Chapter 134
“Could that person, Feon, possibly be Simon?”
“……”
Maelyn, who had been staring blankly for a moment, burst out laughing.
“Ahaha! What? Simon? No way!”
Maelyn bent over laughing. Kamibarez and Dick exchanged puzzled looks.
“But still, what Kami said isn’t entirely unreasonable, right? The timing sort of fits.”
“Absolutely not.”
She lifted her head with an unusually serious expression.
“Absolutely, ab-so-lute-ly, no way! He is not Simon.”
“R-Really?”
“First of all, the build, height, all that’s different. His voice and intonation were different, too! Ugh, it’s funny I’m even having to explain this.”
She wiped the tears forming at the corner of her eye.
“You can just tell by looking. Simon has that kind of image, right?”
“What kind of image?”
“You know, just that image you get when you think of Simon. Upright, polite, diligent, smart.”
Kamibarez jumped in, eyes sparkling.
“Yes, exactly! Gentle! Well-mannered! Considerate! Kind! And sometimes, tough yet passionate……”
“?”
“Ah, anyway! So what’s the point?!”
Maelyn crossed her arms with a serious face.
“But Feon, that person… how do I put this. He’s super intense. So scary, I couldn’t even make proper eye contact.”
“M-Maelyn?”
“Yeah. If I had to describe it in a vibe kinda way……”
She paused in thought before speaking.
“A tyrant? He looked like the kind of guy who’d flip the table and kill everyone if things didn’t go his way.”
“……Ah.”
Kamibarez mentally overlapped the image Maelyn described with the one she had of Simon.
Totally—so much so it felt wrong—unmatched.
“……I guess it really isn’t him.”
“Told you. Just the fact that we’re discussing this is a waste of time.”
“Hmmm—”
Dick crossed his arms.
‘Although, if you really watch him closely, it’s not like he never shows that side…’
“Anyway! More importantly!”
Maelyn turned her head.
“Why is Simon so late?!”
With an anxious face, Maelyn looked toward the long line forming at the camp. At this rate, they might not even get inspected and the performance evaluation time would end.
“S-Should we go find him?”
“If he’s still not here in 10 minutes, then yeah.”
Dick shrugged and pointed with his finger.
“No need for that~”
Simon was sprinting toward them, drenched in sweat.
“Simon! Over here, here!”
“Ugh, that idiot, seriously! He escaped, so why is he so late?!”
“Simon! Thank goodness! Are you hurt anywhere?”
Panting, Simon finally reached the three of them. He rested his hands on his knees, catching his breath, and then immediately opened up subspace.
“Our assignment, let’s use this.”
What Simon pulled out was a body wrapped in white bandages. It had a thin layer of frost as if it had been kept in a freezer, and it was cold to the touch.
Simon quickly unwrapped the bandages.
“W-What is this?”
“It’s not a human.”
Simon explained.
“A monster called a White Ghost. We’re going to make a zombie out of this.”
“Whoa!”
Maelyn was so excited, she jumped on the spot.
“That’s top-tier zombie material! Where’d you even get something this rare?!”
“It was in the basement of the mansion I was held in.”
“You were thinking about the performance evaluation while you were captured by corpse-hoarders? Hahaha! That’s adorable!”
Simon scratched his head with a sheepish smile.
“I just got lucky.”
“Alright, we’re short on time, so let’s get started!”
The four of them gathered around the White Ghost once more.
Simon took the lead again. Rolling up his sleeves, he said,
“Let’s begin.”
Installing the magic circle was smooth. Maybe it was because of the trial-and-error they had gone through at Prince’s mansion, but this time the process was much faster.
Jolt.
The moment the magic circle was completed, the zombie that used to be the White Ghost sat up. The four of them cheered and high-fived.
“You there! Students! Evaluation period will be over soon!”
They heard the assistant’s voice.
“Yes!”
“We’re coming!”
They stashed the zombie back into subspace and barely made it into the final line.
“Ugh, I’m a little worried.”
Maelyn bit her fingertip nervously.
“I didn’t manage to fully bring out the White Ghost’s racial traits, and ended up making it like a regular zombie. That’s bothering me.”
“It’ll be fine.”
Simon answered with a gentle smile. His gaze then drifted to the dirt on Maelyn’s uniform.
“Wait a sec. You’ve got dirt all over your back.”
Simon carefully dusted off her uniform.
Her eyes wandered to Simon’s arm. Since he had rolled up his sleeves, his muscles and veins were clearly visible.
Maelyn absentmindedly imagined that strong arm wrapped around her waist.
When Feon had hugged her, his arm was about that thick too……
“&%$@^*@$!!!”
Her face turned beet red as she let out a strange noise and jumped back.
Simon, who was purely helping dust off a friend’s uniform, flinched and awkwardly lowered his hand.
“Ah, sorry. I was just……”
“Hmm? Ah, no! No! It’s not because of you!”
She mumbled a vague excuse, then glanced at Simon.
He looked embarrassed, scratching the back of his neck and averting his gaze.
Then she recalled Feon, how he had kicked the perverted old man without hesitation, and stared down at her with a machine-like cold and intimidating gaze.
‘……’
She was sure of it.
Even the faintest shred of doubt Kamibarez had raised vanished cleanly.
‘Yep, not alike at all.’
“Students, come in.”
A little while later, it was Team 7’s turn.
Aron, dressed in a black coat, sat down with a languid expression. The four students bowed their heads politely.
“You’re the last ones.”
