Volume 8 Chapter 451 - Punishment
The next morning, people from all over the Orario were greeted by a bunch of tables full of food placed near the spots where the Orphans and homeless were known to gather.
Onlookers gathered around it and immediately saw a big note plastered on the table with a message.
'For the hungry kids out there, take some with you. This will give you energy for the whole day~.
-The Crimson Apocalypse Thieving Group.
PS: If you're not an orphan, homeless, or extremely hungry, then stay away. Let those who can't fend or work for themselves have some good food.'
The contents of the note immediately spread throughout the whole city and the homeless and orphans came running towards the tables of food.
The others already heard about what the thief group did and how they easily defeated the top Adventurers of the Freya Familia before they escaped while using some unknown magic that didn't use any kind of incantation. So in response, those who weren't the beneficiary of the foods stayed away from it and let those poor children have a safe space around the table.
Although some of the people were praising their actions, most of them still hated their guts for their hypocritical actions. The people who were cursing the Crimson Apocalypse Thieving Group for robbing the innocent Familia's for feeding the poor. If they wanted to help, they could have earned it through legitimate means and not through stepping on the heads of others for their own satisfaction.
However, as the sun rose up, their opinions changed when the Guild did their usual announcement after the Denatus.
Aside from the new Aliases that were bestowed to the Adventurers, the other announcement of the Guild gathered everyone's attention, "The Guild has conducted a late-night investigation along with the Ganesha Familia due to an anonymous tip. Thanks to this, we were able to gather enough evidence to convict several Familia's.
"Below are the Familia's and their respective crimes:
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"Below are the Familia's that are still under investigation:
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"We hereby announce that the Familia's who are proven to have committed these heinous crimes are henceforth expelled from Orario and that the main culprits are to be detained. We thank everyone for their cooperation. If you have any additional information regarding this, please call out to one of our Guild Staff."
This announcement shook the whole of Orario, as people tried to find the Familia's who were deemed guilty but they could no longer find them. Some witnesses said that they already left Orario before dawn even broke in. Even half of those who were still under investigation, but not yet found guilty, left the city in fear of more sanctions.
It was at the next moment that someone realized something, "…Hey… Aren't these Familia's the ones that the Crimson Apocalypse Thieving Group robbed?" With just this one simple question, people started using their heads and quickly pieced the puzzle together in their heads.
"Y-you're right! I live near the three Familia's that were attacked by the stink, however, only one of them was robbed. And that Familia is on the list of those which were expelled!"
"I don't know how the others are doing, but the two Familia's near me were also attacked by the stink. However, none of them were robbed, but their names also aren't listed here."
"Same with me! Two of them live near my place and both of them were robbed! One is in the expelled list while the other is in the under investigation list!"
Waves of discussion started sprouting among the Adventurers and normal citizens of Orario, trying to confirm their thoughts. Some people tried to ask the Guild where they got their information from, but the Guild refused as it was against protocol to reveal their whistleblowers.
But that still didn't stop the people from thinking that it was the Crimson Apocalypse Thieving Group's main goal to expose those Familia's of their crimes while also robbing them so that they could feed those who couldn't fend for themselves at the same time.
The excited cheers of the crowd for such decisive and brave actions from the thief group spread like a wildfire through the whole city, painting the earlier criticism with wild admiration. Adults started talking about this to their children and children started playing as the Crimson Apocalypse Thieving Group. Minstrels composed songs that everyone sang and Gods became excited at their existence, trying their best to investigate the group. Overnight the chaos had turned the thieving group into heroes in the hearts of the people. Still, many people wondered what did they truly want, and whether or not they would appear ever again.
Little did they know that the group's main goal was to get the people's attention away from the Guild's first announcement, which was the list of the people who leveled up and their new Aliases because they didn't like theirs very much. If the Gods and people were to know that they only created so much chaos that essentially changed the inner workings of the whole of Orario for the sake of distracting them from their measly Aliases, they wouldn't know how to react.
While the Gods were busy searching for clues regarding the identity of the three mysterious 'robbers', Loki was locking herself up inside the Twilight Manor, not partaking in any of the liveliness happening outside.
Although some others had noticed it, only she put importance to the fact that all of the bombed Familia's Gods had attended yesterday's Denatus and that all of them were the ones who created the 'shameful' nicknames for the Adventurers. Although she didn't have any concrete evidence, she had a strange feeling that everything started because of this, 'W-what's going on!? Who can do something like this!?'
As the chairwoman of that Denatus, it was obvious that she had a massive voice to control what kind of Aliases the Adventurers could get, so it was unnatural that her Familia wasn't targeted. Because even their rival Familia, which is a bit stronger than hers, the Freya Familia was 'ignored'. 'I have a feeling that this isn't the end yet… Where is this bad feeling coming from? And that guy should already have received the news regarding his Alias… Why didn't he look for me yet?… Could it be…? No, no, no… Those guys were too strong… But could it really be his fault?'
After shaking her head a few times, Loki decided to change her pace, 'There's no use thinking about this. Maybe I got away with no punishment?'
She left her room for the first time since dawn to get some drinks which could hopefully calm her nerves, and maybe to play for a bit with the female members of her Familia. But at the exact moment she stepped out, she was greeted by a 'glorious' sight, "AHHHHH!!!!" She shouted in horror.
"Loki-sama!? What happened!?" Her children yelled as they ran upstairs and saw Loki sitting on the floor while shaking and pointing towards the wall in front of her, "W-what's this!? Who put this thing here!?"
Loki's children curiously looked towards the wall she's pointing at, but were also gobsmacked at what they saw, "Eh…?"
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"I'm back~!" Kisuke greeted everyone as he returned from the Twilight Manor.
"How did it go?" Yoruichi asked.
"It was a success~!" Kisuke gave her a thumb's up.
"What did you do, nya?" Kuroka curiously asked.
Taking out his fan, Kisuke started boasting, "You see, I've started to paint as a hobby and I'm getting pretty good at it~. I just gifted a painting to Loki-sama as a sign of my goodwill."
"What kind of painting?"
"The glorious form of Mil-tan~!"
*Cough!*" Yoruichi almost spat out what she was eating as she recalled the overly muscled Magical Girl wannabe. "You did what?!", she asked while still being shell-shocked.
"I hung a painting of mine with Mil-tan as a subject in front of Loki-sama's room and I'm planning to continue to do so, at least 10 times a day with differing themes, until everyone from the Loki Familia returns from their expedition."
"She's going to get some nightmares…" Yoruichi muttered.
"Who's Mil-tan, nya?" asked Kuroka.
Kisuke then proceeded to show her some photos of Mil-tan which he took after he got curious about what he looks like after hearing about him from Issei.
Kuroka then looked towards Kisuke with a twitching expression as she remembered Loki's likes and dislikes and tried putting herself in her shoes, "…You're a monster."
Crimson Apokalypse Thieving Group Fan Corner
Alexander: I went down to the floor and laughed my ass off. That was simply gold. However, I got an idea for an improvement. Just imagine her waking up in the morning, just to see a painting of an encouraging Mil-tan on the ceiling.
28th00: I was honestly expecting the clear tape wall trap, not the door painting one. Kisuke went far more psychological horror on Loki than I assumed with his harassment, it might even make Bestia feel sorry for her…
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