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[Crossover] Ch 191: The Report
🕑 Added 2025-08-10 16:17:59 +0000 UTC— — — — — —
"...A report?"
Leticia looked up from the reservoir where she'd been adjusting, blinking at Ryo like she'd misheard. "Why would Lady Shiroyasha make you write something like that?"
Beside them, Black Rabbit—buried under a mountain of paperwork from the Harvest Festival—scratched her head in exasperation.
"Ohhhh! At a time like this, why is Shiroyasha stirring up trouble?"
"It's not trouble," Leticia said, shaking her head. "She's never messed around when it comes to real business."
She fixed Ryo with a look somewhere between disbelief and nervous suspicion.
"Leader… what exactly did you do? For it to be serious enough that Shiroyasha's demanding a written report?"
"Is it that… bad?" Ryo asked, honestly puzzled.
To him, a report was just a bit of busywork you tossed to higher-ups to keep them happy. No big deal.
Leticia froze for a moment, then her expression cleared.
"Ah… I see. You really have no idea."
Ryo tilted his head. "No idea about what?"
Leticia sighed, planting her hands on her hips.
"I almost forgot—you came in halfway. And Black Rabbit, you never actually explained the rules to our leader."
Black Rabbit, adopted daughter of Arcadia's former strategist Canaria, had never actually been part of Arcadia's leadership. She'd served under Indra instead, only joining Arcadia after its fall.
That's why, when all of Arcadia's fighters were wiped out, Black Rabbit—a natural-born four-digit-class god—had survived to carry on the community's name. But she'd never been trained to run one.
Which meant Ryo had no clue what a 'report' signified in this context.
"So… it really is serious?" he asked, brows furrowing.
Back in his past life, he'd written school papers and work reports—just enough to get by. When Shiroyasha mentioned it casually, he'd assumed it was nothing major.
But Leticia's reaction was forcing him to rethink that.
"How do I put this…" Leticia began slowly. "In Little Garden, regardless of a community's rank, all are considered equal. That's the shared understanding.
"So unless it's an alliance matter, communities don't need to exchange 'reports'—because they deal with each other as equals.
"Of course, as your nominal main sun god, Shiroyasha can demand reports from you. But we both know that title is mostly for show, just something to appease outsiders.
"And when it comes to matters touching on equality between communities, she's actually quite careful."
She gave him a pointed look.
"In other words… she would never ask you for a report unless things were serious. The only exception is if it's bad enough that she herself has to file one with the upper gods."
Leticia's gaze sharpened.
"Leader… you didn't happen to do something that serious recently, did you? Something that might involve the upper gods?"
Translation: Please tell me, you haven't stirred up such a mess that even Shiroyasha can't cover for you, and now she's forcing you to file paperwork to make it official.
Her voice dropped, weighted with concern. "Leader… can I ask you something?"
Ryo snapped his fingers. A ripple of his small universe spread outward, sealing off the area from eavesdroppers. He nodded.
"Go ahead."
"That world war thing—was that… your doing?"
The way she asked it made it clear she already knew the answer.
"What?!"
Black Rabbit, who'd been leaning against the fountain, shot straight up like she'd been shocked.
"That chaos in the upper realms… that was YOU?!"
The moment she said it, her mind caught up with the implications. She clutched her head and began pacing frantically.
"This is bad, this is really bad… I'm dead, we're dead—what do we do, what do we do?!"
After a few frantic laps, she froze, grabbed Ryo's hand, and blurted:
"Pack your things. We're taking the kids and running to outer world! Somewhere in Japan—Takamagahara's gods are all dead, we can hide there. You can get a normal job—ouch! Ow, ow, ow!"
Expressionless, Ryo tugged her by the ears and dragged her aside. Then he turned back to Leticia.
"It's not that they caught me for."
"...?"
Leticia's mind stuttered.
Not that?
So… it's for something else? And the world war was you after all?!
Her knees went a little weak, and she had to lean against the fountain for support.
Black Rabbit, still dangling from Ryo's grip, gawked at him.
"You're joking, right? You have to be joking. What the hell did you do?!"
The world war alone was insane enough—it had shaken every god in existence.
And that wasn't even what they caught him for?
Which meant… he'd caused at least two incidents on a scale that shook all of Little Garden?
Not even the Monkey King was this reckless!
Black Rabbit's voice was hollow. "We're done. Even if we run to the outside world, they'll hunt us down."
After a moment's hesitation, she gritted her teeth.
"Then let's beg Queen Halloween to send us somewhere unknown—some unknown world! That's the only way to escape the gods' notice!"
Ryo was a little touched she was thinking of running with him… until she actually said it. He pinched her ears again.
"Why is your first instinct always to run? Why not stand your ground and fight the gods?"
"Because no sane person fights the gods!" she roared back.
"I do," Ryo said, tapping his chest with a grin.
Black Rabbit froze, staring at him for several seconds before deflating with a sigh.
"You muscle-brained idiot. Barbarian. Bully. Rabbit-tormenting villain."
Leticia, meanwhile, had been watching Ryo's calm expression in silence. Finally, she drew in a deep breath.
"Leader… just tell me. What was bad enough to cause this?"
Ryo thought for a moment, then decided to be honest.
"I took ten Sun Authorities legacy."
"You stole a Sun Authority? Well… that's serious, but knowing Lord Shiroyasha, it's not the kind of thing she'd come down too hard on—"
"Not one," Ryo interrupted, deadpan. "Ten. Ten in total. And I've got two more prepared, but I'm keeping them in reserve for now."
"..."
The silence was deafening. Even Black Rabbit shut her mouth.
After a long moment, Leticia exhaled sharply.
"Leader… just tell me straight. Was it the Twelve Zodiacs, or the Twelve Constellations?"
Ryo hesitated, then said, "The Zodiac constellations."
SPLASH!
Leticia's knees gave out completely, and she toppled backward into the fountain's reservoir.
From within came the startled cry of Shirayuki-hime: "Oh no! Lady Leticia fell in!"
Ryo glanced down at the dripping Leticia, then at the frozen-faced Black Rabbit, and just shrugged.
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