I Became a Murderer in the Academy. - Chapter 19

On this day, Iria’s condition was at its worst.

It wasn’t the first time her body had been ruined by eating human food.

Once when she had just been possessed, before she even realized she was a monster.

Once when she desperately wanted to deny that she was a monster.

And now.

“Iria, you look really pale. Are you okay?”

“……”

Rena supported Iria, whose complexion had noticeably paled.

To be honest, she thought one bite would be fine.

The last time, she had eaten a full meal and suffered the consequences, so she thought a tiny amount would be bearable.

But that wasn’t the case.

Her stomach churned, her throat felt nauseous, and she craved human blood.

There were two fresh-looking meals right beside her now.

“Don’t… come near me……”

“Huh? Oh, okay.”

Iria pushed away Rena, who was supporting her.

Being so close, she could smell something good and had the urge to bite with her teeth.

She knew she shouldn’t have such thoughts, but as she kept looking at Lucia too, her skin looked so soft and squishy.

It would probably feel good to chew on.

“Ack!”

Iria coughed up blood.

Being around humans on an empty stomach was torturous.

It was strange.

Hadn’t she eaten a human just two days ago?

Maybe she was hungry because she vomited everything she had eaten earlier.

“Iria?! Are you sure you’re okay?! Come to your senses! Do you want to go back now?!”

Rena asked with genuine concern.

It was the first time she had seen Iria show such weakness.

Startled by the blood she had coughed up, Rena tried to come closer, but Iria stretched out her hand to stop her.

“I’m fine, let’s just go. I’m okay.”

It wasn’t the first time she had to suppress her rising desires.

Wasn’t this something she always did?

This time, her head just hurt a little more.

Since she was used to enduring and suppressing it, she could bear it this time too.

Iria walked alone without anyone’s support.

The journey from outside the Empire to their destination was longer than expected.

***

Despite Iria’s poor physical condition, the external training went more smoothly than expected.

In fact, it was because the other two members performed well, as Iria was excluded from combat.

“……Aster style.”

First, Lucia wielding a real sword was incomparably stronger than they had seen in the training arena.

After all, the Aster sword style ultimately enhances the sharpness of the blade.

It showed its true value when holding a real sword rather than a wooden one.

The monsters in the cave were slashed by Lucia’s sword.

Black blood was splattered on the cave walls and floor.

Lucia stood in the center of a place filled with blood, monster corpses, and unsightly entrails.

She shook the blood off her sword once.

It wasn’t a particularly pleasant feeling.

Even if they were monsters, it was still taking lives.

The scene of life turning into death and corpses transforming into stench is disgusting.

It seemed even more so because she was still at the level of a first-year student without much real combat experience.

“Bloom.”

And.

Rena’s spells flew across the battlefield.

Flames blooming like red flowers form a fireball.

Rena burned the monsters that Lucia had cut down and left behind.

She boldly trimmed the incantation to cast spells quickly and infused more mana to increase the power.

Rena’s flames shot up once at the narrow entrance of the cave.

After roughly clearing out the approaching monsters like this,

“Phew……”

Lucia stood there, fixing her sweat-soaked hair, and Rena let out a big sigh.

The number of monsters was more than expected.

It was common for them to enter caves to escape the cold and make them their dwelling, but this was a bit different.

It was spring now, and even if it were winter, it was unusual for this many monsters to stay inside a cave.

Was there some kind of source inside that was attracting them?

Either way, they needed to investigate a bit more carefully.

“Aren’t there more than we thought?”

“You’re right.”

Rena raised the question first, and Iria, responsible for recording the training content, nodded.

“Write this down.”

“Is this how you write it?”

“No, the spelling is wrong.”

“……”

While the external training was generally smooth, not everything went perfectly.

For one, Iria was weak in language.

Since she looked unwell, they had her excluded from combat. They tasked her with writing the exploration journal, but even that wasn’t going smoothly.

