Surviving the Assassin Academy as a Genius Professor - Chapter 137

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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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Episode 137
DLC [The Hero’s Tutor]: Hotfix Ver2.3.2a(1)

⋮

One thing is greater than two. This is a matter of rarity.

A jewel that exists only once in the world is more precious than a jewel that exists twice. Because it is rarer.

Time is the same. For those with a terminal diagnosis, today is worth more than ten million gold pieces; but for those destined to live forever, ‘today’ holds no value whatsoever.

That is why the Eternal Starlight Seat∞, who lives forever, does not strive. She desires nothing. Everything in life is meaningless to her anyway.

Yet because those humans with whom she has formed a bond will die someday, the Eternal Starlight Seat does her utmost to grant their requests.

There was a time when the Eternal Starlight Seat∞
helped many people.
Like a fool.

‘…then about eight hundred years ago she vanished without a trace, or so the lore goes.’

I met the Eternal Starlight Seat∞—Song Chien—in a quiet tea house. After four thousand years of living, she bore the appearance of an ordinary woman in her thirties.

“So you’re the one. Dante Hiaka.”

She nodded lightly and settled into the seat across from me.

“Starlight Seat, I greet you.”
“You brought a bomb with you.”

She glanced toward Adel, seated at a table across the tea house.
A bomb… that’s one way to put it.

“May I ask you something?”
“You may.”
“How did you know? How to contact me.”

The method to contact the Eternal Starlight Seat∞ is remarkably simple.
First, satisfy certain conditions,
then speak her name.
But the name “Song Chien” is one she renamed herself to eight hundred years ago—a name no one knows anymore.
Yet I knew it.

“I learned how to contact you because I am a Spirit of Systematicity⧉.”

The term for a Player.
I could be honest with Song Chien. The Eternal Starlight Seat∞ is the star closest to Systematicity⧉.

“…Systematicity⧉ is the one star that should have no spirit, isn’t it?”
“There is one per world.”
“And that’s you?”
“As you see.”
…….

Song Chien’s head tilted at an angle. ‘How precious…’ Having satisfied her curiosity, she broached the main subject.

“Let’s talk about your requests. I’ll lift the penalty for your Contract Breach right now.”
“Thank you for your trouble.”
“Trouble is nothing. You probably figured this out already, but to be precise—I’m not erasing it, just postponing the penalty. Forever.”

Song Chien snapped her fingers, and my status window changed.

That was all.
The question of death that hung over Rebecca and me had been resolved so effortlessly.

“Well, you can go now. If you ask me for something like this again, I’ll change my name, so keep that in mind.”

With that, Song Chien dismissed me.
I rose and bowed my head. Then I paused, thinking.
The interaction between a gamer and the Eternal Starlight Seat∞ was originally supposed to extend no further than this.
But from the moment I’d first read her profile in the past, there was something I’d been curious about all along.

“Song Chien.”
“Don’t call me by my name. Why?”
“It’s a rude question, but—wouldn’t you rather not die?”
“…That is rude.”
“My apologies. If it’s uncomfortable, you needn’t answer.”
“…….”

Song Chien sat with a sullen expression, staring blankly for a long moment,
then slowly opened her mouth.

“…Cowardly, isn’t it. …Why do the stars demand maturity from their creations, yet allow themselves to remain children among one another? If I’d known beforehand that maturity gnaws away at the mind, how I wish I could have stayed a child….”

After she’d murmured those cryptic words,
she added this:

“…Why. Do you know how I die?”

I turned my head to meet Song Chien’s gaze.

“I don’t.”
“You’re lying…?”
“Perhaps.”
“…….”

Song Chien twisted her lips slightly.

“…Fine. Can I ask you one more thing?”
“Yes.”
“In your fight with Bakuem, the Constellation Mark you displayed—was it the Cross Star† or the Radiant Star⁺₊⋆?”
“It was the Cross Star†.”
“Was that a Taboo?”

Song Chien was asking about the Constellation Mark Bestowal I.

