The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 253

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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 253. Intermission – Warmth (2)
To be honest.
Until Lanez first pressed herself against me, I was brimming with confidence—’What’s the worst that could happen?’—nestled in one corner of my heart.
Or perhaps it would be more accurate to call it arrogance.
I couldn’t help it.
Without even invoking my past life’s experience, there was a considerable gap between me—who had accumulated intimate experience with Iris, Yurina, and Elisha—and Lanez, a complete novice.
But.
That was my miscalculation.
-Haah… Dale… it feels good….
-Dale, you’re so warm.
-It’s still not enough… more, I want to feel more of Dale….
-More, make me warmer, more….
Lanez clung to me like a ravenous beast.
With our bodies intertwined, she devoured me like a hungry ghost consumed by endless starvation.
“Hngh—”
Had the blessing’s power grown stronger this time, affecting even her physical form?
Even I, confident in my stamina, found it difficult to keep up as she continuously craved my warmth.
Yes.
Specifically, for approximately three days straight.
“Sigh.”
The room was saturated with humid moisture, as if we were inside a sauna.
Lanez exhaled a languid sigh and lay beside me, using my arm as a pillow.
“Hehe. Dale… you’re so warm… I love it.”
Lanez clung to me sluggishly, acting spoiled.
“L-Lanez….”
“Hm? What?”
“I… I think… we should… stop….”
Dried out like jerky, I shook my head with a trembling voice.
‘No.’
If this continues, my blessing of resurrection will actually activate.
“Ah… I-I’m sorry! Now that I’m finally with Dale, I’m so happy I just… can’t help myself….”
Lanez trailed off, her face flushed crimson.
Ever since the day she harbored feelings for Dale.
The emotions she had accumulated, yearning for Dale alone beneath her blankets late into the night, erupted all at once—her desires became uncontrollable.
‘And….’
Lanez squeezed her eyes shut and rested her head against Dale’s chest.
Curling her body, she embraced him like a baby bird seeking warmth.
“…Lanez?”
“Ah, yes. I-I’m sorry… I know I should stop now….”
Even knowing Dale was struggling, she couldn’t bring herself to pull away from him.
If his warmth were to disappear now—
“Is it because of Mother?”
“Huh.”
At Dale’s words, Lanez’s shoulders flinched.
He was right.
Even if I had purged the resentment festering in my heart.
Even if I had erased the stains marring those faded memories.
The vivid image of Mother dying before my eyes remained seared into my mind even now.
“…I’m sorry.”
Lanez clung to Dale’s body and continued softly.
“I should forget quickly… but I keep remembering.”
Even knowing Dale was exhausted, I found myself clinging to him like a child.
Like grasping a warm hand warmer on a cold winter night, I craved his warmth.
“Sigh.”
I stroked the head of Lanez, who averted her gaze with a dispirited expression, and continued.
Somehow.
No matter how voracious Lanez’s desires typically were, she seemed almost frightening in her refusal to leave my side.
She appeared not yet recovered from the shock Seria’s death had dealt her.
‘I suppose.’
Lanez had always been fragile-hearted.
Even if her ending hadn’t been so terrible, there was no way she could simply forget witnessing her mother’s death.
“…Dale.”
Lanez nestled against me as though trying to overlay the memory of her mother.
A faint tremor transmitted through our touching skin.
I swallowed a bitter smile and pressed a gentle kiss to Lanez’s forehead.
“You don’t need to force yourself to forget like that. It’s not a memory you can simply erase through effort.”
“….”
Lanez lifted her head and gazed up at me intently.
“How did you handle it, Dale?”
“Hm?”
“You lost someone precious in your past life too.”
“That was….”
Yes.
I was the same.
Unable to forget my fallen comrades’ faces, I wandered the Snowy Wasteland like a phantom.
“How did I handle it, you ask….”
I shook my head with a bitter smile.
“I couldn’t do anything about it.”
“….”
“I thought time would heal it, but it didn’t.”
The pain of loss was etched into memory like a brand, unable to be erased by anything.
“So instead of forgetting, I chose to remember.”
“…Remember?”
“Yes. To keep from forgetting, I continued to remember them.”
Carrying the belongings of my fallen comrades, I kept their memories alive within me.
Eventually, I even exchanged jokes and words with the phantoms I conjured in my mind.
I remembered them.
“If you can’t forget, then remembering is a way forward too.”
“…Remembering….”
Lanez’s eyes trembled faintly.
“Yes, I understand. I won’t force myself to forget anymore.”
With a gentle smile, I tightened my embrace around her.
Why was it?
The image of Mother etched in my mind seemed to be wearing a radiant smile.
“Well then, shall we…?”
“Hehe. I know, Dale.”
