The Graduate Student Wants to Assassinate the Professor - Chapter 12

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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 12

Before my mind could even process what Khalid had said, Zigzagel’s voice erupted in half-shocked protest.
“Are you insane?”
“Insane? Isn’t the person who’d actually pay money for that the real lunatic?”
“I’ll be taking my leave now, Professor.”
Coming to my senses, I swiftly turned to escape.
‘Regardless of Pope Beronas’s orders, I’m a mage who goes around assassinating people. The last thing I need is to give the Government ammunition against me. What is this mad professor thinking!’
Yet I couldn’t stop Khalid, whose eyes had glazed over with the intoxicating allure of research efficiency. I turned to Zigzagel with a pleading gaze, but his expression already bore the unmistakable resignation of someone who had long since surrendered.
“Give up, Leoryna. When he gets that look in his eyes, no one can stop him.”
Khalid seized my shoulder firmly as I attempted to slip backward.
“Leoryna, you’re my graduate student, aren’t you? Where do you think you’re running off to? It’s only natural that a graduate student follows their professor wherever they go, isn’t it?”
“Even if that somewhere is prison?”
“Well, yes. Prison, or even hell itself.”
‘This bastard says terrifying things without batting an eye.’
I turned to Zigzagel one last time, clinging to my final hope.
“Professor Zigzagel, please, say something! If we don’t stop him, this will end in disaster!”
“I already told you, Leoryna. Once he gets that look, he won’t listen to anyone.”
Despite Khalid’s obsessive fervor for research, Zigzagel had already regained his composure, as if this situation were all too familiar. I found it lamentable that I alone possessed any semblance of common sense among these absurd individuals.
“So pack your things! We need to leave immediately!”
Khalid urged me on as if he had already finalized his plans in his mind.
“Right now?”
“Of course! I can’t let those government fools get their hands on what’s mine!”
Khalid was already claiming ownership of a magical stone he hadn’t even seen.
‘Oh, you madman… Can’t I just kill him right now, Petila? Please, send me home…’
Then a thought struck me.
“Classes!”
“Huh?”
“If I’m not mistaken, Sitra requires a four-day train journey from here! What about your classes while you’re away, Professor? If you leave me behind, I can teach your students in your absence!”
It was a desperate counterargument with solid reasoning, but Khalid merely smiled wickedly.
“Three days? Hehehehe!”
He turned to Zigzagel and spoke.
“Don’t worry. It won’t take even a day to get there.”
At Khalid’s words, Zigzagel exhaled a weary sigh, already anticipating the chaos that awaited.

* * *

“Wow, that’s incredibly fast!”
Leoryna was currently experiencing the rare thrill of flying through the sky astride a dragon’s back. She gazed in wonder at the landscape below, which shifted and blurred with breathtaking speed.
“Indeed, a dragon’s flight speed transcends imagination!”
Zigzagel’s massive form, now returned to his draconic shape, soared through the heavens with absolute freedom, as though gravity held no dominion over him.
His deep blue scales gleamed brilliantly in the sunlight, and his enormous membranous wings generated typhoon-like gusts with each powerful stroke.
This was Khalid’s greatest asset—Zigzagel’s express delivery service.

‘The ownership of the mana stone is fifty-fifty.’
‘I’ll give you thirty percent.’
‘Fifty-fifty.’
‘Thirty-five percent.’
‘Yes, Zigzagel’s dragon taxi is closed for business today~’
‘Tch….’

