The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 53

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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 53. Dale Han’s Secret Private Life (2)
“Ah, well… I, what do you mean?”
“What do you mean what. Every time, it’s my chest that Dale looks at with those lecherous eyes.”
Iris poked my cheek playfully with a mischievous smile.
“Every time, you say.”
That’s unfair.
I don’t look that often.
“You’re lying. Do you think I don’t notice where your gaze goes every time we meet?”
“Well, that’s…”
It’s an unavoidable male instinct, you could say… that… what is it.
“Hehe. It’s fine with me, Dale. Feel free to look all you want.”
Iris smiled bashfully and stroked my cheek.
“….”
As expected.
Ever since I saved Iris from Ashtaroth last time, her behavior had become far bolder.
‘She probably has feelings for me.’
I’m not some outdated romantic comedy protagonist—I’d noticed long ago that she harbored romantic affection for me.
‘Of course, I feel the same way.’
She was the woman I’d been lovers with in my past life.
Naturally, I harbored the desire to be reunited with her.
‘But.’
Not right now.
‘I don’t have the luxury of leisurely pursuing romance.’
I had defeated Ashtaroth and changed the future, or so I’d thought.
No—precisely because I’d altered the future.
There was far too much I needed to do to prepare for the dangers that lay ahead.
‘It won’t be too late to become lovers once the situation stabilizes.’
I’d waited hundreds, thousands of years already. Surely I could endure a few more.
“Ahem.”
I exercised superhuman restraint and lowered my hand that had been drifting toward Iris’s chest.
‘Yes, I must endure.’
Blessings come to those who wait….
“Here.”
Soft.
The blessing of the seven gods transmitted through my palm.
A tenderness that seemed not of this world numbed my senses.
“Ah, Iris?!”
I turned to look at her in shock, and Iris—her ears flushed crimson—opened her mouth hesitantly.
“You don’t… have to hold back like that.”
“What do you mean….”
“You’re always just enduring everything, Dale.”
Iris gazed at me with sorrowful eyes.
“Even today, you wanted to rest, didn’t you?”
“No, I’m not really….”
“Liar. You wanted to rest.”
“….”
How did she know?
“Anyone can tell just by looking at your face right now, Dale.”
“…What does my face look like?”
“Exhausted. Terribly so.”
“….”
I thought I’d hidden it well enough.
But it had shown through in my expression.
“I’m sorry.”
Feeling guilty for burdening her with my concerns, I tried to lift my head from her lap.
“Stay still.”
Iris pressed gently against my forehead and laid me back down across her lap.
Whooooom!
A soft white radiance flowed from her body.
Her eyes, which had been as blue as a clear sky, shifted into a seven-hued rainbow.
“Seven Gods, look upon your weary child with compassion.”
A blessing whispered softly.
The white radiance enveloping Iris’s form flowed through her hands and into me.
“Ah.”
A comfort as though I’d sunk into a warm bath.
The fatigue crushing my body melted away, and a pleasant drowsiness spread through every fiber of my being.
“How is it? Does the exhaustion feel better?”
“…Yes.”
My mind grew hazy, as though I’d been mesmerized.
I clung to my fading consciousness and asked.
“Was the whole outing today just for this?”
“Yes. Otherwise, you’d never rest at all.”
Iris pinched my cheek as though I were incorrigible.
“…Thank you.”
“Hmph. If you’re grateful, then rest.”
Perhaps those words were the trigger.
An irresistible drowsiness crashed over me, sweeping away my last grasp on consciousness.
“Sweet dreams.”
With the gentle touch of the saint’s hand caressing my forehead as my last sensation.
My consciousness sank beyond the veil of dreams.
* * *
Warm sunlight streamed down upon the park bench where I sat.
“Ugh…”
I clutched at my hair, releasing a soft groan of distress.
‘I must be insane!’
No matter how much I wanted to ease Dale’s fatigue, that had been far too bold an action.
‘What if he thinks I’m a shameless woman…?’
A thousand anxious imaginings churned through my mind.
Yet regret, whenever it comes, arrives too late.
All I could hope for now was that Dale, sleeping soundly beside me, would forget everything that had happened today.
“Sigh.”
I exhaled deeply and gazed down at Dale’s face as he rested his head upon my thigh.
Or rather, I attempted to gaze down at it.
“Mmm. I can’t see very well.”
Blessed perhaps too generously by the seven gods, certain anatomical features obscured my view of his face.
‘Why do men find something so inconvenient so appealing?’
My shoulders ached, my lower back throbbed, finding clothes that fit was a nightmare, and I couldn’t even see my own feet—nothing but drawbacks and excess flesh.
I had never once in my life felt grateful for having a larger chest.
‘But if Dale likes it, then… I suppose it’s fine.’
