The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 252

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 252. Interlude – Warmth
The blizzard had ceased over the city.
The snow that had accumulated to knee height mere moments ago melted and vanished like a mirage the instant Lanez withdrew her power.
What remained where the snow had dissolved were the remnants of ruins and
the corpse of a woman with violet hair, lying quietly with her eyes closed amid that chaotic devastation.
“…Will you be alright?”
I turned to Lanez, who stood silently gazing down at Seria’s body.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Start whenever you’re ready, Dale.”
“….”
A deep exhale.
I drew a breath and kindled the ashen flames.
Brilliant gray fire enveloped Seria’s corpse, burning with radiant intensity.
So that her remains would never be desecrated again.
Seria’s body scattered as ash, leaving not even bone behind.
“Ah….”
Lanez reached out instinctively, watching Seria’s form disperse into ash.
Ash scattered through her trembling fingers.
She bit her lip hard, suppressing the sobs that threatened to break free.
“You don’t have to hold back.”
I gently drew her head against my chest.
“Hic… Waaaaahhh!”
Lanez buried her face in my chest and wept without restraint.
Just as Seria had done, I gently patted her trembling back.
Hoping that her frozen heart might thaw, even slightly.
“…Sniffle.”
How much time had passed like that?
Lanez pulled away from me, her eyes swollen and puffy.
“Do you feel a bit lighter now?”
“…Yeah.”
Lanez nodded softly.
“Then shall we head back?”
“Yeah… let’s go.”
I took Lanez’s hand and made my way back to where I’d parked the magical carriage.
I’d worried it might have been destroyed in the aftermath of battle, but fortunately, since I’d parked it quite far from the city, the magical carriage remained intact.
“Ugh… Dale, sorry. I’m just… so exhausted….”
“Get some rest. I’ll wake you when we arrive.”
“…Thanks.”
Perhaps it was from overextending the power of her blessing, or perhaps from finally releasing the bitterness she’d harbored within.
The moment Lanez settled into the passenger seat, she fell into a deep sleep as if losing consciousness.
“…Mom….”
I gently stroked the sleeping Lanez’s head and pressed down on the accelerator.
‘The Eternal Cult Leader.’
On the way back to Hero Academy.
I narrowed my eyes slightly as that name surfaced in my mind.
‘What kind of bastard is he?’
An enigmatic hero with the ability to manipulate life itself at will.
This entity, whom I had never encountered in my previous life, clung to my thoughts like bloodstains on a white shirt.
‘I’m curious about his identity, sure enough.’
But what I couldn’t understand most right now—
‘What exactly is his purpose?’
Given that Mephistopheles was cooperating with him, the resurrection of the Demon God didn’t seem to be his goal.
If anything, the opposite.
Just this time, hadn’t he and Mephistopheles sent their forces to prevent the Primordial Flame?
‘Yet it doesn’t seem like his purpose is to prevent the Demon God’s resurrection either.’
What meaning could there be in resurrecting Seria Malam, dead for sixteen years, if the goal was to prevent the Demon God’s resurrection?
‘And the fact that Seria Malam appeared right as Lanez and I arrived at the City…’
It was highly likely that he had first grasped our movements and then sent Seria to that location.
If that’s the case, then the Eternal Cult Leader’s purpose was one of two things.
‘His goal was to awaken Lanez.’
Or.
‘I was the goal.’
My eyes narrowed at the thought that surfaced.
‘Why would someone who’s never even seen my face target me?’
The more I continued thinking, the deeper I seemed to sink into a labyrinth.
“Sigh.”
I exhaled deeply and swept away the tangled thoughts.
There wasn’t much I could determine from clues alone right now.
‘What is certain—’
The Eternal Cult Leader possesses a blessing that allows direct intervention in life itself.
And.
‘That bastard can’t be left alone.’
Recalling Seria’s final moments, I pressed harder on the accelerator.
* * *
“We’re here.”
“Mm… already?”
“Already is a stretch—it’s already evening, after all.”
Arriving at the Academy late in the evening, I gently lifted the still-drowsy Lanez into my arms.
Lanez, cradled in the classic princess-carry position.
“D-Dale?”
Sleep vanished from Lanez’s eyes as she turned to look at me with a bright, alert gaze.
“I’ll take you to your room.”
“….”
“Come to think of it, you said you moved rooms from the dormitory you used before, right? Where should I go?”
“…No.”
Lanez shook her head carefully.
“Not my room… take me to Dale’s room.”
“…My room?”
“Yes.”
Until now, Lanez had always returned to her own room to sleep.
“Tonight… I want to sleep together.”
Lanez clutched her collar tightly and looked up at me hesitantly.
“…Is that okay?”
“….”
How could I possibly refuse her request in this situation?
“Let’s go.”
I held Lanez in my arms and headed to my room.
Click.
After arriving at the room, I laid Lanez on the bed.
“Then you sleep on the bed tonight. I’ll sleep on the floor.”
“…No.”
“Hm?”
“I don’t… want that.”
Lanez shook her head firmly, tightening her grip on my collar.
“I want to sleep… with Dale.”
