9 The Force of Fate

"Yawn... I had great rest."

Then I look at Orstrid standing there, firmly guarding the entrance of the room.

"Good morning, Orstrid. Thank you for your hard work."

"Morning Master. Is Master going to start the daily training?"

"Yes, thankfully, Iduun Familia has a big training ground I can use for my daily training."

"I understand, Master, but I suggest we skip our sparing session. I can sense someone with bad attention spying on us."

They are probably the same people that we meet at town gates; they probably have some grudges against my people. I can't blame them for having such a temper. In my past life, I was not so kind to a person that I found spying on me or my loved one. When I found a spy, I killed them on the spot, no questions asked, but now I need to keep a good profile if I want an ally I can trust.

After stretching my muscles, I wear my training clothes and head to the training ground. There, I expected some people to train, but they didn't.

'Hm, maybe I woke up too early.'

I start by running back and forth with gravity magic to increase the weight I take every step until I reach 10 km, then I start the push-ups and sit-ups, which I am doing until each reaches the count of 50. Last but not least, I create a heavy earth sword and start swinging it with both hands until my hand starts to get numb. Then I try to practice the sword technique that I remember from experience.

Without me realizing it, many eyes are staring at me from the windows, and then there is a woman jumping from a window. It was a familiar girl that I just met yesterday.

"S-Sera!? What are you doing here?"

"Your training made a noise that caught our attention, Oberon, and... I thought the Elven races loved magic training more than heavy lifting."

"Hahahaha, indeed they are; just say that... I had an experience fighting a monster that can nullify any magic attack, so I trained my sword skill and my endurance."

"Hm, from what I see, your speed already matches level two adventurer, but... Oberon did ever join any Familia?"

"No, I am still not getting my Falna yet."

Then I can see Sera looking at goddess Iduun while watching our interaction. She nodded at Sera in a sign of approval.

"That's kind of hard to believe, Oberon; no normal mortal can archive such speed, but Goddess Iduun can see if you are lying, but she said you didn't."

"Haha.. haa."

I know that I can't tell her that when I was doing my sprint, I increased the gravity weight, making it far slower than my normal speed. First I put in two times normal gravity, but after a few minutes I feel like my bones start cracking, so I stop it and try gradually increasing it until finally, right now, I can handle two times normal gravity, but I am still in the process of getting used to the weight.

After getting interrogated by Sera, we went to a large cafeteria room where all Familia members had some food before starting their activity. When we entered the room, Goddess Iduun waved her hand, calling us to sit close to her.

"Fufufufu, it quite shows you did there, Oberon; I can see you are a hard-working person."

"Thank you for your kind words, goddess Iduun."

She only replied with a single smile, then she started to stand up. When she did, all her children stopped their activity and paid close attention to their goddess.

"Children, first let me introduce our guest from a land far from here. The golden-haired elf's name was Oberon, and the woman standing behind him was named Orstrid. Both of our guests will live here until Oberon finishes the task I give him."

Then one of Lady Iduun's children stood up; he was a human, and he had dark blue hair with a scar on his right ear like it was cut by someone.

"Hm, 'Gebhard', is there something you want to say?"

"I am sorry, Iduun-sama, but can we trust him? From what I know, Elven people are selfish; they don't care about other races; even if they land a hand, there is an outer motive that we don't know."

'Haaaa, now I know why Elven people find it hard to have a real ally; most of the outside people have poor opinions about Elven races.' Then I stand up, and I know that I must be the one answering that.

"First, thank you, Goddess Iduun, for introducing me and Orstrid to your children. Second, let's just say you are not the first person I met who said Elven races can't be trusted, and I will not try to argue with you about your opinion of my people, but thankfully we had a goddess Iduun here. I know from goddess Freya that every god or a goddess can detect lies, so you can trust me when I say, 'I will not harm or endanger goddess Iduun, her children, or anyone living in this town."

Then I took my seat back.

"Gebhard, as Oberon said, I can detect any lie told by a mortal. From what I see, Oberon did not lie when he said he would not harm me, my children, or the people who live in this town."

"I understand, Iduun-sama."

"Now I want all of you to know that this condition of our town can be like this forever when we pay too much attention to protecting this town against the monster... There is one god that brings havoc and chaos to this Abandon world. You already know his name, but I will say it because Oberon is not aware of our situation. His name was 'Apophis' At first, we could contain their activity in Tein; the reason they were weak against us was their lack of weapons and equipment because they don't have any support like us. Thanks to Loki sending us a weapon, we maintained our advantage until..."

'The situation is far worse than I thought. It is one thing to deal with a monster; it is different to deal with a criminal. I know one day I must kill someone, but still.'

