The Last-Seat Hero Has Returned

69. In Search of the Cursed Sword (1)

“You want to go on a ruin exploration?”

The professor’s office was quite neatly organized, contrary to the owner’s appearance, which looked like he lived in a tent in the wild.

A burly man with rough hair like a lion’s mane stared at me with fierce eyes.

“Yes. I would like to get a temporary hero certificate and a 2-night, 3-day outing permit starting Friday afternoon.”

“Huh…”

Professor Lucas let out a low sigh.

He frowned as if he had a headache.

“Do you have any experience in ruin exploration?”

“No, I don’t.”

In reality, I had experience attacking hundreds of ruins, but I couldn’t tell the truth.

“A guy with no exploration experience wants to explore ruins? Do you even know what ruins are, kid?”

“Of course I do.”

A place called ruins or dungeons.

During the Demon War 500 years ago… no, even much earlier, it was a space transformed by the power of various transcendents, including the Demon King.

Some places had time flowing differently.

Some places had gravity working in reverse.

In some places, lava and glaciers flowed together.

The ruins were places where supernatural phenomena that transcended the laws of physics occurred.

‘Of course, such twisted places are extremely rare.’

Most of the ruins were just a few wandering beasts or a couple of traps.

“Are you planning to go to the ruins? As you know, undiscovered ruins are off-limits with a temporary hero license.”

“I’m planning to go to the ‘Cave of Red Tears’ west of Valhalla City.”

“Ah, that place.”

Professor Lucas nodded as if he knew the place well.

Despite its eerie name, the ruins were rated as C-grade in terms of danger, making it an ordinary ruin.

“But it’s been decades since it was discovered, so there won’t be much there except a few beasts.”

“I’m going to catch those beasts. You said before that experience is the most important thing in real combat, right?”

“Hmm.”

Professor Lucas swallowed his words and looked at me with suspicious eyes.

“You… don’t have some other scheme, do you?”

“……”

Damn it.

This guy only gets sharp at times like this.

‘It seems like he won’t give permission easily.’

While I was contemplating whether to go to Professor Elisha instead of Professor Lucas.

“You know that cadet ruin exploration applications require a party of at least five people, right?”

“…Yes, I know.”

“Who are you planning to take with you?”

“Um. Probably Iris or….”

“Of course, you rascal!”

Professor Lucas burst into laughter as he stood up.

“Lately, it seems like you’ve been hanging out with Cadet Iris a lot. Are you planning to use the ruin exploration as an excuse to spend the night together?”

“……”

I take back what I said about him being sharp.

“Hehehe. Anyway, you rascal, you really are a man. Do you think I wouldn’t know? Back in my cadet days, I was called the Casanova of Valhalla….”

“By the way, how are things going with Professor Bianca these days?”

“Wh-why, Professor Bianca, all of a sudden?”

Professor Lucas stammered, his face showing confusion.

“No. Our plan to have a cozy date during the sealing ceremony was completely ruined by the monster incident.”

“Ugh…!”

“Haha. Don’t make that face, there will be another chance soon.”

“……”

Professor Lucas tightly shut his mouth and turned his head away from my gaze.

Seeing that sullen expression, it seemed his relationship with Professor Bianca wasn’t going well recently.

I swallowed a laugh and opened my mouth.

“So, will you issue the permit?”

“Well… It’s not like the ruins have a high danger rating, so there’s no reason to stop you. But…”

Originally, exploring the ruins was a mandatory course in the ‘Practical Combat Training’ class for third and fourth-year cadets.

It was like going for a preview, so there was no reason to stop them.

Of course, there had been cases where cadets exploring the ruins on their own had suffered casualties.

“As you know, the school does not take any responsibility for casualties that occur outside the school.”

This place was not a typical educational institution, but a hero school that trained heroes to fight on the front lines of humanity.

Even if they were cadets, they were transcendents who had received stigmata from the seven gods.

The responsibility for their choices lay with them.

“I understand.”

I answered quietly, meeting Professor Lucas’s sharp gaze head-on.

Professor Lucas nodded and took out a few papers from his drawer.

“Alright. Then submit the consent forms from your party members.”

“Yes.”

I took the consent forms from Professor Lucas and left the office.

* * *

A few days after submitting all the consent forms.

I stood in front of the school gate on Friday afternoon, waiting for the party members who would join this ruin exploration.

There were still about 30 minutes left until the promised meeting time.

“Ah, you were here first, Dale.”

Yuren, who spotted me, waved and approached.

I waved my hand towards Yuren and greeted him.

“I just got here too.”

“Haha. Dale, did you come out early because you were excited too?”

“Well, not exactly….”

It wouldn’t look good if the person who gathered the exploration party was late.

“By the way, suddenly an exploration of the ruins… I honestly never imagined Dale would suggest something like that.”

“Is this your first time exploring ruins?”

“Well… I went with my family before I entered school, but this is my first time since I started school.”

Indeed.

Unless it was for a class, it was rare for a cadet to voluntarily sign up for an exploration of ruins, where you never know what might happen.

