The Last-Seat Hero Has Returned

66. Elixir (2)

The day after I received the magic stone from Professor Elisha.

I contacted Iris and asked for her help.

Without even hearing what I needed, Iris rushed to my dorm room.

“You want me to purify the magic stone?”

“Yes.”

I showed Iris the magic stone inside the box.

The magic stone, about the size of a fist, emitted a sinister and ominous aura unique to dark magic.

“This… seems to be quite a high-grade magic stone.”

Iris lightly frowned as she felt the dense dark magic emanating from the stone.

“It’s a high-grade magic stone.”

“A high-grade magic stone… Where on earth did you get such a precious thing?”

Iris looked at me with wide eyes.

“I helped Professor Elisha with something personal, and I received it as a reward.”

“What on earth did you do to receive a high-grade magic stone as a reward… Gasp!”

Iris grabbed my shoulders with a pale, shocked expression.

“Mr. Dale, you didn’t… have a physical relationship with Professor Elisha to get this, did you?!”

“No.”

What nonsense is this girl spouting all of a sudden?

“It’s not like that.”

“Answer me properly! Look me in the eyes!”

“It’s really not.”

I shook my head slowly while looking straight into Iris’s eyes.

“Hmm.”

Iris, gazing intently into my eyes, as if searching for something.

Was that not enough?

Leaning closer, she began to touch her body here and there, as if kneading some rice cake.

‘What can you learn by touching?’

As I stared at her in disbelief, Iris let out a slightly heated breath and murmured.

“Y-you have more muscle than I expected… Your shoulders are broad… and, um, your chest too.”

“Excuse me?”

Miss Iris?

“Ahem! W-well, you’re saying there was nothing inappropriate with Professor Elisha, right?”

“I swear to the heavens, there was nothing of the sort.”

“Well… I’ll take your word for it.”

Nodding, Iris carefully took out the mana stone from the box.

“So, I just need to purify this mana stone, right?”

“I’d be really grateful if you could.”

“Hehe. Got it.”

“…But are you sure you can handle it?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“I’ve heard that mana stone purification is quite a complex technique.”

In her past life, she could purify mana stones as easily as breathing, but that was all in the past.

I wasn’t sure if she could use the purification technique back when she was a candidate.

“Hehe. Who do you think I am? I’m a saint, you know, a saint.”

With that confidence, Iris pounded her chest, a dynamic movement that seemed to contain the grace of the divine, and my trust in her surged.

“I haven’t done it much, but purifying a mana stone isn’t difficult.”

“Really? Then I’ll leave it to you.”

“Just trust me.”

With a spirited puff of air, Iris ignited her enthusiasm.

She placed the mana stone on the table and slowly closed her eyes.

“O shining seven gods in the heavens.”

With precise movements, she traced the sign of the cross and began to chant the incantation.

“Bestow your grace and purify the unclean energy.”

Wooong!

A pure white halo of light emanated from Iris’s body.

A power so pure and clean that it inspired awe just by looking at it.

Iris clasped her hands together in prayer, drawing forth even more divine power.

The white halo of light flowing from her body formed the shape of a ‘stigmata.’

‘The stigmata of the Sky God.’

It was the stigmata that Iris possessed and the one most commonly used by the candidates in the ‘Support Division.’

‘It’s incredibly vivid, even after all this time.’

Every time Iris used ‘prayer,’ the stigmata of the Sky God naturally appeared, shining with a brilliance that was incomparable to the stigmata used by the priests of the Holy Kingdom.

‘Seeing that, purification should proceed without any issues… Hm?’

At that moment.

An unexpected phenomenon began to occur.

“Haa.”

Iris let out a low breath and opened her eyes.

Her eyes sparkled with a rainbow light.

As the ‘Seven Eyes’ activated, the number of stigmata created in the air increased.

Sun, star, moon, sky, earth, sea, forest.

The seven stigmata created in the air intertwined as if dancing.

‘This is… the power of the Seven Eyes.’

