After an investigation, and thanks to Hilda's help, Oberon managed to pinpoint their location at Ishtar Familia. I did learn that Ishtar Familia was famous for running a brothel. The district was glimmering with purple and red colors from above, and I could smell the perfume from hundreds of meters above.
"Hilda, where exactly are they?"
"They are right below the ground of that tall, constructed building, Oberon-sama; I am sure of it."
Ortrid tried to verify Hilda, finding that there was indeed a hidden underground slave trade. The only problem is how I approach this problem. I can't just bang and dig the ground without making the Ishtar Familia clash with the Loki Familia.
"So, Oberon, what should we do?"
"I think I will go undercover. Please, whatever you do, don't attack first; wait until they do, Sera."
There is indeed an escape route from the southeast, but I can't let Sra alone again without risking being captured again by them.
"I understand."
Then Orstrid started using her illusion magic to change my appearance as a human, while Orstrid changed herself into a catperson with a long white tail appearing behind her.
'How cute… Now all I need to do is change our clothes.'
Then I dropped Sera on the rooftop of a building while I pulled one of the summoning scrolls for our clothing to wear as a disguise. It is just dark clothes and pants and a dark blue cape, while Sera is wearing her usual attire, just adding a grey cape.
"Now let's go."
----
To grant a pass toward the pleasure district, you had to surrender your weapon. For me, Orstrid and Hilda were not a big deal, but for Sera, it was a different story because she was not proficient with magic. So I told her there was no choice but to hand it over, but in an emergency, I could create a weapon for her with earth magic.
Just as I passed the guard of the big complex in the district, the smell of the perfume became much stronger. What I worried about was that the perfume could be poison and make everyone get excited for the sake of making the customer use their service.
"Boya~ came here I will give you great service."
At every step I took, I always listened to that alluring voice trying to catch my attention, not only alluring voices they tried to catch their customers' attention with their clothes, and sometimes they wore clothes that were so transparent that I was not sure that they wore any clothes at all.
"Came here, handsome, let's play~"
'If my mental age was not over a hundred, I was probably already falling for them.'
Orstrid and Hilda, who were close to me, tried their best to make sure no prostitute got close to me, but something got bothered by some drunk adventurer that made them so angry that I could feel a chill on my spine, but Sera's behavior where completely different from them she more silent and tried to not look at her surrounding she walked while watching her step. So I needed to grab her hand to make sure she did not get lost.
"Sera, are you okay?"
"W-why did you ask?"
'Her face was so red that almost make her face had the same color as Tommato.'
I couldn't help, but giggle a bit. Knowing that I making fun of her Sera pinched my wrist in retaliation.
"Itatata, I am sorry Sera I cant help it."
"Muh, stupid Oberon."
----
The Pleasure District was full of bars and motels, as I expected, and it was like a labyrinth. If I was not careful, there was a high chance that I could get lost. After minutes of walking through a horde of hungry men and women, I finally reached the building that had a hidden passage that led underground. It looked like a normal house, but it was because six women were guarding this entrance.
Most of the inhabitants were Amazonnes and each had their weapon ready at any time. I could sense they were strong adventurers. Then one of them walked toward me. She had purple hair and was wearing long, dark bots and bikini-like clothing, showing her beautiful dark skin with some battle scars on her body.
"Stay close to me, Sera."
"Um."
Just I said Sera just stay close to my side the same with Orstrid and Hilda.
"Are you lost? This place is not open to the commoner."
"I am here to meet your goddess, Ishtar."
(Thud!)
In their reaction to my request, they all stood and tried to intimidate me for some unknown reason.
"For what accession? I remember Ishtar-sama didn't mention any visitors today."
"I am from Loki Familia. I came here to take back one of my Familia members and friend that you imprisoned below ground."
The atmosphere became heavy, and I started to sense that a fight would break out at any time.
"So I suggest handing them over before Loki-sama knows you tried to sell one of her children."
Just as the situation could get worse one of the residents on the second floor shouted,
"STAND DOWN, ALL OF YOU!"
Just as the woman shouted, they all stood down their weapons from their obedient alone. I knew that the woman who ordered them was the goddess Ishtar. Since I went in, she has been sitting on the second floor while smoking her pipe. When I had a clearer view of her clothing, it was too indecent. I could see almost all of her breasts, but only a single fabric blocked anyone from seeing the full view of her breasts.
"What's your name?"
I just ask Orstrid to cancel the spell, and then my human-like ears change to long ears, making my appearance change from that of a human to that of an elf.
