Seeing the look of realization on the face of the Hestia Familia's Hero King, Ganesha's expression, hidden behind his mask, paused slightly.
Then, he turned his head and patted Njord, who was sitting beside him.
The latter also knew just how muddled his actions had been in recent years and let out a soft sigh, saying, "Hero King, this should be our first actual meeting."
Levi nodded upon hearing this: "Your Familia is Orario's largest supplier of fish; I have looked forward to this for a long time."
"You are too kind," Njord said with a bitter smile. "If possible, I actually quite hoped for my Familia to develop towards the exploration type. It's just that my judgment of people is poor, coupled with mediocre luck, so I could only honestly let the children do hard labor and exchange manual work for money."
"But in doing so, there are many matters that neither I alone nor a single Familia can solve."
"Oh?" Levi showed a listening expression. "If you don't mind, could you elaborate?"
Njord nodded.
Since he had decided to come along with Ganesha, he was naturally prepared to bare his soul to the Hestia Familia.
"Hero King, you are a new generation adventurer, not even twenty years old, so you likely aren't clear about the situation when the Zeus Familia and Hera Familia were still in Orario." The male god, bare-chested and using only a scarf for slight cover, spoke up.
"Back then, in order to combat the 'King of the Sea,' Leviathan, Port Town Melin actually stationed quite a few combat-type Familias."
"Leaving aside the Zeus Familia and Hera Familia, the most well-known was the Poseidon Familia. They were experts specializing in water combat. They were already not weak on land, but once they entered the water, they could unleash powerful combat capabilities far exceeding their usual limits."
"Precisely because of the existence of the Poseidon Familia, Port Town Melin was actually quite peaceful overall."
"Although monsters would be discovered in the sea from time to time, most would be eliminated immediately. Consequently, the children of my family could also have a relatively stable environment to conduct fishing operations."
"But following the successful subjugation of Leviathan, the Poseidon Familia left Melin."
"Having lost this pillar, finding monsters in the sea again would very easily lead to the injury, disability, or even death of my family's children."
"And then..."
Speaking up to this point, Njord paused.
Levi directly voiced the words stuck in the other's throat: "And then, you made contact with the Evils?"
"To be precise, they found me." Njord did not deny it, only offering a slight correction. "I was worrying about the monsters in the sea at the time, so after the Evils offered a suitable solution, I very quickly reached a cooperation agreement with them."
"They would deploy a type of monster that could survive in the sea and be controlled by a Tamer into the coastal waters. By using this type of monster to drive away and devour other monsters, they would exchange it for a relatively safe and stable environment for Melin."
"As the price, I, the other main gods of Familias in Melin, and the branch head of the Guild needed to hand over a not-insignificant batch of Magic Stones or Magic Stone powder to the contact person of the Evils every month."
Levi had actually already learned this news previously when interrogating members of the Soma Familia.
At this moment, it was merely receiving confirmation once again.
"Just Magic Stones?" he pressed.
Njord revealed a serious expression: "Just Magic Stones. No matter how muddled I am, it is impossible for me to form a deeper connection with the Evils."
"True enough." Levi nodded.
Having said that, he looked toward Ganesha at the side: "Lord Ganesha, what are your views on Lord Njord's conduct?"
When encountering individuals associated with the Evils, under normal circumstances, it should actually be reported to the Guild for them to pass judgment.
But quite obviously, when an organization exists for too long, there will inevitably be a large number of parasites internally.
These guys often do no proper work, yet are most adept at harming the public to enrich themselves.
To put it more bluntly, almost without exception, they all have actual connections with gray industries or even the Evils.
Even the Guild Head, Royman, might not be all that clean himself.
Since Levi and Ganesha had decided to give Orario a wave of great cleansing, they naturally couldn't choose to alert the enemy.
As for Njord...
Leaving aside that this one's Familia provided over half of Orario's fish products, the mere act of providing Magic Stones to the Evils did not warrant a death sentence.
Thus, not long after Levi's voice fell, Ganesha's voice rang out.
"I will report the matters of Njord and Port Town Melin to the Guild later. Because it involves numerous Familias, it will most likely end with a fine."
"But those monsters in the sea—the Ganesha Familia cannot solve them. No, in the entire Orario, aside from the Evils, likely only you, 'Hero King,' might have a method to deal with them."
This was the reason he had personally come to visit today with Njord.
Levi remained silent for a moment after listening. With a slight movement of his mind, a Spirit Clone manifested behind the sofa. However, it was not Thrud, who had been active outside all this time and was already familiar to many Familia main gods and higher-ups, but rather a short-haired blonde girl he had named 'Lind'.
"Next, my clone will accompany the two of you to Melin. As for whether the problem of the monsters in the sea can be solved, since I haven't confirmed it with my own eyes, I reserve my opinion for the time being."
Seeing that the Hero King was willing to wade into these muddy waters, Njord couldn't help but stand up excitedly. Paying no mind to his status as a deity, he bowed directly toward the former: "No matter what, on behalf of the children in my Familia, and everyone in Melin, thank you."
The port town 'Melin' was located right on the edge of Orario.
If adventurers were willing, a round trip wouldn't even take two hours.
Running at full power, one could even shorten the time to within ten minutes.
Of course, because two gods with no combat power were following along, Lind, controlled by Levi, still only arrived at the destination close to noon.
Although not far from Orario, the overall atmosphere in Melin was noticeably more soothing.
The premise was not to mind the probing gazes that would stab toward oneself from time to time.
Lind pulled down her hood, obscuring the upper half of her face.
Subsequently, veins bulged around her eye sockets. Accompanied by the activation of the 'Byakugan', it was very easy to see quite a few female adventurer figures hiding in various corners of the alleyways.
The vast majority of them were Amazons, while the rest were Beast People, Pallums, Elves, and Humans.
Clearly, the internal self-investigation of the Soma Familia a few days ago, or perhaps Ganesha's sudden visit, had ultimately leaked a bit of information.
It had alerted the enemies hiding in the dark.
Regarding this, Lind, or rather Levi, was actually indifferent.
With his strength at its current level, unless a god played dirty and unsealed their Divine Power, no matter how many come from the Evils or adventurers connected to the Evils, it would be nothing more than a matter of cutting them down with one blade, or perhaps two.
However...
'Combat Prostitutes... Ishtar Familia?'
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New Story: ZZZ: Mr. Ethereal Does Not Want to See a Tragedy
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