Necromancer academy’s genius summoner

Chapter 18

He didn’t want to keep pretending that he didn’t see her, so Simon turned his head to the window. The girl’s face swung down as well.

“……”

Did she not want to get caught?

Simon turned his head back and took out a new chiffon cake. Her face then slowly rose to the window.

Blink blink.

The girl’s blue eyes blinked. Every time the chiffon cake came closer to Simon’s mouth, the speed of her blinking increased.

Simon laughed in his sleeve and opened his mouth.

“Nefthis, please come here and have some too.”

With those words, the girl stuck her face out.

“Ah. How did you know? Can I?”

Nefthis jumped over the window expectantly, hurriedly approached, and sat down with her knees together. Then, she opened her eyes and looked up at Simon.

He couldn’t help but laugh. It looked like a puppy waiting, its tail waving.

“Of course. Help yourself.”

“Hehe. Thank you for the food!”

She took the chiffon cake with her cute little hands and began to eat it.

Nom nom nom.

Seeing her two small fluffy cheeks moving, Simon felt a strong urge to stroke her head, regardless of her being the ruler of Kizen or whatever.

“Would you like to eat this too?”

Simon took out more snacks he had bought from the cafeteria, and Nefthis’ eyes twinkled each time.

“I wub it!”

As she chewed the jam sandwich, she said,

“They always don’t let me eat sweets at home!”

“……Ahaha.”

Suddenly, Simon happened to have dessert time with the great necromancer who was hard to even see once in your entire life. The two talked while sharing the snacks, starting from the appreciation for buying the subspace and the story of Lorain.

And the topic naturally shifted to school life. 

“You said this is your first time going to school, right? How was it?”

“It’s fun!”

Simon answered immediately.

“The professors are cool, friends are kind, the classes are fun… I think I’m more suited for this than I thought.”

She smiled broadly and nodded her head.

“Hyaah~ It’s great. Talking with you at Kizen like this reminds me of Richard.”

“My father?”

“Yeah! Your dad was a Kizen student too. You didn’t know that?”

It was Simon’s first time hearing that story. She giggled and wagged her finger.

“Richard was no joke. Unlike you, who’s mature, he was an extraordinarily troublesome child who brought a lot of trouble.”

“………My father was?”

Simon’s jaw dropped.

To hear that the gentle and strict Father was a troublemaker when he was in school. The images of Father and a troublemaker did not overlap.

“On that, he was so smart. While causing all the trouble, he got professors wrapped around his finger. It’s not just once or twice that I chased and caught Richard trying to run away and skip the class.”

“……T-That’s hard to believe. Then did my father safely graduate from Kizen?”

She shook her head.

“Nope. He dropped out when he was in the 2nd year.”

“……Ah.”

“He suddenly dropped out of the school, saying it’s too small. There was no such student at Kizen until now. Richard was a special case in many ways.”

Nefthis leaned back on her arms and looked up at the ceiling.

A deep yet faint emotion passed across her face, unlike her youthful appearance.

“Yeah. I was also young back then.”

Simon wanted to point something out, but he didn’t since it felt like he shouldn’t.

“Anyway! There’s probably no place on Roke Island that Richard hasn’t been to. You might find traces of your father all over the school if you look closely!”

“Ah! It will be fun if something like that exists.”

She got up from her seat and dusted off her clothes.

“Then I’ll be going ahead since I have dinner plans! I might get scolded again if I be late. Hehe.”

“Already?”

Simon surprised himself, saying words that contained a hint of sadness.

The time with her felt so fun and short that he unwittingly confided in her.

“We’ll soon be able to see each other again, Simon.”

Nefthis smiled.

“Thank you for the snacks! Bye!”

When Nefthis was about to jump over the window, something like a small note fell from the clothes she was wearing.

Simon picked up the note and hurriedly ran towards the window.

“Nefthis! You left this………!”

Whiiish.