((!!))
"My name is 'Oberon Aendryr Wishe' I just joined Loki Familia days ago, but I assume you already heard my name recently."
"Fufufufu I now understand why Freya wants you. Before I answer your question, is it true you slew the Goliath recently?"
"Yes, I am."
The atmosphere starts to change, and the woman in the room starts to have a weird gaze that reminds me of Elinalise's gaze whenever she sees an interesting man, but somehow the atmosphere surrounding Orstrid and Hilda is colder than before.
"Stand down, everyone; we can't touch this man if we do, Loki and Freya's wrath would fall toward our Familia... Oberon, is it? There is no such thing as a hidden slave market beneath us, so go back and leave this place."
"Goddess Ishtar I did forget to tell you that my partner besides had the skill to track any living thing, and I don't need to prove it; you already knew that I was not telling a lie, right?"
She tried to ignore my demand and went back to her chair.
"This will be my last warning. If you do not grant me a passage, I will force myself through, and before you think you all could defeat me, let me tell you that I defeated that monster you called the floor boss, the Goliath, just in minutes…"
Ishtar then froze in her step, and everyone had a disbelieving expression because they all knew that even for a high-level adventurer, it took an hour to take that monster. Then I created two daggers for Sera with earh-magic.
"Ishtar-sama, he is lying, right?"
Then she turned her head toward me. Her expression drastically changed from her calm demeanor to a panic reaction. From their goddess reaction alone, they knew that I was not bluffing at all.
"I prefer no confrontation, and let me tell you this: my goddess does not yet know about your involvement, 'yet' so it is the best choice for you to grant me a passage."
Then she laid her eyes on one woman, and then she moved toward a wall with pictures of her goddess.
((Thud!))
'A secret door, as I expected from Orstrid.'
"Follow her. She will guide you to the place."
"Thank you, goddess Ishtar."
----
After walking down for a few minutes, there is another door in front of us. The door itself was more reinforced than a normal door. Orstrid senses there is no trap whatsoever and there is a long hall with left and right sides there is a person chained probably the slave or prisoner.
(Knock… Knock, Konock.)
'Hm, is that kind of password for the entry?'
(Thud!)
The door was too heavy to open when it opened, and there was a man with a large one-hand sword on his back.
"No weapon of any kind is allowed."
"Ah, pardon. Sera, hand over your weapon."
"Are you sure? There is a chance we will get attacked in there."
"It's okay; my magic alone could handle it."
I just destroyed the earth's weapon and turned it into dust.
"Hm, you all can come in."
The Amazoness that guided us went back to their goddess because her duty was done. When we walked through the door, I was welcomed with a familiar scene of despair. From the look of it, it was not a slave market; it was just a bunch of people held in cells together.
"Master, take a turn to the left; it should be the place they held them."
The man guarding the door was still following us when I activated my magic eyes. He had that dark aura that was the same kind of person that I killed in the dungeon. The place itself was not so wide, and the ceiling was pretty high.
I had the feeling that the man behind me would at some point try to attack me, so I asked Orstrid to expand her radar, and soon enough, my suspicion was correct. There was a group of people at the end of the hall, each waiting on the left and right, waiting for an ambush.
"You know, I never feel tired of killing all of you scum…"
Just as he realized the ambush had been discovered, he tried to swing his big sword and cut four of us at the same time.
"It's okay, Sera; we will handle it."
{Earth-Lance}
(Clank!)
"Just understand this: even if you tried to put a mask on your face or tried to blend in my eyes, I could easily find people like you…"
Then another earthly lance pierced through that man's body, and he started to spill blood from his mouth and died standing. As they knew they were being discovered, the others that hid left their hiding spot, but then a deep mist appeared out of nowhere, and the place where they stood started to get soft, and it sucked them in like a quagmire.
{Blood Rapture}
The single red thread pierced each of their heads, killing them instantly. It was one of the blood manipulation magics that Hilda had; it hardened the blood like an iron nail that was strong enough to pierce a human skull with ease.
"Good job, Hilda."
There are still many of them who held captive people from humans, beast people, and elves, but most of them were Pallum.
'I did hear from Father that their races were the most persecuted in Gekai.'
Then I started making an earth platform and drawing a mid-level healing magic circle to help everyone who was injured.
"Master, there is one who managed to escape."
"It's okay, Orstrid; I want them to know."
"Is Oberon-sama sure it was a good choice?"
"I agree with Hilda. It was not a good choice to let them know your ability, Oberon."
