I had a dream.

Maybe it was already a past reality.

In the dream, I showed hallucinations originating from memories of a human wandering near the back alley.

That day’s prey was a girl with green hair.

She had come before too, but I had missed her.

She was a girl with considerable talent, so I particularly remembered her.

I crafted hallucinations to draw her a little deeper.

According to her memory, it was the voice of someone she could never ignore.

As expected, she couldn’t come to her senses with the visual and auditory hallucinations I showed her.

I grabbed her as she approached me.

This time, I grabbed her firmly so she couldn’t run away.

It’s not that I had any ill feelings towards her, but if I couldn’t eat a human that day, I would be in danger.

Around the time I did, one more human entered my sight.

Though not as much as the human I held now, it was also a human with outstanding talent.

I lowered my gaze a little and looked at the human who had knelt down in fear.

A girl with calmly hanging golden hair.

Should I kill her?

I stood there for a moment and pondered.

However,

“Don’t go…”

“…”

Crunch.

The green-haired girl grabbed my sleeve.

I thought I had put her to sleep.

To have this level of resistance at a young age.

I turned my gaze and looked at Celine again.

She still had her eyes closed.

Perhaps it was an action derived from the subconscious.

Is she trying to stop me?

In the end, I decided to stop killing the golden-haired girl.

She didn’t seem to have seen my face anyway.

I hid with Celine deep in the back alley.

“Good night, Celine. No, should I call you Arhene?”

“……”

“Don’t worry, Arhene, I would never leave you.”

Arhene from the abandoned village.

Left alone in a remote house, she thought her parents had abandoned her and discarded her previous name.

Because she was angry at the parents who had given her that name.

In fact, her parents had been killed by a monster and couldn’t reach her.

Poor Arhene.

I decided to make her happy, at least in her dreams.

***

Waking up early in the morning, I decided to prepare to enter the underground of the Empire.

First, I went to the market to purchase the necessary items.

Funds were fine.

There was still a lot of money left that I had stolen from the mercenary group.

Since I would likely fight to get to my goal, I bought a few high-grade magic stones and spare weapons.

I wanted to avoid battles as much as possible, but this was just in case.

I hoped I wouldn’t have to use the magic stones.

But there was a problem.

The fact that I, with silver hair and red eyes, stood out in appearance.

The probability of being born with silver hair among humans is extremely low.

And the probability of being born with red eyes is even lower.

Although there may be extremely rare cases of humans being born with silver hair or red eyes, I’m really the only one who has both at the same time.

You probably won’t find anyone even if you search the entire continent.

Therefore, silver hair and red eyes are immediately identified as academy student Iria.

It’s no different from walking around with an ID.

There was a separate reason why I wasn’t suspected of being a monster despite having red eyes, which is a typical trait within monsters.

Because the probability of a monster properly mimicking a human and attending the academy is as low as the likelihood of a human with silver hair and red eyes being born.

In the first place, a monster that can use human language is that rare.

After all, in the understanding of humans, I’m treated as a mutant, and it’s the same in the understanding of monsters.

Anyway, I had to do something about this silver hair and red eyes.

For my eyes, I could just wear contact lenses, but the hair was the problem.

How do I hide this?

“Hmm…”

As I passed through the market like that, I found a good item.

“Is this hair dye?”

“Yeah, why?”

“How long does it last with one application?”

“If you don’t remove it, one application is permanent. Why, do you want to buy one?”

That’s a bit troublesome.

If I wanted to finish the job and go back to the academy, the effect had to end quickly or be easily removable.

I asked the store owner.

“Is there anything that can be easily removed?”

“Not that there isn’t. Wait a moment…”

The shop owner with pretty chestnut hair answered in a half-drooping voice and rummaged through the warehouse.

And she took out a blue bottle.

“The easiest to remove is this, a sample that uses frost flower as a dye, but if you dry it in the sun for a long time and wash it with water, the color will fade quickly. But there’s only blue. It’s difficult to change colors with natural dyes.”

I don’t like sunlight though.

But now was not the time to be picky.

“Then give me that.”

“Okay, but is that naturally silver hair? I’m actually seeing it for the first time, but it’s really so pretty. Can I touch it just once?”

“No.”

“I’ll give it to you for half price! Frost flower is a precious ingredient, so it’s more expensive than you think? It’s two gold coins originally, but I’ll only take one from you.”

“…”

Why is a color that only stands out unnecessarily troublesome?

But since it was nothing for me, I accepted her offer.

“Fine then.”

When I stepped forward to make it easier for her to touch with her hands, she put her hand on my hair with a perverted expression.

