The Lowest-Ranked Hero Has Returned

[Translator - Peptobismol]

[Proofreader - Demon God]

Chapter 4 - A Reason to Live (3)

Silence fell over the training hall.

Professor Lucas, who had proposed the sparring match, and the cadets who had gathered in droves to watch something interesting, all stared in shock at Felix, who was vomiting on the floor of the training hall.

Felix O'Dorman.

A noble from an Imperial Viscount family, he had awakened the “God of Sea’s” Stigmata, a legacy passed down through his family for generations.

His personality was insufferably arrogant, and he had little regard for manners, making him unpopular even within the school.

But there was one thing everyone acknowledged about him.

“Felix lost in swordsmanship?”

“And... he was completely outclassed?”

That one thing was his pure swordsmanship, unaided by magic.

In “non-magic duels,” where magic usage was restricted, Felix ranked within the top 50—no, even the top 30 among the cadets.

And yet, Felix had lost.

Not just lost, but was completely outmatched, unable even to land a single proper blow.

‘What was that swordsmanship just now…?’

Professor Lucas’s expression was one of confusion as he recalled the swordsmanship Dale had displayed.

As someone nicknamed the "Hound" for his keen observational skills, he could tell.

The swordsmanship Dale had just used was unmistakably…

‘The Sun Blade?’

The Sun Blade.

The Empire’s strongest—no, the continent’s strongest swordsmanship, created by the legendary hero Reynald Helios, who sealed the Demon God 500 years ago.

How could Dale, who wasn’t even from the Helios family, or even the Empire, use it?

‘No, it’s different.’

As Lucas calmly continued his thoughts, he shook his head.

‘The basic form looks similar, but it’s not the Sun Blade I know.’

He could be sure of this because he had recently seen Yuren Helios, the eldest son of the Helios Duke family and the renowned heir of the Sun Blade, wield the sword himself.

The swordsmanship Dale had displayed seemed similar to the Sun Blade at first glance, but it was definitely different.

It was as if someone had meticulously broken down the Sun Blade and modified it to suit themselves.

If it weren’t for his own keen observation, someone else might not have even recognized the similarities between Dale’s swordsmanship and the Sun Blade.

‘Even if we assume the resemblance to the Sun Blade is coincidental... the fact that Dale is capable of swordsmanship at this level is incomprehensible.’

There was a reason Dale had consistently ranked last in the overall evaluations for three years since his admission. It wasn’t just because he had significantly less magic than the other cadets, but also because he was such a hopeless klutz that the word "hopeless" seemed too mild.

Yet somehow.

In just one day, it was as if he had become a completely different person, displaying an astonishing level of swordsmanship.

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

Before Lucas could dwell further on his confusion, a low voice broke the silence.

Tap, tap.

Dale tapped the floor with the tip of his wooden sword and took a step forward.

“Then I’ll come to you.”

“Damn it….”

Felix, who had been lying on the floor of the training hall, vomiting, struggled to his feet.

“You… you bastard!”

His face twisted in rage, Felix charged at Dale with a vicious snarl.

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Once again, they clashed.

-Thud!

“Ugh!”

And once again, Felix’s sword failed to even touch Dale’s clothes.

Felix was sent flying backward and collapsed on the ground, his eyes trembling with disbelief.

The first time, he could blame it on being caught off guard, but this time was different.

“How is this possible…?”

The rumors he had heard in passing yesterday suddenly came to mind.

The rumor that Dale had knocked out Professor Lucas. The rumor that he had subdued Camilla Vedice with one hand.

Rumors so outrageous that Felix hadn’t even bothered to pay attention to them.

‘So those rumors were true?’

Felix shook his head in disbelief, frowning deeply.

‘No, that’s impossible.’

Even though he had just been knocked down without being able to swing his sword properly, the deep-seated prejudice Felix had built up over the past few years made him deny the reality before him.

“…Dale Han.”

Gritting his teeth, Felix gripped his wooden sword so tightly it seemed it might break.

“Let’s see how long you can keep this arrogance.”

The Stigmata on Felix’s left chest began to glow, surrounding his body in a soft blue light.

Magic.

The divine breath, a power that only those who had awakened the Stigmata could wield, spread throughout his body.

“Haaap!”

Whoosh!

Felix swung his sword with an explosive speed that couldn’t be compared to before.

“Felix O’Dorman!”

Professor Lucas, who had been watching the duel, quickly stood up, but it was too late to stop the sword that had already been swung.

“Let’s see you block this!”

As Felix’s fierce shout rang out, Dale calmly watched the wooden sword enveloped in the blue aura.

A faint smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

‘Come to think of it, Yuren once said…’

He had told me that if I reached the pinnacle of the Sun Blade, I’d be able to cut through the sky without using magic.

‘Well, I’m not at the level where I can cut through the sky yet.’

But at least, I might be able to cut through this training sword made of oak.

“Ssss.”

Taking a deep breath, I pulled the sword back toward my shoulder.

I slightly lowered my body and focused all my weight on the foot planted firmly on the ground.

Like a spring compressed to its limit, the force concentrated in my foot exploded upward, channeling all its energy into the blade.

And then.

I slashed.

Chaaang!

With a clear metallic sound that shouldn’t have been possible from a wooden training sword, Felix’s sword, still in his grip, was sliced cleanly in half and fell to the ground.

