* * *

A god cannot harm their follower.

More precisely, killing the very last remaining follower is impossible.

Naturally—once a god’s follower count reaches zero, they lose their very reason to exist.

‘Chris’ would become that final follower. That was my thinking.

[Bead: So when the god tried to attack you just now, it sparked like electricity…….]

That was staged to make the Martial God believe I was a genuine follower. If you’re going to call it divine punishment, a sudden bolt of lightning fits the bill, doesn’t it?

It was output powerful enough to sell that misroleplayion.

And this was none other than—

“……I won’t let anyone who tries to harm my professor get away with it.”

‘The owner of this whisper—namely, Bob Hair’s magic!’

The Martial God had gone into seclusion ages ago. As a result, his knowledge of the outside world had frozen at that point in time.

‘And Bob Hair was the first Possession Vessel that Twin-braid ever created.’

There was no way he’d be prepared for such an exceptional case.

In other words, the Martial God couldn’t perceive Bob Hair, who lacked a proper human body.

‘Thanks to that, hiding her within my embrace was also possible.’

How difficult it had been to get Twin-braid to hand over Gabana for this operation.

[Bead: You told her you’d protect Gabana since she’d be forcibly separated upon entering the dungeon anyway…… but it was the exact opposite! I trusted you too!]

You don’t understand. This is mutual benefit. My character roleplay protects Bob Hair, and Bob Hair protects my character roleplay.

Like the crocodile and the plover, the ant and the aphid. At last, an ideal symbiosis.

[Bead: Don’t look so smug when every single one of your analogies is wrong.]

Of course, without Twin-braid’s support, Bob Hair couldn’t cast magic multiple times.

And the opponent was a god—fallen, perhaps, but still a god.

The element of surprise only works once. After that, my character work had to carry the rest.

“A follower? Don’t lie to me! I couldn’t possibly have any followers left! I’ve been forgotten for so long……!”

Of course, ‘Chris’ wasn’t the type to believe in gods or anything of the sort. If anything, she despised them.

“My father would weep in hell if he heard that. He believed in you until the very moment he was branded a heretic and killed.”

“……?!”

‘But what if ‘Chris’ was a daughter raised under a father who had worshipped the Martial God for generations?’

Here, a flashback to the character ‘Chris’s’ childhood was woven in.

Before being taken in by the Demon Lord, ‘Chris’ was the daughter of a heretic.

She remembered the figure of the last follower who had clung to the Martial God even amidst countless persecutions.

While the very god she served had long hidden away in the Academy, plugging both ears in fear of a world that was forgetting him.

Left abandoned like that, young ‘Chris’ gradually grew numb to everything—

‘By the time her father was stoned to death, she’d become cold-hearted enough to please even the Demon Lord.’

Having lost her guardian, young ‘Chris’ couldn’t refuse the Demon Lord’s outstretched hand.

If you traced it back, this was the starting point where ‘Chris’s’ life went awry.

That was the setting.

“You have no qualification to be a god. Not because your influence has waned—”

So the reason ‘Chris’ threw herself into this dungeon as a sacrifice was to say this to his face.

“It’s because you abandoned your followers and fled.”

“…….”

“At the very least, you should have told those who couldn’t abandon their faith in you, ‘You have been forsaken.'”

Otherwise, they’d keep clinging to false hope. And the ones who suffered from that blind devotion were the helpless children.

This is exactly why you shouldn’t disappear without a word. Choosing to abandon your followers first because you were afraid of being abandoned yourself—isn’t that petty for a god?

‘Well, even that grand Creator God made the stupidest choice in the world, so.’

I’d love to see that bastard’s face someday. Slapping it at least once would make dying in my first life feel worthwhile.

[Bead: ……Hey, this is all just something you made up, right? Does it…… does it actually have anything to do with that person’s past—the one you always call Real Chris?]

Of course, the character ‘Chris’ had her roots in Real Chris, but the two were strictly separate.

‘Chris’ was a character roleplay I had constructed.

In other words, I tended to draw inspiration from my personal experiences when crafting such settings.

As for which side this falls on…….

Frankly, that’s none of your business. Let’s move on.

What matters now is that it’s time for me to shake down—I mean, help—the Martial God!

