After saying goodbye to Mira and the others, Chase walked home alone.
The night sky was filled with stars, and the bright moon hung high. The town streets at this late hour were quite deserted, save for the murmuring of the river encircling the city and the chirping of insects fluttering under the streetlamps.
Such a quiet, pleasant environment felt a bit unusual to Chase, who had just experienced a great battle.
But that feeling came and went quickly. Ahead, a single detached house was brightly lit, a stark contrast to the surrounding buildings that had already gone dark.
That's right. It was Chase's home.
Pushing open the well-soundproofed door, a lively atmosphere instantly hit him.
Completely unsurprisingly, aside from Erza, who had returned to the girls' dormitory, everyone from the strongest team was inside, sitting around the living room, which was covered in barbecue and drinks, partying hard.
"Yo, Chase. Welcome back."
Gray, facing the entrance, was the first to notice Chase and greeted him with a very natural wave.
"Haha, come on over, Chase! I saved a huge lamb chop for you!"
Natsu, his cheeks stuffed full, followed, waving cheerfully as he chewed on his roasted meat.
"Aye~ I don't know if it's because Lucy paid for it, but the fish is so delicious~" Happy said, crazy devouring his fish.
In contrast to their nonchalance, Lucy, whose back was to the door, jumped in surprise. Her entire body tensed up, her back ramrod straight, and beads of guilt-induced sweat appeared on her forehead.
"Ah? C-Chase-nii!" Wendy was so startled she jumped to her feet.
Being too nervous, she choked on the meat in her mouth, waving her arms around randomly as her face turned bright red.
Carla quickly handed her a glass of orange juice.
Sniffing the barbecue smell that permeated the entire house, Chase ignored the large lamb chop Natsu was holding out. Instead, he walked over behind Lucy with extremely oppressive steps.
"Explain, Lucy. What's going on here?" He hooked his arm around Lucy's shoulder, leaned in close, and asked with a perfectly kind smile.
"W-wait, Chase-nii! Let me explain—no, let me quibble!" Lucy was panicking. Her eyes darted around as she immediately tried to shift the blame. "Natsu! Yes, it was all Natsu and Happy's idea!"
Scene shift: Chase is now sitting on the floor, eating with oil dripping down his chin.
Here's what happened: After Makarov had called off the victory banquet, the disgruntled Natsu had a bright idea. He suggested they have their own party at Lucy's house.
The proposal was instantly approved unanimously. Gray and Happy raised their hands in agreement. Wendy and Carla just simply wanted to visit Lucy's house.
As for Lucy's own opposing vote...
Well, her opposition was overruled.
Seeing that her own house was about to suffer a catastrophe, Lucy had a stroke of desperate genius. Offering to pay out of her own pocket, and using the excuse that Chase-nii's house was more spacious, she successfully diverted the disaster.
Hence the scene Chase had walked in on.
Chase naturally didn't mind such a trivial matter. Or rather, he had already grown accustomed to it.
A weird smell? Just a bottle of magic perfume would take care of that. A bit of liveliness made it feel more like a home.
That said, there still had to be a punishment for breaking and entering.
"Harder. You just finished eating barbecue, didn't you?"
"Yes ma'am!"
Lucy massaged Chase's shoulders with all her might.
"Chase-nii is really scary..." Wendy shrunk back beside him, her cute face filled with fear.
"Don't just stand there staring. Go grab me two bottles of beer from the fridge."
"O-okay!"
Wendy didn't dare refuse. She turned and hurried toward the large fridge in the corner of the living room.
Then, with a thump, she performed her signature move: tripping over nothing.
Carla: "...I'll get it."
Her Exceed wings extended. Having no other choice, she flew over to get the beer instead.
If they were at the guild, she would have strongly condemned Chase for bossing people around like this. But since they were in the wrong for throwing a party at his house without asking, she could only silently comply.
Otherwise, she would end up like the two men and the male cat sprawled on the floor, lumps on their heads, their little spirit figures floating up.
That card nerd Chase wouldn't go easy on someone just because they were a girl.
Carla had profoundly learned that lesson back when Chase had "Ora Ora Ora"ed Mira.
After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, a cheerful Chase sat on the sofa with his crossed legs, holding a cup of black tea Lucy had brewed.
Natsu, Gray, and Happy, who had been knocked back to their senses, "voluntarily" took on the cleaning duties.
"So, in the end, the Council forces showed up and took the defeated Bluenote and Meredy away..." Chase said, taking a light sip of his tea.
From Wendy, he learned more details about the Sabertooth battlefield.
The moment Gildarts had knocked out Bluenote with a single punch, the Council forces had arrived on time and arrested Bluenote and Meredy on various charges.
They also helped pacify the nearby residents affected by the battle.
Their punctual arrival was, at this point, a common occurrence.
What bothered Chase more was that even though they had contacted the Council when Makarov was leading the main force to attack Grimoire Heart's headquarters, there had been no sign of the Council forces until the war was over.
Instead, it had been Acnologia, attracted by Gandora, who had cleaned up the battlefield.
Granted, their target this time was the strongest dark guild in the Balam Alliance on paper, so they couldn't exactly act hastily.
It was understandable that mobilizing troops, organizing combat personnel, and launching magical warships would take a considerable amount of time. But this support speed was just too slow.
For some reason, the image of Chairman Crawford Seam, with his exaggerated mustache, popped into Chase's mind.
Due to his intervention, the Council's personnel structure had not been affected by the Tower of Heaven incident. So, Crawford had not been removed from office. He was still the chairman.
Despite being the chairman, he was by no means a good man.
In the original story, in order to regain power, he had even leaked information about Face, which could eliminate all magic power on the continent, and colluded with Tartaros to assassinate former councilors.
In the end, because he was foolish enough to use Archive Magic to transfer the "Face key" inside Jellal to himself, Kyoka of Tartaros had literally ripped his heart out.
For now, it was just speculation. But it was entirely possible that this fool had been waiting for Fairy Tail and Grimoire Heart to destroy each other so he could reap the benefits!
"Is... is something wrong, Chase-nii?" Lucy vaguely noticed that Chase's expression was a bit off.
"No. I was just thinking the Council sure knows how to pick their timing," Chase said, slowly putting down his teacup and sighing softly.
Setting aside the handful of scumbags, the Council was still a symbol of order and light, guarding the peace and stability of the Ishgar continent.
So, without key evidence, he really didn't want to move against Crawford.
Killing that weakling wouldn't give him any card drops and would only bring trouble to the guild.
Dealing with this kind of scum might be something better left to Ultear, who had decided to return to the Council and begin her path of atonement.
After all, bad people always slip up eventually.
***
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