The Lowest-Ranked Hero Has Returned

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Chapter 151: The Cadet Disappearance Case (5)

A room blanketed in darkness.

A man sat in a room that reeked of stale mold.

He bit his lip as he gazed at a radiant blue liquid inside a glass bottle.

"Just one more... just one more to go...."

A pair of ominous eyes gleamed in the dark.

His voice, twisted with obsession and madness, echoed through the dilapidated room.

The man took out an old, worn photo album from his pocket.

A photograph of a young man with bright red hair was tucked inside, smiling warmly.

"We'll finally achieve... our dream."

The man gripped the photo album, his eyes closed, his hand trembling slightly.

But only for a moment.

His gaze shifted to a stone on the table.

This one glimmered with a dark, gloomy light unlike ordinary magic stones.

A flicker of conflict crossed his eyes as he stared at the stone.

While he remained frozen, staring at the stone—

Sssss. Sss.

The sound of something slithering across the floor was followed by a white snake climbing up the chair where he sat.

A woman’s voice slipped out from the snake's mouth, its long tongue flickering.

"Could you really be hesitating now?"

A sweet whisper lingered at his ear.

The man bit his lip, finally speaking.

"I told you not to enter the lab."

“Oh my, how frightening.”

The white snake let out a giggle, slowly coiling around his neck.

"Don’t forget. Don’t hesitate. Don’t be afraid."

The snake continued its whisper.

"After all, there’s a goal you must achieve, isn’t there?"

"......"

The man closed his eyes firmly and sealed his lips.

Yes.

He had a goal he had to achieve, no matter the cost.

‘We will save the world with our own hands.’

Tucking the worn photo album back into his pocket, the man slowly stood up.

* * *

"...Are we sure this is okay?"

Sophia chuckled wryly, looking at Laios, who was unconscious.

I shrugged as I looked back at her.

"It's not like talking would have made him cooperate, anyway."

"Well, that's true..."

Sophia pressed her hand to her forehead, as if she had a headache, then sighed and nodded.

"Fine. You installed the tracking magic device, right?"

"Yes. Now we just wait for the fish to bite."

Leaving the unconscious Laios behind, I returned to the annex café with Berald and Senior Sophia.

Gathered around the table, we activated the tracking magic, creating an illuminated Hero Academy map with a yellow dot blinking on it.

"With this, we can monitor Laios’ location and condition."

"......"

Sophia squinted at the tracking magic I’d cast, then turned to me with a question.

"Where did you learn magic like that?"

"Pardon?"

"This tracking magic, the mana-blocking barrier from before... these aren't spells a combat cadet should know."

She stared at me, clearly surprised that my magic skills were this advanced.

I held back a smirk at her question.

'Who else would I have learned it from?'

Seeing her curious look, I spoke softly.

"I learned it from the continent's greatest magician."

"The continent's greatest magician?"

"Yes."

"Hah."

Sophia scoffed, narrowing her eyes.

"Ridiculous. Do you mean Professor Jade is the continent’s greatest magician?"

"Pardon?"

"I admit Professor Jade is skilled—he's a descendant of the 'Great Sage,' after all. But to call someone who couldn’t even protect his own student the 'greatest magician' of the continent seems a bit much, doesn’t it?"

"......"

Looks like she’s seriously mistaken.

I suppose it makes sense that she'd assume I meant Professor Jade, since she doesn’t know I’m a regressor.

"That was a slip of the tongue. I apologize."

"Sigh... no, sorry for snapping."

Sophia placed a hand on her chest as if to calm herself, taking a brief sigh.

Watching her, Berald stroked his chin, speaking up.

"Hmm. Was there some kind of trouble between Senior Sophia and Professor Jade?"

"......"

Sophia stiffened, her expression hardening.

She averted her gaze, answering coolly.

"No, nothing happened."

"It didn’t seem that way. You got pretty worked up as soon as Professor Jade was mentioned."

"...That’s none of your business."

"Heh. Judging from your reaction, there must have been something."

Berald chuckled, trying to lighten the mood.

But it seemed to backfire.

"You're a bit arrogant, aren't you?"

Sophia glared at him with a colder gaze.

"Why should you care what happened between me and Professor Jade? Who are you to meddle?"

"Hmm. I apologize if it seemed that way."

"Mind your own business."

Turning away coldly, Sophia fell silent.

Berald, however, spoke softly, looking at her.

"Still, I’d like to know what happened."

"You...!"

"I once felt the same."

He smiled faintly, looking out the window at the sky.

"I lived bottling up my sadness and suppressing my anger, thinking it was the wise way to live."

"......"

"But looking back now, I realize that wasn’t the case."

With a slight, bitter smile, Berald glanced in my direction.