“So that’s why you’ve been searching for me all this time? You want to hold me accountable?”

The Martial God’s voice was already growing tearful. For someone called the Martial God, he was awfully fragile.

Don’t worry. I’ll give you the chance to absolve the guilt of turning your back on ten million followers.

By helping save the world, no less.

“You want to blame me, don’t you! You’re planning to curse and condemn me indiscriminately!”

Huh?

“You clearly intend to torment me all day and shake me down, all to wring an apology from a god!”

Ah, no. It’s not quite that—

“Those red eyes of yours! You’re just like those magic zealots who bound my statue with rope ages ago, toppled it, kicked it, and mocked it! You too will bind my limbs, spit on me, and reduce me to a footwipe—”

“Enough.”

“Look at that ominous aura! This won’t end at mere material compensation—you’ll surely hold me captive, unable to even be destroyed, and torture me endlessly!”

Good grief…….

Even <Hero Rampage> never mentioned the Martial God acting like such a paranoid, troublesome brat…….

[Bead: Just hit him once. He wants it that badly, so I say giving him what he wants is the right thing to do.]

I would have tried if not for the concern that my hand would crumple against that helmet.

“Hey, tin can. Didn’t you hear me say enough?”

“T-tin can? How dare you! I am—”

“If you spout another useless word, I’ll swap out the god I believe in. Immediately.”

“……!”

This worked—he snapped his mouth shut in an instant.

Hah… that’s better. I rubbed my brow and got to the point.

“Since ancient times, it has been a god’s duty to bestow blessings commensurate with the offerings received. So you need to give me what I want.”

“I owe a debt to your father, so I’ll comply within reason, but if you aren’t the sacrifice, then what exactly is the……”

“I already gave it. My faith. Is there a more precious offering than that?”

“Do kids these days pay their restaurant tabs with love and devotion?”

“And one more thing.”

“O-one more? Greed invites the lightning, you whelp! Learn to be satisfied!”

“I need a human body.”

“……!”

I felt Bob Hair flinch ever so slightly within my embrace.

* * *

“Hah.”

Andante steadied his breathing.

His limbs had been trembling like spasms for quite some time, but he never once loosened his grip on the spear.

His opponent had done the same.

“Andante Serif. What keeps you standing isn’t perseverance—it’s mere delusion. Give up now.”

The man was larger in build than the current Andante, with long hair tied back in a single tail.

Andante thought that if he ever grew into an adult, he would look like that.

But.

“You truly aren’t me.”

“…….”

“I’ve never distinguished myself in magic. As you can see, my physical abilities aren’t particularly impressive either. But there is one talent the others couldn’t even begin to catch up to.”

A hallucination—and a rather crude one at that. Like calling a reflection in a mirror the ‘real thing.’

“The ability to forget.”

When imitating Angelina, he forgot that he was Andante.

After Angelina returned, he forgot the family that had bound him for so long.

And always, in every moment.

He forgot that the option to give up existed.

“Which means I know just as well what I have to remember. And right now, what I have to remember isn’t resignation—it’s that I’m in the middle of class.”

He corrected his stance and exploited the opening.

“Because there’s someone I want to look good for.”

And so, Andante became the one in X-Class who might have been the slowest, but who got things done with absolute certainty.

Clang-!

The ring of steel meeting steel echoed through the air, and a spear went flying.

Tok.

Andante snatched the glowing spear with his bare hand.

His opponent was now disarmed, holding nothing.

At last, Andante’s victory.

His opponent fell silent, seemingly at a loss for words.

“……I see. So that is why you never let go of the spear.”

And then he began to slowly dissipate. With a smile.

“Challenger, you have passed the Martial God’s trial. The Martial God shall now bestow his blessing upon you.”

A majestic voice resonated, and Andante briefly closed and opened his eyes against a vision turning pure white.

And what he saw then—

Was the helmeted figure passionately arguing over a naked male form, and Chris wearing an expression of pure murderous intent.

“Why do you refuse?! This form is the most popular statue from my prime, and this particular part that symbolizes the might of martial power is……!”

“Would you prefer your neck dangling there instead?”

Oh.

Andante had a pretty good idea who he should stab first with the spear he’d just acquired.