Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 608

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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 the Necromancer School Episode 608
The Dark Festival.
It was one of the greatest events held in Kizen, taking place once every five years. A grand public athletic gathering of sorts, it opened all of Rocksum to civilians and showcased the students’ achievements across the entire continent.
In truth, this event itself had a history as long as Kizen’s three centuries.
It emerged during the transitional period between the Age of Knights and the Age of Necromancers. Back then, opening a Core was portrayed as selling one’s soul to demons, and Necromancers were widely perceived as cursed kin who dared touch forbidden magic. Parents who sent their children to Kizen were deeply anxious.
To counter this, Neftis opened the athletic games held by her students to public view across the entire continent—a revelation that shocked the continental populace at the time.
The games, brimming with children’s sweat and passion, instilled the understanding that Necromancers were not inherently dangerous but ultimately human like anyone else. And contrary to rumors that installing a Core shortened one’s lifespan, the students appeared healthier and more vibrant than ever.
Most importantly, the image of students grown overwhelmingly powerful after mere years of Necromancer training burned itself deep into the minds of continental citizens. Only then did the arrogant nobility, one by one, begin sending their children to study at Kizen.
The propaganda effect of the Dark Festival proved remarkably potent, and ever since, Kizen had steadily hosted the event once every five years.
But that very Dark Festival was originally scheduled for last year.
“As you all know, that ‘Saint Incident’ erupted last year, didn’t it?”
Dick, explaining from before the chalkboard, shrugged as he spoke.
“The school shifted to a semi-wartime curriculum, and all events were either canceled or postponed.”
Kamibarez, listening to the explanation, lit up with bright eyes.
“So we’re holding the postponed event this year!”
Simon pressed his fingertips to his forehead.
“And of all times, it had to be when we’re in the Student Council…….”
“Actually, this is perfect!”
Merin shot to her feet and rolled up her sleeves.
“This is our chance to show the entire continent the capabilities of our 330th Generation Student Council! If we successfully pull off this event, we’ll gain prestige and maybe—just maybe—hold onto our Student Council seats even when Senior Aezel returns!”
Dick let out a snide little laugh.
“Isn’t that aiming a bit too high, Vice President?”
“And you’re not thinking about how your own nerve grew while you couldn’t even get the facts straight?”
As Merin loosened the joints in her fingers, Dick quickly turned his head away and made a whistling gesture.
“Understood.”
Simon interlaced his fingers.
“It’s a bit daunting, but it’s an honor. Since we’ve been entrusted with such responsibility, let’s do our absolute best.”
Everyone nodded vigorously in agreement.
Dick sat down, and now Merin stepped forward, her pale blue hair sweeping behind her.
“I’ve already studied up on the Dark Festival in advance. I’ll just cover the major points briefly.”
She affixed the photographs she’d prepared to the chalkboard—photos the Newspaper Club had taken at the previous Dark Festival.
‘This sounds like fun!’
Simon, who had never attended school anywhere but Kizen, was experiencing the concept of an athletic meet for the first time. In the photographs, students wallowed in muddy water, fell into pools, and yet grinned broadly with their arms linked around each other’s shoulders. They all looked delighted.
Kamibarez beside Simon seemed to share his thoughts; the tiny bat wings on her back fluttered back and forth.
“The Dark Festival lasts four nights and five days. All of Rocksum is opened to civilians, and students compete in athletic games across the entire island.”
Merin began her explanation in a clear, bright voice.
“There are a total of fifteen arenas with over fifty events! Spectators can look at pamphlets and wait for competitions at their chosen arena. Of course, competition wouldn’t be complete without Kizen, right?”
She placed a sheet with department emblems drawn on it right in the center of the chalkboard.
“The Dark Festival is a ‘Department Competition.'”
“……I see.”
Seven departments competing fiercely against one another.
Second-year and third-year students form a single team for each department.
