The Genius Professor Wants An Easy Life - Chapter 150

After Van left,

The second castle, the headquarters of Abyss, was enveloped in silence.

“…Why did you just let him go?”

The Witch of the Dead Sea asked.

If we hadn’t let him go, we all would have had to face death.

“But we should have found a way to kill him. He’s too dangerous. What about the future?”

Fear, surprisingly, was the emotion that surfaced on the Witch of the Dead Sea’s face.

The Administrator, ‘The Butler’, was not much different. He had just recalled Van’s appearance.

I’m the one contemplating whether to kill you, so why don’t you give me a reason to show you mercy?

The chill that moment had caused.

Incredibly, ‘The Butler’ felt fear.

The Butler could see that his assessment of Van had been wrong.

For someone with mana insensitivity, he’s a remarkable genius.

That was the general opinion about Van.

Impressive, but at the same time, believed to have a limitation.

But that wasn’t the case.

If it weren’t for his mana insensitivity, what kind of terrifying monster he would have been.

Would this monster really stay as he is?

That was impossible.

Someday, he would become an entity far beyond their reach.

But not yet.

It would take time to reach that stage.

The Butler organized his thoughts.

It would be wise to keep watching.

“But?”

The sword of Van the Legend will not only be directed at us.

The Butler then revealed something astonishing.

The Shadow Ghost will resume its activities soon.

“!!”

A member of the Ten Demons.

An entity that has existed for hundreds of years.

That someone almost considered an urban legend was moving?

It seems he’s targeting ‘that person’.

“…This is bad.”

The Witch of the Dead Sea, though a regular member, knew many secrets.

She also knew who ‘that person’ that Abyss secretly followed was.

“If the Shadow Ghost makes a move, ‘that person’ will definitely die. And we can’t intervene.”

Even if Abyss did intervene, they wouldn’t be able to stop it.

The Shadow Ghost was such an entity. It wasn’t considered an inscrutable calamity for no reason.

Let’s hope for Van the Legend.

“!!”

The Butler gave a meaningful smile.

Let’s hope, ‘that person’, is not unrelated to Van the Legend. Perhaps, Van Legend could perform the impossible miracle against the Shadow Ghost.

 

* * *

 

I’m not sure how things progressed afterward.

After joining forces with Head Diego, the Massacrist Mage, and Lyran, who had been lying in wait, I half lost consciousness.

I barely managed to activate the Star Absorption Elixir and fell into a deep sleep.

I don’t know exactly how many days I slept, but it was a long time.

During that time, I had many dreams, and something was odd.

‘Why are the contents of the dreams like this?’

Initially, I dreamed about my past life on Earth.

It was a miserable past, but now those contents seemed unemotional.

As time passed, the content of the dreams changed.

I began to dream about Van’s past.

‘How am I dreaming Van’s dreams?’

I have no memory of Van.

I’ve been roughly guessing through the knowledge gained while progressing through the scenario on Earth.

But then,

Sister, sister. Don’t die.

A scene from Van’s childhood.

Van was crying, clinging to a girl, Mariam, who was suffering from a high fever.

Here, here. I brought medicine. So get better quickly. Sob, sob.

Stop crying. You crybaby.

Hicc, Sniff.

Ah, really! I’ll get better!

An event that opened Mariam’s heart to Van.

I knew such an event existed but didn’t have the actual memory, yet I vividly dreamed about it.

‘Am I dreaming of scenes I’ve imagined?’

But it was strange.

I continued to have various dreams.

Look, Cal, isn’t this cool? I’m going to be a great mage. Even if I become an Ascendant, I’ll still play with you.

Leona, let’s play~ Don’t just read books. I told you not to call me stupid! And don’t call me a fool either!

Van’s childhood, before he became twisted.

These were contents I didn’t know, yet they appeared in my dreams.

Furthermore,

Such a defective born into the great Ecclesia family.

If it were our family, we would have disowned him long ago.

Dreaming of becoming a mage? How ridiculous.

The frustrations ‘Van’ must have felt as he grew.

Strangely, they were vivid.

As if ‘I’ had personally experienced them.

‘…The dreams from Earth feel more blurred by comparison.’

I was having these inexplicable dreams.

…Master!

Stop sleeping. Professor!!

I could hear voices calling me from afar.

…Could it really be that he’s… gone?

He’s just sleeping! If you keep saying such morbid things, you’ll get hit again, okay?

But, it’s already been a week. The royal physicians say we should prepare ourselves. sniff Professor, please, don’t die.

…I was just sleeping?

I felt like I should open my eyes, but my eyelids were heavy.

…Master!

Wake up…! If you don’t wake up… I’ll slap you…!

The voices started to fade.

I fell back into a dream.

And then.

Days later, I woke up to silence.

Chaos had ensued while I was asleep.

 

* * *

 

   

This incident made the news.

And I was portrayed as a hero.

To the extent that such messages appeared.

   

‘…No, actually, I had my own selfish reasons. I wanted to make life at the academy easier by winning over Diego.’

Anyway, gaining fame wasn’t a bad thing.

Worrying about attracting too much attention now seemed silly.

‘It was chaos, huh.’

I recalled the situation immediately after waking up and shook my head.

The reactions were no joke.

Libel crying buckets, Catherine furiously upset.

And many others came making a fuss.

Don’t ever do something this dangerous again. As your head professor, that’s an order.

Stop scolding me.

Emily, this guy really needs a scolding.

