Surviving the Assassin Academy as a Genius Professor - Chapter 48

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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 48
[Main Story] No.1 Rebellion and Collapse (5)

Yet not everyone who approached me bore goodwill.
At this point, it would have been strange if someone from the Neutral Faction faculty hadn’t raised their hand.

“Might I be permitted to offer my thoughts?”
“Of course. Professor Bedrak. Please, go ahead.”
“Thank you.”

It was Bedrak, the senior Neutral Faction professor.
A man whose appearance matched his name—solid, unremarkable, like a pebble.
One of the Neutral faculty who had criticized me on countless occasions.

“I’m certain all the professors here fully appreciate the efforts Professor Dante has demonstrated in this crisis.”

Surprisingly, without a hint of sarcasm, he opened with genuine praise.

“You contributed to the subjugation of that creature in the sky above… and in the operation to eliminate the intruders in Sector 0 as well. This much even I, who have not maintained a cordial relationship with the Professor, must acknowledge.”
“…Then?”
“However, I would like to pose a question to Professor Dante. The request you made—was it purely for the sake of subjugating the monster?”

All eyes turned toward me.
The request for the Colossus Soldier’s Sword ○.
Was it purely for the strategy against Zinxcite?
Of course it wasn’t.

Let me be candid about this.
I’ve often dismissed assassins as vulgar, yet I’m no different. I am a corrupt man. I have no desire to fight for ideals when there’s no profit in it. I have no willingness to sacrifice for purity.

That is what I am.

“Doubts about what, precisely?”
“If he proves stronger than we thought, more capable than we believed… and if, perhaps, he is truly an overwhelming force beyond my imagination. Then Professor Dante might very well be exploiting this situation for his own gain.”

“What?”
“Exactly as I said. You didn’t assassinate Neutral Faction professors?”
“I don’t understand what you’re driving at. And frankly, I find it distasteful.”
“My apologies. But I must ask clearly. During the turmoil, amidst such chaos. Did you not murder a few of the Neutral Faction professors who habitually spoke against you? Will you answer?”
“I did not.”
“I see… Yes, that would make sense. Given how capable you’ve proven to be, I wouldn’t expect to find traces of your handiwork.”
“…….”

Yet Professor Bedrak’s expression was grave beyond measure.

“Professor Gula is dead. Professor Olivia too, and Professor Mark as well…. All of them were professors who had poor relations with Professor Dante in the ordinary course of things, and they died outside the locations where the Croitz Assassination Unit would have struck. We had no choice but to find their bodies.”

“Yet didn’t Professor Dante have circumstances suggesting he murdered Professor Hacon not long ago?”

Is that actually true?
The Neutral Faction professors simply dropped dead out of nowhere?
Bedrak stared at me with a blackened expression.

“……Do you have nothing to say about this? Professor Dante?”

His words were highly political, and they put me in an awkward position.
Most of the professors in this room knew it.
That I had customarily received favor and preference from the Black Path and the White Path.
And conversely, that I had been in constant conflict with the Neutral Faction.

“I….”

But I had already decided what I would say.

“Might I say something in his defense?”

Then an unexpected voice cut through.
All eyes turned toward one side of the room.
It was a startling figure.

“Professor Dante. This man is not the sort to do such a thing.”

The one who spoke was a Neutral Faction professor with bandages wrapped tightly around his abdomen….
Remarkably enough, it was Senior Professor Collider.

“C-Collider…?”

Bedrak’s expression hardened, and the faces of countless professors contorted in confusion. I too was bewildered.
Hadn’t Collider been the one in the Neutral Faction who most vehemently despised me?

“Senior Professor Collider…? What in the world is this…?”
“When we fought that monster called Zinxcite together, I came to understand. I won’t say the man is virtuous, but he’s no trash who’d murder a colleague by exploiting a wartime situation.”

Now that I think about it.
Just before Collider was pierced by Chief Toy and sent tumbling, it was I who first gave him the signal.

“Collider…! Surely the professor misread the situation? You were confused in the urgency of the moment, perhaps?”
“A man’s true nature shows through in desperate moments. Hah! I never thought I’d live to see the day I’d defend this professor, but that’s my view regardless.”
“That’s absurd. Professor Collider. This man is…!”

