"Umalator? You want me to record some voice lines for Umalator?"
"Mhm!! A fine young man like you is in high demand, Mister Igo Heita."
"Are you sure that they aren't looking for my looks?"
On a certain day, the young man was called to the chairwoman's office. He thought he was in trouble for something he didn't do. He may be an asshole, but he has always been an asshole within the rules. A lawful asshole, one might say.
"And what's this with me in high demand? I never heard of it before."
"You didn't? That's quite strange… My intel suggests that you've been the talk of the academy for some time now."
"In a good or bad way?"
"Mostly good."
The young man was sure he was not exactly a role model whenever he interacted with people around the Academy. Flirtatious, stupidly honest, no mouth filter, and annoying. He is sure those traits won't get him any good points, but he seems to be wrong.
I never understand people.
"Sigh… Fine… Are you going to ask for my body scan as well?"
"Oh, don't worry about that. We already have that in high quality."
"I see… What…?"
"That's for another time. Here are the lines that people requested from you."
The little chairwoman quickly threw away the young man's worry and handed him a stack of paper. The young man decided to take a peek at each page of the paper. At first, the lines are pretty normal, but they somehow turn weird the more the young man turns the page.
"Uuh… Chairwoman Akikawa… These lines…"
"They're requested by your fellow trainers and Umas. I don't know why, but if that's what it takes to help them, then there shouldn't be a problem, no?"
Her love for Uma Musume has blinded her common sense. No wonder Tazuna has to stand at the front instead of here. I should plan a revolt against this crazy woman.
"Don't worry. I'm not planning to have you work for free. I will pay you handsomely."
"I expect as much."
Money alone would probably suffice as a payment for the young man, but if he can squeeze some more than that will be even better.
"Chairwoman, since I'm going to perform some questionable noises, I would also like you to promise that the Minaz team will be allowed to use the Umalator."
"Hmm? Of course!! They can come here as much as they want!!"
A Umalator's main benefit is its time dilation. Basically, you can set the passage of time inside the Umalator so it can go faster or slower. A second for a minute, a minute for a day, and so on. Training using Umalator would do jackshit to an Uma Musume's physical stats, but it'll do wonders for their wits and skill points. An Uma could simulate hundreds of races in a single day without worrying about pushing their physical body too far.
The only drawback is that the bigger the time dilation and the longer someone is inside the Umalator, the harder the drawback they'll experience once they get out of the Umalator. Your brain has to rewrite and adapt itself to the actual flow of time in the real world, which can be quite taxing when the time dilation is big.
"Alright. Chairwoman, can I ask you to help me get into the mood for some of the lines?"
"Hit me with it!"
"Okay."
The young man approaches the chairwoman menacingly and quickly wraps his arms around her tiny waist.
"EEK!!"
"Let's start with the kissing sound."
"Wait! Wait! We're just acting, right?! We're just acting!! Please let me prepare myself first!!"
XxX-XxX
"So that's why you girls will be the first to test the Umalator training facility."
"I see… That still doesn't explain why Chairwoman Akikawa is sitting on your lap, though…"
Just like McQueen said, the little chairwoman is currently sitting on the young man's lap, looking all bashful and shy. Everyone who has the basic knowledge of how the chairwoman normally acts would immediately understand that something is wrong with her. Her high spirit attitude is now nowhere to be seen. It feels like watching a young girl in love rather than a chairwoman of the most prestigious Uma training institute in Japan.
"Ignore her. I just broke her mind."
"We kinda need that, you know?"
"Calm down, will ya? The Academy is now under my command."
"Normally, that would be wonderful, but this is you we're talking about."
The young man put his finger under the chairwoman's chin and brushed it gently as if he were stroking a kitten. The chairwoman purrs as if the cat on her head had taken over her body. The sight is so jarring that not even Goldship knows how to react.
"Lay your body there and put on the helmet-thingy. It should send your consciousness to a virtual world. Your task is to learn as much as possible while you're in the virtual world. Physical improvement might not transfer to the real world, but experience will."
"Will we be entering into our own world?"
"You should be. Don't worry. I already recorded my voice lines, so there should be a virtual me with you inside the Umalator."
"A virtual trainer?"
"Yeah. It's a brand new NPC, so expect him to be a little bit janky."
"So like a brand new AI chatbot? We can trick it then?"
"Yeah… It's basically me with a mental age of a sixteen-year-old."
Goldship might be saying those words as a simple tease question, but to the rest, it causes an idea to emerge in their mind. The trainer's affirmation only worsens the idea. They will be in a private world with their trainer, and no one will know anything that happens inside except for them. Not only that, the NPC trainer can easily be deceived, unlike their real trainer. They can ask him to do everything the normal trainer wouldn't.
"We're ready!!"
"You can send us as soon as possible!!"
"Oookkkkaaaayyy…????"
The young man was on high alert when his trainees were this high-spirited about something. There are only a few things that could raise Uma's spirit. They are racing and mating. They shouldn't want to mate with him. He has been nothing but an asshole to them. That should never raise their affection point for him.
"I'm giving you girls three hours. After that, I'll force you out."