The Last-Seat Hero Has Returned

11. First Lesson (3)

“Ugh….”

After a brief commotion(?).

The lead in the pursuit of the beast shifted from Camilla to me.

Camilla, seemingly disheartened by losing the lead to me, followed behind with a sullen expression.

Drooping shoulders and sluggish steps.

It felt quite unfamiliar to see this side of ‘Camilla Bedice,’ which I had never seen before.

“Isn’t she cute?”

Iris, who was walking beside me, glanced back at Camilla, who was following from a distance, and chuckled while covering her mouth.

“She’s so competitive that whenever she loses, she always gets sullen like that for a while.”

“I never knew the candidate for the Sword of the Holy Kingdom could make such a face.”

“It just shows how excellent Mr. Dale’s tracking skills are.”

Iris looked at me with sparkling eyes and asked.

“By the way, how do you manage to accurately determine the beast’s movement path at a glance?”

“Well….”

I wanted to say that after catching beasts over a thousand times, you naturally come to know even if you don’t want to.

But I couldn’t tell her about my past life.

“Just lucky, I guess.”

“Hmm. It didn’t look like that at all, though.”

Iris didn’t seem to want to pry any further and quietly followed behind me.

After moving along the beast’s trail for about 10 more minutes.

“Found it.”

Amidst the dense bushes, I saw a dark figure crouching and moving stealthily.

About 2 meters in size.

It resembled a cat overall, but its mouth was pointed like a bird’s beak, and between its two eyes, a third eye gleamed with a sinister red light.

‘A three-eyed beast.’

The more eyes a beast had, the more its original form would be distorted and powerful.

In that sense, having three eyes meant it was in the early stages of mutation, with only its body size or some parts altered.

‘Perfect for training.’

Of course, even a three-eyed beast was still a beast.

The movement was so fast that it couldn’t be compared to ordinary wild animals, and it had the strength to easily tear a person apart. It was difficult to even scratch it with a weapon that wasn’t imbued with magic.

‘Especially feline beasts are often faster than beasts with many eyes.’

They must have prepared a feline beast on purpose to match the training theme of ‘tracking and capturing.’

‘Approach as quickly as possible and grab it before it notices.’

While I was timing my dash.

“I’ll go.”

Camilla stepped forward, perhaps thinking of making up for her earlier failure.

“Feline beasts are quite fast, are you sure?”

“Hmph. Don’t worry. I’m not slow enough to let a beast like that escape right in front of me.”

She answered confidently, not seeming to be bluffing.

“Alright. Then I’ll block its retreat, and you grab it, Camilla.”

“Got it.”

As I moved silently towards the beast’s retreat.

“Wait a moment. I’ll cast a blessing first.”

Iris clasped her hands together as if in prayer.

A pure white light emanated from her stigmata and enveloped us.

The fatigue vanished as if I had woken up from a deep sleep, and my whole body was filled with energy.

‘It’s been a while.’

How long has it been since I received Iris’s blessing?

Of course, compared to the blessings I received in my previous life, its power and effect were incomparable.

But just the fact that I could receive her blessing again made my heart swell with emotion, to the point where my eyes welled up.

“Mr. Dale? Is there a problem?”

“Oh, sorry.”

There was no time to be lost in sentiment.

I moved cautiously towards the beast’s retreat.

When I reached the retreat and looked back at Camilla, she was looking at me, ready to dash out at any moment, waiting for my signal.

‘Surprising.’

I thought Camilla, who didn’t think much of me, would dash out without waiting for my signal.

‘So she’s not foolish enough to be swayed by emotions and lose her judgment.’

Good.

If you volunteer to guard Iris, you should do so properly.

“……”

I hid in the retreat and observed the movements of the beast.

As confirmed through its excrement, the beast’s condition didn’t look very good.

When it twisted its body nervously, as if the restraining magical tools on its legs and mouth were uncomfortable.

“Now.”

