Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 99

Chapter 98

After finishing the banquet without issue, the official Undead Exhibition was finally going to begin the very next day.

Shun, his family, and those who helped organize the exhibition gathered for the opening ceremony. But Simon, who participated as a bodyguard, didn’t directly partake in the ceremony, instead standing at a distance and guarding Shun.

‘Phew, this is hard.’

He had practiced Bone Armor until the opening ceremony began in the afternoon.

Simon was recalling the conversation he had with Pier during yesterday’s training.

“By the way, Pier, can I use Bone Armor with your conscripted skeletons, too?”

[It’s not necessarily impossible. However, don’t even think of doing it for a while.]

“What? Why?”

At that time, Pier’s clone was smirking.

[Because it’ll be a bad habit.]

Pier was also Simon’s mentor.

So far, listening to Pier has never led him astray, so Simon focused once more on mastering Bone armor using summoned skeletons.

The sound of applause Simon woke up from his thoughts. The opening ceremony was finally over.

The people on the stage went their separate ways as they started to talk to one another, and Simon stuck to Shun’s side to guard him.

“Simon! Do you have something on your mind?”

“Hm? Nah, it’s nothing.”

At that moment, the gaze of the opening ceremony’s host turned to Simon. Simon smiled, as if asking what was going on, and the host announced,

“Now that you mention it, a student from Kizen was also here! Did everyone know that?”

The chatter within the crowd grew louder.

“Of course, we must listen to the words of a person who’s with the highest authority in this field, right? Now! Let’s welcome him onto the stage!”

Woooooaaaaah~

A loud cheer erupted.

Simon looked at Shun with an awkward expression. The host’s gaze was also turned to Shun.

“Would that be okay, Count?”

Simon made a face as if asking Shun to spare his life, but Shun just gave a playful laugh that showed his teeth before pushing Simon forward.

“Of course!”

“Well, this’ll be an extra interview! Please, come over here, student of Kizen!”

So this is how it turned out.

Wearing a bitter expression, Simon was pushed onto the stage.

‘Wow.’

There were a lot of people. Looked like the exhibition was a hot topic within Blue Harbor, too.

“Please give us a brief introduction!”

The host held out the magic megaphone to Simon. He was speaking so loud that he wouldn’t need the megaphone to be heard.

“My name is Simon Polentia, a first-year Summoning aspirant from Kizen.”

“Ah, I think you’re missing the most important part.”

The host winked playfully and wagged his finger. Simon let out a little smile and continued.

“I had the honor of enrolling in Kizen as a special admission no.1.”

Loud chatter broke loose from the audience.

Simon felt how the way people looked at him changed drastically at his words.

“You must’ve gone in at least once while guarding the Count, right? How was the exhibition?”

Simon roughly finished reading the mood.

Although it was an opening ceremony, it wasn’t rigid like noble culture. Instead, it was full of vitality and energy, like an entertainment event. The unique, free atmosphere of a vacation island must’ve been reflected.

Simon thought to himself that he should adjust to the mood, too.

“I can say with confidence that this is one of the best undead exhibitions I have ever been to.”

‘Although this is my first undead exhibition.’

“Blue Harbor is one of the few places with an ecosystem that has evolved independently. For me, as a necromancer, the fact that this kind of ecosystem wasn’t destroyed and is instead being preserved under the name of the Oldwins is a great fortune. The undead made out of the creatures of this island seemed like technology from 20 years in the future.”

A slightly stronger diction and a more exciting expression.

“In particular, I highly recommend taking a look at the Overlord of the last floor.”

“Oh! Looks like you wanted this ‘Overlord’!”

At the host’s joke, Simon returned it right away.

“As a matter of fact, I couldn’t help but ask the person in charge about the price during my duty.”

“How bold! S-So, how much is it…?”

“I gave up because its starting price was 10,000 gold.”

Hahahaha!

The mood of the opening ceremony suddenly brightened up. The host and Simon raised the mood by talking back and forth at high speeds.

Tap! Tap!

Then, from the back, the head butler started tapping his watch. The host—who had been bullying Simon with mischievous questions such as if he has a girlfriend in Kizen—got startled and ended the question.

“Ah, would you look at the time! We ask for your interest and support for the new undead exhibition, which will be held in 30 minutes. And! Once again, a big round of applause for Kizen student Simon for taking the time to participate in the interview!”

Ardent applause erupted from all over the place.

“It was my honor. Thank you.”

Simon gave a final wave to the crowd and then returned to Shun’s side. Shun giggled and tapped Simon’s leg.

“Big brother Simon! You were better at speaking than I thought!”

“…Than I thought? That’s a compliment, right?”

“Hahaha!”

After a while, the exhibition hall opened, and thousands of people lined up to look at the exhibits.

In this time, Shun and Simon went around the exhibition hall to greet and guide guests who they couldn’t meet at the banquet on the second day.

* * *

* * *

The morning of the fourth day.

Simon’s schedule for today was similar to the third day. It seemed like most of the time would be spent in the exhibition hall. Simon and Shun were on their way to the exhibition in the early morning in a wagon.

Simon folded his arms as he looked out the window.

“It’s cloudy today.”

