The Mission of the Summoning Genius at the Necromancer School
One of the key components of the unique system known as Kijen.
After the student protection period ends, Kijen students are given a time known as the "mission period."
This period is designated for about 5 days, including the weekend, during which students can undertake various missions requested from the outside.
The types of missions range from simple chores and part-time jobs to monster extermination, bodyguard duties, assassination of important figures, and even proxy wars.
The variety is endless.
Even missions performed by current necromancers are opened to Kijen students.
Depending on the difficulty and success of the missions received, "evaluation points" are awarded, and the commission fee can also be formally received.
For Kijen students, who often struggle with a lack of funds due to enormous material costs, this is the fastest and most lucrative way to earn money.
And as Hongpeng mentioned last night, Kijen set the mission period for this week, including the weekend, to 5 days.
"During the mission period, students' strategies vary," Dick was laying out information during lunchtime in the cafeteria.
"They need to clear at least one mission during this time, you know? Some students clear a simple mission on Rock Island and then study hard with the remaining time to boost their grades, while others take the teleportation magic circle to go outside the island and aim to solve a major incident for profit and mission points."
"Mm."
Simon nodded while taking a sip of his drink.
"What happens if you can't clear a mission within those 5 days?"
"Of course, it's a mission failure. No money, no points."
Dick shrugged and continued.
"In special cases, you can write a justification and continue with the mission, but in the end, all the classes you can attend will be missed, so it's a loss for yourself."
"There's a risk involved."
Dick nodded seriously.
"So I'm planning to grab something I can handle in Rochester, make some easy money, and focus on expanding my business."
[We have no worries!] A clone of Pier, hanging from Simon's school uniform, spoke up.
Of course, only Simon could hear his voice. [Using the mission as an excuse to go out to the continent! The top priority is to gather the forces of the legion scattered across the continent and restore our former might!]
Simon agreed.
If the ancient undead that had served under his father were lying somewhere on the continent, he had to obtain them.
No matter what anyone said, it was the maximum power-up that Simon could attempt at this moment.
'But are there undead stronger than Pier?' Pier's clone grinned. [Kuhuh! I am the manager of the legion! No one dares to oppose me, but if we only consider combat ability, there are indeed real monsters among those who held the rank of commander under the legion!]
'Commanders under the legion?' This was the first Simon had heard of it. [The legion is originally divided into several undead squads! And the intelligent ancient undead commanded their subordinate troops! If we gather all the commanders and the undead they lead, it won't be long before the legion regains its former might!]
The thought of being able to have new ancient undead besides Pier made Simon's eyes sparkle.
He felt he had to do this without fail.
'But how do we know where the commanders are?' [Kuhuh! Those crazy ones won't just sit quietly.
They must be causing trouble all over the continent.
That's likely to be included in Kijen's missions!]
'If there's even a slight clue, we must go out for sure.'
"Simon."
While he was lost in conversation with Pier, Dick was looking at him with a puzzled expression.
"Why are you suddenly laughing to yourself?"
"Uh, uh? Ahaha! No, I just thought of something funny all of a sudden..."
Simon quickly brushed it off with a laugh.
"Anyway, just taking on an easy mission is a problem."
Dick waved his fork around.
"After all, your mission score is at stake. If you keep putting off easy missions and procrastinate, you might end up having to take on a dangerous mission like assassination of an important figure later."
"Procrastination isn't a good strategy, then."
"Exactly."
Simon felt his resolve strengthen even more.
The next morning.
Mission boards were set up in various key facilities, including the male and female dormitories of Kijen.
Students were crowding around the boards.
"Who wants to go exterminate werewolves on Rock Island? It's a three-person party!"
"Blue request form for the Langostine mission! This is a sweet deal."
"The Langostine's commission fee is too low. If you're going, you might as well go further."
Listening to the chatter of other students, Simon checked the request forms posted on the board.
He noticed that each request form had a different color.
White - Missions within Rock Island.
No chance of priest conflict.
Blue - Missions within the Dark Alliance.
Extremely low chance of priest conflict.
Red - Missions within neutral zones.
High chance of priest conflict.
Black - Missions within the Holy Federation.
Conflicts with priests.
It was natural that the more dangerous the mission, the higher the commission fee and mission points.
Even among the blue request forms, the commission fee varied greatly depending on the mission's content.
As he observed, he noticed that the white request forms were disappearing the fastest.
First-year students were still in the process of adapting to Kijen and tended to focus more on school life than missions.
There was a psychological tendency to avoid difficult missions from the start.
Of course, Simon's thoughts were different. 'There can't be any of my father's undead on Rock Island.'
Simon skipped the white request forms and began to examine the blue request forms.
The blue request forms were popular because they had less distance and psychological burden.
Students who wanted to choose relatively safe missions while still having a desire for income tended to pick these.
'Pier.' [Hmm, I'm watching.] Pier's clone, attached to Simon's school uniform, was rolling his eyes diligently. [Nothing noteworthy here.]
'Then I'll move on to the next.' Simon took a step over to the board with the red request forms.
