"Yo, I'm back."

He had wasted no time rushing back to the hotel. He didn't even waste time trying to dispose of Shinji's corpse, since Skadi had made sure no one would enter the club for now anyway. It was definitely something he would have to deal with eventually though... or Skadi would.

Luvia casually waved at him. "Welcome back." She didn't seem very bothered about what he had done.

And why would she? Zouken had once been a influential magus, but that had very much changed with the passage of time. So in her eyes Yato hadn't even wiped out a politically powerful family, he just dealt with some insects. Honestly, as a Campione, such actions should be beneath him, he should have hired some exterminators instead.

Skadi smiled at him. "Did everything go well?" Much like Luvia, she was fairly unbothered by his actions.

She had... married a warrior. Warriors did warrior things, such as bringing useless concubines back home, fighting gods and monsters, searching for legendary equipment, and of course, slaying cocky mages.

Yato nodded towards her. "Yeah. I need you to clean my mess though." Sending his wife (concubine) to clean his mess!? How misogynistic of him!

"Worry not husband, it is the duty of a wife to clean after her husband." And how unsurprisingly misogynistic of her! She was an ancient goddess after all.

Caren hummed. "And how messy was that mess?" Ah, he didn't want to get into details.

Yato looked away. "Not very messy. I just kinda... clobbered the guy in the head." It was emotionally messy, if that counted for something.

Caren pouted. "I suppose that's a good sign. Don't you know how to drawn out a death by using a sword however?" No...? Well, he could maybe do it if he tried, but it felt like a waste of his skills.

He sighed. "Let's just shelve this topic." He didn't want to think about it.

Not because he regretted it. He felt no pity for Shinji, and much less Zouken of all people. Still, there was something... wrong. And that something wrong is how he hadn't actually fixed anything, he just killed some bastards. Like a superhero targetting thugs, but not solving what made those people into thugs in the first place.

Though it's not like he could fix this issue of course. Whatever trauma Sakura had was something that he could only support her through it, since time travel was still something he sadly lacked.

And even if he did have time travel, would going back in time and wacking everyone who wanted to hurt her in the head before they did it actually solve anything? He would just be creating a different Sakura at that point, a completely different person.

And speaking of Sakura... "Hey... um..." He looked at her. She had stayed silent so far.

The girl nodded. "Senpai." So much about shelving that topic. Now he would probably need to bring it back.

Yato cleared his throat. "I... um... killed Shinji and Zouken." He didn't even know what he was going after with that statement.

He definitely wasn't trying to get her approval, he was sure of that. It's just that he felt like... well, like he needed to at least make an effort to understand how she felt about this whole situation.

Sakura looked down. "Yeah..." For a second he was worried... and then she smiled. "Great! You really are amazing, Senpai!" Huh!? Where did this come from!?

Not that he wasn't happy with results like these, but last he checked Sakura clearly wanted him to at least spare Shinji. He didn't really understand why, but she had made that very clear, and he had disrespected her wished.

He raised an eyebrow. "I... am? Um... Is this a thing were you are putting a fake smile on, but secretly you are now scared of me, and so you are trying to placate me?" That would make him sad...

Caren interjected. "That is no fake smile. In fact, it might just be the truest smile she has ever shown us." Seriously?

Sakura clasped her hands together. "Yes. Don't worry Senpai, I'm not scared of you or anything." Good...? "I just realized something... Well, it's more like I finally accepted something. Something which the world had been throwing at my face for a long time now."

"A-and that is...?" Something about her seemed off. Yato did not have a good feeling about this.

"That in this world, only the strong thrive!" Oh... this wasn't good. "If you're strong, you can get away with anything. Grandfather was strong, and Shinji knew how to leech off from the strong, so they did as they pleased."

"But then Senpai came a long, and since he is stronger than them, he began doing as he pleased." When she said it like that... "Which is okay, since Senpai is kind and loves me! The strong rule, but that works when the strong person is kind. So in the end, it's all about love."

He... he did not know what to say about that. Was she even incorrect? He couldn't go against her when his entire thing was abusing his immense amount of power to get what he wanted, be it women or material possessions.

Her eyes suddenly widened. "Oh, and don't worry Senpai. I won't betray you even if someone stronger than you comes along. I love you, so I'll just accept our end, and stay by your side."

Welp, it was official, Sakura broke. Maybe it was because of her past abuse, or maybe it was because Yato so casually dealt with her abusers. He didn't really know, but there was no denying the person in front of him.

Caren sent her a thumbs up. "You finally understand how the world works." Oh no, you knew things were bad when Caren was on her side.

Yato awkwardly scratched his cheek. "Right... there are definitely tons of people stronger than me by the way. Remember that time I got my ass kicked by Doni?" Which is technically what let him meet Caren.

The world was strange.

Sakura pouted. "Geez Senpai, I just told you I won't leave you even if someone stronger shows up." True.

