Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 496

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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 496
Mud from the bottom of the pond rose up, clumping together in the air, until it formed the shape of a face.
‘……No, surely not.’
But it wasn’t a human face—it was the head of a dog.
Simon recognized him at once.
‘Plague’s Claw, Kahl!’
Crunch—
The dog’s head, formed from congealed mud, moved and looked at Simon, Kassan, and Pier.
Beyond the dripping flesh, something like bone gleamed through—the image of Undead unmistakably remained.
[Hey! How long has it been? Pier!]
And he could even speak.
[Kahahaha! Long time no see! Kahl!]
Was it really Kahl?
They’d found him this easily?
Simon’s expression turned bemused as he looked at Pier.
[Of course I’m not the real one, boy! Just an avatar, like that Skull Badge you carry around!]
Simon glanced down at the badge and understood immediately.
[But Pier, what’s with this little one here? Have you picked up again that old hobby of yours—keeping a human child around for fun?]
Pier chuckled softly.
[Richard’s son, Simon Polentia. Currently the 7th Legion Commander in his place!]
[That man’s son?]
Kahl’s gaze shifted to Simon.
[Ah, yes! He looks just like that Richard fellow! The human ‘blood’ is truly unsettling! I can feel that cursed nature running deep in him.]
Kahl’s eyes glimmered.
[Hmm—still, it seems that fool actually taught his brat something. The son has a shell, you see. A strong, sturdy shell. But what happens if we peel away that one layer? Will he become like Richard? Or will he—]
“Sorry, Kahl.”
Simon smiled faintly.
“We can discuss that later. We came to retrieve you. We’ve already secured half your main body—where’s the other half?”
[How should I know!]
Kahl’s avatar laughed, letting out an actual dog’s bark.
[Last I remember, my main body was being loaded onto a carriage and transported somewhere in Tarados! My main body squeezed out its last strength to create avatars like me and escape through the gaps in the carriage! We crawled along the ground to move, and hid in nearby marshes or ponds to maintain our forms. After that, contact with the main body was cut off.]
Kahl moved his head to look at Simon more closely.
[I waited there all along for you all to come! My main body made sure that any of us avatars could sense if someone with Legion Power drew near!]
Simon smiled inwardly.
As expected, Kahl’s main body was in Tarados. They’d come to the right place.
[Kahl! Then where are the other avatars?]
This time Pier asked. Kahl shook his head.
[I don’t know. Not even the avatars can communicate with the main body or each other. They’re probably hiding somewhere damp, calling out for help.]
[……Hmm.]
[In any case, hurry, Pier! Those bastards are running all sorts of horrible experiments on my main body! If this continues, the main body might be completely ruined beyond repair!]
Then Simon stepped forward.
“Fine, Kahl. But there’s one thing you need to promise. If we save you, you and your forces must join the 7th Legion that I command.”
[Uh, well! Of course I could…… possibly…… agree to that?]
Kahl’s avatar’s words grew evasive; Simon could see his eyes darting about.
[Let’s set aside such matters for now and focus on getting me out first, shall we? We’ll need to join forces to crush those villains. Take my paw!]
Simon turned sharply on his heel.
“Let’s head back to Kizen. Pier, Kassan.”
[Wait! Wait! Wait!]
Kahl’s avatar spoke urgently.
[Go back? What do you mean go back! You came to save me!]
“To be precise, we came to bring you back into the Legion.”
Simon turned his head just enough to look at him.
“If you refuse to return, we have no reason to fight those people.”
For a moment, Kahl’s expression went blank.
[You ungrateful wretch! Do you have any idea how much I helped your father? How can you abandon your father’s benefactor like this?]
Kassan silently unfolded the map.
“The next Teleport Magic Circle back to Kizen is fifteen minutes’ distance from here.”
“Yes, let’s go.”
[Wait! Wait! Wait!]
Kahl stuck out his tongue and panted like a dog.
[I get it! I get it! I’ll just rejoin the Legion!]
“Yes. Deal.”
Simon grinned.
[Ugh……!]
And Kal felt it.
That smiling face of Simon’s—it overlapped perfectly with Richard’s smiling face, the one he’d worn when he invaded Kal’s dungeon and threatened to make him his subordinate.
[The greed of you humans……!!]
Simon brushed it off lightly and moved to the next question.
“Is there anything else you know besides your main body being in Tarados?”
[I’m just an Avatar, so I don’t know the exact location. But I can sense my main body’s presence! Right now I can feel it trapped not far from here! Take me with you. The closer we get to my main body, the stronger the response in my body will become.]
Kal’s Avatar served as a kind of detector to locate the main body.
“Simon, use this.”
Kassan drew a Socket Necklace from his bag and handed it to Simon. Kal’s Avatar slipped smoothly into the socket.
[Oh! This is nice! My body won’t dry out here either.]
The necklace swung back and forth like a pendulum.
[So let’s go! Hurry and take me to find my main body!]
“Alright, just be quiet for a bit.”
Simon sealed the socket completely and hung it around his own neck.
“Thank you. I’ll return this to the school. Kassan.”
“Yeah. First, let’s find the village.”

