Sertia has a habit of strolling through the well-maintained park late at night.

 

It served both purposes of patrolling the academy’s premises and clearing her thoughts.

 

Doing this with someone else was quite rare.

 

It wasn’t a bad feeling; it reminded her of old times.

 

Is it better than being alone?

 

“At what point does your memory fail you?” She asked without turning her head.

 

Her question was directed at Albert.

 

“… I’m not sure. It feels like I’ve lost all recent memories,” he answered.

 

“It doesn’t seem like memory loss due to shock. I think it’s right to assume someone deliberately erased your memories.”

 

“Memory manipulation?”

 

Sertia, who was walking ahead, stopped.

 

Then she turned around and met his eyes.

 

“Yes, I can sense magical energy from you… Ah, I don’t mean to say you’ve become a monster like me. You were subjected to something by some being, and as a result, residual magical energy remains.”

 

“So it was indeed the work of the Demon King’s army remnants?” Albert asked.

 

“I thought so too, but it doesn’t seem to be the case.”

 

After the incident occurred, Sertia investigated the scene.

 

She saw traces of a fierce battle and found confidential documents stored in the lower floor.

 

After the intruder’s visit, it wasn’t just the Demon King’s fragment that disappeared.

 

Some documents showed signs of tampering, and others had disappeared. Fortunately, only a few people could open them.

 

So, she didn’t think the Empire’s confidential information had been handed over to the intruder.

 

Then, was there another purpose besides taking the fragment?

 

Sertia partially restored a document that showed signs of being torn by hand.

 

It was about the back alley monster.

 

“……”

 

This must have been deliberately disposed of by the intruder.

 

The fact that only information about the back alley monster was erased means that it was either the back alley monster itself, someone related to it, or someone did this on purpose to frame it…

 

But Sertia was certain it was the work of the back alley monster.

 

Because when restoring the torn documents, an external stimulus overwhelmed her.

 

Red-tinged magical energy remained on the paper.

 

When she touched it to piece together the contents, it immediately launched a mental attack.

 

It was probably designed to erase the memory of whoever touched it.

 

If Sertia hadn’t confirmed this, the torn document would have remained a mystery.

 

Perhaps from the beginning, information about the back alley monster was not stored underground.

 

Sertia explained to Albert what had happened while investigating underground.

 

He still had an expression full of questions.

 

“The back alley monster… Is it indeed an intelligent monster? But I wonder, was there a reason for it to risk exposing its identity just to dispose of the documents?”

 

“No, it was wise to erase them even at risk.”

 

“…Why is that?”

 

“The ability to erase memories and show hallucinations to others is an extremely dangerous ability. In that, it can manipulate a person’s memories at will; that includes their thoughts, actions, and even their trust within the organization.”

 

With such an ability, the back alley monster can always have an advantage over the Empire in terms of information.

 

To put it bluntly, if he captured one person from the Empire and made them harbor deep resentment towards the Empire, it would be possible to cause infighting and internal division.

 

If it puts his mind to it, it’s an ability that could annihilate the Empire single-handedly.

 

“But that’s only possible when the other party doesn’t know the ability. Knowing and not knowing that your memories can be manipulated by others makes a world of difference. I wouldn’t want my ability to be discovered at all if it were me.”

 

The back alley monster’s ability is certainly threatening, but it’s not omnipotent.

 

If the opponent knows about its ability in advance and prepares, there are many ways to deal with it.

 

The back alley monster tried to intentionally erase information about itself out of concern about turning the Empire into an enemy.

 

Sertia was quite displeased with this part.

 

It also felt like a declaration of war against her.

 

“Who was the knight who wrote that document?”

 

“It would have been… Eve. After the death of Head Knight Leon, she took on that task alone. I advised her to stop handling that case as it was high risk, but it seems she insisted on taking it on until the end.”

 

“If I hadn’t confirmed it, the record about the monster would have been completely erased. Eve died that day, confronting the intruder. It’s a sad thing.”

 

“……”

 

Albert’s expression worsened a bit more.

 

In his current state of memory loss, this was information he was hearing for the first time.

