"Satoru, you have no idea, going over there this afternoon was the right call."
"Emilia was so upset. If I hadn't been there, who knows how long she would've stayed like that."
Subaru burst into Gojo's room the moment he got back, dropping onto a chair like he owned the place, same as he always did at Roswaal's manor.
"Everything you say now reeks of lovesick puppy." Gojo, fresh from a bath and wrapped in a sleeping robe, sat on the edge of his bed. "Do I look like someone who needs a play-by-play of your progress with Emilia?"
"We're partners, aren't we? If I can't tell you, who am I supposed to tell?"
Subaru grinned, completely shameless.
"Speaking of which, does Emilia's side have any plans? Like what they're doing next?"
Gojo toweled his hair, the question prompted by what Felt had brought up earlier.
"Come on, Satoru. You know I can't ask Emilia something like that. I'm still technically on Felt's team."
"You should consider a career in fraud. Forget conning other people, you've managed to con yourself." Gojo gave him a thumbs up.
"I didn't ask about any of that, I swear. But when I was leaving, Roswaal did ask if our side needed any help."
"Obviously we do. Tell him to send more Holy Gold Coins. That'd be more useful than anything else."
Gojo said it like he was ordering takeout.
"Roswaal said things are going to get a lot busier after the assembly. Might be hard to stay in touch. Plus he's heading back to his territory in a few days to meet with the regional representatives."
"How thoughtful of him."
The sarcasm dripped off every syllable.
"We've still got a few days. We'll deal with it later."
"Whatever you decide, I'm with you." Subaru paused, his voice dipping. "It's just... Emilia's going to be heading back soon too. No idea when I'll see her again."
A sigh escaped him, tinged with something lonely.
"So go with her. I doubt Felt would mind."
"I can't do that." Subaru shook his head, looking a little sheepish. "Emilia actually talked to me about it this afternoon. She said what I did this morning was too reckless. Even though I was standing up for her, it could've caused problems for Felt, since I was there as part of her delegation. If you hadn't smoothed everything over, I might've derailed the whole plan from the start."
He straightened up in his chair.
"So I've made up my mind. Until the plan is done and Felt and you guys have what you need, I'm not pulling anything stupid like that again. I'll miss Emilia, and I want to help her, but that can wait."
Gojo stared at him, visibly surprised.
"Emilia's impressive. One afternoon and she turned the guy Beatrice calls an idiot into... this."
"Who are you calling an idiot? I'll admit I've done some dumb things..."
He tried to mount a defense, but the fight drained out of him after two words.
"Fine. I admit it. I am an idiot."
The inability to learn things properly, the failure to read a room. He couldn't exactly argue.
"Admitting you're an idiot already puts you ahead of most people." Gojo tossed the towel aside. "But if you're feeling guilty about it, go tell Felt directly. She's the one it actually affected. You and I are just the supporting cast."
"You're right. I'll go right now!"
Subaru launched himself from the chair and bolted for the door without a second's hesitation.
"Love really is a terrifying force," Gojo muttered to himself.
He switched off the lamp and went to bed.
The next morning.
Gojo was deep in a dream when a hammering at the door dragged him back to consciousness. It went on for a while before he cracked his eyes open, staring blankly at the ceiling with the hollow gaze of a man robbed of sleep.
He lay there for a long moment. Then, with hair sticking out in every direction, he yawned his way to the door and pulled it open.
Subaru's face filled his vision.
"If this isn't life-or-death, I swear I will drag you to Emilia's doorstep and introduce you to the concept of bungee jumping without the cord..."
"Satoru, get out here. We've got a problem."
Subaru cut him off, voice taut.
"A problem?" Gojo rubbed his eyes. "Isn't that what Reinhard's for? He can't handle it?"
"It's not like that. It's got nothing to do with Reinhard. He already tried talking them down and got nowhere. They're all here for you."
"For me?"
Some of the fog cleared from Gojo's brain.
"Every single one of them. Look, I can't explain it out here, just come see for yourself."
Subaru was practically vibrating with urgency. Gojo, on the other hand, couldn't have cared less.
"For me?" He gave Subaru a flat look. "Not my problem. I don't have time to entertain every random visitor."
He turned around, walked back inside, and shut the door in Subaru's face, fully intending to go back to sleep.
Subaru gaped at the closed door. He opened his mouth to protest, then remembered Gojo's earlier threat. The mental image of himself bungee jumping without a cord in front of Emilia was enough to make him back down.
He'd tried. If Gojo wouldn't come out, that was that.
The "nap" stretched all the way to noon. Only then did Gojo rise, refreshed and full of energy, wash up properly, and stroll toward the dining room.
The moment he walked in, Felt and everyone else turned to look at him in perfect unison.
"Good morning, everyone." He sat down next to Felt and helped himself to a small cake. "Why's everybody staring at me like that?"
"Go look out the window." Felt jerked her chin toward the far wall.
From her tone, it didn't sound too serious.
Gojo bit into his cake and wandered over to the window. One glance outside, and he stopped chewing. The cake sat in his mouth, forgotten.
A long silence.
He turned around and fixed his gaze on Reinhard, who had been quietly eating with his head down, saying nothing.
"Reinhard. This is the trouble you were talking about?"
Called out by name, the Sword Saint couldn't pretend he hadn't heard. He looked up. "I did warn you yesterday."
