The Genius Professor Wants An Easy Life - Chapter 223
The assassination of Chancellor Lupus!
No one, not even I, could have anticipated this.
‘What?’
I soon realized the whole story.
“Durandal is missing?”
“Yes, the culprit vanished with Durandal after killing the Chancellor.”
‘It’s the work of the one plotting behind the scenes.’
Durandal possesses the power of ‘suppression.’
It was clear that the culprit used this power to immobilize Chancellor Lupus before making their move.
‘Originally, they intended to eliminate the Bright Dragon, but when I appeared and thwarted their plan, they changed their target. For the Archduke of Roshran and his faction, the aim is to weaken the Empire’s forces regardless.’
I swallowed my bitterness.
“This is unforgivable.”
“Yes. We must catch the culprit and avenge him.”
The Bright Dragon gritted her teeth.
Yulia’s eyes were also red with tears.
Even if Chancellor Lupus was the serial killer, he was merely ensnared by the cursed sword. For those who had known him for a long time, it was a huge shock.
At that moment, the Demon King approached me.
“Hmm, what are you planning to do? Catching the culprit won’t be easy.”
“Don’t you have any way to find out?”
“I checked if there were any demons hiding, but I didn’t sense anything. They probably used a human ‘Corrupted.’ In that case, even I wouldn’t be able to identify them. Unless we just wipe everything out.”
There are all sorts of humans in the world, and some even follow demons.
“The culprit will have Durandal, so how about tracking Durandal?”
“Because of Durandal’s ‘concealment’ trait, that’s impossible. Unless I recover my original power.”
“True, Durandal was initially disguised as a holy sword to terrorize us humans by your demon kind. It won’t be easy to track.”
“…Just to clarify, I wasn’t the one who devised the plan to hand over Durandal to humans. I’m not that petty.”
The Demon King spoke with a hint of grievance.
It’s a story that happened well over a hundred years ago.
The demons who plotted the terror had long forgotten about it, until the Duke of Roshran’s faction discovered the old records and orchestrated this incident.
‘Anyway, the real problem lies with Duke Roshran’s faction. If we eliminate him, we won’t have to worry about the demonic realm.’
Unfortunately, Duke Roshran was a Lv. 8 transcendent, making it impossible to eliminate him.
‘Still, we need to use this incident to create backlash and tie his hands as much as possible.’
This incident was far from over.
The demon extremists knew no limits.
They would continue the serial killings until they were caught.
The problem was that with Chancellor Lupus dead, finding the culprit was back to square one.
A challenging situation.
“What will you do? As I said earlier, it’s impossible to track Durandal magically. And the human traitor won’t easily reveal themselves.”
I shook my head.
“I’ll use another method.”
“What kind?”
“If tracking is difficult, we can ask the dead. The deceased should know the culprit.”
“You, don’t tell me?”
The Demon King, realizing my intention, looked surprised.
I wasn’t talking about forensic science to find clues from the corpse.
“I’m going to use necromancy.”
* * *
The Demon King shook her head.
“Necromancy? Even for someone as great as you, isn’t that impossible? I can’t even use necromancy.”
The three major branches of magic are elemental manifestation, manipulation and transformation, and summoning.
Necromancy falls under the ‘summoning’ category of magic.
As the name implies, it involves summoning spirits.
However, very few summoners can perform necromancy.
‘You need to be born with a special talent as a summoner.’
This applies to all summoning magic, not just necromancy.
You need ‘affinity’ with the being you wish to summon.
Despite being a master of magic, I don’t use summoning magic because I lack that affinity.
It’s more common to summon spirits since many people have a natural affinity for them.
‘To summon the dead, you need the qualities of a medium.’
Mediumship.
In Korea, it’s similar to the abilities of a shaman.
Moreover, summoning the dead is extremely difficult as it goes against the laws of the world.
It requires not only the qualities of a medium but also the highest level of skill as a summoner.
It was virtually impossible.
But,
“Professor Repel, can you introduce the students I mentioned?”
“These students?”
“Yes. I believe they are Peridot’s students. Do you happen to know them?”
“Oh, yes, I know both of them. But….”
Professor Repel trailed off.
“Have you heard the rumors? Both students have some issues….”
“I know. That’s why I wanted to see them.”
“Ah, I see! You, as a compassionate professor, couldn’t ignore their problems and wanted to guide them! Much respect, much respect!!”
Professor Repel soon brought the two students.
They were a boy and a girl with youthful faces, sharing some common traits.
