WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Surviving the Assassin Academy as a Professor

Translator: Touch

Editor: Grass

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 39: Elephant

This is the story of two encounters between Dante and Eve.

The first took place the night before Professor Dante killed Toxin.

That night marked his 25th meeting with Eve.

Lately, the ghouls haven’t been showing up around the Bugged Space. Perhaps their gathering spot had changed? Regardless, it was convenient, as it made it easier to reach the cemetery to find Eve.

Adele, who knew why Dante kept going up the mountain and had heard of Eve, asked him out of curiosity, “How has it been lately? Are you getting closer with the witch?”

“Not really. Things aren’t going well,” Dante replied.

Their relationship had been progressing rather slowly these days.

They would greet each other with a wave. She would receive bells from him. Finally, they would wave each other goodbye when they parted.

That was all.

She had once given him an apple as a gift, but that was the extent of it.

“Can I accompany you tonight?” Adele asked.

Since she had been driving Dante to the mountain every night, her curiosity had grown over time.

“Sure. But be careful, she’s a little wary and might be aggressive.”

“Got it~”

And so, Dante brought Adele with him as he climbed the mountain.

That was the night Adele saw Eve for the first time.

Just as Dante had expected, Eve was immediately on guard as soon as she saw them, wary of the new face. But as they stood at a distance, she gradually calmed down and relaxed.

She then allowed Dante to approach her as usual. Eve resembled a wild animal, able to distinguish between people and treat them differently.

Adele sat down about 20 meters away and simply watched them in a daze.

Eve slightly lifted the ragged hood covering her head, and an involuntary breath of awe slipped from Adele’s lips.

Wow… What on earth…?

Beneath the hood that resembled a ghillie suit was a girl with sky-blue bangs and vivid blue eyes, supposedly in her early twenties.

She was a beauty that didn’t seem real. In fact, Adele thought Eve transcended beauty itself and wasn’t even the same species as the rest of humanity.

It reminded Adele of the sensation she had once felt upon seeing a newborn baby for the first time—it was human, and yet somehow beyond human… something almost sacred.

I think I get it a little now.

Some questions lingering in her mind were finally answered.

She now understood why Professor Dante, who usually remained stone-cold around women, kept returning here.

Just as Adele felt like a mortal who had received a divine revelation, he, too, must have been mesmerized.

She also understood why so many cadets had gotten injured at Mount Stargaze in the past.

Watching the witch from a distance was already captivating. Adele was certain the cadets must have tried to approach her, only to be crushed underfoot.

Adele continued watching as Dante and Eve shared a brief exchange.

Their exchange was simple:

Eve shook a pinecone. Dante gave her a bell. He then pointed to the stars in the sky and tried to explain something.

Eve tilted her head.

That must’ve been her way of showing she didn’t understand what he was saying.

Yet, as far as Adele could see, Eve’s gaze never left Dante’s hands and lips while she tilted her head.

The witch was watching intently with those stunning blue eyes, as though she were desperate to understand what his gestures meant.

A while later, Adele gestured to Dante to approach her. Once he got up and left Eve’s side, she made a comment.

“Isn’t your relationship further along than you say?”

“What?” Dante asked, confused.

“You said you weren’t close, so I expected little to no interaction. But from what I can see, you two look pretty familiar.”

“…Do we?”

That was when Adele made a realization.

Dante was actually quite dense when it came to human relationships.

There was nothing but assassination and lectures in this dummy’s brain.

Clearly, someone had to teach him a thing or two.

“I have a theory. That girl… What’s her name again?” Adele asked.

“Eve.”

“Right, Eve. To me, she feels like… an elephant.”

“…An elephant?” Dante repeated, dumbfounded.

Adele gestured toward Eve. “A huge, neutral creature that can’t communicate with us at all.”

“Why an elephant of all things?”

“She’s just so different from us. We can’t read her behavior or understand her intentions. Like… you know how humans love cats since they’re so small and cute? Apparently, elephants feel that way regarding humans, too. And since she has the upper hand in this relationship, that makes her the elephant.”

