The Graduate Student Wants to Assassinate the Professor - Chapter 8

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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 8

“Oh, do you recognize me? That’s right. I’m a dragon.”
Zigzagel greeted me warmly and extended his hand for a handshake.
“And your name is?”
“Leoryna Yuren… it is.”
Zigzagel seemed entirely unconcerned with Leoryna’s bewilderment, grasping her hand and shaking it vigorously up and down.
“My name is Zigzagel, and I’m an old friend of Khalid’s. I teach Arcane Engineering at Halderion Academy. My Professor’s Office and Research Laboratory are in the Engineering Building across the way. Say, would you be interested in joining our research team?”
“I’m not interested.”
Unable to bear it any longer, Khalid pried Zigzagel away from his graduate student Leoryna and grumbled.
“That’s why you’re on sabbatical right now.”
“Well, it’s been nearly ten years, so I’m getting bored. I’m thinking of returning soon…”
‘Do they normally grant sabbaticals for ten years?’
Leoryna was aware that dragons and the Demon Race experienced time differently than humans, but moments like this still caught her off guard.
‘For them, does ten years equal about one year in human terms? Or two?’
Dragons and the Demon Race typically lived for a thousand years, and Leoryna couldn’t even fathom how long that truly was.
‘And Khalid’s friend? There was nothing about this in the intelligence briefing.’
Leoryna felt a chill of panic.
The provided materials had explicitly stated that Caladniel had no close friendships within the Academy. When she’d tracked his movements during her preliminary investigation, he’d appeared to have no friends at all.
And this person was a dragon—a far more troublesome entity than the Demon Race, a being of higher rank.
Having such a creature constantly at Khalid’s side would undoubtedly create significant complications for my mission going forward.
Leoryna’s pupils nearly trembled, but she quickly composed her expression.
“So you were friends with a dragon, Professor!”
When Leoryna spoke sweetly, Khalid nodded more readily than expected.
“Yes. We’ve been friends since childhood. He’s the one who recommended I become a professor.”
“And here I’ve been away from the Academy for ten years—can you imagine how bored I’ve been? Khalid’s the only close friend I have at the Academy.”
Zigzagel patted Khalid’s back repeatedly, and he yelped in pain.
“I see!”
Leoryna’s mind raced as she grappled with this unexpected development.
‘Damn it! Because he took a ten-year sabbatical, he didn’t show up in our preliminary intelligence! How am I supposed to handle this? To assassinate Khalid, I’d have to do it right under this dragon bastard’s nose?’
Leoryna posed a question to Zigzagel with a glimmer of hope.
“Professor Zigzagel, since you’re on sabbatical, you won’t be coming to the Academy now, will you?”
Please, please say you won’t return until after my mission is complete!
Contrary to Leoryna’s desperate wish, Zigzagel grinned mischievously and replied.
“Well, normally that would be the case, but since something interesting is happening with Khalid getting a graduate student, I should stick around and watch.”
‘No! Damn it!’
Leoryna nearly threw herself on the ground like a petulant child.
Go away! Forget watching—just disappear from my sight!
This creature had raised the difficulty of an already troublesome mission by what felt like a hundred levels. The world seemed to darken before Leoryna’s eyes.
Khalid, unaware of what lay beneath Leoryna’s surface, regarded his close friend with a look of pity.
“Do you really have nothing better to do?”
“Well, actually….”
Zigzagel suddenly averted his gaze and scratched his cheek.
“They’re telling me to get married.”
“Then do it.”
Khalid replied immediately, as though the matter wasn’t worth hearing more about. Zigzagel laughed hollowly and spoke.
“Aren’t you even curious why marriage suddenly came up, or what the reason is?”
“Not really. Just get married.”
“Why should I?!”
“It’s time.”
“If we’re going by that logic, it’s time for you too, isn’t it? If I get married, then you get married.”
“I don’t have anyone nagging me about marriage, so it doesn’t matter.”
“I’ll do it for you. You get married too.”
Marriage out of nowhere? This sounded like children bickering, so Leoryna looked back and forth between Khalid and Zigzagel.
Despite what he said, Zigzagel had no intention whatsoever of sacrificing his life to get Khalid married. So he crossed his arms, lifted his chin firmly, and spoke with resolve.
“Anyway, I’m not getting married. I’m not even looking at potential matches.”
“Is that so?”
“If I go through with a marriage I’m not interested in like this, wouldn’t that be disrespectful to the other person?”
“That’s true.”
At Zigzagel’s words, Khalid stopped his childish bickering and his expression became somehow bitter. But that expression quickly faded, and he began pressing Zigzagel for details as if to change the subject.
“So, you ran away here because of the marriage talk?”
“That’s right.”
“Are you planning to return to the Academy?”
“Maybe starting next semester? Or if I give myself more time, perhaps next year’s first semester?”
“I see. So what will you do this semester?”
“Well… I haven’t really thought about it….”
