The Summoning Genius of the Necromancer School
Simon, who had stayed up all night, participated in the first period of his hematology class with a haggard face.
However, he was not in good condition.
He needed to take notes from the blackboard, but the writing seemed to split into three. 'Did I exhaust myself too much last night?' As Simon struggled to stay awake, Mei Lin nudged him with her elbow.
"Hey. What's wrong with you?"
"...... I guess I’m feeling bad because I stayed up all night."
Mei Lin sighed softly.
She then rummaged through her bag hanging on the desk and pulled out a white medicine bottle.
"Hey, take this."
"What is it?"
"It's a fatigue recovery medicine. I take it on nights like last night. Open your mouth."
As Simon awkwardly opened his mouth, she flicked a pill inside.
"Don’t bite it. Just hold it in your mouth. It’s really potent, and if it bursts, the classroom will smell."
Mei Lin then handed him a water bottle.
Simon nodded in gratitude, opened the cap, and took a sip.
"Glug."
"......?"
As Simon turned his head, he noticed Mei Lin blushing with a strangely tense expression.
"What's wrong?"
"Ah, I don’t know! Just drink it quickly before the teachers come!"
Simon took a quick sip from the bottle while swallowing the pill.
"Thanks, Mei Lin."
Mei Lin, feeling embarrassed, turned her head away.
At that moment, Dick, who was sitting behind them, leaned forward between the two.
"Ah! You scared me!"
"Hehehe, I heard everything. I heard everything~"
As Dick hummed a tune and prepared to tease them, Mei Lin instinctively growled.
"Hey, stop it."
"What?"
"I don’t know what it is, but just don’t!"
Dick pulled his head back and shrugged his shoulders.
Then he looked at Kamibarez, who was diligently taking notes.
"Kamibarez."
"Yes, what is it, Dick?"
"It’s nothing much, but a conversation between a guy and a girl about 'take it' and 'open it' just happened. What do you think the situation is…"
Kamibarez’s cheeks turned bright red.
Even more so, Mei Lin’s face flushed as she hit Dick’s head with her notebook.
"Hey, you idiot!"
"Ah! Why are you hitting me! I was just stating facts…!"
"Simon!"
Kamibarez said in a trembling voice.
"Y-you shouldn’t say things like that! We’re still minors! Th-that…!"
Simon looked aggrieved.
He thought, 'I’m just sitting quietly and getting medicine.
Why am I being scolded?'
"Students~"
Suddenly, a voice flew into their ears, causing Simon and his friends to freeze and turn their heads.
The teaching assistant, who had appeared out of nowhere, stood with his arms crossed and a smile on his face.
"Are you all done taking notes and just chatting~?"
His voice was gentle, as if he were speaking to children.
"Uh, um, teaching assistant! It’s just…"
"Stand up. All four of you."
In the end, the four were called to the back of the classroom.
"Press your arms tightly against your ears~ Yes, like that. If you try to be clever, I’ll get angry."
It felt somewhat cute, as if they were being punished playfully.
As the teaching assistant walked away, Mei Lin shot a glare at Dick.
"Ah, this is so embarrassing! It’s all your fault!"
"No, I was just stating facts…"
"Don’t fight! We’ll get in trouble again!"
Meanwhile, Simon was staring at the blackboard alone.
His vision had cleared up.
Whether it was the effect of the medicine or the punishment, he felt more awake.
"Mei Lin."
"Yes?"
"The medicine you gave me works well."
At Simon’s compliment, she instantly smiled and puffed up her chest.
"Hmph, of course! This is super expensive…"
"What kind of medicine is it?"
"You just shut up."
At that moment, another teaching assistant from Silaji rushed into the classroom.
"Professor Silaji will be about 20 minutes late! I’ll shorten the break a bit."
He said while looking at his wristwatch.
"We’ll have a break until 30 minutes from now."
With that, the quiet classroom instantly became noisy.
As break time arrived, Simon and his friends, who had been punished, naturally returned to their seats.
