The Genius Professor Wants An Easy Life - Chapter 98
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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 98
There are many kinds of energy in the world.
Mana is the most common.
The power of mankind.
There is also Evil Qi.
The power of demons.
‘The Demon Qi that the Demon Race uses is different from Evil Qi.’
Many people confuse the two, but demons and the Demon Race are entirely different beings.
Demons are the embodiment of the world’s malice.
The Demon Race, by contrast, were born beneath the essence of darkness and the moon.
The power of darkness and the moon they wield is called Demon Qi, or Black Moon Qi, and by nature grows stronger at night—especially under a full moon.
‘The Moonlight Gate calls down the moon’s power directly to the earth. A member of the Demon Race who possesses a Moonlight Stone perfected through the Moonlight Gate gains miraculous power.’
This had actually happened in the scenario.
One of the Demon Dukes who had been Level 8 obtained a Moonlight Stone and ascended to the realm of a Level 9 Transcendent.
‘Just receiving the moon’s power as the Moonlight Gate opened amplified his energy this much.’
I swallowed hard, sensing the power radiating from Rune.
I had to stop him.
Fortunately, I had prepared one method of resistance.
“Linden, Hans, Yulia, Wilhelm—did you complete the task I gave you?”
I had assigned a separate mission to these four.
“Yes, sir! We retrieved everything from the Security Office as you ordered!”
“Ah, but saying ‘retrieved’ makes it sound like we committed a crime or something. We were just borrowing it temporarily.”
“Heh, I was the one who bribed the security staff.”
“W-we’re not going to prison, are we? I don’t want to miss seeing the cute girls again!”
Rune’s expression froze when he saw what the four had brought out.
“You can’t mean—”
“That’s right. The key to activating the Sealed Ground Barrier.”
The Sealed Ground is a place where all manner of dangers and unforeseen calamities lie dormant.
That’s why a massive barrier has been installed to prevent any catastrophe that might occur.
‘If I activate the security barrier, the Moonlight Gate will be nullified too.’
However, there was a problem: the barrier had recently been all but abandoned and left unmaintained.
‘A barrier of this scale costs an astronomical amount just to maintain. The academy’s finances couldn’t handle it.’
Still, the barrier’s functions hadn’t completely failed. I could activate it partially.
“Southeast of here, in the Sealed Ground—the Emerald Garden. There’s a device to activate the barrier there. You’ll go and activate it. Katrine, Marie, you go with them.”
There would be magical beasts in the way, but Katrine, Yulia, and Linden should be able to handle them.
However, this plan had one fatal flaw:
“Heh, do you really think I’ll sit idle and watch?”
Rune laughed mockingly.
Level 7. Or rather, now a being with power reaching Level 8—if he moved, the children would be slaughtered in an instant.
But.
“I’ll stop him myself.”
As I stepped forward to shield the children, Rune’s face twisted in disbelief.
Of course, the ones most stunned were the children themselves.
“Wait, Professor?!”
“Don’t worry about me. Just focus on the task I’ve given you. This is an order from me as your professor.”
Speaking firmly, they all clenched their fists tight.
“Sir, urgh…! Sacrificing yourself for us all…!”
“Senior, that’s insane…!”
—Dad…! Dad!!—
“There’s no time. Go, now.”
I cut them off before things got any more emotional.
They all turned with solemn faces and began moving away.
“If you get hurt or die, I’ll beat you.”
“Professor, you won’t die. I recognize you as someone worthy. So don’t you dare get hurt or die and disappoint me.”
They all seemed to believe I was about to sacrifice my life for them.
Naturally, they would.
<Probability of stopping a Doping Demon>
– 0%
Clean and simple.
But as everyone knew, I wasn’t the type to play the martyr.
“Have you gone mad with heroism? Surely you know that even someone of your caliber can’t stop me alone?”
“Who said I was alone?”
“…What?”
That was the moment.
Crack!
Light flashed through the darkness.
“!!”
The creature flinched and stumbled backward.
Its Shadow Wing tore slightly, scattering energy into the air.
“Master, leave this filthy demon to me.”
It was Amanda.
She’d been dealing with phantoms in the city when she heard my call for help and rushed here.
<Probability of stopping the Doping Demon>
-When allied with bumbling assassin colleague professor: 3.7%
But that wasn’t all.
“What are you doing standing around, Bahn? This is where I, Kansir, show my true magnificence.”
“I agree. I don’t like the look of this. I won’t let you hog all the glory.”
Kansir and Balas had arrived too!
…Truth be told, I hadn’t called either of them. They must have come on their own.
‘I deliberately didn’t call them because we’re still in the middle of the hiring competition, and if they show up, I’d have to split the credit for saving the academy.’
Still, it was reinforcement we could use.
<Probability of stopping the Doping Demon>
-When allied with three bumbling colleague professors: 5.7%
In other words, a pittance.
The probability had risen by only two percent.
That was fine.
I had a different strategy in mind.
And sure enough, the moment came.
“Are you hurt, Professor Bahn? This fiend!! A demon dares show its face at Rubinesse Academy!!”
A thunderous shout!
A figure descended from the sky with fierce momentum, white beard billowing behind him.
It was Randolph, the former Rector.
Professor Bernstein was with him.
<Probability of stopping the Doping Demon>
-When allied with hot-blooded grandfather and sharp-tongued tsundere professor: 33.5%
The odds jumped dramatically!
Yet, contrary to what I’d expected, even with Randolph and Bernstein here, the absolute figures weren’t high enough for the percentage to climb much higher.
‘I thought even with Randolph’s age, we’d hit at least fifty percent odds.’
This creature empowered by moonlight was far stronger than I’d anticipated.