Zigzagel spoke in a carefree tone, interlacing his fingers behind his head.
“So you have nothing to do right now?”
“Right.”
“Nowhere to go either?”
“Right.”
“In that case….”
Khalid suddenly grinned wickedly and gripped Zigzagel’s shoulder firmly.
“Heh heh, my second slave.”
“Huh?”
“Will you help me with my research?”
“…You want me to help with that grueling research of yours? Graduate student, isn’t this insane?”
Zigzagel furrowed his brow and looked to Leoryna for agreement. Though she had been left out of the conversation until now, Leoryna couldn’t pass up the chance to separate Zigzagel from her, even briefly, so she quickly spoke to Khalid.
“Professor Khalid, Professor Zigzagel is also a professor in his own right, so asking him to help or not help with research doesn’t seem quite appropriate.”
“How about a collaborative research project? Let’s write a paper together.”
“Look, you can only collaborate if your intentions align. I don’t like your style, so I’m not interested.”
Leoryna quickly wedged herself between the two and forced them apart.
“Professor Khalid, please say something that makes sense. Why would you involve Professor Zigzagel in your research? It’s obvious you’re just using research as an excuse to torment me like you always do, isn’t it?”
“Are you seriously saying I’ve been tormenting you all this time?”
As betrayal began to cloud Khalid’s expression, Leoryna slapped her own mouth once and quickly corrected herself.
“Not tormenting! It’s just that since this field is my interest, no matter what you say or what tasks you give me, even if others misunderstand it as tormenting, I can happily assist with the research! But that’s not the case with Professor Zigzagel, so that’s what I meant.”
‘Please, just don’t say anything about me having to stick around and conduct research with Zigzagel. Please.’
Despite her plea, Khalid suddenly thrust Leoryna toward Zigzagel.
“I’ll share my slave with you.”
“Professor, did you just call me a slave?”
“Just have her handle all the tedious work. So help me out.”
“So you’ve been thinking of me as a slave who handles all your annoying tasks this whole time?”
Khalid ignored Leoryna’s continued protests beside him and continued speaking.
“I recently acquired an investor.”
At the mention of an investor, Zigzagel, who had been ignoring Khalid, flinched.
“They’re interested in researching mana reactions using dragon scales. But I don’t have a dragon to provide experimental scales.”
Khalid’s eyes narrowed at his words. Khalid patted Zigzagel’s shoulder as if bestowing great favor and continued.
“If you ride on my research, I’ll set aside your share from the collaborative research funds.”
“….”
“You’ve got nowhere else to go anyway, right? If you want to be reinstated at the Academy, you’ll need to start some research soon. Don’t bother struggling to find a research topic. What do you say?”
“Do you think I’m doing this because I’m broke?”
“Aren’t you? Where’s that guy who was always whining about not having research funds? This is a new materials research project led by the Grand Merchant Guild. The investment amount they agreed to….”
Khalid glanced at Leoryna once, then leaned close to Zigzagel’s ear and whispered something confidential. Upon hearing Khalid’s words, Zigzagel’s eyes widened and he covered his mouth with his hand.
After finishing his words, Khalid stepped back a few paces and nodded with a confident expression, and Zigzagel answered without much deliberation.
“I’ll do it.”
Khalid beamed with delight, but Leoryna internally screamed and quickly tried to stop him.
“Why, why would you choose such a difficult path? Your scales will be extracted! You’ll be tormented by Professor Khalid! If, if it’s about money, surely Professor Zigzagel has personal wealth, don’t you? Since you’re a dragon, quite a bit….”
“The idea that dragons are wealthy is a blatant prejudice!”
Zigzagel bristled at Leoryna’s desperate attempt to prevent the dragon’s involvement and immediately countered.
“This guy botched his research so badly that he’s been broke ever since. He got scammed on an investment. That’s why he took a sabbatical from the shock.”
As Khalid dug into his own wound, Zigzagel muttered with a bitter expression.
“During the sabbatical, I lived off my parents’ allowance, but since I ran away from there, that support has been cut off.”
“How shameful, Zigzagel. Allowance at your age….”
Zigzagel shot a glare at Khalid, who was digging into his wounds again.
Regardless of what the two of them did, Leoryna, who had tried to remove one problem only to create another, wanted to cry her eyes out.
‘What in the world, Goddess Petila! What exactly did I do wrong to deserve this trial?!’
There was no such law. How was she supposed to assassinate Khalid while avoiding the dragon’s eyes!
“Well, that’s the reason. So I’m counting on you for a while, Leoryna.”
“…Yes, I’m counting on you as well.”
Leoryna forced the corners of her mouth upward into a smile. But the perspiration trickling across her palms was impossible to conceal, and she had to wipe her hands against her clothes to hide the moisture from the gaze of both the Demon Race and the dragon.

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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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