The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 86

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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 86. Interlude – Moonlight (2)
After the commotion at the Helios Family had settled.
I returned to the Academy first, leaving Yurina behind as she said she still had matters to discuss with Mother.
“One week of suspension.”
“No.”
“No? What do you mean ‘no,’ you brat?!”
Slam!
Lucas Kane slammed his fist against the desk, his face flushed crimson.
“As if skipping observation class wasn’t enough, you went AWOL and stayed out overnight, and you expected to walk away without any punishment?!”
“Hmm.”
How cowardly of him to resort to facts.
“Professor Kane.”
“What?”
“I believe this, sir.”
I continued in a wistful tone.
“Life cannot be learned entirely within a classroom. There exists far more to discover beyond the narrow confines of this school than within its walls.”
“Hmm.”
“Did you not have such a time in your youth, Professor?”
Thud.
I struck the desk and spoke with fervent passion.
“A time when your heart burned with passion! A moment when your soul blazed with fervor! Those days of youth when you leaped toward lofty ideals and convictions rather than the harsh reality before your eyes!”
“What are you trying to say?”
“Could you not overlook it just this once?”
“….”
“Seems like that’s a no.”
Click.
“Ha, haha. Youth… youth, you say.”
Lucas Kane’s face contorted, flushing red then purple.
The violent mana radiating from him caused the objects in the Professor’s Office to tremble.
‘Ah, this is…’
This could get dangerous.
“Candidate Dale.”
“Yes, Professor.”
“Have you ever heard such a saying?”
“What saying?”
“Youth is painful.”
“If you’re in pain, you’re a patient.”
Why would that be youth?
“Haha. Once you experience it yourself, you’ll understand.”
Crackle!
Lucas Kane pushed back his chair and rose to his feet.
As he stood, I swiftly activated Wind Step and dashed toward the Professor’s Office door.
“I’ll see you in a week!”
“Stop right there, you bastard!”
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Leaving the heavy footsteps echoing behind me, I sprinted forward at full speed.
* * *
“Sigh. Suspended again.”
After barely shaking off Lucas Kane.
Back in my Dormitory room, I exhaled deeply and shook my head.
‘Well, at least I can focus entirely on training for a while. I suppose that’s fortunate.’
I had already been planning to intensify my training because of what happened with the Helios Family.
‘The Archbishop of Corruption, Mephistopheles.’
Following the Archbishop of Beasts from before, it had been revealed that another Archbishop was lurking in the shadows, scheming something.
‘What was his objective?’
Logically speaking, the most probable theory was that he attempted some manipulation during Yurina’s Stigma replacement to turn her into his puppet.
‘But in my past life, Yurina never became Mephistopheles’s puppet.’
If the purpose of the Stigma replacement technique was to make her a puppet, it wouldn’t make sense that Yurina became one of the Last Five Heroes and fought the Demon God until the very end in my previous life.
“Either making Yurina a puppet wasn’t the goal….”
Or.
The plan fell through due to ‘some other reason’ before that objective could be achieved.
‘Mephistopheles suddenly vanished during the war.’
There were many theories among the heroes about why he disappeared, but nothing was ever definitively proven.
“Tsk. Memories from my past life are useless in situations like this.”
Moreover, now that the future has changed this time, I can’t predict what lies ahead anymore.
“Let me think then….”
I sat on the bed and slowly closed my eyes.
With no way of knowing what the Archbishops would do next, there was only one thing I could do.
‘I need to become stronger.’
Incomparably stronger than I am now.
Strong enough to make the Archbishops tremble in fear at the mere thought of standing before me.
“Inhale.”
Breathing slowly, I formed mana bullets in my blood vessels—each one far smaller than a grain of millet.
At first, simply creating the mana bullets left me drenched in sweat, but now, having grown accustomed to it, I could form them as naturally as breathing.
Crack!
The mana bullet shot rapidly through my veins and shattered my heart.
My body felt weightless as my consciousness grew hazy.
Only for a moment.
Whoooosh!
Blessing of Resurrection activated, and my shattered heart regenerated in an instant.
“Phew.”
Gray ash leaked from my breath like vapor.
I waited a moment longer with my eyes closed.
Sizzzzzzle!
A searing pain, as if flesh were burning, surged from my left chest and spread throughout my entire body.
Ignoring the agony, I focused my mind and painted the world of the ‘Mental Realm’ within my consciousness.
Whoooosh!
Flames roared with such ferocity they seemed to devour the world itself.
The Mental Realm unfolded before me, assaulted by scorching heat and savage intensity.
‘Bloom.’
I slowly extended my hand toward the Primordial Flame.
The savage inferno gathered upon my palm in accordance with my will, coalescing slowly.
A mass of flame the size of a human head accumulated above my open hand.
‘Compared to the beginning, this is quite different.’
Back then, only a flame the size of a candle had gathered, but now a fire the size of a human head burned upon my palm.
It was certainly a tremendous change compared to the start.
‘Still not enough.’
I reached toward the savage flames.
A parched thirst scorched my throat.
More, more, more.
Until I consumed that entire inferno.
Until I devoured every last spark without remainder.
I would.
Rummmble!
The Mental Realm convulsed.
