— — — — — —
Beneath Arcadia's headquarters, in the underground chamber that now served as the gateway to subordinate worlds—
Bang!
The door was suddenly shoved open.
Ryo had been standing in front of a newly built portal gate. Before he could even turn his head, a gust of wind hit him, and with a soft thump, a blue-haired rabbit practically launched herself straight into his arms.
"Ryo, you're back!"
He blinked, startled for a moment, then smiled. Wrapping an arm around Kurousagi's waist, he leaned down and kissed her forehead, "I was gone less than a day. Look at you."
"Hehe~"
Kurousagi didn't argue at all. She just giggled, rubbing her cheek against his chest before looking up at him. "So? You didn't get hurt, right?"
"Hurt?" Ryo lifted his chin, smug as ever. "Not to brag, but if anyone wants to kill me, they'd need the two digits themselves to make a move. Otherwise, no chance."
The second he said it, Kurousagi panicked and clamped a hand over his mouth. "Are you crazy? You can't casually talk about beings like that!"
Ryo said nothing.
Instead, he lightly licked her palm.
"W-What are you doing?! That's gross!" Kurousagi jerked back, face burning red as she frantically wiped her hand on Ryo's sleeve.
Ryo put on a theatrically heartbroken expression. "You've changed. Just a few days ago, you had no problem drinking from my cup. And now you're calling me dirty?"
He let out an exaggerated sigh, "What happened to my cute little bunny?"
"Ryo. Do you want me to hit you?!" Kurousagi's face was bright red now, her little fists already waving.
Ryo chuckled, "You really can't take a joke."
Seeing her hair turning pink, he knew he'd pushed too far.
It was funny, really. A race so notorious among the gods for their beauty and seductive traits, and yet every one of them was innocent to the core.
That contradiction made them impossible to resist.
And honestly, if he got another chance, he'd probably tease her just as hard.
At that point, Kurousagi finally wriggled free of his arms, cheeks still flushed, and glanced at the portal beside him, "You're setting up another world gate?"
"Yeah." Ryo nodded. "Picked up quite a few useful people."
He paused before adding, "But there are some I don't want anyone else knowing about. Not even inside the community. You get what I mean, right?"
Including Ophis and Great Red, Ryo had no intention of putting any of those dragon species out in the open as Arcadia members.
Those dragons all had counterparts in Little Garden. So they were far better suited as hidden blades in the dark for now.
Ryo had planned that from the start, so he wanted to give Kurousagi a heads-up.
Unfortunately, Kurousagi completely misunderstood.
'He doesn't want anyone else to know... but I know... so I'm not "anyone else." Which means... I'm the person closest to him in this world...'
By the time her thoughts got there, her face was scarlet.
She spat to the side and muttered, "At a time like this, why are you saying stuff like that?"
"..."
Ryo had a strong feeling she'd misunderstood something, but honestly, he couldn't be bothered correcting her.
At this point in their relationship, even if she had misunderstood, it wasn't exactly a problem.
Still, some things needed explaining.
"I recruited devils, angels, and fallen angels from the other world. Plus a few legendary dragons. A lot of them have counterparts here in Little Garden."
The moment he said that, Kurousagi's expression changed. "Devils, angels, fallen angels... and legendary dragons? Ryo... don't tell me you looted the entire parallel universe?"
Ryo blinked, "...That's actually not far off."
And now that he thought about it, her description was pretty accurate.
He really had stripped a world clean, one with myths almost identical to Little Garden's.
And not just one. The ExE world, and the worlds ExE had invaded, were basically all his territory now.
If anything, what he'd done was even more outrageous than Kurousagi imagined.
"No way..." Kurousagi grabbed her blue ears in disbelief, "Doesn't that mean we just struck it rich?"
"Yeah," Ryo said with a smile. "We really did hit the jackpot."
"They all agreed to join us?" Kurousagi clutched his arm, looking half hopeful, half worried.
Ryo smiled, "After some very friendly persuasion, they all signed contracts."
Whether it had really been "friendly" was another question entirely.
