The Genius Professor Wants An Easy Life - Chapter 172
In an instant, no one realized what had happened.
Not even Catherine, who faced the sword.
The moment the opponent drew the sword from its sheath, something flashed, and that was the end.
The blue sword that Catherine had unleashed with all her might dissipated. As if it had never existed in the first place.
But that wasn’t all.
Swiiiish
A gentle breeze blew by Catherine’s side.
And then,
Slash
A strand of Catherine’s hair was cut off.
“!!”
Catherine’s complexion turned pale.
Unbeknownst to her, she had allowed the sword to come too close.
Had the sword aimed just a bit more to the side, she would have been dead.
However, the strike was too fast for almost anyone to properly see what had happened.
Only some of the professors of the Swordsmanship Department blinked, wondering if they had seen correctly.
“W-What happened? How did it happen?”
“Why was Junior Catherine’s magic sword dismantled?”
“Did something light up?”
I swallowed nervously.
‘There’s no way she could be a match. 070 Alpha Zero is one of the Ten Demons, after all.’
Not all of the Ten Demons possess power beyond this world.
The criterion for selecting the Ten Demons is how notorious they are.
Alpha Zero became one of the Ten Demons through numerous acts of murder, belonging to the weaker side in terms of power.
Strictly speaking, there were many villains stronger than Alpha Zero.
‘Still, it’s not something the students can handle.’
Alpha Zero’s power was at the level of a Lv. 7 intermediate (expert) master.
By current standards, he was the strongest among all protagonists.
Even stronger than Professor Burnstein, who had recently had an enlightenment, making it utterly hopeless for the children to win.
‘Initially, he was merely playing the role of a student under a disguised identity, older than most professors, and not even a pure human by race.’
A trembling voice came from beside me.
“…Nemesis.”
It was Black Bird Amanda!
For the first time since I met her, she was glaring with a chilling gaze, at Alpha Zero.
I guessed the situation.
‘Alpha Zero has a deep grudge against Amanda’s clan, the Sun and Moon Clan.’
No, as the word ‘nemesis’ suggests, it wasn’t merely a ‘grudge’ that could be explained away.
It was a relationship that had to be washed in blood.
Fortunately, Amanda controlled her emotions, mindful of her surroundings.
Then, something unexpected happened.
Yawning continuously, Alpha Zero suddenly turned to look our way.
‘Did he recognize Amanda?’
No.
Regardless of Amanda’s face stiffening again, Alpha Zero did not seem to recognize her at all.
Alpha Zero was looking at me.
He asked Catherine, who was standing in front of him,
“Why is that man here? Is he a professor here?”
“??”
“…You know that professor? That good-looking one, with a somewhat pretentious aura of dignity, the young professor.”
“…It’s Professor Van. He’s my mentor.”
Catherine answered with narrowed eyes.
“Your mentor? Hmm. That’s troublesome.”
“What are you talking about?”
“No, according to Alpha Zero’s work principle number 7, one must never forget a favor received. If you defeat me, it would mean repaying kindness with hostility.”
Catherine made a face as if to say, what is this nonsense, while Alpha Zero let out a low sigh.
“Haaah, this is troublesome. According to Alpha Zero’s principle number 4, a mission once accepted, barring unavoidable circumstances, cannot be overturned. But now principle 4 and 7 are in conflict, what to do?”
Catherine’s look towards him gradually turned as if she were looking at a madman, and Alpha Zero nodded as if he had come up with a good idea.
“It’s time to propose a compromise. I was getting tired of this anyway.”
Alpha Zero looked towards Yulia and Libel in the stands.
“All three of you, come at me at once.”
“!!”
“It’s good for me since I can take you all on at once, and it’s good for you since you have a slight chance of winning, isn’t it?”
The atmosphere in the arena turned icy.
Most of the audience had not recognized Alpha Zero’s skill. They thought he was spouting madness.
“Haaah, is it hard to call this an opportunity? It will be difficult for the three of you to defeat me even if you attack together.”
“You bastard….”
“Haah. This is tiresome. I’ll limit my mana to Lv. 2 to match you. And I won’t move a step from here. If you manage to make me move even a step, it will be your victory.”
The arena erupted into chaos.
Especially the side of Duke Volman was in uproar.
“No, this isn’t what we agreed upon! What if you lose…!”
“Hmm. Me, lose? Under these conditions?”
“!!”
Alpha Zero calmly looked towards Duke Volman’s side.
The languidness disappeared, replaced by a cold gaze.
Without making any threats or raising his aura, Duke Volman’s complexion turned pale.
“T-That’s… No, I’ll trust only you… Ah, no, I’ll trust in you alone.”
Languidness returned to Alpha Zero’s eyes, and he turned his gaze towards Catherine.
“Will you do as I say?”
“Shut up. What do you take me for, daring to make such a proposal.”
Catherine bit her lip hard.
Then, Libel and Yulia stepped forward.
“You guys? Why did you come up?”
“Be quiet, you fool. He’s not someone you can beat.”
“But still! I can’t just follow that arrogant jerk’s words!”
“What’s important now is to win for Professor Van’s sake, no matter what. S-So, keep quiet.”
“Libel, you, always busy with your toxic comments, but you do speak the truth. I agree.”
The excitement faded from Catherine’s face.
