Raul revealed his true colors and pulled out a knife.
The well-maintained blade gleamed sharply.
Swish.
Swish.
At the same time, three rough-looking men approached Simon—one from behind and two from the front.
"... Well, it doesn't really matter who you are. And the fact that you've fallen into a trap hasn't changed," Raul said, his expression relaxing as his companions joined him.
He clicked his fingers.
"Put everything you have on the ground. Your backpack, your clothes. Everything, even your underwear."
"My underwear too?"
"What's there to be embarrassed about? You can pick out new clothes at the market," Raul said, pointing to a pile of garbage behind him.
The other gang members chuckled and chimed in.
"Yeah, that's a famous spot in Langskin. Who knows, you might even find a box if you're lucky."
"Just cover your important parts, and you might avoid a trip to the jailhouse."
Simon smiled brightly and replied, "I refuse."
"..."
Raul and his gang's expressions turned fierce.
"... This punk."
"Looks like this country bumpkin doesn't understand the situation. Do you think we're joking around here?" The man to Raul's right stepped forward toward Simon.
"Guys like this need a little stab to wake up."
"Hey, wait!" Ignoring Raul's voice, the man drew a dagger from his waist and swung it at Simon.
Swish.
Simon shifted his weight fluidly, opening his right shoulder.
The dagger sliced through the air, and Simon calmly grabbed the man's wrist as he turned to the side.
Crack! With a twist of his hand, Simon forced the man's wrist to bend in the wrong direction.
"Kuh, aaaah!" The man dropped the dagger and collapsed to the ground, screaming in agony.
Simon kicked the man's face with a loud thud and said, "We have people like this in our territory too. They mix in with the good folks and do trashy things like demanding protection money."
"... You, you bastard!" Simon dusted off his hands lightly.
"Cleaning up the trash in the territory is the duty of the lord's heir. It seems there are a lot of such people around here too, so I thought I'd clean up a bit as someone who does the same job."
"... So you're a noble."
Raul raised his arm and gave a signal.
Immediately, five more gang members emerged from the end of the alley.
"In that case, we can't let you go."
"..."
Simon calmly loosened up his body.
He had thought there would be two or three at most, but the numbers were larger and more organized than he expected.
Facing eight armed men alone, even Simon felt a bit overwhelmed.
'Sorry, Father.
I might be late getting to Kizen.' Simon lowered his stance with a serious expression, and the gang members also tensed, gripping their daggers tightly.
The situation was on the verge of exploding.
Just as it seemed like a fight was about to break out at any moment...
"Found you!" A voice that shouldn't have been in this alley rang out.
Everyone's gaze turned toward the source of the sound.
Thud.
Thud.
Someone was walking out of the dark shadows of the alley.
A girl with hair as black and glossy as the night sky, a face that still held a hint of youth, and a red crescent-shaped earring.
Simon thought she was around his age or maybe a few years older.
'What the hell is this now?' Raul bit his lip at the appearance of this third party.
What had the guy blocking the back been doing? He was nowhere to be seen.
"... This has nothing to do with you. Get lost."
Despite Raul's warning, the black-haired girl snorted dismissively.
As she approached, the gang members stepped back one by one, their faces tense.
An instinctive, primal sense of rejection and fear.
They couldn't pinpoint the exact reason, but they felt an overwhelmingly dangerous aura from her.
"Don't chicken out."
As the gang members began to waver, Raul spoke up.
"It's 8 against 2. We'll finish this quickly and leave Langskin before the guards arrive."
Hearing this, the girl smirked.
"8 against 2? I don't think so."
Rustle.
Rustle.
As if responding to her movements, the piles of garbage and bags scattered around the alley began to move as if alive.
Soon, the bags tore open, and bone fragments floated into the air.
"Do you guys know what that is?" Click.
Clack.
The bone fragments began to fit together.
Bones of different sizes and types creaked as they slowly formed bodies.
"That building up ahead is a bone burial ground."
Raul and his gang's faces turned pale.
At that moment, the same word flashed in everyone's mind.
'...
Necromancer!' Click! Clack! In an instant, over twenty skeletons surrounded the gang.
Overwhelmed by terror, the gang members couldn't even breathe.
"Kuh!" "Gah!" The undead approached and grabbed the gang members by their arms and legs, immobilizing them.
The dead made creaking sounds as their bony hands brushed over the gang members' faces or gripped their chins.
"What should we do?" The girl smiled enchantingly.
"Our children need new friends, don't they?" Click! Clack! The skeletons clattered their jaws and teeth as if in agreement.
Some of the gang members foamed at the mouth, while others wet their pants.
'...
Amazing.' Simon was also astonished.
Although not as refined as Richard's skeletons, creating over twenty instant undead from the bone fragments scattered around was an incredible feat.
