The Last-Seat Hero Has Returned

2. A Reason to Live (1)

“One week suspension.”

“……”

“What, do you have a complaint?”

A middle-aged man with a wild, lion-like appearance asked in a low, sunken voice.

Lucas Kane.

A professor in charge of the third-year warrior department during the hero candidate days.

A hero once known as the ‘Bloodthirsty Hound,’ famous for having exterminated hundreds of demons.

And today.

He was also the one I struck in the solar plexus as soon as I woke up.

“Disrupting class and assaulting a professor… You should be thankful it’s just a suspension.”

“…Yes.”

I nodded with a bewildered expression at Professor Lucas, who was glaring at me with fierce eyes.

“Then go back to the dormitory immediately and write a reflection. I need to finish the remaining class… Ugh.”

Professor Lucas, who was trying to get up from his chair, grimaced and clutched his chest.

“Are you alright?”

“Mind your own business.”

At Professor Lucas’s fierce rebuke, I turned and walked out of the professor’s office.

On the way back to the dormitory.

I trudged towards my dorm room, passing through the corridor usually bustling with cadets.

Amidst the confusion, should I say it was a relief?

Even after all that time had passed, the dorm room number where I had lived for four years in the past remained vaguely in my mind.

[Hero Cadet ‘Dale Han’. Identity confirmed.]

Buzz, click.

As I brought the watch on my wrist close to the firmly closed door, it opened with a familiar mechanical sound.

A small bed, a desk, and even the old shelf with a few bottles of cheap wine.

‘It’s the room I used to stay in.’

Although it had been so long that my memories of my hero cadet days were not very clear, I could still remember the appearance of the dormitory room where I had lived from the age of 18 to 21.

I entered the room, where a cold silence flowed, and sat on the edge of the old bed.

“…What on earth happened?”

After accepting the ‘Primordial Flame’ into my body.

I thought I could finally put an end to that dreadfully long life and closed my eyes.

‘I’ve returned?’

As far as I knew, the ‘Primordial Flame’ did not have the power to turn back time.

The reason I had wandered the continent for hundreds, thousands of years in search of the Primordial Flame was because there was a record that it could burn away the ‘Stigmata’ bestowed by the seven gods.

“Wait, does that mean…”

I hastily unbuttoned my shirt and looked down at my left chest.

The stigmata engraved on my left chest.

The stigmata bestowed by one of the seven gods, the ‘God of the Forest’, remained intact.

“Ah.”

A chilling shiver ran down my spine.

I had wandered the continent for so long, seeking only death, in search of the Primordial Flame.

Was it all in vain?

‘No, it’s too early to judge.’

Strictly speaking, the reason I became a body that couldn’t even take my own life was not because of the stigmata bestowed by the God of the Forest, but because of the ‘Blessing of Revival’ contained within that stigmata.

While every hero had stigmata, the blessing was a power possessed by only a very few heroes.

‘Even if the stigma remains, the blessing might have disappeared.’

The method to test it was simple.

Srrng.

I drew the sword from the scabbard lying in the corner of the room and brought it to my neck.

A clumsy way of cutting or slashing the skin with the sword wouldn’t confirm if the blessing had disappeared.

Unless it was a fatal wound that led to death, the blessing of resurrection wouldn’t activate.

So, there was only one method left.

-Srk.

I gripped the sword hilt tightly and slashed my neck without hesitation.

With the chilling sensation of the blade digging into my neck, my head fell off and rolled on the floor.

Blood spurted like a fountain, staining the bed sheets red.

And then.

Wooong.

A blue light emanated from the stigma engraved on my left chest, and the darkened vision returned to normal.

The head that had fallen and rolled on the floor, and the bed sheets soaked in blood, returned to their original state as if nothing had happened.

“Heh.”

A faint chuckle escaped my lips.

Nothing had changed.

The stigma engraved on my left chest, and the blessing of resurrection embedded in it.

At the end of a painfully long life, what was marked was not a period, but a repeat sign.

‘Then what happened to the primordial flame?’

As the thought crossed my mind that the primordial flame might have disappeared along with the regression.

“Ugh!”

Ssssss!

A searing pain, as if my flesh was being seared with a hot iron, ran across my left chest.

When I looked down, I saw a faint flame flickering like a candle around the stigma engraved on my chest.

‘What is this?’

This phenomenon was something I had never experienced in the countless deaths that had repeated thousands, tens of thousands of times in the past.

The reason for this sudden occurrence of something that had never happened before.

It wasn’t hard to come up with an answer to the question.

‘So, the primordial fire hasn’t disappeared after all.’

Of course, compared to when I first absorbed the primordial fire, the amount of flame now was pitifully small.

It seemed that the primordial fire itself hadn’t vanished with the regression.

‘Though it doesn’t change the fact that the blessing of resurrection is gone.’

Clutching my throbbing head, I collapsed onto the bed.

Thoughts tangled and twisted in my mind.

“Regression… huh.”

I placed my hand on the watch on my left wrist and lightly infused it with magic.

Bzzz.

A halo of light emanated from the watch, and a translucent holographic window appeared.

[Cadet Information]

Name: Dale Han

Origin: Republic

Year: 3rd Year

Department: Warrior Department

Overall Cadet Ranking: 472 / 472

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen this.”

