— — — — — —
The tea room had fallen into absolute, deathly silence.
Shiroyasha could only stare at Ryo, lips parted in pure disbelief.
Ryo wasn't surprised by her reaction. He simply picked up his teacup and took a sip.
...
By the time he was halfway through it, Shiroyasha finally snapped out of it and blurted, "Damn! That shameless woman really went and robbed the cradle?"
Ryo nearly choked, tea going down the wrong pipe. He hurriedly swallowed it.
Meanwhile, Shiroyasha looked at him with outright pity, like he was some poor victim. "You've got rotten luck, you know that? To run into someone who repays kindness like that."
Ryo's lips twitched. "Algol isn't that bad… right?"
Shiroyasha rolled her eyes.
Who was she? One of Little Garden's former Three Great Problem Children, just like Algol. There was no way she didn't know exactly what kind of person Algol was.
"Don't think just because she's behaving herself now that she'll stay that way. That narcissistic woman... sure, her face might keep you happy, but everything else..." She let out a cold laugh.
Then her expression turned teasing. "Still, it's a clever move. She knew she couldn't repay what she owed you, so she just handed herself over instead. Wipes the debt clean and bags herself a young lover on top of it. Hah. Locked up all these years, and somehow she actually got smarter."
Ryo stayed quiet, sipping his tea.
From Shiroyasha's point of view, he was clearly the one getting the short end of the stick.
But from his perspective? Having a powerful three-digit rule-breaker as his rock-solid backer was a deal he could never lose.
Shiroyasha knew that too. But it didn't stop her from looking down on Algol for going after someone so much younger.
Seriously, Ryo wasn't even a fraction of Algol's age. And she had the nerve to make a move?
Clicking her tongue, Shiroyasha muttered, "Whatever. It's your business. Not my place to butt in."
Then she looked at him seriously. "But Ryo... are you sure you can actually influence her?"
Ryo thought for a moment, cradling his teacup, a faintly amused look on his face, "I can at least make sure she doesn't end up like you."
"Tch!"
Shiroyasha shot him a glare.
What was that supposed to mean?
Was he talking about how she'd once relied on her strength to fight against all of Little Garden, forcing the sun to never set?
That was ancient history.
"Well, if you're confident, fine." She snorted, still irritated, before asking, "Where is she now?"
"No idea." Ryo shook his head.
And he really didn't know.
Truthfully, the current situation had already gone beyond what he'd expected.
He and Algol were supposed to meet tomorrow. Instead, she'd returned a full day early, attacked the Greeks, and even clashed with Shakyamuni Buddha.
Things had clearly spiraled beyond his control.
The only thing he knew for certain was that Algol would come find him eventually. Most likely at Arcadia's headquarters.
If Shiroyasha hadn't invited him over, he'd probably already be back there.
..
"Moving around unpredictably, huh..." Shiroyasha muttered. "Hope she doesn't cause too much trouble."
But deep down, she knew things were already far worse than they seemed.
At a critical point like the Godslayer War, Algol breaking through into the three-digit rule-breaker tier was enough to drive all those ancient monsters chasing a shot at the two-digit rank insane.
The good thing was that Algol was a Star Spirit.
There was precedent already, with Queen Halloween.
If Algol claimed she was following the Queen's path, things might stay manageable.
But if she openly declared she was aiming for a two-digit opportunity... then things would get ugly.
Still, by all logic, staying at the three-digit rule-breaker tier made the most sense.
Not restricted by the Central Core Authority like a true two-digit, but still possessing two-digit combat power.
That meant she could bully practically anyone in Little Garden's upper layers.
Even Shiroyasha envied that.
As long as Algol wasn't stupid, staying there was the best outcome.
Still... both of the current three-digit rule-breakers were Star Spirits. Was there some hidden significance to that?
While Shiroyasha sank into thought, Ryo quietly drank his tea, partly to pass time, partly to calm himself.
And staying here wasn't bad. With Thousand Eyes' intelligence network, if anything major happened, he'd hear about it immediately.
No need for him to panic.
The ones panicking now were the God-Kings who'd noticed the new player entering the board.
"Forget it," Shiroyasha finally said, shaking her head. "It's too early to overthink this."
She looked at him. "I won't record anything about you and Algol. But I'll personally guarantee in the intelligence files that Algol won't make any dangerous moves."
Ryo raised an eyebrow, "That quick to start picking sides?"
That was a statement. A guarantee from Shiroyasha, even weakened and self-sealed, still carried enormous weight in Little Garden.
After all, she'd once stood at the absolute peak of the two-digit ranks. With her backing, anyone trying to scheme against Algol would have to think twice.
Shiroyasha rolled her eyes. "What else am I supposed to do? Ally with that Halloween bitch? We'd be fighting the second we met."
As fellow Star Spirits, she and Algol were natural allies.
Before, Algol had been too weak for it to matter.
Now? An alliance was inevitable.
Especially with Shiroyasha's bad blood with Queen Halloween.
And if Queen Halloween could try recruiting Algol first, then Shiroyasha naturally had to move before her.
Besides... anything that annoyed Halloween was worth doing. Recruiting a powerful ally just made it even better.
Thinking of that, Shiroyasha gave Ryo a serious warning. "I'll cover for you. But you'd better keep your mouth shut. Don't let anyone know about your... unusual relationship with Algol. Just deny it in public. Otherwise, those lunatics might do something desperate."
Then she laughed. "Though honestly, even if you told them, nobody would believe it. Not unless Algol said it herself. Who'd believe someone like her would keep a man... and a younger one at that?"
Ryo frowned, "Being called young doesn't bother me, but can we skip the 'kept man' part?"
Still, there was no avoiding it.
The gap between a three-digit rule-breaker and a four-digit rule-breaker was massive.
Anyone hearing about it would joke that he was basically marrying into power.
Maybe... maybe he shouldn't have overreacted about the whole child thing... but whatever. It was a reasonable conclusion to jump to. Algol had already said she wanted his blood to create a special demon, so wasn't that basically the same as saying she wanted to have his child? It definitely sounded like it.
"Quit acting smug," Shiroyasha said, rolling her eyes. "No idea what kind of mess I'm about to clean up."
Then her face hardened. "What you need to do right now is find Algol immediately and stop her from causing more trouble. If she ends up following in my footsteps, let's see how arrogant she stays then."
Ryo's eyelid twitched.
But he said nothing. He simply stood and took his leave.
Shiroyasha didn't stop him. She only mentioned that an intelligence report would be sent to Arcadia later for him to review and confirm, along with the usual fifty-fifty cut of the profits.
Then she raised her teacup, signaling the end of the meeting.
After he left and the tea room fell quiet again, Shiroyasha sat there holding her cup, her expression strange.
"That woman... she's not seriously planning to have Ryo's kid, is she...?"
While Shiroyasha wrestled with that unsettling thought, Ryo crossed the boundary layers and, a few minutes later, returned to Arcadia's headquarters.
"I'm home... Wonder if Algol's already here."
He looked at the newly repaired gate and the old manor beyond it, tucked away in the suburban outskirts.
"Hope nothing serious happened." Letting out a breath, he stepped through.
He walked straight to the manor doors and pushed them open.
Creak—
The doors slowly swung wide. And the scene inside immediately came into view.
Ryo's mouth twitched.
There, tied up on the grand staircase like a trussed-up insect with five black restraint bands, was a blonde Athena.
"Yo~"
A wide grin spread across Algol's face as she lounged nearby in a white restraint suit.
"Our groom finally decided to come home."
.
.
.
================================
Athena (Little Garden) → blonde hair
loli Athena (the other one from Campione) → silver hair, usually in her loli form