Chapter 398
"......."
Neftis was deep in thought.
With her eyes tightly shut and both hands neatly resting on her lap, she sat motionless on the bed like a statue.
Sha-lalak—
Her silver hair, soft as velvet, fluttered in the breeze. A few strands even slipped into her mouth, but she was so focused that she didn’t notice.
"Pffft! Pfft! What is this!"
—Or maybe not that focused.
Neftis brushed the hair away with her fingertips and looked at Simon.
"Hmm~ Okay. Mind if I answer honestly?"
"Yes, please."
Simon also sat up straight, ready to listen.
"First, you need to understand something. Just because I declare, ‘I will absolve the sins of the 7th Legion!’ doesn’t mean everything is magically solved."
She placed both palms on the bed and leaned back slightly.
"This was a situation where fellow necromancers were killed for the sake of a priest. It's an unprecedented incident, and public opinion is extremely hostile. Not just the elders and high-ranking necromancers, but the survivors and families of those involved are watching with eyes wide open."
"I... I understand."
Simon bowed his head low.
Perhaps this truth really had to stay hidden for life.
"But!"
Neftis snapped her index finger up.
"I didn’t say it was impossible. It’ll just take time. If we slowly calm the uproar and start changing people’s perception from the ground up, it's doable."
At those words, Simon's head shot up.
"Do you really think we can change their perception?"
"Mhm. Of course, Richard’s sin won’t disappear easily, but if we push the narrative that ‘Simon’s legion’ is clearly different from ‘Richard’s legion’, we can build momentum. In truth, the Ancient Undead were just following orders, and it’s a waste to bury such powerful forces that could stand against the Holy Federation over past mistakes. That’s the kind of appeal we’ll make, zoom zoom!"
Neftis met Simon’s eyes with a bright smile.
"Of course~ if you hadn’t adjusted to Keyzen and ended up just another average necromancer, the elders wouldn’t have hesitated to get rid of you and install a different commander."
"......Ah."
"But the influence of the name ‘Simon Follentia’ is growing steadily."
She flopped back onto the bed. Her transparent silver hair spread out across the bedspread like a fan.
"You were the first-ever special admission, passed the promotion test in first place, fought the Saint, and stopped the Blood Heaven Cult’s plot. You’ve really done well. And being recognized within Keyzen is as good as being recognized throughout the entire Dark Alliance."
Her lake-like eyes gazed straight into Simon’s.
"So keep up the good work~ The more influence you have, the easier it’ll be for me to lay the groundwork to change the perception and opinion about the 7th Legion."
That was practically a yes. Simon cheered inside and gave a deep bow.
"Thank you! I’ll do my best, Lady Neftis."
Neftis got up with a hop and ruffled Simon’s hair.
"Mhm, good boy~"
Simon gave an awkward smile. It felt strange being patted by someone who looked so much younger than him.
‘I never expected everything to be resolved at once. But if it’s Lady Neftis…’
He had witnessed her political power and media control during the recent incident. He had faith in her when she said she would lay the groundwork for the 7th Legion’s return.
"Of course."
Neftis pulled her hand away from Simon’s head, put her hands behind her back, and hopped off the bed.
"This doesn’t mean I’ve fully granted your request just yet. I’ll give you a personal gift later too. Sound good?"
"A-A gift?"
"Yup! It’s still a secret~ I’m saving it as a new semester present!"
She winked playfully.
"Anyway! Congrats on your promotion to second year at Keyzen, Simon!"
* * *
After Neftis left, medical staff came in to perform a detailed check-up on Simon’s condition.
Simon wanted to get out of there immediately, but in his current health, discharge was impossible. The medical staff emphasized strict rest again before leaving the room.
‘......Now there's no one around, right?’
Once they were gone, Simon scanned his surroundings repeatedly.
After confirming several times that no one was there, he shut the window and drew the curtains.
‘Good.’
Truthfully, he’d been anxious ever since waking up.
He had slept for a full five days! Far more time had passed than he expected.
