Recruiting the Two Heavenly Dragons as hired muscle.
Such an explosive development had never occurred in all of recorded history.
Still inside Gremory Castle's dining hall, Ddraig—who had just paused her passionate 1v1 female-of-females duel with Albion—took a moment to process what she'd just heard. Learning she was being asked to serve as a [Pawn] left her momentarily stunned.
"Pawn? Who? Me?"
"To be precise, both you and Albion."
Bokue pointed back and forth between the two dragon girls.
"But don't misunderstand—I'm not asking you to become my servants. This is just a temporary fill-in. The Underworld is about to host an International Ranking Tournament, and I'm short on people. You two just happened to show up, so..."
"International Ranking Tournament? What's that?"
The Red Dragon Empress started scratching her head through her gauntlet again.
Seeing her completely clueless expression, the White Dragon Empress—who had remained expressionless since arriving—finally couldn't help but sigh.
"Just from the name alone, it's obviously a Rating Game that allows races other than devils to participate. Like angels and fallen angels. Or people from other mythological systems... Don't tell me you've already forgotten about the three-faction alliance and the Norse pact, Ddraig?"
"Hmm~"
Ddraig hummed thoughtfully, tilting her head back at a forty-five-degree angle toward the ceiling. Her heavy crimson dragon gauntlet scraped back and forth against her temple for quite a while.
Then she suddenly blurted out.
"Oh yeah, I totally knew that!"
Like hell you did...
Albion mentally rolled her eyes but couldn't be bothered to call her out directly.
After all, this kind of thing was impossible to prove either way. She said she knew; she said she didn't know—both sides had their arguments, and neither had concrete evidence. Pushing the matter would only devolve into pointless bickering.
Or they'd just start fighting on the spot.
But then they'd never get to the actual business at hand.
"So, getting back on track—can I count on you two for this?"
Bokue spoke up as a reminder.
"I have no objections. I'll participate."
Surprisingly, the first to agree wasn't Ddraig, but Albion.
The White Dragon Empress lightly brushed her ice-white hair back over her shoulder and spoke coolly.
"Truthfully, during the years Ddraig and I were sealed inside Sacred Gears, quite a few beings have grown to rival our level. If possible, I'd like an opportunity to properly test myself against them. But I refuse to repeat the mistakes of the past—which is why this International Ranking Tournament seems like an excellent choice."
"Wow~ Listen to you getting all poetic."
The Red Dragon Empress crossed her arms and squinted mockingly from the side.
"Fine, fine—basically, as long as there's fighting, you're in. In that case, count me in too! We'll just see who takes down more opponents and who beats the stronger ones!"
"No objections here."
Albion responded flatly.
And with that, the roster was finally complete.
"Alright, now that the lineup's set, we're done here."
Bokue lowered his head to write the final names in the [Pawn] column on the form Serafall had given him, then straightened up and clapped his hands.
"As for you two, Ddraig and Albion—feel free to stay here at the castle tonight, or go sightseeing if you prefer. Just make sure you're at Lilith by nine tomorrow morning. Don't be late."
"Yeah, yeah, got it. Though honestly, staying in a fancy castle like this isn't really my style. Back in the day, I'd just find a random spot and crash wherever."
The Red Dragon Empress waved dismissively.
"Oh, right—there's one more thing. We actually came here to deliver some information to you, former host."
"I thought you'd forget again and just leave."
Albion glanced at her and remarked dryly.
"Hey, no way that would happen..."
Ddraig waved her off, insisting her memory wasn't that bad.
Bokue set aside his pen and paper, raising an eyebrow as his gaze shifted between the two Heavenly Dragon girls.
"So what is it?"
"It's about the two alliances from before."
The Red Dragon Empress cleared her throat and continued.
"I wasn't paying super close attention since I was outside the palace at the time, but according to Albion, that evil god Loki who suddenly showed up to cause trouble admitted he was part of the Khaos Brigade?"
"Yeah, I think that's right."
Bokue thought for a moment, then nodded.
"So is there something new about this Khaos Brigade?"
"I wouldn't exactly call it 'new'..."
Ddraig shrugged, her crimson dragon armor clanking with the motion.
"It's just that both Albion and I sensed the power of the legendary Infinite Dragon God Ophis on him. And that relative of the previous Leviathan at the alliance ceremony on Itogami Island—what was her name—she had Ophis's power too."
Probably talking about Katerea...
Bokue thought to himself.
He vaguely recalled that when she'd invaded Itogami Island, she'd unleashed some kind of explosive power boost at the last moment. Not that it had done her any good.
It was like a red-eyed scrub in a dungeon wearing nothing but basic blue-and-white gear, not even max level, thinking that dropping to critical HP would somehow let them beat a raid boss. She hadn't lasted even a second before Ddraig's Longinus Smasher vaporized her on the spot.
At the time, he'd assumed it was just some hidden trump card of hers. But now that Ddraig had mentioned both Ophis and the Khaos Brigade, this warranted some attention.
After all, Bokue had known virtually nothing about the Khaos Brigade before. But from what he was hearing now, it seemed highly likely that this Infinite Dragon God named Ophis was pulling the strings behind the scenes.
As they said—every debt has its debtor. The enemies who'd invaded Itogami Island had all been dealt with. If that had been the end of it, fine.
But now that he knew there was a larger force behind them, he'd need to pay it some attention.
"The Infinite Dragon God Ophis, huh..."
A glint flickered in Bokue's eyes as he cupped his chin thoughtfully.
If he remembered correctly, that monkey—Bikou—had appeared alongside Loki back then.
Which meant Bikou was also connected to the Khaos Brigade?
And considering that after they'd resolved the Loki incident, Bikou had chased after Vali babbling about forming a team... maybe he'd show up at this International Ranking Tournament too?
That would be a perfect opportunity. He could grab the monkey and interrogate him. If he wouldn't talk, beat it out of him—until he confessed everything, right down to the time he snuck a taste of the shit some female monkey in the neighboring cave had left behind as a kid.
Then it would be straight to tracking down this Infinite Dragon God Ophis in person.
Having reached this conclusion, Bokue raised his hand and flashed an OK sign at the two Heavenly Dragon girls.
"Got it. Thanks for the intel—I'll handle it."
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