“It was.”
“…You should be careful. Agion sensed your Constellation Mark roughly and got quite angry about it.”
“He mistook it for the Radiant Star⁺₊⋆, it seems.”
“That’s right. And your master doesn’t usually grant Constellation Marks of that magnitude to him. Then you went and used it all of a sudden? It’s not just Agion. The other Starlight Seats will be watching you quite closely now. Someone might even come after you.”
“…….”

I was already aware that would happen. But hearing it spoken aloud sharpened the tension rising within me.
it would be wise to keep that in mind.

“May I ask one more thing?”
“Go ahead.”
“What made you call me a bomb?”

I glanced sideways at Adel.

“A feeling about someone who shouldn’t exist if there were one more of her?”

That was all she said.

“Until we meet again.”
“…Let’s not. I don’t want to grow attached.”

My meeting with the Eternal Starlight Seat∞ ended there.

* * *

The day the Hotfix notice appeared, I was at the Royal Palace. Inside that ornate building gilded in gold from every direction. There was a brief ceremony of merit rewards.

Originally it was meant to be far more lavish, but King Hiaka III suddenly left his seat on official business. According to the Script, the king seemed to have health problems.

【 Chamberlain Bakuem: “His Majesty is at the hospital again…” 】
【 Chamberlain Hibel: “This is already the third time this month. Is this really all right…?” 】

Meanwhile, I received two things at the merit ceremony.

“I grant to Senior Professor Dante Hiaka the sum of 20 million Hika and the right to own real estate in the Capital’s central district.”

My main character gained a substantial sum of money.

“I grant to General Abeltus, God of War and Supreme Commander, the sum of 30 million Hika and the hereditary title of Viscount of the Capital.”

My subcharacter received a fortune along with a title. So now my subcharacter was nobility.

To be honest, it was the greatest windfall possible. The Incursion was something that existed anyway. I had to fight and win to survive regardless. And each time, Hiaka was making sure I received proper compensation.

“Wow, Professor, treat us all!”
“Perhaps I will.”

This time too, I had brought Adel as my accompanying assistant, but after Lan and I suddenly disappeared for a week and returned, something seemed off about Adel’s expression.

– I was worried when the two of you disappeared so suddenly.

That voice sounded like a warning signal of something dangerous.
The better I treated Lan,
the more anxious Adel became.
Like the fuse of a bomb burning down.
So I decided to keep Adel close by my side for the time being.
Lan was pleased, saying she could focus on her thesis.

Thus the Hell Difficulty was proceeding smoothly.

When I returned to the academy, Shaman, the Croitz dean, called for me.

“Professor Dante.”
“Yes.”
“Have you heard the news? The Empire has begun actively supporting research and papers on Foreign Magical Power.”

I understood at once.

“…I see.”

I’d been expecting this to start soon enough.
While the Betting Table had barely progressed, another major thread was beginning to unfold simultaneously.

Main Story 3: Paradigm

This was the main narrative where the world would begin to accept the concept of the Demon Race in earnest.
As a student, it’s something you accept naturally enough.
But now that I was a professor, I would need to be at the center of ensuring that this entire world understood the Demon Race.

“So here’s the thing—would you mind selecting one paper on Foreign Magical Power for the Empire’s official announcement, Professor Dante?”
“…I’m to select a paper?”

I found that strange.

“What, don’t you want to? If you’d rather not select, why not conduct and write your own research instead?”

Even without my involvement, a fair number of professors were already learning the truth through the stars. The fact that the name Vomittekka had been made public was proof of that.
But I could say with certainty: if I didn’t reveal it, the concept of the Demon Race would ultimately never be derived by humanity.
That’s how this world was constructed.

“…It seems I’m not quite ready yet.”
“Well, I suppose you’re busy enough as it is.”

If I were to write a paper on the Demon Race, I would need far more time and materials.

“But Dean, if it’s a matter of selecting papers for imperial support, wouldn’t that fall under the domain of the senior professors?”
“Hah hah hah. True enough, but you’re a special case, aren’t you? That monster called Vomittekka, the Toxin affair—you’ve encountered Foreign Magical Power more than anyone.”

Between the professors, the assistant instructors, and the interested students—
over a hundred papers would surely pour in.
And I had to select just one.
That’s what he was saying.

“Understood.”

