Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 290

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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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Summoning Genius of the Necromancer Academy — Episode 290
‘So Acalion was taken from me?’
Priest was shocked enough to stumble backward.
Divine Beasts are the most extraordinary creatures in this world, sustaining themselves on morning dew and Divine Essence.
They are so drawn to their food, ‘Divine Essence,’ that in extreme cases, they have been known to attempt to change masters after becoming enamored with another Priest’s Essence—though such incidents were rare.
As a result, there was even a running joke that the primary value of a Divine Beast Studies major was not the ability to handle Divine Beasts, nor the skill to care for them, but rather the “quality of one’s Divine Essence”—appetizing, as it were.
But she had kept Acalion safe in Efnel, where only the elite among elites gathered, and she had believed it would remain so in the future.
And yet it had been taken?
Worse still—by a Necromancer?
“Attack!”
At the boy’s command, Acalion, the Divine Beast in bear form, charged toward Priest at a terrifying speed.
“Acalion! How could you do this to me!”
Priest shrieked as if in agony.
Memories flooded through her like a panorama: the early days of feeding Acalion, falling asleep beside him when he was startled by wild animals, celebrating together after defeating a monster for the first time.
‘My Acalion would never do this! The enemy is a wicked Necromancer, isn’t it? He must have been hit with some kind of Curse! Wait—do Curses even work on Divine Beasts? Regardless! I have to defeat that Necromancer and get Acalion back!’
Priest barely pulled herself together and thrust out her arm. Though she had lost her mightiest Divine Beast, she still had two others at her command.
“Defend me, Zeki!”
A Divine Beast resembling a chunk of stone hurried forward and crouched into a defensive stance.
Acalion did not slow, barreling forward and smashing straight into the stone Divine Beast, sending it flying into the sky.
“Zeki!”
Priest wept. Acalion, having cleared the obstacle, continued its charge and rammed Priest herself.
She cried out and went flying, tumbling down the steep Cliff below.
—Shriek!
Her last remaining flying Divine Beast dove down the Cliff to save her.
Simon scratched his head with a somewhat dazed expression.
‘This is actually working.’
Rette’s young white dragon, Ran, had obeyed Simon well enough, but he had never imagined he could command a Divine Beast Studies major’s Divine Beast.
Thump, thump.
Just then Acalion returned to Simon with an easy gait.
It even brought back the Subspace Badge it had come from, and now it sat on its haunches with its tail wagging, as if asking for praise.
“…Well, good job.”
Simon let out a hollow laugh and stroked Acalion’s head. Acalion made a pleased rumbling sound.
“So, shall we head back? Your master must be pretty angry.”
Simon withdrew the Divine Essence that had been adorning Acalion’s body and turned away.
Acalion promptly followed at Simon’s side.
“?”
Simon walked faster; Acalion bounded on all fours to keep pace beside him.
“??”
Simon blinked, staring at Acalion. The Divine Beast licked his cheek with its tongue, tail swishing.
“You’re really following me?”
Simon was flabbergasted. This Divine Beast showed no sign of leaving.
‘So… it can work like this too.’
He couldn’t help but laugh quietly. Truth be told, he felt a pang of conscience.
Simon sent faint condolences to Priest, who lay unconscious somewhere on the sloped hillside.
“…I’m sorry, at least for that.”
Simon grinned slightly and climbed onto Acalion’s back.
“From now on, I’m counting on you. Acalion!”
—Woof! Woof!
Simon was not the type to let an opportunity slip away out of guilt.
Obtaining a Divine Beast during the Neutral Zone deployment was entirely unexpected, but now Simon had the qualification to study Divine Beast Studies.
Acalion began running with Simon on its back.

* * *
The other team members and Sasha were worried.
As Simon rode Acalion across the forest at speed, he soon heard a familiar voice.
“Are you okay? Please, open your eyes!”
It was Merin’s voice. Simon tapped Acalion’s back gently.
“Head toward that sound.”
—Woof! Woof!
Within moments of Acalion’s charge, Merin came into view.
She stood before the collapsed girl, just shouting something, and that unconscious girl was none other than—
“Kamibarez!”
Simon rushed down from Acalion, hurrying over. Merin turned to look behind her, caught sight of Acalion, and let out a strange shriek—”Eeek!”—before scrambling backward on her rear.
“W-what, what is that thing? A monster?!”
“Found her in the forest.”
Simon offered a vague excuse and checked on Kamibarez’s condition.
“Kamibarez! Are you all right?”
Her eyelids trembled then, and she let out a shallow whimper before opening her eyes. She looked utterly exhausted and haggard.
The moment she saw Simon’s face, tears came streaming down.
“…I’m so sorry. I’m truly sorry!”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“I failed to protect Sasha…”
The account Kamibarez gave was as follows.
