But heartache was useless.
With the terrifying power unleashed just moments ago, there was no way something like Holy Gold coins could have survived.
Thinking of this, Felt felt as though she was plagued by nothing but bad luck. Not only had she failed to make a single cent, but she had also nearly lost her life—and now, Old Man Rom didn't even have a home anymore.
Gojo Satoru, too, had lost the smugness he'd displayed right after finishing off the enemy. He squatted beside Felt, looking as limp as a frost-bitten eggplant.
"Um... are you guys okay?"
Subaru Natsuki approached, speaking with concern. To his surprise, Gojo suddenly grabbed him in a tight hug and began "wailing" theatrically.
"Twenty Holy Gold coins... do you know how many sweets that could buy?!"
"Eh?"
Several question marks practically manifested over Subaru's face. So he's this devastated just for that reason? As expected, he still didn't understand the world of the strong—just as he didn't understand why that woman earlier was such a total freak.
"It's fine, really," Subaru said, trying to comfort Gojo. "Even if those twenty coins were still here, they wouldn't have ended up in our hands anyway. Did you forget our debt?"
Gojo Satoru, who had been performatively rubbing his eyes behind his sunglasses as if wiping away tears, froze mid-motion at Subaru's words.
"Subaru-kun," Gojo said, looking at him with a heavy, somber tone.
"What is it?"
"Has anyone ever told you that you can't read the room?"
"Let me think... I don't think so."
"How pitiful. You don't even have friends who would tell you the truth?"
"That's not exactly a compliment!"
Old Man Rom walked over at that point. Seeing him, Gojo gave a dry laugh. "About that, Old Man Rom... the destructive power was maybe just a tiny bit more than intended."
"Hahahaha!"
To Gojo's surprise, Old Man Rom didn't look upset at all. On the contrary, he let out a boisterous laugh.
"It's fine, it's fine. Being able to walk away alive is a miracle in itself. When facing a monster like that, this level of loss is perfectly acceptable."
Rom stepped forward and clapped Gojo on the shoulder. "Speaking of which, we all owe you a great debt of gratitude. If it weren't for you, Felt and I would likely be corpses by now."
Rom spoke with total sincerity; his thanks were deeply heartfelt.
"Hahaha." Gojo stood up and patted the dust off his clothes, tilting his head back slightly. "Being praised like that is a bit embarrassing, really. Why don't you have Felt reduce our debt a little more as a reward?"
Old Man Rom blinked, glanced at the still-grieving Felt, and gave a non-committal "ha-ha."
"Anyway, it's getting late, and you two need a place to rest. Why don't you crash at Felt's place tonight? Tomorrow we can look for a new spot and get things sorted out."
Clearly, Old Man Rom knew Felt's penny-pinching nature all too well and skillfully dodged the subject.
"Hmph." Felt let out a soft snort. She turned to Gojo and held up two fingers.
Seeing this, Gojo took a tentative guess: "Twenty Holy Gold coins?"
"Two! I meant two!"
Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, Felt practically jumped into the air.
Watching her agitated state, Gojo found it quite amusing, but he didn't tease her any further. It was only natural that she'd be a bit high-strung after nearly dying.
"Old Man Rom, look at this."
Subaru had apparently found something. He ran a few steps, picked it up from the debris, and handed it to Rom.
"This is... that woman's blade?"
Gojo recognized it at a glance—it was one of the purple kukris. However, only half of it remained.
"What do you think? This should be worth some money, right?" Subaru asked. Being heavily in debt, they couldn't afford not to be frugal.
"If it were whole, it might be worth something. But in this state..." Old Man Rom shook his head. "A few silver coins at most."
"Better than nothing."
Something picked up for free was a profit even if it only fetched a single copper.
"Wait, shouldn't I get a cut of this too?" Gojo leaned in enthusiastically. "After all, I did work very hard during that fight."
"Can I say no?"
"I don't think so!"
While Subaru and the others were enjoying the quiet aftermath of their survival, the sound of rhythmic footsteps suddenly echoed through the slums.
Many people lived in the slums, but they all knew one thing: if you wanted to live a long life, you never poked your nose into other people's business. Even an accidental glance could bring down total disaster.
At the first sound of the footsteps, Rom and Felt both instinctively looked toward the source. They saw several figures dressed in white Royal Guard uniforms rushing toward them at high speed.
"Trouble," Rom grumbled.
Obviously, the commotion earlier was so massive that it had even alerted the Knights. Several knights approached Gojo and the group with solemn, guarded expressions. That strike of Gojo's that had shredded the night sky had shaken the entire Royal Capital. As the knights protecting the city, they naturally had to investigate immediately.
As the group drew near, Gojo—who had been debating the value of the broken blade with Subaru—suddenly waved his hand with great enthusiasm.
"Hey! What a coincidence, Reinhard!"
Reinhard, who was leading the investigation team, was quite surprised to see Gojo. He hadn't expected the traveler who had borrowed money from him just yesterday to appear here, at this time.
"You know him?" Subaru nudged Gojo with his elbow, whispering.
"Of course." Gojo nodded with a beaming smile.
"Then we won't be in trouble, right?"
"What trouble? In a bit, I'll have him find us a place to stay the night and get us some food while he's at it."
Gojo spoke with total confidence and walked toward Reinhard.
"I didn't expect you to be here," Reinhard said. His expression and tone were as gentle as their first meeting; he didn't adopt a harsh attitude just because he was acting as an officer of the law. "Do you know what caused that disturbance earlier?"
"If you're talking about that thing in the sky, then yes, I'm pretty clear on that," Gojo nodded candidly.
"Because I'm the one who did it."
The moment the words left his mouth, the expressions of the knights behind Reinhard shifted. they immediately fanned out, subtly surrounding Gojo Satoru.
"Reinhard, who is this man?"