Academy’s Undercover Professor-Novel - Chapter 116

ACADEMY’S UNDERCOVER PROFESSOR

[Translator – Alice]

[Proofreader – ilafy]

Chapter 116 – Magic, Science, and Tricks (1)

Ludger recalled the past.

From five years before, the days when he was active in the Kingdom of Delica with the name James Moriarty and not Ludger Chelysie.

At that time, he was intentionally swept away in various incidents, and those incidents got bigger, then he’d gotten involved with many people.

If he should choose one of the most memorable people among them, it would be Casey Selmore.

She had the nickname of genius detective. According to Ludger, the title wasn’t an overstatement at all.

—Because she’d literally pushed him to the edge of a cliff with her unbelievable reasoning power and instinct.

It wasn’t a metaphorical expression, since she’d fallen with him from a waterfall cliff with the determination to die with him.

‘I can’t believe that crazy woman is here.’

It seemed that he’d stared at her too blatantly.

Casey Selmore looked like she sensed a stare from him and suddenly turned her head.

Before their gazes met, Ludger hurriedly fixed his eyes on the platform where the auction was held.

They’d almost looked at each other.

‘Since I was in disguise as James Moriarty, she probably wouldn’t recognize me now, but it’s just in case.’

Ludger had gained various enlightenments as he wandered around the world, and there was one fact that he felt bitterly:

—There were people who simply shattered common sense.

And one of the people who shattered common sense was Casey Selmore.

Since he often heard rumors about her, Ludger knew.

After the time when she’d pursued James Moriarty had ended, Casey Selmore had achieved a tremendous accomplishment in magic and even gained a title of the color which symbolized the related element property.

‘We were barely on equal terms back then, so I contemplated whether to fight her or not, but now, since she’s gained the blue title, fighting her would be suicide.’

He suddenly had anxiety.

The feeling that maybe Casey Selmore was there because she had uncovered his plan to rob the auction house.

Ludger shook his head right away.

‘She hasn’t found out about that yet. If she had, the woman would never sit still and chat with the person beside her.’

Elendil, who was sitting beside her, couldn’t even detect Ludger’s presence.

That was how menacing Casey Selmore was for him.

‘But knowing that the woman is still like that, it means that she hasn’t realized what will happen in this place.’

That was also a matter of time.

If she felt something fishy for even a bit, she would stand from her seat right away.

If one of the very few wizards who’d gained a color title stood up to solve an incident…

His elaborate plan that was weeks in the making would be ruined.

‘This is awkward.’

Ludger could only wish that his subordinates would proceed with the plan as discreetly as possible.

* * *

“You came.”

Alex and Pantos, who were hovering around the elevator’s entrance, recognized Hans and Arpa, who’d disguised themselves as workers.

“The key?”

“Here.”

Alex lightly swayed the key at Hans’s question.

With that, the four people gathered safely in the entrance of the elevator.

“Well, then let’s get prepared.”

Hans and Arpa soon took off the armor that the two guards who fainted in the entrance had worn.

“What? This. Why is this so crushed?”

Hans looked at the armor, which was crushed in the chest, and frowned.

Looking at it closely, it wasn’t just crushed, it seemed like a fist shape was imprinted in it.

Hans glanced sideways at Pantos’s fist.

Hans gulped down as he roughly compared the size of the imprinted trace in the armor and Pantos’s hand.

He didn’t have the courage to quibble over it.

“Ah, shit. It’s better than not wearing this.”

Hans wore the Black Guard’s armor right away. Arpa did the same.

The two people held the spears and finished their disguise as the Black Guards who’d guarded the entrance.

The fainted two guards were kept in the food cart that they brought and were left in an unseen place. Looking at their state, it seemed like they would be out all night long.

Alex placed the key to its hole without further hesitation. Soon, the elevator’s door opened along with the sound of the huge spinning cogwheel from the inside.

“Good. Now let’s go down.”

Alex hit Pantos’s elbow with his fist in a friendly manner.

Pantos wriggled his eyebrows while staring at Alex.

Alex smiled awkwardly and stepped back.

“Oh, hm. Was it a bit too much?”

“…Never mind. Let’s get down.”

Pantos ignored Alex and entered the elevator.

Alex whistled and got into it as well.

“Then. Good luck.”

“Sure.”

After they said farewell to each other, Alex closed the elevator door and went down.

* * *

The storage room in Kunst auction house.

The security guard, who was watching over the underground storage room through the newly invented artifact, yawned, as he seemed to be bored.

“Yaaawn!”

“Hey, hey. You should watch it properly.”

“Well, what can I do if I’m bored? If I keep looking at the same unchanging scene, it seems like I will go crazy.”

“Do you think it’s only you? Hold it in for a little bit. The shift rotation is happening soon.”

“Pheew. I know that they’re stricter because a real auction is being held, but how could someone possibly trespass there?”

“I know. Does anyone have a method to break into that place anyway?”

It was a moment, but conversation started to bloom inside the silent storage room.

Anyone was bound to say something after continuing to look at a monitor displayed by the artifact while sitting for hours.

“Still, it’s amazing. Thanks to this mysterious artifact, we can check who’s going inside and doing what. We would’ve been on standby in that underground entrance if it wasn’t for the artifact.”

“I know, right?”

It was then…

Zzzzt.

It was only a brief moment, but the monitor on the display buzzed and blurred.

“Oh?”

“What’s the matter?”

“Well. The screen just swayed a moment ago, right?”

“The screen? I don’t see anything wrong with it.”

Since it happened in such a brief moment, the security guard who raised the question first also thought that he was seeing things.

“Hmm. I’ve probably just been staring at screens for too long, it seems like my eyes are seeing things.”

When he was about to conclude that it was a mistake…

The colleague who was sitting by his side hurriedly nudged his arm.

