Surviving the Assassin Academy as a Genius Professor - Chapter 23

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

Episode 23.
EP9 – The Right Path (1)

After that, Hoaquin allegedly refused to attend classes for some time.
The psychological shock must have been severe.
Jamryong Society is so brilliant that his talents get overshadowed, but Hoaquin would have been more than elite enough for Jamryong Society if he’d been Hard Difficulty.
From the Black Path Faction’s perspective, training a single assassin of that caliber cost at minimum several million Hika.
And here was this gifted child, suddenly shattered by some neutral professor.
There were Black Path professors who felt gratitude toward me over the Marina incident, but those were moderates.
Among the radicals, they had more than enough reason to harbor ill will toward me.

“……Today’s lesson ends here.”

Meanwhile, the classes were finding stability.
Since I was a stagnant pool of knowledge, I could speak endlessly about abilities, and the students’ murderous intent had been broken by the Hoaquin incident.
And so the lesson ended, and I stepped outside.

“…….”
“…….”

The gazes of two students standing in the hallway were unkind.
There had always been plenty of eyes wanting me dead, but these two carried something more suspicious. They were deliberating about something.
The ones who’d been glancing around headed outside the building. Then they started talking.

【 First-year Assassination Studies, Harun: “What do we do?” 】
【 First-year Assassination Studies, Mateo: “What do you mean ‘what’? We report it to Professor Hacon. He said to summon him before Professor Dante enters the White Path Alliance.” 】

Professor Hacon?
I’d heard that name before.
He was a senior professor with considerable standing among the faculty.

【 First-year Assassination Studies, Harun: “Did you see his eyes? They’re terrifying, dammit….” 】
【 First-year Assassination Studies, Mateo: “Then I’ll do it. You stay out of it.” 】

I thought I should slip away before getting entangled in needless trouble.
But luck wasn’t on my side. I ran straight into Professor Hacon—the very man they’d been discussing—in the middle of the hallway.

“Well, who do we have here? Aren’t you Professor Dante?”

His build was massive, muscles threatening to burst through his frame. The aura radiating from him was considerable.

● Black Path Professor Hacon

“And you are?”
“Who else? A fellow professor. I’m Hacon from Assassination Studies.”
“…….”

He extended his hand for a handshake, which I did not take.

【 Black Path Professor Hacon: ‘Won’t shake my hand?’ 】
【 Black Path Professor Hacon: ‘I was going to collect a blood sample.’ 】

As expected. He’d been preparing to cast a Curse.

“I hear you’ve been quite busy since your appointment, Professor. Would you have some time today? Let’s have a word.”
“I appreciate the offer, but that won’t be necessary.”

I was passing through the cramped hallway slowly when it happened.

“Professor Dante.”

He spoke as he passed.

“Don’t get cocky.”

I stopped in my tracks.
For an instant, a subtle current of tension flowed between us.

“Did the Black Path Faction send you, or did you come of your own accord?”
“You’re being terse, Professor. I just told you not to get cocky, and yet…….”
“Answer me.”
“…You’re a strange one, aren’t you? Not even a month into your position, and you’re poking your nose around with no backing to speak of. What makes you so confident?”

Professor Hacon burst into hearty laughter.

“Did the Black Path Faction send me? What kind of ridiculous question is that? You think I came here just to kill time on my own?”

But words and thoughts are different things.

【 Professor Hacon: ‘They told me not to worry from above, but I can’t just let this slide. The Hoaquin matter is only the beginning. A professor who can’t tell heaven from earth will be a constant nuisance.’ 】

Unexpectedly, he’d come of his own volition.
After gleaning that much, I moved on.

“Remember the value of your life.”

He was likely Hoaquin’s assigned professor.
The White Path side probably didn’t want conflict with him, so they quietly turned a blind eye to Forte.
He thought I was running away and raised his voice.

“Professor Dante. You’re too full of yourself. I’m warning you once more. While you still have that one life, just do your job as a professor. To me, dismembering a single wretch like you is nothing.”

He poured out his fury in torrents.
I walked on without answering.

【 Black Path Professor Hacon: ‘…Ignoring me, are you? How dare you disrespect me, the Ghost of War?’ 】

Only after passing the turning in the corridor did I check the script a bit further.

