<h4>Chapter160，Part1: 1 - Return</h4> <h4>Chapter 160 Return</h4> <h4>Part 1</h4>


    The journey was fun but the return was even more fun.


    After a few days of riding in the horse-drawn carriage, I arrived at the huge gates of the Imperial Capital of Zebrudia for the first time after a month.


    A lot of things happened when we were going on our vacation, and we made a lot of stops, but the trip back home was over in a snap.


    After all, going there took ――.


    Then I came back to myself, held up my fingers, and counted.


    On the way, it took seven of us: me, Liz, Sytry, Tino, ck, White, and Gray, and on the way back, there were me, Liz, Sytry, Tino, Lucia, Luke, and Anthem. If you only count the number, there was no increase or decrease in the number of people.


    But then…… Leaving aside ck and White, where did Gray-san go…… Ipletely forgot about him.


    His cor had been removed, so there wasn’t a problem, and in the first ce I didn’t see his face since then, so I guess he was gone, but I wanted to say goodbye to him.


    Lucia, who was reading a book, noticed me wondering and looked up.


    “Don’t tell me, you forgot something? Leader” (Lucia)


    “…… No. Well, it’s alright.” (Cry)


    I am sure he is doing well. Rather, all of our Party Members have quite the strong character, so it might be better for his mental health to go home alone rather than riding in the same carriage with us.


    Half of the carriage was filled with souvenirs we bought at Surus. I bought a lot of stuff to show off my vacation to my n Members and Eva.


    Most of them were Onsen Dragon Manju, Onsen Dragon eggs, and Onsen Dragon Bath Salts, but there were also coffins containing the corpses of the subterranean people. They were the things that Luke and the others hunted. Monster materials were also one of the sources of ie for Treasure Hunters.


    My Party often uses a carriage but they rarely ride it. Most of the time, the natural flow of the consensus was that Liz, Luke, and Anthem would be outside, so there was more space. Sytry would be in charge of being the coachwoman and Lucia would be my escort.


    This time, it seemed that Tino was also running with Liz.


    The Imperial Capital’s gates, which I hadn’t seen in a long time, hadrge holes in them and seemed to be under reparation. The knights which were on guard were lined up in a row with strict vignce, a far cry from the city of Surus.


    I heard from Lucia that there was some kind ofmotion going on, but apparently, it hadn’t calmed down yet.


    Well, this kind of thing happens, doesn’t it. I stretched widely and yawned.


    “After being gone for so long, I am going to get some good sleep when we get back home.” (Cry)


    “………… In my eyes, it looked like you were taking a good and long rest all the time though……” (Lucia)


    “Right, Lucia you have to charge one of my Relics. I had already used 『Realize outer (Longing for a foreign country)』.” (Cry)


    “………… I am tired too, you know…… I will? punch you, okay?” (Lucia)


    My daily life has returned. I gave a half-hearted smile to Lucia, who gave me a sullen look, and I breathed a sigh of relief.


    §


    Not only the gates, but the inside of the Imperial Capital had also changed drastically from what I remembered. How could this happen, after only a month or so of absence?


    I wondered if a bomb had exploded, several houses were half-destroyed, many roads were torn apart, and the knights were desperately controlling the traffic. The trees that used to grow beautifully along the side of the streets and the coffee shops that used to be one of my favorites were all damaged, to the point where I could think that a war broke out.


    Fortunately, we are now at the end of themotion. The houses may have copsed, but there were no dead bodies lying around, and the people in the city seemed to have already gotten ustomed to this situation.


    I know it is unbing of a Hunter, but I am not used to looking at dead bodies. I don’t know what happened, and I don’t want to know the details, but I am really d that I was outside of the Imperial Capital at that time.


    In any case, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything even if I was there――.


    As usual, I left the carriage in Sytry’s hands and climbed up the stairs of the n House with a lighter heart than usual with boxes of Onsen Dragon Manju as a souvenir.


    I ate a few Onsen Dragon Manju on the way, and I found them to be quite a tasty treat.


    It didn’t really have any dragon meat inside, but there were both sweet and salty ones, so even those who didn’t like sweets can enjoy it.


    When I entered the Lounge, I smiled and shouted happily.


    “I’m baaaack! ………… Ah?” (Cry)


    I stiffened while having a smile on my face.


    The Lounge, which was always clean and tidy, had heaps of corpses everywhere. There were Hunters slumped on several tables with dead eyes on them, and countless bottles of alcohol lying on the *pikapika* shining clean floor.


    It was a scenery I have recently seen somewhere. Lucia, who came with me, opened her eyes while Luke was frowning and was (probably) thinking about something bad.


    What’s more, slumped on one of the tables was, without doubt, the Members of 《Iron Cross》, one of the top-ss Members of our n. Their Leader, Sven, looked at me with zombie-like eyes and stiffened.


    I approached the table with a *nikoniko* smile and ced a box of Onsen Dragon Manju in front of Sven’s stunned eyes. Sven’s shoulders were *wanawana* shaking up and down, and his cheeks were reddening as he looked at the box with a deformed dragon printed on it.


    I *ponpon* pped on his shoulder, turned around, and ran. I heard Sven stand up from behind me with a *datan* thud.


    “Aaaah! O?, wait a sc! You bastard――” (Sven)


    “Luke, I’ve got a lot of work to do, so take care of it.” (Cry)


    .


    “Yoshaaa, Sven! I’m going to show you my new move, let’s go to the training ground!” (Luke)


    Luke, you are looking good, despite just getting back……


    And I am sorry, Sven. I have to give Eva her souvenir, so I don’t have time to deal with yourints.


    “Shit! …… Guys! Don’t let Cry escape!” (Sven)


    When Luke’s eyes were shining, Sven let out a tragic stream.


    The other Members looked up as if their corpses had been revived, and their eyes were shining as if they had found their prey.


    I tapped Lucia on the shoulder as we passed each other. And Lucia let out a high-pitched *Moh moh* yell.


    I ran up the stairs, *nikoniko* smiling and out of breath. And then, screams came out of the Lounge.


    § <h4>TL notes:</h4>


    Thanks for reading!


    Nothing much to say but here we go the 5th arc! Let’s goooo!


    Tchao à plus! <h4>Footnotes</h4>


    Moh moh: Something along the line of sullen “Come on” yell.