"What is it?" Rowan asked.
Although Cosette had not yet spoken, he could more or less guess what she wanted to ask of him.
"I want to enter Totsuki Academy and study there for a while."
After eating the dishes made by Gin Dojima and Nakiri Erina tonight, Cosette realized that she was still far too inexperienced.
Right now, she wanted to enter Totsuki Academy and study systematically so she could become stronger.
When Nakiri Senzaemon heard this, his eyes lit up. He slapped the table and said, "No problem."
This was a good opportunity to latch onto a powerful backer. Naturally, he would not miss it.
Rowan smiled slightly. He had known Cosette would say this.
"Since Old Master Nakiri has already agreed, of course I'll support you. Remember to study hard."
Cosette nodded firmly.
"I will, Lord Rowan."
She swore that she absolutely would not embarrass Lord Rowan at school.
Seeing this, Nakiri Senzaemon knew that he had successfully latched onto Rowan's support. With this connection, if Totsuki Academy ever encountered a crisis in the future, Rowan absolutely would not stand by and do nothing.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help laughing loudly.
"Lord Rowan, rest assured. I will arrange the best teachers to train this young lady."
Rowan said politely, "Then I'll trouble Old Master Nakiri."
"It's merely a small matter." Nakiri Senzaemon waved his hand casually and said, "Also, regarding Lord Rowan's wish to taste the cooking of Totsuki Elite Ten graduates, I can arrange that as well."
"Good."
Rowan nodded. He knew that some restaurants run by graduates had booming business. Reservations alone could be booked weeks or even months in advance.
Without some personal connections, one might not necessarily be able to eat those graduates' cooking.
Since Nakiri Senzaemon was willing to help, Rowan naturally would not refuse.
He would treat it as returning courtesy.
After that, Rowan devoted himself fully to this grand feast.
After the feast ended,
Gin Dojima and Nakiri Erina came to the private room again.
Nakiri Erina asked, "Lord Rowan, were you satisfied with our cooking?"
"Very much."
Rowan did not hesitate to give a thumbs-up.
"Especially the roasted meat made by Gin Dojima. It leaves a lingering aftertaste."
As he spoke, he took several one-meter-long pieces of meat out of his pocket and placed them on the cleaned table.
"Consider these the payment for this meal."
Gin Dojima's eyes lit up. Looking at the pieces of meat on the table, he asked curiously, "What kind of meat is this?"
When he had handled these pieces of meat earlier, he had tasted them. They had the chewiness of beef, yet also the flavor of fish. For a moment, he could not identify what meat it was.
Land animals did not seem to grow that large, but it did not seem like any ocean species either.
This left him completely puzzled.
Rowan said, "You can consider it sea ox meat."
Sea Kings came in all kinds of strange shapes. Some resembled sea oxen, some resembled octopuses, some resembled hippopotamuses—in short, they came in every possible form.
The Sea King Rowan had handled looked somewhat like an ox, so calling it a sea ox was acceptable.
Gin Dojima looked utterly confused. That did not seem right.
It was not as if he had never seen a sea cow. It was a mammal belonging to the genus Trichechus of the family Trichechidae, order Sirenia.
Its body was spindle-shaped, its forelimbs were paddle-like flippers, and its hind limbs were vestigial. Adult individuals averaged around 2.8 to 3.0 meters in length and weighed 400 to 550 kilograms, with females usually larger than males.
However, although each piece of meat Rowan had given him was only about one meter long,
it had clearly been cut from some gigantic creature.
Sea cows were simply not that large.
Even a mutant could not possibly be that big.
Rowan did not explain further. Instead, he shifted his gaze to Nakiri Erina.
"This is for you."
He handed the Curse Homie he had created earlier to Nakiri Erina.
"This thing can not only curse others, but also devour other people's curses. For you, it should be a useful self-defense tool."
"With it, you won't need to worry about others cursing you anymore."
When the Curse Homie saw Rowan giving it away, although it felt somewhat reluctant, it did not refuse.
Instead, it very politely greeted Nakiri Erina.
"Please take care of me, Lady Erina."
Nakiri Erina received the Curse Homie in surprise and delight. This thing looked like a chibi human, small and extremely cute.
She liked it immediately. After all, humans had always had little resistance toward cute things.
"Thank you, Lord Rowan."
"No need to be polite," Rowan said. "Also, Cosette will enter Totsuki Academy tomorrow as a transfer student. I hope you can look after her."
Nakiri Erina straightened her chest without hesitation and said proudly, "Leave it to me."
Totsuki Academy was her territory. How could she possibly let Cosette be bullied?
Impossible.
In reality, Rowan was not worried about Cosette being bullied either. Although Cosette looked soft and delicate, she was ultimately from the One Piece world and had also been injected with the Superhuman Serum.
