A certain rumor was making the rounds on the streets.
First, regarding the children.
"At the private cram school built by the King of Chronos, you can receive an education on par with the military's Special Forces."
It's not a private school!
It's just a dojo!
Just as I was thinking that, the rumors gained even more momentum.
"You get priority admission into the Officer Academy and universities."
Huh?
I never said anything like that.
I haven't even advertised the place to begin with, you know?
And then, children with bloodshot eyes came rushing in.
To be precise, their parents did.
Most of them were the sons and daughters of mayors and governors from the planets and cities of Chronos.
In other words, the children of the new Chronosian Nobles were eagerly clamoring for admission.
When I told them, "It's a martial arts class!", their faces fell in disappointment.
Huh?
Now it feels like an atmosphere where I'm obligated to teach academic subjects too.
Having no choice, I called in a ton of teachers.
We also built an extension for a separate facility wing.
Then, survey teams from the shrines and Gaming Monks with doctorates started demanding that I let them work as lecturers.
Active university professors, including those from Chronos, joined in on this too.
Apparently, they wanted the lecturer income for financial stability.
Well, whatever. I went ahead and accepted readily.
I mean, of course. Those various surveys and research were projects we had commissioned ourselves anyway.
The least I can do is look after their livelihood.
Look, hiring guest lecturers for events is totally normal.
Besides, this is my own personal project.
The lecturers' salaries are well within what my personal assets can cover.
Any money spent will just circulate back around to the Kamishiro Group anyway.
And then it returns to me through tax revenues, salaries from the Kamishiro Group, and dividends.
Hahaha!
Even if the balance sheet for this venture is negative, it's a net positive in the grand scheme of things.
It might even lower our taxes.
It's not like my family or I spend all that much anyway, so this is totally fine.
Just as I was thinking that, the old-timer Combat Engineer instructors made a direct appeal: "Isn't it unfair that only the athletes and humanities folks get everything?"
Fair point...
A cram school where you can study science and engineering too, huh?
No, wait, this was supposed to be a martial arts dojo...
...Wait a second. Isn't this turning into a university rather than a prep school?
Once I cooled my head, I realized this had spiraled into an outrageous project.
Getting terrified, I went crying to Lady Claire.
"Wahhh! Claire, save meee!"
"Why don't you just make it a university already?"
My beloved Claire was cold as ice.
"Whyyyy... Why would you say that...?"
"Think about your own influence for once!"
In an ideal world, I thought maybe twenty people per class would gather, tops!
I wasn't expecting to train a generation of disciples or anything.
It's fine. It doesn't need to become the strongest martial style in history.
Forget a superhuman training school; this thing has the momentum to become a full-fledged comprehensive university.
I don't care anymore!
I told you people, it's a dojo, damn it!
As for the adults, they were saying whatever they pleased.
"To become a disciple, you have to be at least elite-unit level."
Huh?
Beginners are totally welcome, though.
I even planned on having classes where salarymen could drop in once a week.
I keep saying, a broad base is better.
People who don't improve even after ten years are important, you know.
Though that brat in the corner of the dojo who won't listen to the teacher and keeps fiddling with the fire extinguisher is an enemy.
That kid is a public enemy.
Pull the safety pin, and that's an act of war.
Last time, he was a grandmaster, so I couldn't let him lose face.
That's why I only showed off our standard training!
I wouldn't want people saying they got bullied after joining!
Everyone from my graduating class at the Imperial Officer Academy can do it, but I understand it's not normal.
We trained desperately because if we couldn't do at least that much, we'd die.
Even kids without stamina trained like their lives depended on it and shoved food down their throats until they almost threw up.
Because we pushed ourselves way too hard, our lifespans probably shortened by a few years.
That's the kind of training it was.
But telling people from other martial schools to "Do this!" would be absurd.
Even I have that much common sense...
I'll do it, but you guys don't have to.
Clearly defining the boundary between oneself and others. That is crucial.
"T-This is terrible!"
A civil servant rushed into Claire's office in a panic.
"We have a flood of applicants seeking admission!"
"Huh? The children's parents?"
"No, adults!"
Are there only masochists here?!
Fierce warriors, primarily from Kijinkoku, were gathering.
This time, a lady-in-waiting came dashing in.
"R-Report from Lady Karen! She says a Special Forces unit from the Repsitore military is heading our way! They are applying for admission!"
"Whyyy?!"
Yet another lady-in-waiting arrived.
"T-The Galactic Empire Swordsmanship Federation is swarming with admission applicants!"
"Why is this happening?!"
"They are all unanimously demanding: 'Let us take the entrance exam!'"
"There is no exam!"
I've been saying, it's a casual, laid-back style!
Why is this misconception spreading that you need to shave an eyebrow and go into mountain seclusion?!
"P-People from Imperial Spearmanship and the Jojutsu Association are here as well!"
Another civil servant arrived.
I can't take this anymore!
"Now people with zero connection are showing up!"
"They claim that they used spears during the Zork War!"
"I only know the first ceremonial form, though!"
"I haven't even achieved anything yet!...Right. Let's dump this onto Katori-sensei."
I just have to pass the buck to the root cause of all this.
Yes, everything is Katori-sensei's fault!
Caught up in thinking that, I didn't have the leeway to look after Charlotte.
Perhaps realizing I was dead busy, Charlotte didn't say anything either.
We were being considerate of each other. We were completely passing each other by.
Problems were piling up in my private life, too.
Melissa, who desperately wanted a child.
Kyoko, who was developing whatever she pleased with no one left to stop her.
My babies, being taught how to hunt by Kinako.
The restless Himorogi-chan and Zashiki-warashi.
And one more person...
That's right.
My daily life is the most dangerous battlefield of all.
There was one ultimate bringer of bad luck who had blended into the tour guides of the swarming groups.
No one expected that one of the staff members working for the travel agency chartered by the Sojutsu Association would vanish on Chronos.
Well, that kind of thing happens occasionally, so we account for it, but the mindset was just, "We can always arrest them later."
There was no way to know that this person was Melissa's missing mother.
It's impossible to notice in this chaos!
And so, the usual hell had returned.
And it was the kind that couldn't be solved with muscle.
Furthermore, there was one more thing.
Come to think of it, in Japanese mythology, there was a god who resisted until the very end.
In the Nihon Shoki, not the Kojiki.
Back then, however, I completely forgot what I had read.
Or rather, nobody pointed it out.
Someone out there had probably made the claim, but at the very least, it never reached me.
It's not like I read academic journals related to Shinto shrines, after all.
Besides, with things like this, there's no way anyone would have thought that far ahead, right?