Surviving the Assassin Academy as a Genius Professor - Chapter 24

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

Episode 24
EP9 – Righteousness (2)

The Assassination Department is like a fishbowl.
From the rigidly controlled daily life. The inability to venture outside for long. The shallow mourning over dead fish. And so on.

Somehow, rumors had spread wide.
Rumors that Professor Hacon was trying to kill me. As I walked the corridor, the cadets would steal glances, so I pulled up the Script.

【 Assassination Department First-year, Vain : “Did you hear? Hacon’s going to kill Professor Dante soon.” 】
【 Assassination Department First-year, Lil : “Yeah. But professors don’t usually kill other professors, right? He must have really crossed him.” 】
【 Assassination Department First-year, Vain : “That’s kind of exciting.” 】

What are you looking forward to, you lunatics.
That wasn’t even the worst of it.
Was it because rumors had spread that I’d been marked by the Heukdo Order?
Professors belonging to the Baekdo Alliance began approaching me sporadically, speaking with concern.

“Professor Dante. We’ve met before, haven’t we?”
“Is there anything you need help with?”

Yet they didn’t actually want to accept me into the Baekdo Alliance.
They had no desire to formally claim someone who’d already stirred up trouble.
Still, because I’d beaten Joaquin from the Heukdo Order—whom they didn’t much care for—they were offering sympathy in the guise of charity.

“I don’t need help. Thank you for your concern.”

I had no intention of going even if they called me over.
Baekdo Alliance or Heukdo Order—joining either side meant acquiring unnecessary obligations.
Adel, standing beside me, expressed her concern three times over.

“…Professor, are you truly going to be alright?”
“I’m fine.”
“Still, we’ve been together for a while now, and I can’t help but worry.”
“There’s nothing to worry about. Hacon wouldn’t dare try to kill me.”

In any case, while the department buzzed with commotion,

I was alone in my research lab, manipulating various models with World Forgery.
A message came through the Crystal Orb on my wrist—which served as a phone, technically a rounded lens-shaped watch made from a cut piece of crystal, with a hologram projected above it.
It contained a difficult question.

– Kaiser : Professor. What is assassination?

For someone usually so silent to suddenly ask this—it seemed like a counseling request.
Something must be troubling him.

‘What is assassination?’

I’d never given it much thought.
It’s certainly not a good thing. But I couldn’t tell Kaiser, ‘Assassination is bad, so don’t do it.’
He struggles as much as I do. I wanted to be better to Kaiser than that.
So I thought seriously before answering.

– Dante : Assassination is the power to realize Righteousness.

His reply came slowly.

– Dante: I apologize, Professor. I’m afraid I lack the understanding to grasp your meaning properly.
– Dante: What is Righteousness?
– Dante: Is it goodness? Caring for the sick. Helping the poor. Aiding those who suffer — is that Righteousness?

The way questions tumbled out one after another told me he was cornered, emotionally trapped.
What is Righteousness?
He was asking something difficult.
I don’t know much about philosophy or complicated things either.

‘Hmm.’

But I thought I knew how to ease Kaiser’s mind.
Since we were in similar circumstances, I could simply place myself in his position. What would I want to hear if I were Kaiser?

– Dante: What you believe is right — that is Righteousness.
– Kaiser: If I went mad and believed everyone should die, would that be Righteousness?

A chill ran through me.
He was probably just making an analogy.

– Dante: Yes. It would be.
– Kaiser: …….

By my guess, Kaiser was living an incredibly difficult life, balancing on a tightrope.
And what someone standing before a cliff needs is not advice. It’s comfort.
I cannot change reality. No matter what I say, Kaiser will still have to walk that tightrope. So what he needs is self-affirmation — strength to endure any trial and tell himself, ‘it’s alright.’ That was what mattered.
So I decided to speak whatever came to mind.

