Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner

Chapter 216

Simon's eyes were filled with surprise.

"You found him?"

[Yeah. Akemus has no great grudge against Richard, and he's loyal to the Legion, so I figured I could go alone. And as a matter of fact, I did succeed in finding him.]

Simon got nervous just hearing the story.

"A-And then?! What happened after finding him?"

[Akemus was snatched from right under my nose.]

Elizabeth and Prince jumped to their feet.

[Who was the bastard?!]

Prince thumped his chest in anger. Simon sensed strong hostility from Pier's thoughts, too.

[Magnus Alban, Commander of the Fifth Legion. He, too, was in the Jungle of Screams.]

"!"

Simon's eyes widened.

'…A Commander other than me.'

Like the Seven Saintesses, there were the Seven Commanders.

Naturally, there are also the Seven Marshalls, Pier being one of them. They were the Ancient Undeads who could organize Legions.

However, the 'Seventh Legion of Betrayal' was said to have disappeared, and Pier the Marshall was also said to be lost forever.

This, of course, wasn't true. Nefthis dared to steal Pier and seal him in an underground ruin on Roke Island so that when Richard's son, Simon, enrolled into Kizen, he could be given the ruin's location and become a Commander.

Thus, there were now seven Commanders again, including Simon.

'And among those Commanders, one of them…'

…took a member of Richard's Legion, Akemus.

[It's war!]

Shouted Prince, enraged.

[Magnus broke the unspoken rule between Commanders! You never lay your hands on another Legion's Ancient Undead!]

Hearing that, Pier justified,

[He thinks that the Seventh Legion has completely disappeared. He must be trying to claim the ownerless Ancient Undead for himself.]

[Simon, this is what Death Land has prepared for! Just give me the word, and all the zombies under my control will—!]

Pier shook his head.

[No amount of firepower we can muster now can defeat Magnus. He's a full-fledged necromancer with five Ancient Undeads beneath him. Six including Akemus.]

Prince pouted, seemingly unsatisfied, but Simon stepped in and cemented how the Legion would respond.

"Pier is right, we shouldn't get too sentimental here. Other than that…"

The Ancient Undeads had to resist flinching as their two-way mental connections to Simon flooded them with a cold seriousness.

"Did Magnus find you?"

Pier gave a satisfied smile at his Commander's deductions and priorities.

[You've hit the nail on the head! It's 50/50. Magnus almost certainly detected my presence as an Ancient Undead, but probably not that I am Pier, a Marshall. After all, I blew away the pursers he sent after me before they could see enough to be sure.]

"Phew… Above all else, I'm just glad you're safe."

The search for a new Captain almost led to the loss of Pier. For Simon, that was the worst-case scenario.

Also, even if Magnus didn't recognize Pier as a Marshall, he still sensed that Pier was an Ancient Undead. He could be roaming around the continent with greedy eyes, trying to get his hands on such a treasure.

[This is the first time I can genuinely say I'm glad I'm on this island.]

Added Elizabeth.

[Even if he is an active Commander, he won't dare to enter Roke Island, guarded by the Witch of Death.]

[That may be true, but Magnus is a cunning mastermind. If he's convinced I'm here, he'll sneak into Roke Island and scour the entire island, so we need to hide our presence even more thoroughly than before!]

After saying that, Pier turned to Simon.

[Boy! How many people know of your identity now?]

"Hold on."

Simon counted on his fingers.

"Dad, Mom, Nefthis, Serene, Kajann, Rete, and that's about it. That makes six."

[Rete must be that priest chick you mentioned earlier.]

Pier crossed his arms.

[She must be good enough to keep a secret, judging by how you told her your identity, right?]

"Yeah."

Simon nodded with great seriousness.

He knew what kind of person Rete was, but it was hard to explain it to the others.

"Rete and I… share a sin. If she were to reveal my identity, she wouldn't be free from the resulting controversy of her bringing me into the Holy Federation, and there's a lot more to it than that. You don't have to worry about her."

[I see.]

Pier was nodding.

But suddenly, Elizabeth began frothing at the mouth, ripping apart whatever she could get her hands and teeth on.

[Again! Again! Again! This wicked priest bitch!!!]

She seemed to have managed to swallow it down while hearing Simon's adventures, but she ended up bursting with rage once it was brought up again. Simon quickly stepped in to extinguish the fires.

"We aren't anything like what you're thinking! Rete is just Mom's disciple, and—"

[Anna! Annaaaaa!!! Birds of a feather flock together!!!!]

It backfired.

[Listen to me, Commander. All priest bitches are deadly poison that ruin men!]

Elizabeth had flames in her eyes.

[Pretending to be an innocent priest in the service of the Goddess, pretending to be noble and pure! But when they see a man, they become vulgar, and—!"

[Elizabeth!]

Pier interrupted Elizabeth with such force she had no choice but to shut up.

[What are you talking about in front of a kid?!!]

[I don't want to talk with an ignorant boomer who doesn't know what love is!]

[Stop using the language of those damned Kizen kids!]

'Why are these two fighting?'

Simon struggled to stop those two. Prince was laughing beside them with glee.

[Anyway. Let's sum up the situation again.]

Pier took control of the conversation.

[Magnus is hunting for Ancient Undeads. He most likely doesn't know about the resurrection of the Seventh Legion, but he is probably looking for me. If the fact that we're a Legion gets discovered, not only will we have to leave Kizen, but we'll immediately become a target for Magnus.]

"Yes, you're right."

Simon nodded.

[From now on, we have to be more careful! Revealing your identity, even to the three kids whom you often hang out with, is strictly forbidden! And one more thing. Your growth rate is miraculous enough as is, but you need to grow even faster to catch up to Magnus as soon as possible!]

"Of course."

Life in Kizen would resume.

Simon had practiced new dark spells from his father, Richard, but now that classes were starting he should be able to fully embrace new teachings.

And as he grows stronger, the Legion grows stronger with him.

The best way to escape the many threats that surrounded him was to become so powerful they were no longer threatening.

Even if he was wearing a Kizen uniform, Magnus wouldn't bat an eyelid at getting rid of a single student, whether or not that kid was a Commander.

With the new semester ahead, Simon doubled his resolve to leap ahead of the competition.

* * *

* * *

The next morning.

It was finally the dawn of the first day of classes.

"Rick! Wake up!"

Already having finished bathing, Simon shook Rick awake.

Rick staggered to the bathroom with puffy eyes while Simon changed into his school uniform.

'Man, it feels like I'm missing something.'

'Pier's clone', the medium of communication between Simon and the Legion, needed to be rebuilt to avoid detection from Magnus. Pier said it'd be finished in 3–4 days.

Not only was the clone gone, but so was Kajaan. His bunk was empty, meaning he was already up and about.

"Ugh… school really has started."

Water dripped from Rick's roughly washed face as he walked in, rubbing his eyes before slipping his legs into his school pants.

"Are you that tired? You slept early last night."

"I'm just not a morning person."

With everything ready, they walked out of room 409, down the hall, and out the dorm into the bright morning sun.

It was a familiar walk to class. The sound of students talking and raucous laughter came from all directions.

They were behind schedule, so instead of eating the dorm food, they grabbed sandwiches from the nearby cafeteria as they moved. Rick laughed as he freshened up in the outside air and greeted other students on their way to class.

'I missed this kind of day-to-day living.'josei

Chuckled Rick when he saw Simon getting emotional.

"Hah, you're tearing up over nothing! Is it your first time being in Kizen? At this rate, you're gonna be touched by feeling the Kizen air in your lungs."

That was enough to break Simon, and he doubled over in laughter.

It was good to briefly forget about the Legion and Magnus, to express pure joy at what he had.

"Oh! By the way, Simon, what was our first class again?"

"It's Beginner Dark Magic."

"Wow! I guess we'll be seeing our Vice-President for the first time in months."

They walked into the building and entered the large lecture room where Jane's class would be held. The deafening chatter of Class A students filled the room.

"Ah, it's you, Simon!"

Toto Amori, one of his fellow Mutant club members, waved at him and approached.

"Toto! Have you been well?"

"Yeah! You'll stop by the club room after class to say hi to the seniors, right?"

"Of course!"

As Toto and Simon talked about Summoning, Simon heard a girl calling his name.

When he turned to look, he saw Camibarez waving from her seat. Next to her was Meilyn putting down her textbook.

"Let's continue talking in the club room later."

"Got it!"

Simon joined his group mates, exchanging greetings with Camibarez. Meilyn also said, "Hi," in a quick but gentle voice.

"Four of our classmates failed, apparently."

Rick, who had been walking around gathering information, joined in.

Camibarez nodded in concern.

"I hope their groups end up alright. It must be hard having group assignments with only three people, don't you think?"

"Of course it's going to be hard for them! There's no way I'll let you not be, but just in case…"

Meilyn furrowed her brows.

"You guys better be ready for the BDMAT! I swear, if any of you fail, I'm going to find where you live next holidays and curse you!"

Simon chuckled.

"Are you worried about us?"

"W-Worried my ass! I just said I'm going to curse you!"

As Meilyn flipped out, someone walked into the lecture room and shouted,

"The professor is on her way!"

Rrrrrumble!

The students scattered, seats being shoved back to their correct positions at breakneck speeds.

Some students clinging to the ceiling like spiders and others drawing magic circles as they began impromptu curse duels quickly erased their jet-black and took their seats.

Soon, complete silence engulfed the room.

Click, click.

The sound of heels echoed from the corridor, and the front door slid open.

'It's been a while!'

Exclaimed Simon inwardly.

He felt nostalgic seeing the woman's short, understated haircut, apathetic face, and charismatic eyes.

It was Jane Olivia, Class A's professor and Kizen's Vice-President.

Behind her, the assistant teachers stood at attention, some of them winking at and waving to their favorite students.

In the silence, she started,

"Did you spend your vacation well, Class A?"

——