The instructions for using the hair dye were not very difficult.

I just needed to dissolve the dye in water, dip my hair in it, and then remove it.

However, the dye was cold, making my hair cold as well.

To what extent, you ask?

It felt like it would physically freeze.

For a brief moment, I was reminded of when I took an ice magic spell head-on during the
entrance exam.

It probably wasn’t stored in a freezer, so I guess it naturally emits cold air?

I guess that’s why it’s called Frost Flower.

Anyway, I took my hair out.

Then, when I looked in the mirror, it was like a stranger was standing there.

I didn’t know that just changing my hair color would make such a big difference in my appearance.

The blue color covered my white hair.

My distinctive hair that stood out unnecessarily was now covered with something more ordinary.

With my distinctive hair and eyes hidden, I looked a bit more human.

At first glance, my reflection in the mirror seemed no different from one.

It would have been nice if I had been born this ordinary.

If I hadn’t eaten humans, could I have blended among them?

Could I have melted in perfectly without any sense of discomfort?

I wanted to be born as a human too.

I wanted to live an ordinary life like them.

“…”

It’s an old wish.

***

The Empire’s headquarters building was shaped like a tower built high upwards.

I didn’t know much about the Empire, but it wasn’t a very trustworthy group.

It’s not just because their main job is to exterminate monsters, but because the amount of information they disclose to the public is overwhelmingly small compared to their influence.

I heard that the Empire’s headquarters had an underground level.

It makes sense that something that tall had plenty to hide under.

The ground level was a place where even the general public could enter.

Do they only reveal a part to the public and hide most of the confidential information underground?

Anyway, it’s a place that couldn’t be more suspicious.

A group whose main job is to exterminate monsters can’t be trusted.

That’s why I don’t trust the Empire.

It absolutely wasn’t because I instinctively disliked them as a monster.

…Probably.

“I’m sorry. This area ahead is a restricted area for the general public.”

The process of entering the Empire’s underground wasn’t very smooth.

Based on the building’s structure, a path leading underground ahead seemed obvious, but the guard blocked it.

I looked into his eyes to subdue him.

“…”

“I said it’s a restricted area.”

“Huh?”

But nothing happened.

I looked into his eyes a little more closely.

I even blinked my eyes in that spot.

Still, nothing happened.

I had overlooked the fact that I was wearing lenses.

When something that was usually natural disappeared, there were inconveniences.

How should I put it? It was a bit of a strange feeling.

It felt like I had lost a bodily function.

Without panicking too much, I took out one of the lenses.

I made eye contact with him and put him under my control.

“Ugh, what is this…”

If I read his memories, I can find out where the Empire’s underground is.

After taking some time to read, I was able to grasp most of the structure of this building.

Of course, his position here wasn’t very high, so he didn’t know all the information.

He seemed to have no idea about the deep underground.

Still, it was pretty useful, so I especially made him have a happy dream.

The disadvantage is that if you make humans have too happy dreams, they will turn away from reality and cling to their dreams, but we weren’t going to meet again anyway.

“Sleep well.”

After putting the guard to sleep, I put the lens back on.

Since I couldn’t use my abilities while disguised, I had to assume from now on that I wouldn’t get
caught.

I entered the underground in disguise.

It had a darker atmosphere than I had imagined.

It wasn’t just that. I could feel magical energy.

Humans naturally detect mana, while monsters naturally detect magical energy.

It was faint enough that humans wouldn’t be able to feel it, but the fact that it existed at all was
significant.

‘Did they sense me too?’

I am a Seed of the Demon King.

I don’t know if I was originally like this, but I recently ate a fragment and definitely became a
Seed.

Since I have a fragment of the Demon King in my body, I can sense others.

So it is down here.

Something fundamentally the same as me.

The monster underground suppressed its magical energy as if wary of me.

But it didn’t matter since I already knew its rough location.

I’ll go meet it soon.

Regardless of its wishes.

The reason I’m rushing like this is because I have nothing to lose.

The premise is that if things go wrong, I’ll just die.

I don’t mind dying.

That would also be a kind of liberation.

I don’t mind not dying, either.

I’ll find my own answer and go back.

Then, are there beings here that can kill me?

I couldn’t kill myself.

So, I was entrusting my life to others.

I’d rather die than live this kind of life.

But I wanted to go back rather than die.

I wanted to live a little more ordinarily.

That’s why I put going back as the best option and dying as the second best.

The worst situation I can think of is losing all my memories of when I was human and living as a complete monster.

When that time comes, I won’t be able to turn back either.

***

Even if it was hidden from the world, the Empire’s underground wasn’t very different from what I had imagined.

I thought it would only be dark, but that wasn’t the case either.

Most of them were offices where knights handled administrative tasks.

There was a man sighing with a bundle of documents in his arms and a knight working with a cup of coffee.

If there was one thing in common, it was that all of their eyes were dead.

They had the same eyes as Albert.

“Did you finish the planning proposal? The deadline is tomorrow.”

“I want to see my mom already… fuck.”

“Life sucks.”

…Are they really the Imperial Knights?

They seemed to have miserable lives.

I should avoid becoming like that.

Still, there wasn’t much to see for something they were hiding.

In the sense that it was a dark workshop where light doesn’t reach, it didn’t deviate much from the image I had imagined, but it wasn’t as bad as the slave basement I was trapped in before.

But I know what they’re hiding isn’t something like that.

The people here don’t have the authority to go further down either.

They were outsiders too.

They don’t know what’s happening down there.

Some don’t even know the existence of another space below.

I guess if you graduate from the academy and don’t get a decent job, you end up like that.

So, there was no one who looked particularly talented.

Still, they weren’t at the student level, since they had gone through all the necessary educational courses.

Anyway, I decided to ignore them and move on.

“…”

After looking around for a while in disguise, I needed a key to go to a darker place.

There was a hidden door in a place not frequently passed.

It was locked, so I couldn’t enter.

There were two ways to go down: the first was to obtain the key through the orthodox route, and the second was to break it down.

If I break this down, it will definitely make a huge noise.

I’ll probably get the attention of everyone in this place.

I didn’t really want that to happen.

I decided to take the first method.

There were several rooms in the corridor on the first basement level.

Most of them were someone’s office or meeting room.

In the corridor, where more people than I expected came and went, there was a room that they uniquely didn’t enter.

I approached closer and read the inscription on the door, and it seemed to be the room of the person in charge of this place.

A manager?

If my guess is correct, he’s likely to have the key.

I took out one lens, planning to show him a hallucination as soon as I encountered him, and opened the door.

That’s when I felt that something had gone wrong.

-Beeeeeep!!

“Huh?”

When I opened the door, the security system rang out as if it would tear my ears apart.

It seems to be designed to make a sound when someone other than the designated person
opens it.

There was a reason why no one ever went in.

The emergency bell rang throughout the Empire’s building.

I got a little flustered, and my invisibility was undone.

In an instant, all the gazes around me were directed at me.

The humans of the Empire drew their swords and pointed them at me, and behind them, magic
incantations filled the air densely.

“Who’s there!”

“…”

There are two ways to go down.

The first is to find the key, and the second is to break it down.

It was too late to find the key since all eyes were already on me, so I had no choice but to use
the second method.

There was no need to bother going to the door leading down.

I just punched the bottom and broke it.

With a boom, a roar rang out, and the floor collapsed.

Attack magic was flying in from the front, and sharply raised blades threatened me.

‘I wanted to go quietly if possible.’

I jumped into the gap created by collapsing the floor.

Translator’s Corner

I’m starting to see some interest comments from some of you. I don’t need a cult, thank you.

-Ruminas