I let out a low exclamation as I watched Iris.

In my previous life, I had seen her use ‘prayer’ countless times, but it was the first time I had seen all seven stigmata appear like this.

‘Well, it’s only natural that it’s the first time.’

In her previous life, she had been deprived of the ‘Seven Eyes’ by the Archduke of Illusions, Ashtaroth, and could not use the power of any stigmata other than the original stigmata of the Sky God.

‘It’s because I changed it.’

Every time I saw the rainbow light in her eyes, an indescribable emotion welled up in my chest.

‘This is not the end.’

Rather, it could be said that this was just the beginning.

There were still many futures I needed to change, besides Iris’s.

‘It seems like instead of decreasing, they are only increasing.’

Recalling Professor Elisha’s face, I gave a bitter smile.

In my previous life, every time new connections that I hadn’t had before increased, I felt more burdened, but it didn’t matter.

Because I had decided to live that way.

Because I had decided to live a life where I lead others, not a life where I am dragged by someone else.

‘To do that, I need to get stronger faster.’

Honestly, even at my current growth rate, it’s hard to find a precedent in history.

But my goals are so high that this level of growth still doesn’t satisfy my thirst.

“Haa, haa. Ugh…”

Iris continued the purification work, sweating coldly.

As if responding to her efforts, the ominous black light that had been flowing from the magic stone gradually began to emit a clear, transparent blue light.

About five more minutes passed like that.

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“Hooah! It’s all done now!”

Iris, drenched in sweat, exhaled heavily and withdrew her power.

As the white light that had filled the room disappeared, her eyes, which had been sparkling with rainbow colors, returned to their original color.

“Good job.”

I handed her a cup of cool water.

Iris, seemingly parched, grabbed the cup and gulped down the water.

“Phew! Check if it worked.”

“Okay.”

When I gently infused magic into the purified magic stone, the faint blue light that had been flowing out became even deeper.

‘Huh? What’s this?’

My eyes widened as I confirmed the magic within the stone.

‘The purity of the magic has increased?’

The magic stone, which had a somewhat disappointing purity compared to its massive amount of magic, had somehow increased in purity after the ‘purification’ work.

“What kind of nonsense is this…”

Just as polishing rusted iron doesn’t turn it into steel, purification work and increasing the purity of magic are originally unrelated tasks.

‘Iris in my previous life couldn’t increase the purity of magic stones with purification either.’

The fact that Iris now could do what the far more skilled Iris of my previous life couldn’t…

‘Is it the influence of the Seven Eyes?’

It was the moment I understood why Ashtaroth had been so obsessed with the ‘Seven Eyes.’

“What do you mean it’s nonsense?”

Iris asked after drinking some water and catching her breath.

“No, it’s just that… upon checking, the purity of the magic power has increased.”

“What? The purity of the magic power has increased?”

Iris widened her eyes as if she didn’t know either.

“You didn’t know?”

“Ah, no. I didn’t know that the ‘Seven Eyes’ had the power to increase the purity of magic. I just thought that using all seven eyes would purify it more thoroughly…”

“……”

Come to think of it, Iris didn’t know much about the ‘Seven Eyes’ either.

‘Well, anyway.’

Good things are good.

Looking at the results alone, it couldn’t have been a better situation.

‘Originally, the purity of the magic power was low, so it was rated as high-grade… now it might be rated as top-grade?’

Even high-grade magic stones are expensive, costing at least 5 million gold, but top-grade magic stones…

‘If I use this to make an elixir…’

Gulp.

A dry swallow went down my throat.

A thrilling shiver spread through my entire body.

“Saintess!”

I grabbed her hands and shook them up and down.

“Ah. D-Dale…”

Iris blushed and trailed off.

Iris waited calmly until my excitement subsided, then opened her mouth with a beautiful smile.

“I’m glad the work went well.”

“Thank you so much.”

“Hehe. I’m happy to have been of help to you, Dale.”

“Ah.”

How can our saintess speak so beautifully!

“By the way, Dale.”

