Chapter 13
"Hello? Senior. I'm sorry to bother you while you're sleeping."
"......."
There was no response. Simon spoke again.
"We'd like to use this room together. Would that be alright with you?"
"......."
Still, no answer came. Rena, who had followed behind, trembled as she clutched the hem of Simon's clothes.
"Le-Let's just go back, Simon. That person is definitely......"
It was then.
Through the gap in the blanket, bloodshot red eyes were glaring at them. Dick gulped, and Rena took a frightened step back.
"......Freshmen."
Finally, the blanket was pulled aside, and a man sat up with a rustling sound.
"Today's the entrance ceremony...... it's already that time, huh."
He had a lean body, yet his muscles were ideally shaped, with sharp eyes. A prominent scar ran cleanly across his bloodshot right eye, as if slicing it in half. On top of that, his bare torso was covered in various small scars.
A dangerous man.
That was everyone's first impression. As he glared at them, Dick and Rena instinctively grabbed Simon's arms from both sides.
"......Don’t call me senior. I’m a first year too."
"Then, Mr. Kajan......"
"Just call me Kajan."
As he swept his bangs back, his ominous gaze was revealed.
Eyes that seemed like they could take up a knife and hack someone to death right then and there, no one would believe he was a teenage boy.
"I don’t know how long you guys will last at this school, but remember just two things. First, don’t meddle in my business. Second, don’t make noise before I fall asleep. Once I’m asleep, dance or sing or do whatever you want."
"......Ah! So you're giving us permission?"
"Permission, whatever. There's no vacant room anyway, someone was gonna come in eventually."
Kajan lay back down and pulled the blanket over himself.
"......."
A moment later, steady breathing could be heard, Kajan had fallen asleep.
Simon and Dick exchanged glances and stepped out. Rena, the last to leave, carefully closed the door behind her.
"We’ll take this room."
In the end, they decided on Room 409. Rena asked with a worried look,
"Are you sure this is okay?"
"Yeah, it's fine. I don't think he's actually a bad person."
Rena nodded and marked a check on the list. Then she slotted the nameplate with their names into the holder outside the door.
"Alright, then Room 409 it is! If something happens later...... if he does anything bad to you, let me know right away. I’ll report it to the dorm supervisor immediately and they’ll take action."
"Okay. Thanks for thinking of us."
After parting with Rena, Simon and Dick each claimed a spot and began unpacking. Dick chose the bed near the door, while Simon took the inner bed, closer to Kajan.
Even with the occasional noise from unpacking, Kajan didn’t move at all, like a corpse. Only the sound of his soft breathing was sometimes heard.
"Is that guy really not gonna wake up?"
For some reason, Dick got bold and dropped a textbook on the floor.
Thud!
A dull sound echoed, but Kajan remained sound asleep, oblivious to the world.
"......He really meant it when he said we could dance or sing once he’s asleep."
"I don’t think he’s a bad person."
Feeling more at ease, the two finished organizing their belongings.
"Simon! Let’s go shower. I saw a bathhouse on the second floor on the way up."
"Bathhouse?"
* * *
It was Simon’s first time in a public bathhouse.
This facility, capable of accommodating over a hundred people at once, gleamed golden from floor to walls, and warm spring water flowed in the tubs.
Simon stood under the stream of water that sprayed from the ceiling with the press of a button, or he soaked himself in the bubbling hot water to relax his fatigue.
"Ah, this is so good."
After finishing the bath, they were heading out.
Simon, with a towel draped around his neck, was climbing the stairs with a relaxed expression. Dick chuckled.
"You're the first person I've seen who’s surprised by a shower booth. What, you grew up on a mountain or something?"
"Close enough."
Simon replied while rubbing his wet hair with the towel.
"Haha, still, shouting ‘Wow~ Wow~’ while pressing the shower button was a bit much, don’t you think? Rumors spread fast around here."
"Did I really go that far?"
"It was no joke."
The two returned to the dorm room.
Kajan was still asleep in exactly the same posture, as if time had stood still. Outside the window, the pitch-black night had fallen.
Feeling drowsy from the bath, Simon laid down on the soft bed.
A sigh of contentment escaped his lips. It felt like all the happiness in the world was right here.
"Ahhh, I’m really glad I came to Keyzen."
Dick chuckled when he heard that.
"Everyone wants to come to Keyzen. Of course, whether you can stay here depends on your grades."
"I heard there are only about 300 second-years right now."
"Yup. We're in the student protection period right now, so the professors are going easy. But soon it'll be expulsion for low grades, expulsion for lack of potential, expulsion for rule violations. Life at Keyzen is pure survival."
Dick laid back, resting his arms under his head, and stared at the ceiling.
"If you can survive just until the end of first year, you can go almost anywhere. And if you break through the insane competition and graduate officially...... then you basically become one of the movers and shakers of the continent. Anyone not royal blood is fair game. Hmm, actually, if you’re a Keyzen graduate, maybe even a small kingdom would offer you a princess."
Simon let out a short laugh.
"Do you want to become a noble?"
"Not really. I mean, sure, life would be easier if you were a noble and people didn’t look down on you, but that’s not my ultimate goal."
