The Last-Seat Hero Has Returned

90. A Common Occurrence (2)

“…Lying?”

I recalled the conversation I had just had with that man, Harris.

‘There didn’t seem to be anything particularly strange about it.’

I glanced back at Professor Elisha, who was tilting his head as he lit the cigarette.

“Did you discern this through the Blessing of Insight?”

“No. The Blessing of Insight does not grant the convenient ability to detect lies.”

Professor Elisha shook his head with a bitter smile.

“Then why do you believe Harris is lying?”

“Time.”

“…Time?”

What could possibly be the issue with time?

As I looked at Professor Elisha with eyes clouded by confusion, she took a sip of her cigarette and continued in a calm voice.

“That fellow Harris said he woke up around 1 AM to the commotion outside and went to check.”

“Yes.”

“How could he know it was 1 AM?”

How could he know it was 1 AM, indeed.

“Well… he must have looked at a clock, right?”

“There was no clock inside Harris’s house. He wasn’t wearing a wristwatch or anything like that.”

“Oh.”

Heroes might carry their Hero Watches, allowing them to check the time whenever they please, but Harris is no hero.

“Of course, he could have asked someone else for the time. But…”

“No sane person would go looking for another house to ask for the time while a villager is being dragged away alive by a monster.”

“Exactly.”

Professor Elisha nodded with a faint smile.

“…It’s astonishing.”

I couldn’t help but express pure admiration for Professor Elisha’s sharp insight.

I knew well enough that my mind wasn’t particularly sharp, yet I prided myself on having some degree of perceptiveness thanks to my past life’s experiences.

‘No matter how you slice it, I can’t surpass innate perceptiveness.’

It was impossible not to be in awe of Professor Elisha’s ability to see through someone’s lies with just a few simple exchanges.

“What’s so surprising? I have no clue why this Harris fellow would make a false statement either.”

Professor Elisha crushed the spent cigarette into the ground and sighed.

“First, we should hear the statements of other villagers.”

“Let’s do that.”

Professor Elisha and I set out to visit the homes of nearby villagers to gather additional statements.

After visiting a few households and asking questions, we found that:

“It’s true that a monster appeared and kidnapped a villager.”

“The description of the monster and the number of its eyes match Harris’s account.”

When we pieced together the villagers’ testimonies, we found no significant discrepancies from what Harris had reported.

“Hmm… it seems I may have misjudged.”

Professor Elisha swallowed hard, a hint of embarrassment flickering across her face.

Contrary to the initial hypothesis that Harris had fabricated his testimony, the accounts from the villagers were strikingly consistent.

“Given the circumstances, we have no choice but to seek out that beast ourselves.”

The crocodile monster, which abducted a villager each night.

Only by confronting this creature, resembling the mid-tier beast that had interrupted the evaluation, could we hope to uncover the connection between this incident and the beastly archbishop.

“Alright. Then we have no time to waste here.”

“Let’s go right away.”

Elisha and I set our feet toward the mountain behind the village, where the crocodile monster was said to roam.

At that moment.

“Ex-excuse me. Are you… the heroes?”

A middle-aged woman, her eyes shadowed by deep dark circles, approached us.

“Yes.”

“Ah! It is truly you, the heroes!”

With eyes shining like a priest who had witnessed the Seven Gods, the woman knelt before us.

“Last night, my child was taken by the monster! Please… please save Lumi from that wicked beast!”

Tears streamed down her face as she bowed her head repeatedly.

“I may be just a humble country woman, but Lumi has always shown remarkable intelligence and talent, far beyond other children! Perhaps one day she could awaken her own divine mark and become a ‘hero’! So please…!”

“Calm down.”

Elisha gently lifted the middle-aged woman, who was repeatedly pressing her forehead to the hard earth.

“If your child is alive, I will surely bring her back, so do not worry.”

“Th-thank you, heroes!”

The woman wept tears of gratitude, her face alight with emotion.

“…….”

With a bitter expression, Elisha turned away, continuing on without looking back at the woman.

When the woman was far enough away that she could no longer be seen.

“Haah.”

Elisha pulled a thin cigarette from her pocket, biting down on it with a grimace.

“…I’ve made another promise I can’t keep.”

I clicked my tongue softly at her murmured words laced with regret.

“The chances of her being alive… are almost none, aren’t they?”

“Perhaps so.”

Professor Elisha nodded with a gaze heavy with melancholy.

“If there’s any hope at all, it’s that this beast is abducting the villagers not for slaughter, but for amusement… Still, it’s hard to hold onto any great expectations.”

She took a deep drag of her tobacco, chewing her lips as if to savor the moment.

Though she tried to appear calm, the sorrow embedded in her deep violet eyes was undeniable.

“…Are you alright?”

“Heh. Do you think I’ve never faced such things before?”

Professor Elisha shrugged, her steps steady as she moved forward.

“In a small village like this, losing a child to a monster’s attack is quite a ‘common occurrence.’”

“…….”

“Well, for Cadet Dale, this might be the first time experiencing such a thing, given he’s yet to serve as an active hero.”

