"I'm not the type to give up so easily."

  Hearing that, Erina couldn't help but refute Alice's ent.

  "Let's go!"

  After calming her breathing, she finally followed in Nakiri Senzaemon's footsteps.

  "Heh!" Alice just smiled, choosing not to say anything more. She found it increasingly poio keep peting with her cousin. In this kind of setting, Senzaemon could only shake his head with a sigh. They were his granddaughters, after all what could he say?

  "Mr. Ryuji!"

  When they approached, Ryuji was still chatting with Kaguya and Chika. Senzaemon cleared his throat first, theed Ryuji sincerely.

  "My name is Senzaemon Nakiri. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Ryuji!"

  "I know you—Head of Totsuki Academy, right?" Ryuji replied with a friendly smile as Senzaemon approached.

  "I've heard a lot about the cuisi Totsuki. Food is the foundation of life, after all. Once you reach a certain level of strength, you start seeking other pleasures… like good food." After all, this world wasn't just about the ary battles of Totsuki; it enpassed all kinds of realms. While Totsuki had a promi p the food se, it was still, in the end, just a ary school.

  "Is that so?" Senzaemon, who'd initially worried that approag Ryuji might risk offending him, felt a rush of relief at his warm reception. Smiling widely, he replied, "If you ever have the time, Mr. Ryuji, you're always wele at Totsuki. We would be hoo host you."

  This was a rare opportunity to form a e with Ryuji, and Nakiri Senzaemon was not about to let it slip.

  "Hahaha! I'll make sure to visit when I ," Ryuji said with a nod. It would be iing to see the quality of Totsuki's cooking and whether it lived up to the hype.

  "This is my granddaughter," Senzaemon tinued, enced by Ryuji's friendliness. "Erina Nakiri. When it es to cooking, I assure you, she won't disappoint."

  Ryuji nodded slightly, gng at Erina Nakiri, who stood as the queenly and proud protagonist of the ary world. Just as he'd imagined, her demeanor exuded arrogand a sense of superiority. However, after overhearing her previous versation, Ryuji also thought she seemed rather naive.

  In his early days after arriving in this world, he might have been fasated by meeting a "heroine" from anime, even trying to strike up a versation. But now? After everything he'd been through, the term "heroine" had lost its luster. Ryuji no longer felt the o go out of his way to impress anyone, let alone someoh such a limited worldview.

  Erina, who was already flicted, had wao introduce herself politely. But remembering what she'd heard about Ryuji's as, she found herself hesitant. She couldn't shake her disapproval of his ruthlessness; even if someone had threatened his family, killing everyone involved seemed unnecessarily brutal. But given Ryuji's strength and status, Eriainly couldn't voice her thoughts openly. She wasn't just representing herself here; the Nakiri family was on the line, and she didn't want t trouble to them.

  Yet, just as Erina gathered the resolve to speak, Ryuji turned away from her, looking instead at her cousin, Alice.

  "And who might this be?" he asked, feigning curiosity as he g Alice.

  In terms of looks, Aliakiri was certainly on par with her cousin.

  "Hello, Mr. Ryuji! I'm Aliakiri," she said with a bright smile, not waiting for her grandfather to introduce her. She reized the opportunity and seized it.

  "If you'd like, you just call me Alice!" she added warmly.

  "Alice? I like it—niame, very fitting," Ryuji responded. His e like a clear firmation of what Alice had been telling Erina earlier: times were ging. Those uo adapt to the new world would be left behind, regardless of their titles or backgrounds.

  "Thank you for the pliment, Mr. Ryuji!" Alice replied with a smile, while Erina's expression soured. She wasn't oblivious; she could tell this was a veiled criticism of her.

  She was about to retort, but Nakiri Senzaemon intervened, seeing the tension. He smiled diplomatically and said, "Yes, Erina be a bit naive. I'm sure she'll broaden her perspective soon enough."

  Ryuji wasn't oo press an issue unnecessarily. Since Senzaemon had smoothed things over, he simply waved his hand dismissively, signaling he was doh the topiderstanding this, Senzaemon quickly guided his granddaughters away.

  As they left, Alice grinned. "If it weren't for Erina, maybe I could've chatted with Mr. Ryuji a bit longer!"

  Erina, oher hand, looked visibly annoyed. She'd always been revered at Totsuki, winning respect from all who knew her. Today's enter was a bitter first.

