Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner

Chapter 169

Clunk clunk!

The camel-drawn caravans set off. The broker disguised himself as a trader and naturally lined up in the row of the merchants. It was a long caravan procession heading to the border of the Holy Federation.

In the cramped wooden box, Simon and Rete were stuck together.

The two fought several times over how they would remain in the box.

First, sitting was impossible. The box was too narrow, so at best they could crouch to barely both fit.

So they switched to lying down and facing each other, but their faces were too close. It was dismissed after five seconds when Rete screamed and hit Simon.

They tried having one of them lying the other way, but that was also dismissed because their faces would be stuffed in each other’s legs and Rete was wearing a dress.

Next was going back to back, then they tried hugging their legs to their chest, but everything was too cramped and it just made them uncomfortable.

In the end, they returned to crouching while facing each other. It was the best they could do.

"…"

"…"

Clunk clunk.

The caravan’s wheels rolled outside. Inside the box, Simon had gone red all the way to his neck.

'I mean, this is too close.'

Ignoring how cramped it was, the only thing they could smell was the other person's body odor, and they could feel each other's breaths tickling their necks.

They couldn't stop breathing, so they decided to control their gazes instead.

Simon looked up and Rete looked down. Rete had declared several times that she'd kill Simon if their eyes met.

"…"

An hour in, Rete had perhaps given up. Her gaze was fixed on a single point and her face was squashed against the side of the box. She was as still as a corpse. It seemed she had given up thinking and chose to become an inanimate object.

While Simon was sweating from the heat and stuffiness, Rete raised her hands and gathered them neatly in front of her face. She then closed her eyes and mumbled,

"Oh great Goddess, I shall gladly accept and endure this terrible trial upon me. Not only did I conspire with an evil one, but I am also guiding him to the holy land. This sinner deserves nothing less than to be struck down by lightning."

Murmur murmur murmur.

Simon laughed inwardly. So she was overcoming this with faith, huh?

He could accept this as her own way of handling things: treating it as the trial from the Goddess.

"But dear Goddess, why didn't you just strike me with lightning instead? Or make me roll in a filthy pig pen? Why must I face a terrible bastard like him? This may be blasphemy, but I'm a little bit resentful."

"That's enough. I'm starting to feel bad listening to you."

"Shut up. Don't eavesdrop on my prayers."

Du-donk!

Two hours had now passed while confined to the box.

At this point, Simon felt like he was one with the caravan.

'I am the caravan and the caravan is me.'

Simon was feeling like he was cargo that had been loaded onto the caravan.

'…I didn't expect the four hours to feel this long. Maybe I can try to talk a little.'

People were buzzing about outside the caravan and the wheels were so loud, so it seemed okay to make small talk.

Simon carefully spoke to her.

"Re—"

"Shut up."

Simon stopped talking and her breath flowed out and tickled his neck.

"Just stay still, please."

Not even close. Simon was rejected before he could even speak.

Simon gave up talking to her and looked away.

Another twenty minutes passed.

Simon was reviewing what he had learned so far in his head.

"…Ugh, honestly."

He heard Rete's voice.

When Simon looked at her, she was glancing at his side with the most embarrassed expression on her face.

"A guy going all moody and silent just with that? Ugh, shouldn't you at least try twice?"

"What are you talking about?"

"…Forget about it."

She lowered her gaze and whispered,

"Why did you call me earlier?"

"To talk."

"…Go ahead."

In fact, it seemed like this time was also very tough for Rete. Aside from the boredom, being stuck in the box was mentally taxing.

Simon smiled and said,

"Nothing personal, just a personal ques—"

"Ah, speak softly! Watch your breath! Your breath! I get chills every time it touches my neck!"

"Then I'll just keep my mouth shut."

"…A personal what?"

Seeing Rete unusually clinging on to the conversation, Simon triumphantly asked,

"How did you meet my mother?"

"Ah."

Perhaps it was a good choice of topic. Rete subtly grinned.

"You're asking such an important thing only now?"

"I did ask you a few times, but you said you didn’t want to soil precious memories by recounting them to a necromancer or something."

"Uh, when did I say th— Ahem! Yes, I don't want to, but I'll tell you specifically."

Rete was a war orphan.

She was born in a small mountain village on the border of the Holy Federation and the Dark Alliance. A group of necromancers, enraged after losing comrades to priests, came in and ransacked the village.

Three-year-old Rete saved her own life by going inside a small storage closet, but she lost her parents. One part of that day was still burned into her memory all these years later.

The necromancers’ laughter as they raised the corpses of the villagers—including her parents—into skeletons.

In the end, the necromancers left the village, but Rete couldn't even step out of the house out of terror. A few days later, just before the young Rete died of starvation, someone entered her house.

Rete clambered into a closet, but the person knocked on the closet door to make her feel safe, said a few words, and then slowly opened it. At that moment, Rete…

"Sorry."

