The Last Place Hero's Return

By the time the excitement and nervous tension of the new semester had begun to fade, the fourth-year curriculum proved every bit as brutal as the rumors had promised. From basic physical conditioning to full-scale combat drills, the classes were designed with one clear assumption in mind: that next year, we would leave this academy and live as heroes. The training was so intense that it sometimes felt harsher than what active-duty heroes endured.

However, while that level of intensity could crush the average cadet, for those of us already considered stronger than average active heroes, like Yurina, Iris, Camilla, and me, it felt underwhelming and boring.

A temptation slid through my mind, sweet and persuasive. I could probably get more out of personal training back at the party house right now. However, I shook that thought away immediately.

No, no. Get it together! I can’t end up in last place again!

Just as I was wrestling down the urge to slack off, Professor Kane said, “Alright. As previously announced, today’s class will be a party session.”

The moment he uttered the words “party session,” groans erupted across the lecture hall.

“Ugh!”

“It’s finally here.”

“N-no! If this keeps up, I’m headed straight for the random draw again!”

“It’s been long enough since the semester began,” the professor continued, scanning the room. “Surely, you all have at least a few potential party members in mind?”

Of course, everyone did. The problem was whether their preferred member had them in mind. Before long, the room’s collective gaze settled on Yurina, Iris, and Morris. It felt like I could hear their thoughts.

“If we’re talking pure skill, Yuren is the obvious first pick.”

“Iris and Camilla are practically a package deal. If you can persuade Iris to join, you’re basically catching two rabbits at once.”

“Morris is second to Yuren, but he was last year’s runner-up, wasn’t he?”

“Second place is still impressive!”

“Second place is still impressive!”

Like predators hunting prey, everyone’s eyes gleamed as they searched for ideal party candidates. In the heat of that charged atmosphere, one corner remained conspicuously cold. There was no need to say it aloud. It was the seat of the eternal last-place cadet. A familiar loneliness, one I had known all too well in my previous life, tightened around my chest.

For fuck’s sake. I’m the only one getting ignored again? Damn it.

Sure, I hadn’t gone all out in class lately. But I had still been breezing through the material. Everyone in this room knew I wasn’t actually last-place material. No, maybe that was exactly why they treated me this way.

The gap between my actual ability and my academic ranking was so wide that people had started assuming, “Wow, this crazy guy must be doing everything he can to deliberately cling to last place.”

In other words, I had been branded a troll. This was a miserable situation. I wanted to shout that I hadn’t tanked my grades on purpose. Did they have any idea how much effort I had put into trying to shake off this damn last-place label?

Wait, now that I think about it, I didn’t really try that hard.

While it was not like I had deliberately failed, I hadn’t exactly worked myself to the bone chasing top scores either. My goal wasn’t valedictorian or runner-up. I just wanted to escape last place, which meant I hadn’t felt the need to go that far.

Of course, I was still in last place currently. But it would be different now. This semester, I would definitely escape this hell.

Professor Kane clicked his tongue as he surveyed us. “Judging by your faces, it seems none of you finalized your party members. I told you from the very first day to think ahead about who you’d team up with.”

“Ugh!” Someone groaned.

The professor continued, “Then I’ll give you thirty minutes to form your parties. Anyone who fails to find one by then will be assigned randomly. Understood?”

The cadets were flustered.

“W-wait a minute, Professor!”

“Thirty minutes is too short!”

A smirk tugged at Professor Kane’s lips. “Too short? At a mercenary guild, you’d have to assemble a party and secure a contract in far less time, you brats.”

“The mercenary guild is...”

Professor Kane stared at the cadets. “What? Think you’ll never set foot in one? You probably assume only second-rate heroes end up there. Let me enlighten you. More than half of you sitting in this room will begin your hero careers at a mercenary guild.”

The lecture hall chilled as though someone had doused it in cold water.

“No way!”

“Starting as a mercenary is a bit much.”

Professor Kane laughed openly. “Ha! You’re in your fourth year and still haven’t woken up? When you graduate and march up to a major guild or a government office with nothing but your shiny new hero license, do you know what the first thing they’ll say is? ‘Hmm, your credentials are fine, but you don’t have any experience.’ That’s what, you idiots.”

Some cadets weren’t convinced.

“But we’ll have just graduated! Of course, we won’t have experience!”

“Exactly. Yet, those places will demand prior field experience first,” the professor replied.

“If even entry positions require it, where are rookie heroes supposed to gain experience?”

“I already told you.” Professor Kane turned and wrote the word “Mercenary Guild” on the board. “You build it here. Still not getting it? If you don’t want to start as a mercenary, you’d better have stellar grades, an exceptional resume, or a powerful family backing.”

