Academy’s Undercover Professor-Novel - Chapter 105

ACADEMY’S UNDERCOVER PROFESSOR

[Translator – Alice]

[Proofreader – ilafy]

Chapter 105 – Action Plan (1)

Kunst held a huge auction once every year.

And the organizers were trying to do it more grandly with more energy that year especially.

An auction with the biggest scale on the planet…

The items that showed up in the auction would only consist of rare goods that were extremely hard to find anywhere else.

There was also a fragment of the Relic that Ludger had been anxiously looking for there.

Ludger’s primary purpose was to acquire the Relic fragment.

However, after he’d gone through the recent event with the Luke Company, he’d decided to change his route a little bit.

The one who would host and be responsible for the auction was the director, Ivan Luke.

He was the man who’d flirted with Selena at the celebration party and had a quarrel with Ludger.

He still had some beef with Ludger.

“I’m planning to rob it grandly.”

Him stealing the Relic fragment was already a decided matter.

Then, in the midst of him stealing the Relic fragment, there was no reason for him to leave the other valuables that were stored with the Relic fragment alone, right?

Because of the business in the slums recently, he was bound to consume a considerable amount of the budget that he’d gathered.

If there was a chance, he felt the need to build his funds again for the next project sooner rather than later.

“Is there anyone who maybe thinks that this is not the best way to do it?”

“Leader, I have something I’m curious about.”

It was Alex who opened his mouth first.

“Yeah? Say it.”

“Well, I certainly think that robbing the Kunst auction house seems fun, so I don’t have any reason to refuse, but it seems like there will be a problem.”

“Where do you think there’ll be a problem?”

“Hm. First of all, the auction that’s going to be held is extremely famous to the point that even I, who just came into the city, know about it. It’s certainly an unprecedented interest for the millionaires.”

“You’re right. It’s going to be the most crowded this time.”

“Rumors have already spread abroad that the originally famous auction has decided to raise its scale to the maximum. The entry items are all top-level as well. That’s why I understand that you want to rob it, but to say it in reverse, their guards and security will be strengthened to that extent as well… Will we be able to rob it?”

There was no one who denied those words.

Everyone was thinking similar thoughts.

As the scale was huge, many people would flock there, and if that was the case, it was inevitable that some twisted individuals who smelled profit would lurk as well.

Unless the Luke Company was stupid, they would’ve prepared measurements to prepare for possible dangers.

“And according to what I know, I heard that no one has ever been able to rob the Kunst auction house.”

It was the part that Alex was worried about the most.

He pointed out each clause of the situation while raising his fingers one by one.

“The Kunst auction house is a place with one of the highest cash flows in Leathevelk as well. Even one item is sold for billions of denars, and it’s full of people who have the financial power to buy the items. Everyone knows what kind of guys such wealthy people mainly drag along, right?”

Hans, who had been silent, replied.

“Of course they’ll have guards with the ability to back up their expensive fees, people who are first-class in their records and abilities.”

“Exactly that. If you add the guards hired by the auction organizers on top of it, it’s more accurate to say that the Kunst auction house is an impregnable fortress.”

It wasn’t that there wasn’t anyone who’d attempted to rob the items that showed up in Kunst auction house until then…

In fact, people who attempted to mobilize all kinds of methods to steal the auction items had existed each time the auction was held.

When it came to the number of robbery attempts, it had exceeded three digits.

And…

The number of times the Kunst auction house was robbed among those attempts?

“Nobody has ever succeeded. The auction house, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, has never allowed the dirty feet of thieves to trespass even once in these past 20 years.”

There was no one in that place who didn’t know the meaning of it.

Ludger had persuaded a small group of members to rob the Kunst auction house, which no one had ever succeeded in doing for the last 20 years.

Alex shrugged his shoulders and chattered.

“If we didn’t know each other, you know that I would usually call someone who says such things crazy, right?”

“I understand.”

“Well, the one who said such things wasn’t a stranger, but it was you, Leader.”

