The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 267

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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 267. New Semester (1)
Being a fourth-year student at the Hero Academy carried special significance.
It was the year before graduation, and since the fourth-year comprehensive evaluation scores had the greatest impact on final graduation grades, the Candidates threw themselves into their studies with utmost dedication.
With active duty as a Hero beginning next year, the curriculum itself had escalated to an entirely different level of danger—filled with practical, real-world combat scenarios.
In any case.
The second day of the first semester of fourth year—that crossroads of life for Candidates—rather than the first day.
“Wow, you’re really something else, you know that?”
Lucas Kane discovered me sitting in a corner of the Classroom and his lips curled into a smirk.
“Even the most thick-headed students usually show up on the first day of the new semester… but you, Dale? You’re operating on a completely different level, aren’t you?”
“….”
His piercing gaze bored into me like a blade.
‘Damn it.’
Just as I’d anticipated.
I’d spent the winter break catching up with Iris and Yurina—time we’d missed together—and the first day of the new semester had slipped away from me entirely.
“I… I caught a cold, sir.”
“Oh? A Hero caught a cold?”
“Ha. I must have pushed myself too hard training to prepare for the new semester and weakened my body.”
“Don’t you think even you would admit that’s a pretty pathetic excuse?”
“….”
This man.
Why does he have to be so perceptive at times like this?
“Ahem. Well, didn’t you say nothing major happens on the first day anyway, sir?”
According to what other Candidates told me, he’d merely spoken about how the newly assigned class divisions would remain the same for the entire year, and that scouting good Party members in advance was part of a Hero’s responsibility, before dismissing class.
“So missing the first day is fine then?”
“…It’s not like I was the only one who missed it.”
Of course, Iris and Yurina, who were with me, had also skipped class that day.
“Their situation is different from yours.”
“How is it different?”
“Their grades are different, that’s how. See?”
“No.”
So having good grades means you can skip class?
“Of course it does. Naturally talented people can afford to be a bit lazy. It’s the mediocre ones who lack diligence that become a problem.”
“Ugh.”
I couldn’t think of a rebuttal.
“Well, anyway. If you want to climb out of the bottom ranks, don’t skip class from now on.”
“…Yes, sir.”
I sighed and nodded my head.
“Now then, let me call the attendance roll!”
As Lucas Kane moved away, someone behind me poked my back—tap, tap.
“Um… s-sorry, Dale.”
Yuren, sitting directly behind me, whispered with an awkward smile.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m used to getting chewed out by Professor Lucas Kane.”
“Oh, okay.”
Yuren nodded and gazed at the fingers that had been poking my back, a faint smile crossing his face.
“Hehe. Still, I’m glad I ended up in the same class as Dale.”
With the new school year, Yuren shared the same classroom with me, and he couldn’t hide the joy radiating from his smile.
“Right? I didn’t expect we’d be in the same class either.”
“Yeah! Iris and Camilla are in our class too… I think this year’s Party class is going to be fun.”
Yuren glanced back at Camilla and Iris, who sat a short distance away, and clenched his fist with determination.
I turned to look at the excited Yuren and let out a soft chuckle.
It seemed he still felt the sting of having been separated into a different class last year, forced to attend lectures alone.
‘Anyway, we all ended up in the same class.’
Iris, Camilla, and Yuren.
And on top of that, even Juliet and Albert.
Every Candidate I had any connection with had been assigned to the same class.
‘Did Professor Elisha pull some strings?’
In my previous life, we’d never all been in the same class, so someone had definitely intervened in the class assignments.
‘Well, I’m not complaining.’
Though I had no idea how diligently I’d be able to attend classes this semester given my duties as a Special Candidate.
Still, sharing a classroom with people I was already close to was infinitely better than being surrounded by strangers.
“You two, stop chatting.”
“Eek.”
Yuren flinched and retreated backward.
“Sigh. How those two even became friends is beyond me….”
Professor Lucas Kane shook his head in disbelief at the pairing of Yuren and me.
“Let’s see then… Candidate Albert Huber!”
“Yes, sir!”
At the sound of his name, one Candidate shot his hand up.
Albert Huber.
A face full of freckles with a meek expression.
A Candidate known as ‘the Chosen One’ (though recently he’d also been called Professor Lucas Kane’s favorite doll).
“Hehehehe.”
“W-why are you laughing, sir?”
Albert trembled pitifully, like a capybara facing a starving lion.
“The thought of spending another year with Candidate Albert Huber brings a smile to my face.”
“I feel like tears are about to spill from mine, sir.”
“Should I take that as a sign of your joy?”
