“I’m glad I came after all. It’s even more vast and beautiful than I remembered from my childhood. Perhaps it’s because I’m seeing it with you, Professor.”

In other words, there were more flowers here than in the past. We might have accidentally been helping these Corpse Flowers grow.

‘Let’s head back right now. With this group, even three or four monsters would wipe us out.’

Just as I turned around, bracing myself to shatter the Protagonist’s sentimental moment.

I spotted a group shuffling toward us in the distance. At a glance, they looked human, but this area had been in ruins for ages.

[Bead: Um, are we thinking the same thing right now?]

You tell me what you’re thinking first.

[Bead: We’re screwed?]

Same here. We’re fucked.

“Professor? What are you looking at… ah.”

The Protagonist’s face drained of color. As if he’d run into someone he already knew.

“How… how are you all here…? Uncle Brown was definitely dead…”

Bad match-up. Those walking corpse-looking things were what you’d call zombies or ghouls. Of course, there was no need to be shaken up—they were just monsters born imitating the last appearance of the dead.

The problem was…

– Ah, ah, it hurts. S-s-save me. Sa… save me.

Every single one of those words and actions was a trauma trigger button for the Protagonist, damn it.

I put force into my voice and spoke.

“Michael. Don’t listen to anything. Don’t look at anything. It’s all an illusion.”

“……”

“Answer me!”

“Ah, yes! I’m sorry, Professor!”

Good. If you lose your grip too, it’s over.

I slowly stepped backward and whispered.

“Escape route.”

“Well, there is one path I know…”

The Protagonist’s words trailed off.

Was he wondering why I was thinking about running instead of using magic? Honestly, this kid couldn’t come up with a decent way to get out of this on his own.

“Keep dawdling like that and you’ll ruin the whole flower field of memories.”

I said it in a sarcastic tone, but the implication was that I was holding back because if I stepped in, the flower field would be destroyed.

Fortunately, the message seemed to get through to the Protagonist.

“…! Understood, please follow me!”

[Bead: Now that I think about it, you really are despicable.]

Shut up, you mouthless thing! This is how a Roleplay Addict survives!

The Protagonist started running in the exact opposite direction of the monster group.

Running through the endless field of flowers wasn’t as easy as it sounded, so I had to grit my teeth.

[Equipped the item ‘Monkey Keyring’!

Agility increases by one rank for the duration of equipping.

F / Friend of the Snail -> E / Brother of the Snail]

‘This kid is pretty fast. Toward the end, I could barely keep up.’

With E-rank agility, I was just barely managing not to lose sight of him.

After running for a while, the Protagonist asked, slightly out of breath.

“Professor, by any chance, can you swim?”

Huh? What kind of question was that all of a sudden… oh, damn it. Don’t tell me the destination we’d been running so hard toward was…

“It’s fine if you can’t. The sea below has gentle currents, so even as a child, I could jump in. You just need to follow me closely.”

That’s because you’re the Demon Lord’s offspring. At least your defense wasn’t F-rank.

But we’d come too far to turn back. All that stretched before my eyes was the vast blue sky and sea.

Ah… I shouldn’t have forgotten that this guy was the Protagonist who’d jump off a cliff without a second thought.

“Crazy bastard.”

After uttering that one heartfelt word.

[Bead: Aaaagh!!! The necklace! Hold onto the necklace properly! I’m fallingggg!]

I leaped off the cliff.

The sun beating down, the wind brushing my face, and finally, the refreshing sea.

It was fucking summer.

* * *

When I was young, my mother used to say that a person should know how to play one instrument and one sport in life.

As for instruments, I think I quit right after getting into Czerny 100. What sport did I do again?

Ah… right.

Survival swimming.

[Bead: Hey, hey! Chris! Are you conscious? Hurry up and get up! The situation right now is really weird!]

The chat window shook in my hazy vision.

Right. I jumped off a cliff to avoid monsters earlier. Then I mostly swam by instinct to follow the Protagonist, and after that, I think we entered some cave.

And then I lost consciousness for a bit?

‘Where’s the Protagonist.’