Here, the number of students looking was significantly reduced.
As Simon leaned in closer to read the small print, he accidentally bumped shoulders with someone next to him.
"Oh, s-sorry..."
A large male student.
It was none other than Hector.
Recognizing who it was, Simon quickly stepped back.
He knew that Hector disliked him.
"Simon Polentia."
Hector spoke up.
"Are you also planning to go to the neutral zone?"
"...... I was just looking around."
Hector chuckled softly.
"The neutral zone is a lawless area where Kijen's influence does not reach. Whatever happens to you while doing a mission there, or however you meet your end, Kijen won't have a way to know."
The corners of his mouth curled up deeply.
"I hope we don't run into each other during our missions."
Hector tore off one of the red request forms from the board and strode away.
"Hector."
"?" Hector turned around, and Simon smiled.
"Take care."
"......!!" In an instant, Hector's expression twisted in anger.
The veins in his neck bulged, and his fists clenched tightly.
Simon straightened his shoulders and met his gaze calmly.
"......."
"......."
A brief standoff ensued.
Eventually, Hector irritably turned his back and walked up the stairs.
Simon also turned his head back to examine the board.
[Hehehe! What's wrong with that kid?] 'I don't know either.' No matter how much he thought about it, Simon couldn't understand why Hector disliked him.
Was it because he embarrassed him in the first class of summoning studies? But that could be considered even since he was embarrassed in the curse studies class.
Was it because they had a scuffle in the bathhouse? That was also smoothed over before a real fight could break out due to Kajan's interruption.
No matter how much he thought about it, Simon couldn't come up with a reason and neatly erased Hector from his mind, refocusing on the red request forms.
'Pier, what about this? A village attacked by infected zombie hordes.' [Infection is too common a case.] 'Then what about this? Damage to buildings and crops from a sudden attack by a swarm of red snakes.' [It's interesting, but none of the commanders have that ability.]
Just as Simon and Pier were carefully examining the request forms, something caught Simon's eye. 'Why is this here?' In the corner of the stack of request forms stuck to the board, there was a particularly eye-catching request form.
It was a blue request form stuck to the red request form board.
'Is it a mistake?' Just as Simon stepped closer to see the request form, someone pulled it off.
"Oh, this is still stuck. Please ignore this."
It was a servant managing the mission board.
Simon quickly asked, "What mission is that?"
"Oh, this is a request that has been around for a few months... It was a case where a necromancer subcontracted by Kijen went missing."
Simon's eyes widened.
Not a student, but a necromancer was involved? "Can I take a look at it?"
"Uh? B-but this is not a mission suitable for students..."
"Please."
The manager handed over the request form with a worried expression.
Simon and Pier quickly examined the request form.
Request: Solve the missing person case
Request Level: D -> B
Reward: 50 gold.
Location: Territory of Arnis.
Details: Young women found as withered corpses.
Special Note: The mission recipient is missing.
Simon was taken aback when he saw the photo attached to the request form.
The person truly looked like a mummy, all dried up.
[I found it!] Pier grinned widely. [This trace belongs to her! Erzebet!]
'Who is that?' [She is the ancient undead leading the spider squad.
When Erzebet or the spiders she commands suck the bodily fluids of a person, they turn into this.
No doubt about it!]
Simon carefully tucked the request form into his arms.
Since it was a high-level request, the reward was a whopping 50 gold.
Recently, Simon had been struggling financially due to excessive spending on skeleton sets, making this an opportunity he couldn't miss.
"...... Student. Are you really going to take that?"
"Yes."
"Your supervising professor probably won't allow it."
Simon smiled.
"I'll have to try and persuade them."
While anyone could freely take on white request missions, for red request forms or missions of level B or higher, consultation with the supervising professor was necessary.
Simon took a deep breath and knocked on Jane's lab door.
"Professor Jane, this is Simon Polentia."
"Come in."
Jane's voice came from beyond the door.
Simon carefully stepped inside.
Bookshelves packed so tightly that no empty space on the walls was visible caught his eye, and countless stacks of documents were piled in boxes in every corner.
Overall, the room was well organized, but the only disheveled part was the papers scattered messily on her desk.
Simon could tell that these were the tasks she had to handle today.
"Did you come for a mission?" Jane, examining the documents, was wearing her hair up and glasses, unlike usual.
Even while asking, her eyes remained fixed on the documents, and the quill pen in her hand moved at an incredible speed.
"Yes! Professor."
"Let's take a look."
Simon approached quietly to avoid disturbing her and carefully placed the request form on the edge of her desk.
Jane moved only her eyes to glance at the request form before returning to her paperwork.
'Has she checked it?' Simon was fidgeting when she finally spoke.
"Change it for another request. This is not a task suitable for a freshman."
It seemed she had indeed seen through him.
Simon swallowed hard and said, "I'm confident, Professor. I really want to take on this request and solve it."
Her quill pen stopped.
Simon could see Jane's sharp gaze through her glasses.
A sense of tension washed over him, and he straightened his back.
"Confident, are you?"