Chapter 1: Astraea Familia

"Ara-ara. What do we have here?"

All at the same time we turned our heads where the voice came from to see a woman on top of the roof of the house that was to our right.

She was a rather beautiful woman with Asian features. I have never seen a woman as beautiful as her (Not that she had met many women), The girl had fair skin, her black colored hair was loose and long, and she also wore what looked like a kanzashi in her hair. She was wearing a kimono as the Japanese do at festivals and on top of the kimono she was wearing a robe (I asked briefly if she wanted to simulate her robe as a cloak) I didn't know what shoes the girl was wearing, but it was the traditional Japanese one they wear. with the kimonos. Her soles seemed a little too big for my liking, so I couldn't help but worry that she was going to trip off the ceiling, fall, and die.

Although I had a feeling that this girl was not a normal human either.

"Now, who's the nosy bitch?" the big man spat angrily.

"Boss. She is one of the members of the Astraea Familia! The vice-captain no less!"

"Goujono Kaguya a Level 3 adventurer!"

I tilted my head curiously and couldn't help but comment "Astraea Familia?" my voice came out as a hoarse whisper.

The criminal leader began to sweat bullets on his forehead "Dammit! Why did these idiots have to interrupt? This is exactly what I wanted to avoid!"

I didn't know what they meant by Astraea Familia (I briefly wondered if they were cultured), but from the way these bandits were talking about them, it seemed as if they were the police force of this place. I just hoped he wasn't wrong in that assumption.

Also, something that caught my attention was that she was a level 3 adventurer. It was not a high enough level according to the video games. I briefly thought about whether it was a ranking rank you were moving up before dismissing it. Remembering that the leader of the criminals had talked about how he thought I was a level 1 adventurer, not in a way to describe a rank, but rather that made it sound more like someone's physical strength or how powerful a person was (since I classify myself as a mere civilian).

And from how fag these assholes became, I conclude that someone ranked as level 3 strength. It was someone strong and dangerous to the point of taking precautions.

"Hmm?" The girl the criminal morons called Kaguya spoke again as she narrowed her purple eyes dangerously at us. "You seem to know me, but I don't know you. Then you should introduce yourself. Right?" The girl's smile turned dangerous and dark, not taking no for an answer.

My muscles tensed if she attacked me since I was the only one wearing a mask, therefore I was the most suspicious of all. Not to mention that he was still wearing the formal security guard clothes he wore at the fake pizzeria that was used to lure souls who refused to be free and leave the world of the living into a trap. Thus I came to suspect that the clothes I was wearing would make me stick out like a sore thumb in a less advanced world, the world I came from.

When I was about to give a "witty" answer, the criminal henchmen interrupted me, when they began to run with their tails between their legs, abandoning their goal to escape the new nosy that arrived on the scene.

Before they could take the third step, a shadow that came from the left lunged at them, grabbing each criminal's arm and twisting it around to smash the criminals' backs to the ground.

Despite being surprised I couldn't help but make a sympathetic face, although they didn't receive much, the bastards deserved it.

"Another one!" the criminal leader who was about to escape also stopped in surprise.

When I got a good look at the new figure I couldn't help but be surprised.

"A kid!"

My goodness, even a small child was stronger than me (although that wasn't a new trend considering robots possessed by murderous children), I couldn't help but feel uneasy at my uselessness knowing that a child (who was still alive) was so much stronger than me. And my strength is nothing that a normal person can underestimate, I was stronger than average people and also taller.

That's why I had to look down to see the face of the little girl who had just knocked over two grown men like sacks of potatoes. I was sure my mouth was hanging open in disbelief.

The girl with short pink hair glared at me with her pink eyes (I'd never seen that kind of eyes, but I could tell that her hair was dyed) "How did you just call me masked bastard?" The girl said with a dark voice (for a moment my mind replaced her with Cassidy) so I couldn't help but shudder and comment nervously.

"I mean…you're short," I said awkwardly as she made a face at how short she was. It wasn't the right thing to say because her expression got angrier.

