The Graduate Student Wants to Assassinate the Professor - Chapter 55

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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 55

Long-term assignments like this simply didn’t suit my temperament. The more I came to know someone, the more my heart grew attached—something entirely beyond my control.
As I reflected on this mission, I recalled the faces of all the people I’d newly met.
Pongko, Zigzagel, Meryl, Isto, Shebril… and Khalid….
When I finally thought of the root cause of all this chaos, I opened my eyes wide and ground my teeth.
“No, that bastard deserves to die!”
At my frustrated outburst, Pongko startled and trembled in my arms before asking cautiously.
“Who?”
“Who else?! Khalid!”
I ruffled my hair in exasperation.
‘I need to kill him quickly and go home before this mission drags on any longer.’
Lying in bed beside Pongko, I fell into a deep sleep without imagining what tomorrow would bring.

* * *

The moment I arrived at work, I had to face Khalid rushing toward me in greeting.
“Leoryna! Did anything happen last night? Are you alright? How about Pongko?”
I pushed away Khalid, who was examining every inch of my body, and replied.
“I’m fine!”
“Nothing happened to me either.”
Pongko looked up at both of us from my feet and spoke.
“Good? Then you can both come on the business trip today?”
“A business trip? There was no such schedule planned.”
At my confused question, Khalid’s eyes gleamed.
“I had a good idea last night.”
Without thinking, I covered my ears. I had no idea what he was about to say, but I didn’t want to hear it. Yet Khalid’s voice still reached my eardrums.
“About this practical exam… I want to change the test questions.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. I didn’t know exactly what he planned to change, but it didn’t seem like it would be easier than the bomb magical artifacts.
And true to my suspicion, what Khalid said next made me sick.
What he meant was….

* * *

“Do you think our professor has lost his mind?”
At Leoryna’s words, Zigzagel, who had been scanning the surroundings with a telescope, grumbled in response.
“You’re slow to catch on.”
“What did you say?”
“Hehe, nothing at all, Professor.”
Leoryna quickly rubbed her hands together to placate Khalid, then quietly slipped away before he could find more fault with her.
She weaved between the rocks of the gorge on her flying shoes, glancing about restlessly. The thing they were searching for was nowhere to be found.
Zigzagel’s Dragon Bus had been operating smoothly as always, and they were now at a place called Debra Gorge, ten hours away from the Academy by flying airship.
Zigzagel, scanning from the highest point of the terrain with his telescope, suddenly cried out.
“There’s a group in the eastern gorge!”
“Excellent! Let’s go, Leoryna!”
Khalid dashed forward excitedly, and Leoryna sighed as she followed behind him.
As they rounded a corner of the gorge, they came face to face with a herd of fluffy fur clusters. These were creatures called Poriport—beasts with no neck, their heads attached directly to their bodies in perfectly round silhouettes, with triangular ears jutting upward.
For beasts, these creatures had a remarkably pathetic appearance. Yet they were beasts nonetheless, and they frequently caused trouble by infiltrating settlements, killing people, and devouring livestock.
“Leoryna, be careful not to get bitten when you catch them.”
Leoryna, wearing thick leather gloves that even their fangs couldn’t pierce, swiftly grabbed one of the Poriport.
“Squeak! Squeeeak!”
The Poriport thrashed about in resistance, but its movements were so feeble that Leoryna had no difficulty placing it into a cage.
Another Poriport fleeing nearby unleashed the most powerful magic it could muster. However, it amounted to nothing more than a flash of light to blind its opponent and escape or attack while they were sightless—a tactic that proved useless against Leoryna and Khalid, who wore tinted glasses that blocked the flash.
After capturing several more Poriport, Khalid counted roughly and gestured to Leoryna.
“This should be enough. Let’s go.”
With a cage full of Poriport strapped to her back, Leoryna returned with Khalid to where Zigzagel was waiting. Pongko, who had been waiting beside Zigzagel while munching on a carrot, asked a question.
“But where will you keep these? We haven’t received permission from the Dean to bring beasts into the Academy yet.”
“We’ll hide them on the Academy Back Mountain.”
What sin had the Academy Back Mountain committed in a past life to become a warehouse for illegally acquired items that Khalid had stashed away?
Leoryna found herself worried that access restrictions should be placed on the Academy Back Mountain.
“This year’s practical exam is going to be really fun.”
Khalid chuckled mischievously. All Leoryna could do was pray for the students’ well-being.

* * *

Midterm exam week had arrived in full force. The students all bore dark circles beneath their eyes, or wandered about sucking on suspicious fatigue-recovery potions whose ingredients remained a mystery.
“Now, grade these.”
Khalid casually thrust the exam papers toward me once the test concluded, as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
Eager to dispose of the tedious task quickly, I processed them within a single day and handed them back to Khalid. He examined my graded papers with a skeptical eye, as if questioning whether I’d done it correctly.
“Why are the average scores so high this year?”
“It seems the students studied diligently.”
“Really? Those students?”
When Khalid’s expression betrayed his disbelief, I pouted and spoke up.
“If you’re dissatisfied with my grading standards, you’re welcome to review and re-grade them yourself, Professor.”
At my words, Khalid fixed me with a penetrating stare.
“You’ve been subtly defiant lately, haven’t you?”
“Me? Heavens, no. I’m your faithful servant, hehe. But since my standards inevitably differ from yours, I was simply hoping you’d fill in my shortcomings as my supervising professor!”
Faced with my immediate flattery, Khalid clicked his tongue once and returned the graded papers to me.
“Fine. It doesn’t seem like you handed out scores so generously that they’re completely useless, so I’ll let it slide for now.”
‘Students, your teaching assistant fought hard for you…!’
I felt a quiet sense of accomplishment, when Khalid suddenly chuckled and spoke.
“More importantly, the Dean has approved the introduction of a magical beast. The practical exam is tomorrow.”
“Is that really going to be alright?”
“Of course it will. You’re here and I’m here—what’s there to worry about?”
‘No matter what, the students don’t seem like they’ll be fine…’
I couldn’t hide my anxiety.
‘Even if Poriport is trivial as magical beasts go… and considering the commotion that happened with Pongko not long ago… won’t this just get us on the Dean’s bad side again?’
However, there was no way to break Khalid’s determination to torment the students.

* * *

“So… what exactly are we supposed to do?”
The students gathered at the Outdoor Practice Grounds for the practical exam stared at Khalid in disbelief.
“All you have to do is prevent Poriport from using magic. You can easily block it by reverse-engineering the spell formula Poriport is trying to cast. Pass the test if you successfully block it three times.”
“What happens if we fail?”
“You’ll get bitten, I suppose.”
At Khalid’s indifferent answer, the students’ faces turned pale.
“It’s fine. Poriport has a habit of always neutralizing its target with magic before biting, so as long as you prevent it from casting, it won’t charge in to bite. And Poriport isn’t a magical beast that causes much harm—it only uses simple magic…”
I was explaining this to reassure the students when Khalid cut through my words.
“In a crisis situation, reverse-engineering a spell formula to neutralize an opponent can lead to consequences that allow no room for error. That’s why it’s crucial to nullify Poriport’s magic before it’s cast. It’s a race against time—that’s what I’m saying. Get your heads in the game.”
The students turned their heads stiffly and gazed at me with pleading eyes. Without them saying a word, I understood exactly what they wanted to convey.
‘Please save us, teaching assistant.’
‘I don’t know either…’
I squeezed my eyes shut and turned away from their desperate gazes.

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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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