— — — — — —
Five days later, at 2:00 AM
It should have been the quiet hours of the night, but Arcadia's headquarters was in complete chaos.
"Lady Leticia! We need help, please, help!"
Several members of Arcadia rushed into the conference hall to find Leticia, panic written all over their faces.
"In the past few days, more than two million people have arrived. That's more than the total population of our City. And most of them hold Gifts in the six-digit range or higher. We just don't have enough manpower to maintain order!"
"Deploy the Nalakuvera," Leticia said immediately. "I'll take command myself. With baseline strength in the five-digit range, they should be enough to deter troublemakers. At the very least, we need to stabilize public security for now."
She had barely finished giving those orders, not yet having time to feel relieved about the divine weapon Ryo had brought back (from Strike the Blood), when another group of members came running over.
"Lady Leticia, the guest lodgings are completely insufficient. Some of the communities that couldn't get rooms have already started protesting."
"Go find Athena. Take the dream world the leader kept in reserve and modify it a bit. We'll use it as a temporary solution."
"But what about food supplies? Some beastfolk and phantasmal beasts are specifically requesting certain ingredients…"
"Make an emergency purchase from Thousand Eyes. Double the price when you sell it to them. Oh, and remember to collect an 80 percent deposit. I'll send a few Nalakuvera units to protect you. Go."
After dismissing those reserve members, Jin Russell came running over next, panting hard. "Lady Leticia, th-there's a High God who wants to change to a better guest lodge…"
"Which faction does this High God belong to?" Leticia asked, rubbing her temples with a headache coming on.
High Gods referred to existences in the four-digit tier. Normally, they were already assigned an entire guest lodge in advance.
These lodgings were built to a standard matching their four-digit status.
Of course, they were rented from Thousand Eyes and charged at what was considered a reasonable rate.
In other words, the guests paid for them.
But if someone was dissatisfied and wanted an even more luxurious lodge to show off their status, things became troublesome.
You had to satisfy the guest without making the other gods who had come for the leader's debut battle feel unhappy. It was a delicate and annoying balancing act.
Jin hesitated, then said awkwardly, "It's… a God from the Greek pantheon."
"Greek…"
Leticia felt her head throb even more.
If it were any ordinary pantheon, she could smooth things over herself. But Greece was another matter entirely.
They were one of the dominant powers in the lower layers of Little Garden.
If they demanded special treatment, it was hard to refuse. But if you gave in, other pantheons would definitely be dissatisfied and start questioning Arcadia's political stance.
'Damn it. This is probably Athena's opposing faction trying to give us a hard time,' Leticia thought bitterly.
Then Jin continued, eyes red. "The High God also said he wants… high-quality dancers arranged."
Everyone knew what arranging dancers meant. But for it to upset Jin this badly, the words used must have been far from polite.
Leticia fell silent for a moment. She reached out and gently patted Jin's head, her expression calm. "I'll handle it. It's late. Go get some sleep."
After using her vampire suggestion to ensure Jin would rest properly, Leticia's face darkened. She turned and headed straight for Ryo's office.
Before long, she knocked on the door.
"Come in." Ryo's voice soon came from inside.
Leticia opened the door and walked in, seeing Ryo seated behind his desk.
He opened his eyes, stopped expanding the Gift Game arena he was working on, and stood up.
"Want some wine?"
"Yes."
Leticia nodded and sat down on the sofa. As she watched Ryo pour wine at the side table, she chose her words carefully. "You're still busy expanding the Gift Game arena and—"
"All right, no need to say more," Ryo said, carrying over two glasses. "This is partly my responsibility too. No one expected this many participants to show up."
He handed one glass to Leticia and took a sip himself.
"So, which troublesome guest is giving you a headache?"
Given the timing of her visit, it was obvious she had run into something she couldn't decide on her own. And at a moment like this, the only things that could corner her were matters involving major pantheons.
"It's the Greek pantheon," Leticia sighed, then repeated the demands of the Greek God.
"Heh. Superior status, beautiful dancers," Ryo said, narrowing his eyes with a mocking tone. "Sounds like Zeus's idea."
He swirled the wine in his glass.
"So he wants me to pick a side?"
In the eyes of some gods, Ryo and Arcadia were already considered part of Athena's faction.
That much was obvious from Ryo's political marriage to Aishelia, the current leader of Perseus.
That union symbolized the strengthening of Athena's faction and, by extension, the strengthening of Greek influence as a whole.
To Zeus and to other pantheons, that was hardly good news.
So sending an ill-mannered four-digit representative to stir up trouble and force Ryo to show his stance was entirely plausible.
After all, Greece needed to reassure other pantheons, and Zeus needed to reassure himself.
"Zeus…" Leticia showed clear unease.
The king of the Greek gods was an ancient being who, despite being on the same level as Indra, lurked beyond the four-digit tier.
If someone like that truly intended to make things difficult for Ryo, this debut battle might become more dangerous than anything they had ever faced.
"No need to worry. Athena is probably behind this," Ryo said with a smile, raising his glass slightly toward Leticia. "She knows Zeus's personality well enough. She also understands the current state of Greece."
He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. "Let me guess. She wants me to temporarily break with Greece, at least on the surface. And the God sent to provoke us this time might even be an old acquaintance."
"So many gods have come for my debut battle, and I just happen to be lacking a chicken to kill as a warning to the monkeys."
"At a time like this, using a familiar face is convenient. For example, someone like Hermes, who happens to have a grudge against me."
"You're exactly right. The one arranged to provoke you is Hermes."
A soft laugh echoed from a dark corner of the room.
A girl with silver hair and violet eyes, dressed in a white robe in the Greek style, stepped out from the shadows.
"Good to see you again, my proxy." Athena smiled as she said.
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