The world was ushering in a new revolution!
However, these power plays among the higher-ups had nothing to do with Demon King Ship.
Currently, Agnes Tachyon and Tracen Academy were handling these matters for her. Demon King Ship's own life remained as usual.
Central Tracen hadn't changed much, either.
After all, this was Symboli Rudolf's stronghold, which she had managed for years. With her here, no problems would arise.
Demon King Ship finished her training for the day and sat to the side to watch the others train.
She was pleased to see that recently, quite a few horse girls had mastered basic skills and were beginning to grasp the timing of their activation during training runs.
After all, this meant her future races wouldn't be so boring.
Among them, Tokai Teio was particularly outstanding.
Possessing the special technique "Teio Step" to begin with, Tokai Teio displayed extraordinary talent when she started learning skills. She had already mastered several basic skills and was currently crushing the opposition in the academy's mock races.
[Mejiro McQueen]'s progress was slower than Tokai Teio's.
Demon King Ship was actually somewhat dissatisfied with this.
She believed [Mejiro McQueen]'s talent was definitely not inferior to Tokai Teio's, so the fact that her learning progress was slower must be because [Mejiro McQueen] wasn't working as hard as Teio.
In reality, however, horse girls who already possessed special techniques or the "Zone" did learn skills faster than average.
[Mejiro McQueen] hadn't actually slacked off in training—she wanted to wipe away her previous shame, after all. The reason her progress was slower than Teio's was that [Mejiro McQueen]'s talent profile was similar to Mihono Bourbon's—advantageous in stats—whereas her mechanics were slightly inferior to Teio's regarding skill acquisition.
"Wonderful. Everyone is improving. This great one is very pleased."
Demon King Ship felt as if she could see a massive wave of XP (experience points) walking toward her.
As long as the other runners became stronger, she could become stronger during the races. Then, her chances of winning against the real Mejiro McQueen would be higher. It was simply perfect.
The Demon King's happy expression sent chills down many people's spines.
After all, that look in her eyes was just like a farmer watching their crops ripen.
'That bastard really is annoying.'
[Mejiro McQueen] knew why Demon King Ship had released the skills. Or rather, Demon King Ship had exposed her own intentions from the start; it was just that many people didn't want to believe it. But McQueen believed it. So she knew exactly why Demon King Ship often looked at the training grounds with such a delightful expression: that girl really treated them all as her meals.
'You'll regret this when I surpass you!'
This thought wasn't unique to [Mejiro McQueen]; most students who had been crushed by Demon King Ship in races felt the same.
Normally, as the one who published the skills, Demon King Ship should be loved by many horse girls.
The problem was, that emotion vanished completely once you raced against the Demon King.
Because after winning, that girl would always leave behind a single sentence:
"You are still too weak right now. Go get stronger. Get stronger, and then come back to entertain this great one."
That high-and-mighty, charitable attitude was extremely punchable.
However, it wasn't that there were no horse girls who admired the Demon King; in fact, there were many. It was just that the Demon King didn't care about them at all. The Demon King only paid attention to challengers. Admirers meant nothing to her.
'I wonder how much of a surprise you lot can bring this great one in the upcoming Japan Derby.'
The Demon King glanced at the figures of several challengers.
She could be certain that Narita Taishin and Mejiro Ryan would definitely participate in the Japan Derby. After all, those two had issued challenge declarations to her. Whether [Mejiro McQueen] would participate was uncertain; that girl seemed to want to hold back until she had a "super move" ready, not wanting to be slaughtered in a race by her again.
Seiun Sky would likely participate too. Her progress wasn't small either. Like Tokai Teio, she was a horse girl who already possessed special techniques, so her skill learning speed was much faster than average.
Tokai Teio was still preparing for her debut race, so she could be ignored for now. Just let her continue leveling up.
Speaking of which...
'Tachyon and Cafe's strength must be pretty good by now. I have to find a way to drag them into the water too.'
Agnes Tachyon was always missing races because she was too obsessed with research. Manhattan Cafe, like Mejiro McQueen, was a fellow focused on her own running. However, Cafe's focus came from having an opponent only she could see, which was different from McQueen's situation, so she wasn't very enthusiastic about participating in races either.
But these two "vassals" of the Demon King were actually the ones who had improved the most. They might have even mastered advanced Gold Skills by now. Demon King Ship didn't want to let these two "XP packages" go.
Thinking of this, Demon King Ship walked toward the activity room.
Currently, half the activity room had been transformed into a laboratory by Agnes Tachyon. The environment was better than her original lab—remote and quiet enough—making it the perfect place for a research lab. If it weren't for the fact that the trainer also worked there, Tachyon would have probably commandeered the whole room long ago.
"My Lord Demon King, you've returned from training. Come, taste my specially made functional drink! Not only does it promote stamina recovery, it can even effectively increase..."
As soon as she entered, Agnes Tachyon approached with a cup of cloudy green liquid.
Demon King Ship raised her right hand and refused with a solemn face: "No need. This great one is not thirsty."
Although Tachyon's research results generally had miraculous effects, they often came with unknown side effects. Tachyon even let it slip once that she was actually researching those unknown side effects, and the positive effects were the accidental results. This made Demon King Ship even more determined to refuse trying Tachyon's research.
"But Lord Demon King, this research is for our great cause! The effect of the 'Demon King No. 1' pill is limited, after all. You've noticed it too, right? Everyone clearly has plenty of energy left during training, but because they fear the damage caused by skill training, they don't dare continue practicing once the effect of the pill wears off. Therefore, we must develop a new product that extends training efficacy. This functional drink was developed for that very purpose!"
Agnes Tachyon spoke with a sincere face.
"Didn't you say before, Lord Demon King, that as long as it is to realize the great cause, you would not hesitate even to sacrifice yourself?"
Demon King Ship felt Tachyon was trying to scam her, but she had no evidence.
"Are you sure you aren't trying to bamboozle this great one?"
"How would I dare commit such lèse-majesté? I am wholeheartedly dedicated to your great cause, my Demon King!"
...
Get 20 chapters ahead on - P.a.t.r.e.o.n "RoseWhisky"