He killed them. He killed all of them. Not just Mott. His guards, too. Every. Single. One. Not the servants. Aselith said they were okay to…

Aselith. He assured Saito that everything would be fine. While Saito was bringing Siesta outside, avoiding the…bodies…Aselith went up to Mott's room. He had to forge some document that would allow Siesta to return to the academy.

He also probably got rid of the bodies on his way out, since he took so long. Saito was fine with that. He needed time to calm down.

When Aselith did return, he was in the form of a dark horse. Saito didn't think much of it then, since he grew wings earlier.

"There's our Sword!" Chef Marteau called out as the three of them entered the kitchen.

Right. That's what they called him. Their 'Sword'. He was strong enough to beat a noble. He could do more than that now, too.

"This way, Saito." Siesta led him to a table, a plate already set and being filled with food.

Saito looked at her, and the smile she had on her face. This was good. He did good. If Mott had his way, Siesta wouldn't be smiling like that. She might not have smiled ever again. He did good.

"And for you, our finest bones!" Marteau showed Aselith a small crate of bones that were picked clean. He then leaned over a little, a frown on his face. "Are you sure this is all you want? Especially after helping out our sword."

"Of course." Aselith smiled. "I'll have Siesta burn them in a particular way for me."

Saito didn't understand why Aselith wanted that done, but he also didn't want to ask. As it was, it sounded like a burnt offering.

Marteau scratched his head. "Well, that's fine. I don't know why you want bones already used for broth, but I won't judge your customs. Just don't draw the attention of any nobles. Some of them can be pretty stern about this sort of thing."

It seemed like Marteau thought something similar.

"Are you okay, Saito?" Siesta asked, leaning over. "You don't look much better from last night."

"I'm fine." He put on his best smile for her. There was no way he was going to tell her what he did. All he did tell her was he convinced Mott to let her go back to the academy—Aselith forging that document really helped with that.

"Okay." She gave him a sweet smile. "I have to go back out now. Please enjoy your meal, Saito. Mister Aselith, I'll help you out at the end of the day."

"Take your time. I'm in no rush." He replied. Siesta gave a small curtsey and left.

Saito looked at his plate of food. Bread, carrots, a bowl of soup next to it. And meat. It wasn't anything too fancy like what the nobles ate, looking like ground up meat. It was covered in a thick sauce or gravy that spilled over the top. It slowly collected around the meat, forming a pool around it. A pool of blood—

"Hey." Aselith's voice nearly made Saito jumped. He placed a hand on Saito's shoulder. "You did good, kid. Don't forget that."

"I know." Saito silently nodded. If he didn't do what he did…well, no reason to keep thinking about it.

With his head a least a little clearer than before, Saito started eating. It didn't taste that great. That didn't mean it was bad. It was the same type of food he ate before—the same as what the servants ate, plus a little extra. The food just didn't taste as good as it had.

While moving around, a few more of the kitchen staff gave him praise for returning Siesta and teaching another noble not to mess with the commoners. That helped him feel a little better, after the dread of what exactly he did. No one was going to stop Mott from doing what he did.

Saito did the right thing.

Before long, Saito was finished. Despite not particularly liking it, he hadn't eaten since lunch yesterday, since Louise held back another meal from him for…he couldn't even remember. Not cleaning something properly? It mattered a lot less now.

"Shall we?" Aselith stood and gestured with his arm. Right. More chores to do. Whatever Aselith was, at least he helped Saito out around here, usually making sure he had meals Louise kept from him.

"Sure." Saito responded and stood as well.

Despite how last night went down, Saito didn't want to distance himself from Aselith. He was dangerous, sure, but he was still…a friend. If Mott was the worst example of what nobles were like, with Louise being pretty bad herself, maybe it would be better to stick around Aselith.

The two of them exited the kitchen, only to come across Aselith's master. She held her staff in her hand as she looked at them, glancing at Saito for a moment before looking up at Aselith. Saito wasn't around her a lot, but she didn't seem to talk much.

"Talk. Outside." She said.

That got him worried really quick. Did she know what happened? How? Was it something masters could know about their familiars? Louise didn't seem to know much about Saito. Maybe that was another reason she wasn't a good mage.

Aselith must have sensed how scared he was, since he put his hand on Saito's shoulder again. "Nothing to worry about. I'll join you shortly."

With that, Aselith walked off with Tabitha, the short, blue-haired girl only giving Saito another glance before leaving.

It was fine. She didn't know. She couldn't know. And if she did…no, it was fine. Aselith was just going to talk with her, maybe explain why things had to happen that way.

"Don't worry so much, Partner." Derf rattled at his hip. Saito realized he had been standing there for almost a minute. "As dangerous as he is, he's got your back, remember?"

"Yeah." Saito mumbled. He remembered. Aselith wanted to be on his good side. That meant he wasn't going to let anything bad happen to him from this, especially since Aselith was the one to tell Saito to…kill them.

Author's Notes:

I'm back! Don't worry, this story isn't dead. It won't have as fast as an upload schedule as I'm sure people would want, especially with the chapter lengths, but I have 2 other main stories I'm working on as well. I'm thinking I'll do 2 updates every Sunday. One will be either "The Right Man for the Job" or "Forging Legends", and the other will be either "Overlord of the Shield" or "A Quiet Girl's Demonic Protector". One big (~4000 word) and one small (~1000 word) chapter shouldn't be too bad. We'll see how that goes for a bit.