Surviving the Assassin Academy as a Genius Professor - Chapter 140

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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 140
DLC [The Hero’s Professor]: Hotfix Ver2.3.2a(4)

“Dante! You bastard…!! But even so, isn’t this far too reckless with your words…!? No matter your grievances, how can you speak of abandoning the Academy like that…!!”

Shaman lurched to his feet as if to charge, but Balkan rose and stopped him.

“Are you serious, golden rat?”

Ezekiel’s brow furrowed as well.

“You’d resign from the Academy over one instructor’s death in an assassin organization?”

It was no different from replacing a tool in a workshop.
I was the master.
Adel was the tool.
Those who were thus flustered—
there was one struck silent instead.

…….

The Director.
The owl-masked figure sat frozen, beak hanging open.
She’d been caught in a dilemma.

One: she was supposed to kill Adel without my knowledge.
Two: I’d caught on and spoiled it.
Three: but Systematicity ⧉ exists as a Starlight Seat for the Gamer to enjoy the game, and this game’s name is “Hiaka Academy,” so the moment I leave the Academy, Systematicity ⧉ loses its purpose for existence.

Caught between a rock and a hard place, unable to move in either direction.

“…Professor Dante.”

The owl began damage control.

“However did we come to this?”

Her voice was as gentle as before,
but what lay beneath it was not.

“What do you mean?”
“Are we doing this just for ourselves? We must help each other. You’re presently asserting one-sided rights!”
“Director. The matter is simple. If you don’t kill Adel, I remain here. How is that an assertion of one-sided rights?”
“If you treat me this way, why wouldn’t I abandon caution as well?”

A declaration that she wouldn’t yield gracefully.

“I have means too, Professor Dante.”

I narrowed my eyes. The ‘means’ appeared in the Script.

【 Director Hedwig: ‘At this rate, I shall have to request a permanent postponement of the Hotfix.’ 】

Damn.

The Director had unveiled her next move. If I didn’t kill Adel, she wouldn’t perform the Hotfix.
This was undoubtedly a threat.

At this moment, the only place I can gather information is End Ocean. Those clear users of the game who revered me with an almost peculiar devotion. It was there, too, where Adel first identified the 2.1.5 Bug.

⋮

⋮

There is no administrator managing even the game community.
In other words, End Ocean lies beyond the domain of Systematicity ⧉.

“So you’re satisfied, then? Professor Dante saves Adel. We don’t do what we’re supposed to do. A result where everyone’s happy, wouldn’t you say? Mm?”
“…….”

Because she knows that, the Headmaster is now using the Hotfix as leverage to coerce me.

“…….”

I fell silent, lost in thought.

【 Headmaster Hedwig : ‘You’re frightened, aren’t you? Terrified?’ 】
【 Headmaster Hedwig : ‘I imagine Dante must have suffered greatly because of the Bug. But what can Dante do if we don’t patch it?’ 】

As the silence stretched on, the Headmaster grew confident in victory.

【 Headmaster Hedwig : ‘In the end, there can only be Gamers if Systematicity ⧉ exists. Dante.’ 】

The department heads beside her chimed in as well. Both Balkan and Ezekiel. Words urging me to ‘calm myself,’ to ‘try talking again.’
Last of all, Shaman approached and let out a deep sigh.

“…Professor Dante. Please, don’t come into conflict with the Headmaster. For Hiaka and the Academy, such conflict will only bring the worst futures….”

This old man, along with me, is concerned for the future of the Academy and Hiaka.
At this point, I made my decision.

“…I apologize, Headmaster.”
“Mm? Are you yielding?”
“…Yes.”
“Hmph!”

A satisfied smile played at the corners of the Headmaster’s mouth.

“…You should have done so from the start. After troubling the Headmaster all this time, did you think an apology now would earn you forgiveness?”
“Headmaster!!”

This time, Shaman growled. The Headmaster flinched slightly, then turned away sharply.

“Ahem! Very well, Professor Dante. So, you agree to kill Adel too?”
“Yes. I will see it done.”
“Ahem! You should have said so from the start.”
“However. She is a teaching assistant I’ve grown quite fond of. Please allow me to kill her with my own hands.”
“……With your own hands?”

At that moment, the air grew subtly heavy. The Headmaster’s lips closed.
The owl mask turned to face me. For an instant, I glimpsed two eyes within the dark beak, gleaming from the nostrils.

【 Headmaster Hedwig : ‘…Is this a deception?’ 】

The Headmaster suspects me.

