Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 324

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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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Necromancer School’s Summoning Genius — Episode 324
Simon and Lorain walked side by side down the hallway of the Study Hall.
“You want to go around with me?”
Lorain’s face held a hint of suspicion as she asked.
“Yeah. Even just one game would be great. Please?”
“I don’t mind, I suppose.”
Lorain swept back her midnight-black hair with her fingertips.
“That’s not like you, though. What’s the reason?”
“Oh, just.”
Simon smiled deliberately, his answer spare and plain.
“I want to talk with you.”
……
Lorain lowered her long lashes. After a moment, instead of speaking, she gave only a small nod and walked forward.
With her agreement sealed, the two of them began searching the building together.
There was nothing elaborate to it—they simply walked the corridors and, whenever Simon felt a classroom calling to them, they’d slip inside, rifling through desks and yanking open drawers.
But there were plenty of students lurking about on the Kizen Campus, all hunting for opportunities to eliminate rivals.
“Wahaha! If you want to pass through here——!”
A male student guarding the alley shouted and moved to attack.
“!”
The moment he saw Simon and Lorain, he paled and dropped into a defensive crouch.
“……Just—just go on through, please! By all means!”
He stepped aside, and Lorain passed with a quick wave of thanks. Simon trailed behind her without any particular reaction.
‘……Damn, I almost lost my bones there.’
Sweat dripped steadily from the student’s forehead.
‘The two of them holding hands like that—what are they going to do, ambush the Student Council President?’
This place was dangerous. The student hurried out of the building.
“Ah, found one here!”
As they resumed their search, Simon pointed to a yellow card stuck to the wall. But Lorain shook her head.
“That one’s no good. I already have a yellow card.”
So Lorain was also after a combination of seven cards in different colors. Simon drew out his Glasses from his Subspace and put them on.
“Leave it to me. What colors do you need again?”
“Navy and yellow.”
Simon possessed navy and orange cards. They could simply choose colors that didn’t overlap.
With the Glasses on, the entire building took on a yellow tint. It meant only yellow cards appeared here.
Simon immediately led Lorain out of the building and into another one, this time marked in blue.
“There are plenty here.”
The two moved through empty lecture halls, searching for cards.
It was a recent discovery, but even within the same blue terrain, there were distinct variations—lighter shades and darker shades.
And the probability of finding cards in these darker regions had jumped dramatically.
‘What would I have done without these Glasses?’
Simon rifled through a desk drawer and found two cards right away, but they had entry conditions attached, so they couldn’t use them.
“Simon.”
Just then, Lorain, who was searching the lecture hall, pointed to a card affixed to the floor.
“What about this one?”
[Difficulty: Intermediate]
[Entry Capacity: 2 players]
[Entry Condition: Two male and female students must enter together.]
“Not bad at all.”
They’d found a card for two people. The difficulty looked reasonable.
Though there was something slightly odd about why the condition specifically required a mixed-gender pair.
“Let’s go with this one.”
“All right.”
Lorain stepped onto the card first and was pulled in. Simon followed after her.
[Entering a new game.]

* * *
Simon recalled a passage from a fairy tale he’d heard as a child, nestled in Anna’s embrace.
—All animals that walk on two legs are great, the Pig Princess declared.
The Pig Princess had been a favorite character of his childhood.
She had such a bright, refreshing spirit—she’d fearlessly bite at all the wicked people.
-Mom! Then what about animals that walk on four legs?
-Animals that walk on four legs were considered livestock.
-That’s strange. Why would pigs discriminate against other pigs? The difference is just between walking on two legs and four legs, isn’t it?
-It must have mattered to them. So the four-legged pigs worked hard to learn to walk on two legs.
Recalling that childhood memory, Simon opened his eyes.
The reason the memory surfaced now was that the world inside this card seemed like a perfect recreation of a children’s tale from his youth.
Various animals stood on two legs dressed in formal attire and evening gowns, sipping wine.
‘Hmm.’