Recalling how his gaze would dart away in flustered embarrassment whenever it drifted toward my chest, I felt a smile bloom unbidden across my lips.
“If I rest my head on my hand and shift down a bit… there we go.”
Adjusting my position, I finally had a clear view of Dale’s sleeping face.
“Haa…”
The moment I saw his peaceful expression, a wave of heat surged up the back of my neck and spread throughout my entire body.
‘You’re far too adorable, aren’t you?!’
Dale’s face, even viewed most charitably, could hardly be called conventionally cute.
Yet love’s rose-tinted glasses have a way of transforming even a mole into a hamster.
‘This ash-gray hair, those slightly sharp eyes, that firm jawline—I love it all so much I think I’m going to lose my mind!!!’
I was aware that the longer I spent with him, the more the existence called Dale Han expanded within me.
‘But it wasn’t supposed to be this intense.’
The turning point had been the beast calamity incident.
After witnessing Dale burn away his very life force to protect me that day, his presence within me had erupted like a volcano, flooding my every thought.
‘These days, whenever I have a spare moment, I can think of nothing but Dale.’
There was a time when I had tried to suppress these feelings, telling myself they were unbecoming of a saint of the Holy Nation. But long ago, I had shifted to thinking: ‘Wait, who says a saint can’t love?’
No.
More recently, I had even begun to think: ‘The seven gods themselves commanded, “Love one another as I have loved you,” so this is simply following divine will.’
‘And Dale seems to have feelings for me as well.’
There would be no reason to sacrifice one’s life for someone without genuine affection.
“Ehehe.”
As I painted a rosy future with Dale in my mind’s eye—
“Ugh.”
A sudden memory surfaced.
The “unfortunate accident” from a few days ago came flooding back.
‘Elisha Baldwin.’
The special professor who had been appointed following the monster incident, invited by the Academy, had suddenly stolen a kiss from Dale during class under the pretense of an investigation.
A soft sensation.
Recalling that day, a bitter sense of humiliation and anger surged through me.
“…Hm?”
Then, Dale’s lips suddenly caught my eye as he slept.
“Ahem, ahem.”
I gave a pointless cough and gently poked Dale’s sleeping lips with my fingertip.
A soft, supple sensation spread through my fingertip.
An irresistible impulse welled up inside me.
“Hmm.”
As I glanced around, I spotted the cookie I had left behind at the Coffee Shop earlier.
Carefully unwrapping it, I sprinkled cookie crumbs around Dale’s lips.
“Oh my, how careless of you, Dale. You had cookie crumbs all over your mouth?”
With no one watching, I deployed my best improvised acting, glancing around nervously.
I swallowed hard and slowly leaned down to press my lips against his, when—
Ding!
“Kyaa?!”
An alarm blared from Dale’s Hero Watch, and I sprang up like a mackerel being pulled from the water.
“Mmm…?”
“D-did you wake up, Dale?”
Dale, still half-asleep and groggy, stirred slightly.
He turned on his Hero Watch, glanced at the message, and immediately collapsed back onto my lap.
“Just a little longer…”
“Y-yes, of course. Sleep well.”
I froze, terrified that my pounding heartbeat might reach his ears.
‘Surely he didn’t see anything, right?’
I looked down at Dale anxiously, worried my transgression had been discovered, but he remained peacefully asleep, oblivious to everything.
“Phew.”
Only then did I release a relieved breath, my hand pressed to my chest.
“Hm?”
Then I noticed Dale’s Hero Watch, still powered on and abandoned.
The holographic display showed a name: ‘Juliet Kang’.
[When should we meet today?]
My brow furrowed as I read the message.
‘Wasn’t she a third-year Candidate like me?’
We’d never shared a class, but I’d seen her a few times in the Main Building Cafeteria.
I recalled he was a blonde pretty boy with something unpleasant about his appearance.
‘He doesn’t seem like the type who would suit Dale.’
All I knew about Juliet Kang was that he was the scion of a conglomerate family well-known in the Republic, and that his usual conduct wasn’t particularly exemplary.
Even when I tried to recall a connection between him and Dale, he remained a Candidate whose link eluded me.
[You said you had something urgent to discuss… would it be okay if I asked beforehand? I feel like I should prepare myself mentally.]
Something urgent to discuss?
Prepare myself mentally?
‘What kind of relationship do they have that they’re exchanging messages like this?’
I tilted my head and looked down at the sleeping Dale, but he showed no signs of waking.
“Well… I’ll ask later.”
With that, I manipulated the hologram floating in the air with its power still on.
It was my attempt to turn off the Hero Watch, in my own way.
Beep.
“Oh.”
I’d accidentally pressed a different button.
The hologram screen changed, and a folder labeled “Photos” appeared.
The photograph stored inside was…
“Huh?”
A photo of Juliet Kang dressed in women’s clothing, striking a coquettish pose.

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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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