The Genius Professor Wants An Easy Life - Chapter 24

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Chapter 24
“Apologize to the company director this instant.”
Whoosh!!
A fierce aura blazed from Emily’s body.
For reference, Emily was a five-Star Rank mage.
The daughter of a prominent merchant house, and a prodigy with natural talent for magic.
It was said that even when Ban used to bully others, he would tremble and tuck his tail the moment Emily revealed her power in frustration.
Yet Ban showed an unexpected face.
Far from cowering as he used to, with tail between his legs.
“I’ve pointed it out so openly, and you still haven’t caught on? The rumors about being a talented daughter of a merchant house must have been exaggerated.”
“…What?”
Ban spread his palm open.
Flash!
A one-Star Rank constellation appeared.
One she’d never seen before.
“Demon Chaser. A one-Star Rank spell I just developed. It detects those concealing demonic energy. Have a look.”
Light flickered across Ban’s palm, then swept through the hall.
As if it were truly hunting down demonic auras.
“According to this spell, the Dark Mage is….”
Ban stopped mid-sentence.
Then.
“…This is unexpected.”
“…What?”
“We need to leave. Now.”
An incomprehensible statement.
“All of us. Everyone here.”
“What are you talking about? Speak plainly.”
Ban stepped backward.
Even in retreat, his movements were graceful and dignified.
“Everyone in this room is a Dark Mage.”
It was the moment Emily let out a bitter laugh at such absurd, outrageous words.
Thud.
Everyone in the trade company froze like statues, their eyes turning toward her.
Even as an inexplicable chill ran down Emily’s spine.
Whoosh!!
A weapon flew toward her.
Aimed directly at her throat.
‘This… this can’t be?’
Emily’s face went pale.
‘Defensive Magic? Too late!’
Though she had reached five-Star Rank, she had grown distant from magic, pouring her efforts into company affairs for years.
Her mind seized up in the sudden situation, unable to respond.
But then.
Crack!!
“…Didn’t I tell you to get out of the way?”
A reproaching voice.
Ban’s shield blocked the space before her.
* * *
‘What the—? Could this place really be a Dark Mage den?!’
When I first set foot in the Altran Trade Company, I was confident without a care in the world.
I knew the company director was a Dark Mage, but at best, just a contractor.
Low-grade at most.
‘Low-grade means nothing to worry about. At best, two or three-Star Rank level. And I’ve already called the Guard Corps knights.’
The director turned out to be a low-grade Dark Mage, true enough.
The problem was the numbers.
Every single person in this trade company was a Dark Mage.
‘At this point, it’s fair to call this a “den”!’
I bit my lip hard.
‘The exits are already blocked. They plan to kill us all, silence any witnesses, then escape. Damn it, what do I do?’
That was the moment.

—Win Probability: 25%
A pathetic rate of success.
Seventy-five percent meant death.
But then.
—If a mindless high-ranking Mage is used as a tool: 100%
I blinked.
‘A mindless Mage? Ah.’
I grasped at once who was being referred to.
Emily, this body’s former fiancée.
‘According to the setting, she came from a prominent merchant family and took up magic as a secondary pursuit, rising all the way to Star Rank 5 as a prodigy.’
The catch was that she’d only ever learned magic as a hobby.
With no practical combat experience, she remained frozen stiff even now.
‘I need to snap her out of it. If I don’t, I die.’
Fortunately, I had considerable experience handling situations like this.
I recalled those early days in sales when I’d jolted paralyzed newcomers back to their senses.
‘Different recruits need different remedies.’
For Emily, the whip was the answer.
“Pathetic. What are you doing standing there like an idiot?”
“…Half.”
“You knew these people have been selling debt-ridden folk to high-ranking Dark Mages as experimental subjects, didn’t you?”
“!!”
Emily’s pupils trembled.
“That can’t be. When we investigated…”
“And yet you deny it, even looking at this? Wake up and face reality. Every atrocity these bastards have committed—it’s all because your merchant house turned a blind eye.”
“!!”
In fairness.
Her grievance wasn’t entirely unfounded.
These people were subcontractors of subcontractors of subcontractors.
They’d laundered debt-ridden workers through multiple layers of shell trading companies before shipping them off to distant lands as slaves to high-ranking Dark Mages.
But I chose to speak harshly anyway.
“You commit wrongs and then just freeze in place. You were always bragging to me about how superior you were, and yet this is all you amount to.”
“…No.”
Emily gritted her teeth.
I delivered the killing blow, shoving her from behind.
“Then prove it with action. That you’re not a money-grubber, but a golden lion.”
“!!”
The symbol of the Rapalte Duchy is the golden lion.
Yet people scorn the Rapalte family, calling them money-grubbers.
“…No. Our Rapalte Duchy is not money-grubbers. We are the golden lion. I will take responsibility for this matter with my own hands.”
Perfect!
Whoosh!
A fierce aura blazed up from Emily’s body.
Power befitting a Star Rank 5 high-ranking Mage.
Now my task was to watch her shine with a pleased heart.
‘Is there a safe spot somewhere?’
Hiding behind the Storage Room seemed like it would keep me out of harm’s way.
But I wasn’t alone.
Hans and Linden were already there.
“…How long have you two been hiding here?”
I was certain we’d arrived together, but at some point they’d vanished—I’d wondered where they’d gone, only to find them cowering like rats.
“Ah! Loyalty, loyalty, loyalty! We were merely watching for a chance to land a blow against the enemy, sir!”
