The Lowest-Ranked Hero Has Returned

[Translator - Peptobismol]

[Proofreader - Demon God]

Chapter 3 - A Reason to Live (2)

Reynald Hero Academy.

Five Great Heroes who sealed the Demon God five centuries ago.

Among them, Reynald Helios, the party leader and a legendary swordsman, established the academy. Blessed by the Seven Gods, it gathered 18-year-old youths who had awakened the "Stigmata" through four years of education to mold them into genuine heroes.

Heroes are individuals so crucial that each one can influence the national strength of a country.

Currently, the Empire, the Holy Kingdom, and the Republic, the three powers dividing the continent, admitted anyone who had awakened the Stigmata into the academy without question to secure even one more superior hero.

As a result, problems naturally arose.

Forcing youths from different nations, statuses, and backgrounds into the narrow confines of the academy led to endless conflicts among them.

Eventually, after consultations with various heroes and the three nations, Reynald Hero Academy was declared a complete "neutral zone."

In other words,

“So, within the academy grounds, no discrimination based on nationality or status is allowed.”

“…So?”

“Even if Iris is the Holy Kingdom’s Saint, she’s merely a cadet here.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“A month is too long. Let’s reduce it to about four days.”

“Hey, you…!”

Professor Lucas, who had been quietly listening, grabbed the back of his neck.

“You were originally suspended for a week!”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“But causing an accident during suspension and then asking to reduce it to four days?”

“When negotiating, you should call strongly, don’t you think?”

“There’s no such thing as a crazy person who would cause an accident and then ask to shorten their suspension! And what? Negotiation? Do you think you’re in a position to negotiate with me?”

Professor Lucas glared at me with an expression of disbelief.

I smirked slightly and nodded quietly.

“Professor Bianca’s birthday is coming up, right?”

Professor Bianca, in charge of the Magic Department.

She was rumored to have a bad relationship with Professor Lucas.

“…Why are you suddenly talking about Professor Bianca’s birthday?”

But I knew.

I knew that the beast-like Professor Lucas secretly had a crush on Professor Bianca.

“Don’t you want to know what Professor Bianca would like as a birthday gift?”

“Hah. Why should I care about that?”

“Is that so? That’s a pity. If you give her that as a birthday present, she might see even someone she was on bad terms with a little differently.”

“…….”

I saw Professor Lucas’s eyes trembling faintly.

Thud.

I pushed the chair back and stood up from my seat.

“Well… but since you don’t seem particularly interested, I guess there’s nothing I can do. I have committed a sin, so I will quietly accept my punishment.”

I bowed my head politely and turned my body to walk out of the professor’s office.

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“…Wait a minute.”

Professor Lucas’s voice echoed.

I turned my body with a faint smile.

“What is it?”

““I’ll reduce the suspension period, but there’s a condition.”

“If it’s something Professor Bianca would like….”

“No, something else.”

Professor Lucas continued speaking with sharp eyes as if he could see right through me.

“You must participate in tomorrow’s Warrior Department sparring class and win. That’s the condition.”

“Hmm. Who will be my sparring partner?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

A sudden and unexpected sparring proposal.

It wasn’t hard to guess why Professor Lucas made such a proposal.

‘No matter how you think about it, it must not have made sense to him.’

It was a sudden attack, but he, who was known as the "bloodthirsty hound," had been knocked away in disgrace by a fist from a cadet who had just awakened.

Camilla Vedice, who was ranked high among the cadets and even considered for the next "Sword of the Holy Kingdom," was subdued without even being able to draw her sword.

Even though I was an ordinary cadet, a cadet ranked last in the overall rankings managed to do something unbelievable, so it was understandable that Professor Lucas wanted to see it for himself.

“Alright.”

“…You’re confident, aren’t you.”

“It’s just a sparring match, so there’s nothing to worry about, right?”

“Hmm.”

Professor Lucas sighed deeply, crossed his arms, and swallowed his low hum.

Maybe he was thinking, “How did this guy change so much in just one day?”

If that were the case, unfortunately, I couldn’t answer him.

I didn’t even know why I had returned.

“Then I’ll be going now.”

“Wait a minute.”

“Do you have something more to say?”

“Ahem! Ahem!”

When I turned my head to look at Professor Lucas, he was coughing unnecessarily and carefully opened his mouth.

“So, what exactly is the thing that Professor Bianca would like?”

“…….”

As expected.

Despite his appearance, he was truly a romantic at heart.

* * *

The next day.

I woke up in the morning and lay on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling for a while.

“It doesn’t seem like it was just a fleeting nightmare before death.”

Had the time I wandered the continent alone chasing the Primordial Flame been too long?

I still couldn’t quite grasp that I had returned.

“Phew.”

I got out of bed, lightly washed my face, and looked into the damp mirror.

My hair, dark gray like ash, and green eyes.