The reason why Alex didn’t storm out of the place and had remained still until the end…

The fact that he didn’t turn a deaf ear to that ridiculous offer and earnestly listened to it carefully…

It was because the person who’d proposed it was Ludger.

“I wouldn’t believe another person, but if it’s something that you say, then the story is different.”

Alex looked at the reactions of his colleagues as he said that.

“Well. It seems like the other people have similar thoughts as mine.”

No one in that place showed a doubtful gaze toward Ludger.

Even though they were aware that it was an impossible thing, they seriously took Ludger’s words into account.

It was a reaction that would never be shown if a steady trust hadn’t been built.

“So… What’s the strategy?”

“You’ll know once you see it. Hans.”

When Ludger called his name, Hans moved right away—he brought a large blueprint map that was resting in the room’s corner and spread it wide open in front of everyone’s eyes.

Sheridan’s eyes shone as she saw the picture unfolding on the paper.

“Is this perhaps the blueprint of the Kunst auction house?”

“Yeah. It’s the real deal. I obtained it from the person who originally built it 20 years ago after much difficulty.”

Since some years had passed, there were a few parts that’d become worn out, but it seemed that they’d put a lot of effort into preserving it, the blueprint itself didn’t have any parts erased.

Ludger raised his finger and pointed at the bottom part of the blueprint.

“Our destination is here.”

“This is…  Basement, right?”

Ludger nodded his head at Arpa’s question.

The Kunst auction house was a building that had a scale beyond imagination, and there was such a huge basement space.

“It’s the basement facility of Kunst auction house. The items that will be auctioned are stored 40m below the building’s basement.”

“40m? Crazy. What about the way to enter that place?”

“One elevator—there’s no other way to go down except that. Of course, there are no stairs either.”

One entrance…

And obviously, there was only one exit as well.

“Since they’re literally marking down only important items, it’s an optimized space to store them, I see. If we enter it secretly somehow, there won’t be any problem.”

Hans shook his head at Alex, who mumbled while stroking his chin.

“It will be difficult.”

“How come?”

“The problem is not simply the fact that the entrance and exit are the same. The interior is so severely fortified that it’s akin to a royal castle.”

Hans pulled out a couple of papers from his arms and put them on the blueprint.

They were blurry photos that weren’t printed out properly, but it wasn’t that they weren’t able to identify them.

“These are the guards of the Kunst auction house.”

“Gu-guards? Hee. But all of them are wearing armor, though?”

Bellaruna spoke as she looked over the photos carefully.

All of the people in the photos were heavily armored.

The full plate armors which were a product of the older generation…

Hans nodded his head.

“You are right. Surprisingly, the ones who wear these armors are the guards. While the others wear cool uniforms, these guys wear armors made of special platinoid and protect the interior.”

“Is that possible?”

“I don’t know how much money the people above spent to buy it, but there was permission from the city for the Kunst auction house to do this. An astronomical amount of money was poured out for the lobby.”

“They invested that much? Just to put armor on their interior guards?”

“It’s some kind of flaunting, and the armor itself is not ordinary, either. The armor is specially crafted, and their sense of pressure is quite strong on its own, and most of all, the contents within the armor are tough as well.”

Hans pulled out and showed more data that he had prepared as he said so.

Violeta thought that he was amazing as she saw such an appearance.

She had thought of Hans as a mostly untrustworthy person before then.

‘Where on earth did he obtain such data?’

She understood why that man could be allowed to stay by Ludger’s side and why Ludger said that he was specialized in gathering information.

“The guards of the Kunst auction house are called the Black Guards, and these are some of the names among the people who are affiliated with them.”

Personal information was within some of the records that Hans was showing.

“A former mercenary captain who led a huge mercenary group, a retired knight, a talented knight-errant, etc.”

“Knights… huh. The fact that the guards are filled with only these people is also tough.”

“That’s how much money they poured out. Of course, their number is not that many, and these guys also work alternately in three shifts… But there probably won’t be such a thing on the day the auction is held.”

