The Last-Seat Hero Has Returned

88. Maid Outfits Ride the Person (2)

Yurina’s touch landed on my shoulder.

I could feel her hand trembling slightly, as if she were nervous, gripping my shoulder.

Though her hands appeared soft, the calluses embedded in her palm were unmistakable upon contact.

How desperately must she have swung her sword to develop such calluses?

As those thoughts swirled in my mind, trying to deny reality, a voice broke through.

“Um, how is it? M-Master?”

A cautious voice tickled my ear.

“Uh? Uh-oh. I feel good.”

I nodded dumbly, unable to bring myself to look back.

If Rozanna saw me like this, she’d probably wonder, ‘Is that the same guy from back then?’

‘What can I do?’

The companion I had known for hundreds, thousands of years, who I thought was a man (though physically, he truly was a man back then), was actually a woman, now dressed in a maid outfit, kneading my shoulders and shyly calling me ‘Master.’

‘What kind of ridiculous situation is this?’

My mind was a tangled mess, and I couldn’t even tell where it all began.

“Alright, that’s enough, right? Hurry back and change your clothes.”

“Huh? Already?”

Yurina, who had been massaging my shoulders, pouted her lips in disappointment.

“…You let your mother wear it all night.”

“No, that was just to mess with that lady.”

“Seems like Dale enjoyed it quite a bit, though?”

“……”

Well, if we’re being honest, I did enjoy it.

“Ahem.”

Suddenly, the image of Berald popping his thumb up and shouting, ‘Welcome to the microcosm, brother!’ flashed in my mind.

‘Get out of my head, you demon!’

As I continued my fierce battle against the torment (Berald) swirling in my thoughts.

“See? Dale says no with his mouth, but his body is honest, huh?”

“Where did you pick up such a blonde punk line…”

“Ugh.”

Yurina, who had been kneading my shoulders, wrapped her arms around my neck from behind.

Unlike Iris, who boasted overwhelming softness, this felt like a bouncy rubber ball encircling my nape.

“Master… are you really going to stop here?”

Her enchanting whisper echoed sweetly in my ear.

Just as I was about to shake my head against the rising desire.

Beep.

[Candidate Iris, access rights confirmed.]

A faint mechanical hum drifted in from outside the door.

“……!”

“……!”

Yurina recoiled from me, her eyes wide with shock.

Her gaze was filled with questions about why Iris had access, but there was no time to explain that now.

“Yuri, no, Yuren! Quickly, to the changing room!”

“Uh, okay!”

Yurina’s silver hair flew behind her as she dashed into the changing room with dazzling speed.

Bang!

The door to the changing room slammed shut just as—

“Mr. Dale~ Are you still training? I brought a lunchbox, so you should eat something.”

The door to the training hall swung open, and Iris stepped in.

“Wow, you’re here?”

I waved at Iris with an awkward smile.

“Yes. By the way… where’s Yuren?”

Iris looked around, searching for Yuren.

Click.

The changing room door opened, revealing Yuren, panting heavily.

“Haha. I was wondering who it was, and it turns out Iris brought a lunchbox?”

“I brought one for you too, Yuren.”

“Thank you.”

Yuren wiped the cold sweat from her forehead, letting out a sigh of relief.

At that moment—

“But… what’s that in Yuren’s hand?”

“……!”

Only then did Yuren realize she was still holding the freshly changed maid outfit in her hand.

In her flurry, she must have forgotten to put it away after changing.

“A maid outfit? Why are you holding a maid outfit?”

“Um… well, you see, this is….”

The personal training hall.

Two men, breathless and panting.

A maid’s outfit clutched in one hand.

Suspicious, very suspicious.

“Y-you two aren’t seriously….”

As Iris’s expression gradually hardened.

“It was D-Dale who asked!”

“What?”

Yuren’s swift declaration of severance.

I turned to him, my face a mask of shock, but I was a moment too late to stop the bombshell that followed.

“He asked if I could get him just one maid outfit that our family uses!”

“…Dale did?”

“Yeah! He has this unique taste for dressing girls in maid outfits and calling them ‘Master’!”

“W-what?!”

No.

‘Hey, you crazy b*stard!!!’

I screamed inwardly, glaring at Yuren… no, Yurina.

Yurina averted her gaze, clearing her throat awkwardly.

“S-so, Dale has that, um, preference?”

Iris looked back at me with trembling eyes.

In her gaze, I could see the undeniable anguish and hesitation.

“That’s not it….”

“If that’s not it, then what’s the reason for asking a friend to get a maid outfit?”

“…….”

How could I explain?

Yuren was actually a girl, and I had somehow saved her from being forcibly turned into a man. I couldn’t stand the sight of Rozanna Helios, the instigator of the incident, brushing everything off as if nothing had happened. So, I forced her into a maid outfit, treating her like a slave, and humiliating her. Then suddenly, Yurina brought a maid outfit and declared she wanted to be treated like a slave too, making it a mother-daughter slave declaration. Even if that was true, I was stubbornly thinking, “If you want it that badly, I’ll humiliate you just like I did your mother, you little brat, ha ha ha!” when Iris walked in, and this is how it turned out.

“Um… so.”

As I sorted through my thoughts, I smiled brightly and spoke.

“I actually like maids.”

I don’t even know anymore, damn it.

Let’s just say I like them.

“To think Mr. Dale had such a taste… Hah! Could it be…?”

Iris flinched, her shoulders trembling as her eyes widened in surprise.

