Surviving the Assassin Academy as a Genius Professor - Chapter 61

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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 61
EP18 – Over the Snow-Buried Ruins, Christmas Bells Ring (6)

Elise’s melancholy doesn’t last long.
It’s simply her good nature.

“Mm…♬”

Besides, she takes no interest in complicated matters and remains largely unaware of how the world around her is shifting—a temperament well-suited to surviving an age like this.
Yet she is aware that those around her are troubled, and so Elise believes it falls to her to help them.

‘Hmm.’

How could she lift their spirits?

‘A bracelet?’

And so she decided to make bracelets—the kind her elder sisters from the Xicos family used to craft in ages past.
The method is simple enough.
The pink hair of the Xicos family is resilient and lustrous. Pull out a few strands, trim them carefully, thread on some beads, and inscribe the symbol of the Shadowless Starlight Seat—”○”—upon a wooden backing.

Should misfortune take hold, it would dissolve beneath the essence of the Shadowless Starlight Seat.
Imbued with such hope, Elise distributed the bracelets throughout Zamryong Academy.

“…Thank you.”

First, to Kaiser in the adjacent room—who had been staring blankly at nothing for some time.

“What is this…?”
“A bracelet.”
“Ah, I see….”

Then to Valmond, who seemed somewhat dejected.

“…Where did they go?”

As for Kwan and Kendrick, who had suddenly vanished, she simply hung their bracelets on their door handles.

“Here you are.”

She’d expected a severe scolding from the Princess—having nearly gotten into serious trouble before—yet somehow managed to slip past this time as well.

“It’s a bracelet, Your Highness.”
“……..”

At this moment, Elise grew tense. She knew how deeply the Princess despised resistance.
It had been so from their first meeting. When Elise first went to Rebecca’s residence, the Princess was killing a man—tearing at his throat with a fork.
The man was a servant who tended Rebecca’s wardrobe; his fault was that her shoulder strap had come loose at the banquet.
Nothing unseemly had actually occurred. Rebecca had quickly caught the fallen strap and handled it with a laugh. Yet when she returned, she had decided the servant must die.
That same Princess had then given an “assignment”—to kill Professor Dante—which Elise had refused to do.

“Did you make this?”
“Yes.”

Elise had braced for a tirade, but unexpectedly the Princess simply accepted the bracelet and held it up gently, examining it.

“…….”

Still, that was all the reaction she got, so she lowered her head and left.
Hoping the gloom might lift a little.

After that, two remained. Excluding one, the last person to give a gift to was Grey.
With her eyes closed, Elise caught the scent and made her way to the Backyard of the academy.

Ching!

There, Grey was practicing Illusion Magic. It was a familiar sight. Last time, glass shards had scattered and fallen like fragments; now feather-like shapes were pouring down instead.

“It won’t work….”

Grey, crouched on the ground, murmured to herself.
Elise, who had quietly hidden behind a wall, watched her. What was she doing? What did she mean it wouldn’t work?

“It won’t work…. It won’t, it won’t, it just won’t…. Why won’t it work…?”

Then Grey cast Illusion Magic again, and one massive wing stretched up toward the sky. To Elise’s eyes, it was staggeringly vast.
But Grey released her power, and the Illusion Magic shattered again, scattering into feathers that drifted apart.
Why was she doing that?
Elise still couldn’t understand.

…….

At the end of it, Grey collapsed. Blood dripping from her nose.
Oh dear. ‘There she goes again.’ At some point, Grey’s training volume had become excessive. It was the same reason exhaustion had struck before she entered the qualifying round.
Regardless, it was time to give the Bracelet.

“Are you alright, Grey?”
“…What? Why did you come?”
“I have something for you. This. It’s a Bracelet I made….”
“…Hey.”
“Hm?”

On her knees, her head bowed to the ground.
Grey spoke.

“Don’t come when I’m training.”
“Huh? Why…?”
“Just don’t come if I tell you not to. Every time you pop up like that, it honestly bothers me.”
…….
“Why aren’t you answering? Don’t come when I’m training. Aren’t you listening?”

Her voice growing sharper.

“O-okay, I understand….”

Elise rolled her pink eyes around, then smiled brightly again to bring up a better topic.

“Oh, but I heard a rumor. You’re the cover model for the Assassination Daily News next month, Grey?”
“No. For now, can you just… leave?”
“What? Huh? Why…? I heard being a cover model is something good, not everyone gets that chance….”
“Elise. Please….”
“Lucy told me. That you, Grey, in the qualifying round….”
“Argh!!”