"Someone is helping them. At first, I didn't know who, but I received a letter from Loki herself. She stated, 'There is chaos in Orario right now, but me and Freya have started our plan to take over the Order of Orario to calm things down. The reason Orario is in shambles is that the most powerful Familia just fails in their quest to defeat the One-Eyed Black Dragon, and the worst thing is that all of God Zeus and Goddess Hera's children get killed in the process."

((!!))

'After I see the destruction of the former capital city of the Abandon World, I have become pessimistic about the chance they will succeed in defeating that monster. That makes me not surprised at all.'

The room atmosphere becomes heavier than before, but something is nagging me.

"I am sorry to ask this Goddess Iduun, but what if the connection between Apophis Familia gets stronger with what happens in Orario?"

"I will continue to read the letter, and in the end, you will understand. Then let's continue. ' Me and Freya are already closely watching one of the criminal Familia led by god Evilus. Their movements become more active when the news of two of the most powerful Familia is already gone from Orario. They are probably taking a chance in the chaos to find their roots in the Orario underworld. The most concerning news is that there is a report of a shipment of equipment outside of Orario. So, Iduun, I sent this letter as a warning to be careful, and I am sorry I can't land you my children's power. All I can provide is a piece of equipment and a weapon because my hands here are full. I wish you luck. from your friend Loki."

The dining room falls into deep silence, and I can see Sera's expression becoming sad and frustrated, but the goddess Iduun breaks the silence.

"At first, I feel desperate because I am well aware of how bad things can become if we don't solve this problem quickly, but then... a miracle happens."

Then Goddess Iduun laid her kind gaze on me, and all her children did the same.

'Well, this is kind of embarrassing.'

"Loki told me that there is an Elven boy that helps Goddess Freya hunt down a powerful monster called 'Grey Dragon' Thanks to that elf boy and his trusted companion, they managed to defeat that monster without anyone dying or getting wounded. Thanks to such feet, Goddess Freya put great interest in that boy; she even invited him to join her Familia."

I can feel the atmosphere becoming much lighter, and Sera and Iduun Familia members start to stare at me intensively.

'Did Lady Freya tell Loki about my existence? But even so, Loki should not easily trust someone... Ah, Riveria... It must be her; she knows Mother was pregnant when she left Alf Royal Forest, and Freya knows my full name."

"Maybe it's an act of fate that the Elven boy right now sits among us in this room, and yesterday he promised me she would help to solve both our monster problem and Aphophis Familia's intrusion."

((OHHH!!))

'Last time I remember, I just promised to solve the monster problem and help Sera level up!'

Then I can see the goddess Iduun show an apologetic expression.

'She has no choice... *sigh*'

----

After Sera bombarded me with questions about how I defeated The Grey Dragon and how I became really strong, she tried to invite me to join Iduun Familia, but I refused the offer. The only answer I gave was that I made a promise to someone that I would protect a certain person who is living right now in Orario, so I can't stay in this town, and the reason I managed to get this strong is that every morning I started with training, just like what I did on the training ground.

"If I may, Goddess Iduun, I want to discuss something, but in private."

"Hm, sure, Oberon. Sera, I want to start your daily patrol."

"As your command, Iduun-sama! But Oberon, don't forget, you must help me become stronger!"

"Sure, I made my promise, so I will keep it."

Then we head to the same room where I first met Goddess Iduun.

"Goddess Iduun, if you may, can you provide me with all the information about the Apophis Familia?"

"Sure, Oberon."

Then Goddess Iduun started to tell me the story of Apophis Familia. In the past, there were 27 members, and they caused many deaths to settlers who dared to venture outside the town, they always tried to undermind Iduun Familia because they wanted to take over the town for themselves. Iduun Familia is not always all-powerful Familia. Four years ago, the balance of power was changed by the arrival of Freya Familia. Freya herself and her children managed to decimate the power base of Apophis Familia in a single day because at that time they were not so secretive about their hideout.

Apophis was arrogant, thinking that if Iduun Familia knew their base and tried to attack them, they could win the fight. Thanks to such an arrogant way of thinking, most of his executive members were dead, and most of the survivors were too weak to keep their reign, so they kept lying low and tried to avoid any confrontation and gather more power to take down Iduun Familia.

Over the years, Apophis Familia still couldn't get any upper hand until weeks ago, when they started to gain some momentum and goddess Iduun started to think the worst was to come. Her worry was amplified by the letter sent by Loki that Apophis may have some help from other criminal Familia.

"Then you arrive in Oberon; it's like fate has sent you here to save this town."

"I see, then Goddess Iduun, how did you know I was the Elven boy that Loki told you about?"

"To be honest, Oberon, at first I had some doubt it was you, but after I saw your training session and the time you mentioned you met Freya, it made everything clear. Loki did tell me your full name, and she did warn me not to tell anyone because one of her children, Riveria, knows it will cause a problem for you if your people know what you did, Oberon."

"For that, you have my gratitude, Goddess Iduun. Then back to the main topic: "Do you know where the Apophis Familia hideout is located?"