“….”
The sight of Lanez pouting and tugging at my collar was so adorable that I nearly forgot to breathe.
“Ah… okay, okay. We’ll sleep together then.”
Even someone as notoriously insensitive as me could tell that what she meant by ‘sleeping together’ wasn’t merely about getting rest.
“Ahem. Should I go wash up first?”
Thinking I should cool my heated head with cold water, I turned toward the shower room.
Tug.
Her hand pulled at my collar again.
“…Lanez?”
When I turned around, I saw Lanez rising from the bed with a flushed face, hesitating.
“Are you going to wash up first?”
“…No, that’s not it.”
Lanez fidgeted with her lips for a while before tugging at my collar and heading toward the shower room.
“L-let’s wash together.”
“…What?”
“B-because you must have been cold too today! S-so!”
Lanez swallowed hard and nestled against me.
“I, I’ll… warm you up…”
“…Ha.”
At Lanez’s bold declaration, I couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle.
“Why, why are you laughing?!”
“No, it’s just… it’s strange hearing Lanez say she’ll warm me up.”
“I, I can warm Dale up too, can’t I?”
Lanez grabbed my hand with a tense expression and placed it directly against her chest.
A flutter of warmth.
Her chest, asserting itself with surprising strength despite her small frame.
The soft sensation filling my palm and the pale skin visible through her thin dress was enough to set my body ablaze.
“H, how is it? Warm, right…?”
“Ahem. Y, yes, it is.”
“Then…?”
A soft rustling sound.
Lanez carefully removed her clothes.
In an instant, she stood before me as she was born, and gently pulled my hand toward the Shower Room.
Water cascaded down.
“…”
“…”
The two of us entered the Shower Room together.
I had bathed with Elisha before.
But bathing together in a spacious bath large enough for ten people was entirely different from the two of us pressed tightly together in a cramped shower stall.
“…Um, Dale.”
“H, huh?”
The Shower Room filled with only the sound of water.
Lanez, who had been avoiding my gaze with her back turned, slowly turned her body toward me.
Through the white mist rising like fog, I could gradually see Lanez’s form.
“H, here goes.”
Lanez closed her eyes tightly and suddenly embraced me.
Skin against skin, an impossibly soft warmth enveloped my body.
“Hehe. It’s warm…”
Lanez held me close and rested her head against me.
Perhaps because of our height difference, her wet hair tickled my body where it touched my chest.
“Is Dale warm too?”
“Y, yes. It’s warm.”
“…That’s a relief.”
Lanez smiled brightly and tightened her arms around me.
“I… was actually scared the whole time.”
“Scared?”
“Sometimes… I wonder if I’ll become like Mother.”
A witch who hurts the people she cherishes.
“After meeting Dale, I’ve gained so many precious people in my life.”
Into the cold, frozen existence I once lived,
so much warmth had blossomed.
“Iris, Yurina, Professor Elisha… and Sophia and all my party members… I’ve come to care for them all so deeply.”
Because of that,
I was even more afraid.
“If I were to hurt the people I treasure with my own hands… wouldn’t it be better to just disappear? I’ve thought that many times. That’s why I left silently back then.”
“….”
“But… my thoughts have changed this time.”
Until now, I believed Seria’s rampage occurred because she was a Demon Human.
I thought it was inevitable because she bore the stigma of the Demon God.
But.
-How warm… our daughter.
The last image of Seria I had witnessed.
It was exactly as I remembered Mother to be.
“Mother wasn’t at fault… right? Mother didn’t hurt the people she cherished because of her own mistakes, did she?”
“That’s right.”
I couldn’t be certain yet, but there was a high possibility that the Eternal Cult Leader had been involved in Seria’s past rampage as well.
“…I see.”
Lanez lifted her head, a faint smile playing at her lips.
Our eyes met.
She looked up at me with glistening eyes.
“Thank you, Dale.”
I slowly lowered the arms that had been wrapped around my waist.
An involuntary gasp escaped me at the sensation felt from below.
“For stepping forward instead of me… for giving my mother peace.”
If Dale hadn’t been there back then,
I likely wouldn’t have been able to kill Seria.
I would have stood there foolishly, bound by faded memories.
And.
Seria would never have found peace, not even in her final moment.
“Thank you for killing my mother… thank you, Dale.”
“…Lanez.”
“As… as a reward for that…”
Lanez pressed herself against me, her face flushed crimson as if about to burst.
And.
Click.
“Huh…?”
Water droplets cascading from the showerhead converged, forming ice shackles between my wrists.
Despite being crafted from ice, the portions touching my skin felt neither cold nor frigid.
If anything, they radiated a gentle warmth.
“Warm ice” was a contradiction in terms, yet the ice Lanez had conjured felt precisely like that.
“Ehehe.”
Lanez gazed at my arms bound by the ice shackles, her smile radiant and innocent.
“As thanks… today I’ll make Dale feel absolutely wonderful♬ D-Dale will m-melt away, to that degree… hehe.”
Why was it?
As I was dragged toward the bed in these shackles, an ominous premonition crept down my spine.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————