Let me work hard on this main quest for the sake of my retirement life.

[The first student to visit would be-]

But that’s that.

“So when exactly am I supposed to gather them all? X-Class isn’t just one or two people. Am I supposed to spend ten years doing home visits?”

[The System plans to provide the locations of students scattered across various regions-]

“No, no. That’s not what I mean… I need to make them come to me on their own.”

Me, alone, and as a fugitive constantly dealing with petty dangers and unexpected situations.

You want me to roam the entire continent?

Wouldn’t a single, decisive threat be better?

Besides, it’s strange to have a sickly professor who just woke up coughing blood personally go visit them.

It makes far more sense for the physically healthy students to come fetch me first.

It’s not a difficult task. Because…

[Notoriety: 99 / Continent-level Vicious Wanted Criminal]

I’m probably the most famous person on this continent right now.

Well then, shall I try pulling some aggro for old times’ sake?

* * *

Meanwhile, in a dark room.

A man lay on a bed, his entire body restrained.

“…….”

For a moment, he heard the breathing of someone very far away.

Something he had never forgotten for a single moment, something he had waited so long for.

Realizing this, his eyes—closed as quietly as a corpse’s—slowly opened.

The same color as fresh blood.

From his parched lips, a single name flowed forth.

“Chris Dotten.”

And in the very next moment—

Everything that had been restraining him crumbled to ash and disappeared.

The man rose with his freed body, his gaze fixed on one place.

The window through which she had escaped.

“……So you were alive.”

* * *

I had decided to pull aggro for the quest, but there was a problem to solve first.

Escaping from this pit.

This place was almost completely cut off from the outside.

To this end, I tried talking to First to gain his cooperation.

“So I’m your master… suffered a major injury and collapsed, then regained consciousness after a year. That’s what you’re saying.”

“Yes, that’s correct, Master. Actually, the two of us had been living together here all along! Like family, you see. Hahaha.”

Spouting such fabrications without batting an eye.

At least I now knew First had the personality of someone from the Demon Lord’s army.

‘But why didn’t he hand me over to the Demon Lord’s army? The fact that he brought me to this pit where no one could find me…’

Could it be that he’d already had a falling out with the Demon Lord’s army?

“The reason we can’t go to the surface is because a war is being waged between someone called the Demon Lord and someone called the Holy Emperor, and you haven’t taken either side?”

I asked, probing carefully.

“Master. One of the teachings you imparted to me was that war, no matter which side you stand on, is ultimately nothing more than slaughter. Therefore, when signs of war appeared, I decided early on to seclude myself underground with you, Master, and live a life untouched by it.”

This was the answer I received.

‘What a silver-tongued liar. Not a single word from beginning to end is true, you bastard.’

He must have gotten the shit beaten out of him by the Demon Lord after losing to me. Something must have gone wrong in his head during the process, giving him that look of a master who’d severed all ties with the mortal world and retreated into the mountains.

‘Anyway, there’s definitely been a change of heart. Setting aside his attempts to curry favor with me, he clearly wants to avoid getting involved in the war.’

In other words, the conclusion was that he wouldn’t cooperate with getting out of here under normal circumstances.

I needed a different approach.

“So please don’t worry about anything, Master, and focus solely on your recovery. This disciple will take care of everything from meals to bathroom visits!”

He said this with shining eyes and confidence, but he didn’t know.

Just how grueling it is to nurse a Roleplay Addict committed to a sickly persona.

Cough, cough, cough! Gasp, gasp…

“M-Master!”

Coughing up bloody phlegm irregularly multiple times a day.

“Master, you haven’t slept for three days now. Perhaps you should close your eyes…”

“I can’t sleep.”

“Even so…”

“Shut up. My head is pounding, so keep your mouth shut.”

Sometimes staying awake until his eyes turned bloodshot.

“Master! Master! Haa… I thought you’d lost consciousness completely again. You barely woke up…”

“…….”

Other times, falling asleep like a corpse and not waking for a long while.

As this lifestyle repeated, I could watch the once-spirited First quickly wearing down.

Of course.

