The Genius Professor Wants An Easy Life - Chapter 88

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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 88
Katrine swallowed hard.
“What—what do you mean? Kill Professor Ban? That’s not a joke, surely—”
“A joke? Does it sound like one? I’m in earnest. I’ve wanted to kill him for ages, and here on Whirlwind Island, there’ll be no evidence left behind. Convenient, wouldn’t you say?”
He meant it.
Her father—Alfonso, the duke—his eyes gleamed with cruel hunger, and Katrine’s face drained of color.
‘Professor Ban, what are you doing? Wake up!’
Ban lay motionless, unaware that death was closing in.
‘Damn it.’
Steel sang.
She raised her blade against her father.
“Stop. I won’t allow this.”
“Hmm?”
Alfonso’s expression turned amused.
“Do you wish to die, daughter?”
“!!”
Her chest caved inward.
Terror seized her—worse than facing any other creature.
Not simply because Alfonso was strong.
She had always feared her father.
Always.
“N-nonetheless, I cannot yield. I will stop you.”
“How entertaining. Tell me, daughter—do you harbor feelings for Ban?”
“What—what nonsense is this?”
“Then here is what we shall do. Abandon this sword-play at once, return to the family house, and marry Ban. In exchange, I shall spare you both.”
Alfonso stroked his chin thoughtfully.
“Truth be told, I’d prefer to simply kill you here and be done with it, but if you prove useful to the family, perhaps you’re worth keeping alive.”
“A lie. You don’t want us for the family—you want to use us for your own purposes.”
“Ha. What’s the difference? The Prominent Magical Family exists entirely for my benefit.”
Alfonso smiled coldly.
“What will you choose? Die here, or obey me? If you do, I shall teach you personally.”
He extended his hand.
Once, she had longed for that very gesture.
“Wasn’t my instruction your wish?”
Katrine bit her lip and glanced back at Ban.
He still hadn’t moved.
As if he had entrusted everything to her.
In that moment, her heart sank.
“I refuse.”
“You refuse?”
“Because Professor Ban is more trustworthy than you are.”
“!!”
She gritted her teeth.
“His instruction is far superior to anything you could offer!”
Steel flashed.
She swung her blade with death acceptance in her heart.
But something unexpected happened.
Alfonso’s form scattered like smoke.
‘What is this? Was it an illusion all along?’
As her eyes blinked in confusion, an eerie growl reached her ears.
‘Magical Beasts!’
Level 2 Magical Beasts.
Not just one—a pack.
‘I can’t handle this alone.’
She hesitated, her feet instinctively retreating before she caught herself.
If she ran, Ban would be defenseless.
Besides.
—You can do this.
Ban had always believed in her.
Even when she was worthless.
She didn’t want to shatter his expectations.
“Ah, just do it! Come on, attack! I’ll cut you down!”
* * *
How much time had passed after that, she couldn’t say.
Katrine’s body was a wreck.
Magical Beasts and Illusions kept erupting unexpectedly, relentless in their assault.
Without the High-Grade Potions and Recovery Potions Ban Legia had prepared in advance, she would have collapsed long ago.
‘God. This is actually working.’
Whoosh!
The earth’s essence infused itself into her blade.
In her desperate struggle to survive, she’d grasped the technique.
‘Am I a Level 3 Dual Knight now? But then again, I still don’t know any actual swordsmanship, do I?’
Not that she knew nothing at all.
Fighting in a frenzy, her footwork and movement had improved dramatically from the start.
‘I really do have a talent for this, don’t I.’
Katrine’s expression grew complicated.
Without Ban Legia, she would never have known.
‘That insufferable instructor.’
Katrine glanced toward where Ban Legia stood.
He remained perfectly still.
But something had changed from before.
Translucent threads like gossamer spiraled around him.
Whatever it was, it had to be a critical stage.
“I don’t like it, but… thank you.”
Katrine picked up her blade—now snapped roughly in half.
“So I’ll repay this debt, even if it costs me my life.”
It wasn’t mere words of resolve.
She had failed to clear the Ruins.
—Time limit expired!
—A Blade Whirlwind descends to punish those who have failed this Quest!
Boom!!
With a deafening roar, a vortex erupted before her.
Should she be caught in it, her body would be shredded to pieces.
‘How am I supposed to stop that?’
Unless it was Ban Legia—the man who conjured miracles—it was impossible for her.
‘Still, I won’t give up.’
Before that vortex reached him, she would resist with everything she had.
Even if it meant nothing.
‘At least I’ll have done my best.’
Yes.
From childhood until now.
There had never been a moment when she hadn’t given her all.
No one could deny her that.
‘That should be enou—’
Her chest seized suddenly.
Should it be?
No. It wasn’t.
‘But what else can I do? It won’t work.’
That was the moment.
“Pathetic.”
“!!”
Ban Legia!
Still wrapped in that mass of translucent threads, his eyes were barely open.
“You can’t even destroy a single whirlwind, and you claim you’ll bring a Prominent Magical Family to its knees?”
Katrine’s teeth clenched.
