The Last-Seat Hero Has Returned

74. Interlude – Mon… Monster!

A 24-hour bathhouse in Valhalla City.

The old bathhouse, built of decaying wood, was enveloped in a quiet silence.

Creak.

We opened the door and entered the bathhouse.

“Huh? It’s just us?”

“It’s quite late.”

“Well, we have been drinking for a long time.”

The time had already passed midnight and it was now 1 AM.

It wasn’t a large bathhouse that could accommodate hundreds of people, but rather an old, run-down neighborhood bathhouse. It was rare to see customers at this hour.

“Oh, but there’s even an open-air bath?”

Opening the glass door leading outside, a small open-air bath with steam rising from it came into view.

“By the way, where is Yuren?”

“He said he was going to the bathroom a while ago.”

“Hmm. Could he have run away after coming all the way here….”

“Hehe. Who am I? Knowing that, I secretly hid Yuren’s clothes in another stall.”

“Oh! As expected of you!”

Honestly, I wondered if we had dragged him here too forcefully, even though he didn’t want to come.

‘It’s something Yuren needs too.’

In our past lives, Yuren and I had spent a whopping ten years together, becoming inseparable friends and almost like family.

But I always felt a ‘wall’ from Yuren.

It was as if he was afraid of getting close to others from deep within his heart.

‘It wasn’t just because he liked being alone.’

I recalled the envious look Yuren often gave when he saw me and Berald playing together.

Even so, I never knew why he kept his distance from others.

‘I can’t just let him build that wall again like in our past lives.’

This time, I intended to break down the ‘wall’ in Yuren’s heart, even if just a little.

Creak.

As I was thinking that and waiting for Yuren, the bathhouse door opened and Yuren, wrapped in a towel, came inside.

“Is… is there no one else?”

Yuren looked around nervously, like a cat left by the water.

“Yeah. We rented the whole place.”

“R-really?”

Yuren’s expression relaxed slightly, as if he had avoided the worst.

I took Yuren and headed to the open-air bath with Berald.

“Ah, this is nice!”

As I immersed my body in the steaming hot water, a thrilling shiver spread down my spine.

My lower body, warm as if wrapped in a thick blanket, and my upper body, exposed to the chilly night air.

Being enveloped in such warmth in the open air itself felt like an indescribable luxury.

“Ah! It feels like all my fatigue is melting away!”

“Well, you were the one who worked the hardest this time.”

Everyone in the party had faithfully performed their assigned roles.

Among them, Beryl, who took on the role of the vanguard, had the most physically demanding position.

“Oh, what are you talking about? The one who worked the hardest was our brother Yuren, wasn’t it?”

“Huh… What? Me?”

Yuren, who had been crouching in the corner of the open-air bath (though the bath was so small that it was right next to him), suddenly lifted his head.

“Didn’t you almost single-handedly handle everything from combat to command?”

“Ah… Well, I was at the forefront.”

“If you put it that way, both you and I were at the forefront.”

Beryl grinned and extended his fist towards Yuren.

“Thank you. I feel like I’ve learned a lot thanks to being with you brothers.”

“…Yeah.”

Yuren cautiously extended his fist and bumped it against Beryl’s.

“By the way, Brother Dale. Were you part of another party before?”

“Another party?”

“From what you taught us this time, it seems like you came from a party with a lot of experience.”

“……”

A party with a lot of experience.

Well, if you put it that way, I did come from the best party.

I swallowed a bitter smile and shook my head.

“I just taught you what I learned from the lectures.”

“…When you say that, it doesn’t sound convincing at all.”

“Shut up, you fool.”

I waved my hand to avoid answering.

“Hehe. Well, I’m really glad you’re here, brother.”

“Glad?”

“Who else but you, brother, would invite someone like me to a party? …Even after learning magic for over 10 years, I can’t even properly use a magic bullet.”

Berald sighed with a bitter smile, a hint of self-reproach in his voice.

“Who says you can’t use magic?”

“Hmm?”

“Why, didn’t you use that ‘Stone Arrow’ or whatever it was just fine this time?”

“That was….”

“Highly advanced physical force is indistinguishable from magic.”

I repeated the words Berald had once told me.

“Heh.”

Berald chuckled softly, his shoulders shaking with laughter.

“…Thank you, brother.”

Berald grinned and clenched his fist.

“Alright! Since I’ve got your approval, I’ll keep honing my own ‘magic’ even more!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

A dejected look doesn’t suit Berald.

At least the ‘Berald Ryu’ I know was a hero who never stopped moving forward, no matter how desperate the situation.

“Hmm. Well… be that as it may.”

Suddenly, Berald narrowed his eyes and stared intently at me.

“Brother, you seem to have gotten in great shape recently?”

“Huh?”

“I wasn’t sure during the exploration because you were wearing clothes… but what have you been eating to get that body?”

Berald exclaimed in admiration as he looked at my exposed upper body.

He must have recognized the new physique I had developed after becoming a ‘furnace.’

“Just the result of diligent training.”

“Hmm. That kind of body can’t be made by training alone.”

“What’s so special about it…?”

Was it curiosity sparked by Berald’s reaction?

Yuren, who had been avoiding looking at me since entering the open-air bath, turned his head slightly.

