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Chapter 205 - Chapter 205: The Watcher’s Identity

Night had fallen over Orario. The vibrant city, lit with twinkling lights, slowly sank into stillness after a bustling day.

Charles gently pulled back the curtain and looked out at the street below.

On the street corner across from him, he clearly spotted two figures hidden in the shadows.

"One canid and one human. Both around Level 3. Too bad I can't tell which familia they belong to… but there's another group too?"

Shifting his gaze, Charles noticed three more people in another corner. They didn't seem affiliated with the first two.

"Three Level 2s? All Amazons… wait—Amazons?"

Charles frowned. There were many Amazons in Orario, but due to their open—even wild—nature, most of them gathered in just a few specific familias.

Only a few scattered Amazons could be found in other familias.

And in Orario, the largest concentration of Amazons came from that one familia.

As for the truth, Charles decided he'd find out himself. With that, he pulled a black hooded cloak from his rack and draped it over his shoulders.

Immediately, Charles's figure melted into the shadows and disappeared from his room.

Originally, Charles had wanted to make a tool for covert operations. But the idea of an "invisibility cloak" just felt too unserious.

So instead, he modeled this cloak—Cloak of Shadowmeld—on the abilities of Nagi Arisugawa.

Wearing it allowed Charles to move within shadows. Unfortunately, it only worked while his entire body remained within the cloak—if even a fingertip was exposed, he'd be ejected from the shadow state.

Still, for stealth purposes, it was more than sufficient.

Back on the street corner, the three Amazons were staring intently at Charles's room. Since he had drawn the curtains, they couldn't actually see anything.

A short-haired Amazon said, "I heard the guy we're watching fought Ottar to a draw."

The purple-haired one licked her lips. "Wonder what he's like in other kinds of action."

Charles shuddered. These stalkers weren't just tracking him—they were thirsting after him.

...Though, honestly, it wasn't the worst fate imaginable.

The third Amazon, the tallest and seemingly most serious of the trio, said, "Don't even think about it. The goddess herself ordered this mission—he's way out of our league."

"So you were sent by a goddess, huh?"

The sudden male voice made all three of them jump. Spinning around, they saw Charles emerge from the shadows.

Even for Level 2s, reacting to Charles's ambush was impossible. Ais herself had failed to detect his attacks during training.

In the blink of an eye, Charles dashed between the three of them, chopping each one with the edge of his hand.

The three Amazons dropped to the ground instantly. Charles had no mercy—he pulled out a small vial and poured the liquid onto the back of one of the fallen women.

Fortunately, Amazonian fashion made this process much easier than it might've been otherwise.

And no, it wasn't anything nefarious. The liquid was a status unlock serum.

An adventurer's stats were one of the most closely guarded secrets in Orario, so most gods routinely locked their children's Falna.

However, blood-derived alchemical unlockers could bypass those locks.

Charles had obtained his serum through Loki Familia. Finn hadn't even asked what Charles needed it for—he just had Ais deliver it.

Charles didn't care about the girls' stats. He only wanted to know which familia they belonged to.

Holy script and a crest appeared. The symbol was that of a veiled naked woman.

Exactly as Charles had suspected.

Ista Familia. So it was them.

Charles couldn't fathom what was going through that goddess's mind—why was she having him watched?

In Orario, the liveliest district at night was the Pleasure Quarter, and the biggest force there was the familia of the goddess of sex and desire—Ista.

The Ista Familia had dozens of upper-level adventurers, most above Level 2. Their captain, Phryne, nicknamed the "Man-Slayer," was a Level 5 first-class adventurer.

Their members were known in Orario by another name: "Battle Courtesans."

Dungeon exploration was their side job—selling "seafood" in the Pleasure Quarter was their real business.

You could imagine what their goddess was like.

Besides her... colorful lifestyle, Ista was also famous for her long-standing grudge against the goddess Freya.

The two shared very similar divine domains, but in beauty and influence, Freya completely overshadowed Ista.

So the so-called "feud" was likely one-sided—born of jealousy. Freya didn't even take her seriously.

That's why Charles found this so strange. Shouldn't Ista be busy plotting Freya Familia's downfall? Why was she sending people to monitor him?

Unable to make sense of her motives, Charles decided not to dwell on it. Whatever she was planning, she'd make her move eventually.

Right now, the more important task was identifying the other group.

Charles pocketed the serum, wrapped himself in the cloak again, and melted back into the shadows.

The other two figures were far more disciplined than the Ista girls—no chatting or distractions, just eyes fixed firmly on Charles's room.

Which was exactly why they failed to notice him sneaking up behind them.

Grabbing both their heads, Charles slammed them together. The two men slumped to the ground like boiled noodles.

He tore open the backs of their shirts and applied the unlocking serum.

Holy script appeared, revealing a crest Charles didn't immediately recognize. It took a moment of mental digging before he recalled it.

The mark belonged to a very obscure goddess: Penia, a ragged-looking old woman—goddess of poverty.

Penia operated primarily in Daedalus Street, which, in addition to housing the surface labyrinth, was Orario's main slum—fitting for her divine domain.

Unlike Hestia's kind-hearted poverty, Penia's philosophy was that poverty is purity. She even demanded her rich followers donate all their assets… which she then shamelessly squandered.

It wasn't hard to guess why someone like that wouldn't run an active familia. There had been no recent sightings of Penia Familia activity outside Daedalus Street.

Looking at the identical crests on their backs, Charles didn't buy for a second that these guys were really her adventurers.

He had a good idea who was really behind this.

Dionysus. Or more accurately, Enyo. It had to be him.

In the original story, Dionysus tricked Loki Familia by getting Penia and her adventurers drunk on godwine, then forcibly converted them.

After that, he staged Penia's repatriation, faked his own death, and wiped out his own familia—shifting the blame onto the goddess Demeter, whom he had threatened.

So now, Dionysus had his eye on Charles? Was it because Charles had already disrupted several of his plans?

Even so, Charles had no regrets about his actions.

In Orario, gods came in many forms. Some were parents. Some were friends. Some, like Hermes, were observers.

And that's what made this world so vibrant and fascinating.

But the one thing this world didn't need… was a god like Dionysus—who treated everyone like toys.

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