Surviving the Assassin Academy as a Genius Professor - Chapter 97

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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 97
EP23 – The Hand (7)

After Valmond was carried to the Medical Facility, the Enforcement Bureau had its hands full clearing away the wreckage of the destroyed Administrative Bureau.

At Dante’s request, the damage was attributed not to Valmond but to Dante himself.

“Professor Dante Hiaka? No, wait…….”

The official who arrived late from headquarters let out a heavy sigh.
This was already the second Administrative Bureau that Dante had destroyed.

“Good grief…. How does that man manage to wreck every last Administrative Bureau he comes across? A professor, no less? What in the world goes on in that man’s head…….”

It was nothing but a mutter under his breath.
But how had this happened?
The staff member suddenly found himself pinned under the inexplicably hostile gazes of the officers all around him.

What in the—
What’s their problem?
Dante burned down all their homes, didn’t he?

“…Ahem. Well, I’ll be going now.”

Sensing the danger, he beat a hasty retreat.

Meanwhile, once the cleanup was finished, the officers headed out for drinks together.
Their spirits were high, buoyed by the five hundred thousand Hiaka in consolation money that Dante had personally pressed into their hands, apologizing as he did.
On top of that came another five hundred thousand Hiaka from Betelgeuse, offered in the name of the Black Path.
An unexpected windfall.

The Administrative Bureau was public property after all, and neither Dante nor Betelgeuse had any obligation to provide compensation. The bureau chief had refused outright—but it was no use. In the end, twenty officers pooled it among themselves. The drinking table was now thick with touching anecdotes, each more sentimental than the last.

“Remarkable….”

One officer drained his cup with a wry smile.

“I knew Valmond had a screw loose, but even now it gives me chills when I think about it. Ugh.”
“Still, that bastard looked completely at ease when he left, didn’t he?”
“Yeah….”
“Something like magic. At first I wasn’t sure what I was seeing….”

It was so fundamentally savage. The violence had been so primal, so intensely raw that it had shaken even the officers of District 0’s Enforcement Bureau, men hardened by bloodshed and corpses.

“I’ve never seen Professor Dante exert himself like that before…… He was terrifying.”
“Right? He’s always been the type with more rumors than reputation, hasn’t he?”
“That’s it. No real records to speak of. We’ve only heard ‘He’s strong, he’s strong,’ secondhand….”

Then Kangkang laughed.

“But what we saw was just the tip of the iceberg, wasn’t it?”

The other officers chuckled along.

“That’s right. It must be.”
“He was holding back the whole time.”
“If he’d really let loose…….”

The team members shook their heads.
They didn’t even want to imagine it.

“Ugh! I can’t work here much longer.”
“Why?”
“Because he beat a man into pulp while *controlling* his strength. That’s terrifying.”
“Right. He seemed less like a person and more like a monster. I honestly had no idea what I’d do if he told me to stop.”
“The professor must have felt terrible about it, though?”
“Felt terrible? Of course he did! He’s the professor, after all.”

Kangkang tossed back another drink.

“You lot don’t understand anything.”
“Huh?”
“What?”
“Dante’s no teacher with a conscience. He’s a cold-blooded killer.”
……

Then he refilled his glass and continued.

“Valmond could kill a hundred men without batting an eye….”

The team members found themselves thinking,
Really?
It did seem possible.
In their imagination, Dante’s mouth split wide open, ear to ear.
Then a forked tongue, long and serpentine, flicked out and tasted the air.

Gulp….
“Terrifying….”

A professor without blood or tears.
His name.

……Dante Hiaka.

* * *

Snip—

The tip of the cigar fell away cleanly.

Whenever his thoughts grew heavy, Betelgeuse always reached for an expensive cigar.

He, who had developed the ultra-advanced Bio-Alchemy that allowed him to replace even his organs and blood vessels, drew the thick and concentrated smoke deep into his lungs.

Once famous as a genius of Hiaka, Betelgeuse was a Grandmaster ranked in the top two hundred at seventy years old.
A monster standing face to face with Challengers like the deans of departments. And even now, he had reached the pinnacle among his peers.

“Or so I thought, once upon a time.”

Betelgeuse savored the smoke and opened his mouth.

“I believed that by my age, I would have achieved detachment.”

His voice carried an ease and a danger all at once.
Someone had once likened him to a sleek black panther, and those who heard it understood the comparison.
Those present could not help but agree.

“I have much. I’ve accomplished much. And with no children, there’s nothing to long for…. What could I possibly desire at my age?”

The figure in the darkness did not respond.
Only listened.

“So that’s not it either, then.”

