The Genius Professor Wants An Easy Life - Chapter 57
“Illegal gambling, theft, robbery, assault, and even involvement in drug trafficking.”
“When did I ever?! Stop spouting nonsense!!”
As he jumped up in protest, I presented additional documents.
“These are evidence collected by the city. It’s been confirmed that you’ve stamped your seal on these documents, issuing illegal orders to your friends.”
“What, what? You can’t be serious?”
Wilhelm’s face turned pale.
He wasn’t completely foolish.
He had realized what was going on.
“You’re saying you used my seal for this?!”
“Damn it, we were planning to hit it big and pin everything on that stupid pig. But at the last minute, damn it all. Everyone, run!!”
Of course, I had no intention of letting them go.
“You dare try to run! Kneel before the great magic of Hans!”
“…Sir, you do realize it’s quite embarrassing to show off against petty criminals, right?”
Crash!
Though they always seemed to be messing around, Lindon and Hans were both quite skilled mages in their own right.
The criminals didn’t get far before they were all captured.
I turned to Wilhelm, who sat there with a dazed expression.
“Get up. There’s no time to sit around. You have a place to go.”
“…Where to?”
I replied as if it was the most obvious thing.
“Obviously, you’re going to jail. Even if you were just being used by those guys, you’re still involved in drug trafficking, which means you’re looking at a minimum of 10 years.”
“That’s a false accusation…!!”
“Who’s going to believe you? Don’t be delusional. Being expelled from the Marquis’s family means you’re no different from anyone on the streets.”
I crossed my arms.
“You say it’s a false accusation, but you knew those guys were involved in drug trafficking, didn’t you? Just turning a blind eye to it is enough to land you more than 5 years for a serious crime.”
He trembled visibly.
Then, he suddenly looked up at me.
“Y-You could just testify to my innocence!”
“Why should I?”
“Because! You’re my class advisor…!!”
“Who was it that didn’t treat me like a professor? I’ve never acknowledged someone like you as my student. Don’t delude yourself. A troublemaker like you being expelled benefits me.”
Click!
A knight from the Guards twisted the man’s wrists behind his back and handcuffed him.
Once he was locked behind bars, he started yelling at the knights of the Guards.
“You all! You’re making a big mistake! Do you know who I am?! Don’t regret this later and let me out now!”
“He’s been disowned by his family, so there’s no need for special treatment. Please treat him according to the regulations.”
“Understood, Professor Van!”
My actions had earned me a high standing within the Guards.
The knights of the Guards shouted as if to say leave it to us, and sent a chilling smile towards Wilhelm.
“Heh, the precious son of a Marquis, you say? We’ll place you in a special room full of ‘cuties’.”
‘Cuties’ was the Guards’s slang for cockroaches.
“Then, I’ll be returning to the academy.”
“No, Professor Van! Wait! You’re really going to leave me here?! I can’t stay in jail!! Aaah, what? Are these cockroaches?! Get away from me!”
Leaving Wilhelm’s screams behind, I stepped out of the jail, only to find someone waiting for me.
As expected, it was none other than Wilhelm’s father, the Marquis Leming.
He had hurried here through a portal from the North Sea.
“…Isn’t this enough? The boy must have reflected sufficiently by now.”
The Marquis Leming cautiously said, gauging my reaction.
“I will sternly warn him. I’ll make sure he follows your advice from now on.”
“Let’s leave it at that, then.”
“…Really?”
As I nodded in agreement, the Marquis Leming looked at me with a puzzled expression.
“I’ll give up on your son’s case.”
“!!”
“I was prepared for it to be quite difficult from the start. But seeing your attitude now, I’ve realized that changing your son is impossible. Let’s not waste each other’s efforts and leave it here.”
The Marquis Leming clenched his teeth.
“Aren’t your words too harsh? What do you know about our family? You don’t even know why the boy turned out this way!”
Margrave.
It’s a title given to families guarding the empire’s borders, especially those on the frontier.
However, the Leming Marquisate was not your typical margrave family.
With the threat to the North Sea diminishing, they instead gained control over numerous mines in the area.
‘They became a sudden millionaire overnight.’
The problem was their conduct thereafter.
Instead of handling their newfound wealth with sophistication, they, having lived in poverty before, let the wealth go to their heads and exhibited the behavior of upstarts.
By the time they realized, they were despised and ostracized within the noble society.
In essence, the entire family was suffering from an inferiority complex.
Wilhelm’s wayward behavior was also a product of this inferiority complex.
“I understand.”
“You understand? You?”
“Have you forgotten who I am? I am Van. If anyone knows about feeling inferior, it’s me more than anyone else in this world.”
‘The fact that I’ve suffered from an inferiority complex is true.’
My background was worse than that of an orphan.
Despite not wanting to, I couldn’t help but feel inferior.
“If you understand, then why act like this…?”
“Do you think a few encouraging words can shake off an inferiority complex?”
Marquis Leming couldn’t respond.
“There’s only one way to overcome an inferiority complex: experience. One must feel that they are not lesser beings on their own.”
“…But there’s no way he can do that, can he?”
“He can. Because I will make it so.”
“!!”
The Black Flame Dragon lent authority to my voice.
“Being a student of Van Ecclesia. He will come to realize what a great blessing that is.”
Eventually, Marquis Leming slumped his shoulders and returned to the North Sea, while I attended to personal matters.
Exactly 48 hours later, I went to see Wilhelm again.
His attitude had completely changed.
