Ultimately, Iria caught and ate one of the humans wandering nearby. It was one of the members of a criminal organization that had not yet completely disappeared.

 

They often used back alleys when trading illegal goods, and they ran into Iria, who was passing by.

 

There were two, but eating two at once was a bit much, so she let one go with his memory erased.

 

Shortly after, she walked through the back alley with blood on her lips.

 

Though she had a human appearance, for her, who bore the characteristics of a monster, murder felt like an instinct.

 

Committing murder and drinking blood while temporarily disregarding reason felt extremely good.

 

The sensation felt when crushing something alive and the sweet blood flowing into her mouth paralyzed her reason. Therefore, her memories were hazy when she was drinking blood, as if drunk.

 

Her breathing was heavy, her body felt hot, and a strange exhilaration coursed through her.

 

That’s what happens when desires that have been suppressed for so long are released all at once.

 

She had avoided unnecessary killings because she was afraid of getting addicted, but Iria had to shudder at that eerie sensation.

 

If she could, she wanted to eat one more person in this feeling, but she had to hold back.

 

Iria, covered in blood all over her body, looked closer to a murderous demon than a student at the academy.

 

It was the bare face of a monster wearing the mask of a student’s identity.

 

Iria blends in among humans today as well, hiding her ugly side.

 

She was a monster hidden within the academy.

 

***

 

When you fill your stomach and come to your senses, you tend to see things you didn’t see when you were hungry.

 

Iria attended the academy, took classes, and spent time hanging out with Ariel and Sera.

 

Surprisingly, nothing else happened, and things went on as usual.

 

It wasn’t that she disliked the peaceful atmosphere, but it was starting to feel a bit strange.
Ariel was the protagonist of this world; the current Iria was certain of that. What had once been a suspicion was now a conviction.
Otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense. Various circumstances were pointing her in that direction.
Ariel was the protagonist, and this was a world inside a novel.
Usually, when you think of a protagonist, they get involved in many incidents. Iria tilted her head slightly.
No matter how she looked at it, it had been too peaceful lately.
“Hmm.”

 

“What are you thinking so hard about?”

 

As Iria sat down, lost in thought, Sera approached her. Annoyed by Sera’s presence, Iria poked her wound with her finger.

 

Usually, this would make her back off.

 

“Hehehe, sorry, but I’m all healed now so it doesn’t work anymore.”

 

However, the effect was minimal.

 

Sera, whose wound had healed over time, looked even healthier than before.

 

She heard that it was a wound that would take about a month to heal if she had to lie still in the hospital room, but Sera was running around vigorously and fully recovered in just 2 weeks.

 

It had to be a miraculous natural healing power. Actually, maybe Sera wasn’t human either.

 

No way.

 

Iria poked Sera’s wound one more time.

 

“Ugh?!”

 

As expected, she had endured the pain, even though it wasn’t fully healed yet, showcasing the tenacity she was known for.

 

“Ugh! Ha, stop it!”

 

She poked her one more time because she was upset that she had been deceived.

 

She was about to torment her a little more, but she saw tears welling up in Sera’s eyes, so she stopped. Even if they are close, if the joke goes too far, their relationship can go awry.

 

Iria got rid of Sera, who was annoyingly clinging to her and fell into contemplation again.

 

No matter how much she contemplated, it felt excessively peaceful, especially considering her proximity to Ariel. She had expected that they would be drawn into incidents and accidents, as was typical for protagonists in stories.

 

Iria was acutely aware that this world was one inside a novel. She had repeatedly confirmed it through several experiments to see if it was the world she knew.

 

But she didn’t know the specifics of the plot. This was largely because Iria had lost most of her memories from her time as a human during her transformation into a monster, which involved consuming human lives.

 

This loss left her in a peculiar state; she recognized the world as a fictional construct but had no recollection of its specific events or characters. Given that she now inhabited a world that seemed to adhere to a narrative structure, it felt inevitable that some incident would soon arise, even amidst the current peacefulness.

 

Ultimately, she was trapped in a narrative, and if this world followed the established plot, then the main episodes were bound to unfold.

 

‘…The development of the original work has been twisted.’

 

Perhaps it has been twisted by the intervention of a single existence called Iria. Something that should have happened originally didn’t happen, maybe due to her influence.

 

It’s not a problem that can be known even if she thinks about it now.