No, I should be the one to scold him, so pass the baton. Van, do you really want to get hit?

…I got a tremendous scolding from all sorts of people.

I even got scolded by Mari ‘Pa! Now it’s my turn to scold!’ and, somehow, the Demon King’s Sword came back, saying, ‘Master… you abandoned me… this is your punishment…’.

‘At least it was good that the family wasn’t around.’

My family was by my side when I was in a bad state and left after confirming my condition had stabilized.

Everyone, from my busy father to Ron who was in Amethyst, had come.

From what I heard, the atmosphere among my family was no joke when my condition was poor.

‘I’m sorry. And thank you.’

I had no memory of receiving such genuine concern from family on Earth, so I felt an indescribable emotion.

‘It’s unexpected that even the youngest, Leona, came. Probably didn’t want to feel left out.’

Notably, Leona wasn’t the only unexpected visitor.

‘Johan and Joanna from Amethyst came too? I get why Johan would, but why Joanna?’

By the time I regained consciousness, they had already left, so I had no idea why they came.

Anyway, after the storm had passed and the room had finally calmed,

Another surprising event unfolded.

“I will definitely repay the favor you’ve done for me!”

Head Diego knelt before me!

“You are the benefactor of my family, no, of my life. If it weren’t for you, I might have ended my own life.”

It wasn’t an exaggeration.

The reason I faced that danger at the Abyss headquarters was because of Head Diego.

‘Don’t worry. Hehe. I’ll make sure to get the most out of this.’

Then, Head Diego asked with a serious face,

“Your wish must be for Duke Volman to betray him and stand by your side, right?”

“No, you don’t have to do that. You can continue to serve Duke Volman as you have been.”

Head Diego looked puzzled.

“Instead, please remain fair and neutral regarding my issues.”

“!!”

‘This is for the best.’

It seems everyone is mistaken, but I had no intention of engaging in factional strife with Duke Volman.

Living quietly was my only wish.

‘Since scammer Graham is in my grasp, it’s as if both of Duke Volman’s arms at the academy have switched to my side. They won’t be able to mess with me anymore.’

Above all, ‘that incident’ is going to happen soon.

The downfall of the Rapalt Ducal Family.

I just need to hang in there a little longer.

‘It won’t be long now.’

But then, Head Diego showed an unexpected reaction.

“Are you doing this for me?”

“??”

“Are you considering that it would be difficult for me to betray Duke Volman because of the favors I owe him, and deliberately taking my situation into account?”

“…Well, yes.”

I hadn’t thought that deeply about it, but there was no need to correct the misunderstanding, so I nodded.

“…Indeed. They say you’re deeper than you appear. I owe you an even greater debt now. This Diego will never forget what you’ve done!”

Though his reaction was slightly overwhelming, it seemed to end well.

‘Now I can really enjoy a cushy professorial life!’

There was more good news.

‘I’ve reached the top of 2-star, the ‘Journeyman’ level!’

The effects of the Star Absorption Elixir were better than expected.

My core had been reborn.

‘To think I’d have such a healthy core.’

My original core was like one from shoddy construction.

Makeshift, forcibly created foundation.

But now, it was as sturdy as if made from reinforced concrete! …Of course, it was still only a Lv. 2 core, but for me, it was an incredible achievement.

‘My mana has also increased. Originally, I didn’t even meet the lower standards of Lv. 2, but now I’m at the highest level of Lv. 2.’

So, how much stronger have I become?

I’m not exactly sure.

‘Depending on how I use it, I might even stand a chance against an average Lv. 6.’

Originally, I was at a level where I could take on Lv. 5 and possibly face Lv. 6 when they had a disadvantage, by exploiting their weaknesses, but now I’ve become much stronger.

‘Of course, that doesn’t mean I could take on a Lv. 7. There’s a reason why Lv. 7s are considered super-strong after all.’

Even so, it was a tremendous achievement.

Lv. 6 is considered the peak among the generally strong.

Then, there was a knock at the door.

“Are you awake, Professor Van?”

“Ah, Your Highness.”

It was Mikhail.

He showed himself now, in the calm after avoiding the public eye.

Not that he hadn’t been concerned until now.

I heard it was Mikhail who had called for the royal physician on my behalf at the beginning.

“Thank you for sending the royal physician.”

“Don’t mention it. Aren’t we friends?”

Friends.

A word that made me feel a bit awkward, so I joked about it.

“Haven’t you been emphasizing ‘friend’ a bit too much since last time?”

“Haha. Is that so? Perhaps I got too excited about having a friend for the first time. My apologies.”

A light response.

But it wasn’t easy for me to take it lightly.

My first friend.

I was reminded anew of how Mikhail had been in a position where he couldn’t make friends due to the royal family’s scrutiny.

“There’s no need to look at me like that. I’m enjoying my time now. I’ve even made a friend. Of course, if something had gone wrong this time, I would’ve lost my only friend.”

“…….”

“You’re right, that was a bit of a lecture. Be more careful in the future. Just because they call you Van the Fight Dragon doesn’t mean you’re actually a dragon.”

“…Understood.”

Mikhail shook his head and then stood up.

“I came to say goodbye since we won’t see each other for a while.”

“Where are you going?”

“I’ll be staying at the royal palace for a bit. I’ve agreed to chair the royal symposium as a member of the royal family.”

“!!”

My face stiffened.

A warning from my father came to mind.

How about not attending the royal symposium?

A bad premonition made my heart sink.

‘Is my father targeting Prince Mikhail?’