Seeing the overall ranking at the bottom of the cadet information window, I couldn’t help but let out a bitter laugh.

Perennial last-place cadet.

The worst dullard in the history of the Hero School.

Professor Lucas’s official statement: ‘A b*stard like you shouldn’t become a hero even if you graduate,’ proudly shining at the top of the rankings.

“Sigh.”

Recalling my past cadet days, a bitter taste spread in my mouth.

‘Exactly when have I returned to?’

Turning off the holographic window, I checked the date on the wristwatch. It was early March, just as the semester was starting.

‘Then the class I was just in… must have been practical combat training.’

Practical combat training.

A mandatory class for all third-year students, regardless of their department, designed to prepare them for ‘real’ battles against monsters.

‘It was during the midterm evaluation of this class that I first manifested the blessing of resurrection.’

As I flipped through the dusty album of memories.

“…Huh?”

Like a lightning strike.

A forgotten memory flashed through my mind.

“Wait a minute… If it’s the practical combat training in the first semester of the third year, then surely….”

Thump, thump.

The sound of my heartbeat echoes in my head as if it would burst.

Before I can continue my thoughts, my body moves first.

Bang!

I kick open the dormitory door as if it would break.

Squeezing out the little magic power I have left to strengthen my body.

I run.

It doesn’t matter if my legs tear apart.

It doesn’t matter if my lungs burst.

Right now.

More than that….

-Rattle, bang!

I roughly open the door to the classroom I was just kicked out of.

“What, what is it?”

“Dale?”

The cadets’ gazes pierce sharply.

Ignoring them, I move my steps.

To the very back of the classroom.

To the seat by the window where the spring breeze gently flows in.

“Hmm?”

She was there.

“Iris.”

Her figure sitting by the window felt somehow unfamiliar.

It wasn’t hard to find the cause of that ‘unfamiliarity.’

In my memory, she no longer remained.

As if they were about to suck me in, those beautiful blue eyes were looking this way.

“Uh… me?”

She had a bewildered expression, as if she couldn’t imagine her name being called out of the blue.

A natural reaction.

At that time, she and I were nothing more than complete strangers who hadn’t even had a proper conversation.

In fact, when I reunited with Iris ten years after graduation, she didn’t even remember that we had taken the same class together for an entire year during our cadet days.

Well, of course.

There was no reason for her to remember a fool who had firmly held the last seat from admission to graduation, while she was expected to be a hero representing the Holy Kingdom, known as the Saint.

Until now.

“……”

Without a word, I walked towards her seat.

“You! What are you planning to do to the Saint!”

A female student with navy blue hair tied in a ponytail stood up abruptly.

Camilla Bedice.

A holy knight directly dispatched from the Holy Kingdom to guard the Saint during her cadet life, and a candidate expected to be the next ‘Sword of the Holy Kingdom’.

“Step back!”

Camilla shouted fiercely, trying to draw the sword at her waist.

Before the sword could even be drawn from its sheath, I reached out towards Camilla.

My fingertips touched her wrist, which was holding the sword hilt.

“Move.”

Berald Martial Arts.

Sky Flip.

“What the…!”

Thud!

Camilla’s body flipped upside down and rolled on the floor.

Screams and shouts filled the classroom.

Ignoring all those sounds.

I stood in front of her.

“…Ah.”

I remember.

I remember.

The warmth that grew cold as it nestled in my arms.

The voice that whispered “It’s okay” over and over, as trembling hands caressed my cheek.

The smile that struggled to appear as you looked at me, crying out.

“Ah, uh.”

A wail, like the sound of boiling water in a kettle, escaped through my lips.

My chest burned as if a thorn of boiling passion had pierced my heart and burst forth.

What should I say?

What words would be good to offer?

I know.

I know that she doesn’t remember me now.

That all the time we spent together is etched only in my mind.

But.

Even so.

The words I had thought of countless times while walking alone through the snow-covered plains filled my throat.

There were so many things I wanted to say.

But there was only one thing I had to say.

“Thank… goodness.”

Thank goodness you’re alive.

“Really… thank goodness.”

In a life that had been chasing only death.

I now had a reason to live.

* * *

“The suspension period is extended by one month.”

“No.”

“No? What do you mean no, you crazy b*stard! You barged into the classroom during your suspension period and attacked a cadet… and not just any cadet, but the saint of the Holy Kingdom! What? No? Are you out of your mind?”

“Attacked? If anyone hears that, they’ll misunderstand. I didn’t lay a finger on the saint.”

“Then what about Cadet Camilla? Go ahead, tell me you didn’t lay a finger on Cadet Camilla either!”

“Didn’t Camilla herself say it? That she tripped and fell by accident.”

“Of course, she couldn’t say she was overpowered without even drawing her sword!”

“Come on, Professor. How could I possibly prevent Camilla Bedice, who is even being considered as a candidate for the ‘Sword of the Holy Kingdom,’ from being selected?”

“Ha. Did you really think you could fool me with such a pathetic act?”

Professor Lucas shot me a sharp look, like the hunting dog he was nicknamed after, and continued speaking.

“You… What exactly are you?”

“You know, don’t you?”

I shrugged my shoulders and spoke with a nonchalant expression.

“I’m Dale. Ranked 472 out of 472 in the comprehensive evaluation. The lowest-ranked hero candidate, Dale Han.”