Practical Lesson (Interlude)
I received the reward message from the practical lesson, but that wasn’t important right now. What mattered more was clearing up this misunderstanding immediately. The moment I opened my mouth to speak—
“Kyaaaaah!”
A female student screamed and bolted away in a panic. After fighting demons and monsters, I was already quite drained, so chasing after her was out of the question. I watched her frantic figure disappear and let out a deep sigh.
“Haa…”
This was definitely going to tank my reputation again. As I pressed a hand to my throbbing temple, something soft suddenly squished against my forearm.
I turned my head, and sure enough, there was Sena beaming at me with a bright, sunny smile.
“Hehehehe. Looks like rumors are going to spread, Professor.”
“What kind of rumors?”
“The kind where people say we did that kind of thing together.”
“……”
I couldn’t find a single word to refute her. Because she was probably right.
-Master. Look on the bright side.
From how she reacted, it doesn’t seem like that girl knows you’ve regressed.
'You think so?'
-Yup. If she knew, she would’ve jumped you already.
Considering the madness she’d shown so far, that was entirely plausible. Before my regression, she’d even stormed the Demon King’s Castle trying to catch me when I ran away.
-The fact that she’s trying to get close to you this slowly proves she doesn’t know anything.
'Yeah. You’re right.'
Agreeing with Jukchang-i, I started walking again, Sena trailing beside me.
At the same time.
As she followed Elric, Sena subtly rolled her eyes to glance at him. His movements were as clean and efficient as they had been in the previous timeline. Seeing that, she became certain.
The man in front of her had also regressed.
'As expected, Professor regressed too.'
At this point, it would be stranger not to notice. He had tried to act boldly to throw her off, but the moment she saw Jukchang, the game was essentially over.
'I want to pounce on him right now, but…'
In the last timeline, he had abandoned her and the other women to run away. If she tried to claim him now, the same thing would just repeat.
'That can’t happen.'
If he truly set his mind on escaping, she had no way to catch him in her current state. In the previous timeline, he had fled all the way to the Demon King’s Castle just to get away. There was no guarantee he wouldn’t do it again.
Therefore—
'I need to approach him slowly.'
She had to get closer without letting him realize she had figured it out. That way, she would naturally end up by his side.
And—
'If Professor regressed, there’s a chance the others did too.'
After all, it wasn’t just the two of them at the Demon King’s Castle back then.
'I should check on that soon.'
With that thought, Sena hummed a little tune in her heart as she followed after him.
Several days passed.
I finished my lecture as usual and sat in my residence, legs crossed in meditation as I drew up my mana.
A blue energy rippled across my body. It definitely felt denser than before.
'So it really does work.'
The reward I’d received from the author was none other than mana. It wasn’t a massive amount—just a small boost. Normally I might have complained about how tiny it was, but for me right now, even that was a godsend. Before the reward, I could barely use Mind Reading once. Now I could use it twice and still have plenty left.
If not for the author’s reward, I probably wouldn’t have been able to use it even twice by now.
'Normally you have to train steadily to raise your mana.'
So this was basically a successful cheat. Of course, the price was—
-Your reputation took another nosedive, Master!
'Why are you suddenly attacking me?'
-It’s the truth, isn’t it?
I couldn’t deny Jukchang-i’s words. Ever since that day, my reputation had plummeted back to rock bottom. I had finally built up a name for myself as a cultured, skilled, and cool professor, but after that incident I became known as the scoundrel who used his students for discipline.
-Master, the second rumor is accurate, but isn’t the first one a bit exaggerated?
'Nonsense. If your master says it’s true, it’s true.'
-Fine, I’ll go with that. Besides, the second rumor isn’t entirely wrong, is it?
It was true that smacking her backside with Jukchang could reasonably be called “disciplining” her. The problem was—
'I didn’t do it because I wanted to!'
-Well, that’s true.
It was utterly unfair. If I had done it because I enjoyed it, that would be one thing, but that wasn’t the case. If I hadn’t done it, she would have noticed my evasive behavior and become certain I had regressed. Therefore, I was the victim!
-Master, you brought this on yourself. Why did you go and do something like that under the excuse of education?
'It couldn’t be helped.'
In the previous timeline, I needed to awaken the Saintess to defeat the Demon King. But to awaken her, I first had to make her feel like a normal person. That meant using Jukchang to teach her both pleasure and pain, since emotions came second.
-You could have done it without that.
'No need to take the hard road when an easy one is available.'
-And what was the result?
'Fuck.'
The result was turning her into a yandere masochist. At least I succeeded in awakening her. The only catch was that the Demon King had been knocked out by a few hits from Jukchang without any of that nonsense!
-So in the end, it really is your own fault, Master.
'Haa.'
-Anyway, what are you going to do now? You’ve gotten tangled up with a yandere.
