Kalki...
Ryo silently turned the name over in his mind. He closed his eyes, and after a long moment, let out a slow breath. "This is a test."
"Heh. For once, we're thinking the same thing." Raven Loki chuckled. In an exaggerated gesture, it rubbed at its eyes with a wing. "At a time like this, there aren't many people who'd set their sights on Vishnu's final avatar. I thought it over for quite a while, and only one group came to mind."
Heracles, whose massive frame was like a mountain, spoke in a deep voice. "The Heavenly Army."
A formidable enforcement organization made up of War Gods, led by the Twelve Devas of Buddhism. Supported by the gods and even the angelic legions of the Cross Pantheon.
One of Little Garden's most notorious instruments of brute force.
"So this is because of that recent incident involving the exploration-type Communities?" Heracles sighed, his tone distinctly unpleasant.
"Hm?"
Ryo raised an eyebrow and looked at him questioningly.
What exploration-type Communities? He hadn't heard anything about this.
Loki spoke up to explain. "That's the general term for Communities like the Tricksters, the ones dedicated to exploring and opening up other worlds. The higher-ups generally see them as the source of Little Garden's vitality."
"Of course, under normal circumstances, if they encounter a world that's harmful to the gods, these Communities will back off. That's what separates them from the Tricksters."
After explaining, Loki gave Ryo a meaningful look and added, "A few days ago, the Heavenly Army discovered that Ouroboros had been secretly targeting exploration-type Communities. They then commissioned an investigation by the intelligence division under the command of Prithvi Mata."
Why are you looking at me? Is it obvious that I'm one of those Tricksters?
The corner of Ryo's mouth twitched. "How many are left?"
"Fewer than a hundred." There was a hint of regret in Loki's voice. "And that's counting both the Upper and Lower Layers combined."
"Compared to the ten thousand recorded in the census a thousand years ago, the difference is enormous."
"Of course, that number from a thousand years ago was definitely inflated. My professional experience says at least five thousand of them were probably just scamming subsidies. But even accounting for that, close to five thousand exploration-type Communities have been crushed and wiped out."
Professional experience? Don't tell me you ran an exploration Community to scam subsidies too...
Ryo's gaze at Loki immediately turned strange.
"In a sense, this is an attack on the very foundations of Little Garden." Heracles added, "The nature of this matter is extremely serious. If the Heavenly Army doesn't act, its authority will be undermined."
"And given Indra's personality, someone who prides himself on being one of Little Garden's creators, he would never let something like this slide." Heracles' voice sank. "When all is said and done, Ouroboros crossed the line."
Put simply, exploration-type Communities were the people responsible for bringing fresh "fuel" into the foundations that sustained Little Garden.
They were part of the system's basic maintenance.
Their disappearance would very likely cause human history to stagnate and solidify, accelerating the arrival of the End.
What Ouroboros had done was tantamount to pulling the rug out from under Little Garden itself. Naturally, the gods who favored preserving Little Garden's order despised it.
And among them, the Heavenly Army, as an organization representing order, was naturally the most hostile.
Targeting Kalki in retaliation was only to be expected.
Ryo muttered to himself. "So our job this time is to protect Kalki from the Heavenly Army?"
"Based on the terms of the mission, that's exactly it." Loki spread its wings helplessly.
A perfect example of the higher-ups screwing up and the underlings being left to take the blame.
If Ouroboros's leadership hadn't secretly wiped out exploration-type Communities for their own purposes and violated a major taboo, why would they be dealing with this crap now?
And after causing all that trouble, they were even using the situation to test supposedly "loyal" members like them.
Ryo suddenly felt that Ouroboros truly deserved its reputation as the biggest bunch of sewer rats in Little Garden.
They really did have no principles.
At that moment, Heracles said in a muffled voice, "Kalki is currently using an alias. He's joined your Arcadia Grand Alliance and is tempering himself through battle on the divine warfront on Mars. I'll propose to Zeus that I become the leader of the Greek side's participants in the divine war."
After a pause, he added, "And serve concurrently as an investigator for the Heavenly Army's Department of Ouroboros Affairs."
Seriously? Heracles was taking important positions on both sides? One moment he'd be investigating and hunting Kalki down, the next he'd be protecting him. Wasn't that exhausting?
Ryo gave Heracles a speechless look, then clicked his tongue. "I don't care how we're solving the mission right now. What I care about is exactly what I'm getting out of this!"
Loki looked at Heracles in surprise. "You didn't tell him?"
Heracles simply glanced at Loki. "You arrived too early."
"Ah. Well, how terribly sorry of me~" Loki replied in the most perfunctory tone possible. Then it paused and explained to Ryo, "You heard from Heracles about the Taurus Sun Authority being with Minotauros, right?"
"Hm?"
Ryo raised an eyebrow, then gave a slight nod.
Seeing that, Loki let out a cackling laugh. "This mission came from information Heracles and I stumbled across during our previous joint operation. So in principle, half the proceeds from that information belong to me."
Heracles immediately reminded it, "I already paid you in advance."
Loki's expression froze. Then glared fiercely at Heracles. "It's not like I'm trying to sell the same thing twice! What do you take me for?"
Then why are you so mad?
Ryo stared at Loki in disbelief.
Having had its intentions exposed, Loki coughed awkwardly before continuing. "Anyway, never mind the proceeds for now. But the matter of the Taurus? This big guy and I did manage to confirm it."
Loki narrowed its eye, and its grin gradually became more exaggerated. "Minotauros is currently being kept by Ouroboros. Waiting for Kalki to come challenge him."
"Hoho. A hero challenges a monster and wins a treasure... Why do those higher-ups always love this tired old cliché?"
Hearing that, Ryo frowned and lightly tapped the armrest of his chair with his index finger. "So you're saying the reward for this mission is the Taurus' Sun Authority?"
Loki's grin widened even further.
It was just about to say something when Heracles spoke first. "More precisely, you get Taurus. We receive separate compensation."
Loki's face instantly fell.
"Caw!" It leaped up and started flapping its wings furiously at Heracles. "Heracles! You're ruining my fun and cutting into my profits!"
"Our partnership is over! Finished! Do you hear me?"
"From now on, you can deal with Ouroboros's disgusting missions yourself. The kind of missions that are as revolting as Zeus in heat!"
Heracles looked exasperated. "Didn't I already tell you before we came here? There's no one left for you to scam this time, Loki!"
As Ryo watched the man and the bird brawl in front of him, his index finger continued tapping against the armrest. His dark eyes slowly grew deeper.
"Taurus..."
He murmured the name several times.
The Heavenly Army and the forces backing it wanted to arrest Kalki, while Ouroboros intended to protect him.
The conflict between the two sides had ultimately become this mission to "protect Kalki."
This was getting troublesome...
Ryo pinched the bridge of his nose.
With what he knew now, there was no way he could possibly stay out of this.
Kalki was still operating under an alias within the Arcadia Grand Alliance and participating in the divine war against Greece.
No matter what happened, Arcadia was going to get dragged into this.
And if that was unavoidable, then he might as well make the situation even more chaotic.
Ryo thought this with a completely expressionless face.
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