Academy’s New Guard is Unusual - Chapter 76

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 76
The creed of assassination is to strike when your target lets their guard down.
Right now, having just discussed assassination, was not the ideal moment for an attack.
‘No, in any case, Grave never drops his guard.’
Raven steadied her wavering resolve.
This was the right time to seize the opportunity—while she had the Ambush Coupon.
Raven studied Grave carefully.
If she aimed at a vital spot, Grave would recover in an instant.
She had to target his neck or his heart.
‘Poison? No, poison wouldn’t work either.’
The man drank the extreme toxins of that woman Scarlet like they were wine. Poison was useless.
‘Tricks won’t work.’
Rather than resort to half-measures—.
‘Go with direct force.’
Raven drew a slow breath and raised her Aura.
Normally, a knight’s Aura would manifest outwardly. But Raven’s Aura instead turned inward, burrowing deep.
The Aura of an Assassin.
The foundation of assassination is knowing your enemy.
Raised as an Assassin, Raven was versed in magic, Black Magic, holy force, and Aura alike.
Grave’s lessons had proven invaluable to her.
Especially the section on Black Magic.
Using Life Force to send power into frenzy—.
‘I’ll apply that to this attack.’
Raven bit her tongue quietly. A sharp pain lanced through, and blood flooded her mouth.
As she swallowed the blood, her Aura erupted violently. Keeping it contained felt nearly impossible.
She had burned her Life Force to send her Aura into frenzy.
A technique Raven had developed alone after attending Grave’s lectures.
‘Blood Blade.’
Raven’s muscles drew taut as a bowstring.
Still, Raven did not rush.
Soon the twin witches would arrive.
She intended to strike then.
How long she held her breath like that.
Just as her muscles screamed under the frenzied Aura—.
Knock-knock.
Someone rapped at the door.
Grave rose from his seat and moved toward the door.
One step.
Not yet.
Another step.
Not yet—.
Raven watched with eyes wide, holding herself back.
Then, as Grave reached out to grasp the door handle—.
‘Now.’
Raven released the Aura she’d been restraining.
It started with her toes. The moment her toes opened the floodgate, the muscles connected to them erupted in sequence.
In response, the Aura compressed to its limit burst forth, converging to a single point.
In a blink, Raven had driven her dagger straight toward Grave’s back.
The speed was such that even Raven herself was amazed.
‘If I can hit—!’
Raven’s eyes gleamed with cold intent.
Just before the dagger pierced Grave’s neck, his hand moved.
Grave’s hand was suddenly before the dagger. It was a movement that defied reality.
But Raven saw it clearly.
‘He used Life Force too.’
No, it was far beyond merely using Life Force.
He had burned through his Life Force entirely—.
“Not bad at all.”
Grave’s cool assessment cut through her thoughts.
The dagger was now embedded in Grave’s hand.
Raven tried to pull it free, but it wouldn’t budge. It felt as though the blade were lodged in an ancient tree.
Then Grave pulled the dagger toward himself. Raven was drawn forward naturally.
The smell of blood wafted sharp and sudden.
“Why did you hold back on your Life Force?”
The amount of Life Force she’d burned in that single strike had been considerable.
She’d thought she’d used too much, yet he asked why she’d conserved it—.
“An Assassin must be like a bee. You must be prepared to drive your very entrails into your target to kill them. An Assassin who thinks of survival is the worst.”
Grave’s words rang true.
Had this been a real mission, Raven would have spent her Life Force without hesitation.
Failure meant death anyway.
But this was not that situation.
She had the Ambush Coupon, didn’t she.
“Still, your concept was excellent. The problem is simply that your knowledge of Black Magic was insufficient. I’ll show you how it’s done—pay close attention.”
Grave adjusted his grip on the Guard Baton.
‘A demonstration?’
That was an unsettling word.
Then Grave swung the Guard Baton. The motion was identical to hers—he’d copied it from a single viewing.
Yet the speed was incomparably faster.
‘Why?’
Watching, Raven understood the reason.
‘He detonated his Life Force at the perfect moment.’
He had minimized the waste of Life Force while maximizing efficiency at the same time.
Grave was showing her exactly that.
“I’ve got it!”
Raven cried out, her eyes blazing with realization.
The problem was that the Guard Baton didn’t stop.
Thud!
“Ah, my hand slipped.”
You used the coupon, you bastard—.
Raven lost consciousness immediately.
* * *
‘Not bad at all.’
I looked at the unconscious Raven and nodded with satisfaction.
Applying the essence of one Attribute to another was quite difficult. Even at the front, there had been few who grasped it when I taught it.
Even students who had attended my lectures in person struggled to develop the intuition.
Yet Raven, who had listened from hiding, not only grasped it but had adapted it to suit her own strengths.
It was truly remarkable talent.
‘So she really is a Male Lead Candidate.’
The game I’d possessed myself into was a romance fantasy genre.
And so all the Male Lead Candidates possessed exceptional abilities.
Raven was one of them.
‘I should observe each Male Lead Candidate at least once.’
The most important one was undoubtedly the Crown Prince.
He was a genius of the century, having surpassed Sword Master and reached Sword Saint.
‘I should attend his Swordsmanship class.’
Knock-knock.
The sound of knocking cut through my thoughts once more.
“It’s Lira.”
The twin witches.
I shoved Raven to one side and opened the door.
The twin witches stood before me side by side. Both their expressions were distinctly displeased.
“You call someone and don’t even open the door—.”
“We heard we were summoned.”
Lira cut off Bella, who was raising her voice, and spoke instead.
“Come in.”
I opened the door wider and turned around.
Lira, following me in, suddenly stopped when she saw Raven.
“Don’t worry about it.”
I wiped the blood from my hands casually as I spoke. Bella shook violently at the sight of blood.
