Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? My Familia Is Full of Heroines from Across the Multiverse!

In contrast-

Haimo wore a somewhat helpless expression.

Carrying the silver-white spear he had filched from Hephaestus's place, he wandered aimlessly along North Main Street's stone pavement.

Normally...

With his Familia entrusted to Tsubaki, that dependable Level 5 mentor, and its development progressing steadily, he should have been able to use this downtime to enjoy Orario's local sights and culture as its patron god. It ought to have been pleasant.

But...

The current situation was a little awkward.

"..."

Whoosh-

Haimo took a step forward, carrying the silver-white spear he had filched from the Hephaestus Familia.

The previously bustling crowd...

Parted in perfect unison wherever he went, like Moses parting the sea, forcibly clearing a path three meters wide for him.

No one dared approach.

The adventurers along the roadside were silent as mice, with a strange hint of eagerness to watch the drama unfold.

It was not because Haimo was carrying a spear.

After all, adventurers who carried weapons through Orario's streets were a dime a dozen.

There was only one reason.

The person following behind Haimo.

Finally...

After even turning into an alley proved fruitless...

Haimo reached the end of his patience, sighed, and stopped.

Then he turned around.

"Listen..."

"Captain Shakti."

"You've followed me through five streets now. Aren't you tired?"

At that moment...

Standing five paces behind Haimo was an exceptionally striking adult woman.

She had short, dark blue hair and refined, regular features that radiated a textbook air of upright dignity.

She was tall and slender, and even her tightly fitted regulation light armor could not conceal her flawless curves.

-Captain of the Ganesha Familia, Level 5.

-The "Elephant God's Staff," Shakti Pharma.

As the chief of the constables responsible for maintaining order throughout Orario...

Shakti's face carried such intimidating weight in Orario that she was practically a walking wanted poster.

Not only was she fully armed...

She had even put on gauntlets.

Shakti's expression did not change at Haimo's questioning.

She bowed slightly in a perfectly proper greeting, but there was not a trace of concession in her voice.

"Lord Haimo."

"Please don't misunderstand."

"Lord Ganesha specifically instructed us."

"If Lord Haimo appears in a densely populated area carrying a weapon, then, to prevent accidents and ensure your safety..."

"Someone must be dispatched to guard you."

"Guard me?"

"You mean keep me under surveillance, don't you?"

"And even if you're protecting me, do you have to make it look like you're escorting a prisoner?"

"Anyone who didn't know better would think I was some terrorist planning to blow up the Tower of Babel."

Chapter 33: A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing Is Still a Wolf, and the Ganesha Familia Will Foot Every Bill!

"You jest, Lord Haimo."

"Although you may indeed have no intention of blowing up the Tower of Babel at present..."

"However-"

"Lord Ganesha gave us specific instructions."

"Your descent took every deity by surprise."

"You are a deity whose presence will bring great changes to the balance of power in the lower world."

"Furthermore, given the unique nature of your divinity..."

"For someone with your particular qualities, we consider it necessary to take you very seriously and assign security personnel in the interests of safety."

Having said that...

Shakti even gave another perfectly proper bow.

Her manner was respectful and her tone sincere, leaving nothing to criticize.

It was a textbook example of official rhetoric.

The most polite demeanor, delivering the most uncompromising words.

Her blue eyes plainly displayed an almost obsessive determination-she knew it was wrong, but she would do it anyway, because it was her assignment.

People like her were the hardest to deal with.

Faced with someone waving the banners of "it's for your own good" and "safety first"...

Getting angry would only make him seem unreasonable.

But Haimo had long since grown sick of such bureaucratic platitudes.

In the interests of safety?

Take me seriously?

Anyone can dress things up in pretty words.

At that thought, Haimo flicked his wrist.

The spear in his hand dropped straight down.

Thud-!

A deep, thunderous impact rang out.

The butt of the spear instantly sank three inches into the hard stone pavement!

Around the spear's butt...

A fine web of cracks spread across the ground.

"!"

At this action, Shakti's voice immediately cut off.

Her body, which had maintained a perfectly regulation stance, visibly tensed.

The commotion also startled the adventurers nearby who had been pricking up their ears to eavesdrop.

As a deity...

Haimo certainly did not want all sorts of labels slapped on him when he had arrived in this world less than two months ago and had yet to do anything.

Being treated as a potential criminal, in particular, was deeply irritating.

As far as bad behavior went...

Loki had even incited the gods to slaughter one another in Heaven.

Besides, this was not Heaven.

It was the lower world.

If he really did something bad in the lower world and got caught...

Then he would naturally have nothing to say in his defense.

But that was precisely the problem!

He had not even been caught.

So why was he already being labeled?

There was something seriously wrong with that!

Haimo was not going to accept all this just because someone waved the banners of "it's for your own good" and "safety first."

And so...

Haimo forcibly interrupted Shakti, giving her no chance to continue.

Then he tilted his head, directing her attention to their surroundings.

This place...

-Was Orario's North Main Street.

It was one of the busiest districts in all of Orario.

Now, because of the two of them, the once-bustling crowd had cleared an empty circle ten meters across.

No one dared approach.

Yet countless eyes remained outside that empty circle, watching everything that happened within it.

"Look at their eyes, Captain Shakti."

"What do you think they're thinking?"

"Look, a god is being watched by the captain of the constables. He must have done something."

"Even the captain of the Ganesha Familia has come out. That god must be dangerous."

"Maybe he's an evil god planning to offer Orario up in a blood sacrifice someday."

With every sentence Haimo spoke...

A few people in the crowd shrank back as though he had stepped on their tails.

Clearly, this was not some baseless invention.

For particular reasons, evil gods had always been a taboo subject in Orario.

As captain of the Ganesha Familia-the "Labyrinth City Constables"-Shakti Pharma...

Whenever she appeared fully armed...

To the citizens and adventurers living in the Labyrinth City, it meant official intervention.

-Suppression by force.

-A line that must never be crossed.

It meant a riot, a brawl, or some serious incident requiring force to suppress had occurred.

Over time...