The moment she thought of this, Aisha was struck dumb. No wonder Lady Ishtar had gone this insane.
"All this shouting and clamoring—what kind of behavior is that?"
Just as the first-floor lobby had descended into utter uproar over the news Misha had brought back, a deep, resonant voice suddenly rang out from the corner of the wooden staircase on the second floor.
Everyone looked up.
The Guild Master, Royman, was descending the steps at a measured pace, both hands clasped behind his back.
But if one looked closely, one could see a fine layer of sweat beading at his temples. At this moment, Royman had just gotten to the bottom of the whole affair up in his office, through the staff he'd planted within the Denatus.
His heart, too, was clenched with dread.
After all, he knew better than anyone that this was clearly not the will of the great god Ouranos!
There was no way Ouranos would ever issue such an outrageous order.
And yet—it could also be the will of the great god Ouranos.
Because Lord Haimer's words were, to a certain extent, the will of the great god Ouranos himself.
Even Ouranos himself wouldn't dare contradict Lord Haimer's words!
At this thought, Royman swallowed hard, forcibly suppressing the fear in his heart, and walked to the middle of the staircase, looking down from on high at Ishtar, who stood below.
"Lady Ishtar, the contents of the newspaper are true."
"This matter has already been officially stamped and confirmed by the Guild."
"From this moment on, the [Haimer Familia] is this city's specially authorized Constable."
Ishtar's eyes went wide with horror. She glared fixedly at Royman, the corners of her heavily shadowed eyes twitching wildly, as if about to split open. "You…" "You…" "You bastard!"
Ishtar froze for a full several seconds, then raised a finger—its nail painted crimson—and pointed at Royman up on the steps.
"You must be in cahoots with Haimer!!!"
"I want to see Ouranos! Make him come out and explain himself to me!"
Then an even greater rage surged to the crown of her head, making Ishtar even more hysterical as she pointed at Royman's nose and cursed. "Make him a Constable? You're trying to shove Orario straight into a pit of fire!"
However. Just as Ishtar was roaring.
Seeing this, Royman's attitude instead grew firmer, and he abruptly raised his voice. "Lady Ishtar!!!"
"The Guild is the central hub that maintains the operation of the Labyrinth City!"
"But it is not a tavern for any god to vent their private grievances!"
"Please mind your words!"
"If you wish to see Lord Ouranos, then you must first obtain Lord Ouranos's consent!"
This was the first time the people of the Guild had truly, palpably felt Royman's dignity as Guild Master!
However, the moment these words were out, it was no different from pouring oil on the fire.
Ishtar simply wouldn't listen.
"You have no idea what kind of thing he was back in the Heavens!" "You pack of fools!"
"You're washing Orario's neck clean and handing it right into his grasp!"
Ishtar's voice grew extremely shrill.
Her face contorted savagely as she stepped straight up two stairs and raised her right hand high toward Royman.
Clearly intending to deliver a vicious slap across Royman's plump face with its forced composure.
Royman's pupils contracted, and he instinctively wanted to shut his eyes. But—at this critical, hair's-breadth moment. The next second! "Clack, clack, clack."
An extremely uniform, synchronized clatter of metal armor came from beyond the Guild's open main doors.
The sound was heavy, grim, and full of killing intent. In an instant it drowned out every other noise in the hall.
Ishtar's hand, raised in midair, abruptly halted.
Everyone turned their heads toward the doors at once.
A squad of adventurers clad in deep-blue light armor surged into the hall in neat formation.
Their faces were cold and stern, weapons in hand.
On every one of their chests gleamed a shining elephant-head emblem.
At the very front of the formation walked none other than the captain of the [Ganesha Familia], Shakti Varma.
Shakti wore form-fitting inner armor with light protective gear over it. Her leather boots struck the marble floor, each step crisp with momentum.
Her deep-blue eyes swept coldly over the wreckage strewn across the hall.
Her gaze slid over the documents scattered across the floor, the shattered vases, then up the staircase—coming to rest at last on Ishtar, who stood on the second-floor landing with her arm raised high.
"Lady Ishtar."
Shakti came to a stop. She slammed the butt of her spear hard against the stone floor. "Thump!"
A muffled boom sounded against the floor tiles.
"This is the core institution that keeps Orario running. Please do not disturb the order here."
Shakti's voice was cold and hard, all business.
Her motion interrupted, Ishtar slowly drew back her arm, her eyes bloodshot.
She turned, standing several steps higher, and glared down fixedly at Shakti from above.
"And what exactly do you think you are?!"
"A mere Familia that knows nothing but patrolling the streets, a single mortal—and you dare to discipline me?!!"
"Even Ganesha wouldn't dare speak to me like this!"
Ishtar had never feared Ganesha. Even in the Pleasure Quarter, she had no need whatsoever to give Ganesha any face.
But facing a god's abuse, Shakti was not provoked, and met Ishtar head-on.
"In the past, my patron deity Lord Ganesha would indeed have held a tolerant attitude toward your willfulness."
"Even with the many out-of-line acts in the Pleasure Quarter, we always exercised restraint."
"But today." "Lady Ishtar."
Shakti's fingers tightened bit by bit, gripping the shaft of her spear firmly.
"As assistants to Orario's newly appointed Constable—"
"if you now refuse to cooperate, continuing to disturb the peace in the Guild hall and assaulting the Guild Master,"
"then according to the Denatus's special charter ordinance that was just passed today,"
"the ones who will take over dealing with you will no longer be the [Ganesha Familia], who know how to show mercy."
Shakti stared into Ishtar's eyes and said, enunciating each word:
"But rather, the newly authorized Constable—" "The [Haimer Familia]."
Hearing those two words—"Haimer"—Ishtar's body visibly stiffened.
