Upper Layers, Heaven Gate—
"An investigation into the members of 'Trickster'?"
Inside the magnificent white temple, a six-winged white angel whose face could not be seen stared in surprise at the information in his hands. "Why would Ouroboros issue a mission like this? Isn't Trickster just a nonsensical name invented by the Demon Star?"
Below the white angel, several figures quietly chanted hymns. None of them answered. They simply continued praying in silence.
The white angel wasn't surprised by their silence. He merely frowned and thought it over. "The seal on the order belongs to Ouroboros' First Union. The thing the First Union has been paying the most attention to lately is… the Heavenly Army's attack on Ouroboros?"
After pondering for a while, the white angel murmured to himself, "Could it be that the Tricksters are real and even made some major contribution during the Heavenly Army's attack on Ouroboros? Is that why Ouroboros issued an order like this?"
He thought about it for quite some time. Eventually, he signed his name on the parchment in front of him and handed it to his subordinate. "Assist with the investigation."
"Yes, Lord Michael."
The subordinate angel respectfully acknowledged the order before withdrawing.
The white angel watched him leave, then shook his head lightly and returned to his mountain of official duties.
...
..
Outer Gate 3345, Thousand Eyes Headquarters in the lower layers—
Dressed in a purple kimono, Shiroyasha was sprawled in a lounge chair with her legs crossed, lazily rocking back and forth.
"So, how are things going lately? Anything interesting happening?"
Five Thousand Eyes employees sat in front of her, heads bowed over stacks of documents as they used various tools to crunch the numbers.
At Shiroyasha's question, one of the female employees stopped working and looked up. "Yes, we've received a large number of requests from important partners asking to purchase intelligence. We have absolutely no information on the subject they're asking about. There are already 230 requests, and the number is still increasing."
"Huh?"
Shiroyasha blinked in surprise.
Thousand Eyes was one of the largest intelligence organizations in Little Garden, second to none.
And yet they didn't have the information?
Not only that, these were requests from important partners, and there had already been 230 of them.
That was strange.
Had something happened in the lower layers of Little Garden recently? Or was that three-digit figure secretly up to something again?
"What are they asking for?" Shiroyasha picked up the teacup sitting on the side table and lifted its lid.
The employee flipped through the files for a moment before answering in bewilderment, "They're all asking for information on the members of the Trickster organization. The strange thing is, Thousand Eyes doesn't seem to have any corresponding records."
"What the hell?" Shiroyasha's hand trembled, leaving her momentarily dumbfounded. "Whose information are they asking for?"
The employee seemed puzzled by Shiroyasha's reaction, so she carefully explained. "They're asking for information on 'Trickster.' Based on the naming convention, it appears to follow the linguistic style of the Norse pantheon. Should we request investigators to be dispatched?"
"Trickster?"
Shiroyasha repeated the name with a strange expression before asking, "People are actually buying information on that? Wasn't that just something Algol made up as a joke?"
"No. According to the intelligence…" The employee flipped through another file before continuing. "Recently, six floating cities belonging to the Babylonian pantheon in the North Area apparently fell because of attacks by the Tricksters."
"And according to a predictive investigation conducted by an A-rank diviner, all the members of this organization appear to have..."
"The highest level of information restriction." The employee suddenly stopped. Her voice instinctively dropped to a shocked whisper. "Wait. The highest level? How is that possible?!"
The highest level of information restriction.
Only extremely special existences in Little Garden possessed such restrictions.
There was only one way to obtain the highest level of information restriction: it had to be granted by the Little Garden Central Core.
And those beings in Little Garden who possessed the highest level of information restriction…
In the modern era, they were collectively known as the Three Strongest Species and…
The Final Trial of Humanity, the Last Embryo.
An organization whose every official member was either a Last Embryo or one of the Three Strongest Species?
What kind of absurd organization was this?
And more importantly, why didn't Thousand Eyes have any information on them? That should have been impossible.
Unless…
The employee slowly turned toward Shiroyasha.
Unless the information itself had been restricted from her.
In other words, even her current authority within Thousand Eyes wasn't high enough to access information about the Tricksters.
Meanwhile, Shiroyasha was already browsing through Thousand Eyes' intelligence database.
"Members suspected to include a revived Last Embryo. Current operating mechanism unknown. Total number of members unknown. Organizational objective unknown. Suspected to possess high combat power. Headquarters suspected to be located outside Little Garden."
"At present, the First Union of Ouroboros, the Cross Pantheon, Queen Halloween, the Heavenly Army, the Buddhism Pantheon, and others are all seeking information on this organization. Accordingly, an A-rank intelligence restriction has been imposed."
Shiroyasha stared at the information that had appeared directly in her mind.
She couldn't help stirring her tea with the lid of the cup.
"This…"
Good heavens.
Just imagining the reaction of the gods if they found out that the Tricksters consisted of only Ryo and Algol made Shiroyasha desperately want to press the 'Submit Intelligence' button.
Sure, it would screw Ryo over.
But honestly…
She really, really, really wanted to do it.
And just then, a message suddenly appeared in Shiroyasha's eyes from her boss.
{Shiro-chan, find an opportunity to join the Tricksters…}
Shiroyasha blinked.
Her expression gradually became very strange.
Join the Tricksters?
Could there actually be a real Trickster organization?
But wasn't that name just a joke the gods made about Ryo's anonymous exploits, then Algol used it to terrify the gods for a moment?
How could there really be an organization with that name?
Still, if the Boss himself had said so…
A storm of thoughts raged through Shiroyasha's mind.
Could it be that Ryo and Algol had started calling themselves Tricksters, only to coincidentally stumble upon a real Trickster Community that had been operating in secret?
Uh… seriously? It can't be that coincidental, right?
Shiroyasha hesitated for a long while before finally letting out a sigh. "Whatever happens, I still have to listen to the Boss…"
With that, Shiroyasha picked up a communication Gift and contacted the man whose name was saved as 'Trickster.'
...
..
"You want to join the Tricksters?"
At the Arcadia headquarters cafeteria, Ryo stood there holding a sandwich made by Kurousagi.
He stared blankly at the woman in front of him.
Today isn't April Fool's Day, is it?
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