"They are just seeing a small portion of my magic, so we don't need to worry."
{Eresh}
'Hm, there's no imposter among them.'
Oberon did have the experience in his previous life of encountering a bandit that hid among the captives. After drawing the healing magic circle, I head to the place that should be where Lola and Artemis Familia members were held.
"Orstrid, Hilda, please free all of them and gather them in the magic circle. It will at least heal their wound."
(("As your command, Master."))
"Let's go, Sera; they are not so far away."
----
"Rethusa!"
When we arrive at their cell, they are all already fully awake, but they are too weak to stand. When they heard Sera's voice, everyone was energized and started to smile in relief that they were safe.
"Oberon-sama."
Lola and others were weakened by some kind of drug that probably prevented them from trying to escape.
"Everything is gone; be okay, Lola... Sera, stand back; I will cut the cell bar."
I create an earth shape, like a disk spinning at high speed, to cut the bar. When it finally opened, Sera rushed and hugged a weakened girl, probably named Rethusa.
"Just stay put; I will erase the poison."
"Please heal them, Oberon."
"Leave it to me, Sera."
From what I saw, the worst condition was a woman with red hair; she had a broken bone and some scratches on her skin from a sharp toll, but the most worrying was a young girl with white hair.
'Her body was shaken... It must be a traumatic experience for her.'
After using detoxification magic, most of them start to recover a bit of their former strength.
"I never heard a healing magic that could cure poison... *Inhale*… *Exhale* By the way, my name is Rethusa... ack!"
When she tried to hold my hand, her body still had tremendous pain on her shoulders.
"Nice to meet you, Rethusa. Please don't move for a moment. I will heal your shoulders; it's probably a broken bone. I need to touch your shoulder. Is that okay for you?"
"It's okay; I don't mind. Oberon, how old are you?"
"Hmm, I am fifteen."
"Aitatata... I see our age has not had a long gap... I am glad that Sera was safe."
"I am glad to manage to save her and all of you in time."
When Rethusa and Sera looked at Argi, they knew that she was traumatized by the incident. She looks like she is the same age as Ais, but she is probably a bit older.
"Can you all stand?"
They all nodded, but Argi was still too scared to stand.
'It probably needs more than just healing her wound.'
It is not the first time Oberon has encountered a person in such a state, but she probably had much fortune to compare to the state of the prisoner he saved from the bandit in his previous life.
When we left the cells, they were surprised by a pile of human bodies. They knew that they were all the Evilus that Oberon had just killed, and some people gathered in a circle. Oberon just noticed that the Amazoness that stopped him was already descending here with their full equipment.
"You all could clean up the body and tell your goddess I will overlook this and keep my mouth shut as promised."
"But, Oberon-sama, they keep people locked up down here to be sold to slave traders!"
"Lola I understand your anger, but if Ishtar Familia and Loki Familia went into conflict, it only weakened our strength and attention from the Evilus."
I ordered the Ishtar Familia to hand over the remaining captives to the Ganesha Familia because it was the best thing I could do for them. According to Lola, they are poisoned and unconscious, and when they wake up, they feel so weakened that even moving their finger is hard, but somehow Rethusa can move her body. When she tried to escape, they broke her leg in retaliation for her resistance.
The Ishtar Familia guided us toward the south gate, which could only be accessed by a selected view, and it was used to avoid unwanted attention from the guests who came from the north gate. They already brought our weapon that the guard kept; it was probably a kind gesture for us from Goddess Ishtar.
"Oberon-sama."
As we leave the gate, one of the Amazoness heads toward our group. When she arrived in front of me, she handed me a letter that, according to her, was sent to me.
("Met me at a graveyard south of here. I advise you to go alone.")
Without any reason, the name only asked me to meet them at the graveyard south of here. It was too suspicious and, most likely, a trap. Oberon Instic told him that he needed to meet this mysterious person, but Oberon knew that he needed to bring everyone to safety first before doing anything else.
"Oberon, what is written in the letter?"
While Oberon was reluctant to answer the invitation, he noticed other figures in the group. Among them was a large shadow of a man with two swords on his back. When the group got closer, Oberon could recognize the people who came.
"Ottar?"
Not only Ottar, but there is Allen, Anya, and one elf with golden hair that falls down his back and coral eyes. For some reason, his gaze was not so pleasant toward him.
"Ottar, what are you doing here?"
"Lady Freya sent us to lend a hand."
'Freya, how did she... Now I do remember that her manor was close.'
