Chapter 504
"That’s true."
Under the faint glow of the moonlight, Loraine smiled gently.
"Simon, you must also be in a position where you can’t freely use the power of a Legion Commander inside the school. And yet, you still secured the top place in Keyzen with your own strength alone. I think that’s incredible."
Simon scratched his cheek awkwardly.
"……Thanks. But don’t you think it’s a little hard to compare your situation with mine? I only started learning black magic after becoming a Legion Commander, but you… you’ve been forbidden from using a power you had mastered long ago."
"Is that so?"
She turned her head as though it didn’t matter and gazed up at the night sky.
"The moon is beautiful."
"……"
Simon looked at her.
‘It’s cruel for Loraine, but I don’t think Lady Neftis’ decision was wrong. If she can endure these restraints for the next two years and live through them well…’
Simon, who had always felt how everything he learned in Keyzen also tied back to his strength as a Legion Commander, was convinced.
She would become an even stronger, far greater necromancer than she was now.
This second-year life of hers would surely become the greatest turning point in her life.
"Well then, shall we get up?"
All three buckets that had been collecting groundwater were now overflowing.
She stood up. Simon grabbed one bucket with his right hand and reached for the second.
Tap.
Loraine’s pale hand brushed against the back of his. They both quickly pulled their hands away.
"……"
"……"
An awkward silence drifted beneath the moonlight. Loraine broke it first.
"I’ll carry it."
"N-no! I’ll take two!"
They bickered over who would carry the third bucket until, in the end, they placed it between them and carried it together.
"One. Two. Three."
"Heave-ho."
The boy and the girl carried the water bucket together toward the tent.
As they walked under the pleasant night breeze, Loraine suddenly chuckled.
"Aren’t we being ridiculous? We could’ve just had a skeleton do this."
"Not very necromancer-like of us."
The two of them laughed softly together as they walked.
When they reached the camp, they prepared to light a fire and cook, but the surroundings seemed unusually noisy.
"Something going on?"
Simon asked.
Loraine glanced at the bloodstains on the ground and replied,
"I hear voices near our tent. Let’s go."
* * *
Simon and Loraine rushed into the tent.
"What happened?"
They saw Serne, Kajan, Lisa, and the coachman. And with them, a stranger—a man bleeding heavily, gasping for breath.
Lisa clutched him and cried out.
"Brother! Don’t move! Your wound will open up!"
‘Brother?’
Simon’s eyes widened. Then this man must be—
‘The client who sent me that plea for help!’
The man, gasping desperately, turned to Simon.
"A-are you S-Simon Follentia…… sir?"
"Yes, I am."
The man forced himself upright. He was about Simon’s height, his face still youthful, looking about Simon’s age.
"You’re the client, aren’t you?"
Simon held out the request slip, and the man glanced at it and nodded.
"Y-yes. But more than that, there is something… I m-must tell you……"
His breath came in ragged gasps.
"I-I’m so sorry…… for dragging you all the way to Tarados……"
A bad premonition welled up in Simon’s chest.
"The request…… it’s already finished."
With trembling hands, he pulled out a coin pouch and pressed it into Simon’s hand.
Inside were five well-worn gold coins.
"The job is done…… so you can… return to Keyzen……"
"……"
Simon stared silently at the man holding out the pouch.
The man’s face had gone pale. He kept panting, then turned to look at Lisa.
His younger sister, who looked at him with desperate worry. He smiled faintly.
"I’m sorry, Lisa."
"B-brother?"
After apologizing, he turned bloodshot eyes back to Simon.
Then he staggered forward and grabbed Simon’s robe.
Shff.
Kajan’s claws extended, and Serne plucked out a feather to ready herself, but Simon stopped them with a glance.
And then—the man opened his mouth.
"Please…… save us!"
Blood gushed out of his lips.
"The Executioners…… they’re lunatics! Even now they’re conducting horrific human experiments on innocent villagers! Many are locked in underground bases, and the ‘experiment’ is nearly complete! Once it’s finished, not just Tarados, but the entire continent will be in danger!"
Cough! Cough!
Blood sprayed, flecking Simon’s face.
"B-brother!"
"Please!"
Collapsing to the ground, trembling hands clutching at Simon’s pants, he begged.
"Please save them! The root of it all is the Executioners' chief—Nirti! She must be stopped……!"
Splurt!
At last, he vomited blood violently and fell limp.
As the others murmured, Kajan leapt forward.
"A curse! He mustn’t speak further!"
At that moment, noise erupted outside.
When Loraine lifted the cloth flap and looked out, fires blazed all around the camp, and assassins in strange black robes were slaughtering soldiers and bandits alike.
Simon shouted,
"Loraine! Serne! Kajan! Handle the situation outside! Above all, General Amin and Captain Karak must be saved!"
"Understood!"
"This place is too dangerous! Coachman, get to safety at once!"
"Y-yes! Please, take care!"
The four of them dashed out of the tent.
Now only three remained. The client gasped in shallow breaths, while Lisa wept as she held him.
"Erze."
Simon spoke into the air.
"Don’t let anyone inside."
[Yes~ As you command!]
The sound of webs unfurling wrapped around the tent as Erzebet’s voice echoed faintly.
Simon placed a hand on Lisa’s trembling shoulder as she clung to her brother and sobbed.
"Lisa."
She looked up at him with tear-filled eyes.
"Don’t worry. I will definitely save your brother."
"Si…… mon……"
Her eyes fluttered shut as her body went limp. Simon had put her into a magical sleep with <Sleep> curse and laid her gently on a cot.
Then he turned to the dying brother.