Adele then explained her “Elephant-Human-Cat” analogy. To put it in simple terms, this was her comparison:

Elephant (Eve) – Human (Dante).

Or 

Human (Eve) – Cat (Dante).

When Eve waved her hand as Dante approached earlier, it was like a human petting a cat that was brushing up against her leg.

When she offered the pinecone in exchange for a bell, it was like she was holding out an arm so the cat could knead on it.

Dante’s expression went blank as his eyes lost focus.

…An elephant?

“Look at her now. See how slowly she tilts her head? That’s like a human wondering why the cat is standing so far away,” Adele said, gesturing to Eve.

“Look again! Now she’s looking back and forth between the bell and you. That’s like a human thinking, ‘Should I return what that cat just gave me?’ And when she lifted her hood earlier, that was like someone putting on their glasses to see the cat better.”

Dante, who had been staring blankly into emptiness while drawing mental doodles of elephants, humans, and cats in his head, finally spoke.

“I’ve never thought of it that way. But what made you interpret it like that?”

“Just my gut feeling? You’ll get it immediately if you compare yourself to a stray cat. But honestly, Professor, you’re really slow-witted when it comes to stuff like this.”

“…I see,” Dante said, still confused and not fully convinced.

Eventually, it was time to leave.

“I think that if you want to get even closer to her, you’ll need to communicate with her.”

“By ‘communicate,’ you mean…?”

“Right now, the cat named ‘Dante’ ran into a human on the street and has been coming back to hang out with the human every so often.” Adele returned to her analogies.

“So, should the cat choose to follow the human home?” Dante asked.

“Not quite. It’s actually the human who chooses to bring the cat home in reality, right? That’s why from now on, the cat needs to let the human pet and feed him. And maybe… just maybe, Eve will end up choosing you in the future, Professor.”

He more or less understood what she meant now.

“…Truly a strange relationship,” he commented.

As Dante descended the mountain, he occasionally looked back at the “elephant.”

Eve watched as he walked away with her stunning blue eyes.

That was where their meeting concluded for the day.

On the way home, Dante muttered absently to himself in the car.

“So she’s the elephant because she holds the initiative…”

Suddenly, Adele’s gaze went blank and unfocused for a split second. But Dante didn’t notice and continued muttering to himself.

“…Which means, all I can do is wait. I’m not cute like a cat, and can’t act all affectionate like one either.”

“Pardon?” Adele asked.

“Hm?”

“What are you talking about?”

“The elephant,” Dante replied.

Adele blinked. “Elephant? What elephant? And what do you mean by acting affectionate like a cat?”

He stared at her. Her expression was earnest—no malice, no jest.

It was only then that Dante came to a realization.

So that’s how it is…

This was how the 『Curse of Oblivion』 functioned.

* * *

A few days after killing Toxin, a few unusual changes occurred in my life.

Firstly, Gray stopped auditing my classes.

She suddenly stopped attending. I wonder why.

Perhaps it was due to her fickle nature.

But good riddance.

Her presence had kept me constantly on edge, since I never knew when she might try to kill me in the middle of a lecture.

I would eventually have to rein in that capricious cat, but there was no rush.

The second change that occurred was a random reward that suddenly appeared one day.

┃ Main Quest [First Result]

┃ Reward: Star Shard ×20

I stared at the notification, baffled by the whopping twenty Star Shards.

What kind of result is this supposed to reward me for?

It was obviously nice to get something for free, but I couldn’t understand why.

Twenty Star Shards was an enormous amount.

< Star Shards in Possession: 114.5 >

If it was meant to acknowledge a cadet’s progress, then it didn’t add up—I hadn’t even started mentoring anyone properly. None of them had shown any significant growth yet.

…Is this a bug?

Given the Bugged Space on Mount Stargaze, it wouldn’t be surprising if this is another glitch.

I chose to view it as a lucky break. I had no reason to complain as long as the system didn’t revoke the reward.

Still, there was something more pressing on my mind.