"Listen to me, good sir," the little girl said with the most sarcastic voice possible while gritting her teeth to contain her anger "For your information I'm 15 years old so I'm not a kid, it's not my fault that my race is abnormally low"

Michael doesn't say anything stupid to piss off the little girl who beat up two grown men like it wasn't some amazing achievement and was commonplace for her.

"You don't look like a Hobbit to me." My stupid mouth dropped open before I could think. "You look like someone who didn't eat vegetables when you were young," I said with a hint of scolding.

Stupid brain! Do you want them to kill us?

I mean my brain wasn't wrong, since she didn't look anything like the Hobbits that were the abnormally short race that I knew. She didn't seem to have huge feet, so I ruled out that she was a dwarf or a person with a disease. Those people tend to be more robust in their legs and hips. This girl looked graceful with a lovely soft body.

Luckily the girl on the roof stopped the girl who was about to murder me in cold blood (do these people move or teleport?).

Kaguya placed one hand on the pink-haired girl's shoulder while hiding her mouth with the other with a certain grace of a princess "Fufufu. Now, Lyra let's not do anything rash. Even if I agree to hit before asking the bastards. No, we know what the situation is for these guys." Kaguya was amused by the exchange I got with the girl now called Lyra. But once she stopped laughing, she turned to face us in our direction. The criminal leader and I tensed simultaneously. "Now Mr. Masked as funny as you are. I'll give you both a chance to clarify what's going on with both of you voluntarily, but if neither of you is willing to talk then…" Kaguya gave us a sickly sweet smile "I'm going to start breaking some bones"

Michael did what any man with hair on his chest would do in this situation.

I immediately pointed out the culprit and confessed "This bloody bastard, along with his henchmen tried to kidnap that unconscious child. But I tried to stop them." I tried to keep my voice as calm as possible, but a bit of my inner panic seeped through and I ended up adding "Besides, it wasn't me who broke the wall, it was them." Fearing that I would be charged for property damage. That was the biggest fear I had, especially because I burned down all those pizzerias.

The criminal bastard snapped out of his paralyzing fear and started speaking in a panic "T-that's not true, the masked bastard ambushed us and that kid got injured as a result of our combat."

What... You'd think this bastard wouldn't tell such a blatantly obvious lie, considering he was going to run with his tail between his legs and call the girl a bitch a few minutes ago. So it was obvious who was telling the truth, so they wouldn't be stupid enough to believe the bastard... I think.

Kaguya tilted her head before moving at a speed much faster than the criminal man. I closed my eyes waiting for my premature death.

As my death did not come I heard the criminal bastard let out a cry of pain. I opened my eyes and watched as the woman kneed him in the lower area (Ouch) before grabbing him by the back of the skull and smashing him into the ground with enough force to leave a crack.

Shit. I trembled in fear at the girl's show of force. I still can't get used to the abnormal speed and strength of this fantasy world. And that was something I said so that he was used to paranormal things.

"Did you kill him?" I couldn't help but ask. I didn't know what to think of seeing a man murdered in front of me, even if he was a criminal. Though I hoped that wasn't the case and she would have just been knocked out.

Kaguya gave me an amused look.

"Unfortunately not. I only knocked him out, but I gave him a very painful gift" She smiled my way before looking back at the unconscious body. "So Mr. Masked, why don't you please this dear lady and take off your mask and introduce yourself" She licked her lips enjoying my nervousness.

Should I take off my mask? I only put it on for comfort, since I was an Undead. Besides that, I always did it unconsciously so that no one would see my face. But now that I wasn't a walking corpse there was no need to hide my face. That and the criminals were already knocked out so he had no problem showing them what was underneath.

I raised my hand and showed them my finger, I indicated, indicating that they give me a few minutes. But just in case I commented at the same time I made the gesture. "give me a moment"

I quickly turned my back to them before reaching into my mask and wiping anything off my face, even lifting my mask over my head and using my shoulder to wipe off both the tar and dried blood. Once I thought I was clean I turned while taking off my white bear mask and showing my face to the two girls who had helped me a few minutes ago. I kept the mask on my belt hook that I added as an addition.

And before I could speak and introduce myself, the same girl who placed the order spoke again.