…met a miracle.

"Sorry. Sorry. We're really sorry."

Her name was Anna Cross.

* * *

* * *

By that time, Anna had completely broken ties with Efnel, entered the Dark Alliance’s territories, and even gave birth to Richard's son. However, even after taking care of her sainthood, she stopped by her hometown from time to time. The Holy Federation.

She returned all of the enormous wealth she had accumulated during her active duty to society, funding over twenty abbeys across the country.

These abbeys were different from the general abbeys that supervised worship and collected church taxes. They were orphanages. Children who lost their parents in war and battle, becoming orphans, were brought in and raised here.

Anna hid her identity several times a year to come over and help with the abbeys.

This was where Anna and Rete became acquainted.

"Teacher Anna!"

Rete followed Anna—who saved her life—like her own mother, and Anna loved her, too.

"I want to become a great priest like you when I grow up!"

At Rete's words, Anna gave an unexplainable smile.

"You should become a better priest than me."

"I heard that you were the Saintess of Miracles! There's no better priest than you in the whole wide world!"

Anna patted Rete's head with sad eyes and said,

"I've made so many people suffer. Please, Rete, don't be like me."

But no matter what Anna said, Rete idolized Anna.

She built up her faith in the abbey and, after going through the 19 penances, she became a promising priest at a young age. The elders who were fascinated by her talent were all excited, saying it was the second coming of 'Anna Cross'.

Although she couldn't break Anna's record of youngest priest, Rete was happy that adults compared her to Anna. She grew up steadily and entered Efnel at the top.

"Well, it was a bit shocking when I heard the truth about Teacher Anna."

Rete weakly said.

"To think that my lifesaver and the one who I admire most, that legendary genius saintess, actually married a necromancer and gave birth to his child."

Her voice contained volumes of anger.

"It was honestly difficult for me to understand why she stepped down from the position of saintess for a necromancer, fell ill with an incurable disease, and suffered in a village where there's literally nothing."

"…"josei

Simon was shocked speechless.

'So there was a proper reason why Rete hates necromancers so much.'

A traumatic memory. Who wouldn't harbor ill will against necromancers cackling as their parents were turned to skeletons before their very eyes?

Also, having received religious education over the years, her hostility for necromancers would’ve been even further exaggerated. Her treatment of Simon and Richard was her trying her best.

"But I guess we never truly know what's gonna happen in life."

Her gaze turned to Simon.

"To see myself face-to face with a necromancer like this. I really want to bite off my tongue and kill myself."

"…"

For Simon, as a fellow necromancer, he wanted to apologize on behalf of those who mocked people’s lives.

However, such an apology would be hollow and meaningless. It wouldn't bring her comfort.

So…

"I'll try my best to change your point of view."

That was all Simon could do. Try his best.

"Whatever you do, you will never change that."

Snorted Rete. However, she sounded more understanding than her previous despising and sarcastic tone.

Tap.

At that moment, the two of them shut their mouths out of surprise. Someone was knocking directly on the box.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Five short raps of a knuckle in quick succession. This signal meant only one thing.

"Get ready. We'll now enter the Gate of Divinity."

The Gate of Divinity was, simply put, a form of checkpoint. If a person or item had malicious energy, the door would turn cloudy and the inquisitors would immediately search whatever set it off.

After the broker gave the signal, the caravans began to slow. They were passing through the Gate of Divinity one after another.

"Are you worried?"

At Rete's nonchalant questioning, Simon simply smiled.

"I'm confident."

Simon raised his divinity to the point where it covered his whole body so that the energy of the core next to his heart would be hidden.

Now, it was tough to even whisper. The two of them closed their mouths and only moved their eyes.

Slam!

A loud sound came from the wall as if someone had shoved their palm against the box. Rete, caught off guard, was startled and had to cover her mouth to not scream.

If they messed up and made a noise, they'd immediately be caught.

Thud!

This time, it sounded like someone was on top of the caravan.

'Ugh, shit. They aren't doing this because they know, right?'

Rete struggled to endure the desire to kill them all. Simon looked around.

He heard the broker talking to someone. He was complaining about damage to the goods and such, making the other person reluctantly come down.

'We're finally entering the gate.'

Simon was confident he wouldn’t be discovered, as he could use divinity, but he couldn't help but be nervous.

Then Rete wriggled closer to Simon. Simon tensed up as he felt her breath.

"Stay still."

Rete put her hands on Simon's chest. The divinity that flowed through covered Simon like a film.

Finally…

Whiiiiish!

Simon felt his body pass through something foreign. He had successfully passed through the Gate of Divinity.

'Phew, what a relief.'

At Simon’s relief, she giggled and fidgeted about.

"Welcome, Necromancer."

Her whispering voice sounded very close. She put her finger to her lips and winked before finishing,

"To the Holy Federation."

——