— — — — — —
"Ow ow ow!"
Black Rabbit's face was being smushed into all kinds of shapes as she yelped in pain.
"Bunny, are you planning a rebellion?"
Shiroyasha continued to aggressively knead and pull her cheeks, looking thoroughly irritated.
"That's only because you kept dodging the real topic…"
Black Rabbit complained through distorted lips, her squished face full of deep resentment.
"You deliberately said the kid's name was 'Byakuya' right in front of me, then shoved an important matter in the way to change the subject. That's totally cheating…"
Shiroyasha raised her brows, amused, and pinched Black Rabbit's face again. "Well well, looks like rabbits really do bite when cornered."
Say what you want about her useless moments, the rabbit's skin was unbelievably soft. Addictively soft.
No wonder she was a moon rabbit born from satisfying every single one of Indra's… preferences. She came factory-equipped with the allure to topple kingdoms.
A voice from the side cut in with an explanation.
"Byakuya was created using a Shinigami Zanpakuto, my soul as the core, and the divine power that Shiroyasha had left behind in her divinity. She's a blade spirit I forced into existence."
Leticia and Black Rabbit both turned to stare at Ryo.
"You brat. Keeping that from them fun for you?"
Shiroyasha dropped Black Rabbit's cheeks at last and dusted off her hands.
Ryo gave her a long look. "That bunny belongs to me."
"Tch."
Shiroyasha clicked her tongue, clearly annoyed. "If I'd known things would turn out like this, I should've lured her away back when you were sick in bed."
Ryo rolled his eyes. "As if you didn't try."
He knew her far too well.
This old pervert had never given up on Black Rabbit.
And honestly, it wasn't hard to see why.
The bunny might be a bit useless day-to-day, but she was still one of the fewer than five moon rabbits left in the entire Little Garden.
Not to mention her bonuses:
• inheritor of the most Indra artifacts among moon rabbits
• holder of lunar sovereignty
• Indra's legitimate great-granddaughter
• naturally equipped with kingdom-toppling allure. The heiress of the Moon Rabbit tribe
• a personality soft enough to be conned by a stiff breeze
In simple terms: the only SSR-tier moon rabbit in the entire Little Garden. Rare to the point of absurdity.
Shiroyasha wanting her wasn't exactly unreasonable.
"So… she's not actually your biological child…"
Black Rabbit let out a breath of relief, though her expression carried an odd hint of disappointment.
'Are you okay?' Ryo stared at her, baffled.
'Did she… love the idea of being cheated on? No way. My bunny has NTR fetish.' His mouth twitched.
Now that her panic had faded, Black Rabbit finally noticed another detail.
"But still… the Queen even knew about that?"
Shiroyasha snorted. "Who knows what weird things that lunatic can summon with her unrestricted ability."
Ryo stiffened a little. That line felt… important, somehow.
But the next second, Shiroyasha shifted topics back to him. "Anyway, kid. Your spirit rank holding up?"
Ryo looked at her dryly. "Should I consider this after-sales service?"
"Pretty much. Boss told me to check on your condition."
She nodded casually and looked him over. "You got the host permissions, right?"
Leticia immediately focused. "So your spirit rank has been acknowledged as four-digit?"
"What?"
Black Rabbit's eyes went wide. "That fast? You were gone for, what, five hours? How did you jump to four digits already?"
"Question is whether he's fast at everything."
Shiroyasha eyed Ryo's lower body with a smirk.
"That's character defamation, you know." Ryo glared at her.
"A guy who climbed from the bottom of seven digits to four digits in one month should shut it."
"And someone born at two digits has no right to talk either."
"Who was born at two digits?" Shiroyasha gave him a serious stare. "I was just born three digits. Took me a hundred years of blood and sweat to reach two digits."
Leticia, born at six digits, smiled politely while thinking, 'I want to hit her.'
Ryo, who barely squeezed into seven digits when he arrived in the Little Garden, suddenly felt that the dimensional forum was a trash-tier cheat.
One month, only four questioners pulled in. One of them he had paid for himself. Absolutely dragging him down.
Wait… averaging one helper every ten days… That was actually kind of consistent.
While he was spacing out, Shiroyasha asked: "You got a new divinity, right?"
"You upper-floor people really treat the core like a transparent window." Ryo sighed helplessly.
The upper floors of Little Garden were too shady. Anyone honest wouldn't survive.
So much for Little Garden being a playground.
"Well, we are the developers." Shiroyasha flicked her wrist smugly.
Unfortunately, that was true.
The Little Garden really was built by the gods. Humans existed mostly as observation anchors to stabilize deities.
Unequal status was practically baked into the foundation.
"But a Shinigami-type divinity, huh. Not mainstream, but it fits your personality."
She stroked her chin and studied him. "So, how're preparations for the gift game? Need some advice?"
"Looks like those two Your Highnesses gave you special instructions."
Ryo sighed and explained. "I still need to prepare a bit before constructing the Gift Game."
"You're paying yourself." Shiroyasha cut in instantly, without hesitation.
Ryo twitched, rolling his eyes. "I'm just saying I need a private room. I'm calling someone for help."
"Say that earlier. Why're you being polite with me?" Shiroyasha slapped his shoulder with heroic enthusiasm.
.
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