The girls welcomed me inside their Familia home, a moderate-sized house with a beautiful blue roof. The location was pretty decent, though the Soma Familia was quite near. At the front door of the manor, a tall man with black hair waited for us.
He was, to say the least, a handsome man who surely attracted many ladies, but the most noticeable thing about him was his height and sky-blue eyes. He wore black clothes that made him look like a nobleman, fitting for his appearance.
The man stared down at me with interest as the girls greeted their god and went inside their home. In the end, only Emma and I remained outside with Player. After closing the door behind him, Player looked at us, specifically at me.
"So, you're here to help my girls, right? I have to say, you don't look like someone strong enough to offer them help, or are you just trying to get their attention?" His commanding voice washed over us, intending to see through me.
The air around us was dense from Player's questioning gaze. Emma seemed scared by her god's attitude, unlike me. With a tight grip, the god grabbed my shoulder like a strict father meeting his son-in-law for the first time.
I was getting tired of these girls and situations like this. I realized that I'd been too soft with them. Not only was I helping them for free, but I had also saved their lives, only for their god to treat me like some kind of opportunist.
Instead of speaking to the god, I grabbed his arm, which was holding my shoulder, and removed it. At that moment, I decided I wasn't going to be soft anymore. Being soft in this city was a death sentence.
Not that I was particularly soft, but my mistake was letting these girls command me when I was helping them practically for free. Player gave me a confused look until our eyes met. The moment he saw my snake-like eyes, he froze.
"You don't command me, you fucking bigot. I saved your girls' lives, and I'm even offering them help for free. Emma, go summon Gita and tell her we're beginning our scouting mission right now."
Emma's stare broke upon hearing me, and she hesitated, but my unyielding gaze made her obey instead. Player, however, stared at me with mixed emotions and decided to keep silent. His eyes betrayed the fear inside him.
After a few moments of waiting outside, the masked girl, Gita, arrived with Emma. Gita stared daggers at me, but I was done with that.
"Quit giving me death glares; they don't mean shit when you can't even put a scratch on me, much less kill me. Instead of giving me death stares, how about you and I go scout the area, and then we can come back here to make plans for the offensive?"
Both girls and the god were silent, making the situation unclear. That was until Emma nodded to Gita, and the masked girl obeyed. As both of us stepped further from Emma and Player, Emma called out to us.
"Be careful, both of you! Come back as quickly as you can for dinner—we're having special served chicken today!" I waved a hand, and that set our departure into motion. With swift movements, we disappeared.
As we ran across the rooftops, I glanced over at Gita a few times. The day was slowly turning to night, which was perfect for our stealth mission. Roof after roof, our journey eventually ended when Gita signaled for me to stop by raising her hand.
Giving her a side-eye, I stopped, and we crouched at the top of one roof. Orario had the vast infrastructure for parkour. Many buildings had enough features for a parkour enthusiast to use.
Especially the slums. It always fascinated me how the city of heroes and gods could have slums like that. Orario was big enough to allow criminals to move in secret, and these slums were proof of that.
During the Dark Ages, the good forces of the town desperately tried to push Evilus away and eradicate them. But Evilus knew these streets and corners very well, giving them an advantage over the good guys.
And that's why they still exist to this day, somewhere here. Now that I know their main base of operations is under Knossos, things have become much easier. I wouldn't hesitate to burn the entire slums to ashes if it meant eradicating Evilus, but that would make me a wanted man, so that kind of idea doesn't apply.
"Watch this," Gita pointed at a blonde man in fancy black robes. His purple eyes shone in the sunlight, which was soon about to set. The most noticeable thing about him was a goofy hair accessory that made him look like an idiot.
By the looks of it, he was commanding his men, who were carrying heavy crates into the nice-looking manor behind them. The manor was painted white with a nice yard in front of it. Among the depressing slums, the greenery of that manor stood out like a light in the dark.
"It looks like they're preparing supplies for the upcoming attack on us. We have to report this back and make a plan." Gita looked me in the eyes, expressing her fear of losing her Familia to those evil runts.
"Okay, we've seen enough; now, time to go ba..." I struck her on the neck, knocking her unconscious. With her sleeping, I gently placed her somewhere she couldn't be seen and prepared to attack the enemy.
Gita slept behind me while I watched the enemy a bit longer, making sure no one uninvited could catch me by surprise. As I focused my eyes to check for any possible traps or weak spots, my eyes suddenly closed.
"What the fuck is this..." I tried opening my eyes with force, but nothing could open them. Then I fell onto the roof, shaking. A few minutes went by before I could open my eyes again, and then I saw heat all around me.
"Looks like I've gained a new racial ability. Fantastic." I could see heat signatures around me. I looked over at Gita and noticed her body heat. This ability came at the perfect time; I could now see all living beings.
It wasn't as effective as x-ray vision, but no one could catch me by surprise by hiding inside a bush or something like that.
"Enoch! Hurry up and come inside. We need to discuss with god Aeshma about buying the property where those runts reside. A powerful man is supposed to arrive in an hour, and I want the yard cleared by then."
An average-sized man exited the house and approached Enoch. His appearance could be mistaken for that of a banker or any rich bastard. With glasses between his eyes, his short cream-colored hair moved in the breeze.
Enoch's and the man's purple eyes met. For a second, I noticed annoyance in Enoch, but nothing special happened.
"Well, I guess I'll have to wait an hour before I can make a move. Hopefully, Gita won't wake up for another two hours until this is done."