“Don’t just do that—listen to what I have to say! This is the very embodiment of the ideal human form from that era, I tell you!”

Thunk!

Something flew in and embedded itself into the helmet head that had been spewing passionate rhetoric.

A silver-gleaming… spear?

“Remove that eyesore from in front of the professor.”

It was the Princess. He must have already passed the test.

‘If unexpected, then unexpected. The Protagonist, the Healer, and the Model Student are all here too.’

Perhaps the person most accustomed to fighting themselves was the Princess.

“Hoh, hehe. For a mere human to dare attack me—your spirit is at least commendable.”

The Martial God, who had been hawking his own statues when asked for a human body, grabbed the spear embedded in his head.

It didn’t come out easily, though.

“Ngh, nnngh… Hmph! As expected, this is the finest spear ever forged by my own hand! Do you see, my follower? This is the weapon of the Martial God, worthy of being called a divine artifact.”

Sure, the performance was killer. Considering he was still gripping it and struggling.

The Martial God was indeed the Martial God.

‘Trading intelligence for strength and ending up stupid—can’t be helped, I suppose.’

I pinched the bridge of my nose.

“Hah, this bastard and that bastard—what a bumper crop of bullshit. Put it away, Andante.”

“I think it’s aesthetically fine as is.”

“Did you get your eyes poked out by that spear?”

“I speak from the perspective of someone with a noble’s aesthetic sensibility.”

“Then I’ll personally return it to your skull.”

“I’ll put it away immediately.”

With a single gesture from the Princess, the spear vibrated with a grinding sound before yanking free and returning to its owner.

“Phew, I’ll live. Ahem, anyway, seeing you handle it so skillfully already—you truly are worthy of passing my test! I should bestow my blessing upon you, but I’m in the middle of an audience with my follower, so wait.”

“Your follower… you say?”

The Princess looked at me with puzzlement.

As expected, the roleplay of ‘Chris’ as a follower didn’t seem to suit him. How to explain this… was not a concern I bothered with.

Crackle.

“…! Ah, I see. I understand.”

A faint static spark jumped near the Princess’s side.

Bob Hair had given him a hint. It meant she’d explain later, so shut up for now.

I knew it.

‘Bob Hair would inevitably empathize with Chris’s past roleplay.’

Despite her fierce appearance, Bob Hair had experienced neglect from parents obsessed with magic.

Her cause of death, in the first place, was also rooted in her parents’ failure to properly supervise her.

‘Therefore, this kid wouldn’t make an issue of the heretic’s daughter setting. If anything, she might even take my side.’

Besides, offering a human body as a bribe could also win Bob Hair’s favor.

The lightning had certainly been put to good use.

“…Sniffle.”

Whoa, I didn’t expect her to get this immersed, though.

I’d been feeling dampness near my chest for a while now—is she crying?

‘You’re a thousand-year-old doll, Bob Hair—crying is beneath you. Stop it, stop.’

I pretended to lightly brush off my shoulder while patting the chest area where Bob Hair was nestled.

This roleplay was a bit melodramatic… but I shouldn’t overlook the fact that Bob Hair was still a child.

[Bead: Well, if this were that novel you mentioned, this would be the moment where a string of bitter flashback scenes would play out.]

Oho. Your perceptiveness has grown quite a bit, hasn’t it? I’ll give you a proper upgrade when we get back, Bead.

Anyway, I couldn’t give a body like that to a girl like her. I should go with a simple appearance similar to her soul.

“Make it the appearance of a girl with red bobbed hair and about this height.”

“Hmm, is that your taste? I’d say it’s unexpected, but then again…”

“Hardly.”

“Hardly.”

The reflexive denial overlapped between the Princess and me.

“The professor’s taste is in beautiful young men.”

That’s your wishful thinking, not mine.

Just then, the sound of someone walking out could be heard.

“Indeed! It seems the next passer is making their way out!”

The second was, as expected, the Protagonist.

He walked out carrying a purple-glowing sword and opened his mouth.

“Well, I believe the teacher prefers red eyes similar to her own.”

Wait, he’s not giving his passing remarks—he’s joining the debate about my taste? And while sweeping his bangs back to show off his eyes?

“Um… if I had to say, perhaps the teacher prefers soft, fluffy fur?”

The Healer, who appeared next, shyly added her own input.

“Oh my~ I’m fourth? Should I be happy that at least I’m not last?”