‘I hope my body still remembers.’
That power he used in the battle against Sillage, Void.
—Sorry, but once you return, all this information will be forgotten. If you try to remember, your brain will burn up.
That being who gave him the Void had said he wouldn’t remember.
It was true that he received Void as a gift. But to use it, he had to apply a transcendent theory that didn’t even exist on the continent, requiring an unimaginable amount of knowledge.
And now, five days later, with all other information seemingly gone, there was no way he could use it again. It was like a train engineer holding just the steering wheel after losing the entire locomotive.
‘Still, the fact remains, I used that power once.’
He wasn’t even aiming for a perfect recreation. If he could just imitate it even slightly, that alone would be an incredible power-up.
And there was another reason he had to reproduce this technique.
‘I can’t use Herseba in front of people anymore.’
Simon had used Herseba in front of countless spectators during the duel evaluation, and even wrote and presented a paper on it to researchers.
Now imagine Herseba, known for her unique Darkness, suddenly exhibiting Simon’s Darkness during combat, even summoning mummies cloaked in that same energy?
It’d be strange not to suspect the commander.
‘Alright. I can’t afford to waste time lying down!’
With a goal in mind, Simon sat up on the bed and raised both palms.
"Darkness."
Darkness surged from his right hand.
"Holiness."
But the left hand remained still.
Trouble from the very beginning.
Back then, it had just emerged the moment he opened his palms. Thinking back, Simon closed his eyes.
‘I can do anything!’
Fwaaaa!
Finally, Holiness flowed from his left hand. Simon smiled in satisfaction and looked at his right hand.
"......You’ve got to be kidding me."
Now that Holiness was active, the Darkness had shut off. Simon collapsed onto the bed.
This was hard.
He could handle either Darkness or Holiness, but controlling both at the same time was a whole different level.
Simon shut his eyes and tried to recall the sensation from back then.
‘Right. If my body still remembers the feeling, I need to latch onto it now.’
First, he decided to review the basics step by step.
Darkness is formed by breathing in ambient mana and channeling it through the Core. It’s stored in the Core and can be drawn out as needed.
Holiness operates differently. It manifests when mana is expelled from the body through an act of blind mental faith and it consumes a lot of mental strength.
‘Yes, that’s it!’
Simon slapped his knee.
‘The moment I open my Core, Darkness spreads through my entire body. My habits as a necromancer at Keyzen must have become too deeply ingrained.’
This time, he deliberately restrained the spread of Darkness.
Only the right side, for Darkness.
He would reserve the left side for Holiness.
"Darkness."
He drew only a small amount of Darkness into his right hand. Keeping this in mind and maintaining it.
"I can do anything!"
Fwaa!
Holiness bloomed in his left hand.
When he quickly looked to the right, the Darkness had weakened and become unstable, but it was still functioning normally thanks to the steady supply from his heart.
"I did it! Now these two powers—"
Simon clapped his hands together.
"Combine...!"
KWAAAAAAANG!
"W-What’s going on in there?!"
Startled by the explosion, the ward attendant flung open Simon’s hospital room door.
Rattle rattle rattle—
It was as if mana had exploded. The bed was shattered, and debris was falling from the ceiling.
In the midst of it all, Simon, lying flat on the ground, waved his hand with a nervous laugh.
"A-a-ahaha, it’s nothing!"
He was scolded severely afterward, accused of using black magic in the ward.
* * *
Simon was moved to a new hospital room.
Fortunately, since Neftis had issued an order that Simon’s comfort should always take the highest priority, the ward staff didn’t make a big deal out of it. They even handled the situation quite efficiently.
"I have a request!"
Just as the doctor—who had been scolding him non-stop for nearly 30 minutes—was about to leave, Simon hurriedly stopped him. The doctor turned around.
"......Speak, Student Simon."
"Would it be possible to summon Professor Farahan, the instructor for first-year Defense Against Holiness?"
With just that one sentence, a fiery rage burst from the doctor’s body.
"......You dare bring a priest into this sacred ward!!"