"Oohh. You seem to hide quite a view under that mask if that turns out to be your face. I wonder what you hiding behind that outfit" Kaguya commented giving me a mischievous smile.

"What?" I couldn't help but gape as my cheeks flushed red from the embarrassment that the girl's shameless and cheeky comment caused me. And though I appreciated the compliment on me. I couldn't help feeling uncomfortable, especially since I hated my appearance, especially because I looked so much like my father.

"Meh. Finn is much cuter than this guy," the petite Lyra commented with a sly smile. "I guess we have you to thank for helping that little one. As much as I hate to admit it, without your intervention they probably would have been kidnapped before we could help him." She changed her sly smile to one of thanks, before smiling slyly again.

"Ah. It was nothing, I just acted before thinking" I said as I put a hand on the back of my neck somewhat embarrassed, I wasn't used to compliments "Besides, I'm sure anyone would have done what I did" I said to play down her thanks, even though you see several people running in the opposite direction from where the child called for help.

Kaguya shook her head as her smile changed to a sad one. "In these times, good sir. Most people turn a blind eye out of fear, so you are an outlier."

Lyra clicked her tongue "It's not that you can blame people, normal civilians can't stand up to people blessed with Falna. They would only end up getting hurt or killed."

"Blessed people?" I couldn't help but ask my question curiously.

Lyra looked at me as if I had grown a second head "You know?... People with falna are people blessed by the grace of the gods when they join their Familia"

"Wait, gods?" I couldn't help but let out a laugh in disbelief, I stopped laughing when they made a serious face with a raised eyebrow at my reaction. "Are you serious?! Like literal gods? Like beings of great power far beyond imagination"

I expected them to be joking, but that didn't seem to be the case. The gods existed in this world. I didn't believe in gods and Old Consequences didn't count because he wasn't one.

Kaguya tilted her head with puzzlement on her face. "Don't you know about the gods, my good sir? It's kind of strange because they descended thousands of years ago."

Lyra looked at me like I was an alien (Which was true, in a sense) "Forget how weird that is, where you've grown up all your life not to know about the gods, under a rock?" she commented in exasperation throwing her arms up dramatically in the air. "And that something if I say so"

"Hey! I lived in a place very far from here, besides I got to live isolated most of my life" I yelled defensively. I wasn't lying either way, this place was a long way from Hurricane, Utah. And since Evan's death, I spoke to people to a minimum, the contact I made with people got worse when I died. Since I was a literal zombie, only aware of my actions. So I stayed away from people like an outcast.

Lyra frowned thoughtfully. "Wherever you came from you must have been too isolated not to know the gods existed. Were you troglodytes?"

I was about to retort because of how offended I felt, but Kaguya spoke first.

"The gods, my good sir ... They descended on Gekai thousands of years ago. Because they were bored and looking for entertainment" Kaguya shrugged at my disbelieving face "Their words not mine. Also, the gods blocked their powers as one of the laws to be able to stay on the mortal plane. Although they can still bless people with the falna"

I suppose that these... blessings?... are the ones that make people much faster and stronger. So the criminal leader must have been blessed. Why would the gods bless a bastard like him? I no longer knew whether to feel angry or sad. Although I shouldn't be surprised that the gods don't care about mortals like us.

Michael looked thoughtful as he shifted uncomfortably "I'm not quite sure what to think" I said with a sigh "Oh. And stop calling me sir it makes me feel old." However, if we think about it carefully I am old in mind, even if my body looks young. I gave them a hand in greeting. "You can call me Mike... Mike Schmidt"

The greeting was shaken by Kaguya. Her hand felt soft smooth and warm. I didn't have much physical contact with people, so I didn't have much to compare it to, so I didn't know if that was how most people's hands felt.

I had to let go of her soft hand because I doubted she would let go of my hand, especially with that sly smile she gave me.

I hesitated to give one of the many names I use in my life. But I guess I won't have legal problems in a fantasy world, so I expressed the name that I liked the most. I certainly wasn't going to give him my real name. I hated my last name from my father, so I took my mother's. I would later discover that my mother had a cousin named Mary Schmidt.

