The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 8

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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 8. Building the Foundation (4)
“Juliet Kang!”
The afternoon sun poured down with gentle warmth.
I approached my long-absent friend with a radiant smile as bright as the sunlight itself.
“Sorry, I was lost in thought and didn’t realize you were calling me!”
“…Huh?”
“It’s been forever, buddy! How have you been?”
I slung an arm around Juliet Kang’s shoulders in a friendly gesture, though confusion was written across his face.
“…Yeah.”
“So, I hate to ask right after we meet, but could you lend me a million gold? Something urgent came up.”
“What are you doing?”
“Your family’s loaded, right? A million gold isn’t that much for you, is it?”
Juliet Kang’s face twisted into a snarl.
“You absolute lunatic!”
“Oops.”
Without hesitation, Juliet Kang threw a punch at the “rug” spouting nonsense.
Even though the punch was thrown without any special preparation, I could see mana naturally coalescing around it—a sign that Juliet Kang possessed considerable skill.
But then again.
Talent or not, he was still just a kid.
“Seriously, you’re making a fuss over borrowing a pittance?”
Rich people really do complain about everything.
—Snap!
I lightly intercepted the fist aimed at my philtrum and twisted his wrist with force.
“Aaaaaaagh!”
A cry of agony burst from Juliet Kang’s lips.
Thanks to the mana reinforcing his wrist, the bone didn’t break, but the pain must have been excruciating.
“You… you bastard!”
Juliet Kang drew the rapier at his waist and lunged forward.
Light erupted from the stigma, coalescing along the blade’s tip in a fierce blaze.
The radiance was far more intense than when I’d sparred with Felix.
“Out of the way, you fool.”
Berald martial arts.
Blade break.
—Crash!
I sidestepped the arrow-like thrust and drove my hand-edge downward toward the blade.
Mana condensed instantaneously at the edge of my hand, hardening it beyond steel.
“Wha…?”
The blade snapped like a dried reed.
With Juliet Kang frozen in shock, I swept my leg upward between his legs with the satisfying force of kicking a ball.
“Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!!!”
Juliet Kang let out a horrific scream, clutching at the two spheres(?) between his legs before collapsing.
“Kyaaaah!”
“W-what are you doing to your senior?!”
“Senior Juliet!”
The female cadets huddled in the distance shrieked in unison.
I turned to face them, twisting my lips into a sinister smile.
“I have something to discuss with my friend here… would you mind clearing out for a moment?”
“W-why are you friends with a senior?”
“Get away from Senior Juliet right now?!”
“I’m calling a professor immediately….”
“Sigh.”
How troublesome.
They just wouldn’t listen.
“You don’t seem to understand simple words.”
I continued speaking while fixing them with a gaze tinged with killing intent.
“Get lost.”
“…!”
“Eek!”
The cadets who had been chattering loudly froze solid like frogs confronted by a snake.
Pallid faces and trembling legs.
Some of the cadets even had their skirts growing visibly damp.
‘What?’
I hadn’t expected them to actually lose control of their bladders, so bewilderment washed over me.
‘Are they really overreacting just because I released a bit of killing intent?’
I even began to wonder if these were truly hero candidates.
‘Then again… I suppose it’s a natural reaction.’
Looking at their name badges, they appeared to be freshmen who had only recently enrolled—children who had never experienced actual combat training, let alone sparring matches, so how could they have ever encountered killing intent?
And certainly not the clumsy imitation kind.
But the genuine killing intent forged through thousands and tens of thousands of deaths.
‘Dealing with these kids is really exhausting.’
I withdrew my killing intent with a bitter smile.
“Sob… hiccup.”
“Waaahhh!”
The moment I withdrew my killing intent, the cadets burst into tears and fled.
“Well, now that the nuisances are gone.”
I looked down at Juliet Kang, still clutching between his legs and groaning, and twisted my lips into a grin.
“Shall we finish our conversation, friend?”
* * *
“Y-you want to borrow money?”
Juliet Kang, barely recovered from the pain that felt like his balls might burst(?), asked in a shrunken voice.
“Yeah.”
“How much?”
The swagger that had filled Juliet Kang’s demeanor moments before had vanished entirely, replaced by a sheepish expression that sat awkwardly on his handsome features as he cast his gaze downward.
“What? Didn’t I mention it earlier?”
“You’re not seriously asking to borrow one million Gold, are you?”
“Would I ask you to fake-lend it to me?”
“Stop spouting nonsense! How am I supposed to lend you one million Gold?!”
The absurd sum sent Juliet Kang’s voice rising sharply.
I smiled broadly and dangled my clenched fist before him, swaying it gently.
A faint sound escaped his throat.
Juliet Kang’s face drained of all color.
“I-I’m sorry! I was wrong! Don’t hit me!”
“Come on, why be so cold between friends? Who said anything about hitting?”
I chuckled softly and lowered the fist I’d raised.
Juliet Kang gnawed at his lips, his voice dropping to barely a whisper.
“…I’m sorry. Even I don’t have one million Gold.”
“Hmm.”
Right.
Even for someone from a wealthy family, one million Gold wasn’t a sum one could easily procure.
“You can’t raise the money yourself, but your father is different, isn’t he?”
“…You want me to ask my father for money?”
