The Genius Professor Wants An Easy Life - Chapter 15

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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 15
‘A conference? And inviting outside guests?’
They’d organized a full conference just for my exam!
And bringing in outside visitors to boot.
A deliberate scheme to humiliate me.
The topic itself was even more absurd.
‘Dismantling the Fractal Structure of the Interstellar? This is one of the fundamental problems in magical theory.’
Hans’s face darkened beside me.
“What kind of subject is this for a new professor’s exam?! This is madness — you absolutely must not attempt—!!”
“It’s fine. Actually, I like it.”
“…My lord?”
If.
Balik had given me a standard written examination, I might have found myself in genuine trouble.
Though I possessed the Grand Master of Magic ability, I’d only studied magical theory for just over a month. My absolute knowledge was insufficient.
But.
‘A problem of this caliber changes everything.’
I lifted the corners of my mouth with confidence.
“Hans, didn’t you tell me I would become a star in the magical world?”
“…I did, my lord.”
“Tomorrow, people will witness that light.”
And so the day of the exam arrived.
* * *
“We’ve arrived.”
Stepping down from the carriage, I gasped in wonder.
‘So this is Rubines Academy.’
Seeing the landscape I’d witnessed in the game with my own eyes stirred something in me.
‘It’s enormous. Like a city unto itself.’
A city within a city, one might say.
Seoul National University, one of the largest campuses in Seoul, was incomparable in scale.
‘If we combined all its grounds, they’d constitute about twenty percent of the Free City’s entire area.’
Considering that the Free City was among the Empire’s greatest urban centers, Rubines Academy’s expanse could be said to rival a mid-sized municipality or larger.
Of course, most of that land comprised off-limits Sealed Areas and spaces left unused; students actually occupied only a portion of it.
‘The student areas look like a university campus. Then again, the departmental structure is similar to a university as well.’
As it happened, the academies of the Hero Academy consisted of a total of four departments.
The Knight Department.
The Magic Department.
The Liberal Arts Department.
The Support Department.
Since there were four, one might deduce that each department housed one Playable Protagonist.
‘Each academy places four protagonists, with one assigned to each of those four departments.’
Rubines Academy would likewise have four placed across its departments — one in Knights, one in Magic, one in Liberal Arts, and one in Support.
‘Please, let them assign protagonists with minimal presence.’
In any case, that was a matter for later.
I’d applied as a professor in the General Studies program of the Magic Department.
‘General Studies’ was, in plain terms, a catch-all program.
A fringe department lumping together various heterodox schools that failed to enter the magical mainstream into one place.
And within General Studies, I was meant to become a specialist professor in the ‘Magical Theory’ field — the most marginalized branch of all.
‘Perfect outsider energy. I’ll quietly enjoy a leisurely professorial life.’
Yet the moment I set foot in the academy, I realized a singular problem.
Far too many people focused their attention on me.
“Wait? Ban as a senior?”
“You really applied to be a professor?”
“What madness?”
It was inevitable.
Ban had only graduated from the academy a few years prior.
The current fourth-year seniors surely witnessed Ban’s wretched state firsthand as freshmen.
“Surely he won’t actually be hired as a professor? Damn it, I was planning to go to graduate school — should I reconsider?”
“Don’t worry. There’s no way he passes the exam.”
“But he could be appointed through nepotism from the Ecclesia ducal family.”
“No. Professor Balik said he’ll definitely fail him. You don’t need to worry.”
It seemed rumors about me had already spread far and wide.
‘If I keep quiet, the attention will die down eventually.’
Still, it felt like I ought to tone things down a bit.
‘Don’t worry, everyone. I’ll do right by you, students. I assure you, I’m harmless.’—that’s what I meant to say when I opened my mouth.
“Are you the students of Rubines Academy? You fall rather short, I must say. But no matter. From now on, I shall guide you, and all you need do is trust and follow me.”
……
Damn.
The Black Flame Dragon’s mouth had struck again.
I hurried to damage control, forcing my tone as warm as I could manage.
“Are you fourth-years? Going on to graduate school, I heard? If you need anything, do come find me whenever. My office will always be open to you.”
“Aaah! W-we’ll be going now!”
The graduating students fled like slaves running from a ruthless trafficker, their faces drained of all color.
I lowered the hand I’d raised, feeling foolish.
‘…I really did mean that about helping them if they come to graduate school.’
As it happened, once I became a professor, I’d need to recruit graduate students too.
I’d treat them well.
…Genuinely.
Just then, a voice slick with oil reached my ears.
“Young Master Ban, it has been ages. Ah, how distinguished you’ve become in our time apart. And how does the Duke of Hu-am fare?”
It was a middle-aged man festooned head to toe in gleaming jewels.
His ornamentation rivaled a peacock’s plumage.
Up close, he was rather handsome, but the excessive decoration made him look ridiculous instead.
My face betrayed surprise.
‘Rector Karak!’
That’s right.
This ostentatiously dressed man was the rector who led Rubines Academy.
‘He’s the one who ran the academy into the ground.’
Rubines Academy had never been the worst of the Four Great Academies to begin with.
There was even a time when it contended for first or second place.
Its fall began precisely when this man took office as rector.
‘The worst rector in its history.’
But I felt a chill crawl through me.
There was reason for it.
Just then, Rector Karak’s expression twisted into an obsequious smile.
“Young Master Ban—or rather, no longer a student, are you? I do hope the Duke of Hu-am harbors no ill will over the rejection of Young Master Ban. Krgh, I am well aware of your sterling qualities, but it was unavoidable, I’m afraid.”
His expression and manner were those of a sycophant.
Yet I caught the cold glint that flickered in the depths of Karak’s eyes.
‘He’s no mere fool.’