The department with the highest combined score becomes the ‘Outstanding Department of the Year’ and secures substantial departmental funding.
With this money, departments can improve all their inconveniences or expand their facilities.
And naturally, the closing party on the final day takes on a different caliber entirely. There was good reason why departments with consecutive Dark Festival victories grew wealthy.
“Mm-hmm, and we can’t leave out the matter of grades either, can we?”
Dick interjected abruptly.
“The thing is, each event at the Dark Festival carries Practical Assessment points! They directly affect individual grades.”
Snap!
Dick’s fingertip pointed at Simon.
“I gave up on grades long ago, but Simon—if you’re aiming for Valedictorian again in your second year like you were in your first, you’d better clench your teeth and score well at this Dark Festival.”
“R-really?”
Sudden pressure crashed down on him.
“Of course! In first year, they ranked all students through various group competition curricula like the Island Survival Assessment and BMAT, culling out the stragglers, remember?”
“Yeah, they did.”
“In second year, with focus shifting to academics, there are fewer whole-school group competition curricula. That’s why the Dark Festival weighs so heavily.”
In other words, if his overall ranking dropped significantly at the Dark Festival, it would be tremendously difficult to recover later.
“Aw, come on, you two! Is that what matters right now?”
Merin tapped the chalkboard sharply, and Simon and Dick flinched, turning to look at her.
“We’re here as Student Council members! Let’s shelve concerns about grades for now and focus on how to properly organize and run this event!”
“Sorry, you’re right.”
Merin continued her explanation.
Since this was a considerably large-scale event, they couldn’t simply leave everything to the four-person Student Council.
Within Kizen itself, headquarters staff, professors, elders, and experts from various fields had formed the Dark Festival Committee to plan and establish the event.
“By the way, Professor Jane is the committee chair. She said we can bring her any suggestions we have.”
Kamibarez clapped her hands together with a snap.
“If Professor Jane is backing us, I feel much better!”
“Come on, really? I was just getting nervous for nothing.”
Dick made a self-deprecating gesture.
“With headquarters involved and the committee set up too, there’s barely anything for us to do, right? We could just lie around and—”
Knock knock knock.
Just then, a knock sounded. Merin answered brightly with a “Yes!” and dashed out.
The door opened to reveal Mojo, the leader of the Student Council’s direct subordinates, and other assistants, carrying stacks of documents that reached up to their heads.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
Mountains of papers soon piled high across the table. All three of them went rigid, and Merin turned to Dick with a smile.
“Care to repeat that, commoner?”
“… I apologize for my loose tongue.”
Merin let out a laugh and turned back to the blackboard.
“The Dark Festival is, after all, a ‘student celebration,’ so our Student Council’s role is crucial. Let’s work in close coordination with the committee side and proceed carefully, one step at a time!”
That was when Simon raised his hand.
“Yes? Student Council President. A question?”
“You’re not saying we’re the ones deciding the competition events too, are you?”
Merin shook her head.
“That would be a disaster. The events and rules are handled by Kizen headquarters alone. This is both a festival and a ‘test’ with grades on the line.”
Once grades were involved, it became an inviolable domain that students could absolutely not touch.
Simon agreed—it was right for headquarters to handle it fairly.
‘In that case, thank goodness. We can focus just on hosting the competition.’
Simon was breathing easier when this time Kamibarez raised her hand.
“Yes! Our secretary!”
Merin addressed her with warm affection in her voice.
“You said the Dark Festival is open to the general public, right?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Then wouldn’t security be a serious issue? Bad people could slip in and put the students in danger…”
Merin made a thoughtful sound and half-closed one eye.
“True, the whole point of the Dark Festival is to introduce Kizen to as many people as possible, so identity checks are looser than other events. Of course, headquarters will strengthen their defenses accordingly, so don’t worry too much.”
Click.
Almost before she finished speaking, the assistants returned with food.
“Lunch is here!”
