The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 234

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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 234. Interlude – The Spider’s Shackles
After my audience with the Empress ended.
Elisha and I returned to our room.
“….”
Ever since we arrived at the room—or more precisely, since we left the Reception Hall—Elisha had worn a vacant expression, as though her very soul had departed her body.
“What’s troubling you so deeply?”
“…Why did she do that?”
“Pardon?”
“Camelia’s proposal. Why did you refuse it?”
Elisha bit her lip hard.
“Why refuse? There was no reason to accept it, so of course I had to refuse.”
“No reason to accept? What do you mean there’s no reason?”
Elisha ground her teeth and cried out in an agitated voice.
“It was an opportunity to become the Empress’s consort! You could have obtained power rivaling hers, even if not quite equal!”
And that would have been far from all we could have gained.
“The Imperial Palace’s countless treasures, and the thousands of heroes under the Empire’s command—all of it would have been placed in Dale’s hands!”
“Hmm.”
This professor was saying something rather strange.
“Do you truly believe I would be interested in such things?”
“That is….”
“Well, to be honest, it would be a lie to say I have no interest whatsoever.”
Who could spurn wealth, power, and martial might?
But.
“I have no desire to obtain them at the cost of abandoning those precious to me.”
That would be like losing the substance for the shadow.
“Ugh….”
Elisha’s face flushed as red as a ripe apple.
She stammered, her lips trembling, before finally lowering her head.
“If there had been no condition to sever your relationships… would you have accepted the proposal?”
“No. I would have deliberated further, but I believe I still would have refused.”
“…Why?”
“Because I have no desire to marry someone my heart doesn’t truly desire.”
“Despite possessing such beautiful features?”
Elisha touched the scar at the corner of her left eye.
Though she was reluctant to admit it.
Camelia’s beauty far surpassed her own, marred as it was by such a hideous wound.
‘Even if the scar weren’t there….’
Platinum hair like molten gold, and beauty so otherworldly it seemed inhuman.
Though she was a woman herself, Camelia’s appearance was so wondrous it was difficult to look away.
“Do I strike you as the sort of fool who would come running merely because someone has a pretty face?”
“…Wasn’t that the case?”
“No, wait.”
If you feign ignorance like that, what does that make me, Professor?
“Well, fine. Setting aside her appearance… isn’t Camelia the Empress a hero blessed by the Seven Stars?”
A powerhouse who had transcended the mortal realm and reached the threshold of demigodhood.
As her rank of first place proved, there was no hero more formidable than her among all those whose names were known in this age.
“If she were to unite with the Empress, she would become a tremendous asset to Dale’s plan to prevent the Demon God’s resurrection.”
Far more so than myself, whose strength doesn’t even reach the Empress’s feet.
“Well… certainly, she would be a significant asset.”
But still.
“I don’t want to marry someone for reasons like that.”
“…I thought Dale was quite a rational person.”
“Is that so?”
I let out a soft chuckle and shrugged my shoulders.
“Prioritizing efficiency in everything? Fine. Calculating losses? I think that’s admirable.”
But.
“At least when it comes to relationships between people, I don’t want to apply such logic.”
“….”
Elisha gazed at me intently, her lips pressed firmly shut.
I reached out and gently traced the scar near her left eye.
“I didn’t become your lover because you were the Spider of Malice, Professor. I became your lover, and it just so happened that you were the Spider of Malice.”
“That….”
Elisha, who had been about to say something, hastily covered her mouth with her hand.
Haah, haah.
Even with her mouth covered, ragged breathing reached my ears.
Why was it?
Without even activating the Blessing of Insight, Elisha’s eyes had transformed into the Malice Eye.
Yellow pupils cut across her violet irises, gleaming fiercely.
“Haah, haah.”
Elisha approached, exhaling rough breaths.
“Professor? Your eyes are a bit scary… Ugh!”
Thud!
Elisha shoved me roughly toward the bed.
Sprawled across the expansive bed—wide enough for half a dozen people—I looked up to see a pair of fierce, gleaming Malice Eyes.
“Huff.”
Elisha roughly loosened her necktie and tossed aside the formal vest she’d been wearing.
Pop!
Pristine skin peeked through the gaps between buttons that had been torn away from her shirt.
“P-Professor?”
“…You really are something, Dale.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“If I hear such suggestive words… I can’t help myself, can I?”
“….”
Wait.
When did I ever say anything suggestive?
“P-Professor. First, please calm down….”
“Hmph. When you were stirring my heart like that, where were you then? And now you tell me to calm down?”
Elisha snorted and climbed onto my abdomen as I lay on the bed.
The soft pressure felt against my stomach.
“Hehe.”
Elisha licked her lips as if gazing upon delectable prey.

“Um… Professor.”
“Elisha.”
“Yes?”
“Call me Elisha. Just for today.”
“….”
“After all, this is the day we first become one. I can’t have you calling me Professor, can I?”
Ah.
So today has already been decided as the day we first become one.
“…Elisha.”
“…!”
Perhaps it was because she was being called by her name for the first time without the title of Professor.