Oberon could see that Allen still had the same expression when they met, but he probably held himself back because of her goddess's order.
"Send my regard toward Freya. I am sorry to have to ask you to bring them to the Twilight Manor. I had to do something alone."
"Hm, I don't mind it... Should I ask where you went?"
Then, chasting gravity magic, I levitated myself from the ground.
"I want to meet the perpetrator of this incident, and I am sorry I have to face them alone."
(Swoosh!)
"OBERON!! Tch, Orstrid, let's follow him."
"I am sorry, Sera; it was Master's request to go alone."
Ignore the Orstrid word. Sera tries to follow Oberon where he is flying, but her step is stopped by Ottar, who blocks her from taking any step forward.
"Why did you stop me?"
"It is his attention to bring you all to safety, so I am not gone. Let you pass."
Sera was furious that she was being stopped. She tried to reach both of her weapons and thought to force her way through, but her action was stopped by Rethusa's hands.
"Sera, he must have had a good reason to go alone. You had to trust his decision; it's the best for all of us."
"I understand."
----
Oberon saw a long line of tombstones lining up as far as his eye could see. It was so vast that it was probably kilometers in length.
'With such visibility, I could avoid an ambush.'
Just as he surveyed the area, he found a person standing right in front of a tall tombstone wearing a black robe.
'He had no aura at all; he must be a god.'
When I descended close to the figure, I tried approaching carefully, and to avoid any kind of poison gas or projectile, I covered myself with wind and earth magic, protecting my body.
"Ho, you did come alone."
When he starts to talk, I just stop taking steps any further and keep observing my surroundings. The stranger is still facing the tomb and not facing Oberon like he avoids any eye contact between them.
"I have been observing you from far away. Every single one of your actions has been really destructive toward my college children."
"I will not apologize for that. They all deserve to die."
"You were right about that. Most of them are sinners; their souls were tainted with the souls of the innocent they had taken… So you want to be the hero, presume?"
Oberon just stayed silent and gave a cold look toward the mysterious god.
"You maybe don't know that the grave that I stood in was an empty grave to commemorate the falling adventurer that got killed in the hunt of the monster One-Eyed Black Dragon. People hail them as heroes for taking risks, but when they fail, they are all forgotten by the people who hail them in the first place."
After the fight with OEBD, there is indeed chaos surging on the surface because of the monster's weird behavior after the clash. It is not surprising that almost everyone blames it squarely on the Zeus and Hera Familia that caused the chaos on the surface.
"After knowing that you still want to help these people,"
"You are mistaken; I never want to be a hero for them. I only want to protect the people that I care about."
"Let's say that if one of my children kills one of the people you care about, what will happen? Did you still don't want to be a hero?"
Orario, which had a clear night sky, suddenly changed with a dark cloud appearing on the sky, covering the night sky, and soon after thunder started to scream. Everyone in Orario was confused about the sudden change of weather, but people close to Oberon knew that Oberon's magic was the cause of the storm.
When Oberon shows his bloodlust, a shadow appears behind one of the tombstones, but the shadowing person is stopped by the mysterious god.
(Crack!)
"I will hunt them and kill them without any mercy if that happens... You can target me all you want, but if you try to hurt people that close to me, I will wipe all of you from this world."
The god knew that was not an empty threat posed by Oberon from the strong bloodlust, and the ranging storm reflected the anger that Oberon felt.
"Kuku, that bloodlust I see—I take back my word—you are no hero at all. Monsters are better words to use. Hm, let's see a chained monster, to be precise."
The storm wind got stronger, the thunder sound got more and more powerful as a raging monster in the sky, and the lighting danced like a blue dragon that was ready to strike whoever the dragon targeted.
(Wosh!)
(Crack!)
"Call me whatever you want; I don't care. Now that I knew you were the one responsible for this incident, why did you think I would let you walk away?"
"Hm, that is indeed a problem, but... Let's see if you did try to capture me. One of my children would go on a rampage and kill as many people as possible. How about that? Did you still want to capture me?"
Not knowing whether what he told him was true or not, Oberon had no choice but not to try to capture him. The choice that he will probably regret in the near future.
"Kuku, I see now that I understand what kind of person you are, Oberon. The reason I want to meet you is just to understand that mortals will likely ruin my plan, but it will not stop me from trying."
Then, just behind an old tree, a figure walked beside the god, but I knew from the movement that it was a female adventurer. She then stole a glance at me, but I could only see her sinister smile. When Oberon activated his magic eyes, he was astonished by how dark her aura was.