I still remember when I met Mary Schmidt's daughter... Marylin Schmidt by pure chance when I was investigating the abandoned Rowboatics Corp. factory. And it was just a coincidence that I investigated the abandoned factory and because of my desperate search for my father I heard a rumor about that factory (just thinking about that factory and the problems it gave Marylin and me makes me shudder)

And although my name did not bother me, I prefer to be called that way. Because I remembered Mikey's nickname and in memory of everyone I decided to use a similar name, but without sounding too childish. Well, that and that my father cursed the name of Michael a lot.

Kaguya seemed to want to ask a question from the look of confusion and curiosity that came over her face but was interrupted by her partner.

Lyra looked at her partner "Kaguya as much as you are curious about Mike here. We still need to inform the Ganesha Familia what happened here."

We all looked at the unconscious criminal and the kid who had now woken up and his mother was holding him in a rather intimate hug as they both cried with relief and joy. I knew it was wrong of me, but I was envious of the kid. My mother never gave me a hug when I was a child.

Kaguya sighed as if she was disappointed. "I guess we've got work to do Mike. We need to get this riffraff to the cells for questioning later. I'd like to talk to you again though."

Kaguya carried two men like a sack of potatoes and Lyra carried one of the men, as they were about to leave. I had to stop them because I had a big problem right now.

"Wait!" I half yelled making them stop "I think-" Before I could ask for help it interrupted me.

"Lyra, Kaguya"

A new female voice was present in the place. Even if I only heard a girl's voice. The girl who spoke was accompanied by another girl. They both stopped near Lyra and Kaguya without even noticing me or maybe they did but chose to ignore me to talk to them.

I felt frustrated that in my eyes those new girls seemed out of nowhere. My instincts of which I was proud were fooled again. If they hadn't spoken I probably wouldn't have noticed them until they were on my side or it was too late for me to do anything to defend myself.

"Ujum. I told you they'd be fine Lion. Kaguya and Lyra have done another job worthy of justice" The other girl made a dramatic gesture towards Kaguya and Lyra who were charging the criminal bastards.

"I guess, even so, the energy that could be felt from afar. What was it that caused such a feeling?" The girl now introduced as Lion commented on her concern.

Kaguya blinked. "Now that you mention it, the malicious energy disappeared just as I arrived" Then she turned to look at me "Do you know anything about it?"

The two new girls who were there turned to me, looking at my face, the reactions of both of them made me feel uncomfortable.

The red-haired girl was one of the most beautiful people he had ever seen. Her green eyes full of life and optimism met my unnatural purple eyes full of loneliness and pessimism. Despite her aura of positivity, her eyes looked at me in a way I couldn't describe before her positivity returned in the blink of an eye. If I hadn't I had to live with a psychopath and had to learn to pick up on his cues so he wouldn't kill me because of his bad temper, I probably wouldn't have noticed.

The girl who looked younger, she was an elf with blonde hair, scared me a little, but mostly made me uncomfortable (her long ears were strange to my eyes) she was narrowing her blue eyes, evaluating me to detect if I was a threat or not which one had to end luckily she left the hostile look when she detected me as harmless.

If I started giving thanks to God, would the other gods get angry?

As I was about to introduce myself, the beautiful girl with red hair (which was a bright, natural red Just a color you'd see in fantasy stories) gave me a big smile and got a little too close to my personal space for my big discomfort. Her green eyes practically sparkled with excitement that made me feel amused.

Kaguya's question was completely forgotten by the red-haired girl's enthusiastic demeanor.

"Oh. And who are you, honorable sir? I suppose you must be a new one in Orario? An adventurer? New blacksmith?" Then the red-haired girl snapped her fingers as if she concluded "A new vendor!"

"Alise, maybe you should give him some space" Lyra commented giving me a smirk "You're making him nervous and shy, plus he's an adventurer... I think"

"I'm not shy" I quickly denied hiding the embarrassment on my face with my hand.