She had already disappeared without a trace.

Simon scratched his head and checked the outside of the folded in half note top to bottom.

“Given the circumstances…… she’s giving it to me, right?”

Simon muttered to himself and sat down on the bed. Then, he unfolded the piece of paper.

It was a map.

The map pointed to a spot outside the Kizen passing through the inside, but the destination was marked with a skull.

‘A skull, huh? Shouldn’t there usually be some sort of treasure chest mark at the destination?’

Simon carefully looked through the map. There was no information other than the destination.

‘Why did Nefthis give me this location?’

– You might find traces of your father all over the school if you look closely!

Simon made up his mind and clenched his fists.

He decided to depart the next day.

* * *

* * *

The morning of the first weekend in Kizen came.

The place marked on Nefthis’ map was a forest that was forbidden to enter, so he decided to leave when the day was turning dark.

Rick and Kajann left the room early and Simon had opened up his Summoning textbook, immersing himself in catching up with the prior learning.

He tried to study other subjects besides Summoning, but he couldn’t concentrate well.

Since he had to choose one major subject before the upcoming group activity anyway, Simon decided to go all-in on Summoning this weekend.

The difference between a skeleton and a zombie. The first is obedience in commands. While skeletons obey the necromancer’s commands well, zombies are hard to control as their instincts and hatred for the living are amplified.’

‘So the next step after the zombies is ghouls. Although the population is small, they’re strong and incomparable to zombies. Woah! They can move up to 300 meters in a single leap?’

‘There’s this thing called an Abomination too! When can I make this kind of thing?’

He didn’t know studying could be so fun. Time flew rapidly, and Simon had to gulp down the frustration every time he looked at the clock.

After spending a full day studying Summoning, Simon finally sprung into action as the sun went down.

On the list of exeats, he wrote ‘Visit to Rochest for 2 days and 1 night.’

Rustle.

He left the main gate of Kizen and arrived at the Forbidden Forest as it was getting dark. The reason why Kizen banned this forest was simple. 

‘Monsters frequently show up in the area.’ 

Monsters were also present in the mountainside of Les Hill, but it was still unknown what kind of monsters were roaming on Roke Island.

Simon moved cautiously.

‘I can see a creek flowing to the East, and the walls of Kizen can be seen on the West. I’m going in the correct direction.’

Traveling was smooth so far as he was checking the map carefully.

However, as he went deeper into the forest, the cry of animals were heard more frequently and he also found their excrement. He could find out that it was recently formed as it was wet and sticky when he poked it with a branch. 

‘……Hup. I just wanna go back.’

He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t scared, but Simon pulled himself together. Although it was a little slow, he walked as quietly as possible.

And then,

Grrrrrrr.

A cry was heard nearby.

Simon’s body stiffened. He covered his mouth and lowered his posture.

His eyes, used to the darkness, caught the black shadow standing under the shade of the trees. It was sniffling and flaring its nostrils.

‘It’s a monster.’

At that moment, the monster’s head, which had been flaring its nostrils, turned. Eyes glistening in the darkness stared at Simon.

Ta ta tap!

‘It’s fast!’

Simon urgently placed his hand on the dagger on his waist. The eyes sparkled in the dark and the silver trail zoomed closer.

Simon drew the dagger and swung it towards the trace.

Clang!

His body flew over with the sound of metal clanging. Its claws swung again, leaving long scars on the tree.

‘A werewolf!’

Most ordinary people would say that meeting it would be a death sentence. Fortunately, it didn’t look like an adult since it was small.

‘I would’ve run away if it was before I came to Kizen, but……!’

Simon adjusted his grip on the dagger and raised his body. With his left hand, he directed jet-black into the ring and pulled the imaginary lever.

Slide.

A subspace opened on the ground and bones projected out from it. 

‘Restore!’

The bones scattered in the air began to assemble in an orderly manner around the skull. Soon, two skeletons completed in front of Simon and stepped on the ground.

