With this, I couldn’t help but nod.

“You finally let me win once.”

Grinning, Bead’s fingertips began to slowly scatter.

As if announcing that the time had come.

It was the last moment we could converse.

“Bead, you…….”

“Yeah.”

“You’re truly a stubborn, self-willed person.”

“Look who’s talking. Now do you understand how I felt watching your antics all this time?”

Yes, I understood it to my very core.

“Live a long life and reflect on yourself. And remember—if you die, I die too!”

I’d never received such an effective threat before.

So I had no choice but to send Bead off with a smile until the very end.

“I’m counting on you once more, Sae-ra Cheon…… no, Chris.”

With those final words, Bead’s form vanished.

My consciousness faded away soon after.

When I opened my real ‘eyes’ again…….

[Congratulations on your return after one year, Player Chris Dotton!]

[Would you like to receive your return commemorative reward and proceed with the main quest ‘Epilogue’?]

A year had vanished.

Huh?

* * *

Meanwhile, at Bedallua Academy.

“Bell, drink this while you work.”

“Ah— Andante. Thank you. You don’t need to worry about me. You must be busy enough with your family’s affairs.”

“Angelina can handle dealing with the Demon Lord’s remnants on her own. You’re the one having the hardest time.”

At Andante’s words, Bell smiled lightly and sipped from her glass.

Anyone could see she was steeped in exhaustion. She was probably holding on only thanks to her Wolf-human stamina.

Unlike the others, she had stayed at the Academy, caring for ‘him.’

From that day a year ago, until now.

“How is Michael doing?”

Andante asked cautiously.

“Hmm, same as always. He won’t let anyone approach unless they’re X-Class students. I heard a priest from the Holy Kingdom tried to sneak up on him last time and nearly got killed.”

“No wonder there’s been a rumor going around lately about a mad dragon living at the Academy. Did they spread that?”

“Fufu, it’s not a dragon but a person, though…….”

A bitterness seeped through Bell’s expression.

“It’s natural for mana to run wild until he adapts to the new heart. But the real problem is that Michael fundamentally can’t accept it himself.”

Bell lowered her eyes and continued quietly.

“The fact that his professor’s heart is inside his body.”

Professor.

Hearing that word, Andante felt his fists involuntarily clench.

“Ah, right.”

As if suddenly remembering, Bell looked up and asked.

“Come to think of it, Andante, how’s the search for the professor? Any progress?”

“No, we couldn’t even find a corpse. The Holy Emperor scoured nearly the entire continent……. It’s as if she evaporated into thin air.”

“Really? Haa…… thank goodness.”

Chris Dotton, who went missing the day the Demon Lord’s head was severed a year ago.

The news that not even a trace of her could be found should have been devastating, yet both Bell and Andante wore expressions of genuine relief.

“Then she must still be alive.”

“Yeah. If she were caught, she’d definitely be executed.”

Chris Dotton.

That name no longer referred to a professor at the Academy.

She was a heinous criminal with a wanted order issued personally by the Holy Emperor.

“How many charges were there? She served as a former executive of the Demon Lord’s army, infiltrated the Academy pretending to defect, funneled out information, and ultimately betrayed even her own disciples before fleeing…….”

Bell counted on her fingers before letting out a scoff of disbelief.

“How did things ever come to this?”

Andante echoed her lament.

“Tell me about it. In one year, so much has changed.”

Andante recalled the day he last saw Chris.

Right after the Demon Lord’s head fell, the Holy Emperor and the allied forces had arrived at the scene.

The Holy Emperor personally sealed the Demon Lord’s body and heart, but that was only a temporary measure.

“For the complete sealing of the Demon Lord, the heart of Michael—who severed its head—is necessary. Chris knew this and stole the heart before disappearing. She is undoubtedly plotting the Demon Lord’s resurrection somewhere. We must capture her.”

And so the wanted order for Chris was issued.

“Furthermore, Michael Foxin is currently in a state where his new heart and the Demon Lord’s bloodline are in constant conflict. He is extremely unstable and cannot be allowed outside the Academy.”

