Academy’S Gumiho Is A Magical Genius [EN]: Chapter 250

Academy Gumiho is a Magical Genius – Episode 250

Doppelganger (5)

Now, there’s only one person left to deal with.

Two girls with the exact same face. One of them is fake.

They were desperately trying to prove they were the real one.

“Did you think I wouldn’t know who’s who?”

My red eyes turned purple.

Color vanished from my vision, and everything started to appear in black and white.

「Yoma’s Eye」

In that drab world, a blue light was shining vividly.

Blue light of magic. One of them was filled with that magic.

Face, skin, bones, and organs. Everything was made of magic. But if someone were to ask if it was the kind of magic I could absorb, that would be another story.

Unlike creating flames with magic, that body was created with magic, but it was based on the copied person’s anatomical information, so it was no different from a real body.

“If I cut her, she’ll bleed, and if I stab her heart, she’ll die.”

She was practically human.

Perhaps most people, no matter how good they were at sensing magic, wouldn’t realize she was fake. Even I wouldn’t have been able to tell who was fake without the help of my A-rank skill, 「Yoma’s Eye」.

It’s that elaborate.

People naturally emit a certain level of magic, and the higher the rank of the player, the higher the amount and concentration. So, most people wouldn’t think much of it even if a little more magic was emitted.

“You really are a deadly skill. If you fall into the hands of someone else, there’s nothing more annoying.”

“Skill…?”

“Yes, that thing is a creature derived from a skill. I thought you would already know that from fighting it.”

“No! Who would think that the thing disguised as me is a skill?! You’d be weird if you thought that!”

Hmm, is that so?

I knew and approached it, so I didn’t think much of it, but other people might think that way.

“But how can a mere skill, not a weapon or object, have a physical body?”

“Has there never been such a case reported in academia?”

“Of course not! Who would think that a skill written as text in a status window, not even a tangible object, could move directly in reality!”

Hearing that, I quickly understood.

A skill is just an ability used by the owner. It’s strange for it to have self-awareness. Is it plausible that your pencil or kitchen knife has a self and moves on its own?

In fact, all of this was possible because 「Doppelganger」 is an external skill, but as far as I know, 「Doppelganger」 is the only external skill that exists. Well, since this is a world where novel knowledge has become meaningless, I don’t trust it absolutely.

Seeing Leona’s reaction, I get a general sense.

“By the way.”

“Why?”

“If you knew who I was, you shouldn’t speak informally to me. Who knows? A hurt me might frame you as the fake one.”

“…I’m sorry.”

“Be careful in the future.”

“Th-Then, Instructor…?”

Leona seemed unsure of what to call me.

She was looking at the mask I was wearing.

She seemed hesitant whether to treat me as or as an instructor at the academy. Well, I’m a criminal when I wear the mask.

Speaking respectfully to such a criminal. If the media caught wind of it, she would be heavily criticized.

In the end, I took off the mask.

Thankfully, there was a function inside the mask to absorb sweat and regulate temperature, so I didn’t sweat like a waterfall or have my hair completely soaked.

As I took off the mask.

Ah… Leona exclaimed. She now realized that I wanted her to treat me as an instructor.

In that case, I should treat her as she wishes.

“Instructor.”

“Yes?”

“What do we do with that? Should we kill it?”

“Why kill it? The reason we came to Germany in the first place was to recover that. If you’re thinking of killing it, can I take it?”

“…That thing that’s a carbon copy of me?”

Leona said, laughing as if she was joking.

I frowned at those words.

She was saying scary things. Was she trying to make someone a criminal?

“Of course, we have to initialize it. In the first place, the fact that it’s moving like that means someone owns it.”

“So, it’s someone else’s skill? How do we take it and initialize it?”

“It’s okay for you not to know.”

The skill, 「Doppelganger」, is external.

Without going through the troublesome effort, I can make the 「Doppelganger」 wandering outside my ability. The process is somewhat complicated, though.

“Don’t worry. The extraction will be over soon.”

“…It’s trembling right now?”

The extraction doesn’t take long.

Just a little bit.

It will only sting a little.

* * *

The work was settled.

There were still many things to deal with, but I postponed them for later.

There were people I had to find now.

After cleaning up all the Mind Demons in the area, I walked through the half-destroyed scenery and stepped into the accommodation I had originally booked to sleep in. Just in case, all the traps and magic I had set up were either used or broken.

The basement and streets were filled with Mind Demons who had died trying to force their way through the traps and corpses that appeared to be their followers. In such a place, two children were asleep, maintaining each other’s body temperature.

Even though there was a Mind Demon corpse with blue hair, who appeared to be an aristocrat, lying on the floor, the two were sleeping very quietly.

“They’re sleeping very well.”

