I Become a Secret Police Officer of The Imperial Academy

Chapter 42

I’m technically still a student attending the academy.

Thanks to that, I could use the cover of “a student wouldn’t do such things” no matter what I was up to. But I still had to take mandatory exams.

Not the usual type of exams where you sit at a desk and answer questions, but the kind where they gather students and make them duel.

I never imagined I’d be experiencing something I had only read about in novels before.

This world truly is contrived.

Half the capital burned down, and people’s reactions barely scratch the surface. The academy pointlessly forces students to fight each other.

It feels like a ragged patchwork of events forced together to move the story forward.

Moments like this always brought a sense of horrifying dissonance, followed by unease.

The only one who could resolve those feelings was Alicia.

Even when I thought Theo, Ethel, Isabel, and Diana might just be robots moving according to some predetermined path, Alicia alone…

Yes, Alicia alone was entirely different.

I’ll get to see her soon.

But for now, there’s a problem.

We tracked down the orphanage after dealing with Zoph, the demon pimp, but it wasn’t what I expected.

I thought it was just a place for demon brats, but that succubus had been raising ordinary children alongside them.

Even if succubi are despicable demons, if we simply dragged her off and killed her, the orphanage children would be left homeless, starving on the streets.

Last night, Marco and I banged our heads together trying to come up with a solution, but nothing worked.

If Julian and his family were still intact, our family could’ve stepped in to support the church and build a new orphanage. But we’re out of resources.

After a sleepless night, we still hadn’t come up with a solution.

Tonight, something would inevitably have to happen.

“Ellen, you look tired. Focus for now. What if you get hurt?”

“Ah, yeah. Right.”

In a large auditorium filled with students, they made us fight one-on-one.

Match-ups were decided by drawing lots, with no consideration for skill level.

Even students who couldn’t fight at all were forced to participate somehow, whether they forfeited or not.

At least we only fought within our own class. That was some small comfort.

I watched as Ethel effortlessly knocked her opponent down with a single spell. I crossed my arms and dozed off for a while, only realizing it was my turn when Ethel nudged me awake.

I meant to forfeit, but as my classmate approached me with a weapon in hand, I reflexively threw the dagger I was holding.

Thankfully, it didn’t hit between his eyes.

It simply clattered to the floor, followed by a loud whistle.

Fascinating.

Was that a magic trick?

Maybe I overdid it.

The class was now staring at me.

I didn’t like being the center of attention.

This isn’t how I usually act.

This isn’t the Ellen of the academy.

In the next round, I forfeited and faked being sick to go rest in the infirmary.

Since I’d already won one match, my grades wouldn’t suffer anyway.

I felt like a clown dancing on a predetermined stage, only to exit when the act was over.

As evening came and the duels ended, Ethel chattered next to me until I brushed her off and headed to the slums.

I think we argued about something, but I can’t quite remember.

What was it again?

Oh, right—she told me I should live in a monastery.

Ridiculous.

She also claimed to have followed me and seen me cozying up to some strange man in the alleys.

Right, she said she’d been tailing me again.

“Marco, maybe we could spare just one succubus.”

“Of course, we should kill them… Wait, what? Spare one?”

“Forget it if you don’t like the idea.”

“No, it’s just… I didn’t expect something like that to come out of your mouth. Did you eat something bad?”

“Rude.”

Marco gave me a puzzled look.

“Well, we can’t just leave the children to die, can we?

We can’t take care of them ourselves, either.”

“…I thought you wouldn’t care about that. Especially after you killed Diana so easily.”

“Most of them will probably grow up to be delinquents or prostitutes, but they’re still children.

I’ve decided. We’ll deal with everything except the succubus. We’ll take one demon, the one closest to death.”

Even if most of them turned out rotten, there might still be one unpolished gem among them.

“Closest to death? There’s more than one in that state.”

“The female with long claws. And prepare some stimulants.”

“How many people are going in?”

“Just you and me. Or you can go alone if you’d prefer.”

We’d be walking through the sewers anyway.

Taking one demon wouldn’t risk discovery.

Tracking them was difficult because they were well-hidden, but once found, they were easy to handle.

The deeper they hid, the fewer people could find them.

Taking demons from the middle of the street in broad daylight was bound to draw attention.

But dragging out ones living in sewer-adjacent hideouts wouldn’t cause much of a stir.

Even if they were killed, all that remained were traces.

“Why would I refuse?

Apart from you, no other girl would go on a date with a guy like me.”

“So be grateful.”

The more grotesque and grueling our work became, the more we joked to lighten the mood.

Whether interrogating in the conversation rooms, culling countless demons, or slaughtering humans protecting those demons, humor was our only defense against losing our minds.

Despite it all, I found satisfaction in the work.

At least I did. This is who I am.

The Ellen from the academy—the one Theo had meticulously crafted and told me to play—wasn’t really me.

We left the house on the hill.

Since wandering the alleys in awkward attire wasn’t an option, I wore a garter belt that left my legs exposed and a dress with a plunging neckline.

Marco placed his left hand on my waist and strutted confidently.

Of course, his right hand gripped a demon he was dragging along.

The demon had no strength to escape and had been sufficiently threatened that its head would be blown off if it tried.

I wore a cloak and mask to hide my face.

The mask was the same one that Ethel’s parents had failed to recognize me through before.

