The Genius Professor Wants An Easy Life - Chapter 26

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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 26
‘Done, done!!’
It was the gamble of a lifetime.
I’d manipulated the magic from the Grimoire, the kind that crushed an opponent’s mind.
To shatter the psychic bond between Puppet and his construct.
‘Yes!!! Yes!! It worked!! Ha, what’s Puppet saying now?! That I’m the greatest in the class!’
Of course, the Black Flame Dragon had dressed up my crude hack beautifully.
“Filthy, wretched servant of evil, your only rightful place is Hell.”
…It made my skin crawl, but what did it matter?
I’d won.
“Young Master Ban!! I always believed in you!! Truly, the star of the magical realm! What are you all doing? Why aren’t you worshipping the greatness of Young Master Ban?! Well, Linden?!”
“I, it’s incredible, Professor! T, three cheers for Young Master Ban!!”
Even Hans’s theatrical fanfare and Linden’s stiff chanting felt oddly endearing in that moment.
Then something changed.
[Chuckle, you didn’t think it would end just like this, did you?]
Cold.
A sickening chill crawled down my spine.
‘No way.’
I turned slowly, and saw something that made my blood run cold.
Click. Click. Click.
The shattered construct was reassembling itself.
It had failed.
‘…It’s over.’
Vertigo seized me.
There was nothing left.
As the world tilted, something else happened.
[…….]
Puppet’s construct froze mid-motion.
It simply stared at me, unmoving.
Five seconds. Ten seconds. Fifteen….
More than a minute passed.
It was only when everyone began exchanging puzzled glances that—
[…I believe I shall take my leave now.]
“……??”
[Count yourself fortunate. Next time, I won’t be so merciful.]
Whoosh!
In a rush of shadow, Puppet’s construct vanished.
I stared blankly at the place where he’d been.
‘Why did he just leave? Was it mercy?’
That didn’t seem right.
Rather—
‘…wasn’t that exactly what a defeated villain says before fleeing?’
My face twisted in confusion.
‘No way. Puppet wouldn’t actually run away.’
At least I was alive. That was enough.
A message bloomed before my eyes, as if to congratulate me.
-You have repulsed Puppet’s construct!
-Your reputation increases!
-Some people’s contemptuous gaze toward you has eased!
As if to prove the message, a roar erupted.
Those who’d barely survived their brush with death.
“Long live Young Master Ban!!”
“We’re alive because of you, Young Master Ban!!”
“Young Master Ban? I’m a reporter for the Daily Chronicles! Puppet was so impressed by your bravery that he withdrew—could you give us a comment?!”
It wasn’t just them.
As Puppet’s barrier dissolved, Security Forces flooded in from outside.
“Black magicians?!”
“Young Master Ban’s report was true?!”
“Puppet from the Abyss showed himself?”
“But he retreated, impressed by Young Master Ban’s courage?!”
“Even Puppet himself was moved to admiration by your bravery, Honored Guest! A few words of your thoughts, if you would!”
And so the day’s incident came to a close amid all the clamor.
But a nagging message remained.
-You have achieved an incomprehensible miracle!
-Several Transcendent Beings perceive your existence for the first time!
* * *
At that moment.
In a Decaying City far removed from the Free City.
A squalid attic.
Where countless puppets lay scattered.
In the midst of that puppet forest, a small boy sat alone.
He had a cute appearance, but his eyes were utterly unsettling.
Eyes devoid of whites, filled entirely with blood-red.
Just like the ‘puppet’ that had appeared before me earlier.
That was right.
This boy’s true identity was Puppet himself!
A Master-class Black Mage of the seventh Star Rank.
But something was wrong with the boy’s condition.
“Cough!!”
A torrent of black blood spilled forth.
And plenty of it.
Serious internal injuries, unmistakably.
“That bastard…!! How dare he…!! To me!!”
The shocking truth:
Puppet had ended up in this state because of me!
Indeed, Puppet had originally intended to kill me.
But whatever manipulation I’d worked through the Grimoire had done far more than merely sever the puppet’s connection—it had dealt a severe blow to Puppet’s very body, forcing him to retreat in desperation.
What was far worse was that this was no mere internal wound.
“Why won’t the Puppet Arts respond? Argh!!”
