Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 98

Chapter 97

Even as he left the exhibition center, Simon’s head was filled with the thoughts of the ‘Overlord’ that was shown last.

The mollusk undead came as a fresh shock to Simon. It felt like he could write pages upon pages in the report about the Overlord with ease.

“You did a great job today, big brother Simon!”

Said Shun on the carriage ride back to the mansion.

“Tomorrow’s bodyguarding mission will begin at the dinner banquet at the exhibition center.”

“Dinner banquet?”

“Yeah! As the exhibition’s guests, we will be having dinner with the Oldwin family and the distinguished guests. And, starting from the day after tomorrow, the exhibition will be open to the public.”

Simon nodded.

“I was planning to go to work early in the morning.”

“It’s fine! You’ll have nothing to do even if you come early. You just have to come two hours before dinner.”

The welfare was better than Simon expected for a 1,000 gold mission.

So the carriage arrived at the mansion, and Shun went in along with the butlers while waving back to Simon.

All accommodation expenses during his guard duty were borne by the Count. The head butler even said it was okay for Simon to stay at the mansion, but Simon refused.

There was something he wanted to practice alone in a quiet place.

As such, the lodging that Simon decided on was a hut a little far from the central area of Blue Harbor.

A small, single-story house overlooking the night’s ocean. It was cheap, and there were few people at night, so there was no problem even if undead walked in and out.

[Now, Commander! Ta-dah!]

In order to please Elizabeth, Simon dined with her over a glass of wine in the evening. He also released the corpse spiders to freely roam the sandy beach and suck the blood of insects and small animals.

As soon as they finished eating, Simon returned to his room in solitude.

‘There’s not a moment to lose.’

Simon’s goal was to raise his proficiency with Bone Armor during this mission.

He took a deep breath, cleared his mind, secured enough jet-black in his body, and stood up. Then, he took out two skeletons from the subspace and placed them on his left and right.

‘Bone Armor!’

Rattle!

The skeletons started to disassemble, and they began to stick to Simon’s body.

He didn’t even expect it to reach the level Aaron showed him in the past, the level where it completely covered the body. The most important thing was whether or not it could be connected to the limbs and bring out the effect of strengthening the whole body.

‘Focus. Focus.’

It wasn’t difficult to build a pillar with large bones, but the balance suddenly weakened when the small bones started to settle.

To succeed with Bone Armor, it was necessary to pervert the sequence of bones that Simon had learned from both theory and instinct. The lower vertebrae would pop into the arms, and sometimes the leg and neck would be forced to fuse together.

What made it worse was—since two skeletons were being used—the bones of different skeletons were interlocking at random.

Overcoming such a creepy sense of difference, the bones had to be deliberately joined to match the shape of ‘armor.’

Clatter!

He lost focus. The ribs, which had been neglected while he concentrated on the arms, collapsed, and other connected parts fell like dominoes.

Simon fell to a knee, gasping for air.

“Huff! Huff!”

‘It really is difficult. Not even activating the mud golem can compare to this.’

He wondered when was the last time he felt such a high wall in Summoning.

‘One more time!’

Simon jumped up and tried to form Bone Armor until it worked.

[Commander~ Aren’t you hungry already? I brought you some midnight snacks!]

Elizabeth, who had come in with a plate of food in one hand, stopped. Then, she hushed the corpse spiders following her.

The spiders that had been following her with a place of juice and pudding atop their bodies stopped too.

[Commander is a huge busy bee when it comes to practice after all.]

[Ssshhhk!]

[Don’t get excited. It’s not the type of bee you guys eat. Idiots.]

Elizabeth quietly closed the door.

* * *

“Big brother Simon! You’re here.”

Shun, dressed in a neat formal suit, welcomed Simon as he entered the banquet hall.

“Hm? Why do you look more tired after I gave you a break?”

“No, I’m fine.”

Simon forced a smile.

In fact, he was a little tired after spending most of his break time on the Bone Armor training. However, he had taken a nap since then, so he had enough rest to carry out his mission.

“Other than that… Should I also change clothes?”

“What are you talking about when you’re wearing exactly what you need to?”

Said Shun while pointing at Simon’s stylish Kizen school uniform.

“I guess doing your hair just a little will help.”

As Shun snapped his fingers, Simon felt a hand roughly grabbing the back of his wrist. In an instant, Simon was seated in a chair next door, making him stutter out,

“Wh-Why are you doing this?”

“I’m going to do your hair. It’ll sting your eyes.”

Pshh! Pshh!

A middle-aged woman in a maid dress started spraying something over Simon’s head.

Simon quickly closed his eyes, as it really did sting his eyes. Shun followed after and playfully giggled,

“Woah! Brother, your scalp stretches just like dough!”

“……Be quiet.”

* * *

* * *

After finishing working on Simon’s hair, he and Shun moved into the banquet hall.

In front of the antique tables, freshly cooked food was displayed brilliantly in a buffet style. Even the smallest dishes seemed expensive.

“This is where we’ll stay.”

He took Simon in front of the indoor fountain, not far from the main entrance of the banquet hall. Shun sat down by the fountain and continued talking.

“When guests come, you just have to welcome them, greet them, and send them inside.”

“Yeah, I understand.”