He let out a low chuckle. “Now then, how many of you meet even one of those three conditions?”

A heavy silence settled over the classroom. Faced with the wall of reality looming before them, the cadets could only sigh in quiet despair.

“I’ll be back in thirty minutes.” With a scrape, Professor Kane slid the door open and left the room.

The moment he did so, the lecture hall descended into chaos. The air grew so heated it felt more like a battlefield than a lecture hall.

“A-anyone wants to team up with me?”

“Is there anyone here ranked in the top 100 overall?”

“Support types! Find the support types first!”

I let out a dry laugh as I scanned the pandemonium. “What a mess.”

For a guy who looked like a gorilla, the professor sure knew how to handle people. There was a reason he had survived so long as a professor. Anyway, it was about time I looked for a party too.

Not a single cadet had approached me to suggest teaming up, even in this frenzy, but it didn’t matter. I already had party members more reliable than anyone else here. With a faint grin, I looked at Yurina, Iris, and Camilla. With them, I wasn’t part of some flimsy, classroom-only mock party. We were bound by something closer to family, which gave me an advantage. I smiled like a victor as I glanced at the cadets wearing expressions of growing despair over their lack of options.

Call me names, ignore me all you want. I already have a party I can entrust my life to. Heh. Let’s see. Yurina, Iris, Camilla, and me—that makes four. Who should we take for the last spot?

Mulling it over, I walked toward Iris. “So, you’re all here.”

Yurina and Camilla were already gathered around her.

“Has anyone thought about who to fill the last spot?” I asked.

Iris tilted her head. “Hm? What do you mean, the last spot?”

“Well, there’s Yuren, Camilla, you, and me. That’s four.”

“Hm? I don’t recall ever saying I’d form a party with you, Dale,” she replied.

“What? W-what do you mean? You’re not teaming up with me?”

“I’m planning to team up with Yuren and Camilla. As for you, Dale, hmm. What should we do?”

“Hey.”

Why are you suddenly doing this to me?

“We teamed up for the final evaluation last year!” I murmured.

Iris shrugged, a sly smile curling her lips. “That was last year.”

“Don’t tell me... You’re not seriously thinking of forming a party without me?” I said in desperation.

“Hmm, who knows? I’m not sure there’s a spot left for a certain someone who won’t even agree to an engagement, let alone marriage.”

So, that’s what this is about?

“I-I told you we’d talk about that after graduation,” I replied.

“Mmm. Yes, you did.” Iris crossed her arms leisurely and nodded. “While someone watches her boyfriend keep adding more and more women to his life and feels so anxious that she’d at least like to secure an engagement, he doesn’t spare even a speck of understanding and tells her to wait an entire year.”

She waved her hand dismissively, as if shooing away a fly. “Perhaps you should try waiting too, Dale. See if any other cadets approach you about forming a party.”

“Uh, S-Saintess,” I called out meekly.

“Oh my! You won’t even call me Iris anymore?”

Should I just get down on my knees right here?

“Then how about this?” Iris rose from her seat and stepped closer. She leaned in close, whispering near my ear, her warm breath brushing against my skin. “As a condition for letting you join the party, how about granting me one wish, whatever it may be?”

A single wish in exchange for a spot in the party. I had absolutely no idea what kind of wish she had in mind. But what choice did I have? If I didn’t join this party, I would be stuck with a random draw. So, I said, “Alright.”

“Hehe. It’s a promise?” Iris pulled back with a playful wink.

“But what kind of wish...” I tried to ask.

“Shh. Let’s save that for when the time comes.”

I have a very bad feeling about this.

“H-hey, that’s not fair, Iris! I want one too!” Yurina said.

“Oh my! Are you sure you want to say that looking like that?”

Yurina, who had puffed out her cheeks to protest, suddenly stiffened as she realized she was in her Yuren disguise.

Iris continued, “Hehe. Yurina, ah, I mean Yuren, maybe next time. It’s nice when we’re all together, but isn’t it more fun to be alone with Dale?”

“Well, that’s true, but...”

“Don’t worry. I’ll use him well and return him safely.”

“Ugh. Fine.”

What am I, some rental item? Use me well and return me? The retort rising from the depths of my chest never made it past my lips. Well, what could I say? I brought this on myself.

“Let’s finish forming the party,” I said.

“Then who should we take for the last spot? Jules? Or maybe Albert again, like last time?”

I scanned the classroom, deep in thought. “Hmm. Who would be best?”

At that moment, a cadet approached us. It was a boy with jet-black hair, dark as polished obsidian. “Hey, Dale. Got a spot left in your party?”

Morris Jin, the runner-up of our year and the adopted son of the Falling Petal Sword Khalid Han, glanced over the group and smiled faintly. “If you’ve got room, mind if I join?”