She had managed to defeat what appeared to be a Guardian Studies student from Efnel. Since Simon had subdued three on his own, they had collectively won the battle against all four Efnel students.
But.
“A man took Sasha away.”
“A man?”
When Simon first saw the Priest formation, he recalled the only adult male present among the female students.
“He was an adult, and had somewhat unusual hair color, right? Orange hair…?”
“Y-yes, that’s right.”
After Kamibarez had defeated one Priest and exhausted her strength, that orange-haired man suddenly appeared and attacked.
He had pursued Dick and Seiweir first, but once he realized they were illusions, he immediately changed direction and came after Kamibarez.
And this man was far stronger than the Efnel students. Already drained of stamina, Kamibarez couldn’t hold out for long.
“At that moment, Sasha said something to him.”
Kamibarez continued, her voice trembling.
“She called him ‘Godfather.'”
“!”
Simon’s eyes widened.
Sasha was an orphan with no family, but she had mentioned that her “godfather” occasionally visited the house.
‘So he was her godfather. And a Priest, too.’
As her godfather, he rescues Sasha from being abducted by Necromancers.
That narrative would be comprehensible.
Yet something felt off about accepting it so simply. Simon recalled the drugs and syringe he had seen in Sasha’s house.
If the godfather had done that…?
“I saw it.”
Kamibarez spoke then, her voice shaking.
“Sasha was afraid of that ‘godfather.'”
“Afraid of him?”
“Yes. Sasha resisted and tried to stay with me, but the godfather knocked her out and carried her away.”
Merin frowned as she listened to the explanation.
“We can talk about that later. First, let’s get out of this forest. We need to find Dick and Seiweir and hear their account.”
Simon agreed and looked up.
Night had passed, and dawn was breaking.

* * *
The three emerged from the forest and successfully regrouped with Dick and Seiweir.
“Dick! Are you okay?”
“Yeah, except for nearly dying.”
Dick smiled bitterly as he spoke. Long bandages wrapped his head and shoulders.
“Tch, that orange-haired guy is seriously strong. Couldn’t last even a minute against him.”
As Simon had suspected, Sasha’s godfather had pursued Dick and Seiweir from the start.
But during the fight, realizing that the carriage was entirely Seiweir’s illusion, he broke off the attack and hastily turned to leave.
“And here, we have someone who got hit hard by White Magic and lost consciousness.”
Dick pointed to Seiweir lying on the ground. His body trembled as if wracked by convulsions.
Merin pressed her forehead and frowned.
“Ugh. Absolutely useless! If we’d had a proper professional Necromancer from the start, we wouldn’t have gotten beaten so easily! We won every fight between students. It’s infuriating!”
Kamibarez, perched on Simon’s back, poked her head out with a blank expression.
“S-so… we failed the mission?”
Dick nodded and let out a quiet sigh.
“Well, yeah. We lost the objective, so the Disciplinary Committee is a sure thing. We might even have to leave Kizen if we’re unlucky.”
Tears welled up in Kamibarez’s eyes as she heard those words, and Merin swung her arm wide, crying out.
“That can’t be right! This is a mission that fool Seiweir tricked us into carrying out on his own! He wasn’t even a Necromancer mentor to begin with!”
“You can say all that to the Disciplinary Committee. But… Kizen is so rigid, I don’t know how they’ll rule.”
“You know you’ve been acting cool this whole time while spouting nothing but pessimistic nonsense? It’s infuriating.”
“And you keep—!”
Just as both their voices were rising, Kamibarez bowed her head deeply and spoke.
“…I’m sorry, everyone. It’s because of me.”
At those words, Dik and Merin flinched in alarm and stopped fighting. They hastily tried to cheer Kamibarez with forced smiles.
“No, no way! You brought down a Priest, didn’t you? You did your part. There’s nothing you did wrong!”
“That’s right!”
Dik thrust his thumb up and continued.
“Even if the rest of us get expelled, we won’t let you be.”
“Rather than be the only one left behind, I’ll withdraw too! All of you have to stay at Kizen together!”
Kamibarez spoke thus and bowed her head deeply once more.
“And Sasha… what’s going to happen to her now?”
……
No one answered that question.
A dejected silence settled over them.
Simon, who had been quietly listening on his own, gathered his thoughts and moved. He gently lowered Kamibarez from his back onto the grass, then searched through the belongings of Seiweir, whose body was trembling in spasms.
“Hm.”
Simon pulled out the necklace hanging around his neck.
“Dik. Is this a Subspace Artifact?”
Dik stepped over and examined it closely.
“That’s definitely a Subspace Artifact. Completely outdated!”
“Can we open it?”
“Well, let me try.”
Dik set down the necklace and, putting on mana-treated Glasses he withdrew from his Subspace, examined it.
