Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 257

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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 Summoning Genius of Necromancer School, Episode 257
“The offspring of Deimos, the primary material of the legendary Yellow Spring Whale! We’ll start the bidding at 100 Gold!”
The auctioneer’s cry was met with jeers from the crowd that had gathered like clouds.
“Why aren’t you mentioning that the most crucial ‘heart’ is missing? It’s just an empty shell.”
“Who’s going to pay 100 Gold for something that can’t even be used as a Yellow Spring Whale?”
“Right, right.”
Then someone raised their hand sharply.
“100 Gold.”
The jeering stopped, and hands shot up one after another.
“110 Gold.”
“120 Gold!”
As the price climbed steeply, Simon was still waiting for Benya’s answer.
Whether the Deimos could be used as a Skeleton.
She was considering the question seriously, eyes closed in thought.
“There’s no precedent for this, certainly. Ignoring the perfect formula of the Yellow Spring Whale and just stripping the bones to create a Skeleton… hmm.”
“Well, they’ve already taken the crucial heart, so there’s no helping that.”
He thought that if it had been a complete Deimos offspring, the price would have climbed to tens of thousands of Gold.
“Even so—”
She opened her eyes slowly.
“A Skeleton version of Deimos… I think it’s worth attempting.”
“That’s sufficient.”
Simon prepared to enter the bidding.
“What price range did you have in mind?”
“At least around 2,000 Gold?”
She answered immediately.
“If you’re going to buy it, we can cover about half—on the condition that you turn over the byproducts, excluding the bones, to our Vanilla.”
“Really? Yes! Let’s do it that way!”
“Right. But does a student have that much money, like 1,000 Gold?”
Simon nodded.
He had recently received a 2,000 Gold commission fee from Princess Molly for a mission evaluation.
“290 Gold!”
“300 Gold!”
Already the price had climbed to 300 Gold. The auctioneer stepped in.
“From this point on, we’ll raise the bid by 50 Gold. Shall we continue with 350 Gold…?”
“1,000 Gold.”
The room fell so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Simon had raised his arm and entered the auction.
“…Who is that?”
“He just threw out a massive number.”
“Is he the son of a high noble?”
“Looks loaded.”
Now that he knew the market value was around 2,000 Gold, there was no point in wasting time. He was ready to make his move immediately, sweep aside the small bidders, and drive it up to 2,000.
Naturally, another hand rose.
“Ahem, 1,050 Gold.”
“1,300 Gold.”
“Kh, harrumph! 1,350 Gold.”
“1,600 Gold.”
As Simon bid rapidly, the expression of the man who’d called 1,350 Gold hardened. The crowd murmured among themselves.
“Looks like the owner was already decided.”
“Yeah, he just keeps raising no matter what. He’s not backing down.”
“Why don’t you jump in?”
“What if you bid 1,650 and he just drops out?”
As the crowd murmured, Simon fixed his gaze on the man who was now his only rival.
The man, looking slightly flustered, met eyes with Simon, whose expression remained composed and unchanging.
Simon felt the other’s resolve shatter.
“1,600 Gold! Do we have any higher bids?”
The auctioneer seemed slightly taken aback.
He had expected the price to climb further, but the momentum had cooled far faster than anticipated.
After drawing it out a few times, he finally declared it.
“This item is hereby sold for 1,600 Gold.”
‘Nice!’
Simon’s mouth stretched so wide he thought his cheeks might split. Pure luck, that’s all it was. He’d expected them to bid higher, but it seemed they had other things to purchase besides Deimos.
Split with the Vanilla faction, and it came to eight hundred Gold.
A considerable saving. Even after paying everything, he still had twelve hundred Gold left in hand.
Soon the crowds that had pressed into the auction like clouds dispersed entirely, leaving only Simon and Benya in their seats.
Benya was making a call on her Communication Crystal.
“Our people will be coming to the Warehouse soon to move the items.”
She said it matter-of-factly.
“We’ll disassemble them at the Warehouse, do some basic processing, and then carve the Summon Skeleton Magical Circle right away. I’ll cover the cost as a service for you.”
“Thank you so much!”
Simon exhaled his joy inwardly as he spoke.
“You’re a direct member of the club, so I have to pull my weight for you. But you’d better treat the first-years nicely when they end up under you later, understood?”
“Yes, I will!”
Of course, the Ballot harbor had several warehouses and businesses operated by the Vanilla faction.
