Academy’s Undercover Professor-Novel - Chapter 134

ACADEMY’S UNDERCOVER PROFESSOR

[Translator – Alice]

[Proofreader – ilafy]

Chapter 134 – Blade Within A Shadow (2)

The story of the first princess’s shadow was very famous among the aristocrats.

After the de facto ruler of the military in the past, Marquis Tetheron, had mysteriously died in his house that was akin to an impregnable fortress, the military forces under his command were torn to pieces.

However, the clever aristocrats didn’t miss who picked up Marquis Tetheron’s power after he died.

‘The first princess, Eileen von Exileon.’

Freuden couldn’t help but inwardly jeer.

Marquis Tetheron’s death was known to the world as a natural death due to old age, but no one really believed that.

Perhaps it started back then…

It was the moment when she’d earnestly shown her ability even while lacking in support.

The first princess had coaxed the aristocrats by her overwhelming charisma and keen intellect as she’d gradually interfered in financial affairs and done things that couldn’t have been done by the emperor at the time without failure.

As they’d still been on alert toward the first princess, the aristocrats had no choice but to pledge their loyalty due to the forceful actions she took.

Apart from her ability, they knew what happened to the aristocrats who tried to disobey her.

The first princess, whom they’d thought didn’t have anything, possessed a dagger sharper than anything else.

And that dagger, the princess’s shadow, was always silently waiting for a target.

If they offended the first princess for some reason, they never knew when the shadow’s blade would take their necks.

Obviously, the aristocrats were scared.

Why wouldn’t they defend themselves, you say?

Their opponent was the person who’d killed Marquis Tetheron.

As he had many enemies here and there, Marquis Tetheron had such a cautious personality that he even maintained impregnable security when he was eating.

Such a man had been killed…

Moreover, he hadn’t been killed when he was wandering around outside. He had been found as a corpse within his safest house within his safest room.

—Along with the corpses of his loyal subordinates.

Naturally, the princess’s shadow reigned as a nightmare among the aristocrats.

After the incident, they never heard any news of the shadow’s activities, but all the aristocrats knew…

If she wanted to, the first princess could wield her shadow whenever she wished.

As nobody dared to interrupt her after that, the first princess Eileen had expanded her power in a calm and orderly manner and had come to be an absolute ruler that nobody could fight against.

As she heard the whole story, Lynne was surprised.

She had heard that the first princess was dangerous and scary only through words, but as a commoner, she hadn’t known that there was such a detailed story behind it.

Naturally, she realized why Elendil received such treatment as a princess.

“Senior… you’ve suffered so much.”

“As expected, it’s only Lynne who understands my heart!”

Elendil showed a touched expression while suddenly embracing Lynne. Lynne struggled to escape as she seemingly felt suffocated.

Freuden sighed while stopping Elendil.

“Stop it right there. Lynne is having a hard time.”

“Hmph! Lynne isn’t like that! Right?”

“Ye-yees~”

“Look! She said that she’s fine!”

“…Haah.”

Freuden felt pain in his head.

At the same time, he wondered how Lynne could get closer with the stubborn princess.

He also knew very well that Elendil the third princess had experienced countless failures and frustration when trying to make friends in Sören, but even so, the third princess didn’t make friends with just anyone.

Thinking of Lynne’s personality, she was a good person to get closer to from Elendil’s point of view.

‘…How on earth did Lynne approach the third princess?’

Most commoners couldn’t even raise their face toward a princess, let alone converse with one.

Even though Sören was a place where everyone was equal, the remnants of social ranks still remained, and Elendil wasn’t a simple aristocrat, but a princess.

It must have been hard to properly talk to her.

‘Isn’t it like that?’

However, come to think of it, Lynne had constantly answered his question and hadn’t been nervous when she’d seen him for the first time either.

When he realized it again, he burst into laughter.

“That’s enough. All the food here will get cold.”

“Ah! Right. Shall we eat first before continuing our talk?”

“…It seems like it suits your taste.”

“Hmph. Well, I admit it. The skill of the Wolfsburg family’s chef is pretty good.”

That was food that he made by himself, though.