“Whew, this is a completely old-fashioned used Subspace! Modern products react to the user’s actions or Dark Element, but something this archaic should open pretty quickly.”
“Please.”
Dik took out a makeshift table and equipment, set down the Subspace artifact, and tinkered with it several times.
Before long.
“Got it open!”
A small space large enough to fit an arm opened in the necklace’s body.
Dik inserted his arm into that space and rummaged around a few times before pulling something out.
“A Communication Crystal!”
“Really?”
Merin bounced with joy for just a moment before glaring at Seiweir, who still hadn’t regained his senses.
“You said you lost it, but it was here the whole time! You! You! Liar till the very end!”
Dik handed the crystal to Simon and spoke.
“It’s a fixed-line Communication only. Looks like a reliable means of contact with headquarters.”
“Let me connect right away.”
Simon sent mana into the Communication Crystal to activate it.
A connection tone sounded as the mana vibrated, and shortly after—
-Seiweiiiiweiiiirrrrr!!!
An enormously loud male voice boomed through, nearly piercing their eardrums.
Simon squinted one eye and held the Communication Crystal a little farther away, while the rest of the team members covered both their ears.
-Where are you? Where the hell are you right now, you crazy bastard! The whole of Vengence is on high alert because of you! This @$*%^!!!
The voice was unmistakably furious. Simon tried to explain with a forced smile.
“There’s been a misunderstanding. I’m not Seiweir, but rather—”
-What do you mean there’s a misunderstanding! Are you insane? You have no credentials and you take Kizen students and go perform a critical mission? What are you&^!@$!!!
The man showed no sign of listening to reason as he continued spilling out his rage.
“Give it here.”
Merin took the Communication Crystal from him.
Even as she cleared her throat lightly, the man’s vicious curses continued unabated.
-You crazy bastard! Didn’t I tell you last week? Just do the job you’re told! Just do what you’re told! I’m so pissed I can barely speak. You absolute lunatic—!
“Hello! This is Vengence headquarters, right?”
At the sudden sound of a woman’s voice, the other end finally seemed flustered and fell silent.
-Uh, w-who is this?
Merin smiled brightly and spoke in a crisp, clear voice.
“I’m Merin Villene, a 1st Year from Kizen who’s been assigned to a dispatch mission with Vengence!”
There was exactly five seconds of silence.
—Ah, ah, ah! Your, your esteemed presence—I’ve committed such an offense! I’m terribly sorry! It wasn’t intentional! How can I ever apologize……!
Another torrent of apologies spilled forth.
Merin’s face brightened, and she brought the Communication Crystal to her lips.
“Who am I speaking with?”
—I’m Blak, a member of the Vengence combat unit! Ordinarily, I’m the Necromancer assigned to handle you students from Kizen!
“I see. I’d like to brief you on the current situation.”
Merin told him everything.
How Seiweir had manipulated letters with Illusion Magic to deceive them and keep them under his control; how they’d taken on the task of retrieving Sasha, defeated the gang that had kidnapped her before, and successfully recovered her—but then Efnel had attacked them and stolen her away again.
—Ha, haha. So much accomplished in such a short time…… You’ve worked tremendously hard. Losing Sasha is entirely our failure. I’ll ensure the school understands that none of this reflects poorly on you students.
Merin’s face lit up as she nodded to her teammates, then spoke in a deliberately measured tone.
“Yes, thank you. I’d appreciate that.”
—We should ideally come retrieve you right away, but we’ve had some trouble arise on our end, so it may take time. If you could find shelter in any nearby village…….
Simon approached and gestured for Merin to hand him the Communication Crystal. She obliged without hesitation.
“This is Simon Polentia, also a 1st Year from Kizen.”
Another five seconds of silence passed.
—Ah, ah! Hahahaha! You must be that Special Exception 1st Year student! I’m deeply embarrassed, and I beg you please say nothing to the Death Witch……!
“I won’t say anything. But I need information about the man called ‘Boss’ who attacked Sasha.”
—I understand! Yes, of course! We’ll investigate immediately and contact you right away!
The call ended.
There was a reason he’d asked them to find out about the Boss.
Simon had no intention of leaving a task unfinished, no matter how messy.
And beyond his sense of duty, he genuinely felt responsible for Sasha.
[Khkhkh! Once we find this Boss, the students won’t be left powerless, hmm?]
Pier seemed to be enjoying how complications continued to unfold.
[Looks like a decision needs to be made soon, young man!]
‘……Sigh. There’s no helping it.’
Simon scratched his head as he spoke.
‘If it proves beyond what we students can manage, I’ll resolve it using the Legion Commander’s power.’
Pier laughed as if he’d been waiting for those exact words.
[Now this is getting interesting! I’ll stay ready to step in whenever you need me!]

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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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