The memories of that day were something Albert couldn’t forget.
It was a rainy day.
As his hair and clothes got drenched, Iria thrust the Red Sword at him.
With a complex expression that words couldn’t fully describe.
Iria on that day looked quite different from the Iria he knew, but he recognized her immediately.
It wasn’t just her appearance; the red magical energy flowing from her felt incredibly familiar.
Albert had part of his memories about Iria erased. However, human memories aren’t that easy to delete.
He just temporarily forgot, but the vacant memories lingered as a sense of discomfort for a long time.
Those who had their memories erased regarding Iria lived with that discomfort.
But in the presence of such discomfort, when they saw Iria, they sometimes experienced a strong sense of déjà vu and remembered what was forgotten.
Albert was one of them.
He had his memories erased regarding Iria twice.
So what was he feeling when he first recognized her?
“……”
At first, he tried to initiate a conversation. He presented what seemed to be her goal, the Fragment of the Demon King.
She had the appearance of a human, but was not a human.
Yet she could speak the human language and blended naturally among humans.
Albert knew someone like her.
He thought she was somewhat similar.
She was conflicted within herself, suffering. And above all, her red eyes looked so empty.
Objectively, Iria was a villain.
She was the Back Alley Monster that had thrown the Empire into chaos and the worst criminal responsible for countless casualties underground.
And she possessed immense power, making her a monster without a way to stop her at this moment.
No one could look at Iria and feel sympathy for her. In fact, it was strange that Albert looked at her that way.
However.
“……I’m sorry, Albert.”
He recalled the face of his former mentor who almost killed him.
It was the day he went to the dean’s office, brewing his mentor’s favorite black tea as usual.
At one moment, Sertia, with her red eyes shining, revealed hostility towards Albert, suffering from endless self-hatred and a split self.
The teacup he made with the leaves of a sun flower shattered, and Albert, caught in the monster’s power, sustained a serious wound.
She apologized.
She said it was because of the sudden surge of hostility towards humans, something she couldn’t control.
This happened around the time Sertia’s curse began to spread.
If Iria was the same.
If she, like Sertia, was unable to control her instincts and was killing humans.
Maybe she was the most pitiable existence in that world.
“Then why!!”
Her image, thrusting the Red Sword, screaming on that rainy day flashed through his mind.
That might have been a cry that burst forth from deep suffering over a long time. How then should he treat someone like Iria?
Albert’s thoughts were profound.
*
Upon Iria’s suggestion to move to another location, Albert guided her to a suitable spot.
A place that was somewhat deserted, without sunlight, and quiet.
He was still a good man when it came to picking places. Iria sat down in a suitable spot on the quiet street.
What did she want to say?
He quietly sat and waited. Although he had said he would kill her, he never really intended to.
Since it would be Iria who would end up in trouble if he killed him here.
“So, what is it you want to say?”
Iria, typically reserved and not one to speak first, rarely initiated conversation this time.
This situation of meeting Albert again was not pleasant for her.
She wanted to finish the conversation quickly and leave.
Albert examined Iria’s face with a serious expression. He was trying to gauge her mental state before speaking.
Fortunately, she seemed alright.
Unlike before, she was at least capable of conversing.
He didn’t detect any aggression like last time. She looked like the usual student Iria.
She seemed a bit displeased, though.
Albert explained everything from start to finish to Iria who was ready to listen.
He mentioned that among the people he knew, there was someone who resembled her, and that person wanted to meet the Back Alley Monster Iria.
And he had something related to that he wanted to ask her.
Iria didn’t say a word until he finished speaking. She just listened quietly.
After hearing everything, Iria scratched her cheek.
She understood what he wanted to say. Since Iria also had some memories of Albert, it was easy to grasp the content.
She could tell that his words weren’t lies.
But there was still something that bothered her.
As she had mentioned before, from the Empire’s standpoint, Iria was clearly a villain. She had committed unforgivable acts, making her the worst criminal in the Empire.
