26. Mental Education
26. Mental Education
Shara Phrygia was a fairly memorable character in Academy's Devil Slayer.
Not for a good reason.
She was a traitor who would go down in history.
During the demons' first attack, two of the Five Pillars died in the dungeon, and the Empire fell into chaos.
The role of the remaining three Pillars was crucial, but Shara Phrygia instantly cut ties with the Empire and sided with the demons, accelerating its collapse.
If everyone had united and fought, the Empire might have won, but the moment the Golden Duke, who moved the Empire's economy, sided with the demons, the tide turned.
The moment she judged that siding with the demons was advantageous, she betrayed the Empire without hesitation.
If you asked whether she still enjoyed her authority after the betrayal, that was also true.
But demons would never allow humans to live happily.
All the people of Phrygia made contracts with demons and were forcibly turned into Demons.
A family of traitors who were already demon-like bastards, but after contracting with demons, they fully unleashed their talents to hunt humans...
The words she spoke when siding with the demons were something like, "What's wrong with trying not to die?"... wasn't it?
Probably not even the Emperor knew.
The fact that the Phrygia family, which once ran caravans and solidified the economy based on golden trust, had become corrupted at some point.
The current Phrygia family was full of lunatics.
Not a metaphor; they were truly insane.
A household that, thanks to the peculiarities of its bloodline and overall family atmosphere, produced psychopaths — whether innate or acquired — incapable of empathizing with others.
A group that moved solely on cost-benefit calculations, without considering the side being trampled.
They had wielded power without regard for others' circumstances, and that was precisely how they had built such a wealthy and powerful family.
Still, I had thought, 'Would they really go that far?'
I knew Phrygia's notoriety well, but knowing a fact and witnessing it firsthand were two different things.
Even so, would they really try to quietly eliminate me the moment I told them I was under Russell's protection?
Killing a guest under one's protection was practically a declaration of war. Could even Phrygia calculate that it was better to eliminate me even at that level of risk?
Seeing an unfamiliar bird circling in the sky nearby, it seemed that calculation had indeed been made.
I lured the assassin into the deep forest and killed him immediately.
The corpse of the assassin, stabbed in a vital point by a dagger, grew cold.
"So that's how you want to play it..."
The assassin Phrygia sent made me think a lot.
I survived because I was stronger.
If I had been weaker, if someone else had been the target, the result would have been the opposite.
Heat rushed to my head.
That crazy bitch hired an assassin the moment I turned my back?
Phrygia was dangerous.
The moment she realized it was too troublesome to quietly bury me with power, she sent an assassin to eliminate me without any hesitation.
This time, they targeted only me, so I could handle it alone. But if they started targeting other people, things would become far more troublesome.
The worst option was to quietly dispose of that assassin, pretend I didn't know, and stay still...
If they learned that direct attacks on me were useless, they would start attacking those around me.
Russell's protection applied to me, not to Emy or Liber.
And judging by Phrygia's actions so far, the option of hesitating to do such things did not exist for her.
I made my decision.
Shara Phrygia would be dealt with tonight.
She was already a character I was concerned about because of her original story actions, so this was perfect timing.
She would be reborn today.
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Objectively speaking, dealing with Phrygia, one of the Five Pillars supporting the Empire, was no easy task.
What protected her was her family's inexhaustible gold, the power that dominated the Empire, and her sharp intellect that allowed her cunning mind to spin.
At a glance, dealing with her in a single night seemed incredibly difficult.
The Academy was guarded with the second-most stringent security after the Imperial Palace, and she was never alone except in very special circumstances.
She always surrounded herself with her own faction, making her small frame seem larger. Linda? No...
The only moments she was alone were when she entered the dormitory and when her emotions ran high enough that she needed to collect her thoughts.
Even those moments occurred inside the safe Academy dormitory, making it far from an easy task.
Simply bypassing the alarm magic could be done by using the Polymorph power I had acquired before to transform into any female student, but that would leave traces.
