The Genius Professor Wants An Easy Life - Chapter 72

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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 72
The academy was abuzz with the results of the pop quiz.
“Did you see? I got 48 points in Linear Theory. That’s my highest score ever!”
“I thought it was easy, but it wasn’t?”
“Ban’s lectures actually work?”
“Weren’t you just saying a while back that Ban doesn’t deserve to be called a professor?”
“How dare anyone speak such slander about the esteemed Professor Ban!”
In an instant, Ban’s reputation skyrocketed.
But then, a cold voice cut through the chatter:
“I heard Ban’s teaching methods are Forbidden Path?”
“…Forbidden Path? That can’t be right, surely?”
It referred to heretical magic that the Magic Tower refused to acknowledge.
While it could accelerate improvement rapidly, it inevitably caused severe side effects.
“It’s true. My friend’s uncle is an executive at the Magic Tower, and when he heard Ban’s lecture content, he told him to stop immediately. He said there are actually Black Mages who use similar methods.”
“…Now that you mention it, something did feel off.”
“The way Ban’s magical ability suddenly improved, and all.”
In an instant, Ban’s reputation plummeted from professor to fraud.
And the problem wasn’t just his reputation that suffered.
“…What do we do? Should we keep taking this class? Shouldn’t we refuse to attend?”
“But if we skip, we’ll be marked absent.”
“What’s the student council doing?! Why haven’t they shut down the class?”
“What power does the student council have against a professor?”
“What should we do?”
The students were in chaos.
“Ha ha, don’t worry. We anticipated this, so the Amethyst Audit Group was sent to investigate.”
It was Senin.
‘Idiots.’
Senin was the one who’d spread the rumor.
He’d coerced Magic Faculty students who had connections to House Rapelt.
‘Evidence doesn’t matter. As long as the rumor sounds plausible, that’s all it takes.’
An irritated voice came from beside him.
“We don’t need this kind of thing.”
“Princess Joanna, I don’t doubt you, but wouldn’t it be better to be thorough?”
‘Bringing down Ban should be my role. I’ve always been the protagonist.’
Senin spoke with unmistakable smugness.
“I’ll handle all the preparations flawlessly. You just need to deliver the final blow.”
“Hmph.”
Joanna replied coldly.
“Whether you do this or not is irrelevant. I will prove that Professor Ban is wrong.”
* * *
Meanwhile, there were those who regarded the Amethyst Audit Group with disdain.
“Hmm. I don’t like it. Do you?”
“…I don’t really mind—? Tsk, ah, no! I hate it too! How dare they interfere with Professor Ban!”
It was Julia and Wilhelm, Ban’s classmates.
“I won’t let those arrogant Amethyst auditors leave unscathed.”
“…How are you planning to do that?”
“What do you think?”
“D-don’t smile like that, okay? You’re scary when you do.”
Julia was smiling wickedly.
It was the smile of a villainess, the kind that appeared frequently in scenarios.
That was right.
Her original role was the villain.
Though she’d become Ban’s classmate and her future was uncertain, she possessed a wicked nature.
‘An eye for an eye. I’ll bury them using the exact same method.’
For the record, Julia was just as much an expert at spreading rumors as anyone else.
But there was one problem.
‘Rumor wars are battles of momentum. Professor Ban can’t afford to lose his edge in class.’
She caught sight of Joanna, whose expression was resolute.
Looking thoroughly determined to prove Ban wrong.
‘…She’s not someone to trifle with. She’s quietly unhinged.’
Katrine and Joanna.
Sisters in appearance yet worlds apart, it was clear to see.
Katrine was rough around the edges; Joanna had no sense of propriety.
If Katrine possessed grit, Joanna was thoroughbred poison.
‘Once she sets her sights on something, she doesn’t look back—just latches on and tears into it. What sort of grudge does she have against Professor Ban?’
The reason remained a mystery, but Joanna had her teeth sunk into Ban right now.
During Ban’s class, she would certainly cause a scene.
* * *
“Let’s begin the lecture. Some seats appear to be… empty.”
I frowned.
The atmosphere in the Lecture Hall had shifted.
Until now, attendance points had kept absences to a minimum, but now empty seats had become conspicuously frequent.
The students’ expressions had changed too.
The brief trust that appeared after the test results had evaporated entirely; what remained was only suspicion and wariness.
The reason was simple.
‘Senin stirred up trouble.’
A supporting protagonist of the Liberal Arts Faculty.
His class was Merchant.
‘Right now is when he’s at his most irritating.’
Senin truly comes into his own as a protagonist only after enduring what he’s destined to face soon—True Education.
‘In the original scenario, Senin spreads false rumors to bury a professor from Karak’s faction, and that Catastrophe ultimately begins with that event.’
At the thought of that Catastrophe, I trembled slightly, invisible to any watching eye.
‘It’s fine. That Catastrophe occurs only when a professor from Karak’s faction gets buried. This time will be different.’
More than that,
‘Senin’s scheming will actually work greatly in my favor.’
Anyone else hearing this would find it bewildering.
‘If I can dispel this rumor, I can actually strengthen the trust directed toward me even further. Come the Joint Competition, I’ll be able to draw the performance from my students that I desire.’
The Fundamental Understanding of Magic course I taught had a Joint Competition scheduled midway through.
