The Graduate Student Wants to Assassinate the Professor - Chapter 112

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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 112

Khalid arrived at the Flying Airship with me clinging to his back. Pongko, who had been sleeping aboard, stirred awake at the sound of our arrival and came to greet us.
“Leoryna, are you hurt?”
Concerned by the sight of me riding on Khalid’s back, he circled around us anxiously.
“Oh, I’m fine. It’s nothing serious.”
“Nothing serious, she says.”
After setting me down in the Bedroom Cabin, Khalid retrieved the medicine box and, with practiced efficiency, had me sit while he sprayed a pain-relief patch on my right foot and secured it with a bandage. I tested my foot gingerly, then bowed my head gratefully to him.
“Thank you, Professor.”
“Dry your hair—it’s soaked with alcohol.”
As I wiped my head with the damp cloth he offered, he rummaged through Zigzagel’s belongings and found medicine.
“And take this sobering draught.”
“I don’t think that’s really necessary…”
I tried to refuse, but the skeptical look Khalid gave me left no room for argument. I had no choice but to swallow the pill he handed me.
“Now, get some rest.”
“But I need to oversee the students…”
“Zigzagel and I will handle it. Don’t worry.”
I nearly shed tears of genuine gratitude at that moment.
When was the last time I heard him offer to do the work himself rather than order me around?
Just then, Zigzagel led the students flooding into the Flying Airship.
“Alright, everyone take your seats for a headcount. Hey! Don’t vomit on the floor! Grab a bag!”
Lying in the Bedroom Cabin, I listened to Khalid bickering with the students and found myself thinking.
‘Yes, this atmosphere is just right.’
I drew a line between myself and Khalid in my mind.
‘This is as far as it goes. Even if I think about it more deeply… what I must do doesn’t change.’
“Leoryna, are you feeling better now?”
At Pongko’s question, I shook my head slowly.
“I’m not sure. Maybe, maybe not.”
“Still confused?”
“Not confused, exactly. It’s just…”
I smiled bitterly and stroked Pongko’s forehead.
“I already know the path I must take. I just need the courage to walk it, but that’s proving difficult.”
‘Yes, the path is already clear. I simply need to follow it.’
I closed my eyes slowly.

* * *

I woke the next morning without a hangover. However, that didn’t mean my exhaustion had lifted. Zigzagel’s medicine had cured the intoxication, not the fatigue itself.
So I had to attend the meeting Khalid had called with my body utterly drained.
“Come now, before the memory fades!”
Khalid spread papers wide as he spoke to Zigzagel, me, and Pongko.
“Let’s interpret the oracle we heard at the Temple and investigate what happened to that fool Pongko.”
That was why they had summoned us. We needed to recall the contents of the oracle we’d heard at Halgrok’s Temple the previous day.
“First, what did it say?”
“You who hear my final voice, defy your destiny.”
Zigzagel recited the sentence he’d heard the day before without missing a single word, and Khalid quickly wrote it down.
“And what did it say to Leoryna?”
“You who are bound by the chains of causality, defy your destiny. Yet defying destiny is itself an arrangement of causality—do not lose your way.”
“What it said to me was this.”

[You who are reflected in my eyes of truth, if your will is steadfast, then defy me. But so long as you are my creation, defying me shall be a difficult path. You cannot refuse that destiny.]

Khalid attached the paper with the oracle to the Blackboard where everyone could see it, tilting his head in confusion.
“What does this mean? It keeps emphasizing destiny.”
“Destiny… destiny, is it…”
As Zigzagel turned the word over in his mouth, I tilted my head and spoke.
“What if Petila was involved?”
“Petila?”
“Yes. Destiny falls under Petila’s domain. If she knew that in the future she would need to deliver Halgrok’s words, couldn’t she have asked Halgrok to give this oracle?”
The others looked at me with subtle expressions.
“Well, your theory isn’t entirely without merit…”
“Besides, she left a message for me too, didn’t she? I’m Petila’s creation, so if there were no connection, she wouldn’t have left me an oracle.”
At my words, Khalid seemed to understand. He murmured with a serious expression.
“Whatever the nature of this oracle, I think I understand what ‘my destiny’ means. There are people who want me to… do something. I can’t tell you what it is, but…”
“I see.”
Khalid must already know that his destiny is to become the Demon King. Nifra said as much in the horn’s memories, after all.

