The Lowest-Ranked Hero Has Returned

Chapter 86: Interlude – Moonlight (2)

After the commotion at the Helios household settled down, I left Yurina, who still had things to discuss with her mother, and returned to school first.

“You’re suspended for a week.”

“No.”

“What do you mean, \'no\', you punk!”

Bang!

Professor Lucas slammed his desk with a reddened face.

“Skipping the observation class wasn’t enough? You think you can get away with an unauthorized outing and overnight stay without any punishment?!”

“Hm.”

How cowardly, attacking with facts.

“Professor Lucas.”

“What?”

“I believe this.”

I continued speaking in a wistful voice.

“Life isn\'t all about what you learn in class. There\'s so much more to learn outside the small fence of a school, far more than the knowledge that can be gained within.”

“Oh?”

“Didn’t you also have such a time in your life, professor?”

Bang.

I struck the desk and shouted with a passionate voice.

“A time when your heart was on fire with passion! A moment when your soul burned with fervor! When you leaped for lofty ideals and convictions, rather than focusing on the immediate reality!”

“And what exactly are you trying to say?”

“Could you overlook it just this once?”

“...”

“Guess not.”

Darn.

“Ha, haha. Youth… youth, you say.”

Professor Lucas’ face turned red and purple as it twisted.

The fierce mana he emitted made the objects in his office tremble.

‘Ah, this is...’

This could get dangerous.

“Candidate Dale.”

“Yes, professor?”

“Have you ever heard this saying?”

“What saying?”

“‘It hurts because it’s youth.’”

“If it hurts, you’re a patient.”

Why would that be youth?

“Haha. You’ll understand once you feel the pain.”

Screech!

Professor Lucas abruptly stood up from his chair.

While he was getting up, I quickly used \'Wind Step\' to move toward the door of the office.

“I’ll see you in a week!”

“Get back here, you punk!”

Boom! Boom! Boom!

I sprinted at full speed, leaving behind the heavy footsteps echoing from behind.

* * *

“Ha. Another suspension.”

After barely shaking off Professor Lucas, I returned to my dorm room and sighed deeply, shaking my head.

‘Well, I guess it’s fortunate in a way, since now I can focus solely on my training for a while.’

I had already been thinking that I needed to push forward with my training, especially after what happened at the Helios household.

‘The Archbishop of Corruption, Mephisto.’

Following the Archbishop of Beasts, another archbishop hiding behind the scenes revealed his hand, making it clear he was up to something.

‘What was his goal?’

The most logical assumption would be that he was planning to manipulate Yurina, turning her into his puppet by tampering with her Stigma during the replacement ritual.

‘But in my past life, Yurina didn’t become Mephisto’s puppet.’

If the purpose of the Stigma replacement was truly to make her a puppet, it doesn’t align with the fact that in my past life, Yurina became one of the ‘Five Last Heroes’ who fought against the Demon Lord until the end.

“Either the goal wasn’t to make Yurina a puppet….”

Or.

The plan might have failed for some ‘other reason’ before it could succeed.

‘Mephisto vanished suddenly during the war.’

There were several theories among the heroes about why he disappeared, but none were ever confirmed.

“Tch. My past life’s memories are useless in times like this.”

Especially now that the future had changed, making it even harder to predict what would happen next.

“Let’s see then….”

I sat on the bed and slowly closed my eyes.

Given that I couldn’t predict what the archbishops might do next, I could do only one thing.

‘I need to get stronger.’

Far stronger than I am now.

So strong that even the archbishops would tremble in fear at the mere thought of facing me.

“Sss.”

I slowly inhaled, forming a small magic bullet, tinier than a grain of rice, within my blood vessels.

At first, even creating a magic bullet caused me to sweat profusely, but now, I could form them as naturally as breathing.

Bang!

The magic bullet shot through my bloodstream and obliterated my heart.

With a sensation of floating, my consciousness grew hazy.

But only for a moment.

Woooong!

The ‘Blessing of Revival’ activated, instantly regenerating my heart, which the magic bullet had blown apart.

“Hoo.”

Gray ashes escaped from my breath like mist.

While keeping my eyes closed, I waited for a moment.

Ssshhh!

A sharp, searing pain radiated from my left chest, spreading throughout my entire body.

Ignoring the pain, I concentrated and visualized the world of ‘Imagination’ in my mind.

Whoosh!

Before my eyes, flames roared fiercely, as if they were about to engulf the entire world.

The scorching heat stormed across the imaginary world.

‘Ignite.’

I slowly extended my hand toward the Primordial Flame.

The raging flames gradually gathered into a sphere above my palm.

The fireball, about the size of a person’s head, flared in my hand.

‘It’s a big difference compared to the beginning.’

Back then, I could barely gather a flame the size of a candle, but now, a fireball as large as a human head was blazing above my hand.

Compared to the beginning, it was an enormous improvement, yet—

‘Still not enough.’

