Surviving the Assassin Academy as a Genius Professor - Chapter 111

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

Episode 111
EP27 – Starlight Meeting Mountain Redevelopment (1) [Illustration]

The masters who stand at the apex of this world, the Starlight Seats, harbored a secret unknown to all.

They grew weaker the moment they stopped moving.

There were thirty-three stars in total.
And thirty-three Starlight Seats, each selected by their star in a one-to-one bond.

To slip through that needle’s eye, masters throughout history had mobilized every conceivable loophole.

Ever-evolving drugs, increasingly subtle curse reversals, Taboos they’d managed to unearth, ancient techniques and more—the competition had only grown fiercer with each passing age, and they advanced ever closer to realms forbidden to ordinary humanity.

But unauthorized, illegal expansion inevitably crumbles.

The divine had granted mankind only sandcastles, yet they kept trying to build mountains, and so the avalanche came.
The Starlight Seats had to keep pouring sand just to hold the mountains together.
In the mundane world, all revered them. The Starlight Seats themselves hid from view to maintain an air of mystery, but in truth they crouched in corners, shoveling sand.

They even avoided fighting one another.
Their strength was fading, after all.

A life rather different from what the secular masses imagined when they pictured absolute beings called Starlight Seats. The image was tarnished at the edges, but what could be done? This was the reality of the Starlight Seats.

And among them.

“Lord have mercy.”

Gyeonghap Starlight Seat, ranked tenth in the world, sat atop the highest tree on the peak of the highest mountain. Cross-legged. It was to control the power trying to leak free.

“Still at it, I see….”

A man wearing a bread bag over his head laughed at the sight of Gyeonghap Starlight Seat.

“Every time I see it, it’s strange. You could do it on the ground just as well. Not like it’d help any doing it up high like that.”

‘That guy’s the type who’d probably want his ashes shot into space when he dies….’ the man muttered to himself.

“Why did you come.”

The voice made the entire space vibrate. It came from Gyeonghap Starlight Seat in the tree.
An instant later, eyes sharp as a hawk’s slowly opened.

“Oh, sorry. You were listening?”

The startled bread-bag man waved his hand.

“Your business.”
“Right, right. It’s not much. Something interesting happened in the mundane world—you know, one of those things. I wanted to ask you about it.”
“What matter.”
“What? Your ward star didn’t tell you?”

Gyeonghap Starlight Seat’s brow furrowed.
He apparently didn’t know.
The bread-bag man clicked his tongue internally—figures, the way he puts on airs all the time, even his companion star probably ignores him.

“I asked. What matter is it.”
“Hmm…….”

There was nothing for it. He’d have to reveal the truth himself.

“Your dungeon. The 10s Server record, you know.”

The hawk-faced man’s expression twisted.

“Have you come to needle me again about placing second?”
“What? No! That’s not it at all.”
“Then what.”
“That record—it broke yesterday.”

Gyeonghap Starlight Seat’s eyes narrowed.
A sigh escaped his lips.

“I see. Time passes, doesn’t it…. All records are destined to fall eventually, including mine….”
“That’s not what I’m saying. It wasn’t your record that fell.”
“What?”

The man in the bread wrapper smiled, anticipating the bewilderment of someone who’d spent thirty years maintaining his lead.

“First place fell.”

Gyeonghap Starlight Seat’s shock was exactly as predicted.
Even more than when he’d heard his own record had broken.

* * *

Four days of chaos.

– (First Place) Record Updated After 100 Years.
– “Gyeonghap Starlight Seat’s Dungeon” First Place Shockingly Cut Short.
– Empire Hatengrajou Academy “A Remarkable Feat! The Infamous 30-Minute Barrier Finally Broken!”

Without distinction between domestic and international press, every martial arts outlet reported on this development. The general media followed suit, churning out endless commentary.

A time reduction for the first time in a hundred years. And one that had shattered the symbolic threshold of thirty minutes, dropping into the twenties.

The reason this caused global shock was simple: three in every ten martial artists attempted Gyeonghap Starlight Seat’s Dungeon.

Most of them stalled at the second or third section. Only the top ten percent managed to clear all five sections and complete the dungeon.

Even then, their times typically ran four or five hours.
And now, on this day, all that had changed.

1. [Private] Anonymous: 29 min 19 sec 19 (▲999, new!!)

Even this alone was astonishing, but foreign press focused on something else.

– Gyeonghap Society: Shocked by “10s Server” Record Update.
– Management Bureau “The Birth of Generations of Geniuses? It’s Only a Matter of Time Before Records Fall Across Every Other Server.”

Servers were divided by age because martial artists grew stronger as they aged.
So everyone could imagine it.
The martial force that had achieved first place in the teens—what they would become in their thirties, their fifties, as years unfolded.

But then.
There was one problem.

– In the dark: The party’s identity remains unknown……
– 『Entered the 20-minute range. A record unseen in 100 years. Yet their identity is a mystery. We now seek “those four from that day.”』
《Hatengrajou Empire Communication》

Using “Anonymous” in the Starmark Dungeon meant borrowing the power of a Starlight Seat called Anonymity.
In other words, while everyone knew the record had been broken, no one knew who had done it.
The only ones who possessed even a hint—the Starmark Dungeon Management Bureau—chose to evade the answer by revering the Starlight Seat.

– Anonymous, yet undeniably they existed.
– “Who are they?”

Many sought to find “them”.

– Official Imperial Proclamation: “Inquire as to the whereabouts of those who have achieved this feat.”

The Imperial Court itself was burning with curiosity.

* * *

And what was I doing at that moment?