Betelgeuse closed his eyes languidly, the fading light catching half his face.

“What do you think about it?”

He found the whole thing distasteful, yet had no way to correct the willful mouth that spoke it anyway.
Angela, one of only two senior professors in the Black Path, answered curtly.

“What is it that you desire so keenly, Director?”
“Dante Hiaka.”
“……….”

The name tumbled out without preamble.
Senior Angela closed her eyes and smiled faintly.
Somehow, she’d known it would be this.

“A remarkably talented young man. A brilliant professor. A principled youth.”
“Do you know what he did after the Valmond incident ended?”
“What did he do?”
“He brought Valmond before me and made him stand on his head, asking him to apologize for his defiance. And the mad thing is, Valmond obeyed him.”

Granzelle—that was a very famous and ancient method of apology…!
At that, Angela laughed.

“Ha. Professor Dante truly only commits beautiful acts, doesn’t he? I find myself wondering now and again what kind of world could produce such a child so suddenly.”
“That’s what I thought too.”
“Perhaps we are witnessing the birth of yet another Starlight Seat in Hiaka.”
“……….”

The conversation stilled.
Witnessing the birth of a Starlight Seat.
A position of which there had been only two in all of Hiaka’s history.
Was a third being born at this very moment?

“A Starlight Seat.”

Betelgeuse turned his gaze toward the window.
A word that tangled a hundred different emotions and thoughts.
A Starlight Seat.
That damned Starlight Seat.
The two were accustomed to silence, so they savored it for a long while.
Yet in the end, even Betelgeuse could not help but agree internally: Dante’s conduct and growth were on par with—or exceeded—the previous Starlight Seats. No. Clearly superior to them.
And that made the desire burn all the more.

“If not one hundred million, then two hundred million…”

The man’s head tilted to one side.
A sigh escaped with the smoke.

“…what am I supposed to give him?”

* * *

This was shortly after Valmond had been sent to the Enforcement Bureau.

As the Nibelung Family departed from the academy, I couldn’t simply let them go.

So I followed them, caught up with them at the gate of District 0, and managed to have a conversation.

“Who are you?”
“I had a few questions, if I may.”

At that moment, I was wearing a different face and form through Illusion Magic—the soft features of a young man, with a single dark mole like a black bean dotting his cheek.

“I’m an assistant to Dante, the senior professor here at Hiaka Academy and instructor for Zamryong Academy.”
“An assistant?”
“Yes. My name is Conte.”

Nibelung’s men greeted me with visible irritation. The recent incident had left them on edge.

“Wait—Dante? You mean the one with the pink eyes?”

I dropped the pretense of being cautious and opened my approach with a more naturally disarming tone.

“Ha, yes indeed. Our professor does have those distinctive pink eyes.”

Dante’s body, being that of an assassin, made such deception feel effortless.

What followed was quite extensive conversation.

Three major questions and three answers in all.
And three instances of 【True Thoughts】 laid bare.

Condensed to essentials, it went like this:

Q. Is the plan to expand influence in District 0 by using Grey or Valmond an instruction from the Matron?
A. What good is that knowledge to you?
S. 【The Matron only said to look into it, but she clearly wants it done, and even we think it’s a free meal just waiting to be eaten—only a fool would refuse.】

Round and round it went, but ultimately Nibelung had the right of it.
Skimming the cream off the top.

Q. What does the Nibelung Family think it’s relying on? Isn’t it taking Hiaka Academy—backed by the royal house—far too lightly?
A. Even if the royal house makes noise, they can’t openly make an enemy of the Dark Starlight Seat. So what will they do?
S. 【If it comes to it, we’ll just slip into the Empire. Who’d be resentful in times like these?】

Batalion had left behind a troubling precedent.
Damn you.
Because of you, the others see it and follow suit.

Q. Is there a way to cleanly end the relationship between the academy and the Nibelung Family?
A. You must be out of your mind.
S. 【Your academy is broke, remember? Without the monthly Black Path contributions we provide, you’d be in real trouble.】

The sum was indeed substantial.

“…I see.”

Internally, I constructed certain hypotheticals.
And at the end of those hypotheticals, I made a choice.

But just as this exchange of questions and answers was drawing to a close—

“Hey.”

Hitahil, the personnel chief and elder of the Nibelung Family, turned the question back on me.

“So you’re Dante’s teaching assistant, is that right? Then let us make a proposal to your professor.”
“Please, go ahead.”
“Tell Nibelung to get in contact. Tell him your professor will receive treatment in his life he couldn’t even dream of.”

A generous offer?
Hardly.

