I Became a Murderer in the Academy. - Chapter 2

It was unavoidable.

Recently, Iria hadn’t been able to eat anything due to the knights’ entry restrictions.

The longest Iria could maintain her sanity without eating people was one week.

Yesterday evening was the day that passed the 7th day, so the knight’s luck was bad.

“……”

Iria stood still as if immersed in the afterglow of her meal.

She wiped the blood from her mouth, then licked what was on her hands.

It was still a sensation she couldn’t get used to.

When she kills and eats a person, her body rejoices.

When human blood touches her tongue, a thrilling shiver runs through her body.

Right now, at this moment, Iria felt alive as a living being.

But soon after, she bowed her head.

She felt as if she was being bound by the guilt of succumbing to her desires and harming an innocent person again today.

Although she’s a monster now, she feels this way because there was a time when she too was human.

It’s been almost a year since she fell into this novel, the contents of which she doesn’t even know.

Now, she has fallen into this world and become a monster named ‘Iria.’

As a half-human, half-demon hybrid, she is a collection of demonic traits inherited in human form.

That’s why she can only eat humans and can’t fill her stomach with other food.

So.

‘In the end, this person wasn’t the protagonist either.’

If she didn’t want to kill, she had to end this novel.

Even if it meant killing the protagonist of this novel whose face she didn’t even know.

***

The Academy in the Central Empire is noisy today as well.

Maybe it’s because it’s a place that teaches various combat techniques like swordsmanship and magic to young students who are already full of vigor.

A research paper from the Magic Tower states that if you professionally learn combat akin to real battles every day, even a normal person becomes aggressive.

Anyway, that was the original atmosphere of the place.

The Academy that teaches students to counter the increasing demon attacks.

“Hey, hey! Listen to this! Yesterday, another knight on patrol disappeared!”

“What? A knight?”

But even considering that, today’s classroom was exceptionally noisy.

Did something shocking happen?

Iria, who had been trying to sleep in the classroom, turned her head away sharply because she didn’t really want to hear it.

“So I heard it’s causing a big commotion. The knights are already short-staffed these days.”

“If it’s that serious, isn’t something really going on? It’s not just anyone, but a knight that disappeared?”

“I don’t know… I suddenly got scared.”

Rena, a woman with impressive golden hair, said while shivering.

It’s because the power of a knight who has joined the Knight Order is incomparable to that of an Academy student.

It’s natural.

First, to join the Knight Order, one had to graduate from the Empire’s Academy, which was proof of having studied for four years at the continent’s best educational institution.

Even within the Academy, the difference between first-year and second-year students is not small.

It’s because they’re behind in learning time and experience.

If one has built on 4 years of learning and gained practical experience by taking on duties as a knight, then it’s beyond the level that can be gauged by a mere student.

“Iria, aren’t you scared?”

Rena asked, poking Iria’s body.

Judging by her slightly delayed reaction, Rena could tell she seemed tired.

“Huh? What… Yeah, it’s scary……”

“You look tired? What were you doing last night to be like this?”

“Well… I had some circumstances, so I was busy. I think I couldn’t sleep properly because of that.”

Iria recalled last night’s memory while yawning slightly.

It certainly was busy. Erasing the evidence.

By the time she finished everything, it was already dawn, so she had no choice but to come straight to school.

That’s why she’s tired. She basically didn’t get any sleep.

Iria organized in her head the lectures she had to attend today while raising her sleepy eyes.

Basic magic studies, application of elemental magic, and the rest were all related to swordsmanship, weren’t they?

There was a reason why she applied for these completely incompatible subjects indiscriminately.

It was directly related to the reason why she enrolled here, in the Academy.

Iria came here to find the protagonist of the novel.

She thought that if it was a character with the presence of a protagonist, they would likely be here with high probability.

Of course, she didn’t know the protagonist’s face or even name, but that wasn’t a problem.

Iria could read others’ memories by making eye contact with them.

She concluded that the novel’s protagonist would surely be a character with an extraordinary background.

“……”

Although she didn’t think she could find them immediately, she felt it was much better than doing nothing.

“Rena, can you look into my eyes for a moment?”

