It had been three days since the battle at Felt and Rom's place. To say that the peace was broken was an understatement. Mabeasts had come into the city, something that was completely unacceptable. As such, the council enacted a quasi-martial law in the entire capital.

Nobody was allowed to leave, just as nobody was allowed to enter. The stores of food would last a good week before they had to ration things out, according to Astrea. In the meantime, the knights would be screening through the entire city to find out just how such a breach occurred.

The news of the lockdown was met with a lot of grumbling, and more than one riot that had to be put down. Hard, in some cases.

I couldn't help but grit my teeth as I recalled the riots. You may believe that I am wallowing in some twisted sort of self-blame. That if I hadn't done anything, everything would have turned out fine.

No.

I was done with such thoughts. I'd wallowed in my own self-deprecation when I first came into this world. I wouldn't fall into it again. Instead, I already knew who to blame.

Granhiert, and her employer.

The entire situation wouldn't have happened at all had they not done what they did. I won't be beating myself up for something a psychopath did.

Regardless of all of that, the rebuilding was a pain in the ass. The mabeasts had managed to damage the road, which might have been an easy fix with magic in any other circumstance, if you disregard that the roads of the capital were enchanted with some specific bit of magic.

It had to be, with all the heavy footfalls of the massive amount of ground dragons that went through on a daily basis.

As such, the capital was now effectively at a standstill. It was eerily quiet, really. You think I'd like it, but the sudden shock of complete silence when I was already accustomed to the noise was jarring to say the least.

Maybe that was why, when these two asked to work until everything went back to normal, it didn't take a minute for me to say yes.

When the fighting had ended, Natsuki had initially gone off to find whoever Felt stole from. Astrea had come back right after the tracksuit-wearer left, and had started to apologize repeatedly. It got really old, really fast.

Thankfully, the Sword Saint had to leave to attend to some other matters, probably to clear out any mabeasts that were left behind. Not that I thought there would be any. That mabeast tamer, young as she was, was working with Granhiert. They were professionals, they wouldn't be doing something like leave a resource behind like that.

It was that night, around midnight, just as I was just heading to bed, a knock on my door shocked me wide awake. The only people I knew that would have a reason to meet with me on such short notice would have been the knights. After all, I still had the kukri that Granhiert left, and they hadn't had time to actually retrieve it.

If she was as insane as she seemed, (She definitely was.) the weapon would be a target, and a motive for the Bowel Hunter to come back. It was a miracle that Astrea hadn't taken it when we met, though that might've just been from the sheer amount of work that needed to be done.

So, despite my body aching in more places than I could count, I trudged my way to the front door, expecting to see Astrea, or maybe even that bastard Juukulius.

"Yo!"

I promptly slammed the door in his face.

"Gah! Blacksmith-san, you're too damn rude, you know?!"

"It's one in the fucking morning, brat." I grunted through the door, already halfway back up the stairs, "Whatever it is, it can wait in the morning."

"That's…kinda why I'm here though!" Natsuki hollered. Hollered. At one in the morning. Fuck's sake, this kid is gonna wake up the entire damn street!

"Fucking hell," I grumbled as I trudged back down. I opened the door to let the brat in. Said brat was waving as if he was sure I was gonna open it as well. I was half-tempted to slam the door in his face again.

"Ouch! What was that for?!"

Oh, did I say half-tempted? I meant that I did it with no hesitation. Tee-hee, my mistake.

"I just felt like smacking a moron in the head, but I didn't feel like using my hands."

"Man, blacksmith-san, you're really not holding back!" Natsuki grabbed at his heart in false pain. Fuck's sake, this guy is probably going to be worse than Zaimokuza after he reads some edgy light novel.

"Alright, alright already." I irritably scratched the back of my head, "What the hell do you want?" I stifled a yawn as I spoke. It had been a long day, and the one time I had to actually rest was being disturbed.

