Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner

After staying up all night, Simon went into the first class of the day, Hemomancy, with hollow eyes.

But he wasn’t really feeling great. He had to take notes on what was written on the blackboard, but he felt like he was seeing three blackboards where there stood one.

‘Did I exhaust myself too much last night?’

As Simon was dozing off, Meilyn, next to him, tapped him with her elbow.

“Hey. What’s wrong with you?”

“……I don’t think I’m in good shape after staying up all night.”

Meilyn let out a small sigh. She then brought the bag hanging on her desk to her lap and pulled out a white pillbox after rummaging through her bag.

“Hey, open wide.”

“What’s that?”

“A pick-me-up. It’s what I drink after staying up all night. Open your mouth.”

As Simon opened his mouth awkwardly, she grabbed a pill with her fingertips and threw it in Simon’s mouth.

“Don’t bite it. Stay still. It’s super pungent and’ll make the whole classroom stink.”

This time, Meilyn took the water bottle out of her bag and handed it over. Simon nodded his head in gratitude, opened the water bottle cap, and brought it close to his mouth.

Gulp.

“……?”

When Simon turned his head, Meilyn was blushing with a somewhat tense expression on her face.

“What’s wrong?”

“Ah, I don’t know! Just hurry up and drink before the assistant teachers arrive!”

Simon drank with the water bottle slightly off his mouth and swallowed the pill.

“Thank you, Meilyn.”

After being handed the water bottle, Meilyn turned her head away in shyness.

Then Rick, who was sitting behind them, stuck his head between the two.

“Woah! That startled me!”

“Hehehe. I heard it, heard it. I heard everythiiing~”

As Rick hummed and loaded up his prank, Meilyn reflexively growled.

“Hey, don’t do it.”

“Don’t do what?”

“I don’t know, but just don’t do it!”

Rick pulled his head and shrugged. Then he looked at Camibarez writing her notes next to him.

“Cami.”

“Yes, what is it, Rick?”

“It’s nothing special, but what kind of situation do you think it is when lines such as ‘open wide’ and ‘open your mouth’ are exchanged between a man and woma—”

Camibarez’s cheeks turned red, and Meilyn, whose face was even redder than that, struck Rick in the head with a notebook.

“Hey, you crazy bastard!”

“Agh! Agh! I mean, why are you hitting me! I was just speaking the tru—!”

“Simon!”

Said Camibarez in a trembling voice.

“Y-Y-Y-You can’t say that! We’re still underage! And……!”

Simon made a face saying that he didn’t deserve this.

‘Why am I getting scolded when I just sat down quietly and got the medicine from her?’

“Hey there, students~”

At the sudden voice that flew into their ears, Simon and his friends stopped and turned their heads. The assistant teacher was smiling with her hands on her back.

“Did you all finish writing before chatting~?”

It was a kind voice that somehow seemed like she was speaking with children.

“A-Assistant teacher! I can explai—”

“Just get up. All four of you.”

In the end, the four of them were called out to the back of the classroom.

“Put both of your arms on your ears~ Yeah, that’s right. I’ll get angry if you pull some dirty tricks, okay?”

Even the punishment felt somewhat cute. As soon as the assistant teacher had left, Meilyn glared at Rick.

“Agh, this is embarrassing! It’s all your fault!”

“I said I only stated the facts……”

“Stop fighting! We’ll get scolded again!”

Meanwhile, Simon was looking at the blackboard by himself.

Without realizing it, his vision came back clearly. Not sure whether it was the medicine working or because he was being punished, but his drowsiness went away too.

“Meilyn.”

“Hm?”

“The medicine that you gave me, it’s working well.”

At Simon’s praise, she smiled at once and put on airs.

“Hmph, of course! This is suuuper expens—”

“Medicine? What kind of medicine is it?”

“You need to shut the fuck up.”

At that moment, another assistant of Silage hurriedly entered the classroom.

“Professor Silage said he’ll be around 20 minutes late! We’ll have our break earlier.”

He said while looking at his watch.

“Let’s rest for 30 minutes, starting now.”

At those words, the quiet classroom suddenly became noisy. Simon and his party, who had been punished, were able to return to their table naturally, as it was break time.

