“I’m stepping out.”

“Ah, take care!”

Raindrops were falling as I stepped out of the training grounds.

This world had no such thing as umbrellas, so I simply pulled up the hood attached to my cloak.

It started as a light drizzle, but the rain grew steadily heavier as I walked toward the garden.

But Twin-braid’s dot still hadn’t been able to leave the garden.

“……na.”

Through the pouring rain, I could hear her calling out.

“……bana. Gabana.”

The Bright family, a lineage of mad mages born from the Magic Tower, had twin sisters.

Dolce, and Gabana.

Everyone knew that the older twin, Gabana, had died five years ago.

But what came after was something few knew.

The truth was that Gabana still remained by Dolce’s side.

As a ghost.

This was why X-Class had six members rather than five.

But right now, Twin-braid was alone. Completely alone. There was no one beside her dot on the map.

“Where did you go, Gabana?”

It was Gabana Bright who had disappeared.

“Dolce.”

Twin-braid was already half-mad, to the point she couldn’t even hear my voice.

Her hands were caked with dirt, as if she’d been digging at the ground, and only one ribbon remained of the pair she always tied on either side of her head.

She looked almost ghostly. Enough to make me grateful that the students busy preparing for the tournament hadn’t seen her like this.

‘I knew most of the protagonist’s crew had messed-up pasts, but!’

This was all because “rampage” was in the title of Hero Rampage.

In a typical fantasy novel, the protagonist’s actions needed to be justifiable. That way, readers could cheer on and enjoy the chaos he wreaked with a clear conscience.

Which was why the protagonist’s crew all had difficult pasts. A form of buildup for the satisfying rampage to come.

But if that was the plan, they should have possessed a psychiatrist instead of me! There are plenty of good professors out there!

How was a lazy, overpowered teacher supposed to handle their mental health care? If I fumbled my way through it, I’d probably just end up with another lunatic on my hands.

‘Let me deal with the situation in front of me first.’

I reached out and grabbed Twin-braid’s shoulder.

“Dolce. Explain the situation.”

“Ah……. Professor? You came looking for me yourself because I skipped class? I’m touched. I didn’t think you cared about me that much.”

She wore her usual bright smile, but her eyes were lifeless. Like a dead fish.

“But really, don’t worry about me. It’s genuinely nothing. You told anyone unhappy with class to get lost, right? Just think of it like that. You don’t stop people from walking away, Professor.”

I appreciated her good interpretation of the ‘Chris’ character, but no.

I’d never seen anyone with those eyes turn out fine.

Could she really not see the water droplets trembling anxiously around her? She looked ready to snap and fire off a spell at any moment.

I was alarmed, but I kept my voice as calm and slightly mocking as possible.

“How amusing. Do you think I’m doing this for your sake?”

“……Then?”

“Gabana Bright’s Soul Stone. Where did you lose it?”

“……!”

Twin-braid’s eyes went wide. Then she shook her head lightly and let out a deflated sigh.

“Wow, I’m really surprised……. I knew you were no ordinary person, but you actually noticed the Soul Stone’s presence? I underestimated you, Professor.”

No, she was actually overestimating me.

Notice the presence? In Hero Rampage, she had leaned against the protagonist and spilled everything.

Just before Gabana died in an accident, Twin-braid had sealed her soul into a premium-grade magic stone, creating a ‘Soul Stone.’

Thanks to that, Gabana was able to remain by Twin-braid’s side in ghostly form, living out a second life.

However, she couldn’t stray far from the Soul Stone, and only its holder could see her, so Twin-braid had always kept it close and cherished.

‘To lose something like that. No wonder she’s losing her mind.’

“I don’t know. I woke up and Gabana wasn’t beside me. I searched everywhere but I just can’t find her.”

Twin-braid was still smiling. What trailed down her cheeks was probably rainwater.

“I know the tournament is important, but without Gabana my magic is only half as effective. I’m sorry to the others and to you, Professor, but I can’t help.”

Truthfully, the sensible thing to do here would be to understand her situation and grant her rest.

From Twin-braid’s perspective, she’d lost her sister overnight. How could anyone demand she cooperate toward winning a tournament after that?

