Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 368

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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 368
The 1st Year students of Kizen had been living through their busiest days since enrollment.
A 5th BMAT combined with the 2nd Year Promotion Exam was drawing near, and rumors said it would be the most difficult in years.
The Final Exam—the only written test of the integrated 2nd semester—was also just around the corner.
Even while preparing for these two major exams, the students couldn’t neglect the Practical Assessments pressing down on them immediately. When professors at Kizen began competing to add Practical Assessment scores to homework and reports, the students could barely keep their heads above water.
And this coming weekend.
For the students, it was a genuinely crucial one. With major schedules looming, they had to make maximum use of every free moment.
Simon and his Team 7 members had decided to meet for both Practical Assessment preparation and Final Exam study.
As always, they’d rented an empty Classroom.
“Hi, Simon~”
“Hey, Kamibarez.”
The first two to arrive exchanged greetings warmly.
“You’re here early.”
Kamibarez set down her bag with a bashful smile.
Simon tried to smile back, but she suddenly turned her head away and scratched her cheek awkwardly.
“……D-Dick’s not here yet?”
“He went down to Rochester on business and said he’d be a bit late. What about Merin?”
“Oh! She’s at the Library right now, but she’ll be here soon!”
The two pushed four desks together and each took a seat.
Simon laid out everything he needed to study and do today, then paused a moment with his arms crossed, surveying the pile.
A sigh escaped him.
“W-well, there’s quite a lot.”
“Ahahaha! Let’s work hard!”
Kamibarez squeezed her delicate little fists—visible between the gaps of her cardigan sleeves—and shook them adorably, but her eyes still avoided Simon’s.
‘……G-good grief, Simon’s face keeps popping into my head.’
It had happened only yesterday.
Kamibarez had gone to the Summoning Building alone to cheer on Simon during his Life Vessel training.
After the session ended and Aaron slipped out, she hurried into the training room carrying a white towel and a water bottle.
And then she saw it.
—Ah.
Blood droplets on Simon’s face.
Simon, exhausted and sitting on the floor, had just wiped away the blood trickling down to his upper lip with a careless swipe when he spotted Kamibarez too late. He gave an embarrassed smile.
—Kamibarez. How did you know I was here?
Already sensitive to blood because of her half-Ursula nature, that smile he showed her—his face smeared with blood—was an almost maddening stimulus.
She’d nearly thrown herself at him again.
Though the blood was only from a Heart that had splattered during training, mixed with Simon’s sweat and scent, it was unbearably provocative.
—Thanks, I’ll drink it.
Especially when he gulped down the water she’d brought him, and with his other hand loosened his School Uniform necktie and flapped his shirt to cool himself—that sharp jawline and nape of his neck that was revealed.
She’d nearly lost all reason.
‘Oh.’
Remembering that image again, Kamibarez’s face flushed a deep red.
“What’s wrong? Kamibarez?”
“Ah, i-it’s nothing!”
She answered in a flustered rush, laughing awkwardly, and the tips of her ears had turned slightly pink.
Just as the two of them opened to the first page, the Classroom door swung open with a sharp creak.
“Hey!”
It was Merin.
She strode in with a cheerful gait, a long bag strap slung over her shoulder, her hair tied back neatly and finished with a ribbon.
“Welcome, Merin.”
Simon greeted her with a smiling face.
But she too gave a startled expression, then quickly turned her head away and said somewhat coolly, “Oh, yeah. Hey.”
‘……Why is everyone reacting like this?’
Simon scratched the side of his head.

* * *
‘……Phew.’
Merin watched Simon sidelong as she unpacked her bag, pretending to arrange her things.
‘He looks the same as always, but…’
Her sharp gaze swept across various points of his frame.
‘His voice is pitched higher. His face is bright and open. He looks happy.’
Her hand clenched hard, the paper in her grip crinkling with a sharp crackle.
‘Look at that pleased expression! Absolutely smitten!!’