"You didn't mention your fellow knights were this petty."
Gojo jabbed a finger toward the window and the crowd of knights massed outside. "Don't you people have patrols? Training? You're all just camped out here waiting to jump me?"
"They're rotating patrol shifts. The rest are waiting for you to wake up." Reinhard scrambled to explain. "As for training, Commander Marcos adjusted the schedule a bit. Between that and what happened yesterday, well... here they are."
"But I promise it won't be a mob attack. They only want to challenge you."
"Challenge?"
"Yes. For the honor of the Knights..."
Gojo held up a hand, cutting him off.
"And if I refuse..."
Before he could finish, he learned what it felt like to be on the receiving end. Felt appeared at his side, tugged him down, and whispered in his ear.
"Can you take them?"
"Even if I can, I don't want to. Have you seen how many there are?"
"Idiot. Who said anything about doing it for free? We charge them. One Holy Gold Coin per challenge."
Money. Felt's eyes were already glittering.
"Think about it. Hundreds of knights in that order. That's hundreds of Holy Gold Coins. Run through them a couple of times and that's thousands. This is faster than scamming nobles."
"You're treating me like a workhorse."
Gojo's mouth twitched.
"A workhorse? What's that?"
"The point is, those guys are nothing to you anyway. You could handle them with your eyes closed." Felt was practically bouncing. "It's free money!"
"Free for you, maybe. I'm the one doing all the work. What are you contributing?"
"Collecting the money!" Felt said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Someone has to handle the finances. And you still owe me five Holy Gold Coins, remember?"
"I should've charged you a consulting fee when I came up with this plan."
"Too late for that now."
"Doesn't it embarrass you? A Royal Candidate, standing there collecting fees like a toll booth?"
"What's embarrassing about earning money..."
They argued back and forth for a good while before finally reaching an agreement.
"Since your colleagues are so eager to challenge me, I suppose I can indulge them." Gojo found Reinhard and laid out the terms. "But I'm not doing this out of the goodness of my heart. There are a lot of them, and even if they're weak, dealing with that many people is a hassle."
"Satoru, I assure you there won't be any continuous rounds where they wear you down..."
"That's not the issue. My point is, why should I do this for nothing?" Gojo raised a finger and wagged it. "One challenge, one Holy Gold Coin."
He let that sink in.
"I hear most of the knights come from noble families. A small fee like that shouldn't be a problem."
Reinhard blinked. His gaze drifted instinctively toward Felt.
She had her hands clasped behind her back, whistling at the ceiling with studied innocence.
He hadn't expected that after all that whispering, this was the grand scheme they'd cooked up.
"I think... that should be fine."
Surprising as it was, Gojo wasn't wrong. For knights from noble houses, a single Holy Gold Coin was pocket change. Even those without noble backgrounds earned more than enough from the order's salary to cover it.
"Then it's settled. Go let your colleagues know. If nobody objects, we start."
Gojo's smile was bright and eager. He seemed to be enjoying himself.
Reinhard nodded and left to negotiate with his fellow knights.
"How dull." Beatrice watched Gojo and Felt exchange a high-five and offered her verdict.
"Satoru, are you sure about fighting this many people?" Subaru's brow creased with worry. "Even if they can't touch you, you've still got to take them all down. That's a lot of stamina to burn through." Guilt flickered in his expression. Strictly speaking, this whole mess was his fault.
"Relax. Don't sweat it." Gojo dropped his sunglasses and flashed Subaru a brilliant grin.
"I'm the strongest, remember?"
Before long, Reinhard had settled everything. Gojo and the rest headed downstairs and out into the courtyard.
"It's all arranged. The challenges will be fair and regulated. No gauntlet rounds, and if your stamina drops too low, we stop..."
Reinhard launched into the details the moment they met, but Gojo's attention was elsewhere entirely. He glanced left, glanced right, then turned back.
"We're doing this here?"
"No. At the Knight Fortress. They have proper combat arenas there."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go."
He was already moving, an unusual spring in his step.
"Felt, what did you say to him?" Reinhard fell back to walk beside her. "This kind of tedious obligation should be the last thing he'd agree to."
"That's a secret." Felt's grin was pure mischief. "You'll find out soon enough."
They rode the Dragon Carriages to the Knight Fortress while the assembled knights marched back in formation, keeping pace with ease.
Once they reached the training arena, Felt lifted her chin toward Reinhard.
He stepped forward and began collecting from his colleagues.
One Holy Gold Coin per challenger. Pay before you fight.
"Right then. Time for the star of the show."
Gojo rolled his neck, cracked his back, and with a look of genuine anticipation, took Beatrice by the hand and led her to the center of the arena.
"Hey." Beatrice's eyes narrowed. "Why are you dragging me out here?"
She'd been perfectly content to watch from the sidelines. A bad feeling bloomed in her chest.
"To fight, obviously." Gojo beamed at her. "Did you forget? I'm a Spirit Arts User. And when a Spirit Arts User fights, they fight with their Spirit."
The pieces clicked into place. She looked at his smile and understood. From the very beginning, this shameless man had planned to throw her at every single one of these wide-eyed knights while he sat back and watched.
...
Get early access to 40 chapters ahead on my Patreon!
patreon.com/fawkess