Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner

Meilyn frowned.

“Agh. Shut up. Other than that, what made you come all the way to the girls' dormitory?”

Simon smiled and clapped his hands.

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

“Hey!!”

She blushed before raising her voice.

“Stop praising me with words that stink of Rick and just get to the point!”

Simon answered right away.

“Let’s study together this weekend.”

“Sigh… So you had an ulterior motive after all.”

Meilyn covered her forehead and sighed as she folded her arms expressionlessly.

“Why should I do that? I find it easier to study by myself.”

“It’s nice to do it together. We also have different subjects that we excel at, so we can ask each other, and— Ah! Of course, you’re good at all subjects, but it’ll be easier for you to remember things while teaching others.”

“That’s true, but…”

She pretended to think for a moment, then said,

“Who’s coming?”

Simon folded his fingers together.

“Camibarez said she would come right away, and Rick went down to Rochest, so he said he’d at least come in the afternoon.”

“Alright. I can’t go right away since I have unfinished study, but I’ll pass by in an hour or two.”

“Then, I’ll see you later.”

Parting with Meilyn, Simon went to the empty lecture room, where he got permission from the manager.

After gathering four desks together, he opened a textbook.

‘Alright, I’m done setting up. Let’s do this!’

While Simon was stretching his arms and making up his mind, he heard a knock.

“Simon! Are you here?”

“Ah, Cami. Come in.”

The door opened with a click, and Camibarez entered the lecture room in plain clothes.

Wearing a bright, pastel dress, she smiled and sat across from Simon.

“To think that we can even study together on the weekend like this! I’m so excited!”

Simon blinked.

“So you really like studying, huh?”

“……”

After softly rolling her eyes, she suddenly turned her gaze toward the textbook Simon left open.

“Ah! Are you studying Hemomancy?”

“Yeah. Since you’re here, I’d like to start with Hemomancy. I want to ask some questions. Would that be alright with you?”

“Yes! Yes! Of course!”

Camibarez pulled out her Summoning textbook from her bag and smiled.

“Then can I ask you questions too, Simon?”

“Of course! I don’t know how much I can help, but at least we can think about it together.”

The two immediately started studying for the exam.

It was peaceful.

Only the sound of moving quills could be heard in the lecture room, and a cool breeze was blowing outside the window, shaking the curtains.

As it felt like the perfect place for a moment, Simon stopped his quill and took a deep breath.

“Simon~”

Then, Camibarez called to Simon.

“I don’t really get this.”

“What is it?”

Simon checked the problem she marked with a star.

His face broke into a grin.

“Ah, it’s a problem related to zombies! This problem is solved using the Decay formula.” 

“The Decay formula?”

“Yeah, I found out about it yesterday, so…”

Simon started explaining excitedly as he came up against a problem he knew.

Camibarez tilted her head and listened to Simon’s explanation.

“You can apply this formula to solve it. However, if you reread the problem, it says the season is a hot and humid summer, right? In summer, the Decay proceeds faster, so considering the acceleration value……”

‘……’

Camibarez looked at Simon like she had been charmed.

The wind blew through the window, and Simon’s hair and the hem of his shirt swayed in the breeze.

His forehead was slightly furrowed, as though concentrating. Protruding veins could be seen when he rolled up the shirt while explaining the problem.

He also gave off the image of a child smiling brightly, explaining something after being lost for words for a moment when thinking about how to explain it.

“Here, you can sum it up and solve it. Did you understand that?”

When Simon raised his head and asked her that, Camibarez got startled and answered,

“Yes! Yes! I got it! I have to take into account the Decay formula, plus the acceleration value for the season, right?”

“That’s right! It’s good that you understood it well.”

Simon let out a friendly smile and turned back to the problem he was solving. She put her hand on her chest and let out a small sigh of relief.

‘……Aaaaah. Somehow, it’s more difficult to concentrate.’

The two went back to studying for the exam again. They answered each other’s questions and found points they could improve in.

Camibarez’ know-how was very helpful for Simon, who had never studied for school before enrolling into Kizen.

“Please check this part. Professor Silage repeated it three times.”

“Got it.”

It was then when Simon opened his notebook and took notes of the points Camibarez mentioned.

Click!

“Hello everyone!”

With the sound of the door opening, Meilyn waved and entered the lecture room.

“You’re here!”

“Welcome, Meilyn!”

The two greeted her warmly.

“Be grateful. I’m only helping because we’re in the same group. After all, it’ll be difficult for everyone else to run the group if any of you get expelled.”

Muttered Meilyn while she sat down and took out her things. 

Simon was surprised as he saw the textbooks and notebooks she pulled out. He didn’t really pay much attention to it, but it seemed like she was really studying a lot, using 2-3 notebooks for each subject.

After laying out the notebooks and tying her hair back, she filled her quill with ink.

“But this place is so nice~”

Said Meilyn when she looked around.

It was spacious, there was little noise, and it was breezy. It was the perfect atmosphere for studying.

“I think it’s better than the dormitory study hall. It was a good choice, right?”

“……Whatever.”

She glossed over it in embarrassment and took out a textbook. Simon and Camibarez looked at each other, smiling quietly.

“A-Anyway! Ask me anything if you’re having trouble understanding something.”

Said Meilyn as she glanced at Camibarez’ textbook. There was a problem marked with a star. 

“This one uses the Decay formula.”

“Yeah! Simon explained it to me!”

“Cami, you really don’t know the Decay formula? If you got a mark in the 80s on the last Summoning test, you’d obviously—”

In that instant, Camibarez’ face turned red as though her intentions had been caught out.