Of course, Freuden didn’t say that. He’d gotten caught decorating a flower garden, so he didn’t want her to know that he could also cook.

That was how they started eating again.

Unlike when there wasn’t much conversation when there were only Freuden and Lynne, Lynne and Elendil kept chattering and shared their conversation.

The one who carried most of the conversation was Elendil.

Even though Freuden felt frustrated that his small resting place had become noisy, he felt satisfied when he thought about how it was actually not that bad, so he decided to let it be.

The conversation soon reached the incident in Kunst that she had experienced.

“You don’t know how baffled I was in the Kunst auction house.”

“Pardon?! Then, Senior, did you get involved in the incident that happened there?”

“Hoo.”

Freuden showed his interest after he had been silently pretending to listen.

Elendil thought that the chance had finally come, and she rambled on about the story of that day.

—Especially in the part when the Beast of Jévaudan had shown up, Lynne gulped in air.

“It was a very terrible monster. It looked like something that had come straight from hell. Beast heads were hanging all over its body, and its three primary heads were constantly letting out terrible roars.”

That part was the truth without any exaggeration.

The scenery from back then was still vivid if Elendil closed her eyes.

“It doesn’t feel real that I’m still alive.”

“Still, I think that it’s really fortunate that you’re safe and sound, Senior.”

Elendil felt her heart pound briefly at that reaction.

To think that the friend she had for the first time had sincerely listened to her story and was even worried about her.

It was the academy life that she had imagined in her dreams.

“So what happened to the monster? Did it really die, or did it run away? I heard that the Knights defeated it, is that true?”

“Oh, that’s…”

Elendil was about to answer, but she hesitated.

What was known was that the one who’d eliminated the Beast of Jévaudan were the Clockwork Knight Order Knights under the command of Leathevelk, but in fact, the one who’d really knocked down the beast of Jévaudan was a man called James Moriarty.

However, the name James Moriarty was kept as a secret after the incident was over.

—Because Casey Selmore didn’t want it to spread.

-Your Highness. This case should really be kept a secret.

-…Are you telling me to hide the truth?

-I understand if you say it like that. It’s a good thing to move while following your own sense of justice, but, Your Highness, the timing is pretty bad. Please take a look.

After the incident was taken care of, she looked at the ruined Kunst auction house.

She could see many who were wounded and still frightened.

-The people are afraid. If we tell them that the one who disposed of the monster is a big criminal, the citizens will only get more anxious.

-That’s why Miss Casey said that the best way to calm the citizens is by telling them that the one who got rid of the monster wasn’t a criminal, but city Knights.

-Because there are times when a comfortable lie is better than a hard truth.

Elendil couldn’t bring herself to refute it. She also thought that it was the only way to solve the series of incidents.

-Moreover, if the rumor that James Moriarty and his organization spreads, they will hide deeper in the darkness and hold their breaths. If that happens, we’ll have a hard time finding them.

-…I got it. I will also hold my tongue.

-Thank you.

As she recalled the conversation from back then, Elendil answered Lynne right away.

“Of course, the Clockwork Knight Order that Leathevelk boasts of stepped up and solved it.”

She had a guilty conscience as she said that, but it couldn’t be helped.

As she moderately made the story up, Elendil suddenly recalled the familiar person she ‘d seen in the Kunst auction house.

“Oh, come to think of it, I also saw Professor Ludger in the auction house that day.”

He’d been far away, and she’d only seen him as she passed by, so she was uncertain, but Elendil thought that there was no way she had misrecognized that special atmosphere.

“Pardon? Professor Ludger?”

“Ludger Chelysie?”

The two people showed interest, as they didn’t expect that name to show up in the story.

“Hmm. Yeah, it was definitely him. His unique aura can’t be hidden, after all.”

“Why on earth did Professor Ludger go there?”

“Well, there’s no reason for him not to be able to go there as a professor right? Knowing that he could go to work without any trouble afterward, perhaps Professor Ludger just stopped by and went earlier.”

“Still, it feels somewhat unfitting.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. Professor Ludger doesn’t seem like the type to care much about luxuries and jewelries, right?”

It certainly felt like that.

However, Elendil couldn’t rashly agree with Lynne’s words.

