The stranger—or, to give him an intuitive nickname, ‘Bandage’—meekly retreated in the face of my death threat.

I had been wondering if I should rely on my item stats and jump him if things went south, so it was a relief.

Although he spouted nonsense until the very end, saying things like, “I will contact you next time,” and “If you need help, feel free to request it through my lord”—

“Get lost before I slice your mouth shut.”

I replied in a manner befitting ‘Chris’ and sent him packing.

Honestly, it wouldn’t have been strange for me to bow 90 degrees at his retreating back and say, “Thank you for leaving peacefully, sir.”

“…Phew.”

I had overcome the crisis for now.

Wait, she had a friend like Bandage? Her notoriety was zero, so I was convinced she was the ultimate loner. This is a betrayal.

‘What kind of life have you lived, Real Chris?’

Just as I was wondering whether grabbing Chris by the collar would count as a suicide attempt or not.

“Is everyone safe?!”

“Pwaaaah—I couldn’t even breathe until just now! We almost got wiped out just now, right?!”

“P-Professor… are you alright?”

“I’m exhausted~ I’m suffering from Mana Depletion. Carry me on your back, Professor.”

The tension finally dissipated, and the students, having come to their senses, approached.

I even spotted a guy whose legs were trembling, having been quite tense.

Of course, I was even more terrified, so I was frozen stiff, unable to take a single step.

Being ambushed by someone was a first in my life. It was a miracle I didn’t wet myself.

I want to go home right now. I want to hug a doll on my bed and cry.

“Angelina, send a messenger to the Academy. You can cast at least that much magic, right? I’d love to tell you all to walk back to the Academy, but tsk.”

I pointed at the Princess, who looked to be in the best condition. Naturally, I didn’t forget to exude an aura of annoyance, projecting the message: ‘I’m fine, but I’m only doing this because you weaklings can’t handle it.’

Truth be told, if I told them to walk from here, the one who would be in the most trouble would be me.

“…Phew, understood. I should have requested support earlier; that was a blunder on my part.”

“Can’t you just use Spatial Magic for us, Professor? The Academy carriage is so rickety~ my butt hurts.”

“Dolce, the Professor went through a lot today, so she’ll need time to think on the way back.”

I was wondering when the Spatial Magic talk would come up. Thankfully, the Protagonist managed to soothe Twin-braid, allowing me to overcome the crisis.

Being the last to recover from the shock, I struggled to leave the plain, following behind the overpowered party.

As soon as we returned to the Academy, tears welled up, and I had to look up.

‘Fuck, gatekeeper gargoyle. I fucking missed you.’

All X-Class members, return complete.

* * *

Bedallua Academy has multiple classes per grade.

In other words, there are fellow professors in the adjacent classes, and among them, there might be some weirdo who refuses to yield to ‘Chris’s’ insane persona and instead displays something called camaraderie.

For example, like this.

“Keu-ssaem, you haven’t had lunch yet, right! You were the only one missing from the dining hall.”

“….”

“Do you like rolled omelets? I’m friends with the dining hall staff. I’d love to introduce you so they can look after our Keu-ssaem too.”

I do like them. But I don’t want to eat with you.

Staying in character as ‘Chris’, I ignored the fellow professor who was recommending a virtual Academy-style meal that was a mishmash of cuisines from around the world.

However, the opponent was a formidable one. He clung persistently and delivered a whole speech about regular and healthy eating habits.

‘His sociability is terrifyingly high. Isn’t he almost on the level of the X-Class Model Student?’

That other guy is a maniac with clear eyes, but this guy is….

‘A maniac whose eyes… are hard to see.’

My first impression wasn’t good. Judging others by their appearance is certainly a bad thing, but you can’t help but be wary of a ‘Narrow Eyes’ character like him! Especially when he sticks to your side and acts friendly like a nine-tailed fox!

Moreover, this Narrow Eyes was someone acting under the Principal’s orders.

The X-Class kids reported what happened during this field training to the Principal. It was a significant enough incident.

But the Principal’s response was quite suspicious. Strengthening the defensive magic circle and issuing a Gag Order to all of X-Class was all she did.

‘And she attached a watchdog to me.’

The Principal must have realized that Bandage was affiliated with the Demon Lord’s army. Therefore, she needed to be wary of me as well, since I appeared to be connected to him.

‘Considering his eyes were covered, there’s a high chance Bandage is Maria.’

I couldn’t recognize him at first because his appearance wasn’t described in the original work (I initially thought Maria was a female character because of the name), but I’m almost certain now.