“Alright. The most important thing now is to prevent Professor Van from being dismissed. But I’ll take it upon myself to smack that unlucky face of his.”
“Catherine, everyone knows about your foul temper, so just shut up and focus. I have a plan.”
Yulia quietly explained her strategy, and the two nodded meaningfully.
“Haaaah. Are you done talking? The three of you will attack at once, right? Let’s finish this quickly.”
The three stood before Alpha Zero.
Catherine in the front, Yulia on the side, and Libel in the rear.
Libel opened the duel.
“D-Do your parents happen to be well?”
“…What? All of a sudden?”
“J-Just asking. Why get angry? Oh, perhaps you don’t have parents?”
“!!”
Caught off guard by the sudden mental attack out of nowhere, even the formidable Alpha Zero momentarily wore a stunned expression, and that was the moment.
“Haap!”
Whoosh!
Catherine and Yulia launched their attacks simultaneously.
A frontal sword attack, a side hidden weapon attack.
Caught off guard by Libel’s trash talk, Alpha Zero reacted a step too late, and the real duel began.
* * *
“…….”
The duel had ended.
Everyone’s eyes were wide open.
To put it simply, it was an extraordinary duel.
Hard to believe it was at the level of students.
A succession of unforeseen events and astonishments.
The children thoroughly exploited Alpha Zero’s promise not to move from his spot.
They fought in a somewhat underhanded way.
Even including Libel’s mental attacks intermittently.
It reached a point where even our side remarked that it might have been a bit too much.
Of course, such tricks were unlikely to work on Alpha Zero.
He was a bit shaken, but that was all.
Eventually, the children were cornered, and that’s where Catherine and Libel truly shone.
Yulia was impressive too, but those two showed everyone why they were the main heroes of this world.
They performed miracles beyond their skills, countless times.
So, the outcome of the duel was.
“Haaaa. Tiring. You guys are quite something, huh?”
All three children were sprawled on the ground.
In contrast, Alpha Zero was without a single sign of dishevelment.
They had lost.
“So, this settles it? I’m going to sleep now.”
But then.
Catherine, lying on the ground, said with a trembling voice,
“No… We didn’t lose.”
“What?”
“Your foot. It moved slightly at the end.”
“!!”
At the last moment.
Libel, having fallen first due to his swordsmanship, unleashed all his remaining strength in a magic attack.
Simultaneously, Catherine and Yulia also gave their all for one final effort.
Alpha Zero’s counterattack rendered their efforts futile, and all three collapsed, but they managed to make Alpha Zero take a step.
“…….”
Alpha Zero’s gaze grew cold.
Already known for his icy demeanor, the disappearance of his languid aura enveloped him in an even more chilling atmosphere.
After a moment,
“Ah, can’t be helped. I thought you had fallen first, but upon reflection, it was simultaneous. This is a draw.”
“!!”
Duke Volman was enraged.
“What nonsense is this?! Isn’t this against the promise?!”
“What promise? I only agreed to participate in the duel, not to assure a victory.”
“!!”
“If you wanted a guaranteed victory, you should have paid more. Maybe about a hundred times more.”
“T-That’s…”
Duke Volman stuttered.
But he dared not argue further.
Facing the sword of ‘Death Saber’, an assassin who rose to the ranks of the Ten Demons, Duke Volman knew he’d never sleep peacefully again.
“A-A draw? That’s good, right?”
“Of course, it’s good! Managing a draw against such a monster is no small feat!”
“Now we just need to win in the other categories!”
Then, astonishing news arrived.
“The Humanities debate battle has been won by Ruby Academy!”
“Wooooooah!!!!”
I was also surprised.
‘Leona must have participated, how did they win?’
From what I heard, Mikhail barely managed a victory against ‘The Sage’ Leona after intense exchanges in the debate.
Having shown a change from his previous behavior, he now caused a tremendous incident.
‘So, does this make it 1 win, 1 loss, 1 draw?’
1 win in the debate battle.
1 loss in the professors’ achievements evaluation.
1 draw in the double-scored death match.
‘This means a victory for us, Ruby. Especially since we have the Massacrist Mage in the support department battle.’
I sighed in relief.
I had prepared Plan B in case of defeat, but fortunately, it seemed unnecessary.
‘Plan B would have caused a huge mess.’
I decided to get up and head towards where the support department battle was taking place.
But then,
“Breaking news! Breaking news! ‘She’ has arrived at the support department battle!”
“She? Who’s she?”
“You know! The empire’s lady! Everyone’s she!”
“!!”
My face hardened.
I understood who ‘she’ referred to.
It was impossible not to know.
“What? Who’s this ‘she’ that’s causing such a fuss?”
“I-I only know the professor.”
“Both of you, really don’t know? She’s one of the most famous figures in the empire?”
I hurriedly went to the exhibition hall.
And I saw it.
The face of Sylphin, drowned in a sense of defeat.
A girl stood on the stage, seemingly enveloped in a halo, shining brightly.
Countless people lost their senses as they gazed at the girl.
As she parted her red lips, a voice as beautiful as a siren’s began to color the world.
Among the sixteen protagonists, the one who possessed the most radiant type of talent.
The sub-main protagonist of the support department.
From the artist class.
The empire’s top musical star.
It was Muse Juliet.
* * *
Thus,
The academy battle came to its grand conclusion.
It was a defeat for Ruby Academy.
