The Graduate Student Wants to Assassinate the Professor - Chapter 76

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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 76

Leoryna pressed herself against the Flying Airship’s window, gazing out at the sprawling Dark Forest with undisguised wonder.
Even from this distance, I could see how the trees had been blackened and charred by the toxic miasma emanating from the demons, their bark stained dark as ash, while the soil beneath bore a sickly crimson hue.
“This is actually my first time visiting a region infested with demons.”
“Do you usually have reason to come here?”
Zigzagel smacked his lips and followed Leoryna’s gaze toward the Huaderica Territory. Knowing what this forest had once looked like, his mouth turned bitter.
Leoryna cast a sidelong glance at Zigzagel. She understood Khalid’s position well enough, but she wondered what thoughts occupied Zigzagel’s mind now. After all, he bore considerable responsibility for how this place had become what it was.
Moreover…
‘Zigzagel and Nifra seemed to have been intimate once. Could he truly feel nothing coming to this place?’
But Leoryna’s musings didn’t linger long.
“We’re descending shortly! Everyone, prepare yourselves!”
At Professor Oratora’s command, several combat personnel leaped from the Flying Airship. They soared through the sky, meticulously scouting the area around where the airship would land to ensure no demons lurked nearby, then signaled clearance for descent.
Once the Flying Airship had landed, the Subjugation Force established the Base Camp using the airship as their anchor. Leoryna helped transport supplies alongside them, but Khalid merely strung a hammock in a secluded spot and sprawled across it, lounging without a care. Even Zigzagel was working, yet Khalid paid him no mind.
“Why isn’t Khalid helping?”
Pongko, who had been confined to quarters since he could offer no assistance in setting up the Base Camp, sat beside Khalid and asked while watching the others work.
“I came here to oversee operations, not to slay demons.”
“But this is Khalid’s land. Wouldn’t it be good for you if the demons disappeared?”
“I don’t care.”
Khalid rolled over abruptly. At his dismissive posture, Pongko snorted directly at his back.
“Pongko, there doesn’t seem to be any fresh grass in this area, so for now you’ll have to make do with the hay and vegetables we brought. Will that be alright?”
When Leoryna called me over, Pongko trotted over and relayed what Khalid had just said.
“Khalid says he has no interest in slaying demons.”
“I expected as much. Would that man ever concern himself with anything beyond research?”
Leoryna shook my head, having harbored no expectations to begin with.
The subjugation was something we would have pursued regardless of whether Khalid came or not. Whether he sliced through demons or roasted them made little difference to what I needed to accomplish.
“Leoryna, I’ve had a splendid idea.”
Pongko’s tongue flicked as he broached the subject.
“From what I’ve overheard, there’s a supreme-tier demon living deep within this forest near Huaderica Castle. What if we delivered Khalid to that creature?”
Leoryna blinked, processing the suggestion.
“How would we manage that?”
“You’d be the bait, Leoryna. You get lost and wander into Huaderica Castle—something like that. Don’t you think Khalid would rush to rescue you? Then we’d lure him into a confrontation with the supreme-tier demon.”
“Hmm.”
Leoryna rolled my eyes, carefully considering Pongko’s proposal.
“Would Khalid really dash off barefoot to rescue me like that? Besides, the Subjugation Force is here. If anything happens, they’d move first. And if someone dies, it should only be Khalid. I don’t want to drag innocent people into this.”
“If I may offer my thoughts? I suspect Khalid would throw caution to the wind and charge toward you before the Subjugation Force could even react.”
At Pongko’s words, Leoryna burst into laughter.
“What are you talking about? Why would Khalid abandon everyone else and come running to me?”
“Come now, Leoryna, don’t you know Khalid that well? When you were kidnapped before—or rather, when you staged that fake kidnapping—what did Khalid do? He supposedly came alone and undressed himself, didn’t he?”
“Back then, I sent that threatening letter, so that’s how it was.”
“Come on, you call me a bundle of trouble every day anyway.”
“I called you a slave.”
“Ugh!”
Regardless of how Pongko shook his head, I unpacked my belongings and dusted off my hands.
“Still, there’s one thing you said that might actually be useful.”
“What’s that?”
“Going to Huaderica Castle. There should be plenty of things connected to Khalid there. If I investigate them, I might be able to uncover some of Khalid’s weaknesses.”
“Oh, that’s actually a reasonable idea.”
“Damn it… now that I think about it, I promised myself I wouldn’t worry about assassination for a week, but in the end, I’m only thinking about Khalid again.”
I tapped my forehead repeatedly.
“If I didn’t want to think about assassination, it would’ve been better to just eliminate it from my sight entirely. Why did I even come along?”
But having come this far, backing out now would be shameful.
After confirming that my tent was securely set up, I stepped outside.
As I emerged, Khalid, who had been lounging on a hammock until then, sat up. With a rather shameless expression, he entered the tent I had pitched and said one thing.
“Oh, thanks.”
“Professor, this is my tent?”
“You’re a graduate student, I’m a professor. Your tent is my tent.”
Watching Khalid slip into the tent and unfold his sleeping bag on the camp bed, I ground my teeth.
‘I’ll kill him… I’m really going to kill this bastard soon.’
Khalid, for his part, was too busy lounging on the bed to care.
I managed to complete my own sleeping arrangements by reinstalling the tent components Khalid had abandoned.

