It wasn't long before the companion Canary was waiting for arrived: Leticia Draculea, a vampire girl and one of the main combatants of the community Arcadia.
"Good day, Lady Shiroyasha! Lord Su Mo! And... Miss Artoria!"
After being introduced to everyone by Canary, the vampire girl, who was even worse at hiding her emotions than Shiroyasha, simply stared blankly at Artoria.
It seems those comrades-in-arms are truly gone.
Seeing the gallant knight-princess's stunned expression, Guinevere guessed what was going on and stepped forward to strike up a conversation.
"Good day, Miss Leticia. Were you well-acquainted with this world's King Arthur?"
"Not particularly well-acquainted. We simply fought side-by-side," Leticia replied, shaking her head. Her expression was a little awkward; she clearly wasn't skilled at socializing.
"However, this is my first time meeting you, Miss Guinevere. In the past, the Queen only ever summoned the other knights, not even Lancelot... Oh! My apologies!"
Halfway through her sentence, she suddenly recalled the contents of the myth. Her face flushed scarlet, and she fell silent, at a loss for words.
Given the Queen's personality, why would she ever summon rebellious subjects who had defied her like Guinevere and Lancelot?
She hadn't meant it as a jab, but her words were undeniably pointed.
"..."
Even someone as eloquent as Guinevere was rendered speechless.
She knew Leticia hadn't meant it maliciously, but having to deal with this misunderstanding in every new world was becoming a real headache!
Dammit! It's not like I was the one who wrote the myth that way!
She had only funded the storytellers who spun the tales, and there were perfectly respectable, orthodox versions out there!
But no, those damn Englishmen just had to prefer the juicy gossip of romantic entanglements. Only the versions with explosive relationship drama ever got popular, and by now, the story was set in stone, impossible to change.
"It's alright. You may have misunderstood, Miss Leticia. Lancelot and I are not involved in that way. In my world, she is a goddess!" Guinevere explained patiently through gritted teeth, then shot a pleading look at Su Mo.
"Master, could you please summon Uncle here for a moment? Otherwise, my reputation will be completely ruined!"
If he refused now, she looked like she might burst into tears.
Naturally, Su Mo did not refuse.
The next moment, the White War God descended. When she removed her helmet, revealing her female form, Leticia was hit with another shock.
So that's how it is... King Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot are all girls.
But... isn't that even weirder?
---||---
While Guinevere was pulling Leticia into the tea room to explain, Su Mo and Shiroyasha exchanged a look and, with Canary in tow, headed toward Shiroyasha's bedroom.
Algol saw them and sneakily followed along.
Su Mo noticed her but didn't stop her.
With Jibril and the others standing guard, Shiroyasha casually pushed open her bedroom door.
Knowing they were about to have a private discussion, Canary hadn't even stepped inside before she heard a voice that left her utterly astonished.
"Don't you know to knock before entering? Shiroyasha, when will you ever learn some manners!"
The moment she heard that sharp, elegant critique, Canary knew who it was.
"Your Majesty?!" she gasped, frozen on the spot.
After being rescued from the Dystopia Demon Lord's clutches by Kouryuu, she had traveled among the gods to study, and the Queen Halloween had taken care of her for a time. Though not quite a teacher-student relationship, the two shared a certain bond.
She knew the Queen well and never, ever expected to find her here.
"I'll be careful next time... wait a minute!"
Shiroyasha, being naturally carefree, didn't mind the small detail, but a moment later, she realized something was wrong.
Her eyes went wide with indignation.
"This is my room! Why should I knock?! And why are you acting so high and mighty in front of me, the owner of this room?!"
Talk about the world being turned upside down!
"Hmph? For the Queen to deign to grace this place with her presence, is it not only proper that you offer this messy hovel as my temporary palace?"
The Queen Halloween's posture remained as haughty as ever. After speaking, she cast a disdainful look around Shiroyasha's private quarters.
"On second thought, no. Using such a cluttered room as my temporary palace would not only diminish my stature, it would sour my mood!"
She did seem to have a bit of a neat freak streak. Even the chair she was currently sitting on was one she had brought from her own palace.
"Who said you could stay here?!"
Shiroyasha's face flushed slightly, and she gestured wildly. Normally, she wouldn't care about the Queen's opinion, but Su Mo was right there! How could she say such things about a girl's room?!
