The speaker was a knight with handsome features and an extraordinary aura. Rather than a soldier, he gave off the distinct impression of a refined noble scion.
"I'm Gojo Satoru, a friend of Reinhard's," Gojo said. Despite the wary looks from the others, he remained completely unfazed, maintaining his usual cheerful grin. "Right, Reinhard?"
Reinhard spoke up upon hearing this. "This is my second time meeting him. The first was yesterday; since he had no money for an inn, I provided him with some funds."
Reinhard spoke with concise clarity, informing his teammates of the nature of his relationship with Gojo. Although Gojo claimed they were friends, a stranger naturally held less weight than the comrades Reinhard worked with day and night.
That said, Reinhard turned his gaze toward Gojo. "Could you tell us exactly what happened? You don't need to worry about being wrongfully accused..."
"No, no, no. I don't have that kind of 'worry' at all," Gojo interrupted. "After all, I don't think anyone would be stupid enough to try that after seeing what happened tonight."
Gojo shrugged, his tone casual, yet his words were steeped in profound confidence. "Actually, in a way, you could consider this me returning the favor."
Gojo gave a brief rundown of the encounter with the woman from earlier. Naturally, he glossed over the part about Felt being commissioned to steal something.
"Subaru, give me the blade."
Subaru Natsuki handed the broken weapon to Gojo.
"Here. This is that woman's knife. Anything else you want to know?" Gojo tossed the blade carelessly toward Reinhard and let out a yawn.
Reinhard caught the weapon and examined it intently.
At that moment, the purple-haired knight beside him spoke in a low, somber voice. "If your description is accurate, I believe I know who you were fighting. An assassin from a specialized organization, known as the 'Bowel Hunter,' Elsa Granhiert."
"She has assassinated numerous figures across various nations and has a penchant for playing with her targets' viscera. She is a wanted criminal in multiple countries. I didn't expect someone like her to show up in the Royal Capital."
"Well, her identity doesn't really make a difference," Gojo remarked. He wasn't particularly interested; as someone he had already defeated, a weakling like her didn't warrant much of his attention.
"An unstable element like that must be a real headache for a knight like you. Just consider this payment for that favor..."
Gojo had barely finished speaking when he saw Felt sneaking over. She tugged on his sleeve, signaling for him to lean down. Felt glanced warily at Reinhard and the others before whispering urgently into Gojo's ear.
"What 'favor' do you owe him?"
"Nothing much, just a few silver coins..."
"You idiot! Just a few silver coins?!" Felt hissed. "Do you have any idea how high the bounty is for someone wanted by multiple nations? Is that something a few silver coins can settle?"
"..."
"Ha... haha." Hearing Felt's words, Gojo gave a dry, hollow laugh. "Well, he did help me out, after all..."
Felt let out a cold snort and crossed her arms, staring him down. Under Felt's piercing gaze, Gojo suddenly whipped his head back toward Reinhard and spoke with sudden gravity.
"Regarding the Bowel Hunter matter... you can take the credit, but I think we need to have a serious chat about the bounty."
Missing out on those twenty Holy Gold coins earlier was already regrettable enough. Now that he knew there was a bounty involved—as Felt pointed out—what was he lacking most right now? Money. Without money, they didn't even have a place to stay, let alone sweets. As the head of the prestigious Gojo family and a once-in-a-century genius of the jujutsu world, how could he live so poorly?
Reinhard looked up from the broken blade, a gentle smile appearing on his face. "We will verify everything. If the facts align and it's confirmed that the target is deceased, the bounty will naturally be yours."
"However, for now, I need you all to come back with us to the Royal Guard headquarters to register. We need a detailed account of tonight's events for the official records."
"Additionally, regarding your battle with the Bowel Hunter, if there was any collateral damage to others or property loss..."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Gojo immediately made a 'time-out' gesture to cut Reinhard off.
Was he joking? He was already drowning in debt; he had no intention of letting that pile grow any larger. "You're not going to tell me people live in the sky, are you?"
During the battle, he had specifically aimed his attack upward because he knew the surrounding area was densely populated with the poor. If that [Red] had swept across the ground, there was no telling how many houses would have been leveled or how many lives would have been lost.
Reinhard couldn't help but chuckle at that. "That was just a routine notification. Even if someone comes forward to claim damages, we will conduct an investigation. You can rest easy on that front."
"That's a relief." Gojo patted his chest, letting out a sigh of exhaustion. "In that case, let's get going. Don't we have some 'registering' to do?"
Gojo walked over to Reinhard's side, leaning in with a high level of familiarity. "I assume you won't mind arranging a place for us to crash? And maybe some food while you're at it?"
"If you require it, certainly."
After a brief exchange, Gojo's group accompanied Reinhard and the others toward the Royal Guard headquarters. On the way, the purple-haired knight with the noble air—whose name Gojo learned was Julius—was quite proactive in striking up a conversation. He mainly asked for information about Gojo: where he was from, his purpose in Lugnica, and so on.
Gojo stuck to the same story he had given Reinhard. Aside from omitting the fact that he was a transdimensional traveler, everything else was technically the truth—not exactly a lie. Through this dialogue, Gojo learned a fair bit about Julius and the inner workings of the Knights.
Amidst the pleasant conversation, it wasn't long before the group arrived at the headquarters. Reinhard and Julius led them into a spacious room to begin the formal inquiry regarding the night's events.
"If it's possible, I'd like some sweets. Some hot tea would be great too," Gojo said, raising his hand like a schoolboy the moment he sat down. "Subaru, you're hungry too, right? Could you bring some other food as well? We haven't had dinner yet."