I extended my hand toward the blazing fireball.

A dry thirst scorched my throat.

More, more, more.

Until the flames are completely devoured.

Until not a single ember remains.

I will.

Rumble!

The mental world trembled.

Ashes surged, and I awoke from the mental world.

“Phew!”

I exhaled heavily and opened my eyes.

"...What was that?"

I tilted my head, recalling the events that had just taken place in the mental world.

The moment I reached out toward the primordial flame, driven by a burning thirst.

The primordial flame, as if ‘terrified,’ hastily avoided my hand, causing the mental world to collapse.

‘Did I see that wrong?’

The flame of the beginning, known for burning the Tree of Creation in the mythic era, couldn\'t possibly collapse the mental world just to flee from ‘me,’ right?

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

Shaking my head with a bitter smile, I checked the mana within my Stigma.

“It’s steadily increasing.”

Although the mana hadn’t surged suddenly like when my body was reconstructed, the total amount of mana had steadily grown like a snowball, increasing every time I repeated ‘death.’

“Mana training is complete… Maybe I should loosen up a bit?”

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

“Huh? Dale?”

At that moment.

With a familiar voice, Iris came running towards me.

“I heard from Professor Lucas. You suddenly left without permission and even stayed out overnight… Did something happen?”

“Oh, well.”

I couldn’t explain the incident at the Helios family to her.

“Some stuff happened.”

“Hmm, what kind of stuff?”

Iris narrowed her eyes suspiciously, clearly not satisfied with my vague answer.

“Don’t tell me… You didn’t spend the night with a woman, did you?”

“Uh….”

Well, technically, Yurina is a woman.

“I knew it!”

Iris grabbed my collar with a shocked expression.

“You, you bastard! W-What kind of woman did you shack up with?!”

“No.”

Excuse me, Saintess.

Uh… could you maybe watch your choice of words a bit?

“Hurry up and spill!”

I shook my head as Iris glared at me with teary eyes.

“It’s not like that.”

“R-Really?”

Iris wiped her eyes and glared at me suspiciously.

When I quietly nodded, she finally seemed to relax, letting out a sigh of relief.

“Where are you heading now, Dale?”

“To Yurina’s… I mean, to Yuren’s private training ground to warm up a bit.”

“Oh, right, you’ve been training there recently.”

Since practicing in the public training grounds tended to attract too much attention, I had no choice.

“Could you tell me where it is?”

“Why do you want to know all of a sudden?”

“You’ll get too focused on training again and end up eating convenience store food, won’t you?”

“Well… yeah, that’s true.”

I had planned to stop by the store and pick up a snack, so I couldn’t deny it.

“Hmph. After my class, I’ll bring you a packed lunch.”

“There’s no need for that….”

“If you keep insisting, I might just make it a Holy Kingdom-style lunch.”

A Holy Kingdom-style lunch meant a box filled with all sorts of vegetables and not a single piece of meat.

“I’ll be waiting.”

“Hmph, fine.”

Iris nodded with satisfaction.

“Oh, by the way, could you register me for access to the training ground?”

“Got it.”

Normally, you can’t register someone else for access to a private training ground unless you\'re the owner, but Yurina had given me more than just guest access—she\'d granted me \'administrator\' privileges, so I was able to grant Iris entry.

“Well, I’ve got class now, so I’ll see you later, Dale~.”

“Yeah.”

After seeing Iris off, I headed to Yurina’s private training ground.

Beep.

After swiping my Hero Watch and entering the private training ground, what I saw was—

“Huh?”

Yurina, in the form of ‘Yuren.’

Spotting me, Yurina smiled and waved.

“Oh, you’re here, Dale?”

“I thought you stayed behind at home to talk with your mother?”

“I finished talking to her and just arrived.”

“Then why didn’t you go back to the dorm? Why come here?”

“Hmm.”

Yurina blushed slightly before answering.

“I thought I might run into you if I came here.”

“...”

“Haha, I’m just kidding.”

Yurina shrugged and approached me.

I tried to calm my oddly racing heart and asked,

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

“At this point, it’d be weird to suddenly say ‘Ta-da! I’m actually a girl!’ wouldn’t it?”

Yurina bitterly smiled as she swept her golden hair back.

“…Wouldn’t it be a waste to stay like this now that you can be yourself as ‘Yurina’?”

“It’s fine.”

Yurina smiled softly and took my hand.

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

“...”

Yurina had been getting uncomfortably close for a while now.

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

“W-Well, if that’s what you want, then I guess it can’t be helped.”

“Fufu, so…”

Yurina unclasped the pendant hanging from her neck.

A blue aura enveloped her body, and she transformed back into ‘Yurina.’

Her silver hair shimmered.

A sweet fragrance tickled my nose.

“Let’s get along well from now on, Dale?”

With a radiant smile, Yurina pulled my hand to her chest.

Her smile was as beautiful as the moonlight illuminating the night sky.