I Became a Murderer in the Academy. - Chapter 18

TN: Thank James Baily for the chapter.

That’s how Rena recruited two golden members and handed the application documents to Professor Eve.

“The application date is tomorrow… Well, it’s better to be early since it’ll be busy soon. Are you planning to leave first thing in the tomorrow?”

“Yes.”

The exam period will start soon.

It was the result of reflecting Lucia’s opinion that absences during the exam period have a severe impact.

Even though attendance would be handled as an official absence, missing important classes was directly related to grades.

After reviewing the documents twice more, Eve took a sip of black tea and stamped them.

“Ahem, I’m sorry. It’s originally my job, but I just couldn’t make the schedule work no matter what.”

As an Academy professor, she couldn’t leave her position for long.

So this time, she posted a notice to give students experience under the name of external practice.

She thought it would be fine since the danger level wasn’t too high, and although they were first-years, the top student was included.

“Iria, who’s the top of the year, Rena in 7th place, and Lucia, whom I know well. Good. I can trust and leave it to you all.”

“Thank you!”

“I’ll handle your Academy attendance as an official absence during the practice period, so go without worry.”

“Yes!”

Rena, who received the stamped documents and some support funds, bowed her head.

Eve opened her mouth one last time.

“Still, be careful. You never know what might come out in unexplored areas. Don’t overdo it; if it seems dangerous, get out immediately.”

During the preliminary survey, only low-level monsters were abundant at the cave entrance, but who knows what might be below.

It wasn’t that she didn’t trust the students, but it never hurts to be careful.

***

A day passed after submitting the application to Professor Eve.

The morning of the day marked the start of the external practice.

It was troublesome from the beginning.

They hadn’t even left the Empire, but there were frequent clashes between the team members.

“Why do you keep staring?”

“W-who says I’m looking?!”

The friction between the two started as soon as they met early in the morning.

They weren’t close. Rather, they were awkward with each other, so there wasn’t much conversation, but it usually went like this.

Lucia is walking while watching Iria, and Iria is bothered by her gaze.

In fact, due to the trauma from that day, Lucia still couldn’t meet Iria’s eyes.

Iria, not being one to remember past events well, had no thoughts about it.

Although the humiliation she suffered from Lucia initially wasn’t small, she had settled it last time.

So she didn’t have any ill feelings towards her.

Rather, now it was Lucia who was watching Iria’s mood.

Anyway, the three who met at the promised place were now walking through the market streets.

It was to purchase various necessary items before going on the external practice.

“I only need a sword. I brought that as a personal item, so I don’t need anything else.”

Lucia said, showing the sword at her waist.

The support fund they received from Eve was about 60 silver coins, which was slightly insufficient to buy items for three people but enough for two.

Even so, since Rena didn’t need equipment, it seemed like there would be quite a bit of money left over.

“Iria, come over here for a moment. I’ll show you how to look at magic stones.”

“……”

Rena called Iria to the side and pointed at items displayed in the store.

In the direction she pointed, small stones were placed by color.

“The red ones contain the fire element, the blue ones the ice element, and the green ones the wind element. They look the same, but the price differs according to grade. Do you know how to use them?”

“No.”

Iria shook her head.

“Iria, you handle mana well but have a small total amount. So you’ll need magic stones. First, hold it like this…”

Rena held a magic stone and slightly injected mana into it.

Mana materialized itself in her hand.

It wasn’t Rena’s mana, but the mana built into the magic stone.

They are stones that contain mana.

The principle is that if you break or slightly inject mana into them, the mana inside the stone flows out.

“If you do this, you can use magic without putting in mana. Of course, you can only use it once before it becomes useless. Few people use them because they’re expensive compared to their efficiency, but you will need them, Iria.”

“It does seem useful.”

Iria was good at manipulating mana.

If she could make up for her lack of total mana with magic stones, it would greatly help increase her combat power.

Thinking it was more useful than expected, Iria asked about the price.

“So how much are they?”

She considered buying a few personally later, even if not for the external practice.

Rena answered Iria’s question.

“Low-grade magic stones are 1 silver coin. Mid-grade is 30 coins, and high-grade is 1 gold coin.”

The price of magic stones was higher than I thought.

