The Graduate Student Wants to Assassinate the Professor - Chapter 62

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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 62

When Khalid burst through the Chancellor’s Office door, Leoryna and Zigzagel—who had been crouching contentedly with their ears pressed against it—tumbled forward onto the floor.
They scrambled to their feet and cleared their throats awkwardly.
“So? How did it go?”
“What did he say? You didn’t get fired, did you?!”
At Leoryna’s urgent question, Khalid ground his teeth and spoke.
“Gather every Demon Race student from our Academy right now.”
Leoryna blinked at Khalid’s command.
“Pardon? The Demon Race students?”
“There aren’t many of them, so it shouldn’t be difficult. Less than twenty, probably. Contact each Department Office and have them assemble in my Professor’s Office.”
“Um, so you definitely didn’t get fired, right?”
Khalid shook his head at Leoryna’s confirmation.
“No.”
“Thank goodness!”
While Leoryna sighed with relief, Khalid felt exhaustion wash over him and rubbed his face.
“Just go gather them.”
“Yes, sir!”
Leoryna disappeared quickly.
Zigzagel tilted his head curiously.
“Everything’s fine, right?”
“Why did he call me in separately? That’s what bothered me! I’m a busy man! And then Demon Race talent recruitment?! Give me a break!”
Khalid kicked a nearby trash bin. Zigzagel quietly cast a spell to return it to its original position and cleaned up the scattered garbage.
“Because of you, I’m apparently opening a class for Demon Race students next semester!”
Zigzagel tried to ignore Khalid’s complaints. He’d overheard enough of the conversation in the Chancellor’s Office to understand why Khalid was so furious.
“That’s because you haven’t been offering classes for them until now. This is actually good, isn’t it?”
“I have research to do! And do you know how many classes I’m already teaching?!”
“Only two.”
“I don’t think you realize how much time I’m dedicating to those two classes.”
“…I’ve taught more than five subjects at once, kid. Besides, Khalid.”
Zigzagel patted Khalid’s shoulder with a composed demeanor.
“For your research to bear fruit, you need to increase the number of Demon Race students at the Academy, just as Chancellor Oddrigo said.”
“What?”
“What’s the purpose of your research?”
…
Khalid stared at Zigzagel with a sullen expression.
Zigzagel already knew Khalid’s answer, so he wasn’t asking him to respond now—and Khalid knew that too.
“I get it. I understand…!”
Khalid thudded his head against the wall.
“I never intended to grind you down like this.”
Zigzagel chuckled softly at Khalid’s complaint.
“Then why not grind down Leoryna instead? You’re already doing it anyway.”
He muttered the last sentence under his breath so no one else could hear.
“Right, that’s true. I do have Leoryna….”
Khalid broke into a wide grin, but his expression quickly darkened again as he slammed his head back against the wall.
“But once she finishes her master’s degree, she’ll leave me. Just like all the others have.”
“Make her do a doctorate.”
“How am I supposed to finish my research in just a few years? And what if I can’t find a new graduate student once she’s gone?”
Khalid’s voice grew increasingly desperate as he mumbled.
“I wish Leoryna would stay by my side forever.”
Unaware of how appalled the person in question would be—how she’d wash her ears and slap his cheek—Khalid made a whimpering sound.

* * *

Leoryna felt her own discomfort deepen as she observed the anxious faces of the Demon Race students.
Demon Race students attending this Academy were so rare that even scraping together every last one yielded only eleven. Though they spanned multiple years, they were all undergraduates, and since some had personal schedules or classes, only seven had gathered.
Uncertain why they’d been summoned so abruptly, they exchanged uneasy glances with one another while sipping the red bean tea Leoryna had prepared.
“Um… Teaching Assistant.”
Someone raised their hand hesitantly and addressed Leoryna.
“Yes?”
“We came because we were told to find you, but we don’t understand why you called us….”
“I don’t know either.”
Leoryna had overheard talk about increasing Demon Race students and such, but she had no idea what was supposed to happen with the currently enrolled ones.
“Did we do something wrong….”
At another student’s words, they all gripped their teacups tightly and stared at Leoryna.
“I doubt that’s the case….”
Yet the students were now visibly trembling.
“Don’t tell me you’re all afraid of Professor Khalid like the other students are?”
The students hesitated to answer, and Leoryna was exasperated.
“No, I don’t know about the others, but you’re all Demon Race too. What could you possibly be afraid of from your own kind?”
At that, a blonde Demon Race student wearing a monocle looked at Leoryna and spoke.
“That’s precisely why we’re afraid.”
The short-haired Demon Race student sitting beside him jabbed his ribs with an elbow. The monocled student frowned slightly but continued.
“Why? You wouldn’t understand, Teaching Assistant. Humans couldn’t possibly comprehend it.”
“Still, Nelpi.”
“You’re being deceived…!”
As Nelpi refused to stop speaking, the large-built student sitting across from him stretched forward and covered his mouth.
“Mmmph!”
Leoryna watched the scene awkwardly and spoke.
“The Professor isn’t as frightening as you might think, and he’s not a bad person.”
‘It’s strange to say he’s not a bad person when I came here to assassinate him because he is one. Wait, but he hasn’t done anything particularly terrible recently, so can I really call him a bad person? No, that’s not right. He slaughtered his entire clan, so he definitely is a bad person… Ah, forget it. Let’s just say he’s a bad person.’
While Leoryna was lost in thought, a Demon Race with crimson hair and slightly drooping eyes interjected.
“Whether the Professor is frightening or a bad person to us doesn’t really matter, Teaching Assistant.”
He spoke in a cheerful tone.
“We all know it’s a fact that Professor Huaderica massacred his own clan. Of course, that fact alone could make us shudder, but we’re not the generation that experienced that event, so we’ve never truly contemplated how weighty such an act is. However, you see.”
He spread both hands and shrugged his shoulders.
“The reason we still fear the Professor is something like a Demon Race instinct.”
“A Demon Race instinct?”
“Why do you let Zargen speak when you won’t let me?”
Despite Nelpi’s protest, Zargen continued without pause.
“Demon Races are instinctively drawn to follow those with strong mana. A Demon Race’s hierarchy is determined by the amount of mana they can control.”
“Ah, now that you mention it, I remember Professor Khalid explaining something like that. But the tradition of Demon Races dividing themselves into ranks has already disappeared, hasn’t it?”
In truth, that was because Demon Races now lived scattered. With no reason to encounter one another, there was no need to establish hierarchies or create conflict. So it wasn’t that Demon Races had wanted to abolish the tradition—circumstances simply made it obsolete.
“It’s not that simple. The Professor is from the Huaderica Family, after all. It’s an incredibly ancient and prestigious clan—what do you think that means? That alone is remarkable, but then to massacre his own clan….”
This time, Zargen’s mouth was sealed shut. The students laughed awkwardly and glanced at Leoryna nervously.
“But Professor Khalid is….”
Leoryna recalled all the moments she had witnessed with Khalid and, without thinking, began to defend him before covering her own mouth with her hand.
‘Is it right for me to defend him here?’
Leoryna was confused.
She had witnessed countless deaths within his dream. She had seen how vivid the blood was that had soaked the once-fertile land.
‘Having seen all that, can I really tell them they don’t need to fear Khalid? But the Khalid I know in everyday life shows no sign of such darkness… He may have changed from his past… But still, he is the one who slaughtered 108 members of his clan.’
Just as Leoryna’s thoughts were becoming tangled and her head was about to explode, Khalid burst through the door.

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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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