Elisha’s eyes widened noticeably.
“Huh, hehe. Hehehehe. Yes… so this is what it feels like. It’s not bad. No, it’s wonderful.”
Elisha’s lips curled upward like a broken machine.
“Since we’re already here, would you speak more casually with me?”
“…Understood. I’ll speak casually.”
“Kyaaah!”
Elisha clenched her fists and shed tears of joy, like a miner who had finished a grueling shift downing an ice-cold beer.
“Hehe. This makes it feel like we’re lovers.”
“…We actually are lovers, though.”
“That’s just a figure of speech.”
Elisha chuckled softly and slowly reached out to caress my cheek.
“Dale.”
“…Yes.”
“I feel the same way.”
Her hand touched my cheek with the care one would show a precious treasure.
“Even if the ‘flame’ dwelling within you were to vanish one day without warning. Even if you were to revert to a lowly hero, lagging behind and falling short like in your past life.”
I will remain by your side.
“….”
My gaze met Elisha’s.
Those mesmerizing violet eyes that seemed to pull me in, the raven-black hair brushing her shoulders, that beautiful face.
As if enchanted, I naturally raised myself from the bed and stole a kiss from her lips.
“Mmm….”
The soft sensation transmitted through our lips.
The sweet scent of her skin teasing my senses and the pleasant weight against my abdomen sent shivers cascading through my body.
Exhale.
When the kiss that had lasted over ten minutes finally ended, Elisha caressed her lips with hazy, intoxicated eyes.
“…Now that I think about it, this was a first.”
“What was?”
“You kissing me first.”
“Huh? That was really the first time?”
“Yes. I’ve always been the one to initiate.”
Elisha pouted her lips slightly, grumbling as if feeling a bit wronged.
That expression was so impossibly adorable that I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Hmph. What’s so funny?”
“Nothing at all.”
I wrapped my arm around Elisha’s waist and kissed her again.
“From now on, I’ll do it often.”
“…Ahem.”
Elisha hastily averted her gaze.
I gently caressed her flushed earlobe while barely suppressing the laughter threatening to burst forth.
“Ugh… How presumptuous of a mere Candidate!”
Realizing I was holding back my laughter, Elisha grabbed my collar with her face burning crimson.
Whoosh!
With a forceful shove, she pushed me back onto the bed.
“Hehe. I’ll have to punish this presumptuous Candidate.”
Elisha smirked as she slowly began undressing me.
Leaning down from her position above me, she licked my neck.
“Ugh.”
A shiver ran down my spine.
Elisha seemed quite pleased with my reaction, offering a knowing smile as she gradually licked her way downward.
Neck, collarbone, chest, abdomen, and then….
“W-wait!”
Stop!!!
We can’t go any further than this!!!
“Hm? What’s wrong?”
“N-no, it’s just….”
“Hehe. How cute you look.”
Elisha wore a mischievous smile as she playfully caressed the inner curve of my thigh, her fingers dancing across the skin.
Given the sensitive nature of where she was touching, a certain part of me began to respond immediately.
Elisha’s body, which had been straddling me, suddenly ‘lifted up’.
A gasp escaped her lips.
Elisha’s eyes widened in shock.
“This hard thing… could it be… Dale’s?”
“….”
“I thought it was large, but this is….”
Elisha stammered, her face flushed red as an apple.
“Huff. Hah. Huff. Hah.”
The shock had been considerable—she placed a hand on her chest to steady her breathing.
“O-okay. I’m fine now.”
Elisha swallowed hard and continued speaking.
“…Dale. There’s one thing I want to ask of you.”
“What is it?”
“Just… wait a moment.”
Ssshhhhh.
Thin silk threads spun from Elisha’s fingertips, intertwining with each other to form a long rope.
Elisha smiled sweetly as she held the rope made of spider silk in her hand.
“Would it be alright if I used this… during what we do today?”
“….”
Use rope?
On a first experience?
“Uh… well, it’s not that it’s impossible, but…”
Sexual preferences varied from person to person, so I could certainly understand, but…
‘Even so, on the very first time…?’
My body trembled at the thought of venturing into uncharted territory—something I hadn’t even experienced with Iris or Yurina yet.
“…If it makes you uncomfortable, we don’t have to do it.”
“No, no! I’m fine with it!”
Right.
Honestly, there wasn’t much I had to do anyway, was there?
I would simply be bound by the spider silk and wait obediently to become the spider’s prey.
Since all I had to do was lie still, the difficulty was actually lower than a conventional encounter.
‘Alright. I’ve never tried it before, but at this level, I can do it!’
I nodded firmly, steeling my resolve.
“Okay, then.”
Elisha approached me with the rope in hand, and then—
“I’m counting on you.”
She held the rope out to me.
“…Huh?”
“Remember when you ran away in embarrassment at the Hot Spring before?”
In other words.
“-Dale, tie me up so I can’t run away. Please, bind me as tightly as possible. So I can’t move at all… And, um, if you could do it in a somewhat forceful manner, I’d appreciate it.”
“….”
Ah, so it was 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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