“That maid outfit… Were you planning to make me wear it?”

“What?”

Why is the conversation going this way again?

“To think you wanted to dress the saint of the Holy Kingdom in a maid outfit and treat her like a slave… Hmph. If the people of the Holy Kingdom found out, it would be a scandal of blasphemy!”

A mischievous smile crept onto Iris’s face as she raised the corners of her lips.

She snatched the maid outfit from Yuren and held it up to her neck.

“Hmm. The chest area seems a bit small; I think it might need some alterations.”

“…Small? That?”

Yuren’s gaze turned icy.

Iris nodded, continuing her words.

“It seems the maid who wore this before didn’t have much in the chest department, did she?”

“Hmph, really? I thought it was quite a decent size.”

“Well… it’s not quite as big as Camilla, but I’m not sure if I’d call it ‘big.’ Isn’t it slightly below average?”

Iris tilted her head, fiddling with the chest area of the maid outfit.

For a moment, a soft ‘…tch!’ escaped Yuren’s lips, but it seemed Iris didn’t catch it.

Iris approached me, swaying the maid outfit in her hands.

“I’ll wear it for you once the alterations are done… ‘Master’?”

“……”

“Hehehe. Well then, I’ll be off, so enjoy your lunch, okay?”

Iris hummed a cheerful tune as she skipped out of the training hall, her joy palpable.

“Dale, that…”

“……”

“I’m sorry.”

A heavy silence settled in the training hall.

“How did it come to this…?”

I recalled the past, those days long gone… no, the mistakes I had made.

“How did it end up like this?”

And so it was.

The maid’s uniform of the Helios family was passed along, riding through the twists and turns until it reached the saint of the kingdom.

* * *

“…Candidate Dale?”

On my way back to the dorm after training with Yurina.

A familiar voice called out.

“Why does your face look half of what it used to be?”

Elisha Baldwin.

With the fearsome nickname of ‘the Spider of the Abyss,’ she approached me, her expression surprisingly filled with concern, a stark contrast to her reputation.

“Is something the matter?”

“Well… there have been some things.”

Indeed, many things.

“Hmm. I had something to ask Candidate Dale, but looking at your state, it seems today might not be the day.”

“Something to ask?”

Now that I thought about it, this path was quite far from the professor’s office where Elisha usually resided.

‘This isn’t a coincidence; she must have been waiting for me.’

It was entirely plausible that Professor Elisha had sent a teaching assistant to fetch me but instead chose to come to the dorm herself.

‘Could it be?’

I squinted slightly and asked.

“Is it something related to the Archbishop of Beasts?”

“Ah, sharp as ever. I like that.”

Professor Elisha grinned, nodding her head.

“Well, aside from that, there’s really no reason for me to seek you out directly.”

“Umm. Saying it like that makes me feel a bit neglected. Do you truly think that’s the only reason I would look for Candidate Dale?”

As she drew closer, Elisha’s violet eyes sparkled, and her gloved hand brushed against my cheek.

“Perhaps… I might have come to ask Candidate Dale out on a date?”

“…….”

Her breath was so close I could feel it on my skin.

A faint scent of tobacco tickled my nose.

As Elisha leaned in, almost touching her lips to mine, she playfully pinched my cheek and stepped back.

“Heh heh. Just kidding.”

Professor Elisha shrugged her shoulders and turned her head away.

I chose not to point out the faint blush creeping up her earlobe, barely visible through her hair, and continued speaking.

“So, what is this favor you need?”

“Recently, there have been reports of a kidnapping incident by a beast in a small village on the outskirts of the Empire.”

“Well… that’s not exactly uncommon, is it?”

Kidnappings by beasts were incidents that occurred not just within the Empire but throughout the continent with alarming regularity.

“According to witnesses, the beast had eight eyes.”

“Eight, you say?”

A beast of the Eight-Eyed class.

In a small village lacking even a mediocre hero, it was a calamity of a creature.

“This is a composite sketch of the beast based on the witness’s testimony.”

Professor Elisha said this as she showed me the drawing of the beast on paper.

A long snout, skin like steel, sharp claws, and a lengthy tail.

“This is….”

“Quite a familiar appearance, wouldn’t you agree?”

It bore an uncanny resemblance to the crocodile beast that had crashed into the examination hall during the midterm evaluation.

‘It’s common for beasts to share similar appearances.’

But that was only true when the number of ‘eyes’ was low.

Given the nature of beasts, where the more eyes they had, the more their forms would deviate, it was rare for an Eight-Eyed beast to have an identical appearance.

“Do you think this is a minion of the jackal?”

“I’m not certain. But it’s worth investigating.”

Professor Elisha shook her head and continued.

“If it’s a village on the outskirts of the Empire… they wouldn’t have access to a warp gate.”

Even if we hurried, it would take quite a while to reach.

Considering the travel time and the time needed for investigation on-site, it would take at least three days, if not more.

“By the way, I heard that Cadet Dale received a week-long suspension recently?”

Professor Elisha smiled at me, her eyes glinting.

Only then did I realize what she meant by the ‘favor’ she was asking.

“…You want me to go with you?”

For a schedule that would take at least three days?

Just the two of us?

“Heh heh.”

Professor Elisha chuckled softly, pulling a thin cigarette from his pocket and placing it between his lips.

“Did I not mention? I might have come to ask for a date.”

Click.

A spark leapt from the lighter, igniting the tip of the cigarette in a fiery red glow.