Chapter 10
Chapter 10
Top Rank
After enrolling in the Imperial Academy, the first thing I did was gather information—and investigate myself.
To return to where I originally belonged, I needed to understand this world, and I needed to slow down the process of becoming a monster.
So I came to the library. There was no better place to accumulate knowledge about this world.
I still didn’t fully understand the language, so reading was difficult.
Even so, with a dictionary beside me, I could manage. When unfamiliar words appeared, I had to infer meaning from context.
From what I had learned so far:
About twenty years ago, a hero chosen by the Holy Sword fought the Demon King—and they both perished.
When the Demon King died, the world should have found peace. But it didn’t.
His body shattered into thousands of fragments and scattered across the continent.
Those fragments became food for monsters.
Monsters that consumed parts of the Demon King grew stronger.
In the end, the world was thrown into a second wave of chaos.
Demon King’s Seeds.
That was what they called monsters that had absorbed fragments of the Demon King.
So this world was not peaceful at all.
But that wasn’t what interested me.
A world that once had a hero and a Demon King… and if this was a world inside a novel, then what about the “main character”?
Did the hero leave behind a child? If so, that person was likely the protagonist.
There are usually only two ways stories end.
One: the conclusion of the narrative itself.
Two: the death of the protagonist before the end.
A story without a protagonist cannot exist. If the protagonist dies and the world collapses, it might just reject me back to my original world.
Probably.
“……”
I couldn’t be certain.
But I had no other path.
Doing nothing while waiting to become a monster was far too miserable.
And I might lose my sanity before that.
Or become a disaster that swallows the entire Central Empire.
Even after a year, my emotions had already dulled halfway.
I didn’t know what I would become next.
So I decided something simple.
I would become the villain standing in front of the protagonist.
The entrance exam was not a memory I liked to recall.
It was right after I had possessed this body, when I still had no control over my strength.
Even now, I wasn’t exactly skilled—but back then, it was far worse.
I hadn’t wanted attention, so I planned to end things quietly.
But I became the top scorer anyway.
Most of the exam consisted of mock battles.
Even if I tried to lose, it wasn’t easy.
Defeating a supposed top candidate without a single injury ended up counting as bonus points, apparently.
After that, it was exhausting.
People stared at me everywhere I went.
And recently, things had become noisy again.
“Iria! You were joking earlier, right?! You were joking, weren’t you?! I made a bet with Class B!”
“Who are you?”
A boy I didn’t know grabbed my shoulders and shouted at me in the hallway.
“Someone like that is the top student… The Imperial Academy has really fallen.”
“……”
Upperclassmen sometimes gave me looks too.
As if we were close enough to talk.
They weren’t even worth acknowledging.
If this were the back alleys, they wouldn’t even dare make eye contact.
Combat magic classes valued mana quantity highly.
I had originally chosen a magic-related department to avoid attention—but it seemed that decision had backfired.
Still, I had no other choice. I couldn’t exactly enter the swordsmanship department.
If I held a sword, I would likely kill someone.
I didn’t know how to subdue without killing.
So there was no alternative.
“Iria, do you have a moment—”
“No.”
“Let’s spar!”
“I said no.”
“Ehh…”
I walked away, cutting them off coldly again.
By midday, I had already lost count of how many spar requests I had received.
I sat on an empty bench in a park and sighed.
Then I heard a familiar voice.
“You look tired.”
I turned my head.
Someone was already sitting beside me.
Blue hair. Glasses.
“Professor Albert?”
I wasn’t good at remembering faces, but I remembered that tired expression.
The Basic Mana Studies professor.
He calmly sipped coffee while looking at the scenery.
“Being the top student comes with responsibilities,” he said.
“There are privileges too. Top graduates can choose their own career paths.”
His voice was calm and heavy.
As if he already knew what would happen to me.
“It’s not that they’re underestimating you,” he continued. “Most students just want to measure the gap. It’s their first time in an academy.”
“……”
“But if you keep avoiding them, they’ll think you’re afraid.”
“So I should accept all of them?”
A brief silence followed.
Albert took another sip of coffee.
“I didn’t say that. But I was once a top student too. If you stand at the top, people try to drag you down.”
“I see.”
“So I crushed them. Completely. After that, no one challenged me again.”
His words sounded casual—but they carried weight.
“I’m not telling you to do the same. But you do have the ability, don’t you? Ignoring what’s in front of you makes life unnecessarily difficult.”
He stood up.
“I’ll take my leave. Good luck.”
“Yes.”
“Oh, and be careful of Lucia Astera’s younger sister. I heard she’s aiming for your position.”
Lucia Astera.
Top student.
And apparently, someone who would soon come for me.
After he left, I frowned.
“…Annoying.”
I hadn’t even wanted this position.
If possible, I would’ve given it to someone else.
But that would require sparring.
And losing on purpose.
Which meant acting.
I wasn’t good at acting.
So I did nothing.
If I waited long enough, they would get tired and stop coming.
That seemed reasonable.
Afternoon swordsmanship class.
Most practical combat classes were held outdoors.
There were changing rooms for training gear.
Inside one such room—
“Mei. Get ready.”
Lucia smiled softly.
A barrier of mana had detected someone entering.
She signaled her subordinate.
The door opened.
Water was thrown.
“Oops. Sorry about that. Our servant made a mistake…”
Lucia covered her mouth as she spoke.
But her eyes were smiling.
The silver-haired girl standing at the entrance slowly raised her head.
Red eyes.
“…?”
A chilling gaze locked onto Lucia.
Then the door closed.