With one punch, she could kill a whale.
If someone really bullied her, they were probably tired of living.
The reason he asked Nakiri Erina to look after her was because he wanted Nakiri Erina to use her God Tongue to help Cosette's cooking improve further.
That was the correct way to use Nakiri Erina.
…
On the other side,
inside the Washimine Group, the tall and imposing chairman of the group expressionlessly looked at the news on his phone.
President of Asahi Heavy Industries Group, Tanaka Asahi, dies after falling from building.
After staring at the news for a while, the chairman exited the article, logged into a private chat app, and sent a message.
"Tanaka Asahi is dead."
A few seconds later, someone replied to the message.
"Just saw the news. It says he fell to his death. What a joke. How could that height kill Tanaka Asahi? He was a jujutsu sorcerer."
A few seconds later, another person replied.
"His death isn't normal. I went to Asahi Heavy Industries. His Paper is gone."
"Damn it," a third person replied.
The chairman of the Washimine Group continued sending messages.
"No matter what, the Paper must be recovered. That thing is too great a threat to us. The higher-ups in the sect won't let us go either."
"Correct. The Paper must be recovered. But here's the problem. Do any of you know who killed Tanaka Asahi, and who took the Paper?"
The chairman of the Washimine Group shook his head and continued typing.
"Unclear. I don't know. Do any of you know?"
"I don't know either."
"I don't know."
"Same here. Maybe we can start investigating from the people Tanaka Asahi offended."
"He offended tons of people. How easy do you think investigating that would be?"
"No. You're making a mistake. Tanaka Asahi did offend many people, but very few had the ability and qualifications to kill him."
When the chairman of the Washimine Group saw this message, his pupils flickered slightly.
"That's right. Tanaka Asahi was quite strong. Very few people were qualified to kill him. Judging from the current situation, the Shinomiya Conglomerate is the most likely."
"Shinomiya? He actually offended someone from the Shinomiya Conglomerate?"
"That's right. That guy wrote Shinomiya Kaguya's name on the Paper," the Washimine Group chairman replied.
"Shinomiya Kaguya? That unfavored little daughter born from a mistress in the Shinomiya family?"
"Even if she was born from a mistress and is not favored, Shinomiya Kaguya is still part of the Shinomiya family. If they learn that Tanaka Asahi moved against the Shinomiya family, the Shinomiya family absolutely would not allow Tanaka Asahi to live."
"The premise is that the Shinomiya family knows Tanaka Asahi was behind it."
"The Shinomiya family won't be easy to investigate."
"Indeed. These great families' connections have already spread to every corner of the country. Whether in politics or business, they have people everywhere. Investigating them will be difficult."
The chairman of the Washimine Group sneered and sent another message.
"So what if it's difficult? Does that mean we don't do it? Don't forget, the Paper is missing. If we don't retrieve it, can you sleep peacefully? Aren't you afraid your names might appear on the Paper too?"
After this message was sent, the chat group immediately went silent.
After quite a while, someone finally sent a message.
"Leave the investigation of the Shinomiya family to me."
The chairman of the Washimine Group smiled in satisfaction.
"I'll leave it to you, then. You must investigate the whereabouts of the Paper clearly."
"No problem. But after this matter is over, the three of you will all owe me a favor."
"Fine."
"Agreed."
"Agreed."
The chairman of the Washimine Group solemnly sent that message.
…
Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, it was the next morning.
With Nakiri Erina accompanying her, Cosette successfully entered Totsuki Academy and became one of its students.
Rowan and Nero went to see her off. Originally, they had planned to take a look around Totsuki Academy.
However, at that moment, Rowan received a message from Medea.
"A monster attacked Asuna."
After hearing this news, Rowan immediately left with Nero. He used farsight magic to lock onto Medea's location.
At this moment, Medea was sitting inside an empty classroom at Shuchi'in Academy, waiting for Rowan's arrival.
Aside from Medea, the classroom also had a pale-faced Asuna.
"What happened?"
Rowan pushed open an air door and walked into the classroom from outside, asking as he entered.
Seeing Rowan arrive, Medea briefly explained what had happened.
"This morning, after Asuna ate breakfast, she went to school as usual. I stayed invisible and protected her from her side."
"When we entered the school, the monsters hidden in this school seemed to go mad. They were attracted by the curse and charged toward Asuna one after another."
"In order not to involve other people, I brought Asuna to hide in this classroom and set up a barrier to prevent the monsters outside from rushing in."
Hearing this, Rowan raised his head and looked over. Sure enough, he saw the barrier Medea had set up.
And the chaotic mess of monsters waiting outside the barrier.
However, these monsters were not yokai.
They had a unified name…
~~~
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