Then Grey lifted her head irritably.
Blood dripping steadily from the corners of her eyes.
As Elise flinched in surprise, Grey snatched up the Bracelet in her hand—the one woven with Silver Thread.

“I’ll use it well. Satisfied? Now please, just go!”
“…….”

Elise had to turn away with obvious reluctance.
She cast a sidelong glance and retreated into her room.

“…….”

Her mood wasn’t good.
But it improved quickly enough.

Melancholy never lingered long with her.
It was simply her nature—one of her better qualities.

“Mm…♪”

The last remaining Bracelet was for Professor Dante.
On this one, she’d specially etched a tiny bone pattern.
The reason for the bone was simple: she liked it. And naturally, the Professor would like it too, wouldn’t he?

‘A little bone…♬’

She wanted to give it to him right now, but that didn’t seem possible.
She’d manage to see him during the final exams soon enough.

* * *

“Professor!”

It was an ordinary afternoon.
Adel found me in a rush.

“The department head wants to see you for a moment!”
“What?”
“Just as I said! The department called….”

It was unexpected news.
What could Shaman Croitz suddenly want?

So I went to the department head’s office in the Professor Building. Whatever this was about, there were heavy hitters gathered inside.

Five senior professors in all. One of them, remarkably, was Galois.
I’d thought I’d have no reason to meet him.
At the head seat was Ezekiel, the Magic Department Chair.
So that was the department head.

“Have a seat, Professor Dante.”

The average age in this room was roughly eighty.

“Of course.”

While instructing an assistant professor to bring refreshments, the senior professors’ gazes converged on me—every one of them brimming with interest.
I reviewed the Script carefully, and I began to understand the situation.

‘How the exam questions ended up with Ezekiel, I’m not sure.’

I already knew my name had spread among the senior professors. Of course it had—I’d done so many things. But this was the first time we’d all gathered like this.

‘Is the suspicion because of the exam?’

That didn’t seem to be it. The thoughts floating across the Script were all circular: 【This man is thirty years old?】, 【I heard Illusion Magic was his forte, but not to this degree.】, 【Where on earth did the director find such a handful?】and so on.
As the car pulled out, the main business followed.

“Professor Dante.”

Ezekiel, the head of the Magic Department, opened his mouth. Though he was pushing ninety, he looked no more than forty on the surface. Formidable magical power made that possible.
He began speaking in a dignified voice.

“My apologies for the sudden approach. I know you’re a busy man.”
“Not at all, sir.”
“I’ll get straight to the point then. Here’s the thing—would it be all right if we kept your name out of the public eye?”

He was jumping straight to his conclusion.

“My name hidden, you say. Might I ask your reason?”
“Of course. This afternoon, I and Galois looked over your final exam together.”

Galois gave a wink from beside him.

“You created this with intention, didn’t you, Professor Dante?”
“I wouldn’t dare deny it, sir.”
“Right. Don’t be coy……it was deliberate, then.”
“Yes.”
“That’s what I thought. You can’t build a clock tower just because a wave comes in—so this can hardly be called a mere final exam.”

Tap.
He set the exam down in front of me.
More precisely, a perfectly duplicated copy of it.

“If this goes out under your name, it would be far too dangerous.”
“……”
“In this act of treason with Croitz, there were two things they paid closest attention to. Do you know what they were?”

I knew. First was extracting as many professors as possible. Second was cutting off the root of anything related to Illusion Magic.

“What I’m about to say is top secret. Croitz has been investing heavily in Illusion Magic for the past fifteen years and has staked their national destiny on it.”
“……”

I narrowed my eyes. There was no such setting in the original scenario.
What Croitz originally focused on was the sacred lineage, but that had changed.
In other words, it was unique to the Hell difficulty setting.

“How much would you estimate Croitz has invested?”
“By calculation, roughly 4.5 percent of their national budget.”
“Over fifteen years, that would be…”
“Around five hundred billion Hika, I’d say.”

Five hundred billion Hika. A truly staggering sum.
Even over fifteen years, it was enough to shake a kingdom.
For reference, Hika (Ħ) is the continental standard currency, and its resemblance to Hiaka’s name is purely coincidental.

“In the past, Hiaka ranked among the top three nations on the continent in Illusion Magic.”
“That was before the Habanero Incident, I assume.”
“Correct. The destruction of the Habanero Family during the 2nd Assassination War was the beginning, and Glumi’s betrayal just now completed it. We lost our competitive edge.”
“……”
“Now, save for the Empire, there is no nation that can match Croitz’s level in Illusion Magic……”

Ezekiel smiled faintly.

“…should have been the case, but at this very moment, our Professor Dante went ahead and brought you on staff.”

