— — — — — —
At the lakeside pavilion inside [No Name]'s reservoir, Shiroyasha handed Ryo a scroll—pure white, soft to the touch, and made from fine parchment.
"[2105380] Outer Gate Authority. Now then, go ahead and mark it with your community's sigil."
Ryo nodded. With Black Rabbit, Leticia, and Karyou all watching, he pressed his flag's emblem onto the scroll.
The moment it was imprinted, the parchment reacted to the Little Garden's core systems and automatically duplicated. One copy remained in Ryo's hands, while the other floated over to Shiroyasha, the Floor Master of the East Side.
She took it, unrolled it, glanced at the emblem.
It showed a massive shark leaping from the water with jaws wide open—a White Shark emblem.
Shiroyasha let out a small sigh and tucked the scroll away.
"Using a borrowed banner is certainly convenient… but it'll affect your community's future rank advancement."
In Little Garden, a community's name and banner were more important than a national ID. What Ryo just did was the equivalent of using someone else's ID—fine for now, but it would limit [No Name]'s long-term growth, especially in gift games and trade.
So Shiroyasha had a point.
"I know. It's just a temporary fix," Ryo replied calmly, then looked over at Leticia and explained, "I already discussed it with Leticia. If things go well, we'd like to use an Alliance Banner as our symbol."
"Oh? Got plans already? Guess I didn't need to butt in then," Shiroyasha said cheerfully, waving her folding fan.
The so-called Alliance Banner was kind of like a holding company. It represented an alliance of multiple communities, usually formed for mutual benefit. In many cases, having an alliance flag was more practical than using an individual community's.
Shiroyasha's own organization, [Thousand Eyes], used an alliance flag like that.
She glanced at Leticia. "Planning to gather the old allies?"
Leticia shook her head. "No—that's entirely up to the new leader."
"Right, of course." Shiroyasha gave Ryo a long, thoughtful look.
New king, new court.
After the fall of [Arcadia], the leadership had shifted from Koumei Kasukabe to Ryo Yagami. That meant any past alliances couldn't be taken at face value anymore.
Honestly, after [Arcadia] collapsed and became [No Name], a lot of those "allies" had jumped ship and started their own communities. It made sense—but betrayal was still betrayal. And knowing Ryo, he wasn't the type to forgive something like that easily.
With a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, Shiroyasha looked at him and asked:
"So? Ever thought about creating an all-girl alliance? If you're down, I could sponsor it~"
"All-girl alliance?" Ryo's face twitched.
Shiroyasha's eyes lit up. "Yeah! How about we co-found a 'Sexy Service Community'? I'll bankroll it, and we split ownership fifty-fifty~"
Sexy Service Community? Serve who and what? — No need to ask; the implication is obvious.
Ryo rubbed his chin like he was actually considering it.
Black Rabbit immediately yanked him over, blushing and fuming. "D-Don't take that seriously!"
Shiroyasha pouted.
"'That'? It's a totally valid growth strategy!"
She then turned toward Karyou—maybe hoping for backup—but paused midway and instead turned to Leticia.
"You agree with me, right?"
Leticia gave her a faintly awkward smile. "I think decisions about community development should be left to the leader."
She was a little worried Ryo might fall for Shiroyasha's nonsense. But in the end, she trusted he wouldn't get roped into something that ridiculous.
Ryo thought for a moment, then said: "For now, we'll focus on being an agriculture-based community. Challenging gift games will be secondary."
"Boo~ And here I thought it was a good idea," Shiroyasha muttered, though it was clearly just for show.
With [No Name]'s current situation, focusing on farming and livestock to support over 200 kids made sense. Meanwhile, Ryo and Leticia would take part in gift games to bring in resources and fame.
If Ryo kept gaining experience and the children matured over the next few years, [No Name] could grow fast—and their fighting force would increase drastically.
That was the most realistic and efficient development plan. No way they'd throw it out just because of Shiroyasha's teasing.
Seeing that Ryo had made up his mind, Shiroyasha clapped her fan shut and said:
"Alright, Ryo. Everything about territorial authority is written on the scroll—just read through it. But let me explain a bit about what it means, too."
Ryo looked over at her, giving her his full attention.
Shiroyasha's expression turned serious as she gently waved her fan.
"As a region holder, you're responsible for managing the city. That includes protecting it and defending against Demon Lords. You're not allowed to give up your duty just because the enemy's too strong."
Leticia added, "I recall that if the opponent exceeds your community's capacity, you can request help from the higher-ups—like outer gate or Floor Master-level authorities."
"Exactly!" Shiroyasha nodded. "In the East area, I'm the Floor Master-level authority. If you're attacked by a Demon Lord, you have every right to ask me for help—but just so we're clear, I won't always be able to come running."
Ryo let out a small sigh. "So there will be times when backup isn't an option."
"Right." Shiroyasha raised her fan to hide her face, voice soft.
"When it comes to Demon Lords, you are the first line of defense. And given your circumstances, the chances of being targeted again? Very high."
It hadn't even been six months since [Arcadia]'s downfall, and already shadows were stirring again.
There were enemies in the dark—just waiting for [No Name] to try reclaiming its former glory.
Unless they gave up the White Shark flag and started fresh, another attack was almost guaranteed. But if they were planning to abandon it all, Ryo and Black Rabbit wouldn't have used the shark emblem to take on regional authority in the first place.
Shiroyasha narrowed her eyes and asked: "Are you prepared for that, Ryo?"
Black Rabbit turned to look at him, concern in her eyes, but she stayed silent.
Ryo chuckled softly. "That decision was made the moment I became the leader."
"…Good answer."
Shiroyasha smiled, closing her fan with a snap.
"According to the rules, when a community takes on territorial authority, they're required to host a major gift game to declare ownership. It's a kind of festival."
"Since your group is focused on farming, let's go with a Harvest Festival-type game."
The Harvest Festival was a Little Garden tradition to celebrate good crops. But in practice, it meant organizing a large-scale event with all the local communities participating—testing the leader's ability to govern and host games. It was how the city judged whether a territory holder was truly qualified.
Shiroyasha grinned and added:
"Given your special circumstances, I went ahead and included a level advancement trial in the event too—promotion to the six-digit rank. Hope you don't mind~"
"Going for a two-in-one special, huh?" Ryo smiled.
"Exactly!"
Shiroyasha lifted her chin proudly.
"Do your best! Don't make me look bad~"
With that, she turned to Karyou and gave her a meaningful look.
"Well then, I've got business to take care of—see you."
Before leaving, she glanced down at the reservoir where Shirayuki was still shedding her skin and muttered with a huff:
"Leticia, when that dumb snake wakes up, make sure you drill some discipline into her."
"Understood." Leticia let out a wry smile and gave Shirayuki-hime a moment of silent pity.
Of all times to start molting—right when the main god paid a visit. Poor thing couldn't even say hello.
With everything settled, Shiroyasha vanished and returned to the upper floors.
Meanwhile, Karyou—who stayed behind—glanced at Ryo, eyes flickering.
"…Got a moment to talk?"
Ryo looked a little surprised, but nodded.
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