“Hehe, hehehe, your hair texture is really nice… Do you use anything regularly?”

“No.”

“This is unmanaged hair? You were born with a talent for driving people crazy, weren’t you?”

“Just give me the item…”

I wasn’t very comfortable with the unfamiliar sensation of someone touching my hair as they pleased.

I wanted to hurry up, buy the item, and leave, but she didn’t let me go easily.

“I’m really sorry, but can I cut just a tiny bit? I think I’ll get new inspiration!”

“Don’t you think this is enough?”

“I’ll give it to you for free.”

“Hmm.”

Two gold coins are a month’s salary for a commoner in the Central Empire.

Wouldn’t that be a profitable business for a bundle of hair?

The owner rummaged through the warehouse and brought scissors.

“Hehe, I’ll only cut the ends. Just this much, what do you think?”

“Go ahead.”

I had my hair plucked today.

**

In the end, after receiving the blue hair dye, I purchased gold-colored contact lenses to change my eye color.

I was curious about how it would feel, so I tried wearing them on the spot, but they were more uncomfortable than I thought.

At first, my eyes stung so much that tears, which I thought had already dried up, came out.

I felt a slight foreign sensation whenever I closed and opened my eyes.

This seemed to be a sensation that I wouldn’t get used to.

But there was also a good point.

Since it covered my eyes, I couldn’t read people’s memories even if I made eye contact with them.

Of course, I couldn’t show them hallucinations either.

Reading memories continuously is more mentally exhausting than I thought.

It also consumed a lot of physical strength if I used my abilities too much.

But my eyes were so uncomfortable that I took them out right away.

It’s not like I was going in right now anyway.

Anyway, having purchased all the necessary items, I was now at Leonard’s workshop.

It was to hear information.

“I’m going to enter the underground of the Empire tonight. Where are the monsters trapped?”

“Are you really going there? Didn’t you just half-listen to what I told you before?”

“You said the main forces of the Empire are gathered there.”

“That’s true, but the place you’re trying to go to is under Albert’s jurisdiction. If a monster goes in, it will definitely die.”

He then started murmuring to himself.

“No, you’re a mutant, so you might not die and be used as an experimental subject instead. Both are the worst-case scenarios.”

“……”

“You’ve at least heard the name Albert, right?”

Was he that famous?

I heard that among the professors at the academy, many work other jobs concurrently.

Albert must be the same.

The rough mana pool I saw during the first class was around 37,000.

Lucia, who had the highest value in the first year, was around 4,400, so it was clearly an insane value.

He was a magician who could single-handedly exterminate a Seed of the Demon King.

But that was the same for me, so I wasn’t particularly worried.

“If you’re a monster on the level of the rumored back alley monster, it might be different, but if not, it’s better to give up.”

“I am the back alley monster.”

“…?”

“What?”

“Are you sure you can tell me that?”

“You won’t remember today anyway.”

There are two ways to erase information.

The first is to kill the target, and the second is to erase the target’s memory.

Fortunately, I could erase memories, so I took the latter path.

Leonard looked like he had a lot of questions for me, but I didn’t particularly like the name “back alley monster,” so I didn’t bother answering.

A barrage of questions followed a few times, but when I refused again, Leonard stopped asking.

He thought it was pointless since he would forget even if I answered.

“I’m surprised because it was different from the image I had in mind.”

“What kind of image did you imagine?”

“A little more fierce and scary-looking?”

“…”

When I revealed that I was the back alley monster, Leonard started being wary of me, but conversation became possible only after I repeatedly showed my intention not to attack.

In the Empire, they seem to classify me as the worst demon that threatens human lives, but I’m not very hostile to humans as long as I’m not hungry.

That was the difference between other monsters and me.

If I hadn’t had the unique constitution of only being able to eat humans, we might have coexisted well.

I was a monster, but I had no intention of attacking Leonard, who was human.

At least not now.

“…Go to 13th Street, Imperial Headquarters. Security is tight, so be careful.”

“Are you sure about this?”

“It’s probably correct.”

I read his memory to determine the truthfulness of his words.

It doesn’t seem to be a lie.

I rummaged through my pocket and took out a gold coin.

It was a kind of information fee.

I owed him more than I thought.

“Thanks for the information.”

“I’m the one who received a large sum of money. What are you saying?”

When I flicked a gold coin into the air, Leonard skillfully caught it.

If he was someone who sold stories for money, he would know how to receive it like that.

Lastly, I made eye contact with him and erased all memories related to me.

I didn’t think we would meet again anyway.

For now, I decided to go home and dye my hair.