Crossover: The Problem Human of [Arcadia]

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Just as Ryo was starting to panic, Hermes was panicking too.

One glance at Perseus, lying with only his head on the sofa, and he immediately saw through it—Perseus's body was dead.

His eyes shifted to Aishelia, perfectly fine. Then to Ryo.

In that instant, Hermes pieced together the scene: Aishelia must have been forced by her elders, dragged in Ryo as outside help, and together they flattened Perseus.

Big trouble. Exactly how big, he didn't know yet.

Hermes flicked his wrist casually.

Laius —the boy he'd been using as a navigation puppet—instinctively turned and started walking back toward the cells.

Hermes had been posing as Laius's friend, all to secretly visit Perseus without the other gods catching wind. Athena had been the one to suggest this cover so he could meet Aishelia in secret.

Now that Laius had served his purpose, Hermes discarded him without a second thought.

That wasn't the priority anymore. What mattered was: just how bad had things gotten?

He cleared his throat, putting on his best concerned face.

"What on earth happened here? How did family end up brawling like this?"

'How do you know we were fighting each other and not someone else?' Ryo cursed silently but didn't speak. Instead, he cast Aishelia a look.

Aishelia, who had been stunned, quickly caught on and said, "My deepest apologies, Lord Hermes. Because of some… disagreements, my ancestor and I clashed a little. But it's been resolved."

"Resolved?" Hermes pressed.

Aishelia nodded quickly. "I've already signed a treaty of cooperation with him—"

"I get it, no need to say more."

Hermes's face twisted like he'd just swallowed a lemon.

"Just tell me one thing. Did you sign that treaty under the center of Little Garden's witness system?"

Aishelia froze, then nodded stiffly.

Hermes slapped his forehead, teeth chattering. "Dead, I'm dead, I'm so dead!"

He began pacing back and forth in frantic circles.

"Does anyone else know? Any other gods? If not, I can try to suppress the treaty for now—"

Ryo and Aishelia exchanged awkward looks.

Hermes felt his heart sink. "…Who knows? Which pantheon?"

Aishelia clenched her teeth, not daring to meet Ryo's eyes. "…Lady Shiroyasha."

Hermes's legs nearly buckled. He staggered backward a few steps, face pale.

"Of all people… why did it have to be her?"

"I am truly sorry."

Aishelia dropped to one knee, her tone sincere. "All responsibility lies with me. I will bear it alone."

"Bear it?" Hermes gave a pained laugh, his expression twisted.

"Whether you bear it or not doesn't matter. Athena is gonna skin me alive. Can you get skinned on my behalf? No? Then don't talk nonsense!"

Aishelia flushed with embarrassment, but facing one of Olympus's Twelve Main Gods—Hermes Trismegistus—she didn't dare talk back.

Even if this was only one of his incarnations, he was still a three-digit god. Way out of her league.

Suddenly, Hermes moved.

In a flash he was right in front of Aishelia, shoving a roll of golden parchment into her hands like he'd just passed her a live grenade.

"Listen carefully, Knight Aishelia. This scroll—I gave it to you before Perseus ever arrived. Understand?"

Aishelia blinked in shock, dumbly holding the scroll. "This…"

"No excuses. You must insist on this before Athena. Even if she sees through it, keep insisting. Every second you stall matters. I'm begging you."

And with that, Hermes disintegrated into ash right there in the hall.

"He… killed himself?" Aishelia whispered, dumbstruck.

Ryo's mouth twitched hard.

The two stood in silence for a long moment before Ryo finally said, softly, "Forget the rest. Open the scroll."

Aishelia looked down at the golden parchment in her hands, gritted her teeth, and slowly unrolled it.

Ryo leaned over her shoulder, reading. The more he read, the stiffer his expression became.

The scroll began in Athena's voice.

She reminisced about training Aishelia, praised her courage and wisdom, and then stated she wanted to entrust Aishelia with a great mission.

Ryo instantly recognized the type of mission. Back in Demon Slayer, he'd pulled something similar. He'd even been planning another round in Strike the Blood.

Athena's order: send Aishelia to an unobserved world, pull it under Little Garden's observation, and in doing so, weaken Christianity's faith advantage.

But that wasn't all.

The scroll made it clear this was not just Athena's will. The decision came jointly from Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, Hera, Hestia, and Athena herself.

Even Hermes hadn't been told the details—he was just the messenger boy, kept in the dark to prevent leaks.

Half of the Twelve Olympians had created chaos in the upper layers of Little Garden specifically to cover Aishelia's infiltration of this other world.

Given the importance of the mission, Athena instructed Aishelia to fake being gravely injured by Perseus and Laius's scheming, then flee. That way, no one would suspect she was on a covert assignment.

The scroll even listed various methods to evade divine surveillance.

At the end, Athena offered words of comfort—and then dropped a bombshell.

If the mission succeeded, Aishelia would be guaranteed a seat as one of the Twelve Gods in the fourth generation.

The promise bore the signatures of three god-kings and three gods, proof that it was binding.

"…"

When they finished reading, both Ryo and Aishelia looked like they wanted to curse but didn't know where to start.

Ryo broke first, snarling, "Why the hell is this intel only reaching us now?"

If it had arrived on time, none of this would have happened. Aishelia would be fine, Laius wouldn't be dragged in, and Ryo wouldn't have gotten sucked into the mess. Instead, Aishelia would've scored big—her own seat among the Twelve Main Gods.

Aishelia's lips twitched as she took a deep breath.

"…Hermes. This is Hermes's fault."

She didn't even bother with honorifics anymore. That bastard Hermes wasn't worthy.

Ryo's face darkened.

If Hermes hadn't already bolted, he'd be tempted to really burn his cosmos and punch the idiot into the dirt.

What kind of god screws up delivering classified intel this badly? This was supposed to arrive before Perseus even showed up!

Where the hell had that dumb courier been wandering?

"…What now?" Aishelia asked, her face pained.

Athena's mission was already a bust. Worse, both she and Ryo would be on Athena's blacklist now.

What had they done to deserve this?

"Huh…" Ryo's face twisted. He reached into his coat and pulled out a gift card.

On it, a single message from Shiroyasha: {Come to Gate 3345. Athena has arrived.}

"…"

Ryo's face turned into a storm of mixed emotions.

.

.

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