The Genius Professor Wants An Easy Life - Chapter 66

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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 66
Whether it was Katrine, Libel, the Third Prince—they all wore the same expression, as if speaking in unison.
To think you’d go so far for us.
But the real problem lay elsewhere.
“…My instincts haven’t failed me after all. Ban, you truly are a gem among the jewels of Rubinesse Academy.”
It was Randolph, the former Rector.
His eyes blazed with fervor no less intense than theirs.
“Siding with Rector Karak must have deeper meaning behind it, I’m sure? Ah, I misunderstood you all this while, not knowing such things.”
‘No, what’s gotten into this man? I’m the one being misunderstood right now?’
I tried to open my mouth to correct the misunderstanding,
“Cough!”
“Professor!”
“Professor Ban, are you alright?! Merciful heavens! In such a grave condition. You cast the Self-Sacrifice Spell steeling yourself for death—no doubt about it. This devotion for your students! And I never knew you were capable of such things…! Randolph, you should be ashamed!”
‘No, please don’t overstate things. I need to clear up the misunderstanding….’
But my lips wouldn’t move, and my body grew heavier by the moment.
“Professor? Professor?! Open your eyes!”
“Good grief! Ban, are you—are you alright?!”
“Professor Ban! I’m a reporter from the Gaship Newspaper, just happened to pass by! You used the Self-Sacrifice Spell to repel Puppet—could you give us a comment?!”
Amid the noise ringing in my ears, my vision went black, and I lost consciousness entirely.
* * *
Deep within the Underground Waterway.
Not at the surface level where Ban had been, but at the central depths.
Near the Labyrinth itself, a terrible scream pierced the air.
“Aaaaagh!! Why?! Why?! Aaaaaaagh!!”
Astonishingly, it was Puppet—the one who had vanished by Ban’s hand.
“It was only the Dummy that was erased, so why does the main body feel this?! Aaaaagh!! Nooooo!!”
What had just dissolved was not the true form—only a fake Dummy.
Puppet’s earlier display of weakness despite Level 7 status stemmed partly from his own deficiencies, but also significantly from the fact that it had been a Dummy.
Dummies labored under grave disadvantages in manifesting power compared to the true form. Even the most exquisitely crafted Dummy maxed out at roughly eighty percent of the original’s strength.
Still, Puppet never exposed his true body to anyone. He feared death too much.
Some called him a coward for this very trait, but precisely because of it, Puppet had survived every crisis thus far.
A Dummy’s dissolution should never have affected the true form, yet something impossible was happening.
“Aaaaagh!! It hurts…!! Why, how?!”
His hand was crumbling to dust.
Like a sand castle collapsing.
More horrifying still: the scattered fragments of his hand were vanishing into nothingness without trace.
Erasing his very existence as if it had never been.
Vanish eternally from this world.
Ban’s words echoed in his mind.
Even now, his spirit felt crushed beneath something absolute.
As if being swallowed in real time by a yawning black void, an irresistible terror flooded through him.
“Aaaaagh!! This can’t be funny! I am Puppet! I do not die!”
He pulled Dark Mana to its limit to resist, but it only slowed the dissolution.
The collapse that had started at his fingertips had already consumed half his wrist.
‘Dying? Like this?’
Puppet trembled violently.
One.
There was a way to survive.
To pay a price and beg help from someone capable of resolving this impossibility.
‘The “Lord” who owns our Abyss might manage it, but no—he’d demand a price worse than death. The “Executives”? No, they’re equally terrible. The Witch of the Sea of Death whom I have dealings with, or Ghost Blade?’
Puppet had devoted himself so thoroughly to the Puppet Arts that his broader grasp of Magic was relatively inferior compared to other Level 7 beings.
Someone with deeper knowledge of Magic in general might have the means to reverse this horrific spell, but fear of the price kept him from asking anyone outright.
That was when.
“My, you do seem in a predicament. Do you need help?”
“…Who are you?”
“I’m Rune, temporary substitute professor at Rubinesse Academy.”
An utterly unexpected arrival.
More surprising still was Puppet’s reaction.
To his shock, Puppet recognized Rune.
“Rune…? Could you possibly be from the Demon Realm?”
“Ah, just as expected from someone of the Abyss’s caliber. Your insight is remarkable. Yes, I am the ‘Rune’ you know of.”
“P-please, spare me! If you serve someone of such power, you must be able to resolve this cursed magic! I will pay any price!”
“Ha ha.”
Thud!
Puppet dropped to his knees.
A shocking sight.
Rune, by contrast, remained composed.
As though receiving such prostration were only his due.
“What price are you willing to pay?”
“That would be…”
Puppet spoke carefully.
“…You came to Rubinesse Academy for that ‘purpose,’ didn’t you? I will assist you in achieving your aims for the glory of the Demon Realm.”
“Ha ha. With your Puppet Arts, you would indeed be most useful to me.”
“Then you accept?”
Puppet’s eyes were brimming with anticipation.
Crack!
Half of Puppet’s head exploded outward.
The remaining half, still wearing that cringing, expectant expression, tilted grotesquely before his body crumpled to the ground.
“How dare you speak of the Demon Realm’s glory with your filthy mouth. Disgusting.”
Rune brushed blood from his hand.
“But this—this is remarkable.”
Scatter.
Puppet’s corpse disintegrated into dust.
Not Rune’s doing.
