I had recently been gathering information on the Demon King’s army, but I didn’t want to run into them in a situation like this.
I steadied my staggering body and faced him.
Why had he, a member of the Demon King’s army, come all the way here?
Our gazes exchanged a red glare.
“Are you the monster that killed Seir?”
The demon asked.
“······.”
I didn’t think to deny it, so I nodded.
Should I use magic to read his memory?
No, I didn’t have the strength for that right now. I wanted to drink blood immediately.
Let’s hurry and get rid of him so I can eat. If I hold on any longer, it will be just like last year.
This time, it was my turn to ask. My voice trembled from not being fully composed.
“······W-what brings you here?”
“It’s quite strange. That Seir fell to such a little girl.”
“Are you challenging me?”
I could send him off to his friend in no time.
The strongest being on this continent after the Demon King’s death was none other than Sertia. She may have been cursed and unable to fight, but I could confidently say she was the strongest.
Be it human or demon, every living being included. I had learned that after facing her once.
But now that I had killed even Sertia, I wasn’t scared of anyone anymore.
A high-ranking member of the Demon King’s army.
Was he just an errand boy?
“I misspoke. Apologize.”
I glared at him, revealing a hint of my magic, and the demon apologized.
I had a body that made it easy to conceal my magic, so unless I showed it first, he wouldn’t know.
Now that I had demonstrated I was stronger than him, I believed he wouldn’t foolishly come at me.
And then.
“······.”
I gestured for him to answer my question. I wanted to know why he had come here.
He slowly opened his mouth.
“If you were there, you must remember what happened last time.”
“Did you let monsters loose in the Academy?”
“Why did you help the humans back then? If you hadn’t interfered, the Empire would have fallen. No, if you had helped, you could have killed your greatest rival, Sertia.”
“······.”
“Did you get so mixed up with the humans that you began to think of yourself as one? Killing a few members of the Demon King’s army? What makes you any different from us?”
Did they not yet know that Sertia was dead?
If so, then there was no reason to tell him.
I decided to focus on the essence of his questions.
Perhaps deep down, I thought I wanted to blend in with the humans around me. I couldn’t deny that.
But I had never fooled myself into thinking I was human. I realized that immediately, and ever since that day, the emptiness I felt had never been filled.
And what was different about me, you ask?
Hmm.
“······.”
I wasn’t sure about that.
It wasn’t a conclusion I could draw from my dizzying mind.
I killed humans just like the demons, I had magic inside me instead of mana, and I didn’t feel human emotions.
There were so many commonalities, but what was the difference?
I didn’t know.
Not knowing, I swallowed my silence.
“In the end, you can’t answer either. We have no reason to become enemies. I didn’t come here to fight you. If you aren’t stupid, you should be able to understand this much.”
“Don’t lie.”
“What?”
“Until I showed you my magic, you were planning to kill me, weren’t you? Did I seem that easy to you?”
No matter how insane I was, I wasn’t dull enough not to sense that level of killing intent from someone this close.
“Be clear about your purpose. I don’t plan to drag this conversation out.”
Lying in front of me was impossible.
If I sensed any attempts to stall with useless words, I would cut him down immediately.
I had enough power for that, and above all, I was really in a hurry now. My fangs were itching, wanting to bite into something.
I was hungry, and my throat was parched.
I just hoped he wouldn’t test my patience. If it got too hard to bear, I might kill the demon in front of me and eat the human in my hands.
“Be careful how you speak, so you understand who is superior here······”
He should have understood by now.
The demon paused for a moment before speaking. Knowing that lies wouldn’t work on me, what he said this time would be the truth.
“······At first, I came to retrieve a Fragment of the Demon King. I tried to get back what was scattered in the Academy. But I couldn’t find the fragments anywhere. As if someone had taken them ahead of time.”
He looked at me with suspicion.
Since I had no particular reason to deny it, I nodded.
