The Last-Seat Hero Has Returned

49. The Sun’s Sword (1)

The day after showing Iris the spiciness of the Republic.

[Don’t contact me for a while.]

I clicked my tongue as I looked at the message floating above the Hero Watch.

“Maybe the ginger tea was a bit too much?”

I felt a slight regret, but at the time, there was no other choice.

‘How could I endure that?’

I never thought I had a hobby of enjoying other people’s pain.

But seeing Iris, who boasted that this level of spiciness was nothing, crying with tears and snot, I couldn’t resist the urge to torment her.

‘Well, it’s already spilled water.’

The best thing to do is to wait quietly until her anger subsides.

“Let’s see then…”

Today’s class was originally a sparring class only for warrior candidates, but a notice came last night that it was canceled due to Professor Lucas’s health issues.

“I mean, he was fine just yesterday, what health issues all of a sudden?”

I sent a message through the Hero Watch out of curiosity, but there was no reply.

‘Well, it should be nothing serious.’

It’s Professor Lucas, after all.

Even if his condition is quite bad, he’ll soon be back as if nothing happened.

“I have a meeting with Berald in the evening…”

So, from now until evening, I have the whole time free.

‘Should I go to the training ground?’

It’s better to move my body than to stay cooped up in the dorm room with nothing to do.

‘It’s not as easy to use the training ground as I want like during the leave of absence.’

According to the original plan, I was going to borrow… no, borrow money from Juliet to apply for a personal training ground before the end of the school break.

In the midst of my work(?), I ran into Berald, and my plan was thwarted.

‘Well, it can’t be helped.’

Because of the sparring with Assistant Vincent yesterday, there would be more attention on me than usual, but that didn’t mean I could stay cooped up in my narrow dorm room swinging my sword.

“Ugh.”

I grabbed my sword and headed to the training ground.

Maybe it was because the break had just ended.

There weren’t many cadets using the common training ground.

“Huh?”

“Isn’t that him? The… bottom rank in the C-class practical combat training.”

“Hey, the guy who beat the assistant is no bottom rank. They say he’s been pretending to be an idiot all this time.”

“Why? There’s no benefit in deliberately being last, is there?”

“I don’t know the reason either. Anyway, some of the C-class guys compare him to ‘Yuren Helios’.”

“Come on, that’s an exaggeration.”

“Right? Anyway, those C-class guys are making a fuss even though they’ve never taken a class with Yuren.”

Of course.

Just because there weren’t many cadets didn’t mean I wasn’t attracting attention.

‘It’s a real commotion.’

I gave a bitter smile as I looked at the cadets who started whispering as soon as I entered.

I passed the cadets and headed to a corner of the wide common training ground.

After putting down the towel and water bottle I brought, I lightly warmed up with some martial arts.

Whoosh! Wham! Bang!

The sound of my fists and feet cutting through the air echoed.

It was hard to believe I wasn’t using any magic at all, the sound was that intense.

‘My body has improved to some extent.’

When I first returned, my body was at the level of ‘a guy who didn’t know anything and just worked hard’, but with consistent training, it had undergone a significant change in just over two months.

My upper body was covered with well-defined abs and lean muscles without any excess fat.

The muscles from my waist to my thighs and shins were also developed to the point of resembling a feline predator.

You might wonder if there was a need to train my body so hard when I could just strengthen it with magic.

But that was a complacent thought only for those wizards who used magic by releasing mana externally.

‘Instead of infusing mana into a twig to strengthen it like steel, just use a weapon made of steel.’

The same goes for the body.

Even if the same magic is used, there is a huge difference between strengthening a frail body and strengthening a trained body.

‘Still not enough.’

Perhaps because of the training learned from Berald, my body improved quickly compared to the time spent.

But to have a nearly perfect body with no flaws like in my previous life, I couldn’t neglect my training.

“Hoo.”

When my body gradually heated up.

I drew the sword from my waist and began earnest sword training.

“Sss.”

Taking a deep breath, I swung the sword in my hand.

First, from the first to the fourth form of the Solar Sword.

Upward slash, downward slash, horizontal slash, thrust.

The four basic movements that can be said to be the foundation of swordsmanship unfolded one by one.

Whoosh! Wham! Slash!

Even though I conveniently called it the Solar Sword, the swordsmanship that unfolded from my hand had changed so much that its original form was no longer recognizable.

‘It changed even more after my level went up last time.’

I thought that even if Yuren from my previous life came back to life, he wouldn’t recognize the swordsmanship he taught me.

‘It’s okay.’

Even if it had changed so much that the original form was hard to recognize, the fact that the root of my sword was Yuren remained unchanged.

‘So.’

Whoosh!

