Chapter 215
"Nice to meet you, brats! Name’s Belya!"
Her voice dominated the room, shaking the entire auditorium.
"Looking at you lot, I can’t help but feel you’re just so damn pitiful! All dressed the same, sitting the same, huddled together like diseased chickens in a coop, just blinking like idiots—ugh, it drives me crazy! When I was your age, I was running all over the world, having the time of my life! Damn right! That’s how kids should be!"
Some students covered their ears. Her voice was already loud, but the amplification effect of the magical crystal speaker made it echo across the whole auditorium.
"Listen up! Education is, by nature, rigid and uniform! What were you expecting? Education is nothing but a manufacturing process, like a factory churning out standardized goods to be used by society! If you're getting the same input in the same place, where’s the inspiration or individuality supposed to come from?! What comes out the other end might look flawless on the outside, but inside, it's hollow! You don’t have anything that’s truly yours! That’s what Belya is asking you!"
She stretched her leg up, stomped on the podium fence, and raised her right arm toward the ceiling.
"Who are you!!"
"...!"
"Keyzen students? So-and-so’s sons or daughters? Citizens of this or that kingdom? Heirs of some noble house? I'm not asking about those social norms that define your position! I’m asking who you truly are! That’s not something anyone else decides, it’s something only you can define! Unless you’ve got that down, how are you gonna be a necromancer or anything else?!"
She strode around freely as she spoke.
As she spat her words and whipped her hair around, droplets of liquid scattered and began melting and scorching the stage. It was as if she were unleashing special effects in every direction.
"I hope your ears aren’t clogged and you actually absorbed what I said! Oh, and if you want to become the best, come find me! Hahahaha!"
She roared like a thunderclap. Her sheer presence overwhelmed the students so thoroughly that by the time anyone could have clapped or cheered, the moment had already passed.
Only Aron, who had somehow managed to keep his composure, picked up the crystal speaker and spoke.
"Thank you for your hard work, Professor Belya. Please return to your seat."
"Ahem!"
She threw the crystal sphere onto the floor and strutted back to her seat. The path she left behind was nearly a disaster zone—cracked, melted, and destroyed beyond recognition.
"Haaah..."
From the professors’ section, Hongpeng let out a deep sigh.
Just then, the raggedly dressed Belya popped up and plopped herself down beside her.
"Kyaahaha! Hey! Did you see me tear up the stage?"
"...Please just go back to the grasslands. You’re embarrassing me."
Seeing the twin sisters sitting together, the students began murmuring and comparing the two.
Now that they were side by side, while their atmospheres were completely different, there were plenty of visual similarities between them.
"That concludes the opening ceremony."
Aron announced.
"Classes begin tomorrow. You’re probably tired from today’s exam, so don’t wander off. Head back to the dorm and get some rest. Remember, rest is also an important part of training. Dismissed."
Simon and Dick parted ways with Maelyn and Kamibarez and entered the boys’ dormitory.
Savoring the ticklish thrill of excitement, the two of them climbed to the fourth floor.
"Yesss! Room 409, it’s been too long!"
Dick shouted, raising both arms. He was delighted to see the nameplate next to the door listing Kajan, Simon, and Dick’s names side by side.
Simon knocked lightly and stepped inside.
A familiar space opened before him—familiar beds, familiar furniture layout. And on the second bunk bed in the corner, curled under the covers, was a familiar person sleeping.
"We’re back, Kajan."
Of course, Kajan wouldn’t wake up from just hearing that. They both knew from experience that trying to force him awake would only make him erupt like a monster, so they didn’t bother greeting him.
They began unpacking their belongings retrieved from subspace.
"Ahhh! Now that I’m back in Room 409, it finally feels real."
Dick said as he jumped onto his bed.
"Yeah, seriously."
"Classes start tomorrow. Guess it’s time to go all-out for another semester of survival!"
Simon neatly organized his textbooks on the desk, stretched with a long yawn, then looked out the window to see that it was already getting dark.
"Dick. I’m heading out tonight. Can you recommend a good route?"
"What?"
Dick gave him a look like he’d just seen a crazy person.
"You’re sneaking out on the first day? There’s nothing out there but reconstruction work in the ruins of Rochest. Why bother?"
"Oh, I’ve got someone to meet."
Though Dick looked unconvinced, he flipped through his notebook with the patrol schedules as requested.
"Hmm, Kevin’s stable route or the northern hill trail should be clear. But who’re you meeting that’s got you this eager? Is it a girl?"
Simon just smiled and kept quiet.
* * *
"Long time no see, Simon! Been two months, huh!"
Kevin, the stablemaster in Keyzen’s campus, greeted him warmly. They were both so used to each other now from Simon’s frequent comings and goings.
Simon tossed him a coin, then moved to the far end of the stable.
At the far corner covered in hay, a small hole was concealed. Crawling into it revealed a narrow underground tunnel.
He hunched down and crawled carefully, eventually reaching the end, where he pushed open a lid and climbed upward.
Whooosh!
Emerging from the tunnel brought him into the middle of the forest with a clear view of Keyzen’s high outer walls. Simon covered the tunnel’s entrance with dirt to conceal it, then began walking through the Forbidden Forest for the first time in a while.
He felt at ease now, there was no longer any chance of running into priests here.
Simon made his way lightly to Feer’s ruins.
Chiiiirrr!
Two Corpse Spiders guarding the entrance of the ruins ran toward Simon. Recognizing their legion commander, one rubbed its head against his foot, while the other rolled over like a dog and showed its belly.
"Have you all been well?"
Hard to believe these were undead. Simon played with the spiders for a bit, then headed inside.
He carefully descended the perilous stone steps, which lacked any sort of railing.