The spell Ban had left behind continued to work even after Puppet’s death, erasing his very existence from the world.
“Imperfect though it may be, this is undoubtedly Eldritch Magic. To violate Causality without having reached the Heavenly Rank? Such a thing was only possible when the Demon King himself was still a mere Demon Duke.”
A name emerged, laden with awe.
The Demon King.
A Heavenly Rank Being who had climbed to the pinnacle of ascension.
A Level 10 existence.
“If the Demon Dukes knew of this, there would be chaos. I must watch him more closely. Ban might well become the joker that reshapes the balance of power in our Demon Realm.”
Sudden.
Had Ban heard this, he would have been appalled.
“All for the glory of the Demon Realm.”
Whoosh.
Rune vanished, and silence descended over the waterway.
Puppet’s body had completely disappeared—erased as though it had never existed in this world at all.
* * *
I woke after losing consciousness for a full three days.
When I came to, the world hadn’t changed entirely, but much had shifted.
– Ban’s Transformation! Professor Ban Saves Students from Puppet’s Clutches with a Self-Sacrifice Spell!
Puppet was a notorious villain infamous throughout the Empire.
The incident had been covered extensively by the press.
‘My public image has improved considerably.’
My past deeds were now receiving renewed attention as well.
– Has Ban Truly Become a Dragon? A Deep Dive into Professor Ban’s Recent History!
– Slaying Demons! Raiding Black Magic Dens! Preventing Entrance Exam Casualties Through Meticulous Planning! Professor Ban Resolved the Tragedy of Lancell Plateau!
– Was Professor Ban’s Boast—”I Shall Become a Great Star”—Empty Rhetoric? Or Perhaps Not?!
– Former Rector Randolph: “Ban is a shining jewel and treasure of our Rubinesse Academy.”
– Anonymous Student: “P-Professor Ban is the professor I admire most. My professor forever,” expressing ardent devotion.
‘…This is getting far too noisy, isn’t it?’
I set down the newspapers with a sigh.
It’s welcome for one’s reputation to improve, but moderation is always preferable.
‘My goal is to live quietly in the shadows, reaping the benefits. If I become too famous, I’ll only draw unwanted aggression.’
That wasn’t all.
‘The more famous Ban becomes, the more enemies he’ll accumulate.’
Ban, despite his worthlessness, has entangled himself with countless people through malice and misfortune.
Many of these enmities stem from false accusations and misunderstandings—but that’s only clear to me, who knows the truth behind them.
Will those who regard Ban as an irreconcilable foe, upon hearing of his recent fame, think, ‘Oh, our Ban has truly changed~’?
‘No. They’ll find him repugnant and gnash their teeth in hatred.’
A sigh escaped me, but what was done was done.
I decided to look on the bright side of things.
‘Still, I gained plenty from this ordeal.’
Just then, the hospital room door opened.
Carefully.
As if worried someone might see.
To my surprise, Julia was the one who entered.
And she was even holding flowers.
‘They say she visited me every day while I was unconscious. The flowers in that vase over there are hers too, apparently.’
Incidentally, no fewer than ten vases had accumulated in my hospital room during my time bedridden—as if some sort of competition had broken out.
‘I understand Katrine, Libel, and the Third Prince, but Hans and Linden? Are they just being obsequious? Emily seems to have sent hers as a matter of business courtesy.’
Either way, I gestured to Julia.
“You came.”
“…You were awake?”
“Yes. Are you all right? No lingering effects?”
Julia had also fallen victim to the Puppet Arts.
She looked fine on the surface, but who knew what lurked beneath.
‘She might have sustained psychological trauma.’
“If there’s anything wrong at all, tell me immediately. I’m your advisor, after all.”
“Is that your natural temperament?”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m asking if you’ve always been the type of pushover who looks after others the moment you wake up, before even thinking of yourself.”
A pointed tone.
I wasn’t sure what had put her off,
“No, not usually. But you’re my student.”
…I left unsaid the real reason: that if something happened to her, it would reflect poorly on my class evaluations.
Julia regarded me with complicated eyes for a moment, then spoke.
“While you were asleep, I thought about it. But I was born this way, and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to match you. Even now, I doubt myself. I wonder if your sacrifice was really just a way to use me.”
I listened to her in silence.
“So I’ve made a decision. Rather than forcing myself to do what I can’t, I’ll do what I do best instead.”
“What are you saying?”
“From now on, I’m going to use you.”
An unpleasant word.
But the nuance was different.
Julia smiled.
The kind of wicked, cunning smile I’d seen often while navigating the scenario—the expression of a villainess.
“I’m convinced you won’t remain just an ordinary professor. You’re going to become a star that shakes the entire Empire. So I plan to stake my claim firmly on you. I’ll become more than just a common student-mentor relationship from the Academy—I’ll ride on your coattails and bask in your glory.”
I let out a soft laugh.
‘Quite an elaborate way of saying she’s going to be a good student and listen to me carefully.’
“I plan to use you too, so we’re even.”
“…I expected you’d answer that way out of consideration for me. But you know that being too kind isn’t always a strength, right?”
Julia frowned, then suddenly flung the hospital room door wide open.
Katrine and Libel stood there, their faces rigid—apparently they’d been eavesdropping the whole time.
“Julia, you—”
“You heard?”
Julia twisted her mouth into a smile toward Katrine.
“The position of the professor’s top student is mine. You were never going to be competition anyway.”
!!

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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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