Crossover: The Problem Human of [Arcadia]

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Standing beside Lily was a figure no taller than 1.5 meters, cloaked completely in black. The robe shrouded most of his body, leaving only bits of his hands and feet exposed.

And those exposed limbs? Covered in thick, shaggy fur and packed with solid muscle—more ape than human.

"Ape fur? That height... is he some kind of monkey species?"

Ryo stepped forward, closing the distance between them.

The cloaked figure barely spared him a glance—just a quick, surprised look before ignoring him entirely.

But Ryo had already seen beneath the hood. A monkey's face, covered in yellow-brown fur.

Just then, the cloaked man reached a hand toward Lily, who stood behind her street stall, completely unconcerned with the crowd around them.

That's when Ryo noticed—no one else seemed to even be aware of the cloaked figure's presence.

A concealment-type Gift? Ryo narrowed his eyes, deep in thought.

At the same time, Lily finally noticed Ryo standing there—clearly unhidden—and let out a surprised gasp.

"Ryo-nii...!"

She froze for a second, then stuck out her tongue sheepishly. "Ah—sorry! Still not used to the title... I should've called you 'Leader.'"

That one word made the monkey-faced figure stiffen noticeably. His gaze finally locked onto Ryo, this time with surprise written all over his face.

"You can see me?"

His tone was full of disbelief—like he couldn't imagine anyone seeing through his Gift.

Ryo took a leisurely look at him from head to toe and said, half-smiling. "If your concealment doesn't go all the way down to the atomic level, it's not getting past me."

He wasn't bragging. That was the plain truth.

Now that Ryo had mastered Cosmo, any attempt to hide from him would require an equally profound understanding of its mechanics.

And in Little Garden, Cosmo was still very much a complete mystery.

Which meant most Gifts simply wouldn't work on him anymore.

"Damn, impressive..." the cloaked man muttered.

"Just with that one trick, you're better than most of [Arcadia]'s former upper brass."

He paused, then let out a chuckle.

"Ah, right—I almost forgot. You [No Name] people aren't allowed to say 'Arcadia' anymore, huh? Wouldn't be surprised if the higher-ups decided to erase the name altogether soon."

Ryo raised an eyebrow, a little amused. "Sounds like you don't get along with your boss."

Because wow, was this guy leaking intel like a broken faucet.

Honestly, he was one sentence away from flat-out saying, 'Hey, I'm the guy sent to destroy Arcadia.'

The guy paused, then gave Ryo a cheeky wink.

"You know how it is—every community's got its... displeasure."

Ryo's smile turned sharp—serpentine.

"Oh? And your solution is to snatch one of our kids?"

"Well, orders from the top, y'know? Hope you'll cut me some slack." He gave an awkward chuckle—part nervous, part pleading.

"Oh, right—I'm the Demon King of Confusion."

Ryo's eyelid twitched slightly. He raised an eyebrow and said, half-teasing:

"Little brother of the Great Sage?"

The so-called Demon King of Confusion, a 5-digit demon lord, froze. His easygoing vibe evaporated, and he growled through gritted teeth:

"So Arcadia is connected to that bastard!"

That 'bastard' being Sun Wukong—a.k.a. the Great Sage.

(As documented in The Journey to the West, when those seven became the Seven Great Demon Kings or Sages. And Wukong is the Great Sage.)

In Little Garden, the Monkey King was one of the seven Sages, a three-digit Demon Lord, a semi-star spirit of Earth... and, somewhat unexpectedly, a drop-dead gorgeous blonde woman.

Of course, she'd long since accepted the summons of the Buddhist pantheon and now resided in the upper three-digits as the Victorious Fighting Buddha.

Per Little Garden's divine pacts, no three-digit beings were allowed to descend without a major emergency. Doing so would trigger wrath from all godly factions.

Also, Sun Wukong just so happened to be the mentor of Arcadia's former strategist, Canaria.

So the Demon King saying Arcadia had ties to her? Not wrong.

Ryo couldn't help but smile.

"So what now? Planning to grab us to force the Great Sage's hand?"

"....." The Demon King went silent.

His original plan was just to see if Arcadia could contact Sun Wukong.

Now? He wasn't so sure.

If word got out that Ryo had been kidnapped to bait the Great Sage, she might just descend to the lower realm.

And then? She'd break the pact and get swarmed by the divine pantheons? That would overthrow the whole purpose.

But worst of all—he couldn't even control Ryo.

This guy was... weird. He saw through Gifts that even some four-digit principal gods couldn't detect.

The Demon King let out a long breath, then said with a trace of exasperation: "You're seriously freakin' weird."

Not only was Ryo fearless in the face of a self-proclaimed Demon Lord, he even saw through his concealment and had the nerve to smile like he held the upper hand.

The Demon King of Confusion was starting to wonder—did this guy already know everything? Was there a mole in Ouroboros feeding him info?

But that couldn't be. In Ouroboros, departments operated in complete isolation. No one knew what anyone else was doing. Leaks were basically impossible.

"Ouroboros, huh?" Ryo said casually.

Ouroboros was a Community of Demon Lords.

The Demon King of Confusion went still for a moment...

He sighed and muttered, "These days, some lower-tier communities have been spreading rumors that Canaria found an outstanding successor. That he even cleared the Perseus trial in one go."

He shook his head and looked at Ryo seriously. "Thinking about it now... those rumors are kinda funny."

Then, with a solemn expression. "You're more dangerous than Canaria ever was. At least she didn't know Ouroboros existed."

He didn't know where Ryo got his intel, but the fact that he had it was already insane.

Arcadia really was a cockroach—just when you thought it was dead, it crawled back stronger.

Kill Canaria? Fine. But now they had Ryo Yagami? Even worse!

Ryo chuckled but didn't confirm or deny anything. He just casually asked. "So, how many of you came this time?"

He was clearly pressing for information now. And the Demon King knew it.

What he didn't know was where Ryo got the confidence to interrogate him like this.

Faced with someone who knew everything about him but stayed a complete mystery... the Demon King hesitated—and backed down.

"Just two of us. Me, and Maxwell."

Ryo blinked, a little surprised. "Demon lord of Portal... Maxwell? The Thermodynamics Demon lord?"

(A/N: Unlike the other demon lords who are based on mythology, Maxwell is actually inspired by a concept from thermodynamics, introduced by James Clerk Maxwell.)

"You do know everything!"

The Demon King stared at him like he was a ghost.

He even knew about Maxwell. And his nickname.

Yeah—there was no saving this. He'd been totally, utterly played.

This Yagami guy was just way too damn scary.

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