Crossover: The Problem Human of [Arcadia]

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A spotless white knight's uniform, neat blond hair, and a face set in serious, steely determination.

No one looking at Laius Perseus right now would ever imagine that, in the original story, he'd nearly run his four-digit community into the ground, teetering on the brink of being struck from the records.

"Life has a twisted sense of humor," Ryo thought.

Luckily, he'd arrived early in this timeline. The old Perseus leader was still around, Laius hadn't gone rotten yet, and for now he was still the type who'd fight for his community's future.

A little too talkative maybe, but otherwise not a bad sort.

So, sitting back on the white fabric sofa, Ryo studied the man's face and said with a faint smile,

"Didn't expect we'd be running into each other again so soon."

Two days ago, he'd seen Laius at the Harvest Festival in the capital, tagging along with Aishelia. And here he was again today.

Come to think of it, in just one week, they'd crossed paths three times already. At this point, they were practically acquaintances.

"If I can," Laius replied, his voice dry, "I'd keep as far away from you as possible."

Technically, Laius's ranking as a four-digit put him above Ryo, but he didn't for a second believe that meant he was stronger.

A human personally invited by the Queen Halloween? Weak? Not a chance.

Laius knew his own limits — a four-digit gatekeeper like him couldn't do a thing to someone like a freak like Ryo Yagami.

Of course, this self-deprecating tone had a lot to do with the verbal sparring last time they'd met. He'd mouthed off and been smacked down for it. Now, seeing Ryo again, he couldn't help feeling awkward, wanting to keep his distance.

Unfortunately, Aishelia's orders had sent him here to [No Name] to negotiate an alliance.

Orders from the leader weren't optional. As her knight, Laius intended to carry them out to the letter.

He took a deep breath and slipped into character. "[No Name]'s Leader, Mr Ryo Yagami, I'll keep this short."

He cleared his throat, met Ryo's eyes with a solemn expression, and declared,

"I'm here on behalf of Perseus to discuss an alliance with your community."

"Eh—what?!"

From behind Ryo, Black Rabbit's voice rang out in a startled yelp.

"There really are idiots like you?"

Laius's eyelid twitched, the corner of his mouth shaking slightly. He shot her a glance, then looked back at Ryo — and decided to pretend he hadn't heard a thing.

"Mission first. Damn mission. I need to get out of here quickly," he repeated silently to himself.

"Black Rabbit."

Leticia's tone carried a mild rebuke as she patted Black Rabbit's shoulder. The girl instantly realized she'd stepped out of line, covered her mouth, and bowed in apology.

Once the apology was out, Laius opened his eyes again, fixing his gaze on Ryo's calm face.

"Mr. Ryo, [Perseus] comes in good faith. I hope you'll give us a positive answer."

Ryo crossed one leg over the other, leaning into the sofa as he looked him over.

"And you think I'll just automatically agree to an alliance with [Perseus]?"

Laius felt his stomach sink.

Was Ryo still holding a grudge over their last encounter, trying to milk the situation for all it was worth… or both?

Either way, Laius knew negotiation wasn't his strong suit. From the start, the advantage hadn't been his — and the truth was, he wasn't here to bargain. He was here to give. Which was a little humiliating.

So he bowed deeply and said, "If you're still unhappy about my previous offense, I'm willing to apologize here and now."

"..."

Ryo was still silently watching Laius.

Gritting his teeth, Laius tried again. "Personally, I believe this alliance would greatly benefit your side—"

"Why don't you just follow whatever plan Aishelia gave you for these talks?" Ryo cut in. "She must've told you what to do, right?"

Laius froze, a bead of cold sweat breaking on his forehead.

He opened his mouth, hesitated, thought about all the different contingencies Aishelia had given him, then met Ryo's half-smiling eyes.

Finally, he went for the nuclear option — the one only meant for the absolute worst-case scenario.

"In this alliance, Perseus will agree to all your conditions."

Black Rabbit's eyes lit up like gold coins catching the sun. This was the expression you gave a walking treasure chest.

Ryo, for his part, was privately impressed by Aishelia's boldness — and a little curious what had pushed her to go this far.

Testing the waters, he asked, "Including letting our community lead the alliance?"

Laius nearly fell out of his chair.

A four-digit community playing second fiddle to a no-name group with no official ranking?

If that got out, Perseus's prestige would tank overnight. Their currency would collapse.

Ryo shrugged. "If you're not interested, I can always talk to Miss Aishelia directly."

"No, no — we agree! We agree!"

Laius answered almost before Ryo finished speaking. This alliance had to be his responsibility, not Aishelia's. Only if the first heir made a colossal blunder would her position truly stabilize, forcing the elders to abandon any treacherous ambitions.

The real challenge now was identifying which elders were the problem — who was friend and who was foe. If acting like a fool helped them flush the traitors out, then so be it.

"Any other conditions?" Laius asked grimly.

"More conditions?" Ryo gave him a strange look.

Truthfully, letting [No Name] lead the alliance was a perfectly reasonable deal in his mind. Once it was in place, he'd reveal just enough of his power to raise their perceived power level — not the whole truth, but enough to outshine Perseus in the public eye.

From the outside, what might've looked like humiliation for Perseus would become "an act of great sincerity."

Ryo had been thinking about boosting [No Name]'s reputation anyway, maybe even building a little "trustworthy brand" image.

But if Laius insisted on being cheated a bit more… well, it would almost feel rude not to.

"In that case… how about another 100K [Thousand Eyes] gold coins?"

That was a massive sum. For a four-digit community, most resources went into Gifts, not liquid assets. Thirty thousand coins in cash was healthy; fifty thousand was rich. Asking for a hundred thousand in one go was a serious ask.

"What? A hundred thousand coins? From [Thousand Eyes]?"

Laius looked shell-shocked. That was nearly ninety percent of Perseus's current liquid funds.

Between the money they'd lost buying Leticia from the auction — only for Ryo to snatch her back — and the fortune they'd just spent on a high-grade anti-dragon Gift, their coffers were already hurting.

"Too much?" Ryo asked, brows lifting. "We could lower it—"

"No, no — that's fine. That's the number."

Laius's jaw worked as he forced the words out. This amount could shake [Perseus]'s stability to its core, but that was the point. Burn the house down so the snakes would slither out.

Grinding his teeth, he added, "Anything else? Just say it now."

Everyone present was suddenly full of question marks.

Still more?

Given the look on his face, Laius seemed ready to kill someone — yet he was asking Ryo for more.

Ryo was starting to suspect something was off. But looking at Laius's expression, he decided to play along.

"Well… I'm not interested in Perseus's Gifts. I suppose that just leaves people…"

Perseus's elite educators and specialists would be valuable — [No Name] was rebuilding from scratch and in desperate need of talent.

"You want people?"

Laius shot to his feet, barely stopping himself from exploding. Seeing Leticia and Black Rabbit tense up protectively in front of Ryo, he forced himself to sit back down.

"Fine. People. I understand."

Then, gritting his teeth, he said bitterly, "I may be the heir to [Perseus], but Lady Aishelia and I aren't engaged. And let me make this clear—this is my last concession. Any more, and Perseus would rather go down swinging."

Ryo blinked.

Black Rabbit froze.

Even Leticia looked bewildered.

Dude… what the hell are you talking about?

Why do we suddenly have no idea what you mean?

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