It was my face as I hadn’t seen it for a long time.

‘My face hasn’t changed.’

After awakening the Blessing of Revival, I stopped aging naturally, so it was understandable.

Staring blankly into the mirror, I quickly changed into my cadet uniform and headed to class.

The uniform clinging tightly to my body still felt somewhat awkward.

It was as if I had been given a new life.

* * *

“Hah, so you really want me to spar with that guy?”

A cadet with wavy light blonde hair and a slender appearance frowned unpleasantly.

Felix O'Dorman.

He was in the same Warrior Department as me and ranked within the top 100 among third-year cadets.

“Do you have a problem?”

“No. It’s not that….”

Felix, who had been frowning the entire time, straightened up with just a glance from Professor Lucas.

“Haa. Understood.”

Felix let out a deep sigh and picked up a wooden training sword.

“Hey, you bastard. Hurry up and draw your sword to finish this quickly.”

Felix glared at me with irritated eyes.

He had attended a different class, so he might not have seen me defeat Professor Lucas or subdue Camilla during yesterday’s "Practical Combat Training."

Still, since it had become quite a topic, he might have heard about what happened yesterday, but he didn’t seem particularly wary of me.

Well.

Even if he heard that the last-place cadet who couldn’t even draw his sword was knocked out by me or that I subdued the next Sword of the Holy Kingdom with one hand, would he easily believe it?

“Hey, did you hear what that guy Dale did yesterday?”

“Oh, that? Isn’t that just a rumor?”

“No! I saw it myself!”

Cadets gathered around, curious expressions lighting up their eyes as they heard about my sparring with Felix.

‘I feel like I’ve become a zoo animal.’

I glanced around at the gathered cadets and swallowed a bitter smile.

In my past life, during my four years as a cadet, I never received such warm attention.

‘Well, I did attract some attention back then.’

Not the kind of warm attention like now, but cold as ice.

“Huff.”

I exhaled deeply and gripped the wooden training sword.

The feel of the sparring wooden sword after thousands of years felt surprisingly good.

It was like holding a childhood toy I hadn’t touched in a long time.

“During the spar, the use of magic will be prohibited.”

“Hah, do you think I can’t win without magic?”

Felix forced a mocking smile, filled with arrogance.

Magic.

Also called the Breath of the Gods, it was a power that only heroes who had awakened the Stigmata could wield.

“Fortunately, you have no magic to be prohibited, right?”

Felix shot me a mocking glance filled with ridicule and chuckled, shaking his shoulders.

As he said,

The magic I possessed was less than 10 percent of the average cadet’s magic.

‘Having low magic has always been my chronic problem.’

I had even been nicknamed "Rabbit Han" because my magic depleted as quickly as a rabbit mating when I was working as a mercenary.

Recalling all the humiliations and hardships I endured because of my insufficient magic, I swallowed a bitter smile.

‘Now, what should I do?’

I tapped the floor lightly with the end of my wooden training sword, lost in thought.

Yesterday, I had acted recklessly without thinking, but now it was different.

I had a reason to live.

‘Then I need to decide how to live now.’

Listening to the tapping sound of the wooden sword on the floor, I was lost in thought.

“Hey, come at me.”

All my life.

I had lived chasing behind others.

I had walked with my back to them.

“Come at me, didn’t you hear me, you bastard?”

Dale Han, the lowest-ranked hero.

A label that had always followed me.

Even after enduring a long mercenary life and honing my skills, when I was chosen as one of the "Final Five Heroes," the last hope of humanity, it remained the same.

“Hah, man. Look at this bastard. Are you scared? Huh? Are you scared?”

I had always been busy chasing after others.

Chasing the paths they walked.

Following their footsteps.

I was just panting, running to catch up.

“If you don’t come, I’ll come to you myself, you bastard.”

And at the end of that path, in the cold snowy wilderness where no one else remained,

I cried out loudly.

“Go to hell, you bastard!!!”

Never having led someone.

Never having reached out a hand to someone.

That’s how I, “Dale Han,” had lived my life.

Thud.

I lightly dodged Felix’s fiercely swinging sword.

My stepping foot was the right foot.

Pivoting on it, I spun my body and swung the wooden training sword from below to above.

Sun Sword.

<Type 1, First Break>

Kwaang!

With a deafening sound that was hard to believe I swung the wooden training sword, Felix’s body was violently knocked back and rolled across the floor.

“Gulp, hack, uweeeek!”

Felix, who was tumbling on the floor, grabbed his stomach where he was hit squarely and vomited.

I tapped the floor with the end of my extended wooden sword and spoke.

“What’s wrong? You said you’d come to me first, didn’t you? Not coming?”

There’s nothing I can do.

“Then I’ll come to you.”

From now on.

I won’t live like that anymore.

[Translator - Peptobismol]

[Proofreader - Demon God]