People always had parts of themselves inside that didn’t match their outward appearance.

“Come to think of it, Lynne received the framework from Professor Ludger, right? How was it?”

“Oh, it was unexpectedly nothing much.”

“Professor Ludger called you separately before that as well, right? When we learned about elemental properties.”

It was then that Freuden interfered after only silently listening to their conversation.

“Hold up, Lynne. Professor Ludger called you directly?”

“That’s what I’m saying. You don’t know how much I was worried about Lynne back then.”

It was Elendil who answered instead.

Freuden’s stare headed at the school bag that Lynne had brought along.

Suddenly, he remembered the book that she’d hidden from him in their first meeting.

‘The book back then. I think I’ve seen it somewhere…’

Freuden had an odd feeling as he vaguely remembered something but couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

Lynne spoke.

“Oh. Come to think of it, have you heard? Recently, something called a magazine has become famous among the students.”

“A magazine? Oh! I think I’ve heard about it as well.”

Lynne pulled a magazine directly from her school bag.

At that instant, Freuden looked at the bag, and when Lynne showed the magazine with a ‘ta-da’ sound, she naturally turned her head toward him.

What was called a magazine was literally a thin book that looked like miscellaneous papers.

The cover was full of disorderly pictures, and the words ‘1st Edition’ were placed over the front.

“What’s that?”

When Freuden asked her, Lynne smiled like a puppy as she answered.

“It’s a type of book recently published in Leathevelk. Because it’s not an official publication, it’s a bit thin, but it has a lot of awesome content.”

“Awesome content?”

“Oh my. No way, Freuden, you don’t know of the magazine that’s recently become famous among the students?”

Elendil thought that she had finally hooked a fish and grinned. Freuden grunted while shaking his head.

He didn’t realize it when they maintained their formality, but when he encountered the original personality of Elendil the third princess, she didn’t seem to have the common and tiring type.

“So what the hell is that oh-so-great magazine?”

“You can think of it as a book that contains miscellaneous stories. It’s the size of a newspaper, and it’s filled with various news.”

“Then it’s no different than a newspaper.”

“No. It’s clearly different. Since most newspapers are published by newspaper publishing companies, they shape their stories to their own likings and misinterpret the content as they please. This magazine tells stories from a bit more of a neutral point of view. Of course, that shows how hard the publisher of this magazine worked on it.”

“Is that all?”

“Of course not. There is also other information that isn’t covered in newspapers, and most of all, the real reason why this magazine is famous is because of the various short-stories that’s included in its latter part!”

Freuden reacted apathetically while thinking that the magazine had a ton of varied content.

However, unlike Freuden, who thought of it lightly, those short stories had been a sensational trend among the students.

The books published in the market mostly maintained their formalities or were worded with difficult and lengthy phrases.

—That was also the case for novels.

Because it was too complicated to read literary novels, there were cases when even the aristocrats who had to forcefully maintain their formalities gave up on reading them.

The short stories contained in the magazine were the opposite.

The short and brief sentences as well as straightforward plot twists were well received by the public.

The aristocratic students had also heard the rumor and the magazine’s fame was sharply rising to the point where a couple of them were even reading it.

Compared to literary novels that were difficult to read, the simple and intuitive short stories were way more fun.

Moreover, since the content was cut in important moments, it had a charm that made them excited for the next issue, so there were many people who were already waiting for the next magazine.

‘There are really all kinds of things coming out recently. Should I try to read it, too?’

Freuden pushed aside his judgment about the magazine.

Suddenly, he recalled a name while slightly frowning.

‘Ludger Chelysie.’

He had been hearing that name often recently.

He’d directly met Ludger in the sparring ground, and he’d only seen Ludger from a distance. He also didn’t pay much interest to Ludger.

The only thing he knew was that the professor called Ludger Chelysie possessed a very solemn atmosphere.

He hadn’t paid a lot of attention to Ludger before, but since he’d been hearing Ludger’s name too often, Freuden tried to recall Ludger’s face that he saw back then.

And the face was oddly overlapped with a familiar face.

‘That professor, he looks like someone I’ve seen before…’

Freuden’s eyes narrowed.