Chapter 694
Two hours before entering the Student Council room.
Simon and Kamibarez, who had safely returned to Roke Island, immediately followed the underlings’ guidance toward vice-chancellor Keyzen Jane’s research office.
Scratch, scratch—
Jane was still at work.
She wore her work glasses and moved her quill. A neat, refined signature landed on the designated line, accompanied by short explanations and instructions beneath it.
Like a machine, one document slid aside, and the next sheet was placed onto her desk.
“……”
Simon and Kamibarez sat as politely as they could, backs straight, hands resting on their knees.
A heavy silence filled the room.
Though the room wasn’t particularly hot, sweat still formed.
Sarak—
At last, she finished the final document, placed her quill on the inkpot, removed her glasses with a tired sigh. Her deep violet eyes fixed intently on the two.
Simon and Kamibarez straightened their backs even more.
“We’ve completed the special training and returned safely, Professor Jane!”
“R, returned!”
Simon spoke, and Kamibarez quickly echoed him.
Jane clasped her hands lightly, her long finger tapping twice on the back of the opposite hand.
“You’re late.”
At last, her lips moved.
Her voice was calm, yet icy.
“I’m sorry. There was a slight complication at the dispatch site…!”
“I’ve already received a report on the situation, Student Council President.”
Jane cut Simon off, leaning back against her chair.
“Extending the mission period isn’t something unusual in Keyzen. However—”
Her violet eyes narrowed.
“This schedule wasn’t for a mission evaluation, nor a dispatch assessment, but simply part of a ‘special training’ curriculum. Besides receiving lessons from your mentor, it seems you involved yourselves far more in local affairs than was necessary.”
Simon’s face stiffened.
“And then there’s one who didn’t even submit a report for that extension.”
This time, her gaze shifted to Kamibarez.
Startled, Kamibarez hiccupped.
“If the mission ended earlier than expected, you should’ve returned immediately. Instead, you chose to remain, so you could return with your friend, only to get caught up in an incident at someone else’s dispatch site.”
Kamibarez’s face flushed red, like a ripe apple.
Her small bat wings drooped down weakly behind her.
“Both of you were too eager. What would you have done if you’d been seriously injured, or caused major trouble at the site?”
“…We’ll restrain ourselves.”
“I, I’m sorry.”
The two quickly apologized.
Jane quietly closed her eyes.
“Of course.”
“?”
“As a professor of this school, I had to give you harsh words.”
She looked at them again.
“But both of you did the right thing. As necromancers of Keyzen, you didn’t turn away from those in danger, and you saved many lives. You fulfilled the duty of someone who wields power.”
Simon and Kamibarez’s eyes widened.
“You may take pride in that.”
Jane pushed forward confirmation papers, each stamped with a special training evaluation grade of ‘A+’.
“But next time, strive to do the right thing while following the rules.”
“Professor Jane!”
Kamibarez’s eyes brimmed with tears. Simon too felt deeply encouraged as he accepted the confirmation paper.
“And including the two of you, the students who participated in the special training have missed quite a few regular classes. Professors and teaching assistants from each subject will make time to hold supplementary classes.”
She now handed them a schedule for the makeup lessons.
“To catch up with the others, it’s going to be tight.”
Simon quickly scanned the schedule.
After-school hours, weekends, everything was filled with classes.
Of course, after missing over two weeks of classes, makeups were natural, and they had braced for it. If anything, they should be grateful the school was arranging them.
“Who will be teaching the supplementary classes?”
Since the students who had gone out for special training all had different classes, it seemed unfair to ask professors to come in on weekends just for a handful of students.
“Traditionally, supplementary classes are conducted by the head teaching assistants of each subject. However,”
Jane closed her eyes,
“There will be subjects where the professor personally comes in to teach.”
Simon immediately thought that for Darkness Dynamics, Jane herself would certainly teach directly.
“Important performance evaluations remain, and soon the final exams. Your peers have grown considerably in these past two weeks. Clear your distracted minds from the dispatch and focus again on school life to achieve good results.”
The two answered loudly, “Yes!”
“And……”
“?”
Jane hesitated a moment, then propped her chin on her hand and closed her eyes.
“You’ll naturally find out, so it’s not appropriate for me to say more. You may go now.”
* * *
Simon and Kamibarez left Jane’s research office.
Since regular classes would only resume tomorrow, they still had some free time today.
Simon said,
“Kami, shall we stop by the student council room?”
Kamibarez nodded energetically.
“Yes! Let’s greet Maelyn and Dick! I wonder how they’ve been.”
The two walked straight across the second-year campus and entered the student council building.
People in sleek black uniforms stood with their hands behind their backs. They were ‘direct subordinates’, who only moved at the orders of the student council.
Recognizing the two, they bowed politely.
“Welcome back, President Simon, Secretary Kamibarez.”
