The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 271

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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 271. Omens of Destruction (1)
As time passed and the excitement and tension of the new semester began to fade.
The fourth-year curriculum lived up to its reputation for being brutally demanding.
From basic physical conditioning to actual combat training.
Designed with the assumption that students would graduate next year and live as Heroes, the classes were so intensely rigorous that they felt even more grueling than what active Heroes endured.
However.
‘This is tedious.’
By the standards of ordinary Candidates, the difficulty was high, but for someone like me, Yurina, Iris, and Camilla—elite practitioners among active Heroes—the classes could only feel somewhat dull.
‘I’d probably get more out of personal training at the Party House during this time.’
A sweet temptation brushed through my mind.
‘No, wait. Get it together!’
I couldn’t afford to remain last again this semester!
As I composed myself and resisted the temptation.
“Alright, today’s class is a Party exercise, as announced previously.”
“Ugh….”
“Finally, it’s here.”
“No! If this keeps up, I’ll be stuck in the rotation again!”
At Lucas Kane’s mention of Party exercises, sighs erupted from various corners of the Classroom.
“It’s been quite some time since the new semester started… surely you’ve all noticed potential Party members by now?”
“….”
Of course I’ve noticed potential members.
The problem is whether they’ve noticed me.
The eyes in the Classroom focused on Yuren, Iris, and Morris.
‘Looking purely at ability, Yuren is definitely first choice.’
‘Iris and Camilla are practically a package deal, so if I can just convince Iris to join, I can catch two rabbits with one stone.’
‘Morris was second place last year, overshadowed by Yuren.’
‘Second place is still impressive!’
‘Second place is still impressive!’
Everyone’s eyes gleamed like beasts hunting for prey as they assessed potential Party members.
In the heated atmosphere.
There was one place that remained distinctly cold.
‘Damn it.’
What more could I say.
It was the seat where the last-ranked Candidate sat.
‘Am I the only one being ignored again?’
The loneliness and melancholy I’d felt consistently in my past life filled my heart once more.
‘For crying out loud.’
I hadn’t gone all-out in recent classes, but everyone in this Classroom must know I’m not actually last-ranked when they see me keeping up with the curriculum so effortlessly.
No.
Perhaps it was precisely because they knew that they acted this way.
‘I didn’t deliberately tank my grades, you bastards.’
The gap between my grades and actual ability was so vast that everyone had formed a fixed impression: “Wow, this ruthless guy will do anything to maintain last place.”
In other words.
I’d been branded as some kind of intentional failure.
‘It’s pathetic, truly pathetic.’
To shed this wretched last-place stigma, I’ve invested so much effort—
‘Come to think of it, I haven’t really put in much effort at all.’
I never deliberately sabotaged myself, but I also didn’t bleed myself dry studying for top grades either.
The truth was, my goal wasn’t top or second place—it was simply “escaping last place,” so there was no need for such extreme dedication.
Of course.
‘I’m still in last place.’
But.
This semester will be different.
This semester alone, I absolutely must—!
“Looking at everyone’s faces, it seems you haven’t decided on Party members yet.”
Lucas Kane surveyed the Candidates, clicking his tongue in disapproval.
“I told you from the first day of class to think ahead about who you’d form a Party with.”
“Ugh….”
“Fine then, I’ll give you 30 minutes to form your Parties. Anyone who hasn’t found a Party by then will be randomly assigned one. Got it?”
“Wait, Professor!”
“30 minutes is too short!”
“Too short?”
Lucas Kane let out a soft chuckle.
“At the Mercenary Recruitment Center, you’d have to form a Party and accept commissions in far less time than that, you fools.”
“The Mercenary Recruitment Center is….”
“What, you think you’ll never need to go there? You probably assume only the dregs of Heroes visit such places.”
“….”
“Let me tell you something. More than half of everyone in this Classroom will start their Hero careers at the Mercenary Recruitment Center.”
“No way….”
“Even so, starting as a Mercenary is a bit much….”
The Classroom fell cold as if doused with ice water.
“Ha ha ha! Even as fourth-years, you still haven’t come to your senses?”
Lucas Kane burst into laughter.
“When you graduate and take your shiny new Hero license to apply at major Guilds or government positions, you know what they say first? Huh? ‘Well, everything looks good, but you lack experience.’ That’s what they say, you idiots.”
“…But isn’t it natural to lack experience when you’ve just graduated?”
“Right? But when you go to those places, they all demand Hero activity experience first.”
“But if we’re going there to gain experience, how can they demand it upfront? Where are new Heroes supposed to build their experience then!”
“I already told you.”
Lucas Kane wrote “Mercenary Recruitment Center” on the blackboard.
“You build it here, that’s what.”
You still don’t understand?
“If you don’t want to start as a Mercenary, you need either excellent Academy grades, exceptional specs, or a wealthy family backing you.”
Pfft.
Lucas Kane let out a low chuckle.
“How many of you do you think can satisfy even one of these three conditions?”
