Around thirty students stood neatly lined up in the training ground plaza.
With my arms crossed in front of them, I — Raide — raised my voice loudly.
"I'm Instructor Raide! If it's anything about combat, ask me!"
I swept my gaze across the students and muttered quietly in my mind.
(Normally, that line would be the end of my role.)
That's right. In the original story, Raide's part ended right there.
After that, he was just a background instructor who stayed at the training ground and would spar with you if you talked to him.
(Who would've thought I'd actually reincarnate into him…)
This world was the VR game I was playing right before I died — Overworld.
It had been three years since its release, yet the story never got boring. The degree of freedom was insane.
And one of its biggest features? It was an R18 game.
Not just with specific characters — you could have that kind of relationship with literally anyone in the game.
You could focus on the main story, or wander the world as an adventurer. You could even fool around with adventurers and then go back to advancing the plot afterward.
By the way, I was the type who only read the story while playing as an adventurer.
Instructor Raide was a minor early-game character who appeared in the prologue. He was the classic "forgettable NPC" who would do mock battles with the player.
But Overworld was different.
There were no truly unimportant characters in this game.
I had reincarnated into this world two years ago, when Raide was 27 years old.
It happened during the war with the neighboring country that appears in the game's prologue.
If I had to describe my first reaction… it was pure chaos.
Well, I was 50 years old before I reincarnated, so getting a younger body was a nice bonus. I still don't know how I died or why this happened, but I decided not to complain.
In any case, this is now my reality. If I spent all my time screaming and panicking like a typical reincarnation light novel protagonist, I'd probably end up dead.
Another thing I realized after reincarnating: it was better to throw away my old Japanese way of thinking.
I still think Japanese culture is something to be proud of… but that only applies in Japan.
In this world, if you think "you shouldn't kill people" or "even bad guys deserve a chance…" — you're an idiot. You'll die.
Even now, I believe those kinds of naïve thoughts were only tolerated because they were inside a story. Because it was fiction.
But now that I am Instructor Raide, this is reality.
That said, once the war ended, everything became peaceful.
At least… until the main story actually began.
And because the story has started, I'm standing here right now.
While I was lost in thought, one of the students called out to me.
It was Erika Deus — the young lady with golden hair styled in elegant vertical rolls.
She was about 160 cm tall, with sharp, beautiful features and a slender figure… yet she had a pair of melons that looked completely out of place on her body.
"Instructor Raide."
"What is it, Miss Erika?"
"I would like to speak with you later."
"…Very well."
Just as I expected, I thought.
In the game, this scene only showed the vague line "It looks like the two of them are talking about something." But after this, for a while, Instructor Raide would start acting strangely.
Even if you tried talking to him in the mid-game (until Erika's family fell into ruin), he would only reply with a dull "…What's wrong?"
This was something that fans of Overworld had thoroughly analyzed and discussed.
"Shall we meet in the instructor's office?" I asked.
"…Yes, that would be fine. I don't want anyone else to hear. Please."
"Understood. Training will end today's schedule. Come find me after that."
"Understood."
Erika gave me a charming, seductive smile and walked off toward the training area.
If the fan theories are correct… No — they had better be correct.
Otherwise, the two years I've spent carefully preparing for the start of the main story would all go to waste.
I let out a small sigh and turned my attention back to watching the students train.