Chapter 71
Chapter 71
Chapter 71
DLC [Professor of the Heroic Tale]: Midway Summary (4)
Before Adele touched my cheek.
That is, it happened when we had ordered a lot of drinks and were in the middle of drinking.
After stories about mundane academic life, stories about the mansion maid, and stories about the Jinxite strategy continued. Around the time three bottles of strong liquor had been emptied.
“Ugh, I think I drank too much….”
“Indeed.”
“But, Professor….”
Adele, flushed and tipsy, was looking at me intently as she spoke.
I subtly manipulated my Mana to control my intoxication, but I replied as if I were drunk.
“Uh.”
“…It’s pretty, this.”
Adele pressed her fingertip firmly against my chest. It was the Senior Professor badge.
“It’s pretty, right? But it’s plated.”
“I said it during the day too, but honestly, I was a bit surprised….”
“My promotion was indeed fast.”
“It’s not just fast…. Usually, you need over 10 years of employment, research achievements, or a ranking to wear one, but Senior Professor….”
“I too fear my own abilities.”
“Ahaha. What is that?”
Our glasses clinked.
Clink-
Adele smiled with unfocused eyes.
“But, Professor. Earlier today. What we were talking about.”
“Was it about whether I would abandon you?”
“How can you say it like that, it’s embarrassing……. …Yes.”
Pouring more alcohol into her glass, Adele said.
“…It’s just, that story. Whether I can continue to be under you, Professor….”
At this moment, I was looking at her with unfocused eyes, but my mind began to clear.
It was the first time I had heard Adele’s desire.
“Hey. But why.”
“I… I want to become an Assistant Professor….”
“Assistant Professor?”
“Yes, yes…. Assistant Professor….”
Adele twirled her hair with a vacant look.
“Me…. I’m just a nobody Graduate Student in the Assassination Department right now…. but I have ambition.”
“I had no idea.”
“I’m good at hiding things….”
It seemed so.
“Shall I hear it? What your ambition is.”
Adele smiled with a relaxed expression.
“…I want to become a ‘Master’.”
Master, you say.
It was interesting.
“You’re saying something that could cause trouble in the Assassination Department.”
“…I don’t think so.”
“An assassin is a tool.”
“Well…. Who in the world would think of the Department Head as a tool? They are an assassin too….”
I laughed.
“You are right.”
“Right? In the end, it’s all about the logic of power…. Assassins being tools is only true for those without power…. They have to go out and fight. They have to die when they need to die…. We grit our teeth and pretend otherwise, but everyone knows it, young and old….”
Precisely.
Why couldn’t the professors fill the 30 spots for the second Jinxite strategy meeting? Because they were tools.
Why did that Shaman with the double chin insist I shouldn’t go out, even throwing a tantrum? Because he was a tool.
Things that can be replaced are not called ‘tools’. In that sense, everyone actually knows. That only the weak are tools.
“…Do you know what I’ve been thinking about lately?”
“What is it.”
“That becoming your Graduate Student is the greatest fortune of my life…. I’m thinking that….”
“You said you were an S-class Graduate Student during the day.”
“Oh my, did I say that?”
“You know it too. Which one of us is the real S-class.”
I said it as a joke, but
Adele blinked in surprise, then burst into laughter.
“…Yes!”
After she responded cheerfully, she seemed to find her own cheerfulness amusing and laughed even harder. ‘Kyahahahaha!’ I found it a little amusing too.
“Actually, I know it all…. Professor, you are already a Master, and you will become an even greater Master in the future…. I am just a tool caught by the Master’s hand by sheer luck….”
“You flatter me. The future is uncertain.”
“I think I know~ How much great fortune I am monopolizing all by myself right now….”
Adele looked up at me with a dreamy expression.
“…Alright. If so, what changes if you become an Assistant Professor?”
“I heard that a new era of opportunity is coming for us…?”
“…….”
I’ve thought this before, but Adele is very well-informed.
Not many people would know about the 「Betting Table」 yet.
“So I heard.”
“A rich family’s dog only needs to sit by the table; even the crumbs that fall are meat…. I am ready to lick them up…. You never know, right? Me too, this….”
Adele pressed the Senior Professor badge again.
“You have ambition.”
“I do.”
Then she wiped the smile from her face.
“I’ve been a Graduate Student for 6 years…. I’ve failed the Assistant Professor review three times…. The department probably thought I had no potential, so they always assigned me administrative tasks, and this was probably my last year. And I was planning to do ‘something very bad’ if I got fired from the Academy this year….”
“…….”
It was very.
A very significant statement.
“But now, luck has found me…. the fortune of you, Professor…. That doesn’t mean I’m burdening you, Professor. But I really want to do well this time…. So please continue to employ me as your Graduate Student…. Hmm, but does that sound too mercenary…?”
