About a year after entering Demon race territory, I arrived at the Demon King's castle.
To summarize the journey up to this point concisely, the only way to put it is that it was no different from Human race territory.
Because it really wasn't different at all.
The feel of the streets, the architecture, the food culture — there was hardly any distinction. Without being told, you wouldn't be able to tell it apart from Human race lands.
I had imagined that in a place called Demon race territory, various species would be living together in a jumble, so I actually felt a strange sense of unease at how little had changed.
If I had to list one thing that did change, it would be that the language was different.
But even that wasn't a problem, since
Apparently, "Demon race" referred to a single species. The devils, beastmen, and Monster-like beings I had imagined didn't exist, apparently.
I had wondered whether vampires might be among the Demon race, but apparently not even vampires existed anymore.
According to Ariel: "It's been incredibly long since I last saw a vampire. The vampires native to this world went extinct ages ago."
That's what she said.
It was quite shocking, in various ways.
So that meant Melozofis and I were the only two vampires in this entire world.
"Long ago, there was a man who was a vampire and became Demon King. He's remembered as the greatest Demon King in history, holding the record for the longest reign among all of them. But even he was eventually beaten to a pulp and slain by Heroes. After that, vampire hunts naturally followed, and they were wiped out without much of a fight."
Ariel spoke in a bright tone, but a faintly lonely atmosphere bled through.
The last time Ariel had seen a vampire was impossibly long ago, and she said the likelihood of any survivors was essentially zero.
Unless you were a True Ancestor, you couldn't go without drinking blood, and hiding in remote locations indefinitely wasn't really feasible either — so there probably weren't any undiscovered individuals left.
What I thought upon hearing that story was: just how old is Ariel?
So it turned out that vampires aside, the Demon race was basically just one species.
Only species that looked completely identical to Humans were called Demon race.
Now that I thought about it, Ariel herself looked no different from a Human.
It should have been predictable that the Demon King at the apex of the Demon race would have the same appearance as Humans.
That turned out to be half right and half wrong.
"I'm a special case. My shape looks the same as Humans or the Demon race, but what's inside is entirely different. Want to see?"
She flashed me a wicked grin, so I politely declined.
And just like that, having traveled through Demon race territory that was, on the surface, completely indistinguishable from Human race lands, I arrived at the Demon King's castle.
There was no lightning crackling behind the castle. It was an immaculately clean white castle.
The words "Demon King's castle" hardly seemed fitting.
A lively castle town spread around the castle grounds as well, brimming with a cheerful atmosphere.
My image of the Demon race crumbled piece by piece inside me.
"So then, now that you've finally made it here, Sofia — I'm going to have you attend school!"
Ariel declared.
"School?"
"That's right, school."
School.
So they even had that kind of thing.
The Demon race having a school.
My image shattered yet again.
"I want you to go to school and acquire knowledge of this world's scholarship. You've been traveling nonstop since you were little without much chance to study. Your knowledge should be partially manageable thanks to memories from your previous life, but if you're going to live in this world, I think attending school won't hurt. And of course, since I'm recommending it, it won't be just any school. The Demon race has a noble class too, and I'd like to introduce you to the finest school that nobles attend. What do you think?"
She asked what I thought, but I had a feeling I didn't have a choice.
Granted, given my age, it wouldn't be unusual for me to already be starting school.
A school wasn't merely a place for learning academics.
The relationships you built there could prove useful later, and it served as a stepping stone for integrating into society.
If I attended a school for Demon race nobles, I'd inevitably form connections with high-ranking demons.
How those connections would work would be up to me, but I think Ariel was telling me to use that school to lay the groundwork for living in Demon race territory.
If there was a problem, it was that I wasn't good with socializing.
But, former life or not, I was a proper noble's daughter.
Maybe it was time to leave my past life completely behind and start fresh.
"Understood. I'll attend the school."
"OK! Then in the meantime, Melozofis — how about you work under me?"
"Wh—?"
My voice and Melozofis's overlapped in unison.
"It's not like attendants can't enter the school, but Sofia, even with my recommendation, you're not technically a noble. You'd be enrolling under a commoner slot, so having a servant along would be difficult..."
No way.
Nobody told me about that.
Without Melozofis here?
"W—"
"I knew you'd try to back out."
She cut me off before I could even finish.
After that, with an overbearing forcefulness that left no room for argument, Melozofis and I were separated.
The school was fully residential, and Melozofis wouldn't be there.
Of course, neither would Ariel, nor my Master.
Oh — not having Master around might actually be better since I wouldn't have to worry about getting eaten.
Not a single person I knew.
And on top of that, I'd been traveling the world since the moment I was born — a naive girl with no education and no common sense.
Everyone around me would be Demon race nobles.
Can I really pull this off?