Puppet moved his hand.
But the puppet lying on the ground didn’t so much as twitch.
Whatever I had done through the Grimoire had severed the mental link between him and his puppets.
The very foundation of his Puppet Arts had been gravely damaged.
In that moment, my face flashed through his mind.
-You are a coward.
Utterly arrogant.
A gaze that made him feel like an insect crawling beneath my eyes.
“Don’t be absurd. I am Puppet. The great Puppet… Cough!!”
As black blood spilled from his mouth once more, Puppet’s eyes flickered with a sickly light.
“I will never forgive you for this, you bastard. Never!!”
And so.
A dangerous spark began to grow in a place I knew nothing of.
* * *
The day’s incident sent shockwaves through the city.
After all, the merchant house connected to House Rapelt had actually been an organization of Black Mages.
On top of that, the notorious Puppet—infamous throughout the Empire—had appeared.
Coupled with Balik’s recent fall to a Demon Lord, rumors spread like wildfire.
-Could House Rapelt be colluding with Black Mages?
I clicked my tongue.
‘This is going to be a headache to manage.’
I was dealing with my own headache in another quarter.
The Security Forces had awarded me a Certificate of Commendation.
“Let us offer our applause to the Honored Guest, who has rendered such great service!!”
Clap, clap, clap.
The knights of the Security Forces began to applaud.
“Please, accept this. Here is the Certificate of Commendation.”
-In recognition of the heroic deeds of myself, a certificate of commendation is hereby bestowed.
I grimaced inwardly.
‘I don’t need some certificate like this.’
As I’ve said before, I became a professor precisely so I could keep quiet and quietly reap the benefits.
But before I could even become a professor, I seemed to be doing nothing but courting unnecessary attention.
‘The wording on this Certificate of Commendation doesn’t sit right with me.’
At the end of the commendation praising my accomplishments, there was this passage.
-Hereafter, the Security Forces declare themselves your eternal allies.
What does “allies” even mean?
Allies are people who fight alongside you against your enemies.
In other words, if the Security Forces are my allies, then I’m obliged to fight their enemies too.
…Of course, it’s just formal boilerplate with no legal weight, so it’s probably overthinking it, but the whole thing rubbed me the wrong way.
‘And they’re handing out pittance for the reward. Five hundred pens? What’s that supposed to be?’
I was venting my grievances silently when a burly-looking man approached me.
“Ban, I can’t believe how much you’ve changed. It seems like just yesterday you were running around cleaning up messes you’d caused.”
He was someone famous.
‘Gordon, the Security Chief!’
As befitted the commander of the Security Forces in the Free City, the place with the highest crime rate in the Empire, he radiated formidable strength.
A knight of Master-class rank and Sword Rank 6, no less.
For reference, mages express their level as “Star Rank,” while knights use numbers for their “Sword Rank.”
“I look forward to working with you in the future.”
Working well together, my foot.
I wanted to say I’d rather not.
But I changed my mind.
My survival instincts had kicked in.
‘A figure of the Security Chief’s caliber could prove useful to me someday down the line.’
“I’m the one who should be grateful. I’m well aware that the peace and security of the Free City owes everything to the dedicated efforts of you and your forces.”
The Security Chief’s face lit up with genuine admiration.
True to his weathered appearance, he was the type to be moved easily and give his trust freely.
“Ha-ha-ha! You’ve really changed, haven’t you? Your words warm my heart. Let’s share a drink sometime!”
When I left the Security Forces, an unexpected person was waiting for me.
“…Can we talk for a moment?”
It was Emily.
* * *
We headed to the office of the trading company I’d visited before.
I tilted my head at the transformed surroundings.
The furniture had been stripped away, leaving the space bare.
“Are you moving?”
“Our trading company went bankrupt. So we’re clearing out our belongings.”
An unexpected turn of events.
I grasped the situation immediately.
‘House Rapelt cut ties with them.’
Someone had to take responsibility for what had happened.
Even if it wasn’t intentional, they’d assigned collection duties to Black Mages, after all.
“We won’t just disappear irresponsibly. By way of apology, we’re forgiving the debts of everyone we’ve wronged so far, using the family’s power to find the missing people, and if we can’t find them, we’ll provide appropriate compensation to their families.”
“…Are you going to be alright?”