The ability to create Chimeras and control monsters isn’t common.

The Demon Lord was currently known to have been defeated by the Holy Emperor over a decade ago and vanished, but naturally, they were gathering forces to plot a resurrection.

The Protagonist stopping them and taking revenge is the main plot of <Hero Rampage>.

‘But Real Chris had connections with both the Principal, who is on the Holy Emperor’s side, and Bandage, who is part of the Demon Lord’s army.’

Isn’t that enough to drive me crazy? Real Chris, you should have lived as a loner with some pride. Why did you clumsily covet the life of a social butterfly!

Anyway. Given my precarious position, Narrow Eyes’s approach was naturally burdensome.

“…Talking about this is making me hungry again. Look, if you go straight from here, you’ll reach the dining hall. Won’t you go together? We still have some time before afternoon classes. Totally relaxed.”

Yeah, no. I replied with a scrunched-up face, practically growling.

“You’ve been chattering annoyingly since earlier. Stop being a nuisance and get lost.”

“Ah, my voice was too loud. Then how about… this? It’s a bit more listenable, right? I get told a lot that I have a nice voice.”

He seriously whispered in my ear with an ASMR voice. It was genuinely baffling. Is this guy a bit insane?

“Why don’t you plug your throat entirely.”

“I don’t have the tools for that. Would you perhaps be willing to plug it for me…?”

“Then shove your own fist in.”

How long has it been since I met that bandage-wrapped lunatic, and now I have to deal with a narrow-eyed lunatic? Life is exhausting.

Do you believe in meals? I’m not buying you a rolled omelet. As that kind of banter continued.

Ding-dong.

[Main Quest: Request of the Earth God 1-4]

[The Academy doesn’t only have students. Relationships with fellow professors are also important. Let’s seduce a fellow professor and hold a joint class with another class!]

Success Reward: Bedallua Academy Map (4/4), Rotten Mandragora Root

Failure Condition: YOU DIED 🙂

Time Remaining: 48:00:00]

‘Is this quest for real…?’

I’m certain. This System holds a clear malice towards me.

It leads me straight into the most troublesome situation and look at that smug face saying, ‘Do it or die. Good luck~’.

My whole body was trembling with rage. If I were the Protagonist, I would have Awakened right at this moment.

After struggling to calm down, I turned my gaze to Narrow Eyes, who was actually pretending to open his mouth and shove his fist in.

Since it’s come to this, I have no choice but to use this idiot. Narrow Eyes is, after all, the professor in charge of Class Y, which is the closest to X-Class.

For reference, Class Y is where most of the kids who dropped out of X-Class ended up. But it looks like I’ll be eating rolled omelets with him like good friends without any pride.

Sigh, my character roleplay isn’t even a tsundere.

I was about to open my mouth with the feeling of eating mustard while crying—

“Hey, you….”

A thought suddenly struck me like lightning.

‘…Wait a minute. This quest only said to hold a joint class; it didn’t specifically say I had to get along with the fellow professor, did it?’

There was no need to force a fake friendship and ruin my character roleplay.

Besides, the time limit is only two days. How close could we even get in that time?

If the original work’s title was <I Stole a Night from the Narrow-Eyed Man and Ran Away>, then maybe. But <Hero Rampage> is an openly overpowered male protagonist story.

What works in this genre?

“You wasted five minutes of my time.”

“…!”

Fighting and violence.

I put on the most murderous expression I could muster and stared coldly at Narrow Eyes.

“I want to make you pay for that right now, but….”

The thin corners of Narrow Eyes’s eyes twitched slightly.

…Isn’t he going to open his eyes? Narrow Eyes characters power up when they open their eyes, right?

Calm down, Narrow Eyes. I don’t want to fight you in real life either! Attacking a ‘real’ professor of Bedallua is nothing more than a unique way to commit suicide.

I recalled ‘Chris’s’ setting of not using her power carelessly due to her past and looked down at my empty hands with a lonely gaze.

The following character-faithful dialogue.

“…Surely, ‘that child’ would be sad.”

It was the moment when the ‘sunshine’ attribute was assigned to the precious disciple ‘Chris’ had lost.

A boy smiling and saying something like, ‘I hope you can love more things, Master, and cherish them,’ painted itself in my mind.

‘Aaaagh.’

…I clenched my fists tightly to hide my curling fingers.

Hoping that the sight would look like I was steeling my resolve to Narrow Eyes, I raised my head again.