* * *

“The professor… left?”

Michael muttered in disbelief.

And he wasn’t the only one—the expressions on every student in X-Class were grim.

Chris had vanished. Abandoning X-Class.

“Isn’t it obvious? She ran away~ You knew she wasn’t the type to be tied down by some teaching job.”

Dolce said, twirling her red hair around her finger.

“She got sick of us, that’s all.”

“Dolce, don’t say it like that. She’s not here to defend herself.”

“The Princess must be thinking the same thing, isn’t she? That’s why her face looks like that.”

“…! What’s wrong with my face?!”

Angelina snapped, then bit her lower lip and turned away. Her eyes looked as though she might burst into tears at any moment.

“Hmm, maybe the professor just wanted to rest. Or perhaps she wasn’t feeling well. She must have had some unavoidable circumstances, so everyone, please don’t worry too much…”

The already-chilly atmosphere grew even heavier, prompting Bell to speak up carefully. At that, Nika leapt to her feet.

“Unavoidable circumstances. I see. The professor took responsibility! For the recent inci—ghk!”

Wait, that word—the one everyone knew but no one dared speak? Bell slapped the clueless Nika across the back.

“S-sorry! But, um… Michael…”

The tail end of her belated apology trailed into a glance toward Michael. Nika, groaning in pain, soon had no choice but to fall silent as well.

Because the expression on Michael’s face, when he stole a glance, was truly wretched.

No one knew it better than Michael himself.

Chris had been expelled from the Academy because of him.

After the Rampage incident, Michael had been dragged between the Principal, the infirmary, and various professors, caught in a whirlwind of exhausting days.

Yet he never faced any consequences.

Despite having nearly beaten a professor to death’s door, the Principal merely issued another Gag Order, just as she had during the field training incident.

At the time, he had simply thought himself lucky.

But now.

‘The professor paid the price in my stead.’

Kkwak. Michael clenched his fist tight.

“No matter what fate you were born into, it doesn’t matter. As long as you can make a true resolve, you can be reborn as someone strong.”

Everything from the Rampage was a blur, but Chris’s resolute voice remained vivid in his memory.

That warmth that had reached his heart was impossible to forget. After all, it was what had brought Michael back to his senses.

‘I never even got to say thank you.’

And yet she had already left. Without a single word of excuse or self-defense, as quietly as when she had arrived.

‘No.’

It was unfair. It was outrageous. Michael’s Rampage had been entirely his own responsibility. Chris should have been here.

The old Michael would have simply blamed himself and cried.

But now, the boy with hair turned pure white except at the roots knew how to act.

Because he was prepared to take responsibility.

“…I have to do something. Whatever it takes.”

Of this much, he was certain.

She had to return.

To Michael’s side.

* * *

Meanwhile…

‘This is going to drive me mad.’

Andrea, a man of seventy this year, faced the greatest crisis of his fifty-year career as an innkeeper.

The <Determined Frog> was an ordinary inn with nothing to boast of but its history.

The proprietor Andrea’s cooking skills were appalling, and every room had mice and cockroaches comfortably settled in—but—

Its proximity to the famous Bedallua Academy, nestled in the mountains, had kept him fed all these years thanks to the seasonal influx of guests.

This week, parents arriving to observe classes at the Academy were supposed to be his bread and butter.

‘Right. It’s about time guests started arriving, sure. But…’

This kind of guest was a first. Or—was “guest” even the right word?

Where Andrea’s gaze landed, a woman sat.

From the moment she had opened the door and walked in, she had captivated every pair of eyes among the sparse crowd of patrons.

Long, pitch-black hair. Red eyes that held no light.

A single worn bag clutched in bandaged hands was all the luggage she carried.

She swayed as if she might collapse at any moment, yet there was something razor-sharp about her—like the hidden claws of a predator.

One fool, having realized she was a woman, had approached offering to help…

‘One glare from her and he couldn’t get a word out—bolted straight for the privy.’

Even so, his initial impression had been merely, “Quite a suspicious and unusual traveler has arrived.”

