"W-what 'person behind me'? Don't make wild accusations, Queen!"
Completely unprepared for the Halloween Queen's reaction, Shiroyasha panicked for a moment.
"Oh? You mean I guessed wrong?" the Halloween Queen's eyes narrowed, a hint of a smile playing on her lips as she asked. "Are you going to tell me that the Gift you just displayed, the one that can access the legacy of the Celtic pantheon, was something you comprehended yourself, and not something you got from someone else?"
"Ah, this!" Shiroyasha's small mouth gaped open, clearly not realizing she had exposed this flaw. Fortunately, she was stubborn enough.
"Wh-what's it to you! Who said I got this power from someone else? And who said there's someone else behind me? Don't frame people without any evidence!"
"Heh! Without any evidence?"
Faced with this stubbornness, the Halloween Queen chuckled softly and said in a light tone, "With your intelligence, if someone hadn't pointed it out to you, how could you have possibly realized the issue with the destruction of the Knights of Avalon, and how could you have taken the initiative to come and negotiate with me?"
She wasn't underestimating Shiroyasha's intelligence, but... well, okay, she was underestimating Shiroyasha's intelligence.
For hundreds of years, she hadn't discovered the problem. To suddenly realize overnight that the pantheons were behind it... it would be strange if someone hadn't told her.
"You, you, you! You're looking down on me! Don't you think without Su—"
Sensing the Halloween Queen's disdain, Shiroyasha almost blurted out Su Mo's name. Fortunately, she was "clever" enough to correct herself in time.
"Ahem! I mean, isn't it possible for me to have a sudden epiphany and realize this on my own?"
Faced with this stubborn denial, the Halloween Queen calmly shook her head.
"For an uninformed outsider to deduce that the mastermind is related to the pantheons, they would need not only keen judgment but also a sufficiently bold imagination, as well as a deep understanding of the current situation. A person who can do this must be extremely intelligent and would easily guess my thoughts, or even my faction."
Hearing this, Shiroyasha blinked and patted her chest.
"Extremely intelligent? That's me you're talking about!"
However, before she could continue her self-praise, the Halloween Queen added, "A person who can guess the truth would never use the legacy of the Celtic pantheon to lure me into negotiations. That move was too clumsy and almost impossible to succeed."
As she spoke, her gaze fell on Shiroyasha with a hint of pressure.
"A wise person with such judgment would not have committed such a foolish act as you did just now."
"Your judgment was wise, but your attempt to attract me was incredibly foolish. I can't think of any other possibility than the two decisions not coming from the same person."
"And based on your past performance, the wise person can only be the one behind you."
And the foolish one can only be you. The Halloween Queen thought about it and decided to spare Shiroyasha some face, not saying it out loud.
"..."
Hearing the Halloween Queen's reasoning, Shiroyasha was dumbfounded and speechless. Although she knew she was being looked down upon, what was with this completely irrefutable atmosphere?
After being stuck for a few seconds, she raised her hands and gave up making up lies.
"Alright, alright! I knew you guys were too shrewd to be fooled. I'll admit it. There is someone behind me. He's the one who told me about the pantheons."
Not being known for her intelligence, she decided to get straight to the point.
"But you guessed one thing wrong. In order to deal with the possible actions of the pantheons later, it was also his idea for me to come and form an alliance with you. Whether it's wise or foolish, those evaluations have nothing to do with me, right?"
At the end, she still wanted to struggle a little, but—
"Your words only further confirm my guess. The decision to form an alliance itself is not a problem. The problem is the way you went about forming it," the Halloween Queen glanced askance at the fool.
"To actually use the legacy of the Celtic pantheon to tempt me... who do you think I am?"
Her tone was proud, but Shiroyasha was a little confused.
"Huh?"
Seeing her like this, Scáthach spoke up to explain, "With the super-standard summoning ability that Her Majesty the Queen possesses, if she truly needed the power of the Celtic pantheon, she could successfully summon them on her own without anyone's help. The reason Her Majesty hasn't done so is simply because there's no need."
The Two-Digit level Boundary Authority brought with it the highest-spec summoning authority in Little Garden. If necessary, the Halloween Queen could even directly summon the Celtic pantheon, which had been destroyed during the dawn of Little Garden. It would just come at a considerable cost.
