Chapter 528
That afternoon.
Simon and Loraine were sitting side by side at the campus cafe, enjoying coffee together.
They were there to talk about Tarados.
Loraine had stayed behind until the final day of the mission evaluation to help with the post-crisis clean-up. Simon, too, wanted to keep a steady interest, it was, after all, a place he had freed himself.
“Getting General Amin recognized as lord was quite a challenge.”
Loraine set her cup down and sighed with fatigue.
“The ministers of the kingdom opposed it.”
“The ministers?”
“Mm. They insisted it was improper to grant a lordship without proper procedures. They probably didn’t like the idea of some random swordsman suddenly becoming a noble on equal footing with them.”
Simon rubbed his chin with a troubled expression. The irony was that if they were asked to govern Tarados themselves, they would shy away. They were simply offering mindless opposition without solutions.
“So how did it turn out?”
“In Keyzen, pressure was applied to hold those responsible for the Tarados incident accountable and to take realistic measures for recovery. Oh, and internally, Princess Molly put a great deal of effort into it.”
Loraine’s eyes lit up.
“In the end, your decision to contact the princess personally, instead of going through the kingdom, was the best move! The older nobles only wanted to cover it up, but the princess stormed into Minister of General Affairs Perutz’s mansion with the royal guards, raided it, shoved evidence in his face, and had him arrested. Her decisiveness was incredible.”
Simon chuckled and sipped his coffee.
“I’ll have to thank her properly when I see her. I wonder if she’s doing well with her studies.”
“She seems completely absorbed in life at Keyzen. She’s always admired necromancers.”
Simon nodded, set down his cup, and glanced around. He gave a faint, wry smile.
“There are so many people.”
The cafe was packed with noisy students, mostly first-years, chattering like wild animals during lunch hour.
It wasn’t ideal for a quiet talk, but Simon leaned back in his chair, smiling at the lively scene.
“First semester of first year. The best time of their lives.”
Loraine giggled.
“You sound like an old man.”
Simon laughed too, then looked around for familiar faces. That’s when a striking red head caught his eye—Arthur, the mercenary king, Special Admission No. 2. He was flailing his arms, shouting something.
“Hey, Arthur! That’s no way to eat a souffle! Show some manners!”
“What the hell is a souffle?!”
He was still the same as ever.
“Oh, and this is a secret.”
Loraine leaned in again.
“Your mission evaluation difficulty rating is going to be adjusted—from F to A+.”
Simon’s face lit up.
“Really? That’s great news!”
“You can look forward to it.”
Originally, he had received an ‘F’ for a menial labor request. But Simon had discovered it was actually a distress signal, rushed to Tarados, and saved both the client and the fiefdom. Headquarters clearly valued that accomplishment.
For Simon, who aimed to be overall first place again this year, it was fortunate news indeed.
‘Though maybe Loraine used some of her influence…’
Even stripped of official authority, she could still make requests as a student, and headquarters wouldn’t ignore the future power she represented.
“Keyzen is also supporting Tarados’ reconstruction. Necromancers have been dispatched to wipe out the chimeras roaming the wilderness. Progress is about sixty percent. Soon people will be able to move around the fiefdom freely. Then merchants will return, and the economy will revive…”
“E-excuse me!”
Two first-year girls with long hair, faces flushed, suddenly stepped up.
“What is it?”
Simon asked kindly.
One nudged the other nervously, urging her to speak. Finally, she stammered,
“A-aren’t you… the Student Council President?”
“Yes, that’s me.”
“Kyaaah!”
The two squealed, clapped hands, and bounced in excitement. Thanks to Simon’s dramatic rescue of new students at the entrance ceremony, he had already become a legendary figure among the first-years.
“We almost didn’t recognize you without your coat!”
“W-we admire you so much, senior! C-could we get your autograph?”
It was the first autograph request of Simon’s life. He hesitated but quickly signed their Introduction to Summonology textbooks so he could return to his conversation. The girls bowed repeatedly and skipped back, ecstatic.
“You’re popular.”
Loraine teased.
“Sorry about the interruption. So, what were you saying?”
“Mm, I was just getting to the part where merchants are showing interest again—”
“Woooaaah!”
This time, three first-year boys barged in.
“It’s true! Black hair, red eyes! You must be Loraine-senior!”
Loraine sighed and nodded.
“Whoa! Unreal! So it’s true Lady Neftis’ daughter attends Keyzen!”
“And the Student Council President is right next to her!”
Simon quickly hushed them, finger to his lips, and thankfully the noisy atmosphere kept attention from spreading.
‘This year’s first-years are out of control…’
If Hector were here, he’d have them doing push-ups until they collapse. But Simon chose to be understanding, they were still fresh, and he disliked forcing rigid formalities on them.
“Sorry, but we were in the middle of something…”
“Wait, are you two… dating?”
“Haha, you really suit ea—”
Grab!
Suddenly, a student put the loudmouths into a headlock.
“Hello, Simon-senior! Hahaha!”
It was Arthur.
“Guhh!”
“A-Arthur! Let us go!”
While the boys squirmed, Arthur shot Simon a quick glance.
“Long time no see, Arthur.”
Simon waved.
“Apologies for my classmates! I’ll bring them to the student council office later to apologize properly!”
“Sure, thanks.”
Arthur bowed deeply to both Simon and Loraine, then dragged his struggling classmates away.
Simon folded his arms with admiration.
‘He’s grown a little since our first meeting…’
“Friend of yours?”
Loraine asked.
“Arthur, the mercenary king. We fought together once.”