【 Black Path Professor Hacon: ‘This presumptuous bastard. I was even considering recruiting him into the Black Path Faction, but that won’t do at all.’ 】
【 Black Path Professor Hacon: ‘Professor Dante. Your death will come from not listening to what people say. See you soon. At that fine mansion of yours where you teach.’ 】

He was planning to make his move soon, it seemed.
Hacon was a Master-rank assassin—ranked 7,132nd among 15 million martial artists across the continent—and among the professors, a senior of considerable strength.
If I faced him with the tools I possessed, it would end with either my death or his, and I had no way of knowing how it would affect my relationship with the Black Path.

‘…But if assassination comes, I will kill him without fail.’

Someday, with someone, I will inevitably become enemies.
That is the nature of the assassination department.

* * *

The rumor that Professor Dante had arrested Hoaquin’s proxy assassin spread quickly through the assassination department.

Professors from the Black Path Faction found it displeasing.
The neutral professors wore sour expressions.
Most of the students, however, found it amusing.

“That bastard Hoaquin went way too far.”
“Shh. Someone might hear.”

Meanwhile, word of the incident had reached the ears of the Jamryong Society.
In an old warehouse, where four of the society’s seven members lay hidden.
Dante became the subject of their conversation.

“Hoaquin. That guy really got hammered, didn’t he?”
“Grade 9 Penalty, they said. With confiscations, he was fined nearly a million Hika.”
“Damn. A million Hika? That’s insane…. But wait, Hoaquin was always good at hiding and reading the room. Why did he suddenly ram into that professor?”
“How should I know.”

As this idle chatter continued,
Kaiser, the team leader, spoke in a low, heavy voice.

“Kendraike.”

A bulky student with a fierce expression turned, frowning.
Long-haired, backlit by the warehouse’s window glow.

“…What. Why.”

Kaiser knew everything.
Or so the Jamryong Society students believed.
Was that why?
In truth, Kaiser had only called his name to point out a mosquito perched on Kendraike’s head.
But seeing the narrowed, vertical pupils, Kendraike felt caught and blurted out:

“Fine. Yes. I encouraged the assassination attempt. So what.”
……

Kaiser’s mind filled with question marks. ‘???’
He didn’t understand what Kendraike meant, but he sent a searching look.

“…Damn it. Don’t look at me like that, you bastard! I was just curious, alright!”
“Curious about what.”
“Balmung kept going on and on about how Professor Dante is strong. So I wanted to verify it myself.”

At that, Balmung let out a scoff.

“You blockhead.”
“Want to shut your mouth? My patience has limits.”
“Damn.”

Ah. So that’s what happened.
Kaiser internally shuddered.
To dare show such disrespect to a professor….

“Anyway.”
“I don’t know, damn it. Some intelligence came in, and apparently he used magic too.”
“Magic.”
“Something about stopping time…. But it can’t be Time Magic—those insects probably panicked and saw things that weren’t there.”
“…I suppose.”
“What do you mean ‘I suppose’? Time Magic is an ultra-high-tier magic that requires at least Grand Magician rank to handle.”

That was true. There were likely fewer than ten mages capable of wielding Time Magic across the entire continent’s hundreds of millions of people. Most would be high-ranking Rankers at the Grand Master level or above.
But…Kaiser thought it possible. If the professor were Dante, it might just be within his reach.
Dante is extraordinary.
He saw through her identity in a glance—something that had never been revealed before the Dean, the royal bureaucrats, or even the Tower Masters of magic.
Eyes that perceive true nature.
Power that commands space itself.
And possessing all of it, he carried an ease that never betrayed or flaunted what he knew.

‘Professor Dante Hiaka. You… surely you don’t also command Time Magic…?’

Kaiser felt a sudden, searing shame.
The gift he had brought—or rather, the bribe—now seemed laughably meager.
Good heavens. A Mana Elixir for one who had reached the rank of Grand Magician?
It was no different than offering a hundred Hika notes to the world’s richest man as if doing him a favor!

‘Ugh! To have sent such a thing and then said [I hope you find it to your liking]!’

His body trembled with the force of his mortification.
The cadets noticed and exchanged glances.

‘Kaiser is trembling with rage….’
‘That bastard’s pride must be wounded something fierce.’
‘What did those two talk about that day?’

The day Dante had been brought to Jamryong Academy.
Kaiser, as team leader, had spoken with the professor one-on-one.
And he had sent him away showing signs of disappointment.

It had been a shocking event for them all.

Whether it was a professor or a noble, Kaiser had never bowed his head before anyone.
Even if they had brought the King himself or an Emperor, Kaiser would not have yielded in spirit.
Yet here he was, showing signs of disappointment.
The Jamryong Society interpreted this incident as Kaiser’s first defeat at the hands of Professor Dante.
And so whenever the professor’s name came up, Kaiser would suffer—or so they believed.
But precisely because of that, there was a certain dark pleasure in assassination.

