Griffin Girls' Dormitory, deep within the third floor.
Here, there was a large room created by knocking down the wall between two dorm rooms and redecorating them into one space.
Residing in this spacious room was the student with the highest status and greatest power in the entire Walpurgis Royal Academy of Machinart—the overall student representative, the top among all female students: Olga Saladin.
At this very moment, Olga was in her room, accompanied by Dorothy McGuffin and the Zekaros Brothers.
Dorothy's presence here wasn't unusual. She was, after all, a girl and also one of the Thirteen. Though she ranked last, she was still an undeniably outstanding student. Naturally, she had the right to reside in the academy's best girls' dormitory, and appearing in this place wasn't strange at all.
However, the fact that the male duo, the Zekaros Brothers, were also present here was rather intriguing.
Of course, as the student representative, Olga had the privilege to bend the rules. Even the dorm warden would look the other way and grant special permission for guests she invited. Still, the notion of her inviting male students into her room wasn't something scandalous.
Or rather, if it were something scandalous, in a certain sense, it indeed was scandalous.
Because, what Olga was about to do here was welcome a witch.
A witch who would bring disaster to this academy.
"Whoosh!"
The room's window suddenly burst open, letting in a cold wind.
Yet within that gust of cold wind, an almost undetectable miasma was carried inside.
Sensing the miasma, everyone in the room, starting with Olga, had their expressions change subtly.
Immediately after, a small red dragon flew in.
"Yo, doing okay, young miss?"
The red dragon landed on Olga's shoulder while letting out a chuckling voice, sounding almost like it was mocking her. To the uninformed, it might have seemed like it was provoking her.
"Welcome back, Thor."
Olga, however, was clearly used to this and greeted the dragon without even turning to look.
No need for pleasantries.
After all, the red dragon named Thor was Olga's Automaton Doll, merely dispatched earlier to greet the guest.
"I heard you really went into the Night Party's battlefield while I was gone. You're not afraid to die, are you?"
Thor spoke with a teasing tone.
If anyone were to learn that Olga had entered the Night Party battlefield all on her own, without her Automaton Doll, they would surely be stunned.
Only Olga, however, didn't find this a big deal.
"I never intended to start fighting this early anyway. Even if you were here, I wouldn't have made a move. Since that's the case, I figured I'd stick to the original plan and enter early."
That was her reasoning behind such a bold action.
"You've got guts. No wonder you're the puppeteer I chose." Thor laughed lowly, then asked, "You met my brother, right? Young miss?"
"I did." Olga nodded. "The Dragon of Gram from the Belew family really lives up to the name. Even Sonechka's Jörmungandr couldn't get the better of him. His puppeteer has also inherited Spirit Arts and mastered Garm Battle Arts."
"Oh?" Thor's eyes lit up, and he laughed loudly. "Now that's exciting. Looks like this round of chaos will be fun! Hahaha!"
Olga smiled faintly, then asked a question.
"By the way, where's the guest I asked you to meet?"
As that left Olga's mouth, a demonic voice of amusement rang out.
"Thought you'd forgotten about me, my adorable granddaughter."
At the moment those words were spoken, the drifting miasma from the window surged like a storm.
"—!"
Everyone in the room turned their gaze sharply toward the window.
There, at some point, a girl had appeared.
A blonde girl.
She sat on the windowsill like a child, her face displaying an innocent smile. Her hair was tied on both sides and flowed in the wind like a lion's mane. Her young face looked even younger than Olga's—maybe even childlike—but her golden eyes radiated intense brilliance. Her clothing was extremely revealing, exposing her thighs, chest, and navel. She exuded a sense of age, ancientness, and deep demonic charm that made one's soul tremble.
In front of her, beyond the window, stood two Automaton Dolls that had somehow entered unnoticed.
One was a giant lion the size of a brown bear, covered in armor plates.
The other was an eagle lying on the lion's back, seemingly still asleep.
The overwhelming mana and ominous demonic aura subtly radiating from them was enough to confirm—they were no ordinary Automatons. They were banned dolls made using living beings.
Upon seeing them, Dorothy and the Zekaros Brothers turned pale, as if they couldn't breathe, gazing at the girl with deep fear.
Even Olga's eyes flashed with fear. But as she looked at the eagle-like Automaton, there was also a glimmer of sadness, hatred, and resentment in her gaze.
Still, Olga hid those emotions, took a deep breath, and bowed her head to the demonic girl.
"Grandmother."
This girl, who appeared younger than Olga, was, in truth, Olga's real grandmother.
Even Dorothy and the Zekaros Brothers quickly bowed.
"Lady Golden Rose!"
"Lady Astrid!"
They used different titles because the Zekaros Brothers were direct subordinates of the witch, and thus used her name. Dorothy, however, wasn't her subordinate—she was here due to Olga's connection.
The witch then turned her gaze to Dorothy.
"You're... the Black Rose's granddaughter? So you're here too?" She chuckled wickedly. "Don't tell me you're here to spy on me on behalf of the Black Rose?"
"N-no, not at all!" Dorothy responded timidly. "I-I'm only here because of Olga-onee-sama! My grandmother has no intention of interfering with your plans!"
"Is that so?" The witch narrowed her eyes as if trying to see through her. Then she gave up and said, "Very well, stay here. I'll make good use of you—might be fun to piss off the Black Rose."
She gave Dorothy a dangerous smile.
"But if you try to interfere, I won't be giving Black Rose any face. Got it?"
Dorothy turned pale again and nodded hastily.
Seeing this, the witch nodded in satisfaction and turned back to Olga.
"Seems you're doing well here, Olga." She sounded concerned. "So? Anyone giving you trouble? Tell me, I'll take care of them for you!"
"...No. There's no one who could trouble me." Olga answered respectfully. "I'm a witch of the Seth family, a magus who's inherited an ancient bloodline. In this academy, there's no one who can bully me."
"That's true." The witch nodded, then suddenly shifted her tone. "But I heard that besides that Edward brat, there's another formidable little fellow in this academy, isn't there?"
With those words, the temperature in the air dropped.
"So, where is he?"
The witch smiled, amused.
"That boy from the Akabane family."
The one she referred to—
Was none other than Rozen.