The Genius Professor Wants An Easy Life - Chapter 52

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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 52
The room fell cold and brittle.
My companions looked at me as if I’d lost my mind.
Reasonably so.
‘The Duchess is an equal match to Puppet.’
Level 7 occupied an entirely different rank from those below it.
They were the true transcendent powers of this world.
‘Tricks won’t work at all. I’ll have to crush her through pure magical prowess.’
A challenge that went beyond reckless—it was sheer madness.
“Ha.”
The Duchess let out a soft laugh.
The kind that said she was too bewildered to know how to even be angry.
Linden and Hans rushed to stop me.
“Ah! Senior, have you lost your mind? You don’t know who that Duchess is? The Mad Witch of Cruelty… Hk! Oh no, I misspoke, Your Grace! You are truly radiant!”
“Surely, Linden, you still don’t trust the Young Master? He’s just speaking his mind, isn’t he? If you duel with the Witch of Cruelty this time, I’ll wager money on her!”
Everyone else joined in, insisting it was absolutely out of the question.
The surprise came from Joanna.
She’d been watching quietly from the back, but now she stepped forward.
“Mother, please ignore him. There’s no reason to mind such pathetic trash’s slander. And you, Ban-garbage—apologize to Mother at once for your rudeness and show proper respect.”
I made a slightly startled expression.
‘Her words sound awful, but she’s stepping up for me. What’s gotten into that cancer of a lady, Joanna?’
I decided to press my luck a little further.
“The last time I saw it, the Young Lady Joanna’s abilities were utterly mediocre. I’m genuinely curious what sort of instruction you’ve been providing all this time. If I defeat you, acknowledge your own shortcomings and withdraw your hand from Joanna’s education.”
Snap.
Something inside the Duchess seemed to break,
“Hahahaha!!!”
Crash!
An aura far more violent than before came crashing down.
The windows, decorations, and sculptures in the room all shattered and scattered.
“Fine. I accept your wager. But there’s one condition. Rather than me blocking your magic unilaterally, we cast magic simultaneously and exchange blows once. That way it’ll be fair.”
She was suggesting a true magical duel.
The Duchess—no, the Witch of Cruelty—twisted her lips into something sinister.
“We won’t hold each other responsible for whatever happens during the wager. Even if one of us ends up crippled.”
It was a declaration that she would absolutely cripple me.
‘This isn’t just a bluff.’
With her wicked nature, her power, her status—she could do such a thing without breaking a sweat.
And yet,
“I accept. I will see it through.”
“Young Master!”
“Professor Ban!! You can’t!!”
Everyone gasped and shook their heads, but I didn’t back down.
‘It’s all right. I can do this.’
Was I not afraid?
Of course I was terrified.
But this wasn’t madness driving me to act this way.
There was a reason.
“I’ll tell you what magic I’ll use. Five-Star Rank Ice Sickle. I’ll take one of your arms with that frozen blade.”
True to form, the Witch of Cruelty.
She showed no mercy, no magnanimity about using a lower-rank spell because my rank was insufficient.
‘She won’t use anything beyond Five-Star Rank because she’s afraid I might actually die.’
But that was no reason to take this lightly.
When the Witch of Cruelty deployed Five-Star Rank magic, it would be in an entirely different dimension from the mediocre Five-Star spells those incompetent professors had cast during the training expedition.
“Then I shall meet you with the same school of magic. One-Star Rank Ice Needle.”
A needle of ice.
The most basic of the basic spells, the first thing you learn when studying frost magic.
“Ha, are you joking? With such a pathetic spell….”
“I think it will suffice.”
“…What?”
“Did I not say? Today I will teach you what true greatness in magic really is. You will come to understand the difference in our caliber.”
The Witch of Cruelty stared at me in utter disbelief.
“My mind has changed. Not the arm—I’ll take the tongue instead.”
Whisper.
Cold gathered in the empty air, and a sickle of ice materialized.
-Kee-kee-kee-kee-kick.
The ice sickle let out a chilling laugh.
From Star Rank 5 onwards, a mage pours the Mage Path they have realized into their incantations.
But the level of the Mage Path embedded in this incantation was so abyssal that it even carried individual emotions.
Killing intent.
“Damn it, this insane professor! Run!”
“I—I’ll stop it.”
Katrine and Libel could no longer hold back and moved to shield me.
They were not alone.
Clang!
“I will not tolerate this any longer. Stand down.”
“Yes! Senior Volmen! Hurry and kneel and beg for forgiveness!”
“Cruel Witch, please—I, Hans, beg your pardon instead! Hold your power!”
Gordon, under Mariam’s orders, along with Linden and Hans—all moved to protect me.
‘Linden and Hans are unexpected.’
But I shook my head calmly.
“It’s fine. Everyone, fall back.”
“Fine? How is this—”
“Trust Ban Ecclesia.”
“!!”
Everyone froze in shock, and I stepped forward, wreathed in the Black Flame Dragon’s aura.
“I will be the victor of this duel.”
Rustle.
Ice needles materialized in empty space.
Somewhat large, but no thicker than an awl.
It carried none of the power of my hidden weapon, the Spirit Sword, nor the Heart of the Frozen Sea.
It was purely a Level 1 Star Rank spell.
Compared to the ice sickle pouring out such dreadful killing intent, it was almost embarrassingly crude—so much so that the Cruel Witch let out a snort of amusement, as if she’d entered some kind of pause.
“I don’t even know what I’m doing fighting a wretch like you. Kneel now and bark like a dog, and I might let it slide.”
“Are you uncertain?”
“…What?”
