Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 136

Chapter 135

The Death Land performance assessment, which was more dangerous than any assessment before, ended safely.

The Class A students all washed themselves off before locking themselves in the dormitory. Everyone at rock bottom, both physically and mentally.

Simon and Rick were also lying still in bed, not even twitching a finger.

“…”

Simon raised his arm with a blank stare.

His finger traced a shape across the familiar ceiling. Jet-black flowed through his hand.

‘I can’t stop thinking about it.’

Pier said that Simon apparently used Corpse Explosion, but he couldn’t remember it. When he came to his senses, he was in Prince’s mansion, and all that remained was the lingering sensation in his body.

But when he saw Aaron’s Corpse Explosion, he felt an immense shudder.

His whole body trembled and reacted, as though itching to recreate that dark spell.

‘But since there are no zombies nearby, I can’t practice even if I want to.’

Simon let his arms fall back down while planning to by Rochest on the weekend.

“Rick. Are you asleep?”

“Fwaaaah, not yet.”

He could hear Rick’s sleepy voice from the next bed.

“Do you remember what class we got tomorrow?”

“…Uh, I forgot. Wait, I’m also getting curious.”

Rick opened a notebook on his bed.

“Ah, crap.”

“Hm?”

“We got a Combat Dark Magic class in the afternoon! And it’s a joint lesson with Class C.”

Rick dropped his notebook and scratched his head.

“I’m fucked. My arms and legs are dead. There’s no way I don’t fall off the hippo.”

Simon blinked and stared at the ceiling.

‘A joint lesson? Who do I know from Class C again?’

* * *

‘Joint lessons’, where two or more classes took lectures together, happen quite often in Kizen.

That was because of Kizen’s flexible schedule.

This time, Aaron ate up an entire day of classes for the zombie assessment.

Joint classes were held to make up for the lost lessons.

Simon thought it’d create an uncomfortable situation with the other professors, but in fact, it was common for professors to spend an entire day or half a day for reasons such as performance assessments.

Since they knew each other’s situation well, they actively cooperated on these issues.

And today, Class C, who went to Death Land first, and Class A, who went to Death Land yesterday, would have a joint lesson in Combat Dark Magic.

“Guooooooooh.”

Rick, sprawled out on the grass from exhaustion, was imitating a Death Land zombie.

The other students were also sitting and catching their breaths, but none of them fell off from the hippo, like Rick’s concern. It was strength of humanity to adjust and follow up when cornered.

“I heard that Class A went yesterday?”

“We were just like that.”

Looking at the drooping Class A students, the Class C students were sniggering. It was the relaxed manner of those who went first.

“By the way, Simon.”

Said Meilyn, sitting across from Simon and wiping her forehead with a handkerchief.

“Have you really not seen that person called Pion?”

Simon felt a prick of conscience inwardly but answered without showing it.

“I’m telling you, I don’t. When I woke up, I was in the basement of that mansion.”

“What a bummer.”

Meilyn tilted her head back as if really disappointed. Camibarez, next to her, giggled.

“Meilyn kept on talking about Pion in the dormitory lounge with me all day, teehee~”

“Ah, I mean, he’s cool!”

Shouted Meilyn while blushing.

“Honestly, I couldn’t understand why my roommates were gushing over the professors and squealing, you know? But I think I get them now. Somewhat.”

“Was he that handsome?”

“Of course!”

Simon, drinking quietly, almost spat out his drink.

‘I’m sure I covered half of my face with Pier’s skull.’

“When I was kidnapped, suddenly, that person came down through the ceiling of the wagon! He beat up that perverted old man who kidnapped me until he was bathed in blood, then kicked him out of the wagon! Then he kindly held me like a princess and escaped the wagon, and the wagon fell off the cliff in a matter of seconds!”

“Whoaa! It’s like a fairy tale!”

“…”

‘Why is her memory so bad when it happened just yesterday.’

“To be honest, Pion was far from my ideal type.”

Said Meilyn, folding her arms.

“I really hate things like unsophisticated and violent behavior. But how do I put this? Like being attracted to bad boys?”

“Is it like a dangerous charm?”

“No, to be precise, when that violent person is only kind toward me? I guess that’s like my dream. Ah well, to be honest, he had a good-looking face, so that covers pretty much everything.”

“…”

Meilyn, who was heated up explaining about Pion, glanced at Simon.

“Hey, why is your face getting red?”

“…It’s kinda hot here.”

Simon whipped his head around, and was soon saved by the assistant teachers’ voices.