“What? Why?”

“Hey, hey that. Do you see that?”

“What?”

His stare followed his colleague’s finger to the second vault of the underground storage room.

“Oh?”

The security guard who’d asked about what happened gaped at the scene that was shown on the screen.

One of the walls in the second vault was destroyed and intruders rushed in through the wall.

Their faces were covered with hoods, but there was no way the security didn’t know who they were.

“Th-that!”

“Crazy! How many meters underground is this, yet they dug an underground tunnel and broke in?!”

The security guards used the portable crystal ball right away to let people know of the matter.

* * *

“What?!”

Ivan Luke, who was sharing a light conversation with the guests and boasting about himself, inadvertently shouted at one employee who’d whispered something to him.

He immediately cleared his throat while saying that it was nothing, as he was aware of the gazes from the surroundings, and asked the employee quietly.

“What did you say just now?”

“S-so…”

“You won’t tell me now? Do you want to be fired?”

“Well… There are intruders who show up in the underground vault.”

“…!”

Ivan Luke desperately withheld his scream with patience.

He asked about how it happened while barely lowering his temper.

“What exactly just happened? How did an intruder get in there? How about the guys who guard the entrance, then?”

“Well… They got in by digging a tunnel to the underground…”

“What? By digging a tunnel?”

How many meters underground was that place, yet they’d gotten in by digging an underground tunnel?

He wanted to nitpick about how such an unbelievable thing could happen, but they couldn’t have been mistaken since the situation was conveyed after confirming it through the artifact.

Ivan Luke became desperate.

‘If it’s like this, the auction that was opened after such a long time is going to be ruined!’

He had prepared a lot for the auction; and he had also put a lot of effort in it.

He had bet on everything in order to look good to his father and to make up for his disgraceful appearance in the banquet hall.

He couldn’t let the open auction be ruined because of a filthy petty thief.

“Call the guards.”

“H-how many?”

“All of them!” Ivan Luke answered with fiery eyes.

* * *

The Black Guards, who were guarding their spots like stone statues, moved.

The people didn’t even realize they were moving.

Because they didn’t move all together, but they were leaving the places one by one quietly.

Before they knew it, almost twenty Black Guards stood in the elevator entrance.

The old guard who was in charge of the guards stood in front.

He was a male who had been on service there for 20 years.

“Is everyone who should gather here already gathered? How about the rest?”

“The rest are guarding their spots in order to prepare for unknown situations.”

“Good. 10 people here, watch the outside. They are digging the underground tunnels through the sewer. Since the distance is not so far, you should watch the entrance of the nearby sewer and catch those running brats. Kill them if needed.”

“Yes!”

“The other 10 people, get down through the elevator with me and eliminate them. All of you know the procedures, right?”

The Black Guards nodded.

The fact that the intruders had broken into the second vault was somehow fortunate for Kunst.

—Because the actual important goods were saved in the third vault.

“There are at least four of them. Knowing that they dug the tunnel secretly all the way here, their skills must not be a joke. However, there are also personnel who are on standby inside, so there’s no need to worry. We have more people.”

They weren’t full of themselves even though they knew that they were strong.

Just like professionals who worked after receiving money, they didn’t look down on their enemy, even though the number of the enemy was lesser, and they intended to use all of their power to overpower the enemy.

Because there were also other guards who were on standby below, there would be no problem if they moved after joining those below.

The Black Guards entered the elevator with such thoughts and went down.

The security guard, who was listening to the situation from the storage room, spoke.

“The Black Guards are going down.”

Ivan Luke bit his nails out of anxiety while listening to those words.

—Because the petty thieves that he was watching through the monitoring screen of the artifact were storing important items in their prepared sack.

‘Damn! Do they even know how valuable the items they’re just tossing into that sack are?!’

Due to the thought of the probability that they would lose to those bastards like that, Ivan got nervous, and his legs trembled.

In the midst of it, the security guards who were communicating in the storage room slowly explained the situation.

“The guards. They arrived in the underground storage room and are joining the personnel who were on standby inside.”

“Damn. Damn. What the hell are those interior personnel doing?”

Ivan got annoyed.

Of course, the personnel who were on standby inside would feel wronged, too.

Who would have thought that intruders would dig an underground tunnel?

Fortunately, the most important goods that were stored in vault number three would be intact.

Ivan gave commands to the guards through a communication bead.

“It’s important to catch those guys, but the most important thing for now is to move the items in the third vault into a safe place. Got it? And be sure to protect the items of the second vault as well. The items left there are going to be displayed later at midnight.”

[Understood.]

The outer wall of the second vault had been penetrated, and he was anxious like crazy at the thought that they might be aiming for the third vault as well.

The guards moved in perfect order after they received Ivan’s command.

The personnel and the guards in the basement were split into two.

—One was a suppression team that would overpower the criminals who’d robbed the items in vault number two without knowing their place.

The thieves were working hard on robbing the auction goods without realizing that they had been caught in invading the vault.

The other one was a convoy team that had the role of taking away the items in vault number three and moving them to a safe place.

—It was a choice that was made because the safety of vault number three couldn’t be guaranteed since vault number two had been pierced through.

“Move.”

The Black Guards moved. Fortunately, vault number three hadn’t been intruded upon by anyone.

[This is the storage room. I can see the guards entering vault number three.]

“I got it. Hurry and move them to a safe place, everyone.”

“Yes.”

“The rest of you, follow me. Let’s crush the arms and legs of those impudent thieves.”

The suppression team guards stood in front of vault number two.

“We’re going.”

After they matched the signal, they opened the door of vault number two right away and stormed in.

“Don’t move!”

As he shouted so, the team captain realized something strange as he angrily emitted murderous intent.

—That was also the case for the other guards.

“What?”

“There’s nothing here?”