‘It worked!’

Simon clenched his fists.

A Necromancer’s skill that he was using in an actual fight for the first time.

It was very assuring. Aside from the battle strength, the fact that he wasn’t alone gave him psychological relief.

With this, it became a 3:1 in the blink of an eye. The werewolf flinched a bit as it was lacking in numbers, but soon exposed its fangs, showing its will to fight.

Pow. Pow.

Simon made two old short swords project out from the subspace again. The skeletons caught the swords flying in the air and…

Kyaaaaaarrgh!

The werewolf jumped in, and the battle began.

Slash!

The attack from the skeleton’s sword left a long gash on the werewolf’s abdomen. However, it jumped right back in and smashed the skeleton’s upper body with its right arm.

Slam!

Half of the upper body, made of bones, was blown away in a single blow. Simon, who was connected to the undead, felt a tingling pain in his head.

However, taking the chance formed by that moment, the skeleton that encircled it pierced the werewolf’s side with their short sword.

Kryaaaaagh!

The werewolf let out a scream of pain. Simon stretched his right arm out harshly.

‘Restore!’

The shattered bones wobbled and formed a skeleton again, as if time had reverted. The restored skeleton immediately stabbed the short sword into the werewolf’s chest.

“Now’s the time! Charge!”

The two skeletons pushed the werewolf to the tree behind them with the swords embedded in it.

With a huge thud, the tree shook loudly and leaves fell.

‘This is the time!’

Simon charged in last with the dagger. The werewolf pinned on the tree swung his arms wildly, smashing the skeletons, but…

Stab!

Simon’s sword pierced the werewolf’s neck faster than the skeletons lost their strength.

A terrible sensation of flesh and muscle splitting ran through his wrist, but it was a life or death moment.

Simon tenaciously applied strength to the handle 

Thwump. Ssshhhuk.

Finally, the werewolf’s body collapsed, dead. Simon, who was taking a step back and exhaling his rough breath, soon had his legs give in and fell to the side.

‘……T-That was close.’

His lips trembled from the remaining tension of battle.

‘I don’t have time to space out. Gotta clean the mess up first.’

It would be difficult if other monsters flocked here because of the fuss just now and the smell of blood.

Simon barely got up from his seat and cast ‘restore’. One skeleton failed because the damage level was too high, and the other could barely move.

Simon placed the restored skeleton in the subspace and walked again.

‘Come to think of it, this is my first battle since I’ve entered Kizen.’

In just three days, Simon’s power had greatly increased.

How much stronger could he get if he managed to survive here for a year? No, three years? He couldn’t help but to imagine it.

And after walking another 20 minutes or so,

‘This is the place.’

He arrived at the area marked with the skull mark on the map. Looking around, there was nothing.

The only strange thing was that trees and grass weren’t growing there.

‘I have to dig in the ground after all, right?’

Simon opened the subspace and took out a shovel he borrowed from the dormitory gardener.

After nicely catching the shovel that arced through the air, he rolled up his sleeves and started digging the ground.

Thwack! Thwack!

It was such skillful shoveling that anyone watching would be astonished.

The work didn’t last long. Something hard hit the tip of the shovel. Simon squatted down and swept the ground.

‘It’s a paving stone.’

It was a stone made of a special rock with black color.

Simon, who was clearing out the dirt and going through the floor, soon found a groove in the middle of the floor. On that, the groove had the shape of a human hand.

When he placed his right hand on it, the size was about the same. However, it wouldn’t be an artifact that opened just like this.

Simon activated his core and spewed jet-black from his palm with his eyes closed.

Whirrrrrrr!

As Simon’s jet-black flowed into the artifact, it lit up. Then, the floor rattled open.

‘It’s a staircase!’

Simon wore a content smile.

I wonder what kind of secret is hidden here? Why did Nefthis bring me to this place?

Simon moved forward, his heart beating powerfully.

——