Surviving the Assassin Academy as a Genius Professor - Chapter 68

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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 68
DLC “Hero Instructor”: Midpoint Summary (1)

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Scene # 1 – Kaiser ◀
Scene # 2 – Teaching Assistant
Scene # 3 – How Things Came to This
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The final exam had ended.
The next day was a weekend, but I had no rest coming for some time, so I couldn’t stay at the manor.
There were roughly 37,000 things I needed to do.
First, I’d sent a package to Kreutz.
Next, I had to model my secondary character—”Cain, Chief Professor.”

The concept was a radical genius. The younger, the better.
And since I was making a secondary character anyway, I decided to go the complete opposite of myself.
Shorter in stature.
Round and cute in appearance.
While searching for references, I thought of Dino, whom I’d met offline.
The image of someone who, as a child, must have been grabbed by a mother or older sisters and dragged around with pigtails.

While I was absorbed in modeling, a visitor arrived.
Knock, knock.
Someone was tapping at the door, so I put away the modeling and told them to come in.
It was an unexpected person.

“It’s been a while. How have you been?”

A courteous voice came from my lips.
Because it was Kaiser.
Leaning on a cane, he limped in and bowed his head.

“…It’s been a long time, Professor.”
“Come in. I’m glad you came through the rotation unharmed.”
“…I’m relieved you’re safe as well, Professor.”

But something was off about his voice. If it normally had a subdued, murky quality to it, now it was far more sunken than that.
Looking at him, his expression was quite dark.

“…I’m sorry for bothering you when you’re busy.”
“It’s fine. What did you come about?”
“…Yes. I was wondering—is that your work, Professor?”

He asked, looking out the window. Toward the massive Christmas tree floating in the sky.

“That’s classified under the Assassination Department.”
“…Ah, I apologize. I shouldn’t have…”
“Keep it to yourself alone.”
“…”

Kaiser’s eyes widened.
Then, moments later, his eyes began to tremble.

“…So it really was you, Professor.”

As he spoke, his hands started to shake badly.
I checked the Script, wondering why he was suddenly like this, but nothing came to mind.
After steadying myself, Kaiser and I fell into ordinary conversation. And at the end of it, he broached the real subject.

“Actually, there’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you.”
“What is it.”
“What is your Righteousness, Professor?”

My Righteousness?
Before I answered, I looked into Kaiser’s eyes. He nearly averted my gaze, then forced himself to meet it again.
My Righteousness….
It seemed to echo something from the past—a principle I’d mentioned when discussing what assassination truly meant. I’d said it was the power to practice Righteousness.

“Why does that interest you?”
…….

Kaiser fell silent.

His expression had grown somber.
There was something he couldn’t bring himself to say.

The question had come out of nowhere, but I decided to turn it over in my own mind. What did I consider Righteousness to be? How was I living?

Q. Why do I grow stronger, earn money, build my Relationship Chart, and work diligently as a professor?
A. Because I must become someone of consequence in this world.

Q. Why must I become someone of consequence?
A. Because only then can I improve humanity’s odds in the war against the Demon Race.

‘That’s the final arc, the one that appears around Main Story chapters seven through thirteen.’

Act Two would begin soon.

The Jinksite subjugation campaign had already made it clear. My importance in this world was irreplaceable—there was no one else who could fill my place.

So I had to become great. Become great, and claim even more power.

I couldn’t just say that outright. I couldn’t give a serious answer either. And I didn’t want to lie.

After a moment’s thought, I opened with a playful tone.

“My Righteousness is to become the ruler of mankind.”

Kaiser’s eyes widened slightly as he repeated it back.

“The ruler of mankind, you say?”
“That’s right. I want literally to rule over humanity. To govern every nation’s worthless leaders and all the people of the world according to my will—that is my Righteousness.”

What nonsense that was.
Kaiser seemed to have taken it as nonsense as well.
He hesitated before responding.

“Isn’t that… far too grand an ambition? Even for someone of your stature, Professor….”
“It won’t be easy. But Righteousness is about direction. Whether I can reach its end doesn’t matter. What matters is where I’m heading.”

I’d hoped he would laugh.
But for some reason, Kaiser responded with complete seriousness, murmuring without a hint of a smile.

“I see…. So that is your Righteousness, Professor….”