【 Is Dante trying to fool me? 】

And with that, her thoughts continued in quick succession.

【 IF, what if this is all a scheme? What does Dante want? 】

【 A : What Dante wants is to slip into the Hotfix. He’ll probably try to extract information from those damned interdimensional players at the End Ocean. 】

【 Since we have 59 minutes until the Hotfix. During those 59 minutes, Professor Dante can pretend to kill Adel, while I delay my request to Systematicity ⧉ to halt the Hotfix. 】

【 Halting the Hotfix is a unique authority granted only to me…… If I’m the only one fooled, then Professor Dante wins, doesn’t he? 】

【 What if he whispers something like “Adel, I loved you…” while hiding a blade behind his back as he approaches my assistant—how could I possibly request the Hotfix halt? 】

【 And Dante’s mastery of Illusion Magic is truly exceptional. If he creates a Phantom Body of Adel collapsing as if dead, I cannot be certain I wouldn’t be deceived. If that happens, Adel won’t actually die, the Hotfix proceeds as scheduled, and we’ll have catastrophe. 】

I bit down hard on my lower lip.
Had I been exposed…?
Was the play too obvious?
The Headmaster was reading my calculations far more accurately than I’d anticipated, seeing through every corner of my schemes.
At that same instant.

【 Headmaster Hedwig: ‘That’s right, isn’t it?’ 】
【 Headmaster Hedwig: ‘Now that I think about it, Dante can read my thoughts too, can’t he?’ 】
【 Headmaster Hedwig: ‘You’ve been watching all along, haven’t you? Seeing my shameful intentions?’ 】

He had recognized that his Script was being read.
Our eyes met after his gaze crossed with the Owl’s.

【 Headmaster Hedwig: ‘Pervert.’ 】

Immediately after, the Headmaster’s thoughts took a strange turn.

【 ‘Hack, bug, patch, balance, nerf, buff, hotfix, update, maintenance, server, client, rank, matchmaking, report, ban, abuse, account suspension, user database, loading, ping. Debugging, rollback, traffic, event, coupon, operating policy, notice, user feedback, test server, live server, crash, disconnect, login error, server merger, content rebalancing, seasonal system, reward, monetization incentive, premium currency, cash purchase.’ 】

There exists no method to make a person “not think of an elephant.” Yet it is possible to “continuously think of other things instead.”
It was a countermeasure to Script that I had devised long ago—and the Headmaster was employing it now.

Only after blocking all my stratagems in that single moment did the Headmaster finally find composure, and spoke.

“Splendid. Go ahead, Professor Dante. Kill your assistant Adel.”

Then he smiled, his lips stretching wide and sinister.

“But here. Right before my eyes.”

Ah!
That was the Headmaster’s answer.
To prevent me from scheming, he was forcing me to kill Adel outright.
He was engineering the situation.

“…Headmaster. That’s asking too much.”
“What is?”

I objected hastily.

“…You want to give a fond acquaintance a proper end, yet you’re telling me to do it in front of everyone? How is that different from a public execution?”
“Then perform a public execution.”
“We’ve spent time together. We’ve shared words. There are things I wish to say. You’re ordering me to do this in a place like this?”
“Yes, yes.”

The department heads beside him went rigid. No matter how skilled an assassin one might be, they were still human. To demand a public execution of a valued colleague felt like crossing a line.

“If you refuse, that’s fine! I’ll simply resort to other means!”

This rude owl-headed creature continued to make plain the solidity of her position as master of the game.
Some administrators believed that Gamers needed to be broken in. That was the stance Hedwig took toward me now.

……

So my options had narrowed to two.

Lose the Hotfix.
Or kill Adel.

“What are you doing?”

The Headmaster asked as I reached for the Crystal Orb.

“I was going to send her a message, but—”
“Make it a call, Professor Dante. Speaker mode!”

Everything under her control. Every choice filtered through her hands.
That was the essence of Systematicity ⧉.

— Hello?

Adel picked up almost immediately.

— Oh! Professor? We have a date soon. Teehee~
“…Adel. Would you come to the Small Conference Room on the fifth floor of the Assassination Department Building right now, if you’re free?”
— Fifth floor, now? Why…?
“…It’s about your thesis.”
— What?! Really?
— Did you mention it to the department heads or the senior professors??
“…Something like that.”
— I’m on my way!!

The brighter her voice grew, the grimmer their expressions became. Yet even now, with the situation having reached this point, Hedwig seemed to doubt her own caution was sufficient.