“Ah….”
A heavy silence descended over the Classroom.
Faced with the harsh wall of reality before their eyes, the Candidates could only exhale sighs of despair.
“See you in thirty minutes.”
Click.
Lucas Kane opened the Classroom door and left.
“Hey, anyone want to form a Party with me?”
“Is there anyone here ranked in the top hundred overall?”
“Support class first! Let’s find support class members first!”
The moment Lucas Kane left, the Classroom descended into absolute chaos.
The air grew so heated it felt like a battlefield.
“This is quite the spectacle.”
I let out a hollow laugh, surveying the pandemonium around me.
‘Regardless of his gorilla-like appearance, the man certainly knows how to handle people.’
He didn’t earn his professorial experience for nothing.
‘Anyway, I suppose I should start looking for a Party myself.’
Yet even in this chaos, not a single Candidate approached me to suggest joining their Party.
‘It doesn’t matter.’
I already had Party members more reliable than anyone else.
I curved my lips into a smile and glanced back at Yuren, Iris, and Camilla.
We had already formed a bond far deeper than these temporary classroom Parties—a connection as strong as family itself.
In other words.
‘No matter what anyone says or how they treat me, I already have a Party I can entrust my life to.’
Heh.
I wore the smile of a victor as I looked at the Candidates wearing expressions of despair over their inability to find Party members.
‘Let’s see… with me, Yurina, Iris, and Camilla, that makes four.’
I wondered who should fill the remaining slot.
Pondering this, I walked toward Iris.
“So you’re all here.”
Yuren and Camilla were already gathered beside Iris.
“Do you have anyone in mind for the last spot?”
“Huh? The last spot?”
Iris tilted her head in confusion.
“That’s four of us—me, you, Yuren, and Camilla.”
“Huh? I never said I’d form a Party with you, Dale.”
“What?”
What in the world was she saying?
“You’re not… planning to form a Party with me?”
“I’m thinking of forming a Party with Yuren and Camilla. As for you, Dale… hmm. I wonder what I should do~?”
“No.”
Why was she suddenly acting this way toward me?
“Come on, we formed a Party together during last year’s final evaluation!”
“That was last year, wasn’t it?”
Iris shrugged her shoulders and flashed a mischievous grin.
“Surely… you’re not actually planning to exclude me from the Party, are you?”
“Hmm~ I’m not sure. Our Dale, who won’t even give me an engagement—let alone a proposal—I wonder if there’s even a spot left for you.”
“….”
No.
So that was the reason she was suddenly acting like this?
“We… we agreed to talk about that after graduation.”
“Yes, yes. That’s what we said.”
Iris nodded slowly, crossing her arms.
“Someone keeps watching her boyfriend add more and more women, and she’s so anxious that she wants to get engaged already, but you don’t care about her feelings one bit and just told her to wait a whole year without doing anything.”
“….”
“Why don’t you wait for the other Candidates to ask you to form a Party with them, Dale?”
Iris smiled sweetly, waving her hand dismissively as if shooing away a fly.
“I… um, Saint.”
“Oh my, you won’t even call me Iris anymore?”
“….”
Should I bury my head in shame right now?
“How about this instead?”
Iris stood up and approached me.
“In exchange for accepting you into the Party… how about you grant me ‘any’ wish I ask for?”
Iris whispered near my ear, her lips close.
Her warm breath tickled my earlobe.
So, one wish in exchange for joining the Party.
I had no idea what kind of wish she might ask for.
“…Fine.”
What choice did I have?
If I didn’t join this Party, I’d end up going in circles anyway.
“Hehe. You promise?”
Iris winked and stepped back.
“But what kind of wish could it possibly be…?”
“Shh. Let’s keep that as a pleasant surprise for later.”
….
I had a bad feeling about this.
“That’s so mean, Iris! I also…!”
“My, you can still complain looking like that?”
Yuren, who had puffed out his cheeks to protest, flinched and trembled at the shoulders.
“Hehe. Yuren—not Yurina—next time. Being together as a pair is nice too, but honestly, isn’t it more fun when it’s just me and Dale?”
“Well… I suppose so.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll take good care of him and return him to you.”
“Ugh. Fine.”
“….”
No.
What am I, some object? Take good care of me and return me?
The words that rose from the depths of my heart never made it past my lips before sinking back down.
“Sigh.”
Yes, what could I do about it?
It was all a mess I’d created for myself.
“…Let’s finish forming the Party.”
“So who should we take for the last spot? Juliet Kang? Or should we go with Albert like last time?”
“I’m not sure… who would be better.”
As I stood in the Classroom, lost in thought while looking around.
“Ah, Dale.”
A Candidate Program member approached us.
A Candidate with hair as dark and lustrous as obsidian.
“Is there a spot left in your Party?”
It was Morris Jin, the second-year class rank holder and adopted son of Kalid Han of the Falling Flower Blade.
“Would it be alright if I joined?”
Morris Jin looked around at the Party members and smiled gently.

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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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