Tatadak!

With a short signal, Camilla dashed forward.

I was ready to cover her back if she missed the beast at any moment.

‘No need for that, it seems.’

Proving that her claim of not being slow was not mere bravado, Camilla sprinted explosively and fiercely kicked the beast’s belly.

“Kyaaa!”

Thud!

With a dull sound, black blood gushed out of the beast’s mouth as it was ambushed.

Even while vomiting blood, the beast urgently turned its body to escape.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

Camilla swung her sheathed sword and struck the back of the beast’s head.

The beast, hit squarely on the head, staggered and soon collapsed.

“Well done, Camilla!”

Iris emerged from the bushes and approached Camilla after confirming the beast had fallen.

“Hmph. This is nothing.”

“You’re amazing!”

“Hehehe.”

“I love you!”

“Oh, come on~ Why are you saying that, Saintess? I’m not that happy with such praise for something like this.”

She seems to be very pleased, though.

“Hmm~ Isn’t she cute? Our Camilla.”

Iris smiled brightly as she looked back at the beaming Camilla.

‘The way she says it, it sounds like she’s bragging about a pet dog.’

Come to think of it, Iris used to treat me like a cute pet too.

‘Yeah. Especially in bed….’

Ahem.

He forced himself to erase the thoughts that came to mind and approached the fallen beast.

“Since we caught it, let’s report it first.”

He brought the hero watch on his left wrist to the magical device attached to the beast’s mouth.

Ding.

Soon, a clear alarm sound rang out, and a hologram window appeared on the screen.

[Capture confirmed by the party of ‘Iris, Camilla Vedice, and Dale Han.’]

Good.

We caught one for now.

‘Shall we go find the next one right away?’

If he moved diligently, he was confident he could capture all three in one day.

“Thank you. If it weren’t for you, Dale, we wouldn’t have been able to capture the beast so quickly.”

Seeing Iris smiling like she was about to melt made his heart waver.

Her eyes, which he had never seen in his previous life, were as beautiful as if they contained the blue sky.

Just looking into those eyes made his heart pound as if it were broken.

‘The plan to catch all three in one day… should I put it on hold for now?’

Yeah.

In his previous life, it took the candidates three days of hard work to barely catch them all. If he caught them all in one day, the other candidates wouldn’t get any training, right?

The extra points were tempting, but he couldn’t take away the precious growth opportunities of the other candidates just to earn a few points, could he?

“By the way, if we can’t catch all three today… will we have to camp in the forest?”

“We’ll have to if we must. We said we wouldn’t finish until we caught all three, even if it took several days.”

It’s not like he wanted to spend the night with his old lover.

* * *

They spent a few more hours searching the mountains for the beast, but unfortunately, they couldn’t find even a trace of it.

He clicked his tongue as he looked up at the darkening sky.

“Well~ I guess we’ll have to camp out after all? I wanted to catch them all in one day and rest, but it’s really a shame.”

“…You seem oddly happy about it?”

“Hey. What do you take me for?”

“Hmph. If you have any lewd thoughts just because we’re camping, I won’t let it slide.”

Camilla glared at me with fierce eyes and warned me.

I chuckled and kicked the dirt floor.

“Don’t worry, once you sleep on this hard dirt floor with the cold wind blowing, you won’t have the luxury to think about such things.”

“Ugh.”

There had been a few outdoor camping trainings before.

But it was the first time camping on such raw ground, so Camilla swallowed her saliva while looking down at the dirt floor.

“The dirt floor is inevitable, but if I cast my blessing, the cold wind will be somewhat bearable.”

“Really? I didn’t know your blessing had such an effect.”

I already knew that, but I pretended to be surprised.

“Ahem. After all, I am a ‘saintess’, you know?”

Iris puffed out her chest playfully with a proud expression.

Crack.

As she straightened her back and puffed out her chest, her activity clothes began to scream as if they were about to burst.

‘Gulp.’

