About an hour had passed since Iria started the night walk with Sera.

 

Of course, they didn’t just walk; they chatted about this and that.

 

Things like how Sera used to be stronger than Ariel, but at some point, Ariel’s skills improved, and the roles reversed. Or how Sera, feeling a sense of urgency from this, began working even harder.

 

Time passed as they engaged in such frivolous talk.

 

But among that, not everything was completely pointless. There was information about Ariel that Iria was curious about.

 

“So you know what? It turns out he has an incredible background. If you hear someone is from an orphanage, you’d think they’re all the same, right? For some reason, the director and the adult staff give him special treatment……”

 

“What kind of background?”

 

“I’m only telling you this, but there’s a high chance Ariel is this generation’s Hero. You’ve heard the story of the previous generation’s Hero party that exterminated the Demon King a few decades ago, right? From what I heard directly from him, Ariel is the biological child of the Hero, Elion.”

 

The previous generation’s Hero.

 

Was that the source of the foreign energy Iria had sensed from Ariel? Among the things she had read in books, Iria recalled that the previous Hero, Elion, wielded a power slightly different from mana.

 

If Ariel was his biological child, it was possible he had inherited that power.

 

Since it was an energy Iria, who had lived in this world for about a year and a half and had never encountered it before, there was a strong chance that this was the case.

 

‘The Hero’s biological child, huh.’

 

It was an appropriate background for a protagonist in a novel, too.

 

Iria’s suspicions were getting closer and closer to certainty. The more information she gathered in this world, the more she could see that like piecing together a puzzle, she might be getting closer and closer to the answer.

 

Still, if there was one thing that bothered her.

 

“Why would someone who is basically the Hero’s biological child be in an orphanage?”

 

Usually, the Empire’s full support wouldn’t be enough for the biological child of the one who defeated the Demon King.

 

Not all orphanages necessarily had poor facilities, but something was strange about treating the biological child of a hero like that.

 

So Iria asked, but Sera also showed an expression full of questions.

 

“Well, I wondered about that too and asked. But they wouldn’t tell me either. There’s probably some sensitive past history. His expression wasn’t very good when I asked. Try asking him next time you get close. Who knows? He might tell you.”

 

“……”

 

“You said you wanted to get close to Ariel, right? Next time you come to me, I’ll officially introduce you. He’s not a bad kid, but he’s a bit curt, so it’ll be hard to get close to him just by approaching him.”

 

Some more time passed—enough that the walking path they had originally planned for a short stroll was now fully completed.

 

“Then, I’ll get going now.”

 

Around then, Sera waved goodbye to Iria.

 

No matter how you look at it, Sera’s attitude seems like someone who would leave at any moment.

 

An escaped patient from the infirmary, still wearing the hospital gown owned by the academy.

 

“Where are you going?”

 

“Huh? I’m going home?”

 

“Shouldn’t you officially go through the discharge process at the infirmary? I think they said it’s best to rest for a while.”

 

“Nah, it’s fine. It’s not the first or second time anyway. If they charge for the clothes, tell them to deduct it from my scholarship.”

 

At the Imperial Academy, high-ranking students received a considerable scholarship. That was also why Sera was able to leave the orphanage and get her own house.

 

In the academy, which basically valued ability above all else, could someone around second place do this?

 

She was a crazy person in many ways.

 

“While we’re at it, why don’t you escape too, Iria? That spiky-haired doctor is unexpectedly strict. No matter how much you say you’re all better, he won’t let you go, you know?”

 

“You’re not all better though.”

 

“Listen well, Iria. These things, you overcome them with willpower. If you think in your head that you’re all better, it won’t hurt, you know?”

 

Iria tried poking Sera’s right arm with her finger as a test.

 

“Eek?!”

 

“Doesn’t seem like you’re better.”

 

“I-I’ll be all better after one night. Anyway, I’m going, okay? Tell them if you’re planning to go back to the infirmary.”

 

“……”

 

With those words, Sera left.

 

Then did Iria return to the infirmary as is?

 

“Hmm.”

 

To conclude first, she didn’t. Because Iria wanted to go home too.

 

In the Imperial Academy, which valued ability above all else, there was a tendency to subtly provide a bit more convenience to high-ranking students while pretending not to.

 

Sera did that because she was second, and Iria was first.

 

If there was an example of being able to do that, there was no reason for Iria not to do the same.

 

If there was anyone troubled by two people disappearing from one infirmary room, honestly, too bad.

 

Iria was a monster, not a human, so her empathy skills weren’t good.

 

Having learned bad things from her senior, Iria safely returned home.

