Deadline Is Raining in the Status Window - Chapter 28
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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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I’ve lived long enough to see the day when I’m carrying a full-grown university student wrapped up like a swaddled infant on my back. I found myself reflecting on what grave sin I must have committed in a past life, when Reina Letem caught sight of the professor’s desk and spouted more nonsense at full volume.
“Wait just a moment! Professor! I object! I formally object!”
“What is it, Miss Reina?”
“If Evan helps the professor with work, it compromises the fairness of the exam! There’s also the risk of test materials being leaked!”
“There’s no need to worry about that.”
“Why not! Those are all lecture materials on the professor’s desk! What if Evan sees them coming and going and memorizes the test materials!”
“Evan is not intelligent enough to do that.”
True enough, though it’s also something I’d like to punch him for saying.
I’ll save the violence for next time—for now, I nod in agreement, but Reina shrieks from my back that there’s no way that’s true.
“That’s ridiculous! Evan is smart! I’m wearing these cool glasses, so there’s no way my wearer could be stupid!”
“Eyeglasses and intelligence are entirely unrelated.”
“Exactly. How many times have I said I’m a complete blockhead?”
“No, no, no, that can’t be true! You’re lying!”
Reina, who hadn’t considered letting go until now, suddenly leaps down from my back and points an accusing finger at me.
“You two are conspiring to deceive me!”
“Why would I lie to you, Miss Reina? Especially about Evan’s intelligence.”
“That’s right. I’m a complete blockhead who can’t even calculate the volume of a cylinder using integrals.”
At my words, Reina’s mouth falls open as she realizes that question from university mathematics was about this, while the professor’s eyes widen in shock at just how poor my grasp truly was.
“I can’t accept this. I won’t accept it!”
If I’d known she’d give up this easily, I should have admitted my shallow learning much sooner. Reina covers her ears and runs away, insisting the whole world is conspiring to deceive her, while Professor Heinrich furrows his brow in deep contemplation before making me a strange offer.
“Evan, if you don’t mind, would you like me to take time and teach you from middle school mathematics?”
“Not necessary.”
“If you learn trigonometry gradually from the beginning, calculus won’t be difficult.”
“I gave up starting from quadratic equations.”
“I’m not joking. That’s not even elementary mathematics.”
Quiet, you math demons. What kind of elementary school teaches quadratic equations in this cursed neighborhood?
Not that I intend to follow Reina’s example, but I clamp my ears shut and dash to the Copy Room. I make exactly seven copies and bring them to the Second Year Classroom, then ask for their cooperation in keeping things orderly since Professor Heinrich has severe obsessive tendencies.
Most of the seniors were well-behaved enough to ignore me or agree, but a couple of rebels tried to resist, so I pinned them to the ceiling with an ice spear. Blood drips from the ice, but I avoided the vital points, so they won’t die.
The professor will panic again when he sees the bloodstains, so I need to wipe the floor quickly and bring a bucket. I mop the floor with a mop and catch the dripping blood in a bucket, then rush toward my next task.
Next is… well, that would be… right, borrowing a placard.
I check off Seian Crown Prince’s errand from my schedule and dash to the Library. From running errands for the Crown Prince, I’ve grown close with the librarians to the point where we share snacks, but he always takes political and economic books—so I ask why he’s looking for entertainment novels today.
“That would be, perhaps, to gain vicarious satisfaction from achieving goals that could never be accomplished in reality.”
“You could just say it’s fun. You have a talent for making simple things complicated, Evan.”
Don’t make me cry—there’s no way Seian would borrow this book purely for entertainment.
The moment I hear the title of the book he wants to borrow, I understand everything. I grasp both why the Crown Prince doesn’t want to borrow it under his own name and what he’s thinking as he reads.
This contemporary fantasy novel is titled “I Was a Reckless Crown Prince, But I’m Actually a Sword Genius?” and there’s an entire series with variations like “Actually a Magic Genius,” “Actually a Political Genius,” “Actually a Tactical Genius,” and so on.
Looking at the title, it’s so obvious—why would he want to read this!
When I heard the name of the book Seian Crowell wanted me to borrow, I fought desperately not to cry. He must know himself that no amount of struggling in his lifetime could overcome the Crown Princess. But with all the effort I’d invested so far, I couldn’t abandon it now just to save face.
Because that’s who Seian Crowell is.
The reckless Crown Prince grows inexplicably strong, enriches the nation and strengthens its military, seduces one woman, then two, then three, then four, then about thirty-eight women and builds a harem, earns praise from the people as a sage ruler. Humans are creatures of desire—surely it’s permissible to dream such dreams.
Clearly, huddled in a dark corner reading novels with a smirk, when I suddenly become successful, I’d crush this bastard and that bastard, let my imagination soar, and then the moment of reality arrives at the conclusion, and I’d wrap myself in blankets and cry.
So adorable. Just imagining it made me want to burst into tears and drool. Delicious. Seian crying was far too delicious.
Perhaps that’s why I couldn’t help but grin when I brought him the book.
Seian took it as mockery and suddenly got angry, stomped on my foot hard, then huffed and walked away.
Adorable. Absolutely adorable. Seian, you’re the cutest long-haired ferret in the entire world.
