The Lowest-Ranked Hero Has Returned
Silence settled over the training grounds.
The party members' gazes, frozen as if time had stopped, were focused on Berald and Sophia.
After a quiet moment like the calm before a storm—
“Engaged... to B-Berald?”
“W-Wait?! S-Sophia?! Is this for real?!”
“Kyaaa! What in the world happened?!”
The first to react were the women in the party who were usually close to Sophia.
Iris screamed and jumped up, Yurina dashed toward her senior with fierce energy, and Camilla staggered backward with a confused expression, unable to grasp the situation.
And then.
The one considered closest to Sophia—Lanez—
“E-e-e-engaged. Engagement? Engaged?”
—was breaking down like a machine dunked in saltwater.
“H-h-how... how did this happen?”
“Uh... well. Let’s all calm down first?”
“How did this happen?!”
“Kyah!”
Lanez lunged at Sophia.
“Hey! What’s wrong with you?! Wait—calm down... Kyah! Where are you touching?!”
“Is where I’m touching really the issue here?!”
“It is the issue!”
“Ugh... S-So it’s really true that you’re engaged?”
Lanez bit her lip hard, eyes brimming with tears.
“Haa. Yeah, it’s true. We’re engaged.”
Sophia let out a deep sigh and nodded.
“S-So you and Berald were dating?”
“No.”
“...T-Then how did this happen?”
Iris asked, her expression a mix of confusion and hesitation.
Sophia shrugged and continued.
“Apparently Berald’s father took a liking to me.”
“Berald’s father...?”
“Y-You mean Lord Gilbert?”
“Yeah.”
Sophia blushed slightly and went on.
“Remember how I visited Berald’s family estate over winter break? After spending a few days together, he suddenly started bawling and begged me to please take his son off his hands.”
“......”
All eyes turned to Berald to see if it was true.
“...It’s true.”
Mmm.
Berald scratched his head and nodded.
“S-So you accepted the engagement?!”
Yurina exclaimed, leaning in close to Sophia with excitement.
Maybe because she was the most romantically inclined of the group, Yurina’s eyes sparkled like stars as she looked at Sophia.
“Well, yeah. Otherwise, why would I be wearing this?”
Sophia gave a faint smile and gently waved her left hand, showing off a ring.
“W-Wow... Wooooow!”
“...Why are you so surprised?”
“It’s just... I didn’t expect you to like Berald.”
“Li—!”
Sophia shook her head furiously, her face turning bright red.
“L-Like him?! There’s no way I’d like a big dumb oaf like him!”
“...Huh?”
Yurina blinked in confusion.
“B-But... you’re engaged...”
“I only agreed because my father-in-law asked me! I figured I’d be saving someone’s life, so I accepted, that’s all!”
“......”
Still.
You’re already calling him ‘Father-in-law’ though?
“A-Anyway! It’s not like I said yes because I like the guy!”
“O-Oh... okay.”
Yurina backed off with an awkward expression.
“Hmmm~ Is that really true, Sophia~?”
Iris approached with a sly smile on her lips.
“...W-What do you mean?”
“Oh, nothing~ It’s just that the look on your face when you were touching the ring didn’t quite match what you’re saying.”
“M-My face was what?!”
“Fufu. Want to know what it looked like?”
“......”
Sophia turned her head sharply and muttered in a small voice,
“F-Forget it.”
“Sure~ Sure~ You already know without me saying anything, right?”
“Eeeek! Iris, you little—!”
Sophia bared her teeth, red as a beet, while Iris burst into laughter watching her.
“Still, an engagement... I’m jealous.”
Iris’s eyes narrowed.
“Some people haven’t even brought up the e in ‘engagement,’ you know?”
“......”
Uh-oh.
Am I the target now?
“You keep going on about ‘I love you, I love you,’ all the time...”
“N-No, that’s not...”
“But never say a word about marriage or the future.”
“Well, about that...”
“And always adding more girls to your list whenever you get the chance.”
“......”
Well.
My sincerest apologies, Your Holiness.
“You act like just because everyone’s into you, all the girls in the world belong to you, huh?”
“I-It’s not that bad...”
“Not that bad? Huh?”
Maybe she got heated while talking, because Iris stormed toward me with a fierce glare.
“Over half the girls here are dating you. And you say it’s not that bad?”
“......”
“You know what’s even more shocking? We’d have to add Professor Elisha to that list, too.”
“Well...”
There’s really no excuse, is there.
“Sigh. Whatever. I already knew you were like this when I fell for you.”
Iris let out a deep sigh and gently pinched my frozen cheek.
“So? After seeing Sophia and Berald, don’t you feel anything?”
“Feel anything...?”
“Like... maybe it’s time for us to get engaged?”
She smiled sweetly, delivering her words like a soft yet undeniable threat.
“Oh, and of course, Yurina and Lanez too.”
She turned back to the stunned Yurina and Lanez, giving them a cheeky wink.
“Engaged to Dale...”
