World's Last Hope-Chapter 78: Seed of Hope

Eric looked like he couldn’t care less that he was being stared at by hundreds of powerful masters, and dozens Grandmasters, he cracked his neck as he spoke coldly. At least that’s how it looked, but in truth, Eric was so tired that he felt like he was about to pass out.

"We are back."

A silence befell the room for a few seconds.

Eric shifted his gaze to his companions, Aria was staring intently at her grandfather while Olivia at her uncle.

’They must have missed their family greatly while we were away, it’s understandable, I guess,’ he thought.

Finally, after a few seconds of silence, Saint Gabriel spoke, though the coldness in his voice was completely gone. Instead, he was speaking with pure disbelief as he was having a hard time believing what he was seeing.

"You have returned? What happened in the expedition?"

"In short, we walked, then I killed two low-Grade 5 monsters, we flew above a sea of darkness, I took a dragon’s breath, died, met the Grim Reaper, came back to life, entered some kind of cursed tower, traversed a jungle, led an army of monsters to a guardian, Aria liberated a cathedral, there I became master, then the guardian died, then I flew a few kilometers in the air, survived, landed in a colossal forest, survived the colossal forest, outsmarted a Grade-6 monster, Olivia liberated a cathedral, and we came back."

With each word Eric spoke, the eyes of everybody seemed to only widen in disbelief, but he was so out of it that he could care less.

"That is pretty much it, though I most likely am forgetting a few things..."

Of course, he wasn’t going to admit a few things, for instance, that he and Aria had slept together when they were locked in the cathedral for two days.

Or the fact that the girls had seen him naked more than once.

Or the fact that he had cried when confronted with his past while they were locked in the tower.

As he finished speaking, another silence befell the room until Eric sighed again as he spoke.

"Anyway, we have been traveling for some time, so I take it we can take our seats?" This was both a question to Saint Gabriel and to the girls, as they had seemed to forget everything around them while they looked at people they considered family.

"Oh, but considering that Aria and Olivia are now Grandmasters, I’m sure that no one will object if they sit on a throne, right? ...Actually, considering everything, I think I also want to sit on one."

Eric spoke, though he muttered the last part as he wasn’t sure about how these things worked just yet.

"...Sure, take your seats," Saint Gabriel spoke, motioning with his hand to the side where there were three thrones with no masters behind them to sit.

Eric tapped the girls on the shoulders, breaking them out of their trance, and they silently sat on the thrones.

"...Will you please give more details?" Saint Gabriel shifted his gaze between the three unexpected arrivals.

Both of the girls didn’t speak, as they looked like they were moments away from falling asleep.

Yet despite that, both of them managed to look formidable in their own way. In normal circumstances, the male masters would have probably stared at them with impure thoughts, but as every attention was solely on Eric, that wasn’t the case.

"Too tired for that, in short, two more cathedral are under our control now... so I take it that I have proven myself to you now?" Eric, despite suffering from a lack of rest himself, didn’t let it show as he glanced at the faces of the Grandmasters present.

The goddess’s words still echoed in his head, that the city was going to fall if he didn’t make a change,

And today was probably one of the days he would be able to make said change.

"We... have two more Grandmasters?"

It seemed that some of the masters had finally realized that what they were looking at right now wasn’t some kind of illusion, but the real thing.

"How long has it been that a master has evolved to the higher tier?"

"The cursed one managed to keep his word?"

"Kept? He promised one and liberated two. The mad lad actually over-delivered!"

"Is there hope after all?"

The grim atmosphere that pressed just a moment ago was completely and utterly destroyed. It seemed that the arrival of the trio had ignited the seed of hope in the souls of many present at the moment.

"How did you manage to achieve such a feat?"

Eric shifted his gaze to the man who spoke, his eyes suddenly widening in realization.

’This is Olivia’s uncle...’

Taking a deep breath, Eric spoke. When he did, the room fell silent as everybody focused on his words, almost like he had the authority of the Saint himself.

"Such a feat? Don’t be ridiculous!"

Eric had spent some time preparing for what he was going to say when he was put in a situation like this, standing in front of the strongest people of the city again.

"What we did was nothing impressive. It was just natural. We came and we conquered. We, just three people, managed to claim two cathedrals! Do you know what this means?"

His crimson eyes shined a darker shade of crimson as his voice got even colder.

"You have no more excuses. We have just proven that the corruption is nothing against us, so from now on, we will begin operation to massively return our lands and awaken the gods."

Each word that he spoke was like a dagger piercing the hearts of the masters and Grandmasters present, because they knew that what Eric was saying was the truth.

He and two other masters had managed to liberate two cathedrals all on their own?

Then what about the dozens of Grandmasters present and hundreds of masters here?

What had they been doing all this time?

"I have been chosen by the gods for a reason." Eric’s words echoed through the room, breaking everyone out of their trance.

"Didn’t I say it once? Now that I am here, we will push back the corruption."

’We are not losing to that thing, especially after what I had to go through just to survive!’ Eric cursed inwardly as he observed the faces of everybody present.

"From my point of view, it is like you are asleep, yet to have unlocked your full potential."

"I don’t care if you take me for being arrogant or whatnot. This doesn’t matter. All that matters is results, and I believe I have already given you enough of that, no?"

In his previous life, Eric had failed at what he wanted to achieve. Such a thing would not happen again. He would do what he was destined to... no, even if he wasn’t destined, he would simply bend fate to go his way.

That was how determined he was at the moment.

"So let it be, I will become the hero until all of you wake up, wake up to the fact that there is no possibility that we will lose."

"I will become this world’s last hope."