The Last-Seat Hero Has Returned

8. Laying the Foundation (4)

“Juliet!”

On a sunny afternoon.

I approached my long-lost friend with a cheerful smile like the sunlight.

“Sorry, I was lost in thought and didn’t realize you called me!”

“…Huh?”

“It’s been a while, my friend! How have you been?”

I put my arm around Juliet’s shoulder, who had a confused expression.

“…Hey.”

“Sorry to ask right away, but can you lend me a million gold? I urgently need some money.”

“What are you doing?”

“Your family is rich, right? A million gold isn’t a big deal, is it?”

Juliet’s face twisted fiercely.

“This crazy b*stard!”

“Oops.”

Juliet, without hesitation, swung her fist at the ‘carpet’ that was spewing nonsense.

Even though it was a punch thrown without any prior preparation, the fact that it naturally contained magic showed that Juliet possessed quite a high level of skill.

But, well.

It didn’t change the fact that she was still a rookie.

“Ha, seriously. All this fuss over borrowing a few bucks.”

Anyway, the rich are always worse.

-Thwack!

I lightly caught the fist aimed at my philtrum and twisted her wrist with force.

“aaagh!”

A scream of pain burst from Juliet’s mouth.

Thanks to the magic imbued in it, her wrist didn’t break, but the pain must have been quite severe.

“You, you b*stard!”

Juliet drew the rapier from her waist and charged.

The light emanating from the stigmata gathered at the tip of the sharp sword and blazed fiercely.

It was an even denser light than when she sparred with Felix.

“Get lost, you punk.”

Berald’s martial arts.

Sword Breaking.

-Clang!

I twisted my body slightly to avoid the sword shooting like an arrow and struck the blade with the edge of my hand.

The magic momentarily condensed at the edge of my hand made it stronger than steel.

“What…?”

The sword broke like a reed.

I kicked up between Juliet’s legs as if kicking a ball, leaving her stunned.

“aaagh!!!”

Juliet collapsed, clutching the two balls(?) between her legs, screaming in agony.

“Kyaaa!”

“What are you doing to your senior!”

“Juliet senior!”

The female cadets who had been huddled together in the distance screamed shrilly.

I glanced back at the female cadets and twisted my lips into a sly grin.

“I need to have a word with my friend for a moment… Could you step aside for a bit?”

“Wh-why are you calling yourself a friend of the senior?”

“Get away from Juliet senior already!”

“I’m going to call the professor right now…”

“Sigh.”

Good grief.

What a bother.

“Can’t you understand plain words?”

I added a hint of menace to my gaze as I continued.

“Get lost.”

“……!”

“Eek!”

The cadets, who had been chattering noisily, froze like frogs facing a snake.

Their faces turned pale, and their legs trembled pitifully.

Some of them even had their skirts getting damp.

‘What the…’

I hadn’t expected them to wet themselves, so a wave of bewilderment washed over me.

‘Isn’t it a bit much to overreact just because I let out a bit of killing intent?’

I even wondered if these were really hero cadets.

‘Well, I guess… it’s a natural reaction.’

Judging by their name tags, they seemed to be freshmen who had just entered the academy. They probably hadn’t even experienced a sparring class, let alone real combat training. How could they have ever encountered real killing intent?

Not the clumsy imitation kind.

But the kind forged through thousands, tens of thousands of deaths.

‘Dealing with these kids is really tough.’

I retracted my killing intent with a bitter smile.

“Sniff. Hic.”

“Waaah!”

As I withdrew my killing intent, the cadets burst into tears and fled.

“Now that the nuisances are gone.”

Looking down at Juliet, who was groaning while clutching between her legs, I smirked.

“Shall we continue our conversation, friend?”

* * *

“Y-you want to borrow money?”

Juliet, barely escaping the pain that felt like her head was about to burst, asked in a timid voice.

“Yes.”

“H-how much?”

The confident demeanor she had just moments ago was gone, and Juliet lowered her eyes with a crumpled expression that didn’t match her handsome face.

“Didn’t I tell you earlier?”

“Surely… you don’t really want to borrow a million gold?”

“Would I ask to borrow it as a joke?”

“Don’t be ridiculous! How can I lend you a million gold?!”

Juliet shouted, her voice rising at the absurd amount.

I smiled brightly and waved my clenched fist gently in front of Juliet.

Flinch.

Juliet’s face turned pale.

“S-sorry! I was wrong! Don’t hit me!”

“Hey, why are you being so cold between friends? Who said anything about hitting?”

I let out a small laugh and lowered my raised fist.

Juliet bit her lip and spoke in a crawling voice.

“…Sorry. Even I don’t have a million gold.”

“Hmm.”

Well.

Even for a rich family’s child, a million gold wasn’t easy to come by.

“You can’t get the money, but your father is different, right?”

“…You want me to ask my father for money?”