The hidden final boss of the first-year arc in the Rubines scenario.
That was Karak’s true identity.
The true mastermind.
‘…Though that’s none of my concern, really.’
It would fall to the ‘protagonists’ to clash with this fearsome rector and protect Rubines Academy.
‘I’m an extra anyway. No point in making an enemy of the rector.’
Conviction and greed.
Justice and unmixed evil.
Many clashes would erupt at the academy ahead, but I had no intention of fighting either side.
My dream was neutrality, from first to last, you might say.
Then,
“Ah, reminiscing about Young Master Ban’s student days stirs the heart. How does it feel to return after so long? Is there anything you’d like to say, as both an alumnus and a prospective new professor, for the sake of the academy?”
I furrowed my brow slightly.
‘A test.’
Probing whether I might become an obstacle to him.
‘I need to seem as harmless as possible.’
I spun my thoughts quickly.
Simple enough.
“Not at all.”
“Hmm?”
“What counsel could I possibly offer? You’ve been leading the academy so admirably, Rector.”
But the rector’s reaction was strange.
“Heh heh, is that so? Hmm.”
Something about his response felt off.
“??”
“No, no. Heh heh, however did you become so weary?”
Though unease gnawed at me, the Rector slipped back into his obsequious mode just as quickly, rubbing his hands together with the oily eagerness of a flatterer.
“Oh my, I’ve foolishly kept you far too long, haven’t I? Though my schedule prevents me from observing the examination itself, you have my full support. You know how I feel about you, don’t you, heh heh? Ah, and do be sure to give my regards to the Duke of Hu’am!”
With no choice but to comply, I made my way to the examination venue as the appointed hour arrived.
* * *
“Hmm, how curious.”
Rector Karak’s eyes sharpened as he watched my departing figure.
The obsequious air from moments before had vanished entirely.
“So the young prince has truly changed.”
An unexpected assessment.
Moments ago, I had said nothing of particular note.
Yet what Karak’s attention had truly fastened upon was something else entirely.
‘The aura the young prince emanated. That was no facade.’
The Black Flame Dragon’s Charisma had struck again!
Though I had kept my tongue in check, an unmistakable charisma had overflowed and caught Karak’s discerning eye.
More than that.
-What advice could I possibly offer, when you, Rector, are leading so splendidly?
The gleam in my eyes as I spoke those words.
Boundlessly arrogant, impossibly aloof.
As if I were saying beneath my breath.
-The problem with this academy is you, isn’t it?
A startling implication.
Unable to blame the Rector outright, I had couched it in such veiled language.
…Of course, it was a complete misunderstanding, yet the arrogant glint in my eyes had made such a misreading inevitable.
“Kek kek, yes, quite right. It is I who have made Rubines Academy what it is today.”
Rector Karak let out a twisted laugh.
“So the Duke of Hu’am was not mistaken in his letter, when he said the young prince had changed.”
No—it was far more than that.
Rector Karak gazed after me as I vanished from the conference hall.
“I wonder what sort of display awaits.”
He had no intention of interfering in my appointment examination.
The matter had been entirely delegated to Balik, who bore the backing of the Rafalte Duchy.
‘Passage would be impossible, of course.’
Yet should, by some remote chance.
A miracle occur.
‘It bears watching.’
Rector Karak’s eyes glinted like a serpent’s.
* * *
The door swung open.
Upon entering the conference hall, every eye turned toward me.
‘Far more than I expected.’
There were easily over fifty observers present.
‘Most of them appear to be the Rafalte Duchy’s creatures.’
Surprisingly few academy students or faculty were in attendance.
In truth, this hardly qualified as a proper conference, so there was little reason for them to attend.
Only a handful of faculty with ties to the Rafalte Duchy had bothered to show.
“I wonder if the young prince will manage to deliver a proper lecture, given how nervous he must be.”
“They say he couldn’t even present properly in front of others when he was a student.”
Snickers rippled through the crowd.
Balik’s intention to humiliate me before this gathered assembly was painfully transparent in their whispered remarks.
Yet I could not help but smile inwardly.
‘I’m afraid you’re mistaken. I’m quite accustomed to this sort of thing.’
Sales work isn’t merely pounding the pavement.
I had often stood upon stages far grander than this to promote new products.
The Black Flame Dragon’s Charisma lent me its strength.
“Good day to all of you. I am Ban Ecclesia, invited as lecturer for this conference.”
“!!”
Even to my ears, my voice carried an unmistakable dignity and grace.
The hall erupted in murmurs, and Balik’s expression darkened visibly as he took in my appearance—so far from what he’d anticipated. He spoke, his tone clipped.
“We are honored to welcome you as a lecturer, Duke van. I am Professor Balik, chairing today’s conference.”
Balik’s eyes glinted with a savage light.
Even though my appearance had confounded his expectations, I could sense his determination to make me pay for it.
“Duke van will be giving a lecture on the methods of breaking down the fractal structure of interstellar space. After the presentation concludes, I ask that you all provide evaluations. Today’s scores will determine whether Duke van passes the provisional professorship examination.”
Most of those gathered here were from the Rafalte Duchy.
Which meant my chances of passing were, for all practical purposes, nonexistent.
Under ordinary circumstances, anyway.
But.
“This topic represents one of the great unsolved problems in magical theory. We are most curious to see how Duke van will approach it.”
An unsolved problem.
There was my answer.
I stepped onto the lectern.
“Before I begin, I must ask your indulgence. Today’s lecture may prove rather difficult for you to follow.”
The Black Flame Dragon’s arrogant tone rang through the hall.
“The subject is far too simple for me, you see. I confess I’m uncertain how to lower my explanation to match your level of comprehension.”
Shock and disbelief spread across every face in the room.
The look of a man gone mad.

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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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