Simon rolled his eyes deliberately, scanning his surroundings. In this ornate ballroom, dogs, rabbits, goats, and sheep mingled with wine glasses in hand, conversing easily.
He’d half-expected them to communicate with animal sounds, but they spoke proper Continental—and with excellent pronunciation at that.
Their two-legged stance looked entirely natural. The way they held wine glasses with their front paws, without awkwardness, made it seem as though their limbs were meant for this purpose all along.
‘What an intricately constructed world this is.’
Now he understood why Endolas Bodvil’s ability ranked among the Ten Great Mysteries of the continent alongside Neftis’s.
“Simon.”
Simon turned. The moment he spotted Lorain in her dress, his face flushed crimson.
‘Ugh.’
Her shoulders were bare, her neckline plunged deeply, and the skirt was so short it barely covered her lower half. To top it off, she wore an animal ear headband on her head.
It was far too scandalous for a student.
‘…Is this Endolas Bodvil’s taste?’
He felt oddly disgusted, as if he’d glimpsed some middle-aged man’s questionable preferences. Lorain seemed bothered by the outfit too, tugging at the short skirt with discontent.
“Black again.”
‘…Is that really the problem here?’
Simon let out a wry laugh.
He himself was dressed in a formal tuxedo for the party, though his was far less elaborate than Lorain’s carefully designed ensemble.
‘Even so, having the shirt under the tuxedo be black too feels like overkill.’
And like Lorain, he wore an animal ear headband on his head.
“Huff.”
A formally dressed horse passing nearby caught sight of Simon and Lorain’s outfits and let out a dismissive snort.
“Four ears each? Dreadful creatures.”
“Humans, always the same.”
It became clear that they were not particularly welcome at this gathering of animals.
Simon tried to remove the ridiculous animal ear headband, but it wouldn’t budge from his head.
“Simon.”
Lorain approached with her animal ears bobbing gently.
‘…’
Simon’s face grew hot once more. Between the outfit and the stark contrast between her cool expression and the fluttering absurdity of those animal ears, the dissonance was almost painful.
“What are we supposed to do here?”
“I have no idea either.”
Just then, a new message appeared in both their fields of vision.
[You are ‘Knights’.]
[Knights’ objective: Protect the Pig Princess until time runs out.]
‘Knights?’
Their roles and missions were now defined.
Lorain looked around and spoke in a low voice.
“Then there must be people assigned other roles.”
Before she’d finished, another message appeared.
[An ‘Assassin’ is hidden among the animals.]
[Assassins’ objective: Assassinate the Pig Princess before the party ends.]
[There are two Assassins.]
[The Assassins are animals attending the party. They cannot be distinguished by appearance.]
‘I see.’
Now everything made sense.
This world was unmistakably based on the famous fairy tale Anna had read to them—”The Animal Kingdom”—recreated by Endolas Bodvil’s power.
And among the animals at this party, two were actual Kizen students. They had their sights set on the Pig Princess’s life.
“They’ll figure out we’re Knights right away.”
“Exactly.”
Their appearances hadn’t changed; they still looked completely human. It was best to assume they were always in the Assassins’ line of sight no matter what they did.
“So where is the Pig Princess?”
The two of them scanned the room urgently.
Among the countless pairs of animals, not a single pig was visible. Nor was there any animal dressed in a gown elaborate enough to be called a princess.
“Let’s start by gathering information.”
“Right.”
The two split up and began asking the animals various questions.
“Pardon me. Where might the Pig Princess be?”
An elderly wolf in formal attire waved his arm dismissively at Simon’s question.
“Ma’am, if I may ask—”
A goat in a dress snorted and ignored him.
‘This is going to be difficult.’
While investigating for information, Simon had hoped to determine whether these creatures were Kizen students or not, but overall the animals were clearly avoiding both him and Lorain.
“Looking for the princess?”
A fox lounging across a sofa chuckled.
“The princess hasn’t come out yet. The main character always makes their entrance last, you know.”
This fox had a glib tongue. It leaped down from the sofa and approached Simon.