Bedrak was about to raise his voice in anger with more intensity.

Thud!

The sound of stone striking wooden planks rang out.
Professor Angela had brought her half-petrified arm down on the table.

“That… is enough…. In the first place, Professor Bedrak’s suspicions lack… any foundation…. There is no reason to… drag this out further and put our precious professor in… a difficult position….”
“……My apologies. Chief Angela….”
“It is settled…. Furthermore, the Dean’s permission has just come through, Professor Dante….”
“If that is the case.”
“Yes. I will permit the loan.”

Ah, it was done.
I had the national treasure in my grasp!

“Then let us conclude the meeting here. Professor Dante, if you would follow me.”

* * *

Time was scarce. I followed Angela and several senior professors directly toward the Treasure Vault in Sector 0.
There, I obtained the Colossus Soldier’s Sword ○—National Treasure No. 17 of the kingdom.

“Are you familiar with its use?”
“I’ve never actually wielded it before, but I understand the basics.”
“Then I shall trust you.”

After several formalities were completed.
A sword of ordinary appearance lay in my hands.

Done.
Thus I had fully acquired the Colossus Soldier’s Sword ○ on loan.
The thrill of obtaining such a formidable weapon was brief.
The Zinxcite would fade anyway, so it wasn’t truly critical at this moment.
For now, I decided to focus on the questions that troubled me about the current situation.

‘Multiple professors from the Neutral Faction assassinated?’

That was something that should never have happened.
Gula, being in the Croitz Assassination Unit’s path, could reasonably have been killed.
But the other professors Bedrak mentioned—by my recollection—had all been in safe locations.

What they shared was that all were senior professors.
All were attacked while alone.
All had occurred within the last few hours.

After the meeting concluded, I reviewed the status of the Neutral Faction professors carefully.
Wishing to grasp the full scope of what had transpired, I spoke with several professors—Bedrak especially—and he readily provided me with the details.
Perhaps on account of the assassination spree against the Neutral professors?
Most of the senior Neutral professors had gathered in one location, with precisely one exception standing apart.
That exception was Collider, the one who had defended me earlier.
He, with a blade thrust through his abdomen, lay alone in a private room at the Medical Facility.

And so I made my way to see Collider.
Under the pretense of paying a visit to the sick.

“Huh? Professor Dante?”

The moment he saw me, he furrowed his brow.
It seemed his dislike remained intact, defense or no defense.

“What brings you here? A busy man like you. If you’ve come to offer thanks or pleasantries, you’d better leave.”
“That’s not it. I’m grateful for your help earlier, but I’m here for something else now.”

I deployed Illusion Magic, concealing my form behind a veil.

“Huh? What are you doing? Showing off your Illusion Magic to me?”

Ah, come to think of it, Collider was a professor of Illusion Magic.
It didn’t matter.

“I’ll stay here for a while. Three or four hours at most.”
“Wait, what exactly are you doing? Don’t tell me you really did kill those other Neutral professors and you’re setting up to kill me too?”
“That’s not it. If you’re suspicious, just message the Neutral group chat you all created without me and tell them Dante’s here.”
“Oh, so you’re aware nobody likes you? That’s why how you conduct yourself matters so much.”

While Collider chattered away.
I stood before the wall for two hours.
Staring blankly, examining every Script in the vicinity.
And finally stepped back out.

“You…! Only now revealing your true nature…!?”
“Hush.”

I silenced Collider’s rambling with a gesture.
Then I left the ward, opened the Emergency Stairwell door, and stood waiting in front of it. For two girls to come up.
At last, I had found them.
The killers of the Neutral Faction professors.

“…….”

Below the stairs.
Rebecca’s eyes met mine, and she froze in place.
Elise pattered along behind her before bumping into her with a soft thud. “Oof…” The stumbling Elise spotted me on the landing above, let out an “Oh?” and waved happily.
But I could not return her smile.

“The Palace Saint would hardly have come here merely to pray.”
“…….”

