It had been about an hour since I went on a night stroll with Sera.
Of course, we didn’t just walk; we had all sorts of conversations.
Actually, there was a time when Sera was stronger than Ariel, but at some point, the tables turned, and Sera, feeling the pressure, started to work harder.
Those were the kinds of trivial talks we exchanged.
However, it wasn’t all nonsense; I got some juicy gossip about Ariel.
“So guess what? It turns out she has an incredible background. You’d think that being from an orphanage wouldn’t be special, right? But it seems the director and adults treat her like royalty…”
“What kind of background?”
“I’m sharing this only with you, but Ariel is likely the new hero. You’ve heard about the legendary hero party that defeated the Demon King decades ago, right? I heard directly from her that she’s the child of Hero Elion.”
The legendary hero.
Was the strange aura I sensed from Ariel really that? From what I read in books, the former hero Elion wielded powers different from mana.
If Ariel is his child, there’s a good chance she inherited those powers.
After living in this world for about a year and a half, I might have finally figured out that strange aura.
A child of the hero, huh?
That’s just the kind of background fitting for a protagonist in a novel.
My doubts were gradually turning into belief. The more I gathered information in this world, the clearer things became.
Like piecing together a puzzle, I might be getting closer to the answers.
Still, one thing bugged me.
“Why is someone with a heroic lineage in an orphanage?”
Typically, a child of someone who defeated the Demon King would get so much support from the Empire.
Not all orphanages are poorly funded, but the treatment of the hero’s child just felt off.
So I asked, but Sera wore a puzzled expression too.
“Well, I was curious about that as well. But when I asked her, she didn’t tell me. There seems to be a sensitive backstory. She looked kind of upset when I brought it up. If you get closer to her, maybe you can ask. Who knows? She might just tell you.”
“…”
“You said you wanted to befriend Ariel, right? Next time you come to me, I’ll properly introduce you. She’s not a bad person, but she’s a bit gruff, so it might be hard to get close just by approaching her.”
A bit more time passed. So much so that the path we started to stroll on had completely ended.
“Well, I’ll be going now.”
At that point, Sera waved goodbye to me.
No matter how you looked at it, she seemed ready to leave at any second.
Like a patient who escaped from a hospital, still wearing the academy’s patient gown.
“Where are you going?”
“Hmm? Going home?”
“Shouldn’t you go through the formal discharge process from the hospital? They mentioned you should take it easy for a while.”
“Eh, I’m fine. It’s not the first or second time anyway. If they charge me for the gown, I’ll just ask them to deduct it from my scholarship.”
Top students at the Imperial Academy receive quite a decent scholarship. The reason Sera managed to secure her own place after leaving the orphanage was because of it.
Is this how it works in an academy that prioritizes skills?
She really was a bit mental in many ways.
“Why don’t you escape with Iria? That sharp-headed doctor is stricter than you’d think. No matter how many times you insist you’re all healed, they won’t let you out!”
“I’m not fully healed, you know.”
“Listen here, Iria. You overcome things like this with willpower. If you think you’re healed in your mind, then you won’t feel pain!”
I prodded Sera’s right arm with my finger as a test.
“Eek?!”
“Doesn’t seem like you’re healed.”
“Uh, by tomorrow, I’ll be fine! Well, I’m leaving now! If you plan on going back to the hospital, make sure you let me know.”
“…”
With that, Sera left.
So, did I return to the hospital just like that?
“Hmm.”
To cut a long story short, no. I felt just as eager to go home.
At the Imperial Academy, which focuses on skills, there’s a tendency to subtly favor the top students even while pretending not to.
Sera did it as the second-in-command, and I’m the top.
If there’s a model of someone who can get away with it, why shouldn’t I follow suit?
Honestly, I couldn’t care less if someone was bothered by two people disappearing from one room.
After all, I wasn’t a human but a monster, so empathy wasn’t my strong suit.
Having learned this bad behavior from my senior, I managed to return home safely.
