Labyrinth City Orario 2

"Here's your order," the waitress smiled sweetly while putting down my food.

"Huh? Where's my ale?"

"Sorry, we don't serve that to kids. Here's milk instead," the waitress said.

"I'm not a kid, miss."

"Are you a Pallum?"

"No."

"Then you're a human, and based on what I see, you're still a kid," the waitress said.

I sighed hearing this. I didn't bother to argue and just drank the milk, enjoying the roasted chicken. After finishing, I ordered again and again and again until a mountain of plates formed in front of me—dish after dish devoured in minutes. The kitchen struggled to keep up.

The waitress ran back and forth carrying John's food to his table.

The owner started to laugh after seeing this scene. Money sparkled in his eyes.

"When am I going to unlock my base form? I already missed it." I don't want to be treated like a kid.

While John was enjoying his meal, at the corner of the bar a group of adventurers were eyeing him with greedy gazes.

"Is that the kid?"

"Yes."

"Hehe, a passing sheep. Our luck is great today."

"We strike after he leaves the main street."

They didn't dare attack anyone near the main street, which is part of the highway. That would be suicide. If they tried anything funny there, they'd be answering to the invincible golems and the mysterious door.

The group ordered more food and drink, laughing wickedly and making those around them uncomfortable.

But what they didn't know was that instead of being the hunters, they were the prey—and they'd learn that soon, in a brutal way.

Even though Orario was known as the safest city with the lowest crime rate, the truth was: that only applied near the main street and the Dungeon Plaza at the center of the City, as well as areas close to Guild properties. The rest of the city was still plagued with criminals and thugs. Their numbers were low and they were concentrated in the dump areas and slums.

The criminal population was being held back by Ganesha Familia, forcing them into hiding, not daring to see the light of day.

After a while, several mountains of plates piled up beside me, reaching to the ceiling. I kept eating until the waitress stopped me.

"Sorry, but we're out of ingredients," the waitress said.

Everyone was stunned after hearing her words.

"How much do I owe you?"

"500,000 valis."

I calmly placed a sack of gold on the table.

"What is this?"

"My payment."

The waitress nodded and reached for the sack, planning to open it and check what was inside.

I stopped her.

"Not in this place."

"Is that so? Wait for a moment then." She went to the back door while making some kind of hand sign. I tried to match it to the ones I knew—and it meant, 'Watch him.'

I felt eyes locking on me. It was the waitress. Understandable. I just ate their entire supply—and that's a big bill. If I left without paying, it would've been a huge loss. They were just making sure I didn't run.

After a moment, she returned with a big smile plastered on her face. "The payment is confirmed. Come back again!"

I left the restaurant, walking on the main street once more. I observed the people around me, listening to their conversations—gathering information about the city.

Later, when I deemed the gathered information enough, I stopped at a tea shop and began mentally planning my actions in this city and the dungeon.

I stayed for a while before leaving the tea shop, walking off the main street into a normal road. My destination? The Adventurer Guild. I was following a shortcut.

My purpose was to register with the Guild. You can't access the dungeon without it—you're not even allowed to enter the Dungeon Plaza.

Their main goal is to manage the dungeon's monster threat and help adventurers explore. At least, that's what they say. But in my eyes, that's not the case.

I had a hunch the Guild was under the rule of the Chaos Sovereignty. What made me think that? The fact they can "manage" the dungeon's monster threat. Only entities at ???-level could do that. Even then, they'd only have a chance to enter and survive—not manage it. Even with that power, they couldn't hold it for long, because the dungeon's basic nature is to evolve and expand endlessly. That means if you conquered it yesterday, you wouldn't be able to today.

You wouldn't even have the capability to enter the first floor—unless the dungeon was merciful enough to deliberately and endlessly lower the quality and quantity of monsters in the first hundreds floors.

In conclusion, the Guild doesn't have the power to manage the dungeon's monster threat. It's more likely that the Guild is under the rule of the Chaos Sovereignty, which makes them friends, family, and allies. That makes sense to me—but that's just my guess. I need to verify it.

Even so, I'm 100% confident I'm right. That conclusion wasn't baseless—it was backed by my knowledge about them and the information I gathered here.

An hour later.

I followed the shortcut, traversing the maze-like layout of the city. There are no straight streets in this city except for the four Main Streets: Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western.

This layout prevents long-distance attacks, keeping long-range monsters from sniping adventurers while they defend the city in case the dungeon goes berserk and deploys its endless horde of monsters to the surface to flatten the Old World.

This event already happened in the past—it ended the Era of Heroes and sparked a new age in the Old World: the Era of Familias, also known as the Era of Adventurers.

Anyway, this city layout is great for defending against monster outbreaks.

I entered an alleyway once more, heading toward another street.

The alleyway was dark and damp. Piles of garbage and homeless people squatted or slept on the ground.

This scenery was a far cry from the beautiful, clean, and bustling streets of Orario. Dark and forgotten places always looked like this.

While I was walking, someone spoke—it was a middle-aged man.

"Kid, if I were you, I wouldn't enter this alley. It's slum territory. This place devours people like you every day."

"Thank you, but it's not necessary."

The middle-aged man glanced at my calm eyes. Upon seeing them, he lowered his head.

"My mistake. Just ignore this old fool's mumbling."

The man had recognized that gaze—the calm eyes found only in those standing at the peak of power. In short, a powerhouse.

He knew his advice was pointless, so he let me be and minded his own business.

I tossed a gold coin toward the man. He caught it and said nothing.

I walked deeper into the alleyway, leaving the man behind.

"Those guys are still following me. Good. I've prepared an opportunity… do you dare take it?" I murmured, going deeper and deeper into the alleyway.