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Inside the municipal center of the city
Kurousagi (Black Rabbit) burst into the office clutching a stack of documents. She glanced around and quickly spotted Leticia standing by the floor-to-ceiling window.
"Lady Leticia, Miss Athena has sent over a new detection report."
Her voice was clearly bright with excitement.
"The intense shock that formed inside the fabricated worlds has ended. Ryo's Spirit Rank readings are normal."
"If nothing unexpected happens, we've won."
Hearing this, Leticia finally let out a quiet breath of relief.
When Ryo entered the game field to track down Asura, Arcadia had temporarily asked Athena to contact a Laplace Demon avatar so they could jointly monitor what was happening inside the game.
Of course, due to budget constraints, their monitoring method was rather indirect. They could only probe the power Ryo had left behind and infer changes in his condition. The accuracy was not high.
By comparison, since the fabricated worlds had support from Aizen and the Soul Society's Shinigami Research and Development Institute, post-incident intelligence gathering was actually much more reliable.
But that was the best they could do. After all, Real-time monitoring was simply too expensive, and Arcadia's finances could not support that kind of spending.
Even the current method of monitoring Spirit Rank fluctuations had only been obtained by leaning heavily on favors owed to Laplace Little Demons.
Fortunately, the results seemed well worth it.
No matter how the final outcome shook out, at the very least, Ryo had not suffered a crushing loss in his clash with Asura. That alone was enough.
Drawing even with the Asura Queen, regardless of how that result was achieved, was enough to massively boost Arcadia's standing in the lower layers of Little Garden.
It might not restore their former glory, but it would ensure their future development would not be hindered.
More importantly, Ryo was safe.
Thinking that, Leticia turned to the visibly energized Kurousagi and reminded her calmly, "The matter isn't over yet. Keep monitoring, but you don't need to maintain the current frequency."
After a brief pause, she added, "Prepare the Gift Game report. A rough version is fine. I think Ryo will like it."
"The Shin'ō Academy enrollment report?" Kurousagi immediately caught the hint.
For Arcadia, the hardest hurdle had already been cleared. What came next was resource acquisition.
And Shin'ō Academy's enrollment fee of one thousand gold coins per person was an excellent return.
They did not need all 1.8 million participants to choose the Shinigami system. Even if just one-tenth did, Arcadia's strained finances would see massive relief.
And at worst, the single gold coin paid by each participant upon withdrawing from the game would still go a long way toward fixing their budget.
"Understood. I'll go pull the relevant data right away."
Kurousagi turned to leave, but Leticia called out to her. "And have Orihime Inoue take Lily and the others to handle it. They need to familiarize themselves with the process anyway."
She looked at Kurousagi with a gently admonishing expression. "It won't be long before they reach the eligible age to participate. Letting them get used to the atmosphere now is a good thing. You can't solve everything for them forever, can you?"
Kurousagi stuck out her tongue, then obediently stood to the side and used her communicator to tell Lily and the kids to bring Orihime and retrieve the data.
After finishing that, Kurousagi looked back at Leticia, suddenly remembering something. Her expression tightened with worry.
"By the way… Lady Leticia, what about the Ouroboros members Ryo mentioned earlier? The ones who might attack headquarters and steal our flag?"
Perhaps Ouroboros themselves did not know this, but relying on lingering impressions from the original story he had read in a previous life, Ryo had concluded that Arcadia's flag was the key to unsealing Azi Dahaka.
Because of that, he had made extensive preparations, including redesigning the alliance flag itself.
He had notified Shiroyasha, arranged for Campione Athena and Lancelot to guard the base, deliberately placed the flag there as bait, and even prepared the procedures to replace it, allowing the old alliance flag to be invalidated at any time.
Now, although the Gift Game was still ongoing, the most critical conflict, Ryo's clash with Asura, had already ended. If Ouroboros was going to act, this might be their last chance.
Leticia thought for a moment, then frowned slightly. "Proceed according to the established plan, but be prepared for the possibility that they won't show up."
"They won't?" Kurousagi started to object, then suddenly realized something. "Oh, right. Even Asura lost. If Ouroboros wanted to do anything, they'd have to reassess our strength. With that in mind, retreating outright does make sense."
No. Knowing Ryo, he would very likely keep this from us and deal with everything himself. Trapping Ouroboros members inside the game field and capturing them quietly was absolutely something he might do.
Leticia thought this, but did not say it aloud.
Guessing was one thing. Saying it out loud and making Kurousagi worry for no reason was another.
Besides, it was only speculation. She could not be sure Ryo would really go that far.
If that really was how things turned out, it would be better for Ryo to explain it himself.
Leticia sighed and walked over to the liquor cabinet. She took out a bottle of sherry and three glasses, giving them a light shake.
"It might be a little early, but I think waiting here and having a small celebration once Ryo gets back wouldn't be a bad idea."
"Isn't that a little inappropriate?" Kurousagi rubbed her hands together, looking shy. "The kids are still working hard."
It was obvious she wanted to celebrate too. And, more specifically, she wanted to celebrate privately with her Ryo.
"And… Ryo might have only managed to drive Asura back. Making a big deal out of that feels kind of wrong, doesn't it?" she said hesitantly.
Driving back a four-digit freak was already an astonishing achievement in the lower layers.
At the height of the old Arcadia Alliance, only Koumei Kasukabe and Canaria had accomplished feats like that.
One had forced the enemy back with sheer strength, while the other had used strategy to dismantle the opponent's Gift Game and force a retreat. That was precisely why the two of them had secured their positions as leader and chief strategist of old Arcadia.
If Ryo now achieved the same kind of record, then whether inside Arcadia or among allied communities, his position as the next-generation leader would be unquestionable.
It was an achievement well worth commemorating. Even Kurousagi could not help wanting to celebrate with Ryo first.
Hearing this, Leticia's lips curved slightly as she laughed, gently swirling her glass. "It's just a small drink. And what Ryo did isn't really a big deal."
Understanding Kurousagi's concern, Leticia deliberately downplayed the achievement to ease her unnecessary guilt.
Kurousagi's eyes immediately lit up. "If that's the case—"
Before she could finish, the door suddenly slammed open. Jin Russell rushed in, pale and panicked, shouting at the top of his lungs. "This is bad! The leader killed Ares and Hermes and brought their bodies back!"
The expressions on Leticia's and Kurousagi's faces froze simultaneously. The room fell into a deathly silence.
After a long moment, Kurousagi stared blankly at Leticia and muttered in a small voice, "Not… a big deal… "
Hearing that, Leticia's face turned stiff with embarrassment. For a fleeting moment, she genuinely felt the urge to go back to the ruins of the Knights of Little Garden and crawl back into a grave.
This slap to the face… didn't it come a little too fast?
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