Truly a fearsome eye for talent. Though Ezekiel was merely a Grand Mage and no specialist in Illusion Magic, he had gleaned my true level of mastery from a single final exam I’d composed.

“Do you know how I’m feeling right now?”
“You seem pleased, sir.”
“Delighted.”

Ezekiel smiled. It was a sneer directed at the rival kingdom of Croitz—a kind of catharsis at feeling how a tower painstakingly built over fifteen years could crumble because of a single existence like me.
At the same time, the smile that fell toward me was something almost like love. And with reason.

“I’ll be honest in my assessment. In Illusion Magic, your mastery strikes me as being on par with my own.”
“You flatter me, sir.”
“Not flattery in the least. You yourself must realize how exceptional your level is at merely thirty years of age.”

I knew. At thirty, my mastery ranked at Challenger level. It defied all logic. If I were to express my Potential, including the star fragment system, I’d be hitting somewhere around 2.9.

“And I suspect you can imagine well enough how Croitz will view your existence.”

The situation was cruel in its irony.
Illusion Magic—everything the kingdom of Croitz had bet its entire weight upon.
They’d brought in Glumi to perfect it.
And yet here I stood.

‘If my existence is exposed, I’ll be assassination priority number zero.’

“That’s why your exam questions are problematic. Your intentions were sound, but there’s far too great a risk of you being exposed to outsiders.”
“You’re right. I hadn’t considered that.”
“Of course you hadn’t. The fact that the Croitz dogs have staked their lives on Illusion Magic was classified information.”
“Then—should we discard the final exam questions?”

That’s when Galois bounded up from his seat.

“Have you lost your minds?! Why would we discard them?”
“Compose yourself, Galois.”
“No, no, Dean—I mean, Professor Dante! Later, when you’ve got some free time, let’s grab a meal together, yeah? Huh?”
“Chief Professor Galois, please calm—”
“Look, about those questions! You didn’t just copy them from somewhere, right? I’d only heard rumors, but this time I was completely floored! So who’s your master? Where did you learn Illusion Magic like that…”

Galois had suddenly spiraled into fervent excitement.
Academic hunger, pure and simple.
The Dean had to rein him in by any means necessary.

“It’s an honor, Chief Professor Galois.”
“The honor’s all mine, my friend. Ha! Anyway. Huh? Call me later, yeah? Huh? Huh? Call me?”

He held his thumb and pinky to his mouth and ear in the universal phone gesture and finally withdrew.
Then, returning to the matter at hand.

“So that’s why you asked me to conceal my name.”
“We can’t have you becoming an unnecessary assassination target. For now, I’ll handle everything—your name, a false identity, schedule, background, all the tedious details. In exchange, if any profits arise from your position here, those will be allocated directly to Professor Dante.”
“And the allocation percentage?”
“One hundred percent.”

Since I have a fundamental distrust of people, I checked the Script—and he meant every word of it sincerely.
Extraordinary.

“…If you’re willing to look after me, I’m grateful beyond measure. But isn’t this favor rather excessive?”
“If you’re going to talk about fairness—tell me, when has human history ever been fair, even once?”

Ezekiel smiled crookedly.
The expression of a royal, dripping with an air of chosenness.
I wouldn’t mind if I were the target of that unfairness.

“…….”

Moreover, I felt a sense of belonging to Hiaka for the first time.
The existence of those who strove to protect me even as I remained still.
That I myself belonged with them within a single fence.

If “Main Story 2: The Betting Table” had begun, I would have needed to find a way to conceal my name even without the department’s proposal.

In my current state, I’m an ambiguous presence in terms of pure force. Depending on circumstances, I might surpass a senior professor—but depending on circumstances, I could die at the hands of the three fools.

If Croitz came determined and set on killing me, I’d be done for. Yet Ezekiel was offering precautions against precisely that, freely and perfectly. There was no reason to refuse.

“I’d be in your debt.”

After that, we exchanged various words, and the department seemed intensely curious about my “past.” But I had no past, so I had nothing to say. The remark—”You’re being awfully secretive in a place like this, aren’t you?”—felt a bit unfair.

“Ah, that’s right. Shall we decide on a name here? The name of our newly appointed Illusion Assassination Studies genius senior professor at Hiaka Academy?”

I thought for a moment.
Then a name came to mind.
I couldn’t explain why it had surfaced.

“Dante.”

From now on, that would be my alias.

The meeting was supposed to end there.
But it seemed it didn’t. Ezekiel used Telekinesis to send something toward me—a golden badge.
A senior professor’s badge.

“I’ll be counting on you going forward, Senior Professor Dante.”

I questioned my own ears.

“…Pardon?”

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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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