"Ah yeah, I just wanted to return this." Natsuki grabbed at his waist, and pulled the sword and its sheath. Ah, right. With all of the chaos going around, it completely slipped my mind. Before I could take it in my hands, however, Natsuki started to babble quickly, "AlsoIneedaplacetosleepdidyouhaveabedIcouldtake?"

"No." I said as flatly as I could. I'm familiar with the fast talking salesman pitch, that'll just try and trick you into saying yes to anything. If Natsuki thought that that was going to work on me, then he had another thing coming, "Besides, even if I did, why the hell would I offer someone who doesn't even remember my name a place to stay?"

"Hey, I resent that! I perfectly remember your name!" A beat of silence.

"And? I'm waiting." I tapped my foot on the ground, even as I swiped the sword from his hands. Which was gross, by the way. The kid didn't bother wiping any of the damn blood on it! Do you have any idea how much blood ruins blades if you don't clean it?!

"Just give me a sec, I need to psych myself up." He definitely forgot.

"Hurry up so I can kick you out already." Natsuki suddenly pointed his finger at me, fish eyes brimming with confidence.

"Hiki-" I raised an eyebrow. Well, I'll be damned, he really di- "tani!"

…If there are any gods out there, then they're probably laughing their asses off.

"Don't let the door hit you on your way out."

"Wait, come on, I was just joking! You're not gonna let poor old me out on the streets!"

"I'll take that challenge."

"Look man, I'll even wipe the floor for you, just let me sleep!"

"First off," I stopped trying to shove the annoying brat out the door, "Keep your fucking voice down, you're waking the neighbors. Second," I started to shove him again, "You can probably just find an inn in the other districts. Go bother them."

"I already did!" Natsuki exclaimed, though it was thankfully toned down, "With the lockdown, all of them are full of merchants from out of town. The guys there said that they're gonna be there till the council lets them leave."

I didn't think about that. With all of the merchants in the city, due to a recent exodus of them from Gusteko, they would of course be the only ones in the inns. And with how things were looking, it was going to be another week or more of repairs around the capital.

It was a perfect reason to give someone that needed a place to stay just that.

Too bad I'm an asshole.

"There's at least a thousand other people in the capital you could bother with homelessness."

"Man, Hikigaya, you really don't pull your punches, huh?" A familiar voice called out. Both Natsuki and I turned to the now open door, where the figures of Felt and Rom stood, "And you Big Bro," She looked at Natsuki, "If you really need a place to stay, why don't ya bunk with the Sword Saint?"

"Eh? Rein's a good guy, but I don't think he'd appreciate me mooching off of him." But it's fine to mooch off of me?! Damned bastard!

"Astrea's place is down the road, you can't miss it." Nevertheless, I took the opportunity given to me and ran with it. It's going to be Astrea's problem now. Not that I think he'd think of it as such.

I'm not blind to Astrea's thoughts on his being the Sword Saint. Anyone with half a brain could see that he hates it. And why wouldn't he? I heard the stories they whisper when they think he can't hear them. I heard how he had supposedly caused the previous Sword Saint to lose her abilities and die in the process.

I heard how they gave him the title of Sword Saint, and 'van' soon after.

Could you imagine it? Getting your grandmother's title, a position of supposed power, all while the people of the country blamed you for her death?

Nobody deserved that. It brought the man up in a fucked up situation, one so bad, that I had initially believed that his entire personality was fake. Surely someone who'd lived their lives essentially trapped in one place couldn't actually become a good person once they grew up, I thought.

Astrea proved me wrong. And it's why, though I still call him Sword Saint, I refuse to call him Reinhard van Astrea. He was no lord of mine, but just a person who got royally fucked.

It's probably why the man quite quickly formed a friendship with Natsuki. He didn't know of any of Astrea's titles. Natsuki was the stereotypical clueless kid that the famous person tries to shield from his fame, believing their friendship would be irrevocably changed once that revelation were to happen.