“Huh? I don’t mind, but suddenly?”

“Hurry.”

“Is this okay?”

“Hmm…”

As expected, it wasn’t Rena either.

Iria turned her head with a slightly disappointed face.

At the level of a student with no resistance to mental abilities, simply making eye contact with Iria could cause mental damage.

“That’s enough.”

“Huh? What did you just do?”

“Nothing. It’s just that you have a face that seems to have lived a difficult life.”

“Iria, you have no friends.”

“……”

After that, ordinary conversations were exchanged.

It was mostly irrefutable facts being thrown at Iria, who was terribly bad at interpersonal communication.

Well, it wasn’t such a bad feeling.

Although Iria was the one being verbally beaten, the reason she stuck with Rena,

“If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have anyone to talk to.”

“Be quiet.”

A critical hit landed on Iria, who kept her mouth shut tightly.

It must have hurt so much that her body, which had been still, flinched.

Rena giggled while covering her mouth with one hand.

Iria had a better reaction than expected.

But she decided to stop there because it seemed like Iria might get genuinely angry if she continued.

Rena changed the topic.

“Anyway, you be careful too, Iria. Rumors say they target women walking alone. Since you’re pretty, you’ll probably be an easy target.”

“Can’t we just avoid going near there?”

“It doesn’t seem to be that simple. There’s the recent shortage of knights, and even aside from the rumored monster, that area has always had poor public safety. Lately, there seem to be crimes like kidnapping young women and selling them as slaves.”

“……”

Iria slightly furrowed her brow.

That wasn’t her doing.

Does it mean there are other residents in that back alley besides her?

It felt like the space she had first claimed as her residence was being invaded.

“In any case, it would be good to be careful if you’re a young woman, out late at night, and frequently lingering around the back alleys. Though I don’t think there would be someone that stupid.”

Regardless, Rena said with a smile.

In fact, if there were many incidents due to poor public safety, one could just avoid going near said place.

Rena, who had a perfectly normal human way of thinking, was right.

But Iria was a bit different.

‘Isn’t it a bit too perfect?’

No matter how she thought about it, she seemed to fit all three conditions.

She was a young woman, out late at night, and frequently lingering around the back alleys.

So Iria briefly imagined in her head what would happen if she were unlucky enough to encounter them.

“Hmm.”

Free food.

No matter how she thought about it, the conclusion was, ‘It might even be good.’

Encountering them on the way home today might not be such bad news.

But showing too much excitement in front of Rena seemed inappropriate.

Iria answered soullessly.

“The world is really dangerous these days.”

Was she unaware that she was the main culprit of that danger?

No, in fact, she didn’t seem to care much about her own story.

In the end, rumors are just rumors.

Regardless of their truth, they’ll heat up and spread quickly and then cool down when there is no more coal to be added.

It’s an atmosphere that will disappear as time passes.

That’s why Iria didn’t particularly pay attention to it.

However.

“But it seems the Knight Order has stated that they will respond strongly to this incident.”

“What?”

“Since a member of the Knight Order has gone missing, it seems the Knight Order headquarters will no longer dismiss it as a rumor. I heard they’re planning to send a large-scale subjugation team soon?”

“……”

This time, the words that came out of Rena’s mouth were something Iria couldn’t just ignore.

A large-scale subjugation team.

Iria quickly calculated in her head.

That’s something even Iria, who has lived in the back alleys for about a year, would find hard to handle.

Iria’s abilities function best when targeting one person at a time.

There’s nothing good about clashing with the Knight Order.

If she encounters them, it would be quite troublesome, and nothing much to gain.

‘I guess I’ll just sleep somewhere else for a while.’

So she chose to avoid them.

She just had a meal yesterday, so she wasn’t that hungry.

“Thank you for letting me know.”

***

On her way home after finishing her day at the Academy, Iria stopped before the city’s central fountain.

Someone in a familiar uniform blocked her way.

“I’m sorry. This area is currently off-limits.”

“……”

But that’s the way to her home.

Iria’s gaze turned to the area beyond.

The number of armed knights was more than she had thought.

“Do you have any business here?”

“No.”

Iria lost her home.