The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 88

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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 88. The Maid’s Uniform Suits Her (2)
Yurina’s hand came to rest on my shoulder.
I felt her trembling slightly, her grip tense as though she were nervous.
Though her hand appeared soft to the eye, the moment it touched me, I could distinctly feel the calluses embedded across her entire palm.
How desperately must she have wielded her blade for such calluses to form?
Just as I was trying to deny reality by entertaining such thoughts.
“H-how is it? That… M-master?”
Her cautious voice tickled my ear.
“Hm? Yeah. Feels good.”
I nodded stupidly without even turning around to face her.
If Rosanna saw me like this, she’d raise an eyebrow and ask, “Is this really the same guy from back then?”—my demeanor was that vacant.
‘What can I do about it?’
For hundreds, thousands of years, I had believed my predecessor—my former comrade—to be male (and physically male at the time), only to discover she was actually female, and now here she was in a maid’s uniform, massaging my shoulders and calling me “master” in a bashful voice.
‘What kind of ridiculous situation is this?’
My mind was so tangled I couldn’t tell where things had gone wrong.
“Alright, that’s enough. Go change out of that outfit and come back quickly.”
“Hm? Already?”
Yurina pouted her lips regretfully, her hands still kneading my shoulders.
“…You had Mother wear it all night though.”
“That was different—I was just trying to mess with that woman.”
“For someone just ‘messing around,’ Dale seemed to be enjoying it quite a lot?”
“….”
Well.
If we’re being honest about whether I enjoyed it or not, I did enjoy it.
“Ahem.”
Suddenly, an image of Berald flashed through my mind—thumbs up, shouting “Welcome to the world of refined tastes, big brother!”
‘Get out of my head, you demon!’
As I waged an intense battle against the delusion (Berald) that had materialized in my thoughts.
“See? Dale says no with his mouth, but his body is honest, isn’t it?”
“Where did you pick up that blonde delinquent dialogue…?”
“Hehe.”
Yurina, who had been massaging my shoulders, wrapped her arms around my neck from behind.
Unlike Iris, who boasted overwhelming softness, the sensation was taut and bouncy like a rubber ball against my nape.
“Master… are you really going to stop here?”
Her enchanting whisper rang sweetly in my ear.
Just as I was about to shake my head without thinking, caught up in rising desire.
Beep.
[Candidate Iris’s access credentials confirmed.]
A faint mechanical sound from beyond the door.
“…!”
“…!”
Yurina hastily pulled away from me, her eyes wide with alarm.
There was a question in her gaze—why did Iris have access privileges?—but I had no time to explain.
“Yuri, I mean Yuren! Get to the Changing Room, quickly!”
“Y-yes!”
Yurina dashed into the Changing Room with dazzling speed, her silver hair streaming behind her.
Slam!
The moment the Changing Room door shut roughly.
“Dale~ are you still training? I brought lunch, so please take a break and eat.”
The Training Ground door opened, and Iris stepped inside.
“Oh, you’re here?”
I waved awkwardly at Iris with an uncomfortable smile.
“Yes. By the way… where’s Yuren?”
Iris looked around, searching for Yuren.
Click.
The Changing Room door opened, and Yuren emerged, breathing heavily.
“Ha. I wondered who it was, and it’s Iris with a packed lunch?”
“I brought one for you too, Yuren.”
“Thanks.”
Yuren wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and exhaled a relieved sigh.
Then.
“But… what’s that in your hand, Yuren?”
“…!”
Only then did Yuren realize he was holding the maid outfit he’d just changed out of.
In his haste to change clothes, he’d simply walked out still holding the discarded maid uniform.
“A maid outfit? Why are you holding a maid outfit?”
“Well… that is… you see….”
Private Training Ground.
Two men breathing heavily.
A maid outfit clutched in one hand.
Suspicious. Very suspicious.
“D-don’t tell me you two were….”
Iris’s expression grew increasingly rigid.
“D-Dale made me do it!”
“What?”
Yuren’s swift betrayal.
I turned to him in shock, but I was too late to stop the bombshell that followed.
“Dale asked if I could get him a maid outfit from our family’s collection!”
“…Dale asked you?”
“Yeah! He said he has this unique taste where he likes putting girls in maid outfits and having them call him ‘Master’!”
“W-what did you just say?!”
No.
‘You absolute madman!!!’
I glared at Yuren—no, Yurina—while screaming internally.
Yurina avoided my gaze and let out a small cough.
“D-Dale, you have… those kinds of tastes?”
Iris turned to me with trembling eyes.
Her gaze held undisguised anguish and hesitation.
“No, it’s not like that…”
“Then why did you ask a friend to procure a maid outfit?”
“…”
How could I possibly explain this?
Yuren was actually female and nearly got forcibly gender-reassigned, so I saved her, and since I despised how Rosanna—the mastermind behind it all—was acting like nothing happened, I forced her into a maid outfit and treated her like a slave, humiliating her, but then Yurina suddenly brought a maid outfit and declared herself and her mother as slaves wanting to be treated the same way, and as I watched them stubbornly call me “Master” over and over, my resolve wavered, and I thought fine, if that’s what you want, I’ll humiliate you exactly as I did your mother, you crazy wench, hahahaha, but right then Iris suddenly walked in and now we’re here.
“Well… you see…”
As I gathered my thoughts, I smiled and opened my mouth.
“I actually like maids.”
Even I don’t know anymore, damn it.
Let’s just go with that.
“You have such tastes, Dale… Wait! Then could it be…!”
Iris trembled and widened her eyes.
