It was a bright morning in Orario, and the Astraea familia were doing their daily warm ups, getting into the grove before they'd dive into their intense training. It was a surprisingly calm moment until a Ganesha familia member came to the Stardust Garden.
"Astraea Familia, I need your assistance." The guard called out with a raspy breath, his legs barely keeping his body upright.
Alise was the first one ready, she appeared, fixing her appearance as she stepped into view from the back training yard.
"Hey there, what's up? Come to see a second sun this morning?" Alise smiled, with her typical tease.
"Huh? No, there's a pair of amazoness, they're going around beating people up in the city. I hate to say it, but they're too much for us average guys."
"So, that must mean they're probably high level 2 or better." Alise pondered.
"Definitely level 3. I've been subject to level 4 hits, they aren't that high. But we have ways of dealing with level 2s."
"Got it. I wonder, should I be the one to do this, or… Hmm, yeah, alright, we'll do it this way. Iska, get ready!"
"Got it captain!" Iska shouted out from the training yard, and just like she was trying to imitate something she saw recently, she appeared like a blur. "Damn, I'm still nowhere near his speed. I want to see it again."
"Enough, let's focus. We're going to go see what these two trouble makers are like." Alise smiled.
"Troublemakers?"
"Yep, a pair of amazoness, probably new arrivals to the city."
"Oh? Interesting, they might be from Telskyura. Let's go see how they stack up with us." Iska smirked, pounding a fist into an open palm. "Show us the way."
"Huh, oh, yes! Follow me."
A few minutes later the party of three arrived near the scene where a bunch of people were gathered, dozens of defeated adventurers, nursing bruises and other minor injuries.
"Oh come on! I heard stories that Orario's adventurers were strong, what's with all of this!?" A long haired amazoness growled out.
"Sister, do you think we should give it a rest for today? We've already beat dozens of guys up." A short haired amazoness said, with a bit of disappointment in her tone.
"You two aren't going anywhere yet." A man who showed far too much care for his appearance stood up to both amazoness. "My god, Lord Apollo has grown interested in some girls. Your antics are interfering, so I will defeat you as well."
"Oh, look at that someone else stood up."
"Yeah, but he'll get beat up like all the rest before him. He's Apollo familia's crazy captain."
"Hyakinthos, what are you doing?" An elf asked frustrated as he walked up closer. "You know you can't handle them yourself."
Apollo appeared with his overly obsessive appearance. "O-o-o-oh, go and beat them, I'll take these cuties into my familia!"
"EEK!" the short haired amazoness shrieked.
"Yeah… We're not joining that familia. We've had enough of those freaky gods." The long haired amazoness said.
"If you refuse to join our familia after we beat you, perhaps we should just kill you." Hyakinthos said, losing his composure. "Insulting Lord Apollo is surely worthy of that fate."
This time something snapped in both amazoness. It was like someone pressed the "DO NOT TOUCH" button… Then smashed it. Their eyes went bloodshot with a desire to brutalize their opponents.
"You're threatening to kill us?" … "Tiona, tell me I wasn't the only one who heard it."
"I heard it too, Tione. Let's beat them up."
"And the nasty god can get a few wallops too."
What happened next wasn't a fight, it was a show of what happens when someone fights with everything they have knowing their life is on the line. Hyakinthos and his elven ally were beaten senselessly black and blue in a matter of seconds.
"Welp, that settles it, they are definitely from Telskyura." Iska smirked, getting excited to fight them.
"I see, well we should interfere before they actually kill those two."
"Right."
Alise and Iska appeared on scene, shocking the bystanders. The citizens started cheering for their arrival.
"Lord Apollo, your familia has lost the challenge. Take your children and leave, they're in need of medical treatment." Alise stated.
"Scarlet Harnell, you're giving me, a god, orders." Apollo said, snubbing his nose at her.
"Would you rather I have you, and them, arrested for threatening murder in public? Along with a sanction on your familia?"
"Nope." Apollo hired some others nearby to help carry the defeated off.
"Alright then, you two. What exactly is your goal in causing this mess?" Alise asked, stepping up next to Iska.
"Huh? We're trying to find a familia worthy of us." Tiona answered. "If they can beat us then we can join them."
"But all these ones here are either over eager men with fantasies about having us, or are simply too weak." Tione said, crossing her arms.
Iska and Alise gave each other a glance and then giggled.
"Go ahead Iska, ask them."
"Right, Tiona, Tione. What is justice?" Iska asked.
"Justice? Oh, Heroes!" Tiona cheered with a big smile.
"Justice? Freedom… Love? One of those two, maybe?" Tione answered.
Alise thought about it for a moment and then nodded to Iska.
"Alright, do you want to fight 2 on 2, or do you want to fight either one of us?" Iska asked. "I'd like to fight you myself. But the choice is yours."
"We'll fight you both."
The resulting fight was completely one sided. Alise and Iska were both level 5, and had seamless teamwork. So they ended up testing the twins for quite awhile to see where they were truly at, then defeated them once satisfied.
"Alright, good. I can't guarantee our goddess will accept you, but I think you'll be able to answer her properly." Alise said, still as smiley as ever.
"They're pretty good. They would be a great addition to our familia."
"Well, we're going with you either way!" Tiona cheered. "You beat us so we're going to join your familia."
"It wouldn't be just to go back on our promise, would it?" Tione smirked, showing she had a halfway decent idea on what justice was all along.
Alise smiled, and did what she did best to disperse the situation, after which the four returned to Stardust Garden.
…