The Graduate Student Wants to Assassinate the Professor - Chapter 27

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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 27

Reaching the summit only to be hurled back down, then clawing my way up again only to tumble down once more—after repeating this brutal cycle countless times, the Students finally shed tears of joy when I finally declared we’d call it a day.
But that wasn’t the end. After descending the Mountain with the Students, I distributed bottles of medicine to them.
“Drink this.”
“What is it?”
“A digestive aid.”
“Why do we need a digestive aid…?”
I didn’t answer, merely smirking. But it didn’t take long for the Students to understand the reason.
“Eat! Even if you feel like vomiting, consume every last bit! With my special digestive formula coursing through your systems, your digestion will be optimal and nutrient absorption will skyrocket! The medicine will lubricate those pathetic muscles of yours and pack flesh onto your bones!”
The Students wept at the sight of the tables laden with food before them.
The portions were several times what they normally consumed. Moreover, the protein source was dry chicken breast that felt impossible to swallow. As they forced it down, it caught in their throats.
“Muscles need to grow, don’t they? More input means more output! Can’t eat it? That’s fine! You already took my medicine!”
“Guuuuurgh….”
Someone made a retching sound as food came back up, but I simply scratched my ear again.
“You said you’d follow me, didn’t you? Then do exactly as I say!”
As if bound by an unspoken pact, the Students cast reproachful glances at Shebril, who had recruited me. But Shebril was too busy tearfully shoving food into her mouth to notice.
“I won’t compare you to pigs—pigs have more muscle than you do! You’re pathetic sloths right now! No, worse than sloths! Yet you dream of winning the Athletic Competition? At this rate, a sloth has a higher chance of victory than you do!”
In this moment, no one could stop my rampage.
Pongko sat beside the suffering Students, munching on salad as he observed this hellish Camp.
“Hmm….”
Pongko narrowed his eyes as he watched me, then exhaled sharply.
“Her attitude toward him seems completely different…?”
Pongko recalled one particularly ill-mannered experimental Talking Rabbit who had put on an act of gentleness only in front of his preferred mate. Those rabbits were now living together in an Experimental Facility, raising baby rabbits.
But the next moment, Pongko also remembered how Khalid made me do all sorts of things, and how I complained about it behind his back.
“No way.”
No one detected the subtle expression crossing Pongko’s face.

* * *

Khalid was climbing the Academy Back Mountain, relying solely on the moonlight. Behind him came Leoryna and Zigzagel.
“I wanted to accelerate the magical stone experiment precisely because I was worried about this.”
At Khalid’s grumbling, Leoryna pouted her lips. Thanks to the flight boots Zigzagel had given her, she was following Khalid without much difficulty.
“With students wandering about everywhere, if the magical stone were discovered…”
“That’s exactly why it wasn’t discovered. I used the hiking trail, and I hid the magical stone in a treacherous cave where even beasts don’t venture. An ordinary person couldn’t reach such a place even if they wanted to.”
The Academy Back Mountain wasn’t large, but it was densely forested with rugged terrain. This made it an ideal location for concealing something.
The place where Khalid had hidden the magical stone was one such location.
Venturing into the deepest recesses of the mountain, they entered a cave between gorges and cleared away soil and rocks. Then the massive magical stone, carefully concealed, revealed itself in all its magnificent glory.
“It really is enormous, no matter how many times I see it.”
Leoryna gazed up at the magical stone anew.
“You’ve both read the experimental plan, haven’t you?”
“I’ve read it, but… what’s the purpose of this experiment? It says soil property transformation, but it doesn’t specify which soil properties you’re trying to change. And I don’t understand what expected effects you’re hoping to achieve by transforming those properties.”
“Well, various things are tangled together.”
Khalid scratched his head with the tip of his pen, answering vaguely.
“Still, most of the preliminary experiments conducted in the laboratory seem to have succeeded… is this experiment really necessary?”
Zigzagel asked, having only roughly reviewed Khalid’s plan.
“I haven’t tried applying it to a large-scale area yet. I’m not entirely sure how much soil I can transform. I need to try it directly.”
“Among the materials needed here, there’s salt. How are you planning to use it? More importantly, where do you intend to obtain the salt? I don’t recall receiving any salt deliveries…”
“I procured the salt long ago. I have the salt, but I’m concerned because other contaminants haven’t been prepared yet…”
As Khalid dug into the soil some distance from the massive magical stone, a crystalline rock appeared. Leoryna blinked her eyes in wonder, and Khalid personally provided an explanation.
“This is rock salt. Today’s experiment aims to remove salt from salt-laden soil. As for other experiments, let’s schedule them based on the situation. To obtain the materials necessary to alter the soil’s properties to that degree…”
Khalid narrowed his eyes.
“It would be exposed in the budget allocation. Fortunately, salt is cheap. I was able to procure rock salt—which contains high iron content and is unsuitable for consumption—at a bargain price. So first, I need to divert budgets allocated elsewhere to create some slush funds…”
‘He has no intention of abandoning the project simply because there’s no budget.’
“As for other contaminants, I’ll procure them gradually…”
At that moment, Zigzagel asked, gauging the size of the rock salt.
“So how are you planning to use this salt? Surely you’re not going to scatter it on this ground?”
“Yes.”
“Ah, I see… w-wait…?”
Zigzagel asked in confusion.
“How? It’s in the form of a boulder.”
“You’ll do it.”
“Me?”
“Yes. That’s why I brought you along.”
Khalid smiled with perfect nonchalance.
“Do what?”
Khalid’s smile deepened, and both Leoryna and Zigzagel wanted to leave this place before he said something strange again.
But.
“Snow is falling~ Snow is falling~ Salt snow is falling~”
Leoryna hummed a resigned tune as she cast magic to till the soil. And above her head, Zigzagel, transformed into a dragon’s form, was gliding down.
He held a massive chunk of rock salt in one hand while his sharp claws scraped relentlessly at it with the other, reducing it to powder that he scattered into the air. This was the true nature of what had been gently accumulating in the sky.
“Scrape harder!”
Khalid urged Zigzagel on, using magic to till the earth and mix soil with salt. Zigzagel had grown so accustomed to being ordered around like this that he no longer even felt anger.
Their work continued until dawn broke. Khalid clicked his tongue as he watched the sun rise over the Ridge.
“It seems the foundational work will take far more time than I anticipated. I had originally planned to complete all preparations within three days….”
As he smacked his lips in regret, both Leoryna and Zigzagel wore expressions of utter exhaustion.
How could three days possibly suffice when this mountain was so vast and the salt chunks so enormous?
“There’s no help for it. Once the sun sets again, we’ll have to resume spreading salt.”
Though Khalid remained dissatisfied, the three of them hurried down the mountain to avoid drawing attention.

* * *

When the three descended to the base of the Mountain, students from the Department of Magic Theory were lined up at the Hiking Trail Starting Point. Seeing them emerge at an unexpected hour, the trio was startled—wouldn’t their descent from the mountain at this time appear suspicious?
“What are you all doing here at this hour?”
Khalid asked nonchalantly, as though nothing unusual had occurred. Then Isto, the class representative, stepped forward to answer.
“Yesterday, Instructor Leoryna said she would kill us if we didn’t reassemble when dawn broke today….”
“Right.”
I struck my own forehead, having completely forgotten about the hellish Camp disguised as Athletic Competition training for the students, preoccupied as I was with Khalid’s experiment. Yet I soon smiled and praised their diligence.
“Good. Then let’s begin training at once, everyone.”
The students, already suffering from unbearable muscle soreness from yesterday’s ordeal, felt their faces fall at the word “training.”

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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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