The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 55

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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 55. Intermission – Boys’ Talk
Yuren’s Private Training Ground.
Originally, I’d planned to borrow money from my dear friend Juliet and apply for my own private training ground.
But due to a minor misunderstanding(?) with Iris, the whole private training ground matter ended up falling through.
Yet training alone at the Public Training Ground—where I’d look like a monkey in a zoo the moment I stepped inside—wasn’t exactly feasible either.
While mulling it over, I hit upon the idea of borrowing and sharing my other friend Yuren’s Private Training Ground.
When I proposed sharing the private training ground, Yuren nodded readily and immediately registered my name on the access permit list.
After that, beyond the twice-weekly sword lessons I gave him, the time I spent training together in his private training ground increased considerably.
“Ahh! Now that’s the stuff!”
After finishing an intense sword training session in the top-tier facility, I gulped down a chilled ion drink.
“Did something good happen?”
Yuren approached, wiping sweat from his face with a towel.
“Nah, nothing special really.”
“Nothing special, huh? You’ve looked in a good mood all day. Actually, it’s not just today—you’ve been grinning like an idiot for the past few days.”
“Heh, have I?”
Damn.
It’s harder than I thought to hide it.
“Well, something good did happen.”
I recalled the outing with Iris from last weekend.
We watched a movie together, ate, went for a walk.
Even taking a sweet nap with my head on her thigh on a park bench was enjoyable, of course.
‘But what I remember most vividly is…’
The memory of Iris, mistaking me for Juliet, kissing me while declaring she’d never let me go.
The fragrant peach scent tickling my nose and the softness of her lips delivered an indescribable happiness.
‘Well, it definitely wasn’t a romantic kiss by any stretch.’
But what did that matter?
What mattered was that our lips had touched.
With the lover from my past life whom I’d yearned for across hundreds, thousands of years.
‘Sure, I may have slightly distorted(?) Juliet’s preferences to clear up the misunderstanding.’
But I trust my soul friend Juliet will understand my situation.
“Hmm. What kind of good thing?”
Yuren, who’d come over, pulled an ion drink can from the cooler and asked.
“Nah, it’s nothing major.”
“Nothing major? During training earlier, your mind seemed to be somewhere else entirely.”
“Ahem.”
Hearing it from someone else’s mouth made me feel oddly more embarrassed.
“So what was it?”
“Well… things have progressed a bit with someone I have feelings for, you could say. Something like that happened.”
“…W-what did you just say?”
Yuren’s eyes widened in shock.
“A person you have feelings for?! You, Dale?!”
“What? Is it really that shocking?”
I tilted my head, watching him tremble as if struck by lightning.
‘What’s gotten into him now?’
At the Hero Academy, where young men and women gathered (though my actual age hardly qualified as youthful), romantic feelings blossoming between Candidates was extraordinarily common.
In fact, some Candidates had even used the rather crude expression: “Any Candidate who hasn’t dated once during their four years at the Hero Academy is either impotent or a eunuch.”
Of course, that particular Candidate had mysteriously vanished one day and was never heard from again—a heartwarming footnote to the story.
Regardless.
Learning that a mere friend had taken an interest in some girl was hardly cause for such wide-eyed shock.
“Tell me more about what you just said.”
Yuren approached with fierce, widened eyes.
His pupils dilated, his breathing ragged, golden mana subtly leaking from his form.
It wasn’t difficult to notice that Yuren was in an extremely agitated state.
“So you’re interested in other people’s love lives just because you’re a guy?”
I chuckled and turned to face the approaching Yuren.
“You could date anyone you wanted if you felt like it. You’re popular enough.”
“Stop talking nonsense and answer me. Who is this person you have feelings for?”
Goodness, how terrifying.
Well.
It was always the way—those who habitually claimed they’d never engage in romance were the first to pay attention when a friend suddenly got a partner.
“Iris.”
“Iris? You mean… the Saint of the Holy Kingdom?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“…”
Yuren drained the drink in his hand as if parched, then grabbed a fresh can from the refrigerator.
“Ha, haha. I knew you and the Holy Kingdom’s Saint were in the same ‘Practical Combat Training’ class, but I never imagined you two were like that?”
“Well, how many people could imagine such a thing?”
“So… are you dating her now?”
Yuren asked, his voice tinged with unmistakable anxiety.
“No, we’re not dating yet.”
“Really?”
Yuren’s face suddenly brightened.
He continued with a noticeably more relaxed expression.
“Anyway, the Holy Kingdom’s Saint… As your ‘friend,’ I’d advise you not to get your hopes too high?”
“…What do you mean by that?”
“Think about it. She’s not just anyone—she’s a Saint. A daughter of the divine, blessed by the Seven Gods! How could someone like that ever be with you?”
Yuren spoke in a measured tone, as if trying to convince me.
