"What are you talking about? You're not a child anymore."
"Besides, the ones who defeated the Witch were the Sword Saint, the Divine Dragon, and the Sage. There was no 'Hero' involved at all."
Felt complained, wondering why Subaru Natsuki always liked to say such strange things. Ignoring the "weakling," Felt trotted a few steps into the house to take a look.
Her expression shifted to one of surprise as she looked at the floor, which had been scrubbed clean. Just as she stepped back out, Old Man Rom provided an assist.
"Pretty clean, right? Young Gojo did it all by himself."
"He finished everything single-handedly right after you left. I didn't help at all—I'm quite ashamed, really."
"I believe that as an employer, to maintain employee morale, you should provide an appropriate reward as an incentive—for example, a sweet, delicious dessert..."
Gojo Satoru was unreserved as ever, seizing the opportunity to push for benefits.
"In your dreams!"
"Don't think doing this can make up for the emotional damage you've caused me!"
Felt spoke disdainfully, giving Subaru a light kick. "Get up already! Start moving the stuff inside."
"Well, that response wasn't exactly unexpected..."
The smile remained on Gojo's face, and his tone betrayed no hint of disappointment. But at that moment, a small parcel suddenly flew through the air, stopping right in front of Gojo as if hitting an invisible wall.
Gojo looked up to see Felt, standing at the doorway, let out a soft "Hmph" before urging Subaru into the house.
Gojo reached out, caught the parcel, and opened it. Inside were several candies coated in white powdered sugar—they looked a bit coarse and cheap. Compared to the one he had given Felt before, there was naturally no contest.
However...
As Gojo looked at the candies in his hand, his smile grew even more radiant. Not minding the coarseness of the sweets at all, he popped one into his mouth. Feeling the sweetness spread, he strode quickly into the house.
"Little Felt, I didn't expect you to be so thoughtful as to buy me candy. I'm truly moved!"
"Get lost! Don't you dare act all buddy-buddy with me. I'm not falling for it again!"
The four of them worked around the dilapidated shack, hammering and cleaning for several days. They finally managed to fix up the rickety hut to the point where it was actually habitable.
Though, it was only "habitable." Things like bathing or using the restroom remained quite inconvenient. But in the slums, those were the only conditions available.
Once the housing issue was settled, Felt began to contemplate how to make money. When she was alone, pickpocketing was enough to get by. She certainly couldn't do that now. Gojo Satoru's strength was so immense that using him for petty theft would be a waste of talent—and besides, looking at the guy, he didn't seem like the type willing to do such things.
Felt thought it over and finally had an idea.
"Join a mercenary escort?"
Subaru Natsuki was visibly excited upon hearing Felt's proposal. Since transmigrating, he had found that his experiences were completely different from light novels. What kind of Hero just stayed in one area without leveling up or exploring? Now, they finally had a chance to leave the Royal Capital and the slums for the wider world. Perhaps out there, he'd have a chance to activate some special talent.
"Yeah."
"Many merchant caravans hire specialized escorts for their long journeys to ensure they aren't harassed by bandits, thieves, or mabeasts along the way."
"We definitely can't join those large trading companies—they won't take people with unknown backgrounds. But there are many independent merchants who don't have that luxury. They huddle together to make their convoys look larger to share the risk."
"We can start with them. As long as we show our strength, I'm sure they won't refuse. After all, compared to what the big companies spend on escorts, it's much cheaper for them to pool their money and hire us once."
Felt analyzed the situation with a serious air. This was the plan she had been agonizing over for the past few days. Although those merchants individually couldn't produce much gold, if there were enough of them, it would still add up to a fortune.
"I think this plan is feasible!" Subaru was the first to answer the call.
"I'm fine either way; you guys decide."
Gojo spoke nonchalantly. To him, anything worked. Traveling to other places wasn't a bad idea; experiencing the local customs of this world firsthand sounded like a nice vacation.
As for Popularity Points... he'd just let nature take its course. It wasn't like he was under any pressure.
"Then it's settled. The three of us will go, and Old Man Rom will stay behind."
"I don't want to come back and find that the place we worked so hard to fix up has been taken over by someone else." Felt made the decision with a wave of her small hand.
"Don't worry, just leave the house to me while you're out," Old Man Rom said, patting his chest. While he couldn't match Gojo or the Bowel Hunter in combat, he had no problem handling the typical rabble of the slums. That was, after all, how he had managed to run a loot cellar in such a chaotic place.
Knock, knock-knock.
Just as Felt had decided on their path to riches, a knock came from the rickety front door. Felt and Old Man Rom exchanged a confused look.
Who would come looking for them? They had just moved, and Felt didn't exactly have "friends." Gojo and the others were even less likely to have visitors. Who could it be at this hour?
Old Man Rom stood up, cracking his knuckles with a series of pops. If it was some blind fools looking for trouble, he wouldn't mind teaching them a lesson.
However, when Old Man Rom pulled open the door, the figure standing there caught him by surprise.
"I apologize for coming uninvited without prior notice. I hope I'm not causing any trouble."
A gentle voice rang out. Even without seeing the person, the voice alone conjured the image of an impressive red-haired figure.
"No, no, no trouble at all!"
Inside the house, Gojo Satoru waved toward the door, his tone quite excited.
"Come in, come in! Are you here to deliver our bounty?"
At the mention of the word "bounty," Felt's eyes practically glazed over. If the bounty had actually arrived, why would she need to go through the trouble of dragging Gojo and the others off to play escort?