【 ‘If the Assassination Unit were to seize Zamryong Academy and bring it under our control…’ 】
【 ‘Then controlling that one man would make everything else fall into place.’ 】

Here, my teaching assistant self would have bowed with a gentle smile.

“Understood. I’ll convey Professor Dante’s position to the Nibelung Family by tomorrow.”

⋮

After parting ways with the Nibelung Family, I made my way to the hospital ward where Valmond lay admitted.
Having just undergone emergency surgery, he looked up at me through a haze of bruises and lacerations.

“Professor.”

His rigid expression softened ever so slightly.
And yet, watching him now as I had watched him before, I realized his face was brighter than it had any right to be—brighter than when he’d received the Bone Balloon.

“I apologize. I mean, I shouldn’t…”
“Sit down.”
“I’ll make my greeting first and then sit.”

He wavered to his feet and bent at the waist in a perfect ninety-degree bow.

“I’m truly sorry. I heard from the other members everything that happened. That my curse attacked so many of them…”
“Enough. I’m not entirely at ease myself for how roughly I handled you.”
“No, sir. I was the one who committed such rudeness. You’d have been justified in…”
“Stop. Don’t say any more.”

I hadn’t asked for an apology, nor did I want one.
What interested me were other things: As I’d said before, the Stigma is greatly influenced by will and emotion. Why had he suddenly lost his composure? What professor’s slight had provoked his anger? Or how had he come to bear a Stigma from the Dark Starlight Seat? These were the questions on my mind.
But I decided not to ask them now. He was already in a negative state of mind, and these would only be negative topics.

“Spare yourself the embarrassment. Sign this instead.”
“This is…?”

An Assassination Unit Contract.
The same as the one Elise and Kendrick had signed.

“……”

Valmond’s eyes widened.

“Will you receive my guidance?”
“Yes? Ah, yes! Of course!”
“Sign it.”

He began scribbling frantically.
It was unexpected.
I’d thought he might resist or make excuses.
And no wonder—
who was Valmond, after all?
Cursing at kids passing by…. Cursing at my operatives…. Cursing at Betelgeuse…. And that bastard who once came at me with a Sniper Rifle…..
Yeah.
When you list it all out like that, the guy’s completely insane.

“If you join the Assassination Unit, you’ll need to follow my orders without question.”

I said it that way because I was a little concerned.

“If you tell me to die, I’ll die.”
“…….”
“Why do you hesitate? Would you like me to prove it?”

What the hell would you prove, you madman.

Meanwhile, before stamping the Blood Seal, Valmond began speaking in a melancholy voice about something. Specifically, that he was hesitant to sign the contract because of his relationship with Valmond Nibelung.
He seemed to think he’d ruined a lot of things.

“If you don’t mind me asking, could you tell me how things were resolved between you and Valmond Nibelung?”
“We have to wait and see for now.”
“I struck both of them, and regarding that part….”
“That doesn’t mean much.”
“…Why not? As you well know, the Nibelung Family is an extremely dangerous opponent, one that demands caution….”
“Valmond.”

I cut him off.

“From here on out, that’s a matter between the Academy and the Nibelung Family—and my affair as a professor. You don’t need to concern yourself with it as a student.”
“Ah, I apologize….”
“If you’re worried, there’s only one thing you should do. Going forward, be careful with your words and deeds.”
“Yes….”

Valmond bowed his head deeply.
Then he crept closer.
He lifted his head and spoke softly into my ear.

‘…Just in case, if you ever need a suicide bomber from the Assassination Unit when you’re dealing with the Nibelung Family, please use me anytime….’

I don’t need that.

But even after saying so, it seemed I couldn’t hide my unease. After all, I’m an individual and the Academy is an organization—our opinions could very well differ.
So I stamped the Blood Seal, finalized the contract, made one more Bone Balloon for good measure, and even as we parted, his 【Script】 was filled with such thoughts.

【 Valmond : ‘What if the professor ends up making a deal with the Nibelung Family…?’ 】

Pointless worry.

* * *

The next day, the Nibelung Family’s investigative unit discovered something shocking.
A massive vehicle carrying operatives lay crushed on the Mountain Slope. As if trampled by the foot of some enormous monster—flattened and sunk into the ground alongside the nearby road, pressed down by something immense and heavy.
Since no signs of the killer remained, it was an assassination. But it was riddled with questions.
No bodies were visible.
So the investigative unit mobilized personnel to comb the area thoroughly. At last, they turned their attention to the tallest tree deep within the dense forest.
They looked up toward the high place.
There they found personnel director Hitahil, operative Cadurfin, Mammon, and the rest—everyone sent to the Academy. All at once. As if on display.

All of them hanging from their necks by a single rope.

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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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