*
Today was a bit of a deep-thinking day.
I was slowly recovering the information about this world that I had forgotten.
This world was fake, just a novel. And every novel must have a protagonist, which means if there’s a protagonist, there must also be a heroine and a plot.
If my assumptions are correct, the protagonist of this world is Ariel, while Sera is the heroine supporting him.
It wasn’t certain, but it was just too perfectly aligned to be a coincidence.
I had fallen into this world just over a year ago, which coincided with the moment the protagonist, Ariel, enrolled in the academy.
If he’s the hero in this novel, then the first chapter must start with him enrolling in the academy.
And from my perspective, which is a year late, there’s a storyline where Ariel wiped out all the students in duels starting from his first year.
That’s likely the reason why this generation’s second years are unusually strong.
In novels, stories unfold in a pattern, so under the premise that Ariel is the protagonist, it’s very likely this was a main episode from the original novel.
Ariel defeating senior students in duels during his first year.
After summarizing the situation from start to finish, it was highly likely that the protagonist in the original novel is Ariel.
So, if I were to kill him, could I return to my original world? A story without a protagonist can’t exist.
The moment the protagonist dies, the world that swallowed me would collapse, and I would be spat out.
This wasn’t certain either, but I hoped it would be the case.
“…To kill Ariel.”
That wasn’t such a difficult task for me.
Even if he’s called the strongest student of the academy, he’s just a student. If I could use magic, it wouldn’t be hard to take him down.
When I first saw him, he was getting overpowered by Sword Saint Freya in a duel, but I was stronger than that sword saint.
But how could I kill him without anyone noticing?
His range of activity was quite small, making it hard to find an opportunity.
His movements were limited to the academy’s lecture room and the training ground with the sword saint.
Killing him within the academy was practically unrealistic. I realized that when I faced Sera in the training arena.
While most humans draw strength from mana, most monsters draw strength from magical energy.
In a state where I wasn’t using magical energy, I was weaker than Albert. If I remember correctly, I could just barely match Eve in a close contest.
In that state, it would be too much to kill the academy’s strongest student. It would take too long, and I still didn’t know how powerful his potential was as the protagonist.
So naturally, I shifted my thinking towards needing to use magical energy to kill Ariel.
And then—
‘Using magical energy within the academy means death.’
The moment I release magical energy, all the professors in the building would turn against me.
Even if I unleashed it, I couldn’t defeat all of them, and I didn’t want to resort to that.
Other humans would get swept into it, including Rena and Lucia, most of the students.
I didn’t want to be treated like a monster by them. I know what true fear looks like in a human’s eyes. I’ve seen it all in the back alleys.
I didn’t want to see the faces of those around me turn that way. Based on that, I guess I’m not fully a monster yet.
-Don’t come!
-Die, monster!
-You shouldn’t have been born into this world!
I was still seeing the phantoms of my past today.
Once home, I headed straight to the bathroom and looked in the mirror.
I was curious what kind of expression my current self was making.
“…Ah.”
In the mirror stood a girl with silver hair. Overall, she had a cold impression, but considering that, she was still a beautiful girl.
Surprisingly, the girl had no expression at all. Inside, emotions built up, becoming knots that couldn’t be released, rotting away within me.
The girl couldn’t express this suffocating feeling. I tried to furrow my brow, deliberately tensing my facial muscles, but it didn’t lead to any meaningful reaction.
I knew best that a deliberately grimaced expression held no genuine emotion.
Deep down, I didn’t want to kill anyone.
Not Ariel, not Celine, not Riana.
No, whoever it was.
I didn’t want to be a monster.
I didn’t want to inhabit this body.
And I didn’t want to crave flesh.
“…”
When I realized this, I looked back at the mirror and saw tears streaming down my face.
What a ridiculous situation.
I thought I had run dry long ago.
I couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief.
In the mirror, my red eyes leaked water while my mouth smiled.
Ultimately, I was just a mere killing machine inside the academy.
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