1 gold coin is 100 silver coins. I guess there’s a reason why people don’t use them much.

“Let’s get about 5 low-grade ones for now…”

“Buy one high-grade.”

Lucia, who had been quietly listening to the conversation, handed over a gold coin from her pocket.

“Huh?”

Rena froze at the suddenly large amount.

Lucia spoke without making eye contact with her.

“We should be prepared for emergency situations.”

“But the money……”

“I’ll pay for it, so it’s fine. You can keep the support funds.”

Lucia was the second daughter of a noble family.

This much money was something she could easily afford.

And.

“Buy about two more.”

Iria said, handing two gold coins to Rena.

She also had funds she obtained through dark channels a few days ago.

“……Why do you two have so much money?”

“I’m an Aster.”

“I’m Iria.”

“……”

There were two students here with suspiciously large amounts of money.

In the end, was Rena the only poor commoner?

One gold coin is what her family earns in a month.

Rena felt like she was about to cry at the extreme wealth gap that showed even in daily life.

Anyway, Rena bought 3 high-grade magic stones and 5 low-grade ones with the funds.

Even after buying this much, 55 silver coins of support funds were left, so the wallet situation was comfortable.

Moreover, beside Rena were the noble-blooded Lucia and the young, rich, shy girl Iria.

She had thought she should use the received support funds efficiently, but that feeling was crumbling.

It felt like her sense of money was dulling by being with these two.

“Come to think of it, Iria. Don’t you need a sword? We still have a lot of money left, so we could buy that and leave right away.”

“Then just give me a dagger.”

Buying expensive ones would only result in them breaking quickly, unable to withstand Iria’s strength.

From experience, using it once and throwing it away that day was better.

So Iria picked up a small for cheap.

Just when all preparations were complete to go outside the Empire.

“Shall we eat lunch before we go?”

Rena, the practical leader of this practice, opened her mouth.

It was about time for a normal human to start feeling hungry.

“Sure.”

And Lucia agreed with that opinion.

They don’t know how long the external practice period will last.

A long period of fasting could directly lead to a decline in condition.

But Iria’s reaction wasn’t so good.

She just turned around with a hardened expression.

“You two eat.”

“Iria, are you not eating?”

“I’m not feeling well.”

“Hmm……”

Come to think of it, Rena had never seen Iria eat while sticking close to her all this time.

Was she actually a great small eater?

With physical abilities that overwhelm even an average adult male?

Generally thinking, it didn’t make sense.

“……”

At that point, Iria noticed that the gaze directed at her was strange.

She read Rena’s memory right there.

She was being suspected of something now.

Thinking this wouldn’t do, Iria got up from her seat momentarily.

Then she bought a chicken skewer from a street food stall and came back.

It took a lot of courage to put it in her mouth.

It looked quite delicious on the outside.

Iria took a big sigh once, then took a bite.

Nom nom.

It was more edible than she thought.

Her sense of taste was a bit different from humans, so she couldn’t taste it, but it wasn’t inedible to the point of having no taste at all.

“Hmm, looks like Iria will eat that. Let’s go by ourselves.”

So, Iria was left alone.

She threw the bitten skewer into the trash can and quietly headed somewhere.

**

Behind the market street.

Iria, who hid herself in a place where people rarely set foot, sat down there.

Cold sweat poured like a waterfall, and a sharp pain arose as if all the organs in my body were twisting.

“Ugh!”

As something other than human blood and flesh entered her body, her body had a violent rejection reaction.

After what felt like forever, she expelled everything she just had and more.

After that, she spat out blood that burst from her damaged body.

Her vision was half blurred, and there was spit-out blood on her lips.

As the blood in her body drained out, there was a fact that was belatedly felt.

Iria was not human.

Therefore, it was impossible to naturally blend in among humans.

For a moment, she dreamed of becoming human.

“Haa, haa……”

She is a foolish monster.

Just by mixing with humans for a while, she mistook herself for being human.

As her thoughts became complicated momentarily, it felt like her insides were twisting again.

“Khaak…!”

Finally, after vomiting blood once more, she was able to regain her senses.

Reason settled in her cooled head.

Wiping the blood on her mouth, she brushed back her hair wet with cold sweat.

How long can I endure?

Today’s lunch tasted like blood.