“Yes, Team 7!”
Maelyn, the team leader, responded on behalf of the group. Aron nodded.
“Show me.”
Simon opened the subspace and took out the zombie made from the White Ghost.
Ooooh—
The assistants let out soft exclamations upon recognizing it. Even Aron sat up straighter.
“Where did you find this?”
“It was in the basement of an old mansion on the outskirts of Deathland.”
“You actually managed to find a White Ghost, huh.”
Aron stood up and examined the zombie all over. He pulled its eyelids open, and even smelled inside its mouth.
Then, when Aron asked what formulas had been used to make this zombie, Simon answered fluently.
“Why did you exclude the sustained formula?”
“Because of the unique nature of the Deathland region. I took into account the fact that it’s a place where things don’t decay.”
Aron turned his head toward the other students.
“Why was the corpse poison effect, a key element of zombies, excluded?”
This time, Maelyn answered.
“The White Ghost is a monster with cold attributes. We determined the infection effect from corpse poison would be reduced.”
“Not bad. Who ran the actomyosin check?”
“I-I did!”
“Explain the muscular rigidity before and after the summoning magic.”
Aron threw questions at Kamibarez and Dick as well. Although nervous, they were able to answer without much difficulty.
Aron nodded and sat back down.
“The material was excellent. Looks like you all handled it as skillfully as possible. It seems a bit rushed, but for this level, it’s acceptable.”
At those words, the four flinched internally.
An assistant handed Aron a folder and a quill. Aron made check marks next to all four of their names.
“Team 7 gets an A+. You’re dismissed.”
“Wow!”
The four embraced and cheered. Even the assistants gave light claps.
“All teams, assemble.”
With the evaluation of the last team complete, Aron stepped out of the tent.
Students who had been outside showing off their zombies gathered quickly and stood at attention.
Those resting in the special break tents after finishing their evaluations came running out as well.
“Good work.”
Aron looked around at the students as he spoke.
“I’m sure many of you learned a lot from this performance evaluation. Some of you may even be blaming me for making you do something so horrifying.”
Some students’ eyes rolled around.
The corpses in Deathland hadn’t decayed at all and had preserved their appearance from when they were alive.
To turn such bodies into zombies could leave a deep trauma for some.
“There are people who say my teaching is outdated. In today’s world, you can just stop by town and easily purchase zombies or skeletons with enough money. But you are students of Keyzen.”
Aron’s gaze grew serious.
“As elites in this field, it’s more important than anything to know your roots and understand the fundamentals. Dismissing tradition and origins as obsolete under the name of practicality is foolish. Even if a tree appears full of leaves and flowers on the outside, it won’t survive a storm if its roots are rotted.”
Aron began walking slowly in a circle.
“Most likely, this peace won’t last forever. If corpse factories or supply bases are destroyed by priests and you can’t produce a single undead, then you don’t deserve to call yourself a necromancer. No matter the situation, stay cold-headed and establish efficient methods.”
His eyes gleamed.
“If there are no corpses available in the market, then go to a nearby village bombed to ruins and turn the corpses there into your army. If you’re short on numbers, then even raise your dead friends and win. That’s practicality, and that’s what it means to be a necromancer.”
Flap!
Aron strode off, his coat whipping in the wind.
“All of Class A, take out every zombie you brought from Deathland. Even those not evaluated, even the failed ones, bring them all out.”
“Yes, sir!”
The students followed instructions and brought out every zombie they had acquired from Deathland out of their subspaces.
Once the assistants had completed their checks and nodded, Aron stomped his foot hard against the ground with a boom!
Fwoooooooosh!
A darkness magic circle spread out from under his feet, quickly engulfing the entire camp. The zombies’ eyes lit up, and then they suddenly went berserk and started running wildly.
‘Ah!’
Simon’s White Ghost zombie and the guard zombie were no exception.
‘He seized control of their thought imprints! This easily……!’
It made them feel once again the sheer magnitude of a Keyzen professor.
All the zombies gathered in the clearing. They clumped and clumped, forming a massive mound.
“It’s unfortunate for you all, but there’s a side effect to the zombies brought from Deathland.”
Aron opened his palm. The darkness magic circle clicked as it began assembling.
“Once they leave Deathland, they intermittently become extremely aggressive. For students to control them with thought imprints is impossible, so the school would confiscate them the moment you arrived anyway.”
At last, Aron’s magic circle was complete, scattering pure black light. Watching it, Simon’s shoulders trembled.
‘Why?’
He instinctively knew what black magic Aron was casting right now.
“Corpse—”
He clenched his fists and moved his lips.
“—Explosion.”
The cores of all the zombies suddenly radiated intense light, then simultaneously detonated in a massive explosion.
Scorching heat spread out in all directions. Students screamed, crouched down, and covered their faces with both arms. Their uniforms flapped wildly, and even the trees swayed.
“……Ah.”
Simon watched the scene with wide eyes. All thoughts of the White Ghost he borrowed from Prince vanished.
In the pitch-black night sky, the ashes and black explosions spread like mushroom clouds.
The other students also stood dazed, mouths agape, heads tilted upward.
It felt like the world was turning to ash and blowing away.
They were overwhelmed, unable to think.
Aron, like an exorcist offering a prayer, nodded slightly and turned around.
“Do you find it beautiful?”
Aron smiled.
“If even for a moment you felt that way, then you’ve taken your first step as a necromancer.”
Simon’s heart began to pound.
Superb.