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“…Whoa!”

Yuren’s eyes widened as he looked at me.

Yuren, with a face flushed bright red, repeatedly exclaimed, “Wow.”

In between his exclamations, he even swallowed his saliva.

“This feels a bit strange.”

No matter how you dress it up, the experience of having other men stare intently at my body was not a pleasant one.

“…Hmm?”

While looking around for a topic to change the subject, I noticed the pendant hanging around Yuren’s neck.

“What’s that pendant?”

“…Huh? This, this?”

For some reason, Yuren hastily covered the pendant around his neck with his hand.

With an awkward smile, Yuren continued.

“That… it’s my younger sister’s keepsake.”

“…Really?”

If it’s Yuren’s younger sister, he must be referring to Yurina Helios, who died in an accident eight years ago.

It was a story that could bring tears to one’s eyes, considering he had cherished his sister’s keepsake for nearly ten years.

“What?”

Knowing the future Yuren, I couldn’t help but tilt my head in confusion.

“I’ve never seen Yuren wearing a pendant before.”

I had spent a whopping ten years with Yuren in my previous life.

During that long time together, I had never seen Yuren wearing that ‘younger sister’s keepsake’ around his neck.

“Did he lose it before we became a party?”

There was a ten-year gap between graduation and becoming a party with Yuren, so it was possible he lost it during that time.

“But knowing Yuren’s personality, that doesn’t seem likely…”

Yuren was the type of person who meticulously kept even the uniform he used during his cadet days without throwing it away.

For someone like Yuren to lose something as precious as his younger sister’s keepsake?

It was something I couldn’t understand from my perspective.

“Well… asking Yuren about it now won’t give me any answers anyway.”

I erased the question from my mind and leisurely soaked my body in the open-air bath.

As I was soaking and relieving my accumulated fatigue,

“Oh, right. Brother Dale, I saw they were selling roasted eggs before we came in here. Would you like some?”

“Oh, it seems the owner here is from the Republic.”

“…Grilled eggs?”

Yuren, who had been listening to our conversation, tilted his head in confusion.

“Why do they sell grilled eggs at a bathhouse?”

“Hehe. You country bumpkin from the Empire. Once you try it, you’ll be hooked too.”

I grinned and looked back at Berald.

As if knowing what I was about to say, Berald quickly dashed out of the open-air bath and shouted.

“I’ll go buy some right away, so wait here!”

“Get three cups of sikhye too.”

“Hehe. Of course!”

Berald hurriedly ran outside and returned with a basket of grilled eggs and three cups of sikhye on a tray.

Normally, eating snacks while in the bath would be considered rude to others.

‘But since it’s just us, who cares.’

Thus began our impromptu late-night snack time.

“It’s delicious!”

“Right?”

“Yeah! Unlike boiled ones, it’s really chewy! And this sikhye drink is super sweet too.”

Yuren’s eyes sparkled as he ate the grilled eggs and drank the sikhye.

‘Maybe I’m a Republic person after all.’

Around this time, there was a trend in the Republic where people would serve local food to people from the Holy Kingdom or the Empire and observe their exaggerated reactions.

I could somewhat understand why the people of the Republic were so enthusiastic about such a pointless trend.

“Shall we get going then?”

We had eaten our fill of snacks and warmed our bodies enough.

It was time to head back to our lodging and sleep.

“Hehe. Understood, brother!”

“Yeah. Let’s do that.”

Yuren nodded urgently, as if he wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.

Seeing that, I felt like teasing him, but I decided against it.

‘It’s not good to push too hard all at once.’

If the walls of the heart could be easily broken down, who would use the term ‘walls’ to describe them?

“Well then.”

I rose from the bath.

“Ugh…!”

At that moment, Berald suddenly gasped in shock.

Tilting my head, I glanced at Berald, noticing his gaze fixated on my lower half.

“T-This, brother… it seems it wasn’t just your body that got better.”

“No.”

What the hell are you looking at, you idiot?

“Ahem! This is quite… I thought I wouldn’t be outdone anywhere, but… indeed, there are many hidden masters in the world.”

“Masters, my ass.”

After giving Berald a dismissive gesture, I turned to inspect him as he followed me out of the bath, taking a quick look up and down.

‘Hmm.’

Yeah, well.

I am bigger, after all.

“Ahem.”

Feeling a bit awkward, I turned away from Berald towards Yuren.

“…Ah.”

Yuren stood there, eyes wide and mouth agape.

“…Yuren?”

I called out his name, but Yuren remained frozen like a statue, trembling slightly.

“What’s wrong?”

“Yikes!”

Yuren, clutching a towel around himself, stepped back with a horrified expression.

“D-Don’t come near!”

“What?”

“I said don’t come near!”

His face was pale, shaking his head as if he had seen a ghost.

“Why are you suddenly…?”

“Ah, ugh. Ahh.”

Worried about Yuren’s state, I approached him, only to have him let out a strangled scream, his eyes rolling back in terror.

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“Mo… Monster! …Gurgle.”

With those words, Yuren plunged into the bath with a splash.

“Hey! Yuren! Get a grip, man!”

The moonlight shone down on the open-air bath.

The sun was sinking into the water.