“Don’t be too nervous.”

“Haha. Nervous? I’m actually thrilled to be able to go on my first ruins exploration with you, Dale.”

Yuren smiled brightly like an excited child before a picnic.

‘Well, from Yuren’s perspective, the Cave of Red Tears must really feel like a picnic.’

From noble mtl dot com

Yuren, who possessed strength stronger than most professors, had no reason to fear ruins that were only rated C in danger.

‘Even if you’re strong, you should never let your guard down during a ruins exploration.’

There was no need to put pressure on him before we even entered the ruins.

“…By the way, Iris is coming today too, right?”

“Oh, yeah. Of course, I called her.”

“…….”

Yuren frowned, looking displeased.

But only for a moment.

Yuren sighed deeply and nodded.

“Well… we do need someone from the support department.”

“Who said you needed me?”

Speak of the devil.

Iris, who had arrived before we knew it, turned to Yuren with a smirk.

“At least you know that having someone from the support department is essential for the party composition.”

“That’s something we all learn in first-year classes.”

Yuren, who seemed to have sensed Iris approaching, turned towards her without any surprise and continued speaking.

“But isn’t there a difference between being essential to the party composition and actually being helpful? Especially in low-grade ruins like these, support classes often end up being so-called ‘excess baggage.'”

“Oh my, it seems you haven’t learned that parties that treat support classes as excess baggage don’t last long before they’re annihilated?”

“That’s just a saying, just a saying. Do you really think the great ‘Saint’ would just ride along without doing anything?”

“Hohoho.”

“Hahaha.”

No.

Why are you two fighting again as soon as you meet?

As I shook my head watching Yuren and Iris exchange sharp words,

“…Haa.”

I saw Camilla, with dark circles under her eyes, sighing in exhaustion.

“Did you not sleep well last night?”

“Ugh… It’s all because of you!”

“No.”

What did I do?

“Do you have any idea how much trouble I went through because you suddenly started talking nonsense about exploring ruins?”

Camilla continued, glaring at me with eyes that looked like they could kill me on the spot.

“The Saint insisted she had to go no matter what… The Holy Kingdom was in an uproar, saying they absolutely couldn’t allow it… Haa. I’m the only one stuck in the middle…”

“Uh, well.”

Now that I think about it, I did do something to feel a bit guilty about.

“So, did you get permission from the Holy Kingdom?”

“I barely managed to convince them that it was a preview of a regular course.”

“Good job.”

“Haa. What a hassle…”

Camilla sighed again, her face full of fatigue.

“Well, it will actually be helpful, so don’t be too hard on yourself.”

The reason I insisted on bringing Iris and Yuren on this ruin exploration was to give them ‘real-world’ experience.

‘There’s a limit to how much you can improve just by training.’

Besides the goal of finding the magic sword, this ruin exploration also aimed to raise the level of my comrades.

“Now we just need one more person.”

I checked the promised time, looking at Yuren, Iris, and Camilla.

There was one minute left until the promised meeting time.

It was about time for the last party member to arrive.

“By the way, who did you call for the last spot?”

Yuren asked, tilting his head in curiosity.

Before I could answer, Iris spoke up first.

“Isn’t it Juliet?”

“Juliet?”

“She’s Dale’s friend. We met her once before.”

“Oh, right. The candidate from that prominent family in the Republic, right?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Hmm. I’ve heard her reputation isn’t that great.”

Yuren frowned, recalling the rumors he’d heard about Juliet.

“They say she messes around with the new female candidates…”

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about that. Those are just false rumors.”

Iris shook her head with an awkward smile.

“Actually, she’s not interested in women… Ahem. Anyway! She’s definitely not the type to mess with female candidates.”

“Really?”

I looked back at Iris and Yuren, who were chatting as if they had never argued, and opened my mouth.

“I think you guys are mistaken. The last party member isn’t Juliet.”

“What?”

“Then who is it?”

Yuren and Iris looked at me with wide eyes.

Before I could reveal the name of the last party member.

“Heyyyyyyyyy!”

Thud! Thud! Thud!

With a heavy sound that seemed to shake the ground, a giant over two meters tall came running at full speed.

“Hahaha! Sorry I’m late, brother! I had so much stuff to pack that it took me a while to get ready!”

Thud!

Barreld, who let out a hearty laugh, dropped his bulging backpack to the ground.

“…What on earth did you pack so much stuff for?”

“Well, I packed everything I could think of: food, drinks, and things we need for sleeping…”

“Hey, you crazy fool. The backpack alone looks like it weighs over 100 kilos, and you plan to carry it on an expedition?”

“Ah, don’t worry! I’ve cast a ‘Levitation’ spell on it, so there’s no need to worry about the weight!”

Barreld lifted the backpack, which looked like it weighed over 100 kilos, with just his pinky finger and grinned.

“See? It’s light as a feather, isn’t it?”

“……”

I looked at Yuren, Iris, and Camilla, who were all frozen with dumbfounded expressions, and spoke.

“You all saw that, right?”

This guy is our fifth party member.