It was a situation where combat could break out at any moment. A fierce pair of red eyes was glaring at me.
In the end, I drew my Red Sword and aimed it at Sertia.
I really didn’t intend to swing it, but it was to respond immediately if an attack came flying at me.
I spoke to her while keeping the sword pointed.
“Calm down.”
I locked eyes with Sertia.
As expected, I couldn’t read her memories. Her resistance was too strong.
“I’m not someone you know.”
“······.”
“Or is this the kind of conversation you wanted? I don’t mind either way.”
If she didn’t want to talk, I’d simply kill her and pull out her memories as I always did.
We’ve gone through countless kill-or-be-killed fights already.
“I’m disappointed, Albert. Was this the purpose of bringing me here after all?”
“Wait, that’s not it······!”
Albert, panicking with an unexpected reaction, and Sertia, glaring at me with cold eyes.
She seemed to scan me from head to toe once again.
“You······. Are you not the Demon King······?”
“But you said she was dead. More than 20 years ago.”
Why didn’t she know when she supposedly killed her herself?
I didn’t even understand why they were confusing me with the Demon King. I was tempted to read her memories, but her mental defenses were much tougher than Albert’s.
But if I pulled more magical energy out, I’d be detected before I could read her memories.
A brief silence and exchange of glances ensued.
Then Sertia said,
“Why have you shrunk?”
“······?”
What on earth is that supposed to mean?
*
Even after that, the tension remained, and eventually, Albert stepped in to mediate.
It wouldn’t be fruitful to talk while standing, so we decided to sit and converse.
Since it was my first time seeing Sertia, I clarified a few more times that I wasn’t the person she mistook me for.
It was a mystery how she could confuse me with a Demon Lord who had been dead for over 20 years.
However, after meeting Sertia, I couldn’t deny that I felt something.
The Fragment of the Demon King absorbed within me was on alert regarding Sertia. Was this part of the Demon King’s memory? Perhaps it was related to why she mistook me for the Demon King.
Sertia crossed her arms, showing a very displeased expression.
“I don’t believe your words.”
“······.”
“I didn’t expect that cunning woman would have a hidden child.”
“I’m neither the Demon King nor a hidden child······. Probably not. I don’t understand why you think that.”
“Do you mean you don’t know anything?”
“I have no memories.”
I replied briefly to Sertia’s question. Her once red eyes turned a blue hue.
It meant she was using mana. It seemed she was trying to see if my words were false.
I asked her,
“I don’t know who I am. Do you know me?”
“······.”
I don’t know myself.
I don’t know what role ‘Iria’ plays in this world, what race she is, or what background she has.
I don’t even know what kind of monster the original Iria was, and if I forcibly took over her body, I wouldn’t know where Iria’s consciousness originally is.
Then, does Sertia know?
She seemed to know something about me. She reacted intensely the moment she saw me.
I leaned in to hear her answer. After a small sigh, Sertia slowly opened her mouth.
“You resemble the Demon King. No, honestly, you’re so similar that you could be the same person.”
“Do you mean resemblance in appearance?”
“Including appearance, and the aura I feel from you. And above all······.”
Sertia pointed to my eyes with her finger.
“That eye of yours. If I say it shows humans illusions, would you understand? That’s the Demon King’s ability. She was an atrocious woman who destroyed the human mind to a level where it became incapacitated just by making eye contact.”
“How did you know about my eyes?”
“I investigated you. Plus, I’ve been destroyed mentally by someone with eyes like yours.”
“······.”
Did she notice when I first tried to read her memories?
No wonder she wasn’t trying to lock eyes with me. What a terrifying woman she is.
More than that, hearing that this power originated from the Demon King was something I had never heard before.
Somehow, the more I delved into it, the more it felt like I was entering a maze. Then, according to Sertia, am I the Demon King?
No, that wouldn’t be the case.
The name was different. According to Sertia, the previous Demon King’s name was Ekidna, and the name etched into this body is Iria.
The eyes that pierce through all life called the name of the body I possessed ‘Iria.’
Thus, the probability of me being the same person as the Demon King is low.
Above all, the magnitude of the power is different. Destroying a human mind to the point of incapacitation is something I find difficult to do.
If I set my mind to it, I might be able to, but as Sertia said, it wouldn’t be something I could easily accomplish.
At that point, I could assert clearly.
“I’m not the Demon King.”
After all, I’m not a being that has already died.
It’s impossible for a dead being, fragmented into pieces, to come back to life.
When Sertia heard my words, she seemed to partially believe me. It seemed she had some means of distinguishing truth from falsehood.
After some time, Sertia finally replied.
“······Alright, you feel a bit different from the one I knew. But I still don’t trust you. Whether or not you are the Demon King, it’s certain that you’re related to her in some form.”
“······.”
“You are neither human nor monster. If we must distinguish it, you’re closer to a puppet created by someone. Creating another life would violate the world’s laws, but who knows, maybe she could have done it.”
“A puppet?”
Sertia slightly lowered her head in acknowledgment.
“And you’ve also been cursed by the Demon King. I don’t know the details of the curse, though. You feel like you share the energy of the Demon King, but also something of my own.”
A curse.
If I were to say anything, just living in this world itself feels like a curse to me.