“N-no, that’s not what I meant— Kyaaaah?!”
When Professor Lucas Kane casually pulled a bottle of green liquid from his pocket, Albert let out a pale, terrified scream.
“I-I meant joy, sir! Definitely joy!”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Let’s do better going forward?
“Hnngh…!”
Albert collapsed onto the desk, overcome with emotion(?), tears streaming down his face.
‘Those two never change.’
I stifled a chuckle and shook my head slowly.
As attendance was called one by one, I surveyed the Candidates in the Classroom.
Most were unfamiliar faces, though a few looked vaguely recognizable.
Dale.
Iris, who caught my eye, flashed a bright smile and waved her hand.
Are you feeling better?
Iris mouthed the question silently.
I was about to nod and mouth back that I was fine, but before I could, Camilla gently pulled Iris closer and opened her mouth.
Don’t act like you know the Saint in the Classroom!
Camilla’s eyes narrowed fiercely as she silently scolded her.
Though I understood she was doing it for Iris’s reputation, the way Camilla clung to Iris’s arm and glared at me so fiercely looked almost like a jealous lover catching their partner red-handed.
‘The polar bear loses her habitat once again….’
No, wait, that’s not it.
‘I get it, so please don’t look at me so terrifyingly.’
I mouthed my response to Camilla and turned my head away.
‘Juliet’s here too.’
Now that I thought about it, what happened with that cross-dressing contest they mentioned before?
‘…Better not ask.’
Anyway.
At this point, essentially everyone I knew from my year had been assigned to the same section.
The number was small enough to count on one hand.
‘Compared to my past life, this is nothing.’
It was far better than sitting alone in a Classroom where I knew absolutely no one.
As I recalled memories from my previous life and swallowed a bitter smile, something happened.
“Dale… right?”
The Candidate sitting next to me turned and asked cautiously.
A man with ordinary features you’d see nine times out of ten walking the Republic Streets, with hair as dark as the night.
“Morris Jin?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
Morris nodded with a faint smile.
“We were in the same section last year, but we never got to greet each other, did we?”
“Ah, yeah.”
“I’ve heard so much about you that I wanted to talk to you. And just recently, Father told me about you too.”
“Your father… you mean Kalid Han?”
Morris nodded and continued speaking.
“Yeah, that’s right. Though he’s not my biological father.”
“I’ve heard about that.”
Kalid Han had taken in the son of a subordinate he cherished after the man died during a mission.
“Haha. So that’s how it was?”
Morris swallowed a bitter smile and extended his hand toward me.
“Anyway, it’s good to see you. Being in the same class for two years in a row—that’s fate. Let’s get along well from now on.”
“…Sure.”
I grasped Morris’s outstretched hand and nodded.
‘Morris Jin.’
He was a candidate I’d already taken a personal interest in.
To be precise, “suspicion” might be a more accurate word than “interest.”
‘Now that I see him, I wonder if I was reading too much into it.’
At first glance, Morris seemed utterly ordinary.
‘But he’s definitely hiding his strength.’
The aura I felt through our clasped hands.
Though he seemed to be suppressing it as much as possible, this was unmistakably the kind of energy that typically manifested when someone was restraining their magical power.
‘The real question is why he’d bother hiding his strength.’
I still lacked sufficient clues on this point.
“Oh, by the way—Father mentioned you know the Empress. Is that true?”
“Well… to some extent.”
“R-really?!”
Morris’s eyes widened as he bounced on his heels.
“W-what’s the Empress like? Is she as the rumors say?”
“I’m not sure what rumors you’ve heard, but… well, roughly similar.”
Of course, the true face of Camilla hidden beneath the mask of “Empress” was entirely different from the rumors surrounding her.
But for some reason.
I found myself wanting to be the only one who knew her real face.
“Hnnnngh! Y-yes, of course! Kuh! That’s how the Empress should be!”
“…How should she be?”
“Ah. S-sorry. I got a bit too excited there.”
Morris scratched his head with an embarrassed expression.
He leaned toward me slightly and whispered in a low voice.
“Say, Dale… if you’re interested, would you like to join the community I run?”
“Community?”
“Nothing fancy. Just a place where like-minded candidates gather to chat. Oh, and it’s through Hero Watch, of course.”
“…What’s the community called?”
“Hehe. I’ll show you directly.”
Morris Jin lowered his arm beneath the desk and secretly activated his Hero Watch.
A blue holographic window materialized in the air.
The name of the community displayed on that window was—
“—the Community of Those Who Wish to Be Trampled by the Empress, that sort of place.”
“….”
You were the administrator there, you bastard?

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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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