Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner

Chapter 188

"You look a lot like someone I know."

Israfill's usual friendly demeanor had changed in an instant. Chills ran down Simon's back, and Rete was staring in bewilderment.

Simon took a quick moment to calm down before immersing himself in thought.

'She knows someone that looks like me? My parents?'

It didn't seem like she was just saying that randomly. Her voice and expression were deathly serious.

She already had an answer in mind, and this was her checking it. Changing the subject or clouding the issue would clearly backfire.

'I feel like I have to give the perfect response.'

She seemed like a good person, but she was one of the Seven Saintesses, the Dark Alliance's greatest enemies. Simon couldn't let his guard down.

Finally, he figured out what he would say.

"I'm not sure who you think I look like, but…"

Simon decided to shove his head into the lion's gaping mouth.

"I'm pretty sure what you're thinking is right, Saintess."

After saying that, Simon focused on her expression.

He had to know if she would respond positively or negatively to what she saw in him.

"…"

There was hesitation in her blinking eyes. The corner of her mouth twitched, and she was making small noises repeatedly as if all capability to think had been shattered.

She was confused about what to do. Thankfully, the small grunts and everything didn't feel negative. She was simply in conflict between what she should do and what she should say.

'That will do. I should never be the one to say it first.'

Simon closed his mouth and waited patiently for her to respond. And finally, she did.

"I see."

She turned and stared at Rete. The slight glare was enough to make Rete flinch.

"Israfill, I—!"

"Enough, Rete. No wonder why you turned down my offer to come to visit during your vacation, saying you'll be traveling far."

Her eyes moved back to Simon.

"I'll ask you again, Priest Skar. Are you Anna's son?"

Israfill must've been thinking calmly. Simon bowed his head.

"Yes. I came here to save my mother from her illness."

Squeeze!

Simon doubted his own eyes.

Israfill had stepped forward and hugged him.

He froze up at the sudden display of affection.

"Ahh."

She held him for a few moments before releasing him and looking at Simon's face with tender eyes.

"Smile."

"What?"

"Smile! Hurry, hurry!"

She sounded somewhat impatient. Simon wasn't sure what to do, but eventually forced a smile as best he could.

"Ahhh."

Her pitch-black pupils widened with emotion.

"Your smile is just like Anna's."

Said Israfill before hugging Simon tightly again.

At her words, Simon felt something in his mind, some wall of sorts, crumble away.

"Excuse me, but how are you related to my mom?"

"Let's see…"

Closing her eyelids again, hiding the pitch-black eyes underneath, Israfill laughed softly as she stepped away from Simon.

"I suppose I could say I'm her step sister."

"Ah."

Simon smiled back.

"I guess that makes you my auntie, then, Israfill."

"…"

At those words, Israfill flew several meters into the air and then descended back down. It was almost like she jumped in joy.

"Again! Say it again!"

"A-Auntie?"

"Hohohoho!"

Rete, watching this happening from a small distance away, wore a dumbfounded look on her face.josei

'I've never seen Israfill so excited. What's going on?'

There was a reason Rete had kept the story about Simon a secret.

If she asked Israfill to help Anna and Simon, Israfill would also be sinning against the Goddess. One person sinning was already more than enough.

And, most importantly, Israfill hadn't expressed her opinion regarding Anna in general.

To the Holy Federation, Anna was a traitor who sided with a necromancer, abandoned her duties as a Saintess, and betrayed her country.

It was impolite to begin with for Rete to ask for Israfill's opinion on Anna, her being a Saintess and all.

Israfill said,

"I've been worried, too. Relations between the Holy Federation and the Dark Alliance have been quite sour lately, and logistics have been tightly monitored. I feared that the annual supply of cures would never reach big-sis Anna."

She looked at Rete.

"Priest Skar, can I think of it this way? My nephew crossed the border to get the cure, and Rete was guiding him."

It was Rete who responded, butting in before Simon could even open his mouth.

