The Graduate Student Wants to Assassinate the Professor - Chapter 26

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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 26

“Yes, yes. Even just one event would help us greatly. Could you possibly assist our competition?”
“So… you’re asking me?”
“Yes!”
“Why? Is the Athletic Competition something graduate students are obligated to participate in?”
“Graduate students have no obligation to participate in the Athletic Competition. Besides, once you’re a graduate student, you’d never have the leisure time for such things anyway.”
Khalid wanted to prevent Leoryna, who was supposed to assist with his experiments, from wasting time on other matters.
“Just do it casually.”
“Professor, do you have any idea what situation our department is currently in?”
Shebril spoke with an uncharacteristically stern tone.
“How would I know?”
“Professor Huaderica is also part of our Department of Magic Theory. So please show some interest in departmental affairs.”
“Things have run smoothly without my involvement so far.”
“Good grief.”
Shebril puffed out her cheeks lightly before continuing.
“Our department has been dead last in the Athletic Competition for five consecutive years!”
“Is that so.”
“Ah, that’s quite harsh, isn’t it.”
Pongko interjected with a sigh. With his support, Shebril’s expression grew serious.
“Do you know how much the students from other departments have looked down on us every time the Athletic Competition season arrives? I can’t take it anymore! We’ve staked everything on this competition!”
“Study instead of wasting time! Look at your grades! Is the Athletic Competition more important right now? What are you, athletes?!”
But Shebril ignored Khalid’s words and turned her earnest gaze toward Leoryna.
“There’s no regulation preventing graduate students from participating. So please, Teaching Assistant Leoryna, help our department just this once! If you’d practice with us and compete as well, we’d be even more grateful! I’ll do anything!”
Leoryna found it difficult to turn away from that pleading gaze.
“But Leoryna needs to assist Professor Khalid with his experiments. Isn’t that right?”
Pongko’s words prompted Khalid to chime in.
“That’s right! Exactly! Leoryna needs to help me! So she has no time for such things!”
“I’ll do it.”
Leoryna answered promptly. She had grown utterly weary of the research piling up endlessly without even a moment’s respite. And here was a legitimate excuse to avoid assisting Khalid’s research—she couldn’t possibly kick away such an opportunity.
“Really?”
Shebril practically jumped with joy.
“Then let’s start practice right away! I’ll tell the department members! Oh, and while we’re at it.”
Shebril bent down to meet Pongko’s eye level.
“Would you like to participate too, Pongko?”
“Me?”
“There are events where a mage’s familiar can participate.”
At Shebril’s words, Pongko recoiled.
“A familiar? I have no intention of becoming anyone’s servant!”
A familiar referred to an animal or spirit that mages commanded. Mages would form contracts with them, share magical power, or grant each other transcendent abilities—so it was quite common for mages to possess familiars.
“I’m not saying you should form a real familiar bond. Just pretend to be one.”
Shebril lowered her voice and whispered conspiratorially.
“A rabbit that casts magic and speaks like you couldn’t possibly be ordinary, so no matter where anyone looks at you, they’ll see you as someone’s familiar.”
“That’s true enough.”
“So let’s just say you’re Leoryna’s familiar. How about it?”
“Hmm….”
“There’s a prize if we win. And if you go around saying you’re Leoryna’s familiar, later on even if you use magic outside that stuffy research lab, no one will suspect anything, right?”
“I’m in!”
As Pongko fell for the honeyed words, Shebril broke into a grin.
“Hey, why are you two just deciding things on your own? What about my opinion?”
Khalid, who had been cleanly ignored up until now, protested in frustration, but was cleanly ignored once more.
Leoryna tilted her head, speaking with a hint of concern.
“But are you really sure about practicing for the Athletic Competition? You’re saying you can do absolutely anything?”
“Of course! If it’s for winning, training is naturally….”
“My training methods are intense.”
Leoryna’s eyes gleamed with a sharp light.
“So your training is going to be incredibly intense too.”
“Uh….”
Shebril hesitated momentarily under Leoryna’s momentum, then clenched her small fists tightly and nodded.
“Of course! We’re all prepared for that much!”
“Really?”
Leoryna’s lips stretched wide across her face in a grin.
“Is that so?”
“Why is she so happy about this?”
Khalid whispered to Zigzagel, but Zigzagel had no way of knowing the reason. How could they possibly understand that Leoryna was delighted at the prospect of finally getting to stretch her body after so long?
For the time being, I had finally managed to escape Khalid’s Research Office!