“Interesting.”
It examined Simon’s face closely from every angle.
“I thought it might happen, but you really did come here—an actual human.”
“…Is it forbidden for humans to come here?”
“Humans walk on two legs just like us, so there’s nothing to stop you. You’re not livestock, after all. Still, for such a bare, shameless creature to make it all the way here… remarkable.”
The fox grinned wickedly.
“Just make sure you don’t cause any trouble for the Pig Princess.”
With that, it swished its tail and sauntered away.
Simon watched the fox’s retreating form with a serious expression.
‘Not an assassin, surely?’
Though the fox’s behavior seemed slightly suspicious, the fact that it rattled off information about this world so casually suggested it wasn’t a Kizen student.
Simon removed the fox from his mental list of suspects and continued observing the other animals, striking up conversations with them as well.
‘I don’t know who’s disguised as an animal, but they’re all excellent actors.’
He’d expected at least one creature to show signs of panic at the sudden situation, but every animal in the ballroom was behaving naturally.
Had any of them been sitting unusually quiet, glancing around nervously, or reacting strangely to the other animals, he would have pegged them as an assassin—but there wasn’t a single one like that.
‘Since the Pig Princess hasn’t arrived yet, there’s no need to rush.’
After gathering information, Simon and Lorain reconvened at a table with plates of cake and dessert, discussing what they’d learned. Lorain, it seemed, had been treated with the same indifference by the animals.
Combining the information they’d gathered, they concluded:
1. The Pig Princess was hosting this party and would make her appearance at the very end of the event.
2. Humans ranked at the bottom of the social hierarchy here.
3. The animals revered the fact that they all walked on two legs. The humans they disliked were permitted into the ballroom precisely because they, too, walked on two legs.
4. They despised four-legged animals and treated them as livestock.
Simon spoke first.
“This game is based on a fairy tale called ‘The Animal Kingdom.’ Ring any bells?”
“Not really. I’ve never been good with fairy tales and nursery rhymes, that sort of thing.”
“No?”
Simon gave Lorain a rough summary of the fairy tale. It wasn’t particularly complicated.
The animals on a farm had rebelled, driven out the humans, and established their own kingdom.
In the beginning, society was egalitarian. But one day, a pig began standing on two legs in an eccentric display and declared, “I am greater and more evolved than you—a superior being,” seeking to place itself above the others. It named itself the Pig Princess.
Many animals envied the Pig Princess and attempted to walk on two legs as well. The Pig Princess encouraged this, and gradually a system of class hierarchy emerged among the farm animals.
Those who walked on two legs wore luxurious clothes and ate expensive food.
Living a tyrannical existence, the Pig Princess one day looked into a mirror and realized she had become identical to the humans she so despised, and hanged herself in despair.
“Wait, what?”
Lorain, who had been listening intently, furrowed her brow.
“What kind of fairy tale is that? A gruesome tale?”
“In the children’s version, the story ends with the Pig Princess recognizing her mistakes, walking on four legs again, and living happily ever after. In any case, here’s what I’m thinking—”
Simon explained his strategy for this game, and Lorain nodded in agreement.
And so they found themselves with some breathing room before the Pig Princess’s arrival.
“By the way, Simon.”
Lorain spoke.
“You said you wanted to talk to me about something.”
“Ah.”
He’d been so focused on the game that he’d forgotten.
Truth be told, his approach to Lorain had its own purpose as well.
Simon broached the subject carefully.
“Professor Silaji.”
“?”
“What kind of mission did you take on that made you suddenly quit as a Kizen Professor?”
Lorain blinked.
“Why are you curious about that?”
Simon’s mind raced quickly.
“W-well, of course I’m curious! She was one of my favorite professors in the first semester, and she just disappeared like this without a word.”
“Hmm.”
Lorain closed her eyes for a moment, thinking, then answered.
“It’s classified, so don’t mention it anywhere else.”
“Right! Of course not.”
Her voice dropped to a whisper.
“Professor Silaji entered a dungeon.”

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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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