The members had been thinking of going out for sandwiches, but Mojo had anticipated their needs and prepared meals in advance.
“Chicken salad!”
“Looks delicious!”
“Let’s eat first!”

* * *
The four of them decided to satisfy their hunger first. They paused the meeting and busily enjoyed their lunch.
“Oh! And about that security issue you mentioned earlier, Kami.”
Merin spoke while savoring a piece of salad.
“According to the records, they’ve held the Dark Festival for three hundred years straight, and there’s never been a single major incident reported! Maybe that shows how well headquarters does its job?”
“Or else—”
Dick grabbed his fork and waved it back and forth.
“There were incidents, but headquarters covered them up.”
“Don’t say such unlucky things! You conspiracy theorist!”
Dick shook his head.
“I’m not saying there’s a conspiracy—just that we can’t sit around comfortably trusting headquarters alone. The Student Council needs to prepare countermeasures too.”
“What kind of countermeasures?”
Simon asked, taking a bite of his baguette. As if he’d been waiting for exactly that question, Dick straightened his back.
“We should organize a Disciplinary Committee!”
We can’t rely solely on the Kizen headquarters. Let’s use the Student Council’s authority to oversee this event and establish a new organization to manage both civilians and students. That was Dick’s opinion.
“We can just borrow a little from the Dark Festival budget. Of course, there’s no pay—we’ll frame it as volunteer work.”
“Then who’s going to do it, you blockhead!”
Merin flared up at once.
“Don’t worry, there’s a way.”
Dick pointed to his Student Council Armband fastened around his right arm.
“We make special armbands for a disciplinary corps! See, people’s psychology works like this—give them power over managing other students, add an armband on top, and suddenly they feel important. More people want that kind of thing than you’d think! Plus, they get to add a line to their resume, right? ‘Former member of the Kizen Disciplinary Corps.'”
Merin didn’t look thrilled, but Simon thought having even a few more people involved in security wouldn’t hurt.
“But my real plan starts now!”
Dick leaned in close and spoke in a low voice to the members.
“After the Dark Festival ends, we quietly keep the disciplinary corps running using leftover club funds. Then when something blows up, we sneak it through as an official club. That makes it a powerful piece on the board to protect our Student Council’s authority—”
“Let’s plan to disband it cleanly after the event.”
It wasn’t happening. Dick smacked his lips in disappointment.
“Doesn’t anyone else have ideas?”
“Me! Me!”
Dick raised his hand again. Merin’s brow furrowed sharply.
“Could you at least space out your nonsense?”
“No, this time I’ve got a genuinely perfect idea! Come closer!”
Dick made an exaggerated beckoning gesture, flailing his arms.
Kamibarez approached with a smile, and Simon leaned in as well. Merin looked displeased but finally bent forward.
Dick spoke with exaggerated gravity.
“The Dark Festival celebration performance should be a duet between ‘Seivelus’ and ‘Cat Mask.'”
“Drop dead, you lunatic!”
Merin’s face flushed crimson as her spinning side kick planted itself squarely in Dick’s face.
“I think that’s amazing!”
Kamibarez clapped her hands together.
“Not a bad idea, actually.”
Simon nodded in agreement, chin resting on his hand.
“Why are you two going along with this too!”
Merin cried out, her face burning red.

* * *
The Student Council meeting didn’t end until late evening.
There was so much work to handle that a single day simply wasn’t enough to sort through it all. It seemed they’d have to spend entire weekends working in the Student Council Room for some time to come.
Simon rode the golem board back to the Summoning Department Dormitory after dropping off Merin and Kamibarez.
But then.
‘What?’
There wasn’t a soul around. The Lobby and Break Room, which usually buzzed with student chatter, were filled only with an eerie silence.
The quiet felt all the more strange in a place that was normally so loud.
‘Has something happened?’
“Oh, Simon!”
Just then, Toto came rushing down the stairs.
“D-Disaster! The third-year students—!”

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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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