“I-I didn’t know!!”

“Ah, that startled me.”

“Th-The truth is, I knew a little about the Decay Formula, but the answer came out wrong because I didn’t know that you had to apply the seasonal value! S-So……!”

Looking at her mumbled excuses, Meilyn made a face as though asking what was wrong with her.

Simon couldn’t hear the conversation, too busy solving the next problem.

Knock knock.

Just then, a third person could be heard knocking at the lecture room.

“Yes, come in.”

“……”

But there was no answer.

* * *

* * *

The door didn’t open either.

“Simon.”

Meilyn put her quill down and turned her head.

“Is there anyone else coming?”

“Just Rick, but he must’ve gone down to Rochest, so I doubt he’s back already. I wonder who that is.”

Simon got up and went to the door.

However…

“Mmmf! Mmfmmmfmmf! Mfmmmf!”

A strange noise was heard from beyond the door.

“Wh-Who’s that?”

As Camibarez cowered in fright, Simon raised his palm to signal that it was okay and opened the door.

“Bwwwut areb bayou dowwin! Bhurry up band ofenn dje doorrr!

“Rick!”

Rick was holding something like a large box in his arms. He also had a paper bag in his mouth.

“Huzzah.”

He put the box down on the empty desk.

“What are all these things?”

“Things in preparation for the next Duel Evaluation. And…!”

Rick threw something. Simon, who had returned to his seat, quickly raised his hand to grab it.

“Some snacks to eat together!”

“Kyaah! Thanks Rick!”

“Hmm. Well, it’s pretty tactful.”

Rick laid down the snacks he had bought from Rochest on the desk.

“Hehe. Studying for the exam wouldn’t go well without eating something.”

“People who say those kinds of things are always the ones who are bad at studying.”

While saying that, Meilyn was pulling at a wrapper harder than anyone else.

“Hey! Rick! How do you open this?!”

“Just start with something else.”

“I want to eat this!”

Meilyn was holding onto the grain cookie wrapper she chose and groaned with all her might.

Seeing this, Simon reached out his arm and had the wrapper passed to him, then ripped it apart along the dotted line behind.

“……”

Meilyn got embarrassed and muttered a small “thank you” as she got the wrapper back.

“It’s done! Let’s eat!”

“Let’s begin!”

“Thank you for the treat, Rick!”

Rick said it was a snack, but in fact, it was a composition no less than a meal, starting with desserts and sweets, and going all the way to things like fried chicken.

The four of them started eating the snacks while chatting noisily.

“By the way, didn’t you say you were going to Rochest? You were pretty quick.”

Said Simon, tapping Rick’s elbow. Rick threw a piece of fried chicken into his mouth and grinned.

“I just left after checking the progress! I also have to study a bit since it’s exam period, you know.”

“When I went to the Necromancer shop, the owner asked how you are. He asked when you’re dropping out and going to him.”

“Hahahahahahah!”

Rick shrugged, laughing at Simon’s joke, then wiped his chin.

“Hm… It’s true that I’m No.1 on the recruitment list for the Rochest Merchants Association.”

“Then drop out already. Why are you studying for the exam here?”

Said Meilyn as she opened two packs of cookies at once. Rick shook his finger.

“That’s because there’s a business that requires me to be a Kizen student if I want to proceed.”

“By the way, Rick! Speaking of which, what kind of business are you preparing for?”

Asked Camibarez.

“It’s complicated because I’m preparing for a lot, but the simplest one would be the delivery service.”

“Delivery service?”

“Yeah. There may be things that you need to go down to Rochest to buy, even on a weekday, right? Not everyone can go down by avoiding the Keepers like Simon or me either. So, I’m planning to get the order of the necessary items, list them, and put them along with the dormitory supplies to bring inside Kizen the next day.”

Simon blinked.

“Did you talk about that with the dormitory already?”

“Of course! I finished talking with the house guardian. I also used my excellent skills to make all the pamphlets for the order items.”

“Awesome, Rick!”

At that moment, Rick’s hand slipped through the air as he was about to pick up a castella.

“Huh? What? Where did the castella here go?”

Rick picked up the wrapper and looked inside, but it was empty. He looked at Meilyn with a look of pure astonishment.

“Woah, you ate all these by yourself? Are you a pig or something?”

Meilyn blushed before getting fired up.

“What? A pig? Do you wanna die?”

“What an appetite when you were the one who mentioned things about people who snack being bad at studying.”

“It’s because I haven’t eaten anything since last night!”

“Ahaha! Don’t fight!”

It felt like studying for the exam had been pushed a bit to the side, but Simon was feeling quite happy in this moment where everyone was laughing and talking like this.

He also started to regret starting this thing called ‘school life’ so late, wondering how things could’ve been.

Knock knock knock.

Then there was a knock on the lecture room door. Everyone’s eyes turned to the door.

“Hey, Simon. There’s no one else to come now, right?”

“Yeah, no more now, really.”

Simon stood up from his seat and went to the door.

“Who's this?”

“It’s me!”

“……?”

The moment he heard that insincere and frank answer, Simon stopped as if someone had pressed pause when he got to the door.

Don’t tell me, this voice of a girl was……

No, but why was this person here?

While Simon was putting his brain to work… Click! The door opened.

As the door opened, a little girl with her picturesque silver hair fluttering in the air revealed herself.

She raised her hand and gave a happy smile.

“Hello, Simon! It’s been a while!”

The prediction had become reality.

——