“Maybe... m-marriage would be better?”
“...What do you mean by that, sis?”
"J-just wait a sec! I’ll go grab my bag from the lounge!"
Lanez dashed out of the training grounds with hurried footsteps.
She soon returned with her usual shoulder bag, rummaged through it, and pulled out a few white sheets of paper.
"...What are those?"
"M-marriage registration forms!"
"......"
Why.
Why the hell is she carrying marriage registration forms in her bag?
"I’ve been keeping them on me just in case Dale ever decided he wanted to get married on the spot!"
Lanez stepped in close, thrusting the forms toward me.
Was it because her closest friend had taken the lead ahead of her?
Her eyes, supposedly blessed with the "Blessing of Frost," were blazing with a fire that was anything but cold.
“Dale! Your seal! Hurry!”
“...It’s not like I walk around with my seal all the time.”
“W-wait then! If there’s no seal, a thumbprint will do...”
Lanez conjured a small ice blade using her Frost Blessing and brought it to her finger.
“What do you think you’re doing.”
“Ah!”
Thwack!
I lightly smacked Lanez on the forehead and quickly summoned a flicker of flame to melt the ice blade.
“Hee-ing.”
She rubbed her smacked forehead, pouting.
“She’s right, sis. I get how you feel, but there’s no need to rush it.”
“W-wait, Iris—are you saying you don’t want to marry Dale?”
“It’s not that...”
Iris trailed off and glanced around.
The training grounds were a mess from the sparring match.
The heavy scent of sweat and heat hung in the air.
“...I just don’t want it to happen in an atmosphere like this.”
“Ugh... Okay, fine. I’ll wait.”
“Good girl. That’s better.”
Iris smiled warmly and gently patted Lanez on the head.
‘...Seriously, who’s the older sister here?’
I let out a quiet chuckle and stretched with a groan.
“Well then, shall we all head up to the lounge to continue this talk? It’s not really the best place to chat here.”
“Let’s wash up first.”
“Ah, yeah. We should.”
We were all pretty drenched in sweat from earlier.
“Come on, Sophia! Let’s go! You have to tell us what happened during the break!”
“Wh-what? I already told you everything!”
“In more detail!”
“Ugh... okay, fine, just stop dragging me!”
Sophia was being literally dragged away by the girls.
“We should go wash up too.”
“...Alright.”
Berald nodded with a dejected look.
“By the way, was that thing you mentioned at the store earlier... was it about this?”
“...Yes. It was.”
“Why the big sigh, though?”
“......”
Berald’s face turned serious as he spoke.
“Big bro, can I get some advice?”
“Sure. Talk to me.”
Judging by his face earlier, it seemed like he had a lot on his mind regarding his engagement to Sophia.
“Well, our old folks were pushing hard for it, so I kinda got engaged to her against my will...”
“You didn’t want to?”
“N-no! That’s not it.”
Berald quickly shook his head.
“Sophia may seem cold on the outside, but she’s actually a deeply thoughtful person. Honestly, someone like her is way too good for someone like me.”
“...Didn’t know you thought that way about her.”
“I didn’t at first. But, well... after doing magic research together and hanging out at the festival, I started developing feelings.”
Oho.
So it wasn’t completely forced after all.
“Then what’s the problem?”
“Well, uh... there’s one problem.”
“What kind of problem?”
“Ahem. Big bro, as I’ve told you before... I have a very specific taste. As the Guardian of the Microverse.”
“......”
‘Guardian of the Microverse,’ my ass.
“So?”
“What I mean is... even though I do have feelings for Sophia, I just don’t... feel aroused by her. As a man, I mean.”
“Hmm.”
That was a surprisingly serious issue.
Sexual compatibility is definitely important in a romantic relationship.
“But if you’re into widows, wouldn’t marrying Sophia solve that problem?”
“Haah. Big bro, I don’t think you understand what being into widows really means.”
Berald sighed and shook his head solemnly.
“To truly be a widow, there must be a parting by death at the foundation! Without the experience of losing a husband, how can one be a true widow?!”
“I think it’s clear you don’t even know what a widow is.”
“Ugh! Why can’t you understand my heart?!”
“I don’t want to understand it, you lunatic.”
What the hell is this idiot even talking about?
“Anyway, just getting married won’t fix—Ah!”
Berald’s eyes lit up as if he’d just had a revelation.
“Y-yeah! I’ve got it! A brilliant idea!”
“...Let’s hear it.”
“What if we get married first, and then get divorced?! Problem solved, right?!”
“......”
Yeah.
This was beyond reasoning now.
“Hahaha! Even you have to admit that’s genius—guh!”
Thud!
Berald collapsed to the ground, clutching his stomach after I nailed him in the solar plexus.
I stomped on his fallen body and clenched my fist.
“Why go through the hassle of divorce?”
When you can just widow her.
“W-wait, big bro, hold on—ack! Gah!”
Across the wide training grounds, Berald’s pitiful screams echoed faintly.

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