"Wait a moment, group members. Look at me."
As Dick waved his hand, the three who were about to return to their seats turned to him.
They gathered in a quiet corner of the classroom.
"Ah, what is it now?"
Mei Lin grumbled.
"I was going to talk during lunch, but since we have time, I’ll tell you now."
"?"
Dick pulled out a note from his jacket pocket.
"Hehe, I have information about your duel evaluation opponents. First, the most urgent one is Simon."
"Me?"
"Yeah. You were preparing a Skeleton Archer for this duel evaluation."
Simon nodded.
"You should stop that immediately."
"Why?"
"My words aren’t 100% certain, but your compatibility with the opponent is really bad."
Dick read the note in a serious tone.
"The opponent’s name is Haren Cork. He comes from a notorious necromancer family in the Oldwin Kingdom. The dark magic he uses is called Black Hand."
"Black Hand? I’ve never heard of it."
On the other hand, Mei Lin seemed to have an idea and her eyes widened.
"...... It must be the family’s unique dark magic."
"Correct! To put it simply, it summons hands made of pitch-black material from the back, and it has excellent defensive capabilities against ranged projectiles. It can easily swat away fast-flying black arrows."
Simon bit his lip slightly.
If it could easily swat away black arrows…
"The arrows from the Skeleton Archer probably won’t work against him, Simon."
"...... Hmm."
Simon swallowed hard.
He had decided to go with summoning studies, but it was clear to anyone that it was a bad match.
He wasn’t stubborn enough to keep pushing with the Skeleton Archer.
While Simon was contemplating other methods, Dick continued.
"Black Hand is a powerful means of both offense and defense, but it has clear drawbacks. Haren Cork cannot use other dark magic while maintaining Black Hand."
"Oh, if that’s the case, the strategy is clear!"
Kamibarez’s eyes sparkled as he spoke.
"It’s a curse!"
"Yeah, that’s right."
Mei Lin agreed.
"If both ranged and close attacks are tricky, then just keep your distance and stack curses to weaken him. It’s an easy win, right? We can just practice Exgest for the remaining time!"
Simon leaned against the wall, deep in thought.
He had finally gotten fired up while assembling the Skeleton Archer, only to face this unexpected variable.
It seemed that nothing in the world went as one wished.
'What should I do?' Time was limited.
Should he push through with the Skeleton Archer? Should he break his initial resolve and practice curses? Or perhaps…
'.......'
Simon’s eyes sparkled with intelligence.
Days passed quickly, and now the duel evaluation was just a day away.
This morning, Mei Lin entered the classroom early and sat down while yawning.
In front of her, students who had arrived earlier were chatting excitedly, and of course, the topic was the duel evaluation.
"Ugh, I’m nervous. How should I deal with the martial arts candidates?"
"Professor Bahil’s Leg Down curse is a direct hit!"
"I’m most scared of the poison students. They keep nibbling away at the barrier gauge…"
"Sigh, I just hope I don’t run into a curse study candidate."
Mei Lin scoffed as she listened to their conversations.
Instead of worrying about opponents or compatibility, it was better to focus on personal training.
If she was strong and confident in her skills, that was all that mattered.
As she clicked her tongue inwardly and took out her textbook, someone spoke.
"...... Hello, Mei Lin."
"Whoa!"
She turned her head in surprise.
It was Simon, looking haggard with deep dark circles under his eyes.
He forced a smile and said, "Mei Lin, you look good today. Did you do something new with your hair?"
"......."
Mei Lin frowned.
Why was he suddenly acting all weird?
"Who told you to do that?"
"Dick did."
"Ugh."
Simon mimicking Dick’s tone sent chills down her spine.
It felt so out of place.
"Anyway, why are you buttering me up? Just tell me the reason quickly."
"...... Medicine."
"Ugh."
Mei Lin grumbled but still took out a medicine bottle from her bag and handed it to him.
After taking her medicine, Simon’s mind cleared up a bit.