“Professor, I was wrong! I’ll follow whatever you say, just get me out of here! I’ll live diligently from now on! Aaah, I’m scared of cockroaches!”
It wasn’t just because he was faint-hearted; prison is a place difficult for anyone to endure.
“So you’ll follow whatever I say?”
“Yes, yes! Just get me out of this prison…!!”
“Top 5 in the entire grade on the midterm exams two months from now.”
“…Pardon?”
“If you promise to make it into the top 5, I might consider asking for a special favor on your behalf.”
He sputtered.
“How, how can I?!”
“If you can’t do it, just say so. From what I’ve gathered, you’re looking at at least a 10-year sentence. You could spend a delightful time here with the ‘cuties’ for much longer.”
“I’ll do it! Top 5? I’ll even be the valedictorian!!”
That must have been the most desperate vow of his life.
Of course, I didn’t believe him.
‘As soon as he gets out of prison, he’ll likely change his tune like a ghost.’
I needed a leash.
“Remember, if you fail to meet the condition, you’ll have to return to prison.”
“But, where does it say that?”
“As your professor, I’m taking you out under the pretext of providing academic guidance. If you fail to follow my guidance, naturally, you’ll have to return to prison.”
“!!”
Wilhelm’s face turned as pale as a corpse.
From now on, he would be putting life and death effort into achieving top 5 in his class.
‘I’m not even sure if he can actually make it into the top 5.’
Still, if he sticks to that resolution, he might achieve something he never managed to accomplish in his life before.
‘With Wilhelm’s immediate crisis handled, the rest of the students are the problem. After all, Wilhelm is just the weakest of my problematic students. It’s not like he’s one of the Four Heavenly Kings.’
As I sighed, suddenly, the sky above the Free City darkened as if clouds had covered the sun out of nowhere.
‘What’s this?’
My face stiffened.
A chill ran down my spine, as if a great crisis was looming.
The murmurs around me seemed to confirm my guess.
“Look at the sky!!”
“Aaaah!! What is that?! A monster?!”
“No, it’s a dragon!!”
A dragon appeared out of the blue sky!
Just as the city was about to plunge into panic, with a flash of light, the dragon’s body shrank.
It had transformed into a human.
Transformed into the figure of a middle-aged woman with a distinctive scar slashing across her face.
The citizens of the city, recognizing the identity of the dragon, gasped in a different kind of shock.
“It’s the master, Carla of the Dread, the Mad Dragon Knight!!”
“Why would one of the Empire’s Five Great Swordmasters suddenly appear?”
Indeed.
This individual was none other than Carla, one of the Empire’s Five Great Swordmasters. A dragon who had uniquely mastered swordsmanship to its limits and had even been naturalized into the Empire, receiving a title. Commonly known as the ‘Mad Dragon.’
The reason for her sudden visit to this Free City was,
“Are you Van the Trash? Do you have a death wish?”
…because of the ‘duel invitation’ I had sent.
* * *
‘Damn, meeting her in person is even scarier. What was I thinking?’
I wanted to kneel immediately and scream my apologies, but I forced myself to hold back.
I had to overcome this obstacle if I wanted to remain at the academy.
…To think I have to stand against the Mad Dragon to stay at the academy. The reality of the situation was about to hit me, but I ignored it and met her gaze.
“If you kneel right now and apologize for the rudeness you’ve committed against me, I might just spare your life.”
Whoosh!
A daunting aura surged towards me, but I stood my ground.
‘If I back down here, it’s all over. The Mad Dragon despises the weak.’
Luckily, I had the Black Flame Dragon on my side.
“How rude. To raise your voice at a professor upon first meeting. If this is the essence of the sword that you, as a knight and dragon, have forsaken your pride for, it’s truly lamentable.”
“!!”
…Though the help was a bit excessive.
The Mad Dragon growled.
“…You truly wish to die, it seems.”
The murderous intent now was incomparable to before, truly enraged.
At the intensity of a Level 8 Knight, my spirit froze solid, making it hard to even twitch a finger.
Kyuu! Raar! Raa!
Mari, the baby dragon, leaped out of the magic pouch and bared its teeth towards the Mad Dragon.
‘Yikes! What are you doing? What if someone finds out I’m keeping a pet dragon?! Get back in there!’
Panicked, I shoved Mari’s head back into the pouch.
However, the Mad Dragon seemed to misinterpret (or perhaps correctly interpret?) my actions, a flicker of interest in her eyes.
“To think you’d try to protect a baby dragon. You’re not a cowardly wretch, it seems.”
“??”
“Had you tried to hide behind the baby dragon, I would have cut you down on the spot.”
As mentioned, what the Mad Dragon despises is weakness.
Here, weakness isn’t about physical strength but refers to will and courage.
My act of caring (or appearing to care) for Mari seemed to have earned me some points.
Of course, it was only ‘some’ points.
“Apologize formally for the disrespect you’ve shown me. If you offer a sincere apology, I may overlook this as a mere lapse in judgment on your part.”
“Why do you keep saying strange things when there’s nothing to apologize for?”
“This man truly…!”
“It was merely a letter sent with the hope that a student would not go astray.”
I continued before the Mad Dragon could respond, with a firm tone.
“There is a flaw in the essence of the sword you pursue. Ultimately, your disciple will be devoured by that misguided essence.”
The Mad Dragon let out a scoff.
“What would someone like you know?”
“Just by seeing how you’re threatening me now, I can guess enough. If your essence of the sword was right, would you really oppress me like this?”
“!!”
