(3rd Person POV)
Arthur managed to extract some very valuable information from Elira. Apparently, there was a gang called the "Axe Warriors" operating in the Magicless District. The name was self-explanatory — most of the members were skilled with axes. And while they were all magicless, their physical strength was well above that of an ordinary person. That alone was more than enough to make them feared throughout the district.
He wanted to know who was running things, but unfortunately, Elira didn't know any names — not a single member, let alone the boss. What she did know was that every one of them had a tattoo somewhere on their body. Forehead, arm, hand, it didn't matter where — they wore it openly, almost like they were showing it off, proud to be recognized as part of the gang.
That was how Elira had known they were Axe Warriors in the first place.
"Keanu, Kaiser — I need you to look into a gang called the Axe Warriors. They're based in the Magicless District." Arthur reached out through telepathy to the two deities who had been enjoying themselves somewhere in the city. "Don't make a scene. Keep it low profile. We may be deities, but we're foreigners in this world."
He could have handled it himself without needing anyone as a witness — that wasn't the issue. The issue was doing things the smart way.
The «Origin» of this world was still very much alive. Back in his own world, the Origin was already gone — it was no longer a factor he had to think about. But this world was different. This one still had its Origin intact, watching over everything within it. If they weren't careful and drew its attention, they'd be forced out of this world entirely, with no way back in.
So, the smart way it was.
...
Somewhere in the city, Keanu and Kaiser had just been crowned the last two standing in a drinking contest at a packed inn, the crowd roaring around them, when Arthur's telepathy reached them.
The two exchanged a glance.
Keanu turned to the crowd and said, "Sorry folks, looks like we overdid it. Me and my buddy need some air."
"Yeah — I'm gonna puke!" Kaiser added.
They threw out whatever excuses came to mind, and the crowd, disappointed, began to disperse. Once they were alone, both of them dropped the act.
"So, we're dealing with a gang?" Keanu said, looking a little too eager about it.
"Don't get too excited," Kaiser said. "You heard the boss — we can't go throwing our powers around here. The Origin, the local gods, any of it. We get noticed and we're done."
"I know, I know." Keanu chuckled.
They left the inn and made their way to the Magicless District, still carrying their drinks, looking every bit like two good-for-nothing drunks on a wandering. Nobody paid them any mind.
"Hey, you!" Keanu pointed a loose finger at a passing man, voice slurred just right. "You know anything about the Axe Warriors?"
The thin man gave them a cautious look. "Why do you want to know?"
"We want to join them," Kaiser answered, punctuating it with a belch. "Eek."
The man studied them for a moment, then pointed down the street. "There's a gambling den over there. You'll find them."
"Neat! Thanks for that!" Keanu grinned and clapped him on the shoulder.
What happened when they arrived at the gambling den didn't need much in the way of description. There was a fight. The manager lost. And that manager, now highly motivated, arranged a meeting with his boss.
One thing led to another.
Before long, Keanu and Kaiser found themselves standing in front of a man who was a solid ten feet tall, built like a wall, with an axe resting across his back.
The leader of the Axe Warriors.
Granak the Greataxe.
---
Barely an hour had passed since Arthur gave the task to those two good-for-nothing deities when the telepathy came through — they had already captured the boss of the Axe Warriors.
"You two are fast. I gave the order not even an hour ago." Arthur said.
"Ha-ha, well, it's a small task for us, boss—" Keanu replied through telepathy, clearly expecting a pat on the back.
"I told you to keep it low profile. No scene, and no using your powers!" Arthur shot back.
Keanu and Kaiser both fell silent on the other end. They had genuinely expected to be praised. Apparently not.
"We didn't use any of our powers, I swear," Kaiser said, defending himself. "And the scene we caused wasn't anything serious — a brawl breaking out in a gambling den is perfectly normal in a place like that. We only used our fists to get what we needed!"
Arthur shook his head helplessly. "...Sigh. Whatever. I'll head over there myself."
He stood up and glanced over at Elira, who had since found herself sitting comfortably with Firfel, Sylwen, and Apollonia. "Girls, I'll be stepping out for a while."
Firfel gave a small nod.
Arthur had barely taken a step toward the door when Apollonia stood up and moved to his side. "Brother... sorry for bringing this up, but — haven't we been in this world for months already? I've been worried about Father, Mother, and our siblings back home. They must be wondering where I am."
Arthur stopped. "Don't worry about that. Before we left, I created a clone of you. It's still back in the Horn Kingdom, living your life as normal."
"B-but still..." Apollonia's expression didn't quite settle. "How long have we really been here? The flow of time in this world might be different from ours. What if a year has already gone by back home without us knowing?"
That was a fair concern. What she was really asking was — could the people they left behind already be living a completely different timeline?
Arthur smiled. "I looked into it. A month here is only about a week back in our world."
"R-really?" Apollonia looked genuinely surprised by that.
Arthur nodded. After Saza went through the portal, a few weeks had passed in their world before she finally made contact — saying it had taken her "weeks" to gather enough magic cores to power the array on her end.
At first glance, it was easy to assume both worlds ran at roughly the same pace.
But after confirming it himself, Arthur learned the time flow between both worlds was actually vastly different. A month in this world was only about a week back in theirs. As for why Saza had described it as "weeks" — well, she was two thousand years old. Her perception of time was probably just warped to that degree.
After settling his sister's worries, Arthur headed out to the Magicless District.
The base of the Axe Warriors wasn't hard to find once he got close enough. For something sitting in the middle of the Magicless District, the building looked almost out of place — the walls were solid and maintained, the interior clean and properly furnished. Not luxurious by any measure, but compared to the run-down, neglected buildings packed around it, it looked like a different world entirely. The kind of place that made it obvious money was moving through here.
Keanu was waiting at the entrance and led him inside without much ceremony.
In the back room, Arthur found the boss of the Axe Warriors — all ten feet of him — restrained and looking considerably worse for wear. The man had clearly put up a fight. Whatever he'd thrown at Keanu and Kaiser, it hadn't been enough.
Arthur glanced over at the two of them.
Both were suddenly very interested in the walls.
Arthur turned back to the man and got straight to it. "The fake tickets being sold around the city. That was your gang's doing?"
The man said nothing. He stared at Arthur with the kind of look that said he'd been through worse than this.
"Who put you up to it?"
Silence.
Arthur waited. Keanu cracked his knuckles from the corner. The man's eyes flicked over, then back to Arthur.
"...Master Delly," he finally said, his voice like gravel. "He came to us directly. Gave us the job."
"And you just accepted it?"
The man let out a short, humorless laugh. "You think we had a choice? The organization behind that man — you don't say no to them. Not if you want to keep breathing in this district."
"What organization?"
The man's jaw tightened. "I've already said more than I should."
Arthur studied him for a moment, then straightened up. That was enough.
He stroked his chin slowly. "So it's that old man, huh..."