Chapter 27 – Doppelganger (3)

“Nice to meet you all. There’s probably no one who doesn’t know my face, but my name is Louis. “At the request of the chairman, I will be teaching today’s lecture instead.”

It was a refreshing feeling to see the newbies outside the cafeteria with their eyes shining brightly.
Isn’t it true that humans naturally feel better when they are acknowledged and respected by others?
Even in this hot weather, not a single person missed class and was concentrating, which made me want to tell more stories that never happened.

“Those who live in Helzeb are largely divided into two entities: demons and monsters. “The difference between the former and the latter is whether they are intelligent or not, and whether they can use magic or not.”
“…”
“…”

I wish there was some response.
It was an awkward atmosphere as everyone stayed still.
Well, you may not understand it because the store owner suddenly comes out and is talking about the demon world.

“However, there are rare entities whose differences are not clearly distinguishable, and today’s protagonist is this one.”

I took out a bottle containing the doppelganger larva and showed it in front of everyone.
Some students hissed! I made a noise and my face turned white.
It certainly looks quite disgusting on the outside. If it’s just something gross, it’s okay, but if you know about it, you need to be more vigilant.

“It is a type of monster called a doppelganger. “It has a unique ecology that replicates everything from the first object it comes into contact with in its larval form.”

For example, it means tearing off a person’s hair or flesh and transforming into a being completely identical to that person.

“In this state, since it has no ego, it is classified as a monster, but strangely enough, when it turns into a human or a demon, it not only has intelligence, but also acquires the target’s memories and abilities. So I think it’s right to see them as somewhere between monsters and demons.”

— Clap clap clap…

A small applause was heard. I turned my head and saw that it was Adela.
It’s good because there’s definitely a reaction. Next time, I’ll have to pass on some bread.

“Anyway, the tricky thing about doppelgangers is that it is very difficult to tell whether this person is real or fake. Let’s see…”

I guess I should give it a try at this point. I gestured to a friendly face standing in the back.

“You, come out here.”
“Hmm…”

Ansen reached for my point a little and then cautiously stepped forward.
I took out her sleeping doppelgänger from inside the bottle and attached it to Ansen’s hair.
Then it expanded in an instant and appeared in the same shape in less than ten seconds.

Rumble!!!

“Aaaaah!!”
“What is that!?”
“Huh, huh… !”

Oh, your reactions are getting better. The class attitude is excellent.
I’ll have to talk to the chairman later and give him a reward.
Is there such a thing as a store system these days? Or a talent.

“As you can see, even the clothes and horse harness they are wearing are the same. On the outside, there is no difference at all. The same goes for using the Litweis test paper. “It’s a true mimic that even replicates karma.”

Of course, magic beyond a certain level cannot be used, and special artifacts that are not simple items of clothing only imitate the appearance.
There are certainly limits, but that’s not the scary thing about doppelgängers.

“These guys can’t tell who is real and who is fake until right before they die. Even if you cut off an arm or leg, blood usually spurts out. When it dies, it turns into ashes and disappears. In other words, it is impossible to confirm without killing.”

The doppelganger’s mimicry is perfect. It never reveals its true identity unless it is driven to the brink of death.
This is a very tricky characteristic.

What if a major character, such as a commander or a knight, on the battlefield at some point sides with the demons?
Not only can the battle be lost, but it can also cause the soldiers to become suspicious of each other, leading to self-destruction.

The colleague who was chatting with me only yesterday had already been eaten, and the fear I felt when the monster revealed its true colors and turned the spear in this direction was beyond imagination.
A plague of suspicious demons spreading across the battlefield.
That is the fear of doppelgangers.

But if there really wasn’t a single way to distinguish between doppelgängers, there would be no reason for me to come out to lecture and leave Liv in charge of the cafeteria.
These guys were very lucky today.

“Does anyone know how to find the real doppelganger among these?”
“…”
“Or has anyone ever actually seen a doppelganger?”
“…”

While everyone was silent, Adela raised her hand.
When I pointed to Ansen’s doppelgänger standing to my left, she nodded her head furiously.
Moderately ignored. It’s not even a day or two anymore.

“From now on, I will teach you a very clear way to tell the difference between a doppelganger and a person without having to pick anything.”

I pulled out the sword hanging from Ansen’s waist.
The small sword I gave you the last time you fought me. This guy was also sweating profusely, as if he instinctively remembered that time.

“Take a good look from now on.”

After checking the state of the blade of the palm-long sword, I grabbed the neck of the doppelganger next to me without hesitation.
And–

Phew!

“Wow! Ugh… !!”

I stabbed my heart.
No, to be exact, it is the area just below the heart.
The doppelganger larva that has started to mutate appears to instantly take on the same appearance as the target, but if you observe closely, there is an order.
The first thing that is made is the heart, which is the lifeline of all living things, and therefore the main body of the larva is located at the very back of the heart.

Remove only the doppelganger’s body by stabbing the sword diagonally upward from the solar plexus.
The human septum is quite thick, so you just have to be careful not to touch the lower veins.
The point is that if you set the angle well, you should stab with the momentum to pierce the end of the spine. The upper shell is surprisingly strong, so if you make a mistake, the sword may miss and pierce your back.

“Oh, it hurts! Help me! Blood, blood… !”

Since it didn’t hit a vital point, if it’s not a doppelganger, it can be recovered with healing magic.
If it is a doppelganger, it will collapse from the top of its head into a pile of gray-white ash.
The foreign body of the demon world, which had been imitating Ansen a while ago and screaming in pain and asking for help, was as crisp as a villain who had been hit by a finger snap when I pulled out my sword! It died with a sound.