It bothered her.
At this critical moment when she needed to focus one hundred percent on studying, it bothered her far too much.
The whole thing had started last night.
With the weekend approaching, right after the afternoon Poison Magic class ended and she was in good spirits.
—”What about Simon?”
—”That beautiful senior classman? He dragged her by the wrist and took off somewhere.”
Just as Dick had said, Simon really was pulling Benya, a 2nd Year senior, along by the hand and running. There was no denying the direction—it was toward Rochester.
And more than anything.
‘Simon never came back to the Dormitory that night!’
Merin’s fists clenched hard.
Of course, she knew well that Simon was nothing like the type to be frivolous or chasing after girls.
But.
But!
‘It bothers me!!’
With the weekend approaching.
Just the two of them.
Going to Rochester and not coming back all night.
Wasn’t it natural to be bothered by this?
After all, he was her friend.
A friend she’d been stuck with since enrollment, all through their 1st Year.
‘To do something like that……! It’s a serious violation of school rules.’
At Kizen, romantic relationships were permitted, but any crossing of boundaries by minors was strictly forbidden.
And worst of all was the fact that while she was agonizing over this and worrying herself sick, Simon was sitting there with a relaxed, smiling face, solving problems as if nothing was wrong.
‘How can he focus on the problems right now!!’
The Quill Pen trembled in Merin’s hand as frustration coursed through her.
‘What should I do? Is there a way to ask without letting it show?’
Scratch, scratch, scratch.
There was no way she could concentrate.
As time passed, her textbook filled with nothing but doodles. She’d hoped Kamibarez might ask first, but.
“Simon~ I don’t really understand this part!”
“Which one?”
……She was just busy studying, it seemed.
Watching Simon explain the problem with such an unbothered expression, a sudden surge of indignation washed over her.
Why did only she have to worry and stress like this?
Besides, her heart belonged entirely to Pion.
To be honest, she didn’t care what happened to any other man.
Fine, she’d just ask him straight out.
“Hey, Simon!”
Merin mustered every scrap of courage she had and called out.
The two people huddled over their textbook both lifted their heads at once.
“Yeah?”
……
She’d definitely meant to say something……!
But the moment their eyes met, her words caught in her throat as if frozen.
The crude question that had nearly burst from her lips retreated back down her throat, and her cheeks flushed bright red with heat.
“Um……!”
“?”
Merin, whose shoulders had been trembling, finally spoke in a dejected voice.
“……I, I don’t really understand this one either.”
She pointed vaguely at some random problem, unable to bear her own embarrassment, and hung her head.
“I never thought the day would come when you’d ask for help with a problem.”
Simon chuckled.
“Let me help Kamibarez first, then I’ll explain this one to you.”
“……Oh, okay.”
Simon and Kamibarez turned their attention back to their textbooks. Merin cupped her burning face in both hands, trying to cool the heat.
‘Stupid! Absolute idiot!!’
In that moment when their eyes met, Merin understood.
She could never, not even under threat of death, ask Simon “What were you doing with Senior Benya in Rochester at night?”
But she couldn’t give up like this.
She had to know exactly what had happened last night.
For her peace of mind, her mental health, and her exam studies ahead!
‘That’s it—change tactics. Instead of bringing up something indecent myself, I’ll guide Simon to answer naturally.’
While all three were momentarily absorbed in their own problems, Merin stretched luxuriously.
“Ugh~ I’m dying of boredom being stuck in the library all day doing nothing but studying.”
“Same here.”
Kamibarez answered with a gentle smile.
“But hang in there just a bit longer! We all have to advance to 2nd Year together!”
“Right, I know. But the study environment’s always the same, so productivity drops. Is that it? These days Camping Study is all the rage. Do you know about it, Kami?”
“Camping Study?”
“Yeah! The Class Representative and Claudia went camping last weekend—”
Merin continued the conversation with Kamibarez naturally. Chatting with her back in the Female Dormitory pantry was routine, so it would look natural from Simon’s perspective too.