In that case... he couldn't really complain. "Okay then... Awesome. Yeah." This was awkward.

"Remember Reines, if you do anything, and I mean anything, foolish, I will personally have your head." Not that he could beat Reines in a fight, but he really had to drill the point in.

She waved him off. "Yeah, yeah. I'll behave." He doubted that.

But right now he had no time to waste, so he approached the mansion gate and rang the doorbell. To tell the truth, there wasn't much security here, but that was because such a thing was unneeded. Not only was it the house of a Campione, but it was also the house of several mages.

Before long, two people came to greet his entourage.

Waver muttered under his breath. "Einzbern..." They couldn't be anyone else. Their pale skin, red eyed, and unnaturally beautiful features gave it away.

They outfits also gave away the fact that they were maids. And considering in which house they worked at, not just any maids, concubine maids. Waver would have to shown them the utmost respect.

He bowed. "Hell—."

Reines cut him off. "Wow, those outfits are kind of ugly." They really weren't! She definitely just did that on purpose!

Tears appeared in the corner of one of the maid's eyes. "I-It does!? Is that why Lord Shibata has yet to... to ravage me!?" He really didn't want to go into this rabbit hole.

He sighed. "Please ignore my companion." He motioned to Gray. "Shut her up if she opens her mouth again."

His assistance nodded. Without a doubt that would just provoke Reines to act even more rebellious, but he trusted Gray's competence, above Reines' spite.

He looked back at the maids. "Anyways, I'm Waver Velvet, Lord El-Melloi II and Lord Shibata's... contact with the Clock Tower. I know this is a bit sudden, but does he have the time available to see me?"

The crying maid looked down. "I'm afraid Lord Shibata is not home at the moment. And he will also not be available anytime soon." That wasn't good, considering the Campione had definitely used his authority recently.

Waver almost wanted to take out a cigarette and start smoking right there and then, but that would be impolite to the extreme. Well, he still typically did it in situations like these, but these were maids working for a Campione.

So he just took a deep breath instead. "Did something happen with Lord Shibata? I noticed that the mana around the city is unusually thick."

The maid shrugged. "Something did happen, yes, but we are unaware if the mana is related to it." Oh? "The truth is... well, I should not speak of it. It related to Lord Shibata's love life." Considering Waver was here to plan the man's marriage, he definitely needed to know this!

"Excuse me, but does it relate to Aoko Aozaki in some way?" He really wished it didn't.

The maid's eyes widened. "You are aware of her presence?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Like I said before, I'm Lord Shibata's contact with the Clock Tower. He called me to start planning his marriage with the True Magician, in fact that's why I'm here in the first place."

Reines' eyes widened. "Marriag—!?" But Gray covered her mouth. Good.

Well, the fact that Reines had finally learned of it was bad, but it couldn't be helped. Hopefully it would dissuade her from doing anything overly stupid. Knowing her however? It probably wouldn't.

The maid suddenly glared at him. "Oh? And which faction do you support?" F-faction!? Where did factions form!?

Waver gulped. "Whichever faction is on Lord Shibata's side."

The maid hesitantly nodded. "Okay then... I suppose that's a fine enough answer. Let me be clear... currently Lord Shibata is not home, because he left after a confrontation. Not a physical one, mind you."

"A confrontation? Did something happened between him and Aoko Aozaki?" That wouldn't be good.

He certainly didn't need a True Magician and a Campione going against each other. Though fights in a marriage were unavoidable... He could only hope both would be mature enough to get through it. The problem naturally was that Lord Shibata was a teenager, which immediately put him in the immature category.

It also didn't help that while Aoko Aozaki had lived for long, being even older than Waver, she was certainly not an adult. That was for sure.

The maid shook her head. "Not exactly... Actually, allow me to come in. We have someone who can explain things for you."

"I would appreciate it."

This had to be stupidest conflict he had ever heard about. Which made sense considering Yato Shibata was its instigator, but still...! This is why Campione were incomprehensible beings.

His eye twitched. "Is Lord Shibata aware that as a Campione he may take as many wives as he pleases...? The law is of no issue for a Campione." Hell, he could outright legalize polygamy across Japan.

The Witch who had explained the situation to him shrugged. "I'm unaware, but this is Lord Shibata. He most likely knows, and yet insists on this course of action for some reason." Right... The mentality of a Campione was scary.

Waver clicked his tongue. "Still, I'll have a talk with him once I see him again." He would try to put some sense in the Campione's head, even if he would probably fail horribly.

Alice nodded. "If you believe you can change his mind, feel free to try. Don't expect to see much success however, Lord Shibata can be quite... stubborn in his convictions." Didn't he know it.

"Yeah... I'm surprised about something however. When did the two of you meet?" Alice Kuonji was a big deal. Not quite as big of a deal as Aoko Aozaki, but her existence certainly couldn't be ignored.