‘I need someone else. At minimum, a warrior of Level 7 or higher.’
Then came a voice I hadn’t expected at all.
“Ohoho. It seems the time has come for me to flex my abilities after all.”
“!!”
My face betrayed my shock.
It was Karak, the Rector.
‘What? Why would Karak show up? He never involves himself in this sort of thing.’
Even if the academy took damage, Karak never so much as blinked.
His ‘goal’ was never about protecting the academy, after all.
And yet,
“After hearing what you said, Professor Bahn, I realized something needed to change. This approach won’t do.”
Ching!
Karak drew his blade toward the rune-inscribed creature.
“Severing that demon’s head would bring me one step closer to my ‘goal.'”
I registered his words with fresh attention.
Something had shifted within Karak.
Of course, this didn’t mean his fundamental nature had changed.
His insides were surely still consumed by black ambition.
And yet, this alone was remarkable.
<Probability of stopping the Doping Demon>
-When allied with the shadowy Rector: 48.5%
My win rate skyrocketed.
Though even now, it hadn’t quite reached fifty percent.
That was fine.
This much would suffice.
Whoosh!
Two stars materialized before me.
“!!”
“Now you’ll understand what fear truly means. You’ll witness the marvel that unfolds at my fingertips.”
…The Black Flame Dragon’s rebuttal was shameful, I’ll admit.
But it wasn’t a lie.
-With your miracle present: 70.3%
All preparations were complete.
What remained now fell to the children.
‘Even if we keep that monster at bay, once the Moonlight Gate is complete, it’s over.’
Indeed, the win-rate reader bore this critical notation:
-If 15 minutes elapse, unconditional defeat regardless of battle outcome.
‘The barrier must be activated before then.’
In other words, this was a race against time.
The role of Hans, the 5-Star Rank mage responsible for activating the barrier, was especially critical.
‘I trust you, Hans.’
Then I paused.
Hans’s foolish face suddenly came to mind.
‘…Can I really trust him?’
* * *
At that moment, in the southeastern Sealed Ground, the Emerald Garden.
Ban’s class had arrived at the barrier activation device.
“We’ll keep watch, instructors.”
“Good, you’re all remarkably talented. Interested in the graduate research labs? Lower years can participate too—come by, and you’ll do wonderfully….”
Everyone ignored Linden’s rambling completely.
Linden scratched his head and reprimanded Hans.
“Hey, what are you doing? Why aren’t you activating it already?”
“I’m working on it!”
“Why is it taking so long? Are you actually unable to do it?”
“What nonsense! Activating a barrier this simple is nothing to Hans here. Just give me a moment more…!!”
Linden saw the cold sweat beading on Hans’s bald head and flinched.
Unlike his boasts, he was faltering.
“Wait, sir? You’re a 5-Star Rank Supreme Mage. And you can’t activate a barrier with a key?”
“You brat! Do you have any idea how old this barrier is! Think it’d still be in working order?!”
“Still… you specialize in Magical Artifacts, don’t you?”
Maintaining and repairing barriers like this was the specialty of Magical Artifact experts like Hans.
Especially at 5-Star Rank—he’d have the caliber to stand shoulder to shoulder with most academy professors.
The barrier wasn’t even damaged, merely aged. Hans should’ve been able to handle it without difficulty.
“I told you I’m working on it! You’re getting on my nerves—get out of here!!”
His unusually sharp tone made Linden exchange glances and fall silent.
Hans stared at the barrier activation device with reddened eyes.
‘Damn it, damn it. This sort of thing is beyond someone as incompetent as me. I should’ve just taken the salary from the Ecclesia Duchy.’
A private mage position in a noble house was not a desirable one among mages.
It was seen as the errand-running position of a nobleman’s servant.
That’s how people viewed it.
Of course, the Ecclesia Duchy was a great house, and its members were all excellent—but it made no difference.
A knight-order combat mage’s post would’ve been one thing, but any mage with ambition avoided the private position.
Yet Hans had become the Ecclesia Duchy’s personal mage.
Because he understood his own limits.
‘There was a time I thought myself talented too. It was all self-deception.’
Hans well knew that 5-Star Rank was his ceiling.
To be honest, he sometimes wondered how he’d even made it this far.
‘I promised myself I’d achieve something by meeting Lord Ban, but it’s beyond me.’
He wasn’t even sure he’d ever had the will to begin with.
Perhaps all he’d ever wanted was to bask in the reflected glory of Ban, that great genius so unlike himself.
‘There’s no way I could pull this off.’
Hans stared at the magic circle of the activation device, his face hollow with despair.
He couldn’t even begin to fathom it.
“Sir, you have to try something! We’re running out of time! I think something’s about to explode!”
“Ah, forget it! Why don’t you do it, then?!”
He clenched his eyes shut,
-What’s the problem?
A message came through the communication channel from Ban.
“I’m sorry, sir—it’s beyond my ability.”
-What exactly is the issue? We’re short on time, so just explain the core problem.
“First, the axes that form the perimeter of the magic circle… and….”
Ban fell silent for a moment as he listened to the explanation.
-I see. This is beyond what you can handle alone.
“…I apologize.”
Hans was lowering his head when—
-But that’s all right.
“…What do you mean?”
-Hans, who are you?
“…I am one who serves you, sir….”
-You’re my graduate student.
What was he talking about all of a sudden?
What did that have to do with anything?
-A graduate student isn’t the same as an undergraduate. You have the capacity to handle work independently—but that doesn’t mean you need to be perfect. You require your professor’s ‘guidance.’
Ban continued.
-I’m giving you an assignment. You have three minutes. Make it work.
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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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