Ch.107Chapter 107

Yuria could only groan inwardly, unable to voice her thoughts aloud.

The world declared Demon Gods harmful. This had been established from the moment the Demon God Disaster Confirmation Headquarters was created.

Demon Gods were evil to humans. They were malevolent beings who craved human lives and sometimes killed for mere amusement. There was no way to argue they were good.

With the world already believing this, she couldn’t suddenly claim there was an exception, that she had stabbed someone innocent, and that she had committed a crime. It wasn’t possible.

Without laws, it was difficult to assign blame. It made sense, given there were public institutions dedicated to killing Demon Gods. Plus, the Academy had its reputation to consider. While killing a Demon God companion deserved reprimand, from an outside perspective, it wasn’t worth ruining a student’s life over, so they simply let it go.

In the end, they decided she couldn’t be held responsible, and the matter was dropped.

What could be done? Apart from death, Demon Gods had no legal protections. People wouldn’t understand that there existed one single Demon God who didn’t harm humans.

Would people believe if you suddenly claimed someone could live without eating?

Would people believe if you suddenly claimed someone could survive without sleeping?

When all but one followed the pattern, it was unreasonable to demand protection for the exception. Demon Gods weren’t human to begin with, nor were they ordinary creatures born and dying naturally.

The more their numbers increased, the more human survival was threatened. That said it all.

No one could punish the student named Beirud. How could you accuse someone of breaking a law that didn’t exist?

But humans don’t operate solely within legal boundaries, so the finger-pointing began immediately.

While unknown outside the Academy, people inside knew about Ourr. Introduced as a Demon God, Ourr’s clumsy attempts to socialize meant that most people, except those with extreme hatred, didn’t keep their distance.

Learning that the Professor was acting as a guardian rather than a supervisor made students’ attitudes even warmer.

When greeted, Ourr would blink and wave back. When people around Ourr started swaying together while humming, Ourr would observe and join in.

That’s how Ourr built goodwill. After a full semester of getting to know what kind of person Ourr was, the attitudes toward Beirud for suddenly stabbing such a being were far from kind.

He hadn’t dropped out, nor had he taken a year or two off. His brazen attitude of simply returning to class after recovering was the issue.

The atmosphere was especially hostile since second-year students had been concerned enough about Ourr to suggest making name tags in case Ourr couldn’t remember everyone’s names.

Yuria had no intention of breaking this atmosphere. Rather than hoping he’d be ostracized until dropping out, she simply had no desire to get involved. She had no right to.

Yuria began and finished her lectures as usual, but inside, her thoughts festered like a rotting wound.

**

When I mentioned Sera was coming, suddenly Karen and Aria decided to join too.

“I bought snacks.”

I sat at the table and held out the basket. Sera looked dazed when she saw me offering cookies right away.

“Did Ourr buy these? They look delicious. I already had breakfast, so I’ll just have a little.”

“Okay, okay.”

I nodded. Karen, who was beside me, took a cookie and stared at me. When I turned to look at her, she grinned.

“Thanks, Ourr.”

“Enjoy them, Karen.”

Since the Professor got these cookies from the Academy, I wondered if they were expensive. I was glad I’d paid 10 Riel for them.

Wait a minute… what if they cost more than 10 Riel? Should I go back and pay more?

I got a bit nervous. Thinking they wouldn’t be that expensive was just my assumption, and cookies the Professor receives might be much pricier, so I couldn’t let my guard down.

I glanced at Aria, who seemed to have the most money. If she said they were high-class, I planned to go back to the Professor and pay more.

“They’re fine.”

That was the most ambiguous answer.

What did “they’re fine” mean exactly? Was it good? Or just not bad? It didn’t seem like she thought they were amazing, so they probably weren’t super expensive, but she didn’t say they were bad either, so I was hesitant.

I clutched the cookies in both hands and stared at Aria until she met my eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

“Well… I actually bought these from the Professor, and I’m worried they might be really expensive… What if I didn’t pay enough?”

“Pfft!”

I mumbled awkwardly. The cookies were difficult to eat, so I just fiddled with the packaging without opening it.

Sera nearly sprayed what she was eating everywhere. Thankfully she covered her mouth with her hand, but my heart still dropped from surprise.

I looked up at Sera with startled eyes, and she wiped her mouth.

“Wait, you bought them from the Professor? Which Professor?”

“The one with green hair we saw earlier.”

“Uh, umm… what?”

Sera was so dumbfounded she couldn’t continue speaking.

“She said I shouldn’t leave the Research Building, so I gave her money to buy them.”

“…Really? How much did you pay?”

“…10 Riel.”

“Isn’t that too expensive? Those are just regular cookies you can buy anywhere.”

I froze at Aria’s words.

So that’s what they were? They looked nice, so I thought they might be expensive.

Still, it wasn’t that bad. I could always give more money, and since I didn’t need to worry about food anyway, I didn’t have to feel disappointed.

The Professors were all good people, so I could give more later, and if the Professor was happy, maybe she’d bring me extra snacks next time. I decided to let it go.

“It’s okay, really.”

“Would you like to come see what snacks are available with us later, Ourr? Before, we mostly bought things like bar snacks, but this time we could really look at what kinds of cookies there are.”

Karen suggested, looking back and forth between Sera and Aria.

But I don’t particularly like snacks. People say they eat when their mouth is bored, but when my mouth is bored, that’s all it is.

I eat with the Professor, and otherwise, I just go without. I do habitually look for meals, but considering that’s not to satisfy hunger, it matches my general lack of interest.

Though Ouroboros seems to enjoy eating.

“Let’s look at bread too. The market has a bakery section.”

“I’d like to look at fish.”

Sera suggested bread, while Aria wanted to see fish. Since we could see everything at the market anyway, we could just look at each in turn.

“But I can’t go out without the Professor anymore…”

I appreciated what they were offering, but unfortunately, I no longer had the opportunity to go out without the Professor. Understandably, after the recent incident, I realized that going out alone would only trouble the Professor.

It would make her worried and distracted, which would interfere with her research, so I shook my head, not wanting to cause her difficulty.

Before, I might have insisted and begged, but I didn’t want to see the Professor struggling like that. While I enjoyed playing with my friends, I wasn’t willing to go that far.

Hearing my words, the others nodded, seeming to understand even though they were disappointed.

“Then how about we each buy a snack and have a snack party? Right here.”

“In that case, I’ll prepare cookies for Ourr this time.”

“Really? Then should I make some too?”

Sera and Aria suddenly shifted to cookies. This didn’t sound like a snack party anymore.

A snack party typically involves buying various store-bought snacks and sharing them, but from what Sera and Aria were saying, it sounded more like they’d bring tea and have a formal tea party, which made me uncomfortable.

“Eh, you can make them yourself…?”

“Yes. That’s basic for me.”

Sera confidently answered Karen’s question.

“She joined a baking club in her first year and destroyed an oven.”

“Hey! Why are you telling that? And ‘destroyed’ is misleading! It didn’t break.”

Sera snapped at Aria angrily.

Aria’s revelation about Sera’s past was quite unexpected and interesting.

“I want to hear Sera’s cookie-making saga.”

“Ourr?! No, calling it a ‘saga’ makes it sound weird…”

As I tried to hear more of what Aria was saying, Sera cut me off, looking troubled. Apparently, her past failures at cookie-making were something she’d rather forget.