— — — — — —
It wasn't just that Athena had people on the Greek side.
In a sense, she herself was half one of them.
Everyone present knew that the Athena of Little Garden frequently switched identities with their Athena, slipping into Greece to handle confidential matters.
Arcadia had practically become Athena's cover organization. Through it, they had unknowingly been involved in quite a few of her secret operations.
The spy network she had planted within Greece. The murky connections between the Egyptian pantheon and her.
Aside from the newcomers from the Strike the Blood world, everyone here knew about these things.
They had even heard rumors about loli Athena recruiting spies within the existing spy network.
Two Athenas running overlapping intelligence schemes and planting spies among spies. It was an unbelievable piece of gossip. Over the past few days the group had practically been binge-watching a real-life spy drama.
At that moment, Ryo tapped the table lightly.
"Anyway," he said, "Athena, can you keep track of what's happening on the Greek side?"
Athena frowned slightly and thought for a moment.
"I can only guarantee about sixty percent certainty."
She explained calmly. "Zeus would never leave himself unguarded. There's no way he'd allow my influence to extend into every action taken in Greece. That's one problem."
"Second, there are many matters in Greece that I can't interfere with casually. If I did, I might disrupt the plans of the other Athena."
"But what if we only need information about the participants in the Divine War?" Ryo asked with a smile, tapping the table again.
"That won't be a problem."
That level of intelligence was still within her control.
Besides, such information would likely be sold through Thousand Eyes anyway, though at a steep price.
For Ryo, free information was always better. At least when it came to the list of combatants, Greece would be transparent to them while Arcadia remained hidden.
Of course, once the fighting actually started, secrecy would become impossible to maintain.
Ryo understood that perfectly well.
Still, any small advantage mattered. Arcadia wasn't exactly rich in resources yet.
After finishing the discussion about Greece, Ryo turned toward Lancelot.
"Lancelot, have you made contact with Queen Halloween's side?"
The honey-haired valkyrie nodded immediately.
"Avalon seems interested in inviting me to join."
A few days earlier, Lancelot had contacted the community "Avalon" through Scáthach's connections.
Avalon was a group under Queen Halloween, named after King Arthur's legendary knights. Each member inherited the conceptual power associated with those names, forming an elite force that served as the Queen's reach in the lower layers.
In the South Area, Avalon was essentially a giant among communities.
And now, Lancelot had received an invitation to become one of Avalon's official members. According to rumors, they even intended for her to inherit the concept of the name "Lancelot" and become the true bearer of that identity.
Within Avalon, the title "Lancelot" ranked among the top five.
It was a genuine leadership position.
After Lancelot finished explaining, Ryo rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"For something like that to happen… there's no way the Queen isn't involved."
Letting an outsider inherit the concept of Lancelot would be impossible without Queen Halloween's approval. Even Avalon's leader, the woman who inherited the name Arthur, wouldn't have the authority to make that decision alone.
Counting this incident together with the earlier encounter when the Queen appeared before Mithras at the Ouroboros base, she had already shown Ryo goodwill twice.
And that didn't even include Scáthach's original invitation.
What exactly was the Queen thinking?
'Is she just trying to poach me from Shiroyasha? Or...'
Ryo tapped his fingers on the table while pondering.
After thinking for a long time, he still couldn't figure it out.
Eventually, he gave up.
"Alright," he said with a sigh. "Lancelot, ask Avalon if they plan to participate in this Divine War."
Lancelot's expression turned a little strange.
"Actually… I was about to mention that."
"Avalon already contacted us. They're planning to send some reserve members to support the war against Greece."
"Oh?" Ryo chuckled. "So they want to train their troops too?"
He shook his head slightly.
"In that case, ask them if they can give us a few fake reserve slots. We can pay a price for it."
"Fake slots?"
Many of the people present looked confused.
Athena and Leticia, however, immediately understood.
Their expressions became very complicated.
"Are you planning to have our members join Avalon temporarily and participate in the Divine War under Avalon's name?" Leticia asked.
Her tone was subtle.
It sounded strange at first.
But it made perfect sense once you remembered that any fighters sent by Arcadia would certainly be targeted by Greece's battle gods.
So what if those fighters appeared under Queen Halloween's banner instead?
No one in Little Garden dared offend the Queen.
If Avalon sent reserve members for training, then everyone would have to fight them honestly. No one would dare use dirty tricks.
That was the authority of Queen Halloween.
Her reputation as the strongest below Two-Digits wasn't just a title.
"That's exactly what I'm thinking," Ryo admitted. "Of course, if anyone prefers something more… adventurous, I won't stop them."
As he said that, his gaze lingered deliberately on Luo Hao and Giada Kukulcan.
Those two were the most stubborn in the room. There was no way they would want to hide behind someone else's name.
Sure enough, both Luo Hao and Giada rejected Ryo's suggestion immediately. They insisted on participating openly under Arcadia's banner.
Their reason was simple.
"If Arcadia doesn't send a single fighter, it will lose face."
It was a perfectly reasonable argument.
Of course, he could clearly see the excitement in their eyes.
Let's be honest. One was a former demonic sect leader. The other was a former Primogenitor vampire.
Scheming, poison, dirty tricks. Both of them were probably masters of that kind of thing.
Now that they had worthy opponents in Little Garden, they were clearly itching to show off their skills.
Trying to force them to hold back would only cause trouble.
"Fine," Ryo said with a sigh. "Do whatever you want. Just stay safe."
In a few days he'd pull some strings with Athena to arrange suitable opponents for them.
Training was good. But safety always came first.
That had always been Ryo's policy.
"So," he continued, glancing around the table, "does anyone object to the plan of fighting under another banner?"
Everyone shook their heads.
No objections.
Ryo let out a quiet breath of relief.
Managing a group was stressful enough.
Managing a group of women… most of whom had rather complicated relationships with him… was even more stressful.
The fact that they could all agree so smoothly was honestly a blessing.
"Good. Then we move on to the next topic."
Ryo's expression gradually turned serious.
He leaned back in his chair and slowly turned around, looking at the flag hanging on the wall behind him.
The flag of Arcadia.
His voice became steady.
"I'm planning to rebuild the Arcadia Grand Alliance officially."
He paused.
"Who's for it, and who's against?"
.
.
.