The Last Place Hero's Return

Chapter 248: The Frost (3)

Several days after Laneige gave that abrupt suggestion, I sat in front of the academy’s main gate, waiting for her. About five minutes were left until our meeting time. I was just thinking that this was a bit late for someone like Laneige when I heard her voice.

Laneige came running up, panting, as if she had sprinted the whole way. “S-sorry, Dale! I’m late, aren’t I?”

“Late? You’re not late at all. We still have five minutes.”

“B-but...”

I swallowed a small laugh and tidied her hair, which had gotten tousled from running. “It’s fine, really.”

“Hehe. T-thank you, Dale,” she said.

Like a puppy reunited with its owner, Laneige rubbed her cheek against my palm. Every little movement of her petite body was unbearably adorable. It was squeezing my heart, and especially so today, when she had clearly put extra effort into dressing up.

I frowned slightly as I looked at her white dress, more suited for a summer outing. “But that outfit, aren’t you cold?”

No matter how superhuman a hero’s body was, it didn’t mean they were immune to heat or cold. This definitely wasn’t something to wear in midwinter.

With a shy smile, Laneige gently took my hand. “It’s okay. When I’m with you, D-Dale, it’s w-warm.”

What is it with her today? She usually talks about cutting and splitting things with such terrifying cheer! Yet, she looks ridiculously cute today.

As I silently shed tears of emotion, Laneige narrowed her eyes and looked up at me. “Dale, what are you thinking about?”

“Huh? Oh, just thinking that the outfit suits you.”

“Hmmm, that’s strange. It doesn’t smell like that’s what you were really thinking.”

Smell? She can tell my thoughts by scent now?

I hurriedly changed the subject and tugged her along by the hand. “Shall we get going?”

“Ah!”

Laneige, who had been sniffing suspiciously as if trying to read my mind, hurried after me in a fluster.

* * *

The place we arrived at was the magi-car parking lot right next to the Hero Academy. Professors and staff mainly used it to commute to and from work. We got into the magi-car I had prepared beforehand.

Laneige looked around. “By the way, Dale, do you own this magi-car?”

“Hm? Oh, this is borrowed from the academy.”

“From the academy?”

“Yeah. Since I became a Special Operations Cadet, they also provide a vehicle.”

This position involved investigating or handling matters outside the Hero Academy, so a magi-car was essential for it. Regardless of its status, this was actually my first time using the magi-car. Up until now, I had only ever gone as far as Valhalla City, right outside the Hero Academy, or the Imperial Capital accessible by warp gate. This was my first time riding the academy-issued magi-car.

“Wow. You can drive too, Dale?” she asked.

“I did it all the time in my previous life.”

Laneige nodded, apparently having forgotten that I was a regressor. “Oh, right.”

I sat in the driver’s seat and took hold of the wheel. “Man, it’s been a while.”

“When was the last time you drove?”

“Well....”

Was it a few thousand years ago?

Suddenly, I heard the magi-car door open.

“Wait. Don’t get out,” I quickly said.

She nervously replied, “L-let’s just warp to a nearby city, Dale!”

“Relax. I’m good at driving.”

“B-but...”

“I said it’s fine,” I replied. This was the kind of thing your body remembered instinctively. “And there isn’t even a city near where you want to go that has a warp gate, right?”

“Well, that’s true, but...”

“And the road that way is practically deserted anyway. It’ll be fine.”

If it were somewhere with hellish traffic like the Republic’s capital, that would be another story. But driving down an empty road like this was simple enough that even Laneige, who had probably never touched a steering wheel in her life, could manage it.

“Please relax and enjoy the ride, milady,” I said.

“O-okay. I will.”

With Laneige seated beside me, I powered up the magi-car. The engine roared to life as I stepped on the accelerator.

“Oh. Right. How do you switch to reverse again?” I said.

“H-hic... M-mom....”

With driving skills so divinely inspired that they made her think of her mother before we had even reached the cemetery, the magi-car set off.

* * *

If nothing else, we were lucky. After that first minor mishap, we reached the grave of Laneige’s mother without any further accidents.

“We’re here, Laneige,” I said.

“Y-yeah.”

Laneige let out a relieved breath and stepped outside. When I followed her out, what greeted us was a ghastly white scene. I narrowed my eyes as I looked out over the frozen city.

Fifteen years had passed since the Archbishop of Frost had gone on a rampage here. No, it was sixteen now. Even after all that time, the pure white frost covering the entire city hadn’t melted in the slightest.

I frowned as I gazed at the frozen city where no one lived anymore, no, where no one could live anymore. If Laneige’s future hadn’t changed, half the continent would’ve ended up frozen like this city.

As memories of my past life, wandering alone through endless snowfields, surfaced, a sickening sense of nausea rose inside me.