Of course, to someone who had already been her lover in a past life, this persuasion meant nothing.
“There’s no law saying a Saint can’t have a lover. Most Seven Star Church priests actually have partners or spouses anyway.”
“But… a Saint is different!”
“It’s no different, really. Isn’t a Saint still a person?”
“That’s….”
Yuren bit his lip, struggling to find a counterargument.
“…Fine. If that’s what you think, there’s nothing I can do about it.”
Grit. Yuren’s teeth ground together as his fists trembled.
“So, what exactly happened between you and that Saint?”
“Well… somehow we ended up kissing.”
“W-what?! K-k-k-kissing?!”
Yuren bounced off the ground, his reaction far more intense than before.
‘What, it’s not like he’s some hormone-crazed teenager. Why is he so shocked over a kiss?’
As I watched Yuren trembling with a hollow laugh, a memory from my past life suddenly surfaced.
‘Come to think of it, Yuren never even held hands with a woman in his previous life.’
Despite receiving countless advances from renowned beauties across the Continent—the Empire’s princess, famous actresses from the Republic, nuns from the Holy Kingdom—he never spared them a glance.
‘It got so bad that rumors spread about Yuren liking men.’
There was even an amusing anecdote to illustrate this.
The Archbishop of Lust, Lactasia, attempted to seduce Yuren with her beauty and was utterly slaughtered.
Because so many heroes—numbering in the hundreds—had been so captivated by Lactasia’s stunning appearance that they betrayed humanity and sided with the Demon God, this incident shook the entire Continent.
‘The bastard was hopeless even back in his Candidate days.’
I chuckled as I watched Yuren trembling with his fists clenched.
“Well, it was more of an accident, really. An accident.”
“H-haha. Really? So you just… your lips touched for a moment?”
“No, I put my tongue in too.”
“Y-your tongue?! You put your tongue in?!”
Crunch. Screeeech!
The can in Yuren’s grip was crushed pathetically.
“H-haha. So you… put your tongue in, huh….”
For some reason.
Golden mana swirled violently around Yuren’s body as if it might explode at any moment.
“Huff, phew. I-I’ve heard that these days, a kiss between men and women is just a casual greeting, right? Even at noble parties in the Empire, people greet each other with kisses.”
“Ah… yes. That’s true.”
Though I doubt anyone at a noble party greets with their tongue inside someone’s mouth.
“So besides the kiss, nothing else happened, right? Right?”
“Well, if I’m being honest, there is one more thing….”
“…What else?”
“Hmm… actually, never mind. This is awkward to talk about.”
After hesitating for a moment, I shook my head.
“Dale.”
Just then, Yuren stepped closer to me, a bright smile (something terrifying about it) on his face as he placed his hand on my shoulder.
“We’re ‘friends,’ aren’t we? Right? Friends shouldn’t keep secrets from each other.”
“Still, out of consideration for Iris’s reputation, I can’t really answer that….”
“Tell me. Now.”
The grip on my shoulder conveyed a crushing force.
I watched Yuren, whose eyes burned like fire, and swallowed a silent chuckle.
‘He was like this in my past life too.’
Whenever I so much as exchanged words with another woman, he’d sense it like a ghost and grill me relentlessly—what did we talk about, whether she showed any interest in me.
‘This bastard, acting all refined and proper while secretly being so interested in women talk?’
Then again.
Wasn’t it said that when men gather, nine out of ten conversations turn to women?
Given that Yuren was at an age brimming with vigor, he couldn’t help but be sensitive to such topics.
‘Well then, why not indulge his expectations and share a little gossip?’
I recalled what had happened with Iris at the park that day and opened my mouth.
“Last weekend, I went to the park with Iris.”
“Mm, yeah.”
“We were sitting on a bench resting for a bit when Iris gave me a lap pillow.”
“…A lap pillow?”
A relieved sigh escaped between Yuren’s lips.
“What did you think I was going to say? She just gave me a lap pillow….”
“So while I was resting on Iris’s lap, she suddenly asked if I wanted to touch her chest.”
“….”
Yuren’s face hardened visibly.
“D-did you… touch it?”
“I was going to refuse at first, but Iris grabbed my hand and placed it on her chest herself.”
“I see… So you did… touch it….”
“I knew they were large, but feeling them directly was something else entirely….”
“Stop.”
“Huh?”
Yuren hung his head and trudged toward the Training Ground wall, where he drew one of the swords hanging there.
Not a wooden training blade, but a real sword with an edge gleaming sharp and blue.
“Dale, you seem well rested. Want to spar?”
“No, not today. I exhausted my mana during training earlier….”
Whoooosh!
A golden aura blazed fiercely along the blade in Yuren’s grip.
“Draw your sword, Dale.”
Otherwise.
“You might actually die by my hand today.”
Yuren smiled brightly and swung his blade without hesitation.

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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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