Ash erupted as my consciousness tore free from the Mental Realm.
“Gasp!”
I opened my eyes, exhaling roughly.
“…What was that?”
I tilted my head, recalling what had just transpired in the Mental Realm.
The moment I reached toward the Primordial Flame, consumed by burning thirst.
The Primordial Flame, as if ‘frightened,’ hastily fled from my hand and shattered the Mental Realm.
‘I must have seen it wrong.’
The Primordial Flame, legendary for burning the Tree of Creation in mythic times, could not possibly flee and collapse the Mental Realm merely to escape ‘me.’
“That makes no sense.”
With a bitter smile, I shook my head and checked the mana dwelling within my stigma.
“It’s steadily increasing.”
Unlike when my body was reconstructed, my mana didn’t surge all at once, but with each repetition of ‘death,’ the total quantity of mana grew like a rolling snowball.
“Mana cultivation is complete… I should loosen up my body a bit.”
I opened the door to my Dormitory room and headed toward Yurina’s Private Training Ground.
“Huh? Dale?”
That’s when it happened.
At the familiar voice, Iris came rushing toward me with rapid footsteps.
“Professor Lucas Kane told me you suddenly left without permission and stayed out overnight… Did something happen?”
“Ah… well.”
I couldn’t explain to her what had transpired within the Helios Family.
“There was just some business I had to attend to.”
“…Hmm. What kind of business?”
Iris narrowed her eyes at my vague answer and pressed me for details.
“Don’t tell me… you stayed out overnight with a girl?”
“Uh…”
Well.
Come to think of it, Yurina is a girl too.
“Y-you did!”
Iris grabbed my collar in shock.
“You, you bastard! W-w-what kind of woman did you go gallivanting around with?!”
“No.”
Listen here, holy maiden.
Your… your word choice….
“Tell me right now!”
Watching Iris’s eyes glisten with tears, I shook my head firmly.
“It’s not like that.”
“R-really?”
Iris wiped her eyes and glared at me with a fresh gaze.
When I nodded quietly, she seemed relieved and placed a hand over her heart.
“So where are you headed, Dale?”
“To Yuren’s private training ground to loosen up a bit.”
“Ah, now that you mention it, I heard you’ve been training there lately.”
Training in the public training ground would draw too much unwanted attention, so it was unavoidable.
“Could you tell me where that location is?”
“Why do you suddenly need to know where the training ground is?”
“Because you’ll just grab something from the convenience store for meals while you’re focused on training, won’t you?”
“Well… I suppose that’s true.”
Since I had indeed planned to stop by the convenience store for a quick bite, I had no argument against that.
“Hehe. I’ll pack you a lunch box after class and bring it to you.”
“There’s really no need…”
“Tsk. If you keep saying that, I’ll pack you a Holy Kingdom-style lunch box instead.”
A Holy Kingdom-style lunch box meant one stuffed entirely with various vegetables, not a single piece of meat to be found.
“I’ll be waiting.”
“Hehe. Perfect.”
Iris nodded with evident satisfaction.
“Oh, right. Could you also register me for access to the Training Ground?”
“Sure.”
Normally, only the owner of a Private Training Ground could grant access to others, but since Yurina had given me “administrator” privileges rather than the standard “guest” access, I could authorize Iris to use it.
“Well, I have class soon, so I’ll head out first. See you later, Dale~.”
“Mm.”
After seeing Iris off, I made my way toward Yurina’s Private Training Ground.
*Click.*
As I scanned my Hero Watch and stepped inside the Private Training Ground, what greeted me was—
“Huh?”
Yurina, wearing Yuren’s appearance.
Upon noticing me, Yurina broke into a bright smile and waved.
“Oh, you’re here, Dale?”
“Weren’t you supposed to stay home because you had something to discuss with Mother?”
“I finished talking and just got here.”
“Then why come to the Private Training Ground instead of the Dormitory?”
“Well…”
Yurina’s cheeks flushed slightly as she answered.
“I thought if I came here, I’d be able to see you.”
“…”
“Haha. Just kidding.”
Yurina shrugged and stepped closer to me.
I steadied my inexplicably racing heart and asked, “Anyway, are you going to stay in that form?”
“It’d be awkward to suddenly say ‘surprise, I was actually a girl all along’ now.”
Yurina laughed wryly and brushed back her golden hair.
“…Isn’t it a shame to give up being ‘Yurina’ now that you finally can be?”
“It’s fine.”
Yurina smiled gently and took my hand.
“As long as you know I’m Yurina, that’s all that matters.”
“…”
Yurina’s proximity had been uncomfortably close from the start.
I averted my gaze from her as she leaned in and let out an awkward cough.
“I-is that so? Well, if that’s what you want, I suppose there’s nothing I can do about it.”
“So then…”
Yurina unfastened the pendant hanging around her neck.
A blue luminescence enveloped her body, and she returned to her true form as Yurina.
Shimmering silver hair.
A delicate, fragrant scent that stirred the senses.
“I’m counting on you going forward, Dale.”
“I’m counting on you going forward, Dale?”
Yurina pulled my hand toward her chest and smiled brightly.
The smile gracing her lips was as beautiful as moonlight illuminating the night sky.

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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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