At my question, Emily gave me a peculiar look.
“…Ban, you really have changed.”
……
“The truth is, I asked to see you because I wanted to apologize. For everything from the past until now. I’m truly sorry.”
“You don’t need to apologize for what happened when we were engaged, do you? I think I’m the one who was foolish and made mistakes back then.”
“No, I realized through this incident that you’d become twisted because people refused to recognize your genius. And I never once bothered to look back at you in that state.”
Emily spoke to me directly, her gaze unflinching.
“I’m truly sorry, and thank you for everything you did this time.”
Cold sweat poured down my back.
‘…Isn’t this a flag being planted?’
Emily is a key figure in the narrative.
Someone I shouldn’t become deeply entangled with.
‘I have to handle this carefully here!’
This was difficult.
I couldn’t let myself grow closer to her.
But if I treated her coldly? That would be a flag in its own way.
After a moment’s deliberation, I spoke.
“You don’t need to worry about it. I did make mistakes, after all. Besides, aren’t we strangers to each other now?”
“…That’s not it.”
“Don’t misunderstand. I’m not doing this out of ill will toward you. Quite the opposite. I think we should free ourselves from past ties for the sake of each other’s future.”
A clean break, without hard feelings.
It was the best I could manage.
But Emily’s response was something I hadn’t anticipated.
“Puppet, you really….”
“…??”
“You’re being considerate of me because you’re worried my family will suffer if I stay close to you, aren’t you?”
No?
I just meant we should keep our distance, literally.
Emily sighed.
“My house is seething at you over this incident. After all, your involvement brought a tremendous scandal to light. Father, especially, is furious.”
Volmen.
He was the type to hold grudges with a vengeance.
“I’ll do everything I can to stop them, but I’ve lost most of my influence in the family because of this, so I won’t be much help.”
I made a troubled face.
‘Come on, they’re the ones who caused the problem. Why are they blaming me?’
It was exactly what you’d expect from the Empire’s pettiest house.
‘I need to come up with some countermeasure.’
Then a rather clever idea struck me.
“Are you just going to sit there and take it, Emily?”
“…No, I can’t. I have to make a comeback.”
“I’ll help you. Look into the Rehel Mine.”
“The one my house recently acquired? Why that place? Could it be…?”
Emily’s eyes widened.
The Rehel Mine was where the core members of House Rapelt had committed major corruption during the bidding process.
‘I’m poisoning House Rapelt through Emily. Keep them distracted so they can’t focus on me for a while.’
“Puppet, you….”
“Don’t get the wrong idea. We’re strangers now. I told you this not for your sake, but for my own benefit.”
“…….”
“If you’re that grateful to me, find me something I asked for.”
“What is it?”
“The Heart Stone of the Frozen Sea.”
“!!”
It was an S-rank Elixir.
‘I need to grow stronger.’
This incident had taught me that lesson.
No matter how much I entrust the world’s future to the protagonists, I still needed the power to protect myself.
‘And that’s not all. I’ll need strength for the entrance exam coming up.’
I was planning to flunk the troublesome protagonists and send them to other academies.
But there was a problem.
Looking at the roster of applicants to the School of Magic, I found there were three protagonists applying.
‘Two of them are manageable.’
First,
—Katrine.
A true protagonist I’d met before.
For some reason, she’d gone ahead and applied to Rubinesse Academy anyway.
That was fine. Since she hasn’t shown much promise yet, I could simply fail her and send her to another academy without any trouble.
Second,
—Joanna.
‘The most infuriating character.’
She ranked number one on my “characters I want to smack” list—a protagonist with no redeeming qualities whatsoever.
But even that was fine.
What mattered to me wasn’t personality.
‘Joanna’s trajectory is smooth.’
Unlike the other protagonists, who encounter all manner of major crises and incidents, hers was a relatively ‘uneventful’ future.
Exactly what I wanted.
I was planning to pass her.
The problem was the last applicant.
‘Why did it have to be them?’
I swallowed hard.
Libel.
The second true protagonist of the Warrior Academy, the most overpowered protagonist of all.
The man destined to be called “The One,” who would one day become a living legend, the only survivor.
The thermonuclear bomb I had to avoid at all costs had just applied to Rubinesse Academy.

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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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