“Wait a minute, groupmates. See me for a second.”

Rick beckoned, and the three of them, who were about to return to their seats, turned to look at him. They gathered in a quiet corner of the classroom.

“Ugh, what is it this time?”

Meilyn grumbled.

“I was gonna tell you guys at lunchtime, but I’ll tell you now while we have some spare time.”

Rick pulled out a note from his jacket pocket.

“Hehe. I got the information on your Duel Evaluation opponents. First of all, Simon, the most urgent.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. You were preparing the skeleton archer in this Duel Evaluation.”

Simon nodded his head.

“You better stop that right now.”

“Why?”

“My words don't guarantee it 100%, but it’s a bad match with your opponent.”

Rick began to read the note in a serious voice.

“The opponent’s name is Haren Cork, the infamous Necromancer family of the Oldwin Kingdom. The dark spell he uses is Black Hand.”

“Black Hand? I’ve never heard of that before.”

On the other hand, Meilyn opened her eyes blearily as though she had something on her mind.

“……Must be his family’s unique dark magic.”

“That’s correct! To put it simply, it’s like pulling out something like a hand made of jet-black from your back, and apparently, it has an excellent defense against long-range projectiles. Even a jet-black arrow flying at high speed can be deflected with ease.”

Simon bit his lip lightly.

Even a jet-black arrow can be deflected with ease, huh?

“There’s a high probability that the skeleton archer’s arrow won’t work, Simon.”

“……Mmmm.”

Although he was determined to go with Summoning, he wasn’t so inflexible to keep pushing with the skeleton archer when he knew that it would be a bad matchup.

While Simon was contemplating another way, Rick continued.

“The Black Hand is a powerful tool both for offense and defense, but it also has clear drawbacks. Haren Cork can’t use other dark spells while maintaining the Black Hand.

“Ah, if that’s the case, you have a clear strategy!”

Said Camibarez while her eyes shone.

“Curses!”

“Yeah. You’re right.”

Meilyn agreed.

“If ranged and melee attacks are tough, you just have to keep a distance and build up curse stacks to weaken him. Isn’t it an easy win? You’ll just have to practice Exhaust for the rest of the time!”

Simon leaned his back against the wall and pondered.

He was on fire while assembling the skeleton archer, but to encounter a variable like this.

Simon thought that nothing in the world went the way one wanted, after all.

‘What should I do?’

Time was limited. Should he just force his way with the skeleton archer, or break his initial promise and practice a curse?

If not those two, then…

‘……’

Simon’s eyes shone bright.

* * *

* * *

Day by day, time passed quickly, and only a day was left till the Duel Evaluation.

Meilyn, who came into the classroom early, as usual, yawned and sat down in her chair. In the front row, the students who arrived first were gathered up, chatting eagerly, and the topic, of course, was the Duel Evaluation.

“Uuu… I’m nervous. How should I deal with Combat Magic aspirants?”

“I heard that Professor Bahil's Heavy Foot works well!”

“I’m most afraid of Poisonous Alchemy aspirants. Taking off the barrier gauge little by little……”

“Sigh… I’ll be fine as long as it’s not the Curses aspirants, though.”

Meilyn scoffed while hearing them talk.

It was better to do individual training while thinking about the match-up between your opponent and yourself.

Wasn’t being strong and confident with your skills enough?

It was then when she was pulling out her textbooks as she clicked her tongue.

“……Hello, Meilyn.”

“Waah!”

She turned her head in surprise.

Simon, with huge, dark circles around his eyes and a haggard face, was there. He said with a tough smile,

“Meilyn, you look nice today. Did you get your hair done?”

“……”

Meilyn frowned.

Why was he suddenly doing something he hadn’t done before?

“Who told you to say that?”

“Rick.”

“Ugh.”

It was very creepy for Simon to imitate Rick’s way of speaking. Above all, it didn’t suit him.

“Forget it. Why are you trying to flatter me? Say the reason already.”

“……Can I have some medicine?”

“Gosh.”

Meilyn grumbled, but still took the medicine box from her bag and handed it to him. As Simon took her medicine, he regained his senses a little.