Compared to the authentic pantheon legacy that she could summon at will, Shiroyasha's pirated version held no attraction whatsoever.
"If I can't find the enemy lurking in the shadows, what's the use of summoning them a hundred times? It would just be feeding the enemy," the Halloween Queen explained, half helpless.
"If the person behind you is also targeting the pantheons who are secretly causing trouble, then we do have a basis for cooperation."
Now that things had reached this point, Shiroyasha finally understood what the other party meant.
"So, you're finally agreeing to an alliance?" she asked, slightly surprised and pleased.
If they added the Halloween Queen, a rule-breaking Three-Digit, their chances of winning would be much greater.
"No."
The Halloween Queen shook her head decisively, her gaze toward Shiroyasha slightly scrutinizing.
"Before we discuss an alliance, you should at least let me know who the person behind you is, and whether they can be trusted."
When it came to conspiring against the pantheons, one could never be too cautious.
"No problem, don't worry! When it comes to dealing with the pantheons, that Su Mo guy is trustworthy!" Hearing the Queen's words, Shiroyasha didn't think too much and said happily.
Seeing Shiroyasha's carefree attitude, the Halloween Queen sighed softly and said speechlessly, "Although I don't know who that Su Mo is, sometimes it's better not to blab about everything, especially about the pantheons... It doesn't matter if you get scammed, just don't get blood on me!"
This was also a tactful reminder. If she hadn't known there was someone behind Shiroyasha, and if she hadn't been without any clues herself, just looking at Shiroyasha's impatient appearance, the Halloween Queen would never have formed an alliance with her. She looked like the type who would easily screw over her teammates.
However, Shiroyasha clearly had no such worries. Hearing the Halloween Queen's words, she patted her chest.
"Don't worry! With me keeping an eye on things, how could we get scammed! Besides, Su Mo isn't from Little Garden. He has nothing to do with the pantheons. There won't be any problems!"
"Not from Little Garden?" Hearing this, the Queen breathed a slight sigh of relief, a hint of curiosity in her eyes.
Someone from outside Little Garden has such a deep understanding of the situation? Who in the world is this Su Mo? I don't think I've ever heard of a legacy with that name! Could it be a pseudonym?
"Yeah, he's from outside Little Garden, and he just met with me a little while ago," Shiroyasha said without reservation.
"If you had said you wanted to see him earlier, I would have brought him along. But it hasn't been that long, so he shouldn't have gone far... Wait, I'll call him!"
With that, Shiroyasha closed her eyes and entered the chat group.
Seeing her like this, the Queen became even more curious. Shiroyasha and that Su Mo actually had a special Gift for communication? Their relationship seemed unusual!
Before she could think any further, a fluctuation of the Boundary suddenly appeared beside Shiroyasha.
"He actually mastered a Boundary-type Gift?" The Queen was a little surprised, sensing Su Mo's aura.
In Little Garden, all Boundary Authorities came from the Halloween Queen, without exception. The spatial transfer Su Mo was using seemed to her to be a type of Boundary Gate technique.
"But why is this aura so strange?"
If the Boundary Gift only brought the Halloween Queen a sense of familiarity, then the radiance of gold and the sun brought her more than just familiarity.
In the next instant, Su Mo's figure appeared in the main hall.
At the same time, the expressions of both Shiroyasha and the Halloween Queen changed drastically. They both felt a violent fluctuation in their spiritual ranks, as if they were going berserk.
"What's going on?!" ×2
The two Solar Spirits' eyes widened, and the radiance of the sun couldn't help but appear on the surface of their bodies.
At the same time, the fourteen and six Solar Sovereignties they respectively held uncontrollably emerged from their bodies.
Twenty stellar beasts of the sun materialized, and in the very first instant, they respectfully bowed their heads to the black-haired, black-eyed figure before them.
Like a counterfeit meeting the genuine article, like a daughter meeting her father, like a subordinate meeting their creator.
The twenty Solar Sovereignties showed absolute obedience to Su Mo.
Even when Shiroyasha and the Halloween Queen looked at Su Mo, they felt a faint sense of being half a rank lower. It wasn't that their spiritual ranks themselves were inferior to Su Mo's, but it was like a noble who had done something shameful and could only guiltily accept their punishment. For some reason, they couldn't muster any arrogant confidence in front of Su Mo.
Damn it, what the hell is going on?