“…….”
“I’m sorry. I sound a bit pathetic…”
I lowered my gaze and picked up the liquor bottle.
Then I spun the round ice in my on-the-rocks glass.
This was the first time I had heard Adele’s desire.
However, I didn’t know how it related to her being a spy.
I couldn’t gauge if it was dangerous or not.
Rather, her words now sounded very ‘peaceful’.
It’s unlikely that someone who craves my existence would harm me.
It is still time to reserve judgment.
“We’ll see how you do.”
It was said jokingly, but a little heartlessly.
Adele, however, smiled faintly.
“Then I’ll have to do well…. Ah, can I go to the restroom for a moment?”
“Go ahead.”
Adele went to the restroom.
In the meantime, I thought.
‘What should I do….’
She aims to achieve something at the Academy. If things go wrong, she might do something very bad. In other words, if what she said is true, Adele is a bomb that will detonate the moment I discard her.
If I discard her, she explodes.
But I can’t keep her around.
Such is the dilemma here.
After a brief moment, the alcohol also started to affect me, so I went out to get some fresh air.
‘It’s snowing again.’
Then, I wandered around aimlessly and spotted someone behind a building. Adele was smoking a cigarette alone in a secluded spot.
“Oh my? Professor~”
Adele, looking embarrassed, fanned away the smoke with her hand.
“Sigh. I’ve been smoking secretly so well, but I got caught today….”
“Were you a smoker?”
“Sometimes. Like when I drink today…. Professor, are you not a smoker usually?”
“I quit.”
“Oh no. I might tempt you~ I should smoke quickly.”
As she spoke, she began to puff out smoke like a chimney.
There was no need to worry about it.
I had quit everything during my cancer treatment, and after my body changed, the desire to smoke disappeared entirely.
“The air is cold, so the alcohol seems to be wearing off. Shall we go?”
But why was it?
Perhaps because it was dark, or because I was drunk, or because it was a secluded place? Or was it because I had to extract information?
“Come to think of it…”
For a fleeting moment, following a feeling I liked.
I said these words.
“We don’t know each other very well.”
Amidst the noisy bar street, my words were quite ordinary.
But did Adele feel something too?
“…….”
Adele’s expression changed slightly as she turned around.
“…That’s right, we don’t know each other well.”
Adele smiled.
“It’s funny when you think about it….”
“Funny?”
“Isn’t it? For people who live together….”
“…….”
“I didn’t know you quit smoking. Or that you drink well. Or that you can be so cunning like today…. We’ve been living together in the same house for quite some time, yet I know nothing about you, Professor….”
“You’re like an assassin.”
“That’s right. We’re like assassins….”
Then, she chuckled and asked back.
With a slightly playful expression.
“Are you curious about me…?”
“…….”
For a few seconds, I watched Adele.
It was because the conversation suddenly felt like it was veering off course.
Perhaps it was an opportunity.
A chance to probe the mind of this mysterious spy.
“…Ah, I’m sorry. I must be drunk. It was a joke….”
“What if I am curious?”
I approached Adele, who was about to turn away.
“…Uh, yes?”
Adele took a step back and asked again. It was because I had never broken through ‘this distance’ between us before.
“If I am curious, what can you tell me?”
“…Uh, um. That. That…”
Adele slowly raised her hands.
Then she avoided my gaze.
“…First of all, we’re too close…?”
“The answer.”
“Well…. Um…. Well, it’s not like I have much to teach you, really….”
“…….”
“Um, excuse me. Professor. I’m a bit… If you could give me a little space…”
“It’s a joke.”
I turned away.
“…Yes? Huh? Really? Ah, what is this. You’re doing something you never do. You surprised me.”
“Shall we go? We’ve finished drinking. Just need to pay.”
“…Where do you think you’re going?”
“Then let’s have another drink-”
I closed my mouth, because Adele was now blocking my path.
“The joke is over.”
“It’s not a joke….”
“…….”
“Then what about you, Professor…?”
“What.”
“What can you tell me, Professor? About me…?”
“I can tell you almost anything.”
“Really? Then tell me one thing.”
“What do you want to know.”
“…….”
Adele blinked.
Then she took another step closer.
A little, a lot closer.
“…….”
Adele paused for a moment, then asked.
“…Can I get a little closer to you, Professor?”
“We’ll bump into each other.”
“I’m not joking. I’m serious.”
What could this mean?
What should I do here to get closer to the correct answer?
“How can we get closer?”
Adele, who was thinking ‘Hmm…’, chuckled softly.
“…Friends.”
“Friends?”
“…Yes. We’re five years apart in age…. Not just as Professor and Graduate Student. I want to be your friend, Professor.”
“…….”
I still couldn’t grasp her intention.