Benya left to check on the situation, and the items were to be safely stored by the Auctioneer’s side until Vanilla took possession of them.
‘I have time to spare.’
With his spirits lifted, Simon decided to explore the market further on his own.
He still had plenty of money left. With gold in his pocket, the thought that he could have any of these items here made everything catch his eye.
Simon ventured deeper into the market.
‘Ah! So it was here!’
He’d even found a vendor selling a complete set of Poloran Bones in good condition. The state was excellent and the count was perfect.
‘It’s always like this — you find things right after you’ve already bought something.’
He’d thought about picking it up as a Plan B in case the Deimos skeleton failed, but that seemed like wasteful spending.
Simon caught himself before impulse buying could take hold and moved on elsewhere.
Countless aquatic monsters lay in iced cases. There were enormous octopus creatures, sea-crocodile beasts and the like.
At first, the sight of them had turned his stomach, but thinking of them simply as Undead made him feel better about it.
There was more to see than he’d expected. The deeper he looked, the more fascinating it became. As he felt himself gradually transforming into a Necromancer, Simon experienced an odd, unfamiliar sensation.
‘Ah, this is fun. But then—’
Walking absently, Simon glanced around.
‘Where am I?’
At some point, all the people had vanished. He seemed to have wandered far deeper than intended.
Simon composed himself and surveyed his surroundings, then stepped toward an alley.
‘!’
And the moment his foot touched a certain spot—
The stench of blood came pouring out suddenly.
He’d thought his nose had grown somewhat numb since arriving here, but this was so overpowering it knocked the stuffiness clear out of his sinuses.
‘My head is spinning.’
Since this was technically a ‘Fish Market’ selling goods to customers, the sanitation wasn’t usually in such dire condition. Yet with every step forward, the blood-stink intensified.
‘That must be where the reek is coming from.’
What looked like a Warehouse.
An old door hung open.
‘…….’
Something about it seemed dangerous. So he tried to walk past.
Just as Simon was about to obey reason, instinct rose up and goaded him forward instead.
Something was definitely happening in there.
Could he really leave without seeing?
He might think about this every night.
He’d come to regret walking past.
He could just peek through the open door and leave right away.
It was strange. Drawn by an incomprehensible, powerful compulsion, Simon moved forward as if bewitched. His nose felt like it might fall off, but his feet kept pulling him toward the Warehouse entrance.
And there, inside that Warehouse—
“……!”
He saw a mountain.
‘Urgh!’
Simon dropped to one knee on the floor and retched violently.
They were Hearts.
Countless Hearts formed a mountain heap. A magical circle was inscribed on the floor beneath them, and though they seemed to have been exposed for some time, the Hearts continued to pulse and beat with a rhythmic thump-thump.
‘What in the world is this? Why would there be so many Hearts like this…….’
Even accounting for how obsessed Necromancers could be, this wasn’t a normal sight at all.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Just then, footsteps sounded from outside the warehouse.
Simon’s mind snapped into focus, pulling him out of his mental fugue.
“You’ve secured an excellent heart.”
“Indeed. Finding a Yellow Spring Whale calf here was sheer chance.”
Two men’s voices. The footsteps drew steadily closer.
Simon moved quickly to hide. Moments later, he heard the men’s steps come to a halt.
“The door’s open.”
“Ah, I left it ajar when I went to fetch you. Besides, we have Perception Obstruction Magic layered over the space anyway.”
“It doesn’t matter if someone sees it, but be more careful from now on.”
“Ha! Who would ever make it out here?”
Two men in robes soon entered the warehouse.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
Simon was plastered against the ceiling near the entrance, wrapped in darkness.
His heart pounded wildly at the thought that if either of them turned around and glanced up, he’d be spotted immediately.
There was no way this could be explained away as a simple wrong turn.
What saved him was the overwhelming stench of blood and the darkness that saturated the warehouse—no Necromancer would be able to sense him here.
“Let me verify the goods one final time.”
The subordinate carefully opened a crate. Inside a glass case lay a heart, glistening faintly.
From the information he’d gathered, Simon now understood what that heart was.
‘So these are the ones who purchased the Yellow Spring Whale and extracted just the heart.’
Then the warehouse’s man pulled back his hood. Brown hair tumbled free, catching the light of his polished glasses.
The moment Simon recognized him, he nearly cried out.