“Sooner or later, I’ll kill him myself.”
“You won’t manage it even if you die trying.”
“Me? I think I actually might be able to.”

As the cadets bickered among themselves,
Kaiser pulled himself away from the windowsill and spoke.

“……It’s time. Everyone, prepare.”

At his command, they all shook off their reverie and loosened their limbs.
Kaiser snapped his fingers.
Snap!
In an instant, all their clothes transformed into servants’ uniforms and maids’ garments. Then—

Whoosh—

Kendraike pulled out a battle-axe called Santa Barbara, which had an Explosion enchantment woven into it.

Whirl—

Balmung drew out a sniper rifle of Legend I grade called Siegfried⚉, its finish dark as ink, and spun it once before gripping it firmly in hand.

Shriek—

Grey, too, unraveled the Silver Thread—a hereditary unique ability of the Habanero Family—across both his palms. It was a wire of electricity, sharper than any blade the world had ever known.

Kaiser’s short-term objective: purging traitors who sold out the nation.
Long-term objective: the assassination of the Imperial Emperor.

‘… I never wanted any of this in the first place.’

Kaiser wept internally as he opened the warehouse door and stepped outside.
Limping on his cane.

The venue was a secluded banquet hall somewhere in Hiaka.
Beneath an antique chandelier, middle-aged men in period dress clustered in small groups, chatting merrily.
An executive gathering of the mid-tier military suppliers ‘Steel & Labs’ and ‘Smith’—all flushed and fairly drunk after several rounds.
Perhaps that was why.
They could not react properly when the cadets appeared so suddenly.

“Huh? Who are you all…?”
“Good evening, sirs. You are indeed excellent weapons merchants.”
“What? Heh, heh… Even servants know that, it seems.”
“These kids say the strangest things. Should we sign something for you?”

Kaiser continued speaking.

“Sirs, you have profited handsomely within the Kingdom of Hiaka by exploiting Imperial pressure. You have a record of kidnapping our children—framing them as Imperial schemes to stoke conflict. Twelve were taken, and half were murdered. You have also conspired with the neutral chief professors in treason, aiding the enemy nation by leaking technologies. Given these facts, I must tell you that you have significantly obstructed our ultimate plan.”
“……”
Furthermore, you have worked with the neutral senior faculty in acts of treason, helping enemy nations through the leak of technologies. Based on these grounds, I must inform you that you gentlemen have greatly hindered our ultimate objectives.”

The businessmen fell silent. The air grew tense. ‘Someone, help us…!’ They searched frantically for anyone to aid them, but no answer came.

They had already killed everyone on the way in.
Kaiser withdrew the blade concealed within his cane.

Shing—

A blade with no special properties.
Yet an ominous and intense wave of magical force poured forth from it.

“We, too, are sinners.”

Immediately after the command for execution was given.
The banquet hall became a sea of blood in an instant.

⋮

Meanwhile, Kaiser bore a heavy heart over these operations.

When he returned to Jamryong Academy after completing the mission, Kaiser found himself hunched over the toilet in his private quarters, retching.

“Retch—! Gasp, gasp……”

It had been half a year now.
Each time Kaiser witnessed death, he had to spend these moments.
His nature was not violent. He had been born into an ordinary household and lived an ordinary life from childhood.
Yet no matter how long he retched, the knot twisted in his chest would not come up. The anguish only grew.

“……”

He had killed people.
For dreams that had nothing to do with him, he was killing people who had nothing to do with him.
He didn’t even know if it was right or wrong—only that it hurt.
Whether he was a champion of justice or a puppet master, neither fit Kaiser’s nature in the slightest.

“Sigh…….”

And so, having emptied his stomach, Kaiser sat slumped before the toilet, gazing blankly through the bathroom window at the sky.
What a suffocating life this was.
Where was the rope that might let him escape?
It was clear he could not break free from this reality. He knew far too much. The Jamryong Society had placed far too much trust in him.
Yet Kaiser yearned to confide his burden to someone.

“…….”

Ah, that’s right.
There was no one left to listen to him now.
Until recently, he could have asked no one in this world for help, but things were different now.

“…….”

He reached for the Crystal Orb to send a message.
But then he hesitated—should he send it or not, and if he did, what could he possibly say, would it be too trivial to bother that person with—wrestling with these questions for some time.
He finally wrote and sent just a single sentence.

– Kaiser: Professor. What is assassination?

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