The Graduate Student Wants to Assassinate the Professor - Chapter 115

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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 115

For reasons I couldn’t quite discern, Khalid was making a tremendous racket inside the Professor’s Office, moving about with frantic energy. Then he cautiously cracked the door open, revealing only his eyes.
“What’s going on?”
-You can’t come in. Absolutely not.
“Oh… I was grading exam papers and had a question I wanted to ask you, Professor. But what about you? What are you doing in there? Why can’t I come in?”
-I said you can’t! I can’t let Leoryna know that I was trying to improve the semi-permanent magic extension spell I presented at the last Academic Conference to upstage Yoprim, and now all the magical circuits in this office are completely tangled! I have my professional dignity to maintain!
I exhaled an inward sigh. So the magical enchantment that preserves a single cast spell indefinitely was malfunctioning, which meant the effects of the mysterious potion he’d consumed were lasting far longer than intended.
I interpreted this situation quite favorably.
If I could discover Khalid’s hidden secrets, perhaps I might devise an excellent method to assassinate him?!
But Khalid shook his head stubbornly against my request.
“Me? I’m busy right now. Could you ask me later?”
Khalid seemed eager to send me away, but I refused to retreat so easily.
“Then would it be alright if I borrowed a few books from your room? I think they’d help me establish grading criteria.”
“Oh, really? Which books do you need?”
“The advanced book on magical incantation design theory and the field-specific magical formula application design textbook.”
“Yes, wait a moment.”
Just as Khalid closed the door and turned to fetch the books, I wedged one foot into the gap and kicked the door open with my other foot. The door swung wide with a loud bang.
Khalid’s eyes widened in shock as he turned to face me. I brazenly stepped into the Professor’s Office, set down the answer sheets I’d been holding on the tea table, and settled onto the Sofa in front of it.
“Come to think of it, grading here would be perfect—I can ask you questions directly and look up the books I need right away. Could you spare me a seat?”
Khalid’s eyes rolled slowly as he gradually nodded.
“Y-yes…”
-Well, as long as Leoryna doesn’t use any magic and just quietly grades papers, it’s fine for her to be here… but what about the spells that are already tangled?! What happens to my reputation if she finds out?! And I can’t exactly throw her out without a decent excuse!
I laughed inwardly. It was hilarious that this man, who lived so proudly, harbored such thoughts beneath the surface.
‘Ah, this is truly delightful. I wish this magic would last forever.’
I picked up my pen with a quiet giggle, hidden from Khalid. Then his thoughts reached me again.
-Wait. But why can’t I just throw her out? I could just kick her out regardless of the reason, couldn’t I? What’s the problem?
‘Oh no, am I about to be kicked out?!’
I braced myself, but Khalid was grumbling internally.
-No, wait. How could I kick Leoryna out? That would be far too violent. She’s delicate, and treating her that way would surely injure her somewhere.
I was at a loss for words.
‘What on earth does he think I am?’
Still, I smiled faintly without letting my emotions show on my face and spoke.
“Professor, is there something you’d like to say?”
“Hm?”
“Your demeanor seems a bit different from usual.”
“Oh, no. It’s nothing like that. You’re welcome to stay as long as you’d like. Ah, but don’t use any magic. Actually, I brought in some dragonflies that react sensitively to magical power, and I’m not sure where they went… they were here somewhere… anyway, I can’t have the dragonflies dying, so please don’t cast any spells.”
Khalid waved his hand dismissively, but his inner thoughts told a different story.
-Ugh, what a flimsy excuse. What reason should I give to make her leave? Let me think… I need a convincing lie…
I pretended not to hear anything and continued grading the test papers. Meanwhile, Khalid sat at his desk, groaning to himself as he tore at his hair in frustration.
-No, no. Not this either. Ugh, I have no idea.
Thump.
The sound of Khalid’s forehead striking the desk echoed through the room as he collapsed onto it. I gazed at him with sympathy.
“Professor, are you alright?”
“It’s nothing… Just finish what you were doing.”
At his words, I turned my attention back to the test papers. Though in truth, all my focus had drifted toward him, wondering if he was mulling over something amusing again.
-If I substitute this equation into the formula and activate it, then insert the new magical formula while controlling the mana output properly, it should work as intended… Is this right? My head is going to split open.
Khalid’s unfiltered musings reached my ears as he deliberated.
-Ah, once I finish this, I need to visit Halgrok’s Sanctuary too… That way I can investigate that bastard Pongko.
Khalid sighed heavily as he tinkered with the magical formula.
-Taking Leoryna along would be too dangerous, wouldn’t it? Since I don’t know what might happen. Should I just go with Zigzagel? But since it’s related to Pongko, can I really go without Leoryna?
My eyes lit up.
If Khalid walked into that dangerous place of his own volition, I could kill him and make it look like an accident—no one would ever know. Since I had been contemplating his death all this time, the moment I heard his thoughts, the reflexive urge to kill him surged up again.
But the instant I became aware that I was harboring such thoughts, my mood plummeted.
‘I still don’t want to kill Khalid.’
Since returning from the Ancient Demon Temple, I hadn’t dwelled deeply on assassinating Khalid.
While I had been anxious about failing to kill him before, even Veronas had told me to clear my mind and rest. So because my thoughts were complicated, I had deliberately avoided anything concerning Khalid.
I thought I had completely purged him from my mind, yet I still didn’t want to kill Khalid.
‘Why?’
I stopped grading and sat in melancholy silence before opening my mouth thoughtlessly.
“Professor, perhaps….”
Now would be the perfect moment to ask Khalid how to kill him, to secretly glean his weaknesses. Even if he said it aloud, he might be concealing a more fatal vulnerability in his mind.
But.
“Hmm? What?”
Khalid lifted his head and looked at me. The moment I saw his face, I swallowed the question deep down into my throat.
“No, it’s nothing.”
“How dull.”
Khalid chuckled softly and returned to unraveling the tangled magical formula. Yet my mind remained turbulent.
‘Why do I think about him so much? He’s not an important person in my life.’
To me, Khalid was ultimately nothing more than someone I would pass by. Once this mission ended, he was someone I would never encounter again in the years to come.
So why did he occupy my thoughts so persistently….
“Leoryna, are you finished grading?”
Khalid’s voice pulled me from my reverie.
“Ah, yes! Here….”
I handed him the answer sheets I had been holding. Khalid quickly reviewed them and carelessly tossed them into a drawer.
“You’re done now, so you can go. Thank you for your work.”
Khalid smiled and waved his hand dismissively. I hesitated for a moment at his gesture. This was a rare opportunity to read his thoughts, and I wondered if I should simply leave without doing anything.
Parting with Khalid like this left me with an unsettling feeling. Separate from any desire to kill him, that is.
Khalid seemed determined not to leave the Professor’s Office until he had normalized all the magic imbued within it. That meant I had ample time to read his heart.

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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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