Still nothing appeared in the Script. Perhaps this too was a scheme of Systemicity.

“…Of course, you’ll manage it, Professor.”

I almost told him it was a joke, right then and there. But I thought better of it—wouldn’t do for my authority.
Then his muttering continued, and something began to feel off.

“…The domination of mankind…. You could do it, Professor. A feat no one else could accomplish. A dream even that conceited Emperor of the Empire hasn’t realized…. But you, sir—you could bring those lowborn masses under your heel, finally….”

What is this. Something feels wrong.
Why does his speech keep growing longer?

“You see, you will become a god…….”
“What?”
“Hahahaha…….”

Ah, there it is. He’s laughing—so he must be joking.
Kaiser seemed to be teasing me.
I mean, who’d believe such nonsense about world conquest anyway.

“You say the strangest things. In any case, does that answer your question?”
“…Yes. I’ve long struggled with how I should live, Professor. What you’ve just said has resonated deeply with me. I know you’re busy…. I’m truly grateful….”

After he bowed and limped out, something about his farewell struck me as odd.

Grateful?

The next morning, a shocking report reached me through Elise.

“…Kaiser has withdrawn from the Academy?”

Elise nodded.

“Yes. He asked me to pass it along.”
“…Why?”
“I don’t know. It’s sad.”

Elise’s face had fallen.
Then she pressed a bracelet into my hand.
A pink bracelet with a bone pattern on it.

“What is this?”
“A gift….”

Did she make it from her own hair?
I took it anyway.

In any case, Kaiser’s withdrawn from school?

“….”

I wondered if it had something to do with our meeting yesterday.
But then I grew uncertain again.
Because this morning, I’d received a message.

– Kaiser: Thank you, Professor. Thanks to you, I’ve found my own righteousness.
– Kaiser: I’ve always admired you.
– Kaiser: I’ll come find you once I’ve succeeded.

What could this mean?
Why did he suddenly withdraw?
And what exactly is this righteousness he speaks of?
Perhaps Croix’s attack had broken something in him—his will to assassinate.
It was reason enough. The death toll had been high.

‘Wait, then what happens to Zamryong Academy?’

Hm?
Now that I thought about it, something felt off.
He and I had no Relationship Chart. This despite him being a Zamryong Academy student.
When I thought it through, that was genuinely strange. Everyone else I’d had even the slightest entanglement with had a Relationship Chart. But Kaiser didn’t.
From our first meeting, we’d been acutely aware of each other, had built a relationship. So how had the chart never appeared once?

So I went into <System Settings>, checked [Development]—[Relationship Chart]—[Target List], and there it was, plain as day: [Seven Zamryong Academy Students, Class of 501].
In other words, Elise and Valmond and the others—those Zamryong Academy students.

‘Kaiser withdrew already, and yet the system value still shows seven in blue letters…?’

A strange hypothesis rose in my mind.

It came down to this.

Kaiser had never been a Zamryong Academy student in the first place.
That was why his Potential was [0.5].

Yet if Zamryong Academy still had seven members, that meant there was still someone I didn’t know about.

‘…Who could it be?’

I turned it over and over, but nothing came to mind.
For now, I simply held the thought close.
The assumption that a seventh member of Zamryong Academy might exist.

* * *

That afternoon, Shaman, the head of the Assassination Department, summoned me.
When I arrived at his office, Ezekiel, the head of the Magic Department, was there as well.

Shaman’s warm expression, full cheeks softening his gaze, and Ezekiel’s dignified, elegant smile.
I understood at once.
It had gone well.
Now Illusion Magic practitioners across the kingdom would participate in this event, and the Christmas tree might become a national monument….

“The Palace has agreed to cooperate with Empire Hatengraz Academy.”

…What?

“The Empire, you say?”
“Yes. His Majesty has decided to expand the scale of our proposal. Therefore, your Illusion Magic will be maintained for the next seventy days. And as of today, District 9 is being converted into a temporary tourist destination.”

A tourist destination?
This was a turn of events I hadn’t anticipated.
A tourist destination?

It made sense, I suppose.
Humanity has always worshipped the grand—the pyramids, for instance, being the clearest example.
The Great Pyramid of Giza, from what I know, reaches a height of 150 meters.
But the Christmas tree I created reaches a height of 20,000 meters.
Even now, when I turn my head, the tree hanging in the sky—a thing of utterly different scale—inspires awe in me, its very creator.

