🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 37
– I’m a Professor, So I’m Cancelling My Own Class (2)
The Therapeutics lecture hall.
The hero Elaine looked around the lecture hall’s storage area with interest.
“Really? It was here?”
“Yes, Chairwoman. Professor Ruins realized Professor Lindsey’s crime happened here.”
The hero and the professors were inspecting the scene of Lindsey’s crime.
“Drugs were really being manufactured here?”
“Yes. Just like Professor Wayne said—when we opened this place…”
Soon, the assistant Lili lightly pushed on what looked like an empty wall.
The wall slid aside, revealing a hidden space.
Thud!
“We’ve already removed everything, but this place was packed full of drugs.”
The hero was impressed by the sight.
“Incredible.”
The Therapeutics professors nodded.
“Yes. You can still smell it. To hide drugs this well… Professor Lindsey was impressive—”
“No. That’s not what I mean.”
“Pardon?”
The hero’s eyes as she looked at the scene were sharp.
“Professor Wayne noticed this, didn’t he?”
“!”
The Therapeutics professors inwardly gasped.
Sure, Lindsey was impressive for hiding it—but Wayne was even more impressive for finding what even the headmaster hadn’t noticed.
“Yes. He really is amazing.”
“As expected of a Demon-Hunting professor.”
The hero examined the hidden wall again with interest.
Even on closer inspection, it was still extremely well hidden.
Even I might have walked right past it.
Since it was inside Haven, she probably wouldn’t have been on guard.
If she had focused, she could have noticed—but a high-tier hero wasn’t high-tier for nothing.
And if Lindsey was bold enough to run a drug warehouse inside a school, she wouldn’t have made it easy to find.
In other words, anyone without extraordinary perception wouldn’t have found it.
Yet Professor Wayne had noticed it.
Professor Wayne… interesting.
He felt comparable to her master, who had once been the strongest.
Originally, she’d planned to just thank him for breaking the princess’s barrier and leave—but he’d even uncovered this.
And that wasn’t all.
“Isn’t this exactly what you’d expect from someone who passed through the main gate?”
The strict old Therapeutics professors were buzzing like children.
The hero asked with interest:
“I’ve heard about that, but did he really pass it? Not with an artifact?”
“Yes. We’re told he passed it using defensive magic.”
“Oh.”
This school had many hidden mechanisms.
The hero knew that—but they were so powerful they were hard to use.
Even she, the headmaster, and the board couldn’t solve many of them.
Unless a professor could, anyway.
The gatekeeper was one of them.
It had activated, but no one knew how to deactivate it, so they’d left it as a sort of interview filter.
That was supposed to be it, but…
To pass the gatekeeper with magic means he can use high-tier—or maybe even special-grade—defensive magic?
Solving the gatekeeper, one of the school’s greatest riddles…
The hero grew even more interested in Ruins Wayne.
“A sharp nose and strong ability. An ideal partner.”
The chairwoman’s job was to place the right people in the right places.
From that perspective, this professor was capable—and good at internal politics too.
Many neutral professors had been praising Ruins.
So Charlie, who had come along for verification, frowned.
I have to stop Ruins from being recognized any more than this.
So Charlie whispered secretly:
“About that Professor Wayne… there’s something suspicious.”
“Suspicious?”
“I’ve dealt with him. He’s very different from the Ruins Wayne I knew.”
“Different how?”
“A guy with no talent in martial arts suddenly became skilled. A guy with no social skills became imposing. He’s like a completely different person.”
The hero’s gaze turned serious.
“A completely different person?”
Seeing her reaction, Charlie pressed harder.
“Yes. A completely different person.”
The hero said awkwardly:
“I see. So Professor Wayne is someone who even works hard to reinvent himself… maybe I should’ve given him a check instead of cash.”
Charlie burst out in frustration.
“I’m saying he might be a spy! Or—though it’s unlikely—Firefly…!”
The hero laughed quietly.
“I know Firefly better than anyone.”
“Pardon?”
“That treacherous dog of Pride would never work for the Union. Never.”
“……”
The Demon-Hunting incident, the students’ education, exposing Lindsey—weren’t those all things that benefited the Union?
But Firefly himself had said:
“The moment I show my face is the end of Firefly.”
Yes. That was the kind of man he was.
He’d never appear this openly.
So the hero smiled with great anticipation.
“Looks like a fine talent has come in to catch Firefly.”
* * *
Meanwhile, that “fine talent”—Firefly—was in deep trouble.
Was it because students were flooding into his classes?
Because he had to open four separate sections?
Because the headmaster was giving him absurd bonuses for each section?
No.
