The Genius Professor Wants An Easy Life - Chapter 8

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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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Episode 8
“Pay your respects to the Young Master!”
The knights rose from their seats.
It was a show of courtesy toward the Duke’s Household’s bloodline, but what actually unfolded was something else entirely.
The knights’ killing intent converged upon Ban.
‘Let’s see how you like this, you worthless bastard.’
Of course, they weren’t actually trying to harm him.
They were simply concentrating their aura on him.
Their plan was to back off once Ban collapsed to the ground trembling.
‘…What? Why is he fine?’
The knights blinked in disbelief.
Ban’s face showed not the slightest flicker of reaction.
If anything, he looked bored.
‘Is it possible he can’t sense our aura? That shouldn’t be possible.’
Then Ban’s gaze fixed directly upon them.
“Is this the loyalty you display? How pathetic. How crude.”
“!!”
“Were I in your place, I would have been too ashamed to even imagine such childish nonsense. But I shouldn’t blame you—your inadequacy is the fault of our Duke’s Household. We have failed you.”
The knights’ faces flushed crimson.
This matter was undeniably their error.
They had committed an embarrassing act born of resentment toward Ban.
Yet their silence wasn’t merely from shame.
‘Why is such an oppressive aura radiating from that wretch?’
The knights swallowed hard.
From Ban emanated an unsettling pressure far too formidable to dismiss as mere delusion.
It was not inferior even when compared to the Duke’s own aura.
In that instant, a certain story surfaced in their minds.
—You fools! Keep your eyes wide open and wait. On the day of the duel, the Young Master Ban’s greatness shall be revealed to this world.
It was something the sorcerer Hans, employed by the Duke’s Household, had been spouting about.
They’d dismissed it all as nonsense.
‘Could it be…?’
Then an angry shout erupted.
“You lot! What are you doing?!”
“First Young Master.”
It was Lon, the eldest son!
The knights bowed their heads.
Lon’s favoritism toward Ban was common knowledge.
Lon sighed, then approached Ban.
“We need to talk for a moment, Ban.”
“I’m listening.”
“When Father arrives, get on your knees and beg. No matter what.”
Ban stared at Lon directly.
Lon’s voice rose in his agitation.
“Do you understand how furious Father is? I’ll do everything I can to take your side, so you absolutely must—!!”
“That won’t be necessary. There’s no need.”
“Ban?”
The calm tone made Lon freeze.
‘Has he actually lost his mind?’
Ban showed no sign of stopping his alarming declarations.
“Don’t worry yourself. By the time today is through, Father will deeply regret all the misunderstandings he’s harbored toward me until now.”
“Have you gone insane?! That’s it! I’m telling Father your mind has been compromised and you need treatment!! We’re going to see a mental specialist right now!!”
In the moment Lon raised his voice sharply—
“The Duke has arrived!!!”
Lon’s face turned deathly pale.
The duel was beginning.
* * *
‘God, I’m nervous.’
I stepped up onto the Training Grounds.
The hall fell silent.
The Duke, standing across from me, fixed me with a cold, piercing gaze.
I’d been banking on a one hundred percent win rate, but facing him now, my heart shrank in my chest.
“Are you ready?”
Whoosh!
A dizzying pressure bore down on me.
It was the Sword Master’s oppressive aura.
My knees nearly buckled of their own accord, but I barely held firm by recalling the distinguished personages I’d met on Earth.
‘Think of him as a difficult customer. A difficult customer.’
Fortunately, the Black Flame Dragon’s charisma sustained me through it.
Even to my own ears, an arrogant tone spilled out.
“Since I am prepared, you need not concern yourself with me, sir.”
The Duke’s brow furrowed.
“If you will swear right now to come to your senses, and show contrition in the military or the bureaucracy, I shall cancel this duel.”
“I must respectfully decline.”
No matter how terrifying the Duke was, I would never accept being dragged into the military or bureaucracy to suffer through years of drudgery.