Bedallua Academy had effectively been reduced to functioning as a prison to monitor and confine Michael.

In other words, it was practically shut down.

“It’s like everyone’s been brainwashed. I don’t care how great the Holy Emperor is for hearing the Creator God’s words, but how can everyone change their tune completely at a single word from him? They don’t believe a single thing we witnessed.”

“Bell.”

“There’s no way the professor was that kind of person. There must have been circumstances. It’s just…… it would’ve been nice if she’d told us what they were beforehand…….”

Bell’s voice grew increasingly moist.

She had endured this situation well until now, but between the chaotic state of affairs, a friend who had lost her wits and never returned, and a teacher with no word of her whereabouts—

she was slowly reaching her limit with each day that felt like standing in place.

“I miss the professor. I want to find an answer for what I should do in this situation…….”

“…….”

Andante felt the same way, so he could only quietly pat Bell’s back.

Already a year.

Across the continent, scattered remnants of the Demon Lord’s army ran rampant, while the Holy Emperor focused solely on the search for Chris.

‘Professor Chris. Your disciples are waiting for you like this. What could you possibly be thinking right now?’

* * *

‘I’m hungry.’

That single thought filled my head completely.

This wasn’t ordinary hunger. It felt like I hadn’t eaten for at least a year.

A hunger so overwhelming that I couldn’t even properly read the quest window floating before my eyes was crashing over me.

‘What’s the return reward? And what’s this Epilogue quest? Ah, but I’m so hungry…….’

My stomach hurt from hunger, and my dry lips craved even dirt to chew on—this sensation was unfamiliar.

‘Eating is an act directly tied to survival. It doesn’t suit Chris, who was essentially a corpse breathing only because she couldn’t die.’

It felt like a lie that there was once a time when I insisted on eating only hardtack and jerky, thinking that way.

Back then, I had S-rank mana, so I’d never been this deathly hungry either.

So this pain was proof that I was no longer someone overflowing with mana, and…….

‘Proof that I was alive as a living creature.’

When I recalled who had made me live, the feeling no longer bothered me.

I slowly moved the hand clutching my stomach up to my chest.

Thud, thud.

A pulse I could clearly feel beneath the thin fabric.

‘……It’s beating well.’

It was Bead.

I could guess.

That one had spent a very long time slowly transforming into my heart.

So that my fragile body wouldn’t be startled or reject it from failing to adapt.

And so Bead had become—

‘Status window.’

[<Returned> Chris Dotton

Recognition: 99 / Continent-scale heinous wanted criminal

Mana: F / Barely alive

Strength: F / No muscle left to lose

Agility: F / Friend of snails

Defense: F / Wet A4 paper]

……It had truly become an ordinary and fantastic heart.

‘I really can’t do anything reckless anymore.’

Every time I felt the heart beat, I thought of Bead.

It was truly the most effective nagging in the world.

‘In that sense, from now on, I will really! focus on surviving.’

To do that, there were three major things to consider right now.

First, what is the Epilogue quest?

Second, where am I? It looks like an ordinary room for now, but beyond that, I have no idea.

And lastly, third, why is my recognition so screwed up?

‘What on earth happened in the span of one year?’

Setting aside my questions for now, I checked the quest first.

[Main Quest: Epilogue]

[You have successfully completed the main quest ‘Request of the Earth God.’

‘Epilogue’ covers the time period following the conclusion of the main quest ‘Request of the Earth God.’

As his teacher, wouldn’t you like to watch the protagonist graduate safely?

And this time, wouldn’t you like to enjoy a leisurely life in another world?

Meet generous rewards and exciting quests right now!]

[Would you like to proceed with the main quest ‘Epilogue’?]

[Yes/No]

So it was a main quest given as a way to let me enjoy myself freely after all the hardship I’d endured.

But I couldn’t be more suspicious.

‘For something like that, it’s written far too desperately.’

As if some problem had arisen while I was asleep, and they’d urgently needed someone named ‘Chris Dotton.’

I could already see the path of hardship looming before my eyes.

‘Yeah, screw that. Not doing it.’