I had seen (and even touched!) her chest enough to be imprinted in my memory before.

But seeing it again after a long time, the visual impact was extraordinary.

“You, you! Aren’t you going to look away quickly? Saintess! Didn’t I tell you before that such a posture is dangerous?!”

“Hmm. That’s strange. It wasn’t like this when Camilla did it earlier.”

“What nonsense is this girl spouting… Oh. I-I’m sorry!”

“Oh my, I’m hurt.”

Iris exaggeratedly wiped her eyes.

Camilla repeatedly bowed her head with a flustered expression.

‘Iris had quite a playful side during her cadet days.’

In my previous life, she never showed such a mischievous side that liked to tease friends.

‘A side of Iris I didn’t know.’

The fact that I could see it right in front of my eyes was so moving.

While I was immersed in my emotions, watching Iris teasing Camilla with a playful smile.

Growl.

The sound of a stomach growling echoed through the quiet forest.

“Ah.”

Iris’s cheeks flushed a rosy red.

“Ahem… I didn’t have a proper breakfast this morning, so I’m a bit hungry.”

Iris hurriedly made an excuse, embarrassed by the rumbling sound from her stomach, even letting out an awkward cough.

Camilla looked at her with a troubled expression.

“Uh… I’m sorry. I didn’t expect we’d end up camping, so I didn’t bring any extra food.”

“It’s okay. I didn’t expect we’d be camping like this either.”

Iris smiled brightly, saying it was fine to go without food for a day, but her complexion slightly darkened, hinting that she might not have had a proper breakfast.

“I brought some food.”

“Oh…!”

“Really?”

“Of course. I brought enough for both of us, so don’t worry.”

I said, pulling out the provisions I had packed from my backpack.

“…What is that?”

Camilla tilted her head, looking at the intense red packaging in my hand.

“Ramen.”

“Ramen? Isn’t that the food that the poor in the Republic usually eat?”

“What? You… Were you planning to feed such a thing to the saint, even in an emergency?”

“I don’t know how it got that image, but trust me, the taste is amazing.”

Especially.

“Iris, you’ll love it.”

Even in my past life, she used to devour ramen with a fiery passion.

“Hmph. What do you know about the saint to say such things?”

Camilla scoffed, as if to dismiss my words.

“If you must know, the saint eats meals prepared by a professional chef dispatched from the Holy Kingdom, with a perfect balance of taste, freshness, and nutrition. There’s no way she’d like such junk food!”

“Geez, you sure talk a lot for someone who’s getting a free meal.”

“Ugh… That’s…”

“Are you going to eat or not?”

“…I’ll eat. Sorry for saying unnecessary things.”

Camilla, who seemed quite hungry herself, bowed her head obediently.

I picked up a dry branch that had fallen nearby, lit a fire, and cooked ramen in the pot I had prepared.

‘It would have been better if I had an egg.’

No matter how much I wanted to, I couldn’t afford to bring an egg for outdoor training.

“It’s done.”

“Wow…”

“Ahem… The smell is certainly good.”

The two women swallowed their saliva as they watched the bubbling ramen.

The food of Seongguk is generally mild and vegetable-heavy, so they probably haven’t encountered such stimulating food often.

“Here, chopsticks… Oh, people from Seongguk aren’t good with chopsticks, right?”

“No. I learned before, so I can use them.”

“I can use them too.”

Iris, who received the chopsticks, slurped the ramen from the bowl.

And then.

“uuu!”

Iris, with an excited expression, flailed her legs.

It was the same reaction I had seen in my previous life.

“Kyaaa! What is this? It’s freaking delicious! Are you kidding me?!”

“……”

“…Ah. Ahem. I only knew this as food that the poor mainly eat, but now that I’ve tried it, it’s not bad.”

“Oh, uh. Yeah. I’m glad it suits your taste.”

I would like to correct that.

It was a slightly more intense reaction than what I had seen in my previous life.