WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Surviving the Assassin Academy as a Professor

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 25: Popular Professor (1)

According to the【textbox】, Professor Hakon was planning to assassinate me sometime soon.

If he really came to eliminate me, I would have no choice but to fight back.

And I would make sure that very day became his death anniversary.

But despite my confidence, I couldn’t feel at ease. Now that I had become an assassination target, I needed to speed things up and bring the Witch of the Cemetery to my side as soon as possible.

So, I went to the cemetery on Mount Stargaze, as I did every evening.

“…Well, I’ll be heading off now.”

After spending some time talking to the girl who never responded, I was about to leave with no results, as usual.

But to my surprise, there was a change in Eve’s attitude today.

Clang—

Just as I stood up to head back down the mountain, Eve suddenly turned her head toward me, clearly showing some interest.

What had caught her attention?

My first guess was the sound of my rifle 「Liberator ⁺₊⋆」, clanking against the metal of the holster on my back.

Was that it? Was she really reacting to that sound?

“I thought you were deaf, though.”

She tilted her head but showed no other reaction. It was the usual.

『 World Forgery: Form Forgery [Bell] 』

Just to confirm, I recreated an illusory bell I had previously made when testing out my new ability.

Jingle!

She turned her head toward the sound. 

Now, Eve was showing more interest.

Over the past two weeks, I had made all sorts of sounds to test her hearing, but this was the first one to which she properly reacted.

Jingle! Jingle!

There was a subtle hint of enjoyment in her demeanor. 

It seemed that the only sound she could hear was the ringing of metal.

“Do you want it?” I asked.

To my surprise, Eve slowly started approaching me, pulling her hood back to get a better look at the item in my hand.

I felt slightly moved by her actions. My perseverance was finally paying off.

She carefully descended from the burial mound and quietly reached out, trying to grasp the bell.

But I pulled it back, just out of her reach.

“Don’t twist it.”

She looked at me with a puzzled expression. 

“I said, don’t twist it. Like this. Don’t do it. Do you even realize I had to pay for the scope you broke last time? And it just so happened to be an expensive one.”

I made a twisting gesture, mimicking the way she’d dismantled the scope. But Eve only tilted her head again.

Well, the bell was just an illusion, so it wouldn’t actually matter even if she broke it.

I slowly handed it over.

Eve silently observed the bell in her hand, holding it from the main metal body.

Thunk, thunk—

Despite shaking it, the sound was dull and muffled.

“You have to hold it from the tip,” I explained.

Eve just quietly stared at me, not understanding my words. So I took the bell back and demonstrated it to her.

Thankfully, Eve possessed some smarts in that empty head of hers. She quickly understood how to properly shake the bell.

Jingle…

Finally, it made the correct sound.

Eve kept ringing the bell, watching curiously. 

Jingle… Jingle…

Her movements were very careful, unlike the time she kept twisting the scope until it broke, then kept twisting it anyway.

Soon enough, I decided to leave her and make my way down the mountain.

But for the first time ever, as we were parting ways…

She lifted a hand and waved, copying my gesture to say goodbye.

Though the motion itself was awkward, it was the first time she acknowledged me as a person and interacted with me like one.

Perhaps it was because we had bonded over the bell?

Regardless, it was a giant leap forward in our dynamic.

“Take care.”

Eve simply stared. Needless to say, she didn’t say anything in return.

It was a giant leap forward, but the journey had only just begun. We still had a long way to go.

The Nightwalker Building was the branch office for the White Path in Hiaka Academy’s Assassination Department.

It was generally a quiet place. But today, it was in an uproar, like fireworks going off as people cheered.

“Hakon is dead? That wraith of the Black Path from the Second Great Assassination War?”

“That’s what I’m saying! He’s dead!”

“I can’t believe it. You’re saying he really kicked the bucket…?”

Smug grins spread across the professors’ faces.

The professors of the White Path remembered Hakon—they recalled the man’s face as he mercilessly killed their comrades during the assassination war a decade ago.

He had expertly and freely wielded twelve types of curses, wiping out entire squads of assassins in a single strike, making the members vomit blood and drop dead.

Though the White Path members pretended it was all in the past and acted indifferent toward Hakon at the academy, they had always prayed for his death deep down. They were constantly on the verge of assassinating him themselves.

“That’s incredible news! Hahaha! Serves him right!”

Chief Professor Baekwa, the branch director of the White Path at the academy, let out a hearty laugh.

“But even if he’d been away from the battlefield for a while, this is still Hakon the ‘Curseblade’ we’re talking about. Who killed him?”

“It was Professor Dante, Sir.”

“Dante? Who’s that?”

“He’s a new professor in Assassination Studies.”

“Didn’t you say he was going to get killed by Hakon?”