Until then, I hadn’t thought much of it.
I already knew the rough answer about the Demon Race.
Selecting a decent paper wouldn’t be difficult.
But then…

“Professor, Professor. Could you help me out?”

When I returned to the Residence, Adel called out to me.

“Is it for your research?”
“Yes, yes. Could I ask you to give me a kind of midterm evaluation?”
“I don’t know your curse all that well, but I’ll take a look.”

I headed toward Adel’s Room. Even living under the same roof, it was the first time I’d entered it, and it was far messier than I’d expected.

“So embarrassing~ it’s a total pigsty, isn’t it?”
“Very scholarly of you. Is this the curse you’re studying?”
“Of course.”

The table held several beakers and plastic containers, scattered among papers marked with spell circles.
I examined her research. Just as I’d seen before, it concerned Curse Number 66—the Curse of Annihilation.
Fundamentally, the Curse of Annihilation could only be applied to inanimate objects, and it activated only upon contact.

“Hmm… here, actually. The eighteen-circuit section’s been bothering me a little?”

Adel withdrew a grimoire with circuits and equations inscribed across its pages, and began explaining various details to me.
Meanwhile, I decided to use some of the Star Fragments.
Star Fragments were universal currency. Everything from learning Abilities to raising Stats, and in smaller domains, even achieving scholarly enlightenment was possible.

From a distance, characters flew toward me and struck my mind like a physical blow. Simultaneously, information bloomed in a torrent. The curse’s origin, its applications, its weaknesses, the research that had preceded it, the obstacles that had been encountered—everything washed over me.
Now I had reached a level where I knew “nearly everything” about the Curse of Annihilation.

“The circuit configuration is intriguing.”
“Oh, is that so…?”

Adel stiffened.
A professor was evaluating her research,
the work she had poured her whole effort into.

“…Assistant. What did you say this research concerns?”
“The Curse of Annihilation, sir?”
“In greater detail.”
“Well, I’m adding the mechanism of the commonly known ‘curse that penetrates barriers’ to the Curse of Annihilation as well.”
“…….”

At that moment I was standing beside the desk, leaning against it with my hand pressed flat to its surface.
I turned my head to look at Adel, seated beside me.
Adel had been swirling the flask when she felt my gaze and turned her head.
And so we stood facing each other for a brief moment.

“…Why?”
“No reason. May I look a bit more closely?”
“Of course.”

Adel had just
told
a small lie.
This was not
research into using curses to “penetrate barriers.”
It was research into using curses to “penetrate the sacred.”

“……Excellent work.”

Adel’s eyes went wide.

“Really…?”
“Indeed. You’re progressing well. The matrices are clean, the circuits show no short circuits, and your curse-language refinement is sophisticated.”
“Wow, I’m so happy~~! Oh, and I was actually thinking of adding some other elements going forward?”

With that, Adel hurriedly activated the Crystal Orb and began typing the academic paper site Black ArXiv into the search platform.
It was a single moment.
I’d caught sight of her “recent searches.”

[ One-Way Ticket to Croitz ◀ ]

What is this.
A one-way ticket to Croitz?

“If you look here…….”

Given the state of relations between Hiaka and Croitz right now, how could something like a one-way ticket possibly exist…….

‘Ah.’

It happened in an instant.
Current surged through my mind.

The Curse of Annihilation she was researching—a power to pierce the sacred.
The Underworld⧉ she’d used nine times in secret from Ezekiel.
[One-Way Ticket to Croitz]
Song Chien’s remark about ‘someone who shouldn’t exist if there were one more.’
And above all, the mention of a ‘different version’—2.1.5.

‘This person called Adel, who shouldn’t exist in this world, found someone using the Underworld⧉. And she’s researching the Curse of Annihilation. She’s learned about the unofficial passage ticket to Croitz.’

The sensation of scattered, unrelated elements converging at a single point.
And so I activated my ability.