A fine innkeeper didn’t fuss over every single guest, after all.

But as time passed, she was becoming an existence he simply could not ignore.

‘It’s been three hours already.’

Since that guest had occupied the first floor with a bottle of the most vile-tasting wine.

The bottle’s contents had been drained long ago, and she hadn’t ordered any food to go with it. She simply sat there, brow furrowed, resting her forehead against her hand in silence.

The problem was that the sight was terrifyingly intimidating.

‘It’s as though a demonic realm(魔境) has spread out around her alone. The aura she radiates is…’

“Charisma” was far too feeble a word for it. Simply sharing the same space was enough to make one’s breath catch.

Naturally, the other guests couldn’t muster the courage to come down to the first floor. That fool from earlier had even checked out and left entirely.

Andrea himself might have fled long ago if he weren’t the inn’s owner.

‘Evening business is shot.’

No—if that guest kept occupying the first floor, tomorrow’s business would be ruined too.

He’d given her the finest room he had—why was she still planted down there?

He was too terrified to even protest. Andrea was at his wit’s end.

‘Could she be the Demon Lord in disguise? They say the Demon Lord brings ruin wherever he goes. Is she here to bring about the inn’s destruction…?’

Andrea let out a hollow laugh.

He knew it was impossible. And yet, he couldn’t help but wonder if she was even human.

As he shook his head in disbelief alone—

Jingle.

The bell on the inn’s entrance door chimed.

“Ah— oh my, wel—… gasp.”

Andrea, hurrying to greet the new arrival, caught his breath.

This time, his back bent for an entirely different reason.

‘What kind of day is this? First that mysterious guest, and now a grand noble…!’

The figure was draped in a black cloak, but such tricks couldn’t fool the instincts of a veteran innkeeper.

This was no ordinary noble.

Apparently having no intention of hiding the fact, the figure pulled back his hood as soon as two companions followed him inside.

Light blue hair cascaded down, revealing a face as cold as ice and breathtakingly beautiful.

An appearance that hovered ambiguously between youth and middle age. But those with eyes so piercingly blue were exceedingly rare.

Andrea completely lost his composure.

“D-Duke S-Serif, Your G-Grace…!”

“Now, now, Serif. This is exactly why you shouldn’t show your face. Your beauty knocks people senseless—they can’t even string a sentence together.”

The person standing behind him removed her hood and slung an arm over Duke Serif’s shoulder.

Deep orange curls, a generous, laughing mouth. Flashing green eyes brimmed with boundless ease.

Though clearly middle-aged, there was something childishly innocent about her.

And to treat Duke Serif with such casual familiarity! She had to be a grand noble as well.

Andrea looked as though he nearly wanted to faint.

Meanwhile, the ever-expressionless Duke Serif replied.

“…Tot. I have never employed a honey trap.”

“I didn’t even say the words ‘honey trap.’ He knows he’s pretty, I swear.”

“Both of you, please stop. Shouldn’t we secure rooms first? It’s been a while since I’ve walked this much, and my legs are killing me.”

The one who squeezed between them was a small boy with red hair.

He had a somewhat high-strung look about him, but compared to his two companions, he appeared ordinary enough.

Andrea, relieved that a normal person had finally appeared, briefly lost consciousness the moment he saw what the boy held out.

“I’ve spent eighty years in the Magic Tower, so I’m not well-versed in outside prices. Would three high-grade Magic Cores cover three rooms?”

For reference, a single high-grade Magic Core could have purchased hundreds of inns like this one.

‘O Creator God, what in the world is going on?! This is far too much for an entertaining story to tell my grandchildren!’

But sadly for Andrea, his endlessly long day was far from over.

“Bright, actually. There’s something that’s been bothering me more than the room since earlier.”

The moment the woman called Tot seemed to stroll leisurely further inside—

Whoom—

A gust of wind swept past, and a drawn blade flashed blue-steel cold.

And its edge was pointed at—

“….”

The neck of the guest who had arrived first.