The Genius Professor Wants An Easy Life - Chapter 13

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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 13
‘What’s gotten into her? Did she go deaf?’
I sent her a bewildered look.
“Listen properly. You’re going to Peridot Academy—”
“That’s my decision to make, so please don’t concern yourself.”
Catrine shot to her feet.
She strode toward the horse she’d tethered outside the cave, mounted it in one fluid motion, and vanished in a cloud of dust.
“Uh… what?”
I stared after her retreating figure with a dazed expression.
“…She’ll be fine, won’t she?”
A chill ran down my spine.
* * *
Clop-clop.
Catrine rode on in contemplative silence.
‘I don’t like it.’
To be honest, what I showed today was stunning.
At first I thought he’d lost his mind, but that wasn’t it at all.
Capturing a Lich.
‘I can’t even guess how he destroyed the Life Vessel. And to manifest Magic from the residual mana drifting in empty air?’
Her ‘father’, the patriarch of the Klein Duchy—a family of renown in Magic itself—couldn’t pull off such a feat.
It was unbelievable.
Yet Catrine’s frown refused to lift.
-I’m saying it for your sake.
Catrine’s brow creased sharply.
Having grown up persecuted her whole life, she could read the sincerity in another’s words like a ghost reads the living.
His words had been genuine.
‘Why is he pretending to worry? Who does he think he is.’
That wasn’t all.
She recalled the moment the dark mist had surged toward her.
He had risked danger for her then.
Why?
‘Why did he do something so foolish.’
She couldn’t comprehend it.
The pure concern he’d shown her today, his protection.
These were things she had never experienced in her entire life.
It was strange and unsettling.
Not knowing how to respond, she had no choice but to lash out defensively, as she always had done.
Like a frightened hedgehog raising its spines.
‘But he told me to go to Peridot Academy?’
Catrine shook her head.
There was one thing he’d gotten wrong.
‘Practical experience? I’ve already done all of that.’
Why else would she have challenged the Cave of Lamentation?
Practice-focused study was something she’d attempted long ago.
‘I need to go to Rubines Academy.’
He’d be shocked to hear it.
Catrine’s eyes rippled with deep determination.
‘There must be a reason for the Young Lord’s transformation.’
If she studied under him, she might uncover some clue.
It was the only hope she’d ever glimpsed for escaping the mediocrity that had trapped her no matter what she tried.
More than anything.
‘I’ll prove to him that I’m not inferior.’
She didn’t know why that thought had come to her.
She and he were strangers to each other.
If she had to find a reason, it was probably stubbornness.
She imagined his surprised expression when he saw how she had changed.
The thought made her feel oddly lighter.
‘I’ll make it happen.’
And so Catrine’s choice of academy was decided.
* * *
‘…I’m uneasy.’
A chill ran through me, and I shivered slightly.
“Are you all right, Young Master?! Is something wrong with your health? Oh no! This is all my fault! I should have taken better care of you, the future Star of Magic!”
“…You’re too loud.”
I frowned at Hans, who continued his relentless prattling.
“We’ll be arriving at Rubines Free City soon.”
For the record, the free city that housed Rubines Academy bore the same name.
“Yes, that’s correct. But… will you be all right?”
“All right about what?”
“That is… never mind.”
Hans trailed off mid-sentence.
His face was etched with worry.
The reason became clear the moment we arrived in Rubines.
‘It’s enormous.’
I let out a soft murmur of admiration.
I’d heard it was large, but the scale was staggering.
It rivaled the Imperial Capital itself, where the Ecclesia Duchy estate stood.
But there was a problem.
The countless people moving through the main thoroughfare all recognized my face.
“Gasp! It’s Ban the Young Master.”
“Really? How many years has it been? I’m glad we haven’t seen you around. Why are you back?”
‘Ban’ was an alumnus of Rubines Academy.
During his time as a student, he’d apparently caused all manner of trouble throughout this free city.
“I heard he was coming to take the academy professor appointment exam?”
“Ha! That worthless Ban of a Young Master? He’s lost his mind! Or is he planning to cause more havoc?”
