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World‑∞

In this world, where every explanation seemed to breed a dozen new missions, Veyron designed a lure for his enemies and even friends.

He plucked the two most coveted techniques from Excellent Girls' Academy—the martial‑arts school's secret "Breaking Physical Limits" and the meditation class' "Mind Focus"—and scattered them among the students like candy. With no restrictions on further teaching, even the most unprepared novice could learn to shatter bone or warp perception at will.

It was perfect bait. Those who tasted true power would become desperate—either to control it or to destroy anyone who could. And in that chaos, Veyron's real trap would spring.

To be fair...

Just like the decision the Fujiwara family had made, most of the families, factions, and even nations that received word of these supernatural classes—and confirmed their authenticity—chose to play it safe. After all, through these two techniques, the Academy had already extended a kind of olive branch to the outside world.

So until someone could truly uncover the background of the mysterious new chairman—whose identity and past were a total blank slate—no one wanted to roll the dice and risk everything just to poke the bear.

But, of course, there were always a few short-sighted fools… or factions that had no choice but to act short-sightedly due to all the tangled interests at play. These were the ones who got way too greedy about the potential opportunities hidden within Excellent Girls' Academy.

Like that earlier incident Veyron's high-heeled, black-stockinged secretary had reported: some organization tried to poach her with promises of a cushy new job—and even asked her to recommend some replacements before she left. That was honestly one of the tamer cases.

The more "subtle" ones tried to bribe students, teachers, or their families with outrageous sums.

The more direct ones? They laundered cash through a dozen dummy accounts, erased any paper trails, then hired yakuza-like gangs to literally scale the school walls and go treasure hunting.

All of those idiots ended up being swiftly and thoroughly dealt with by Rika Minami—who now happened to be the school's Head of Security.

But outside of these small-time annoyances, there were some mid-level powers that were cooking up something bigger.

Thing was, those in this 'mid-tier' of power knew very well: once they made a real move against Excellent, whether they succeeded or not, they'd probably never get another shot.

If they did succeed? Then the big dogs—nations so powerful a single sneeze could shake half the world—would step in fast. And they'd definitely have to cough up part of the loot to avoid getting crushed.

If they failed? Well, then it'd prove that this "chairman" was way more dangerous than they thought… and surviving long enough to tell the tale would be a miracle in itself.

So all the factions scheming to "risk it for the biscuit" were still kinda stuck in planning mode…

— — —

『Earth's Cancer』: @OrdinaryHuman

『Earth's Cancer』: Veyron, just got word from the Shinomiya family—those guys are making their move tonight.

Veyron raised an eyebrow when he saw the message pop up in the chat.

Huh. What a coincidence.

『Ordinary Human』: Got the details?

『Earth's Cancer』: They've hired a squad of top-tier mercenaries from the underground world. Some are tasked with capturing you, your secretary, and the two teachers—Saeko and Saya—alive, if they happen to be on campus. The rest are gunning for as much meat from the cafeteria's Sea King-class monsters as they can haul off.

『Earth's Cancer』: They've already greased enough palms in official channels. By the time things go down, the JSDF and local police within the operational radius around Excellent Academy will be temporarily unavailable. Basically, those mercs will have free rein to do whatever they want.

『Earth's Cancer』: I just talked to Grandpa. He says he wasn't informed at all. Based on his guess, it's likely the Cabinet of Japan kept us out of the loop because I've been spending so much time hanging out at Excellent with Saya and the others. Seems they struck some kind of silent agreement to shut us out.

『Earth's Cancer』: Best case, they succeed. Worst case, Prime Minister Shigeru takes the fall and resigns. Then a new Cabinet forms around my uncle, who's already in the perfect position for a power grab.

『Ghost Spider』: Betting on both sides of the board, huh?

『Ghost Spider』: Classic politician move.

『Catwoman』: Emm…

『Catwoman』: If they weren't using outside forces—like actual third-party mercs or freelancers—I'd probably agree with you.

『Catwoman』: Because with something this big, everyone knows you can't just throw a couple of temps at it and call it a day. As long as the damage is manageable and there's room for backdoor deals after, nobody cares too much.

『Catwoman』: But if it's like Chika just said, and the official channels are involved directly… Yeah, I don't know about that one.

『Earth's Cancer』: …Maybe it's because the "politicians" Gwen mentioned… are actually the ones like NATO countries?

『Catwoman』: Hah. That would actually explain a lot.

『Ordinary Human』: I'm heading over now.

『Ordinary Human』: Anyone wanna come watch the fireworks?

『Lady Avalon』: How about you stream it for us, Veyron?

『Ordinary Human』: Works for me.

— — —

Ten minutes later — Excellent Girls' Academy, Director's Office

Having called Saeko Busujima, Saya Takagi, Rika Minami, and Shizuka Marikawa into his office, Veyron laid out all the intel the Fujiwara family had dug up from the Shinomiya side.

"Mercenaries? Coming here? To attack us?" Saya blinked, stunned. "Are they actually serious?"

"They don't know what we're really capable of." Saeko, still holding her wooden training sword, shook her head calmly.

Up till now, as the school's head of security, Rika had taken care of most of the intruders. And if Saeko happened to be around, she'd occasionally lend a hand too.

But throughout all those encounters, Rika never showed much beyond her proficiency with firearms and modern weaponry. And Saeko? All anyone would see is a swordswoman with elite technique and physical stats a few times above average.

With that limited amount of observable info, the fact that these outside forces still dared to act—and even dragged the entire political scene of Japan into play—was, in a way, a show of respect.

Respect toward Veyron, the mysterious new director who, not long after the world went haywire, managed to establish a full supernatural system for both the body and the mind.

"Anyway, that's the situation," Veyron concluded. "According to their plan, the mercs are going to launch their operation tonight at eleven. I'll leave the stage to you guys."

Now that the briefing was over, he started dishing out assignments.

"Want me and your secretary to send out a campus-wide alert? Tell the students not to leave the dorms so they don't get caught in the crossfire?" Shizuka asked, her usual calmness tinged with concern.

"No need." Veyron shook his head. "Even if they dropped a mini-nuke on this place, I can guarantee no student near the blast would get hurt. Let the curious ones watch—it'll be a good show."

The truth was, if he really wanted to shut things down from the source, he could've done it ages ago. But he didn't. Letting these idiots pull strings and conspire was just his way of passing the time.

After all, if you're bored... why not stir up a little chaos?

"Then, do you have any specific tasks for us, sir?" Saeko asked, standing at attention.

"Didn't have any at first. But now that you mention it…" Veyron scratched his chin, then snapped his fingers. The office shimmered slightly as a layer of magical concealment fell over the room—those inside could see out, but from the outside, the room might as well not exist.

"Well, we've got some time before the show starts. Let's do some rounds here, I gotta test your stamina."

Veyron was fully in the zone. Sure, having fun in Touhou was great, but this—this was on another level. The variety here? Different sizes, different energies.

Saeko Busujima. Saya Takagi. Rika Minami. Shizuka Marikawa.Seeing all four of them together like that—could he even call himself a man if he walked away? Could he claim to be worthy of building a harem if he didn't cream-pie them?

"Hmm... I've never had a… uh, how do you say it? Fivesome?"

"Well, the number's gonna go up anyway, so the name doesn't really matter. Sixsome, sevensome—whatever."

"They're all mine."

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