Juliet Kang stared at me with an expression of utter disbelief.
“Have you lost your mind?”
“Doesn’t your father care for you greatly?”
“That doesn’t mean I can just ask him for one million Gold!”
Juliet Kang shook his head vigorously, as if rejecting an absurd proposition.
As I watched him, a memory from my past life surfaced.
‘Juliet Kang.’
Even after all this time, his name came to mind with ease—not merely because he had tormented me.
There had been many cadets who bullied me, an orphan perpetually ranked last, besides Juliet Kang.
‘In truth, he hadn’t been among the worst offenders.’
He tormented me only when he was showing off his power with junior female cadets in tow.
Yet there was a reason his name had surfaced so readily in my memory.
There had been a time when the name Juliet Kang shook the entire academy.
‘He possessed quite a unique hobby.’
That ‘hobby’ would be exposed about six months from now, but he was surely continuing his secret activities even at this moment.
The true nature of his hidden, shameful hobby was….
“Juliet. Hand over your Hero Watch.”
“…What?”
Juliet Kang’s face turned ashen—far paler than it had been moments before.
Hero Watch.
A tri-nation collaborative magical artifact created by combining the Republic’s engineering technology, the Empire’s magical alchemy, and the Holy Kingdom’s mana stone purification techniques.
Its original name was “Complex Multi-Function Timepiece,” but it came to be called the Hero Watch because only those with mana could use it.
“W-why… why suddenly the Hero Watch?”
Juliet Kang clutched the watch on his wrist tightly, eyeing me with wariness.
That response—so innocent it transcended mere honesty—made me laugh involuntarily.
“Why? Is there something inside you don’t want to show others?”
“T-there’s no way that could be true!”
“Really? Then you won’t mind showing me.”
“Ugh…!”
Juliet Kang stumbled backward in panic, his feet shuffling uncertainly.
Just as he turned to flee.
“Where are you rushing off to in such a hurry?”
“Ahhh!”
Crack!
I swept his shin as he tried to escape.
As he fell, I unfastened the Hero Watch from his wrist.
“G-give it back!”
“Hold on.”
When I tried to activate the watch by channeling mana into it, a lock-shaped pattern appeared.
‘So he did set up a security lock.’
It was likely a lock that could only be undone with Juliet Kang’s own mana.
‘Well, breaking a lock like this is simple enough.’
Among the knowledge Sophia had taught me was a method to temporarily alter the nature of mana.
-Ding.
As I mimicked Juliet Kang’s mana signature, the Hero Watch’s lock disengaged and a holographic window materialized.
When I manipulated the holographic window and searched inside, what I found was
photographs of Juliet Kang dressed in women’s clothing, striking coquettish poses.
“Ugh, my eyes.”
While Juliet Kang’s base appearance wasn’t particularly bad, even in women’s clothing it wasn’t something I couldn’t overlook.
But photographs of this hairy man in a fluttering skirt, striking all manner of poses, were more than enough to torment my vision.
“Y-you… h-how did you…?”
“Let’s see. First, I’ll transfer these photos to my Hero Watch… okay.”
After transferring all the photographs stored in Juliet Kang’s Hero Watch, I held out the device toward him as he trembled with a pallid expression.
“One million gold. You can gather that, right?”
“W-what are you planning to do with those photos…?”
“Answer.”
“…Y-yes.”
Moisture glistened at the corners of Juliet Kang’s eyes.
He fastened the Hero Watch back around his wrist and began to weep quietly.
“I-I can’t do it right now.”
“You’ve got a week. Bring it by then.”
“Ugh….”
“Ugh, what are you blubbering about? I’m not asking you to give it—I’m asking you to borrow it, understand? Borrow it? You’ll pay me back every last bit later, I promise.”
Don’t you trust your friend?
“Waaahhhhh!”
*Tsk tsk.*
I clicked my tongue lightly, looking down at Juliet Kang, who was sobbing pitifully.
‘Well, that solves the money problem.’
Even I hadn’t anticipated securing research funds this easily.
But hey, a win is a win, right?
“Hmmm!”
I stretched luxuriously and gazed up at the sunlight pouring down from above.
With the money issue resolved, my body felt noticeably lighter.
‘Now that I think about it, I’m getting a bit hungry.’
I’d been rushing around since morning, and lunch hour had already slipped past without me noticing.
‘The Cafeteria is probably closed by now.’
I gave Juliet Kang, still sitting there crying, a light kick with my foot.
“Hey.”
“H-huh?”
“I’ll give you 500 shillings. Go to the School Cafeteria and buy two loaves of bread and one large milk.”
“…I can’t buy all that for 500 shillings.”
No matter how cheap the School Cafeteria was, there was no way to get two loaves of bread and a milk for 500 shillings.
Depending on the type of bread, it would probably cost at least 3 gold and 500 shillings.
“So?”
Was he asking me for more money now?
“N-no! I’ll go buy it right away! Just wait a moment!”
“Oh, wait.”
I grabbed Juliet Kang’s shoulder as he spun around and bolted toward the School Cafeteria.
“Huh? What? Is there something else you want me to buy?”
“No, nothing else.”
I smiled brightly and patted the shoulder I was holding.
“Just keep 5 gold from the change.”
“….”
I wouldn’t need to worry about money for a while.

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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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