The Lowest-Ranked Hero Has Returned

Chapter 8 - Laying the Foundation (4)

"Juliet!"

In the warm afternoon sunlight, I approached my friend, whom I hadn\'t seen in a long time, with a cheerful smile as bright as the sunshine.

"Sorry, I was lost in thought for a moment, so I didn\'t even realize you called me!"

"...Huh?"

"It\'s been a while, my friend! How have you been?"

I threw my arm around Juliet\'s shoulder in a friendly manner, even as he looked confused.

"...Hey."

"Sorry to ask right after we meet, but could you lend me 1 million gold? I urgently need some money."

"What are you doing?"

"Your family is rich, right? Come on, 1 million gold isn\'t that much, is it?"

Juliet\'s face twisted with anger.

"You crazy bastard!"

"Whoa."

Without hesitation, Juliet punched the \'doormat\' who had been spouting nonsense.

Even though the punch was thrown without much preparation, the way magic naturally formed around it showed that Juliet had quite a bit of skill.

But, well.

No matter how skilled, he\'s still a rookie.

"Wow, causing such a fuss over asking to borrow a few bucks."

They say the rich are stingier.

-Smack!

I lightly grabbed the fist aimed at my philtrum and twisted his wrist with a bit of force.

"Ahhh!"

A scream of pain burst from Juliet\'s lips.

Though the magic protected his wrist from breaking, the pain must have been quite intense.

"You... you bastard!"

Juliet drew the rapier from his waist and charged at me.

A halo of light erupted from the sacred mark, fiercely gathering at the sharp tip of the sword.

The aura was even stronger than when I sparred with Felix.

"Get lost, punk."

Berald Martial Arts. Sword Breaking.

-Clang!

I slightly twisted my body to avoid the thrusting sword and brought my hand down on the blade\'s surface.

The magic I instantly condensed in my hand made it harder than steel.

"Huh...?"

The sword broke like a twig.

As Juliet stood frozen in shock, I kicked his legs apart, sending him sprawling like a soccer ball.

"Arrrghhhhhh!!!"

Juliet collapsed, clutching his groin and screaming in agony.

"Ahhh!"

"What are you doing to your senior?!"

"Juliet-senpai!"

The female cadets who had been huddled together in the distance screamed in horror.

I turned to them, a twisted grin spreading across my face.

"I need to have a word with my friend... Could you step aside for a moment?"

"How can you be a friend of senpai?"

"Get away from Juliet-senpai right now!"

"I\'m going to call a professor right..."

"Sigh."

Good grief.

What a nuisance.

"Do you not understand what I\'m saying?"

I infused a bit of killing intent into my gaze as I spoke.

"Get lost."

"......!"

"Eek!"

The female cadets, who had been chattering noisily, froze like frogs in front of a snake.

Their faces turned pale, and their legs trembled pathetically.

Some were even wetting their skirts in fear.

\'What the...\'

I hadn\'t expected them to wet themselves just from a bit of killing intent, and I felt a surge of confusion.

\'Isn\'t this a bit of an overreaction for just a little killing intent?\'

I began to wonder if these girls were really hero cadets.

But, well... maybe it made sense.

Judging by their name tags, they seemed like newbies who had just entered the academy, with no practical training or even sparring experience.

How could they have ever encountered killing intent before?

Especially not the kind formed from thousands, tens of thousands of deaths.

\'Dealing with kids is tough.\'

I let out a bitter smile as I retracted my killing intent.

"Hic... sob."

"Waaah!"

As soon as I withdrew my killing intent, the cadets burst into tears and ran away.

"Well, now that the nuisances are gone."

I looked down at Juliet, who was still clutching his groin in pain, and grinned.

"Shall we finish our conversation, my friend?"

* * *

"Y-You want to borrow money?"

Having finally recovered from the near-explosive pain, Juliet asked in a trembling voice.

"Yes."

"H-How much?"

The bravado he had shown earlier was gone, and Juliet, now looking pitiful and mismatched with his handsome face, cast his eyes downward.

"Didn\'t I tell you earlier?"

"Y-You don\'t mean... really 1 million gold?"

"Do you think I was joking?"

"S-Stop talking nonsense! How could I lend you 1 million gold?!"

Juliet screamed loudly at the amount far beyond common sense.

I grinned and gently waved my clenched fist in front of Juliet.

Hmmm.

Juliet\'s face turned pale.

“M-M sorry! I was wrong! Don\'t hit me!”

“Come on, why are you sulking between friends? Who\'s hitting whom?”

I chuckled and lowered my raised fist.

Juliet bit his lips and opened his mouth in a soft, muttering voice.

“…Sorry. I don\'t have a million gold, even if it\'s me.”

“Hmm.”

Indeed.

No matter how much you\'re a rich family\'s child, a million gold wasn\'t easy money to come by.

“You might not be able to raise the money, but your father is different, right?”

“…You\'re asking me to ask your father for money?”

Juliet looked at me with an expression of incredulity.

“Are you crazy?”

“Your father cares about you a lot, right?”

