"S-sir…?!"

"…Ophelia, what are you doing here? You’re supposed to be supervising another exam right now."

"Oh, that. It was too boring, so I handed it off to someone else and left. Supervising just isn’t my thing, you know?"

Luckily, the principal, who was aware that something far more serious could happen, had already made arrangements, so finding a replacement wasn't too difficult. I just asked a teacher who was on break to cover for me, and since the principal promised to compensate them generously, I’m sure they didn’t mind, even if it was a bit of a forced request.

At least they’ll think they’re doing the extra work of their own accord.

"I have to say, I was shocked. Who would've thought that Teacher Ian was a terrorist?"

"…"

I spoke casually, but honestly, I was genuinely shocked. I spent a while just trying to wrap my head around why he was doing this. He’s supposed to be an NPC that teaches students techniques—a mentor figure. You know, like those characters that teach you new skills as you level up in games.

Typically, NPCs with such crucial roles are protected by the game’s system from random encounters like this. Without him, students wouldn’t be able to learn new skills or enhance their existing ones.

But it seems that because this world has become my reality, the systems that should’ve protected him failed, and he got caught in a random encounter.

"So? What exactly are you doing here?"

"Excuse me?"

"Are you here to stop me? You, of all people, should know that’s impossible. You've never even fought before."

"Hmm, you’re right about that."

"Or are you trying to talk me out of this like a good counselor? …Hah. If so, save your breath. You can’t talk me out of revenge for the murder of my wife and daughter."

"True. Who could possibly talk someone out of something like that?"

"…How do you know about that?!"

Oops. I let that slip out too easily. Seeing Teacher Ian’s furious glare made me feel like I was shrinking under his gaze.

…Not just a little, but a lot. It was terrifying.

"Tell me! How do you know?!"

"Uh, well…"

"If you don’t tell me right now, I’ll trigger this detonator!"

Although I hadn’t been in this role for long, I’d tried my best to fulfill my duties as a counselor. After all, keeping this job was my top priority. Most of the time, hypnosis was enough to handle the students’ issues, but I knew relying too much on it could get me caught.

I’d never done counseling before taking this job, so I’d read a few books on the subject. One book mentioned that just listening and agreeing with the person could be a huge help, even if you don’t offer any solutions. People find comfort in being heard.

I’d tried to follow that advice, and fortunately, the students seemed satisfied. But now, an unexpected side effect had surfaced.

I’d agreed with Teacher Ian’s words without thinking, as if I was empathizing with him.

Is this what they call a professional hazard?

"Uh, well… you mentioned revenge and said it happened a few years ago with the Holy Church and the Royal Family, right? Most of the victims from that event were killed, after all."

"…But how do you know it was my wife and daughter who were killed?"

"Ah."

Damn it. I thought I’d deflected that well enough.

I glanced around, trying to hide my nervousness. The students and a few other teachers were looking at me as if I were acting strange.

"If you don’t want to talk, then fine. But you’ll die with me!"

"This is crazy! Get down!"

Teacher Ian looked around with a determined expression, then pressed the detonator button with all his strength.

Everyone braced themselves for the explosion, closing their eyes in anticipation of the shockwave.

But… nothing happened.

In game terms, I guess you’d say it’s something like this:

Teacher Ian cast Big Explosion!

But nothing happened!

"…?"

"Why… why didn’t anything happen?"

"Oh, great… this is getting complicated. I should’ve just let things play out."

I had wanted to delay his death to spare the students from seeing something so horrifying, but my misstep had tangled things up.

What a mess.

No matter how I looked at it, this situation was a real pain now.

The slip of the tongue was too big, and I started to think there was no way I could talk my way out of this.

…Forget it. I’ll just erase everyone’s memories.

Fortunately, I left my phone behind, thinking it might get damaged, so the principal isn’t seeing any of this. There’s no one here who won’t fall under my hypnosis.

Even as I tried to come up with another solution, nothing came to mind.

Whatever. I’m going to use hypnosis to clean this up anyway, so I might as well stop thinking about it and just go for it.

"I-I’m sure I pressed it. What’s going on…?!"

"You mean this thing? Is this what you were talking about?"

"…?!"

"The detonator…! How did you…?"

"Who knows? Aren’t you curious when I took it?"

"…Give it back!"

"Now, now. Didn’t I tell you not to move?"

"W-why… can’t I… move…?"

The students’ puzzled stares bore into my back.

I suppose it’s only natural. After all, someone they thought had no combat abilities suddenly appeared, spouted some confusing nonsense, and then somehow managed to snatch the detonator without anyone noticing.

However, there’s one thing I’d like to clarify…

The detonator isn’t in my hand.

It’s still in Teacher Ian’s hand, and I haven’t even approached him. The idea that I somehow grabbed the detonator without anyone noticing is just their assumption.

I’m curious how I must look to them right now, just standing here.

"Let’s see… it’s been about thirty minutes? It should be happening around now."

"W-what are you talking about? Who the hell are you…?!"

"Ah. There it is."

A faint black smoke started to curl out from Teacher Ian’s ears. That ominous-looking smoke clearly wasn’t doing him any good…

And soon enough, his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed with a heavy thud.

"Sigh."

A sigh of regret escaped me.

He must have known he was being used as a pawn, but…

He probably didn’t expect that he’d be the one to end his own life as a pawn.

Or did he know and still go through with it?

Who knows? I can’t read the memories of the dead, so there’s no way to find out.

One thing is for sure, though…

He was someone who would give up everything for revenge.

Even if that meant his own life.

"Aah, aaah…! Someone’s… dead…!"

"Oh dear. …Well, I guess it’s time to clean up."

I hadn’t wanted them to witness a death.

It’s not like they haven’t seen people die before. They’ve probably seen it plenty of times already, and they’ll see it many more times in the future.

But at least while I’m helping them, I wanted to spare them such unpleasant experiences.

But I messed that up big time.

Nothing in this world ever goes according to plan.

I let out another small sigh and began putting everyone to sleep for the cleanup.

To be honest, I don’t enjoy handling dead bodies, and it’s not like this isn’t shocking to me…

But I’m doing this for the students.

So I can endure it.

"So, in the end, he died."

"That’s how it seems. I managed to talk him down from the murder-suicide, but it looks like something had already been planted in his mind. Want to see?"

"No, just put him in the principal’s office for now."

"The body will rot, you know?"

"Just do it. We need to investigate."

"Sure, if you say so."

When I told the principal the full story, she seemed deeply troubled.

"Damn it. I thought he was one of the good ones. Why would he do this?"

"Uh… it was revenge for his wife and daughter."

"What?"

"You didn’t know? His wife and daughter were killed. They got caught in the power struggle between the Royal Family and the Holy Church."

"…"

"You know the incident a few years ago, right?"

"Yes, of course. It was well-known."

The principal’s face, displayed through the video call, was twisted in sorrow.

"…So that’s why. That explains why he targeted those two."

"Even though he failed, I suppose you could say he achieved a half-success."

His goal was revenge on those two, after all.

He failed to exact it with his own hands, but from the beginning, his plan was doomed to fail.

You could say his revenge was at least halfway successful.

Even though he was betrayed by his organization, if their goal was to bring down the church and the royal family, that would’ve been something he wanted too.

"Sigh…"

"How about a drink? Next time you visit, I’ll make you something nice."

"That sounds good. I’ll look forward to it."