The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 248

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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 248. Bitter Cold (3)
Several days had passed since Lanez’s unexpected proposal.
I sat before the Hero Academy’s school gate, waiting for Lanez.
About five minutes remained until our appointed time.
Just as I was thinking it was unlike Lanez to be late—
“Huff, huff! I-I’m sorry, Dale! I’m late, aren’t I?”
Lanez came rushing over, her breath coming in gasps from the exertion.
“Late? We still have five minutes until the appointed time.”
“B-but….”
“It’s fine, really.”
I stifled a chuckle and tidied up Lanez’s disheveled hair as she bounded toward me.
“Hehe. Th-thank you, Dale.”
Like a puppy who had found its lost master, Lanez rubbed her cheek against my palm.
Every inch of her small frame was so endearing it made my heart clench.
Especially today, when she had clearly dressed up with such enthusiasm.
“But that outfit… aren’t you cold?”
I frowned, watching Lanez in her white one-piece dress as if she were heading out for a summer outing.
No matter how superhuman a hero’s body might be, they still felt the cold and heat—this was hardly appropriate attire for the depths of winter.
“It’s fine. When I’m with you, Dale, it’s w-warm.”
Lanez smiled shyly and gently took my hand.
“….”
What is this?
Today, Lanez seemed exceptionally adorable.
‘Our Lanez, who usually only speaks of cutting and dividing things so coldly…!’
As I was internally shedding tears of emotion, Lanez opened her eyes slightly and turned to look at me.
“Dale, what are you thinking?”
“Huh? Oh, I was just thinking your outfit suits you well.”
“Hmm… that’s strange. It didn’t smell like that kind of thought.”
Smell?
Can you read my thoughts through scent now?
“Shall we head out?”
“Oh….”
I hastily changed the subject and pulled the hand I was holding.
Lanez, who had been sniffing as if trying to read my thoughts, hurriedly followed behind me.
* * *
The place where Lanez and I arrived was the Magic Vehicle Parking Lot right beside the Hero Academy.
It was a parking lot primarily used by professors and staff for their commutes.
Click.
I got into the magic vehicle I had prepared in advance.
“By the way, Dale… you had a magic vehicle?”
“Huh? Oh, this is a vehicle borrowed from the Academy.”
“From the Academy?”
“Yeah. When I became a Special Candidate, they provided me with a vehicle too.”
Since the position primarily involved investigating and handling matters outside the Academy, a magic vehicle was essential.
‘Though even if it’s essential, this is actually the first time I’m using it.’
Until now, I’d only traveled to Valhalla City right in front of the Academy or the Imperial Capital via warp gate, so this was my first time actually driving the magic vehicle they’d provided.
“Wow. So Dale can drive too.”
“I used to do it often in my previous life.”
“Oh, right.”
Lanez nodded, seeming to have momentarily forgotten that I was a regressor.
I settled into the driver’s seat and gripped the steering wheel.
“Man, it’s been a while.”
“When was the last time you drove?”
“Well…”
Was it thousands of years ago?
“….”
Click.
“Wait. Don’t get out.”
“L-let’s just warp to a nearby city instead, Dale!”
“Don’t worry. I’m a good driver.”
“B-but…!”
“It’s fine.”
This sort of thing is something the body remembers naturally.
“Uuugh…”
“Besides, there’s no warp-capable city near where you mentioned, right?”
“That’s… true, but.”
“Either way, there won’t be anyone on that road, so it’s fine.”
Unless it was somewhere like the Republic Capital with its notoriously hellish traffic.
Driving along an empty road was simple enough that even Lanez, who’d never touched a steering wheel in her life, could manage it.
“I’ll give you a comfortable ride, so relax and sit back, miss.”
“Y-yeah. Okay.”
With Lanez settled in the passenger seat, I powered on the magic vehicle.
Vrrrroooom!
With a powerful engine roar, I pressed the accelerator.
Thud!
“Ah. What was the reverse gear again?”
“Hngh. M-Mom…”
Even before reaching Mother’s cemetery, the magic vehicle set off with driving skills so possessed(?) that they made Lanez think of Mother.
* * *
It was a blessing in disguise, you might say.
After that initial minor(?) mishap, I managed to arrive at the cemetery where Lanez’s mother was buried without further incident.
“We’re here, Lanez.”
“…Oh, yeah.”
Lanez stepped outside with a relieved sigh.
Following her out, what spread before my eyes was—
“….”
I narrowed my eyes as I gazed upon the Frozen City.
‘The incident where the Archbishop of Bitter Cold went berserk happened 15 years ago… or is it 16 years now?’
Though more than a decade had already passed since that event.
The pristine white frost that blanketed the entire city remained unmelted, exactly as it had been.
I frowned as I looked upon the Frozen City—a place where no one lived anymore, or rather, could no longer live.
‘If Lanez’s future hadn’t changed, half the Continent would have frozen over just like this city.’
As memories from my past life surfaced—of wandering alone through an endless Snowy Wasteland—a wave of nausea and revulsion washed over me.
“Dale?”
“Ah, yeah.”
