Damn Necromancer - Chapter 77

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Spendthrift Necromancer (77)
Wellington and Arnold.
The two of them had been deep in heated discussion. Soon after, Wellington turned urgently toward Kern.
“Kern! Didn’t you say you wanted to come to the Magic Faculty?”
“If I do go, I can pick and choose which classes to take, can’t I?”
“……No, why would you— You’d be swamped just with the Death School classes…….”
“Really? Now that I think about it, maybe I don’t have to go to the Magic Faculty at all?”
Only then did Wellington realize the game that was unfolding.
This audacious student was playing him against the Sword Arts Department head.
The problem was that the Department head, who outranked him, was already barreling toward him with foam flecking at his lips.
“Heh heh, Professor Wellington doesn’t seem very eager, does he? Then perhaps you’d yield to us.”
“……You can structure your own classes however you wish!”
“You don’t even have to attend classes at all! Just carry the Sword Arts banner, pick and choose whichever classes you want, and I’ll personally recommend you with my authority as Department head! You can sit in on Magic Faculty courses too!”
“Even Magic Faculty classes?”
“Of course! Absolutely! I have that much pull, at least.”
“What if I pick very few classes?”
“The rest we’ll fill with Sword Arts! You won’t even need to show up—you’re already passing with full marks!”
Now, this fellow.
He really knew how to make an offer.
This basically meant I could attend only what I wanted and skip everything else entirely.
This was far better than what the Death School had offered.
I rather liked it.
“Well, if you insist, then.”
“Ha! Yes, good thinking!”
Wellington’s eyes went hollow.
He felt no particular regret.
Society was always a matter of competition, after all.
It was simply Wellington’s failure to offer better terms.
“It was a pleasure, Professor Wellington.”
“Ah…….”
As if a blond, tanned delinquent had just stolen away his lover, Wellington stood trembling with his hand outstretched.
I brushed past him and approached the Department head’s side.
“I look forward to working with you, Department head.”
“Heh heh. Yes, yes. Just submit your list of desired classes, and I’ll push it through right away.”
The Department head spoke with a warm smile, patting my shoulder gently.
* * *
Merhen.
Second-year Magic Faculty student.
Her primary aptitude was Water Attribute Magic.
True to the Sword Arts Department head’s boast, it proved easy enough to attend the same classes as her.
After completing course registration, I slipped into class quite naturally.
A girl with blue hair, bearing the look of a noble young lady, came into view.
“Hello. Would you mind if I sat next to you?”
“…….”
Merhen stared at me, though only briefly.
“……Yes.”
She answered in the smallest of voices.
I settled into the seat beside her and observed her carefully.
‘Timid, isn’t she?’
She couldn’t even meet my eyes properly—the very picture of a shy noblewoman.
I let the words slip out casually.
“Death Road.”
“……Excuse me?”
“An Bae—you don’t know of it?”
“Why would you suddenly……”
These were words she should have reacted to, yet she showed not the slightest sign of recognition.
She simply tilted her head in confusion, as if she’d just heard something completely nonsensical.
‘What’s this?’
This was quite different from the Cedric situation.
Cedric had immediately recognized me as a Trial participant the moment I signed up.
He also knew that because of An Bae, time repeated itself infinitely.
But Merhen was different.
She simply tilted her head with innocent eyes, as though she knew absolutely nothing. If this were acting, she’d deserve at least a Best Actress nomination.
‘Two possibilities.’
She knew but was pretending not to.
Or she genuinely knew nothing at all.
‘The latter seems more likely…….’
But if she didn’t know, why wouldn’t she?
One thing occurred to him.
She was human now, not undead. Her transformation into the Banshee Queen was something that lay in the future.
‘Is that why she has no memory?’
Had she reverted to her human years, before any of this ever touched her?
Regardless, one thing was certain.
This place was made of Merhen’s regret. To resolve it, he needed to discover what her regret actually was.
‘I should observe for now.’
At first glance, she was a remarkably timid young woman.
A hasty approach would likely do more harm than good.
Especially with that fool Kern—rumor had it he was notorious for his brutishness.
Pushing too hard, too fast would only leave a bad impression.
He spent the time quietly attending the same lessons, and in doing so, learned several facts.
Starting with the noble ladies who kept flicking strange bits of debris at her hair, all the way to the giggling clusters around her.
‘Is she being bullied?’
The picture fit.
She was suffering quiet, sustained harassment. Worse, she seemed to have no one she was close to. Her routine was: attend class, go to the Library, eat, sleep, repeat endlessly.
Kim Min-woo, by contrast, was living the life of an insider.
Son of a distinguished house.
And rumors had spread about him.
A madman who’d defeated all the professors in sword arts and was now taking up magic.
It was hardly surprising that he’d begun to attract attention.
The Academy had never seen anyone quite so eccentric.
Within a single day, crowds of Magic Faculty students had flocked to him.
He caught one of them—a young man who looked like he could explain things well enough—and asked him a question.
“Was it Marlon?”
“Yes, Kern. Please, go ahead.”
“Why so formal with a friend? We’re the same age.”
“Come now, sir. How could that be? You’re the son of the Demorn Duke House, while I’m merely the son of a baron.”
“Doesn’t the Academy say it doesn’t care about rank?”
“Words are one thing, sir. Reality is another.”
Fair enough.
He nodded.
“Especially when someone like you comes from such a distinguished family and has such exceptional talent—everyone just defers automatically.”
“Spare me the flattery. I want to know about her.”
He pointed at Merhen, and Marlon tilted his head in confusion.
“Her?”
“Tell me everything you know about her.”
“Ah—could it be that you fancy her, sir?”
“Just answer the question.”
The young man grinned knowingly before speaking.
“You know how the Empire sends inspectors to each district?”