"Ummm! I see!" The red-haired girl, now named Alise "Don't worry adventurer-san the embarrassment will be a thing of the past. Because the great maiden is pure and beautiful. Alise Lovell, the captain of the Astraea Familia is here to help." She pointed at me with a dramatic smile, "Due to my great sense of justice, I can't help but help a needy person in his great moment of need. Then adventurer-san. That embarrassment you have will be gone in a few days for my fabulous me"

Seeing that girl radiating positivity made my eyes cloudy as I remembered a positive girl who always tried to help others as long as she could. The girl even though she was able to rest her soul when she died, decided to stay to stop William, but she ended up protecting her and keeping the corrupted spirits of the children at bay.

The red-haired girl was replaced by a brown-haired girl before she returned to normal. While Michael was having a brief flashback. The girl named Lion hit Alise on the head.

"Alise. You overdid it again with your introduction, that's why you always end up scaring them" Despite Lion's scolding words, she had a smile on her elf face.

"Bah, nonsense, nobody can be scared of someone as holy as me" Alise smiled at Lion.

"Going back to the topic Alise" Kaguya spoke catching the attention of the girls "These guys who are unconscious tried to kidnap the little one who is now with his mother" Kaguya nodded elegantly towards the little one who was saved by the new adventurer in the bear mask. The children were holding his mother's hand as they approached Mike to thank him for saving him. "If it wasn't thanks to Mike, then we probably wouldn't have saved him" Kaguya commented with a sad smile, but resigned to acceptance.

Lyra crossed her arms with a frown. "Besides, we wouldn't have known about the altercation if it hadn't been for that malicious energy. We were two districts away from the streets of the Daedalus," she pointed out.

Lion's eyes narrowed in fury, her mask wrinkled indicating that she was frowning "These disgusting beings. Not only are they causing a lot of commotion in the city and hurting innocent people, but now they tried to kidnap a child"

Alise sighed in disappointment, her dazzling and dramatic happy smile was gone and now she only had a sad smile "It can't be helped. We were lucky this time. We should be more careful with the children. We don't know what Evilus is up to with them" Alise for a few milliseconds narrowed her eyes looking at the tattoo on the neck of the criminal leader "But whatever it is. It must not be anything good"

"We also have to find out what that energy was," Lyra commented with a shudder. "The emotions that emanated gave me chills and that was only felt for a few minutes."

Alise, Kaguya, and Lion agreed, even though all three of them were level 3 adventurers. That energy felt wrong and twisted in various ways. The four girls looked at Mike, who might be the only one who could answer that question.

As the girls talked Michael had been pulled out of his depressing thoughts by the mother of the child he had recently helped. And even though these people were thanking him, he felt bitter and cursed again his uselessness. If it weren't for the girls, another child would probably have died... Again.

"Thank you adventurer-sama" The boy's mother gave me a grateful smile.

"Don't worry. I couldn't help someone innocent from getting hurt" I gave the mother a soft smile, then turned to look at the kid, crouching down and ruffling his brown hair. "Remember to ask your mother. And don't separate yourself from her again so you don't scare her again, okay champion?"

"I promise" The kid nodded enthusiastically, and I got up to give him the space. As the mother and kid were about to walk out of my vision, the kid turned to face me waved at me, and yelled "See you, Mikey!"

My eyes widened and my breath hitched. I took a step back in surprise at the nickname. I clenched my fists to calm myself and took a deep breath. The girls were behind my back so they couldn't see my face, but something told me that even then she could tell.

"So...your name is Mikey, huh?" Alise peeked over my shoulder with a smirk.

"My name is Mike Schmidt," I said with a tired sigh, at this rate, I was sure that I was going to get gray hair and these gray hairs wouldn't be due to old age.

"No" Alise chanted adding the "p" at the end "Scmitd is very hard to pronounce and Mike is not such a funny name. And Mikey is, so that will stick" she laughed childishly to herself.

"Please don't" I gave him an awkward smile while sweating comically. She hadn't even made the effort to pronounce my last name correctly. Also, names are not supposed to be funny or they will make you laugh.

I wouldn't admit it out loud, but Alise's enthusiasm and positivity were kind of nice and refreshing. A nice change of pace in the depressing life I have.