“…”
“…”
“… Hiccup!”

The students who saw such a mysterious scene for the first time were all frozen with their mouths open.
I was so overwhelmed with emotion that I couldn’t even breathe properly.

Dump!

I did see a few people falling down, probably because they weren’t breathing too well——
Still, wouldn’t it be better than Ansen trembling next to me?
I patted his shoulder and opened another bottle.

“Okay then.”

And then he announced to everyone that the actual lecture had begun.

“From now on, let’s come forward one by one and stab this friend.”

Seeing Adela quietly clapping behind her, this class seems to have been very successful.

Friendly explanations, accurate knowledge transfer, and neat practice at the end.
Could it be that being a professor wasn’t my calling?

***

“Phee! Hurry! Fly fast! “Go and call someone, anyone, right now!”

This wasn’t a class. It was something that conveyed madness, fear, and terrible despair.
Students who left their canes behind thinking they were just going to do physical training suddenly trembled when they saw the bloody sword in their hands.

“No, you’re telling me to stab at this exact location right here? “Your friend is hurting.”

Puff puff!

With the help of Lewis, who kindly folded his hands and showed the angle and intensity, another doppelganger disappeared from this world.
However, the female student who heard the screams she made right before she died was so traumatized that she fainted on the spot.

How could you teach something so barbaric as a class?
In contrast to Erzébet, whose lips were turning blue, her escort, Averett, who had almost pulled out her sword a moment ago, looked at Louise with her eyes as big as her flower lantern.

“Nonsense. That’s the method that Captain Hubblet taught me… !”

Due to their nature, doppelgängers are not easily discovered, so they were rare entities with little known about their physiology, let alone how to eradicate them.
As a member of the Hooksclaw Knights, she has only heard explanations a few times so far.
Lewis’s lecture was identical in method to that given by Hubblet.

There was the problem that the method was a little rough, but when dealing with demons and monsters, the slightest hesitation would lead to death.
Newcomers who entered the Order for the first time and still had hesitation about the tip of the sword were trained in that way.
To eliminate the feeling of rejection towards demons wearing human skin.

‘Like the life I felt a moment ago, he is by no means an ordinary man.’

The name… Louis?

Averett recalled her catechism, which she had read during her arrival at Farencia.
If a major problem occurs at the academy, ask the store owner for help.

“Next, Adela. “You should try it too.”
“This way, Miss!”
“Uh-huh, this is really Ansen. “You’re telling me to stab his doppelganger instead of him?”
“This is right!”

At least here, Lehel was the only one who realized the importance of the rules she had put so much effort into creating.

***

Lewis’ first lecture for freshmen at Parencia Academy ended successfully… I couldn’t do it.
While the class was in full swing, the head of administration came running in with socks and urgently stopped the class, saying there had been a mistake.

After escorting the students who needed immediate mental stability to the temple, she quickly ordered them to disperse.
And without even looking at her Louise, Merins herself quickly left her clearing.

“Tsk, just like last time, is it normal for lectures at this damn academy to be suddenly canceled?”

It was the best of times, but Ansen was sweating coldly with Louis grumbling next to him.
Lewis, who was sorting out the empty bottles, gave the sword back to him, who remained until the end.

“Hey, is this yours?”
“Yeah, that’s right…” …”
“The words are short?”
“That’s right… !”

Ansen remembered. She didn’t know who it was that caused her to collapse in the temple for a month.
And now, with this little sword in her hand, the monster before her eyes blocked out the sun.

‘Poetry, report. You have to report it… !’

Ansen had never even heard that such a scary being was lurking in the kingdom.
Should I notify security? Or to Viscount Darling?
Louis caught him as he tried to quickly leave this place.

“Oh right. I have this one left. “You should try it too.”

He pointed to the last remaining doppelganger, who was holding the back of his neck so hard that it seemed as if he would break it, and who had the same expression as Ansen.

“Because you saw it up close, you must be better than the other kids. Do you remember what I taught you? “Poke it.”
“Ha, don’t do it! “Put that sword away!”

Like other people who have disappeared into ashes so far, he too has begged for his life.
Ansen hesitated for a moment, but when she saw Lewis’s sad eyes, she quickly made up her mind.

Phew!

As he taught me, I lifted my chest up and strengthened my back foot.
She was an Ansen who originally intended to enter the knight club in her second year, so the results were cleaner than she expected.

“Gagging… !”

A terrible feeling that pierces through the fabric.
Warm blood flowing down her handle.
Ansen, who was in a state of panic and trembling, heard Lewis’s voice, which was almost like talking to himself, in his ears.

“You are so lucky. “Nova has done a lot of research on doppelgängers.”

Nova? Who is Nova?

“We confirmed that if there is no contact with demons during the larval state, only survival instincts remain, not malice toward humans. So, it’s a bit of a no-brainer, but you can think of me as almost the only exception.”

Ansen watched her hot blood flow through her own hands.
The doppelganger in front of her was on the verge of dying.
Lewis said, looking at it with indifferent eyes.

“Do you know why it’s hard to tell doppelgängers apart? These guys don’t know they’re fake until right before they die. So it reacts and acts the same as the main body. “Only when you feel the threat of death do you realize your existence.”

How could it not be such a terrible monster?

“Even if I don’t have to tell you, you know what you are now, right?”

What should I do? What not to do.
Lewis’ thick arm rested on his shoulder. The terrible feeling of all mana disappearing was like death to the wizard.

“Live quietly. “Don’t get caught.”

Facing the corpse of her doppelganger, who turned to ashes and did not disappear, Ansen nodded her head like a broken doll.