The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 296

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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 296. The End of the World (1)
I want to die.
Though I’d be resurrected even if I did.
Still, I want to die.
That’s all that occupies my mind.
“Um… Dale?”
A familiar voice reached my ears.
I turned my head away, avoiding her gaze.
I didn’t want to speak.
Not to anyone.
“I’m so sorry. I never expected the Empress to come….”
A wound carved deep into my heart.
In the ash-colored garden of my mind, rotting branches lay scattered everywhere.
“Dale? Say something, please.”
Ah.
How fragile humans truly are.
How fleeting life truly is.
Grasping at the frayed edges of irreversible time, I wept endlessly—
“There.”
Soft.
The supreme softness transmitted through my hand bloomed flowers in my desolate heart.
“…Iris?”
“Are you coming to your senses now?”
Iris murmured “perfectly effective” with a soft chuckle.
“Honestly, how can you be so gloomy just because that little thing was discovered?”
“That ‘little thing’?!”
She could never understand the depths of shame I felt.
“I won’t make you wear dresses anymore, so cheer up.”
“…Really?”
“Yes. I swear it by the name of the Seven Gods.”
Iris smiled brightly and made the sign of the cross in the air.
“….”
Right.
The Saint of the Seven Star Church had sworn by the Seven Gods themselves—what more could I ask for?
“Huh? Oh, so from now on we can’t take pictures of Dale in dresses?”
Lanez stared at the photos she’d taken today with a dejected expression.
Iris smiled deeply and whispered into her ear.
“Hehe. Don’t worry, sister. For the sake of Dale’s crossdressing, even the names of the Seven Gods are….”
“Ah! Oh, I see! Ehehehe. Got it, Iris.”
No.
Don’t break an oath sworn in the name of the Seven Gods over something so trivial, Saint.
“Sigh.”
“Haha. Exhausted, aren’t you? Sorry. Dale’s reactions were just so entertaining that we got a bit too excited.”
Yurina held out a chilled beer can to me with an embarrassed expression.
As the ice-cold beer slid down my throat, I finally felt some clarity returning to my mind.
And at that same moment, a question surfaced in my thoughts.
“By the way, why was Camelia even here…?”
“She came to visit Dale, didn’t she? There’s a direct gate now anyway.”
“No, that gate can’t be used without the ‘key’ that Raonel possesses.”
“Hmm… Then did she use the gate on the Valhalla City side?”
“That gate shouldn’t be finished with repairs yet.”
The warp gates on the Valhalla City side had all been destroyed in the recent Demon invasion.
That meant she would have had to run here on foot without using a warp gate—or rather, she would have flown if she were Camelia—and I couldn’t think of any reason compelling enough for her to go through all that trouble just to visit the Hero Academy.
“If you want to know the reason, why don’t you just ask her directly?”
Creak.
Just then, the door opened and Elisha and Camelia entered together.
As Elisha stepped into the room, her eyes sparkled as she examined me, and then she clicked her tongue in disappointment.
“Tsk. I rushed over here after hearing that Dale was wearing women’s clothes and striking a cute pose… but it’s already all over?”
“I never did anything like that.”
“Oh really? That’s strange… what Camelia told me was a bit different.”
Elisha’s eyes gleamed with mischief as she scanned the surroundings sharply.
What caught her attention was the Hero Watch on Lanez’s wrist—or more precisely, the holographic window floating above that Hero Watch.
“Hehe. Hey, Elisha. Look at this. I got it all on camera.”
“Ooh… pfft. Hehe… this is quite a valuable photograph.”
“Right?”
“Can you send me the photos?”
“U-um. Sure. If it’s you, that’s fine.”
Elisha’s shoulders trembled with laughter as she looked at the photos Lanez had taken.
“…”
Faced with that tragic(?) spectacle, I found myself squeezing my eyes shut involuntarily.
“Don’t take it too hard.”
The Empress approached me and gently stroked my head with kindness.
Camelia, unlike her usual stern expression that seemed incapable of drawing even a drop of blood, now wore a gentle expression full of compassion and benevolence as she continued.
“The heart of the Empress is as vast as the heavens and as deep as the sea. Even if my consort harbors somewhat twisted sexual preferences, all can be understood and forgiven.”
“…”
Why was it?
This consolation hurt more than any other words I’d heard today.
“Fufu. You seem moved by the Empress’s understanding.”
Watching Camelia puff out her chest with a self-satisfied expression, I squeezed my eyes shut once more.
How could I possibly clear up this terrible misunderstanding?
A deep sigh escaped my lips as I found myself at an impasse.
“Sigh… Anyway, what’s Camelia doing here?”
“What do you mean, what? It’s only natural for a wife to visit her husband, is it not?”
“But she still has state affairs to attend to, doesn’t she?”
“As for state affairs, the urgent matters have been largely resolved, so there is some leisure time ahead.”
“So she flew all the way from the Imperial Capital to here without using a warp gate?”
Even with Camelia’s blessing from the Seven Star Church, traveling from the Imperial Capital to the Hero Academy without a warp gate would not be an easy feat.
“If it means I can see you, I would travel even to the ends of the world.”
