I am a teacher, after all.

I am a weak human.

Ah, now I am an elf, so a weak elf, specifically.

Regardless, I am weak.

In my previous life, I was a teacher.

Since childhood, becoming a teacher was my dream.

I wanted to be a teacher who could laugh together with my students.

I spared no effort toward that goal.

I engaged in everything that might interest the children of my generation.

Games, manga, novels, I scoured the internet.

I studied diligently anything that could serve as conversation material.

I even became slightly obsessed at times.

I changed my tone, crafted a persona, and became a peculiar, somewhat pitiable teacher—someone approachable and familiar.

There were flaws in the foundation, yes, but the outcome was acceptable.

Yet, I also wondered.

Is this truly acceptable?

Was it truly my dream to laugh with others while pretending to be someone else?

Yet, I was afraid to expose my true self—afraid to dismantle the position I had built up until then.

So, I let each day pass, content with the status quo.

Then, I was reincarnated into another world.

Panic set in.

The last memory I retained was of attending class.

After that, memory ceased abruptly. When I regained awareness, I was a newborn infant.

And everyone gazing down at me had long, pointed ears.

From accumulated otaku knowledge, I immediately recognized what they were: elves.

And I understood my current state as well.

Reincarnation into another world.

I had become entangled in a phenomenon that had gone viral online.

I am weak.

I cannot live boldly like a protagonist in a novel, thrown into another world and thriving with strength. I cannot embrace this second life with resolve either.

I could not let go of the idea that I am myself.

In that state of confusion, I clung to one thing: the teacher.

I am the teacher.

Then I must prioritize my students.

That was my teacher’s ideal.

And I was born with a convenient skill.

『Student Roster』

Probably the only unique skill in the world held by me alone.

Its effect: a rough record of the current, past, and future lives of former students.

Close my eyes, and the roster surfaces from the depths of my mind.

Open the roster, and names appear in order of student number. Focus on a name, and the information of its owner becomes accessible.

However, only basic information can be accessed through this skill.

Past: a record of the moment of birth.

Where and when life began.

That is all recorded.

Currently, the state of the current holder of that name is summarized in one word.

Health, illness, fatigue, and so on.

The location is unknown.

And the future.

Here, the approximate time of the student's death and the cause of death are recorded.

Time appears to designate the moment of my birth as zero, with one year marked as 365 days.

And upon seeing the time, she was struck dumb.

Most students died within twenty years.

I lost consciousness when I saw it.

Unable to accept the truth, she trembled for several days, fleeing reality.

But reality does not change.

Time passes regardless of whether one can face it directly.

And then she realized.

The name of the student who had been written as dying the earliest—before reaching childhood—had quietly disappeared, unnoticed, over time.

The ledger with the blank entry.

I had to accept it when I saw that.

Ten of the remaining students were marked to die within two or three years of birth.

I relied on a skill.

The student roster was a skill. In a world where such peculiar abilities existed, I thought telepathy might be possible.

My pre-existing otaku knowledge proved useful.

I easily heard the divine language and successfully acquired the telepathy skill.

I was fortunate my father was Potimas, the elven clan leader.

Also, unlike most fathers who would question their daughter’s sanity for speaking of past lives, Potimas accepted my words without hesitation.

It seemed Potimas had perceived me as fundamentally different from the start.

It was a dangerous gamble, but I won. Potimas promised to protect a reincarnated soul.

After that, things progressed smoothly.

From prior records, the origin of each student can be determined.

Search centered on those locations.

My subsequent skill search using the authority granted as a ruler also proved useful.

Unfortunately, some students could not be saved in time, but the safety status of most was confirmed.

At times, money was used to resolve issues. At others, actions bordering on abduction were taken.

These were unequivocal crimes.

Yet the elf did not hesitate to carry them out.

The elf had its own circumstances.

To counter the administrators, the elf sought a world with minimal skill presence.

And reincarnated individuals appeared to be born with a large number of skill points, and one powerful skill from the outset.

If such individuals developed their skills, they might attract the attention of administrators and be exploited.

That possibility held credibility.

The cause of death listed in the student roster.

'Skill剥夺 and Death'

That is still written as the cause of death for Shun-kun and Catia-chan.

Most students were marked with this cause of death.

Currently, in the Elven village, the environment suppresses skill growth, reducing this outcome.

Future entries change relatively frequently.

Yet, no matter how actions unfold, the entry stating 'Death by Skill剥夺' remains unaltered.

And the time it occurs is identical for all.

This year.

After this, no further future entries exist.

All entries for students who will not die this year are blank.

Contemplating what this implies induces fear.

My name does not appear on the student roster.

Naturally.

I am a teacher.

I cannot know my own fate.

But that is likely the case.

Death by Skill剥夺 occurs to students with high skill levels.

And my own skill level is high.

I will likely die at that time as well.

I think I won’t know what comes after, since I’ll be dead.

I am afraid.

I do not wish to die.

Skill erasure was considered.

I cannot relinquish the power of my skill until I have dealt with Yugo.

Moreover, if skills are erased, I do not know how the elf will respond.

Skill erasure is equivalent to surrendering power to the administrator.

If power is granted to an opposing force, the elves may turn against us.

Potimas could purge me without so much as a change in expression.

Even so, the students under protection might still be harmed.

Elves do not protect reincarnated beings out of goodwill.

Then, there is only one path.

An opponent coming to strip away skills—likely to turn the tables on the administrator.

Whether or not it is possible, there is nothing else to do.

Before that, it's Yugo.

It is the teacher's fault he became this way.

That responsibility must be taken.

Open the student roster under the name of Natsume Ken-go.

There, it reads: killed in battle at the Elf Forest.

Swallow hard.

I will kill a former student now.

I have made my decision. Still, my stomach aches. Nausea rises in my throat.

Why has it come to this?

I only wanted to be a teacher who laughed with students.

The cold gaze of Kudo-chan returns to memory.

I understand.

This is because I failed to explain properly.

Even if forgiveness is not granted, I believe the hostility could not have been so one-sided.

But I cannot.

The student roster that saved lives.

It has one restriction.

Student access forbidden.

A curse-like restriction prevents me from revealing student roster information to the students.

No matter how one might attempt to explain, the matter of the student roster cannot be omitted.

The oversight of that existence is visibly imminent.

Moreover, the terrifying aspect of this restriction is that the harm affects the listener, not the speaker.

It depends on the severity, but it could result in a severe penalty—potentially fatal.

I have not attempted it, and I do not intend to.

I could do nothing but remain silent.

I might as well tell it all.

The student roster is incomplete.

When Katia-chan was under mind control, she failed to detect the anomaly. During the rescue of Reston-kun, Syun-kun’s death notification was bypassed without incident.

The exact criteria for how deviation arises remain unclear, but I suspect a correlation with the Dominance Skill.

If Syun-kun has the Dominance Skill, perhaps speaking to him would be safe?

I’ve been tempted by that thought.

But I still can’t bring myself to do it.

I can’t afford additional risk.

For now, the only issue is that I’m disliked.

The others’ resentment hasn’t reached a breaking point.

Then, being disliked by students is simply part of the job.

I’ll accept it willingly.

This should be manageable.

That’s a lie.

It hurts.

I’m weak.

I’m afraid.

I don’t want to die. I don’t want to let others die.

Am I doing the right thing?

Could I be wrong?

I don’t know.

But there’s no one to talk to.

Elves aren’t fully trustworthy.

I can’t speak to the students.

Am I fulfilling my role as a teacher properly?

Someone… please tell me.