WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Surviving the Assassin Academy as a Professor

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Chapter 24: Righteousness (2)

The Assassin Department was like a fish tank—an environment where everything was controlled.

You couldn’t leave Zone 0 for long. No one really mourned the dead, and everyone knew everything.

And apparently, some rumors had spread like wildfire.

Word was going around that Professor Hakon was planning to kill me. Whenever I walked down the hallways, I could see cadets throwing glances my way and whispering among themselves.

【 Assassin Department, First-Year, Bayne: “Did you hear the rumor? Apparently, Professor Hakon’s gonna assassinate Professor Dante.” 】

【 Assassin Department, First-Year, Rill: “Yeah. But professors rarely ever assassinate each other. He must’ve really pissed Professor Hakon off.” 】

【 Assassin Department, First-Year, Bayne: “I’m kinda looking forward to it.” 】

What the hell are you looking forward to, you psychopaths…

That wasn’t the only thing.

Perhaps people thought I was being targeted by the entire Black Path, because professors from the White Path often came up to me, voicing their concerns.

“Hello, Professor Dante. We’ve met before, haven’t we?”

“Is there anything we can help with?”

Not that they were trying to recruit me into the White Path.

No one would truly want to officially recruit a man who had already stirred the hornet’s nest.

But since I had gotten rid of Joaquin, who was a pain in the White Path’s ass, they seemed to be willing to be charitable with me.

“I don’t need any help. Have a good day.”

Not that I would have joined them even if they had invited me.

Regardless of which faction I joined, I’d just be stuck with a bunch of responsibilities I hadn’t asked for.

Funnily enough, even Adele expressed her concerns three times throughout the day.

“Are you really going to be okay, Professor?” she asked hesitantly.

“I’ll be fine.”

“It’s just… we’ve known each other for a while now, and I can’t help but worry.”

“No need. Hakon is incapable of killing me.”

And so, amidst all the buzz in the department, I sat alone in my office, fiddling with 『World Forgery』 and crafting various illusory creations.

Then, a message came through my crystal ball watch, and I opened the hologram.

– Kaiser: Professor. What is assassination?

It was a difficult question, and it came out of the blue from a boy who rarely messaged me.

Something must’ve happened to him. It sounded like he was looking for advice.

What is assassination…?

I had never thought about it too deeply before. If one thing was clear, assassinations weren’t something good. That much was obvious.

But I couldn’t just tell Kaiser, “Assassination is wrong. Don’t do it.”

He was someone who was suffering just as much as I was in this world. If anyone deserved a little kindness from me, it was him.

So I gave it serious thought and texted back:

– Dante: Assassination is the power to realize righteousness.

After a few minutes, Kaiser replied.

– Kaiser: I’m sorry, Professor. I’m not quite sure I understand. Please bear with my stupidity.

– Kaiser: What is righteousness?

– Kaiser: Is righteousness being kind? Taking care of the sick? Helping the poor and the suffering?

Seeing the flurry of messages, he must’ve been emotionally cornered.

What is righteousness, huh…

He was asking some tough questions.

I wasn’t some philosopher or anthropologist who frequently pondered such topics.

Hmmm…

But I had an idea of how to ease the boy’s heart.

We were in the same boat, after all. All I had to do was project myself onto him. If I were Kaiser… what answer would I want to hear?

– Dante: Righteousness is what you believe to be right.

– Kaiser: If I went mad and decided everyone in the world deserved to die, would that be righteous?

That question sent a chill down my spine.

Hopefully, he was just speaking hypothetically...

– Dante: It would be righteous.

I didn’t receive a reply from the boy for a while.

My guess was that Kaiser was a tightrope walker, barely managing to stay upright every single day, surviving by the skin of his teeth.

And when someone was standing on the edge like him, they didn’t need advice. They needed comfort.

I couldn’t change his reality. No matter what I told him, Kaiser would have to keep walking that tightrope.

What he needed wasn’t guidance, but self-affirmation—something that would give him the strength to get through anything by telling himself, “It’s okay.”

So I just kept typing whatever came to mind.

– Dante: A world where everyone is happy doesn’t and cannot exist.

– Dante: We have to protect ourselves and those who matter to us.

– Dante: And sometimes, we might have to hurt others to protect those we care about.