But ‘Chris’ was no sensible person, and I had a terminal condition: fail the quest and die.

So there was only one move to make.

Eliminate Twin-braid’s problem as quickly as possible.

“Shut up. I don’t need excuses from someone who can’t even keep track of her own belongings.”

“Professor, even if you say that…….”

“Follow me.”

“Huh?”

I watched the new red dot on the map growing steadily larger.

Red. It meant the dot’s owner was a ‘hostile’ entity toward me.

Its meaning was clear, appearing at just the right moment after the dot labeled ‘Gabana’ had vanished.

“You alone aren’t enough to get it back.”

Some lucky monster had swallowed the Soul Stone.

And it would make excellent experience points for our students.

* * *

“The garden pond……? It’s certainly worth seeing, but. Did you want to take a stroll, Professor?”

Princess said, pursing his lips slightly.

He was apparently unhappy about being summoned in the middle of training.

But it couldn’t be helped. If they wanted to grow stronger, killing monsters was still the best way.

We needed to handle this before other classes or the faculty beat us to it.

“That’s strange, I come here often for walks but the atmosphere today is rather indecent! Is it because of the rain?”

“You mean gloomy! Choose your words more carefully!”

“Dolce, are you okay? You don’t look good.”

Leaving the bickering Model Student and Princess behind, the Healer spoke up with concern, but Twin-braid only stared blankly at the pond.

So she had sensed the ‘presence’ after all.

I took a small step back and spoke.

“Everyone, prepare for combat.”

“Uh, what?”

Still, kids were kids. Even with bewildered expressions, they dutifully fell into formation.

“Gabana, are you there……?”

As if answering Twin-braid’s whisper, a black shadow surged up from beneath the pond.

“……!”

-Grrrrk! Grrrrr!

A body large enough to nearly fill the sizable pond.

Ordinarily, it would have been such a trivial creature that no one would have bothered hunting it.

But what it had swallowed was a premium-grade magic stone before it was even a Soul Stone.

The toad monster’s blood-red eyes gleamed as ominous purple ichor oozed from its body.

Sssss.

“Uwaaah, the stone?! The stone melted?!”

“It’s some kind of acidic fluid. Be careful not to let it touch you.”

“Michael’s right. Let’s take it down with ranged attacks. Nika, focus on defense! Bell, cast the agility boost spell!”

“Got it. Ah, but Dolce…….”

I turned my gaze to Twin-braid.

She was in bad enough shape that even the others, who didn’t know the full situation, were glancing at her with concern.

But this place was essentially a fishbowl. You could call it Twin-braid’s home turf, given her proficiency with water magic.

More than anything, this was Twin-braid’s business.

In this situation, what ‘Chris’ would say—

“Dolce Bright.”

“…….”

“This time, are you truly afraid?”

“……!”

“Are you afraid?”

“Haha, you can think that if you want. It just felt unfair.”

Twin-braid had already sat out of a fight once during the sparring lesson.

That time, it wasn’t out of fear—she had simply stepped back because she thought watching Michael fight would be more entertaining.

So what about now?

-Grrk, D-do, olce……. Grrrk! Dol, ce! Grrk.

She had to kill the monster that had swallowed her twin, that had essentially become one with her.

Her head might understand that this was necessary to get her twin back, but her heart might not.

In Hero Rampage, when Twin-braid confessed her circumstances to the protagonist, she had said this:

“It was unfair. My sister is human, she’s clearly still human, but everyone else says she’s just an undead monster. They say she’ll become a monster someday. No one believed me.”

“Everyone at the Magic Tower who heard the rumors about my Soul Stone tried to take it from me. They said it was too dangerous for me to handle alone. Ridiculous—did they think I didn’t know they just wanted to use her for research? That’s why I fled to the Academy.”

“Once, someone stole it. It was a real struggle to get it back.”

So this was when that episode happened? There hadn’t been a specific description of when, so I hadn’t known the exact timing.

Well, when it came to Gabana’s true nature, Twin-braid was actually right. I had grounds to be certain.

“That monster is not your sister.”

“……?”

“She is human. Isn’t she?”

Because unlike me, she can use magic! The fact that the gods’ blessing or whatever hasn’t been revoked is proof she’s still human!