Surviving the Assassin Academy as a Genius Professor - Chapter 77

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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 77
EP20 – Kendrick Drake 2.0 (1)

Glumi, the foremost professor of Fantasy Magic at Croitz Academy, had not been in a good mood lately.
Rather, she was thoroughly disgusted.
She’d spent the entire day staring at Hiaka Academy through the Mirage, gnawing at her fingernails.

‘What in the world is that Illusion Magic? What even is it?’

An absurdly massive Christmas tree that had materialized out of nowhere.
It had suddenly become known as a landmark of Hiaka.
Soon after, tourists from across the entire continent began flocking to see it.

‘What the hell is that thing? How is such an Illusion Magic even possible……??’

It was a level of mastery that even Glumi, the foremost professor and once among the three finest practitioners of Fantasy Magic in Hiaka, found impossible to achieve.
A truly shocking display of otherworldly power.

And so a grave crisis descended upon Glumi and Batalion of Croitz.

Attacks began from the Croitz Royal Family and the academy.

Initially, they had received an astronomical sum in exchange for “the Hiaka Illusion Magic materials” as compensation for their national betrayal.
But those materials contained not a single piece of information about this so-called “Professor Cain.”

“Professor Glumi. This is hardly a comparable situation, wouldn’t you say?”

The Director’s stern gaze bore down on her.
Glumi lowered her head.

“……I suspect they may have hired a Fantasy Magic practitioner from the Empire. Cain was never a real person. Hiaka must have orchestrated some scheme.”
“Your evidence?”
“…….”
“You have none. Only assertions. Tell me — did you conduct your duties in Hiaka in such a manner as well?”
“…….”
“I regret to inform you that Croitz does not operate that way.”

Glumi clenched her teeth so hard her jaw trembled.

“Croitz Academy intends to hold you strictly accountable for this incident.”
“P-please, if you would just give us a bit more time…….”
“No. The tree already exists, and tourists from around the world are visiting it. Does that fact change?”
“…….”
“You must both pay a penalty for breach of contract.”

An ultimatum.
Thus, the two of them were required to return a combined 1.7 billion Hika.
A truly staggering sum, enough to draw tears of blood.

The next day, Batalion had a fit.

“Professor Glumi! What is the meaning of this! I step away for a moment and come back to find we’ve been fleeced for 1.7 billion!?”
“Shut your mouth! You think I’m the only one who got fleeced? And where exactly were you? You said you’d handle the Assassination Studies Department on your own! So how is it you know nothing about this man Cain!?”
“I told you! There’s nothing I don’t know! You should have just said from the start that Cain was an Imperial agent!”
“I did! I said exactly that, you bastard!!”

The rift between the two began to widen.

* * *

I was sitting blankly on a sofa in the Research Office, waiting for someone to arrive.

The appointed time had long since passed.
And still, no one had come.

There’s a saying that Putin was notorious for being late, and Trump, when meeting with him, was even later still—a deliberate display of his own power.
Perhaps I was caught in that same psychology?

‘……Why aren’t they coming.’

Even so, I waited. And then I felt it—a gaze. For the last five minutes or so, my assistant Lan had been sitting beside me, staring intently.

“What are you looking at?”
“You, Professor.”
“Why.”
“There’s no particular reason.”
“Fine.”
“Yes.”
“…….”
“…….”

Lan was a mechanical sort of person.
Hair cut sharp as a blade.
A suit without a single wrinkle.
Skin without a single blemish.
Even her movements contained no unnecessary gesture.

“Do you happen to have obsessive-compulsive tendencies?”
“No, sir.”

I casually brushed some dust into my palm and smeared it across the back of her hand.
Then I watched for her reaction.

“…….”
“…….”

She didn’t react at all.
She merely glanced at the back of her hand before turning back to face me.

“…….”
“…….”

Like having left a fingerprint on glass. I pulled out a wet wipe and cleaned it off for her.

