The Lowest-Ranked Hero Has Returned
"What... what were you thinking when you said that?"
"What do you mean?"
As I shrugged nonchalantly at Professor Elisha, who was visibly agitated, her violet eyes flashed with intensity.
"Are you seriously asking because you don't know? Not only did you refuse the Empress’s proposal, but you even had the audacity to call her ‘you’ informally!"
Well, I suppose I did.
But, you know...
"Hmm. Do you really have the right to say that, Professor Elisha?"
"What...?"
"You defied the Empress’s orders and said everything you wanted as well, didn’t you?"
"T-That’s..."
Professor Elisha averted her gaze, flustered.
If we were to argue over who had made a bigger mess, of course, I was the greater offender for speaking so casually to the Empress.
But it was Professor Elisha who had set the stage for it.
“...I’m sorry.”
She lowered her head with a defeated expression.
I swallowed a chuckle and took her hand.
"Anyway, why did you do that all of a sudden?"
"Do what?"
"You said something about how recruitment offers were impossible under the Three-Nation Agreement."
Even I hadn’t expected Professor Elisha to step in at that moment.
"...I was just stating the facts."
"Hmm. But you knew that Empress Camellia wouldn’t simply abide by that, didn’t you?"
"That’s..."
She shut her mouth tightly, lost in thought, her gaze wandering into the distance.
"Could it be... were you jealous?"
"J-J-JEALOUS?! What nonsense are you spouting, Candidate Dale!"
Ah, I see now.
She really did get worked up hearing Camellia tell me to become her vassal.
"Pfft... Haha!"
"D-Don’t laugh!"
Professor Elisha stomped on my foot in frustration.
Clang, clang!
The sound of metal echoed.
"Well, it’s fine. It’s not like anything serious happened, right? We haven’t been banished from the Imperial Palace or anything."
"...Nothing serious?!"
She frowned and looked down at the source of the metallic sound.
A large shackle bound my ankle.
Naturally, I also had thick handcuffs locked around my wrists.
That’s right.
After all that happened...
"You’re saying being imprisoned in the Empire’s underground dungeon isn’t a big deal?"
Professor Elisha let out a deep sigh, as if her head was starting to ache.
I leaned back against the cold stone wall and lazily turned my head.
Dim lantern light flickered through the dense iron bars, and the damp air carried the stench of decay.
It was hard to believe this dreary and grim place was part of the same grand Imperial Palace.
"We’re not actually imprisoned."
"...Not imprisoned? What are you talking about?"
"There aren’t even guards posted outside. And also...."
I lifted my shackled wrists.
These handcuffs, imbued with the power of ‘Seven-Star’s Blessing,’ couldn’t be removed by normal means.
Fwoosh! Clang!
But as embers flared, the ‘Seven-Star’s Blessing’ burned away, and the shackles split cleanly in two, falling to the ground.
"They only put on restraints that could be removed this easily."
"...The only one who could remove them so easily is you, Candidate Dale."
"And Empress Camellia wouldn’t be unaware of that."
I swallowed another chuckle and swiftly undid all of Elisha’s restraints as well.
"...So, are you suggesting we escape together?"
"No."
There was no need for an escape.
‘They’re going to come and release us soon anyway.’
Leaning against the wall, I turned toward the iron-barred door.
Click, clack.
From the distance, faint footsteps echoed down the corridor.
"Hmm."
Camellia appeared beyond the bars, no longer in her usual nightgown but dressed in an extravagant gown.
She narrowed her eyes at me.
"So, you truly possess the power to nullify the Blessing of Ye."
Clicking her tongue softly, she glanced at the broken shackles scattered on the floor and let out a brief sigh before turning her gaze toward me and Elisha.
"My apologies for locking you up. If I hadn’t, Melina would have made a fuss."
"Melina... You mean that strict maid?"
"Yes, Ye’s most devoted attendant."
A faint smile tugged at Camellia’s lips as she recalled Melina.
"When Ye destroyed Gehenna City, I personally took her in from the ruins."
The Empress’s attack on Gehenna City—
It was the decisive event that catapulted Camellia to the rank of the number-one hero.
Wait a second.
She personally took her in from Gehenna City?
"Then... don’t tell me..."
"Not everyone in Gehenna City was a demon. Just as not everyone in Valhalla City is a hero."
"......."
Hearing that, I had nothing to say.
"Melina was one of the children kidnapped and taken to Gehenna City. If Ye hadn’t been there, she would have suffered countless experiments at the hands of the demons before being brutally killed."
So, from Melina’s perspective, Camellia was her savior.
"...Now I understand why she was glaring at me as if she wanted to kill me."
"Her loyalty can be excessive at times, but that’s just who she is."
Clang.
With a simple gesture from Camellia, the heavy prison door slid open.
"You came here chasing the Eternal Order, didn’t you?"
"...You knew?"
"Heh. There is no truth in this world that can escape Ye’s eyes."
She smirked, her confidence unshaken.
"You must have heard it from Headmaster Lionel."