“Alright, we’ll start class in 10 minutes!”

The sprawling students peeled themselves off the floor and began light warm-ups.

It was then when Simon was going to prepare for class.

“Hello~”

A voice overflowing with elegance was heard from behind him.

‘Urk.’

Simon flinched and looked back.

A girl with ivory hair and a white coat resting over her Kizen uniform approached with hands clasped behind her back.

Simon knew someone from Class C, after all.

Serene Aindark, the Special Admission No.2 and successor of the Ivory Tower. Her pressuring atmosphere hadn’t changed at all.

“It’s been a while~ Simon.”

She did a light curtsey and greeted him gracefully like the queen of the school’s social heirarchy.

Then, the moment she found Meilyn next to him, her expression reversed.

“Mei-Mei!”

She spoke in a babyish tone and clung to Meilyn’s arm.

Meilyn’s face instantly fell into a scowl.

“I missed you!”

“Ah, shit! You’re disgusting, get off of me!!”

Meilyn shoved Serene’s face away. Her fine face was pushed away by a merciless palm, but Serene didn’t give up and came closer to her, rubbing her head against Meilyn’s arm.

“Are you alright? Seri couldn’t sleep at night because Seri heard that Mei-Mei was going to the dangerous Death Land!”

“Seri, my ass! I’m telling you to stop!! You’re giving me chills!”

As Meilyn pushed as hard as she could, Serene fell over in an exaggerated motion.

She sat down on the grass and hung her head in misery.

“Seri just wants to be friends with Mei-Mei.”

“Fuck off!”

Said Meilyn, her voice convulsed with anger.

“It’s pretentious to say such shit when you’re just toying with people, you know?”

“…”

“Let’s go, Cami.”

Meilyn took Camibarez and left.

A moment of awkward silence passed. Serene gracefully brushed her hair behind her ears and looked at Simon while blinking with wide, innocent-looking eyes.

“Are you not going to help a lady who’s tripped over?”

“…”

Her miserable expression was nowhere to be found, and a foxy smile painted her lips.

Simon reluctantly took her hand and helped her up.

* * *

* * *

“It’s been a while since Island Survival~”

“Yeah, that’s true. Good luck with your class today. I’ll be off, since my friends are waiting. Well then.”

Dealing with Serene was too exhausting for Simon.

As Simon turned and walked away, she caught up to Simon with light steps.

“You didn’t forget that you owe me one, right?”

Then she whispered, “Commander.”

Simon let out a sigh and stopped, looking back at her.

“Will I settle that debt if I hang out with you today?”

“No~ I’ll use it when I really need it.”

Clap clap!

At that moment, Hong Feng’s unique pronunciation of the continental language was heard.

“Now! Assemble!”

“Professor says gather up!”

“Gather up, please!”

Class A and Class C all gathered in front of Hong Feng.

“Today, we’re going to learn a special skill! Let’s spread out and proceed with the class as pairs!”

The assistant teachers went around and decided on each of the pairs.

They seemed to be trying to mix Class A with Class C because it was a joint lesson. Pairs were mostly of the same gender, but there were occasional cases where men and women were mixed. It seemed like it was just up to the assistant teacher.

“You two, please. Here, you two. You two, here. And you…”

An assistant teacher setting pairs stopped in front of Simon, pointing at him. Simon, burdened by Serene, slipped out and stood alone.

When the assistant teacher was about to choose a boy from Class C next to Simon, suddenly, a translucent feather fluttered in and struck the back of the assistant’s neck.

Then, his arm turned 180 degrees and pointed at Serene a distance away.

“…with that student.”

“…”

Simon saw Serene waving with a foxy smile. Soon, the feather fell from the nape of the assistant teacher, but he didn’t notice and moved on to the other students.

“I guess it can’t be helped~ Since the assistant teacher decided for us.”

Serene approached Simon with light steps as though floating through the air. With every step, white feathers drifted to the floor.

‘Sigh.’

Simon rubbed his forehead. He now understood a bit of why Meilyn was avoiding her.

Clap! Clap!

“Now, everyone has a partner, right? Let’s start with a light warm-up!”

Two assistant teachers came forward and demonstrated the warm-up. The students just had to watch and follow the motions.

Simon and Serene also stretched their arms while facing each other.

She said with a sweet smile,

“Are Pier and Elizabeth doing well?”

Simon flinched, his eyes darting around.

The other students were far enough away, but he couldn’t help but feel nervous.