Whispers reached my ears.
They’d tried to speak quietly, but hadn’t lowered their voices nearly enough—I caught every word.
Even so, being of ducal blood warranted more respect.
Their casual disdain meant they saw Ban as utterly beneath contempt.
Ban wasn’t a fearsome villain so much as a pathetic, worthless fool.
“How dare you—! You wretches!”
Hans couldn’t hold back and was about to fly into a rage, but I raised my hand to stop him.
“It’s fine. Let it be.”
“…But.”
“Do you not understand? No matter how much ignorant rabble chatter, they cannot tarnish my dignity in the slightest.”
I’d spent my original life as the worst of the worst, so such insults rolled off me easily.
More than that.
‘A situation where everyone looks down on me like this… it’s not unfavorable.’
I smiled to myself.
‘I needed to bait them anyway.’
As I’d noted before, passing the appointment exam by conventional means was impossible.
So I’d prepared a meticulous ‘plan.’
One that would force everyone to acknowledge my appointment.
“What shall we do next? Should we find an inn first?”
“No. Before that—you’ve had a long journey. How about a drink? Let’s go to Daien.”
“…Daien, sir? That place is…?”
Hans’s eyes widened in confusion.
It was the most expensive restaurant in this free city.
A place famous even in the Imperial Capital.
“Young Master? Of course, Daien is worthy of your refined tastes, but… well, our funds are rather limited.”
Stingily enough, the ducal family provided no financial support during the mandatory four years of service in the military, government, or academia.
“Don’t worry. I have a friend who’ll cover the bill.”
I withdrew a letter from my pocket.
It was a reply that had arrived after I’d submitted my appointment application.
—I look forward to our meeting. Your friend, Balick.
Balick.
By the setting’s logic, Ban’s sworn rival.
An early villain in the Rubines Academy scenario.
And simultaneously.
‘My angel of salvation.’
To pass the entrance exam, I needed Balick’s “assistance.”
* * *
Daien.
As I’d just said, it was the Imperial Capital’s most luxurious bar.
‘…Should I even be here?’
It wasn’t as though I’d never set foot in a high-end establishment back on Earth.
No—I’d been to plenty for entertaining clients.
But even I was taken aback by how expensive this place was.
‘If I’d swiped this with a corporate card, the accounting department might’ve strangled me.’
“…Strawberry juice… wait, no, hold on a moment.”
By sheer common instinct, I’d started to order the cheapest fruit juice without thinking, and I hesitated—then a heavy voice cut through the air.
“Young Master Ban, it has been quite some time.”
An impeccably dressed butler.
He appeared to be the manager.
With the bearing of the finest bar’s proprietor, dignity radiating from him, I found myself involuntarily stiffening.
‘…Don’t lose your nerve. I’m a Diamond Spoon now, too.’
I cleared my throat and spoke.
“Good to see you. Bring me a bottle of the Tears of the Frost Dragon, would you?”
“…The Tears of the Frost Dragon, sir?”
A full six thousand pena.
A wine so exorbitant it matched three years’ wages for a commoner family.
Even nobility would hesitate at such a price.
“My apologies. The Duke has expressly instructed me not to serve you such expensive spirits on credit. I’m afraid that won’t be possible.”
“Don’t worry. Today, I have a friend who’ll cover the bill. Balick should be arriving soon.”
“…Professor Balick, you mean?”
“That’s right.”
The manager’s expression grew skeptical.
I forced one of confidence in turn.
Though my nerve had wavered at the price just moments before.
I had enough composure to handle one mere manager.
The Black Flame Dragon’s Charisma bolstered me, and my voice took on an intense, overwhelming pressure.
“I’d suggest you manage your expressions rather more carefully. Especially if this truly is the Imperial Capital’s finest establishment.”
“!!”
The manager’s face fell into a wordless “oh.”
No matter how much of a rake I was, openly showing suspicion was uncouth.
“…You have changed, sir.”
“I’ve simply recovered my proper bearing.”
The manager bowed with deference.
“I shall bring the Tears of the Frost Dragon at once.”
Once we were alone, Hans’s face went pale.