 

***

 

Today was a day of rather deep reflection.

 

Iria was gradually recovering the knowledge about this world that she had forgotten.

 

This world is fake and just a novel. Novels are bound to have protagonists, and if there is a protagonist, there is a heroine, and developments within the novel.

 

If Iria’s prediction is correct, the protagonist of this world is Ariel, and Sera is the heroine who stands by his side.

 

It wasn’t certain, but it was too perfectly fitting to be a coincidence.

 

Iria falling into this world and possessing a body was roughly a little over a year ago from now. This overlapped with the time when Ariel, the protagonist, would enter the academy.

 

If he is the protagonist of this novel, the first chapter from his perspective would likely start with him entering the academy.

 

From Iria’s perspective, a year later, there is a narrative of Ariel sorting out all the academy students through matches since his first year.

 

This is probably why the second years of this generation are suspiciously strong.

 

Since novels are usually composed of episodes with a beginning, middle, and end, assuming Ariel is the protagonist, there is a high probability this progressed as a main episode in the original novel.

 

A scene of Ariel, as a first-year, suppressing his senior upperclassmen through matches.

 

By organizing the situation from beginning to end, it was highly probable that Ariel was the protagonist in the original novel.

 

Then, if Iria kills him, can she return to her original world? Because a novel cannot be established without the protagonist.

 

The moment the protagonist dies, this world that sucked Iria in will collapse and spit out Iria, an outsider.

 

Though this theory wasn’t certain, Iria hoped it was.

 

‘…..Killing Ariel, huh.’

 

It wasn’t that difficult for Iria.

 

Even if he was the academy’s strongest student, he was at the student level at best. If she could just use magical energy, she could kill him without much difficulty.

 

When Iria first saw him, the Sword Saint Freya pushed him back in a match, and Iria was stronger than that Sword Saint.

 

But how could she kill him without being noticed by anyone?

 

It wasn’t easy to find an opening because his range of activity was so small.

 

His range of movement was limited to just the academy lecture rooms and the training ground he went to with the Sword Saint.

 

First of all, killing him inside the academy made no realistic sense. Iria felt that while facing Sera on the training ground.

 

Just as most human strength comes from mana, most of a monster’s strength comes from magical energy.

 

Without using magical energy, Iria is weaker than even Albert. She remembered being, at best, slightly superior to Eve.

 

It was unreasonable to kill the academy’s strongest student in that state. Not only would it take a long time, but Iria still didn’t know the extent of his potential as the protagonist.

 

Then naturally, Iria’s thoughts changed to needing to use magical energy to kill Ariel.

 

And,

 

‘Using magical energy inside the academy equals death.’

 

The moment Iria reveals her magical energy, all the professors in the building will turn hostile toward her.

 

It’s not that Iria could defeat them all, even if she revealed her magic, and it wasn’t a method she wanted to use anyway.

 

Other humans would get involved, including most of the students—Rena and Lucia among them.

 

Iria didn’t want to be treated as a monster by them too. Iria knew the expression humans made when they felt genuine fear. It was something Iria had always seen in the back alleys.

 

Iria didn’t want to see the faces of those around her look like that. Reflecting on this thought, Iria supposed she still hadn’t fully become a monster yet.

 

-D-Don’t come!

 

-Die, you monster bitch.

 

-Someone like you shouldn’t have been born in this world.

 

Iria erased the illusions she was seeing of the past.

 

After returning home, Iria immediately went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror because she was curious as to what kind of expression she was making now.

 

“……Ah.”

 

In the mirror stood a girl with silver hair. Although her overall impression was cold, her face was undeniably beautiful.

 

Surprisingly, the girl wasn’t making any expression. Even though emotions were piling up inside her to the point of forming lumps, rotting and festering inside because she couldn’t spit them out.

 

The girl couldn’t express this suffocating feeling through her expression. She tried intentionally furrowing her brows by strengthening her facial muscles, but it wasn’t a very meaningful action.

 

Iria knew best that intentionally making a frowning expression didn’t mean emotions were dwelling in it.

 

In truth, Iria didn’t want to kill.

 

Not Ariel, not Celine, not Riana.

 

No, whoever it was.

 

Iria didn’t want to be a monster either.

 

She didn’t want to possess a body like this.

 

She didn’t want to eat people.

 

“……”

 

When Iria realized that and looked in the mirror again, her reflected image in the mirror was crying.

 

It was ridiculous.

 

Iria had thought her tears had long dried up.

 

She laughed from the absurdity.

 

Water leaked from the red eyes in the mirror, but her mouth was smiling.

 

In the end, Iria was nothing more than a murderer in the academy.