“Do you realize that I’m the one who’s feeling more anxious when just looking at you? What’s up with you these days?”

“Preparation for Duel Evaluation.”

Meilyn frowned.

“Mm. Yeah. It’s good to prepare and all, but you’ll collapse if you keep doing that. Medicines aren’t some sort of magic to get rid of fatigue. Even I only take it occasionally .”

“I just have to endure till tomorrow’s Duel Evaluation.”

“……Insane.”

Class started after a while. Of course, even after class started, Simon’s condition was getting worse and worse.

He spent the whole class muttering to himself, jotting down strange things in his notebook, unable to concentrate.

“Rick! Why the hell is he like that?”

Asked Meilyn, unable to bear it. Rick ruffled his hair with a complicated face as though also worried about Simon.

“I don’t know either. He hardly comes back to the room these days, and even when I wake up, he’s not around most of the time.”

Camibarez, who was watching with a worried face, pulled Rick’s hem.

“He’s gonna collapse at this rate. Please, do something, Rick!”

Meilyn added,

“That’s right. You’re his roommate!”

“You think I didn’t try? It’s a problem because my advice falls on his deaf ears.”

Rick turned his head.

Even during break, Simon was still scribbling something in his notebook like a madman. It was a typical example of a person who was completely obsessed with something, blocking everything else out.

“I believe he’s gonna be like that till the Duel Evaluation is over. I think he’s preparing a dark spell we haven’t learnt yet.”

“A dark spell we haven’t learnt yet?”

Meilyn let out a feigned laugh.

“For what? He just has to practice Exhaust a little bit to face this opponent.”

“……Learning new dark spells is great and all, but I think health comes first.”

A flash went across Meilyn’s eyes as she scratched her head angrily.

“I can’t stand it. I’ll give him a piece of my mind.”

Rick leaned his head back into his hands.

“You’d better not. I’m telling you, it won’t work, no matter what you say.”

“Just watch me.”

Meilyn made up her mind and approached Simon.

“Hey, Simon! If you keep doing that……!”

Simon slowly turned his head.

‘Huff!’

You could see the eyes of a person who was out of their mind.

As a boy of her age glared at her with a heavy atmosphere, she timidly stuttered,

“H-How many times have I told you that your body will be—”

“Thanks for your concern, Meilyn. I’ll really start resting tomorrow.”

And Simon turned his head back and started taking notes.

‘Th-This isn’t how it's supposed to be.’

While Meilyn was thinking about what to say next, Simon suddenly stood up. Meilyn let out a short scream, startled.

“Rick.”

This time, Rick answered while flinching.

“Huh? Yeeaah?”

“The thing that I asked……”

“Ah, news about Professor Aaron? I think you’ll have to wait till lunchtime.”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

Simon sat down back and went back to his notes.

The three people’s worried gazes gathered together.

What kind of dark spell was he preparing?

* * *

The same day’s evening.

Aaron was coming into Kizen.

He wasn’t dressed in his usual shabby clothes. He was dressed in the uniform of the Kizen headquarters, with a black fur cape and a handsome appearance.

Some of the servants cleaning the building didn’t even recognize that he was Aaron.

‘……This is tiring.’

The mission ended earlier than he expected.

It was a rest day until today, but he decided to stop by the lab for a while to prepare for class.

‘It feels suffocating.’

Aaron took off his coat and loosened his tie as he walked toward the lab. The more he walked, the lighter his clothes grew, and the bigger the pile of clothes in his right hand became.

When he arrived at the lab door while taking off his clothes one by one, someone was sitting on the floor. He was muttering strange words while scanning a notebook with hollow eyes.

“……Simon Polentia.”

Simon raised his head. When he saw Aaron, he jumped up and bowed his head.

“Professor Aaron!”

“What are you doing here?”

Simon was somehow sullen and thin, seeing him after a week. He politely said,

“There’s something I want to ask you, Professor.”

“……”

Aaron wordlessly looked at the watch on his wrist.

“Even if it’s past my work hours?”

“……Ah.”

“I’m just kidding.”

Aaron smirked.

“It’s the professor's duty to solve the students' problems. Come in.”

——