Thank Nepper for the chapter.
According to Sertia, the Demon King and Iria were somehow related.
The Demon King and Iria were almost identical beings; they resembled each other in terms of appearance, abilities, and even the composition of their bodies.
It didn’t seem like she was lying. Even without making eye contact, I’m not soft enough to not be able to see through the lies of the person right in front of me.
Moreover, if I thought on the premise that Sertia’s words were true, many things made sense.
Like the fact that there’s no problem eating the Demon King’s seeds or that the innate physical abilities are outstanding from the start.
But even Sertia didn’t know how Iria and the Demon King were intertwined.
Then, does the Demon King’s army have information about that?
I recalled the image of Iria lying among the remnants of the Demon King’s army. The Demon King and Iria. And how are their relationships with the remaining remnants entangled?
What I gained from meeting Sertia was much more than I thought.
I decided on the Demon King’s army’s headquarters as my next destination.
***
The feeling of having killed Sertia wasn’t very good.
She died, and I lived. Somehow, I feel empty inside.
How should I express this feeling? In the end, she was a monster, but she was human. Perhaps she was a monster more human than anyone else.
Endless emptiness? It seemed a bit different from that. I felt like I was completely detached from humans.
I don’t know what feelings Sertia had for me, but I really had no feelings for her.
Other than the fact that she was a strong person and had an unfortunate past like mine.
-I won.
But was it because she disappeared while provoking me?
I felt a little twisted inside. I wanted to vomit.
I don’t feel anything emotionally, but rather, it’s the discomfort that arises because of that.
The life of a monster is pain. Since pain is more fearsome than death, I am currently receiving a more brutal punishment than Sertia.
She won, and I lost.
The meaning of a single word strikes every bone in my body.
“……”
Perhaps the one who resembled me the most on this continent was her.
Sertia and I were cursed with the same thing, were both human and monster, and wished for death rather than life.
In a sense, she may have been my kin. Then, would this be the first time I’ve killed my own kind?
I don’t even know what “my kind” is anymore.
My body ached, and I was so dizzy from losing blood.
“Ugh……”
That battle was dangerous.
Although my life wasn’t in danger, I almost lost my sanity several times during it.
The same thing that happened in the back alley massacre about a year ago might have occurred.
In the end, it was a fight between two monsters whose consciousness wasn’t whole, so if Sertia had fought with a little stronger hatred… Perhaps the Empire would have been destroyed because of that.
‘What would have happened if I had hoped for Sertia to become a monster at the end?’
At least it would have been a more miserable sight than now.
Even if death is rest and life is pain, when death actually rushes in front of you, it’s not easy to accept it.
It may be rest, but an instinctive fear follows.
But Sertia chose not to become a monster until the end. Even to me, that was a surprising action.
She left the choice to me, but the right to choose wasn’t only mine.
If she had the will, she could have accepted the magical energy at any time and pierced me. I respected her for not doing that.
Because she was similar to me, yet different.
Unlike me, who became a monster and committed a massacre a year ago, Sertia held onto her humanity.
“Rest in peace.”
I bid farewell to the hero of the past who closed her eyes.
Sertia was stronger than me in both body and mind. If I had met her just 20 years earlier, I would have been the one who would have been ‘liberated’ in the true sense.
And,
Sertia, who had been the academy’s headmaster for a long time, seemed to have dignity even with her eyes closed.
There were words she left just before she breathed her last, stabbed by the sword.
-Tell that child I’m sorry in my stead.
I could only find out who that child Sertia was referring to after reading her memories.
It must be referring to Ariel, the novel’s protagonist and this generation’s hero.
I didn’t know what she was sorry about since I’m not Sertia, but I promised to pass it on. It wasn’t a difficult thing for me anyway.
After finishing everything, I put away the red magical energy. My whole body was covered in blood and wounds.
It would have been nice if it had rained at a time like this, but the sky never looked out for my situation.
I was looking at the sky that had somehow turned into night.
In the terrain filled with spilled blood and unextinguished flames, starlight seemed to pour down instead of rain.
After staying still for a while, I felt a presence behind me.
“……Albert.”
So he was alive.
I thought he was buried under the rubble when the study collapsed.
Well, Sertia was exceptionally outstanding, but he was also a first-class mage. He could probably protect his own body by himself.
He kept his head down and didn’t say a word. He was wearing dark glasses, so I couldn’t tell his expression.
But I could understand how he felt. Right now there’s only emptiness, but I was also human once.
I ask him.
“You knew it would turn out like this from the beginning, right?”
“……Because no matter what, she couldn’t escape the fate of death. I didn’t expect this result, but I was prepared for it. At least she didn’t end up like the previous saint.”
“Aren’t you resentful of me?”
“It would be a lie if I said I don’t feel that way at all. Of course I resent you.”
Well, of course.
The murderous demon who killed another human.
“Because I killed your teacher?”
“……”
He answered my second question with silence.
A tacit affirmation.
And,
“But I also know it was inevitable. The Demon King’s curse was to turn my human teacher into something inhuman.”
“Hmm.”
“Thank you for letting my teacher close her eyes as a human.”
He spoke as indifferently as possible while hiding his emotions.
It was plain to see, even if he didn’t particularly hide it. His breathing was disturbed, and his heart rate was irregular.
It’s the opposite of the cold appearance I usually saw.
‘So he also feels emotions.’
As I thought, you shouldn’t judge a person only by their external aspects.
“You heard the conversation earlier, right?”
I look into his eyes.
In front of the thick magical energy spread all around, lying is impossible.
“I might be the Demon King. Just as Ariel is a candidate for the next hero, I might become the new Demon King.”
“I heard.”
“Then will you also treat me as an enemy? I might become the greatest disaster to humanity.”
I ask if he will fight me here.
To him, I, who killed his teacher, must be no different from an enemy, so it wouldn’t be strange if he attacked me right away.
He had the right to be angry at me.
I stood still and listened to the answer that came back.
“……Of course. Because you are the enemy of humanity.”
“……”
“But not now. If we fight in this situation, there will only be one more corpse.”
As expected, he’s cold.
There’s no way he alone could stop me, whom even Sertia couldn’t.
I didn’t particularly feel like fighting either. Despite how I look, I’m quite exhausted. If I fight more, I will surely lose my sanity.
I didn’t want to cause another tragedy.
“Then promise me this: Come back when you’re a little more properly prepared and think you can kill me.”
The current Albert is no match for me. Will it be a little different in the future?
Since he is currently the strongest mage in the Empire. I had some expectations for him.
Even if not as much as Ariel, couldn’t he potentially be a threat?
At least he might be able to hold me back.
Now I will avoid him, so we won’t meet again at the academy.
If we meet, that day will be the last.
I turned my head towards Albert before leaving.
“Please keep today’s events a secret. You know best that nothing good will come from provoking me when I’m staying still.”
The Empire is powerless without Sertia.
And the world I’ve fallen into is a place where the law of the jungle applies.
The current me is stronger than all the forces of the Empire combined. I have the upper hand right now, and they are at a disadvantage.
He’s smart, so I won’t have to erase his memories.
“……Someone will have to hold her funeral.”
I decided to leave Sertia’s corpse to him.
If I left it as it is and someone discovered it, it would be a headache.
Today, a disgusting smell of blood emanated from my body.
Usually, blood has a sweet scent that makes my mind hazy, but I think it’s because this is the blood I shed.
Enduring the fishy smell, I headed to where I originally belonged.
To the back alleys of the Empire.