* * *

“What if we use the Academy Back Mountain?”
Khalid grumbled quietly to me as he watched the students gathering at the base of the mountain.
“If anyone discovers the magic stones I’ve hidden, what then!”
“I’ve concealed them in a secluded spot where no one will find them. The students will only be using the Walking Path.”
I scratched my ear once and shouted through the megaphone.
“Ahem, from today onward, you will all undergo training for the Athletic Competition.”
Before me stood the students of the Department of Magical Formula Design—or rather, the Department of Magic Theory students—clustered together.
“If anyone feels they cannot manage this, you may withdraw now. I won’t stop you.”
The students nodded their heads. Yet no one left their positions.
I smiled with satisfaction and continued.
“I will do everything in my power to ensure you all emerge victorious. Can you all keep up with whatever comes your way?!”
“Yes!”
The students answered with resounding enthusiasm.
“Excellent! Then shall we begin by running up this mountain?”
The students gazed toward the summit, which appeared impossibly distant.
It was merely the Academy Back Mountain, yet somehow it seemed even taller today. Was it merely an illusion?
“What are you all doing? I said we’re starting now!”
As I urged them on again, the students exchanged glances before, without waiting for anyone to take the lead, they began sprinting up the mountainside. I turned to Khalid, who stood beside me with his arms crossed.
“Why are you still here? Will you be joining us, Professor?”
“Ugh! If those magic stones get discovered—!”
Khalid spoke sternly, but I scratched my ear again.
Watching Khalid grumble his way back toward the Academy, I smiled wickedly.
“Well, now that Khalid’s gone too… they’re all finished.”
I picked up the megaphone and followed the students up the mountain.
“Faster! Pick up the pace!”
“Huff! Huff! Huff!”
Wearing the flight boots Zigzagel had given me, I hovered behind them and began driving them relentlessly forward.
“Be grateful you’re not carrying full gear! We’re starting with the easiest exercises to properly condition those pathetic muscles of yours, and you’re going to quit already? Huh?!”
“Huff! Huff! Huff!”
“Run! Climb! Push yourselves until your lungs burst!”
“Huff! Huff! Huff!”
At some point, my tone had grown harsh, but the students had no leisure to notice.
Under my relentless driving, they scrambled desperately up the mountainside.
When the leading group of students finally completed the course—a path that hugged the cliff face at the end of the Walking Path—and reached the summit, their faces flushed with accomplishment as they caught their breath.
“Is everyone up?”
“Yes, Instructor!”
“Then die!”
My eyes gleamed as I kicked the students, sending them tumbling down the mountainside.
“Kyaaaah!”
I spoke to the rear group of students, who trembled with terror as they looked up at me while still climbing.
“Why aren’t you coming back up?”
The students shook their heads without realizing it. But Leoryna smiled brightly.
“It’s fine. You won’t die. If you die, you can’t participate in the Athletic Competition, right? Training is supposed to push you to the brink—right to the edge of death—that’s when it’s truly effective.”
“But you just told us to die….”
Someone muttered as much, but Leoryna scratched her ear again and shouted.
“Anyone who falls behind in my training is considered weak-willed. To cure that rotten laziness, you’ll undergo special practical training in Khalid’s Research Lab for a month! The professor will be absolutely delighted. All of you who fell down there! Come back up!”
The students, who had no desire to go anywhere near Khalid, truly wanted to weep. But it was they themselves who had brought this suffering upon themselves by recruiting her.
At this point, even if they couldn’t win the Athletic Competition, they had to place in the top ranks or it would feel unjust. With that thought, they couldn’t escape training either, so they climbed the mountain while sobbing.

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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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