The terms of the transaction between Suke and Shiroyasha were as follows:
① Suke's party agreed to help No Name weather the risk of dissolution. In exchange, No Name would provide them with a base of operations.
② Shiroyasha would mobilize "Kanme"'s network to help Suke's party gather intelligence on the "mysterious spirits," and would provide, to the greatest extent possible, whatever they required. In exchange, Suke's party agreed to respect local customs and norms.
The first condition was reasonable enough. But when Black Rabbit read the second, she had to blink twice just to make sure her eyes weren't playing tricks on her.
Lady Shiroyasha's side was offering "to provide whatever is needed." And all she was getting in return was "respect local customs"?
An outsider would think this was some humiliating unequal treaty drafted by the losing side of a war!
Black Rabbit simply could not picture someone with Shiroyasha's character agreeing to terms this degrading. The biggest problem was that Shiroyasha had been smiling cheerfully the entire time — not the slightest trace of loss on her face — which made Black Rabbit suspect there were hidden conditions somewhere she hadn't parsed yet.
But what was done was done. What could she even do about it? She was just a Moon Rabbit from a seven-digit community. Small, pitiful, and utterly helpless.
After leaving Kanme's headquarters in the eastern district of the seven-digit Outer Gate, Black Rabbit led Suke and Abigail to the territory where No Name was based.
The place was essentially a stretch of wilderness. Not so much as a water source for miles in any direction — at this rate, desertification in the not-too-distant future wasn't out of the question.
That alone, though, wasn't the worst of it. Terrain and climate could be endured with enough manpower; even the harshest environment could sustain life.
No, the real problem was that No Name's current membership was almost entirely made up of children.
Aside from Black Rabbit herself, not one of them appeared to be over eighteen. In fact, it was doubtful many of them were even older than Abigail.
"W-welcome to No Name!"
"Our facilities are rather basic — we hope you won't find it too unpleasant!"
Inside the No Name community's manor, Black Rabbit invited Suke and Abigail to take a seat. She cast a nervous glance at the children clustered behind her, peering over each other's shoulders with undisguised curiosity, then looked back at Suke and Abigail settling onto the sofa, dreading any sign of dissatisfaction on either face.
But poor conditions were poor conditions, and no amount of hoping would change that.
Leaving aside the sofa — which was hemorrhaging its own stuffing through several large tears — there wasn't even a cup of tea or coffee to offer their guests. Suke looked up and could plainly see the wooden ceiling beams, rotted nearly through, yet never replaced.
"You're this broke?" he asked.
"Ah — well, things have been getting progressively worse recently, but we've all been working really hard...!"
"At least — at least it's clean, isn't it?"
Under Suke's frank scrutiny, and beneath the wide, curious eyes of the children in the manor behind her, Black Rabbit was so mortified she would have gladly crawled into a crack in the floor and never come out.
To think that she, a Moon Rabbit and a proper Little Garden noble by birth, had fallen to this level. It was probably a first in all of Little Garden's history.
"Um... Black Rabbit sis, who are they?"
A small golden-haired girl with fox ears — her name was Lily — tugged at the hem of Black Rabbit's skirt, though her gaze kept drifting helplessly toward Abigail, who was seated quite comfortably enjoying a slice of Chocolate Cake Suke had produced and sipping a cola.
Lily swallowed visibly before asking her question.
"They're... um... well, how to put it..."
Black Rabbit hesitated. She could hardly tell the children the truth — that these two had come to carve up what little territory No Name had left. If the kids got the wrong idea and thought she'd gone and lost another Gift Game, that would be catastrophic. But the truth was the truth, and Black Rabbit had no idea how to soften it.
Suke glanced around the room.
The No Name manor was large — large enough to make it clear the community had once known better days. But now it was saturated with an air of rot and defeat. Not a single luxury item anywhere in sight; the lighting was dim and gloomy. It was hard to imagine that this place had once been home to the grandest community alliance in all of Little Garden — "Arcadia."
Just as Shiroyasha had said: the living conditions here had deteriorated to rock bottom.
"Kids — we're the neighbors your Black Rabbit sis brought home. We'll be living right next door from now on."
Suke smiled suddenly, cutting through the somber atmosphere:
"First meeting, so I didn't prepare anything particularly formal — but I think you'll like what I've got."
With that, he gave a casual sweep of his hand through the air.
Before the children's astonished eyes, the previously bare long table began to change.
One plate. Two plates. Ten plates...
Layer upon layer, the rich fragrance of cream and cocoa drifted through the air as Chocolate Cakes materialized from nothing. Candies, biscuits, blackberry pies, and fresh fruit carrying the crisp scent of the forest followed close behind.
Apparently judging that a single long table wasn't going to cut it, Suke casually pulled several more from his Furniture Catalogue and pushed them all together, until the sweets had covered every surface — the whole setup taking on the air of a proper banquet.
"Waaah——!"
The children erupted in wonder, eyes shining with longing.
And yet — not one of them moved forward. Whatever else could be said about children who had managed to survive in a place like No Name, they had discipline.
"Is this... your 'Gift'?"
A composed, androgynous-looking youth stepped forward from among the children — possessed of a bearing that stood out even in this crowd. This was Jin Russell, No Name's nominal leader in the present day.