"Then what is?"
Dick made a coin shape with his fingers.
"This."
"......."
For someone just saying they wanted to make money, Dick’s expression looked unusually complex.
But since they had only just met today, Simon decided not to ask further.
As Dick became lost in thought, Simon channeled darkness into the ring on his finger.
The ring turned black, and Simon pulled on the handle. A subspace opened on the floor, and a skeleton set of an Island Ratman popped out. They were class materials he had bought from Camellord.
"Oh! Whoa, whoa! What was that just now?"
"Subspace."
Simon answered briefly as he sat down in front of the skeleton set.
He opened the case and took out the wrapped bones. He ran his fingers across the surface and sniffed them. They were properly disinfected and very clean. A bone diagram was also included on the floor.
Dick made a disgusted face.
"......Class ended ages ago and you’re studying again?"
"Just felt like it. I don’t want to forget how it felt back then."
The match with Hector during the summoning class.
So many things had happened at once that Simon wanted to experience that marvelous sensation again.
First, he poured Darkness into the magic circle drawn on the skull to awaken the undead.
Clack. Clack.
The skull began moving, jaw knocking against the roof of its mouth.
The undead born of summoning magic recognizes the user of Darkness as its master.
Simon slowly closed his eyes and began syncing with the undead. Countless thoughts started filling his mind.
‘This time too, I'll rely only on my instincts.’
Simon picked up bones No. 5, 7, and 10, and attached them to the skull. Just a bit of pressure, and the bones clicked into place on their own, it felt incredibly satisfying.
He assembled the spine, formed the torso, then connected it to the legs. Dick watched Simon in amazement, mouth slightly open, as he fitted the bones together one after another without a hitch.
"......Done!"
After 30 minutes of work, he had successfully recreated the irregular quadruped skeleton they had built during class.
However, unlike in class, it took much longer, and the movements were unsteady, especially in the legs, making its gait awkward and unnatural.
It was an issue of focus and immersion.
Assembling the skeleton in a comfortable space without stress didn’t produce results as good as in the classroom.
Still, Simon decided to be satisfied with the fact that he had reconstructed the model.
He gently stroked the skull of the undead and spoke.
"Sorry."
Then, with a flick of his fingers, he collapsed the skeleton’s torso.
Crash!
The assembled bones scattered in every direction, landing on the bed, the desk, by the window, even inside the wardrobe. Dick flinched in surprise.
"What the heck? Why’d you do that? You just finished it!"
Simon closed his eyes and focused. Despite just having showered, sweat began trickling down his head again.
Skeletons formed by summoning magic have a trait that drives them to restore their original form. The official term is “Restoration Force”, but it’s often called “Attraction” in the field.
Simon felt the traces of Darkness contained in the 53 bones scattered throughout the room.
Restore!
The moment Simon snapped his eyes open, the scattered bones throughout the room all flew back into place, clicking perfectly into the body of the skeleton.
While it had taken 30 minutes to make it the first time, reassembling it back to its original form took only 15 seconds.
Simon exhaled the breath he had been holding and opened his eyes.
"......Still damn impressive."
Dick let out a breathless laugh.
The restored skeleton approached and rubbed its skull against Simon’s leg, acting affectionately. Simon smiled and petted the undead gently.
Riding the momentum, he began assembling a standard Island Ratman skeleton, following the diagram.
But instead of blindly following the numbers, Simon questioned why bone No. 11 had to follow No. 10, and why the assembly order had become standardized as it was. Every insight he gained was carefully recorded in his notebook.
This assembly method had been established through generations of necromancers. But arriving at this standard must’ve involved countless trials and errors.
Every step had its purpose and meaning. Each realization sent chills through him, and he felt deep gratitude for the wisdom and effort of those who came before.
Simon tried switching bones No. 25 and 31.
"What do you think?"
He conducted various experiments. When the skeleton, now animated, moved its arm and made a clicking sound, it shook its head.
Even if it made more anatomical sense, there was a more effective arrangement when it came to undead movement.
"......Mmmm."
Dick, who had dozed off, rubbed his eyes and sat up.
"Still at it? Looks like you’ve really gotten into summoning."
"Yeah, it’s fun."
A smile crept onto Simon’s lips.
"I wish the next class would come sooner."
Dick yawned and crawled into bed, but Simon’s night wasn’t over yet. He opened Introduction to Summonology and began a full-on research session.
‘The basics of the undead.’
Simon was still thirsty for more.
The skeleton his father used when helping the territory folk.
The skeleton Loraine used to take down gangsters.
What was he still lacking compared to those two?
Clack!
Click!
Snap.
He continued pondering and assembling. The skeleton that used to take 15 seconds to restore, he now brought back together in just 10.
But something felt different this time. After over 70 reassemblies, a dark blue flame of Darkness began to bloom in the skeleton’s eye sockets.
This hadn’t happened even during class.
Ssshhh.
The skeleton, its eyes now aflame, turned its head and looked at Simon.
"......."
Simon locked eyes with the skeleton.
His first day at Necromancer School came to a close like that, stretching late into the night.
Superb.