Sounds of clacking bones and undead voices echoed like whispers through the ruins. For an average person, it would’ve been terrifying—but for Simon, the sounds were oddly comforting.
As soon as he reached the bottom of the stairs—
[Commandeeeeeer~!!]
Someone jumped on him, knocking him to the ground with overwhelming force.
"I-I can’t breathe! Erze!"
The General of the Spider Troop, Erzebet.
Simon was completely immobilized by the strength of the Ancient Undead.
[I haven’t seen you in two months, and it’s like my mouth’s grown cobwebs without you!]
"...Isn’t that just something poor people say?"
Erzebet clung to him relentlessly. Rather than use Absolute Order, Simon opted to gently pat her back and coax her. Finally, she let go with a satisfied smile. He brushed the dust off his back and stood up.
"Long time no see, Feer!"
The moonlight shining through the ceiling illuminated the tall skeleton seated on the altar. Its jaw moved freely, almost human-like, as it opened its mouth.
[Kuhahaha! Been well, boy?]
Maybe it was because he hadn’t seen Feer in so long, Simon was overcome with emotion and ran to hug him.
[What’s this?! You've turned into a spoiled brat while I was gone!]
"I’m just happy to see you."
Simon pouted his lips as he spoke. At that moment, the clicking sounds of skeletal feet echoed as the skeletons formed into formation and approached.
"How have you all been?"
Click. Clack.
"There are a lot of new faces I haven’t seen before."
[Kuhaha! I replenished the ranks in the meantime!]
While chatting with Feer, Simon suddenly remembered someone was missing and opened up his subspace. From within, he pulled out a zombie, then spoke into the gray ring on his hand.
"Prince, we’ve all gathered after a long time. Wanna join us too?"
As he said that and held the ring close to the zombie, Rrrrummmble! a black thunderbolt struck the zombie. Instantly, its form shifted into that of a young boy wearing a faded crown.
[Ah! What took you so long! Deathland is boring as hell!]
Truth be told, he had been waiting to be summoned this whole time.
Prince immediately raised his fist, and Simon, laughing awkwardly, bumped it with his own for a handshake.
The successful fist bump on the first try filled Prince’s eyes with joy and deep emotion.
[You guys saw that, right? Huh? While you were gone, Simon and I practiced this stuff together!]
[Oh my.]
Erzebet spoke up.
[Isn’t that the same hand trick Richard used to play with you when he was Legion Commander?]
[N-No! I totally made this one up myself!!]
And thus, the Legion Commander and the Generals of the legion gathered once more.
Simon, Feer, and Prince each took comfortable seats. Erzebet knelt beside Simon, then naturally lay her head on his thigh as if it were the most obvious thing to do.
It was intensely embarrassing and burdensome, but this was Erzebet’s desired reward for loyalty, so Simon let it slide.
Feer opened his mouth.
[Then let’s each report our progress and results so far!]
"Yes."
Simon activated his holiness and explained how he had learned Corpse Explosion and the priest’s white magic.
When he mentioned he had worn the crown during the battle on the Holy Train, Feer turned and glared fiercely at Prince. Prince whistled nonchalantly, pretending he hadn’t heard.
Now came the highlight of the report.
[A sanctified zombie detonating its physical form?!]
Erzebet shot upright.
[Is that even possible? Then does that mean I can become Holy Erzebet too?]
"Hmm, I’m not sure."
Simon said, glancing down at his left hand.
"I did sanctify Feer and the zombies, but I really have no idea how I did it."
[That’s true, just like when you used Corpse Explosion in Deathland without anyone teaching you how!]
Feer folded his arms and continued.
[There’s no need to stress! That was a power you needed in the battle against the priest, so now that you’re back in Keyzen, don’t worry about it for the time being. Since you’re here, focus on black magic!]
"Yes, and lastly."
Simon stood up from his seat. As everyone looked on in curiosity, Simon reached behind himself, grabbed the space, and swung it open sideways.
Sllllliiiiide!
A massive subspace opened, like an enormous plain stretched out before them. Everyone gasped.
"After what happened during the Saint incident, Lady Neftis granted me a new subspace."
[Kuhahahahaha!]
Feer let out a resounding laugh.
[No matter how you look at it, that’s a subspace made for running a legion! That woman’s sense of preparation is quite impressive!]
Feer seemed thoroughly pleased. He even stepped into the subspace himself and came back out.
"That concludes my briefing."
Next up was Erzebet, who had been stationed in the Insect Graveyard for the past two months.
She brought something up from the lower levels of the ruins. They were massive Corpse Spiders, easily ten times the size of normal ones.
[Aren’t they adorable?]
One of the spiders made a gurgling noise as it spat out saliva clumped with animal bone fragments.
Simon instinctively frowned.
"What are these?"
[They’re queen-type Corpse Spiders. They can lay eggs. I found these in the Insect Graveyard and successfully legionized them. Now we can massively increase the Corpse Spider population.]
Simon nodded.
"Good work. If their offspring hatch, could I borrow a few of the non-legionized ones? I want to test them in the Keyzen exams."
[If it’s the Legion Commander’s order, I’ll try. But spiders are hard to control unless legionized.]
"I need to get used to it anyway."
Next came Feer’s report on his trip to the Jungle of Screams.
[The reason I went to the Jungle of Screams was to find Akemius, former General of an entire troop and an Ancient Undead.]
Akemius was the general of powerful flying-type undead.
They were originally harpies—half-human, half-beast—who had become undead. In the necromancer world, they were also called “Skullwings”.
A General of flying-type undead!
Simon’s eyes sparkled at Feer’s explanation.
"If we could get him on our side, that’d be really helpful… but I’m guessing you didn’t find him?"
If Feer had found and legionized him, Akemius should be present now. At that moment, Feer said in a flat voice,
[I found him.]
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