“…Are you planning to keep staring?”
“Yes.”
“An assassin would be sensitive to prolonged attention. Look elsewhere.”
“Understood.”

Lan turned her gaze away—toward the empty sky and clouds beyond the window.

What is this person.
The more I observed her, the stranger she became.

Just then, there happened to be a Winter Mandarin in the Research Office. I placed it atop her head.
Lan’s head turned toward me like an owl’s, and she stared at me.

“What is it?”
“A Winter Mandarin.”
“I see.”
“Does this one have any special ability?”
“It doesn’t.”
“The apple has one, though.”
“The banana does as well.”
“What does the banana do?”
“It makes you better at climbing trees.”
“…How practical. Do you have anything related to combat?”
“I do.”

With that, Lan pulled a headband from her pocket, and affixed to its center was a broken sword.

“What in the world is that?”
“It’s the Excalibur Headband. When you wear it, you become better at fighting.”

She put it on her head.
The sensation of having a blade lodged in the crown of her skull was immediate.

……

What on earth is this woman?

That was when it happened.
The door opened, and Adel stepped in.

“Professor! I’m here to prepare for the end-of-semester wrap-up—oh….”

She caught sight of Lan and stopped short.
Was it because there was a blade lodged in her head?
Or perhaps…

“Preparing for the wrap-up?”
“…Oh, yes. Would it be alright if I borrowed Lan as an assistant?”

There was certainly much to do before the semester ended.
Grade compilation, student inquiries, lecture material organization, practical equipment inventory and return, course evaluation, surveys, end-of-semester reports, classroom cleanup, follow-up scheduling, and so on and so forth……
Still, there was something troubling about the prospect of Lan and Adel alone together.

“I’ll help with that.”
“Fine. Just make sure to keep wearing that headband.”
“Understood.”

Lan followed Adel out of the room.

“My goodness, that was a headband?”
“Yes.”
“I was wondering why there was suddenly a sword stuck in your head. How adorable~. Do you have one for me, by any chance?”
“I have a Rudolph Reindeer Headband. Would you like it?”

With the two assistants now wearing these peculiar headbands,
the Research Office door closed.

Or rather, attempted to close.
Someone caught it before it shut.

A student in a nun’s habit.
She glanced at the assistants’ retreating forms before entering.

“Good afternoon, Professor.”

Tap, tap. Footsteps.
Putin, no—Trump.

It was Princess Rebecca.

*

Tomorrow, then.
We would head to the Assassination Daily News Studio.
The head office building of the Empire.

At last, the Betting Table would begin.

Yet according to what I saw in the Spy Star’s Time Forgery, Grey would find herself in grave danger there—wounded severely by an assassination attempt, the shoot compromised entirely.
This much even with the senior professor accompanying her.

And so I faced two choices.
Either forbid her from going to the Empire.
Or ensure she went safely.

I chose the latter.

A greenhouse is warm and secure, yes—but a dandelion blooming through cracked concrete grows far stronger than anything sheltered within glass.

Pressure will keep coming. If we flee each time, neither I nor my students can grow stronger. We cannot rebuild Hiaka. We cannot ultimately survive. The Demon King War approaches even now.

That is why I summoned the princess.

“Indeed. No madman would attempt terror or assassination where royalty stands present.”

Because a princess dwelled within its walls.
Even Croitz, for all their lunacy, knew where to draw the line.

With her usual hollow, life-weary expression, she turned my request back on me.

“This isn’t stubbornness—it’s a genuine question. My relations with the royal family aren’t so warm. If I go to the Empire, I’ll need their permission, need to bow and scrape. Why should I do that?”
“Because Grey could be seriously hurt.”
“Then let me send soldiers with her.”
“No. You must come yourself.”
“…….”

We never caught the culprit—but the circumstantial evidence was damning enough.
Croitz’s work.
Because in the final stretch of that time, a Croitz student stood as the cover model.