It was time to see Eve again.

Tonight would mark my 27th meeting with her.

Summer had passed, and autumn had taken its place.

The wind today was sharp and biting.

The chill had reddened Eve’s cheeks.

“I sent a letter a few days ago,” I said. “To the Baron House of Lemontree, since they share your family name. I received a reply this morning.”

Needless to say, Eve tilted her head in confusion.

“Would you like to see it?”

I pulled out the letter to show her, wondering if she would recognize any words or letters.

But, unsurprisingly, she didn’t seem to know how to read.

“The contents are quite odd. They were clearly suspicious and asked who I was. They said the barony had already fallen, and that I should get lost if I was after their money.”

Once again, Eve tilted her head.

“I didn’t mention you in the letter. But I plan to try again. I want to figure out who you are and why you’re here.”

Still, there was no response beyond her usual head tilt.

Mildly frustrated, I reached forward and gently pinched her cheeks. Her skin was cold beneath my fingers, stretching slightly as I tugged.

To my surprise, she didn’t flinch or pull away. She simply looked at me, quiet and still.

After a moment, I let go and spoke again.

“…Also, I might not be able to come here for a few days. A major crisis is about to hit the academy. It probably won’t affect you, but I’ll be extremely busy. If things go badly, I might get injured... or be unable to visit for a while.”

But as I explained the situation, something incredibly strange happened.

Eve didn’t tilt her head.

Her reaction was different than usual.

Instead, her already-downturned eyes drooped a little further.

She couldn’t have understood the details, but perhaps she sensed that something about my words and tone was different—more serious and negative than usual.

Maybe it was because I had spoken more than I typically did.

Maybe she’d simply picked up on the tone.

I looked up toward the sky.

“…The moon is bright tonight, huh?”

Eve followed my gaze.

But in truth, it wasn’t the moon.

It was the 「Transcendent Star✯」, the largest of the 33 stars decorating the night sky. It was also referred to as the king of the stars.

In ancient times, people mistakenly thought it was something different and named it “the moon," a term that simply stuck.

As I sat on the burial mound, knees bent and arms resting across them, I found myself drifting into thought.

That’s when I felt a light weight settle onto my forearm.

Startled, I looked down.

…Huh?

Just the other day, Adele explained that Eve was like an elephant encountering me, a lowly human.

At first, I thought it was absurd, but the image had stuck in my mind. 

Eve (elephant) – Me (human).

Or Eve (human) – Me (cat).

Sure enough, the power dynamic had always been tilted in her favor as Adele had described.

I hadn’t seen her fight, but her potential score of 3.0 spoke for itself.

If she ever chose to reject me, there would be nothing I could do.

In a sense, it was exactly like the relationship between a human and a cat, or an elephant and a human.

So what was she thinking now?

What was this elephant thinking… as she leaned her head against my arm?

A moment passed in silence.

Slowly, I reached out with my free hand.

I tried to gently place it atop her head, over the ragged hood, to adjust the angle so she could lean more comfortably.

But something stopped me.

It was Eve’s own hand.

At first, I thought she was refusing my touch. 

But that wasn’t it.

She took my hand... and brought it to her cheek.

As winter approached and the air grew chilly, Eve’s cheek had become cold.

And perhaps she liked the warmth of my hand.

She rubbed her cheek gently against my palm, as if trying to evenly absorb the heat. 

It was such an unfamiliar sensation.

The solid bone beneath her skin, the brush of her nose against my thumb, the occasional press of her lips against my hand…

All of it was unfamiliar... and yet, somehow, fascinating.

From the days when I could only watch her from afar to breaking the scope, ringing bells, receiving the apple, learning to wave, sitting together on the burial mound, and gazing at the stars…

After 27 long nights spent hanging out together, we had grown quite close.

Eve quietly watched the “human.”

He walked away, returning to where he had come from, until he finally vanished from sight.

She didn’t speak.

She simply watched. 

Elephant - END

Join our Discord for the official illustrations and updates on releases! https://dsc.gg/wetried