“What! We came in almost at the same time! But what was everyone talking about?”

This wouldn’t do. The entire X-Class had gathered.

I needed to disperse them before it got any louder.

“Martial God.”

“Y-yes.”

“Let’s talk after clearing out these innocently chattering field mice.”

“What? Weren’t we at least chicks?! Have we been demoted back to field mice?! Why…!”

“Idiot~ It’s obviously because of kids like you, isn’t it?”

“What! Michael, you think so too?!”

“Now, now, everyone stop fighting and just receive the Martial God’s blessing and disperse.”

The Martial God, watching the raucous scene, nodded.

I guessed that the expression inside that helmet was probably similar to the one I was wearing now.

“Everyone. Get lost. Now.”

For the record, my taste had been firmly set on strapping young men since my days on Earth.

* * *

“So, what is the real matter?”

A space where only the Martial God and I remained.

He asked with his hands on his hips.

“Of course, finding a replacement for a human body is difficult. But someone of your caliber wouldn’t have come all this way, even offering yourself as a sacrifice, just to demand that one thing.”

A god was indeed a god. I replied with my arms crossed.

“You once attempted to imitate the Creator God’s magic.”

“…!”

“But what remained from that failure were only incomplete machines. You went all out, so you couldn’t bring yourself to discard them.”

“I knew you were no ordinary person, but… just how much do you know? Are you perhaps a pawn of the Holy Emperor?”

“More entertaining than that sly bastard, at least. Curious?”

Being a Transmigrator and something like a regressor and all.

“Making such jokes with a straight face isn’t amusing… Let me tell you in advance, those failures are exactly that—failures. You won’t find any use for them.”

The Martial God scratched his head as he replied.

“Doesn’t matter. Just give me the materials listed here.”

The Martial God stared at the note I handed him for a moment before responding.

“Are you planning to die?”

[Bead: What, you bastard?]

Calm down, calm down. This is all to survive. Seriously. The Martial God just runs his mouth with unnecessary things.

“For a god, you certainly spout a lot of nonsense.”

“Otherwise, there’d be no reason to need such items. You’re asking me to live a long life, as a follower should.”

It was an overly human statement, but a god worrying about his follower was ultimately worrying about his own well-being.

But to use the ‘follower’ roleplay to extort favors and then hear such things on top of it—my conscience…

‘Wasn’t particularly pricked.’

But accumulating too much debt would be problematic, so perhaps I should offer this at least.

I pulled a magic stone from my coat and offered it to the Martial God.

“Stop running your mouth for nothing and take this.”

“And that is…? Ahem, it carries the scent of a dog. The life force contained within is quite substantial.”

“It’s a Cerberus magic stone. Should be quite useful.”

The gatekeeper monster that the X-Class kids had defeated at the entrance to the Demon Realm.

Perhaps because it had three heads, three magic stones had been harvested from it.

Each one was a high-grade magic stone, so I gave one as a bribe to the Principal, left one for the kids to share, and kept one for myself.

For the record, I said I didn’t need it, but the kids begged and insisted I take it.

‘I suppose this is what they call having people’s trust.’

[Bead: The X-Class kids definitely have pushover tendencies when it comes to you specifically.]

There was no reason the Martial God wouldn’t welcome this. He’d drooled at the sight of my S-rank mana heart in the beginning.

But the fellow tilted his head in bewilderment.

“Is this a sacrifice? What more do you want?”

“It’s compensation for what you’ve given me.”

“Hmm, I thought in this day and age, one could trade a crust of bread for love and devotion, but…”

The fellow stroked his chin sarcastically. But then he continued in a grinning voice.

“Never mind. You’ve already paid the price.”

Wait, when did you collect that?

I almost reflexively dug through my pockets.

But I understood what he meant the very next moment.

“Do you know why gods bestow gifts of magic and weapons upon humans?”

The Martial God raised his index finger and continued.

“It’s not because they specially love humans. It’s to ensure that humans continue to seek them out.”

The helmet head was suddenly right before my eyes. It wasn’t the size of a human head like before. It was closer to a massive monster.

As if flaunting that he was still a god.

“It means that even if everything you’ve said is a lie, it doesn’t matter. You’ve already come to remember me.”

He never intended to just be fleeced like a mark from the start. I suppose even a rotting herring is still a herring.

I twisted the corner of my mouth and let out a scoff.

“You really intend to collect your faith, don’t you.”