“Hah.”
The Duke shook his head as though words would not reach this one, then drew a Wooden Sword.
“I shall not use a shred of Mana and will face you with only the pure strength of my body. However, do not think this duel will end easily. As your father, I shall administer to you a final lesson in discipline.”
What he meant by “administer” was not lenience.
It meant beating me senseless with that Wooden Sword.
If he infused it with Mana, he could only strike once before killing me outright.
The sinister glimmer dancing in the Duke’s eyes attested to that fact.
“No, I would prefer an honest match. Please use your Mana properly, sir. I do not wish to hear that I won only because you held back.”
“What?”
“I have but one request: however much shame you might suffer today, please accept defeat graciously and without anger.”
It was something I absolutely needed to confirm beforehand.
If I made a mistake, I could win the duel and still have my head separated from my shoulders by a furious Duke.
‘Because what I’m about to do is that audacious.’
Unfortunately, the Duke showed no positive response.
“You wretch! It seems I truly must discipline you properly!”
“Father, please calm yourself!”
“Second Young Master, I believe in you! Go for it!”
My eldest brother Ron and the middle-aged mage Hans shouted, but their voices didn’t reach my ears.
‘God, he’s fast. I can’t even see it!’
Of course not.
The Duke’s in-game specification was Level 7.
In terms of knights, that was the Seventh Sword Rank.
The realm known as Sword Master.
There was no way a speck of an insect like me could react.
—Crack!
The Duke’s Wooden Sword came to rest before me.
“A defensive Magical Device?”
“Merely the proper use of necessary tools.”
I answered with confidence.
After all, mages were originally supposed to fight covered in all manner of Magical Devices.
“So you’re placing your faith in some cheap trinket like that?”
“Not cheap, sir.”
I retrieved additional Magical Devices with a flourish.
I’d smuggled them from the family vault where the highest-grade Magical Devices were kept, so each one possessed formidable defensive capabilities.
Of course, this didn’t mean I could actually stop the Duke.
“Laughable. Utterly disappointing.”
The Duke’s eyes flashed with cold light.
Whoosh!
A pillar of light erupted from the Wooden Sword.
It was the Aura Blade—the symbol of a Master-rank knight.
“Brace yourself.”
Crash!
The shields from the Magical Devices I’d smuggled out shattered in a single blow.
A ferocious display of power.
Yet I gritted my teeth.
That the Duke would employ the Aura Blade was something I’d anticipated.
No—more precisely, I had *orchestrated* it.
‘The only way I can win is to force the Duke to use his Aura Blade.’
The difference between the Duke’s capabilities and mine was Level 1 versus Level 7.
In fact, I hadn’t even properly attained Star Rank 1 yet, so I should count myself at roughly Level 0.5.
And yet the Simulator had judged my victory probability at 100%.
It meant there was a way to win.
‘There’s a strategy for this.’
The Duke was a named character.
No matter which protagonist you played, you inevitably faced him.
—Duel with the Duke.
It was a major story event.
The problem was that this event was scheduled for the second year of study.
When everyone was still low level.
Direct combat made victory absolutely impossible.
But there was a strategy.
‘I have to exploit the nature of the Duke’s Aura.’
The Duke’s class was Dual Knight.
A class that combines magic and swordplay.
Unlike the Sword Knight, who wielded pure swordsmanship, he received the aid of ‘Stars’ when channeling mana.
In other words, the Duke’s Aura contained ‘Stars’ within it.
‘If I exploit that Star, I win.’
Fortunately, the Duke’s ‘Star’ had exactly one exploitable weak point.
One that even he hadn’t noticed.
Of course, that didn’t make the strategy easy.
In fact, the duel with the Duke was infamous for its brutal difficulty. The clear rate was below 5%.
Even then, only one out of sixteen protagonists could manage it—the True Protagonist alone.
It was essentially designed as an unwinnable event.
