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Deep underground beneath the Keystone Gate, inside the Technical Development Bureau—
"Coffee."
A delicate girl with deep blue hair, dressed in a black-and-white maid outfit, Astarte, set a cup down on the desk in front of Ryo.
"Thanks. You've worked hard."
Ryo thanked her, then turned his head toward the only desk in the room, where Asagi was seated, fingers flying across the keyboard.
Astarte carried another cup of coffee over and placed it in front of Asagi.
"Thanks."
Asagi took it, set it on the desk, and stretched lazily.
The girl already showed the faint beginnings of curves. Not much yet, but the potential was obvious.
"What are you staring at?"
Asagi's embarrassed rebuke snapped Ryo back to his senses. He immediately looked up at her slightly flushed face and replied calmly, "Sorry. I zoned out."
Asagi crossed her arms and gave him a suspicious look.
Ryo took a sip of coffee, raised an eyebrow slightly, and glanced at Astarte.
The blue-haired girl showed no reaction, focused intently on washing the coffee equipment.
"This coffee's pretty good. You taught her?" Ryo asked Asagi.
"I had Astarte use a newly improved learning device."
Asagi took a sip herself, then looked at Astarte with a hint of regret. "This kid's got amazing talent. Pure knowledge like this takes her half a day to absorb. Honestly, I should've competed with Natsuki-chan for her earlier."
"You still can," Ryo said, stirring things up without a care.
"Yeah, right. Next year she'll be my homeroom teacher. I can't afford to offend her."
Asagi muttered, then pulled a USB drive from a nearby computer and placed it on the desk.
"Most of the data on the Cleansing is in here."
Ryo gestured lightly. The USB drive floated up and landed in his hand, where he read it directly with telekinesis.
"Hm?"
After going through it, he raised his eyebrows.
"Rituals, altar, priestess, server, caster. Can't this thing be simplified a bit?"
Under Asagi's analysis, the usage of the Cleansing was already very clear, but it came with several prerequisites.
An artificial altar, which Itogami Island could provide.
A magic ley line as an energy source, something both Ryo himself and Itogami Island's position could handle.
Then there was the need for a priestess with extreme computational power, a server to assist with calculations, and a caster to lock in the spell's effects.
Ryo had all of that.
Still, it was way too much trouble.
"Is working with me that unbearable?" Asagi said darkly, coffee cup in hand.
"Did I say that?"
Ryo froze for a moment. Seeing her expression grow even worse, he hurriedly corrected himself.
"Forget it. Just pretend I was talking nonsense."
Asagi blinked, then explained, "All my effort before went into analyzing the spell structure. Where would I find the time to simplify it? Besides, without usage data, how am I supposed to know what to change?"
"Then… how about we try it out and see if it fits? I promise to be gentle." Ryo waved the USB drive, looking perfectly sincere.
"I still have some work that hasn't been wrapped up yet," Asagi complained, then glared up at him again, her face burning.
"Let's delay it a few days… the day after tomorrow… no, forget it. Tomorrow."
Before Ryo could object, Asagi had already moved the schedule way up.
Tomorrow… that wasn't far off. No need to tease her any further.
With that thought, Ryo smiled. "Alright. We'll do it your way."
Asagi rolled her eyes. Seeing that smile on his face only annoyed her more.
Why did he look so smug every time he took advantage of her? Maybe she should ignore him until tomorrow just to teach him a lesson.
She was stewing over it when Ryo suddenly asked,
"Got time for dinner tonight?"
"I do."
She answered automatically, then realized what she'd just said and stiffened.
"Perfect. Let's eat together."
The moment he said that, a silver-gray head popped up from the sofa nearby.
"Dinner?"
Glenda's eyes widened, sparkling with excitement.
"Not you," Asagi said quickly. There was no way she was bringing a kid along on a date.
"Waaah!"
The mentally incomplete dragon looked pitiful, staring at Asagi with watery eyes.
"Asagi, I want dinner. I want to eat with you."
Asagi was furious, but she could not bring herself to scold the kid, even if the other party was technically old enough to be her ancestor.
"No. I said no, and that's final."
Seeing this, Ryo could not help laughing. "You're supposed to be the elder here. Why are you bullying her?"
Asagi turned around and shot him a glare.
Ryo laughed it off. "Don't be mad. Think of it as raising a kid in advance... Hurry up and finish your work. I'll wait for you to get off and we'll go have dinner."
Asagi froze, then her face flushed bright red.
"Who's having kids with you?"
After snapping back, she turned to tidy up her computer, no longer trying to chase Glenda away.
Seeing Asagi's obvious good mood, Ryo finally let out a quiet sigh of relief.
Comforting girls really was a mental workout. Thankfully, the girls he knew were relatively easy to placate.
Just as he relaxed, Ryo sensed a familiar presence entering Itogami Island. He looked up toward the ceiling.
"So… they've arrived?"
.
.
.