No.

It is not the first time.

In terms of experience, he has likely witnessed far more despair than she has.

Those who have lost loved ones to the beasts, those whose lives have been trampled by demons.

Tragedies that spread across a world untouched by a hero’s hand.

Such commonplace occurrences, seen everywhere, nothing special about them.

But….

“Let’s go.”

Professor Elisha crushed the burnt tobacco and ambled ahead, her movements languid yet purposeful.

“…Yes.”

I hurried to follow in her wake.

* * *

“The monster’s habitat… seems to be this way.”

Professor Elisha’s ‘sight of the cursed’ glimmered with a violet hue as she strode confidently onward.

“It’s nestled quite close to the village.”

“They must think there’s no threat to them.”

Perhaps if we hadn’t come here today, that judgment wouldn’t have been wrong.

“That cave over there.”

Professor Elisha pointed to a large cavern nestled between the rocky cliffs.

“Mutated beasts, born from crocodiles, dwell in the cave, huh… It’s certain they possess many ‘eyes.'”

Generally, beasts tend to retain their original behaviors before their mutation.

But that’s only true for those with fewer ‘eyes.’

The more severe the mutation caused by magic, the more they forget their innate habits.

“Let’s go in.”

“Yes.”

Professor Elisha and I cautiously entered the cave, ever watchful of our surroundings.

Splash, splash.

The sound of water pooling on the cave floor echoed softly.

“Grraaarrr.”

A fierce voice resonated from within the cave.

A crocodile beast, lying on the stone floor, slowly rose upon sensing the intruders.

“It’s coming.”

Professor Elisha spread her slender silver threads around us, preparing for battle.

“Professor, wait a moment.”

I stepped forward, blocking her path.

“What is it?”

“Look over there.”

“……!”

In the direction I pointed, seven unconscious figures lay scattered across the cave floor.

Three of them were already lifeless, their breaths extinguished, but the remaining four still clung to the faintest signs of life.

Among the survivors was the daughter of a middle-aged woman I had met in the village.

“…They were alive.”

Professor Elisha gazed at a frail girl with orange hair, speckled with freckles, who was barely breathing, her eyes trembling.

“I’ll handle the beast. Please rescue the survivors.”

“…But.”

“Your ‘web’ is far more effective at protecting the survivors than my sword.”

Once the real battle began, the cave’s structure would tremble, sending shards of stone and stalactite fragments flying in all directions—enough to be fatal for ordinary people without the marks of the blessed.

Especially for those already weakened beyond measure.

“…Understood.”

Professor Elisha nodded and took a step back.

As she spread her arms wide, hundreds of silver threads spun into a web, ensnaring the survivors.

“Graaah!”

The ferocious roar of the crocodile beast.

Its body, covered in scales like steel, with a jutting snout, sharp claws, and a tail that lashed like a whip.

‘It’s the same one I saw during the mid-evaluation.’

I couldn’t be sure if it was connected to the Beast Archbishop, but one thing was certain: it was the same creature I had fought before.

‘Back then, I barely won using ignition.’

What about now?

“I’ve gotten a lot stronger since then, you know?”

I twisted my lips into a smirk and bit down hard on my hand.

Blood flowed from the torn skin.

The droplets of blood formed into the shape of a sword at my fingertips.

The cursed sword, Veskal.

Gripping the sword that granted immense power in exchange for blood felt as if I had received Iris’s ‘blessing,’ vitality surging through my entire being.

“Grraaar!”

The crocodile beast let out a savage roar and lunged forward.

Thud, thud, thud!

With each step I took, the entire cave seemed to tremble with the impact.

“Graaah!”

Its sharp claws slashed at my throat.

Kaaang!

The clash of sword against claw.

Once, my body had been flung back helplessly, but now I stood firm, rooted to the ground.

“Grraaar?!”

It was the crocodile beast that was pushed back, as if it couldn’t believe it was being overpowered by a mere human, not even half its size, its four pairs of eyes narrowing in disbelief.

“Graaah!”

With a fierce roar, the beast swung its long, whip-like tail.

The tail, covered in steel-like scales, sliced through the air with a chilling ferocity.

‘This is best left to spill.’

As that thought crossed my mind, I tilted my sword and prepared to step back.

– You know, Dale’s swordsmanship? It feels somehow out of place for him.

Suddenly.

Yurina’s words flitted through my mind.

“…….”

A body different from my past life.

A magic power transformed from what it once was.

Yet my memories remained trapped in that vast expanse of snow, endlessly wandering.

Then.

“Well, this is unfamiliar territory for me.”

I unleashed my magic, pouring it into the blade as if to explode from my very being.

A gray aura ignited along the edge of the sword, flames licking at the air.

Instead of retreating, I lunged forward, swinging the blade fiercely toward the thrashing tail.

KWAARRRRGH!!!

A deafening roar shook the entire cave.

Beneath the swirling ash and flames.

“GRRRRaaahhh!”

The severed tail of the beast lay sprawled on the ground.