“They got scared when they saw a monster, cried, and ran away, and ended up staying overnight in Rochester!”
“Ahahaha! I could never do something like that!”
“Oh.”
Merin’s head turned toward Simon.
“Simon, have you ever stayed overnight in Rochester?”
Perfect!
A three-part chain: camping to lodging to Rochester overnight!
Now what would he say…!
“Yeah, I have.”
Thump.
Merin’s heart sank.
He really did sleep there?
With that senior?
Unbidden, an indecent image of the two of them lying in a single bed flooded Merin’s mind.
“We all slept together, didn’t we?”
To the bed with the two people she’d just imagined, the figures of herself and her teammates were added.
Merin’s face flushed a brilliant red.
“Y-y-you absolute maniac!!”
She flailed both arms and scooted her chair back at tremendous speed. Simon’s face clouded with confusion.
“Don’t you remember the 3rd BMAT last time? The test theme was the Sea, so we all stayed at the Rochester lodging together for a strategy meeting. The next day we bought swimsuits and went to the beach.”
“Oh! I remember now! That was really, really fun!”
That was it?
Her mind still boiling, Merin pouted and glared at Simon.
Watching Simon and Kamibarez chatter naturally about the sea now, her head throbbed.
‘This approach won’t work!’
She decided she had to mention Benya directly.
The timing came quickly.
Once the sea talk ended and the two returned to studying, Merin spoke in a casual, offhand tone.
“Ah, I’m craving something sweet. Vanilla! I want ice cream!”
She deliberately emphasized “vanilla” a little.
Scrape.
With that, Simon pulled back his chair and stood.
“I’ll go buy some. What flavor do you want, Kami?”
‘That’s not what I meant!!!’
Merin felt like she was coughing up blood.
“I’ll go with you!”
Kamibarez also scraped her chair back and stood.
“Oh, but Simon~”
Kamibarez smiled shyly and smoothed a strand of her own hair.
“Since you mentioned vanilla ice cream~”
“Yeah?”
“I’m thinking of buying a Vanilla Brand Skeleton Mage.”
“Ah, you’re preparing for the Summoning Magic practical assessment?”
“Yes! Do you happen to know anyone from the Vanilla side? Since it’s a bit expensive, I’d like to get it cheaper.”
At those words, Merin’s head snapped up.
Wait a minute.
You couldn’t be…
“Want me to introduce you to Benya? She might give us a discount.”
No way!
“Yes! But…….”
Kamibarez’s face flushed crimson. Her voice trembled as she spoke.
“W-w-what’s the r-relationship between you and Simon……? I m-mean, Benya……?”
‘Kamibarez!’
Merin cried out silently in her heart.
Never a disappointment! Kamibarez must have been dying of curiosity too!
“She’s the president of the Circle Club I joined. Didn’t I mention it?”
“…….”
“…….”
Both Merin and Kamibarez wore the same deflated expression.
‘Oblivious.’
‘He’s so oblivious.’
That was practically a direct question, and he answered like that.
While the two girls bit their lips and gnawed at their thumbs in frustration, Simon blinked blankly.
“S-Simon……!”
Kamibarez spoke again.
The most nerve-wracking moment of her entire school life.
Her shoulders trembled like a baby penguin’s.
Her hands fidgeted nervously, her face was red as a tomato, and there were even tears gathering at the corners of her wide, sparkling eyes.
“Could it be that you and Benya……!”
Merin swallowed hard, moved by Kamibarez’s courage. Time seemed to slow to a crawl. She waited anxiously for the rest.
After a long pause, Kamibarez squeezed her eyes shut and cried out in a hoarse voice.
“Could you possibly……!!”
Crash!
The classroom door burst open and Dick tumbled out.
“Yooooo Simon! Did you have fun with Benya last night, huh?!”

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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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