“Department Head Shaman? Give Professor Dante the Deadly Needle Ω.”
“Headmaster, you’re really going to—!!”

Shaman’s voice wavered.

“Why not? If she’s to die anyway, isn’t it a kindness to spare her suffering? It would be mercy toward Instructor Adel.”

Imperial Designated Artifact No. 82: the Deadly Needle Ω.
Rated [Legendary I], it was one of three special throwing needles possessed by the Throwing-class assassin Shaman. A needle that, at the moment of penetration, severed the signs of life and brought death.

Shaman did not refuse the Headmaster’s request. He too believed Adel should die.
But the expression on the large old man’s face as he approached me was dark.
As though he grieved for the terrible tragedy about to unfold.

……

I took the short dagger from him with an even hand.
The metal was heavy in my palm.

After that, I fell silent and waited.
We all waited in silence.
If only Adel would come to this conference room.

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Knock, knock. I told her to come in. The fifth floor belonged to senior executives like the department heads, so Adel opened the door with considerable caution. ‘A professor…. …huh?’ She smiled brightly at seeing me, then stiffened upon noticing the three department heads seated behind me, and her eyes went wide the moment she caught sight of the Headmaster. Rumors swirled endlessly about her, but she rarely showed her face.
Perhaps because I’d mentioned the meeting concerned her thesis. The moment Adel entered, she bowed to everyone at a perfect right angle. “Hello!” she announced in a loud voice. From me came the Headmaster’s tone: ‘Let’s get straight to it.’ She was determined to cut off even the smallest hesitation.

“Adel.”
“Y-yes….”
“Are you nervous?”
“Yes, I….”
“Before you speak with these executives, there’s something I wanted to tell you. Is it alright if we take a moment?”
“Oh, o-of course…?”

I moved with a dagger hidden near my hip. Then I approached close enough to Adel’s face that she could feel my breath.
It was the first time I’d come this near to her in front of others. Adel stumbled backward, startled by my sudden approach. With each step she retreated, I followed.

“…Professor, wh-?”

I bent down and embraced her. My right hand, gripping the dagger, wrapped around her, while my left pressed her forehead firmly into my chest.

Adel seemed surprised, but she didn’t resist. Her body simply went rigid. I whispered something into her ear.

A final word before parting with someone precious.

An order that would appear to be just that.

‘Kill the Headmaster.’

Adel’s hand, which had been fumbling uncertainly near my ribs beneath my coat,

―wove the Seal.

Burst!―

The ‘head’ inside the owl costume exploded.
Immediately after, I seized Adel’s hand and bolted toward the window.

“Run, Adel!”
“P-Professor?! What is this—?!”
“Stop talking and run!”

‘Dante!’ Balkan lurched to his feet to grab me, but Ezekiel’s arm blocked his path. ‘Ezekiel.’ ‘….’ While the two of them growled at each other, the window was right before us.

“Professor?! We’re on the fifth floor…!”
“I’m jumping!”
“B-but—?!”

Crash!!

And so Adel and I shattered the window and plummeted together. From the fifth story of the building. Down to the ground below.

“Ahhh—”

I landed clutching Adel to my chest. At the same moment, a car executed a drift and screeched to a halt in front of me. ‘Get in!’ It was Lan, who had received my ‘message’ and arrived ahead of time. The instant we threw ourselves inside, Lan slammed hard on the accelerator.

Vroom vroom vroom!!

This was the hint.
The thought that Hedwig alone had been carrying.

【 Since requesting a Hotfix suspension is an exclusive authority granted to me alone…… if I’m the only one deceived, then Professor Dante’s victory is assured, isn’t it? 】

Which meant that when Hedwig died, there would be no one left capable of halting the Hotfix!
And no matter how monstrous a Challenger or Starlight Seat might be, once the Instant Death Curse number 96 was triggered, there existed no way to evade it.
They had to die before it activated—and at that moment, I was holding Adel, shielding her hands while keeping her safe simultaneously.

Yet it was far from over. Even if the Hotfix suspension request never went through, Systematicity ⧉’s forces would now stop at nothing to kill Adel.

By any means necessary.

“Professor! Hostiles closing in!”

Sure enough, pursuers were already on our tail.
Now, if I could keep Adel alive until the Hotfix began, I could reach the truth of this entire situation and solve every problem.
Which meant: forty minutes.

Hold out for forty minutes, and victory was mine.

Exactly forty minutes later.

Adel and I had somehow managed to survive inside the wrecked car.

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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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