But no amount of heartache was going to fix anything.
With power like that just now, there was no way those Holy Gold Coins could have survived.
Thinking about it that way only made Felt feel even more unlucky.
Not only did she fail to make any money, she nearly lost her life. On top of that, Old Man Rom did not even have a home anymore.
Satoru Gojo had also lost the smug satisfaction he'd shown after defeating the enemy. He squatted beside Felt, looking completely deflated, like an eggplant hit by frost.
"Um… are you guys okay?"
Subaru Natsuki walked over, concern clear in his voice.
Who would have thought Gojo would suddenly pull him into a hug and start sobbing.
"Twenty Holy Gold Coins…"
"Do you know how many desserts that could buy?"
"Huh?"
A string of question marks practically appeared on Subaru's face.
So this was why he was this upset?
Sure enough, the world of the strong was beyond him. Just like how he still could not understand why that woman earlier was so twisted.
"It's fine, really."
Subaru tried to comfort him. "Even if those twenty Holy Gold Coins were still around, they wouldn't have ended up with us anyway, right? Did you forget about our debt?"
Gojo had been pretending to wipe his eyes beneath his sunglasses, like he was brushing away tears. He froze when he heard that.
"Subaru."
Gojo looked at him with a heavy expression.
"What?"
"Has anyone ever told you that you're really bad at reading the room?"
"Let me think… I don't think so?"
"That's kind of sad. You don't even have a friend who'd say something like that to you?"
"That's not something nice to say at all!"
Old Man Rom walked over at that moment.
Seeing him, Gojo gave an awkward laugh.
"Well, um, Old Man Rom… I might've gone a tiny bit overboard with the destruction."
"Ha ha ha ha!"
To his surprise, Old Man Rom showed no displeasure at all. Instead, he burst out laughing.
"It's fine, it's fine."
"Being alive is already a blessing. After running into a monster like that, this level of loss is still acceptable."
He stepped forward and patted Gojo on the shoulder.
"Really, we should both be thanking you properly."
"If it weren't for you, Felt and I would probably be corpses by now."
He said it seriously, his gratitude sincere.
"Ha ha."
Gojo stood up, dusted himself off, and lifted his chin slightly.
"Hearing praise like that is honestly kind of embarrassing. How about you let Felt shave a bit more off her debt, Old Man Rom?"
Old Man Rom blinked, glanced at Felt, who was quietly sulking, and laughed it off.
"Anyway, it's already late. You'll need somewhere to rest."
"Why don't we all squeeze in at Felt's place tonight? Tomorrow we can look for another place together and clean it up."
Clearly, Old Man Rom knew Felt's penny-pinching nature all too well and chose not to respond directly.
"Hmph."
Felt snorted, turned toward Gojo, and held up two fingers.
Seeing that, Gojo tested the waters.
"Twenty Holy Gold Coins?"
"Two!"
"Two coins!"
Felt jumped up like her tail had been stepped on.
Gojo found her reaction a little funny, but he did not tease her any further.
After nearly dying, needing some time to settle down was only natural.
"Old Man Rom, look at this."
At that moment, Subaru seemed to notice something. He jogged over, picked something up from nearby, and handed it to Old Man Rom.
"This is… that woman's blade?"
Gojo recognized it immediately. A purple curved blade.
Only now, it was broken in half.
"So what do you think? This should still be worth some money, right?"
With debts piling up, every bit counted.
"If it were intact, it might've been worth something. But like this…"
Old Man Rom shook his head. "At most, a few silver coins."
"Better than nothing."
For something picked up for free, even a single copper coin was still profit.
"By the way, shouldn't I get a share too?"
"I worked pretty hard in that fight, you know."
Gojo leaned in enthusiastically.
"Can I say no?"
"I don't think so!"
Just as Subaru and the others were enjoying the calm after surviving disaster, the sound of footsteps suddenly echoed through the slums.
Plenty of people lived there.
But everyone who did knew one thing.
If you wanted to live longer, never get involved in other people's business.
Even accidentally seeing something could bring fatal trouble.
The moment they heard the footsteps, Old Man Rom and Felt both instinctively looked toward the source.
Several figures in white knight uniforms were rushing toward them at high speed.
"This is trouble."
Old Man Rom muttered.
The commotion earlier had clearly been too big. Even the knights had been alerted.
Several knights approached with serious, guarded expressions.
Gojo's attack that tore through the night sky had shaken the entire royal capital.
As its defenders, the knights naturally rushed over to investigate.
Just as the group was closing in, Gojo, who had been discussing how much the broken blade might be worth with Subaru, suddenly waved cheerfully at them.
"Hey, fancy meeting you here, Reinhard."
Reinhard van Astrea, who was leading the group, looked surprised when he saw Gojo.
He had not expected to run into the traveler who had borrowed money from him just yesterday, especially here and at this hour.
"You know him?"
Subaru nudged Gojo with his elbow and whispered.
"Of course."
Gojo nodded with a smile.
"Then we shouldn't be in trouble, right?"
"What trouble could there be? I'll have him find us a place to stay for the night, and maybe get us something to eat too."
Gojo spoke with absolute confidence, then walked toward Reinhard.
"I didn't expect to see you here."
"Do you know what caused the disturbance earlier?"
Reinhard's tone and expression were just as gentle as when they first met.
There was no harshness at all, despite him being law enforcement.
"If you mean that thing in the sky earlier, then yeah, I do."
Gojo nodded calmly.
"Because that…"
"I was the one who did it."
As soon as those words fell, the knights behind Reinhard changed expressions and quickly spread out, faintly surrounding Gojo.
"Reinhard, who is he?"