– Dante: If words of peace fixed everything, why would we need insults or swear words? If swearing worked, why would people throw punches? If using our fists worked, why would we need laws? If laws were absolute, why are there still victims who suffer in this world?

– Dante: The world has too many people for fairness to reach everyone. Someone is always going to get left behind, forced to bear injustice. And when their words have no effect, when their fists aren’t strong enough, and when the laws don’t protect them, they only have two options.

– Kaiser: What are they?

– Dante: If they have no strength, they could choose to curse others. Curses are the one weapon the weak are allowed to use.

On the flip side…

– Dante: But if they have even the tiniest of strength, they can choose something else.

– Kaiser: Ah.

– Kaiser: And that is “assassination”…

Honestly, I wasn’t sure if that was the right answer.

There was no such thing as a universal truth to this question. We were all just out here, doing our best to survive.

That was why I stopped messaging.

Stopped pretending to know the answer to everything.

– Kaiser: I see…

– Kaiser: So the reason for an assassination is righteousness…

All I wanted was to make the boy feel better. That was it. He reminded me too much of myself, after all.

– Kaiser: Righteousness…

Our conversation had mostly ended, but messages continued to trickle in every ten to thirty minutes or so.

– Kaiser: What is righteousness for me? What is precious to me? I’ve been so busy surviving that I’ve never thought about it.

Something about his messages felt off…

– Kaiser: But now…

– Kaiser: I think I’m starting to understand

– Kaiser: What matters to me.

– Kaiser: What I should value.

– Kaiser: Who I matter to.

– Kaiser: What “precious” even means.

– Kaiser: What harms the things that are precious to me.

– Kaiser: And if protecting what’s precious to me is righteous… then I think I know where to direct the power of assassination in my hands.

Whoa, buddy… You’re scaring me now.

Was he planning something dangerous?

I was tempted to ask about it, but changed my mind.

– Kaiser: I feel better now.

– Kaiser: I’ll slowly find my answer over time.

Good. That was enough for me. What mattered here was that he felt better.

– Kaiser: Thank you, Professor.

My words were simply meant to be uplifting.

...I just hoped he wasn’t planning to cause any trouble.

* * *

“What’s wrong, Kaiser?” Elize asked.

Huh?

Kaiser's heart jumped. He had almost made a mistake.

Ugh, I let my mind wander…

The Black Dragon cadets were in the middle of casting the 『Curse of Revelation』.

To explain in simple terms, it was a curse that extracted information from corpses and inscribed it onto a 「human skin parchment」.

Using the recently deceased arms dealers and various blood samples they had collected, his current task was to dig into their acts of treason and uncover more information about the assassins connected to the traitors.

“I’ll continue,” Kaiser said, regaining focus.

He closed his eyes and recited the incantation while the Black Dragon cadets lent him their mana.

In truth, they didn’t need him. The curse had more than enough mana now to continue its activation on its own.

Kaiser was merely pretending to chant.

“…May every leaf brim with curse. May every caterpillar gnaw and swallow the darkness. Until everything upon the earth is dyed in blood…”

But even as he chanted, his thoughts began to drift again. 

The world was a perilous ocean, and he was navigating it in a small sailboat. 

His life and voyage had begun at a small harbor, in a tiny wooden boat, with a single sail above and ordinary oars by his side. He had been pushed across the waves into the unknown.

Somehow, he had endured storm after storm.

Somehow, he had reached the abyssal sea. 

Somehow, he had become the leader of sea monsters.

And today, he had finally gained a compass.

Righteousness…

From the moment he’d left the harbor, not a single person had truly cared for Kaiser. They simply saw the mask he wore and followed that—not the man beneath it.

But now, there was an exception.

If a blade swung to protect something precious was “assassination”...

Who was he meant to swing his blade for?

Slowly, the answer began to settle into Kaiser’s heart.

Professor Dante.

He had saved Kaiser and stood by him.

So shouldn’t he trust the professor and do the same in return?

Wouldn’t that be “righteousness”…?

Soon enough, the curse was complete. The blood had turned to mist before inscribing and stringing fresh words across the human skin parchment.

They were the names and descriptions of the Black Dragon Division’s upcoming targets.

“Hm. To be honest, I would like a bit of a break. What do you think, Your Highness?” Kendrake asked, sounding tired for once.

The others looked surprised but nodded in agreement. Even Princess Rebecca, the de facto master of the Black Dragon Division, gave her approval.