“You were planning to put that maid outfit on me, weren’t you?”
“What?”
Why did the conversation go in that direction?
“Wanting to dress the Holy Kingdom’s saint in a maid outfit and treat her as a slave… If the people of the Holy Kingdom found out, they’d call it blasphemy, wouldn’t they?”
Iris grinned mischievously, her lips curling upward.
She took the maid outfit from Yuren and held it up below her neck.
“Hmm. The chest area seems too small—it’ll need alterations.”
“…Too small? That?”
Yuren’s eyes turned cold.
Iris nodded and continued.
“The maid who wore it before must not have been very well-endowed.”
“W-well, I thought it was a fairly large size.”
“Well… not quite Camilla’s level, but I’m not sure if I’d call it ‘large.’ Isn’t it slightly below average?”
Iris tilted her head while smoothing the chest area of the maid outfit.
For a moment, a stifled ‘…tsk!’ escaped Yuren’s lips, but Iris didn’t seem to hear it.
Iris approached me, swaying the maid outfit in her hand.
“Once the alterations are done, I’ll have you wear it… ‘Master’?”
“…”
“Hehehehe. Well then, I’ll be going. Enjoy your lunch box?”
Humming cheerfully, Iris left the Training Ground.
“Dale, that….”
“….”
“I’m sorry.”
A heavy silence descended upon the Training Ground.
“How did this….”
I gazed into the hazy distance, recalling the days of old—or rather, the mistakes I had made.
“How did things come to this?”
And so it was.
The Helios Family maid’s uniform passed from person to person, circulating endlessly until it reached the Holy Kingdom’s saint.
* * *
“…Dale, Candidate?”
On my way back to the Dormitory after training with Yurina.
A familiar voice called out.
“Why is half your face like that?”
Elisha Baldwin.
Despite her fearsome epithet—”the Spider of Ill Omen”—she approached me with an expression of genuine concern that belied her sinister reputation.
“Did something happen?”
“Well… something did occur.”
Quite a lot of things, in fact.
“Hmm. I had something to ask of you, but judging by your condition, it seems today won’t be suitable.”
“Something to ask of me?”
Now that I thought about it, this path was quite some distance from the Professor’s Office where Elisha taught.
‘This wasn’t a chance encounter—she was waiting for me.’
For Elisha to come all the way to the front of the Dormitory herself rather than send an assistant, it had to be something significant.
‘Surely not.’
I narrowed my eyes as I asked.
“Does this concern the Archbishop of Beasts?”
“As expected, you’re perceptive. I like that.”
Elisha nodded with a sly smile playing across her lips.
“Well, Professor, there’s hardly any other reason you’d seek me out directly.”
“Hmm. Now I feel a bit disappointed hearing you say that. You truly believe I have no other reason to find you besides that?”
Elisha drew closer, her violet eyes gleaming as she caressed my cheek with her black-gloved hand.
“Perhaps I came to ask you out on a date?”
“….”
Her breath felt warm against my skin, drawing so near.
The faint scent of tobacco mingled with her presence, tickling my senses.
Just as Elisha leaned in as if to close the distance between our lips, she gently pinched my cheek and withdrew.
“Hehe. Just joking.”
Elisha shrugged and turned her head away.
I deliberately refrained from pointing out how her earlobe, faintly visible through her hair, had taken on a subtle flush, and continued speaking.
“So, what is this favor you wish to ask of me?”
“Recently, a kidnapping incident involving magical beasts was reported in a small village on the outskirts of the Empire.”
“Well… isn’t that a common occurrence?”
Kidnappings by magical beasts were not confined to the Empire’s borders alone—they occurred with troubling frequency across the entire Continent.
“According to eyewitness accounts, the magical beast in question possessed eight eyes.”
“Eight eyes, you say?”
An Eight-Eyed class magical beast.
In a small village without even a single noteworthy hero, such a creature would be nothing short of catastrophic—a force of devastating power.
“This is a composite sketch of the magical beast based on witness testimony.”
Elisha held up a piece of paper, showing me the drawing of the creature.
An elongated snout, skin like tempered steel, razor-sharp claws, and a long, whipping tail—such was the beast depicted.
“This is….”
“Quite familiar in appearance, wouldn’t you say?”
It bore an uncanny resemblance to the crocodilian magical beast that had invaded the Test Site during the midterm evaluation.
‘Similar appearances among magical beasts are common enough.’
But that held true only when the number of eyes was small.
As the number of eyes increased, magical beasts underwent increasingly severe mutations—thus, an Eight-Eyed class beast bearing an identical form to another was exceptionally rare.
“Do you believe this to be one of Jackal’s subordinates, Professor?”
“I cannot say with certainty. However, it is certainly worth investigating.”
Elisha shook her head and continued speaking.
“A village on the Empire’s frontier… we wouldn’t be able to use a warp gate, then.”
Even with an urgent departure, the distance would consume considerable time.
Accounting for travel time and the investigation itself, it would likely take at least three days or more.
“By the way, I hear you’ve been under suspension for the past week, Dale?”
Elisha gazed at me with a knowing smirk.
Only then did I grasp what Elisha meant by this “favor.”
“…Are you asking me to accompany you, Professor?”
On an expedition lasting at least three days?
Just the two of us?
“Heh heh.”
Elisha chuckled softly, withdrawing a cigarette from her pocket and placing it between her lips.
“Did I not mention? I might have come here to ask you out on a date.”
Click.
A spark leaped from the lighter, igniting the cigarette’s end in a glowing ember.

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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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