Something surged up from deep in her chest.
“What do you expect me to do?! No matter how hard I struggle, it won’t work!!”
It wasn’t anger.
It was the cry of despair.
And yet.
“If you can’t do it, then give up. No one’s forcing you to.”
“!!”
“Well? What will it be? We’re running out of time. Choose now. If you surrender, I’ll take over.”
Already drowning in despair, the words—so cutting, so dismissive—sent a flash of anger surging through her chest.
Her eyes met Ban Legia’s.
‘Ah.’
It wasn’t dismissal.
It was rebuke.
You can do this, so why are you cowering?
‘God, he’s always like this. Really infuriating professor.’
“Quiet. Sit there and finish whatever you’re doing. I’ll handle that whirlwind myself.”
She was too angry to think straight.
A fierce resolve crystallized in her: she had to show him something magnificent.
Ban Legia let out a soft laugh and closed his eyes again.
“Don’t forget this—even though you’ve taken up the sword, your greatest weapon isn’t the blade.”
The instant his words finished, the whirlwind crashed down upon her.
“Ugh!!”
Instinctively, she deployed the Earth Strengthening spell, hardening her body like stone.
By elemental affinity, earth countered wind.
Fortunately it held—the defense worked.
‘Can’t last long. Maybe a few seconds at most.’
The earth aura shielding her body cracked almost instantly, fracturing on the verge of collapse.
‘I have to cut through the rotation that’s generating the whirlwind before it breaks.’
She ground her teeth and pushed forward.
But before she could take even one step, her body reeled, swept up by the wind, suspended in the void.
“!!”
Katrine’s form tumbled through the air as though caught in a high-speed rotating machine.
She had no breath left to scream.
In the dizzying haze of consciousness, she heard jeers.
-This is what they call the bloodline of a great Prominent Magical Family?
-Worthless as vermin. Better to die right here.
-Not even slop is wasted on a thing like this.
Words she’d heard countless times.
She’d wanted to strike back at them, but in the end had accomplished nothing.
‘It’s over.’
But why—
Ban Legia’s face surfaced in her mind again.
Always the same.
That gaze, full of trust aimed at her.
It seemed to say:
-I believe in you, so why won’t you believe in yourself?
She bit down hard on the inside of her cheek.
‘It’s not over—not a chance! I understand! I’ll do it! I’m going to do it!!’
Katrine grasped a truth suddenly, clearly.
She had never once believed she could succeed.
All her day and night efforts were nothing but escape.
She spoke of bringing the Prominent Magical Family to their knees, yet she was drowning only in defeat.
Even as she rebounded through the void, she gripped the sword she’d never let fall.
Whoosh!
Earth aura infused the blade.
A Level 3 Dual Knight skill.
‘Not enough.’
She knew nothing of swordsmanship, but one week of brutal struggle had taught her something.
A sword must carry intent.
Not the grand notions—Sword Intent, Sword Way, Chivalry, and all the rest.
The intent to cut. To absolutely cut.
The blade’s power would vary infinitely depending on whether that intent was present.
‘Intent to cut alone isn’t enough. I have to believe in myself. I can do this.’
If intent to cut sharpened the blade, then faith in oneself hardened it.
And then, finally.
‘I’ll show him something spectacular and wipe that smug look off his face!’
The will to victory.
Slash!!
Her will poured into both blade and magic.
Not merely a skill that layered magic onto a sword, but something far greater—an intense will infused into both the blade and the incantation itself.
And so, magic and sword were honed into perfect unity.
The true Level 3 Dual Knight technique: Spellblade.
Crack!
Something tore, and the wind stopped abruptly.
Thud! Katrine fell to the ground, her expression dazed.
She’d done it.
‘Wait… me? I actually did it?’
Her mind reeling in shock, an ominous sound echoed once more.
A new whirlwind was forming.
‘This is insane? It wasn’t over? How is this even possible!’
And it was far larger than before.
The first one looked quaint by comparison.
‘Still… I’ll find a way to stop it this time too.’
Though her body and mana were both utterly depleted, Katrine steeled herself with the will to fight, not surrender.
She didn’t realize it, but she had changed from how she was before.
Then it happened.
“I’ll take it from here.”
“!!”
Katrine’s eyes flew wide open.
It was Ban.
Ban wore the faintest smile.
Not his usual contemptuous sneer, but a warm smile full of genuine approval.
Her heart lurched, and she spoke sharply without thinking.
“When you smile like that, it looks terrible, honestly. You’d be better off keeping that arrogant attitude as usual.”
“Well done.”
The praise came like a sudden ambush.
As if the words struck her heart directly, Katrine’s mouth snapped shut.
Leaving her behind, Ban stepped forward.
“That’s enough now.”
His words seemed directed at something—or someone—unseen.
“If you don’t stop, you’ll witness the destruction of your own nest.”
“!!”
After that arrogant declaration.
Katrine’s eyes widened in shock.
The whirlwind vanished, and a single presence emerged from within.
It was the Eight Heroes Gale Sword.

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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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