"Please sleep for a moment."
Stacking multiple layers of <Sleep>, he lulled the man into a state like surgical anesthesia. Simon steadied his breath and raised both hands toward the air.
Pure mana magic.
Mana gathered in the air, forming a magic circle.
It was the barrier magic his mother, Anna, had taught him—formed not with necromancy but with mana. She had advised him: When the time comes that you must wield Holiness, deploy this barrier.
A shimmering veil of mana encased Simon and the client.
‘I will not allow anything to go as you people wish.’
Simon pressed his hands over the client’s wounds.
‘I can do anything!’
Murmuring, he triggered the transformation. Shifting from necromancer to priest, a pure, miraculous white light bloomed in his palms.
<Heal>
Wooooong!
Holiness rippled across the man’s body. Simon maintained it for a moment, then withdrew his hands.
The internal organs are damaged. Simple external healing won’t work.
Simon drew out a small knife.
< Holy Blade >
It was the white magic taught by Professor Farahan, the instructor of Defense Against Holiness.
The knife’s blade was enveloped and extended, becoming a longer sword of pure Holiness. He had to cut open flesh and directly apply white magic to the internal organs.
‘I only heard the theory from Professor Farahan…’
Cold sweat beaded Simon’s forehead as he gripped the blade of Holiness.
‘Can I really do this?’
But there was no other choice. If he hesitated, this man would die. Simon had diligently studied the priest path alongside necromancy.
‘I will save him no matter what!’
* * *
The assassins sent by the Executioners were all dealt with.
Just like the client who had begged Simon earlier, every captured assassin vomited blood and died instantly. A brutal method to silence their tongues.
General Amin had turned the tables and struck down the assassins who came for him. Captain Karak of the bandits survived as well, though with a grave wound in his shoulder.
Once the chaos subsided, Kajan and Loraine returned to Simon’s tent. But the tent was completely cocooned in strange, web-like threads.
"Simon!"
Fwip!
Alarmed, Loraine conjured a dagger with her ability and prepared to slash through, but Kajan raised his arm to block her.
"Why? Simon, he…!"
"Simon is safe. Wait a moment."
Before long, the webbing peeled away from the tent, and Simon emerged from within.
His clothes were drenched in blood, and in his arms he carried the boy—the client who had been on the brink of death.
"I managed… to stabilize him."
Simon spoke, panting.
Loraine checked the young man’s body and gasped in surprise. She had thought there was no saving him, yet his breathing was steady, and his complexion had improved remarkably.
‘Amazing. Even with the potions I learned in Toxicology class, there should have been limits. How did he…?’
She looked at Simon with puzzled eyes as he carried the boy toward the army’s medical tent.
‘……’
Once Simon was gone, Loraine stepped inside the tent he had just left.
‘Ah.’
The air stung faintly.
And ever so slightly, the Darkness inside her body reacted in opposition.
‘Could it be…?’
Her gaze quickly darted back in the direction Simon had disappeared.
‘It must be my imagination… right?’
But she couldn’t shake the thought.
Maybe Simon was far more secretive—and far greater—than she had ever imagined.
* * *
Soon, it was time.
Simon removed his blood-soaked robe, changed into fresh, more practical clothes, and headed toward the ruins.
"You’ve arrived."
Before the ruins stood Kajan, Loraine, Serne, and General Amin. Bandit Captain Karak, with his grave injury, would not be joining the battle.
"What is it?"
Feeling Loraine’s eyes fixed on him, Simon asked. She turned her head away in a fluster.
"N-no, nothing at all."
"It’s time. Let’s open the gate."
Checking his watch and confirming the exact hour, Amin pulled out the key hanging around his neck.
"It seems the Executioners' assassins were after this."
Serne crossed her arms.
"But you know~ we’ve waited until the appointed time, and nothing’s happening~"
"No."
Simon’s eyes sharpened as he stared into the air.
"The space… it’s distorted."
"Hm? I don’t see anything."
Amin ran his palm across the air, step by step, until he halted in one spot—the same direction Simon was staring.
"Then let’s open the gateway to the Executioners' hidden base."
Amin thrust the key with force into the air.
Ruuuuumble!
As if the space itself responded, waves of light rippled outward, forming a transparent, glass-like wall. Gasps of astonishment broke out.
Crackle! Crack!
Sparks danced as Amin’s hand trembled violently with the key. The space looked ready to open but resisted stubbornly.
"Perhaps the lord’s key alone isn’t enough."
Kajan’s face grew grim.
Shwing!
Then Simon, who had been watching from behind, stepped forward. His right arm was already covered in the bones of Feer.
"General Amin. Keep pressing with the key as you are."
"A-ah, yes!"
Simon calmly steadied his stance and raised the Greatsword of Destruction. Serne, usually so blase, leaned forward with sparkling eyes, and Kajan grinned.
‘What is he about to do?’
Loraine looked around with curiosity.
‘He’s going to—’
Simon twisted his waist. The Greatsword of Destruction gleamed, its blade infused with Darkness.
‘Slice through the very space itself!’
CLAAAAAANG!
A long line tore across the air. The distorted space split open with a thunderous crack, revealing another world within.
Lowering the sword, Simon’s eyes narrowed coldly as he peered inside.
The Executioners' secret base.
Nirti would not have fled, not with the "experiment" near completion.
"……Let’s go in."
Simon’s voice was cold as he led the way inside.
"Heh~"
Serne licked her lips in delight. Loraine glanced at her.
"Of all things, you provoked that man into anger with such a cheap trick~"
Serne wagged her finger playfully.
"There are many ways to commit suicide, you know."
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters