Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 86

Chapter 86

Fun.

Many thoughts flashed across Simon’s mind.

He wondered if it was actually fun toying with people like that, or if she was just doing that to shake him up.

“Why did you call me here, Serene Aindark?”

At those words, the girl sitting on the tree came down gently. It was as though gravity itself weakened for her. Even her movements were slow.

Platinum hair, ideally positioned facial features, and a unique aura able to overwhelm people like Lorain. The spirit of the monarch.

She hadn’t changed. Just like when he met her on the teleportation circle, she still exerted pressure on those around her.

“It’s because I wanted to talk to you.”

A soft voice. Simon thought it was the first time in his life that he had heard such a pleasant voice.

But contrary to the ears’ delight, the brain was frantically ringing alarm bells as goosebumps worked their way up his skin.

“Get straight to the point.”

Spat out Simon.

“This is the third time we’ve met~ They say it’s fate if you run into each other three times.”

“……”

“It looks like you don’t agree. Well, it’s fine.”

She had a different atmosphere compared to when he first met her.

If she felt like a wealthy, well-educated, polite lady back then, she now felt like a cunning little devil. Simon thought that this was closer to her true nature.

She clasped her hands behind her back and turned around.

“Simon Polentia, no, shall I call you this…”

A creepy smile crept across her lips.

“Commander of the Seventh Legion.”

“……!!”

Ba-bump. Ba-bump. Ba-bump.

His heart started beating wildly.

“Is Pier doing well? It looks like Elizabeth isn’t with you. Or perhaps she’s transformed into someone else on this island.”

“……”

Simon’s important secrets, ones that should never be revealed, spilled out from her lips.

“You……!”

“Ah~ Don’t worry. I created a barrier, so there’s no room for observers to peek in or overhear us.”

Excuses wouldn’t work against someone who already knew too much, and so he said,

“How do you know all this?”

She smiled softly as though telling him not to rush

“I shall tell you, since I like your attitude in admitting it right away. Do you remember where we met for the second time?”

“It was on the teleportation circle before leaving for our missions.”

“At that time, the only first-year students heading to the Kallos Kingdom were you and me, just the two of us.”

She lightly put her palms together.

“Don’t you think something is strange?”

Simon bit his lip.

“So you’ve been watching me ever since.”

“Yeah, actually way before that.”

She closed her eyes and pretended to tap the air with her fingers.

“Kizen’s top secret. The Ivory tower has been observing the ruins sealed by Nefthis. I personally installed the alarm spell that activates when the ruins are opened, and after a few days, the alarm sounded. When I hurried over to the place, my goodness.”

She smiled.

“You became the Commander of the Legion.”

“……”

So it was from then. Simon’s head started to spin.

“Then, how did you find out about Elizabeth?”

“Isn’t that obvious too? When we teleported together, I also stopped by Arnish to watch over you. I read the memories of the Lord of Arnish, the guard captain, the soldiers, the Thieves’ Guild members, the dancers, and…”

A smirk formed across her mouth.

“Ellen Zile, who you let go of. You know this is a pretty dangerous crime, right? Letting a Priest live.”

The pressure started to form a choking grip around his throat, but he somehow forced a smile.

“……Ellen, at that time, was an individual without any affiliation. We’re under a flag of truce right now. Therefore, I just took the measure under the treaty of the captives and released her rather than causing trouble by killing innocent residents of the Holy Federation.”

“Hm~ You’re a pretty smooth talker. Well, I guess there’s no point in bringing up such a trivial matter to you, huh?”

She laughed.

“Since you’re a criminal of first-class treason.”

“……”

“Did you know that the moment you signed a contract with Pier’s Legion, who rebelled against the Dark Alliance, you’d also be accused of treason? It’s a serious matter, so much so that it wouldn’t be strange if the test ceased right now and the Crows of Kizen from all over the continent rushed in here.”

Simon slowly rubbed his forehead.

“……I’m dumbfounded.”

“Are you going to make more excuses?”

“If you know all that, then report it to Kizen and bring it to trial. Why are you telling me like this?”

“Now it seems like it’s time to bring out the main point.”

A bright spark filled her eyes.

“Join the Ivory Tower, Simon.”

* * *

* * *

“……”

A sudden offer to join the Ivory Tower?

Simon felt that things were flowing strangely.

A little bit more.

Let’s lure her out a little bit more.

“If you want to scout me, then you could join the formal recruiting battle after I graduate. I don’t think the Ivory Tower’s wealth and power are lacking to be pushed back in the recruitment battle, though.”

“I don’t want a Kizen person who graduated from Kizen.”

“……What do you mean?”

She grinned.

“Aren’t you curious? As to why a single school organization is ruling half the continent.”

“……”

Of course, Simon did wonder why.

“Let’s take the nearby Dresden Kingdom as an example.”

She started to count something on her fingers.

“4 out of 5 generals in Dresden are from Kizen. 17 out of 20 members of the Royal Knights are from Kizen. Their Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Defense, and even…”

She folded all her fingers and clasped her hands behind her back.

“Even the second-in-command, the Prime Minister, is from Kizen.”

“……”

“Do you understand now? The people who hold power in the alliance are all allies calling each other seniors and juniors. They’re proud of the fact that they graduated from Kizen, forming some sort of cartel. They’re more loyal to Kizen than the state or organization that pays them and gives them power.”

Including Dresden, most of the countries in the Dark Alliance were like this. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that almost all key positions were occupied by ‘Kizens’ or their agents, except for the lone royal families left to keep an eye on the ‘Kizen Cartel’.

Kizen held talent in their hands.

But in terms of ability, the work competency of Kizen graduates was at a transcendental level. Countries couldn’t put just anyone in key positions. To gain a stronger stand in the Dark Alliance, it was essential to have talents from Kizen.

“Alright. So the reason why you’re bringing this up is…”

Simon raised his head and looked at her.

“You need someone who’s free from Kizen’s influence, someone loyal only to the Ivory Tower.”

“You’re smart, as I expected. It’s nice that you understood so easily.”

She wanted a pure member of Ivory Tower, not a Kizen graduate belonging to the Ivory Tower.

Simon could understand.

“I don’t think you have a choice here.”

Serene smiled softly.

“It’s either you get executed for treason or you join the Ivory Tower. But still, I’m offering you a top-notch job, and it’s pretty good in its own way, you know? Your classmate Meilyn is here, and you can have as much power or money as you want.”

“I have only one question.”

Said Simon in a serious voice.

“Do you just need my strength, or do you need the strength of the Legion?”

She grinned.

“I’ll say both. As a courtesy.”

“What worries me is…”

Simon bit his lip.

“I can’t trust you guys yet. How can you prove that I won’t lose my Legion after joining the Ivory Tower?”

She blinked.

“Your self-esteem is lower than I thought~ I don’t think you have to worry about that if you prove your abilities.”

“……”

“Well, it’s fine. I’ll promise as a successor that you can keep the Legion as yours if you join the Ivory Tower. So please answer me now, Simon Polentia.”

Phewwwwwwww.

Simon let out a long breath.

He was getting too caught up in her rhythm.

He had to bring it to his own tune.

As he took a deep breath and operated his jet-black, the trembling in his body stopped little by little, and all his trivial thoughts flew away.

Finally, after cooling his head, Simon looked at her with a cold gaze.

‘His atmosphere changed.’

She also sensed Simon’s change. But she knew calming down wouldn’t make his situation any better.

“Serene. You……”

Simon smirked.

“You’re bad at playing politics, aren’t you?”

Serene creased her brow

“And what do you mean by that?”

“Threatening people after showing all your cards? That’s not a good habit.”

Serene had been the strong one since birth.

She didn’t have to be complicated.

When she requested something, there were two options:

Yes or No.

Life or Death.

No one was free from her ultimatums. Hiding your cards was for the weak.

Therefore…

“You’ll never be able to let Kizen know that I’m the Commander of the Legion.”

This time, she made a mistake.

“Oh my. Why do you think that?”

“Because you want to be free from Kizen no matter what.”

“……”

For the first time, she didn’t respond.

“Actually, I’ve heard something. That the inside of the Ivory Tower is divided into pro-Kizen and anti-Kizen.

“Oh, to talk about the internal politics of the tower. You must have a really good network of information~ I doubt Meilyn dumb enough to share stories of the inside.”

The truth was, it was just something Rick said idly while he was eating, though.

“You and the current lord of the Ivory Tower are representatives of the anti-Kizens. The reason why you want to gather the commanders and become stronger must be…”

Simon put his hand to his hips.

“Because you want to be independent of Kizen, right?”

“……”

“But you’ll inform Kizen that I’m a Commander and execute me? I wonder who’ll take over my Legion then.”

Simon’s smirk widened.

“A more powerful Necromancer who’s absolutely loyal to Kizen will become a Commander. If that happens, your independence will only drift further. But that doesn’t mean it’s possible for you to kidnap me and transplant the Legion to a necromancer from the Ivory Tower.”

Simon folded his arms and continued.

“Because that’s a declaration of war against Kizen.”

The kidnapping of a Special Admission No.1, a Special Admission No.1 who was actually a Commander, and killing him to take over the Legion.

If such a thing happened, Nefthis would not leave even a speck of dust standing once she was done with the Ivory Tower.

Historically, she has been quite ruthless on these kinds of issues, after all.

“You know only one side of the story.”

Serene smiled brightly.

“If that’s the case, wouldn’t there be an option like this? I’ll remove you and bury you so that no one acquires the Legion.”

“Aha.”

Simon chuckled.

“I’m sorry, but that won’t work.”

Simon pulled the virtual lever and opened the subspace.

[Kuahahahahahahaha!]

Serene paused a little and took a step back.

A tall skeleton stood wearing a shadowless cloak. The ancient undead Pier. He had revealed himself from the subspace.

After him, Elizabeth’s corpse spiders and skeletons with dark blue flames burning in their eye sockets poured out like demons from another dimension.

‘Why is Pier here?’

Serene bit at her bottom lip.

‘I’m pretty sure Kizen conducted a subspace inspection.’

“And you said that observers can’t see inside your barrier, right?”

Simon smirk broke out into a grin.

“That’s also a mistake.”

Rattle!

Rattle!

Ssssssshhhhhhhk!

The soldiers of the Legion surrounded Serene, crying out as their fighting spirit blazed.

——