Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 53

Chapter 53

Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner

Chapter 53

Simon decided to set up a trap to capture the unidentified Priest who was assumed to be Efnel’s spy.

He would release the corpse spiders near the Forbidden Forest, where he witnessed the priest, and put them on standby.

If the priest appears, it’ll be relayed to Simon immediately, and Elizabeth and Pier will move out right away. Elizabeth will disguise herself as a priest in a high position to approach them and extort some information.

[I’m sorry, but if the opponent is a priest, wouldn’t it be revealed quickly that I’m an undead? I heard that priests who use divinity are sensitive to the undead.]

“I don’t think it’ll be a problem. They were using jet-black.”

Jet-black and divinity were completely exclusive, a person being unable to harbor both.

The priest’s unique power of sensing the undead appeared only when they had divinity. But that traitor priest gave up their divinity in order to use jet-black.

Even if they found out, it didn’t matter. Pier and the entire Legion would all rush in and attack the priest.

Even if it was hard to guarantee victory because the opponent was really at the level of a professor, there would be no problems in at least Pier and Elizabeth running away.

[Understood. I’ll start studying the appearance and behavior of upper-class priests.]

“Yeah, I’m counting on you.”

He set up a trap. They probably wouldn’t come back to the forest, as they were likely currently cautious, but he just hoped that they’d get caught someday.

Like that, Simon released the undead in the ruins and returned to Kizen.

* * *

A new life in Kizen began again after the mission period was over.

When Simon entered the lecture room after a long time, the atmosphere was several times brighter and more cheerful than usual. Laughter broke loose from everywhere, and their chats wouldn’t stop.

Everyone was busy trying to share the stories they had from their missions, and it seemed that today wouldn’t be enough to exhaust this topic.

‘Are the others not here yet?’

While going to school together, Rick complained about a sudden diarrhea and rushed to the bathroom, and Simon arrived in the lecture room on his own. As he looked around for a seat, he saw a familiar face.

“Meilyn!”

While babbling with two female students, she suddenly blushed when she found Simon and quickly hid something behind her back. Meilyn got angry, telling them to stop it when the two female students poked her arm while giggling.

“Something up?”

As Simon approached, Meilyn flinched and took a step back. The girls also greeted Simon warmly and looked at Meilyn.

“Well then, we might be a hindrance, so we’ll be leaving now~”

“Ohohoho!”

“Hey!! I’m gonna kill you guys, for real!”

They ran to another place while laughing. After raising her head and slightly glaring at Simon, Meilyn cleared her throat.

“You’ve got some nerve, huh?”

“What?”

“……Or are you just dull or something?”

She gave a small sigh and held out what she was hiding on her back.

“Here.”

“Hm……?”

What she readily offered was a carrot cake packed in a pretty wrapper. Simon blinked.

“Are you giving it to me?”

“D-Don’t get me wrong! Please! I’m giving it to you because we’re in the same group!”

She handed the cake over to Simon as if dumping it on him and pulled her arms back. Then, she turned away and fanned her flushing face with her hand.

“Thank you. But what’s up with this gift all of a sudden? It’s not even my birthday today.”

“……”

She looked at Simon with an expression asking if he really didn’t know.

“Today is a cake day.”

“Cake day?”

“Yeah! A day where women give men a cake!”

Simon’s brain started spinning fast. He has never heard of a day called Cake Day.

When it came to anniversaries at Les Hill, there was only Thanksgiving, Treats-for-Goats Day, Weed-Plucking Day, and such. Maybe it could be the city’s culture.

And judging from Meilyn’s reaction, not knowing this would be dumb and bumpkin-like, so it’d be wise to just go with it and not be stupid.

After understanding the situation with the train of thought, Simon smiled.

“So you remembered. Thanks, Meilyn.”

“……”

Her hand that she was using to fan herself became faster.

“It’s not like I remembered! I’m giving it just because I pity you, got it? Pity! If you and Rick don’t even get any from the members of the same group, then that’s ove—”

“Hello~ Simon!”

“Here! It’s a lemon cake!”

“Mine’s a tea cake! Thank you for teaching me the stance in the Combat Magic class last time!”

They placed their cakes one by one on the top of Meilyn’s cake. Simon felt a little stunned, but then said with a bright smile,

“Thank you, everyone! I’m happy to help.”

“……Ah.”

The girls’ faces all of a sudden turned red.

“I’ll enjoy this.”

“Ah, yes!”

A slightly awkward and strange atmosphere flew. Then, the girls waved their hands and hurriedly left for another place.

“……P-Pretty good.”

“But everyone’s, including mine, was nothing but appreciation, right? Now those three would be the las—”

“Simonnnnnn!”

* * *

* * *

Who was it this time?

When Simon turned around, Camibarez, with whipped cream on her face, was running toward him. In her hand was a box with a huge cake.

“Ah, Cami.”

She took a deep breath after standing in front of Simon. Then, she strained her eyes and held out her cake.