Looking at their sleeping 모습 [Korean: appearance] and condition, they weren’t just tired and fell asleep.

They were just tired and fell asleep.

The floor was full of corpses and blood, and the ceiling of the accommodation was blown away because of my attack from afar. Thanks to that, the starlight of the night sky was clearly visible, but the cold night wind entered the accommodation.

Fortunately, it was the time when summer was passing, so the wind wasn’t too cold. If the two children hugged each other tightly in the blanket and shared their body temperature, they could sleep comfortably.

“They’re very bold. Should I say they’re my children after all?”

Or should I say that they can sleep calmly in front of corpses and the smell of blood, as befits children who will become villains after all?

I was starting to have all sorts of worries. I came to this distant country secretly from the elders to raise the children well, but these strange things got involved, and even the children were exposed to danger for a while.

As a guardian, I felt really sorry. As I stroked the heads of the sleeping children and sat on the wooden chair that was barely holding its shape, Leona spoke to me.

“Were those your children?”

“Mine?”

“In-Instructor’s children. Ah, haha…..”

She smiled awkwardly.

I stared at her for a moment and changed the subject.

“Shall we make a deal?”

“Me, with the Instructor?”

It seemed like we needed a short conversation between us.

“That… well, we’re not really in a position to make a deal.”

“Yes, because our families are close to being enemies.”

It’s not easy to make a deal because of each other’s positions.

But I had to make a contract. The things that happened here today must never be spread through her mouth.

But not only is it difficult for us to make a deal. There were also difficulties in the means to pay her for the deal.

“A deal? What are you going to trade with? From what I can see, you want to silence me, but it’s impossible to raise funds or offer valuable items as compensation right now.”

That’s right.

I said it was a deal, but it’s impossible to send a large sum of money to her account to silence her because my identity and the movement of money would be revealed. Well, it would be possible if I used a pre-laundered account, but I need the funds in that account too.

Money laundering is not easy either.

It’s also difficult to offer valuable items as tribute under the guise of a gift. This is easier than giving money. Thanks to the ring I have, the process of secretly delivering items is easy.

But the real problem was the item to give her.

She is a direct descendant of a family that occupies a corner of the Nine Heavens Families, like me.

Even though I am the head of the family, considering that I am just a nominal head, it is almost impossible to give her an item that she likes.

Perhaps it would have to be a family treasure to satisfy her. How can I give that as a gift?

Every single one of them is stored in the warehouses of the elders and sisters.

‘Even the items that ‘Baek Seung-woo’ took as legitimate compensation.’

Before I possessed him.

He handed over the family’s treasures as compensation for cleaning up when he caused an accident, or in exchange for a large sum of money. Now, the only option left is to steal them, but what can I do?

“As you said, it will be difficult for me to give you something material.”

“Then…!”

“Instead, there’s something I can teach you.”

Technique.

Even though the money and treasures may be a little less.

I can teach her techniques.

I have no doubt that this story will stimulate her appetite.

The children I taught, including Isabel, may have low basic stats, but their growth rate is fast. On the other hand, Leona has high basic stats. Instead, the growth rate is slow.

In simple terms, others are late bloomers and need time, while she is already a half-finished being.

However, that gap will narrow to the point where it becomes equal around the second grade.

In the end, she feels impatient and struggles to improve her skills that she has been complacent with. That was the main content of the novel that Baek Eun-ho read. Slow growth compared to her classmates.

In fact, all the children I taught gained several times more power and knowledge than before they entered the school. The students in charge of other professors and teaching assistants would have done the same.

But only Leona.

Even if she acquires knowledge and gains wisdom.

Her strength has been stagnant for half a year.

She may not feel impatient yet because she is still a freshman, but she will feel impatient in another half a year. No, I was watching Leona’s trembling expression in real time. Perhaps impatience had already taken root in her heart.

As evidence, she grabbed my hand.

Because she grabbed my hand with both hands, the posture is a bit strange.

It was like a new employee who had just made the first deal with a client.

She bowed slightly in that posture and shouted.

“I look forward to working with you!”

“…You didn’t even listen to everything I said, and you’re accepting my deal?”

I was suddenly taken aback by her sudden grab.

No, was she originally this kind of person? I rummaged through my memories with a flustered head, but I don’t think she was this kind of person. How did this happen?

As I continued to rummage through my memories, I suddenly remembered the scene where Leona and Isabel were fighting in the hallway. Because the two families were enemies, the two eldest daughters of each family had fierce arguments every time they met.

I heard it as I passed by at that time, what did they say?

My teacher is awesome?

I think they were bragging about what they learned from the teachers in charge of their after-school education.

At that time, Isabel was gloating in the distance, and Leona lowered her head slightly as if she had nothing to say. Suddenly, that scene came to my mind when I looked at her.