Watching this scene, Lucia complained, wondering how someone like that could be the top student.

But it couldn’t be helped.

Iria was not only clumsy at reading but even worse at writing.

She wrote down various things they discovered during the training, but they were completely illegible, so Rena had to rewrite everything from the beginning.

“……Should I just do the recording?”

“Please do.”

“Can you move now?”

“Yes.”

Still, Iria’s condition seemed better than before.

Color had returned to her pale face, and her staggering steps had returned to normal.

In the end, Iria and Rena switched roles.

Rena moved to the back, and Iria walked beside Lucia.

As their supervising professor Eve had said, it didn’t seem to be such a dangerous place.

Although the number of monsters was high, they were all at a level that students could subjugate.

Even though it was a three-person party, two people would have been enough.

Iria walked close to Lucia’s side.

Lucia frowned.

“Don’t stick so close.”

“……”

“I said don’t stick close, didn’t I?”

“Do you still dislike me?”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

How could she like her?

She had been humiliated just recently.

Of course, Lucia had picked the fight first.

Objectively, Lucia was at fault for underestimating Iria’s skills, challenging her to a ranking battle, and insulting her.

But after losing the duel, she had a chance to reflect on herself in her dreams.

Lucia had acknowledged her mistakes and wrongdoings at that point.

That’s why she had intended to formally apologize to Iria once everything was over.

[Bow your head and lick my feet. I’ll let it slide this time.]

After suffering such humiliation, she had completely forgotten about apologizing and had been avoiding Iria.

“Ugh.”

She didn’t even want to think about what happened that day.

She wanted to forget about that incident, separate from acknowledging her own mistakes.

“That? I just said exactly what Lucia had said. Something about fee–”

“Waaaahhhh!! Stop! I get it, so stop!”

When Iria reminded her of what she had been trying to forget, Lucia had a fit.

She couldn’t even argue back because it was what she had said.

She could only walk, hoping that Iria would please shut her mouth.

“…… I’m sorry.”

“……?”

“I said I’m sorry. For what happened then.”

In the end, Lucia offered a belated apology to Iria.

She had never lost to peers before, so she had been arrogant.

That’s why she had made such a mistake.

Come to think of it, was this the first time she was apologizing to her in reality?

She had nothing to say about the past incident, even if she had ten mouths.

She should have apologized on the same day, but it was delayed.

Today’s apology was necessary for Lucia to grow into a better person in the future.

She was walking the path of lowering her strong pride a little.

There was no use in insisting anymore; it would only make her ugly and stagnant.

Lucia chose to let go and move forward.

“……”

Iria maintained her silence even after hearing all of Lucia’s words.

To be precise, she had nothing particular to say.

Regardless of what Lucia thought of her, she had long forgotten about the past incident.

Moreover, hadn’t she tormented Lucia enough herself?

She remembers tormenting her in both dreams and reality.

If anything, shouldn’t Iria be the one apologizing?

Still, since Lucia said so herself, it didn’t matter either way.

“What? Did something happen between you two?”

And Rena, the only one in this place who didn’t know about what happened that day, asked with an innocent face.

Iria was about to summarize the situation as if nothing had happened.

“Lucia told me to lick her feet so I– Mmph!”

Her mouth was covered by Lucia before she could finish her sentence.

**

Caves are much damper and more humid than one might expect, making it not a particularly pleasant place.

If there’s magical energy on top of that, even more so.

Of course, for Iria, whose race was a monster, breathing was much easier, like in the back alleys.

That was also why Iria’s physical condition had improved.

She had absorbed some of the surrounding magical energy and recovered some strength.

However, it couldn’t solve the problem of her empty stomach and hunger.

The nameless cave was connected quite deep inside.

A fork in the path branched into several directions, but in the end, all paths seemed to lead underground.

Iria stopped for a moment in front of this fork.

“……”

Beyond the darkness ahead, something didn’t smell good.