If my brother becomes the Demon King, everything will work out.

Leoryna recalled the scene she had witnessed in the records of Khalid’s left horn.
‘If Halgrok was the one who descended upon Nifra, and Halgrok urged Khalid to become the Demon King… then that must be Khalid’s destiny. Just as the Holy Maiden, who received the oracle from Petila, designated me for this mission.’
While Leoryna was lost in thought, Khalid gazed at her.
“Leoryna, do you know anything about your own destiny?”
“My destiny?”
“Yes. That oracle, or whatever it was, spoke not only of my fate but also of yours. Just as there are people who wish for me to follow the destiny set for me, is there something you’re meant to do going forward?”
At Khalid’s words, Leoryna laughed awkwardly and shook her head.
“My destiny? I’m not sure about something so grand. I’m just an ordinary person.”
There was no way Leoryna could tell him that her destiny was to kill him.
“Ah, I don’t understand.”
Khalid scratched his head vigorously.
“Even if I rack my brain about it, nothing comes to mind right now. And setting aside the prophecy about me, I don’t even understand why an oracle was given to Leoryna in the first place.”
“Even if I don’t know what it means, could I interpret it as permission to live as I wish?”
Leoryna spoke with simple reasoning.
“Since the divine has permitted it, Professor, you should forget Halgrok’s teachings and live as you desire.”
‘Well, it seems you’re already doing that anyway.’
As Leoryna thought this, recalling Khalid’s usual conduct, he suddenly grabbed his head in frustration.
“But if you’re telling me not to listen to him, then I can’t reject my destiny! Yet I want to reject my own fate!”
“But Halgrok didn’t determine your destiny, Professor.”
“Huh?”
“Petila is the one who determines destiny. Even if Halgrok is the god of the Demon Race, he cannot determine your fate. Your destiny doesn’t belong to Halgrok.”
“Ah, is that how it works? Then that means… ugh… I don’t know. I really don’t know. I thought I understood what my destiny was, but now I’m lost.”
With that, Khalid heaved a deep sigh and grabbed Pongko by the scruff of his neck, lifting him up.
“Rather than worry about this, dissecting this creature might be—”
“Kyaaaah!”
“—easier to find some answers, wouldn’t it?”
“I really don’t know anything! Please save me, Leoryna!”
“Give him to me. Pongko hates that.”
Khalid frowned in displeasure, but Leoryna paid no mind and took Pongko into her arms, stroking him gently.
“Tsk, if we’re not going to dissect this creature right now, we’ll need to try a different approach.”
“What kind of approach are you talking about?”
“I’m not entirely sure, but perhaps we could visit the Sanctuary or something…”
As Khalid muttered with some uncertainty, Leoryna tilted her head.
“The Sanctuary? You mean Halgrok’s Sanctuary? What would be there?”
“I don’t know. But wouldn’t there be something that could serve as a clue rather than remaining clueless like this? It’s worth a try anyway.”
“It doesn’t seem like a bad idea, but…”
Leoryna replied hesitantly. Zigzagel, seeming to agree with Khalid’s reasoning, asked a question.
“So when are we going?”
“Ah, well…”
Khalid turned a vague gaze toward Zigzagel as he answered.
“It’s a hassle, but the students have their final exams coming up.”
At those words, a crack appeared in Leoryna’s composure. Khalid turned to her with eyes full of trust and asked.
“Leoryna, your studies are going well, aren’t they?”
“….”
‘Damn it… I completely forgot.’
Leoryna, who had replaced her midterm with a research project but had somehow forgotten that the final exam would be a written test, felt tears of blood streaming down her face internally.
“I trust you.”
“Yes! I’ll pass on the first try!”
Leoryna answered with apparent confidence, but inside she was trembling.
‘Khalid’s problems are definitely going to be difficult—what if I fail the exam?!’
She, who had been worrying about Halgrok and fate just moments before, completely forgot all of it and simply sighed heavily behind Khalid’s back.
Today too, Halderion Academy was peaceful.

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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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