* * *
At the same time.
In the Swampland near Tarados.
[I am Kal’s Avatar! I have been waiting for one who possesses Legion Power!]
This time, the swamp floor churned and Kal’s Avatar burst forth. The conversation he’d had with Simon was unfolding exactly as planned.
[Just as predicted.]
A man in a robe had appeared in the Swampland.
His name was Alaje.
An Ancient Undead of the 5th Legion under Magnus’s command.
[Even with headquarters occupied, acquiring Ancient Undead. Magnus the Legion Commander. Audacious.]
Around Alaje, who muttered thus, stood guards—Undead clad in large robes.
Visible through the gaps in the robes were bodies stitched together from flesh of many colors, and foul-smelling saliva dripped from the corners of their mouths. Their pupils swirled with pitch-black vortices like children’s scrawled sketches.
Kal’s Avatar remained wary of the Undead behind Alaje even more than of the Ancient Undead himself.
[Question.]
Alaje opened his mouth in a voice that came in jerky bursts.
[Cooperation possible. But condition. Should we extract main body. Must belong to Magnus’s 5th Legion.]
At the mention of Legion affiliation, Kal’s Avatar recoiled.
The 7th Legion had only recently dissolved, and he’d only just tasted freedom—and now he had to join another Legion?
[That, that is……!]
[No other terms negotiable.]
As Alaje said, Kal had no real choice in this situation.
How many years had it been since he’d dealt with someone who possessed Legion Power?
[……Fine, agreed. So long as you get me out of their hands!]
Alaje’s lips curled upward.
[Contract between Kal and 5th Legion established. Any who interfere. Will be eliminated.]

* * *
Tarados, the Jewel of Freedom.
Once upon a time, it had enjoyed miraculous prosperity as the Gold Mine Dungeon, where rare ore monsters appeared.
Countless adventurers and treasure hunters, their hearts alight with dreams of sudden riches, had flooded in until the streets overflowed. Lights burned across every city in the domain from day deep into the night.
The residents welcomed outsiders without prejudice, and the adventurers, regardless of region, nationality, or race, linked arms and drank and sang in harmony. A new culture transcending race and nation had been born.
Tarados, where once-oppressed peoples lived together, had grown into a new symbol of freedom.
But as the ore monsters in the Gold Mine Dungeon dwindled away, outsiders’ feet gradually stopped coming, and everything changed once a new lord arrived in Tarados.
Bodies floated down the river.
People who had lived in Tarados were transformed into horrible Chimeras and attacked farms in neighboring domains beyond the mountain range.
Ill omens compounded one after another, and soon no one dared set foot there again.
The stories of such a Tarados had spread easily to the neighboring domain of Ebrun.
“You want to go to Tarados?”
The two had arrived safely in a nearby village.
When Simon and Kassan made their request, the driver stared back at them in disbelief. Simon nodded confidently.
“Yes, we’d like to leave right now.”
“Good grief! You young folks been drinking since midday? Tarados is a hellhole right now!”
The driver waved his hand dismissively.
This was already the fourth refusal. The other drivers he’d already rejected were leaning against their carriages, laughing.
“Who in their right mind would go to Tarados in times like these?”
“If you’re dead set on dying, there’s a Poison Pond out back near the Ruins—go do it there instead!”
“Hahaha!”
Simon let the drivers’ laughter wash over him and pressed on. “What exactly is happening in Tarados?”