“…Huh?”

Felix stared dumbfoundedly at the broken wooden sword.

“What… what just happened?”

There are countless powers that magic can grant, but the most fundamental effect is this: pure physical enhancement.

Magic has the miraculous ability to allow even the thinnest branch to drive a nail into iron.

‘He split my sword in half without using magic?’

With an ordinary wooden training sword?

‘That’s impossible.’

It was like cutting through a solid iron rod with a twig.

No, maybe it was possible to dent an iron rod with a twig if you gave in a hundred times, but

how could a non-magical wooden sword slice through a sword imbued with magic?

This was impossible, regardless of whether magic was involved.

After all, the training sword was nothing more than a wooden club, carved from oak.

“What kind of trick did you—ugh!”

Thwack.

Before Felix could finish speaking,

Dale’s fist shot out like lightning and struck Felix squarely in the jaw.

Felix collapsed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

“…….”

“…….”

There were no cheers for the victor, no boos for the defeated.

In the silence that fell like a curtain,

I calmly turned toward Professor Lucas and spoke.

“As promised, my suspension will be reduced to four days, right?”

“…Ah, uh, yes.”

Professor Lucas nodded, still in a daze.

Even though he had seen it with his own eyes, he couldn’t understand what had just happened, but I didn’t bother explaining.

Even if I tried to explain, he wouldn’t be able to understand.

“Well then. I’ll see you next week, Professor.”

I bowed politely and walked out of the training hall.

It was lunchtime, so the campus was bustling with cadets moving around.

“Four days, huh.”

Since today was Tuesday, I had about six days, including the weekend.

‘I have a lot to do.’

Now that I had decided to live a new life, there was a mountain of preparations to make.

‘I won’t lose anything again.’

Up until now, my life had been filled with loss.

I had lost my most precious friend, my brother, my mentor, my lover—everyone I held dear.

I hadn’t been able to protect any of them.

I had lost them all.

‘Even if I can’t choose how this life ends, I can choose how I live it.’

This time, I wouldn’t lose anyone.

This time, I would protect them with my own hands.

“Let’s go.”

With my resolve firmly etched into my heart, I headed back to the dormitory.

* * *

“I wondered where you were since there was no answer when I knocked on your door, but here you are?”

As I walked down the hallway back to the dorm, a voice so familiar it hurt reached my ears.

“…Iris?”

Had I not poured out enough emotions yesterday?

The moment I saw Iris, my chest tightened again, and my eyes welled up with tears.

“You’re Dale Han… right?”

“Ah, yeah.”

I barely managed to pull myself together and nodded.

Iris approached me with graceful, measured steps that almost seemed elegant.

Her blue eyes, as if they held the sky itself, came closer.

“…Ah.”

Her eyes were the only unfamiliar feature on her otherwise familiar face.

Seeing her before she had lost her sight to the Demon God’s “curse,” my heart pounded as if it had gone haywire.

Well, it was no wonder.

Even with her eyes covered by a black blindfold, she had been the most beautiful person I’d ever known. And now, seeing her like this?

Her beauty was so overwhelming that the baseless rumors about her being one of the Seven Gods reincarnated in a human form almost seemed believable.

“Hmph.”

Iris, now standing close to me, scrutinized me from head to toe, as if assessing me. Then she looked around.

It was lunchtime, and most of the cadets had flocked to the dining hall, leaving the dormitory hallway almost deserted.

‘Iris.’

As I looked at her, memories of the time we shared together flooded my mind.

She had always been warm and kind, embodying the title of “Saint” perfectly.

She was so gentle that she even hesitated to kill a tiny insect.

She would hold my hand every day, asking if I was okay, if I was in pain, despite knowing I would come back to life in the blink of an eye.

The more I thought of her, the more my eyes stung with tears.

And then.

–Slap!

A sharp pain snapped my head to the side.

“Huh?”

As I held my stinging cheek, a bewildered sound escaped my lips, and Iris grabbed me roughly by the collar and spoke.

“Hey, who do you think you are, talking informally to me? Do you even know who I am?”

Uh… Excuse me? Iris?

“Fine, we’re in the same year, so I’ll let the informal speech slide. But what was that yesterday? Huh? Who do you think you are, laying a hand on my friend, you bastard?”

“…….”

In my confusion, it wasn’t hard to understand why she was so furious.

Honestly, if I thought about it from her perspective, it made perfect sense.

To her, I was just another cadet she barely knew, someone she had never even spoken to. I had come out of nowhere, thrown her friend and bodyguard to the ground, and then suddenly started crying in front of her.

Anyone—no, even someone who wasn’t just “anyone”—would have been angry.

“I’m sorry. Yesterday, I just… lost control for a moment. I’ll apologize properly to Camilla later.”

“Hmph.”

Iris, who had seemed ready to lash out even more harshly, softened slightly when she heard my sincere apology and let go of my collar.

“Well, as long as you apologize, I guess it’s fine.”

Iris shrugged her shoulders and stepped back from me.

“Oh, and you must forget everything that happened today, okay? If you don’t…”

She smiled sweetly.

The same gentle smile that had remained so vividly in my memory.

In the kindest voice.

“I’ll have to kill you?”

She whispered.

[Translator - Peptobismol]

[Proofreader - Demon God]