“Still, how will you ask for a million gold?!”

Juliet shook his head, telling me not to say such nonsense.

I looked at Juliet and recalled a memory from a past life.

‘Juliet Kang.’

Even after a long time, this name came to mind easily, not just because he bullied me.

There were many other cadets besides Juliet who frequently bullied me, an orphan and perpetual underdog.

‘Rather, this guy wasn\'t the one who bullied me much.’

When he bullied me, it was only to show off his power by involving junior female cadets behind him.

Nonetheless, there was one reason his name came to mind easily.

Because at one time, the name Juliet Kang had shaken the entire school.

‘He had a very unique hobby.’

It would be about half a year later when that ‘hobby’ would be exposed, but he was probably still continuing his hobby activities at this point.

What the secretive hobby he was secretly hiding was….

“Juliet. Let me see your Hero Watch.”

“…What?”

Juliet\'s expression turned as pale as it could be compared to earlier.

Hero Watch.

A trinity cooperative magical device created based on the Republic\'s engineering technology, the Empire\'s magical alchemy, and the Holy Nation\'s magic stone purification technique.

Originally called ‘Composite Multifunctional Clock’, it was called Hero Watch because only people with mana could use it.

“Gah, why are you suddenly asking about the Hero Watch?”

Juliet stared at me with eyes full of suspicion, tightly holding his watch on his wrist.

His reaction, which felt pure beyond honesty, made me laugh unconsciously.

“Why? Is there something inside that you shouldn\'t show others?”

“N-No way there\'s such a thing!”

“Really? Then you can show me.”

“Ugh…!”

Juliet took a hesitant step back with a confused expression.

The moment he tried to turn around and run away.

“Where are you in such a hurry to go?”

“Aaak!”

“Baak!”

I kicked Juliet\'s shin as he tried to escape.

I took the Hero Watch off his wrist as he fell.

“Give it back!”

“Wait, you bastard.”

I tried to activate the watch by channeling magic into it, and a lock-shaped pattern appeared.

‘As expected, he had put a lock on it.’

It\'s probably a lock that can\'t be unlocked without Juliet\'s own magic.

‘Well, unlocking this kind of lock isn\'t easy.’

Among the knowledge I learned from senior Sophia, there was a way to change the nature of magic temporarily.

-Diling.

Imitating Juliet\'s magic, the Hero Watch\'s lock was released and a hologram window appeared.

Manipulating the hologram window to search inside, what I saw was photos of Juliet, who was dressed in women\'s clothing, posing flirtatiously.

“Ah, damn it, my eyes.”

Even though Juliet\'s original appearance wasn\'t bad, so even if he cross-dressed, it wasn\'t something I could just not look at.

Still, pictures of that hairy man in a fluttering skirt striking all sorts of poses were enough to torment my eyes.

“You, you… How….”

“Let\'s see. First, I\'ll transfer the photos to my Hero Watch… Okay.”

After transferring all the photos stored in Juliet\'s Hero Watch, I held out the Hero Watch to Juliet, who was trembling with a pale expression.

“Can you come up with a million gold?”

“What are you planning to do with those photos….”

“Answer.”

“…Ah, ugh.”

Wetness welled up in Juliet\'s eyes.

He put his Hero Watch back on his wrist and sobbed, shedding tears.

“B-But... no way.”

“I\'ll give you a week. Bring it to me within that time.”

“Ugh….”

“Come on, why are you whining? I\'m not just asking, I\'m borrowing, you know? Borrowing. I\'ll give it all back later, you bastard.”

“Can\'t you trust a friend?”

“Huuueeooeong!”

“Tsk tsk.”

I looked down at Juliet, who was shedding tears pitifully, and clicked my tongue lightly.

‘With this, the money problem is solved.’

I hadn\'t even expected to raise research funds this easily.

“Well, what\'s good is good, isn\'t it?”

“Ugh!”

I stretched fully and looked up at the shining sunlight.

With the money problem resolved, I felt much lighter.

‘Come to think of it, I\'m a bit hungry.’

I had been running around busily since morning; before I knew it, lunchtime had already passed.

‘The cafeteria... must be closed already.’

I kicked Juliet, who was still sitting and crying, lightly with my foot.

“Hey.”

“Ugh, yes?”

“I\'ll give you 500 shilling, so go to the shop and buy two bread and one large milk.”

“…You can\'t buy all that with 500 shilling.”

Even if the school shop was cheap, you couldn\'t buy two bread and one milk for 500 shilling.

Depending on the type of bread, it would probably be at least 3 gold, 500 shilling.

“So?”

“Now you want me to give you more money?”

“N-No! I\'ll buy it right away! Just wait a bit!”

“Ah, wait.”

I quickly turned around and grabbed Juliet\'s shoulder, who was about to run to the shop.

“Ugh… Why? Are you going to buy more?”

“No, I\'m not going to buy more.”

I clicked Juliet\'s shoulder, which I held with a grin, lightly.

“Leave 5 gold as change.”

“…….”

For now, I won\'t need to worry about money.