Laneige seemed to have sensed something. “Dale?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah.”

Maybe my expression didn’t look so good. Laneige tugged gently at my collar, her face full of concern. “Are you okay?”

I forced a smile and nodded. “I’m fine. Is this where your mother is buried, Laneige?”

“Yeah. Strictly speaking, it’s not really a grave. It’s the place where my mom died.”

Laneige slowly walked into the frozen city. It looked like the memories of that day had resurfaced in her mind. As she looked around at the icebound streets, her expression was steeped in sorrow, as though she might burst into tears at any moment.

Hoping to ease her sadness even a little, I asked, “What kind of person was your mother?”

“My mom was...” Laneige trailed off for a moment, then continued with a faint smile, “She was a warm person. Like you, Dale. When Dad scolded me, and I cried, she’d quietly come over and hug me. She’d pat my back and tell me not to cry, that her daughter looked prettiest when she smiled.”

“She sounds like a wonderful mother.”

“Yeah.” Laneige nodded, a bitter expression crossing her face. “Up until... that day.”

I kept quiet as I knew what she was talking about—the incident sixteen years ago, where the Archbishop of Frost went on a rampage. Even now, more than a decade later, no one knew why Seria Maram had suddenly gone berserk. After that incident, the relationship between heroes and demons had become even more hostile. They had always been enemies to the point where killing each other was considered natural, but after that event, the animosity only deepened.

Just as humans who received the soul stigmata of the Seven Gods became heroes, humans who received the soul stigmata of the Demon God became demons. Some even argued that, in that sense, both were still fundamentally human.

However, that was an opinion no one would ever accept. The soul stigmata of the Demon God amplified humanity’s violence and destructive urges. While a few demons could indeed resist the temptation and live no differently from ordinary people, most would become monsters intoxicated by that power, slaughtering their fellow humans indiscriminately. In such a reality, what meaning could there be in insisting that demons should still be respected as humans just because they once were?

“After that day, my life froze solid, just like this city.” Laneige slowly scanned the frozen surroundings, then turned her gaze toward me. “But after I met you, Dale, things changed.”

A faint smile bloomed on her lips, which had been steeped in sorrow. “Because of you, I learned warmth again, something like what I felt back then. No, something even warmer.”

Laneige took a few slow steps forward. She carefully wrapped her arms around me and gently rested her head against my chest. “That’s why I wanted to show her, that I’m not shivering in the cold anymore. That I met a warm flame capable of melting my frozen life. So, she doesn’t need to worry anymore.”

Laneige sobbed softly with her head pressed against my chest. Without saying a word, I gently patted her back.

Suddenly, Laneige apologized, “I’m sorry.”

“Huh? For what?”

She had slipped into her now-familiar scrunched-up mode. “I know you’ve been really busy lately, Dale, and I dragged you out here for s-something like this.”

I swallowed a chuckle and pinched her cheek. “If it’s a request like this, you can make it as many times as you want. Don’t say things like that.”

She wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes.

“Alright. That’s enough crying,” I said.

Laneige nodded and smiled bashfully. “O-okay. D-Dale.”

“Yeah?”

“Um, then, would it be okay if I asked for j-just one more thing?”

“What kind of request?”

Laneige glanced around nervously. “Well...”

Then she closed her eyes, rose slightly onto her toes, and puckered her lips. It wasn’t hard to understand what she wanted. I gently pressed my lips to hers, sharing a kiss with Laneige. Not a rough kiss with tongues intertwining, just a simple meeting of lips.

“Mmm! Hehe. Your lips, Dale, they’re warm.” She smiled brightly as I brushed my thumb over her lips.

I stroked her cheek and asked teasingly, “But is it really okay to do this here?”

“Huh? Why wouldn’t it be?”

“What if your mother’s watching from above?”

“T-that’s...”

“Would she think, ‘My daughter’s all grown up now,’ maybe?”

Her face flushing bright red, Laneige lightly pounded my chest. “D-Dale!”

To anyone watching, it would’ve looked unbearably childish and cringeworthy, enough to make them mutter, “Get a room.”

But so what? It’s just Laneige and me here anyway.

This place was now a ghost city where no one lived. No one was living here. Yet, unfamiliar footsteps suddenly echoed through the frozen city. Laneige and I instinctively turned toward the sound. Then, Laneige’s eyes flew wide open, as if she’d seen a ghost.

Her shoulders trembling, she stared at the owner of the footsteps while retreating step by step. “Ah? M-mom?”

It was a woman with deep violet hair and crimson eyes. She was a demon once known as the Archbishop of Frost and the very one responsible for turning this city into an uninhabited ghost town.

Seria Maram looked at Laneige and smiled softly. “Hello, my daughter.”