“B-blood!”
Bella shrieked as though having a fit. Only then did I remember that Bella had hemophobia.
A Grand Mage with a fear of blood—absurd, yet in truth, every Grand Mage had a screw or two loose.
After all, the Headmaster herself walked around in the form of a cat.
A fear of blood was comparatively mild.
“Bella, it’s fine.”
“Blood! Blood!”
“Bella.”
Lira held the hysterical Bella firmly in her embrace.
It was quite the spectacle.
I clicked my tongue and bundled Raven aside carelessly.
Bella only settled once every trace of blood was gone.
“The Mana Stone Mine?”
I cut straight to business.
“We purchased Count Hérail’s Mana Stone Mine. We had to pay 30% above market price.”
Lira produced the contract.
I examined it. As discussed before, I held 70% stake and Lira’s portion was 30%.
“Using the Deep Mana Stone Detection, we surveyed the entire mine, but no ore veins were found.”
Lira spoke in a glacial tone. Bella was staring at me as though she wanted to kill me.
The Deep Mana Stone Detection was a Magical Device capable of sensing Mana Stones deep within geological layers, but each detection consumed an enormous quantity of Mana Stones.
If they’d scanned the entire mine with it, they must have spent considerable wealth, and with no yield to show for it, her anger was plain.
“Why use the Deep Mana Stone Detection?”
“Using Deep Mana Stone Detection for locating ore veins is the most common method.”
“That method only works when ore veins are shallow. If an ore vein’s large enough, it sits deeper, making the Deep Mana Stone Detection useless, doesn’t it?”
“……For ore deposits to elude the Deep Mana Stone Detection, they’d need to be on the scale of the Empire’s Mana Stone Mines or Hulen’s mines. Are you saying this one is that large?”
Lira asked in a tone mixed with bewilderment, anger, and a hint of desperate hope.
I shook my head firmly.
“No. It’s bigger.”
“……Pardon?”
“This Mana Stone Mine will become the largest. Not comparable to the Empire’s or Hulen’s, not even close.”
“So you’re just insane, after all.”
Bella muttered the words like a curse, her voice hollow with despair.
I made no attempt to convince them otherwise.
“Don’t waste Mana Stones on the Deep Mana Stone Detection. Instead, carpet the mine with large-scale Magic and dig deep.”
“You’re asking us to destroy the mine entirely? If there’s no ore vein beneath, we lose the whole operation.”
Finally, Lira’s composure cracked; her voice rose as well.
I spoke matter-of-factly.
“The ore vein exists.”
It is already certain to me.
“……How can you be sure?”
“Intuition.”
“You want us to do something that insane just on a hunch?!”
Bella’s voice pierced shrilly. This time, even Lira didn’t try to stop her.
“If you’re nervous, I’ll take your 30% stake as well. I’ll value it at 1.5 times the price.”
“……Insane.”
At the offer to value it at 1.5 times, Bella’s lips hung open in a daze.
It was, truly, a mad proposal.
Bella seized Lira’s arm urgently. “Lira! Sell!”

Lira looked toward me instead of answering.
Her calculating eyes moved rapidly, as though trying to see into my thoughts.
Arrogant, wasn’t she.
“Will you sign a contract?”
“……No. I’ll proceed immediately.”
“Lira!!”
“Bella, shut up.”
Lira’s rough tone made Bella flinch and fall silent.
Lira quickly returned to her composed demeanor.
“Then I’ll begin excavation at once. Regarding the excavation contractors—.”
“I don’t care. Oh, and add one thing: Constiella Mage Tower.”
“……Constiella?”
Lira asked as though hearing the name for the first time.
She probably had. It was Andy’s Mage Tower, after all.
More precisely, it had belonged to Andy’s grandfather.
Andy’s grandfather went into hiding for certain reasons, but he was an expert in this field.
Of course, if Lira requested it, he’d likely refuse. So—.
“Mention the name Andy.”
“Yes, understood.”
Lira simply nodded without pressing further questions.
I turned my gaze to Bella.
The real business lay elsewhere.
“There’s a new student named Andy.”
“……Yes, I know.”
“Provide personal tutoring.”
“Isn’t it against regulations for a professor to tutor a student privately?”
“So?”
“What do you mean ‘so’—you lunatic—.”
Lira stepped in front of Bella.
“Since Andy is already taking our lectures, we can frame it as extra coursework to address gaps. There shouldn’t be an issue.”
“Good.”
I nodded in satisfaction.
Lira and Bella exchanged whispers and seemed to wrap things up. It had the air of a conclusion.
Yet my business wasn’t finished.
“Oh, and the Mana Stones?”
Lira and Bella stiffened slightly.
“Didn’t you take those away a short while ago?”
“I used them where needed.”
“That much, already?!”
Bella’s voice shot up again.
“I’ll repay them later.”
“……You said the same thing last time and never did!”
“I’ll repay everything at once later.”
“Racketeering—.”
“Here. These are here.”
Lira pushed past Bella and produced a pouch of Mana Stones.
As befitted a professor and a tower keeper, the Mana Stones were of excellent quality and in considerable quantity.
Lira spoke urgently.
“This is our last reserve of Mana Stones. We need them ourselves.”
I nodded and extracted several stones. Both Bella and Lira visibly relaxed.
I held out the Mana Stones I’d taken to Bella. A question mark appeared in her eyes.
“This much should suffice, yes?”
“You’re insane—.”
I swept the remaining stones into my bundle.
The pouch grew nicely full.
“This is pure extortion—.”
“Mana Stones are difficult to procure. It would be best to use them as sparingly as possible…….”
Lira, barely restraining Bella, spoke through gritted teeth.
“I’ll do my best.”
I nodded and began to leave.
The pouch felt reassuringly heavy.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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