‘W-Walter? Professor Walter?’
What was he doing here?
“The condition is flawless.”
Walter adjusted his glasses and spoke.
“And the preparations we’ve been making?”
“Everything proceeds smoothly. We’ll have it ready by the deadline.”
The two began exchanging words about various matters. Though gripped by fear, Simon listened intently to every syllable.
“I’ll explain, Judah.”
Judah.
That name again.
It was the name inscribed on Walter’s beloved fountain pen.
From Simon’s observations, Walter had a habit of carrying that fountain pen in his breast pocket wherever he went, regardless of his attire.
When they first met in Langoustin, Walter had said he’d inherited this pen from someone else. Yet this man had just called Walter “Judah.”
‘Professor Walter lied.’
But that wasn’t the immediate concern right now.
Judah. Judah. The name kept gnawing at him. He felt as though he’d seen it somewhere, but the memory was far too vague.
Then footsteps echoed from outside, and another person entered. This time, a woman.
“Judah. Earl Caron has arrived.”
“We depart now.”
Walter pulled his hood low and moved toward the exit. The two left the warehouse, and the door shut behind them.
…….
Now only Simon and Walter’s subordinate remained in the warehouse.
Simon depended on a single flickering mana light bulb—barely holding on—to assess the situation.
The man had turned the crate upside down to sit on it and was now tending to the magical circles that preserved the hearts.
‘What do I do?’
He could use the Legion Commander’s power or summon Prince, but he didn’t want Walter to know anyone had been in this warehouse at all.
Clinging to the ceiling, Simon braced his trembling legs and pressed his back flat against the surface, then raised both arms in tension.
His target: the largest heart down there.
He would inscribe a new magical circle on it remotely.
‘This… is so hard.’
Maintaining this posture was already maddeningly difficult, but he also had to draw a magical circle from this distance, remotely.
Drip. Drop.
Sweat beaded on his forehead in an instant. Droplets fell from his brow toward the floor below.
To Simon, it sounded impossibly loud, but fortunately the man didn’t notice. He continued humming softly as he repaired the magical circles.
‘God, I wish I weren’t sweating like this.’
The more he thought about it, the more tense he became, and sweat soon drenched him.
He couldn’t afford to sweat too profusely, couldn’t afford to lose focus on his current position against the ceiling, and somehow had to inscribe a magical circle from a distance while suspended.
‘Focus. Focus.’
Simon was drawing a Defective Magical Circle. It had no effect whatsoever.
It was the sort of circle cobbled together with failed formulas, designed to shatter the moment it activated.
He’d never thought a day would come when he’d need to make such a thing, yet here it was.
‘Now!’
Simon activated the magical circle. A sound like fingernails scraping across a chalkboard erupted through the entire warehouse.
“Ah—ah! What—what is this?”
The man repairing the magical circle jolted awake in alarm. The next instant, there came a wet crack from the Heart that Simon had drawn the circle on, and blood began to flow.
“What’s gone wrong?!”
The man seemed to think he’d made some mistake while repairing the magical circle.
Panic-stricken, he rushed to tend the formulas, fearful that the other Hearts might be damaged as well.
This was his moment.
Before the eerie sound could stop, Simon moved swiftly down from the ceiling and positioned himself near the door.
Creak.
He’d braced himself to be discovered and opened the door slightly, but the defective circle’s noise was so loud, and the man so consumed by shock, that he noticed nothing. The man was too absorbed in tearing apart and repairing the circle.
Simon slipped out quickly and closed the door behind him as it had been.
Then he ran.
“Ah—hah! Huff! Ah—hah!”
Sweat poured down his face and the taste of copper filled his mouth. His heart hammered so hard he thought it might burst.
Simon wanted nothing more than to leave this place immediately.
“There you are!”
After running for some time, the auction house finally came into view. Standing before it was Benya, who’d been searching for him.
“I was worried when you didn’t come back! Where were you?”
The moment he saw Benya’s face, Simon felt himself calming down, his eyes growing hot with unshed tears.
He pressed his hood down over his face with both hands and drew several ragged breaths.
“Let’s go. Please.”
“Huh? What?”
“To the Vanilla warehouse—the one you said you’d help me with. Right away.”
“Oh, all right. We’ll need to take a carriage for a while from here. Is that okay?”
Simon steadied his breathing and nodded.
“Yes.”
All he wanted now was to get away from this place.

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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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