"I only heard from a rumor, but I did try to investigate the rumor of Apophis hideout. But we can't leave this town unguarded because of the monster that has been so active lately."

"Then can you point me to where the rumor of their hideout is located?"

Then Goddess Iduun went to the bookshelf behind her working desk. She pulled a scroll, then laid it on the table. I can see maps of the abandoned world; there is an 8 X mark on them, and I already see some are close to the Wishe forest border.

'Father did tell me that there is a bandit wreaking havoc on the road used by the merchant to transfer their goods, but I have to make my hands dirty. I am not naïve to think If I warn them, they will leave us alone. I know this from an experience I have had in my past life. The problem is, I don't want to be feared and known as the heartless person who slaughters a bunch of criminals in the name of justice.'

"To be Honest Goddess, I Iduun, I can slaughter them all if I want to, but... I don't want my name to be tainted and feared because of it (for now at least). Even though you promised me that you would not reveal that to anyone, your children will know because my arrival is already known. So we have one option: I can't do everything alone; your children must partake in the mission, but you can't abandon the responsibility to protect the Tein people."

"I know you are strong, Oberon. Can you just try to knock the unconscious or can you capture god Apophis himself?"

"I am sorry, goddess Iduun. I may be strong, but I am not stupid enough to take down an enemy that I don't know how strong it is."

"Then, like it or not, we must deal with the monster first, Oberon. I suggest you and Sera go to do the mission, Oberon. I want Sera to become stronger... She does care about this town and his Familia."

"Hm, but it is too risky to let this town be vulnerable... I am sorry, Orstrid, to ask you this: Can you stay here with goddess Iduun and follow her order while I and Sera went hunting the monster?"

I can see Orstrid becoming reluctant to follow my order after all her reason for existence is to protect me. If she was not by my side, she probably feared the worst might come to me.

"I-I am sorry Oberon-sama I can't let you go alone; if something happens to you, I will never forgive myself. I know that in the past I could obey your order, but now it is different. Sera is not too strong to protect you from any harm."

"*sigh* I am sorry, Goddess Iduun. The plan to train Sera must be delayed at the moment. In the meantime, I will start to gather some information about Apophis Familia alone; there is a high chance they had a spy inside this town."

"But your appearance will make people suspicious. You see that my children are not so kin with Elven people; it is the same with Tein people."

"No worries Orstrid has a magic spell that can change my appearance. Then goddess Iduun, I better start. I can't stay in this town for too long."

"Be careful, Oberon."

Then I gave her a polite bow and left the room.

----

I am right now walking on the rooftop while activating Ershkigal eyes blessing to find the dark aura because most likely they are affiliated with Apophis Familia. The land inside the wall is most commonly used as farmland, especially the one close to the river, because this town is most likely to be self-reliant. After all, the land outside the wall is too dangerous to use, and only Fimilia can protect them, but only if they are on the inside of the wall.

("Orstrid, did you find anything like people hiding in the underground?")

Orsrid had the ability like a sonar, but only to track a living being, so even if the sonar touches the ground or a building, Orstrid's sonar ability can go through the object, and when it touches a living thing, it will bouch back to Orstrid, so she knows there is some living thing in there.

("I am sorry, Master, there is no living human below the ground.)

'Hm, that means I must rely on these eyes to find them.'

Then I went to the local bar to find some information. With my human disguise, I can avoid any confrontation. When I open the door, I see around the room and spot a pitch-black aura emitting from that two-cat person.

("There is one, two hm. Orstrid concentrates your hearing on that man with dark hair wearing a yellow coat with his friend and uses telepathy to tell me what he said.")

("As your command, Master.")

Then I went to the empty chair in the corner of the room. When I take my seat, one waiter gets close to me. She is a Catperson who has orange hair and a tail.

"Welcome to Bragi Tavernya~! Can I take your order?"

"Sure, any recommendations for the food and drink? Ah, for the drink, please have something non-alcoholic."

"Sure nya~! I recommended smash potato and eggs with bread and special soupnya~ it good for breakfastnya~ for the drink Apple-milk it cow milk with Apple juice insidenya~."

"Then miss?"

"My name is Dianya~!"

"So, Miss Diana, please prepare the food and drink you recommended; make it two."

Then she wrote the order and went to the cashier to give the written order.

("Master, they are starting to talk; I will connect it to you.")

(Third person POV)

Anon 1: "Did you find anything about the Elven boy and woman that visited this town?"

Anon 2: "Nothing; that boy is most likely in the Iduun Familia base. We can't enter that place with such tight security."

Anon 1: "We can't go back empty-handed! That psycho captain will kill us!"

Anon 2: "I know, but do you think it's weird that no one sees that the Elven pair are crossing our territory without anyone noticing? It's like those two appeared out of thin air!"

