Chapter 168: Chapter 168 - Guess Who’s Back?

Jingle~

"Welcome to Sophie’s Diner! Grab a seat anywhere you like, and I’ll be right with–"

"Hey, Cindy."

"Kurt! Oh my gosh, you’re actually alive!" Cindy, who was busy cleaning the counter with a rag, squealed as she leapt over and ran to him.

"Where on earth have you been the last few days?! Everyone’s been talking about you! What have you been up to? Are you okay? Did you see the newspaper this morning?! Look, look, look!"

Before Kurt could even open his mouth to greet her, Cindy frantically reached into her apron pocket and whipped out a folded, crisp sheet of parchment. She unfolded it with a sharp snap and thrust it directly into his face, nearly poking his good eye out with the corner of the paper.

"Look at the front page! The entire capital is losing its mind! There’s a giant article about an F-rank adventurer and the Izumi heiress who uncovered a massive conspiracy in the southern remote village!

Look here! That’s literally you, right there, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Lady Izumi, and right next to you is Dominik! And what is that behind you?! Is that a literal block of ice with a frozen zealot inside?! Like whaaat?!"

"Cindy! Breath! Jeez!" Kurt laughed as he pulled the parchment away from his face to get a proper look.

The illustration was remarkably crisp – not as good as what his phone could capture, but crisp, nonetheless. It captured the grim, triumphant atmosphere at the city gates from the sunset before.

’Well, damn. Dom wasn’t kidding when he said this was going to turn into a public spectacle. The media moves fast in this world. I wonder how they’re taking pictures when Chief Hudson and Dominik were so shocked when I took one with my phone...’

"What is all that absolute ruckus out there?!" A booming voice roared from behind the swinging wooden doors of the kitchen.

The doors burst open with a loud slam, and Sophie marched out into the main dining area wearing her chef’s attire.

"Well, well, well," Sophie smirked as she leaned against the doorframe. "Finally here, huh? I’m glad to see you kept your word, you crazy cyclops. I was halfway ready to march down to Diana’s estate and drag you out of bed myself."

She then turned her sharp gaze onto her waitress. "Cindy! Stop standing there like a starstruck schoolgirl and chatting his ear off! Direct the man to his seat, take his order, and do your actual job!"

"Eeeeek!! Y-Yes, ma’am!"

"Good. I’m going to finish prepping the ingredients. I have a feeling we’re going to be busy, so you better hurry up and order, Kurt." With that, she vanished back into the kitchen, the doors swinging shut behind her.

Cindy let out a dramatically relieved sigh as she shook her head. "Whew, she’s on a warpath today. Come on, follow me."

She led Kurt toward the front of the diner, guiding him to a prime booth situated directly next to a massive, pristine glass panel window that offered an uninterrupted, wide-angle view of the bustling cobblestone street outside.

"What can I get you started with for a drink while you look over the food options?" Cindy asked when handing him the menu.

"Hmm. You know... I have a friend who’s in love with this specific soda called ’Drinksalot’. I’d like a large glass of that, please."

"Sure! What flavor would you like? We have sweet berry, citrus lime, and spiced vanilla."

Kurt shrugged lazily. "Surprise me. I’ll let you decide the flavor."

"You got it! Be right back." Cindy chirped, spinning on her heel and scurrying off toward the beverage counter.

Left to his own devices, Kurt briefly opened the menu, scanned the text for a few seconds, and then closed it with a soft thud.

He rested his chin in his palm and turned his gaze toward the massive glass window to watch the city wake up.

Even though the sun had barely finished rising, the street outside was already incredibly busy. Caravans filled with colorful silk banners, armored mercenaries on the move, and wealthy nobles riding in gilded carriages were packed tightly into the thoroughfare.

Kurt chalked it up to the obvious: the grand tournament was scheduled to begin tomorrow.

That tournament was also the exact reason why Diana had to wake up hours before dawn, kissing his forehead with a quiet apology before rushing out to manage the massive security logistics, the church’s healing station and the last-minute aristocratic meetings required for the event.

Jingle~

The bell above the front door rang out again, its chime echoing through the quiet diner. Kurt casually looked up. Stepping through the doorway was a slender figure completely enveloped in an oversized hoodie jacket. The deep hood was pulled far forward to obscure their face in deep shadow.

"Welcome to Sophie’s Diner! I’ll be with you in a minute!"

The hooded individual paused at the entrance as they tilted their head, scanning the empty booths.

The moment their gaze landed on Kurt’s face, a soft smile visible beneath the shadow of the hood bloomed.

Without a word to Cindy, the stranger marched straight across the wooden floorboards and slid into the empty seat directly opposite him.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in," Kurt chuckled, balling his hand into a fist and holding it out across the wooden surface between them. "So, the prodigal daughter finally returns from her grand journey."

The stranger let out a soft laugh as she reached up and threw back her hood, letting her neck-length silver hair with vibrant, minty green streaks spill out.

"Please," Emelie said, dripping her voice with a playful, sarcastic edge. "That title definitely does not suit me, Kurt. I’m far too grounded to be considered prodigal."

She raised her own hand, bringing her knuckles forward to meet his in a solid fist bump. "It’s good to see you."

As if right on cue, Cindy returned from the back counter, carrying a tall glass of purple, bubbling wild-berry Drinksalot. She set it down on the table, intending to slide it to Kurt, but the moment Emelie saw the glass, her eyes practically lit up like stars.