And now, someone as significant as Albert was trying to take her somewhere.
No matter how she thought about it, something felt off. She didn’t trust him.
So she asked.
“Before that, I’m curious. Can I ask a question this time?”
Albert closed his eyes and nodded.
“Of course.”
It was a question similar to the ones she asked before, but she made it slightly more precise.
“Why don’t you see me as an enemy? It seems a bit strange to say it’s just because there’s someone like me around you.”
Iria had killed Albert’s junior.
Normally, encountering a monster that killed a junior wouldn’t invoke such a reaction.
That was suspicious.
Albert was someone whose thoughts were hard to read, so she realized she needed to be cautious.
“I just thought you were someone I could talk to.”
“And the reason?”
“After the incident, through the investigation process, there were two beings inside the building that were presumed to be the Seed of the Demon King. This is a rather serious situation, but compared to the scale of the incident, the damage wasn’t as severe as expected.”
There weren’t enough powers inside the building to capture two Seeds of the Demon King.
Moreover, one of them was stronger than Albert. If such beings rampaged, it would have been normal for all the people inside to perish.
Even if some survived, only a handful of elite professors would have made it out.
Albert hadn’t been inside the building, but while analyzing the bodies, he could guess what the inside must have looked like.
Surely, it would have been a hellish scene.
However, the number of casualties inside the building was low. In fact, it was less than those outside.
So what could have accounted for that figure?
Who was the one who defeated an entity stronger than Albert, who was the highest power protecting the Empire back then?
“When hearing testimonies from the survivors, they mentioned seeing a red-haired female student roaming the corridor. While everyone else was fleeing, she was going in a different direction by herself.”
“……”
“For reasons unknown, you saved the lives of many inside the building that day. I thought it was worth talking to you.”
The one who could stop the rampaging beings at that time was none other than Iria.
Though he didn’t want to acknowledge it, without her, it would have been a very difficult fight.
It was a miracle that the damage stopped at that point.
He didn’t know why Iria had sided with the humans, but soon he discovered the reason as Iria told him herself.
“I didn’t save them; they just happened to block my path. I ended up retrieving the fragment upon encountering them.”
“And yet, you didn’t kill any humans.”
“……”
That was true.
Iria didn’t kill any humans during this incident. Apart from the injuries she inflicted on Reina and Albert when she half-raged at the end, she didn’t even create any casualties.
It seemed the statements made on that rainy day weren’t lies after all. It turned out Iria was unrelated to this incident.
“Unless in special cases, you are not aggressive towards humans, right?”
It wasn’t a wrong statement, so Iria nodded.
Albert regarded Iria with a mixed gaze.
She was a dangerous existence that shouldn’t exist in the Empire, but he also thought her situation was unfortunate.
Even if Iria was declared an enemy of the Empire, there was no way to stop her.
At this point, there was no way for the Empire to stop Iria, so it was crucial to avoid provoking her as much as possible.
“……I won’t disclose any information about you, and I won’t in the future either.”
If he spilled anything and she went on a rampage, the Empire would fall.
“I also won’t hold you accountable for the malicious acts you’ve committed until now.”
It was tragic that people died, but Iria was like a living disaster.
It was unavoidable that people got caught in natural disasters. There was no way to deal with it, so the Empire could only hope she would behave herself.
“I have one request though.”
“……”
Iria looked at him as if to say, “Go ahead and say it.”
“There’s someone who wants to meet you. Could you come find me again in the near future?”
“What would I gain from seeing them?”
“There’s a Fragment of the Demon King that the Empire possesses. I don’t know your reasons for collecting the fragments, but if you need it, I will give it to you.”
“Hmm.”
If he had it, it was better than not having it.
It extended the grace period for Iria to remain as she was.
“Alright.”
Iria accepted Albert’s proposal.
It wasn’t something she needed immediately, but there was no reason not to accept it.
She could even go right now if she wanted.
But Albert declined, saying he was feeling unwell and needed to lie down.
Iria then left.
