WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Surviving the Assassin Academy as a Professor

Translator: Touch

Editor: Grass

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Chapter 48: [Main Story] No.1: Treason and Collapse (5)

Not everyone held goodwill toward me.

Before long, one of the neutral professors raised his hand and spoke up.

“May I offer my opinion?”

“Yes, Professor Badrock... Please speak…” Chief Angela said in her raspy voice.

“Thank you.”

It was Badrock, the senior neutral professor—a man whose demeanor matched his name, like a stone-cold rock.

He was one of the neutral faculty members who regularly badmouthed me.

“I’m sure all the professors gathered here acknowledge Professor Dante’s contributions to the recent crisis.”

To my surprise, he started off praising me, without a hint of sarcasm, before continuing.

“He also played a key role in the operation against the monster in the sky... and in eliminating the intruders of Zone 0. Even I, who’ve never had a good relationship with Professor Dante, must acknowledge this.”

“…And so?” Chief Angela prompted him to continue.

“However, I would like to ask Professor Dante something.” He paused, turning to look me in the eye. “Was your request made purely for the purpose of subjugating the monster?”

Everyone’s eyes turned to me.

Was my request for the 「Sword of the Colossus○」 truly made for the sake of defeating Jinxsite?

Of course not.

Allow me to clarify something here.

I often belittled assassins as crude, money-grubbing scoundrels, but I wasn’t all that different.

I was also a lost cause. I had no intention of fighting for ideals if there was no money involved. I had no desire to sacrifice myself for the sake of good or justice.

I was a man who truly belonged in the role of an assassin.

Still, rather than answer his question, I waited for him to continue.

“…To be honest, I have my doubts about Professor Dante,” Badrock said, turning back to address the room.

“Doubts… about what, exactly?” Chief Angela asked.

“If he truly is far stronger and more capable than we thought—overwhelmingly so—then it is possible that Professor Dante is using this situation for his own gain.”

The other professors began to murmur among themselves.

“What are you implying, Senior Professor Badrock?” I asked.

“Professor Dante. Allow me to be direct. Did you, by any chance, assassinate a neutral professor?”

“Pardon?”

“I mean it exactly as I say. Did you not assassinate a neutral professor?”

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about. This is starting to get offensive.”

“I apologize. But I must ask clearly. During the chaos of war, amidst all the confusion, did you kill some of the neutral professors who used to consistently criticize you? Please answer the question.”

“I did not.”

“Yes... I expected that answer... And considering how competent you are, I wouldn’t expect your assassinations to leave any traces incriminating you.”

Dante was caught off guard. This was completely unexpected.

But Professor Badrock’s expression was deadly serious. He wasn’t joking around.

“Professor Gula is dead. As are Professors Olivia and Mark... All of whom had poor relations with you. They were found dead in places unrelated to the Kreutz ambush.”

“Weren’t there also rumors that Professor Dante had killed Professor Hakon not long ago?” someone chimed in.

Is that true? Neutral professors were found dead out of nowhere?

Badrock looked at me with an ashen, deathly face.

“…Do you have nothing to say about these incidents, Professor Dante?”

His question was highly political and incredibly difficult to respond to.

Most of the professors in this room probably knew that I had long been courted and favored by the Black and White Paths, and that I’d frequently clashed with the neutral faction.

But my answer was already clear.

“I—”

“May I say something?”

An unexpected voice interrupted me.

All eyes turned to someone else.

“Professor Dante is not the kind of man who would do that.”

The one who spoke was a neutral professor, his torso heavily bandaged...

To my incredulous surprise, it was Senior Professor Collider.

“C-Collider...?” I muttered.

Badrock’s face stiffened, and so did many other professors. I, too, was taken aback.

Collider was, without a doubt, the one in the neutral faction who hated me the most.

“Senior Professor Collider...? What are you saying...?” Badrock asked.

“I felt it when we fought that monster, Jinxsite, together,” Collider said. “He isn’t a kind or caring man, I’ll grant you that. But he is not a piece of trash who would take advantage of the wartime chaos to murder a fellow professor.”

Come to think of it...

Right before Collider was stabbed by Toy during the operation, I was the first and only person to try to warn him of the imminent danger.

“…Are you sure you’re not mistaken, Collider? Maybe he was all confused in the heat of the moment...!” Badrock said, trying to appeal to his fellow colleague.