"Do you know that I’m more anxious watching you? Why have you been like this lately?"
"Preparing for the duel evaluation."
Mei Lin frowned.
"Yeah, I get it. It’s good to prepare hard, but you’ll really collapse like this. The medicine isn’t some magic that removes fatigue. I only take it occasionally."
"I just need to hold on until tomorrow’s duel evaluation."
"...... You’re crazy."
A moment later, class began.
Of course, Simon’s condition continued to worsen as the class went on.
He couldn’t concentrate at all, scribbling strange things in his notebook and mumbling to himself.
"Dick! What’s wrong with him?" Unable to hold back, Mei Lin asked Dick.
He seemed troubled by Simon as he ran his hand through his hair with a complicated expression.
"I don’t know. He hardly comes back to the room lately, and even when he’s awake, he’s often not in his seat."
Kamibarez, who was watching with a worried expression, tugged at Dick’s sleeve.
"He’s going to collapse like this. Do something, Dick!"
"Right. You’re his roommate!"
"Do you think I haven’t tried? The problem is he doesn’t listen to a word I say."
Dick turned his head away.
Even during break time, Simon was still scribbling strange doodles in his notebook like a madman.
He was completely absorbed in some topic, oblivious to everything else.
"He’ll probably keep acting like this until the duel evaluation is over. I think he’s preparing a new dark magic."
"A new dark magic?" Mei Lin scoffed.
"What’s the point? He could just practice Exgest to easily win against a simple opponent."
"...... New dark magic is good, but health comes first, I think."
As Mei Lin scratched her head in annoyance, her eyes lit up.
"I can’t let this go on. I’ll give him a stern talk."
Dick supported the back of his head with his arm.
"You should stop. No matter what you say, it won’t get through to him."
"Just watch me."
With a firm resolve, Mei Lin approached Simon.
"Hey, Simon! If you keep this up…!"
Simon slowly turned his head.
'......
Gah!'
His eyes looked completely out of it.
Suddenly, as a boy of their age glared at her, she felt a bit intimidated and stammered.
"I-I’ve told you several times that if you keep this up, your health will suffer…!"
"Thanks for worrying about me, Mei Lin. I’ll really rest well starting tomorrow."
And with that, Simon turned his head back to scribble in his notebook.
'This isn’t right.'
As Mei Lin pondered how to speak next, Simon suddenly jumped up.
"Dick."
This time, Dick flinched and said, "Huh? Huh?"
"The news I asked for…"
"Ah, about Professor Aaron? I think I won’t know until lunch."
"Okay. Thanks."
Simon sat back down and continued writing in his notebook.
The worried gazes of the three gathered around him.
What kind of dark magic was he preparing?
That evening, Aaron was entering Kizen.
He wasn’t dressed in his usual shabby attire.
Instead, he wore the uniform of the Kizen headquarters and a stylish black fur cloak.
Some minions cleaning the building didn’t even recognize him as Aaron.
'......
I’m exhausted.'
The mission ended earlier than expected.
Today was supposed to be a rest day, but he decided to stop by the laboratory for a moment to prepare for class.
'It’s suffocating.'
As he walked to the laboratory, Aaron shrugged off his outer coat and loosened his tie.
With each step, his outfit became lighter, and the pile of clothes in his right hand grew.
As he reached the door of the laboratory, he found someone sitting on the floor.
With hollow eyes, Simon was flipping through a notebook and mumbling strange words.
"...... Simon Polentia."
Simon looked up.
Upon seeing Aaron, he jumped up and bowed his head.
"Professor Aaron!"
"What are you doing here?"
Seeing Simon after a week, he looked haggard and thin.
Simon spoke politely.
"I have something I really want to ask you, Professor."
"......."
Aaron silently looked at the watch on his wrist.
"Isn’t it past quitting time?"
"...... Ah."
"Just kidding."
Aaron chuckled.
"Helping a student with their worries is also a professor’s duty. Come in."