“If you had eyes, you’d have reason to be. Do you recognize the formula I’ve woven?”
“!!”
Only then did the Cruel Witch sense something amiss and hesitate.
“…What is that formula?”
“What else? A formula that will soon appear in textbooks. With a note added: this is the technique that brought the Cruel Witch to her knees.”
“You bastard!”
The ice sickle came flying.
Just as she had said—straight for my mouth.
-Kee-kee-kee-kee-kee-kee-kick!!
Chilling killing intent burrowed into my mind.
Primordial terror flooded in, but I gritted my teeth.
Magic Gunner Battle.
That was the name given to this exchange of magic—similar to a gunfight where no tricks could intervene.
It was a duel that tested a mage’s ability in its purest form, with no room for schemes,
‘I can win this. No—I will definitely win.’
A thought no one else would understand.
And yet it was true.
I could see the message before my eyes.
<Win rate if engaging the Cruel Witch in Magic Gunner Battle>
– 100%
An absolute victory rate.
That was why I could be so bold.
‘I am not who I was before.’
The mana dullness remained the same.
But I had gained a new weapon.
One potent enough to land a decisive blow even against the Cruel Witch.
Crack!
The incantation of the Ice Needle trembled.
A single star far too intricate and unyielding to be called merely a Level 7 incantation.
All of it to contain one force.
-I manifest the latent Chaos Energy within my body!
-Chaos infuses the incantation!
Only then did the eyes of the Witch of Cruelty widen like lanterns as she grasped the truth of my formula.
“H-how is this possible? Chaos is a force no one can control!”
“I’m the exception.”
That was the truth.
A force that no one could command—one that even the Demon King could only seal away by cursing it—yet I had done the impossible.
“This is a rare chance indeed. Watch closely. This is the magic of Ban Ecclesia.”
The Ice Needle rushed toward the sickle of ice.
Tiny, pitiful as an awl it seemed, yet the result was beyond belief.
-Screeeeeeeeeeeeaaaagh!!!
Shriek-shriek-shriek!
A horrible sound rang out like flesh being torn by a blade, and the mana woven into the incantation shrieked in agony.
The Witch of Cruelty, ashen-faced, hurried to convert the formula.
Converting the formula of an already-manifested incantation was something only mages of an unfathomable caliber could accomplish.
But it was meaningless.
Bang!
Like a bullet fired, the ice needle pierced the very heart of the sickle, shattering it to nothing.
“Kgh!!!”
As the formula crumbled, mana backflowed, and the Witch of Cruelty spewed blood in a great gush.
She bore grave internal wounds.
It was a perfect victory.
“This… this cannot… Cough!!”
“Mother!”
The Witch of Cruelty, as if unable to accept it, reached out toward me, only to cough up blood again.
Joanna rushed to support her.
“N-no, let me go.”
“But… the blood!”
“I don’t need your help—let go!”
Joanna’s expression twisted with hurt.
“I’m… I’m sorry.”
Her brow furrowed.
I exhaled quietly.
“The victor of this duel is I. Since the Duchess is a woman of honor, I trust you will honor all the conditions we wagered.”
The Witch of Cruelty clenched her teeth.
Truth be told, I hadn’t expected her to comply willingly.
Still, she wouldn’t dare act so brazenly from this point forward.
If she merely restrained her hand against Katrine somewhat, that would be enough to achieve my goal.
‘Joanna, though… I’m afraid she’ll never release her grip. She’s the most essential “tool” for her ambitions. There’s nothing I can do about that.’
I recalled Joanna’s Character Scenario and shook my head quietly.
Though Joanna was a hopeless, tiresome young lady, when I thought of the struggles and sorrows she would endure ahead, I felt a pang of sympathy.
“Th-this….”
And then—that moment arrived.
Something no one had foreseen occurred.
“What is the meaning of this?”
!!
A soft, gentle voice.
Yet like thunder striking the heart, dread crashed down upon me.
A terrible pressure unlike anything I had faced before.
Though no magic was being wielded, no one in the hall dared move a finger.
As if crushed beneath the weight of a giant.
“It has been a long while, young lord Ban.”
I turned slowly to see a neat, middle-aged man in a business suit standing there.
To the eye, he might have resembled a nobleman from an exclusive club.
Yet his eyes held an unmistakable madness that could not be concealed.
A madness that seemed poised to devour the entire world.
I lowered my head slowly and offered a bow.
“It is an honor to meet the head of the Klein Noble House.”
A Level 8 mage of the highest echelon—one who had reached the pinnacle of spiritual cultivation, gazing toward the heavens.
The king of mages upon the earth.
Head of a legendary magical lineage: Duke Alfons.
* * *
‘Why is Duke Alfons here? Wasn’t he always on Sky Island?’
I swallowed hard.
This was dangerous.
‘He’s not a villain like the Cruel Witch, but he’s utterly unpredictable.’
A madman cloaked in reason.
That was Duke Alfons.
He understood society’s boundaries and honored them—yet whenever the mood struck, he would commit acts of sheer lunacy within those very limits, skirting the edge with reckless abandon.
The true danger lay in the fact that his madness could never be anticipated.
“How delightful to see you. It’s been over a decade since we last met, and you’ve grown into someone truly remarkable.”
“…Thank you.”
“I mean it sincerely. Your father, Huam—that friend of mine has spoken of you with such envy every time we meet, lamenting your deeds. It was all exaggeration, it seems.”
Duke Alfons’s gaze flickered briefly toward his two daughters, Joanna and Katrine, before he continued with indifference.
“Even a hundred worthless children like those would not equal the value of a single you.”

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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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