I Became the Traitor in an Academy Story

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I’ve been thinking.

If I suppress this desire for a long time, just like a smoker struggling to quit, maybe I could actually cut it off.

If I hold on with such a stubborn commitment that it drives me insane, perhaps I could live normally like everyone else… such delusions.

…Well, I guess it was just a delusion after all.

Just because I haven’t eaten for a long time doesn’t mean I can skip food altogether. And just because I don’t drink water doesn’t mean I won’t need it.

It seems I’m just a monster that has to hurt others.

“Haaah… ah, refreshing.”

It was like devouring food after a long starvation. Like having a deep sleep that melts away the extreme drowsiness.

A feeling of indescribable satisfaction and happiness flowed through every corner of my body.

The guy in front of me didn’t look too happy though—but why should I care about that?

I had no sympathy for someone barely hanging on who couldn’t even breathe properly.

“…Thanks to you, I got to enjoy myself after a long time. Thank you, nameless person.”

Thanks to his cut throat, I couldn’t exactly make out what he was saying, but at least I could see from his lips that he tried to say “crazy.”

Thinking about it, he was only trying to call me a madwoman. No way, I’m perfectly sane. Just a little different.

With a light snap in the slime, I pierced his skull and connected to his brain, swiftly pulling out the information he tried so desperately to protect.

As expected, he was indeed affiliated with Heros Company. If you admit it, I’ll give you a smooth death; so why were you stubbornly denying it?

Was it because of his girlfriend at the company?

Well, at this point, the meaning of holding on has become trivial.

Alright. The most enjoyable time is over. Now it was time to crash back to reality.

I wiped the blood from my hands with slime, sucking up the blood that had spilled on the floor with spongy slime, cleaning it up right away.

As I inhaled the bloody smell and capsaicin in the air, I decomposed it into elements while spraying deodorizer and ventilating the place to maximize the cleaning effort.

I gathered slimes around the corpse to wrap it up and left only the hands for identification, decomposing them into various substances to create fertilizer easy to sprinkle in the yard.

In the past, I had to summon back what I imprisoned in the slime and then go through the hassle of expelling it again, but after partially merging with the slime, I could do this.

Well, I probably wouldn’t be doing this often, and it only reduced a couple of processes, but still, knowing I didn’t have to put something that used to be someone into my body was a relief.

Decomposing a person is fun, but accepting that decomposed person into my body wasn’t particularly pleasant. It feels a bit like eating, you know.

I’m not really into that sort of thing.

As I was cleaning up the surroundings with my mop and slimes, I found myself thinking oddly about what I was doing right now.

It was the emptiness that came after joy. That emptiness asked me if it was sad to be born like this.

Hmm, well… not really?

I didn’t have any intention of feeling sorrow at this point. I had no plans to curse anyone or blame the heavens… ah, just a little bit of that.

Well, anyway, I wasn’t particularly inclined to be pessimistic.

If I didn’t have that kind of disposition, I wouldn’t have survived until now.

I had already been born this way. I tried relentlessly to change it, but I couldn’t. So, what can I do?

If I can’t change it or avoid it, I might as well enjoy it as much as I can. Right?

Cleaning the mop, wiping the bloodstains off my clothes.

The broken glass would be fixed by Altera or Harane, so after gathering the Artifact and the neatly laid-out severed hands, I tossed the former Heros Company spy, who had turned into fertilizer, in the yard.

This should be… the end of the cleaning. There’s no bloodstain left, and almost all the capsaicin has faded.

After double-checking my outfit, I knocked on the door to the bedroom where Altera and Myungho were.

“Excuse me, my lady. I have urgent news to deliver.”

After waiting a moment, I heard Altera’s somewhat tired voice inviting me in from the inside.

As I entered, I noticed a shiny silver egg in her arms that hadn’t been there just a few hours ago.

She looked pretty disheveled holding it, and Myungho had a blue bruise on his wrist.

“Huh, so… what news do you bring?”

“I dealt with the intruder and peeked into his memories. Just as you predicted, he was indeed from Heros Company. Here, I also brought his hand.”

As I spoke, I carefully set a pale hand devoid of any color on the bedside.

“Is this the intruder’s hand… then where’s the rest?”

I responded to Myungho, who was examining the hand in place of Altera.

“I decomposed it and used it as fertilizer in the garden. I apologize if I should’ve left the body intact.”

“Nah, that wasn’t necessary. Thanks for that. At least we have something to shove in their faces now.”

“Oh, another thing, he had an invisibility Artifact on him. It’s likely one made by Heros Company.”

“An invisibility Artifact from Heros Company?”

As Altera wondered while holding the egg, I explained the technique of extracting abilities by grinding people, and she frowned as if she found it unpleasant, asking if such a thing actually existed.

“There’s no concrete evidence, but my instincts are spot on. If you wish, my lady, we might be able to find out this time.”

“These guys just keep getting worse. They started out foolish, but what on earth happened to them to turn into this?”

Altera sighed heavily while stroking the egg. Ah, right. I had forgotten about that egg while talking about the intruder.

So… um. That came from… Harane, right? It’s a bit mind-boggling.

“…My lady. This might be a rude question, but could it… be your son or daughter?”

Curious and unable to contain myself, when I asked, Altera burst out laughing, finding it amusing, and then answered that nothing was actually inside.

“If the result of that relationship were inside, it wouldn’t come out this small. If it were, I would’ve collapsed long ago and been taken somewhere.”

Since Altera refused to elaborate further, I asked Myungho just how big it was—politely, of course, and Myungho simply told me to remember that her pelvis shattered during childbirth.

…Wouldn’t she be dead then? How is she still alive?

“Hey, don’t be shy… whatever. Anyway, that’s how it is. I’m not planning on leaving anything for you to babysit, so don’t worry. Although, the daughter might think a little differently.”

“Ah… yes.”

Being surprised by such an unexpected topic, as I retreated instinctively, I barely recalled that I still had things left to discuss and turned back to Myungho.

“Master. If you happen to go complain to Heros Company… could you ask just one thing for me?”

But Altera cut me off mid-sentence, clearly not pleased.

“Oh, you’re asking him now in front of me?”

It wouldn’t matter who I asked, so I smoothly switched the conversation back to Altera to finish my request.

“…Could you perhaps command them to look for records of the laboratory I was in?”

Altera asked why she should do that.

When she asked like that, I had no words.

“So… where would I even ask for a reward? I’d guess they’d think, who do you think you are if I just ask for it?”

As I hesitated, not wanting to let this opportunity slip away, Altera asked if it was for revenge.

“…Yes. I want to find out who that person is. And… I want to deliver the punishment he truly deserves with my own hands.”

I had long given up on finding out who they were, but if I could still manage to uncover it somehow…

I wanted to rip them apart and kill them with these hands.

“Revenge, huh… I used to wish for that too. I understand that feeling.”

“Then…!”

“But don’t get your hopes up too high. Your request will come after my request.”

“…I’d be grateful if you could just ask them.”

Altera warned that my request would fall to the back of the line since it was for me, but I felt satisfied just to know that it was being conveyed.

So if I find the one responsible for that absurd plan, I can just go kill them, and if not… well then, I’ll just live my life as I have been.

Then, I really bowed my head to take my leave, and this time, I actually stepped out the door.

…Ah, it’s about time for me to start heading to class with Harane.

Ugh, I’m feeling a bit tired today. Even if I request to take it easy… they probably won’t listen, right? Yeah, Harane would definitely be like that.

What can I do? That’s just my situation. I sighed and savored a brief moment of rest.

All I could do was make the most of this little opportunity to relax.

 

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