“Uh… um. Ahem. Th-thank you.”
There’s a saying about the dangers of late-blooming affection.
The Empress, who had awakened to love so belatedly, was expressing such pure emotions that her face flushed naturally.
“Hehe. I wish to say it is only proper conduct as a wife, but to be honest, this time I came partly to see you as well.”
“You came partly to see me?”
“I received word from Kalid Han that he had obtained important information about the Eternal Cult Leader, and he asked that everyone gather at the Hero Academy. I suspect the other Masters are also heading here after receiving the same message.”
“Important information, you say….”
Could it be information that the Eternal Cult Leader’s true identity is the first otherworlder to cross into this world?
‘No, that information has already been shared among all the Masters.’
It was a natural thought, if nothing else.
The information Kalid Han had given me had already been fully shared among the Masters and Party members.
It wasn’t information that needed to be kept secret, and frankly, it wasn’t particularly useful information either.
‘Did he obtain some new information in the meantime?’
If so, another question remained.
‘Why did he contact Camelia and the other Masters but not me?’
I turned on my Hero Watch and checked my message history, but there was no message from Kalid Han.
Well, it’s not like he has an obligation to inform me immediately whenever he obtains new information.
‘But before, he always came to me first.’
That’s right.
When Kalid Han had obtained new information about the Eternal Cult Leader previously, he had sought me out before any other Master.
But then.
Why hadn’t I received any contact from Kalid Han this time?
“Hmm? Why do you have such an expression?”
“Oh, it’s just… when did Kalid Han contact you?”
“Around yesterday evening.”
That would have been shortly after Kalid Han had shared the information about the Eternal Cult Leader with me.
‘So he obtained new information about the Eternal Cult Leader in less than a day and a half….’
An unpleasant sense of discord pricked at my spine.
“Camelia, can you contact Kalid Han right now?”
“Hmm. Let me try for a moment.”
Camelia turned on her Hero Watch and sent a message to Kalid Han.
“…He’s not responding.”
“….”
The person who had summoned the Masters claiming to have important information had suddenly gone silent, it seemed.
“Let’s go find Morris.”
If he’s Kalid Han’s son, he might know where he is right now.
“Morris is using the C Building Dormitory with Dale, right?”
“Probably.”
Normally, a Master’s son would use the A Building Dormitory with the best facilities, but from what I’d heard before, Morris deliberately chose the C Building Dormitory because he didn’t want to stand out.
“Let’s go.”
I found Morris’s room and knocked on the door.
Creak.
The door opened, revealing Morris.
“Huh? Dale? What brings you here… Whoa! C-Camelia, the Empress?!”
Morris’s eyes widened in shock as he saw Camelia standing behind me.
“The E-Empress is in my r-room… Hah, hah!”
Ah.
Right, this bastard was the administrator of the Community of Those Who Wish to Be Trampled by the Empress.
“Calm down, Morris.”
“Y-yes, I’m s-sorry.”
“Do you know where Kalid Han is right now?”
“My father?”
“Yeah. I thought he was still somewhere in the Hero Academy.”
“Oh, right. At this hour, he’s probably at a tavern in Valhalla City?”
“…What?”
No.
I’d summoned the Empress, and he was out drinking at a tavern in Valhalla City?
‘That’s typical of Kalid, I suppose.’
But surely there has to be some limit to this.
“Do you know where that tavern is?”
“Yeah. He’s probably at his usual place.”
“Where is it?”
“Hmm… it’s in a pretty remote spot, so it’s hard to explain in words… should I take you there?”
“I’d appreciate that.”
“Give me a moment to change clothes.”
Click.
After waiting outside for a moment, Morris emerged in fresh clothes.
“By the way, what business do you have with my father?”
“Well… something like that.”
“D-did my father cause some kind of trouble again?”
“That’s what I’m about to find out.”
“Ugh.”
Morris exhaled a deep sigh and moved forward.
* * *
“Ugh! Innkeeper! Another bottle of makgeolli!”
The tavern where Morris had arrived.
Inside the tavern, I could see Kalid Han, so drunk that his face had flushed crimson.
“Father…”
“Huh? Morris? What brings you here?”
“A guest has come to see you.”
“A guest?”
Kalid Han turned his head to look at me and Camelia.
“Well, well, what brings our Empress to such a humble tavern?”
“…That is precisely what I wish to ask. Why did you summon me here?”
“Eh?”
Kalid Han tilted his head in confusion.
“Summon? Who summoned whom?”
“…?”
Camelia frowned and activated her Hero Watch.
“You sent me a message saying you possessed important information.”
“…A message? From me?”
“Surely you didn’t send it while drunk…”
“No, even if I were that intoxicated, I wouldn’t lose my mind to such a degree.”
Kalid Han shook his head with a perfectly lucid expression, as if he had never been drunk at all.
“I have no memory of sending any message whatsoever.”
“…What?”
Camelia’s expression hardened into stone.
“Then who on earth…?”
Before her words could finish.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The earth trembled as if an earthquake had struck.
“What…!”
Rushing out of the tavern, what met our eyes was.
“…A tree?”
A colossal tree, vast enough to blot out the sky, had erupted from the direction of the Academy.

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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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