"The Identity of the Observers" Night settled over Orario, the daytime bustle giving way to a quiet punctuated by scattered lights. Drake sl
"The Identity of the Observers"
Night settled over Orario, the daytime bustle giving way to a quiet punctuated by scattered lights.
Drake slightly parted the curtains, observing the street below.
Across the street, in the shadows of a corner, he clearly saw two figures.
"A canine-human and a human, both around Level 3. Unfortunately, I can't tell which Familia they belong to. But... is there another group?"
Drake's gaze shifted, finding three more individuals in another corner, clearly a different group from the first two.
"Three Level 2s? All Amazons... wait, Amazons?"
Drake frowned. Orario had many Amazons, but their open, even uninhibited lifestyle meant most clustered in a few Familias.
Only a few were scattered elsewhere. The largest Familia of Amazons in Orario was a very specific one.
To uncover the truth, Drake decided to investigate. He donned a black hooded cloak.
Drake's form then melted into the shadows, disappearing from the room.
Initially, Drake had intended to create a tool for covert movement. However, invisibility cloaks felt too cliché, so he designed this Shadow Cloak based on Arisugawa Nagi's abilities.
Wearing this cloak, Drake could move through shadows. However, it only worked while fully covered by the cloak; exposing even a single finger would force him out of the shadow state.
Still, for covert operations, the cloak's effect was more than sufficient.
The three Amazons on the street corner were intently watching Drake's room. Drake closed the curtains after returning, so they couldn't see anything.
A short-haired Amazon spoke, "I heard the man we're watching fought Ottar to a standstill!"
A purple-haired Amazon licked her lips, "I wonder how strong he is elsewhere!"
Drake shivered; his stalkers were interested in him… surprisingly, it wasn't entirely unpleasant.
The tallest Amazon, the most composed, said, "Forget it. The goddess herself ordered this; it's not our place."
"So, a goddess ordered you to follow me?"
The three women jumped at the man's voice. They turned to see Drake emerging from the shadows.
Even Ais hadn't evaded Drake during their training.
In a flash, Drake swiftly moved between the three, delivering three consecutive palm strikes.
The three Amazons collapsed simultaneously. Drake, showing no mercy, pulled out a small vial and poured the liquid onto the back of one of the Amazons lying on the ground.
Fortunately, the Amazons' open clothing style facilitated Drake's actions.
No, that wasn't something suspicious; it was simply an unlocker potion.
An adventurer's exact stats are highly confidential; gods usually lock Familia stats.
However, an unlocker potion made with a god's blood can bypass this lock.
Drake had obtained the unlocker potion through the Loki Familia. Finn hadn't asked what Drake needed it for, simply having Ais deliver it.
Drake wasn't interested in their stats, only their Familia.
Sacred script and emblems appeared. Drake saw a veiled nude female image, confirming his guess.
The Ishtar Familia! It was them!
Drake couldn't understand why Ishtar would send people to watch him.
In Orario, after nightfall, there was only one place that truly came alive: the red-light district. And the most powerful force within the red-light district was the Familia led by Ishtar, the goddess of sex and lust.
The Ishtar Familia possessed dozens of Level 2 and higher adventurers; their leader, 〈Androctonus〉 Phryne Jamil, was a Level 5 top-tier adventurer.
The adventurers of the Ishtar Familia were known in Orario by another name: "battle prostitutes."
Dungeon exploration was merely a secondary occupation for the Ishtar Familia; their primary work was selling "seafood" in the red-light district.
One can only imagine the kind of goddess who leads such a Familia.
However, regarding Ishtar, besides her lifestyle, she was most famous for her conflict with the goddess Freya.
The domains of the two goddesses heavily overlapped, but in terms of both beauty and influence, Ishtar was completely overshadowed by Freya.
Therefore, their so-called conflict was likely a one-sided feud fueled by Ishtar's jealousy, with Freya completely unconcerned.
This is why Drake found it so strange. Shouldn't Ishtar be focusing on plotting against Freya's Familia right now? Why would she be sending people to monitor him?
Unable to fathom her intentions, Drake decided to stop thinking about it. Whatever she was planning, she would eventually take action. The most crucial thing right now was to ascertain the identity of the other group.
Drake put away the unlocker potion, re-adjusted his cloak, and once again slipped into the shadows.
The other two individuals were far more serious than the Amazons from the Ishtar Familia; they were intently watching Drake's room without speaking or laughing.
Precisely because of their intense focus, they failed to notice Drake emerging from the shadows.
Drake silently approached from behind, seizing both of their heads and bringing them together with a sharp collision. The two individuals collapsed limply, like overcooked noodles.
Ripping open the back of their clothing, Drake poured the unlocker potion onto their skin.
Emblems appeared, a pattern completely unfamiliar to Drake. After racking his brain, he finally recalled that this was the symbol of a rather obscure goddess.
Penia, depicted as a slovenly old woman, was the goddess of poverty.
This goddess was always active in Daedalus Street, which, besides being a landmark location for the surface labyrinth, was also Orario's slum—a fitting location for such a goddess.
Unlike Hestia's embrace of poverty, Penia preached that poverty was purity; she would even compel her wealthy followers to offer up all their possessions, then squander it herself.
Such a goddess wouldn't likely manage a Familia. The situation in Daedalus Street was unclear, but there was no record of a Penia Familia operating elsewhere.
Seeing identical emblems on both individuals' backs, Drake couldn't believe they were truly adventurers under Penia's command.
Drake had already guessed the true mastermind behind this surveillance: Dionysus… or rather, Enyo. It had to be him.
In the original storyline, in order to deceive the Loki Familia, Dionysus had used divine wine to intoxicate Penia and his own adventurers, converting them to his own faith.
He then sent Penia away, faking his own "death" and the complete annihilation of the Dionysus Familia, shifting suspicion of Enyo onto Demeter, who was under his threat.
So Dionysus had begun to pay attention to him? Was it because Drake had already caused him considerable trouble?
However, Drake wouldn't regret his actions.
In Orario, some gods act as parents, some as friends, and others, like Hermes, are mere witnesses and spectators.
It was precisely this diversity that made the world so vibrant and exciting. But the one thing this world didn't need was a god like Dionysus, who treated everyone as mere playthings!
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