“Don’t worry~ I’ve set it up so that sound won’t leak out.”

He saw a feather stuck in the grass. Simon let out a small sigh and said,

“That’s something I don’t really want to talk about.”

“Then what would you like to talk about?”

Simon said while in the middle of his side lunges,

“Maybe the relationship between you and Meilyn?”

Serene always seemed to keep a certain distance from others, but she tended to treat Meilyn as a very close friend. But of course, Meilyn always reacted with disgust.

“I don’t understand why you’re clinging to Meilyn. If that’s acting just like what Meilyn said, you’d better quit. Because Meilyn sees you as a rival or something that she has to defeat. Nothing less, nothing more.”

She smiled.

“But I really want to get close to Meilyn, you know?”

“…”

“I mean, isn’t it obvious? It’s natural to want to rely on my fellow Ivory Tower members in this outland.”

Simon furrowed his brow.

“I believe Meilyn disagrees there.”

“Maybe. But I mean it.”

Serene was an adopted daughter, she wasn’t related to any of her family from the Ivory Tower.

Apparently, when the Lord of the Ivory Tower brought her in for the first time, people greatly criticized and ignored her.

“It was Meilyn who reached out to me at that time.”

Said Serene, smiling.

“Meilyn was of such a high position that I, who had just entered as a parasitic guest, couldn’t even look her in the eye. However, she took care of me and played with me, saying we were the same age. Even knowing that I came in as her antipode.”

Serene’s expression showed a vague emotion different from her usual pretense.

“It remains as a warm memory for me~ But as time passed…”

“Things turned around at some point, huh?”

“Yes.”

Serene’s talent was truly monstrous.

In the end, the people of the Ivory Tower, fascinated by her genius, made Serene their successor. They even changed the laws of the Tower to do that.

Things turned around.

People praised Serene, and Meilyn, the target of comparison, became the fifth wheel. All the people who once cared for her turned their backs on her. Meilyn was isolated. At the same time, her heart was gradually being eaten up.

That’s why, even up until now, when they enrolled Kizen, she was trying to catch up with Serene somehow.

“Meilyn firmly believes I made fun of her and toyed with her.”

Serene shrugged.

“I can’t help it. I’m talented, and so I am very easily misunderstood.”

“You don’t plan to clear up the misunderstandings?”

“The other side is already extremely hostile towards me. Do you think we can really talk it out? Ah well. I might not be able to clear up the confusion even if given the chance~”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s cute to observe Meilyn…”

As she stretched, one of her feathers fell. She grabbed it and gave it a light lick.

“…struggling to catch up with me.”

‘This bastard’s got a bad personality after all.’

Simon felt a little ashamed that he felt a sense of pity for Serene, even for a moment.

“Okay, next!”

As expected from the joint lesson, the assistant teachers’ demonstration stretch moved on to stretching together.

The beginning was simple. Each pair would turn around, go back to back, and link elbows. Then, one person bent forward to lift the person behind them.

“Let’s start.”

“Huh? Yeah.”

Simon and Serene also stood back to back. Simon flinched involuntarily when Serene boldly reached around and linked elbows.

“I’ll go first!”

She took a deep breath in and bent her back with all her might.

“…”

But it wasn’t even close.

Simon’s feet would repeatedly hover the ground and then land again. She continued to pant and whimper, but Simon’s feet only floated for about two seconds on the final try.

‘So everyone from the Ivory Tower isn’t very athletic, huh?’

“Now, back to position!”

At the shout of the assistant teacher, Serene returned to her original position without even being able to lift Simon that much. The two stood back to back again.

“Simon.”

Serene’s soft voice could be heard.

“Now, it’s my turn to decide on a topic, right?”

“…Do as you wish.”

“It’s about our future.”

“Something like a future goal? I don’t think I’ve ever thought about it.”

While standing back to back, she smiled brightly.

“Have you thought about where you’ll work after final graduation?”

‘So it was that.’

What she’d say was pretty obvious.

A recruitment proposal. Simon inwardly sighed.

Just in time, the assistant teacher shouted. “Other side this time!” She took no work at all to lift.

‘This isn’t even exercise.’

As Simon was caught off guard, she suddenly tilted her head all the way back.

Simon’s face turned red as the crown of her head touched Simon’s neck.

“What are you d—!”

“How about something like this for your future, Simon?”

Her voice resonated like the words of a song.

Simon couldn’t help but doubt his own ears at her next words.

“The next Lord of the Ivory Tower.”

——