"Whoa! You actually remembered!" Emelie gasped. Her hands flew to the glass, and she grabbed it before Cindy could even slide it over to Kurt.

She then took a massive gulp, her throat moving as she drained nearly half the sparkling soda in one go. "Ah! That is exactly what I needed! This shit is literally the best thing this city has ever produced!"

Cindy stood at the edge of the booth, clutching the tray against her chest. Her face was the perfect picture of utter confusion. She looked at Emelie, then at Kurt as her brain completely failed to process how the famous Emelie Herst just hijacked her customer’s drink.

"Don’t sweat it, Cindy. Just bring another one of those to the table." Kurt said, breaking her confusion.

"U-Understood," Cindy stammered. "By the way. Have you decided on your order yet?"

"Yeah, there’s this interesting one called Fantasy Grand Slam. I’ll have that."

"One Grand Slam... And you Ms. Herst? I take it, you’d like the usual morning platter?"

Emelie set the half-empty glass down with a satisfied grin, wiping her mouth with the back of her sleeve as she hummed happily. "Yes, please, Cindy. Extra crispy potato chips and double the butter on the biscuits."

"Coming right up. Be back soon, you two." Cindy said, leaving the two to talk.

"So, Emy, you come here often? You seemed to know the staff pretty well. Not to mention you got a ’usual’ order."

"Well... if you count coming here for nearly a thousand years across various versions of this city... then yes, I suppose you could say I come here pretty often. It’s always been one of the few spots in the capital that stays genuinely nice and quiet."

"Ha, the quiet part is usually much to Sophie’s dismay."

"It’s her fault she doesn’t know how to market. Not to mention she’s keeping it a secret to the adventurers that she works here all day and only goes back to being a proper guild master after dark. Oh, you should keep that part a secret."

"Don’t worry. I already know all about it."

"That right? Oh yeah, I just remembered something. I happened to stumble across a copy of the morning news. And I must say, I read something quite... interesting."

Emelie reached deep into her hoodie and pulled out a crumpled parchment straight from the central capital newspaper. She flattened it out on the table with her palm, sliding it directly in front of Kurt.

"Care to explain what this is about?" Emelie asked as she pointed toward the same news that Cindy showed him. "I go away for not even a week, and I come back to find my favorite one-eyed warrior posing for the front-page news like a legendary knight of the realm."

"... Honestly, the thing that bothers me the most about this... how the hell are they getting my picture like this? From what I know about the magical technology of this world, people don’t even know what a photograph or a camera is. How did someone draw this so perfectly?"

"What do you mean ’how’? That’s a high-tier Scryer matrix spell embedded into all recording tags. The spell activates in a way that the crystal lens captures a residual mana imprint of a scene, to which you can later project it onto ink-sensitive parchment. You can also use the tag to listen to music and record voices."

"... Uhm... Ok. All that makes perfect sense. Yep. I’ll just nod and agree because I understood everything." Kurt said robotically.

His hands then instinctively reached down toward his pocket to pull out his smartphone, intending to show her a comparison.

However, his fingers brushed against nothing but empty cloth. A sudden wave of annoyance washed over his face as his memory caught up with him.

"Ah, dammit. I forgot. My phone got completely destroyed during my fight with that village elder–"

SLAM!

"You actually fought the Elder of that village?!"

"Yeah... The old guy turned into this massive centipede monster. I believe I remember Kitty calling him a ’World Ender’."

"Kitty? That white cat...? Kurt," Emelie said, her voice dropping into a completely serious command. "Tell me everything that happened. Do not leave out a single detail."

Kurt looked at her serious face, then down at his fresh glass of soda that Cindy had just quietly placed on the table alongside their steaming breakfast platters. He let out a slow breath when a small dark grin pulled on his lips.

"Alright, Emy. Strap yourself in. Because this is about to be one hell of a crazy ride."

......

The story took over an hour to tell.

Kurt spoke in a calm tone, detailing the entire sequence of events:

- The F-rank quest.

- The Infected’s surprise attack and Liam’s cure.

- The horrifying tragedy of the entire village.

- The brutal nightmare of his battle against the infected, the centipede monsters and the World Ender.

- The way Ayako killed said World Ender in one shot.

- Finally, the retrieval of the cultist and recovery of the previous Saintess.

As the clock ticked closer to mid-morning, something else began to happen.

The massive glass panel window next to their booth became a literal magnet. One by one, people walked by and noticed the single-eyed man they’d come to know from all the different news articles sitting casually eating breakfast alongside Emelie Herst.

The diner too, became near full as the women snuck glances at Kurt and fans of Emelie stared admirably at her.

From behind the kitchen doors, Sophie’s roaring laughter could be heard echoing over the sound of sizzling pans. She was especially delighted at the sudden morning rush of customers. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Finally, Kurt took a final sip of his soda, setting the empty glass down as he concluded his tale with the chaotic resolution of the guild brawl from the night before.

"And that’s pretty much it. Turned in the flowers, got my five copper coins, beat up a bald guy named Bigi, and Sophie banned him for life."

Across the table, Emelie sat completely frozen. Her hands were still tightly gripping her empty glass and her mouth hung slightly agape as her green eyes stared at him in utter disbelief.