Sweat drops running down my forehead.

The sword imbued with ashen aura fiercely tore through the surrounding space.

‘Don’t worry, Yuren.’

Even if you forget.

I remember.

-Don’t be too anxious when swinging the sword.

-Empty your mind, slowly.

-Think about where the sword wants to go, not you.

The teachings I learned from you.

The realization you taught me.

Even though hundreds of years have passed, even though thousands of years have flowed by.

Vividly, clearly.

I remember.

“Hoo.”

Catching my slightly ragged breath, I sheathed my sword.

‘Well, I remember it, but I didn’t fully understand it.’

Honestly, even now, the words ‘Think about where the sword wants to go, not you’ still sound like nonsense.

‘Anyway, that guy always said things that sounded profound. Huh? Who would understand if you say it like that?’

As I recalled the time when I learned swordsmanship from Yuren, I let out a small laugh.

Clap clap.

Then, I heard the sound of clear applause.

When I turned my head towards the sound, I saw.

“Amazing.”

A young man with golden hair shining like the sun.

“You are….”

“Ah, I apologize for watching your training without permission.”

The young man with golden hair bowed his head politely.

“Nice to meet you. I am Yuren Helios, a third-year warrior candidate.”

“…….”

I was speechless at the unexpected appearance of Yuren.

Did he misunderstand my stiff expression?

Yuren scratched his head with an awkward smile.

“I’m sorry for suddenly coming without notice.”

“Ah, no. It’s okay. But why did you come to see me?”

“Yesterday, I happened to see you sparring, Mr. Dale.”

“Ah.”

Did he see me sparring with Instructor Vincent?

“After watching the sparring, I really wanted to have a match with you, Mr. Dale.”

So, the guy who even has his own private training ground came to find me at the public training ground.

‘Anyway, the brat is still the same.’

It was just like him to light up his eyes and go searching like a starving hyena whenever he heard rumors of someone being skilled with a sword.

I swallowed a chuckle and nodded.

“Alright.”

I had been wondering how to approach Yuren and build a rapport, so I couldn’t miss this opportunity.

“Ah… Thank you!”

“Speak comfortably. We’re in the same grade.”

“Yeah, got it. I’ll speak comfortably.”

“Are we going to spar here?”

“No. I have a private training ground. Let’s go there. There are too many eyes here.”

Yuren turned his head to look at the murmuring cadets.

Was it because Yuren had arrived?

A moment ago, there were only a few cadets, but now they were gathering as if to fill the training ground.

“Let’s go quickly before more people gather.”

“Yeah.”

As Yuren led the way, the crowd parted like a miracle of the seven gods.

‘Wow, I thought I was getting a lot of attention these days, but being with Yuren is on a whole different level.’

Well, it made sense.

The cadet in front of me was the famous ‘Sword of the Sun’ Reynald Helios’s descendant.

It was only natural for him to receive this much attention.

“This is my training ground.”

“Wow! The facilities are great.”

Though it couldn’t compare to the public training ground in size.

The neatly organized interior, the walls filled with training equipment, the private shower room, and even a sauna.

The facilities were so good that it was embarrassing to compare them to the public training ground.

‘Seeing it in person makes me want it even more.’

I gulped as I looked around Yuren’s private training ground like a country bumpkin who had just arrived in the city.

“How should we spar?”

“However you want.”

“Hmm… How about we start without using magic?”

Yuren suggested in a cautious voice.

‘You must know that I have little magic power.’

In Yuren’s case, he possesses far more magic power than most professors, let alone candidates, so he must have judged that it would be difficult to have a proper match with me using magic power.

‘Well, it’s not wrong.’

Unless I use a sacred mark amplifier.

The difference in simple magic power alone would be more than ten times, so I had no choice but to be at a disadvantage in a duel using magic power.

“Alright, then let’s try it without using magic power first.”

“Thank you.”

I stood in front of Yuren, holding a training wooden sword.

When Yuren manipulated the Hero Watch, a hologram appeared in the center of the training ground.

[Duel mode settings confirmed.]

[5 seconds until the duel starts.]

[4, 3, 2, 1.]

The moment the numbers floating in the air disappeared.

Whoosh!

Yuren and I simultaneously kicked off and dashed.

And then.

* * *

“Huff, huff, huff!”

Yuren collapsed, panting heavily.

“No, no way….”

He trembled as he looked down at his sword lying on the ground in disbelief.

I drank from a nearby water bottle, waiting for Yuren’s shock to subside.

“Dael!”

Yuren suddenly stood up and strode towards me.

He grabbed my hand tightly and shouted in a trembling voice.

“Who, who taught you such swordsmanship?!”

Who else, you idiot.

‘I learned it from you.’