– Dante: There is no world where everyone is happy.
– Dante: I must protect myself and what is Precious to me.
– Dante: To protect them, I may have to harm others.
– Dante: If things could be resolved through peaceful conversation, why would curses be necessary? If one or two curses could settle things, who would raise a fist? If fists could solve matters, why would law exist? If law were absolute, why would victims suffer injustice?
– Dante: Yet the people of this land are so countless that numbering them is impossible, and among them, someone is always bound to be wronged. Curses don’t reach everywhere. Fists aren’t always strong enough. When law fails to protect — then someone has a choice between two paths.
– Kaiser: What might those be?
– Dante: If they lack strength, they can choose the Curse. For it is the only weapon permitted to the weak.

On the other hand.

– Dante: If one has even a little strength, then they can choose something different.
– Kaiser: Ah.
– Kaiser: So that would be… Assassination.

Truth is, I don’t really know.
Maybe there’s no such thing. You just live.
So I decided to stop pretending I had answers here.

– Kaiser: I see…….
– Kaiser: So the reason for Assassination was Righteousness, then…….

All I wanted was for Kaiser, who shared my circumstances, to find some peace.
That was all.

– Kaiser: Righteousness…….

But then, every ten or thirty minutes, another soliloquy arrived.

– Kaiser: What is truly right for me? What is truly Precious? Until now, I was too desperate just to survive — I never once stopped to think about it.

Something felt slightly off.

– Kaiser: But now. Just a little.
– Kaiser: I think I understand it now. Just a bit.
– Kaiser: What holds Preciousness.
– Kaiser: What I should hold precious.
– Kaiser: What has held me precious.
– Kaiser: What Preciousness truly is.
– Kaiser: What violates Preciousness.
– Kaiser: When I call defending against what violates Preciousness — resisting it — Righteousness, I finally understand how to direct the Assassination given to me.

Huh. Why do you look so unsettling about it?
Is this bastard thinking something strange…?

I thought of asking more, but decided against it.

– Kaiser: Thanks to you, my heart feels at ease.
– Kaiser: I’ll find my answer, step by step.

That’s enough. Having peace of mind is what matters.

– Kaiser: Thank you. Professor.

Nothing bad will come of it, I’m sure.
It was said with good intent, after all.

* * *

“What’s wrong, Kaiser?”

Elise asked.

‘Hm?’

Kaiser’s mind jumped in alarm.
Good heavens. He’d nearly slipped up.

‘Damn it. I was lost in thought.’

Jamryong Academy was currently casting the Curse of Exposure.
To put it simply, it meant extracting information from corpses and inscribing it into Inphige.
Drawing on the blood recently collected along with the dead merchants, they were working to unearth the traitorous dealings linked to them and intelligence on the assassins involved.

“Let’s finish this.”

Kaiser closed his eyes and recited the incantation of the Curse. All the Jamryong Academy cadets poured their mana into it.
Truth be told, there was so much mana that it would proceed without him, and he was merely going through the motions of reciting the incantation. But regardless.

“…Every leaf swells with Curse. Every worm gnaws and swallows darkness. At last all things above the earth shall be stained crimson….”

And as he did, he thought: how treacherous the world is, vast as an ocean; how life is sailing forth in a small vessel.

The voyage must have begun at some humble coastal harbor. A tiny wooden boat. A meager sail upon it. He must have pushed against the sea with an ordinary oar.

Somehow he’d met storm after storm. Somehow he’d touched the depths of the abyss. Somehow he’d come to command monsters — but today, it seemed he’d been given a compass.

‘Righteousness….’

From the moment he’d left that harbor, no one had ever truly cared for Kaiser. They simply saw his mask and followed. But now an exception had entered his life.

‘….’

If the blade swung to protect something precious is “assassination,” then for whom should he wield his sword? Slowly, the answer was settling into Kaiser’s heart.

‘Professor.’

Just as that man had saved him and supported him—shouldn’t he also trust and support that man in return?

Wasn’t that… “righteousness”…?

Around that time, the curse reached completion. The collected blood evaporated, inscribing new characters across the Inphige. Information about the next target that Jamryong Academy was to assassinate had been written there.

“Hmm. I’d like to rest for a while. What do you think, Princess?”

