Chapter 225: Are You Trying to Seduce Me?
The specifics of how Tony planned to work on Thor weren't something Ryū needed to monitor. Stark had his angles and his methods; the outcome was fairly predictable at this point. Thor was a man who'd been hit twice by a dog, watched his hammer get lifted by a girl who threatened it, and had then failed to lift it himself. His defences against a friendly stranger with good intentions were currently non-existent.
Sold and helping to count the money.
He wondered briefly whether Odin, deep in whatever the Odinsleep consisted of, would be able to sense this happening to his son and be too incapacitated to do anything about it. Whether that would be more or less frustrating than not knowing at all.
Probably more.
He let the thought go. The Odinsleep had specific conditions for termination, none of which were "son is being manipulated by a Midgardian technology billionaire." Odin would be fine. Eventually. Thor would probably also be fine, in the fullness of time.
The cinema version of this world had significantly reduced power ceilings across the board, which was why it had gone in the selection pool for the Mid-Autumn gathering in the first place. Ryū had considered the comics version briefly and made a different decision. The comics version of the Marvel universe was a category of problem he didn't need during a holiday.
He also had no particular desire to try lifting the large hammer.
He knew the outcome already. Righteous warrior was not quite the description that fit him. Compassionate heart was a more ambiguous case — he didn't think of himself as cruel — but "inner righteousness" as Mjolnir apparently defined it probably required a more consistent track record than he had going.
More practically: he wasn't going to open himself up to the same situation Thor had just been through. His dignity reserves were higher than he let on.
That's Yukari's category of activity. She can keep it.
"Pardon the interruption. May I ask something?" A voice materialised from near his left. "Your group was rather unkind to the young Asgardian. You did know who he was from the beginning, didn't you? You're visitors from another dimensional world?"
He'd been expecting this.
His Observation Haki had picked up the arrival before the voice sounded — an approach so quiet that any ordinary sensory system would have received it as someone who was simply already there. The only person in this world he'd expect to move that cleanly at this range was the one person it would be irresponsible for her not to show up.
He turned.
She was wearing a simple sorcerer's robe. Bald. The kind of presence that occupied space differently from how ordinary people occupied it — not physically imposing, but the air around her had a quality to it that registered before anything else.
Her eyes moved across the group as she made her assessment, and he caught the subtle shift in her expression. She was processing what she found.
He'd been watching her face for this. There it was: the recalibration. The Chat Group members she was cataloguing were registering at levels she hadn't predicted. Not a few of them. Most of them.
He let her finish before he said anything.
She returned her attention to him. There was something in her look — the particular quality of someone who has been observing someone else and has come to a working conclusion they're not entirely sure about.
She said: "You seem unwilling to answer. Though that's quite alright. Earth is a world that values peaceful coexistence, and visitors from other dimensional realities are welcome to see it."
"Other dimensional realities — that's not entirely accurate, but it's close enough." He kept his voice easy. "We're passing through for a few days. We'll be gone after that. We don't have any particular intent toward this world, as long as nobody causes problems for us. You're the Supreme Sorcerer of this world, I take it. I've heard of you."
The Ancient One absorbed this with the slight stillness of someone recalibrating again. When she'd heard of someone across dimensional barriers.
She wondered what that meant for her reputation in places she'd never been.
She filed it.
"Your name, if I may?"
"Ryū. Willow as in the tree, vitality as in living things."
She nodded — someone who had spent considerable time in the Himalayas understood the components immediately. She thought briefly about the nationality question, the interesting fact that she herself held a resident identity card for the Chinese state, with a date of birth that caused significant confusion when people read it carefully.
"The young man from Asgard," she said, shifting slightly. "I'd ask that you not make things too difficult for him. He's somewhat thick in some respects, but his character is good."
Ryū smiled slightly. "Don't worry. We wouldn't do anything to harm him."
The Ancient One looked at him.
Then at the crater where Tony Stark was currently sitting with Thor.
Then back at him.
She chose not to comment on this.
She opened a portal — the ring of sparks that Ryū recognised from what he'd seen of her on-screen — stepped through it, and was gone.
He watched the space where the portal had been for a moment.
"Good thing she's the reasonable kind. If she'd been the aggressive variety, we'd have either needed to leave immediately or gotten into something we didn't come here for."
He meant it. The Ancient One at even the nerfed film-version ceiling was a significant force. He was reasonably confident about his own odds, but "reasonably confident" and "actively wanted" weren't the same position.
Footsteps nearby. A parasol tip tapped the ground.
Yukari drifted into his peripheral vision, parasol propped against her hand with the tip resting on the ground.
"She's very strong," she said, in a thoughtful murmur. "Pity about the hair situation. The bone structure is quite good though — in younger years, probably quite striking." She tilted her head. "Recovering one's youthful appearance wouldn't be difficult for a sorcerer at her level if she wanted to. Admin — you're not secretly drawn to the bald aesthetic, are you?"
Ryū looked at her.
"What do you think?"
Yukari considered this with apparent seriousness. "Fair point. If the Admin shows no particular response to the group's own very complete collection of two-dimensional beautiful girls, three-dimensional ones would logically be even less appealing."
She paused. Appeared to reconsider something.
"Though, speaking of which. Admin. You're certain your inclinations aren't running in an unusual direction? Because looking at Kaguya, Tornado, Dragon-type Thor, Umaru, Eriri, Sakura — every one of them is a perfect ten. And you've shown no initiative toward any of them whatsoever. That's suspicious."
Ryū's eye twitched.
If I could currently win a fight against this woman, I would be engaging in keyboard-grinding right now.
The girls in the group were either too young, or the age math produced numbers he didn't want to think about, or — in Yukari's specific case — old enough to have served as a historical ancestor multiple times over.
This was not a situation that lent itself to initiative.
He narrowed his eyes and looked at Yukari with an expression that took a moment to settle into the right shape.
"Old woman — can I ask you something?"
"Old woman is quite rude, Admin! That kind of language does not attract female interest, I hope you're aware. But questions — the Youkai Sage who knows all things is happy to answer your questions, free of charge~"
"Is it your mating season? Because I'm getting a very strong impression that you're trying to seduce me."
"…Pfft!"
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