This was only the second time I’d faced Rebecca directly.
Just like our first meeting, she gazed up at me with utterly expressionless eyes.
Elise tensed suddenly, glancing between me and Rebecca. She sensed something was wrong.

“Would you move aside, Professor?”

Those decadent crimson eyes—they were the eyes of a cruel tyrant.
Rebecca’s Script remained unlit this time as well.

“What exactly are you doing? What have you been doing all this time? You owe me an explanation.”

At those words, Rebecca seemed to realize her crimes had been discovered.

“…I was going to kill Collider. The senior professor.”
“I won’t allow it.”
“…….”
“You have nothing to say for yourself?”
“I don’t. Because I did kill them. I’ve felt it before, but you truly have remarkable eyes, Professor. Remarkable indeed.”
“It’s strange. Those who picked the wrong side, rejected by treason, floating like duck eggs upon the current—the Neutral Faction professors. Why did you kill them?”
“To be thorough. They could become seeds of treason. It’s right to eliminate them here and now.”

She spoke words far more dangerous than I’d imagined, as if it were nothing.

“Not every Neutral Faction professor is a seed of treason.”
“But the foundation of all traitors is neutrality.”
“There are exceptions.”
“Not in Sector 0.”
“What right do you have?”
“This is the Royal Academy, and I am a princess. Is that insufficient?”
“Gravely insufficient.”
“…….”

In this delicate standoff.
Rebecca drew a deep breath, then exhaled slowly.
A sigh emerged from deep within her belly.

At this juncture, I had to make a decision: how to construct my relationship with her, given that we would be spending considerable time together in the years ahead.

I grasped it intuitively—Rebecca was no cadet I could manage through mere kindness and manipulation.
She was a cadet, yes. But she was a tyrant.
A tyrant who wielded the Sleeping Dragon Scholar like a sword without restraint.

To survive, one might skulk and scrape—bare subsistence.
But if the relationship must be that of cadet and professor, what then?
In that moment, I turned to history.

Nero, the Roman emperor who ruled through tyranny, lost his grip when the Senate issued its public proclamation against him.
Oda Nobunaga, who wielded cruel policy, lost power in the Honnō-ji Incident.
Louis XVI, who turned his back on his people, was deposed by the French Revolution.
The Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot, who perpetrated genocide, saw their regime collapse through rebellion and Vietnamese invasion.

Setting aside the fact that most of them ended in suicide.
I thought only of the pattern.

A tyrant never stops of her own accord.
She stops only when external pressure forces her to.

“Rebecca Hiakium.”
“Yes, Professor.”

Then, from this moment forward, I would have to become that external pressure.

“If you came as a cadet, behave as a cadet.”

A single utterance.
At those words, Elise’s shoulders stiffened. The sharp intake of her breath—’……!’—came as she clamped her hand over her mouth and studied the princess’s expression. Even someone as tactless as Elise could recognize that what I had just said was madness.

“…….”

Rebecca stared at me without expression, then opened her mouth.

“Elise.”
“Yes, Your Highness…”
“This is an order. Kill Professor Dante.”
“…Yes.”

Elise, who had hesitated, placed her hand on the hilt at her waist.
Shing—
She drew her blade. Confusion flooded her face, yet she obeyed because it was a command.

“Professor… I’m sorry. I have to… you have to die now, don’t you…?”

The instant she stepped onto the staircase, I spoke.
My voice grave and resolute.

“Wait.”

Elise shrank back, caught between Rebecca and me, paralyzed with uncertainty.

“Elise. What are you doing?”
“…Well, I… I have to kill the professor…”

Her pale rose eyes turned toward me, and I issued the command again.

“Wait.”
“…Uh, yes… um…”

Cracks began to form across Rebecca’s face.

“What are you doing? Go. Kill her. Now.”
“…Y-yes, I….”

The moment she moved again, I gave another command.

“Elise. Sit.”
……

At that, Elise’s face crumpled, and after climbing the stairwell to its end, she knelt before me.
Faced with such an absurd situation, Rebecca lifted her hand to cover her small face.
An exasperated voice escaped her.

“…What is this? What is happening right now?”

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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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