The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 270

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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 270. Interlude – Engagement (2)
Silence descended upon the Training Ground.
The Party members’ gazes, frozen as if time itself had stopped, converged upon Berald and Sophia.
A quiet moment passed, like the calm before a storm.
“An engagement? With… with Berald?”
“W-wait?! Sophia… is that really true?!”
“Kyaaaa! What on earth happened?!”
The first to react were the women of the Party who had been close to Sophia.
Iris shrieked and bounded into the air, Yurina rushed toward her senior with frightening momentum, and Camilla stumbled backward, her expression bewildered as if she couldn’t comprehend the situation.
And then.
Lanez, who could be called Sophia’s closest companion.
“W-w-w-w-engagement. Engagement? En… gagement?”
She was malfunctioning like a machine that had fallen into saltwater.
“W-w-w-what… what happened?”
“Um… shall we calm down for a moment?”
“What happened?!”
“Kyaak!”
Lanez rushed toward Sophia.
“No, why is she like this?! Hey! W-wait, calm down… kyaak! Where are you touching right now?!”
“I-is where I’m touching really the important thing right now?!”
“It is!”
“Ugh…! Y-you really got engaged?”
Lanez’s eyes glistened with tears as she bit her trembling lip.
“Yeah. It’s true, I got engaged.”
Sophia let out a deep sigh and nodded.
“You and Berald were dating, Sophia?”
“No.”
“…Then how did this…”
Iris stammered, her expression confused.
Sophia continued with a shrug.
“Berald’s Father took a liking to me, it seems.”
“Berald’s Father…?”
“Y-you mean Gilbert, ma’am?”
“Yes.”
Sophia’s cheeks flushed slightly as she continued.
“I went to Berald’s Family Home during winter break, right? After spending a few days there together, he suddenly started weeping and pleading, asking if I could possibly take his son away with me.”
“…”
All eyes turned toward Berald, as if questioning whether Sophia’s words were true.
“…It is the truth.”
A groan escaped him.
Berald scratched his head and nodded slowly.
“Wait, so you’re accepting the engagement, Sophia?”
Yurina cried out with excitement, leaning forward eagerly toward Sophia.
Perhaps it was because Yurina possessed the most romantic sensibility among the Party members.
Her eyes sparkled like stars as she gazed at Sophia.
“Well, since that’s the case, I suppose I’m wearing this?”
Sophia gently waved her left hand, adorned with a ring, while maintaining a faint smile.
“Wow, wow… amazing!”
“…Why are you so shocked?”
“No, it’s just… I never knew you actually liked Berald.”
“Li—!”
Sophia shook her head, her face flushed crimson.
“Like that oaf?! What would I possibly like about him?!”
“…Huh?”
Yurina’s eyes widened in surprise.
“B-but… I mean… you said you got engaged….”
“The engagement is purely because Father asked! I accepted it thinking of it as saving someone’s life, that’s all!”
“….”
No.
Yet you’re already calling him “Father”?
“A-anyway! I didn’t accept the engagement because I like that idiot!”
“U-um, okay.”
Yurina stepped back with a bewildered expression.
“Hmm, is that really true, Sister~?”
Iris approached with a deep smile playing at her lips.
“…What do you mean, really?”
“Oh no~ Based on the expression you had while caressing the ring earlier, that doesn’t seem true at all~”
“W-what’s wrong with my expression!”
“Hehe. Would you like to know what it was?”
“….”
Sophia turned her head away sharply and spoke in a small voice.
“Never mind.”
“Of course~ Of course~ Besides, you already know without me telling you, don’t you?”
“Ugh! Iris, you really…!”
Sophia bared her teeth, her face as red as a beet, while Iris burst into delighted laughter at the sight of her.
“Still, an engagement… how enviable.”
Iris’s eyes narrowed.
“Someone hasn’t even mentioned the word engagement once.”
“….”
Oh.
Did I suddenly become the target?
“Every single time, you just say you love me, love me, but that’s all it is.”
“Ah, well, that’s….”
“You don’t say a word about marriage or the future.”
“The thing is….”
“Whenever you get the chance, you just go around collecting more women.”
“….”
What… is this?
I apologize, Saint.
“Since everyone keeps saying you’re so great, you think every woman in the world is yours, don’t you?”
“N-no, it’s not quite like that….”
“It’s not quite like that? What?”
As I spoke, my emotions seemed to ignite her anger.
Iris approached me with a fierce, contorted expression.
“More than half the women here are dating you, and you say something like that?”
“….”
“You know what’s even more shocking? We have to add Elisha to the count—and she’s not even here.”
“That….”
I have no excuse whatsoever.
“Sigh. Well, fine. I knew what kind of person you were and I still fell for you anyway.”
Iris exhaled a sigh and gently pinched my frozen cheek.
“So, seeing Sophia and Berald together—didn’t you feel something?”
“Feel something like…?”
“We should get engaged… shouldn’t we? All of us?”
Iris smiled sweetly at the corners of her mouth, applying pressure with her words.
“Of course, Yurina and Lanez too, all together.”