“……Simon! I-I-I’ve been causing a lot of trouble until now, Th-Thank you! And let’s get along well for the rest of this semester!!”

Then, she bent over at the waist and held out the huge cake.

‘I mean, what in the world is a cake day? She’s going this far for me?’

Simon was feeling somewhat touched. Meilyn’s eyes widened along with Simon’s when she came up beside Simon and glanced at it.

“Woah! A hand-made cake? That’s awesome……”

Camibarez shook her head as she reddened even more after hearing those words.

“N-No! It’s not hand-made! I just bought it from Rochest……”

“Cami.”

Simon came over and took out a handkerchief from his pocket.

Then, he wiped the whipped cream off the side of her cheek.

“Hold on. There’s something on your face.”

“……!!”

Her face went as red as it could. She disappeared from the lecture room like she was running away as soon as she handed her cake to Simon.

“What’s wrong with her?”

“Sigh…… You… For real…”

Meilyn sighed as she touched her forehead.

After those short happenings, Simon sat down and neatly laid the cakes onto his desk.

Then, he let out a breath and slowly looked around.

Before he realized it, the classroom was filled with colorful cakes, and a pinkish atmosphere was flowing between the men and women exchanging cakes.

It turned out that the lively atmosphere Simon first felt was the joy they’ve seen each other after the mission, plus the power of Cake Day.

And at the corner of the lecture room, you could see Hector.

Sitting with his legs wide open, he had a very annoyed face, but contrary to the intimidating expression on his face, he was wearing a funny party hat. In front of his desk was a mountain of cake boxes.

“H-Hello, Hector!”

Then a girl approached him cautiously. She was even from another class.

“I-I prepared this for you……!”

“……Just put it anywhere and get lost.”

“Kyaaaaaah!”

She added another cake on top of the mountain of cakes and ran out of the lecture room while blushing.

Simon found it amusing to watch Hector annoyedly scratching his head without being able to get angry.

‘It must be tough for him.’

It was when Simon was taking out his textbook with such thoughts in mind.

“Hello~ Simon.”

Simon raised his head.

“Ah, class president.”

Jamie Victoria.

After doing the greetings as the class representative in Poisonous Alchemy, she was the student who got given the title of class president by the Class A students.

She had a slender impression with her short green hair, which made it hard to tell if she was a girl or a pretty boy when just looking at her face.

“Among cheese, vanilla, and cinnamon, which one do you prefer?”

She asked while rummaging through the sack she was carrying on her back.

“Cinnamon for me……”

“Oh! This wasn’t so favored. Thank you for choosing it!”

She said as she held out a cupcake box to Simon. Simon asked while thanking her,

“Are you giving them to all the boys in Class A?”

“Yeah! To get along well for a semester, in a sense. Then, see ya!”

She winked and went to another place. The two poor boys who had been sitting right behind Simon without a single cake had their eyes twinkling as if they had seen a savior as Jamie approached.

“Simon, you……”

Meilyn made a profound face after sitting next to Simon with her things unpacked.

“didn’t know anything about Cake Day, did you?”

Simon’s shoulders flinched. She shook her head after being convinced by Simon’s reaction.

“I’m telling you. This is school, a school. If you don’t wanna be neglected by your peers, you’d better be familiar with such basic anniversaries and trends.”

She had a point.

But other than that…

“There’s another anniversary like this?”

“Of course!”

“The next one would probably be a day a man gives something to a woman. What kind of day is it?”

Meilyn smirked.

“Accessories Day.”

Simon let out a feigned smile.

“……How unfair.”

“Hey, do you think the girls would want real accessories with jewels in return for a cake if they had a conscience? It’s just giving and receiving something like toys.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

She flashed the whites of her teeth.

“Of course, I wouldn’t stop any boys who wanted to give me some, though~”

……The world wasn’t fair after all.

* * *

After the unsettled class preparation time was over, the first class at Kizen finally started. The first class was Jane’s Beginner Dark Magic.

“It was reported that all Class A students returned to Kizen safely. I find that gratifying as professor-in-charge.

Jane looked around the students and continued.

“First of all, there’s an important announcement.”

She received a new document from her assistant and read it.

“Yes. The Duel Evaluation will start this week.”

Ah…

Burdened voices broke loose from everywhere. You could feel the lively atmosphere from Cake Day freezing up.

Regardless of that, Jane continued her explanation.

“The Duel Evaluation will be conducted throughout the first semester. The rules are simple. You’ll battle one-on-one with your peers. Not just Class A, but till the farthest Class N. All 14 classes will become competitors.”

She approached the blackboard and drew a simple picture in chalk.

“The winner moves to the upper squad, and the loser moves to the lower squad.”

Upper Squad 30%

Middle Squad 30%

Lower squad 30%

Lowest squad 10%

“The squads will be updated every week. All students who remain in the Lowest Squad by the end of the 1st semester…”

She said coldly as she turned towards the students,

“Will be expelled.”

——