Elize smiled brightly.
“The best?” From that sharp-tongued Luine? Such praise?
She kept asking the other cadets too.
How was today’s class?
“Today’s lecture? Honestly, I was shocked. It might’ve been the best I’ve attended recently.”
“I didn’t expect Professor Dante to be that good at [Illusion], to be honest. It was insane.”
“There were all those rumors about him being a [Combat System] assassin, or a [Magic System] one. But at this rate, he’s basically an [Illusion System] assassin, isn’t he...?”
At that, Elize wagged her invisible tail.
Everyone was praising him?
He must’ve really been amazing.
She had enjoyed the class too—learned more than she expected. But since she usually slept through other lectures, she didn’t have much basis for comparison.
Still, with everyone reacting like this...
That night, Elize went to find Gray.
“Gray. You know—”
“Hm?”
“...Mmm.”
Elize paused before speaking.
Wearing a slightly uneasy expression, she hesitated, then reached out to pull Gray’s legs together.
“You shouldn’t sit with your legs spread like that.”
“...The hell? And since when do you care about that stuff?”
“I do.”
“Huh. That’s new. You’re thinking... normal things now?”
Gray gave her a smirking, catlike expression.
“But these are my legs, yeah? I can sit however I want.”
“No. What if someone sees up your skirt...”
Gray instinctively muttered back.
“I usually wear safety shorts—wait, no, why the hell are we even talking about this? What do you want?”
Elize shook her head, still looking uncertain.
“......If you sit properly, I’ll tell you.”
Gray stared at her for a second, then slowly got off her chair and dropped into a full 180-degree split on the floor. Elize clapped in amazement.
“Wow. You’re super flexible.”
Shoulders lifted in pride.
“Right? I could go further if I—wait, no. That’s not the point. Why are you here? Say it before I slap you.”
“Mmm... Sit properly, and I’ll tell you...”
Smack!
She got slapped anyway.
While rubbing the lump on her head, Elize finally answered.
“There’s a professor who’s insanely good at [Illusion].”
“Who?”
“Professor Dante.”
“Dante...?”
Gray’s brow furrowed at the mention of a name—she had a terrible memory for names.
“The one who confiscated your dagger.”
“Oh.”
Now she remembered.
Dante.
That odd, fascinating professor.
He’d saved Elize once before.
He was absurdly good at controlling distance, casually ignoring Gray’s 『Quickslash』 right in front of him.
And he was the first professor ever to order the confiscation of Gray’s weapon.
‘He was the first person Kaiser ever lost to, wasn’t he?’
Kind of funny, thinking back.
After tasting his first real defeat at Dante’s hands, Kaiser completely lost it.
Whenever Dante’s name came up, he’d tremble with rage—or sometimes go full manic, insisting Dante had to become his advisor.
That monster of a man, who wouldn’t flinch even if his own family died, turned into a twitching lunatic whenever Dante was involved.
‘He was one of those professors I really wanted to assassinate.’
Balmung seemed to like him... weirdly much.
Kendreik seemed to hate him... weirdly much.
Love him or hate him—everyone seemed to do it weirdly.
Truly unreadable and bizarre. That was Dante, in Gray’s mind.
“......Huh? Wait, what?”
Gray blinked, caught off guard by her own thoughts.
“That Dante professor’s good at [Illusion]?”
“Yeah.”
“How good?”
Gray immediately regretted asking. No way Elize could explain anything properly.
...Or so she thought, until one sentence shattered that assumption.
“Better than you?”
Elize blinked innocently as she said it, wide-eyed, without a shred of malice.
“......”
Gray instantly felt a surge of irritation—[Illusion] was her pride, after all.
“Better... than me?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Elize. You see my [Illusion] work {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} every day.”
“I do.”
“And you still think he’s better? Are you serious?”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“.......”
Unbelievable. The Habanero family had mastered [Illusion] for generations. Gray was called the greatest genius across all branches of the family.
And not once in her life had anyone ever said she wasn’t the best.
“...What exactly did this professor do?”
Still, she decided to hear it out.
Arms crossed, Gray asked. Elize, looking a bit more excited, began recounting what she remembered from the lecture.
But really—this was someone who confused camels and ostriches, and yelled “puppy!” every time she saw a cat on the street.
How coherent could her explanation be?
Still, Gray listened patiently through the babbling.
It sounded like the professor did use some impressive [Illusion]. But all of it—well, Gray herself could pull off those same things.
This pink-haired idiot probably just didn’t realize how skilled she actually was.
“So how about checking it out yourself? I could ask the professor for you.”
“......”
Gray frowned.
At that professor’s level...
Correction.
At the level of a mere new hire—not some great head professor—there was no one who could dare to teach her anything about [Illusion].
“No thanks. Forget it. Doesn’t sound like much anyway.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t ‘huh’ me. You want a slap? Huh?”
“No, but... he really was good...”
“I can do all that too, you know? Forget it. If that’s all you came to say, leave.”
With a scowl, Gray kicked her out.
Not watching him?
What a shame.
He was really good. Even better than Gray...
‘Hmm...’
Still, maybe if she saw him for herself someday, she’d change her mind.
***
I had been personally worrying about how to handle the [Illusion] lecture for quite some time.
Because by now, it was already known that I was fairly proficient in [Illusion].