 

Iria let out a small sigh and turned her attention elsewhere. She was looking at Ariel, who was having a meal on the rooftop of the academy building.

 

It was because she had just poisoned Ariel’s meal.

 

When a monster’s blood enters a human body, it becomes a deadly poison because the magical energy contained in the blood destroys the body from the inside.

 

Iria dropped about a drop of blood heavily loaded with magical energy into Ariel’s meal. It wasn’t an action with murderous intent, but simple curiosity.

 

She was wondering if he would still remain alive even with this.

 

“…”

 

And Ariel continued his meal with an expression that showed he knew nothing. It wouldn’t be strange if an ordinary person died immediately, but Ariel was fine.

 

Looking closely, the starlight in his body purified the magical energy.

 

The scary thing about magical energy is that it destroys the mana in the human body, but since there is no mana, there seems to be no effect.

 

Iria clicked her tongue. Although her facial expression changes are faint, her brows were furrowed this time.

 

As she was blankly looking like that, Ariel tilted his head. Was it because Iria’s red gaze was burdensome?

 

“Is there something on my face?”

 

“No.”

 

Another failure today.

 

Iria waits for an opportunity, just like she always does.

 

***

 

After the Demon King died, most of the remnants of the Demon King’s army were subjugated by Sertia before the curse affected her.

 

However, in the end, there is bound to be a limit to the number of monsters that can be subjugated alone.

 

In the party of three, the Hero Elion, who was in charge of the vanguard, perished with the Demon King. Saint Karen had already been devoured by the curse, so her body was incapable of fighting.

 

The wizard, left alone in the party, buried more than half of the demons in the ground without anyone’s help and retired.

 

This was about twenty years ago.

 

The Demon King’s army, now leaderless, descended into chaos. They not only lost their commander but also suffered the massacre of most of their comrades.

 

The memory of being defeated by a single human is still rooted in their minds like a nightmare.

 

So they remained as silent as a dead mouse for a while, wary of the legendary wizard from the past.

 

But not now.

 

“Let’s attack the Empire.”

 

It was a remark made by one of the executives of the Demon King’s army, which had now dwindled to a very small number of members.

 

Those present were the ones who hid in fear of humans, the remnants of an army that had nearly gone extinct at the hands of those they once despised as an inferior race.

 

What kind of race are humans?

 

They possess weaker physical abilities than demons and are incapable of regenerating their damaged bodies.

 

Is that all?

 

They easily fall ill and have shorter lifespans than demons.

 

They were seen as an inferior race, not even regarded as a threat because they were lacking in every aspect compared to demons. This was the perception until they lost everything to three superhumans.

 

Well, now…

 

They were hiding in a place where Sertia wouldn’t see them, not knowing when she would move.

 

The memory of defeat tinged with humiliation is not easily forgotten, even with the passage of time. They were still planning their revenge.

 

Sertia does not move.

 

The remaining remnants of the Demon King’s army have caused incidents big and small until now, but the wizard they were most wary of did not show herself.

 

She has been still for 20 years, so she won’t move this time either.

 

“In the end, even that monster woman is human. It seems her lifespan as a wizard has run out.”

 

“Rather, lasting that long is resilient. How many mountains of corpses did she pile up alone?”

 

“If it weren’t for that woman, we could have gone and swept away the remaining humans long ago.”

 

“How many times have we talked about this…? Even though you were just as scared and holed up.”

 

“Wha, what! You’re saying that because you haven’t met that woman on the battlefield! I almost got roasted alive!”

 

Since most of them are those who fled from the battlefield and survived, many have the fear of Sertia etched in their bones.

 

So, there was a tendency in their behaviors to be even more hesitant.

 

“But, she’s not moving now anyway, right? Is there any other chance for revenge if not now? The humans now are minnows who can’t even catch monsters and are at a loss. All humans born in an era after the war are like that.”

 

“It’s not wrong.”

 

“We’re going to the Empire soon. It’s time to collect our debt.”

 

Sertia, who has protected the Empire for a long time, is said to be in poor health.

 

It was an opportunity for them.

 

Although their activities have been a bit sparse recently, their purpose remains the same as before.

 

The extinction of humanity and the demonization of the continent.

 

It was wise to cut off any potential threats that might interfere in the future while there was still a chance.

 

In that sense, the first place they tried to attack was the Imperial Academy.