The witch waved him off. "At the sametime when Aoko did, when we faced off against the goddess together." Ah. "Well, I say that, but Aoko and I barely contributed anything, it was all done by Lord Shibata and his pet goddess." Right.

Wait a minute...! "P-pet goddess? I was under the idea that this goddess you three had defeated was that pet goddess..." Was he missing something!?

The Witch raised an eyebrow. "Um? No. The pet goddess who I'm referring to is Skadi, a Servant Lord Shibata has summoned through the usage of the Holy Grail." She had no idea how he had managed to pull that off, but it didn't matter.

Waver paled. "Oh. I see..." That dumbass teenager had summoner a goddess to get laid!? Didn't he know they were supposed to be his eternal enemy damn it!?

He couldn't affort to lose his hold on his emotions right now, so he took a deep breath to calm himself down and continued. "And what of the goddess he defeated?" Did he have two goddess concubines!?

That was bad for a myriad of reasons, the first that came to mind was some other Campione coming here to kill them. It was essentially a free power up, so there's no way they would just ignore it. Naturally Yato would not ignore them, and then Campione would fight Campione, spelling doom for Japan...

That would be bad. Really bad.

Alice looked away. "Well... about her... she hasn't been... tamed yet. Yes, she hasn't been tamed yet." What did that even mean!? "So we are keeping her captured under very tight security." Sort of.

Waver gulped. "M-may I see her...?" He had never laid his eyes on a goddess before...

Who knows, maybe if he sneaked in a weapon in and acted quickly, he could become a Campione! Yeah, right, as if life would ever be so kind to poor old Waver. He would probably trip on his own weapon and die somehow.

Alice glared at him. "No. She is naked, so only Lord Shibata may see her."

He nodded. "Understood." Why was she naked!? "Leaving that aside, am I correct to assume you have no idea on Lord Shibata's whereabouts? Or why the air is filled with so much mana?" Maybe Yato had used his authority to ensnare the goddess?

"Indeed, I do not know where he is. I assume the air is him using an authority of some sort... Well, he can handle himself. Lord Shibata is quite amazing." Why did this Witch who barely knew Yato sound like she admired him?

Maybe she was just paying respect for a being that was leagues above her? That could be it, but Witches tended to dislike modernity, and Campione were actually surprisingly modern all things considered.

In the end Waver decided it didn't matter. "I won't deny that. Yato's whereabouts aside, may I ask where Aoko Aozaki is?" Maybe she was with Yato?

"No. You may not." Ouch. Her eyes were suddenly very, very cold.

Which meant it was about time he ran away. "I... understand. Thank you for having me, Lady Kuonji, I will be going for now..." This place was way too dangerous.

The Witch smiled. "Very well, one of the maids will see you to the gate... Although... your companions will stay." Damn it.

He held back a groan of annoyance. "May I ask why...?" It went without saying that fighting his way out was unwise, so he would have to use diplomacy.

Hurting any of Yato's concubines would mean his death after all. And who knows what the perverted Campione would do to poor Gray and Reines. Well, he didn't really care too much for the latter's fate.

The Witch tilted her head. "Why...? I simply wish for them to enjoy our hospitality for a bit longer. Is there a problem with that?" So she was straight up taking hostages.

Awesome. That wasn't too bad. "Not at all." He felt for poor Gray, but this way he could keep Reines nice and contained.

Yato wasn't even here, so she wouldn't be able to gain points with the Campione. She could befriend his concubines of course, but this was Reines of all people! Half of the girls here would begin to despise her within the hour! There was a bigger chance of her being black listed away from the harem than actually garnering favor with it.

The Witch's face twisted with suspicion. "Truly? Not to say we will mistreat them, but I expected a bit more... haggling."

He smirked. "Not my style." It was totally his style. There were times in his life where he had basically licked people's boots to survive and thrive. "It's just that I know many people here. I was even the one who... introduced Rin Tohsaka into Lord Shibata's entourage."

Her eyes widened as he continued. "So I know these girls will be fine, even if I can't really understand why you're trying to get hostages in the first place..."

Her glare returned. "They're not hostages. They're guests."

"Right..." Just like he wasn't an idiot. "By the way Lady Kuonji, I've grown curious about something... Are you part of Lord Shibata's entourage?" His harem, that is.

The Witch blushed. "N-no...! What gave you that idea Lord El-Melloi?" Maybe the fact that she was here running the show? Or maybe how she had melted just now?

He cleared his throat. "Actually it's Lord El-Melloi II, please don't forget that, it can cause me troubles." Also, he didn't like it. "Also... it's just curiosity, Lady Kuonji. Please don't worry about it." She should worry about it.

There was no way he was going to ignore a witch appearing in Fuyuki and having affections for a Campione, especially when that Campione was Yato Shibata.

He smirked. "Detective Waver is on the case..."

"Excuse me?"

He blushed. "Nothing. Sorry." How embarassing...

AN: I want Extra/Record, and I want it now.