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Outer Gate 3345— Thousand Eyes Headquarters—
Dressed in a deep violet kimono embroidered with peonies, Shiroyasha maintained the appearance of a young girl as she leisurely watered a row of potted plants.
Once she'd finished, she looked up at the sun overhead.
"Looks like it'll stay sunny for another ten days or so. Not bad. Perfect weather for taking it easy."
Stretching lazily, she smiled to herself. "And once my cut from the intelligence sales comes in, I'll head over to the Pleasure District for a little fun."
Suddenly, a maid responsible for Shiroyasha's daily affairs came running over. "Lady Shiroyasha! Lord Indra has come to see you..."
The instant she heard that, Shiroyasha tossed aside the watering can and clapped her hands happily. "Well now, the wallet's arrived!"
A voice dripping with resentment immediately floated over. "I don't think I can pretend I didn't hear that. What do you mean, 'the wallet's arrived'?"
The maid turned around in surprise.
Seeing Indra standing right behind her, she panicked, "L-Lord Indra? Weren't you waiting in the reception room?"
"It's fine. You can go." Shiroyasha waved the maid away.
Only after the girl had left did she grin at Indra. "Well. What brings you to my humble place today?"
Indra exploded. "'You money-grubbing old miser! Did you deliberately include that piece of intelligence in the report?"
"What intelligence?" Shiroyasha lazily lifted a hand and scratched her ear with her little finger. "I handle so much information every day. Which report are you talking about?"
Indra's face darkened. "What else? The one about High School DxD. The one with... me!"
"Oh?"
Shiroyasha widened her eyes in exaggerated surprise. "How strange. Wasn't that information classified at the highest level? If I remember correctly, I never sold it to you. And wasn't it supposed to be limited to a single reader?"
"Oh, quit pretending..."
Indra muttered under his breath, all the manic energy from earlier gone.
Everyone knew how Thousand Eyes operated.
Once they sold the first copy of a report, it would inevitably find its way onto the secondhand market. That was practically an unwritten rule.
There were simply too many intelligence agencies in Little Garden making a living by buying Thousand Eyes' reports and reselling them.
Some organizations even deliberately purchased secondhand intelligence just to satisfy their superiors while pocketing the difference.
Mata was one of the most famous examples.
She'd long since become a veteran dealer in secondhand intelligence. The Heavenly Army bought countless reports from Thousand Eyes, then resold copies to make up budget shortfalls.
Which meant offending Shiroyasha was the last thing Indra wanted to do.
After all, she was the Twin Goddesses' top lieutenant. When it came to high-level intelligence, she was the one in charge.
Combined with the penny-pinching habits she'd developed from centuries of being dirt poor, she'd become the bane of countless gods.
Now Indra had joined that unfortunate club.
"I've got my own sources." He tossed out a vague excuse.
Shiroyasha didn't care. As long as the money came in, the details didn't matter.
Indra's expression grew serious. "I want to know more about that DxD world. About that version of Indra. Even a hint will do."
"And if possible... I want his exact whereabouts."
He stared straight at Shiroyasha and sneered. "And don't tell me you don't know. I still haven't found any trace of a Heavenly Emperor or Buddhist Lord added to my Spirit Rank."
"Before coming here, I even tested it many times using my true name. I didn't absorb that bastard's Spirit Rank either."
"So that damned idiot is definitely still alive. There's no way you can hide that from me."
Shiroyasha nodded as if she completely agreed.
Then, only after he'd finished, she innocently asked, "When you say 'that damned idiot'... you mean Indra?"
"Yeah, exactly..."
Halfway through the sentence, Indra's face went black. "For crying out loud. At a time like this, you're still taking cheap shots? Seriously?"
"I was only asking for the name." Shiroyasha blinked innocently, her bright eyes wide with feigned sincerity.
She then snapped open her folding fan and concealed the lower half of her face behind it, "You're unreasonable..."
Indra sighed helplessly. "Forget it. Name your price. I want to know who's behind all this."
"..."
Shiroyasha narrowed her eyes and fell silent for a long moment before finally speaking. "Indra, the most sensitive information isn't something I can sell. Why not just ask your boss?"
Indra's forehead immediately filled with black lines. "If I had the nerve to do that, I'd have gone to him already."
"Then I can't help you." Shiroyasha shrugged.
Indra frowned. "What about second-tier intelligence? A clue? Surely you can sell something."
Smiling, Shiroyasha held up a single slender finger.
Indra inhaled sharply. "One true Authority... just for a hint? Since when was it that expensive?"
She gently fanned herself. "It concerns one of the Eighteen."
She corrected herself a second later, "Well... Nineteen now."
Indra fell silent before finally nodding. "I'll have someone deliver it later."
"Go ahead." Shiroyasha's smile immediately brightened. "Pleasure doing business."
She reached casually into thin air and produced a parchment she'd apparently prepared long ago.
Indra's eyebrow twitched.
Without a word, he accepted it and unrolled the scroll.
There were only three short lines.
{The person is currently in Algol's custody.}
{DxD Indra's Spirit Rank came about entirely by accident. Anyone affected was simply unlucky.}
{Stamped by the Twin Goddesses' Intelligence Department.}
Indra stared blankly at the parchment.
What the hell? This crap cost me one Authority?
Then with a furious roar, he slammed the scroll onto the ground. "Damn Core! Are you screwing with me?!"
"..."
Shiroyasha rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. If the Central Core really wanted to mess with you, that shut-in would have come down personally."
Indra's breathing hitched.
His expression remained ugly.
After all that worrying... After all that paranoia... it turned out the whole thing had simply been an accident?
Who was he even supposed to complain to?
Still, once he calmed down, he had to admit the information was worth the price... At least to him.
Knowing that none of the Two-Digit beings were secretly targeting him was an enormous relief.
Now all he had to do was clean up the fallout before those old schemers caught wind of it and started weaving new plots.
That was what made the information valuable.
Being first. The price was all about timing.
...Even if it still hurt like hell.
The corner of Indra's mouth twitched.
"Then where's Algol now? That question's free, right? ...Before you answer, remember that time you played with that cow girl's boobs and skipped out without paying. I was the one who covered the bill, and I didn't even expose your identity. I took the fall for you."
Shiroyasha fell silent for a moment.
Then she cheerfully waved her fan, "All right, I'll throw that one in as a freebie."
"As for where she is..." Her eyes narrowed with amusement. "I'd suggest asking Ryo Yagami."
"The two of them should still be in contact."
Ryo?
The moment Indra heard that name, his legs instinctively snapped together.
His eyes widened. "Why is it him again?!"
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.
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