Sertia turned her blue-eyed gaze as she used mana. She slowly observed me.
Then she reached out to me. I felt no hostility in that action, so I didn’t resist.
Sertia placed her hand over my left chest area.
“······.”
“There’s a trace of the curse on your heart. The Demon King marked you directly.”
“And you don’t know what kind of curse it is?”
“Unfortunately. If the former Saint, Karen, were still alive, she might have been able to find out. Curses are not within my expertise.”
Were her eyes not lying?
That means the original owner of this body must have met the Demon King. Then what relation did the Demon King and Iria have?
“It’s unlikely that she marked the curse on her own body, so I believe you aren’t the Demon King. But you’ll need to prove that you haven’t allied with the remnants of the Demon King’s army.”
“Um.”
“Anyway, I haven’t allied with the Demon King’s army,” was what I said to clear Sertia’s misunderstanding.
However, she still showed strong animosity toward anything related to the Demon King.
It wasn’t surprising considering she was someone who directly opposed the Demon King.
Still…
“Why me?”
The reason I came to meet Sertia was that I thought meeting her would be beneficial for me.
It’s not like I have ever thought about wanting to get close to her. After all, I came here prepared for death, and I have been an enemy of the Empire from the start.
No matter what I say here, the fact remains that I must continue to oppose her.
Even if I reflect and apologize to them, the dead will not return, and they will not forgive me either.
Thus, I have no reason or need to acquiesce to the Empire’s demands. Proving I didn’t do something I never did, I had no means to do so.
Shortly after I spoke, Sertia’s gaze changed as she looked at me.
Along with it, the flow of air around us changed.
Sertia had not released her animosity toward me from the beginning, but it had become even stronger.
“You are related to the Demon King. Therefore, we cannot rule out the possibility of contacts with the remnants of the Demon King’s army. After you came to the Empire, the Academy raid incident also occurred.”
“······.”
“When the remnants of the Demon King’s army stormed the Academy, weren’t you also present? The red magical energy felt inside the building must have been yours.”
I looked at Sertia, and she was looking back at me.
Is this the feeling when facing a fierce beast? My body instinctively senses danger. The person before me was someone worthy of that feeling.
A figure far more dangerous than Albert or Freya. They are practically the most formidable human weapon at this point.
Maybe it’s more dangerous than I thought.
“You are the most likely suspect, so keep that in mind. Do you think you can remain safe after turning me, no, the Empire into your enemy?”
“We were originally enemies. You called me knowing that.”
Sertia seemed to suppress her rising anger with great effort. Her anger stemmed from the Demon King, not me.
It seemed she could see the overlaps between me and the Demon King. Sertia’s tragedy originated from the Demon King.
I can understand her hatred, but that’s not something I did.
Being treated with such suspicion feels unjust.
No, perhaps this is itself a sin. Regardless of the reasons, the people I killed in the Empire won’t come back to life.
It’s fair for Sertia to be angry with me, and maybe it’s not so fair for me to explain myself to her.
No matter what my relationship has been with the remnants of the Demon King’s army, from the Empire’s perspective, my existence is a huge obstacle.
“Then let me ask you one last question.”
Sertia said as she looked at me.
“Since the Demon King died, the Empire declared an official end to the war, but the war hasn’t truly ended. The remnants of the Demon King’s army are gathering to prepare for war once more.”
She took a deep breath and then asked me.
“If war breaks out again, whose side will you take?”
It was the last question to test me.
Depending on my answer, her attitude would change. But I couldn’t lie. I have no confidence in deceiving someone without using my abilities.
Moreover, the opponent is Sertia. If I tried to flatter her and ended up lying, it would backfire.
“······.”
I paused for a moment in contemplation.
It didn’t take long for that contemplation.
“I don’t think I’ll be on the side of humans.”
It was an honest answer.
I simply can’t coexist with humans. And I might end up attacking humans due to my instincts.
I don’t plan to attack humans without reason, nor do I want to, but it’s something I can’t control.
Right now, I’m surviving on the Fragment of the Demon King, but eventually, I will have to suck the blood of humans to survive.
At my current state, I can’t guarantee that I won’t harm humans.
If war breaks out, I likely won’t side with humans.
That’s my answer.
“Is that so?”
Upon hearing my response, Sertia nodded.
She stood up with her eyes still closed. I felt the massive amount of mana surrounding us pulse.
The surrounding terrain shook.
“Then, I can’t just let you go.”
When Sertia opened her eyes again, both of them glowed blue.
That must be her original color.
“Please don’t misunderstand. I didn’t call you here with this intention from the start. I truly called for a conversation, but······.”
Sertia slowly wove the surrounding mana into the form of a spell. Continuing her words as she did so.
As she walked, the space warped. Sertia’s presence here was enormous.
“You resemble the previous Demon King too much. If I leave you alone, I believe another calamity will occur just like before. So I will remove you, the seed of calamity, from this place.”
“······.”
I too drew my Red Sword.
I hadn’t expected this would happen, but…
“This is my personal judgment, so please don’t blame Albert. If you’re going to place blame, blame me for being inflexible.”
Still, I didn’t want to turn that woman into an enemy.
I gathered magical energy while gripping the sword.