“What if Professor Balick doesn’t come?”
“He will.”
…Truth be told, I was a little nervous myself.
If the plan fell through, I’d be six thousand pena in debt before I even began my career as a professor.
But I believed Balick would come.
‘The Balick I know wouldn’t pass up such a perfect opportunity to mock Ban.’
And indeed.
Before even the first glass was emptied, a voice sounded out.
“Haha. Well, who’s this? Isn’t this my friend Ban? How long has it been? Great to see you!!”
Loud greetings masked eyes gone cold as ice.
It was Balick.
* * *
Ban Ecclesia, the character I inhabited, was a peculiar one.
Though technically an extra with no narrative significance, he was oddly entangled with many other characters.
In all the wrong ways.
‘If I had to describe it, it’s like he’s everyone’s karmic grudge.’
Balick was one of them.
‘As a direct descendant of his duchy, Ban inspired inferiority in Balick, who’d tormented him subtly in their school days.’
Well, such a past was of no consequence to me.
What mattered was moving Balick according to my plan.
“Do you have any idea how shocked I was when I heard the news? A professorship! Of course—that’s so like you, my friend. Still can’t read the room, I see.”
It was thinly veiled mockery dressed up as familiarity.
The fact that he didn’t even bother with a pretense spoke volumes about how little he regarded me.
“But tell me—did I say I’d pay for the Tears of the Frost Dragon? That doesn’t make sense at all.”
“No matter. Even if you’re blood of the Lafalte Duchy, you’re only a distant branch. It would be difficult for you to come up with that kind of money. I’ll be magnanimous and understand.”
!!
A vicious barb.
Even I felt my blood boil hearing it; Balick’s face went rigid.
It was precisely the kind of thing that scraped at his deepest insecurity.
“…Are you quite finished?”
His eyes flashed—the sting of being looked down upon by someone he’d dismissed cut deeper than he’d expected.
“I can’t fathom what Duke Huam was thinking, letting you sit for a professorship examination. He’s not so old that he’d be senile. Does the Ecclesia Duchy have no regard for honor?”
Bingo.
He’d taken the bait faster than I’d anticipated.
I rose from my seat with deliberately rough movements.
“Am I to understand your last remark as an insult directed at the Ecclesia Duchy?”
“…What?”
“We have plenty of witnesses here.”
Balick glanced around, belatedly realizing his mistake.
Everyone at the establishment was hanging on our every word with rapt attention.
Daien was the city’s most exclusive tavern.
Every person present was a nobleman, prominent merchant, or dignitary—there was no silencing them.
“I—I didn’t mean it that way….”
“That’s for the courts to decide. But given our history, I’ll ask my father not to demand compensation—petty as that would be. However, prepare yourself for a Duel. Our house’s champion will call on you soon with a White Glove.”
Balick’s face drained of all color.
What he’d committed was a Family Dishonor Crime.
In a society that prized honor above all else, it was far from a light offense.
What made it truly fearsome was that the offended party could demand a Duel as recompense.
Balick now had no choice but to face a champion of the Ecclesia Duchy in combat.
“Wait—just a moment. I—”
“I’m afraid not. My father doesn’t hold you in high regard to begin with. I doubt he’d listen to an appeal. Come, Hans. Let’s go.”
As I turned to leave, Balick desperately grabbed my arm.
“No, I said it was a misunderstanding!!”
A complete reversal from the blustering confidence with which he’d arrived.
‘…But inside, he’s gnashing his teeth.’
I shook my head.
Even as he clung to me frantically, I could see the resentment burning behind his eyes.
His intent was transparent: survive this crisis by any means, then repay me in kind.
Exactly as I’d planned.
‘For my examination to succeed, I need Balick to overextend himself, to lash out desperately.’
I goaded him further.
“I have a proposal.”
“What is it…?”
“A Magic Duel between us. If you win, I’ll let the matter drop—no Duel, no apology.”
I snapped my fingers.
“But if I win, you kneel here before everyone and declare, ‘I respect you and the Ecclesia Duchy,’ and beg forgiveness for your transgression.”

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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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