"...Tch."
Clicking her tongue, Camellia looked slightly annoyed at being exposed.
"You truly have not a single cute bone in your body."
"Hmm."
"...Do you have something to say to Ye?"
She turned her sharp gaze to Professor Elisha.
"Well..."
With a serene smile, Elisha spoke.
"I actually think Candidate Dale has quite a few endearing qualities."
"Oh? Are you contradicting Ye’s words right now?"
"And if I am?"
Their gazes locked.
Just as the tension between the Spider and the Empress was about to ignite again—
"Both of you, that’s enough."
“Ugh.”
“Ahem.”
Professor Elisha and Empress Camellia, who had been glaring fiercely at each other, let out awkward coughs.
"Anyway, back to the main point."
Empress Camellia gestured outside the prison with a nod before continuing.
"If you wish, I shall help you track down this so-called Order of Eternity."
"I thought you had no interest in the Order of Eternity?"
"That is correct."
"Then why...?"
"My interest is not in those mongrels of the Order of Eternity, but in you."
Camellia’s eyes sparkled like a child who had just discovered a bundle of gifts.
"I want to see. Just how capable you are."
"......."
So, she wasn’t interested in the Order of Eternity itself but rather in seeing my abilities in action while tracking them down.
‘If that’s the case, Professor Elisha would probably be the one to shine more than me.’
Well, whatever the reason.
If I could get the Empress’s help in pursuing the Order of Eternity, there could be no better support.
"Stay still for a moment."
Camellia reached her hand toward us.
A radiant aura of seven colors flowed from her fingertips.
The shimmering aura enveloped both me and Professor Elisha.
"This is...?"
"As long as my aura resides within you, you shall be free to move about the imperial palace."
So, it was like a pass for free movement.
"Now, step out."
"By the way, what should we do if we encounter that maid, Melina, during our investigation?"
If we had been imprisoned here because of that Melina, there was bound to be trouble if we ran into her while investigating the palace.
"You need not worry about that. Melina is currently out on external duty and is not in the imperial palace."
"I see."
I tilted my head slightly as I looked at Camellia.
"Do you have something to say to me?"
"No, I just found it a bit unexpected."
Given Camellia’s personality, I figured that no matter how much she cherished a servant, she wouldn’t be the type to consider their feelings at all.
But seeing her like this, she seemed to care quite a bit about that maid, Melina.
"I am boundlessly generous to those who swear loyalty to me."
"......."
She didn’t exactly strike me as the kind of person one would associate with generosity.
"If you were to become my servant, you too would experience my generosity."
"...I believe I’ve already given my answer to that offer."
"Heh. It seems you still don’t fully understand me."
Camellia smiled leisurely, her eyes gleaming.
"What I desire always ends up in my hands."
"Ah, yes."
Sure, whatever you say.
‘One thing’s for certain—getting involved with her is exhausting.’
Swallowing a wry smile, I stepped out of the prison.
Professor Elisha, who had been glaring at Camellia, followed me out.
Once we had exited the underground prison and moved far enough that Camellia was no longer in sight—
"Cadet Dale."
"Yes?"
"Give me your hand."
Professor Elisha, who had been following behind me, grabbed my hand.
She interlocked her fingers with mine, her gaze shifting away.
"......."
This wasn’t a time for enjoying a sweet, date-like event.
We were in the middle of tracking down the infiltrators from the Order of Eternity within the imperial palace.
"Why? Do you have a problem with this?"
"No, not exactly...."
"Then stop complaining and just hold it."
With that, she strode forward, swinging our hands slightly.
Though I couldn’t see her face, the redness in her earlobes made it clear that she was embarrassed about the situation.
‘Honestly.’
She really does have a cute side.
"Now, let’s begin our investigation in earnest."
Professor Elisha spoke as she pulled out two glass bottles filled with red liquid from her coat.
"What’s that?"
"Blood samples from the Wolf Mask and Fox Mask. I collected them just in case, but I didn’t expect to actually use them here."
I see.
By consuming the blood, she intended to maximize the power of the Blessing of Insight.
The Blessing of Insight, when enhanced through bodily fluids, was powerful enough to uncover even the bombs that the Archbishop of Madness had desperately hidden.
It would certainly be useful in tracking the Order of Eternity.
Gulp.
After drinking the blood from the glass bottles, Professor Elisha’s pupils transformed, turning a vivid reptilian yellow.
Her gleaming "Cursed Eye" scanned the surroundings.
"For now... I don’t see any traces of the Order of Eternity."
"Let’s keep searching."
As we wandered through the imperial palace, investigating every corner—
"Wait."
Professor Elisha suddenly halted.
She fixed her gaze on a large painting hanging on the wall, her Evil Eye flickering ominously.
"Beyond this wall... I sense something suspicious."
She stepped closer to the wall and extended her fingertips, conjuring threads of spider silk, which she sent flowing behind the painting.
Then—
Click.
Rumble.
With a deep vibration, the section of the wall holding the painting rotated, revealing a hidden passageway.

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