“Well, it seems he turned the tables and assassinated Hakon instead.”

“Hah!”

“What’s even more surprising is that Professor Dante showed up to work today without a single scratch on him.”

“Is that so? Wow, that guy’s something else…!”

Chief Professor Baekwa stroked his pure white beard and chuckled.

How interesting!

“We will need to change our evaluation of him, sir.”

“What evaluation?”

“Don’t you remember? Rumors said he was powerful when he stopped the fight between Marina and Elize. Some even claimed he used time magic to halt Joaquin’s proxy assassination attempt. But didn’t you say that was nonsense?”

“Oh, I did. Time magic, hah! What a load of crap.”

“But if he assassinated Professor Hakon with such ease... maybe there’s some truth to it?”

“…Hmm.” Baekwa’s expression grew more serious as he thoughtfully stroked his beard. 

“No. Time magic still doesn’t make sense. Kids spook themselves and hallucinate all the time. You know that just as well as I do.”

Still, regardless of these supposed ‘time magic’ shenanigans…

“This Dante guy. How strong is he exactly?”

“We don’t really know either, sir.”

Their interest deepened.

A professor with no past records.

They said the board chairman had brought him in.

That freak of a chairman, appointed by the royal palace, enjoyed acting mysterious and never communicated with the department. He constantly dragged in odd assassins from who knows where, making investigations a nightmare.

The White Path had tried to dig up information on Dante’s background, but nothing came up.

Birthplace: unknown.

Family: unknown.

Combatant Rating: unknown.

The only thing they knew for sure was that he had assassinated Professor Hakon, the Wraith of War, and had done so without sustaining a single scratch.

If Professor Dante truly was as powerful as the rumors claimed, then the White Path’s next steps were obvious.

“Shall we recruit Professor Dante to the White Path?” one professor asked.

The branch director of the White Path scowled.

“What kind of dumb question is that?”

“Pardon? Oh, should we not bring him in?”

“Of course we’re bringing him in! The real question is, what should we offer him, you dunce!”

If Dante really was that strong, recruiting him was a necessity.

* * *

“So, Hakon is dead.”

Inside the Black Path’s branch office at the academy, the professors sat in silence, incense burning faintly in the dim room.

“A worthless death. To think he barely survived the Assassination War just to die like this.”

“Watch your mouth, Professor Viper.”

“Watch my—I told that idiot three times not to mess with a professor whose capabilities were unknown. Why’d he even get involved in the first place? The higher-ups told us to stay away, didn’t they?”

“Professor Hakon was trying to recruit that Dante guy into the Black Path. But Dante supposedly responded rudely.”

“And you think that justifies it? Hakon wasn’t some cadet. He was a professor. He shouldn’t have let his emotions get the better of him. Tsk... I bet those bastards from the White Path are celebrating right now.”

Professor Viper, who resembled a snake in both attitude and demeanor, couldn’t hide his irritation.

“Haaa… First, the Marina incident, now this. What the hell is going on? If you ask me, Hakon probably lost his cool after the Joaquin incident.”

“What do you mean?”

Joaquin used to be one of his students, so I bet he got sentimental. He should’ve disciplined the brat for screwing up, but instead he pampered the boy. And look where that got him… He died a dog’s death.”

Just then, a voice echoed through the room. 

“Quiet down. Show some respect for the dead.”

The door opened, and a man stepped in. Viper immediately bowed his head.

“…Greetings, Director.”

It was the branch director of the Black Path: Chief Professor Betelgeuse.

Massive in build and exuding a decadent aura, Betelgeuse leaned back into the sofa with a graceful air. A professor approached and lit a cigarette for him.

“Everyone here is upset, Professor Viper. Is there really a need to raise your voice like that?”

“My apologies. I was out of line.”

Betelgeuse exhaled a long plume of smoke, his expression unreadable.

Hakon had been a useful professor, both in terms of power and influence.

A true Wraith of War.

He’d been difficult to control—too volatile for delicate operations—but still, an exceptional and valuable asset.

And now, he was dead.

“Where’s his body?” Betelgeuse asked.

“We haven’t found it, sir.”

“So we don’t know how he was killed either?”

“Correct, sir.”

“Are we even sure it was that professor who did it?”

“It seems most likely. The only one Hakon clashed with recently was Professor Dante.”

“So no concrete evidence... What had Hakon prepared?”

“He’d set traps, used drugs, and brought all his cursed weapons.”

“The same gear he used during the war?”

“Yes.”

That meant Hakon was fully geared up and determined to kill his opponent.

Yet, even with everything at his disposal, he was defeated. Achieving that was an incredible feat.

More smoke coiled through the air in the room. 

“This makes avenging him... tricky.”

