Surviving the Assassin Academy as a Genius Professor - Chapter 71

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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 71
DLC [Professor of Heroes]: Midpoint Summary (4)

Before Adel’s fingers touched my cheek.
That is to say, it was during the time we’d ordered drinks in abundance and were well into drinking them.
After trivial stories of Academy life, tales of the Mansion’s maids, accounts of the Jinksite subjugation campaign and the like had accumulated, and by the time three bottles of strong liquor had been drained entirely.

“Oh dear, I think I’ve had too much….”
“Indeed.”
“But, Professor….”

Adel, thoroughly flushed with drink, gazed at me intently as she spoke.
I was subtly manipulating my mana to control the intoxication, even as I answered as though drunk.

“Mm?”
“…This is pretty.”

Adel pressed the tip of her finger against my chest. The Senior Professor Badge.

“Pretty, isn’t it? Though it’s plated, they say.”
“I said so this afternoon, but honestly, I was a bit shocked….”
“The promotion has been swift, it’s true.”
“Swift doesn’t even cover it. Normally you need over a decade of service, research achievements, or a ranking before you can become Senior Professor, but you….”
“Even I fear my own abilities.”
“Ha ha. What sort of thing is that.”

Our glasses clinked together.
Ting—
Adel laughed with unfocused eyes.

“By the way, Professor. What we talked about this afternoon.”
“Whether I won’t abandon you?”
“Don’t say it like that, you’re embarrassing me……. Yes.”

Pouring more drink into her glass, Adel continued.

“…I just meant, whether I could stay under your guidance, you know.”

At that moment, though my eyes appeared drunk, my mind was beginning to clear.
A desire of Adel’s I was hearing for the first time.

“Of course. But why?”
“I want to become an Associate Professor….”
“Associate Professor?”
“Yes, yes…. Associate Professor….”

Adel twirled her hair absently with her fingers.

“I may be an unremarkable teaching assistant in the Assassination Studies Department for now…. But I have ambitions.”
“I had no idea.”
“I’m quite good at hiding things….”

That did seem to be the case.

“Shall I hear it? What your ambition is.”

Adel smiled with unfocused features.

“…I want to become your master.”

Master, was it.
Intriguing.

“Bold words for someone in the Assassination Studies Department.”
“…It’s not that bold, really.”
“An assassin is a tool, after all.”
“Is that so? Who would ever look at the department head and think of him as a tool? He’s an assassin too, yet…”

I laughed.

“You’re right about that.”
“Exactly? In the end, it all comes down to the logic of power. Assassins are only tools if they’re powerless—when they have to go out and fight, when they have to die on command. We bite our tongues and pretend otherwise, but everyone knows. Child or adult, doesn’t matter…”

Precise.
Why couldn’t the professors fill thirty spots in the Jinksite second offensive meeting? Because they’re tools.
Why did that thick-faced shaman throw a tantrum and tell me not to go? Because they’re tools.
You don’t call something “replaceable” a tool. In that sense, everyone already knows the truth. Only the weak are tools.

“…Do you know what I’ve been thinking about lately?”
“What is it.”
“That becoming your assistant might be the greatest stroke of luck in my entire life…”
“I hear you’re an S-rank assistant during the day.”
“My goodness, did I say that?”
“You know as well as I do. Which of us is truly S-rank.”

I’d meant it as a joke,
but Adel went blank for a moment, then burst into bright laughter.

“…Yes!”

After answering so cheerfully, she found her own cheer amusing and started laughing harder. “Hahaha!” I found myself smiling a little too.

“Truth is, I already know…that you’re already my master, and you’ll become an even greater one…and I’m just lucky enough to be a tool held in your hands…”
“Too kind. The future’s uncertain.”
“I have a feeling though~ I think I know how much good fortune I’m hoarding all to myself right now…”

Adel looked up at me with a dreamy expression.

“…Very well. If you become an associate professor, what changes?”
“I hear that an opportunity will open up for us from now on…?”
……

I’d thought it before, but Adel really does have a knack for gathering information.
There can’t be many people who know about the Betting Table yet.

“So they say.”
“A rich man’s dog just has to sit by the table. Even the crumbs that fall are meat…I’m ready to lap them up…Who knows? Maybe I could even get this…”

Adel pressed down on the Senior Professor Badge.

“Ambition.”
“I have it.”

Then the smile faded from her face.

“I’ve spent six years as an assistant. I failed the associate professor exam three times. The Academy must have decided I had no potential—they kept reassigning me to administrative work. This was probably my last year. And if I’d been let go this time, I was ready to do something very dangerous…”
……

Extraordinary.
It was a remarkably loaded statement.

“That’s why it took until now for luck to find me…. The blessing of meeting you, Professor…. Though I don’t mean to burden you with this. But I really do want to give my all this time…. So please, keep me on as your assistant…. Um, though I suppose that sounds rather mercenary of me…?”
“…….”
“I’m sorry. How ungraceful of me….”

