“Haa… If you used magic to move them to that extent, you must be in considerable pain right now. Still maintaining your pride, are you?”

“…?”

Hold on. What’s that flush on your face? Why is your breathing so heavy again? Isn’t there a person bound and bleeding right in front of you?

‘Is this okay?’

Goosebumps rose across my skin, leaving me speechless. Fortunately, Bandage didn’t care about my horror and continued speaking.

“It’s the Lord’s curse, so even for you, it must be difficult to endure. It’s been so long since you shed blood, and yet, ah… What kind of magic is this, hm? That even I couldn’t detect the flow of mana—I can’t fathom how delicate the adjustment must be.”

…Wait, is this really fortunate? This guy’s pervert switch seems to have flipped on.

Bandage’s flushed face drew closer and closer. I knew the ‘Maria’ character was a perverted lunatic in the original work, but…

‘His target was an extra professor whose name didn’t even appear? Doesn’t he usually fixate on the Protagonist?’

“Oho, cold sweat is running down. How does it feel to have your innards twisting? The more magic you use, the worse the pain will become. Thanks to your sacrifice, your disciples didn’t become monster food, but for you to suffer such humiliation… Yet your unyielding posture remains beautiful. As expected of my Lady Chris!”

The cold sweat is because your behavior is spectacular, you fool. And the pain is far worse on the psychological side.

‘I’m terrified your lips might accidentally touch mine, you bastard! Back off!’

Around this point, I found myself wondering anew what kind of life Real Chris must have led. If anything, she seemed worse than my ‘Chris’ roleplay, not less.

Could this really be a mere coincidence?

‘I get a strange feeling about this.’

What were the odds that a roleplay I’d hastily thrown together to hide my inability to use magic would match closely enough to fool even someone who had known Real Chris?

I’d never been good at math, but I was certain of this much: winning the lottery would be more likely.

Something’s going on here…

“Get away from the Professor!”

“My, my.”

Hwook! A fist engulfed in flames grazed past my nose, cutting off my thoughts.

It’s the Protagonist.

“Professor! Are you alright? We’ve taken care of all the monsters!”

“What?! A junior shoving the cleanup onto his senior and running off to the Master? Uuu, that’s cheap! You sly fox! Eok!”

Following that, I heard the Lion come running too. Unlike the Protagonist, he still had his eyes squeezed shut and promptly tripped and fell flat on his face.

Are you finally done, you resourceful little brats! I barely managed to hide my smile of liberation.

No more need to endure being slobbered on.

“Gasp. Blood, you’re bleeding… Let me undo these Bindings first.”

“That’s enough. Step aside.”

I shook my head at the deathly pale Protagonist.

The disciples had done their part. Wasn’t it about time the teacher showed some authority?

I raised my head and looked at Bandage, who had already used Spatial Magic to sit atop the carriage.

Crack.

“…!”

Then, as if to show off, I applied just a tiny bit of force and snapped whatever those chains—or jelly-like things—were.

Bandage’s jaw dropped. Surprised, are you?

He currently believed I was the strongest, so he’d interpret this as me overpowering even the curse that grew stronger with the target’s strength.

Would he possibly realize the truth—that I was simply so weak the curse could barely exert any force?

‘Thanks for the enthusiastic delusions. For roleplay purposes, ‘Chris’ only stayed bound this long because undoing the Binding was too much trouble!’

I lightly swept my long hair back with my hand. Then, wearing my signature expression of languid indifference, I spoke.

“Enough? Don’t bother me again.”

The attitude of someone who had merely humored him for a moment. A gaze that said: be satisfied with this if you know what’s good for you.

The moment I thought it was perfect, Bandage’s body suddenly began to burn—Chiiiik—like a person whose entire body was bound by red-hot iron chains.

Uh, whoa, what the—

“Ghk, haa…! To endure this kind of pain… with such a calm expression…!”

Wait, am I receiving a penalty for breaking the Binding curse? I suppose it would be strange if the Demon Lord’s curse had no effect on its user.

Burn marks were searing into his skin as he writhed—it clearly had to genuinely hurt. But even through all that, he was smiling in ecstasy, so I couldn’t bring myself to feel any sympathy.

“Hic, heek… Ah, magnificent, Lady Chris… truly magnificent! Please don’t… go. Watch me… take in all of your pain…”

This crazy lunatic bastard. I’m going home. Play by yourself!

“Michael, Ryan.”