That damn hero. How bored is he? Isn’t the hero supposed to be the busiest guy in the Union?
Ruin was getting a headache because of the hero.
For some reason, he kept courting Ruin.
He even sent priceless elixirs.
They were so valuable that even the miserly Ginseng Trading Company had said they’d give a 1+1 totem bonus if Ruin offered them as tribute.
“The chairwoman is very interested in you, Professor. She’d like to see you when you’re well. When would be good?”
I can’t meet that guy!
Heroes can smell demons.
So Ruin told his assistant to make excuses.
“Tell her I’m still so sick I can barely walk to the bathroom. I can barely teach. I can’t make time for anything else—only for my students.”
And then…
“She was delighted that you’re prioritizing students! She said she’ll just send the medicine and wait.”
“What? Wait?”
“She means she’ll come right before class!”
You insane bastard!
So he took a desperate measure.
“What? Why did the class time suddenly change?”
He changed the class schedule.
“Wasn’t it supposed to be tomorrow morning? Why during dinner?”
Why? Because I don’t want to see the hero.
“Oh, didn’t a demon invasion alert go off today? Maybe it’s because of that?”
“Wow, such fast feedback, Professor!”
“To think Haven has a professor like this…”
But someone misunderstood the situation.
“Professor Ruins! The hero was so moved that he’s coming with late-night snacks!”
“!”
What?
Assistant Lili beamed.
“He said he was deeply impressed by your dedication to teaching through dinner!”
No! That’s not it!
“It really seems the chairwoman thinks highly of you.”
The assistant was proud, but Ruin held his temples.
“Tell her I’ll gratefully accept the snacks only…”
“But she says she’s fine and really wants to greet you personally…”
No! I’M the one who’s not fine!
Meeting the hero was extremely risky.
He could smell demons even through transformations—what about in his true form?
The headmaster had been fooled, but the hero was like a bloodhound in human form.
I could just cancel class…
That’s not something a professor should do.
Bad evaluations mean no money.
Bad evaluations mean I get fired, which means I have to infiltrate Haven again…
Then kill the professors, kill the cops who investigate, kill the reporters, kill the agents who get suspicious, erase their records…
…How far are you going to take this?
Honestly, Firefly really could do all that—which made it terrifying.
But Ruin preferred to avoid hassle.
How do I teach and still dodge the hero…
Just then—
“Looks like you’re not confident in your class. Changing the time so no one can audit it.”
“!”
A familiar monocle appeared in the lecture hall.
Charlie Whiskey.
The self-defense professor grinned smugly.
“But no matter what you do, you can’t escape me.”
If the hero wouldn’t cooperate, Charlie would find a flaw himself and drive Ruins out of Haven.
“Let’s see how good your class rea—”
Ruin grabbed Charlie by the collar and shoved him onto the podium.
“Today’s class will be taught by my dear friend.”
“…Huh?”
“I specially requested his help. When it comes to dealing with demons like the one that appeared yesterday, no one’s better than Professor Charlie’s self-defense. And didn’t you say you wanted the chairwoman to see your class? Well, she’ll be auditing right now, so don’t make a single mistake.”
The students and Charlie were stunned, but Ruin immediately left the classroom.
A moment later, a scream of “What the hell, you bastard?!” came from inside—but Ruin ignored it.
* * *
Good. The hero problem’s been handled.
Your friend is trembling in front of the hero… He can’t even talk. Wasn’t he a hero fanboy? He’s going to get the worst evaluations.
His problem.
…You’re awful.
Still, the hero was the real problem.
Why won’t he just go back to the front line?
Instead, he unpacked and said this:
“I’ve been away from the academy too long. I neglected the students. So I think I’ll settle down for a while. Kind of like being a principal, you know?”
A principal at a military academy, my ass.
This flower-brained, bright-eyed mutt.
Ruin was furious—but what could he do?
And honestly, a chairwoman’s attention wasn’t bad for a professor.
She even gives cash bonuses without being asked.
Rent-wise, he was already overpaid.
Land here is cheap.
It felt like being a tenant richer than the landlord.
But…
I can’t get my severance pay like this!
That was the real problem.
He’d been about to start digging his escape tunnel—but—
“When will Professor Ruins get off work? The chairwoman asks if you’d like to have a drink after.”
…The headmaster lives next door and the chairwoman across the street.
I can’t even go home.
“Tell her I’ll be living in the Therapeutics classroom for a while. Night research.”
“Can she come there?”
…Damn it. Let me dig my tunnel!
Why not just abandon your pride and side with the hero?
Do you want to get killed by the Demon King?
First he had to divert the hero’s attention.
And how to do that?
A perfect way exists.