I lowered my gaze and picked up the bottle.
Then I swirled the round ice in the on-the-rocks glass.

This was the first time I’d heard Adel voice her desires.
Yet I couldn’t fathom what it had to do with espionage.
I couldn’t even gauge whether it posed a danger.

If anything, her words had sounded remarkably “peaceful.”
Those who hunger for my existence rarely cause me harm.
It was still too soon to judge.

“Judging by your actions.”

I meant it as a jest, though the words carried a certain coldness.
Yet Adel only smiled.

“Then I’d better excel at this…. Oh, would it be alright if I used the restroom for a moment?”
“Go ahead.”

Adel headed to the restroom.
In her absence, I considered the matter.

‘What am I to do….’

She means to accomplish something at the Academy. If it goes wrong, she could commit grave crimes. In other words, if her words were true, Adel was a bomb that would detonate the moment I discarded her.
Discard her, and she explodes.
But I cannot keep her close either.
There lay my dilemma.

After a brief interval, the drink began to warm my blood, so I stepped outside for cool air.

‘Snow again.’

I wandered thoughtlessly through the nearby grounds and discovered someone behind one of the buildings—Adel alone, smoking a cigarette in the solitude.

“Oh my? Professor~”

Adel fanned the smoke away with an embarrassed gesture.

“Ugh. I’ve always been so careful about this, and you catch me on this one night….”
“A smoker, then?”
“Only occasionally. Like when I’m drinking…. Have you always been a non-smoker, Professor?”
“I quit.”
“Oh no. Don’t make me want to tempt you~ I’d better hurry and finish this.”

She resumed smoking, exhaling smoke like a chimney.
Not that I minded.
I’d given it up entirely during chemotherapy, and since coming into this body, I’ve felt no desire for it whatsoever.

“The cold air is sobering me up a bit. Shall we head back inside?”

But why?
Was it the darkness, the drink, the solitude—or perhaps the thought that I needed to extract information? Whatever the reason—

“Come to think of it…”

In a moment, following a feeling that struck me as interesting.
I let those words slip out.

“We don’t really know each other.”

In the noisy bar district, my remark was quite casual.
But perhaps Adel felt something too.

……

The expression on Adel’s face shifted slightly as she turned to face me.

“…You’re right. We really don’t know each other.”

Adel laughed.

“It’s funny when you think about it….”
“Funny?”
“Isn’t it? Living under the same roof….”
……
“I didn’t know you’d quit smoking. Whether you drink well, or that you could be this casual…. Even though we’ve been living together for quite some time. I really know nothing about you, Professor….”
“How fitting for an assassin.”
“True. That’s very fitting for us….”

Then she chuckled and turned the question back on me.
A playful glint in her expression.

“Are you curious about me…?”
……

For a moment—a few seconds—I studied Adel.
The conversation had suddenly taken on a peculiar turn.
It could have been an opportunity.
A chance to see through this mysterious spy.

“…Ah, sorry. I think I’m drunk. It was just a joke….”
“If I’m curious?”

I stepped closer to Adel, who’d started to turn away.

“…Huh? Yes?”

Adel retreated a step and asked back. It was because I’d never bridged ‘this distance’ between us before.

“If I’m curious about you, what can you reveal to me?”
“…Uh, well. That is. Um….”

Adel raised both hands slightly, defensively.
Then she averted her gaze.

“…I mean, we’re already too close…?”
“You’re avoiding the question.”
“Well, I… honestly, there’s nothing special I can really teach you….”
……
“Um, look. Professor. Right now I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed…. Could you just give me a little space….”
“I’m joking.”

I turned away.

“…Wait? What? Really? Goodness, what’s gotten into you? You scared me half to death.”
“Let’s go. We’ve finished our drinks anyway. We’ll just settle the bill.”
“…You can’t just decide on your own like that.”
“Then let’s have one more—”

I closed my mouth, because this time Adel was the one blocking my path.

“The jokes are over.”
“I’m not joking.”
…
“Professor… what about you?”
“What do you mean.”
“What can you teach me? What could you show me?”
“I can teach you most things, I’d say.”
“Really? Then could you teach me just one thing?”
“What do you want to know.”
…

Adel blinked slowly.
Then she stepped closer.
A little. Much closer.

…

After a moment’s pause, Adel asked quietly.

“…Could I ever become closer to you, Professor?”
“We’d be in each other’s way.”
“I’m not joking. I’m serious.”

What does this mean?
What should I do here to draw closer to the right answer?

“How much closer could we possibly get.”

Adel, who had been humming softly, let out a small laugh.

“…Friends.”
“Friends?”
“…Yes. There’s only a five-year age difference between us. I don’t want to be just your assistant. I want to be your friend, Professor.”
…

Still, I can’t quite grasp her intent.
Perhaps, as I’d thought before, it was to cement her unique position as my one and only assistant more firmly. At this moment, that’s the only interpretation I can settle on.

So then, what choice should I make?

