"Lord Haimer jests."
"Although you may not actually intend to blow up Babylon Tower right now…"
"But, "
"Lord Ganesha specifically instructed us that your descent was something none of the gods expected."
"You are a god whose arrival is bound to bring enormous changes to the Lower World's balance."
"And in addition, there is the uniqueness of your divinity."
"For someone with such qualities, it is necessary for us to treat the matter with the utmost seriousness and invest in proper security measures out of concern for safety."
After saying that, Shakti even gave a perfectly proper bow.
Her attitude was respectful, her tone sincere, and there was not the slightest flaw to be picked apart.
It was practically a textbook example of official rhetoric, using the most polite attitude to say the most unyielding things.
Those blue eyes of hers clearly carried a kind of stubborn resolve, the sort that seemed to say: even if it's unpleasant, it still has to be done, because it's the mission.
People like that were the hardest to deal with.
When someone raised the banner of "it's for your own good" and "safety first," getting angry only made you look unreasonable.
But Haimer had long since grown sick of hearing this kind of polished nonsense.
Safety concerns? Proper importance?
Pretty words were easy for anyone to say.
Thinking that, Haimer flipped his wrist.
The long spear in his hand dropped vertically.
Boom!
A dull, heavy impact rang out.
The butt of the spear drove straight into the hard stone road, sinking in nearly three inches.
Centered around the point of impact, a web of fine cracks spread across the ground.
The moment that happened, Shakti's voice stopped.
Her body, which had been maintaining its standard upright posture all this time, visibly tensed.
The sudden movement also startled the adventurers who had been eavesdropping nearby.
As a god, Haimer naturally had no intention of getting branded with all kinds of labels less than two months after arriving in this world, especially when he hadn't actually done anything yet.
The feeling of being treated like a potential criminal was particularly irritating.
If anyone wanted to talk about a bad track record, Loki had once incited the gods in Heaven into mutual slaughter.
And besides, this wasn't Heaven.
This was the Lower World.
If he had actually done something evil down here and been caught, then naturally he would have nothing to say.
But the problem right now was,
He hadn't been caught doing anything.
So how had he already been labeled?
That was a serious problem.
Haimer was not going to accept all this just because someone wrapped it up in the banner of "for your own good" and "safety first."
So he cut Shakti off before she could continue and tilted his head slightly, gesturing for her to look around.
This place was North Main Street in Orario.
It could be called one of the busiest districts in the entire city.
The once bustling crowd had already cleared out a vacuum zone with a radius of ten meters around the two of them.
No one dared come close.
And yet countless eyes still lingered outside that empty circle, watching everything happening here.
"Look at the way these people are staring, Captain Shakti."
"What do you think they're thinking?"
"Look, a god is being watched by the captain of the military police, he must've done something."
"If even the captain of the Ganesha Familia has been mobilized, then this god is definitely dangerous."
"Maybe he's even some evil god planning to offer Orario up in blood sacrifice one day."
Every time Haimer said another sentence, a few people in the crowd would shrink their necks like someone had stepped on their tails.
So this was clearly not just something he made up.
Because of certain past incidents, evil gods had always been a taboo topic in Orario.
As the captain of the Dungeon City Military Police, the leader of the Ganesha Familia, Shakti Varma had a presence that carried enormous weight in Orario.
Whenever she appeared in full battle gear, to the citizens and adventurers living in the Dungeon City, it meant only one thing:
official intervention.
Violent suppression.
A line that absolutely could not be crossed.
It meant that riots, brawls, or some other serious incident requiring force had broken out.
Over time, the image of Shakti fully armed had formed an extremely strong fixed impression in the minds of the city's residents and adventurers.
In order to adapt to a complicated and ever-changing world, the human brain developed an efficient protective mechanism.
That mechanism was labeling.
By using stereotypes to simplify information, people could quickly sort complex individuals into fixed categories, lowering mental strain and improving judgment and decision-making speed.
And from that, a complete formula could be drawn.
Shakti + full armor = danger nearby.
But,
Shakti + full armor ≠ Shakti herself is the danger.
Then who was dangerous?