"W-we didn't recognize you, Necromancer! Please, have mercy just this once!" Raul trembled and bowed his head.
The girl uncrossed her arms and asked with a slightly serious expression.
"Tell me your affiliation."
The skeleton holding Raul began to slowly scratch his neck with its bony hand.
As five streaks of blood trickled down his neck, Raul clenched his eyes shut and shouted.
"Craven! We're from the Craven gang!"
"Ah, I've heard of them. For a gang that preys on poor outsiders, they're quite a large organization."
The girl placed her hands on her hips and spoke in an icy voice.
"Tell Craven this: crawl from your hideout to the guards with your head on the ground and your hands tied behind your back. If I find out you sent a fake, I'll erase your entire gang from this world in the name of Kizen."
At the mention of Kizen, all the gang members turned pale and lowered their heads.
Raul, completely resigned, replied.
"... I'll remember that."
"Get lost."
As the skeletons retreated, the gang members fled as fast as they could.
Watching their retreating figures, the girl clicked her tongue.
"Thank you for helping me," Simon said, bowing his head.
The girl finally turned to look at Simon.
"Simon Polentia, right?" she asked with a smile.
Thankfully, there was no hostility in her tone.
Simon quickly nodded.
"Yes, that's me. If it's not too rude, may I ask who you are...?"
"Who do you think I am? I'm your real guide."
Simon's eyes widened like lanterns.
So this person is...? At that moment, she grabbed Simon's wrist.
"Let's go, Mom's waiting."
"... Mom?"
"Mommy!" Behind the grand square of Langskin, the girl who had brought Simon was squatting down, wiping cream off a child's mouth.
The child made a "Ugh" sound and shook their head in refusal, but the girl's hands were firm.
"I told you to wait patiently! You always get lost!"
"But-! There was a free ice cream tasting event at the square!"
The child, who was having their mouth wiped while whining, was none other than Neftis Arkbold, the pinnacle of all necromancers and the ruler of Kizen.
The Witch of Death, with ice cream smeared around her mouth...
Simon was utterly bewildered.
And what was even more bewildering was that the girl who had saved him was calling Neftis "Mom."
Were they mother and daughter? They looked more like sisters, if anything.
And if one had to pick a mother, the girl seemed more fitting than Neftis, who looked like a ten-year-old child...
"Simon?" The girl was now looking at him.
"You were thinking something weird just now, weren't you?"
"N-no, I wasn't."
The girl, who had been glaring at Simon suspiciously, turned her head away with a pout.
...
Her intuition is amazing.
"You've had a long journey, Simon!" Neftis approached with quick steps.
Though she looked like an innocent child, her true identity was a monster among monsters who had lived for over 300 years and terrorized the world.
Simon bowed politely.
"Greetings to the master of Kizen."
"Wow, no need to be so formal."
She chuckled and waved her hand.
"This is the first time I've seen you since Leshill. Did you learn anything from Richard?"
"Ah, yes! A little bit..."
Simon immediately opened his palm.
He activated his core and channeled mana, summoning a black flame.
The black flame immediately flowed up Simon's arm and erupted above his palm.
Sssss.
Simon's unique black flame, tinged with a faint blue light, flickered like fire.
Neftis and the girl both leaned forward, their eyes wide.
Seeing them like this, it did seem like they were mother and daughter.
"Wow."
The two of them had shining eyes, as if admiring a beautiful piece of art.
"It's been a while since I've seen black flames with a blue tint."
"But it still has the nature of mana. The fact that it flickers like fire means it hasn't fully escaped its gaseous state."
"You'll need to learn how to use your core more effectively."
The two of them exchanged brief opinions and nodded.
"That's enough, Simon."
Simon dismissed the black flame and stood straight.
"No need to rush. Kizen is, after all, a 'school,' so you'll have plenty of opportunities to learn more in the future."
"Yes, I'll keep that in mind!"
"Alright, Lorraine?" Neftis slapped the girl's butt and said.
"Take care of our new student."
"... Mom always makes me do all the work."
The girl pouted and grumbled, but Neftis didn't even pretend to listen and turned her back.
"Then I'll have one more ice cream and head back to Kizen! You know what to do!"
"Ah, really! Mom!" And with that, Neftis disappeared as if running away, leaving the two of them alone in the square.
The girl sighed softly and turned to look at Simon.
"Well, no choice. Let me introduce myself again. My name is Lorraine Arkbold. I'm a student of Kizen, just like you."
"I'm Simon Polentia from Leshill! It's a pleasure to meet you again!"
"Good. We've wasted enough time, so let's get going."
"Where are we going?" Lorraine brushed back her flowing hair and replied.
"It's the new semester, right? We're going shopping."