Juliet looked at me with an incredulous expression.

“Are you crazy?”

“Doesn’t your father care about you a lot?”

“Still, how can I ask for a million gold?!”

Juliet shook her head, dismissing the absurdity.

As I looked at Juliet, a memory from a past life surfaced.

‘Juliet Kang.’

Even though a long time had passed, it wasn’t just because he bullied me that this name came to mind so easily.

There were many cadets who bullied me, an orphan and a perennial bottom-ranker, besides Juliet.

‘Rather, this guy wasn’t one of the worst.’

He only bullied me when he wanted to show off his power in front of the junior female cadets.

Yet, there was one reason why his name came to mind so easily.

Once, the name Juliet Kang had shaken the entire school.

‘He had a very peculiar hobby.’

That ‘hobby’ would be discovered about half a year later, but he was probably still indulging in it at this point.

The secret of his hidden, clandestine hobby was…

“Juliet. Let me see your Hero Watch.”

“…What?”

Juliet’s face turned pale, incomparable to before.

Hero Watch.

A tri-nation magical device created based on the Republic’s engineering technology, the Empire’s magical alchemy, and the Holy Nation’s gemstone purification techniques.

Its original name was ‘Multi-functional Composite Watch,’ but it was called Hero Watch because only those with magical power could use it.

“Wh-why do you suddenly want the Hero Watch?”

Juliet glared at me with wary eyes, clutching the watch on his wrist tightly.

His reaction, which felt more pure than honest, made me burst into laughter unintentionally.

“Why? Is there something inside that you can’t show to others?”

“Th-there’s no such thing!”

“Really? Then you can show it to me.”

“Ugh…!”

Juliet took a step back with a flustered expression.

Just as he turned to run away.

“Where do you think you’re going in such a hurry?”

“aaah!”

Smack!

He kicked Juliet’s shin as she tried to escape.

He took the Hero Watch off her fallen wrist.

“Gi-give it back!”

“Hold on, man.”

As he tried to activate the watch by channeling his magic into it, a lock-shaped symbol appeared.

‘So, it’s locked after all.’

It must be a lock that only Juliet’s own magic can undo.

‘Well, unlocking something like this is easy.’

Among the knowledge he learned from Senior Sophia, there was a way to temporarily change the nature of magic.

-Ding.

As he mimicked Juliet’s magic, the lock on the Hero Watch was released, and a holographic window appeared.

When he manipulated the holographic window to look inside, what he saw were

photos of Juliet dressed as a woman, striking coquettish poses.

“Oh, damn, my eyes.”

Juliet’s original appearance wasn’t bad enough that he couldn’t bear to look at her even in drag.

But the photos of that hairy-legged guy in a fluttering skirt striking all sorts of poses were enough to torment his eyes.

“Y-you… how….”

“Let’s see. First, I’ll transfer these photos to my Hero Watch… okay.”

After transferring all the photos stored in Juliet’s Hero Watch, he handed the Hero Watch back to the trembling, pale-faced Juliet.

“One million gold. You can get it, right?”

“W-what are you going to do with those photos….”

“Answer.”

“…Ah, ugh.”

Moisture gathered at the corners of Juliet’s eyes.

As he put his Hero Watch back on his wrist, he sobbed and shed tears.

“N-not right away….”

“I’ll give you a week. Get it by then.”

“Sniff….”

“Hey, why are you crying? I’m not asking for it, I’m just borrowing it, borrowing it? I’ll give it all back later, man.”

Can’t you trust a friend?

“Ughhh!”

“Tsk tsk.”

I clicked my tongue lightly as I looked down at Juliet, who was crying bitterly.

‘This solves the money problem.’

Even I didn’t expect to secure research funds this easily.

Well, isn’t it good when things go well?

“Ugh!”

I stretched out and looked up at the sunlight pouring down.

With the money problem solved, I felt much lighter.

‘Come to think of it, I’m a bit hungry.’

Running around frantically since morning, lunchtime had already passed.

‘The cafeteria… must be closed by now.’

I nudged Juliet, who was still sitting and crying, with my foot.

“Hey.”

“Y-yes?”

“I’ll give you 500 shillings, go to the store and buy two pieces of bread and a large milk.”

“…500 shillings isn’t enough to buy all that.”

Even though the school store was cheap, 500 shillings couldn’t buy two pieces of bread and a milk.

Depending on the type of bread, it would probably cost at least 3 gold 500 shillings.

“So?”

Are you asking me for more money?

“N-no! I’ll get it right away! Just wait a bit!”

“Ah, wait.”

I grabbed Juliet’s shoulder as she hurriedly turned to run to the store.

“Ugh… why? Do you need anything else?”

“No, nothing else.”

I smiled brightly and patted her shoulder.

“Bring back 5 gold as change.”

“……”

I guess I won’t have to worry about money for a while.