‘My window is just one moment.’
The Duke withdrew his Aura after shattering the shield.
He couldn’t very well slice his own son in half with an Aura, after all.
In that fleeting instant, a gap appeared in the Star.
A ‘habit’ even the Duke himself was unaware of.
‘Hardly worth calling it a weakness.’
He would rarely need to retract his Aura mid-combat in the first place, and those with both the reflexes and mana control to seize such a brief opening were vanishingly rare.
Why only the True Protagonist could manage it.
‘Though my Grand Master level magic might also pull it off.’
Whoosh!
I drew a Star.
Star Rank 1 Manipulation Magic—Mana Resonance.
A simple effect: mana vibrating and reacting with other mana.
But when it resonated with the most critical nexus of the Duke’s exposed ‘Star’, something spectacular happened.
“. . .”
The Duke’s body went rigid for an instant.
His mana had been momentarily shaken.
Of course, it lasted only a fraction of a second.
If I missed this chance, it was over.
Crack!
I deployed Star Rank 1 Manipulation Magic—Bind.
Under normal circumstances it would have been useless, but now the Duke’s mana flow was compromised.
More specifically, I bound his Aura Blade’s damaged ‘Star’ itself—not his body, but the weapon’s essence.
Clang-crash-ping!
Immediately after, a Star Rank 2 Manifestation Magic Spear materialized. Thanks to my Grand Master ability, I could even make spells beyond my rank work through sheer creativity.
My target: the Duke’s heart.
The Duke’s eyes widened in shock.
“No—Bind and then Spear? You’re doing Dual Casting, Your Highness?!”
“Hah! Are you all blind?! That’s Triple Casting from the first Mana Resonance! Your Highness Ban is supreme!! Loyalty, loyalty, loyalty!”
Conflict flickered across the Duke’s face.
To dodge by twisting his body, he’d have to release the bound sword from his grip.
Unless it were life or death, there was no way he’d surrender his blade in a situation like this.
Instead, he chose another option.
Whoosh!
A shield materialized across the Duke’s chest.
A Mana Shield!
My Spear would be helplessly blocked—that much was obvious.
‘Perfect!!’
I smiled in triumph.
My target was never his heart from the beginning.
Mana surged.
The Duke’s face twisted in belated alarm, but it was too late.
Whoosh!
A Star Rank foundational Flame Magic spell—unleashed.
“Impossible! Quadruple Casting?!”
“Did you see that? This is the greatness of your lord! Haha!”
But that wasn’t what mattered.
Everyone in the arena gasped as they saw where the fire had erupted.
‘Hmm.’
Ordinarily, Star Rank Flame Magic ignites in the palm of your hand.
But I’d modified the spell so that if combustible material existed nearby, it could ignite remotely.
The fuel I’d chosen was hair.
Specifically, the Duke’s scalp.
The Duke’s head was on fire.
“Your Grace!!!”
“Are you unharmed?!”
The knights shrieked in alarm.
“…Quiet. Silence.”
The Duke drew up his mana and extinguished the flames consuming his hair.
His bare scalp was now exposed.
‘…Hmm. Did I go too far?’
But there was no other way to land a decisive blow.
If I were the true protagonist, I could have won far more spectacularly.
‘…Please don’t be angry enough to thrash me.’
“I believe the duel is settled sufficiently at this point, would you not agree?”
I hurried to propose an end to the match.
I approached the Duke with an anxious heart, offering a gesture of reconciliation.
“Please accept this.”
What I held out was a wig.
A bribe, a desperate plea for his forgiveness—but the Duke’s expression shifted in an unexpected way.
“I have proven my point. Now it is Father’s turn.”
The Duke stared at me silently for a long moment, his mouth shut.
I flinched nervously, but then the Duke did something I hadn’t anticipated.
“Kekeke.”
He suddenly burst into laughter.
The sound grew louder and louder.
“Hahahahahaha!!!”

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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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