“Tourism has its merits.”
“Quite so. The King himself will be coming.”

Even this alone would have been cause for celebration.
But the Shaman had an even more delightful matter to raise.

“From the seventy days of tourism, the Academy wishes to pay you fifty percent of the net profits. Would that be acceptable?”

I fell silent for a moment. The news was simply staggering.
Half the net profits.
If it was half the net profits from a state-level tourism venture, the sum was almost incomprehensibly vast. It could easily run from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of Hiaka currency.

On the other hand, it was only fair. I’d invested ten million Hiaka in this final exam, and I’d designed the test itself.

‘It would be a lie to say I didn’t feel the sting of that investment.’

But I’d gone through with it anyway, because national prestige would become a crucial element later in Main Story Chapter 2: “The Betting Table.”

The situation itself was remarkable. To use an analogy: our house caught fire, and to comfort my family, I set up a Christmas tree. Now the entire neighborhood had begun paying to see it.
They had made that happen.

‘Hiaka.’

I love you!
I felt patriotism blooming in me from nowhere.

“And there’s one more thing. The Royal Palace has sent a proposal. For Professor Kain.”
“Ah, yes?”
“When the event concludes, the Empire will hold a peace summit. I’d like you to attend.”

I paused,
considered for a moment, then replied.

“Is this Your Majesty’s decision?”
“Ho. How did you know?”
……

King Hiaka III.

He was a living legend.
Through two great assassination wars, he had protected the Kingdom of Hiaka. From those ancient times, when the realm had been little more than ruins, to now, he had orchestrated countless negotiations and state projects that the world deemed impossible—and succeeded. A man of extraordinary accomplishment who had rebuilt Hiaka from ash.

‘And he had a remarkably pleasant disposition.’

The reason he’d summoned me to the peace talks was quite simple: to irritate King Croitz.
And who was I? Once, I’d gyrated my hips in front of a dead enemy whenever I played games—and the King’s inclinations aligned perfectly with mine.

“I shall note it in my schedule beforehand.”

I was confident. Truly.

* * *

But days later, startling news arrived.
News I’d never anticipated.

“Professor…!”

It was while I was peacefully eating breakfast. Adel, who had vanished without a trace since morning, suddenly came tumbling in, gasping.

“What’s all the commotion?”
“Professor, professor! This is seriously major news…!”

Big news?
Adel had a habit of making a fuss over everything, so I assumed it was just another new menu at some bakery.
It wasn’t.

“Kaiser became the boss of the Black Path……!!”
“…What?”

I furrowed my brow.
Kaiser became the boss of the Black Path?
What in the world——

“Explain in detail.”
“Professor, do you know of the Black Path organization in the Leuyan Region called the Reaper Society?”
“I do.”

A cult that worships the Omega Star — a symbol of death, descent, resulting stasis, and the end of cycles.
A vast Black Path organization that oversees the southern reaches of the Leuyan Earldom.

“Kaiser was apparently promoted to become the new boss of that Reaper Society…!!”

Preposterous. Did he really withdraw just for that? But it’s only been days since he left——
My shock was short-lived. Adel dropped another bombshell.

“But here’s the thing…! Something’s very strange. After Kaiser absorbed the organization, he apparently changed its name.”
“To what?”
“He changed it to the Dominion Society? He even removed the Omega Star symbol! And he suddenly released a manifesto saying the Dominion Society will eventually conquer all of humanity……”

Good grief.
Only then did I realize the fool had catastrophically misunderstood my joke.
The one who didn’t know the landmarks of his own life had apparently taken my joke to heart and adopted world conquest as his goal.

“Isn’t that strange? The Dominion Society supposedly worships a star called the Dominion Star, but there’s no such star among the thirty-three……?”

Indeed it was so. A star symbolizing dominion and order already existed as the Transcendence Star.
I had no idea what they were thinking beyond that…… Was the symbol like a snowflake?
In any case, bewildered, I tried to send him a message through the Crystal Orb, but his contact information didn’t come up. He must have destroyed it.

‘That perfectly normal kid’s gone mad……’

Goodness.
War is this dangerous.

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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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