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Chapter 75 - Chapter 75: Deception and Trickery

...

After analyzing all night, Lucian had largely finalized the selection list.

He did have his own biases—after all, society runs on personal connections. But even when judged purely by data, Tokai Teio still stood out.

Next was Rice Shower. Though her running tests weren't particularly outstanding, her overall physical metrics were quite good.

Then there was Dextrous Bailey, who was still pending... again, a matter of personal connections.

The next afternoon, Lucian held a team meeting with these three candidates in mind.

"The main issue is Dextrous Bailey... Everyone knows about her past friction with Spe-chan, so I wanted to hear your opinions." He might have forgiven Dextrous Bailey, but that didn't mean the others had, so it was necessary to ask.

The gazes of all the horse girls gathered on Special Week, waiting for her decision.

"I don't have any objections. Dextrous Bailey apologized to me before and gave me lots of carrots, study notes, and things like that."

Special Week kept replaying the memory in her mind. She couldn't forget Dextrous Bailey's fierce-looking expression, yet her words were all about backing down and expressing remorse. It was kind of amusing.

"Spe-chan, could a few bags of carrots really trick you into going home with someone?" Lucian asked with a laugh.

"But carrots are really delicious." Special Week answered with utmost seriousness when it came to carrots.

"You're hopeless." Lucian's tone carried a hint of fondness before he turned to the others. "What about you? Any objections?"

"None!" Haru Urara was overjoyed that Rice Shower had passed the trial and couldn't wait to go back and share the good news.

"Nope~" Seiun Sky propped her head up, her under-eye bags slightly swollen—likely from lack of sleep the night before. The reason? Those who knew, knew.

Silence Suzuka, however, was distracted, not even responding, as if she hadn't been listening at all.

"Suzuka, do you have any objections?" Lucian called out to her.

"N-no, I don't." Silence Suzuka forced a smile. Had she heard correctly earlier? Was Lucian planning to take Spe-chan home? So was this what Lucian had mentioned on the phone that day?

Lucian had no idea that his joke had once again been overanalyzed by Silence Suzuka's imagination.

Seeing that no one had any objections, he made the final decision. "Then it's settled. Let's start this afternoon's training."

As the team gradually grew in size, Lucian planned to organize specialized training groups based on each horse girl's characteristics. Sometimes, they could even try relay races to foster teamwork—everyone would surely give their all. The only thing left was figuring out how to arrange the rewards.

...

The Twinkle Series Autumn Festival was quietly approaching.

Aside from a pre-built fortune-telling booth, other event venues were already being set up with stalls—some for games, others for specialty snacks.

A section of the forest on the back mountain was also being prepared, rumored to be for a test of courage event. Soon, they'd get to see the horse girls' limited Halloween costumes.

Of course, the most labor-intensive project was the construction of the grand stage, which had actually started the previous year. The scale of the stage was far larger than Lucian had imagined, and it wasn't even open-air.

Additionally, the horse girls participating in the stage performances needed to rehearse, so Lucian had to give Tokai Teio and the others time off.

Now, in the lounge, only he, Rice Shower, and Dextrous Bailey remained.

After a few weeks of adjustment, Rice Shower wasn't as shy as before, and Dextrous Bailey had mostly integrated into the team.

"Rice Shower, why didn't you join the performance?" Lucian asked curiously.

"I wasn't invited." Rice Shower thought for a moment, then added, "But I'm working at the test of courage event."

"Test of courage?"

"Mhm. I'll be playing a ghost to scare the participants."

"Oh~" Lucian nodded. "I heard it's held at night. That forest gets pretty spooky after dark."

He wondered—who could Rice Shower possibly scare? She might end up frightening herself instead. Still, he was definitely going to that test of courage.

"It's okay, I'm not scared."

Lucian then turned his gaze to Dextrous Bailey. "Little Bailey, what about you?"

After much deliberation, Lucian had settled on calling Dextrous Bailey "Little Bailey." "Dextrous"? Didn't sound right. "Little Dex"? Still not great. "Little Bailey"? Well, she wasn't that little, but it was the best option.

"I'll be running a barbecue stall, Trainer... Could you come by sometime?"

Lucian replied offhandedly, "If it's free, sure."

Dextrous Bailey immediately agreed. "Of course, no problem."

Listening nearby, Rice Shower quietly admired how both Lucian and Dextrous Bailey had skills they could showcase. She was actually quite interested in cooking but only knew how to make simple bento boxes for now.

"Alright, no training today. You two don't need to come tomorrow either—take the day off like the others." Lucian had to oversee the final touches on his restaurant's construction, including some of the decorations.

"Rice Shower, how have you felt about training these past few weeks?"

"It's been tiring... but training with Urara and the others is fun. I can feel myself improving."

Clearly, Rice Shower had also been influenced by "Dream's" relaxed atmosphere.

Dextrous Bailey was no exception, though she hadn't joined for the training results—she was here for Lucian. Though she'd gotten closer to him, finding another chance to get her tail petted was difficult... It seemed the only way was to win a mock race and make a small request.

"Trainer, I'll take my leave now." Dextrous Bailey had a lot of preparations to make for her barbecue stall.

"Sure."

Lucian wasn't entirely comfortable being alone with Dextrous Bailey. He was afraid she might act recklessly—or that he might make a mistake himself.

But with Rice Shower? Only he was at risk of doing something impulsive.

After Dextrous Bailey left, only Rice Shower and Lucian remained in the lounge. Suddenly, she felt a little nervous too. "Trainer, I should go too."

"Wait, Rice Shower... Aside from the test of courage, do you have anything else planned?"

"No." Rice Shower shook her head.

"Then would you be interested in helping out at my restaurant? I'll pay you."

Lucian's smile seemed perfectly normal, but Rice Shower couldn't shake the feeling that there was something mischievous behind it.

"But I don't have any experience." Rice Shower fiddled with the hem of her clothes, her habit of lowering her head shyly after speaking kicking in again.

"No problem, no problem~ Didn't you say during the team-building event that you wanted to learn cooking? This is a great chance to observe." It turned out Lucian had already figured out Rice Shower's thoughts and was gently guiding her.

Before the Halloween costumes made their debut, he planned to release another limited-edition maid outfit. Aside from Rice Shower, he also wanted to recruit a few other horse girls as waitresses.

"Rice Shower, what do you think? You can take your time to decide."

"I'll do it. Thank you, Trainer."

"Mhm, you're welcome."

...

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