“I believe the guests will also say a thing or two to you seeing the Kizen uniform you’re wearing, big brother Simon. You just have to play along! You can do it, right?”

“I’ll try.”

Simon fixed his tie and resolved himself. Then, the head butler, who was standing at the front door of the banquet hall, said,

“Count, the guests are coming in.”

“Yeah! Let’s get started.”

The main gate opened, and a gentleman in a suit and a lady in a dress came in holding hands. The butler announced,

“Sir Kinola Oldwin and Lady Sophie Oldwin are entering.”

If it was Oldwin, they were from the same family as Shun.

Simon quickly recalled the information about this situation in his head before reading the atmosphere.

The couple stood in front of Shun.

“Welcome, Uncle!”

“Haha! Glad to see you, Count Shun.”

The two exchanged simple greetings. Shun didn’t pay the due respect first, perhaps because of his position as Count.

‘Now, let’s focus.’

The Dark Alliance had different formalities and ceremonies in each country.

Currently, the alliance consists of four kingdoms.

The Dresden Kingdom, with Langerstine as its capital, is nearby Kizen.

The Baldwin Kingdom, where Simon’s hometown of Les Hill is.

The Kallos Kingdom, where Simon’s first mission site, Arnish, belongs.

And the northern Shahed Kingdom, which, although belonging to the alliance, carries a strong sense of isolation.

Blue Harbor is a territory of the Baldwin Kingdom. Simon was well aware of the formality on this side.

After the conversation, the couple then came to see Simon.

“Uncle! This is the special admission no.1 student from Kizen!”

“Ah, so he is…!”

“My name is Simon Polentia.”

Simon smiled softly, bowed his head, and shook the hand of Kinola. And to the lady, Simon gently gave a light kiss to the back of her hand.

“We’re so thankful that a Kizen student is making our family’s exhibition shine.”

“It’s all thanks to the call from the Count. I am honored to be here.”

After exchanging a few more words, Simon again straightened his back and bowed.

In any case, Simon came as an escort, and he only greeted the two of them because the Count himself introduced him. It’d be rude to talk too long. The couple then proceeded to the banquet hall as though they knew that too.

“The Lord of Galan, Baron Ryan Darby, is entering!”

Simon’s head spun rapidly. If it was Galan, it was the territory of the Dresden Kingdom.

Simon greeted the man using Dresden’s code of etiquette this time.

About ten guests came in one after another, but Simon was feisty. The way he responded quickly according to the opponent’s nationality, status, and gender was beyond skillful, and was even dazzling.

When Shun saw that, he was also shocked, and tapped Simon on the leg.

“What’s this, brother? How do you know this so well?”

“I learned etiquette the hard way from my father, you see.”

Simon learned it by getting beaten every time he made a mistake. At that time, he wondered why he had to learn all that in a rural estate, but there was no such thing as meaningless learning. Simon kept a constant smile the whole time and entertained the guests.

“I’m sorry, I’m on a mission to guard the Count.”

“I’m honored to be here with the grace of the Count.”

“Yes, it’s all thanks to the Count.”

“Wouldn’t Count Shun know better than me?”

Kizen school uniforms stood out everywhere they went, so some people were more interested in Simon than Shun. Every time Simon greeted someone, he took himself step down and thoroughly built Shun up.

The reason why Shun’s Oldwin family hired him for this mission and paid a whopping 1,000 gold.

He knew it very well.

He was a splendid trophy to illuminate this event with the reputation of Kizen’s special admission no.1, and he symbolically showed that Kizen’s special admission no.1 guaranteed the title of Shun, who had just inherited the family name.

‘As you expect, I’ll do the work of 1,000 gold.’

No one could look down on Shun in this place.

Simon focused on keeping Shun as the main character by keeping himself as a supporting actor. The family members and the butlers also smiled at Simon’s actions.

“He’s really thoughtful, unlike the youngsters these days.”

“Yeah. He knows his position very well.”

“He has a great personality, and he’s respectful to his elders. There’s a reason why people are eagerly seeking Kizen graduates.”

“Shh, shh. Sir Pinch might hear us.”

Then the butler looked around.

“Now that you mention it, where is Sir Pinch?”

* * *

At the same time.

Pinch sneaked out of the banquet hall and looked around to see if anyone was around. Then, he pulled out a communication crystal ball from his pocket and said in a calm voice,

“It’s me.”

[We departed as planned. I believe we’ll reach Blue Harbor the day after tomorrow.]

“Got it. Everything’s going smoothly here, too. All the main family members are gathered in the banquet hall.”

[Everything’s going smoothly? According to our information network, I heard a rumor that bothered me.]

The man’s voice was cold.

[The rumor that a Kizen student has entered Blue Harbor.]

“Ah, there’s no need to worry. Even if he’s Kizen, he’s still a first-year rookie, so he’s barely a variable. If you’re that worried, I’ll take care of him by myself, so no need to worry.”

[A first-year, huh……]

Pinch scoffed.

“Why are you getting scared now?”

[Don’t provoke us, Necromancer. Whoever the opponent is, we’ll wipe them clean, leaving no traces behind. Of course, as long as the payment is certain.]

“Of course. I, Pinch, will guarantee it.”

A wide grin spread across his thin lips.

“Everything on this island shall be yours.”

——