— — — — — —
Staring at the silver-haired girl, Ryo's expression shifted slightly. He let out a sigh. "Where's my Athena? Don't tell me she went to Mount Olympus in your place."
"She's at Perseus headquarters."
The silver-haired Athena, brimming with a youthful air, walked over. She picked up the wine from the table, sat gracefully on the sofa, and smiled.
"She learns fast. At least for the next three days, no one will notice anything unusual."
Hearing that, Ryo relaxed, though he still gave the Athena before him, silver on the outside but golden within, a speechless look.
"For you to personally come to my debut battle… I'm honestly flattered."
"Some things are better discussed face to face." As she spoke, Athena casually grabbed the bottle and took a long gulp.
"The quality's a bit lacking. I'll have Aishelia send you some of my private stock in a few days."
She wiped the wine from her lips, then narrowed her eyes and looked at Ryo with a knowing smile. "So, you're finally done hiding?"
Ryo knew exactly what she meant, but he played dumb anyway.
"I'm not sure what you're talking about."
Athena chuckled softly. "A few days ago, I saw in the omniscient records that you advanced to four digits using the Shinigami Divinity."
"A four-digit Divinity. That's a fascinating spiritual framework. Even the core sometimes calls it the Soul King Divinity."
"I even went to the world you were observing and watched for several days. I couldn't find a single flaw. But that makes sense. If there had been any cracks, you wouldn't have ascended. You'd still be lurking in five digits."
Ryo listened while sipping his wine. When she finished, he sighed helplessly. "So you came all this way just to expose me?"
Athena had always known he was hiding his strength and staying in the five-digit tier. Dragging up old history now made it clear she had more to say.
"I'm just making an observation," Athena replied.
She set the bottle down, glancing at how little wine remained. "And offering a reminder."
"Are you really ready to step onto the stage?" She raised her head and looked straight at Ryo.
"Of course."
Ryo smiled. "The new leader of Arcadia. Powerful in combat, a bit clever, lust-driven, arrogant, and impulsive. An original canon candidate like that. What do you think of the persona?"
During the debut battle, his strength would inevitably be exposed.
And once that happened, how he distanced himself from the label of Trickster would depend entirely on his image.
As long as Ryo didn't look like a Trickster, and other gods believed someone like him couldn't possibly be part of that faction, then he wasn't one.
It really was that simple.
"Very good," Athena said with a smile. "A leader like that couldn't possibly be a Trickster plotting to overturn the gods, right?"
"You're absolutely right. How could Arcadia's leader be a Trickster?" Ryo replied smoothly.
"Exactly. Members of the Tricksters are clearly those with ulterior motives." Athena paused, then smiled gently.
"For example, someone like Loki, who has offended me three times. He really does look like a Trickster. I even thought he was already dead. Truly a Trickster."
"...!"
Ryo's expression froze.
Leticia, who had been trying to stay out of the conversation, sprang to her feet.
Loki was dead. From Athena's tone alone, they could tell exactly what she meant.
The malicious god of Norse myth, the instigator of Ragnarök, the trickster god, god of Mischief, god of theft. Loki had been killed by Athena?
Even if the Norse gods had wavered in the past, siding with Last Embryos, and had long preached abandoning the current human history to rebuild Little Garden…
They might have fallen from their prime, but their strength was still there. How could Athena dare to do this? How could she…
By then, Ryo had already recovered from his shock. He put on a surprised expression and said, "So Loki was actually a Trickster member? That really is unexpected. But when you think about it, it does make sense."
"After all, in Norse cosmology, the ending is the death of the gods. If you look at it that way, it's only natural that Loki would want to change a myth where he's fated to die."
The gods drew faith and power from human history, but that power was never free.
In Babylonian, Mesopotamian, and Egyptian myths, for example, the gods were known to age.
In Norse myth, the gods were destined for Ragnarök.
Even though the gods used various methods to minimize these negative effects, weaknesses still remained.
They were subtle flaws, like Cthulhu being vulnerable to ships, the Fish-Basket Bodhisattva Guanyin offering her physical body, or Sun Wukong being bound by the golden headband.
To beings of the same tier, such "ridiculous" weaknesses were opportunities waiting to be exploited.
That, in turn, caused endless frustration for the gods burdened with them. And if a god chose to become a Trickster because of this, it was a perfectly reasonable path.
At least, Ryo believed it.