“Ah, the famous Special Admission No. 2. He’s polite.”
They returned to their talk about Tarados.
Just as the conversation was finally flowing smoothly again, officials from Keyzen headquarters, dressed in suits, appeared.
“Young lady.”
One said.
“Lady Neftis requests your presence.”
Loraine rose as if used to such summons.
“Sorry, Simon.”
“No problem. We’d already covered everything important.”
She bowed slightly and left with them. Simon finished the rest of his coffee alone.
‘I should probably get ready for class soon…’
As he stood up—
“Whaaa!”
He nearly spilled his cup in shock.
Sitting across from him, dressed in a white suit and smiling calmly, was a man.
“It’s been a while, Student Simon.”
He tipped his hat with a flourish. Simon’s eyes widened.
“P-Professor Bahil?!”
“Care to share a cup of coffee with me?”
Though unexpected, after Loraine came Bahil.
Simon followed him to his research office in the 2nd-year campus, within the Katarology building. He sat upright on the sofa, nervous.
“Haha, when it’s just the two of us, you can relax.”
Bahil hung his hat on the coat rack, speaking casually. As he clattered about making coffee, Simon glanced uneasily around the office.
“……”
As expected, the laboratory was meticulously organized.
The large blackboard, occupying an entire wall, was the same one Bahil had once kept in his 1st-year office. Now it was covered with dense arrays of curse formulas.
“You worked hard guiding the transfer students.”
Bahil approached with two cups of coffee.
“Yes, thank you.”
Everyone Simon met seemed to bring up the transfer-student guidance these days. He had gotten used to it by now. Taking the cup with utmost courtesy, Simon sipped according to the etiquette he’d learned in Monarch Studies.
Naturally, it was incredibly sweet.
“There was one performance in particular that left quite the impression.”
Bahil, sipping gently, narrowed his gleaming eyes.
“Aland, wasn’t it?”
Simon blinked. Was he referring to his match with Benz? That hadn’t been much.
“The plan was excellent.”
Bahil continued.
“You used Sleep to subdue the tamed monsters, then cast the curse of delusion, Delusion, to deceive your opponent’s eyes. You threw him toward the monsters and released their Sleep. Bam—”
He clapped loudly with his mouth, miming the opponent being swarmed.
“And you won.”
“...H-huh?”
Simon was bewildered. As far as he knew, only he and Jane had entered Aland from Keyzen.
“How do you know all that?”
“I have a junior teaching Katarology in Aland. He told me. But more importantly—how did you come by this?”
“Pardon?”
Suddenly Bahil shot to his feet, leaning close.
“I never taught you Sleep.”
A shiver ran down Simon’s entire body.
“From which nobody did you learn it?”
“T-that’s…!”
Trying to calm him down, Simon confessed honestly. He had received Sleep curse directly from the former Student Council President, Phantasus.
“Phantasus.”
Bahil murmured the name, and at last his expression shifted to intrigue.
“Show me the magic circle. The Sleep he taught you.”
“A-all right.”
Figuring it was best to comply, Simon unfolded Phantasus’ original Sleep circle in his palm. It wasn’t something worth hiding anyway.
Bahil stared at it for a long while before sighing like a lament.
“The circle is already messy. Clearly you’ve used it in combat repeatedly. You won’t be able to learn a different version of Sleep now.”
“I—is that a problem?”
“Not exactly.”
Bahil sat again.
“This is the Sleep of the renowned former president Phantasus. You’ve inherited an exceptional curse. It was no small decision for him to hand it over.”
Simon breathed a sigh of relief. Bahil tapped the armrest with his fingers.
‘Though it bothers me.’
Bahil wanted to shape Simon Follentia, the pure white canvas of genius, solely with the curses he himself taught. This outside “impurity” irritated him.
“Since it happened before course registration, I’ll overlook it.”
Bahil’s eyes gleamed as he raised a finger.
“But in curses, I am your primary instructor. If you ever learn another curse, I expect you to inform me.”
“Yes, understood.”
“Still, as your Katarology professor, I can’t let this pass without feedback. When you used Sleep in the field, did you notice anything that could be improved?”
Simon studied the circle of Phantasus’ Sleep resting in his palm.
It pierced most curse resistance, couldn’t be dispelled by Cancellation, was invaluable even against clerics, and was fast and powerful. The only drawback was the need for direct touch with the cursed palm—but the potency far outweighed that. With enough mastery, it could evolve into higher spells like Sleeping Deimos, capable of long-range application.
But what stood out most was—
“Range.”
Simon said.
“Only being able to stack on one target at a time is limiting. If it could put multiple enemies to sleep—”
Suddenly Bahil leapt up, not waiting to hear the rest. He wiped the entire blackboard clean in broad sweeps, then seized the chalk.
Clackclackclackclackclack—
His hand blurred as curse formulas poured onto the board.
“Wow…”
Simon was dumbfounded watching the blackboard fill in moments. Bahil had surely never seen Phantasus’ Sleep before.
True, Bahil couldn’t perfectly wield it in practice—his soul already carried his own version. Phantasus’ power came from refining Sleep to its utmost limit.
Even so, Bahil’s theoretical genius was flawless.
“Complete.”
With a final mark, Bahil dropped the chalk to the floor. Only thirty minutes had passed.
“Phantasus’ Original. Bahil’s Remade. And now, Simon’s—”
His lips curled.
“—Wide-Area Sleep. Accept it without hesitation. A gift, for you.”
Simon could only laugh in disbelief.
‘This man is truly—’
A genius beyond reason.
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters