Chapter 105 – A Long-Awaited School Festival at a Prestigious Girls' School

I infоrmеd the Anсient Witch thаt wе рlаnnеd tо visit the schоol festivаl.

Тhat vеrу sаmе dаy, twо admissiоn tickets wеrе wаiting in mу mailboх.

“Without а doubt, she knows оur рarty comроsition.”

“Is she like your sеniоr’s senior?”

“She’s a grand sеniоr. I was indebtеd to hеr whеn I wаs а fledgling Witch, and I still oсcasiоnаllу seek hеr соunsel.”

Thе schoоl the Ancient Witсh fоunded and hаs рresidеd over аs principаl evеr sinсe is the all-girls schoоl that Кirаbоshi Hаzuki attends.

Frоm thе оutside world, it’s knоwn as а suреr рrеstigious institutiоn.

Арpаrеntly, high academic scores or excellent report card grades alone aren’t enough to gain admission.

Every applicant undergoes an interview, and only a select few who pass are allowed to attend this school.

“Ah, I know about that…!! The smartest kid in my class took the exam and failed, but this really caring girl everyone called ‘Mama’ got in. Her grades were only average, though.”

“I see. So they really do decide based on character, huh?”

In a way, you could call it a terrifying elite school.

To meet up with Charaway, Yatagarasu, and Mr. Daikyo on-site, I boarded the train with Mashiro in tow.

“I’ve been learning from Mariya-san and Miyuki-san about, like, the mindset of a Dungeon challenger’s wife…!”

“So Mashiro has found herself mentors too…”

“That’s right! They told me I should have a child before you completely turn into Little Spice!”

“It’s not good to discuss such things publicly.”

Meanwhile, the three Grimoires crammed into my bag were chattering away.

They were largely in full agreement about me leaving descendants.

“What do you mean, ‘turn into Spice’?”

Flota, who had poked just her horn out of the bag, answered for me.

‘It’s when the Witch aspect becomes so strong that the Metamorphosed form becomes the true one. It happens quite often. The Abazure are all people who lost their human forms and were consumed by the Witch’s appearance.’

“You don’t say.”

Well, I had noticed Spice’s way of thinking creeping into my daily life, but that’s what it was, huh?

It had blended in so naturally that I hadn’t paid it any mind at all.

“Should I be concerned?”

‘Since Little Spice is also part of you, Master, and a part of your personality, I don’t think it really changes anything. Both are as sensible as the previous Master was.’

“I see.”

Then I guess I don’t need to worry.

“Senior, you’re starting to sound like Little Spice in your speech, so you should be careful!”

“Whoops.”

I genuinely hadn’t noticed that.

Well then.

When we got off at our destination station, a pair was waiting outside.

Charaway and Yatagarasu.

For someone who’s supposedly busy, Yatagarasu’s attendance rate is pretty high, huh…?

“Actually, I recorded everything I needed to during that busy period. Besides, since Ikaruga retired, I’ve been in a sort of semi-retired position. I guess the only thing I really can’t miss now are Now Fantasy’s real-life events.”

“You’re surprisingly free, aren’t you?”

“In this guy’s case, if you don’t keep him tied to Now Fantasy, he just gets more and more degenerate! It’s good for him to have some restrictions like now.”

Charaway, having known Yatagarasu for a long time, was well-informed.

Mashiro listened to this conversation with keen interest, humming in acknowledgment.

She’s been watching a lot of Dungeon Streams, apparently to help me out.

She seems to have gotten completely hooked on Streamers.

This chance to hear behind-the-scenes stories from top-tier Streamers must be enjoyable for her.

“Sorry to keep you waiting!”

“Mr. Daikyo! Is the whole family here?”

The Daikyo family was deploying.

Everyone except the eldest daughter, who’s studying abroad—both wives, the eldest son, second daughter, and the still very young second son and third daughter.

“By the way, Mariya-san is in charge of the eldest daughter, eldest son, and third daughter, and Miyuki-san handles the second daughter and second son.”

“Mashiro has become quite knowledgeable…”

We boarded the bus as a group, heading for the school in question.

The bus was filled with people who seemed rather refined.

These were probably almost all people holding tickets for the school festival.

I guess it’s an event that also screens the quality of its attendees.

The Four Guys stood, chatting animatedly among the four of them.

The Daikyo family members and Mashiro, seated in the back, seemed to be interacting warmly.

Oh, she’s being allowed to hold one of the babies.

“Looking at the townscape like this, it’s like the Dungeons are all a lie, huh?”

When I muttered this, the other three nodded.

“Honestly, I think it’s because Streamers are straining themselves behind the scenes that the surface can seem safe. Peace on thin ice, you could say.”

“That’s true. We don’t really understand how the Dungeons began in the first place. Well, we know about the existence that triggered it, but still.”

“Even in my time, we could only manage with symptomatic treatment. We don’t know how to solve it, or even if it’s a problem that can be fundamentally solved.”

Yeah, that’s right.

Now that Streamers have been established as a countermeasure against Dungeons, and everyone can watch and strengthen them through Concurrent Viewers.

In terms of opposing Dungeons, you could say this world has made great progress.

But the world itself has been drastically altered by the Dungeons.

Other Species different from humans have appeared, settled, and over the last three months or so, have completely assimilated into this world.

It’s a sight unimaginable last spring.

A Centaur running on the same road as bicycles.

A Birdman taking a rest atop a utility pole.

An Elf using Spirit Magic to help an elderly person who was about to fall.

The world continues to change irreversibly.

Our fight against the Dungeons might just be an attempt to somehow stem the erosion of the world.

Even so, we can’t resist completely. The extraordinary spills out, transforming the ordinary.

The all-girls school we were heading to now stood precisely between that ordinary and extraordinary, a symbol of this world.

“We’re heeere!”

Mr. Daikyo’s son went running dadadadad and dashed outside.

There was the school festival gate, and through the bus doors, we could hear the Background Music.

“Well then, shall we go?”

I stepped off the bus and set foot into a space of the extraordinary, different from the Dungeons.