Ryo fully intended to establish subordinate communities for them and "wash" them clean a few times before integrating them properly.
But under the rush of massive gains, Kurousagi's mind had already started calming down.
She bit her nail, thinking. "There have to be quite a few whose identities can't be exposed, right?"
"Quite a few." Ryo nodded.
The dragons, the angels, the fallen angels...
None of them could openly show themselves.
And most importantly, there was the Creator God, whom Algol had specifically protected, preventing her from fully falling into demonic corruption.
That was one of Ryo's hidden trump cards against that Lord of Cross.
Kurousagi frowned, "That makes things tricky. The cleaner ones can join openly, but the ones whose identities can't be revealed at all will need another way to access Little Garden's resources. And the ones stuck halfway in the gray will need trials."
Watching her chew her finger in thought, Ryo laughed. "That's your job now, along with Leticia's."
He counted them off casually. "Set up subordinate communities. Use this divine war to whitewash a few and bring them in. Or maybe build a separate independent community outside Arcadia as a hidden hand."
Kurousagi blinked.
Then she looked at him, her expression softening. "..Ryo."
"What?"
"Thanks. You've worked hard."
Ryo raised a brow, "Do I get a reward?"
"No." Kurousagi rolled her eyes. "You stink. And you still want a reward?"
"Stink?"
Ryo instinctively sniffed his armpit, but halfway through, he realized she probably didn't mean that kind of smell.
Before he could say anything, Kurousagi cut him off. "Lady Leticia is already stationed on Mars, preparing for the divine war. You should head there first."
"And what about handling the new recruits?" Ryo gave her a long, meaningful look.
At this point, he was seriously suspicious Kurousagi knew something.
Like the scent of other women still lingering on him.
No way that comment had been accidental.
This rabbit had clearly come prepared, sneaking in for an ambush.
"I'll handle it. You go." Kurousagi puffed out her chest confidently and patted it.
Ryo fell silent for a second, then sighed, "I'll leave it to you."
"If anything comes up, contact me with the communication gift." As the words left him, his body slowly sank into his own shadow.
"Go on already."
Kurousagi waved him off.
Once he disappeared, her expression turned complicated as she stared at the spot he'd left behind.
'My clothes ended up in Lady Leticia's room... and Ryo definitely smells like another woman. Buuut at least it's not Lady Leticia's scent.'
'So... did he find someone down in the lower worlds?'
After a moment, she shook her head.
'It's fine. He's under so much pressure. If he needs to relax, that's okay.'
'I'm still the person closest to him.'
Kurousagi didn't let herself think any deeper.
Because if she did, it would hurt too much. In the end, she took a deep breath and slapped her cheeks lightly.
"Alright. Time to welcome the newcomers."
She walked over to the world gate and activated it.
As someone who'd handled arrivals from multiple worlds before, she knew exactly how to deal with new members.
A silent blue light curtain flickered into existence. Then, before the gate was even fully open, a voice burst out first.
"Darling, nya~!"
The first to charge through was Kuroka.
She lunged in for a tackle-hug, only to freeze halfway when she realized something was wrong.
Her arms hung awkwardly in midair.
"Who are you?" Kuroka took a few steps back, instantly on guard.
Kurousagi smiled, twirling a conductor's baton that had appeared in her hand. "Welcome to Little Garden. I'm one of Arcadia's current administrators. You may call me Lady Kurousagi."
"Where's my darling?" Kuroka relaxed slightly when she heard Arcadia, realizing she'd come to the right place. But Ryo's absence left her confused.
Kurousagi's cheek twitched, "...And your 'darling' would be?"
The next second, her worst feeling became reality.
"Ryo, obviously."
"I.. I see..." Kurousagi's smile stiffened.
Before she could finish speaking, another figure stepped through the gate.
It was Rias Gremory.
"Where's my husband? Didn't he say he'd be here to pick us up?"
Kurousagi tightened her grip on the baton.
Us?
She rolled that word around in her head, forcing out a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "And... this husband of yours would be?"
"Ryo, of course."
At that moment, Kurousagi's smile completely shattered.
.
.
.