The first rule of the Assassin Department was:

‘Members of the Assassin Department may kill each other. It is tolerated as long as they don’t get caught.’

It was a rule that emphasized stealth over the act of killing itself. 

Whoever had carried out this assassination had adhered to that principle perfectly. 

Which made revenge difficult to justify. There was no valid reason to act. 

“Screw the justification,” one professor muttered. “Just give us the word, sir, and I’ll rip his spine out while he’s relieving himself in the bathroom. I’ll tear out each vertebra and boil it into bone broth.”

But Betelgeuse didn’t respond. He simply exhaled more smoke, unfazed.

Since the end of the Second Great Assassination War, the Black and White Path factions had maintained a careful, almost peaceful coexistence.

After all, during a time of international tension, what was the point of internal strife among members of the same country?

However, recently, things have begun to change.

The mysterious assassinations of professors were on the rise.

The neutral faction had been acting suspiciously, but they weren’t powerful enough to be considered real players on this game board.

The White Path, which controlled the Disciplinary Enforcers, claimed it was the work of the Black Dragon Division.

But could mere cadets really pull off assassinations of such caliber? Not a chance.

And now, out of nowhere, a neutral professor had taken out one of the Black Path’s strongest…

This could mark the beginning of an era of chaos.

Or so Betelgeuse’s intuition warned.

So what choice did they have?

“If Dante killed Hakon independently, and we find no evidence of his involvement,” Betelgeuse said, “we have no grounds for vengeance.”

In fact, Dante would have to be praised. His skills as a fellow professor were to be commended.

“However,” he continued, his tone sharpening, “if it turns out that Dante is merely pretending to be neutral, and is secretly a member of the White Path… That’s a whole other story.”

Fwoo—

Smoke swirled in the dim room as Betelgeuse exhaled softly.

“We’ve had peace for too long, haven’t we...?”

If Dante was truly part of the White Path…

Then the Black Path would have to respond in kind.

“Professor… Last night, did you…”

Having returned from Mount Stargaze, Adele stood at the entrance of my residence, her expression wary as she randomly asked her question.

“Did you meet up with Professor Hakon?”

What is she talking about?

I had been patiently waiting for Hakon to show up to kill me, but he never did. So how could I have met him?

I stayed quiet, unsure how to respond.

But then, Adele wrapped her arms around herself as goosebumps scattered across her skin.

“So the rumors must be true…”

“...What rumors?”

“What else? The ones about you assassinating Professor Hakon…!”

…Huh?

That was a shocking revelation.

I had assassinated Hakon?

Wait, more importantly, Hakon is dead? When did that happen?

“The whole department is talking about it!” Adele cried. “When did you even sneak out to do it? My goodness…!”

I immediately activated my crystal ball watch and checked the community board, [Assassin Town], and sure enough, Adele was telling the truth.

Posts were blowing up, stating that Hakon had been assassinated last night.

And not only that, his body had never been found. Officially, he was marked as missing.

“Professor, it's Kang Kang.”

About thirty minutes later, an officer of the Disciplinary Enforcers showed up at my doorstep.

It was the pretty-boy enforcer named Kang Kang, the same one I’d met before, back when I was warned for skipping my first class and told to pay a fee.

He gave me a courteous smile. “I must ask you to accompany me to the Disciplinary Office.”

“…I didn’t do anything.”

“Yes. We are aware.”

Kang Kang gave me a wink with a bright smile.

“The Enforcers and the Black Path looked everywhere, but couldn’t find a single shred of evidence. You’re incredible, Professor…!”

No, seriously. I didn’t do it.

“Such flawless execution,” he said, looking starstruck. “Truly impressive.”

It was clear Kang Kang was a full-on fanboy.

Meanwhile, I was freaking out inside.

Sure, I was planning to kill Hakon if he ambushed me…

But I genuinely wasn’t behind his death.

“Still,” Kang Kang said, “I must ask you to come with me to the Disciplinary Office. It’s standard procedure.”

I sighed and relented, stepping outside to follow him.

It seemed Adele was right. The whole department had heard the rumors.

Even though it was late at night, I still came across some cadets in the streets.

And every time someone spotted me, their expression shifted, from surprise to fear, and sometimes even awe.

【 Assassin Department, First-Year, Kil: It’s Professor Dante Hiakapo…! 】

【 Assassin Department, First-Year, Fehilia: He assassinated Professor Hakon, the Wraith of War, without leaving a single trace… 】

【 Assassin Department, First-Year, Oren: Just how strong is he? What was his life like before joining the academy? 】

It wasn’t just the students on the street. 

As I continued to go back and forth between my home and the Disciplinary Office the next day, I realized that the entire department was in a state of frenzy.

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