“Very well. Let’s take a short break...”

But suddenly, Kaiser’s eyes narrowed.

The compass in his heart shifted, pointing toward the skin parchment.

He leaned in and stared at one of the names, written in blood taken from a member of the Black Path.

“What is it?” someone asked.

Everyone turned toward Kaiser, tension rising.

There was a sentence clearly written there:

‘A professor of the Black Path is planning to kill Dante.’

The parchment even included the exact name.

Kaiser snatched it up, shielding the parchment from the others’ eyes.

There was no way Professor Dante would die. But even the idea of someone pointing a blade at him lit a fire inside Kaiser’s chest.

His emotions surged, as though someone had pulled a trigger in his heart.

After the ritual ended and everyone headed to their bedrooms, Kaiser made his way to a certain cadet’s room.

Knock, knock.

Kaiser understood his role. He was the division’s “leader,” but he didn’t have the authority to give actual orders. Only Rebecca, their boss, could truly command the others.

Most members of the Black Dragon Division were fiercely independent.

When commanded by Kaiser, they would always demand a justification.

“Why does this target need to die, if our ultimate goal is the emperor’s assassination?”

However, one cadet stood out as different.

When given a mission, she would move without question.

When told to kill, she would kill without hesitation.

Which was why breaking her trust, even once, would be incredibly dangerous.

She was never to be treated lightly.

But tonight, she was the only one Kaiser could ask for help.

“Yes~?”

The door opened, and a cheerful girl bounced out.

She had her usual light pink hair and eyes, wearing her typical innocent smile.

“What’s up, Leader?” Elize Csikos asked with a grin.

Kaiser tensed slightly.

He had never deployed a Black Dragon cadet for personal reasons before.

I heard she’s been getting along well with Professor Dante lately...

It was a convenient coincidence.

Now, Kaiser wanted to find out what “righteousness” really meant—through her.

“Sorry to bother you while you’re resting, Elize.”

“Mhm~”

“Could you go kill someone for me?”

“Is it a mission?”

Kaiser’s shoulders stiffened.

The moment he confirmed it was a mission, she would move without hesitation.

“…Yeah. It’s a mission.”

“Okay!” she replied brightly, wagging her metaphorical tail like a puppy about to go on a walk. “Who should I kill?”

“Professor Hakon of the Black Path.”

“Who’s that?”

Instead of answering, Kaiser held out the parchment. Elize leaned forward and sniffed the blood to identify the scent.

“Got it,” she said.

As she skipped away, already carrying an unseen blade, Kaiser called after her.

“One more thing. Bring the body to the dormitory backyard.”

“Sure thing~”

Despite wearing her pajamas, Elize stepped outside with light, carefree steps. 

As soon as the front door opened, her body melted into the shadows. And by the time the door shut, she was gone.

It was a bright, moonlit night.

The Earth’s ring cast its glow alongside the moon, painting the sky in breathtaking splendor.

Elize slipped into a certain bedroom.

Her footsteps made no sound. Her breath was silent. And there wasn’t a shred of hesitation in her movement.

“Why… is the Black Dragon Division trying to kill me…?”

Only after the blade had buried itself in his heart did the man understand his peril—and speak his final words.

“Hm. Good question…”

Elize melted back into the shadows.

“Because it’s a mission.”

An assassination born of unconditional trust.

⋮

Elize returned ten minutes later. As expected, the match-up had been entirely one-sided.

Assassins specializing in Curse Arts were vulnerable to combatants like Elize—those who crushed everything with brute strength.

“Mung, spit.”

A translucent hound, about five meters tall, opened its jaws and spat out its cargo:

Hakon’s corpse.

Kaiser had remained seated the whole time, patiently waiting with his cane in hand.

He had asked for the body to be retrieved for confirmation. And now, with the corpse in front of him…

He felt no discomfort.

Instead, something else welled up inside him.

The sense of having protected someone precious.

The thrill of having killed someone deserving of death.

There had once been a stray dog that lurked along the path where the elder of his household frequently passed. The mutt never hesitated to bare its fangs at passersby.

The catharsis Kaiser had felt when beating it to death with a club—that same sensation washed over him now.

He was certain of it.

“Haha…”

Assassinations for the professor’s sake… were righteous.

Righteousness – END

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