“Yes?”

“Surely, you don’t think a simple thank you will suffice, do you?”

Iris, her eyes sparkling, looked at me.

A mischievous smile had already formed on her lips.

“Is there something you want? I’ll do anything I can.”

Having turned a high-grade magic stone into a top-grade one, what request couldn’t I fulfill?

“Really? You just said you’d do anything, right?”

“Yes.”

“Are you really going to do anything I ask?”

“Y-yes.”

What is this?

Suddenly, I had a bad feeling.

“Hehe. In that case….”

Iris rummaged through her bag and pulled out a headband with dog ears attached.

“Tada!”

“Wait a minute.”

Why on earth do you carry something like that in your bag?

“Hehe. It’s a headband I gave to the kids as a gift during the sealing ceremony.”

“No, I mean, why do you carry it around?”

“I thought there might be an opportunity like this someday!”

An opportunity like this…?

Wait. Could it be that the request is….

“Please wear this headband and pretend to be a dog!”

“Alright. This magic stone is going to be disposed of.”

“Ah! W-what are you doing!”

Of course, I didn’t actually break the magic stone.

“You want me to wear this and pretend to be a dog?”

“Yes!”

Iris nodded her head with a bright smile.

‘Ah.’

Suddenly, memories of my past life flashed through my mind.

“Now that I think about it, I always had this kind of taste.”

It was one of the plays she often requested during our intimate moments in a past life.

Back then, her eyes were hidden, so I didn’t wear a headband, but who would have thought it would come to this?

“You promised to do anything I could ask, right?”

“Ugh.”

“Or are you telling me you lied to me?”

“…….”

Damn it.

I accepted the dog-ear headband she offered, sensing there was no escape.

* * *

“…Lately, Dale hasn’t been around.”

A private training hall that one could only apply to if they ranked within the top 50 of the year-end evaluations or made a hefty donation.

In the midst of this elite facility, a young man with blonde hair stared blankly into the void.

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“Haah.”

Yuren let out a sigh so deep it felt like the earth would swallow him whole, turning on his Hero Watch to check the message history he had shared with Dale.

Two days ago.

[Let’s train together today.]

[I have something else to do, so I think it’ll be tough today.]

One day ago.

[Busy again today?]

[Professor Elisha called for me, so I have to go there. Sorry.]

And today.

[Um… how about today?]

[Ah, sorry. I have a prior engagement with Iris, so it seems difficult again.]

“…….”

For the past few days, Dale had been too busy to train with him.

“…I praised him for doing well.”

Yuren pressed his toes against the floor of the training hall, feeling frustrated for no reason.

As he spent his time idly, not practicing swordsmanship, a sudden, brilliant idea flickered through his mind.

‘Should I go visit Dale’s room?’

Although I had an appointment with Iris today, well, as long as I’m not staying overnight, wouldn’t he come back if I waited in front of his door?

“Ahem. Yes, yes. I’m just going to see his face! Friends can do that, right?”

Yuren headed to Dale’s dormitory room with an excited step.

“Let’s see… He said it was definitely the C building dormitory, right?”

It was a cheap dormitory mainly used by cadets attending school on a national scholarship.

“…It’s really old.”

Compared to the A building dormitory where he was staying now, it looked like a building in a slum.

‘There it is.’

He found the door by the room number Dale had told him before and stood in front of it.

“I’ll wait here until he comes back… huh?”

At that moment.

A barking sound came from inside the door.

‘A dog?’

Of course.

Keeping pets in the dormitory was against the school rules.

‘Could it be that Dale is secretly raising a dog?’

If someone else passed by and heard this sound, Dale would be in trouble.

In the worst case, he could get penalty points for violating the school rules.

‘He already got a zero this time!’

He couldn’t let it go to minus points.

Yuren opened the door to take out the dog Dale was secretly raising before anyone noticed.

And what he saw in front of him was.

“Woof woof.”

Dale, imitating a dog with a dog ear headband on.

“…….”

The reunion with his friend was the worst.