『World Forgery』 is a continent-level taboo skill, so I had to be careful.
‘Only high-level clerics with divine power can detect a [Taboo], but if suspicion arises, the professors might request someone from the Church...’
I had two choices here:
Teach well.
Or pretend to teach poorly.
This too was a choice between “revealing” and “disappearing” as a method of concealment.
I chose “revealing.”
I decided to act as if I could freely wield numerous forms of [Illusion].
As I’ve said repeatedly—thanks to my high mastery of 『World Forgery』, when it comes to [Illusion], I’m at a level not just at the top of the Academy, but among the best on the continent.
Thus, the first lecture was a success, and for several days afterward, there were no issues.
But on the fourth day of class—
That afternoon, the threat I had anticipated finally arrived.
【 1st-Year, Department of Assassination, Derik: “Professor’s here.” 】
It was inside the indoor training hall on the first floor of the Batalion Building.
I had planned to meet Adele in about twenty minutes for a light training session—
But the uninvited guests got there first.
【 1st-Year, Department of Assassination, John: “Confirmed.” 】
【 1st-Year, Department of Assassination, Hwaru: “Confirmed!” 】
【 1st-Year, Department of Assassination, Dominic: <Aaah—Confirmed.> 】
...The review assassination had begun.
There were five of them in total.
All students enrolled in my class.
And for some reason, Dominic and Hwaru—both of whom I’d met during my very first assassination attempt—were among them.
【 1st-Year, Department of Assassination, Derik: <Comm link active.> 】
【 1st-Year, Department of Assassination, Derik: <Everyone clear on the op?> 】
【 1st-Year, Department of Assassination, John: <Confirmed.> 】
【 1st-Year, Department of Assassination, Hwaru: <Confirmed!> 】
Five red dots scattered across the minimap.
Not just a simple hit—this was a full-on assassination operation.
‘...This is going to be a pain.’
Unlike the other professors, I couldn’t brute-force my way through an assassination.
My raw combat power was abysmal.
Which meant—if they got me head-on, I really could die.
But that didn’t mean I wanted to permanently traumatize a bunch of earnest kids.
Didn’t want to mess up their minds, either.
This was part of the job as a professor in the Department of Assassination.
And I’d have to keep managing it.
———
Dante: An assassination’s coming. Talk later. Adele: Again? Adele: You sure get assassinated a lot, professor ㅠㅋㅋ Adele: (crying squirrel emoji)———
First things first—I bailed on our appointment.
And decided to leave the area.
【 1st-Year, Department of Assassination, Derik: <Professor is moving. John’s team, follow him first.> 】
【 1st-Year, Department of Assassination, John: <Confirmed.> 】
The assassination attempt begins.
Crack!
A flicker of lightning split the wall in half, and the door vanished.
They had overlaid the wall with [Illusion].
If I went to where the lightning flickered, I’d find the real doorknob embedded in the false wall.
But I didn’t grab it.
According to the minimap, there were two red dots just behind that wall.
It was a double-layered trap.
【 1st-Year, Department of Assassination, John: <What’s the situation? Is he coming?> 】
【 1st-Year, Department of Assassination, Derik: <Not yet! He’s still!> 】
First things first... I needed to take out their vision.
『World Forgery: Phenomenon Forgery – [Smoke Screen]』
Whoosh!
Smoke surged across the ceiling of the hall like a fog bank.
【 1st-Year, Department of Assassination, Derik: <Ugh! Vision’s blocked!> 】
As confusion spread,
I threw open the hidden door behind the illusory wall.
【 1st-Year, Department of Assassination, John: <He’s here! Charge—!> 】
But the ones who had been waiting to lunge through the door—
Couldn’t.
『World Forgery: Spatial Forgery – [Wall]』
Because I had now created a wall on my side of the door.
【 1st-Year, Department of Assassination, John: <...What the hell? It’s blocked!> 】
As the panicked idiot melted into [Stealth],
I heard footsteps behind me—
Derik had dropped down from the steel beams in the ceiling, where he’d been hiding with [Stealth].
【 1st-Year, Department of Assassination, Derik: <Get it together! That wall’s just an illusion too!> 】
【 1st-Year, Department of Assassination, John: <Shit, when did he...!> 】
The two cadets who had been waiting behind the door broke through my [Illusion] and entered the hall, shouting, “Where is he?!”
But there was a reason I’d used “spatial forgery” instead of “form forgery” when I made that wall.
The fake wall I had just created—
Was not a “form.”
It was “space” itself.
As they passed right by the spot I’d been hiding in and charged deeper into the auditorium—
I stepped calmly into the hallway.
【 1st-Year, Department of Assassination, John: <Where did he go!!> 】
But it seemed they had some tricks of their own prepared.
【 1st-Year, Department of Assassination, Derik: <It’s fine. Stay calm. I’ll keep tracking him with the “Remote Control Ring.”> 】
The “Remote Control Ring.”
As the name suggests, it’s a [Rare]-grade magic tool that allows remote manipulation of mana.
So they brought that?
...They actually brought something that expensive?
Well—expensive or not, all that mattered now was surviving this assassination.
‘If I meet them head-on, there’s still a chance I could die...’
The odds were probably less than 0.5%.
I’d throw everything I had with [World Forgery], after all.
But even that 0.5% was dangerous.