At that moment, Athena spoke up in an innocent tone. "Ah, I seem to recall receiving some intelligence earlier. It looks like Mr. Loki was tracking the goddess Pallas. I wonder if Leader Ryo knows about this? You wouldn't happen to run into him by accident in a few days, would you?"
(Loki's spirit rank will be handed over to you by the other Athena. From now on, when you do bad things, you can just pretend you're Loki.) Ryo understood the coded message instantly and smiled.
"What a coincidence. I really didn't know about this," he said smoothly. "Many thanks to Lady Athena for the warning. I'll be sure to prepare properly and persuade Loki to give up tracking Miss Pallas."
(I'll take Loki's spirit rank. From now on, my cross-world observations won't be linked to Athena anymore. You can relax.)
Understanding the meaning, Athena immediately broke into a bright, satisfied smile.
That genuine smile made Ryo feel oddly uncomfortable.
Wasn't it just that I tricked you once and made you take the blame? Do you really have to be this wary of me?
To avoid being framed again, she had even gone so far as to kill the god Loki and dump the blame on the Norse pantheon she didn't get along with. Lady Athena, you really are ruthless.
Leticia, who had witnessed the entire shady deal and the casual trading of lives, didn't dare say a word.
Now she finally understood why she was only suited for combat roles, and why Canaria, the greatest strategist, had met such a tragic end.
The upper levels of Little Garden were far darker than she had ever imagined.
"By the way, there's a banquet before the debut battle, right?" Having obtained the answer she wanted, Athena spoke again, clearly in a good mood.
"Yes."
Ryo smiled without showing his teeth.
"It's tradition. Before a community leader's debut battle, we use the excuse of revealing part of the game content in advance to let participants socialize and build rapport."
In truth, that was the real reason the leaders and strategists of various communities showed up.
Cooperation between four-digit communities, resource allocation, intelligence trading. Almost all of it was settled at these banquets.
If things weren't resolved there, the next chance would probably be someone important getting married, an old powerhouse dying, or another large-scale Gift Game being held.
In normal circumstances, if four-digit community leaders met, whether openly or in secret, it would trigger extreme reactions from rival communities.
So when it came to serious discussions, these massive Gift Games were the only safe excuse.
That was why, in Little Garden, communities found reasons to host Gift Games every year. It felt like the events never ended.
Everyone understood this unspoken rule.
Hearing this, Athena smiled and held out her hand to Ryo. "Then tomorrow night, Ryo, are you missing a dance partner?"
"Funny you should ask. I actually am."
Silently apologizing to Black Rabbit in his heart, Ryo took Athena's hand.
"Then it's settled," Athena said cheerfully, blinking playfully.
"Of course, before that, there are a few small-time troublemakers who need to be intimidated. I'll leave that to you."
(Hermes is already arranged. Feel free to beat him as hard as you like. Go all out and make an example of him.)
Ryo smiled. "That's only natural."
---
At a luxurious guest lodge in the city center.
Hermes Trismegistus (Thrice-Great Hermes) was sipping sweet grape wine, one mouthful at a time. He looked nothing like the man who had bullied children earlier, shouted for dancers, demanded catgirls to kneel, and fox yokai to hold things while he relieved himself.
Zeus's words echoed in his mind, or rather, Zeus's words as filtered and embellished by Hermes himself.
"When you get to Arcadia, cause as much trouble as you like. Ryo won't dare hit you."
"Even if he does, just cry a bit. For my sake, he'll stop."
"Be good. Just take one beating. Next time Daddy goes whoring, I'll definitely bring you along."
"I want three, all women…" Hermes sniffled, trying to amuse himself through the misery.
As he drifted in thought, three beautiful figures appeared in his mind.
A cool, distant woman in a plain white robe with a longbow on her back.A bright, cheerful girl with fiery red hair and crimson eyes.A valiant blonde goddess holding a golden spear.
Artemis. Hestia. Athena…
Wait. Athena?
Athena's face surfaced clearly in his thoughts. Her lips parted slightly, a cold smile on her face.
"This is the third time, Hermes."
Hermes shuddered. The wine spilled from his hand, splashing over his clothes, the sofa, and the floor.
In the end, he laughed bitterly, dazed. "Oh, Hermes, you bastard."
"Waiting for a beating… life is suffering."
"How the hell did I make the same mistake Thrice?"
.
.
.
T/N: The update time will be fixed from now on (the same as today). Sorry for the earlier inconsistency. Hope you're still enjoying the story!