Naturally, it was her target.
And that made the conclusion obvious.
Me = the target of Shakti in full armor = danger.
A wolf wearing sheep's clothing was still a wolf.
Faced with Haimer's accusation, Shakti fell silent.
Her sharp brows drew together slightly, a faint crease appearing between them.
For the first time, a clear look of conflict appeared on that face always known for discipline and severity.
Because when she thought it through, it was true.
Following five paces behind a god from another Familia while fully armed, clad in regulation armor representing public authority and even wearing specially made metal gauntlets,
that really was the same as placing an extremely dangerous label on Haimer.
And it could very well, just as he had said, seriously damage his reputation in the Lower World.
However, even though Shakti acknowledged the logic of that argument, it did not mean her original stance would change because of it.
After all, as the captain of the Dungeon City Military Police, the Ganesha Familia entrusted by the Guild with maintaining public order in Orario, Shakti had seen far too many tragedies caused by gods indulging their own selfish desires.
During the Great Feud, several gods had been forcibly sent back to Heaven in a single day.
The final toll had been over thirty thousand adventurers and civilians dead or wounded.
The entire city of Orario had been shaken.
Those blood-soaked casualty figures sealed away in the Guild's archives were a constant reminder to her.
Every god in the Lower World, without exception, no matter how harmless they looked on the surface, still carried within them the capriciousness unique to gods.
And the one standing before her now,
War Calamity.
Even Lord Ganesha himself had spoken with unprecedented gravity when discussing matters related to this god.
Faced with someone like that, Shakti had no choice but to remain vigilant.
Moreover, her original plan had actually been to observe from the shadows like she would when tailing a suspicious target.
But after Lord Ganesha learned of that, he had specifically warned her.
"A sharp god will not find it difficult to detect someone following him. And secretly spying on another Familia's god without permission is a grave taboo. Once exposed, it will only provoke a much greater conflict."
The rules between gods were delicate.
Only gods could handle gods.
And for that very reason, in order to avoid unnecessary disputes and keep trouble away from the Ganesha Familia, Shakti had ultimately chosen the safest method Lord Ganesha had instructed her to use.
Stay close and guard him openly.
As long as she remained beside him, then even if this god wanted to do anything, he would at least have some reservations.
But now, it seemed,
the side effects of that method were even greater than expected.
Shakti's gaze shifted slightly.
Her eyes swept across the passersby who had been pointing and whispering among themselves.
The moment they noticed her sharp gaze turning toward them, those voices that had been gossiping so freely a second ago all stopped at once, like ducks having their throats squeezed by an invisible hand.
A few of the more timid ones even stumbled backward several steps, nearly stepping on the feet of those behind them.
That reaction only proved Haimer's point even more.
So after weighing things again in her mind, Shakti turned those blue eyes back toward him.
"I apologize, Lord Haimer. As you said, continuing this standoff has indeed caused serious damage to your reputation."
"I understand your distress."
"The fact that this has affected you was indeed the result of my insufficient consideration."
"On that point, I have no defense."
When she said that, Shakti bowed her head slightly and frankly admitted her mistake.
"But."
"On this matter, I still cannot compromise. It remains necessary."
"No matter how strongly you object, I must ensure that your whereabouts remain within a controllable range."
"However…"
She paused, and then changed the direction of the conversation.
"In order to make up for my mistake, and as compensation for the inconvenience caused to you, I am willing to swear in the name of the captain of the Ganesha Familia that all of your expenses in Orario today will be covered entirely by the Ganesha Familia."
"And also…"
"Tomorrow, I will discuss with Lord Ganesha a better form of compensation."
"But for today, I ask that you allow me to put aside my identity as military police."
"I will accompany you only as an ordinary adventurer, and as a guide."
"That way…"
"I can also properly pay for all of your expenses during this outing."
"What do you think?"
"All expenses will really be paid by your Familia?"
"Yes."
"…."
Haimer raised an eyebrow, and the image of that run-down two-story building suddenly appeared in his mind.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Read Advanced Chapters
p(a)treon.com/Shalltearr
Drop some POWERSTONES to push the story forward!