Anon 1: "Yes indeed, because of that, most of the ones responsible for patrol last night got interrogated directly by Apophis-sama."

Anon 2: "After what happened four years ago, Apophis-sama became afraid of an unknown traveler. So we had no choice but to find something before we headed back to the hideout."

Anon 1: "Agree, better than get killed by that psycho, I preferred to sleep outside."

(Oberon POV)

'I see, they already know that I am here in this town, but that's all the information, and I know that there is no spy inside. Iduun Familia is probably thanks to God's ability to detect a lie. But still, I can't follow them to find the base; the only way to do that is to bring them to Iduun Familia to get interrogated by them.'

"Here is the foodnya~ If you need anything, just call my name."

"Sure, thank you, Miss Diana."

I just spend time waiting for them to go outside so I can capture them. It's too risky to capture them with too many eyes watching. Then I ate the food that Miss Diana provided. It was not so bad; the seasoning was well-balanced, the egg was well-cooked, and the soup made me feel warm inside. The drink was well made; the apple and the milk tasted combined with some sweetness, but it would be better if it were cold.

("Master, they start moving.")

("Okay, Orstrid, keep track of their movement; we will wait until they are outside the Tavern.")

("As your command, Master.")

Just like Orstrid said, they started to move; they went to the cashier to pay the bill, and then they headed to the exit. Then I head to the cashier to pay for the food, and then I calmly head to the exit. After following them for more than half an hour, they wandered in place with not much eye contact, then I used Electric to stunt them, and after that, I cast gravity magic to make them lighter.

(Let's head back to the Iduun Familia base.)

(Yes, Master.)

When I was about to head back, I saw a familiar red-haired woman watching me closely.

"Oberon? Is that you?"

'How did she... Ah, I just hide my Elven appearance, not my full looks.'

"Yes, it's me, Sera, before you ask who this is. I will explain it to you, but not in this place."

"Okay, sure, if you said so, but where are your ears? I almost do not recognize you."

"It's Orstrid's magic ability; let's leave it there and let's head back there for something important I want to tell you."

"Sure, …. Need help carrying those?"

"No, thank you; I can do it myself."

Then we walk side-by-side, and I can see some people watching us closely, and some are murmuring something to each other.

'Well, I can't blame them. I am right now carrying an unconscious man on my shoulder, and Orstrid, this atmosphere is too awkward.'

"Um, Sera, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what is Oberon?"

"You were born before the attack of the One-Eyed Black Dragon, right?"

"Yes, I was born before the incident... So what about it?"

"I read on a map that they call this place the Abandon World, but there is no record of the name of the former country. Weirdly, there is a country located here that was once the largest country on the continent; the name itself was erased and renamed The Abandoned World, not as the former country names. Did you know the reason, Sera?"

"From what I know, there are some people who spread fear of using or referring to our country's name or the leader's name and will be targeted by One-Eyed Black Dragon. What is it called again? Oh yeah, a 'curse' so people try to erase our country's former name from existence out of fear."

"That thick-headed reason I believe this country's former rival or enemy spread this miss information because of hate."

"Fufufufu indeed, I did think the same."

----

"So can you explain this, Oberon?"

Right now I am at the front gate of the Iduun Familia base while me and Orstrid am carrying an unconscious man.

"They both have some connection with Apophis Familia, so I bring them here to be interrogated."

"I see, then we will hold them in the underground prison until Gebhard comes back from patrol. He is well qualified for the job of interrogation."

Then two of them get carried to an underground prison.

"Oberon, how did you know they have some connection to Apophis Familia?"

Then I told her about my ability to see a sinner's aura because they have a pitch-dark aura. I know they are not good people, but I need to confirm they have a connection with Aphophis Familia. After hearing their conversation, they are trying to gather information about two elves who just visited this town yesterday. I decided to capture them and interrogate them to find their base.

"Thank you, Oberon, for your help. As captain of Iduun Familia, you have my gratitude."

"No need to thank Sera. I do this for my own benefit, and... I never can forgive people who kill innocent people without thinking of any consequences."

I am not a saint. I did have a great sin that I tried to shrug off and forget at first, but now that I know to repeat the same mistake, I must not forget it. I don't care if people call me a hypocrite; if I say something is right and important, then I will say it, even though I know I have no place to say it.

"Okay, then, goddess Iduun, I will clean up every spy that is wandering around Teins Town."

Then I left the front gate and went to the place where, most likely, I know criminals try to gather and share information.

"Sera-sama I think he can help us."

"Gebhard, you know that he is an elf, right, and I am a former king's daughter, right? If his people know, he probably will be shunned by them because of our past."

"Sera, before you decide, I suggest you talk with him first. Loki did tell me that he's not a close-minded elf; if you give him a good reason to help, he will do just that."

"I- I understand, Iduun-sama; for the sake of my people, I will try."