They both wore first-year badges and were quite handsome and beautiful, respectively.
However, their impressions were entirely different.
The girl had unfocused, hazy eyes, muttering unintelligibly if you listened closely.
Her cute appearance was marred by a disconcerting aura.
The boy’s impression was also unique.
He was arrogant.
It was different from students like Joanna or Bern-Beril.
Rather than lacking potential, he seemed to genuinely consider himself superior to others.
Given their backgrounds, it was understandable.
“Nice to meet you. I am Van the Legend of Ruby.”
I greeted them first.
“Nice to meet the ‘Two Stars’ of Peridot.”
Two Stars.
Indeed.
These two were the top talents in Peridot.
More precisely.
‘They are supporting protagonists.’
Knight Department’s ‘Archer’ class.
Magic Department’s ‘Summoner’ class protagonists.
To resolve this incident, I needed their help.
* * *
‘Meeting these support protagonists like this for the first time.’
I put on a curious expression.
As I’ve often mentioned, the 16 protagonists are divided into four categories.
Main, sub-main, villain, and support.
These two were ‘supporting’ protagonists.
‘They aren’t essential to progressing the scenario.’
As their title suggests, they aren’t crucial to the plot.
Instead, they play the role of supporters in the scenario.
“Why did you call us? If it’s not important, can we leave?”
“I… have a headache… can I go?”
Both of them reacted irritably, as expected of protagonists.
It wasn’t just because they were protagonists; they had their reasons.
‘They aren’t called Peridot’s two eccentrics for nothing.’
The title ‘Two Stars’ was a flattering one; their real nickname was ‘Two Eccentrics.’
“I need your cooperation in the serial murder case.”
“Why should we cooperate?”
“My… my head hurts.”
Since it happened at their academy, it was natural for them to help, but this didn’t seem to apply to them.
It wasn’t because they were malicious.
They were beyond ‘common sense.’
“It will be of great help to you as well.”
“What do you mean?”
“Both of you can’t control your abilities, can you? If this continues, you know you won’t be safe. Lapas, you will become a madman, and Anne, you will become a simpleton.”
“!!”
For reference, the ‘Summoner’ class protagonist’s name was ‘Lapas,’ and the ‘Archer’ class protagonist’s name was ‘Anne.’
“What do you mean?”
“Isn’t it true? No matter how powerful the spirit you contract with is, what’s the use if you can’t control it? If this continues, your mind will be consumed by the spirit, and you’ll become mad, no longer human.”
The arrogance in the summoner protagonist, Lapas, wasn’t due to a lack of potential like Joanna or Bern-Beril.
It was because his mind was tainted from contracting with a spirit far beyond his level at a young age.
As for the archer class protagonist, Anne.
“Talking to the spirits of dead heroes is fine. But if you keep depending on them, you will eventually lose your identity.”
“Ugh….”
Anne had a special background.
The spirits of dead heroes clung to her, a medium.
Thanks to taking them as her mentors, her skills grew explosively, but excessive exposure to their spirits muddled her mind.
“The solution for both of you is the same. You need to reduce contact from now on.”
“That’s impossible….”
“I’m not saying to cut off the connection entirely. Those who bless you aren’t evil. But since you are weak, you’re unintentionally influenced by them. This means you need to grow first.”
This was how to train these two supporting protagonists.
They needed to grow themselves first to avoid being consumed.
Then, they wouldn’t be swayed by the powerful beings that blessed them but instead would gain true strength.
“…….”
“…….”
They fell silent.
They must have already been aware of the problem I mentioned, so they were likely deep in thought.
“For now, I will help you. Without completely cutting off contact, I will minimize the influence so that your souls won’t be further tainted.”
“But won’t that make it difficult to solve this murder case? Don’t you need our abilities?”
“No, this will be enough.”
“What?”
“All you need to do for this case is to receive my help and get treated.”
They tilted their heads in confusion.
It was a puzzling statement.
The Demon King, realizing my intention, looked at me incredulously.
“You’re saying you can pull that off? You’re truly insane.”
Now, two questions arise.
Can these two summon the dead?
No, they can’t.
Even if they have the abilities of a medium and a summoner, to summon the dead, one person must possess both abilities simultaneously.
Cooperating by combining their powers?
‘That won’t work. They aren’t skilled enough to perform such high-level cooperation.’
I needed to use a different method.
It was simple.
‘I’ll learn and use both abilities myself.’
Exactly.
The reason I called them was to steal and learn their mediumship and summoning abilities.
With my skills, it was possible.