"Aaahhh" Lyra gave a dramatic sigh, "I think you should give it up. Alise isn't going to stop so you better get used to it. Mikey" Lyra gave him a sly grin full of teasing. (At least I'm not a dwarf. I wanted to say, but I better keep it to myself.) "And even though you already know our names. Since I haven't introduced myself I will, so you better not forget. My name the Lyra, A member of the Astraea Familia and a level 2 adventurer. I will also be Finn's future wife."

"Idiot. Finn hasn't accepted your proposal yet. Poor man" Kaguya shook her head looking amused.

"Meh" Lyra waved her hand dismissively "He'll accept it's a matter of time"

Kaguya looked at her blankly but didn't comment, instead turning to me with a mischievous smile. "Goujono Kaguya vice-captain of the Astraea Familia and a level 3 adventurer. I hope we can see each other very often my good sir" Kaguya cheekily licked her lips causing me to blush in implication.

Lion, who until now has been quiet, mostly since she was handcuffing the captured criminals and making sure they don't wake up. She looked me straight in the eyes and nodded and I could see her mask wrinkled into a smile "Ryuu Lion, a member of the Astraea Familia and a level 3 adventurer. It's good to see a fellow justice"

The four girls looked at me expectantly with different smiles (although I can't tell what kind of smile Ryuu's was due to her mask.) It took me about 30 seconds to figure out what they wanted. These women were blessed people and the criminals were also blessed by malevolent gods or idiots who didn't care about good and evil. So it is natural that they think that I am also blessed.

But the problem, in this case, is that I was not a blessed person like them. And even though I wasn't an ordinary person, I couldn't tell them that. So my only option here is to say something that wouldn't raise too many questions about my nature. Especially because they felt my AGONY. Something I didn't feel comfortable sharing.

"Well, I'm not in a Familia" I began carefully. From what I understood of the concept of Familia thanks to the manner and tone of their introductions, it is a group of people together who receive the blessing of a certain god. In their case it is Astrea "I came to Orario for certain circumstances" Luckily for me, Alise mentioned the name of the city in her chatter. The circumstances of why I came to this place were not clear to me. But I had a suspicion that it had to do with the only tall tower in this place. "I don't know Orario's culture very well due to my isolation, so I ended up getting lost" I had already made the mistake of revealing my ignorance, but I couldn't do anything but move on.

Lyra gave me a skeptical look. "Aren't you in a Familia? Are you sure you don't have a blessing?" Lyra, seeing my face, just sighed in disbelief "Of course, you're not in any Familia. You didn't even know that gods existed"

Ryuu blinked before narrowing her eyes suspiciously at me. "So you faced these criminals without a god's blessing? That...is something I can't fully believe. I can tell that this dumb..." Ryuu gave him a not-very-strong kick the criminal leader as if it were kicking garbage. "He is an adventurer that many level 1s would have difficulty fighting, if not impossible"

I raised my hands defensively "Yeah maybe I didn't think very well about that part. I acted rashly. But I wasn't completely helpless."

"Oh~. I can tell you're about to say something interesting Mikey" Alise's eyes sparkled with excitement "You will tell us how you were a brave knight and persevered through justice and will" She smiled broadly.

"Oh no. Nothing that incredible. I just held on until you guys saved me" I chuckled.

"Ah even though that sounded pathetic and you made me lose my emotion" Lyra crossed her arms rolling her eyes "It took us about three minutes to get there. Enough time for these adventurers to have killed you"

Kaguya rested a hand on her chin. "Not to mention that you managed to hurt the minions. And if what you say is true, then for someone without falna it's pretty impressive. Now I'm much more curious about you... Mike" Kaguya spoke and at the end, I pronounced my name slowly and seductively.

God this girl wants to give me a boner? Now that I thought about it, I didn't remember if I had ever had one in my life. But if I looked back and remembered everything that happened to me. Then it would be too obvious that I didn't have any and in the 80's when I was a teenager and I was beginning to understand those issues. There were no such things as adult videos or smartphones. And never pick up an adult magazine. If William were to find me with the one I was sure he would have thrown me in the trash with everything and a magazine.