⋮
『 World Forgery: Time Forgery [60 seconds / 60 frames] 』
⋮

“Adel.”
I called to her.
“Yes, Professor.”
Adel turned her chair to face me.
“Are we still friends?”
“…My.”
Adel’s gaze grew tender.
I couldn’t say what friends held hands like this, but she did. Her small fingertips grasped mine.
“……Yes. We’re friends.”
Then she rose slowly from her seat. Perhaps she meant to embrace me again, like last time.
I spoke first.
“I want to know just one of your secrets.”
“Mm~ It’s good to learn about each other.”
Whether it was the place or the distance between us, Adel’s voice lowered—and it rang clear.
“…What would you like to know about me, Professor?”
The hand that held my fingers soon clasped both of mine instead. But my question would be somewhat different from what she expected.
“Who do you want to kill?”
Stop.
Adel’s expression and grip froze.
Back when I’d contacted Adel while learning Glass Butterfly with Grey.
When her voice had fallen silent beyond the Crystal Orb.
Adel must have looked like this.
“…….”
Adel released my hand. The strength drained from it. Her tender gaze turned inorganic now, even colder than lanthanum. And those precious sixty seconds were flowing away.
“Adel, you—”
“Professor…. I don’t understand what you’re saying. It seems like there’s been some misunderstanding….”
“Perhaps.”
You can’t discern it from voice or silence, but her expression tells you clearly.
Because.
“…Friends ask each other things, don’t they? Why do you want to kill someone so badly? Wouldn’t it hurt for me to know?”
My words struck a crack through Adel’s expression, and she began trembling as though gripped by mortal dread.
“…….”
Her eyes quivered.
Her jaw shook harder still.
After her lips had worked silently for a moment.
“…If you knew?”
Adel spoke.
“……Would you become an accomplice?”
In the next instant, her room—the space containing both of us—crumbled to dust.

“Ah! Found it. Found it. This is what we need, Professor.”

That was when Adel pressed something into my hands. It was a research paper on what the Empire had begun developing recently—a ‘new reagent.’
A cursing agent derived from the Demon Race.

“This?”
“Yes, yes. I was thinking of adding this to my research.”
“Ah, if it’s that….”

I wrapped up our conversation haphazardly and stepped outside.
Then I contacted Ezekiel urgently.

– Golden Mouse? What’s going on.
“Dean. Is the Book of Life⧉ still at the academy?”
– Haven’t returned it. Why.
“May I use it just once. I need to find one person.”
– A person?

I listed several conditions.

“From Croitz. Likely a high-ranking priest. Female. Probably in her twenties.”
– Hmm. Croitz† has no shortage of priests, and finding them by that alone would be difficult. What else?

What else?
What else….

“Please search by the name ‘Adel.'”
– Adel? Isn’t that your teaching assistant’s name? That spy-like girl…
“Yes. Still, I ask your help.”

I didn’t know if it would work.
But a powerful intuition seized me.

– Hmm. Here it is. Adel Moang. Age 25. Senior priestess of the Croitz Holy Mother Church Order……, …what!

And my suspicion proved correct.
Ezekiel’s voice dropped low.

– ……Professor. Come to my office immediately.

I hurried toward Ezekiel’s office.
There, I saw an image he’d unfolded in the air.
A high-ranking female priest of the Croitz Kingdom’s Holy Mother Church Order.
An image of Adel Moang.
In that same moment, I understood who Adel was trying to curse with the Curse of Annihilation.

“…Astonishing, isn’t it?”

Yes, it was.
It was remarkably identical.
In the video, a woman who looked exactly like my assistant Adel was dressed in a priest’s vestments.

“Quite surprising.”

The gentle impression. The chestnut hair. The green eyes. Even the small mole beneath her eye was the same.
The voice, too, was identical.

– Yes. It is entirely by the Holy Mother’s grace~

But there was one difference: that Adel showed no warmth in her expression. It was video of her speaking with broadcast staff, and while her features were mild, her expression was stiff.

“…The same face, name, height, build, age, and gender could be coincidence. But not when even the mole and unique characteristics match perfectly.”
“…….”
“By my reasoning, this must be a matter of magical inevitability.”
“Magical inevitability, you say…?”
“My suspicion is that one of them is a replicated person. Something like a ‘doppelgänger,’ if you will.”

It happened at that very moment.
A Tip⧉ suddenly appeared before my eyes.

⧉ Tip: Adel Moang is a cleric in the ‘Hero’s Party.’

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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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