“With me?”
“Yes.”
“So you’re using a nation’s princess as a simple protective totem, is that it?”

“Precise.”

Rebecca let out a scoff, as if exasperated.

“I have a schedule, though.”
“What of it.”
“Near Cain’s Tree, in District 9… a massive Mother Church temple has just opened. Today is its first service.”
“We depart tomorrow, so there’s no problem, is there?”
“Professor.”

That was when Rebecca, who had been visibly uncomfortable until now, looked me straight in the eye.

“Doesn’t this situation somewhat contradict the terms of our contract?”
“The contract concerns breaking the agreement between Hiaka and the Empire. This is a separate matter.”
“No, it isn’t. If Grey goes out to the Empire and even does filming, and Hiaka’s assassins become familiar with outsiders like that, it would have a positive effect on the Academic Exchange Agreement.”
“I doubt it. The causality doesn’t align.”
“…….”
“Didn’t you also serve as a weekly model?”
“Weekly and monthly have entirely different influence. And besides, I wasn’t a symbol of the Assassination Studies Department in the first place—I was a symbol of the Hiaka Kingdom.”
“Nearly identical.”
“…….”

Who is right?
Rebecca.
I’m actually just being stubborn.

“My intuition says this is a bad choice.”
“Is your intuition always bright?”
“Very bright, indeed.”

That’s unlikely.
You can’t even recognize a traitor standing right in front of you.

“Mine is a little brighter.”
“…….”

Rebecca sighed and swept her bangs aside.

“……Were you always like this?”

I showed her the back of my hand and gestured playfully.
Rebecca then crossed her arms and locked them. Already seated with her legs crossed, she had now become twice as barricaded.

“I don’t want to.”
“Do it for me.”
“I said I don’t want to.”

Rebecca, stubborn as expected—doubly so now.
She’s uncomfortable with me getting closer.
I decided to use that fact to my advantage.

“Do it for me.”

I stood from my seat.
Then I went and sat down next to Rebecca, legs crossed.

“Huh?”

* * *

Glumi rose from the seat beside Batalion.

“That’s enough. I’m leaving!”
“Glumi. Glumi, please—just calm down for a moment. We’re on the same side, aren’t we?”
“An incompetent ally is worse than an enemy. I can’t stand with you like this.”
“Glumi, wait—”

Bang!
The door slammed shut with a sound like breaking glass.

“Damn it, damn it all!!”

Batalion swept his arm across the desk. Books tumbled to the floor, picture frames shattered, a crystal sphere exploded into fragments. In the next moment, he let out a cry of anguish.

“Damn it, damn it!!”

It wasn’t simply a matter of his conflict with Glumi.
No—the continental situation itself had grown unstable.

In civilized society, the weak are merely judged to be good.
But on the continental stage, the weak are unmistakably evil.

Hiaka, stripped of its rankers by Croitz and defeated in the Assassination Society War, had become the object of ridicule and contempt from every nation.

That much should have remained the case.

But ever since that repulsive tree bloomed, the continental winds had begun to shift in strange directions.

Statesmen, rankers, and nobles from each kingdom began competing to make the journey.
The daily influx of tourists to Hiaka had begun exceeding an average of forty thousand.

There were days when the number surpassed seventy thousand.
This was the highest figure in the history of the Hiaka Kingdom!

Yet Batalion’s misfortunes had not ended there.

“A, a continental peace summit…?”

The Hiaka Royal Family had begun deliberately expanding the scope. With that tree of such nauseating proportions…. Naturally, the King of Croitz would have to attend as well.

What if, at that summit, the King of Croitz were to suffer insult at the hands of the King of Hiaka?
Chief Professor Batalion gritted his teeth.

‘Damn it…….’

A chill crept down his spine.
Then came another report—one he could scarcely believe.

“Another Divine Stigmata descended? Another one? On Hiaka Academy?”

His heart sank.
Something was going wrong.

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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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