 

It might be cruel, but Albert calculated the loss of another vacant Head Knight position rather than grieving over the death of a junior.

 

That’s how bad the Empire’s situation is.

 

He chose to hear the rest of what happened that day rather than grieving.

 

There would be enough time to mourn her death after everything was over.

 

Sertia continued speaking, “Assuming that the one who intruded underground that day was the back alley monster, the important point is that it is an intelligent being.”

 

Sertia had also heard the name ‘back alley monster.’

 

At one time, it was a rumor she considered a simple urban legend.

 

Still, it needed investigation, so she sent two trustworthy knights on patrol, but the results were not good.

 

The only thing she could ascertain was that the back alley monster existed and was more dangerous than they thought.

 

Not only did it kill two Head Knights, but it also broke through the Empire’s forces single-handedly and then subdued Albert.

 

Judging by its attempt to erase traces of itself, it also possessed intelligence.

 

However, it still remains unknown why such a being was after the Demon King’s fragment.

 

“…It seems that the back alley monster doesn’t necessarily haunt only the back alleys.”

 

Albert rubbed his chin while trying to recall hazy memories.

 

He tried to remember what happened before he lost consciousness.

 

Nothing was clearly remembered, but what was certain is that he had fought an intense battle with someone, was defeated, and had his memories taken.

 

He couldn’t remember anything else.

 

He thought he heard someone’s voice before closing his eyes but that was all. The contents of the voice eluded him.

 

He could only remember that it was a very soft voice, unlike the brutal force they showed.

 

“It seems so. Though the monster doesn’t show itself often.”

 

Sertia rubbed her chin as if recalling something from the past.

 

“White hair, red eyes, ability to manipulate memories and show hallucinations to those who meet his gaze……”

 

“Even if you say that, I don’t remember.”

 

“I think I sealed a similar monster in the past. Even before I set out on the journey to subjugate the Demon King.”

 

At that time, her abilities were insufficient, so she couldn’t kill it.

 

So she sealed it in a deep cave where it couldn’t come out on its own.

 

“I wonder if someone woke it up.”

 

“I’m not sure if it’s the same monster I know, but it seems that we need to be cautious.”

 

The Empire was already in chaos, and it felt like the odds were against them as problems kept increasing.

 

“The Seed of the Demon King… The remnants of his army were already troublesome, and now we have to worry about the back alley monster, too.” Albert sighed in despair, thinking about how their forces were decreasing while the number of hostile forces continued to grow.

 

Sertia opened her mouth to say, “There is one fortunate point.”

 

“What is it?”

 

“Who the intruder is in this incident doesn’t really matter. Whether it’s the Demon King’s army or the back alley monster, we have no way to stop them at this point.”

 

“……”

 

“The important thing is that you came back alive. Do you understand what this means?”

 

Albert couldn’t easily come up with an answer.

 

He wasn’t in his right mind, having just woken up.

 

Even without his answer, Sertia continued, rationalizing, “Usually, it’s more difficult to subdue someone without killing them than it is to take their life. Given how much it rampaged, the fact that only a few people lost their lives suggests that it took deliberate effort to avoid unnecessary killing.”

 

“Is that so?”

 

“The intruder attacked the Empire’s underground purely for the sake of taking the Demon King’s fragment. Although it erased records about itself in the process, it didn’t unnecessarily take lives. If it had, you wouldn’t have survived either.”

 

So,

 

“I don’t know why it’s looking for the fragment, but at least it’s not a crazed killing monster.”

 

Sertia was certain that it was different from ordinary monsters.

 

Perhaps it might be something we can communicate with.

 

Sertia opened her mouth in front of Albert with a rather serious face.

 

“I plan to have a conversation with this back alley monster soon. I don’t want to involve others, so it’ll just be me alone.”

 

“It’s dangerous,” Albert tried to warn her.

 

“I’m going to die soon anyway. And I have some personal business mixed in.”

 

“…Even if that’s the reason, do you have any way to find him?”

 

Sertia showed a faint smile as if it wasn’t such a difficult task.

 

“If you know the purpose, luring isn’t that difficult. If I hold the Demon King’s fragment, he will come to me. I wouldn’t have to use any other methods.”