“That is… ahem.”
The driver cleared his throat and began casting cautious glances around.
“It’s not the sort of thing to prattle about to outsiders. I’d like to sleep soundly at night too, you understand.”
Still, compared to the other drivers’ flat refusals, this man at least seemed willing to engage. Simon took it as a small victory.
Simon reached into his robe pocket and produced a purse heavy with coin.
“I’m happy to pay whatever you ask.”
Gulp.
The driver swallowed involuntarily at the sight of it, but then startled visibly and waved his hands in protest.
“Not for all the gold in the world! No matter how much you offer, life is worth more!”
“Is Tarados really that dangerous?”
“I won’t say another word about it!”
“But…”
Simon pointed with a fingertip.
“Those people over there seem to be heading to Tarados.”
A caravan of laden wagons was preparing to move in the direction of Tarados. Rough-looking men with drawn swords were shouting loudly among themselves.
“…Be careful. Don’t even make eye contact with them.”
The driver lowered his voice. The villagers too were giving the group a wide berth, walking elsewhere or closing their shutters.
“Who are they?”
“The Ganes Guild. Though ‘guild’ is a polite word for it—they’re just bandits. They use Tarados as their base of operations, and they’re extremely danger— Hey, wait!”
Simon didn’t wait to hear the rest. He strode purposefully toward the Ganes Guild’s wagons.
The bandits’ expressions darkened, and they leveled their weapons at him.
“Oi, who the hell are you?”
“Think you’re brave, do you?”
The atmosphere grew tense enough to draw blood at any second. The driver frantically gestured for Simon to come back, but Simon simply smiled and addressed the bandits directly.
“You’re heading to Tarados, aren’t you? What’s inside these boxes?”
Then, with an air of innocent curiosity, he pointed to the cargo loaded on the wagons.
At that moment, a man who appeared to be the bandit leader jumped down from the wagon.
“What the hell are you, kid?”
His voice dripped with killing intent.
In response, Simon rummaged through his robes and produced a second-year student ID from Kizen.
“I’m from Kizen Academy.”
The faces of the Ganes Guild members went pale. The man who appeared to be their leader’s face drained of color, and he clenched his teeth.
“I’d appreciate your cooperation in this investigation.”
Simon tucked the student ID back into his robes and pointed at the boxes again with his fingertip.
“I’ll ask once more. What exactly are you transporting to Tarados?”
The leader exhaled a long, weary sigh. Then he pulled a pipe from his belt, stuck it between his lips, and lit it.
Whoooosh—
Smoke from the pipe billowed out like fog, obscuring the air around them.
“Well, well. You’re quite well-spoken, aren’t you?”
The leader let out an awkward, mirthless chuckle.
Still, the sight of the Kizen student ID had softened his tone considerably from his initial hostility.
“You see, I’ve got a boy about your age, and he can’t afford Core Opening, so he’s just stuck somewhere making clothes—”
“This is an official investigation. Please answer the question.”
“A Kizen student like yourself—you’ve been raised seeing only good things, hearing only good things, destined to become a great person who’ll move this nation. Wouldn’t it be unfortunate if you stirred up a hornet’s nest and got yourself hurt?”
Speaking in what he seemed to think was a persuasive tone, the leader stepped closer, exhaling pipe smoke as he moved.
“Common folk like us—we’ve got our own lives to live. They’re dirty and messy, so it’s best if people like you don’t take an interest. I’m only advising you this way because my son comes to mind.”
“If you continue to refuse cooperation…”
In the suffocating tension that hung between them, Simon gently placed his hand on one of the boxes.
“I’ll open it myself.”
Shriek! Shriek! Scream!
Clink! Clang!
The moment Simon’s hand touched the box, every bandit leveled sword and bow directly at him.
“Now, now, there’s no need for that~”
The Bandit Leader himself pressed his blade against Simon’s throat.
“Master! I may be ignorant and lack education, but this much I can guarantee you.”
He pulled a pouch of gold from his coat and thrust it swiftly before Simon.
“Even if you simply ignore this and turn back, not a speck of trouble will come to you in your entire life! Nothing at all will happen! Though I’m curious—what brings a gentleman like yourself to a poor village like ours? Surely this is what you’re after, yes?”
Simon kept his hand on the box, his gaze drifting downward.
Past the blade of the mercenary captain aimed at his throat, he could see the box clearly.
And a very small gap in the box.
From that tiny opening.
“!”
A human eyeball rolled slowly into view.
“So, so, that’s why I’m saying, Master—”
“Listen.”
In that instant, Simon’s eyes twisted like those of a malevolent spirit.
“This isn’t something words will settle.”

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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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