“They do?”
“Yes. They say it’s to find hidden gems—but anyway, she was selected there. She’s a commoner mage.”
“A commoner?”
“Yes. Meaning she has no backing whatsoever.”
“She could still be the child of a merchant, though, couldn’t she?”
“Ha. Hardly. Word is her parents are tenant farmers.”
“So the girls who bully her—they’re jealous of her superior talent?”
“No, sir. She has no talent at all.”
“No talent, and yet she was still selected as a commoner?”
“Strictly speaking, she has the Aptitude, but she lacks the talent for Manifestation.”
“You mean she can’t use magic?”
“Yes. That’s something you only learn once you’ve studied magic, so really…… your true colors show when you get here.”
“Does that happen often?”
Marlon shook his head at the question.
“Very rarely. Usually if someone has strong aptitude, their manifestation works well too. I’d say she just had extraordinarily bad luck.”
The Academy, where mostly nobility enrolled. And a commoner had squeezed her way in.
But without talent, no less?
That would make her even easier prey.
He thought he was beginning to understand the situation.
“But for someone like that, the jewelry she’s wearing looks rather expensive.”
There was a reason he’d taken her for a noblewoman. Even if the clothing was standard-issue for Academy students, the accessories she wore looked genuinely costly.
Marlon chuckled softly before answering.
“Well…… she must have gone into debt for it, I’d imagine. It happens fairly often—commoners pouring everything into their appearance. It’s as if without that, they’d feel like nothing at all. Though no amount of finery can change base blood, in the end.”
“She went into debt?”
“There’s no shortage of places willing to lend to Academy students, I’d wager. Though the interest rates for commoners would be steeper, certainly.”
“Setting that aside…… who is she?”
He gestured toward the noblewoman leading Merhen’s torment, asking the question.
“Ah…… that is…….”
Marlon’s eyes darted nervously.
His manner grew cautious.
A moment later, he leaned in and whispered carefully near Kern’s ear.
“The young lady of the Ensian Duke House—Doloris.”
“A duke’s house?”
“Yes. You might say it’s comparable to your own family, more or less…….”
“A duke’s daughter has nothing better to do than bully commoners?”
“Mm. Well, you’re in the Sword Arts Department, so you might not know, but…….”
Marlon whispered quietly.
“In fact, back in first year, Doloris had her top rank taken by that woman.”
“You said she can’t use magic. But she got first place?”
“Ah, in first year most students are like that. Unless they’re from certain magic families, they haven’t learned magic at all yet. So first place is awarded based on aptitude, you see.”
“If she ranked first, her aptitude must have been excellent.”
“Yes. Merhen was quite famous when she enrolled. She had aptitude for all Four Major Attributes. First place was hers to lose.”
“So she lost the first place ranking, and harbored resentment?”
“I’m not sure about resentment, but it certainly struck her as an eyesore. And then when they looked closer and found there was nothing to her after all…….”
It seemed to have spiraled from there.
He’d grasped the situation well enough.
Let me think about this.
Merhen is a commoner.
Her aptitude was good enough to claim first place. She’d probably entered the Academy with high hopes.
But when the reality came out, she had nothing after all?
‘Her pride must be shattered.’
Probably she’d even gone into debt trying to fill the void her broken pride left behind.
And on top of that, she’d been enduring constant, relentless harassment.
‘That’s the worst of it.’
You didn’t need to see it to know how it ended.
For her, the Academy might as well be a half-formed hell.
She couldn’t even drop out.
If she withdrew while still a student with outstanding loans, she’d likely be dragged off to some dark corner the very next day.
In a situation like this, what could she possibly regret.
Taking on a debt she couldn’t handle?
Becoming a mage?
Failing to enjoy her school years?
Various thoughts came to mind.
‘I should start by solving what looks easiest.’
He approached Doloris and her circle, who were engaging in their petty, ugly harassment—flinging small objects. Their gazes fixed upon him as he drew near.
As he stared back at them, Doloris, the leader of the group, stepped forward.
“Yes?”
“Stop harassing her. It’s getting tiresome to look at.”
“……Ha!”
Doloris let out a derisive snort, as if she found the notion absurd.
“Who do you think you are, butting in? What’s your connection to her?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“If you’re going to keep this up, what do you think I’ll do?”
To suppress a mob, you always take down the leader first.
I drew the Death Sword.
In a flash, Doloris’s hair fell away with a sharp snip. Golden strands scattered across the floor in a wild tangle.
She blinked down at it, her gaze drawn to the ground below.
“Eeeeeeeek!”
She shrieked in pure shock.
“D-Doloris’s hair……!”
“She’s been growing it for over ten years……!”
The lackey nobles stared with eyes wide as saucers.
To a noblewoman, hair was as precious as a peacock’s plumage.
With it gone, there was nothing to do but panic.
“You damned bastard!”
Her eyes went red with burst capillaries. Mana surged through her body.
She was about to cast magic.
‘This is basically begging me to hit her.’
Her mind was all offense—no defense whatsoever.
I brought the scabbard up sharply against her temple.
Caught mid-concentration, her body crumpled.
She was a duke’s daughter, after all.
Killing her would land me in real trouble.
Probably expulsion.
So I just knocked her out politely instead.
“My lady!”
“She’s not dead. Take her and go.”
“How dare you, you savage!”
“Want to try being bald yourself?”
“Eek!”
The trembling nobles finally lowered their eyes, backing out of the classroom like the defeated they were. I spoke to their retreating forms.
“Tell her: if you cause any more trouble, I’ll cut off what’s left. And if she asks when you’re back and you don’t remember, you’re getting it too.”
“Y-yes, let’s go!”
They rushed out of the classroom in panic. I turned my head. Merhen was staring at me, her expression startled.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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