Iris glanced back at the frozen Yurina and Lanez as if she hadn’t forgotten them, giving them a wink.
“An engagement with Dale….”
“Rather than an engagement, wouldn’t marriage be better?”
“…What are you talking about, sister?”
“Wait, just a moment! I’ll go get my bag from the Rest Room!”
Lanez dashed out of the Training Ground.
Soon she returned with the shoulder bag she usually carried, rummaged through it, and pulled out several white sheets of paper.
“…What is this?”
“Ta-da, a marriage certificate!”
“….”
No.
Why would she be carrying a marriage certificate in her bag?
“So that whenever Dale wants, we can get married right then and there—I’ve been preparing ahead of time!”
Lanez stepped closer and held out the marriage certificate.
Was it because her closest friend had surpassed her first?
Her eyes, snorting with exasperation, blazed with such intensity that it was hard to believe she possessed the “Blessing of Harsh Winter.”
“Dale! A seal! Hurry!”
“…You wouldn’t normally carry a seal around with you.”
“Wait, just a moment then! If there’s no seal, I’ll use a fingerprint instead….”
Lanez, who had conjured a small ice blade using the Blessing of Harsh Winter, brought her hand toward the blade’s edge.
“What are you doing?”
“Ow!”
Thwack!
I flicked her forehead lightly and quickly summoned embers to melt the ice blade away.
“Whimper.”
Lanez rubbed her forehead with a pitiful expression.
“I understand your feelings, but there’s no need to rush like that.”
“Oh, so Iris doesn’t want to marry Dale?”
“It’s not that….”
Iris trailed off and glanced around.
The Training Ground, now a mess from the sparring.
The acrid smell of sweat and the oppressive heat.
“…At the very least, I’d prefer not to do it in an atmosphere like this.”
“Ugh. Ah, fine. I’ll hold back.”
“That’s right. Good job.”
Iris smiled and patted Lanez on the head.
‘…Who’s the older one here, really.’
I stifled a snort and stretched with a groan.
“For now, why don’t we all head up to the Rest Room and continue talking there? It’s a bit awkward to keep discussing it here.”
“Let’s wash up first.”
“Ah, right.”
I had already worked up quite a sweat during the sparring.
“Come on, Sophia! Let’s go and tell us what happened during break!”
“Didn’t I already tell you everything?”
“More details!”
“Ugh… Fine, stop dragging me!”
Sophia being dragged away by the group of women.
“Let’s go wash up too.”
“…Understood.”
Berald nodded with a dejected expression.
“By the way, what was that thing you mentioned at the Convenience Store earlier? Was it because of this?”
“Sigh… Yes.”
“Why are you sighing?”
“….”
Berald opened his mouth with a heavy, sunken expression.
“Elder brother, could you spare some time for advice?”
“Sure. Go ahead.”
From his expression since earlier, it seemed he had much on his mind regarding this engagement with Sophia.
“Well, our parents have been pestering me so much that I ended up entering this engagement semi-forcibly….”
“Why? You don’t want it?”
“Ah, no. It’s not like that.”
Berald shook his head urgently.
“Sophia is a woman with remarkable depth beneath her cold exterior. If anything, I’m hardly worthy of being engaged to someone like her.”
“…I had no idea you thought of Sophia that way.”
“Of course, I didn’t think so at first. But as we conducted magical research together and spent time together at the Festival, my feelings gradually grew.”
Oh.
So he wasn’t entirely without feelings for her after all?
“Then isn’t everything resolved?”
“No. There’s… well, one problem.”
“What problem?”
“Ahem. Well, I’ve mentioned this to you before… but as a guardian of the microscopic realm, I have very firm preferences.”
“….”
What nonsense about being a guardian of the microscopic realm.
“And?”
“So, to be honest, I do have affection for Sophia, but… that feeling of excitement as a man? I don’t really feel that.”
“Hmm.”
It was a bigger problem than expected.
Sexual preference played quite an important role in romantic relationships after all.
“But if you prefer that, wouldn’t marrying Sophia solve the problem?”
“Sigh. You don’t seem to understand what that means, elder brother.”
Berald sighed and shook his head slowly.
“For true preference, separation must be its foundation! How can one claim such preference without the experience of losing a husband?!”
“At least I know you don’t understand what that word means.”
“How can you not understand my heart!”
“I don’t want to understand, you fool.”
What kind of insane nonsense was he spouting?
“Anyway, marriage alone won’t solve… Ah!”
Berald exclaimed and opened his eyes wide.
“That’s it! I’ve thought of a good solution!”
“…I’ll listen at least.”
“What if we get married first and then get divorced?!”
“….”
Well.
Yeah.
I can’t say this out loud.
“Hahaha! Even I have to admit, that’s a genius idea… *cough*!”
*Thud!*
Berald, struck in the solar plexus, tumbled roughly across the floor.
I stomped on the fallen Berald and clenched my fists.
“Why go through the trouble of divorce?”
Death would suffice.
“Ugh, wait… *cough*! *gag*!”
The vast Training Ground.
Berald’s cries of anguish echoed faintly through the air.

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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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