'……'
She was right. My original goal—killing the Demon King without getting entangled with any yanderes—had failed. But—
'No. It’s still okay. We’re only a little entangled. She hasn’t figured out that I regressed, right?'
-That’s true. Even though that woman has fully become a masochist!
I deliberately ignored Jukchang-i’s shout and continued.
'Anyway, it’s best not to get any more involved than this.'
-What about the rumors?
'Rumors fade with time.'
They spread quickly, but they also disappeared naturally if you just waited. So as long as I didn’t get further involved, there shouldn’t be any major problems.
'As long as I don’t get involved!'
-How pitiful, Master.
'Shut up.'
-So are you just going to stay quiet at the academy for a while? No intervening in events?
'Of course not.'
Even if I avoided the heroines, I couldn’t just sit still. My plan was to push Sai, the protagonist of this novel, to the forefront so he could defeat the Demon King, but I still needed to become stronger myself.
-Honestly, at your current level you could beat most Demon King executives, couldn’t you?
'Still, letting your guard down is dangerous.'
The demon I fought last time was already close to executive level, but you could never be too sure. Even after beating the Demon King herself, I had run away in fear of the heroines.
'If I stay weak, I might get kidnapped.'
-Ah. That could definitely happen!
'And while I don’t know about the Saintess, the other yanderes might try to get rid of you!'
-Eek! Master, get stronger quickly!
Jukchang-i, sensing the danger in my words, immediately started urging me to grow stronger.
'Yeah. I have a plan.'
-The same as before? Drinking potions while training?
'That’s one way, but this time it’ll be a little different.'
The method I had in mind this time was an elixir—one that would completely remold my body through the Body Reformation process. I knew exactly where to get it.
-Huh? There’s something like that, Master?
'Yeah, there is.'
From what I remembered, the underworld was holding an auction soon. And one of the items being offered was the Body Reformation elixir. I had wanted to participate in that auction back then, but—
'I was too weak to join.'
-Huh? What does strength have to do with attending an auction?
'The Demon King’s army is planning to launch a terrorist attack there.'
-Ahh. Yeah, a weakling like you would’ve died for sure if you went!
I had no words to refute that. Even now, without Jukchang, I would struggle to beat a single student, let alone a professor. Anyway, the plan was simple: participate in the auction, wait for the terrorist attack, and secretly take what I needed during the chaos.
-But wouldn’t your identity get exposed, Master?
'No need to worry about that. It’s an underground auction, so everyone wears masks to hide their identities.'
The masks were enchanted with recognition-inhibiting magic, so there was no chance of being identified. Therefore, this time I wouldn’t get entangled with anyone.
'This time, I definitely won’t get involved with the yanderes!'
At that moment, I had no idea just how naïve that thought was.
At the same time.
Jane was cleaning the residence as usual. As she wiped down the grand hallway, her gaze fell on that room—the one Elric used.
She recalled what had happened a few weeks ago. She had received a report that her young master had suddenly vanished and headed for the Demon King’s Castle. The women she had formed an alliance with chased after him to capture him. They had finally found him and were about to seize him when—
'Everything suddenly returned to how it was before.'
She wondered if it had all been a dream, but the memories were far too vivid for that. So she had continued living as usual, pretending to be indifferent on the surface.
But—
'He’s very different from the young master I remember.'
The first suspicious thing was Elric’s behavior. He claimed not to remember, but the old him used to stare at her chest without shame. This time, however, he showed no particular interest in it. Moreover—
'That habit he has when lying showed up a little.'
When he lied, a tiny bead of cold sweat would form on his forehead. It was almost invisible, but after serving him for so long, she could spot it easily.
After thinking it over carefully, she had reached one conclusion: perhaps Elric had regressed as well.
'Even setting his behavior aside, there’s no reason for him to break into a cold sweat in front of me specifically.'
Elric only broke into a cold sweat when facing the women who had chased him in the previous timeline. How could she not be suspicious?
But—
'It’s still too early to be certain.'
Just because his habits and behavior were slightly different didn’t prove he had regressed. It was far more believable that he had simply had a vivid dream rather than actually returned to the past.
However—
'If he really has regressed…'
She had to make sure he could never run away again. The problem was how.
'If the young master regressed, there’s a high chance the other women from back then did too.'
In that case, they were probably all thinking about how to approach him right now. There were too many rivals to keep in check.
As Jane fell deep into thought, something suddenly flashed across her mind.
'Now that I think about it…'
She had heard that the Subjugation Necklace would appear at the upcoming underground auction. It was an item used to bind slaves. If she could obtain it and slip it onto Elric while he slept—
She swallowed hard.
She would be able to keep him by her side forever so he could never run away again. The only drawback was that the necklace was too conspicuous, but—
'Making it invisible is easy.'
She simply had to commission the Magic Tower. And so, that day, Jane’s eyes glowed with madness as she lost herself in delicious fantasies, never dreaming that several other yanderes were thinking the exact same thing.