread it and why.’
Was it simply to disappoint couples waiting for heart-shaped fireworks to burst?
Well, that was certainly plausible enough….
-Did you know? Heart shapes are derived from the human heart.
“…!”
A voice suddenly echoed through my mind.
I quickly turned my head to look around, but I couldn’t find the source of the voice.
“What’s wrong, Dale?”
“…Someone spoke to me.”
“Spoke to you?”
Leaving Elisha frowning behind me.
-So here’s the thing….
The mysterious voice echoed through my mind once more.
-When a human heart goes boom! and explodes, wouldn’t that be what you’d truly call a ‘heart-shaped firework’?
Who are you.
Where exactly are you speaking from.
-Hahaha! Why are you looking around so frantically?
Focus.
No matter how covert a communication spell might be, if it reaches the point of pouring a voice directly into someone’s mind, there’s no way to completely erase traces of mana.
-You’re trying to backtrack the mana? Good luck with that. This magical artifact was crafted based on the Great Sage’s Three Trials, after all.
Hmm.
Is that so?
-Even if the Great Sage himself came back to life, he wouldn’t easily find….
I turned my head to gaze at the top of the Academy’s Annex Building.
The rooftop of the Annex Building, hundreds of meters or more away from this location.
A boy wearing a monkey mask that covered only half his face sat on the roof, swinging his legs back and forth.
“Huh?”
The corner of the boy’s mouth, exposed below the mask, twisted upward with a grin.
“Found you?”

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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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