The Last-Seat Hero Has Returned - Chapter 86



86. Interlude – Moonlight (2)

After the commotion in the Helios family had settled down.

I returned to school first, leaving Yurina behind, who still had things to discuss with our mother.

“A week of suspension.”

“No.”

“What do you mean, no, you little brat?!”

Bang!

Professor Lucas slammed his hand on the desk, his face flushed.

“Not only did you skip class, but you also snuck out and stayed out overnight! Did you really think you could just get away with it without any punishment?!”

“Hmm.”

How cowardly to resort to facts.

“Professor Lucas.”

“What is it?”

“I believe this.”

I continued in a wistful voice.

“Life is not all about what you learn in class. There is so much more to learn out in the world than the knowledge confined within the narrow walls of a school.”

“Oh?”

“Did you not have such times yourself, Professor?”

Thud.

I struck the desk and shouted with fervor.

“The days when your heart burned with passion! The moments when your soul was ignited with zeal! When you leaped for lofty ideals and beliefs, far beyond the harsh reality before you, in the days of your youth!”

“What are you trying to say?”

“Could you let it slide just this once?”

“……”

“I guess not.”

Too bad.

“Ha, haha. Youth… youth, indeed.”

Professor Lucas’s face twisted, a mix of red and blue.

The fierce magic emanating from him made the objects in the professor’s office tremble.

‘Ah, this is.’

This could get a bit dangerous.

“Candidate Dale.”

“Yes, Professor.”

“Have you ever heard such a saying?”

“What saying?”

“Pain is youth.”

“If it hurts, then you’re a patient.”

Why is that youth?

“Haha. Once you experience pain, you’ll understand.”

Creak!

Professor Lucas abruptly stood up, pushing his chair back.

In the moment he rose, I swiftly used my ‘Wind Step’ to dart toward the door of his office.

“I’ll see you in a week!”

“Stop right there, you little brat!”

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Ignoring the heavy footsteps echoing behind me, I sprinted with all my might.

* * *

“Ah, another suspension.”

After barely shaking off Professor Lucas, I returned to my dorm room, letting out a deep sigh and shaking my head.

“Well, I guess it’s a blessing in disguise that I can focus solely on training for a while.”

I had been thinking that I needed to ramp up my training, especially after the recent events involving the Helios family.

“The Archbishop of Corruption, Mephisto.”

Following the last incident with the Beast Archbishop, it had come to light that yet another Archbishop was lurking in the shadows, scheming something.

“What could his goal be?”

Logically, one might deduce that during the process of replacing Yurina’s stigma, he was attempting some sort of trickery to turn her into a puppet.

“But in her past life, Yurina was not Mephisto’s puppet.”

If the purpose of the stigma replacement was to make her a marionette, it contradicts the fact that in her previous life, Yurina became one of the ‘Final Five Heroes’ and fought against the Demon King until the end.

“Perhaps making Yurina a puppet was not his true aim…”

Or perhaps.

Before achieving that goal, something else went awry in his plans.

‘Mefisto vanished suddenly during the war.’

Among the heroes, many speculations arose about the reason for his disappearance, yet in the end, nothing was truly revealed.

“Tsk. Memories of past lives are utterly useless at times like this.”

With the future now altered, predicting what lay ahead became even more impossible.

“Let’s see then…”

I sat on the bed and slowly closed my eyes.

With the archbishops’ intentions shrouded in uncertainty, there was only one thing I could do.

‘I must grow stronger.’

Stronger than I am now, beyond comparison.

So strong that they would tremble in fear at the mere thought of standing before me.

“Ugh.”

I inhaled slowly, conjuring a magic orb the size of a grain of sand within my veins.

At first, creating the orb had me drenched in sweat, but now, I could summon it as naturally as breathing.

Crack!

The magic orb shot through my veins, shattering my heart.

With a sensation of weightlessness, my consciousness began to blur.

But only for a moment.

Vwooom!

As the ‘Blessing of Rebirth’ activated, the heart that had burst from the magic orb regenerated in an instant.

“Haah.”

Gray ash seeped from my lips like a whisper.

I waited a moment, eyes still closed.

Sssssss!

A searing pain coursed through my left chest, spreading throughout my body.

Ignoring the agony with great effort, I focused my mind, painting the world of ‘Imagery’ in my head.

Fwoosh!

Flames roared fiercely, as if to consume the world.

The scorching heat surged violently, revealing the realm of imagery before my eyes.

‘Ignite.’

I slowly reached out toward the primordial fire.

The fierce flames, wild and untamed, slowly gathered upon my palm, bending to my will.

A blaze the size of a human head coalesced in my hand.

‘Quite a difference from the first time.’

Back then, only a flicker, barely the size of a candle flame, had gathered, but now, a fire as large as a human head danced upon my palm.

It was undoubtedly a tremendous change compared to the beginning.

‘Still not enough.’

I reached out toward the raging flames.

A dry thirst scorched my throat.

From noble mtl dot com

More, more, more.

Until I swallowed that fire whole.

Until not a single ember remained.

I.

Kurrururung!

The realm of my mind trembled.

Ashen dust surged, and my consciousness jolted awake from the depths of that inner world.

“Huah!”