Lanez released her embrace with a bright smile and slowly began to rise.
And then.
Rustle, rustle.
Lanez wriggled beneath the blanket, moving downward.
“…Huh?”
What is she doing?
Why is she going down there?
“Hmm? You said we should continue since you’ve rested enough, didn’t you?”
Lanez climbed on top of me with a mischievous grin.
“….”
Please, someone save me.
* * *
After that day, my life didn’t undergo any major changes.
The Academy was still on winter break, and I continued my training in wielding the power of the Tree of Creation while occasionally keeping in touch with my party members.
Rather, it was Lanez whose life changed.
Having greatly increased her control over the Blessing of Bitter Cold, Lanez began spending more time training alone.
‘Training together is certainly more efficient overall.’
But whenever I’m with her, she gets the urge to pounce on me (?), so there’s no helping it.
In any case.
She was making her own effort to stand on her own feet.
“Sigh… Still, after being together every day, it feels a bit empty without her.”
Waking early in the morning, I folded the blanket and looked around the empty kitchen.
When Lanez and I first became intimate, I worried whether I’d be exploited (?) until the entire winter break ended.
But except for the nights she visited every few days, I found myself spending even more time alone than before.
I’d even asked her about it, worried that Lanez was pushing herself too hard and creating distance.
-T-this is just right… I, I want to keep being with Dale too… but if I do, I’d feel sorry toward the others.
Watching Lanez’s brilliant growth, my eyes grew moist without my realizing it.
-B-but… actually experiencing it… it’s so much better than just imagining… so… I k-keep thinking about it… if I’m not careful, like the first time… no, even more than that… I m-might… explode. Back then… Dale, please take care of me? I, I can’t die, right? Ah… that’s right. Dale comes back to life even if he dies, so it’s fine?
I couldn’t help but shed tears at her continued words.
‘Well, as long as I don’t give Lanez a reason to go berserk.’
Given my perfectly upright and exemplary interpersonal relationships, there was no need to worry about that.
“Guess I should head out soon.”
After a light breakfast with the bento box Lanez had prepared for me last night, I made my way to the Party House.
When I opened the door, what greeted me was the sight of an empty Party House.
I gazed around the vacant Party House, a bittersweet smile playing at my lips.
‘I miss everyone.’
While we occasionally kept in touch through Hero Watch, it couldn’t compare to being gathered together in the Party House like before.
“Well… at least winter break ends next week.”
It wouldn’t be long before I reunited with my party members.
“Let’s see then.”
I simultaneously summoned the power of the Tree of Creation and the power of Primordial Fire, slowly fusing the two together.
Whoooosh!
Brilliantly blazing ash-fire.
As part of my body transformed into ash-fire, boundless mana surged forth.
‘I’m gradually getting used to this as I keep practicing.’
At first, I could barely maintain it for a few seconds.
Now I could sustain the incarnate state for nearly a minute.
“Phew.”
I’d been training like this for several hours now.
Knock, knock.
I heard someone knocking on the Party House door.
“Hm?”
Was it Lanez?
‘Come to think of it, it’s about lunchtime.’
Even though we trained separately, Lanez brought me a bento box every day, so we ate lunch together.
‘But why knock?’
Lanez should have access to the Party House anyway—she could just use her Candidate Program ID and come inside.
Tilting my head in confusion, I opened the door.
When the door opened, what I saw was—
“Hmm. Is this the place that fellow Raonel created for your party? For all his boasting, it’s not particularly impressive.”
Brilliant platinum hair and languid eyes.
Even at a glance, her refined features made it clear she was of noble birth.
“…Your Majesty?”
“It’s been a while. Have you been well?”
Unlike the Imperial Palace, where I was always in pajamas, Camelia—dressed in comfortable travel clothes—looked at me and smiled brightly.
“What brings you to the Hero Academy?”
“I came for two reasons.”
Camelia crossed her arms and held up one finger.
“First, a Summit Meeting is about to be held here.”
She stepped closer.
Camelia drew near, her movements deliberate.
She slowly reached out, tracing my chin with her index and thumb in a gentle caress.
“Second, I wanted to see your face again.”
“….”
“Hehe. Why that expression? Are you so moved that I came to find you myself?”
Camelia wore her usual arrogant smile, her chin held high.
As I stared at her in disbelief, something happened.
Thud.
Something fell to the floor.
I turned toward the sound and saw a familiar lunch box rolling across the ground.
“Dale…?”
Lanez looked between me and Camelia, her eyes widening.
“Who is that woman?”
Her eyes darkened as if light itself were being swallowed by shadow.
Lanez’s gaze, stained with hollow darkness, fixed upon me.
“….”
Oh no.
I think I’ve really done it.

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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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