"N-No! I've already delivered the cure to Teacher Anna! Now we have another problem…!"

Rete explained the situation. Israfill, after listening intently, nodded.

"So the Essence of Purification went to Sis, huh? I see. So…"

Israfill put her hands on her hips.

"You were going to go to the Tree of Life to get a key ingredient for the operation, the 'White Leaf'? That's reckless. How were you going to get it?"

Simon and Rete exchanged uneasy glances. Seeing that, Israfill raised her voice.

"Come on now! Speak!"

She seemed to be scolding them.

As Rete hesitated, Simon spoke up instead.

"We were planning to travel to the Tree of Life and make a deal with its caretakers."

Simon pulled out coins of the ancient empire from his pocket.

"We were also thinking of stealing it in case the deal failed. We're sorry."

Israfill shook her head in disbelief.

"You youngins don't know your limits, huh?! The mountain the Tree of Life has grown upon is infested with level 6 and 7 monsters! And you two students wanted to break through it?"

At those words, Rete interrupted, fuming,

"You know how skilled I am! I can do i—"

"You keep your mouth shut, Rete! You'll be doing a month of fasting when you get back to Efnel after the vacation."

Rete's head hung low.

There were already the three months of self-imposed fasting for working with a necromancer, and now there's another month from the Saintess's order.

It occurred to her that she might only be eating thin rice gruel for the entire semester.

Israfill turned and looked at Simon.

"Of course that necromancer of a brother-in-law would've worked something out. Though…"

Simon flinched.

"As an adult, I can't allow children to go to such a dangerous place."

"Israfill! We have to—"

"I'll get it for you."

"What?"

When Simon responded in shock, Israfill smiled.

"I'm a demigod in this Holy Federation. There's nothing I can't do here. I'll get it, no matter what."

Her words oozed trust. It was just like she said. What in this land could be impossible if a Saintess herself took action?

Deeply moved, Simon quickly bowed.

"Thank you so much, Israfill!"

At that, Israfill smiled again.

"There's a villa I paid for nearby. Let's go there."

Israfill snapped her fingers, covering the three of them in bubbles of water.

* * *

* * *

The villa Israfill brought them to was a quiet wooden house overlooking the sea.

Simon and Rete stayed there for two days. They were exhausted from their travels and battles, so they spent most of their time sleeping.

Upon realizing just how poor of a condition he was in, Simon knew that reaching the Tree of Life would have been difficult if they had pressed forward.

After the two days, Israfill returned.

"I told you I'd get it, didn't I?"

She was holding a box, and when she opened it a white leaf could be seen inside, seated upon a red cushion.

Surprisingly, the leaf exuded a faint divinity, and its distinctive pattern was exactly as Richard had described.

Simon's hands were shaking.

'I never thought I'd be able to obtain this so easily!'

Israfill was looking at Simon expectantly. Soon, Simon smiled and said,

"Thank you so much, Auntie!"

Israfill merely smirked, but Rete giggled knowing it was Israfill's version of squealing in delight.

The three sat down to dinner and talked.

"By the way, Israfill?"

"Yes, my child?"

"You said you and Mom aren't blood-related, right? I was wondering what your relationship is with her."

"Aha. Come to think of it, I didn't explain that."

She wasn't really Simon's aunt. Not by blood.

Originally, Israfill had been Anna's servant. Back before Anna first became a Saintess.

Like Rete, an orphan with nowhere to go, Anna took Israfill in. She took pity on the girl and recognized Israfill's talent.

When Anna became a Saintess, she gave Israfill the vacant position of House Cross's eldest daughter, and when Anna enrolled Efnel, she personally asked the pope to allow Israfill, who was merely a servant, to study there as well.

They went to school together as best friends and graduated with outstanding grades.

"Someday, you'll succeed me, Israfill."

When Anna, the star among the stars at the time, said that, Israfill tilted her head in confusion. She had graduated second best, right behind Anna, but she was still nowhere near Anna's talent.