Young as he was, he carried himself with a maturity that far outstripped his years — the kind of person who knew instinctively that there was no such thing as a free lunch. He wanted to understand why this outsider was doing this.
(Suke couldn't shake the feeling that something was slightly off, though — Jin's mannerisms were distinctly on the feminine side. But he didn't dwell on it, chalking it up to just being one of those boyish types.)
"Consider it my Gift — my ability, if you like. Don't worry, it's just food. I'm not asking anything of you in return."
"Black Rabbit, help the kids dish this out. For the number-one alliance in all of Little Garden to have sunk to this... I can only imagine what the people who founded this place would think if they could see it now."
Suke casually picked up a piece of cake and held it out to Lily, who was standing beside Black Rabbit, gesturing for everyone to help themselves.
Food was, as always, the fastest way to close the distance between people.
Black Rabbit — her past laid bare by a single offhand remark from someone who clearly stood on equal footing with Shiroyasha — knew perfectly well that no "Demon God" or "Demon Lord" of that caliber would bother making things difficult over something this trivial. She could only nod, and together with Jin, help distribute the food.
Watching the children wolf it all down with expressions of pure, overflowing happiness, Black Rabbit turned to look at Suke. Where before there had only been wariness and awe in her eyes, something closer to genuine gratitude had taken root.
"Lord Suke, thank you for your generosity — and please forgive any disrespect I showed earlier."
Black Rabbit bowed to the two of them.
Had she simply been too wound up before? The other party's entrance had been terrifying, yes — but that was no reason to let herself be colored by prejudice.
"'Disrespect' is too strong a word. We're neighbors now — this is just a mutually beneficial arrangement."
Suke looked at Black Rabbit. Helping No Name avoid dissolution wasn't a difficult condition to meet.
If he felt like it, he could have Abigail channel Boss Mabel's power directly and simply bulldoze every community near No Name — a clean sweep. But the problem was that he'd already promised Shiroyasha to "respect local customs." It wasn't technically a hard restriction, but agreeing to something and then turning around and breaking it immediately felt distinctly immoral.
Besides, it wasn't like he had nothing better to do while he waited. He'd handed the search for the Junimo's whereabouts off to Kanme's network — might as well find something productive to occupy the time.
Aside from watching how the original story was going to unfold, Suke genuinely wanted to try carving out a patch of "Stardew Valley" greenery right here in Little Garden.
His very existence was, in essence, fundamentally opposed to Little Garden's nature — he honestly had no idea whether it could even be done.
"Oh, right — Black Rabbit. If I recall correctly, when we were at Kanme, you had a few 'invitation letters' tucked away on you?"
Black Rabbit, hearing Suke's words, blinked — and her expression turned serious again.
Those were her last resort.
Summons sent across the dimensional divide to another world, paid for with her honor and her very nature as a Little Garden noble — a final cry for help.
"Ah — yes, Lord Suke."
Black Rabbit reached toward her chest, her expression complicated.
"If you hadn't descended upon us, I had planned to use them after consulting with Lady Shiroyasha."
"After all, No Name is already teetering right on the edge of dissolution..."
"Perfect timing, then. Nothing else to do at the moment — might as well use them right now. Let me see what sort of interesting characters Little Garden's summoning mechanism can pull in."
"Ah?"
Black Rabbit blinked, but when she thought about it, he had a point. Suke and Abigail weren't No Name members — at best they were neighbors who might occasionally lend a hand.
She nodded:
"You're right. With you here, there will be fewer surprises when the new members descend into Little Garden."
With that, she reached into her clothes.
Those were the letters she had guarded with the utmost care.
However — the moment her palm made contact with the fabric, Black Rabbit's composed expression froze solid.
She frantically groped through the cloth.
Left pocket. Right pocket. Inner lining...
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
"?!!"
Black Rabbit jolted upright as though she'd grabbed a live wire. Her movements were almost comically exaggerated, skirt swishing wildly — though thanks to the "Now You See It, Now You Don't" Gift Shiroyasha had bestowed on her, ordinary eyes couldn't catch so much as a glimpse beneath it.
(Suke, naturally, was the exception.)
Throw propriety to the wind — she began spinning on the spot, desperately searching for those few all-important letters.
"They're gone — they're GONE!"
Black Rabbit let out a wail of soul-shattering despair.
"They were right here this whole time! They were still here when we were at Kanme!"
Black Rabbit smacked her own head in a panic, mind leaping back to the earth-shattering impact of the Silver Key's descent.
Could they have been lost in that chaos?
"This is a disaster..."
Black Rabbit sank to her knees on the floor, rabbit ears drooping like two wilted blades of grass, her entire being sinking into a gray fog of self-recrimination.
Suke watched the scene unfold — but his expression held no worry.
Because just moments ago, Abigail had already told him via the public channel that three individuals from outside No Name had already descended.
In the air around them, a ripple of shifting rules pulsed with vigorous intensity.
Like three stones dropped simultaneously into what had been a placid lake — anyone with even a modicum of power could sense the disturbance. Black Rabbit could have felt it too, had she not been too deep in her panic to have the patience to reach for it.
"Black Rabbit — stop looking."
"The people you wanted to summon are already here."
"What?" Black Rabbit's head snapped up.
And at that very moment —
BOOM——!
____
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