And so, a short while later.
"Hohoho! I'm so glad you're safe, young man!"
Dressed in a white martial robe, with a long white beard, Farahan truly did appear in Simon's hospital room.
Above his head, two kittens poked their heads out with a "meow!"
"Whitie! Blackie!"
The kittens, upon seeing Simon, immediately leapt down and began causing a ruckus, rubbing against him, meowing endlessly, and demanding to be cuddled and petted.
"......Bringing a priest and pets into this sacred ward! Grrrgh!"
The doctor trembled with rage, while the attendants tried their best to calm him with forced smiles.
But Neftis' orders were absolute.
Click.
The door to the ward closed, leaving only Farahan and Simon facing each other.
"Calling me to such a sensitive place, hoho!"
Farahan stroked his beard.
"As you know, I'm a priest, so I must be very careful with my conduct."
"I-I’m sorry. It’s just that... there’s something I urgently needed to discuss."
Simon briefly explained the situation to Farahan.
It was about the Void.
He told him how, during the fight with Sillage, he had cast the curse called Compellonia, which he’d learned from Bahil, on himself, and though he couldn't remember exactly what had happened, he was certain he’d fought Sillage by combining Darkness and Holiness.
"......To these old ears, it’s quite an unbelievable tale."
Farahan shook his head.
"In all my long years, I’ve never heard of such a thing. Are you sure it wasn’t just a hallucination or illusion you saw while unconscious?"
It was clear Farahan didn’t believe him at all.
Sillage had reacted the same way. He saw it with his own eyes, yet couldn’t believe it.
Whether necromancer or priest, it seemed the more experienced one was in a single field, the more impossible it seemed.
But convincing Farahan wasn’t the point.
"I have a favor to ask."
Simon requested Farahan to install one of those magic circles he used at his home and research lab to erase traces of Holiness.
Farahan gladly agreed. He drew it behind the bed and in the corners of the wall to avoid detection, and even added a soundproofing circle.
"Thank you so much, Professor!"
Simon bowed deeply.
"I don’t know whether what you saw was real or not, but the very desire to explore something new isn’t a bad thing. I hope you achieve good results."
Above his head, Whitie let out a soft "meow~".
* * *
Combining Darkness and Holiness.
Even this insane experiment, done repeatedly, began to produce some know-how.
By weakening both attributes overall, and lowering the proportion of Holiness even more than before, he could buy a slight window of time.
Since Holiness generally has the upper hand in affinity, lowering its ratio was key.
However—
BOOOOOM!
Another failure. Darkness and Holiness only coexisted for an extremely short moment, not even 0.1 seconds, before either the two forces exploded or Holiness consumed the Darkness.
Realistically, coexistence of the two powers seemed impossible.
‘......I’m exhausted.’
Before he knew it, it was evening. Simon collapsed spread-eagle on the bed, completely drained.
‘Was it really just an illusion?’
Simon moved his hands, trying to rely on sensation.
Like this. Like this. When I mixed the two forces like this, it worked…
Knock knock.
There was a knock at the door.
Startled, Simon quickly erased the lingering traces of Holiness. The Holiness was sucked into the drain-like magic circle that Farahan had installed.
"Yes, come in."
Click.
The door opened, and a ward attendant stepped in.
"Student Simon? It's time for your injection."
The attendant licked her lips while lifting a syringe.
"Now! Lower your pants and underwear and lie face down on the bed!"
"......."
Simon responded coldly.
"Don’t be ridiculous, Erze."
[Hiiing.]
The attendant let out a disappointed whimper.
Her body began to melt and change, revealing a pink-haired female student in a Keyzen uniform. It was the familiar figure of Elizabeth Weffer.
"Nobody noticed, right?"
[Of course not! Who do you think I am~ I’m a top-tier spy who can even bypass Keyzen’s surveillance barriers!]
"Good. Then let’s go."
Simon took out a robe from subspace, draped it over himself, and stood up.
"We have to be back by morning."
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters