Surviving the Assassin Academy as a Genius Professor - Chapter 80

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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 80
EP21 – The Chief Professor Cain (1)

That day was a busy one for Dante Hiaka.

First, Ezekiel, the Magic Faculty Dean, had summoned him.
That aristocratic, royal-blooded mage had a passion for efficiency. The moment Dante entered, he opened the door with Telekinesis, stripped off his outer coat, and provided him a chair.

“So you’re accompanying Grey on her trip to the Empire tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
“She’s determined to leave, then. Do you know how far the Great Rat’s snout protrudes?”

With that, he explained that Shaman had refused a donut this morning, claiming he had no appetite. Dante recalled that thick jawline and nodded in understanding.
There’s nothing to be done when a hundred-year-old elder takes offense.

“Next month—could you prepare a special lecture during the break?”
“…A special lecture, sir?”

Why would the dean summon a professor to prepare a lecture? Dante felt he knew where this was heading.

“To the Magic Faculty professors, I presume.”
“Quite so. Under your identity as Cain.”
“I can manage that. However, will those gentlemen be willing to attend an assassin’s lecture?”

Assassins follow money.
Warriors follow conviction.
Mages follow pride.

Pride.

“Do you harbor such human concerns yourself?”
“I have no intention of teaching those who do not respect my class.”
“…Indeed.”

Ezekiel laughed, remarking that this young upstart was full of surprises.

“The greatest transgression among the mages was committed by Glumi, the chief professor of the Illusory Magic Department. Because of that fool’s actions, thirty percent of the Illusory Magic Department’s faculty abandoned their posts.”
“…”
“Those who remain are people of some conscience toward Hiaka and the Academy. Whatever their pride may dictate, they will be full of the will to learn.”

Dante nodded. If the Dean had personally arranged the schedule, there should be no problems.
He could prepare at his own pace.

“Though that said…”

Then Ezekiel’s brow furrowed.

“Why make the facade of a young boy? Why choose that form at all?”

He was speaking of Chief Professor Cain.
Dante replied with an expressionless face.

“Do you prefer girls, sir?”
“No! Listen here. Regardless of gender—isn’t he too young? If you’re going to create a facade, at least don’t make him look like an infant.”
“Is there a problem with it, sir?”
“There is.”
“If you tell me what the problem is, I’ll correct it at once.”
“He’s too cute.”
“……?”

Ezekiel’s expression had turned stern and grave.

“If a professor is going to be that cute, what are we supposed to do?”

Dante’s eyes went blank for a moment before he answered.

“……I shall wear a mask.”
“That’s better. You could even wear a full costume if needed. If you can manage it, do so right now.”
“Is there a reason, sir?”

Ezekiel gestured dismissively.

“An urgent matter has come up. In fact, that’s why I asked to see you.”
“An urgent matter, you say?”
“In a couple of hours, Imperial Illusion Magic professors are coming to the 9th District Tourist Site to hang a large ornament on the Christmas Tree. In the name of the Empire.”

Dante’s eyes narrowed slightly.
This was huge.
Exceptionally good news.

Even now, mages and assassins from various nations were arriving to decorate Dante’s Christmas Tree with Mega-Scale Illusory Magic.

Among the notable figures was Gyul Gyul, a Challenger-ranked Illusory Magic mage from the Hitahita Kingdom.
She had affixed a massive symbol of the Hitahita Kingdom’s National Star, the “Eternity Infinity,” roughly in the middle of Dante’s Christmas Tree.

「 ∞ 」

Her symbol became a major topic of discussion across the continent’s communities.

└ Why?
└ The Holance Duchy’s National Star is also the Eternity Infinity lol. They’re saying they can make their symbol bigger lol

And the very next day, an Illusory Magic mage from the Holance Duchy actually came and attached a slightly larger Eternity Infinity symbol.

But what lies at the heart of a mage?
Pride.
A few days later, Gyul Gyul returned again…….

In the end, thirteen Eternity Infinity symbols had been hung on one side of the tree before they were all erased by the hand of ‘Professor Galois,’ leaving only two remaining…… but let’s set that aside for now. (For the record, Gyul Gyul won.)

Among all these decorations being added, there was not a single one from any Imperial mage.
The reasons were decidedly political.

This tree, after all, carried the meaning of ‘mourning.’

As if matters weren’t already tense between Hiaka and Croitz, locked in that bitter rivalry—wouldn’t the Empire backing one side invite a furious backlash from the other?

The continental coalition split cleanly in two: the southern bloc where Hiaka held sway, and the northern territories under Croitz’s dominion.
The Empire had to appease them both.

“So what’s changed with these people?”
“The Empire Hatengraju Academy notified us in advance that their professors would be arriving for tourism purposes. Setting aside national tensions, they’ve shown genuine interest in Dante himself.”

Ezekiel lifted his chin toward Dante.

“Ah. So they just want to see his face.”
“That’s my read on it. Come along with us.”

Dante nodded.

“Understood.”

Even a collateral branch of the royal house carried weight.
Having Ezekiel present would be reassuring.

*

Next, Dante attended the senior faculty council meeting.

As agenda items about departmental operations cycled through the room, Dante had nothing much to contribute and little interest in the proceedings—his vacant expression betraying only idle thoughts about Professor Dante’s mask.

“My apologies for the interruption, but I have an urgent matter to convey to Professor Dante. Would that be acceptable?”

That was when Rebecca’s elderly guardian knight, Chungru, stepped through the door.

“Have you confirmed it?”

Dante posed the question. Through Rebecca’s cooperation, she had also lent him the authority of the royal name—and so Dante had used the crown’s voice to press the Assassination Newspaper for specific details about their filming schedule. The answer had been jarring.
The result was shocking.

“Confirmed. Your information was correct, Hiakian.”

As the watching professors exchanged sidelong glances,
Chungru’s next words fell like a bomb.

“A female cadet from one of Croitz’s foremost Illusion Magic lineages will be attending the Assassination Newspaper shoot.”

Dante closed his mouth and nodded. The fabricated future revealed by his Spying technique had shown him as much. But the reactions around him told a different story.

“Excuse me? What did you just say?”
“Knight Chungru! What do you mean by that?”

Chungru ground his teeth before continuing.

“Exactly as stated. Whether the Assassination Newspaper proposed it or Croitz did—it appears a Croitz cadet will participate in Grey’s monthly model shoot and interview.”

Had they not inquired under the royal name,
the Empire and the Assassination Newspaper would have pushed ahead regardless.

Such was the Empire.

“What kind of madness is this? A bullet to the head would’ve made more sense!”

At that, the senior professors erupted.

“The Assassination Daily News—those bastards must be absolutely insane.”
“They know perfectly well how dire Hiaka’s situation is, yet they’re trying to pair our princess with one of Croitz’s heirs?”
“Is that how rude you can be when you have the Empire backing you? This is madness!”

For a good long while, Galois actually jumped around in a fit.
He had every right to.
Croitz and Hiaka had just been swinging blades at each other moments before—hadn’t they?
And yet Professor Dante seemed perfectly composed.

In Dante’s view, the Assassination Daily News was run by money-worshippers—circulation addicts who’d sell their own mothers.
Currently, the relationship between Hiaka and Croitz was the world’s hottest subject.
Both nations had waged war exclusively through assassins, each denying responsibility for the other’s terror attacks.
That’s why they still attend public functions together. After all, neither can admit to their own actions.

Everyone knew the truth. No one pretended otherwise.

The Assassination Daily News had exploited that delicate gap perfectly. And now, for this month’s cover models, they were pairing two noble Illusion Magic families of the same age from opposing nations? Neither could refuse without admitting fault, the tension was already public knowledge, so that month’s circulation would be absolutely explosive.

“Do you think we should push ahead with this?”

When the senior faculty member posed the question, Dante nodded.

“I believe we must.”

Immediately, an outcry erupted.

“P-Professor Dante!”
“And you think there won’t be a trap waiting at that gathering!?”
“The Empire’s people can’t be trusted! Much less with Croitz involved…!”

Dante nodded again.

“I understand your anger completely. But we must go. I suspect the Faculty will agree with me on this.”

One had to grow accustomed to it. The Betting Table was always like this.
All opportunity belonged to the Empire.
All rules belonged to the Empire as well.
To put it another way: the Empire was a casino. Other nations threw themselves into gambling under the rules they’d established, trying to increase their chips.
Perhaps someday the casino would burn. But that was a story for the distant future. Not yet.

“But tell me—how on earth did you find out?”

Chungru asked as they stepped out of the conference room.

“I happened to receive relevant intelligence.”
……

Disbelief flickered in the old man’s eyes.

“Well, all right. But listen here, Professor Dante. If—if the princess so much as gets a scratch because of this mess, I will never forgive you.”

It was a warning from her escort knight, who’d ended up following the princess on external engagements.
Dante met his gaze directly and held his silence for a moment.
Then he suddenly spoke.

“You care for the princess a great deal, don’t you, Chungru.”
“What kind of question is that? Of course I protect her with my life. That is the duty of an escort knight.”

Dante Hiaka’s lips curved into a smile whose meaning remained unclear.

“……You’re reliable.”

That was the end of their meeting.

* * *

“It’s nearly time.”
“Indeed.”

The professors of the Empire’s Illusory Magic Department swallowed hard, waiting for someone to arrive.
Both were Chief Professors of the Empire, Grandmasters—figures who received the highest honors wherever they traveled across the continent. Yet now they waited for a mere provincial professor.

“……Ah, there he comes.”

A crowd approached. Ezekiel, the great Arch-Mage of Hiaka, was walking forward with several companions.
At the center of their formation stood an oddly out-of-place figure—a child wearing a stupidly grinning Elephant Mask.
Waddling forward with short, uneven steps. Yet the formation of the crowd around this child was strange.

“Could that be the child?”

Chief Professor Dante was just a little kid like that?

“I find it hard to believe.”
“So do I.”

There were still whispers that the Cain Tree had been created by someone else’s hand, and it was improbable that a genius of such magnitude could have emerged from Hiaka’s talent pool.

Moreover, though the general public remained ignorant, those in the Illusory Magic Department knew one fact: that tree could not be created simply by possessing superior skill.

If that were so, then Agion, holder of the Bright Starlight Seat, would have already crafted several such works by now—but he had not.

Such a creation was classified in the Empire’s system as Formative Illusory Magic—a form akin to artistic composition.

To craft a construct of that scale required not only intense inspiration, but also the consumption of an illusionist’s very foundation—the suffering accumulated through a lifetime of endurance.

Otherwise, even using identical formulas and circuits, Formative Illusory Magic would not function. It could not be created, and even if it appeared brilliant at first glance, its true nature would soon be exposed and it would crumble.

That was why doubt had arisen. Could such a child truly create that “great magic”?

“……Well, we’ll know once we test it.”

The Empire’s professors would now confirm it: who Chief Professor Dante truly was, how extraordinary his abilities were, and whether any of his known skills contained exaggeration or deception.

“We have a duty to understand this precisely.”
“The Faculty mentioned the same thing, but what’s the reason?”
“The reason is simple.”

Because His Majesty the Emperor wishes to know.

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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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