Perhaps, as she said earlier, it was to solidify her position as my sole, exclusive Graduate Student? For now, that was the only interpretation.
Then, what choice should I make?
Was I an honest Graduate Student to my Professor in the past? No. We both wore thick masks.
Ultimately, I knew that to understand Adele better, I had to break through this distance. Just like I had done moments ago.
“Good. Friends.”
“…Are you serious?”
“Actually, I wanted a friend like you too.”
“…….”
Adele, surprised for a moment, then frowned and smiled.
“…I like that, those words.”
It was getting cold. I asked if we should go back, and Adele agreed. Then Adele blinked and stumbled, falling, and I caught her with my body.
“You’re drunk.”
“Ah, I’m sorry…. Hooo…. I drank a bit too much….”
She couldn’t stand up properly and then looked up at me. With vacant eyes. After a few seconds of eye contact, Adele suddenly placed her hand on my cheek.
“What are you doing.”
“…Do you know that?”
“Know what.”
“…You’re damn handsome.”
“…….”
It was a slightly disconcerting remark.
With vacant eyes, Adele said.
“…Is this why people spend money?”
“What do you mean?”
“…No. Nothing.”
Words that made no sense even when mulled over.
Her touch was as careful as stroking a puppy.
Overcoming the awkwardness, I asked softly.
“Who does that between friends?”
Adele smiled and whispered.
“…They say people do that when they’re drunk.”
“What kind of thing is that?”
“Hmm? Don’t you watch dating shows, Professor? They all do that on there.”
“You’ll end up sticking your lips out too.”
“Yes…?”
Adele laughed, perhaps recalling the Ruine’s Illusion Magic incident.
“Ahaha! No matter how handsome you are, that’s a bit much between friends…. Oh my, oh my? Could it be that’s what you, Professor, are hoping for~?”
“Get up. You’re heavy.”
“Ah, yes, yes. Oop.”
At this point, I was certain. She was definitely a ‘very big threat,’ but she had no intention of killing me right now.
I had just gambled. Catching Adele as she was about to fall was that gamble.
If Adele had intended to kill me just now, she could have. Of course, I wouldn’t have died. Ezekiel’s curse would have activated, putting Adele in trouble. However, even though I gave her that opening, Adele did not attack me.
“…Shall we go, home?”
So, I decided to watch her a little longer.
“Shall we go, to my place.”
Adele’s eyes widened.
Then she smiled playfully.
“Oh my…?"
│sㅇ)
The next day. The Chairman of Hiaka Academy summoned me.
● Chairman Hedwig
A foolish-looking owl plushie mask. I had only seen it on game monitors, but this was the first time seeing it in person.
“Ah, welcome~!”
As soon as the Chairman saw me, they waved.
“Nice to meet you. Chairman.”
“Yes, yes. Dante, the Senior Professor who’s the talk of the town!? Nice to meet you~! I’m busy right now, so can we just get to the point?”
“As you please.”
“Say hello!”
Hello? I looked to the side and saw a woman.
A woman with an emotionless face and black eyes. Jet-black hair. A sharply tailored suit and matching trousers. She had a calm demeanor that felt almost alien.
● Graduate Student Ran⧉
“She’s your research assistant who will be with you starting today!”
So suddenly?
The woman approached and bowed her head.
“Nice to meet you, Senior Professor Dante. I am called ‘Ran’.”
Even her voice sounded mechanical.
Seeing the Systematicity⧉ mark on her name tag, I realized.
‘She’s someone sent by 「Systematicity⧉」.’
Dino’s words from [Offline] came to mind.
-
Up until now, any errors that occurred in [Error Space] were not shared with the player… but now, Systematicity⧉ will send individuals who can share the parts they’ve identified as characters around you… Wow!
A person who identifies bugs and shares information.
It seemed they sent her in the form of a Graduate Student.
It was logical. Because they share the most time.
“I’m Dante. Please take care of me.”
“I will also take care of you. I have applied for residential sharing, so may I move into the Professor’s mansion today?”
“There’s an empty room, so please do as you wish.”
At this moment. I accepted without much thought.
Because I didn’t think much of it.
“Huh? Who is that?”
“A new Graduate Student. I received her through the Chairman’s recommendation.”
However, immediately after returning to the mansion.
I felt a momentary, strange sense of unease.
“………….”
It was fleeting.
Adele’s expression seemed a bit off.
But after blinking, her expression returned to normal.
Ran placed her luggage aside and approached Adele, bowing her head.
“Nice to meet you. I am Ran. I have been appointed as Professor Dante’s research assistant as of today.”
“Ah, yes. Nice to meet you. You’re very cool~”
Adele smiled. As she always did when meeting people.
“I am Adele.”
“I look forward to working with you. I will do my best not to cause any inconvenience regarding residential sharing.”
Her response was also as usual.
“Me too~”