“…Are you okay?”
Perhaps my expression had been too grim.
Lanez tugged at my collar with a worried look.
“I’m fine.”
I forced a smile and nodded.
“By the way, is this where your mother’s cemetery is?”
“Yeah. More precisely, it’s not really a cemetery—it’s the place where my mother died.”
Lanez slowly walked into the Frozen City.
Perhaps the memories of that day had surfaced.
As Lanez looked around the Frozen City, her expression was filled with such sorrow that tears seemed ready to spill at any moment.
“What kind of person was your mother?”
I spoke, hoping to ease her sadness even a little.
“My mother was….”
Lanez trailed off for a moment before continuing with a faint smile.
“A warm person. Like you, Dale.”
“….”
“Whenever I cried after being scolded by Father, she would quietly approach and embrace me. She’d pat my back and tell me not to cry, that my daughter looked prettier when she smiled, and she’d comfort me.”
“…She was a good mother.”
“Yeah.”
Lanez nodded, her expression turning bitter.
“Until that day….”
“….”
The incident of the Archbishop of Bitter Cold’s rampage that occurred 16 years ago.
Even now, more than a decade later, the reason why Seria Malam suddenly went berserk remained unexplained.
‘After that incident, the relationship between Heroes and Demon Humans became even more hostile.’
They had always been adversarial enough that killing and being killed was inevitable.
But after that incident, the relationship deteriorated even further.
‘Demon Humans.’
Just as humans become Heroes by receiving the stigmata of the Seven Gods.
Humans who receive the stigmata of the Demon God become Demon Humans.
In that sense, there were those who argued that both should be considered the same ‘humans’.
‘An opinion that could never be accepted.’
The Demon God’s stigmata stimulates human violence and destructive impulses.
Of course, some Demon Humans resist the Demon God’s temptation and live no differently from ordinary people, but most succumb to the power of their stigmata and become monsters who indiscriminately slaughter their fellow humans.
In such circumstances, what meaning could there be in the opinion that Demon Humans should also be respected as humans, since they were originally the same as us?
“Ever since that day, my life has been frozen solid like this city….”
Lanez gazed around the Frozen City for a long moment, then turned her eyes toward me.
“But everything changed when I met Dale.”
A faint smile bloomed at the corners of her lips, which had been tinged with sorrow.
“Because of Dale, I came to know a warmth the same as what I felt before… no, even warmer than that.”
Lanez moved slowly forward.
She carefully wrapped her arms around me and gently rested her head against my chest.
“That’s why I wanted to show Mother.”
That I no longer tremble in the cold.
That I’ve found a warm flame that melts my frozen life.
So.
“You don’t… have to worry… anymore.”
Lanez sobbed softly, her head still resting against my chest.
….
I patted her back silently.
“I’m sorry….”
“Huh? Sorry for what?”
“I know Dale’s been really busy lately… but I, I feel bad for troubling you with something like this.”
Lanez’s endearingly flustered state.
I stifled a chuckle and gently pinched her cheek.
“A request like this is fine to ask as many times as you want, so don’t say things like that.”
“Ugh.”
She wiped away the tears that had gathered at the corners of her eyes with her hand.
“Come on, stop. No more tears.”
“Y, yes.”
Lanez nodded and smiled brightly.
“D, Dale.”
“Yeah?”
“…Then, c, could I ask for just one more favor?”
“What kind of favor?”
“Well…”
Lanez glanced around hesitantly, then rose slightly on her tiptoes with her eyes closed, pushing her lips forward.
“….”
It wasn’t difficult to understand what her ‘request’ was.
“Mmm…”
I carefully pressed my lips against hers, continuing the kiss with Lanez.
Not a rough kiss with tongues intertwining, but a gentle meeting of lips alone.
“Hehe. Dale’s lips… so warm.”
I smiled broadly while caressing Lanez’s lips.
I stroked Lanez’s cheek as she smiled and asked with a mischievous expression.
“But are you sure it’s okay to do this here?”
“Huh? Why?”
“What if Mother in heaven sees this?”
“That… well…”
“She’d probably think, ‘Our daughter has grown up,’ wouldn’t she?”
“D-Dale!”
Lanez patted my chest with her flushed face.
To any observer, it would have been childish and cringeworthy enough to draw criticism, but.
What did it matter?
‘After all, it’s just Lanez and me.’
That’s right.
This place was already a ghost city where no one lived.
There was no one else-
Click, click.
Unfamiliar footsteps echoed through the Frozen City.
Lanez and I naturally turned our heads toward the sound of those footsteps.
And.
“Huh…?”
Lanez’s eyes widened as if she’d seen a ghost.
Her shoulders trembled slightly.
Lanez took a hesitant step backward, staring at the source of the footsteps.
“M-Mom…?”
Deep violet hair and crimson eyes.
The Demon Human who was once called the ‘Archbishop of Bitter Cold’—Lanez’s mother.
And.
The very person who had turned this city into a ghost city where no one lived.
“Hello, my daughter?”
Seria Malam gazed at Lanez with a subtle smile.

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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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