Nighttime.
Orario is a city that never sleeps. Amidst the darkness of the night, the streets are still brimming with life. Vendors shout to attract customers, taverns and restaurants put out their beautiful waitresses to attract wealthy patrons, bookstores, clothing stores, weapons stores, and all kinds of businesses are still active and running, doing their best to attract and accommodate customers.
The stone-brick main roads are full of loud and lively crowds enjoying the bustling night street of Orario.
The crowd is brimming with all kinds of races, from the little Pallums, beautiful Elves, seductive Amazonesses, rough Dwarves, simple Humans, to handsome Gods and beautiful Goddesses.
Stone-brick buildings spread throughout the city, forming a medieval aesthetic accompanied by a magic touch.
Magic lampposts run by magic stones illuminated the streets, magic golems patrolled through the city along with adventurers, and more noble things were hidden within the city.
I sat on a roof while watching the beautiful scenery below. Behind me stood a grand mansion, Folkvangr. It was surrounded by a wall that stood 6 meters tall and 3 meters thick.
The wall encompassing a large area of 1,500 hectares, Folkvangr, is the main headquarters of Freya Familia, one of the strongest Familias in Orario.
Through John's sense, he could see everything going on within Folkvangr, and what he saw made him think that the Freya Familia was a gathering place of talented and simps.
He even saw one guy kissing a veiled portrait of Freya, Goddess of Beauty. The guy was a blubbering mess of lust, muttering repeatedly that he wanted to see Freya's face.
Apparently, Freya always wore a veil and long dress that hid her perfect and seductive body. No one saw her face nor even glimpsed her white skin. Unlike the original, Freya was a reserved Goddess—kind, and never shows what she looks like. Even the Gods don't know her appearance.
But even so, she still holds the title of the most beautiful Goddess among the Goddesses and the most beautiful among the Goddesses of Beauty in Tenkai. She also held the title of "The Lone Empress of the Gods." No mortal knows why she has this title—only the Gods know.
John looked away from the guy after gathering some important information in his room and turned his head to another room, but what he saw in that room made him speechless. In that room, there was a pretty girl with pink hair styled in twin tails. Her appearance was good, but that was not the reason for his speechlessness—the reason lay in what she was doing.
The girl was pleasuring herself while screaming, 'my love' repeatedly. Luckily, her room was soundproof. Unfortunately, that wouldn't help against John's senses. That girl looked familiar; I think I saw her from the original series, I think in season 4.
Well, let's move on. I still need to earn money, find an inn, register at the Guild tomorrow, buy a land, and build a small base and then summon some Nikkes and Shipsgirls to assist me here.
With that, I retracted my senses and returned my attention to the street. By the way, I never turned my head to Folkvangr from the start and only used my sense to see everything. I don't need my eyes to see what I want to see. My sensing technique is enough—it's even more vivid and detailed than what my eyes perceive in their normal state. It's a different story if I use my Dojutsu, though.
A wind blew, and I vanished from the rooftop.
In an alleyway.
"Please stop, that's all I have," a girl said, her beaten body lying on the ground after being beaten by the 5 men before her.
"Stop lying, bitch, or else we'll take what you value the most," said one of the men while looking lustfully at the girl's body.
Directed by the lustful gaze, the girl's body started to shake, her voice and cry stuck in her throat.
Fear began to cloud her eyes. She wanted to fight back, but she knew that it was a futile effort. She was just a normal girl, while her assailant was an adventurer.
Hearing no response from the girl, the men started to laugh with lust in their eyes.
"Girl, if you can't pay up a debt, don't take one in the first place. This will be your lesson—remember it with your body."
Despair gripped the girl's heart. The five men started to approach her and grab her hands and feet. The man who looked like their boss started to strip her.
The girl fought back her fear and tried to resist, but her weak body was useless against the strength of the adventurers. She could only helplessly watch while being defiled.
Boriss, the leader of these men, pulled his pants down and was about to put his thing inside the helpless girl, but before he could do that, a carefree voice that carried an aura of death entered their ears.
Their bodies froze and became heavy. They couldn't breathe, and their faces went pale, showing horror. They felt like Death itself was holding their lives. The primordial fear towards death erupted from their very souls, making them powerless.