Her just-raised arm froze in midair. Her five fingers curled slightly.
She looked at Shakti's utterly expressionless face. Then she glanced at Royman, who stood silently to the side with a hardened expression.
And now she couldn't even get an audience with Ouranos.
The Guild's highest authority and the largest military-police Familia had both already fallen completely in line with the resolution.
If she kept making a scene at this juncture, and actually drew Haimer here...
She had witnessed Haimer's methods.
At this critical juncture, if she dared keep causing a scene and drew Haimer here, resistance would be out of the question entirely.
"…Fine. Very well."
Ishtar's chest heaved violently several times as she ground out these few words through gritted teeth.
She jerked her hand back, turned, and strode quickly down the stairs.
Her high heels stamped heavily against the stone slabs.
Her face dark and sullen, she marched in long strides straight toward the Guild's main doors.
The several [Ganesha Familia] military police before her silently turned aside, clearing a path for her.
As she passed the center of the hall, Aisha was still standing there holding that newspaper.
Ishtar's gaze locked onto her at once, and the rage in her heart seemed to find an outlet in an instant.
"What are you still standing here stupidly for, you useless thing?! Waiting to be made a laughingstock for everyone?!"
"Get your ass over here and follow me, now!"
Ishtar turned back and viciously cursed Aisha out.
Aisha came back to her senses. Only then did she hurriedly stuff the newspaper back into Misha's arms, a shadow flashing across her golden pupils, and—head lowered—she quickly hurried to follow after Ishtar's retreating figure.
The two of them, one ahead and one behind, soon vanished beyond the doors.
The usually arrogant and domineering Lady Ishtar had, this time, actually been forced into retreat by just a few words.
The moment Ishtar left, everyone exchanged glances.
Many were still digesting everything that had just happened.
Eina, standing by the counter, watched Shakti walking forward with a somewhat dazed expression.
"Lady Shakti."
There was still a trace of a tremble in Eina's voice.
She pointed at the newspaper in Misha's hands and looked up at this female warrior who stood considerably taller than herself.
"This… is it really true?"
"Lord Ganesha really agreed to give up the position of Constable?"
This was not only Eina's question but the doubt in the hearts of all the adventurers in the hall.
Everyone pricked up their ears.
Shakti looked at Eina. She lowered her head slightly, her gaze sweeping over the newspaper printed with bold black characters. Then:
"If my patron deity, Lord Ganesha, has not played some colossal joke to deceive me,"
"then I think this matter is most likely true."
"From this day forward, we, the [Ganesha Familia], will fully cooperate with every one of the [Haimer Familia]'s peacekeeping operations!"
The moment Shakti's words were out—
with this personal confirmation from the captain of Orario's military police corps,
everyone throughout the entire Guild hall was instantly struck dumb.
And what's more! It wasn't only the Guild!
As the information on the newspaper spread through every street and alley as if it had sprouted wings,
across the whole of Orario—whether the bustling North Main Street or the chaotic fringes of Daedalus Street—
at nearly every street corner, in every tavern,
you could see people gathered in clusters of threes and fives, all crowded together, reading and gaping, their faces written all over with disbelief!
West Main Street, The Benevolent Mistress. Behind the bar.
Anya, Chloe, and Lunor—the three of them—had their eyes wide open, staring fixedly at a newspaper on the bar that was likewise printed with bold black characters.
The pair of brown cat ears atop Anya's head twitched rapidly twice, and the long tail behind her swished left and right beneath her green apron, slapping against the hem with faint pat-pat sounds.
"The Kami-sama's Familia…" "actually became Constables."
"So then, when we go clean up at the Kami-sama's place from now on, doesn't that count as us working for the Constable, nya?"
"Does that mean you two have completely gone clean, nya?"
Saying this, Anya couldn't help but glance at the two former underworld figures the [Ganesha Familia] had once specially cracked down on—Chloe and Lunor.
"Is that the point?! You idiot, nya!"
The moment these words were out, Chloe immediately raised her hand and gave Anya a punch, then snatched up the newspaper and pointed at it.
"After a Kami-sama's Familia becomes Constables, they get a whole week of armed adjudication rights, nya!"
"You should know, this is a power not even the [Ganesha Familia] has—even if they killed someone in the middle of the street, the Guild wouldn't intervene, nya!"
"And the most outrageous part is…"
Lunor folded her arms across her chest, brows tightly knit.
"Look at the vote count—five hundred and thirteen votes in favor, nearly seventy percent of the gods voting yes; a hundred and thirty-one abstained, and only four voted against. Which means this passed almost unanimously, with only a handful of gods opposed."
"The thing is, since when did the gods of Orario become so united and of one mind?"
"That's just it, nya."
Chloe nodded too, furrowing her brow.
"Come to think of it, if the [Ganesha Familia] steps back to the sidelines,"
"can they really keep Orario's peace handled on their own?"
"You know, some Familia are awfully cunning—they wouldn't even listen to the [Ganesha Familia]..."
Just as Anya finished speaking,
Lunor and Chloe glanced at each other.
After all, as former bounty hunters and assassins who'd done the dirty, grueling work,
Lunor and Chloe knew all too well just how deep Orario's waters ran.
Don't be fooled by the gods' outward cordiality with one another—behind the scenes, the various Familia had done all manner of things to seize territory and fight over the Dungeon's resources.
To get this pack of gods—cunning as devils—to form a united front was absolutely not something that could be accomplished by merely flapping one's lips.
It was downright harder than making an iron tree bloom.
Even back when the [Zeus Familia] and [Hera Familia] were at the height of their power,
whether they could have achieved what was happening now—securing seventy percent of the votes in favor without spilling a single drop of blood—the answer was, more likely than not, no.
____
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