Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 614
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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 Necromancer School’s Summoning Genius — Episode 614
After successfully completing the Arena Verification, Simon and Merin traveled by carriage to their next destination.
Jane had told them to rest after working so hard, but in truth there was little time to relax. They set off immediately in the carriage toward their next objective.
“Wow!”
This was the central district of Rocksum.
What had once been an empty lot was now filling with countless stalls as the Dark Festival approached.
“So this is the Stall Market!”
Merin spoke in her characteristically bright voice.
“The heart of the festival! During the Dark Festival you can buy all sorts of food and goods here!”
“Yeah, but…”
Simon smiled wryly.
“Why are there so many students here?”
The stalls weren’t supposed to open until the first day of the Dark Festival, yet students were milling about the market even as construction was still underway.
Especially the first-year students who had come during lunch break — there were crowds of them. Word had clearly spread.
“How does it taste?”
“It’s delicious!”
“I’ll definitely come back when the festival starts!”
Since the Dark Festival hadn’t officially begun, the vendors couldn’t charge for their food. Instead, they distributed various dishes as samples and demonstrations, letting the students fill their hungry bellies for free.
It was a shrewd strategy for promotion and building word-of-mouth.
“Should we put the boxes here?”
“Oh, thank you so much!”
There was even a stall run by an elderly couple, and kindly, students were summoning Skeletons to move materials and push carts for them.
Warm scenes like this could be seen all around.
‘But…’
Simon happened to spot a familiar face.
“Moving materials!”
Among the construction workers was a female student with distinctly tangerine-colored hair that Simon recognized. She wasn’t just volunteering — she was dressed in the same work clothes as the laborers, commanding Undead creatures to lead the construction effort.
Simon approached her.
“Eshu, what are you doing here?”
She spun around, and the moment she saw him she shrieked as though she’d seen a ghost, stumbling backward.
“Y-you must have me confused with someone else!”
“…You’re definitely Eshu.”
“No way! Please, anything but disciplinary action!”
As she continued backing away frantically, her foot slipped and she tumbled down with a yelp.
Simon regarded her with a lukewarm expression.
“Don’t tell me you’re getting paid to work here?”
Naturally, during the preparation period, any financial transactions between students and outsiders were strictly prohibited.
“N-no! I’m just helping out of the goodness of my heart…!”
“Student! How much longer are you going to sit there loafing around?”
A middle-aged man hauling materials shouted at her.
“You’re doing the work of five people, so I’m paying you five times the hourly wage. You’d better keep working hard.”
“Ah, sir!”
Caught red-handed.
Simon walked up to where Eshu sat crouched and his lips curved into a smile.
“Goodness of your heart?”
“…Ugh!”
She was sweating profusely, and finally she burst out:
“Fine! I’m broke and I begged him to hire me as a work-study student! Happy now?”
“…Broke?”
“I spent it all! I used everything on the Abaddon Set for this Dullahan special lecture! Without materials I can’t keep up with the next class! At this rate I won’t even make it through the first semester — I’ll be expelled!”
‘Ah.’
It was a fact he’d momentarily forgotten, but Eshu was poor.
In her childhood she had even worked as a maid in Lorain’s house, her family circumstances were so difficult. Of course, given her naturally bubbly personality, she never showed it much, but she had her own burdens to bear.
She’d even applied to be a work-study student at Kizen, arriving earlier than others to clean the swimming pool or classrooms. She scraped together money by sacrificing even her sleep and study time.
‘But in principle, what’s not allowed is not allowed…’
As Simon’s thoughts reached this point, a certain voice echoed in his mind.
-You’ll transfer departments again anyway, won’t you?
-Transfer from Summoning Studies? Ha! You’re basically a department-transfer prep student!
Simon’s lips twitched anxiously.
Her specialty was Curse Dolls.
She’d openly claimed she’d entered the Summoning Department to focus more on controlling her summoning creatures, but truthfully, she would’ve been perfectly suited for the Curse Department as well.
Of course, that would mean abandoning the studies she wanted to pursue, but if she couldn’t keep up with classes due to lack of money and ended up expelled anyway, transferring to the Curse Department might be her only option.
‘Ugh.’
The thought of it made her stomach turn.
She’d grown close to Eshu, and if she transferred, Lorain and Toto—the only ones left in Group Ten—would lose all their momentum.
More than anything, she worried about Aaron’s mental state; the man had already suffered deeply when another group of students had been transferred in the past.
As Simon’s concerns deepened, Eshu held out both arms in a gesture of resignation, extending them toward her.
“Do whatever you want.”
“Huh?”
“You’re going to arrest me as a flagrant offender anyway!”
She waved the attached arms around as she shouted.
“You’re going to have your minions drag me away and toss me in front of the Disciplinary Committee!”
The problem with this girl was that she ran wild with her own imaginations, sprinting ahead and leaving reality in the dust.
“Simon, is something wrong?”
Merin, drawn by the commotion, approached them.
‘Oh no!’
Simon flinched, and Eshu, who’d been crouching, shrank even smaller at the sight of the Student Council Armband on Merin’s right arm.
‘If it’s Merin, she’ll process this by the book and then some!’
When it came to Student Council work, she was a strict adherent to protocol.
With sweat trickling down the back of Simon’s head, Merin folded her arms and fixed her gaze on Eshu.
“Who is this?”
“Oh… um! Let me introduce you. This is Eshu Argel. She’s in my department, same group as me. And this is Merin! She’s with me in the Student Council—Vice President.”
I see—
Merin nodded absently, then looked back at Simon.
“So what did she do wrong?”
As if wrongdoing were a given.
To be fair, anyone could see that Eshu’s expression screamed ‘I am guilty.’
“Ahaha, I think she’s just got some personal worries!”