“I know. Wouldn’t a lot of people come to the exhibition?”

A thick fog blanketed the entire beach. In fact, tourists who came to the beach to swim were instead panicking because of the unexpected weather conditions.

“Why is there suddenly a fog like this…?”

“It’s not even raining.”

“Should we just stay in our room all day today?”

In fact, the janitors of Blue Harbor were roaming around.

They told people that swimming would be restricted, as the sea fog was so intense that it covered the sandy beach. Tourists were walking away from the beach while grumbling.

“Alright, I’m going.”

People who had been resting on parasols also moved toward the city.

“Hey, hey, by the way, don’t you see something strange over there?”

“Yeah, we’re seeing it. The fog.”

“No, beyond the fog. Over there… I wonder what that is.”

“Stop blabbering nonsense, and let’s go already. I’m hungry.”

But the clamors on the beach grew louder and louder. Even screams and urgent shouts telling the people to run away started to get mixed within.

Swaaaaaaaaaa!

Everything happened in an instant. A giant, jaw-dropping sailing boat breached through the thick fog.

A flag fluttered atop the sails of a sailing ship. Two swords crossed underneath a distorted skull.

This flag symbolized one thing.

“I-It’s a pirate!”

“Piraaaaaaaaaaaate!”

The peaceful beach went into a state of total panic in an instant. Terrorfied, people started screaming and running.

Kabooooom!

Gunfire shook the sky. Shells fired from warships detonated on the pillars of tall buildings in the city. A stone building crashed to the ground, and its supports caught fire.

Boom! Kaboom!

Some shells fell on the beach. Sand burst up, and people were swept away.

“Dodge! Dodge it!”

Countless shells tore through the mist and wind. The beach and village became a site of disaster in an instant, fires burning within them. And soon, a huge ship entered the beach.

Craccckkk!

As the pirate ship came to the ground, flinging up the sand in its path, a pirate began to climb down the ropes.

“Kuhehehe!”

Sitting in a chair on the deck, a man with a long beard laughed. Holding up a communication crystal ball, he said,

“2nd and 3rd ship. Cover the island from the left and right and beach! Don’t let anyone escape!”

[Aye!]

Large sailing ships of the same size were seen splitting left and right in the fog.

The man stood up. You could see pirates retreating all at once and bowing their heads to pay their respects.

“Blue Harbor, huh? It’s a nice island.”

Shing!

As he drew his sword, he shouted,

“What are you all doing? Everyone, land! Wipe out every last one of them!”

“Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

* * *

Simon and Shun, who were in the exhibition hall, also went out, hearing the gunfire that shook the sky. Somebody mumbled in shock,

“Oh my god…”

A gigantic pirate ship that arrived with a thick sea fog was firing shells all over the city. Blue Harbor was becoming a living hell.

“They aren’t an ordinary group of pirates.”

Said the butler in a cold sweat.

“Judging from the size of their ship or the flag, they’re pirates of the pearl sea. They aren’t the type to come to a peaceful ocean, so why…?”

“The admiral has arrived!”

A man in a uniform with a bunch of badges hung on it walked out of the exhibition hall.

“…No way.”

He muttered with a face completely displaying his disbelief.

“How did a pirate ship get to the shoreline? What is the shoreline guard doing?!”

The admiral hurriedly took his communication crystal ball out of his pocket.

“Guardpost! Answer me! Guardpost!”

Silence.

Hastily changing channels, the admiral tried contacting somewhere else.

“It’s me, the admiral! Answer me right now!”

But all three seabourne forces protecting the sea didn’t respond.

“I-Is the communication off all of a sudden? Because of the fog?”

“They’re probably just in a situation where they can’t be contacted.”

Said Simon with a stiffened face. When the admiral turned his head to see who in the world was intervening, his eyes widened when he saw Simon’s uniform.

“K-Kizen…!”

“What do you mean by a situation where they can’t be contacted, big brother?”

Simon let out a small sigh in response to Shun’s question and said,

“It means they’ve already been defeated.”

* * *

Blue Harbor Sea Force Headquarters.

“Kuhugh!”

“Cough, cough!”

Armed soldiers were puking and collapsing one by one. The whole building was covered in a thick, green smoke.

The 2nd barracks of the Blue Harbor Sea Force.

“What the fuck did you put on the foo—!”

“Kugh!”

They were all lying on the floor with black liquid dripping from their mouths. Some soldiers were struggling to endure it, but the artificial slimes scattered on the floor came and devoured their bodies.

And lastly, the 3rd barracks.

There was blood everywhere. Unnaturally bent corpses of soldiers lay in pools of red blood, and the walls were covered in the traces of battle.

And…

There was a man leisurely smoking a cigar among the corpses of over a hundred soldiers.

“I told you, it would’ve been better for the both of us if you just comfortably died of my poison, right?”

The robe he was wearing was all covered in blood, but the man didn’t even blink. He picked up the communication crystal ball.

“How’s the ship?”

[We burnt them all.]

“You mustn’t let anyone escape the island. Especially…”

Blue Harbor’s strongest necromancer made a terrifying smile.

“You must make sure to catch Count Shun and the Oldwin family, no matter what.”

——