“Are you newly smitten by a form that even possesses intellect?”

“I found myself wanting to apostatize (to forsake the religion I once followed).”

Even so, it was true that he had played the role of a god quite generously. The reason probably being….

“Give him a break. If a human with this much investment value claims to seek the divine, wouldn’t everyone come running?”

He must have seen some kind of potential in the roleplay that is ‘Chris.’

“Well, excluding the Creator God, there are hardly any gods worthy of the title left. In any case, you’re bound to cause an uproar.”

So he wanted me to elevate his reputation alongside disciples wielding weapons of his making. Well….

‘Let’s not even mention that I also consider those weapons to be nothing more than magic support tools.’

“Ah, and when you have time, share some information about where you got that sword at your waist. For something so worn, it’s made of a material I’ve never seen before, which is quite fascinating—”

It wasn’t as if I could send him the System shopping mall link.

I should start making my way back.

* * *

[Quest Perfectly Completed! Received ‘Painless Spray’ as a reward.]

Aww.

I fulfilled all three conditions for this quest, yet the reward was thoroughly underwhelming.

‘Though I suppose the difficulty was on the easier side.’

Perhaps because it was a quest given before I recovered my memories of the first round.

Still, I’d at least secured the minimum conditions to avoid a backstab ending this time, so let’s stay positive.

The only thing left was the growth of the protagonist’s group, I suppose.

‘Of course, they’re already incredibly strong. If they’re field mice, I’m a single-celled organism.’

Once they grew accustomed to their weapons, they’d undoubtedly soar even higher.

But the problem was….

‘The fact that the opponent they must defeat is the Demon Lord.’

In the first round, X-Class encountered the Demon Lord during the final semester of their third year. Even then, there were some close calls that would have gone badly without my overpowered self helping.

‘But given how things are playing out now, the invasion will come by their second year at the latest.’

Besides, my combat prowess was at a level where I couldn’t even swipe my own transit card, let alone carry anyone.

If I got caught in the clash between the Demon Lord’s army and the students, I’d be pulverized into dust, and then some.

‘In other words, the conclusion was simple. The kids needed to become strong enough to manage without me.’

They had their gear, so what they needed now was a rival.

It was time for someone to appear who could motivate these kids—kids who had no peers capable of standing against them.

So I made my way to the second-year floor, thinking I’d check in on the Lion.

It had been a while since I last came here… the atmosphere felt somewhat different compared to my previous memories.

“Honey, want to go study together?”

“Of course! I already saved us a spot.”

Students clustered in small groups, chattering noisily, along with an unusually high number of couples.

Well, compared to the freshman fledglings, they were at an age where they’d be experimenting more.

Brushing it off as nothing special, I went looking for the Lion.

“Ryan? He’s sitting over there, but… he’s been acting a bit strange. Since a few days ago.”

Following one student’s helpful directions, I turned to look and found—

[Bead: Uh, I haven’t been watching him for long, but did he always look that timid?]

Hair modestly let down, round glasses, tidy clothes, and a hunched posture.

Anyone could see there sat a timid boy.

The exact opposite of his usual wild boar impression.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with him. His spirit’s completely broken—he’s not rebelling like usual and barely speaks. I’m worried he might be sick or something.”

[Bead: Ah! Could this be a similar case to that Model Student, Nika? Maybe he has some worries, or there’s been a change of heart…]

No. Similar, but different.

Ordinary people would naturally assume the kid just wasn’t feeling well.

But as a fellow Roleplay Addict, I could tell.

‘The Lion had dropped his roleplay.’

And a brutal reality check at that.

This punk?

* * *

I didn’t want to become a curmudgeon.

But the world kept making me one.

I mean, someone my age was desperately maintaining their roleplay just to survive.

And you, kid—you’re still young, and you can’t even hold on? You’re dropping your roleplay?

And you call yourself a Roleplay Addict? Huh? This was a betrayal of the Roleplay Addict Alliance. Betrayal!

[Bead: I’ve never seen you this indignant before, and the cause is about roleplays. How petty, how petty.]

True, I needed to calm down a bit. This was an incident that hadn’t occurred in either the first round or <Hero Rampage>.

What had caused the Lion to abandon his roleplay, and how could I make him fulfill his role as a rival.

This was the time to think about it.

There was no need to get worked up over—

‘Actually, there was.’

“Ryan.”

“…Master? I mean, Professor Chris? W-what brings you all the way here….”

Emotion must have slipped into my voice—just calling his name made him tremble.

Right. In truth, the Lion’s actual personality was extremely ordinary and boring.

That was why his basic setting was to deliberately adopt a roleplay of being rebellious and loud.

‘An event significant enough to make him suddenly abandon that? If I had to pinpoint it, it would be when he got mixed up with the X-Class group that came to rescue me.’