A 30m basement space with only one entrance…

The troops who protected the interior were all knight-class.

Moreover, if one thought about the escort troops belonging to the visiting guests on that day, even if they were stabbing into it, there wouldn’t even be a single hole in which a needle could enter.

“Hmm. Still, if it’s to this extent…”

Hans dropped an additional blow to Alex, who was contemplating the possibilities.

“For reference, the alley that leads to this underground storage room is full of all kinds of alarms. Only permitted people are able to pass through the entrance door that leads toward the basement, and magic alarms are everywhere down there.”

“What?”

“And most of all, the main problem is they can check the storage room in real time.”

“They can check it in real time, you said? Is that possible?”

“Please look at this.”

Hans brought out and placed before them more data that he had prepared as he said so.

“Three years ago, there was a wizard who brought out a unique artifact from the Old Magic Tower, it was an item that was tinkered with by modifying the crystal ball for communication.”

“If it’s a crystal ball, then it’s something that makes long-distance communication possible. It’s interesting that someone modified that.”

“The magic tower actually judged that the artifact was useless after looking at its effectiveness, so the patent wasn’t given by them, and they rejected it instead. Without knowing where they’d heard the news, the Luke company approached that wizard and said that they would buy the related artifact’s rights.”

“And is this that artifact?”

Hans drew a square glass plate on the paper that he’d brought.

A magic crystal ball had the form of a sphere that was made with glass which was mixed with mana stone, but what Hans drew had the shape of a thin and widely spread glass.

It looked unfamiliar to other people, but the shape was familiar to Ludger.

—It was similar to a TV display from Earth.

“Compared to the existing crystal ball that sends and receives conversations through voice, this one made it possible to send and show appearances in real time.”

“Oh, my gosh. I can’t believe they use this kind of artifact in a place to store items!”

Sheridan’s body trembled, as she was seemingly both surprised and frightened.

Rather than admiration toward a great artifact, it was more of a rage that an item that great was used merely in that kind of place.

Hans ignored Sheridan, who was steaming, while continuing his explanation.

“Anyway, knowing that there’s an artifact that can send the appearance of the storage room in real time, even if we succeed in infiltrating the inside of the storage room, we’re bound to be caught right away.”

“…In the end, to sum it up, is it like this?”

Even if they were able to access it under strict control, the only alley led to one elevator which led to a 30m basement.

The surroundings were full of guards wearing black armors. Moreover, since all of them were verified people, the lowest skill they had would be second-class.

The interior of the basement space was studded with magic alarm circles.

And lastly, there was even an artifact that made the monitoring of the interior possible in real time.

“Hmm…”

Now that the information had been organized, Alex knocked his forehead with his fingertips as he thought that it was outrageous.

“Is it even possible to penetrate this place?”

Everyone’s gazes headed toward Ludger.

They’d answered excitedly that they would do it when he’d said that he would rob the auction, but now that the internal security measures had been conveyed one by one, they felt helpless in front of what they were being confronted with.

“Obviously.”

Ludger nodded his head without changing his expression even though he was receiving burdensome stares.

“We can penetrate it.”

“Leader, are you really serious about that?”

“There’s no reason for me to lie here, right?”

“That’s… True, but…”

“Now that I look at it, I think we should be most wary of this artifact that can watch from a long distance in real time.”

Alex nodded his head.

Even though they could fool the other things somehow, it seemed that there was no way to avoid something that watched 24 hours straight.

‘If we destroy it?’

That would be a problem as well. Even if they destroyed it and covered their figures, people would definitely swarm to it.

‘In the end, we should move without getting caught by that artifact, but we’re not invisible people, so such a thing is impossible.’

That was why he could only wait for Ludger’s answer.

But Ludger was sincere.

The artifact that Hans showed to them was already an item that he was used to.

‘I didn’t expect an item similar to a modern CCTV to exist in this place as well.’

Of course, thinking of the era, that artifact which was made by magic would have been extremely innovative for the people in that place.

It wasn’t like there wasn’t any method to foil it.

“I have an idea.”