Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 109

Chapter 108

“…Sorry.”

Squatting beside Simon, who was groaning in pain, was Meilyn with her head hung low.

Simon tried his best to smile and said,

“It’s okay. You didn’t do it on purpose anywa— Ugh!”

“Ah! Are you really alright? I’m telling you, just go to the clinic!”

Simon forced himself to smile, pretending to seem fine. If he went there for nothing and the doctor gave the order to stop taking classes, it’d be the worst. It was better to just endure it.

“Ah.”

His eyes met Camibarez’ on his opposite side.

Gaze filled with a mixture of worry and joy at seeing Simon again, she greeted Simon with a timid smile.

“Hello, Simon~”

“Hi. Nothing bad happened to you, Cami, right?”

“Right!”

“Anyways… Going back to what we were talking about…”

Said Rick, taking off his jacket.

Then, he started pulling club flyers out of every pocket imaginable.

“This club season is the only time in the whole year where the second-years will be kind to us.”

Looks like they were also talking about clubs. Simon asked out of curiosity,

“It wasn’t just at the level of being kind. Why are they so obsessed with inviting the first-years?”

Rick grinned and made a coin shape with his fingers.

“Isn’t it obvious? Depending on the number of members joining, the club’s funds vary greatly, you know?”

“…Ahh.”

Simon immediately understood. In Kizen, money was important.

“As the semester goes by, there are also first-year students who leave their clubs or who are expelled from Kizen, but the reduction in funds due to withdrawal is small, so it became sort of a situation where they go, ‘Alright, let’s gather a lot of members first!’ Ah, dammit! How did they put a flyer in the back pocket of my pants?”

Rick grunted and pulled it out. Literally every last one of his pockets was stuffed with flyers.

“And…”

Meilyn patted Rick on the shoulder and continued his words.

“There are a lot of cases where students are treated coldly as soon as the club season is over. So it’d be a safe bet to join some major club and to not give attention to the weird ones.”

“Which one did you guys join?”

At Simon’s question, Camibarez raised her hand.

“I joined the blood research group Saddam!”

“Ah, that one.”

Simon bitterly smiled.

“I joined the Pure Magic Research Society.”

Answered Meilyn.

Pure magic was an old-style magic that utilized only mana instead of jet-black to draw a magic circle.

“The Pure Magic Research Society? What brings you there?”

At Simon’s question, Rick also raised his head.

“I wanted to ask that, too. Why are you suddenly learning pure magic?”

“Well, I had the interest to begin with since I’m from Ivory Tower, and whatever it may be, it’s the origin of the jet-black elemental magic, isn’t it? I heard that studying it gives a lot of inspiration.”

Both of them chose clubs that matched their desired subjects or majors.

Simon turned his head.

“Then what about you, Rick?”

Rick shrugged.

“Hehe! I just created a new club!”

“For real? What kind of club is it?”

“The Rochest-Start-Up Support Association!”

“…Bleh.”

Meilyn wore a disgusted look.

“People actually joined a club like that? Don’t you need at least three people to make one?”

“It was pretty easy. I approached the ones who weren’t interested in clubs and told them that I’d give them a portion of the funds if I could just use their name, then poof!”

“…Afterall, your life is full of cheap tricks.”

“Please call them ‘shortcuts’.”

Poking her nose in, Camibarez asked,

“What about you, Simon? Did you choose your club already?”

“I’m still thinking about it.”

Answered Simon while taking a potato chip and eating it. It was spicy, with a lot of peppers sprinkled on it. Rick probably picked it.

“By the way, Simon, did you perhaps get an offer from ‘Noble’?”

At Rick’s question, Simon guiltily looked to the side.

“W-Well… I did.”

“Whew, as expected! I heard that special admission no.1s are also able to be recruited.”

“If it’s Noble, isn’t that the club the prince is in?”

“Yeah, the gathering of people with influential power.”

Rick folded his arms.

“It’s a pretty toasty place, but there’s nothing wrong with joining them. Not to mention the various benefits. You can form a strong faction within the second-years. I heard that the second-years will gang up if somebody tries to lay their hands on their juniors.”

“Gosh, how lame… How lame.”

Meilyn shook her head. Then Rick looked at her with a serious expression.

“Maybe it’s different for you since you have this thing called The Ivory Tower behind you, but the difference between having such connections or not in Kizen is enormous. The attitudes of the people around you will change if Noble is at your back.”

“Connections or whatever, in the end, it derives from a weak heart that wants to depend on something, doesn’t it? Ultimately, the only thing you can trust is yourself.”

“And I’m saying, Ivory Tower got your back……”

While the three of them were talking amongst themselves, Simon was seriously contemplating which club to join.

His gaze turned to the flyer for the special undead research society, Mutant.

* * *

* * *

‘I guess I’ll try listening to them once.’

In the end, Simon found himself heading to Mutant’s club room.

The building for club rooms was located a little far from the main campus for the first-years. It was instead close to the central area, where the restaurants and cafes were concentrated.

“Hey, you over there, wait!”

Simon turned his head. A female student with waist-length cream-colored hair fluttering in the wind was approaching Simon.

‘She’s a second-year.’

Her school jacket was tied around her waist, but Simon was able to work out her year level from the way she looked, not needing to see the red symbol.

Unlike the first-year female students, who wore relatively mild makeup, her overall makeup was thick, and the makeup on her eyes especially was high-level. And she wore a short skirt.

Second-years would boldly bend the Kizen uniforms to their own style.