Just as I was pushing myself up in a daze.

“…So, is this your way of saying we should die together, young master?”

“No, it’s simple enough if you just disappear.”

Ugh, what kind of conversation was this? My eyes snapped open.

More importantly, wasn’t that the voice of someone who shouldn’t be here?

“Ah—Lady Chris, you’re awake? Good to see you. I really didn’t want to show you this sight.”

The one raising his hand in greeting with a laugh was none other than Maria—aka Bandage.

Setting aside why a Demon Lord’s army member was here.

‘What the hell happened to him?’

Even at a glance, he was in serious condition. Half his body was charred black, and the bandages around his eyes were half-torn and tattered.

Given that his exposed eye was pitch black, was it Mana Depletion?

‘Both of Bandage’s eyes were magical prosthetics powered by mana—they were supposed to have a blue tint normally.’

In other words, he was so low on mana right now that he couldn’t even operate his eyes. The fact that the monsters he always controlled with magic weren’t by his side confirmed it.

“Professor, I’ll handle this one. Don’t worry…”

I wondered if the Protagonist had beaten him up, but this kid was also just a soaked rat.

[Bead: When that kid brought you into the cave, that Bandage guy was already here. He was probably recuperating from injuries sustained from some incident. They were fighting over who should leave.]

I almost sighed.

[Bead: But the atmosphere… it really is two guys fighting over you, isn’t it?]

No, Bead, it’s not.

Either way, cleaning up the mess was the teacher’s job. I pressed my throbbing temples and opened my mouth.

“Both of you, sit down.”

“But Professor, this guy is!”

“Lady Chris, you can’t spoil children too much. You need to break them once…”

“I said sit down.”

If you don’t want to get kicked out. Do you want to see firsthand what kind of friends live in the deep sea below? I glared at them with roughly that sentiment.

“……”

Fortunately, it got through. Bandage and the Protagonist knelt and sat down side by side.

‘No matter how blind and near-death Bandage is right now, he’s still a Demon Lord’s army executive. Who does the Protagonist think he is, charging at him?’

Me, by any chance? Sorry, but if those two fought, the one who’d die from a ruptured back would be me.

Therefore, I needed to spend this time as peacefully as possible.

Bandage couldn’t move until he recovered some mana, and we needed to rest until morning too.

“What’s the point of killing each other here besides providing fertilizer for the flowers? Let’s call tonight’s events a dream. Michael, we move as soon as it’s light out.”

A temporary ceasefire declaration. There was no way Bandage didn’t understand.

Perhaps because it was ‘Chris’—the person who appeared to be the most decisive factor in any battle here—no one objected.

After that tacit agreement was reached, the two seemed to have decided to treat each other as nonexistent.

“Professor, then I’ll start a fire to dry our wet clothes.”

“Lady Chris, if you have nothing to burn, please use this. It’s something like firewood. It was the limbs of a tree-like fellow.”

“Professor. Firewood suddenly appeared—can we use this? I’ve heard there are tree species that release poison when burned.”

“I wouldn’t dream of playing tricks where you are, so rest easy, our Lady Chris.”

“U-um… if you’d like, Professor, I’m confident in fire magic, so I could serve as a human heater!”

Just talk amongst yourselves. What are you doing dragging me into the middle of this…

[Bead: Ah, my parents used to do exactly that after they fought. I had a hard time playing the peacemaker.]

Weren’t they more like immaturely fighting siblings than parents? Though the parties involved would jump in outrage at that comparison.

After I told them to be quiet and hurry things along, things finally progressed. After some time passed, it became something resembling a camping scene often seen in fantasy novels.

Were we just supposed to spend the night awkwardly like this? It was absolutely not the kind of atmosphere where I could say, ‘Hey kids, I’m bored, let’s play a random game~’

Sharing a room with the enemy was truly uncomfortable. Just as I was having such thoughts.

“Um, Professor… may I take off my clothes now?”

I almost spat. What… take off what? Did I mishear? Did I transmigrate into a different novel in the blink of an eye?

Everyone, hit the back button for a second and check the age rating on this again.