She didn't even have the heart to explain that the room was already in a tidied state.
"Hah~"
Seeing Shiroyasha's flustered appearance, the Queen Halloween let out a small huff and didn't press the issue.
She raised a hand, summoning another ornate royal throne identical to her own, and turned to Su Mo.
"Lord Su Mo, please be seated."
It seemed she had already heard about the events in the heavens. Her attitude and the importance she placed on him had clearly risen a level.
In her eyes, only Su Mo was worthy of sitting at her side.
"Thank you." Su Mo accepted the Queen's gesture and sat down.
Seeing this, the Queen Halloween's expression softened slightly, before she finally turned her gaze to the other two. At that moment, Canary finally processed the situation.
The three greatest problem children in the history of Little Garden were, for the first time ever, all gathered under the same roof.
It was a truth so unbelievable that no one would ever believe it.
"Hehe! It's all because I met Master! Not only am I free, but I'm back at my peak! I just didn't expect you two to be with Master as well!"
If Shiroyasha still cared about the Queen's barbs, Algol couldn't care less.
She didn't even seem to mind that no seat had been offered to her, or that she wasn't being treated as an equal. With an even more casual air than Shiroyasha, she walked right up to Su Mo and plopped down in his lap.
The slender Star Spirit girl wiggled around a bit, shamelessly adjusting herself into a comfortable position before looking up at him.
"Master doesn't mind sharing with Al-chan, right?"
"Just don't move around too much."
The girl's body was as light as a feather, posing no burden, but as a Demon Star, she seemed to have a different kind of interest in him.
Su Mo didn't mind, but they had business to discuss.
"Damn it!" Shiroyasha silently ground her teeth, feeling a pang of jealousy at Algol's brazenness. I was here first!
"Ahem! Let's get down to business. I only explained how we handled the Buddhist civil war, not what happened after. After we vanquished the Asura King, the Church's Michael..."
Shiroyasha sat cross-legged on the floor and briefly recounted the events.
The Queen's expression didn't change as she listened; clearly, she had already learned the details through other channels.
Canary's eyes, however, widened in shock.
"To think that even the Vice-Commander of Heaven was defeated..."
She found it hard to accept that the Church was the mastermind, but she wasn't surprised.
During her time studying with the various pantheons, she had also received tutelage from the saints and felt a debt of gratitude towards those teachers.
She had never imagined the Church would be like this internally, but she also understood that only the Buddhist and Christian pantheons were powerful enough to be the masterminds. Either outcome would not have been a shock.
Now, the mystery was solved. The Church was the problem.
With this revelation, her understanding of Su Mo's strength deepened.
To defeat the war god Michael meant that even among peak three-digit beings, Su Mo's power was in the upper echelons. Not even Indra was likely a match for him.
No wonder even the great Algol chose to follow him.
After her shock subsided, Canary collected her thoughts, reorganized the facts, and spoke up.
"My lords, based on the current information, it appears the Church was indeed operating in the shadows during the Dystopia Demon Lord campaign, and they deliberately attacked the Knights of Avalon, causing our near-successful conquest to end in ruin."
Her tone grew heavy as she spoke of it.
The war against the Dystopia Demon Lord was the most difficult and protracted conflict Canary had ever experienced.
In human history, the conquest had taken at least three or four centuries. In Little Garden, it had been even longer, stretching over a millennium.
The despair she had felt, the sorrow of her comrades' sacrifices—the memories were still fresh.
Even after the Demon Lord was finally vanquished, she had never stopped her secret investigation into the tragedy, though it had yielded nothing.
That was why, with even the slimmest shred of information, she had taken the initiative to warn Shiroyasha and assist in this test.
Her choice had been the right one.
While she may not have been of much help, she had at least made her position clear, earning her a place in this secret meeting.
However, now that the mystery was solved and the mastermind identified, she found herself facing an even bigger question.
"Since they dispatched Michael and the angelic legion to interfere with Lord Su Mo, it must have been the will of the Son of God himself."
"But why would the Church do such a thing? That was a Last Embryo! What possible benefit could they gain from its failed subjugation?" she asked, looking from Su Mo to the Queen Halloween, subconsciously assuming Shiroyasha wouldn't know the answer.
But on this, she was mistaken.