"No matter how painful or distressing it may be, confiding in someone eased my heart."

"What would you know."

"I don’t. I don’t know what kind of story Senior Sophia carries, or what emotions she's keeping locked away. I’m not that clever, so I probably wouldn’t understand, even if you told me."

But.

Even so.

"If I can, I'd like to be there for you, Senior Sophia."

Berald smiled at her warmly.

"After all, we’re not 'strangers,' we're in the same party, aren’t we?"

"......"

Sophia’s eyes trembled slightly.

Taken aback, she quickly averted her gaze from Berald.

"Hmph, such arrogance from a junior."

"Heh. My apologies."

"...Hmph."

Sophia scoffed slightly, clenching her fist.

"...I had an older brother."

Her voice was low as she began to speak.

"He was always pointlessly strong, loud, and meddling... just like you."

She looked at Berald with a bittersweet smile.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

“My brother enrolled in the Department of Magic, and then suddenly decided he wanted to research Stigma. He went to Professor Jade... and then…”

A dark shadow crossed Sophia’s face.

“No way… that candidate who got caught in an accident during Professor Jade’s magical research two years ago…”

“That’s right. That was my brother.”

“……”

Berald closed his mouth firmly and looked down.

He wanted to offer some words of comfort, but he couldn’t think of what to say.

After a long moment of hesitation, he finally managed an apology.

“…I’m sorry for asking about something so painful.”

“Weren’t you just telling me a moment ago that opening up is good for the soul?”

Sophia asked, letting out a wry chuckle.

“I… I didn’t think it was something this serious!”

“Pfft.”

Watching Berald break into a cold sweat, Sophia chuckled softly.

“…You were right, though.”

With a faint smile, her expression relaxed, as if a weight had been lifted.

Just as the tense atmosphere returned to normal—

Beep! Beep! Beep!

The yellow dot on the tracking spell hovering in midair started blinking rapidly.

“What’s happening?”

“Senior Laios is being pulled somewhere fast.”

I quickly stood up, watching the yellow dot move rapidly into the distance.

The location was the wooded hill behind the academy, where I’d once roamed looking for seven-star grass infused with mana on an errand for Professor Jade.

“Let’s go!”

Sophia, Berald, and I sprinted toward the hill behind the academy.

* * *

Three figures were racing through the dense undergrowth in the thick woods behind the academy at high speed.

To be precise, two of them were racing swiftly, while the third was gasping for breath, falling behind.

“Hah… Hah!”

“Get on my back!”

“What? Kyah!”

Seeing Sophia lagging, Berald hefted her onto his shoulder and resumed his strong, fast strides.

“Hey, let me down!”

“It’s hard to run if you keep squirming!”

“Ugh…”

Sophia bit her lip and leaned quietly against Berald’s back.

After running for a while longer, they finally saw him—a masked man standing over the collapsed, unconscious figure of Laios.

“Brother Laios!”

Berald was the first to rush toward Laios.

“Hyaah!”

As he ran, Berald conjured a mana bullet and hurled it at the masked man.

The man raised his hand, forming a blue barrier in front of him.

Then—

Whoosh!

The mana bullet, flying straight ahead, abruptly curved mid-air.

It was like a picture-perfect curveball.

“……!”

Hurriedly, the masked man rotated his blue barrier to intercept the mana bullet.

Boom!

An intense explosion echoed out, far louder than one would expect from a simple mana bullet.

But—

“…Tch.”

The blue barrier hadn’t even been scratched.

Realizing his opponent wasn’t an ordinary magician, Berald gritted his teeth and adjusted his stance.

“Stay back.”

Sophia stepped forward, pointing her staff at the masked man.

Woooong!

Red mana flickered at the tip of her staff.

“Explosion Spear!”

The mana gathered into a long spear shape and shot toward the man.

“……”

Watching the red spear imbued with intense mana, the masked man formed a hand seal.

Though it was an inefficient way to cast magic, only useful when stealth wasn’t necessary—

Zap! Zap! Zap!

Blue light extended from the man’s hands, intertwining and creating a beautiful fractal pattern, filling the air.

The red mana spear charging toward him shattered into countless fragments.

“Ugh…!”

Sophia took a step back, swallowing hard.

“……”

“……”

In the silence that followed, her gaze locked with the masked man’s.

Looking between Laios’s unconscious form on the ground and our party with a conflicted expression, the masked man clicked his tongue in frustration and turned to flee.

Just as he turned to leave—

“Haa…”

I let out a deep sigh and stepped in front of him.

Staring him down with a weighted gaze, I spoke in a low voice.

“What are you doing here, Professor Jade?”

“……”

The man’s shoulders trembled involuntarily.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]