An event where professorial caliber becomes starkly evident.
‘I need to score the highest on the course evaluation too. Simply defeating Baron Aiden won’t be enough. I’ll perform a miracle at the Joint Competition.’
In the original scenario, the Joint Competition ended in catastrophe and horror, but this time there was no such risk, so I could fully showcase my results.
Yet,
‘…Why is she even here?’
I felt genuine confusion.
In the middle of the Lecture Hall.
Joanna sat directly in my line of sight, her legs crossed.
‘Joanna coming as an auditor from the Amethyst Audit Group wasn’t part of the scenario.’
“Aren’t you starting the lesson?”
Joanna’s sharp voice cut through.
I nodded.
“Open your Practice Notebooks. Today we’ll study the Lightning Star.”
“Isn’t the Lightning Star beyond what we can manage?”
The students murmured nervously.
Unlike the Mana Star from before, which was foundational, this was considerably advanced material.
“We’ll be working with a newly modified version—not the standard star. Pay attention.”
Flash!
It was a star of entirely different construction, not the complex one conventionally taught.
“I’ve adapted it for instructional purposes. Through this star, you’ll understand star structure.”
Then a challenge came.
“Won’t learning an arbitrary, flawed star cause them harm in the future?”
It was Joanna.
“It’s not flawed.”
“A star nobody’s ever heard of or seen isn’t flawed? That’s absurd.”
Joanna spoke with cutting precision.
“Fine. Here’s what we’ll do. After this class ends, one student who’s learned this star will face me in a Lightning magic duel. If the star is legitimate as you claim, there’s no way you could lose to me, is there?”
It was an unreasonable proposition.
The star wasn’t the issue.
Joanna was 2nd Rank Superior.
Meanwhile, every Magic Faculty student here was 1st Rank, so none of them could possibly stand against her.
‘There’s no reason to accept this…’
But in that moment, my eyes met Joanna’s gaze.
At first glance, it brimmed with hostility.
But it wasn’t that.
Beneath the surface, something entirely different flickered in those depths.
Desperation.
‘Ah, so that’s what it was.’
Only then did I understand why Joanna had come all this way.
It wasn’t simply to sabotage me.
She wanted certainty.
By defeating me, she wanted to confirm that her convictions had never been wrong.
‘Did I push too hard?’
I felt a twinge of regret.
Joanna had already been struggling with confusion ever since entering the academy and recognizing her own shortcomings.
I worried that by stepping in to help, I’d only compounded her turmoil rather than easing it.
‘I suppose I’ll have to offer some damage control.’
“I’m rejecting your proposal.”
“What? Are you backing away?”
“Don’t you find it unfair from the start? You, who’ve already refined the Lightning Star a hundred times over, facing off against someone who’s only studied for a few hours? That’s unreasonable. Instead, we’ll do this differently.”
“…What method is that?”
“After attending my lesson, you’ll attempt to demonstrate the Star I teach you directly.”
!!
Joanna stiffened visibly.
“What kind of absurd suggestion is that?”
“If you actually manifest the Star, you’ll understand for yourself whether mine is correct or not. Surely the young lady of a great magic house has at least that level of discernment?”
My provocation made Joanna’s face flush with anger.
“How dare you… Fine. I’ll evaluate it without mercy. Be ready.”
The lecture hour passed in a blur.
Unlike the other students, Joanna didn’t trace the Star as I drew it.
She simply listened with an expression of complete indifference.
“That concludes today’s lesson. Joanna, come up to the platform.”
Hmph.
Joanna took her place across from me.
“You weren’t paying attention. Did you actually understand?”
“A crude Star like that hardly deserves my focus.”
Snap!
It was exactly the Star I’d taught in the lesson.
“The convenience has improved, but every detail is pathetic.”
“Demonstrate it first, then you can talk.”
Joanna let out a scoff and unfurled her Lightning.
Crackle!
It was indeed a Lightning that seemed to lack something, just as she’d said.
“Look. How is this a proper Star?”
“It’s not a proper manifestation, is it?”
“What nonsense are you talking? Are you suggesting I deliberately cast my magic poorly? What do you take me for?!”
“No, that’s not what I mean.”
I looked at her directly.
“Do you truly believe you’ve grasped the meaning of my Star?”
“Of course, something this simple—”
“Are you really certain?”
Joanna’s lips sealed shut.
“I explained the entire meaning of this Star during the lesson. But it seems you haven’t understood it at all.”
“I did understand it. The combination of lines and points, the direction they hold within the Elemental… Would you like me to explain?”
And with that, Joanna proceeded to explain every aspect of my Star’s structure.
A precise explanation that differed not at all from what I had said.
And yet.
“So, what do you think the meaning of my Star is? Or did you even think about it?”
!!
“What you just described—that surface-level content—isn’t what truly matters.”
I calculated the formula rapidly.
Memorized the Star with precision, drew it as though copying—
This kind of talent is commonly called Magic Intelligence.
It was Joanna’s forte.
The reason she had once been called a prodigy, brimmed with such promise.
Yet it was merely the most worthless talent among the countless gifts a mage could possess.
True qualification as a mage had nothing whatsoever to do with such petty parlor tricks.
“I’ll give you another chance. This time, show me what you’re truly capable of.”

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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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