"See you later, Oberon."
'I can't let that kind scum get away.'
Just as I took a step forward, an explosion came not so far away from my location.
'That direction… Mia-san!'
"You should save them, little elf, haha... HAHAHA!"
"You bitch! *swoosh*"
----
The explosion causes thick smoke in the direction of the Hostess of Fertility. When I arrived, the place had already crumbled to the ground, covered with fire. Just as I was stunned by the situation, a person walked out of the flame. It was Mia-san. She walked out of the flame while crying, an unconscious maid.
{Water Splash}
A big water ball appeared and then headed to ward off the fire, then burst into heavy rain, putting out the flame that burned the inn. When Mia saw the fire had been put out, she tried to look around, and finally, our eyes met.
Seeing me Mia-san looks happy, knowing that everything will be okay. Then she put down four girls that she carried on her shoulder, not so badly burned but still heavily injured.
"Thank you, Oberon."
"Don't mind, Mia-san, and I will heal them. Please take a seat. I will heal all your wounds too."
I cast the healing magic that little by little closed the wound and the burning mark on their bodies while Mia sat watching her Inn crumble with nothing left.
"*sigh* It cost me a lot to rebuild, but... I am glad they are safe."
When she watched Oberon heal each one of the maids, he could see that below Oberon's eyes, there was a dark spot, a sign that Oberon was close to his limit.
"It has been a long night for you, is it, Oberon?"
I just smiled without replying to her words because, currently, my mind was tired of thinking of any good reply to her. After all of their wounds were fixed, I tried to stand, but once again, I felt dizzy when Mia saw that she was carrying my body and laid my body down.
"You have worked hard, Oberon. Please take a rest. I will watch over you while you are sleeping."
"T-Thank you, Mia-san."
Just as he fell asleep, people started to gather, and one of Loki Familia's dispatch groups arrived at the scene. The group itself was led by Finn and Riveria. Seeing the familiar hair color that lay beside the maid, Riveria rushed forward and saw Oberon unconscious.
"What happens?"
Mia then explained what happened before the explosion: It came from an unknown adventurer whom Mia was suspected of being the perpetrator of the big explosion that occurred. Sensing danger from the adventurer, Mia grabs each one of the maids and uses her body as a shield to protect them from the explosion.
"After that, Oberon arrived and put out the fire and healed my child's wound and mine. Finn, Riveria, I was a bit angry that you both let him push himself into this state."
Then Riveria takes off her cloak and puts it on Oberon's body while observing and being injured; thankfully, there are none. Both Finn and Riveria can't deny their misjudgment and are powerless to help Oberon push himself into this state.
"I just don't know what I should do to ease his burden..."
Then Mia and Finn were surprised that a drop of tears came from Riveria's eyes.
"I- I don't know that feeling so powerless to help someone is so… so painful."
It has been more than a year since Mia and Finn worked as adventurers with her, and yet, in their experience, Riveria has never cried over something.
"*sigh* It's not only you to blame, but him too. He always went alone first when he sensed any danger to people that were close to him; if you let him do this often, he will die in a place where you all couldn't see or help him."
"I will never let that happen to him."
"Then I suggest you gain his trust to share his burden, Riveria. Oberon is crazy strong, but he has his limit; he knows that. Oberon knew to deter his enemy was not showing any weakness because Ottar and I did the same to protect our Familia."
"How could we gain his trust, Mia?"
"Hm, ask Orstrid. Since the first time we met, she has always been by Oberon's side. She probably knew something that could help you."
Finn calls a horse carriage to carry Oberon to the manor while he and others head toward the group where Artemis Familia is because it has already reached them that Oberon has already saved them, and they head toward the Twilight Manor.
"Oberon already tried to put his trust in us, Riveria. All we need is time, so don't stress yourself too much; it only makes him feel guilty."
"I… I will try."
"What are you going to do next, Mia?"
Finn knew that it was Mia's dream to build an inn when she retired when he saw everything she worked hard turning into ash.
"I rebuilt this place again, but I need to change how I hired the maid. I cannot risk their lives for the job."
"I see. When we have the chance to wipe the Evilus, I will make sure to let you know, Mia."
Just as Finn left Riveria, she carried Oberon's body toward the carriage and laid down his body gently.
"He was a smart and good kid. It is just his lack of awareness of what he causes because of his reckless behavior. So make sure he knew what you felt, Riveria."
"I will, and thank you, Mia."