What I needed to do this time was extract Phrygia from the dormitory without leaving a single trace.
No one could know that Phrygia had left the dormitory, and the fact that someone had infiltrated the dormitory in the middle of the night had to remain undiscovered.
But I knew a method to neutralize the magic protecting the Academy.
After all, in the original novel Academy's Devil Slayer, past episode 70, the protective magic was neutralized, and the Academy's buildings ceased to be safe zones.
'The problem is that this method requires a reagent that can only be made using two S-rank materials and two A-rank materials.'
It was a good thing I had made it just in case when my enrollment at the Academy was confirmed.
.
.
.
.
.
Using the reagent, I entered a ghost state undetectable by any of the Academy's protective and alarm magic. I then utilized my infiltration skills to transport Phrygia to the deep forest.
Draped over my shoulder like a piece of luggage, Shara Phrygia gave off a soft, honey-sweet scent, different from the women I had met at the Academy.
Since I had taken her straight from bed, she was sleeping with an angelic face, wearing only thin pajamas.
Knowing what kind of demon slumbered within her despite that outer appearance, I felt not a shred of guilt.
Killing her was simple.
If I just left her here, the monsters attracted by her sweet scent would tear her to shreds, and since some monsters even chewed up bones, not a single trace would remain.
But that wasn't what I wanted.
If she died now, the Empire would fall into chaos, and the demons would use that gap to grow their forces.
I would make her human.
Not someone who moved only for her own gain, but a true noble who knew etiquette and could respect others.
A true noble with the courage to fight back against demons without surrendering.
I knew Phrygia's characteristics.
The moment the demons gained the upper hand, Phrygia betrayed the Empire and sided with them.
She felt fear of the Great Demon that had descended and surrendered to it.
They said that was the first time she had ever felt fear...
That meant Phrygia had not yet learned the meaning of fear and pain.
She would now learn science.
She would learn the obvious fact that for every action, there is an equal reaction.
She would learn the obvious fact that if you try to kill someone, you yourself can die as well.
She would become a person, not a demon that knew no etiquette.
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"A... a reason I should live?"
The moment she heard those words, light returned to Phrygia's eyes.
Tell me the reason you should live.
At first listen, it sounded like an offer to make a deal.
"I... if you let me live... I'll give you... a mountain of gold..."
She staked all the gold she could use as the price for her life.
A mountain of gold literally meant gold that formed a small hill.
"I've seen a real mountain of gold before, so that doesn't really interest me."
But that wasn't what I wanted.
"Wh... what? G... gold, and a mountain of it at that... I don't think you understand. With that much, you could buy a small kingdom..."
As one of the highest values she knew was denied, Phrygia's face turned pale blue again.
Thinking I didn't understand the meaning, she tried explaining with various comparisons, but my fist steadily drew back from her body.
Like a battering ram before it struck the castle gate.
"I know what it is without you saying."
-Kung!!!
My fist, which could pierce through a log, struck Phrygia's soft stomach.
Phrygia's abdomen caved in, and a sound like a drumbeat rang out.
It wasn't pierced through like a log, but the impact was enough to churn her internal organs.
"U... urghhhgh!!"
Vomit spilled copiously from her small mouth.
She collapsed on the spot, and the space between her legs grew damp.
It seemed the great Phrygia had wet herself.
If I had failed to control my strength, the fragile Phrygia might have died on the spot, but as expected of me.
She probably felt like dying, but she hadn't died.
Teacher's lessons were still engraved in my body.
"Phrygia, are you a puppy? Do I have to potty train you too?"
"Hik... ugh... aah..."
I made her turn her head down to look at her own excrement.
Shara Phrygia, who had always stood above others, been treated as precious, and learned dignified conduct, now saw her own damp crotch and pale vomit.
She couldn't even stand on two legs due to the pain ringing through her organs, but she could at least recognize what it was.