— — — — — —
Before unrolling the report parchment, Shiroyasha chuckled and said, "Honestly, we knew something was up the moment the Zodiac changed."
She glanced at Ryo with a sly smile.
"You don't have the Sun Authority yourself, so you probably don't know—but its legacy ability is actually very clearly defined."
"Yet somehow, the ability you triggered doesn't match the official one."
"Ryo Yagami, you starting to connect the dots yet?"
Ryo frowned, a hint of surprise in his voice.
"If that's true, then the Sun Authority's legacy would essentially have an extra copy, splitting its power?"
"Wouldn't that weaken it?"
"No, not at all."
Leticia, who had once held the Sun Authority, shook her head.
"As one of the highest authorities in Little Garden, the Sun Authority has enormous power. The number of abilities doesn't limit it—if anything, it frees more of its potential."
"So giving it an extra legacy ability is only beneficial."
Ryo nodded in understanding. "Ah, so it's not that it's forbidden—it's just never been possible before."
"Exactly."
Shiroyasha smiled, opening the scroll with a slightly wistful expression.
"Back when the Sun Authority was split, my resistance ended up making it so each authority could only have one legacy ability."
"Once that rule was set, the Central Core System in Little Garden and those brain-dead idiots refused to change it. Nearly drove all sun gods crazy."
"I used to think it was hilarious. Served them right. But once I reclaimed most Sun Authorities myself… yeah, it stopped being funny."
Rolling her eyes, she sighed.
"To have such immense power, but only manifest it at that level—it was such a waste of my god-given talent."
"But now it turns out it's not impossible to add abilities manually. You just have to work through the Central System's cross-world observation functions."
Shiroyasha grinned. "So even if you hadn't planned on compensating me, I wouldn't have blamed you. You actually did me a favor."
"Of course, don't expect me to thank you. You were this close to becoming an ungrateful little bastard. Asking for gratitude on top of that? Dream on."
Ryo scratched his cheek with an awkward smile. "Even so, if I had the chance again, I'd probably still try it."
"You've got some nerve."
She gave him a sharp look, then laughed. "Still, I get it. Someone with a Pseudo Star Map like you is practically born with the mission to perfect it. Passing up the chance to gain the Sun Authority would've been the real shocker."
"Well, considering your earlier sincerity, we'll call it even this time."
"But remember—no second chances."
Ryo nodded seriously, skipping any kind of verbal promise. He didn't need it.
Satisfied, Shiroyasha turned her focus to the parchment.
At first, she skimmed through quickly—just the usual official fluff, nothing exciting.
Then her eyes landed on the part describing the familiars born from the Sun Authority's Zodiac legacy.
10 blonde, blue-eyed little girls. Complete with an illustration.
She froze.
"Wait, wait, wait… you can do that?!"
"You're telling me you can use the Sun Authority to make lolis?"
"And not just that—blonde, blue-eyed lolis with customizable personalities? Tsundere, queenly, scheming, pure—you can pick whatever you want?!"
"Holy crap! Back then, I could've had twenty-four lolis to sleep with every night! Swap them out daily and it'd take nearly a month to cycle through them all!"
"Damn it, why didn't I know this? My youth is wasted!"
Watching her overreact, Ryo—who had already heard about it from Leticia—still couldn't help thinking, "Is this really such a big deal?"
Smack!
Her folding fan came down on his shoulder.
"Heretic! Blatant heretic!" Shiroyasha barked, jumping to her feet.
"Do you have any idea what I went through back then? I spent years with twenty-four brainless star beasts who only knew how to smash things!"
"If they'd been twenty-four cute little girls instead, do you think I'd have been bored for even a second? I'd have been the groom every damn night!"
"But you don't even have the tools for that," Ryo muttered.
The glare she gave him could have drilled holes.
"You little…!" She ground her teeth, then narrowed her eyes.
"My lolis are with you now, aren't they?"
"And now they're yours?" Ryo thought, giving her a weird look.
This woman… was she seriously just trying to check out his summoned beasts?
After a brief moment of thought, he called forth No. 3—Tritos, the Serpentine Dragon of Mercury—and had her assume her human form.
"Well, aren't you cooperative," Shiroyasha cackled. Her eyes locked onto Tritos, and she immediately clutched her nose with a hiss.
"Blonde twin-tails, heterochromia, uneven hair length… that skin, that face… oh~ and that deliciously annoyed expression."
"Come here, my dear daughter, let mama give you a checkup—pfft!"
Tritos stepped right onto her face.
"..."
Ryo could only stare.
From the side, he and Leticia could clearly hear the sound of… heavy, rapid breathing.
Feeling a strange chill under her foot, Tritos's expression changed instantly.
"Ryo! I'm going back! Forget the ice cream!"
Tritos bolted into Ryo's chest and vanished into his bloodstream in a blink.
Shiroyasha touched her own face, then casually sniffed her fingers with a pervy grin.
"Feisty girl. I like her."
"Please stop."
Ryo honestly didn't know what else to say.
For the love of God, be a decent person, Shiroyasha!
"What? Liking pretty girls is perfectly normal."
She gave him a disdainful look.
"Blonde vampire beauty—don't tell me you don't like that? If you don't, say it to my face. Go on, say it!"
Ryo's face darkened. No way could he say that.
Leticia was standing right there. And in his blood flowed not just her, but ten more Avrora clones.
Say that out loud, and he'd have eleven jealous women coming for his head. Peace would be a thing of the past.
Shiroyasha snapped open her fan with a smug scoff.
"Ha! Can't even admit it. Pathetic."
"…."
Ryo was already regretting letting Leticia put the familiar's appearance in the report.
Shiroyasha strolled away, occasionally sniffing her fingers again, and lazily flopped back down.
"Black Rabbit's skin is nice and soft, but these vampire lolis are top-notch too. They've got that Sun Authority scent—almost like I've… done something to them. Ehehehe~"
"Hopeless," Ryo and Leticia thought in unison.
Lying on the tatami with one hand propping her head up, Shiroyasha suddenly spoke with surprising seriousness.
"So… you ready for the gods to treat you like their court jester after you submit this report?"
Ryo's face turned stone cold at that.
.
.
.