  "But…" she began, clearly upset.

  "Enough," Aliterrupted, not ied in prolonging the argument. "Maybe you should rewatch the live broadcast from a few days ago, Erina. It might help you uand the true power of those cursed spirits and why Mr. Ryuji's strength is in a league of its own."

  It was clear to Alice that her cousin didn't fully grasp the threat level of cursed spirits or the unique abilities required to deal with them. Erina's limited perspective kept her from uanding why people felt both awe aoward Ryuji.

  Erina fell silent, unsure how to respond. She truly hadn't seen the broadcast. To her, cursed spirits were dangerous, but they could be managed by trained people. She didn't realize how far beyond that Ryuji's power went.

  Seeing his granddaughter's flicted expression, Senzaemon shook his head. Some lessons could only be learhrough experieno amount of lecturing could make up for personal uanding.

  ---

  Meanwhile, Ryuji tinued chatting casually with Kaguya and Chika. Suddenly, he stopped, his gaze shifting toward the outskirts of the hall.

  "What's wrong?" Kaguya asked, a bit startled by his sudden ge in focus.

  "Oh, it's nothing," Ryuji replied, his expression turning into a pyful grin. "Just seems like something iing is ing our way."

  Kaguya and Chika exged fused gnces, both unsure of what he meant.

  At the same time, Mei Mei, who was sipping her drink nearby, picked up on Ryuji's ge in demeanor. She, too, gnced in the same dire, her expression briefly sharpening.

  "A special-grade curse spirit?" she murmured. The powerful aura she sensed was unmistakable, and the curse wasn't b to hide its prese all.

  Mei Mei's eyes shifted to Ryuji. She doubted he'd missed it either.

  When Ryuji noticed her gnce, he raised an eyebrow and gave her a reassuring smile. Seeing this, Mei Mei rexed. With Ryuji here, one or even ten special-grade curses weren't anything to worry about.

  Everyone else at the ba remained blissfully unaware, still engrossed in trying to get close to Ryuji.

  "Is something wrong?" Suzuki Tomoko asked, feeling a straension in the air. Though she was an ordinary person, her instincts told her something was off.

  "It's nothing," Mei Mei replied, waving her hand. "Just stay close to me for a bit."

  Mei Mei didn't mind Suzuki Tomoko or her daughter, Sonoko. She was willing to offer them a bit of prote as a courtesy.

  "Huh?" Sonoko asked, utterly baffled, just as she was about to ask for more details. Her mother pulled her aside.

  "Uood," Tomoko replied, choosing to follow Mei Mei's advice without further questions. Whatever was going on, she trusted that staying close to Mei Mei was the safest course.

  ---

  Elsewhere in the hall, Sayuri Sawamura had also sensed something. "Mom, shouldn't we go say hi to Ryuji?" asked her daughter, Eriri, eager to approach him.

  But Sayuri, who had apanied her daughter to the ba, shook her head. As a member of another powerful family, she khe Sawamura family could visit Ryuji at any time.

  "Let's wait. Today, he's the guest of honor. We invite him over ter, after things settle down," Sayuri advised.

  Eriri uood and, though disappointed, agreed. After all, not everyo the ba had as close a retionship with Ryuji as she did. She could see him whenever she wanted. Smugly, she thought, Let's see these people try to pete with that!

  Suddenly, Eriri's smile vanished, her gaze drawn to the dire where she felt a dark presence approag. "Mom, stay close to me. Something's ing," she warned.

  "…What do you mean?" Sayuri asked, armed. Just then, a hulking figure, nearly two meters tall, appeared outside the manor.

  It was the special-grade curse spirit that Noritoshi had maniputed—the Gun Curse. The cursed spirit, standing at nearly two meters tall, had a distinctive, uling appearas head was shaped like an automatic rifle, and both of its hands looked like pistols, embodying the very essence of firearms.

  The Gun Curse had no eyes; beh the automatic rifle on its head, its mouth split into a sinister grin, revealing sharp, jagged fangs. It was an unnerving sight, radiating an aura of violent i.

  "This is the pce, huh?"

  The Gun Curse spirit, born from humanity's fear of guns, thrived on violend chaos. Fueled by Kenjaku's words, it hadn't hesitated to seek out the powerful sorcerer supposedly lurking within the manor. It wanted nothing more than to test its strength against someone formidable.