“Y-yes, that’s right. I was… admiring Professor’s magnificent bearing.”
Hans and Linden answered with transparent desperation.
‘…Is our party actually okay like this?’
A cowardly professor, a spineless flunky named Hans, and a worthless graduate student named Linden.
We were, without question, a ridiculous trio.
“But Professor, why are you here? Surely you didn’t come to hide with us?”
“Hold on, Linden, you fool! How dare you speak that way to the Young Master! The Young Master has come here with some greater purpose!”
Hans bristled at Linden’s tactless remark.
I played the part of a dignified professor, offering a plausible excuse.
“We’ve come to check what books those Dark Mages have hidden in the Storage Room. There could be dangerous grimoires concealed here, after all.”
It was a lie, of course.
But that was when it happened.
‘What book is that?’
A single volume on the shelf caught my eye.
‘Comprehensive Treatise on Commerce.’
An ordinary book you’d expect to find in any trade company.
‘No. There’s something more to this.’
Intuition.
I drew it out and opened it as if entranced.
The pages were crammed with dense, tedious content about commerce—exactly what the title promised.
“Sir, why are you suddenly reading a book on commerce?”
“Linden, you fool! This gentleman is a genius who will revolutionize the magical world. He must be seeking the hidden truths of magic even within a commerce text!”
“No, no—sir, that doesn’t quite… You’re not just pretending to read to avoid standing awkwardly, are you?”
Both of them were wrong.
‘This isn’t a commerce book. It’s a grimoire.’
The densely packed text was an illusion.
Beneath it lay magical content written in arcane cipher.
‘Thanks to my Grand Master of Magic ability, I can read it.’
I swallowed hard.
Because of the passage I saw next.
-This is a grimoire of Heaven-Defying Power. Whoever claims this book as their own shall reach the end of Heaven itself.
Heaven.
Level 9.
The strongest beings in this world, known as Ascendants.
And “the end of Heaven” refers to the realm beyond even that.
The peak of Level 9.
The Heavenly Rank.
‘Among the sixteen protagonists, only two can ever reach that realm.’
Katrine, the light-blessed true protagonist.
And the other pillar—the so-called second true protagonist, the ultimate cheat code of Warrior Academy, the “Mary Sue protagonist.”
That was when I began to hear phantom voices at the edge of my hearing.
-Seize me. Then you will reach the end of Heaven and look down upon all others.
A voice so sweet it could seduce anyone.
But.
‘I don’t want it.’
-…What?
‘Reach the end of Heaven for what? Just to be exhausted all the time?’
The reward simply wasn’t tempting enough to seduce me.
‘Now if it offered a lifetime of idleness and comfort, maybe I’d bite.’
-W-wait? Just a moment! I am a great grimoire and…!
The grimoire sputtered indignantly, but I ignored it and placed the book back on the shelf.
I glanced at the situation on the field.
The Dark Mages were numerous, but all only Star Rank 2 or 3—low-tier rabble.
With Emily at Star Rank 5 now awakened and fighting in concert with the knights, they were being driven back in disarray.
‘I can’t just sit here doing nothing. I’ll watch for an opening and slip out to make a show of fighting when the moment’s right.’
I was chuckling to myself over this perfect plan when it happened.
A sudden chill raced down my spine.
‘…What’s this?’
My expression hardened to stone.
Looking at my arms, every hair stood on end.
“What’s wrong, sir?”
“…Hans, Linden, do either of you sense something amiss?”
“Not at all, sir? Isn’t our side winning soundly?”
“From where I stand as a Gambler’s Judgment, barring any unforeseen Adverse Development, our victory seems assured…”
Adverse Development.
The moment those words grated against my ear, a chilling voice suddenly pierced the empty air.
[Dear me, dear me. How troublesome. These children are my precious slaves, after all. How dare you.]
!!
Whoooosh!!!
Darkness descended, and a shadow materialized in the empty air.
It was not human.
Beneath a deceptively cute exterior lay a split lip, a neck bent at an unnatural angle, and eyes devoid of white—pupils flooded entirely with crimson blood.
The strings that supported its grotesquely elongated arms.
A marionette. A Marionette.
‘Surely not?’
My face drained of color.
I knew of only one person who wielded such Marionettes.
An exceedingly famous one.
A knight of the Guard Corps cried out the name as though screaming.
“…Puppet of the Abyss?!”
[Hehehehe, you know of me. How delightful.]
“!!”
Horror rippled through the hall.
Most villains scatter and hide like cockroaches.
But there are exceptions.
A select few who flaunt themselves openly—they form what is known as the Abyss.
The most vile band of villains, composed exclusively of transcendent beings of Star Rank 7 or higher.
‘Puppet is also a Star Rank 7 transcendent. For him to appear now is a scenario bug!’
Of course, what had manifested was not his true form but merely a Marionette, yet the situation remained dire.
Its durability was weak, yes—but its Dark Magic could manifest at full Star Rank 7 power.
The Marionette’s split lips twisted into a grotesque smile.
[Now that you know who I am, you surely understand what fate awaits you. I shall kill you all.]
“!!”
[Come, choose. Death by agony or death by horror. To be more precise: perishing here in this wretched place, or being dragged away to serve as an experimental subject. Kyahahaha. Either way suits me fine.]
A suffocating silence fell over the chamber.
Then,
<Facing an overwhelming enemy, Gambler’s Judgment activates!>
-Win Probability without a miracle: 0%