‘I feel like I’m dying just as much, though.’

From biting down so much to fake coughing up blood, the inside of my mouth had been raw and sore for ages.

Repeatedly pretending to dry heave while eating the foods First brought—foods that seemed like a guaranteed recipe for indigestion—made the weight fall right off me.

My irregular sleep habits quickly hollowed out the skin beneath my eyes.

‘Honestly, by this point, it’s not a roleplay anymore—I’m just genuinely sickly. Ugh, my late grandmother is beckoning me from across the river.’

But endure I must. Though it couldn’t compare to what a real patient goes through, I needed to send First to the surface this way.

Eventually, as nearly a month passed since I’d awakened, First made a decision.

“This can’t go on. To improve Master’s symptoms, we need to procure medicinal herbs from the surface. Or I’ll kidnap… no, bring someone skilled in healing magic. Please don’t worry and just wait a little longer.”

His words, spoken while holding my hand, were quite reassuring.

But I wouldn’t be here when he returned.

‘Because I plan to tag along on his outing.’

First would clear a path by dealing with monsters, and I would secretly trail behind him all the way to the surface.

This was my grand plan.

Isn’t this too pathetic? Tsk, tsk, Bead. How am I still the same no matter how much I age?

Without this, there was no way out of this pit for me. My roleplay didn’t work on mindless monsters.

‘Even roleplay work requires evolution. I should look into it soon.’

This is how my self-improvement takes shape. If I grew complacent just because there was no worthy competitor around me, I never knew when I might be overtaken.

By whom? Well… the countless aspiring Roleplay Addicts hiding in the world?

“Then I’ll be off, Master.”

While I was lost in thought, First, having finished his preparations, stepped out the door.

I gave a light nod and immediately called the System.

‘Open customization window.’

[Beginning customization of ‘Chris Dotten.’]

A familiar window unfolded before my eyes. It was clearly the kind of character customization screen you’d commonly see in games…

Or so I thought.

“Hey, System. What’s with this visual that looks like a ‘dress-up game’?”

[This system was created referencing Earth’s data received from the Earth God. The System is not at fault.]

Wait, is retro trending on Earth lately? Is that why you’re showing me something that looks like a game screen I might have enjoyed as a kid?

‘Whatever… as long as I can figure it out, that’s enough.’

Seeing the ‘Chris’ character striking a pose with sparkling oversized eyes made me feel like I was losing my mind, but it would be a disaster if I lost track of First at this rate.

I moved my hand and clicked on the wardrobe section, and various outfits came tumbling out.

Seeing that more than half of them were princess-style outfits that would cause ‘Chris’ to meet her demise through roleplay collapse, I was certain.

“This isn’t a reward—you just wanted to fuck with me, didn’t you? This bastard’s spite stretches longer than the Great Wall even if I offered up my heart.”

[How unfair. This is part of balance adjustment. To include the ‘outfit’ you desire, it was necessary to obscure things somewhat.]

That balance nonsense—I’d never seen a game company do it properly even back in my days as a hardcore gamer girl on Earth.

Well, anyway, that meant…

‘Found it.’

The item I wanted was definitely in here.

I hurriedly clicked on it.

[Equipped item ‘Disposable Transparent Veil.’]

[Oops! How are you supposed to show off your wonderful clothes to people like this? You need to develop some sense. Fashion score: 0 out of 100.]

Don’t bother with such unnecessary attention to detail.

Ignoring the side commentary, I looked down at my hands and saw that they had indeed become transparent.

That’s right. This was an item that temporarily made the wearer invisible.

A tool that could substitute for concealment magic.

Though it looked more like a cloak…

‘Using it as-is might run into copyright issues, so let’s move past that.’

Anyway, with this, I could quietly trail behind First.

Screech…

When I opened the door and stepped out, it was literally a hellscape.

-Squawk, squawk!

-Screech!

-Grrk, grrk…

The monsters’ cries echoing from all around made my entire body tremble.

A scene where the big ones caught the small ones, and those in turn were swallowed by even bigger ones.

Thank goodness I skipped breakfast today. I feel like I’m actually going to throw up.