"People’s true natures are revealed in desperate moments. Tsk! Never thought I’d live to defend him of all people… but anyway, that is my opinion."

"This is absurd, Professor Collider. That man is—!"

Badrock began to lose his temper, his voice rising with emotion, when...

Thump!

The sound of a wooden plank striking stone echoed through the hall. 

It was Professor Angela, slamming the table with her half-petrified arm.

“That will be enough,” she said firmly. “Professor Badrock’s suspicions lack any basis or evidence to begin with. There is no reason to drag this out and put our treasured professor in further discomfort.”

“…My apologies, Chief Professor Angela.”

“It’s fine... And just now, we’ve received approval from the Dean, Professor Dante.”

“That means…”

“Yes. You’ve been granted permission to borrow it.”

Ah, very nice!

I could now acquire the national treasure.

"Then, that concludes this meeting… Professor Dante, please come with me."

* * *

There wasn't much time left.

I immediately followed Chief Angela and several elder professors toward Zone 0’s treasury.

There, I obtained the 「Sword of the Colossus○」, the kingdom’s National Treasure No. 17.

“Do you know how to use it?”

“I’ve never had the chance to use it before, but I roughly know how it works,” I replied.

“Then… we shall entrust it to you.”

After a few formal procedures, an ordinary-looking sword was placed in my hand.

Nice.

With this, I had officially been granted permission to borrow the 「Sword of the Colossus○」.

I was thrilled to have acquired such a formidable weapon.

Jinxsite would soon disappear anyway, so the sword wasn’t something I needed urgently. But it was still good to have ahead of time.

For now, I chose to focus on the more pressing mystery at hand.

Multiple neutral professors were assassinated?

That was not something that should have happened.

In Professor Gula’s case, he was on the path taken by the Kreutz assassination squad, so it made sense that he had been killed. However, the other professors Badrock mentioned had all been in safe locations, at least as far as I remember.

They all had something in common: they were neutral senior professors, killed while they were alone, and their deaths had occurred within the past few hours.

After the meeting, I decided to check on the current state of the neutral professors. To better understand what had happened, I spoke with several of them—including Badrock, who was surprisingly willing to share the details with me.

Most of the surviving neutral senior professors were now gathered in one location, likely due to the strange assassinations taking place. 

Everyone except for one person.

The very same person who had just defended me—Collider.

He, who had been stabbed in the chest, was now back in his private room at the campus hospital, resting alone.

I decided to pay him a visit, pretending it was out of courtesy.

“Huh? Professor Dante?” Collider grimaced as soon as he saw me. Clearly, defending me didn’t mean he liked me now.

“What are you doing here? Aren’t you busy? If you’re here to say thanks or something, forget it and get lost…”

“That’s not it. I am grateful for your help,” I said, “but I’m here for something else.”

I cast an Illusion and concealed myself behind a wall.

“The hell…? What are you doing? Showing off your illusions to me?” he scoffed.

Oh, right. Collider is a professor in Illusion Arts Studies.

But I didn’t care to explain myself.

“I’ll stay here for a while. Just for a few hours.”

“What kind of nonsense is this? Don’t tell me… Are you really the one who’s been killing the neutral professors? Are you lying in wait to kill me, too?”

“That’s not it. If you’re suspicious of me, go ahead and tell your colleagues that I’m here—in the neutral-only group chat you guys made without me.”

“So you’re aware that you’ve made enemies with some people… Serves you right. This is why you should behave when…”

As Collider rambled on, I stood by the wall, absently reading the textbox that displayed the thoughts of nearby people. 

Finally, after a couple of hours, I stepped out of my hiding spot.

“You lowlife…! Is this when you finally show your true col—?!”

“Shush,” I muttered, placing a hand over his mouth to silence his nonsense. 

Then, I exited the room and opened the door to the emergency staircase in the hallway. I stood in the doorway, waiting.

Waiting for two girls to show up.

I had finally found them—the ones responsible for the deaths of the neutral professors.

“…”

At the bottom of the stairs that led to the floor below, Rebecca stopped in her tracks the moment our eyes met. Elize, who was following closely behind, bumped into her.

“Oof…” Elize groaned and staggered before looking up.

“Hm?” she mumbled, then smiled brightly and waved once she noticed me in the doorway.

But I couldn’t return the smile.

“I’m sure you didn’t come all the way here just to pray, Miss Saintess of the Palace.”