* * *

Once the Base Camp was roughly completed, the members of the Subjugation Force were each assigned their roles. What fell to Leoryna was none other than cooking. She had become responsible for feeding everyone at the Base Camp.
“I’m not confident in my cooking skills….”
Leoryna stared at the dirt-covered potato with a serious expression.
“Just do it roughly, roughly. Those guys would be thrilled with rye bread and tea water, wouldn’t they?”
Khalid was meddling from the side, opening a snack box he’d brought for personal use. Leoryna genuinely felt embarrassed by her professor.
‘Wherever you go, our professor is shameful.’
Originally, demon subjugation was the kind of work where it wouldn’t be strange if someone died. So even for practical training, it was normal for everyone to prepare themselves with solemn resolve….
“Ah, I want to go home.”
As Khalid lamented while munching on a tart without a shred of tension, Oratora let out a scoff and spoke.
“Isn’t this Professor Huaderica’s house?”
“…You certainly tell jokes of remarkably poor taste, Professor Oratora.”
Khalid glared at Oratora, but she paid him no mind whatsoever. It was Leoryna who felt oddly stung.
‘If I were Khalid, I wouldn’t feel good about coming here either. It’s an awkward past.’
Only then did Leoryna realize that Khalid was doing this on purpose.
Pretending to be indifferent, pretending to be bothered, pretending to be uninterested, pretending to be unbothered, pretending to be detached, pretending to be at ease.
There was no point in showing discomfort—it would make no one happy, including himself—so he was acting as if everything were fine.
‘Why do you live your life so painfully?’
For just a moment, Leoryna looked at Khalid with pity.
‘This isn’t so bad, actually.’
Leoryna sat in a comfortable spot, peeling potatoes while watching the Beast Response Department members and the Magical Weapon Manufacturing Department members maintain various weapons.
She was captivated by the unfamiliar weapons and couldn’t tear her eyes away when a dark shadow fell over her head. When she looked up, three people she’d never met before were standing before her with gleaming eyes.
“Hello?”
One of them greeted Leoryna, so she bowed her head in return and asked cautiously.
“Is there something I can help you with…?”
The people whose eyes had been shining brightly all crouched down in unison to meet Leoryna’s eye level and spoke.
“We’re from the Demon Research Department, currently pursuing master’s and doctoral degrees in what we call the Demon Research program.”
“We heard that Leoryna has an interest in demons and came along with us.”
“So we thought we might teach you the basics about demons.”
Leoryna felt that their eyes held the exact same gleam that enthusiasts of a particular genre show when they meet a kindred spirit.
In other words, right now….
‘Demon research fanatics have spotted a fresh newcomer and their eyes have gone wild.’

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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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