I shook my head to put those thoughts away. There was no point thinking too much about it. Now I needed to say something that wouldn't leave me looking suspicious. "The reason I managed to hurt him and hold him until you girls got here is something I won't tell you. It's a personal secret and we only just met." I went straight for the brutal honesty.

I could tell that they were good people. But that didn't mean I was going to tell them about my life or tell them the secrets that awaited me.

Alise was the first to be disappointed, pouting. "Come on Mikey~. No, leave us curious. You don't want this beautiful and pure maiden to be sad right?"

Ryuu stopped Alise who was making a look that puppy kicked "It's not good for us to meddle in people's personal business Alise." She hit her to make her stop. "I'm sorry about my friend. Schmidt, she may be curious, but she assures you that she means well." Ryuu bowed apologetically.

Kaguya sighed, shaking her head in loving exasperation "That's our captain for you." Kaguya looked me square in the eye. "I guess we'll take your word for it then, Mike. You don't seem like a person who wants to hurt others and I can see kindness in you, so we won't press the issue."

Lyra nodded "It wouldn't be very fair if we demanded someone who saved a child's life at the cost of risking his own even without a blessing"

Alise put both hands on her hip "Besides, we are a fair and caring Familia. So it's natural for us to let some events slide. Unless it puts the integrity or safety of the population" Alise then gave me a grateful smile and a look full of kindness. "Thank you for helping us. If you need any help from the Astraea Familia, please know that you can count on our support. Mike"

I didn't know how to feel about the girls' behavior. Despite my rejection of them, they were not offended and although their curiosity remained, I was sure that they were not going to interfere. So for that, I could say I was grateful.

I had forgotten how good it felt to talk to other people. Being an embittered spirit with the sole objective of stopping my father and freeing souls. I had made myself forget how nice it was to talk to other humans and other races. Now that I thought about it I didn't know what race Lyra was. But I wasn't going to ask out of embarrassment.

As I still needed to get out of this place that seemed like a maze. To at least seek refuge somewhere where I can't easily get lost and which is close to the tower or at least close to the path that leads to the high tower. So I might as well ask for some help.

"Now that you mention it. Is there a place where I can get information about Orario? And help newcomers?"

The four girls looked at each other before Kaguya answered.

"You can get help with the information in the Guild and depending on the reasons you came to Orario you may have a permanent residence. So you should probably head there. But since you are new I can accompany you there, if you want good sir" Kaguya looks to the Northeast, where I assumed the Guild was located.

Lyra sighed "There is still work to finish so Kaguya will be the only one accompanying you." Lyra looks at the unconscious criminals with a frown before making an annoyed snort.

Alise nodded wisely "That's right. As allies of justice, we have to finish our work. And I still have to brighten the day of many people with my perfection and purity"

I nodded, fully understanding how important the job was. Although working in a city police force is very different from what a security guard does at a restaurant. Especially since the night watch job I took was not normal at all, since I had to survive vengeful spirits. I was able to understand the importance of taking work seriously.

"I understand. And thanks for saving me without you intervening. I'm not sure what would have happened if the fight had gone on." I gently bow to myself as the Japanese do. However, I wasn't sure if I did it right. Since I tried to imitate what they did when they thanked me.

Ryuu shook her head, smiling under her mask "We are the ones who are grateful to you. So don't try to minimize your actions. I would still recommend joining a Familia before attempting something reckless again, even if you have a method of defending yourself."

Alise gave a dramatic sigh "Yes and we still don't know how you were able to defend yourself" she grumbled childishly before giving me a serious look "I would recommend caution. Especially in this time of high crime. Many people have been hurt by an organization called Evilus. So if you come across them, act with extreme caution and caution. You can notify us immediately or the Ganesha Familia so they can take care of them" She gave a 180-degree turn and smiled again optimistically. "So take care Mikey~, I hope we meet again in a better situation"

Lyra put on her naturally cunning smile again. "See ya, big guy." She placed two of her fingers on her forehead in greeting and flicked them forward. Ryuu didn't say anything instead he nodded in appreciation in my direction.

With that, we come to an agreement.