She didn't understand it at the time, but…

One day, Anna was caught up in a huge incident and disappeared. Rumors had spread that she married a necromancer and renounced being a Saintess.

Out of respect for the theocracy and fearing that the authority of the Saintesses could be diminished, Efnel announced that Anna died in battle as a martyr. And the Essence of Miracle came to Israfill after she proved herself amongst many candidates.

That's how things got to this point.

'Now I'm curious…'

Simon rested his chin on his hand as he listened to Israfill's story.

'What was it like when Mom was still a Saintess?'

Whenever Simon was in trouble, people helped by Anna—such as Rete and Israfill— kept showing up to lend a hand.

Even if they were officially enemies now, they still hadn't forgotten Anna's kindness.

Simon was already curious about Richard's school days as Kizen's rumored rascal and as a Legion Commander, but now he found himself wondering about Anna's time being a Saintess at Efnel.

"It's funny that a Saintess is telling you this, but…"

Israfill said while pointing at Simon with her fork,

"in the future, don't ever mention the name Anna to anyone in the Holy Federation or reveal your identity to them first. It was a very dangerous move."

She had a point.

Israfill was an oddball in the Holy Federation, and other priests were far more likely to be extreme fanatics like Chief Inquisitor Leit.

If they heard the name of the traitorous Anna, they'd try to kill anyone involved with her.

"It's good that Rete and I were somewhat related to her in our private lives, but you're a necromancer. If you ever encounter a Priest, be on your guard and be prepared to fight and fight hard. I'm telling you this for your own good."

She was telling Simon to be self-aware and identify friends and foes in the future as a necromancer.

If they had met on the battlefield instead of as acquaintances of Rete, Israfill could've killed Simon without hesitation.

Of course, there was nothing to prevent that from still happening in the future.

Simon nodded seriously.

"I'll keep that in mind. But the fact that there are people like you two gives me hope."

"Hohoho! My nephew has a way with words."

'…Ah, what's this feeling?'

Rete felt left out by Israfill only adoring Simon.

'Hmm… Is this how he felt when I was hanging out with Teacher Anna back then?'

"I'll take this omelet if you won't."

"Ah! I will, I will!"

Watching the two bicker with a grin, Israfill interrupted,

"So you're heading back to the Dark Territory tomorrow?"

"Yes."

Simon nodded, dropping the piece of omelet he held in his mouth to say,

"Now that we obtained the leaf, I can't wait to return and heal Mom."

"Yeah, I know Anna's health is the top priority. I'd be happy to prepare for you a long-range teleport."

"No, no, I can't cause you more trouble. I'll take the divine train back."

Simon knew that Israfill had to travel to Sky Island tomorrow at dawn.

Israfill looked at Rete and said,

"Please guide him well till the end, Rete."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it."

She replied, pouting. Israfill laughed quietly and pushed herself up from her seat.

"Now, shall we all go to bed?"

"Yeah!"

* * *

Parting ways with Israfill, they returned to the nearest city with a station and boarded a divine train.

There was nothing difficult. All they had to do now was go back the way they came.

But…

"Third class?!"

Cried Rete.

They didn't make any reservations on their way back, so all the seats for the first- and second-class cars were taken.

If Rete had flaunted her Efnel uniform, she could have kicked the people in the first class into the third class and taken their seats, but neither of them wanted to do that.

In the end, they decided to take a third-class car on their way back.

"Oh, they must be new arrivals."

"Welcome~"

Simon warmly greeted them back. Rete just bowed with a sullen face and climbed into her bunk.

There were also inquisitors on this train, and they were on high alert due to the recent train hijacking, but Simon was well trained by Methyn's interrogations.

He breezed through them without arousing any suspicion.

"Huzzah."

Simon climbed into his bunk bed and pulled out a piece of paper.

To Rick.

To Meilyn.

To Camibarez.

He was planning to write letters to each of his group mates and mail them out when he returned home.

'It's almost time for the start of school.'

Simon raised his quill with excitement.

——