Kendake asked with an unusual note of exhaustion in his voice.
The other members nodded in agreement.
Even Rebecca, the actual master of Jamryong Academy, had nodded, ultimately granting them leave to rest.

“All right then. Shall we take a break—”

That was when Kaiser’s eyes narrowed.
His inner compass suddenly shifted, pointing to the Inphige.
A single name—one that had emerged from a drop of blood belonging to the Heukdo Order.

“What’s wrong?”
“…”

Everyone tensed, watching Kaiser.
Written there was information that “a professor of the Heukdo Order intends to kill Dante.” The exact name was listed.
Kaiser quickly gathered his Inphige, his eyes trembling, making sure the other students couldn’t see.
Professor Dante couldn’t possibly die. But even the thought of a blade being raised against him felt repugnant.
As if a switch had been flipped, Kaiser’s emotions surged.

After the curse ritual had ended.
Kaiser headed to a student’s room and knocked on the door.

Knock, knock.

Kaiser knew he was the “leader”—different from Rebecca, who was the “boss.” He had no authority to command.
And in that context, most of the students at Jamryong Academy had strong personalities and questioned the “justification” of his orders. They asked him to explain why they should kill this particular person when the ultimate goal was the emperor’s assassination.

There was one student, however, who was different.

A student who would move unconditionally at the word of a mission, and would unconditionally kill whoever he asked to kill.
Precisely because trust, once broken, was so dangerous, this was a student he had to handle with absolute care—but right now, she was the only student from whom he could ask for help.

– Yes?

The door opened, and a bright-faced woman emerged. Pale pink hair. Pale pink eyes. A smile unmarred by any shadow.
Elise smiled and spoke.

“What is it? Team leader?”

Kaiser felt slightly tense. This was his first time using Jamryong Academy for personal purposes.

‘Hasn’t she been getting close to Professor Dante lately?’

This worked out well.
Through her, he wanted to verify something. “Righteousness.”

“Elise. I’m sorry—you must have been resting.”
“Mm.”
“Could you go kill just one person for me?”
“Is it a job?”

Kaiser tensed. The moment Elise framed it as a job, she gained a license to kill.

“…Yes. It’s a job.”
“Good.”

Elise asked with the eagerness of a puppy wagging its tail before a walk.

“Who should I kill?”

He instructed her: “Hacon from the Heukdo Order.” When she asked who that was, he let her catch the scent of blood drawn from the target. “Got it.” As Elise picked up her invisible blade and drifted toward the door with a weightless gait, Kaiser caught her arm and added one more instruction.

“Bring the body to the courtyard behind the School Hall.”

Elise answered, “Will do,” and headed outside in her pajamas, her footsteps impossibly light.

The moment the door opened, her body began to dissolve into shadow. By the time it closed, she was gone.

It was a night bright with moonlight. The sky arched in its beauty, layered with rings that belonged to no earthly sphere.

“Why…why did the Jamryong Academy send an assassin after me…?”

The question came from someone who only understood, after a blade had pierced their heart.

“Hmm. Well, that’s the thing…”

Elise melted back into the shadows.

“It’s the job.”

A murder without thought or mercy.

── .

⋮

Ten minutes later, Elise returned. The matchup had played out exactly as expected—the Curse School was weak against types like Elise who simply overwhelmed with brute force.

“Mngh. Spit it out.”

The transparent stray, a beast standing five meters at the shoulder, opened its jaws and expelled what lay within. Hacon’s corpse. Kaiser had remained seated, staff in hand. He’d asked for the body brought back as proof, and now, seeing it, he felt no unease whatsoever.

Instead, something strange bloomed inside him. The sensation of having protected something precious. A thrill that something deserving of death had been killed.
There had been a stray that lurked at a passage the family elder frequently used, one that never hesitated to bare its teeth. When he’d beaten it to death with a club, a catharsis had surged through him—and now, that same feeling rose again.
Now he was certain.

“Ha…ha…”

The assassination for the professor was righteous.

EP9

Righteousness

END

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