The male students made their pants tighter, and the female students shortened their skirts. Still, there was no problem with the barrier cast on the school uniform, as it was a full-body protection type.

“Did you call to me, Senior?”

Simon bowed his head politely. She approached Simon with a confident gait, folded her arms, and smiled.

“Judging from the fact that you’ve come all the way here, looks like you’ve already decided on the club to join?”

“N-No, I’m not decided, but I want to hear an explanation.”

Then her gaze turned to the flyer in Simon’s hand.

“Oh! Oh! Oh! You, that! That thing!”

She suddenly closed the distance. Simon pulled his head back slightly as she suddenly came close.

“Are you planning to join Mutant?!”

“I’m planning to hear some explanat—”

“Hahahaha! Good! Very good!”

She smiled cheerfully and hit Simon on the back.

At the strength incomparable to Meilyn’s, Simon almost screamed.

“Uh, what’s wrong with you? Why are you tearing up?”

“…It’s nothing.”

“Are you that deeply moved to join my club? Kyahahaha! As you should be, as you should be!”

“I’m just going to head—”

Grabbing Simon’s wrist with great strength, she shouted,

“Let’s go!”

She wasn’t really the type of person who listened to others.

She was a whimsical person speaking in a powerful voice and radiating self-confidence.

She walked with straight legs, carelessly letting the shortened school uniform skirt flutter about.

The place where Simon arrived, dragged by the wrist, was a shabby club room.

Taped on the door was a piece of paper with the word ‘Mutant’ in uneven handwriting. The colors were fading and the tape was barely attached.

“Now, come in!”

“Thank you.”

The club room was a bit older and shabbier than Simon had expected. He had heard that clubs in Kizen were big, majestic, and glamorous. But this one looked different from the rumors.

But it wasn’t so bad. Simon felt like it was a hideout and liked how comfortable it felt.

Simon had always preferred modesty over glamor.

“…You’re back?”

A second-year male student lying on the sofa got up, brushing back his frizzy hair.

Simon immediately recognized him. It was the same guy with huge bags under his eyes who gave Simon the flyer.

“What are you doing, Dio?! Today is the last day!”

“…I’m sleepy. And even if we handed out the flyers, not a lot would come.”

“Not a lot would come my ass! Look who’s here!”

She shouted as she pointed at Simon. The man who was called Dio also recognized Simon.

“Oh… you’re…”

“Good to see you again, Senior.”

Simon showed the flyer he had received from him and bowed.

“You guys stay here for a while! I’ll go check on the side the first-years would come from one more time!”

“…I’m telling you, just stay here.”

“I’ll be back!”

She hurriedly left the club room. Dio let out a small sigh and looked at Simon.

“…Make yourself at home.”

“What?”

Dio went back to relaxing on the sofa.

“…We’ll have an interview in a little while, so until then…

Yaaaawwwwwnnnn

.”

Then, he fell asleep.

‘What odd people… Maybe I should take a bit of a look around.’

The further back he looked, the more professional it seemed. Rather than just being a place for resting, it gave off the atmosphere of a workshop.

Perhaps they were developing the undead right here. A variety of undead materials as good as the necromancer shop were displayed on the shelf. On the desk, there were various designs, knives, scissors, and cut bones scattered around. And on top of that…

‘No wonder the club room seemed small.’

There were even machines in the back of the room.

From an automatic banding machine that ran off of magic stones to a cryo processor.

Simon looked around in curiosity. It seemed worthwhile joining this club if he could use these machines.

Knock knock.

Dio was still asleep and didn’t seem to respond to the knocking, so Simon answered instead.

“Yes, please come in.”

Click.

The door opened, and a hooded man with glasses and a cold disposition came in.

The hood was from the clothes he wore underneath his school jacket, and he was pressing that hood down, which accentuated his bangs while giving off a closed and stiff vibe.

‘A first-year, huh?’

Seeing him looking around as though fascinated, Simon opened his mouth.

“The seniors said that they’ll start after a while. We can make ourselves home, apparently?”

He nodded lightly and sat down on the sofa as if he were in the comfort of his own home. Then, he took out a book from his subspace and began to silently turn the pages.

Simon glanced at the name of the book.

[Why Can’t A Chimpanzee Become A Philosopher?]

‘…What the hell is that book?’

As Simon was thinking that he was a strange guy, a second knock was heard.

“Yes, please come in.”

The door opened slightly, and Simon saw a short boy sticking his head in. Then, he found Simon, and his eyes widened.

“Ah, Simon!”

“Toto!”

Toto Amori, a Summoning major in Class A. He was normally very nervous, but here he smiled in delight.

“Simon! Are you planning to join here, too?”

“Hm? Ah, I haven’t decided yet.”

Having met an acquaintance in an unfamiliar place, the atmosphere became more relaxed.

The two talked amongst themselves. Perhaps the man with glasses wasn’t so interested. He was still focused on reading.

“I came all the way just because of that one senior.”

Said Toto in excitement.

“Which senior?”

“I heard rumors.”

Toto lowered his voice.

“The president of this club is the famous—”

“The famous second-year’s special admission no.5, Benya Vanilla, a member of the current student council.”

The two of them turned their heads. The man with glasses, who took his eyes off the book and looked at Simon and Toto, was talking.

Simon’s eyes widened at the familiar word.

“Wait a minute! Vanilla?! You mean she’s that—”

“Yeap.”

A glint formed in the man’s eyes.

“The granddaughter of the president of the Vanilla Group is the president of this club.”

——