The five men didn't dare to breathe or move, fearing they might anger Death itself and lose their lives. Unfortunately for them, the man who spoke didn't plan to let them go.
"What do we have here—five thugs and a girl? This is the eighth tonight. Is the city's security that low? Whatever." John released a fraction of his killing intent, killing their souls upon exposure.
The five thugs' eyes rolled back and died without knowing how they died, but at the very end, they saw the very manifestation of Death—the end of all things in John's form.
"Are you ok?" I asked the girl while taking out some clothes from inside my magic treasury, Door of Cullen. An orange portal formed beside me with a leaf symbol and patterns like roots around the leaf. This is the unique symbol of the Door of Cullen. Within the symbol, there is a letter and a number. This letter and number are an ID of Door of Cullen. John has many versions of Magic Treasury numbering in a ???, each bearing a name. Each name has ??? versions of itself. Each Treasury has ??? layers. Each layer has the size of ???. All of John's treasuries contain treasures at planetary level to ??? level and beyond. The magic constantly expands and evolves, creating new treasuries ??? times greater than the previous amount, and each is ??? times greater and larger than before. The magic treasury exists within John's soul. It has expanding, creating, and evolution abilities, creating ??? number of treasures constantly.
The time within the magic treasury is different in each treasury. Some have time much faster than the outside world—eternity passes within the treasury while outside, only a second passes. There is also reverse—one second within, eternity has passed outside. I can control the treasury however I want, without any limits.
At the moment, I can only use the treasuries below the Forbidden level. I could use the higher and beyond, but I would gain the world's anger, so I won't use them for now. I can use this magic even if I only have a small amount of magic, all thanks to the minimizing techniques I used upon its creation. The only requirement to use this magic is ??? level magic knowledge, ??? brain power, and control at the ??? level.
If you tried to learn or use this magic as a normal mortal, you wouldn't even comprehend it and be erased from existence. I am the exception because I am the one who created this magic, and my knowledge and control are already at the ???. Also, only I and my wives, creations, and subordinates know about this, and only a few master this magic.
I tossed the clothes to the girl. "Here, you can wear this."
The girl timidly took it and wore it. I turned around and picked all the money from the thugs' corpses and then checked the Familia they belonged to. After doing that, I destroyed their corpses with magic, leaving no evidence.
"Girl, does their Familia know about your debt?"
"No," the girl timidly responded.
"This won't take long then."
After making sure of her safety, I left, searching for an inn.
In a lively tavern, the clinking of glasses resounded. Laughter traveled to every corner, celebrating their safe return and their great haul of today.
Amidst this lively atmosphere, no one noticed the arrival of a man. This man was John.
I pushed the door of the tavern, entering within, and upon entering, a lively scene greeted me. I walked through the tavern. My presence was nonexistent, and my usual habit of using misdirection made me invisible to all, except for the people that I let see me.
Misdirection is a form of deception in which the person draws the other's attention to one thing to distract them from another. When you master it to its peak, you make yourself invisible to the eyes of others, and they will only notice you when you let them.
With the combination of my nonexistent presence, I was invisible to the eyes of others. Even though I am not invisible, even if I stood before them, they wouldn't be able to notice me unless I let them.
I walked through the tavern, toward the counter. A barmaid was on my path, walking toward me. The barmaid didn't notice me. I stepped aside, letting her pass. Even though I was just right before her, she never saw me at all—like I didn't exist. Same case to people in the tavern.
I continued to walk while avoiding the people.
Later, I reached the counter. At the counter, there was a red-haired beauty busily blending some drinks. In her maid uniform, there was a tag that said, Owner. I sat in the chair in front of her, resting my arms on the counter. Even though I sat in front of her, she never noticed or saw me at all—like I didn't exist—until I spoke.
"I heard this place is also an inn."
Her body jolted in surprise, her eyes were wide open in shock, but the next moment, her composure returned to normal.
"Sorry for not noticing you, sir. Are you sitting there for a while, or did you just arrive?" she said with an apologetic tone.
"Just arrived."
"Yes, this place is an inn too—tavern on the first floor and an inn on the upper floor."
"How much is a single room for a night here?"
"1,800 valis, breakfast and dinner not included."
"One room."
"Room 12, here's the key."
I laid on the bed staring at the ceiling while waiting for my drowsiness to kick in. Later on, my eyes began to close and I fell asleep.