This was hardly the first time such negotiations had occurred; Zigzagel had become adept at securing his share.
‘I’ve never seen such petty haggling before.’
Leoryna clicked her tongue inwardly.
Zigzagel’s transportation prowess certainly justified his insistence on claiming exactly half.
True to Khalid’s promise that it wouldn’t take even a day, they arrived in Sitra in less than six hours from departure.
They reached Sitra just as the sun was setting. The location where the mana stone had been discovered lay in the Mountain Wilderness, a two-hour ride by horse from the nearest Village.
While Zigzagel circled overhead using concealment magic, Khalid used the night-vision goggles he’d brought along to scan the ground and locate the mana stone’s position.
“There! There it is! I found it!”
Khalid, who had been sweeping the terrain with his gaze, struck Leoryna’s shoulder in excitement.
A camp had already been established on the ground, and in its center lay a cloth covering something.
“That must be it. You see it too, don’t you?”
“Well… but, Professor. It looks like they’re guarding it. There are quite a few people there.”
Just as Leoryna said, the tents were lit from within, and numerous figures loitered about the cloth. They appeared to be night watch personnel.
“What if we get caught by the guards? This is illegal, after all….”
In truth, Leoryna believed that reaching the mana stone herself wouldn’t be particularly difficult given her abilities.
Add a dragon and a member of the Demon Race to the mix? If they were serious, the game would be over.
But Leoryna was currently fabricating her magical prowess as fourth-circle level, and by any reasonable standard, it would be nearly impossible for someone with such mediocre abilities to breach such rigorous security.
“I think I’d only be a burden. Wouldn’t it be better if I waited in the nearby Village?”
Please, I beg you—let me sit this theft out!
“Don’t worry, Leoryna! You’ll be safe with us! Not to mention myself, but with Zigzagel here, what could possibly frighten us?”
“The law frightens me.”
Leoryna answered swiftly, still reluctant to participate in this venture. She glanced about, hoping for an opportunity to slip away. If she could escape now, she desperately wanted to.
After all, getting entangled in this reckless scheme could expose her true identity!
Yet Khalid had no intention whatsoever of releasing his slave—no, his excellent graduate student.
“It’s fine, it’s fine. No one will know who we are.”
“Ah, Professor! I really don’t have confidence in this! Can’t you two just go alone?”
Regardless of whether Leoryna wept or not, Zigzagel descended upon a secluded ridge, evading the eyes of the crowd. When Khalid dragged the reluctant Leoryna from the saddle and squeezed both of them into the bushes, Zigzagel manifested in human form and stealthily positioned himself behind them.
“Dealing with the people poses no problem. I can simply put them all to sleep with magic.”
“But Professor, the Security Company installs magic nullification fields as standard in the locations they protect. So it will be difficult for us to use magic.”
“You seem to know quite a bit about this, surprisingly.”
“W-well, a friend of mine works for the Security Company! Haha!”
Leoryna laughed awkwardly, but Khalid paid it little mind.
“However, that too presents no obstacle to us. Even a magic nullification field will shatter if you pour enough magical power into it to exceed its capacity.”
This was a strategy Leoryna herself was familiar with.
Yet Leoryna had never actually breached a magic nullification field by pouring magical power into it. Expending that much mana would leave her utterly exhausted before she could even attempt an assassination.
That was why Leoryna’s method was to infiltrate and assassinate using only pure physical ability.
But who were these two? A dragon and a member of the Demon Race.
A magic nullification field, or even a single deadweight masquerading as a graduate student—such things were entirely inconsequential to them.
‘Sigh… do as you please. By all means.’
Leoryna no longer had any grounds to stop Khalid.
Besides…
‘A mana stone of that size… even I couldn’t resist it.’
Just from seeing it covered in cloth, she could estimate its approximate dimensions. Its circumference was large enough that several people would struggle to encircle it.
Leoryna had never witnessed a mana stone of such magnitude in her entire history. This would be a mana stone of tremendous value even to the Mage Society.
An individual could use something like that?
It would be strange if any mage didn’t lose their mind over it.
“The plan is simple. Once Zigzagel breaks the magic nullification field, I’ll cast a sleep spell. Then we quickly excavate the mana stone and escape.”
As Khalid spoke from a distance close enough to avoid detection yet as near to the target as possible, Zigzagel furrowed his brow.
“There’s a problem, Khalid. A mana stone of that size is typically connected to the earth’s ley lines or water veins, so carelessly excavating it could affect the natural environment of this entire local region. That’s why those people haven’t been recklessly digging it up from the start.”
But Khalid responded with an indifferent expression.
“Why should I care?”

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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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