Rebecca didn’t answer. This was the second time I had met Rebecca face to face. Just like the first time, she looked up at me with a completely emotionless gaze.

Sensing the tension in the air, Elize glanced nervously between Rebecca and me.

“Would you please step aside, Professor?” Rebecca asked coolly.

Her decadent crimson eyes were those of a ruthless tyrant. And once again, her thoughts did not appear in the textbox.

“I demand an explanation on what you’ve been doing and what you plan on doing,” I said.

With just those words, Rebecca seemed to realize her crimes had been discovered.

“I am going to kill Senior Professor Collider,” she said plainly.

“I forbid it.”

She didn’t reply.

“Are you not even going to come up with excuses?”

“I will not. Because I was the one to kill them. Just as I thought… You really do have sharp eyes, Professor.”

“I don’t understand,” I said. “Those professors were cast aside by their treasonous peers. They’re merely fish out of water now, not belonging to any proper faction. So why would you kill these neutral professors?”

“To be thorough. They might become the seeds of future treason. It is best to nip them in the bud right now.”

She voiced her violent and dangerous intentions without the slightest hesitation.

“Not all neutral professors are seeds of treason.”

“But all the traitors came from the neutral faction.”

“There are always exceptions.”

“Not in Zone 0.”

“What gives you the right?”

“This is the Royal Academy. And I am the princess. Is that not enough?”

“That is nowhere near enough.”

Rebecca fell silent.

As the tense standoff continued, she took a deep breath and slowly exhaled—a sigh from deep within her abdomen.

At this point, I had to make a decision. How would I build my relationship with her? She was someone I would often see in the future, so this conversation couldn’t be taken lightly.

But that was when I realized something intuitively.

Rebecca was not someone I could control through kindness.

She might be a cadet, but she was also a tyrant—a tyrant who wielded the sword called the “Black Dragon Division” as she pleased.

If all I cared about was surviving in this world, I could live as a dishonorable and corrupt vassal to this tyrannical princess.

But what if I wanted to maintain our dynamic as professor and cadet?

I recalled the history of my original world.

Nero, the Roman emperor who ruled the nation with tyranny, lost his powers when the Senate condemned him to death.

Oda Nobunaga, who carried out brutal policies, was killed during the Honnō-ji Incident.

Louis XVI, who turned a blind eye to the people, was deposed during the French Revolution.

Pol Pot of the Khmer Rouge, who carried out massacres against the populace, saw his regime collapse due to a rebellion and Vietnam’s invasion.

Setting aside how many tyrants committed suicide in the end, I focused instead on the events that led to their downfall.

Tyrants never stopped on their own.

They were always stopped by external pressure.

“Rebecca Hiakium.”

“Yes, Professor.”

From this moment on, I had to become that external pressure.

“If you’re at the academy as a cadet, then act like one.”

That single sentence made Elize flinch. She covered her mouth, her shoulders jolting in surprise, then glanced anxiously at the princess.

If even the airheaded Elize was reacting this way, it meant my words were truly out of line—insane, even.

Rebecca stared at me with her usual expressionless gaze, then spoke.

“Elize.”

“Yes, Your Highness…”

“This is an order. Kill Professor Dante.”

“…Ah.”

Elize hesitated. Her hand trembled slightly as she reached toward her waist.

Shling—

The sound of her blade being drawn echoed in the stairwell.

Her face was confused and conflicted. But an order was an order. 

“I’m sorry, Professor… but you need to die now…”

As she began to walk up the stairs, I issued a clear and stern command. 

“Stay.”

Elize stopped mid-step, her entire body tense as she froze in place, clearly caught between two opposing commands. 

“Elize. What are you doing?” Rebecca asked, her voice flat and unchanging. 

“…Ah, that’s… Right, I need to kill the professor…”

Her pale pink eyes turned toward me, full of confusion. 

“Stay,” I repeated.

“…Uhh, um… Umm…”

Finally, a crack began to form in Rebecca’s perfectly still mask of composure.

“What are you doing? Kill him. Now.”

“T-That’s… Yes…”

Elize began moving again, her grip tight on the weapon. But just before she reached me, I issued one last command. 

“Elize. Sit.”

Elize froze. Her eyes welled up, and her lips trembled. She took one shaky step forward... and then dropped to her knees right in front of me.

Faced with this bizarre situation, Rebecca slowly raised a hand to cover her small face. An irritated voice leaked out from behind it. 

“…What the hell is going on?”

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