I Became a Murderer in the Academy. - Chapter 24

TN: Thank Matthew for the chapter.

The Seeds of the Demon King are created when monsters eat the remnants of the Demon King.

Because of this, any monster can become one if it finds a fragment, and it can exist anywhere there is one.

So, if someone were holding a fragment, they could easily create a seed of the Demon King anywhere, anytime.

The one in the cave was also a seed planted by someone.

Logically, there’s no way the scattered remnants of the dead Demon King could reach such deep underground places.

So it made sense to think that some group intentionally fed the fragments to monsters to create seeds.

But for what purpose?

“……”

I thought about it several times but couldn’t figure it out.

Even after organizing the memories I absorbed from the monster in my head and thinking it over, I couldn’t find the answer.

I carefully observed the golden fragment I took from the monster’s body.

So even though it looks like this, this is the Demon King, huh?

It’s just one of thousands of scattered fragments though.

Conversely, does that mean the Demon King had at least a thousand times more power than a seed?

I could understand why the Demon King was still an object of fear.

“Iria? What’s that?”

“It’s nothing.”

On our way back after finishing the practical, I put the golden fragment into my pocket.

I thought I should investigate this separately later.

***

“I… I’ll go in first.”

After the practical ended, Iria hurried towards the back alley.

When she arrived at the Central Empire walking on an empty stomach, she felt like she was about to lose her mind.

Upon arriving, Iria wandered around the area and found a person.

They weren’t ordinary but seemed to be a criminal who had imitated Iria, like Asha from before.

“Asha was so stupid. To think she’d die while trying to kill someone. See, you should act smartly like me.”

Her name was Eileen.

A self-proclaimed smart serial killer.

The reason she was better than Asha was as follows:

While Asha seemed to have been caught and killed by the knights while operating openly, Eileen hid the fact that she was a serial killer.

She approaches, seemingly harmless, then stabs and kills immediately when she sees an opening.

Today too, she was wandering the back alleys looking for prey.

She’d prefer it if it were a woman.

Eileen was also a crazy lesbian.

“Hmm~ Hmm……”

As Eileen was humming and wandering around, her eyes met Iria’s.

“Oh my.”

She was an incredibly pretty girl.

Silky smooth pure white hair and ruby-red eyes like embedded jewels.

Eileen got excited on the spot and approached Iria.

“Hello~ You’re really pretty, aren’t you? Want to go somewhere quiet with big sister?”

“……”

“What’s your name?”

And then.

-Chomp!

“Eek?!”

Iria grabbed Eileen with both hands and bit her neck.

Usually, she would have put her to sleep after making eye contact first, but right now, Iria didn’t have the mental capacity for that.

“W-wait! How are you this strong?! Let go!”

Eileen, a former mercenary, was also physically strong.

So she tried to pull back immediately, but she couldn’t.

Because Iria was holding her tightly and wouldn’t let go.

She resisted with all her might but couldn’t escape the overwhelming strength.

She tried to stab Iria with a dagger she pulled out but failed as her wrist was broken before that.

“Ugh, urk, stop……”

Eileen let out a pain-filled groan, but the current Iria couldn’t hear it.

Iria, who had sunk her fangs into the slender neck, sucked Eileen’s blood.

The sticky sound of human blood being extracted and screams echoed through the dark alley.

Iria strongly sank her fangs into Eileen’s neck once, then licked it with her tongue.

At a glance, it might look like a gentle eating scene, but it wasn’t.

Iria, who had half lost her reason, broke bones all over Eileen’s body while grabbing her.

It wasn’t on purpose, but instinctively hugging the prey tightly broke them.

She kept licking, and when the bleeding stopped, she bit once more to draw blood.

It seemed like behavior that didn’t consider the other person at all.

It was the result of giving up on thinking and surrendering only to instinct.

After some time had passed, Iria regained her senses.

With Eileen in her arms and blood on her lips, she blinked on the spot.

It seemed she needed a little time to understand the situation.

She remembered parting with her group members and coming to the back alley to eat.

And now.

Did she put this person to sleep before biting?

For now, there was no such memory.

It must have been very painful.

Iria lifted Eileen’s head to put her to sleep even now.

However, she couldn’t meet her eyes.

“……Already asleep.”

Eileen was not breathing.

With all the strength drained from her body, she was just limp with her eyes closed.

Iria stopped momentarily, then sank her teeth into her neck again.

After this day, the rate of copycat crimes in the back alleys dropped significantly.

***

20 years ago, after the war ended, the terrain of many places changed.

There are several reasons for this, but the main cause was the influence of the remnants left after the Demon King’s death.

The burst of magical energy changed the surrounding areas into terrain like the demon continent, while monsters that became ferocious after eating the remnants rampaged and destroyed many places.

There were murmurs that it was more chaotic right after the Demon King’s death than when he was alive.

And now, after some time, there are many unexplored areas on the continent.

As the terrain changed, the surrounding ecology was also affected.

Therefore, investigating and researching this was also the Empire’s job.

“So, it continued much deeper? And in there, a monster too strong to handle came out, so you had to end the exploration?”

This is Professor Eve’s office.

She was sitting with her legs slightly crossed, reading the log of the three people’s practical training.

According to the records, there were a great number of monsters in the cave.

Moreover, at the end, a shadow monster of unknown identity appeared.

It didn’t seem like such a dangerous place during the preliminary investigation.

Surely, there were fewer monsters than recorded, and the concentration of magical energy was lower.

So she thought it would be suitable for the student level, but…

Was the measuring device wrong? If not, did some variable occur in that short time?

In any case, this was Eve’s mistake.

So she bowed her head slightly and apologized.

“It seems my investigation was inadequate. I’m sorry. I’m glad you’re all safe for now. Are there any injuries?”

“Iria hurt her wrist, but other than that, we’re fine.”

“Your wrist, can you show me?”

I scratched my cheek and stretched out my hand.

It was a wound I had cut myself during battle to draw out magical energy from inside my body.

I hope they don’t think it’s too strange.

“We treated light wounds from the battle with holy water, but Iria strangely refused treatment, so we left it alone.”

By the way, holy water is excellent not only for healing wounds but also for repelling monsters.

So if you pour holy water on me, a monster, you can see the rare sight of one burning alive.

Of course, I didn’t want to burn, so I didn’t apply holy water.

“It’s a minor injury. Are you sure you don’t want treatment? There’s a skilled priest among the academy staff…”

“No.”

“You don’t need it?”

“No.”

Priest, I wish they wouldn’t mention such a terrifying word.

I instantly got goosebumps all over my body and quickly pulled my hand back.

In fact, I could regenerate this level of wound anytime if I wanted, but I couldn’t because of the watching eyes.

It was no different from blatantly revealing that I’m not human.

So I wiped the blood flowing from the wound and lightly wrapped a bandage around it.

Then, I showed a satisfied expression.

This should make me look human.

It’s truly a perfect disguise.

“This is enough.”

Seeing Iria refuse treatment several times, Eve didn’t insist further.

She couldn’t force treatment if she said she was fine.

And it wasn’t a big enough wound to need treatment.

Eve put down the documents she was holding.

“Alright. I’ll review the practical log separately and reflect it in your grades. But there were some misspelled parts in the middle…”

“That’s what Iria wrote.”

“……”

Rena pointed at Iria as she spoke.

Although Rena was responsible for recording the log during the practical, she didn’t rewrite the first part.

Iria was deducted points for lack of basic knowledge.