That time, too, I had been hunting demon brats. It felt oddly familiar.

We walked through the alleys and down toward the reeking sewers.

Technically, it was a sewer, but it wasn’t so filthy as to make me retch, so it was bearable.

“How long are you going to keep clinging to my side?”

“Too bad. Did you see the way people on the street looked at us earlier?”

“They were green with envy.”

“Something about those stares feels strangely satisfying.”

The demon with cat ears seemed to have a cat’s nose as well, as it kept retching while we passed through the sewers, apparently unable to bear the stench.

After walking for a while, we finally arrived at the orphanage. It was quite elaborate for something built underground.

For a structure that was destined to rot away someday, the wooden door was adorned with flowers planted in front of it.

When we opened the door and stepped inside, the stench of the sewer disappeared in an instant, replaced by the scent of flowers.

The space inside was unexpectedly ordinary, so much so that one might forget we had just walked through a sewer.

In the middle of the area stood a large house.

This wasn’t an illusion—it was real. They had even transported soil to make it feel like an actual surface environment.

“Where’d they get the money to set up enchantments like this?”

“Probably from prostitutes leaving their children here and sending money to support them.”

“That’s quite a profitable business model.”

“Not really. Taking care of kids isn’t easy.”

“Why don’t we set something like this up? A garden like this in the break room would be great for resting.”

“You’d just laze around in it all day, so no.”

“That’s a shame.”

It was 9 PM, according to my watch.

The children weren’t asleep yet, so the place was lively and bustling.

Dragging the demon we had brought, we entered the house.

Looking around, I noted that the only way out was the same sewer entrance we had used.

No one would be escaping.

The children, who had been running and playing energetically, froze and stared at us.

As per our information, a succubus holding a child stepped out with a dazed expression. Her eyes met mine.

“Who… who are you…?”

“Marco, give it the stimulant.”

I whispered softly, gripping the demon with cat ears by the cheek with my left hand while aiming my gun at it with my right.

Marco injected the prepared stimulant into its neck.

“Your name was Zoph, right?

Kill three of your own kind here, excluding the succubus, and I’ll let you go immediately.

You don’t even have to tell me where your family is.”

Not that it mattered—I had already learned about their whereabouts when it was delirious under the influence earlier.

Apparently, they lived in some semi-basement as if they really believed they were cats.

I hadn’t sent anyone after them yet.

The drug seemed to be taking effect as its eyes began to redden.

“Will you do it?”

It nodded.

To prevent the succubus from interfering, I shot her in the arm.

No matter how much its family’s safety was at stake, I couldn’t fathom how it could so brutally kill its own kind.

The demon spared the ones with animal ears but clawed the horned ones to death.

When it finished, it turned to me with a wide, grotesque grin, as if asking for praise.

Disgusting.

I returned the smile, feigning approval, then immediately aimed at its forehead and pulled the trigger.

Its smile remained frozen as its pupils dilated, and it collapsed face-first to the ground, dead.

“Marco, there are more kids here than I expected.”

“You’re telling me.”

The succubus didn’t scream, You murderous monsters! Instead, she gathered the children into a corner, shielding them with her outstretched arms.

I thought to myself that sparing at least the succubus might not be a bad idea.

After all, wasn’t Petra spared as well?

Seeing her protect the children so loyally was oddly moving.

Sure, there were some demon brats among the children, but still.

Whoever trained her must have been a respectable human being.

Even after being shot in the arm, she didn’t complain about the pain; her first thought was for the children.

This wasn’t because the succubus had some noble spirit. It was because her master had trained her well.

“…There’s nothing of value to loot here.

Just leave. The parents of these kids will hunt you to the ends of the earth for this.”

“Oh, come to think of it, we haven’t really disposed of anything directly yet, have we?”

“Now that you mention it, no, we haven’t.”

A misunderstanding, perhaps?

She seemed to think I’d shot that lunatic to stop him from killing the kids.

It was a rather unpleasant misunderstanding.

When you put effort into something and the other person doesn’t recognize it, it feels disheartening.

I emptied the chamber and slowly reloaded the gun, one bullet at a time, taking my time.

There wasn’t anyone here who posed a significant threat.

Then, I placed my finger on the cold trigger, ready to pull.

There was no way she could protect all those children just by standing there with her arms outstretched.

At that moment, my eyes met one of the childrens.

They were crying.

A wave of nausea hit me.

The trigger wouldn’t budge, as if the gun was jammed.

“Ugh, ugh… Ugh…”

Stomach acid dripped from my mouth.

“Miss, perhaps you should step outside.”

“…Sorry. But no, I won’t leave.”

This was my mess to clean up.

Marco drew his sword and approached the succubus.

Since we had decided not to kill her, he only pretended to swing before twisting his body and kicking her in the side.

She flew across the room, unable to get up, though she tried to crawl back to shield the children.

And with each demon brat Marco killed, the succubus let out a heart-wrenching scream.

She screamed like a mother watching her children die.

“Stop! STOP IT!!!”

Crying, screaming, wailing, the grotesque sound of lives ending, blood, gleaming blades, Marco gritting his teeth, my imperfect self, trembling hands, the nauseating stench, children fleeing.

Demons need to be killed.

I’m trash, unworthy of life, for being unable to pull the trigger.

Why couldn’t I pull it?

What am I even doing?

I…

I feel sick.