Sucking on my finger.
Because I was anonymous.

‘What a waste.’

At first, that was all I thought—what a waste.
Hiaka was already dismissed across the continent.
Only Grey had managed to improve our image slightly.
How advantageous it would have been if we’d announced this achievement?

‘A server only gets one challenge attempt per year. There’s no way to redo it now.’

But as time passed, something beyond mere regret began to settle in me.
This was an achievement with no logical reason to hide.
So-called experts gradually began suggesting it might be an error on the part of the Starlight Seat—the kind that occasionally caused bugs.
By the fourth day, other nations began rushing in to claim a piece of the glory.

– Hitahita Academy: “Hitahita’s geniuses are stirring to life. The 100-year record is merely the beginning.”
– The Khan Federation National Academy declares:

Good grief.

The Empire’s keeping quiet because the Imperial Court itself asked ‘Who are you?’ and shut down further speculation.
But call it an ‘assassination unit’ and there’s no obligation to disclose—so they just throw it out there regardless.
It was then that Hiaka Academy also released a statement.

– “Regarding the new record on the Gyeonghap Starlight Seat’s Dungeon, this Academy cannot definitively assert our non-involvement.”

For crying out loud—they can’t manage their own reputation to save their lives.
Doesn’t it look like we’re the most shameless for jumping in? And yet we’re the ones who actually did it.
Even the web reactions reflected this.

This was the continent’s current perception of Hiaka. I had no particular patriotism, but I was getting slightly annoyed.
There was one more thing that irritated me. Croitz. They’d gone so far as to put forward an actual person, claiming credit for the whole affair.

– Croitz Academy “If you seek the truth, come study at Croitz. Professors who advanced to the 10s Server await your arrival.”

Those lunatics.
How do they draw aggro so well?

‘Look at them setting up amulets as professors….’

It was getting out of hand. I wasn’t the only one feeling this way—the Dante Assassination Unit was bouncing off the walls too.

“This is infuriating! We’re the ones who did it! Right, Professor?!”
“Yes, of course!”
“This was our chance to spread the Professor’s name far and wide…!!”

Something about it felt off, but I let it pass.
Truth be told, it didn’t matter.

‘It’s only a matter of time.’

The Dante Assassination Unit had cleared it in record time partly because fortune favored them, but also because their growth had been held back by lack of real combat experience—and it all burst free at once.
Fundamentally, though, their trajectory of potential was different.

Soon enough, even if they tried to hide it, they wouldn’t be able to.
An awl in a pocket always pokes through eventually.

“Stop checking the reports. And Ran.”
“Yes. Cadets, please gather before me. We shall now hold the Patch Awarding Ceremony for this first field engagement.”

And so four cadets approached me, their faces tense with anticipation.
But there was a problem with this ceremony.

…….

Ran stared blankly at the children for a moment, then turned his eyes toward me.

“I’ll need to run the calculations. ……Ah.”

Right. This time, I hadn’t known what those brats were doing during the mission.
Normally everything would run under my direct control, but this time Rebecca had told me not to.

“I see. Everyone, listen up.”

Four pairs of eyes fixed on me.

“Since I’m not fully aware of your specific performance this time, I can’t award Patches. What do you make of that?”
“Sir?!”
“Huh?? That’s too harsh!”
“What?!”

Valmond and Elise registered their complaints in order. Kendrick, who seemed to have some sense about him, wisely followed suit.

“How can there be no such thing?”
“There isn’t?”
“Well. If that’s what the Professor says, then I suppose… but still, that’s a good opportunity to raise our share of the compensation. We ranked first in the world with these guys and all, so… honestly, we should get them.”

It was Grey who approached it with unexpected logic. And I found her reasoning satisfying.
I considered awarding them all.
But then.
I realized it still didn’t align with the purpose.
For now, it still had to look like something I wanted but didn’t yet have.
So I asked them a question.

“I’d like to give this to all of you, but unfortunately I only have one Patch prepared right now.”
“Eh…? Can’t you just make more…?”
“Quiet. There’s only one. So you three decide among yourselves. Put your hand on your conscience. Who contributed the most in this Dungeon?”

The three of them glanced at each other sideways.

“On the count of three, we’ll each point to someone.”

The moment Ran spoke, the three tensed, and one of them furrowed their brow and scratched their cheek.
Ran placed a Clock on her head and continued.

“Who contributed the most? One. Two. Three.”

Grey → Elise
Kendrick → Elise
Elise → Valmond
Valmond → Valmond

Everyone’s gaze fixed on Valmond.

“Huh? Valmond. You picked yourself? You did contribute, but to choose yourself like that…”
“…Ugh. Tsk tsk. How pathetic. Really.”
“Ugh… pfft…”

Such shameless self-selection!
Realizing his own disgrace, Valmond’s face flushed crimson as he cried out.

“So what! I did contribute, so I picked myself! What’s wrong with that!”

Everyone waited for my decision.
After all, the count was 2:2, wasn’t it?
I shook my head. It should go to whoever had earned recognition from others.
So the Grade B Patch went to Elise.

“Ooooh, so pretty, so pretty! Beautiful!”

As Elise twirled her body before everyone, flashing the Patch in triumph, Valmond gnashed his teeth in silent fury.

【 Valmond: ‘I want it too!!!!!!!!’ 】

Only Valmond’s soundless wail continued to echo.

* Author’s Note
Illustrations will be uploaded from time to time. There will be both male and female characters.
The wonderful artist @2sirin collaborated with me on this work.
Thank you all for being with me until now.
I will continue forward without losing my humility, staying sincere and entertaining, and working hard.

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