Did he develop an inferiority complex toward the protagonist like the Model Student did?

No, this kid’s thought process wasn’t that complex. To put it bluntly, upon seeing someone strong, his reaction stopped at “Whoa! They’re strong!”

‘Then why?’

“Why do you keep staring at me…? If there’s nothing in particular, I-I’d appreciate it if you could go. I’m quite busy with various matters, so if you’ll excuse me….”

The sight of him pushing up his glasses was so insufferable that I decided to throw a fastball straight at him.

“What’s the problem?”

“P-problem? There’s no such thing?”

He slipped up.

“Is that so? If there’s no problem, then you can answer my call. Come out immediately and serve as a sparring partner for the X-Class kids.”

“T-that’s a bit… I have a schedule too, you know….”

The moment X-Class was mentioned, he seemed to jump about two inches from his seated position.

From the looks of it, he definitely had some kind of trouble with someone from my class.

Who did he pick a fight with this time? Did they have a big argument?

[Bead: Uh, Chris. Seeing how his face is red, it might not be that kind of thing.]

What? If it wasn’t that kind of thing, then what?

[Bead: There are some things that someone like you would find hard to imagine.]

Bead spoke as though he were some kind of sage.

I was frowning, unable to make sense of what he was saying, when—

“…B-but, Professor. Does that bob-haired girl in X-Class also… participate in the sparring?”

The Lion asked, fidgeting with his hands in a way that didn’t suit him at all.

A bob-haired girl—he must mean Gabana, who had recently adapted to her mechanical body and started showing herself?

‘She’s only shown her face to others for a few days now. What could there be between them… Oh, damn it.’

Something struck me hard across the back of the head.

Back in my younger days, I once played an online game with a boy I liked.

Even though I already had a max-level character, I deliberately used an alt when playing with him.

‘Because it was embarrassing!’

I didn’t want to show the person I was crushing on how obsessively I role-played on my main!

“I-I heard she’s a transfer student, and I never got a proper chance to introduce myself… If she’s participating in the sparring, maybe you could help me say a few words, ehehe.”

Love at first sight.

This kid, expressing it with every fiber of his being, must have been operating on similar psychology.

Had even the Lion been infected by the pink-hued atmosphere pervading this floor?

‘But no. In that mushy state, how could he possibly have a proper sparring match?’

The Lion wanted so badly to look good in front of Bob Hair. Enough to abandon his roleplay.

So there was no way he’d genuinely throw fists at her twin or her friends.

In other words, he had zero intention of fulfilling his duties as a rival.

‘In a word, completely useless.’

Letting them meet like this would only fuel a romance operation.

‘Damn it, the Lion had gone lovestruck….’

And over Bob Hair, one of the protagonist’s girlfriend candidates, no less.

Leaving things as they were would lead to nothing good.

It couldn’t be helped. For you, me, and all of us.

“Pathetic.”

“Y-yes…?”

“Charging ahead when you don’t even know Gabana Bright’s tastes.”

“…!”

You needed to get rejected, I’m afraid.

That’s how everyone grew—by pushing through the pain.

“Does that mean… you’ll help me, Professor?”

As if.

Honestly, Bob Hair was far too good for him.

But interpretation always matters more than the dream itself. I replied with an openly scowling face.

“There are limits to delusion. How would I know such useless information?”

And then came the ‘Chris’-style secret technique, Speaking Ambiguously.

“The ones constantly hovering around her might know, though.”

“…!”

I was certain. The Lion would interpret this as a suggestion to ask the X-Class kids.

Given the ‘Chris’ roleplay, she wouldn’t offer a hint this substantial, but people naturally interpret situations according to what they want to hear.

‘The lovestruck single-celled Lion would head straight for Twin-braid.’

Since she was the one who spent the most time around Bob Hair.

The fact that Twin-braid and Bob Hair were twin sisters was not yet known.

If revealed, the news that a dead person had come back to life would become public knowledge, throwing the Academy into an uproar, apparently.

Twin-braid had been adamant about keeping it hidden, saying the Magic Tower would certainly come running in a panic.

‘They were fraternal twins anyway, so she’d only dyed her hair a different color.’

For whatever reason, she’d chosen blue, so when the twins walked together, they completed a look practically guaranteed to inspire patriotism.

‘Someone with the somewhat naive streak of the Lion wouldn’t know Twin-braid’s true nature.’

The one who could be called the most scheming among all of X-Class.

And above all, a teenager with an extraordinary obsession and affection for her sister.

‘Keeping the soul of a girl who died five years ago bound all this time says it all.’

Go ahead, try making a move.

Let’s see if she’d even let him touch a single strand of Bob Hair’s hair.

[Bead: I don’t think you have any right to call anyone else scheming, though.]