I turned, my cloak fluttering, not bothering to hide my disgust.

“We’re heading back.”

As if to say, ‘I have no more business here.’

Not dwelling on the past was very much in character for ‘Chris.’

“Professor…! Yes! Let’s head back together. I’ll take care of the horses.”

“Oh, Master! I knew I could count on you! Hey, bandage-wrapped bastard! Consider yourself lucky I let you off today because of my Master!”

I walked forward, feeling their voices trailing behind me.

There was no sign of Bandage following. I could consider the situation over now, right?

Today’s roleplay-acting, honestly speaking…

‘I killed it.’

Though my stomach was growling from mana expenditure, my legs were trembling like jelly, and the blood I’d shed was drying on my face, my heart was thoroughly satisfied.

The picture was clearly supposed to be ‘Chris’ and the kids dancing in Bandage’s palm, but the twist was that ‘Chris’ had actually let Bandage off.

Keu, this is the thrill of being a Roleplay Addict. Too bad the X-Class brats didn’t get to see all of this.

‘Well, the questions have multiplied too, though.’

The relationship between Real Chris and my roleplay, among other things.

I was just someone who could barely manage to complete a single quest, yet things kept popping up. At this rate, was I going to end up saving the world too? Step it up, Protagonist. That’s your job.

“Ah, Professor! The X-Class kids are over there!”

Just as I was wondering how to get back to the Academy, the surrounding scenery suddenly changed.

It seemed the forest scenery had been Bandage’s doing, likely from a barrier spell he’d cast.

He’d completely blocked reinforcements from arriving. Was this really a Protagonist-focused trial?

The kids gathered around the surprisingly intact carriage saw us and came running.

“Professor! You’re coughing up blood…! Are you injured?!”

“What, Michael and the senior are perfectly fine? So we were the only ones suffering from monsters? You just bossed your Professor around, didn’t you~?”

“Let me treat you first, please come this way…!”

It became noisy in an instant. Dodging the Healer’s reaching hands, I thought to myself.

The most welcome sight was the coachman standing over there with a dazed expression.

I could sit and ride back. Beat it, students. Show some respect for your elders and give up your seats.

“Professor. You need treatment—ah, why… why are you so good at dodging…!”

[Item ‘Monkey KeyRing’ has been equipped!

Agility increases by one rank for the duration of equipping.

F / Snail’s Friend -> E / Snail’s Big Brother]

“…”

“Please at least tell me where it hurts and where the bleeding is coming from. I’m a supporter, you know…!”

“…”

My, my. ‘Chris’ doesn’t acknowledge wounds of this caliber.

* * *

It was the point just before the first break for the new students of Bedallua Academy.

As if compensating for the whirlwind of events thus far, even the System had gone quiet for a while, and idle days continued.

But twist a chicken’s neck though you may, morning still comes—and an incident erupted all the same.

‘If I were going to use that battered old sword, I figured it’d be against some incredibly powerful monster or enemy.’

After all, it was the only offensive skill I had. Only three uses, so I’d been avoiding using it as much as possible.

‘But I never expected to kill something like a person with it.’

Drip, drip. I stared blankly at the blood drops falling from the blade, then turned my gaze to the floor.

The fallen person’s face was familiar.

‘And someone I knew, at that…’

Flash. Lightning struck outside the window, followed immediately by thunder.

What is this, the atmosphere of some horror mystery novel? Isn’t this a bit far from a fantasy novel?

“Kyaaaah! A person! Professor Chris killed a person!”

“What?! I knew that gloomy-looking bastard would snap someday!”

Eolssigu, screams and slander too—now it’s complete. Genre change as of today, you brats.

I checked the reduced usage count—now at two—and sheathed the sword at my waist again.

‘Chris’ wasn’t the type to make excuses anyway, so before getting hauled off as an actual murderer, let me do what’s essential in this kind of plot development.

‘How did things come to this again…’

Cue the flashback.

It all started when the Princess returned to the Academy not as Angelina, but as Andante.

“…Angel…ina…? Wait, Angelina?! No! Why did you cut your hair— no, more importantly, you’ve gotten way bigger!”

“Shut up. I’m not Angelina anymore, I’m Andante. She’s taking classes in Class Y.”

“Hehe~ I heard the gist of the story, but you really came back as a ‘man,’ huh?”

“…”

Suddenly appearing with a growth spurt.

The problem was that he was excessively handsome.

From the next day, X-Class went into an uproar.