I savored the reward Seian had given me, ate dinner, then went to make the final preparations for the main event.
“H-hey, Evan! I b-brought the tools!”
Don’t use that professional term “tools”—it’s terrifying.
What Kanna brought was a syringe that looked like it could pierce elephant hide, and liquid medication. The medication was oral and absorbed in the stomach. When I tested it two days ago, it didn’t work on Kanna or me, but Reina Letem fell asleep very quickly within thirty minutes.
With Reina Letem as the test subject, the efficacy was confirmed, and all that remained was mixing the drug into tomorrow’s breakfast.
“A-and breakfast has lots of salads, so if we inject it into tomatoes or vegetables, it sh-should work well.”
So that’s why you brought the syringe. What meticulous work. Are you really not the pride of the Assassination Family?
After confirming all the Cafeteria staff had left, I pulled out the emergency key I normally used on days when I took on part-time work from the staff, and opened the refrigerator door.
“H-hey, Evan, where d-did you get a key like that?”
“If you conduct yourself properly and do good deeds, you can obtain such things.”
“W-wow, as expected, E-Evan is amazing.”
Nothing amazing about it. I just happened to catch some deer or rabbits while gathering bracken ferns.
At first, the Cafeteria Director used me because he needed ingredients, but once he realized my usefulness and began embezzling the food procurement budget while filling it with the meat I hunted, we came to trust each other more deeply.
I keep my mouth shut, and the Cafeteria Director gives me his full cooperation. This is mutual aid.
“Vegetables spoil easily, so tomorrow’s supplies should be nearby. There’s probably a date written on them too.”
While explaining, I found them first. Sure enough, breakfast has plenty of vegetables. Facing tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, and all sorts of salad vegetables, I picked up the syringe when Kanna snatched the tool from me, her eyes gleaming.
“I’ll do this. Sensitive people notice these things easily.”
This pseudo-Assassination Family prodigy injected the medication steadily with the syringe, then reported distributing exactly five grams to each vegetable. She said that if items of the same size have different weights, people become suspicious… hmm…
“Do that many people really pay attention to vegetable weight while eating?”
“T-they do! Surprisingly many! S-so many!”
“Hmm…”
“T-the dinner table is the m-most dangerous place. Evan, b-be careful too!”
When you say that, Kanna, it’s genuinely terrifying. I’ll have to be careful going forward.
I dumped the remaining medication into a sauce container, then Kanna and I held hands and skipped out of the storage room. It didn’t matter whether the drug was detected in the extra sauce or not. After all, Kanna and I would eat breakfast together and create an alibi. We all ate together and just happened to not fall asleep—what could the Academy do about it?
It would be better to keep Reina Letem from eating breakfast in case they force a retake. We need some hill to retreat to when cornered.
Reina Letem has a wealthy Countess mother as a powerful backer, so the Academy Headmaster wouldn’t be able to force her to retake the exam. From what I heard, the donations he’s received from Reina Letem’s mother alone amount to nearly a billion. If you’ve taken something, you have to give something back.
“F-finding the center point is important. N-normally, if medication is present, the b-balance becomes unstable.”
You really want to warn me about everything, don’t you, Kanna? I had to learn from her the entire way back how to avoid threats at the dinner table, and she whined and grabbed me to make sure I heard it all.
Still, you’re within the realm of humanity. What if this Assassination Family prodigy had been even stronger than me?
I listened to the end of Kanna’s lecture and even applauded as repayment for bringing me the medication, then returned to my room.
Now I just need to sleep well, write my name on tomorrow morning’s calculus exam, and leave. Since I can’t solve it anyway, I can just write my name and go, and with only three test-takers, an A+ grade was guaranteed even with a zero score.
“You’re late, Evan.”
What the hell is this lunatic doing again? I’d just finished showering and was about to sleep when Reina Letem—that absolute madwoman—came strutting out in a skin-tight miniskirt and blouse with the buttons provocatively undone, red-rimmed glasses perched on her nose, wielding a riding crop like some deranged conductor. She slashed it through the air with sharp cracks, striking my desk repeatedly.
“My cool-headed intellectual character isn’t stupid! If you can’t solve university-level mathematics, you’re not sleeping tonight!”
I had no idea what concept she was going for this time, but I wasn’t about to indulge her madness. I decided right then—I was abandoning this room and sleeping in Kanna’s instead.
The moment I saw Reina’s unhinged expression, I bolted for the door and frantically twisted the handle. Desperate to escape, I even threw my shoulder against it, but the door wouldn’t budge.
“What?! Why won’t it open?!”
“Of course it won’t! I welded it shut!”
“You absolute lunatic!”
What kind of insane person does this?! I’d heard that metallic screeching sound the whole time I was showering—that was her welding?! And more importantly, how do you even know how to weld?! That’s something even skilled technicians struggle with!
“Listen carefully. If you break down the door, we both get demerits. If you scream in the middle of the night and call the Dormitory Manager, we both get demerits.”
….
“The only way for me to take all the demerits alone while you avoid them is if the Dormitory Manager naturally discovers this during morning inspection.”
This bastard—she’d figured out my ambition to drive Reina Letem out to the Homeless Settlement and monopolize this room for myself.
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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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