I exhaled roughly, blinking my eyes open.

“…What was that?”

Tilting my head, I recalled the events that had just transpired in the realm of my mind.

In that moment, when I reached out toward the primordial fire, driven by an insatiable thirst.

The primordial fire, as if ‘frightened,’ had desperately evaded my hand, shattering the world I had conjured.

‘Couldn’t have seen that right?’

The primordial fire, known to have burned the Tree of Creation in the age of myths, wouldn’t simply flee from ‘me,’ would it?

“That doesn’t make sense.”

With a bitter smile, I shook my head, checking the magical energy that resided within the stigmata.

“It’s steadily increasing.”

It hadn’t surged all at once like when my body was reformed, but as I repeatedly faced ‘death,’ the total amount of my magical energy grew, like a snowball rolling down a hill.

“The magical training is done… Should I go stretch my body a bit?”

I opened the dormitory door and headed toward Yurina’s private training ground.

“Ah? Dale?”

At that moment.

With a familiar voice, Iris came rushing towards me, her footsteps echoing softly.

“I heard from Professor Lucas. They said you suddenly went out without permission and stayed out overnight… What happened?”

“Ah… well.”

I couldn’t explain the commotion at the Helios estate to her.

“Just… some things happened.”

“…Hmm. What kind of things?”

Iris narrowed her eyes at me, as if my answer was unsatisfactory, pressing for more.

“Could it be… you, you didn’t stay out with a girl, did you?”

“Uh….”

Well.

If you think about it, Yurina is a girl too.

“Y-yes!”

Iris grabbed my collar with a look of sheer horror.

“You, you little brat! W-what girl did you go fooling around with?!”

“No.”

Excuse me, Saintess.

That… what should I say, the choice of words…

“Are you going to tell me or not?!”

Seeing Iris with tears welling in her eyes, I shook my head vigorously.

“I’m telling you, it’s not like that.”

“Ugh… y-you’re serious, right?”

Wiping her eyes, Iris glared at me with a haughty look.

I nodded slightly, and only then did she seem to relax, her hand brushing over her chest in relief.

“So, where are you going then?”

“I’m just going to loosen up a bit at Yurina’s—no, Yuren’s private training grounds.”

“Oh, right! You mentioned you’ve been training there lately.”

Training in the public grounds always attracted too much attention, so it was unavoidable.

“Could you tell me where that place is?”

“Why do you suddenly want to know the location of the training grounds?”

“Mr. Dale, you’re just going to grab some snacks from the cafeteria and call it a meal while you focus on your training, right?”

“Well… that’s true.”

I had no counterargument, as I actually planned to stop by the cafeteria for a quick bite in the middle of it all.

“Hehe. After class, I’ll pack a lunch and bring it to you.”

“You really don’t have to do that….”

“Tsks. If you keep insisting, I might just pack a traditional Seongguk-style lunch for you.”

A Seongguk-style lunch meant a box filled to the brim with various vegetables, with not a single piece of meat in sight.

“I’ll be waiting.”

“Hehe. Sounds good.”

Iris nodded, looking quite pleased.

“Oh, by the way. Please register me for access to the training hall.”

“Got it.”

Normally, only the owner of a private training hall could grant access to others, but since Yurina had given me ‘administrator’ privileges instead of just ‘guest,’ I could grant Iris access.

“Well then, I have class, so I’ll head out first. See you later, Mr. Dale~.”

“Uh-huh.”

After seeing Iris off, I made my way to Yurina’s private training hall.

Beep.

As I held my Hero Watch to the door, stepping inside the training hall, I saw—

“Ah?”

Yurina, looking just like ‘Yuren.’

Upon spotting me, Yurina beamed and waved her hand.

“Oh, you’re here, Dale?”

“Weren’t you supposed to stay home to talk with your mother?”

“I just finished talking and came right over.”

“Then why not go to the dorm? Why come to the private training hall?”

“Umm.”

Yurina blushed slightly as she replied.

“I thought if I came here, I might get to see you.”

“…….”

“Haha. Just kidding.”

Yurina approached me, shrugging her shoulders slightly.

I steadied my strangely racing heart and asked,

“By the way, are you going to stay like that?”

“It feels a bit odd to suddenly say, ‘Ta-da, I’m actually a girl!’ now, doesn’t it?”

Yurina smiled bitterly, brushing her golden-tinged hair back.

“…You’ve finally managed to be ‘Yurina,’ so wouldn’t it be a shame to give that up?”

“It’s fine.”

Yurina held my hand with a faint smile.

“As long as you, Dale, know that I’m Yurina, that’s all that matters.”

“……”

Yurina’s proximity felt unnervingly close.

I averted my gaze from her and cleared my throat awkwardly.

“Uh, right? If that’s how you feel, then I guess it can’t be helped.”

“Hehe. So…”

Yurina unfastened the pendant around her neck.

A swirl of blue light enveloped her, and she returned to the form of ‘Yurina.’

Her silvery hair shimmered.

A fragrant scent tickled my nose.

“Please take care of me from now on, Dale?”

From noble mtl dot com

Yurina pulled my hand to her chest, beaming at me.

The smile that graced her lips was as beautiful as moonlight reflecting on a night sky.