Simon leaped forward, positioning herself between Merin and Eshu.
“She’s been going through a tough time lately!”
………
Merin’s eyelids lowered.
“Personal worries, then?”
Murmuring this to herself, she stepped past Simon and crouched down in front of Eshu, lowering herself to meet the girl’s eyes and studying her carefully. Terrified, Eshu turned her head away, but Merin simply squatted with quiet composure, matching her gaze.
“I don’t know what the problem is, but.”
“?”
In Eshu’s half-lidded field of vision, a single white business card came into view.
“If you have worries, the Student Council will counsel you. If you don’t trust that airhead, then me.”
“Oh.”
Eshu murmured a hesitant “thank you” and accepted the card. The simple design had “Student Counseling Center” printed in the center.
Merin rose to her feet and turned to leave.
“If it’s a money problem—”
“!”
Both Eshu’s and Simon’s pupils dilated at once.
“An official notice will be issued soon. Work-study students will be able to provide labor and receive payment through verified businesses in Kizen.”
“Oh!”
Eshu’s eyes began to glisten.
“Th-thank you, Vice President!”
Merin waved backward as she walked away. Simon smiled too, watching her receding figure.
‘Thank you, Merin.’
* * *
Three weeks passed like light, swift and unstoppable.
And then, at last, the day arrived.
“Welcome all to the Dark Festival! We are delighted to receive you!”
Whooooosh—!
Boom—!
Massive fireworks and flowers burst forth as the festival opening ceremony commenced.
Students sat in the front rows of the Outdoor Opening Ceremony Venue, while dignitaries occupied the VIP sections on either side, and an uncountable throng of people crowded every available space around them all.
On the ceremony podium stood a man in elaborate formal attire, his arms spread wide.
“Good evening! I’m Seiwir Grizman, and I’ll be hosting tonight’s Dark Festival opening ceremony!”
He bowed deeply toward the crowd with formal courtesy, and at the sight of the unquestioned megastar, the audience erupted in explosive cheers.
-Seiwir!
-Seiwir!
“Delighted to see you all. Yes, yes, wonderful! Haha!”
He adjusted the volume on the Amplification Crystal before continuing.
“Like everyone, I once dreamed of becoming a Necromancer.”
He placed a hand over his heart.
“I was fortunate enough to be born with an Anomaly—the ability to create illusions! The common wisdom was that if an Ability user became a Necromancer, success was guaranteed. My mother even sold our Mansion to have my Core opened so I could walk that path.”
A rare glimpse into the past of Langoustin’s megastar, Seiwir.
The crowd fell silent, absorbed in his words.
“But it wasn’t easy. My Anomaly had no synergy with the Dark Element, and my Dark Magic was worse than mediocre. Talentless, yet my ambitions soared! I thought I could do better if only luck favored me. I believed I deserved a higher station. And whenever my superiors scolded me, I’d cloak myself in illusions and live within them instead. In those fantasies, my superiors knelt beneath my feet.”
Haha!
Laughter rippled through the crowd—the knowing kind.
“But I had friends who pulled me out of those illusions and showed me a new path. The very students of the 330th Generation Student Council here tonight!”
Ohhh!
“Though I never achieved my dream, that’s precisely why I’ve come to hold such deep regard and affection for these young Necromancers. I hope they shine brightly for the Dark Alliance in my stead. Thank you!”
Applause thundered through the venue at Seiwir’s sincere words.
“Now, let us begin the Dark Festival opening ceremony! Students and honored guests, please rise from your seats!”
* * *
“Ugh! Why did he have to mention us like that? So embarrassing.”
Merin muttered, her face flushed with mortification, while Kamibarez behind her, carefully brushing out her long hair, broke into a smile.
“I thought it was wonderful that Seiwir acknowledged us!”
Dik giggled and shrugged his shoulders.
“For a precarious second-year Student Council like ours, public mention is nothing but good. That old man really does see the bigger picture.”
In the Waiting Room Behind the Podium.
Simon stood with his fellow members, smiling as he adjusted his coat. Makeup artists had already come and carefully worked on his hair and face.
“Mm.”
Once the grooming was complete, Dik sidled over, raising the corner of his mouth.
“You look quite mature all dressed up like this. Don’t you think?”
He glanced back at the others. Merin and Kamibarez nodded in surprise.
“Well, well! Not bad at all!”
“It really suits you, Simon!”
“Thanks.”
Then Seiwir’s voice came through.
-Now, I present to you Student Council President Simon and his Student Council members!
“It’s our turn!”
“Let’s go!”
Simon adjusted his necktie and stepped onto the stage.
His first major public event since becoming Student Council President.
‘Absolutely.’
Nothing but the resolve to see it through successfully. Simon walked toward the light and finally stepped out onto the stage.
Waahhh!
Ohhh!
The roar of the crowd erupted. Simon and the Student Council members—representatives of the student body and the festival’s main attraction—ascended the podium.
As this was an official ceremony, proper etiquette mattered. Simon lowered himself with measured courtesy and extended his palm toward Merin.
‘!’
The Student Council President’s escort.
She was pleased beneath the surface, but suppressed the smile threatening to break through. Merin placed her hand gently atop Simon’s with perfect composure.
‘Are you watching?’
She wasn’t sure if Serne was even attending the ceremony, but a powerful urge to glance around swept over her.
The two of them finally mounted the podium.
Simon exchanged a look with Seiwir, received the Amplification Crystal from him, and took a slow breath to calm his nerves as he gazed out over the crowd below.
Every student at Kizen.
Beside them, the elite of the Dark Alliance, and beyond them, countless residents.
This was the view a Student Council President commanded.
Simon lifted the Amplification Crystal.
“I am Simon Polentia.”
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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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