Was I an honest graduate student to my professor in the past? No. He and I lived behind thick masks.

In the end, I know that to understand Adel better, I must break through this distance and step inside—just as I did a moment ago.

“Alright. Friends.”
“…Do you mean it?”
“Truth is, I’ve always wanted a friend like you.”
…

Taken aback for a moment, Adel’s expression softened into a smile.

“…I like that.”

The cold was starting to bite. Should we head back? I asked. Adel agreed. Then her eyes fluttered, she swayed, and she fell. I caught her with my body.

“You’re drunk.”
“Ah, I’m sorry… huh… I think I drank a bit too much….”

She struggled to steady herself for a moment, then lifted her head and looked up at me. With vacant eyes. We held each other’s gaze for a few seconds. Then Adel suddenly placed her hand on my cheek.

“What are you doing.”
“…Do you know something?”
“What is it.”
“…You’re damn handsome.”
“…….”

It was an oddly bewildering thing to say.
With that glassy stare, Adel spoke.

“…Is that why you spend money like that?”
“What do you mean.”
“…Nothing. Never mind.”

Words that made no sense no matter how much I turned them over.
Her touch cautious as if petting a young puppy.
I pushed past the awkwardness and asked quietly.

“Since when do friends do this.”

Adel laughed and whispered softly.

“…People act like this when they’re drunk, supposedly.”
“There’s no such thing.”
“Huh? Professor, don’t you watch those dating shows? Everyone does it like that.”
“Next they’ll be pushing their lips forward too.”
“Yes…?”

Remembering Rui’s Illusion Magic incident, Adel laughed.

“Ahaha! No matter how handsome you are, between friends that’s a bit… wait? Don’t tell me that’s what you want, Professor~”
“Stand up. You’re heavy.”
“Ah, yes yes. Heave-ho.”

I was certain by this point. She was undoubtedly a “very great threat,” but for now, she had no intention of killing me.
I had just gambled. Catching Adel as she stumbled was that gamble.
If Adel had tried to kill me just now, she could have. Of course, I wouldn’t have died. Ezekiel’s curse would have triggered, putting Adel in jeopardy. But even as I allowed myself that opening, Adel did not attack me.

“…Shall we go home?”

So I decided to watch a little longer.

“Let’s go home.”

Adel’s eyes widened.
Then she laughed playfully.

“Oh my…?”

* * *

│ㅅㅇ)

* * *

The next day, the Dean of Hiaka Academy summoned me.

● Dean Hedwig

A mascot mask shaped like a dopey owl. I’d only ever seen it on the game’s monitor before—this was my first time witnessing it in person.

“Oh, welcome, welcome~!”

The Dean waved at me the moment I entered.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Dean.”
“Mm-mm. The talk of the town, Professor Dante!? So glad to meet you~! I’m awfully busy at the moment, though—would you mind just getting straight to the point?”
“Feel free to proceed as you see fit.”
“Oh, say hello!”

Hello? I glanced to the side and noticed a woman standing there.
An expressionless face and jet-black eyes. Hair dark as pitch. She wore a sharply tailored suit jacket and dress trousers so precisely cut they seemed to have been carved from steel. There was something unsettlingly composed about her entire presence.

● Research Assistant Ran⧉

“She’s the research assistant who’ll be working alongside you from today on!”

Just like that, out of nowhere?
The woman stepped forward and lowered her head.

“It is an honor to meet you, Senior Professor Dante. My name is Ran.”

Even her voice sounded mechanical.
I noticed the System⧉ mark on her nameplate, and the truth crystallized in my mind.

‘She’s been sent by System⧉.’

Dino’s words from our conversation Offline came flooding back.

– Until now, players weren’t informed of what errors occurred in the Error Space… but now it seems System⧉ is going to place someone nearby who can share whatever information has been identified… yeah!

Someone who identifies bugs and shares the information.
They’d sent her in the guise of a research assistant.
It made sense. We’d be spending the most time together that way.

“I’m Dante. Looking forward to working with you.”
“Likewise, Professor. I’ve submitted a request to share living quarters—would it be acceptable for me to move into your Mansion today?”
“There’s a spare room. Make yourself at home.”

In that moment, I accepted without thinking twice.
Because there was nothing to think about.

“Um? Who is that person?”
“A new research assistant. I took her on at the Dean’s recommendation.”

But shortly after returning to the Mansion,
I felt a faint, peculiar unease.

…………

It was the briefest of moments.
Something flickered across Adel’s expression.

But the instant her eyes blinked, her face returned to its usual warmth.
Rui set down her luggage to one side and approached, bowing her head respectfully to Adel.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Rui. As of today, I’ve been assigned as a research assistant to Professor Dante.”
“Oh, yes. How nice to meet you. You seem quite impressive~”

Adel smiled—the way she always smiled when meeting someone new.

“I’m Adel.”
“Thank you. I’ll do my best to cause you no inconvenience as we share the residence.”

Her response too was as it always was.

“Same here~”

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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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