Natsuki proved Astrea wrong, in that regard. Where others would have shied away once they realized who he was, Natsuki didn't. He'd stood firm in his beliefs and his goal, treating Astrea how he never realized he wanted, despite knowing of his monstrous power.

All of that leads me to believe that Astrea would gladly let Natsuki stay a while as this entire thing continues.

I just hope that this doesn't turn into some weird yaoi shit. Ebina would've had a field day, and I would certainly be clawing my eyes out.

After we (read: I) convinced Natsuki to leave me alone and go to Astrea's mansion, I was left with the two criminals. What? Technically, they were. One was a black market dealer, and the other was a renowned thief. Just because they helped us doesn't mean that they're pardoned for everything they did.

Luckily, I didn't give a shit about that.

"What're you doing here, anyway?" I asked, while noticing a sack carried by Rom. It was bulkier than myself, in a brown sack. Several bits of wood stuck out the opening, but I couldn't really see anything else.

"Heard Big Bro screaming, thought it might've been some more mabeasts." Felt shrugged, before sheathing a pair of daggers that I didn't even notice.

Sometimes, I forget just how dangerous she was.

"Anyway, we need a place to bunk, so we're moving upstairs."

Oi, nobody told you you can just come in here like that.

"Oi, nobody told you you can just come in here like that." I barred her as she started heading for the stairs, "Plus, I don't have any room."

"That's a damn lie, and you know it." Felt scoffed as she tried getting past me, Rom watching amusedly. Dammit, shouldn't you be a protective adult here?! Why the hell are you letting her do any of this?! Suddenly, what Felt just said clicked for me.

"And how would you even know that?" I narrowed my eyes. Felt rolled hers as Rom stifled a chuckle.

"Duh, I broke in earlier."

Note to self, place some more traps around the shop.

"That just makes me even less inclined to let you in here!"

"Bah, you owe us, Hikigaya." Rom spoke up for the first time, "Your fight with the Bowel Hunter completely broke my shop, and Felt didn't think that sleeping alone would be any safe with those mabeasts still running about."

"Old Man Rom, you're not supposed to say that!" Felt turned pink as she pelted the larger man with her fists. For his part, the man just laughed her off, which just made her hit him faster.

"...Alright, but you better help around here. I'm not letting you just freeload." I was self-aware enough to realize that Rom was right. My earth magic was way too destructive for his loot shack to handle, and by the time we had left, it was nothing but shards of wood.

I was responsible enough to admit that that was largely my fault. Letting these two stay was a price that I owed them.

Plus, free labor. I'm not passing that up. And more importantly, Felt herself. She was going to be my golden goose when everything's said and done.

What, haven't you seen otaku culture? Just slap a cute girl in front of whatever you're selling and you'll be making millions!

The next day though, was where a headache started to form.

"No fair! You let these two stay but not me?!" Natsuki whined as he and Astrea came over after lunch.

"Yes," I said as I sorted through my inventory. Good, looks like nothing was stolen when I was gone, but you never knew, "Because they're willing to do more work than just 'wipe the floor'."

"Gah!"

"As much as I enjoy watching my friends talk," Me, friends with this sack of shit? Maybe when hell freezes over. No way was I going to be anything more than a background character to a damn protagonist, "We did come here for an official reason." Astrea nodded towards Natsuki, who perked up as if nothing had happened.

"Right! HEY, YOU TWO! OVER HERE!" Natsuki waved down two figures down the road. The taller of the two waved right back. I'm getting a bad feeling from this.

After all, wouldn't you when a pair of obvious love interests for the protagonists walk towards you?

I fucking hate my life sometimes.

A/N: If you like what I do and want to support me, check out my P-atreon at P-atreon•com(slash)Almistyor.

A/N2: No double update, just some formatting issues being fixed, sorry.

Thank you to my newest patron: Fakhrurrozi.

And a special thanks to: Oliver vazquez, and brutalcrab. Thank you once again.