“Yeah, that’s right, I took them.”
“I thought so. I came to get the fragments from you. Initially, I planned to kill you and take it, but that’s no longer possible.”
“······.”
“If you have it, return it. It’s necessary for the birth of the new king. If you only give that back, I will leave.”
The birth of a new king.
Is the Demon King’s army aiming to create a new Demon King using the fragments of the previous one?
I felt pieces of information I had known piecing together like a puzzle. His words earlier had been quite helpful.
But I didn’t think more conversation was necessary. From the way he spoke, he clearly weren’t a high-ranking member of the current Demon King’s army.
He probably didn’t have much information either. In fact, I knew more than he did.
So I decided not to entertain any more small talk. I told him bluntly.
“I can’t give you the fragment.”
And then.
I waved goodbye to the now useless member of the Demon King’s army.
“Sleep well.”
Even if he asked for the fragment, I couldn’t spit out what I had already consumed.
Moreover, he was a demon who had already tried to kill me once. I wasn’t too fond of him invading my domain of the back alley either.
So I immediately drew my red sword and killed him.
Today, a considerable amount of blood flowed in the back alley.
*
Today’s meal was a bit lengthy.
I feasted on the humans killed by the Demon King’s army here. There were quite a few of them. I wondered why they were here and why they had been killed.
What had happened in my absence? It didn’t matter much.
This place was outside the patrol range of the Knights Order, making it a prime location for crime syndicates to gather.
I began to eat one by one.
‘······They’re a bit less fresh, but.’
Still, I felt great having filled my belly after a long time.
My heart, which was usually calm and quiet, only raced when I drank blood.
Having regained my usual condition, I pondered the dead members of the Demon King’s army.
‘Was the purpose of the Demon King’s army to give birth to a new Demon King?’
The current Demon King’s army was considerably weakened after losing their leader. They had probably been preparing for a long time to create a new leader.
And.
‘In my memories, Iria was with the Demon King’s army.’
If my guess was correct, the Demon King’s army had wanted to make Iria their Demon King in the past.
She was the most suitable vessel for that.
Moreover, in my memories, they had been feeding Iria something presumed to be a Fragment of the Demon King.
For some reason, I had come to occupy that physical body.
‘The demon from earlier couldn’t recognize me.’
The demons that were there should have recognized me.
Not recognizing me meant that I wasn’t someone in a high position in the Demon King’s army. Even after regaining my senses and reviewing my memories, I found they didn’t hold much information.
I’d probably need to meet some high-ranking members of the Demon King’s army to solve the mystery concerning Iria’s body.
The Demon King’s army, huh.
“······.”
In the end, were they the true masterminds?
I recalled the words spoken by the Demon King’s army not too long ago.
If I were to encounter them again next time, would they be my enemies? Or, as he said, would they truly have no reason to be antagonistic?
As of now, I didn’t know.
I pondered deeply again today.
Just like any other day, I arrived at the Academy. My condition was much better than yesterday.
I wasn’t hungry, nor was my head spinning. I wasn’t hallucinating or hearing voices either.
My body was just in good shape, but the world around me looked different from yesterday.
It felt a bit complex.
I was relieved to be free from hunger, yet it seemed I had to admit I was a being that could not live without human blood.
It felt like I was finally realizing I couldn’t escape the life of a back alley killer.
So I walked with a slightly gloomy mood.
As I passed through the corridor, familiar faces came into view. Ariel, Sera, and Klana.
I hadn’t noticed since I went home early yesterday, but the three seemed to have gotten quite close while I was away.
I wondered if all the effort I had put in hadn’t been in vain, as the original story seemed to be normalizing.
I approached them, wanting to greet them as usual.
And then.
“Whoa! The source of all evil!!”
“Iria! What have you been teaching Klana all this time?!”
“The source of all evil! You’ve come to bother me again!”
“······.”
I had completely forgotten that Klana still held a deep grudge against me.
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