Then their leader, Mojo, stepped forward.
“It’s been a while, Mojo! Nothing happened in the student council, right?”
At that, Mojo flinched slightly, but quickly bowed respectfully.
“Yes.”
“Please keep up the hard work.”
“Thank you for your efforts!”
Passing the direct subordinates, the two headed toward the student council room. Kamibarez said,
“But Simon, didn’t the subordinates seem a little strange?”
“Did they? I didn’t really notice.”
Simon said that, as he opened the door to the room.
Clatter—!
As the door opened, the familiar sight of the student council room appeared before them.
The president’s desk, the wide comfortable sofa, and the window overlooking the campus, all unchanged.
“Mm.”
And sprawled across the sofa, a boy scratched his messy hair as he opened his eyes.
“What, who… huh?”
Simon smiled.
“Long time no see, Dick.”
Kamibarez fluttered her wings in greeting.
“Dick! We’re back!”
“Simon! Kami!”
With a loud “Ooooh!”, Dick threw off his blanket and jumped up. But his beaming face quickly shifted, as he spoke.
“No, wait, this isn’t the time for that! Something big happened! While you two were away from school…!”
Clatter, clatter, clatter!
Just then, hurried footsteps came from outside. The student council door opened, and a girl with stream-like sky-blue hair rushed in, panting.
“Mojo told me! That Simon and Kami were back… ah!”
“Maelyn!”
“We missed you!”
But Maelyn’s expression was grim.
“Why did you two come back so late! Something terrible happened!”
“?”
There was no time for pleasantries. Maelyn shouted,
“Senior Aizel has returned!”
* * *
And so, back to the present.
Without even a moment to share the joy of reunion, the student council room was shrouded in heavy silence.
The current strongest in Keyzen, the third-year top student, Aizel Bringer, had returned.
That meant, the contract left by former Student Council President Phantasus would now come into effect.
Simon rested his chin on his hand, lost in thought.
‘Originally, it should’ve been Senior Aizel who became the Student Council President.’
But Aizel had been dispatched on a long-term mission from the very start of the semester. From Keyzen’s standpoint, they couldn’t leave the position of Student Council President empty for so long, so other third-years were put up as candidates.
At that time, the former president Phantasus insisted it had to be either Aizel or Simon, no one else. Since the Student Council was essentially a “student self-governing body”, the word of the former president carried more weight than that of the professors. In the end, the arrangement was made for Simon to hold the seat of president until Aizel returned.
The terms of the contract were as follows:
First, during Aizel’s absence, Simon Follentia would serve as Student Council President.
Second, the third-years would respect the authority of the interim president, and in return, the president would not interfere excessively in third-year affairs.
Third, if Aizel returned while Simon was still maintaining the presidency without issue, and Simon wished to continue, then a duel evaluation between the two would determine the rightful president.
Fourth, if Aizel inherited the presidency from Simon under the third clause, then Aizel must unconditionally recommend Simon Follentia as the next president.
It was a pact to curb the tyranny of the third-years, and to secure Simon’s position as president.
Thus, the unusual situation of a second-year Student Council President continued, and the third-years spent the semester in a strange sense of inferiority.
In truth, no one had expected Aizel’s return to be delayed this long, nor that Simon and his members would manage the student council so well.
By the time everyone had grown accustomed to the phrase, “Second-year Keyzen Student Council President, Simon Follentia”—
—Aizel had returned!
After completing his long-term mission, Aizel had come back to the school.
Now Simon had to fight Aizel for the position of president.
“Yeah, I figured it was like a midsummer night’s dream.”
Hearing of Simon’s return, Malcolm, the Head of the Disciplinary Committee, appeared in the student council room.
He sprawled on the sofa, letting out a long sigh.
“As a committee member I got recognition from the school, the committee became an official organization, everything was going too well.”
“What are you babbling about? Why are you whining like that?”
Maelyn rolled her eyes as she spoke.
The answer came from Dick.
“If Simon steps down, the Disciplinary Committee under him will be completely replaced. Senior Aizel will fill it with his close third-year allies.”
It was true.
The current 330th Student Council had been built around Simon.
Vice president Maelyn, Treasurer Dick, Secretary Kamibarez— all of them had been appointed by Simon.
If Simon stepped down, it wouldn’t just be the president changing, the entire organization would shift. Aizel would naturally fill the positions with his own confidants, as was customary.
Simon looked at Dick and asked,
“Have the third-years made any moves yet?”
“Not yet.”
Dick shrugged his shoulders.
“Still, the third-years are ecstatic now that Senior Aizel’s back. They’ve always hated our second-year council. Once the rumor spreads that you’ve returned, they’ll probably show up any moment telling us to vacate.”
“I hate this. I hate it! It’s all so annoying!”
Maelyn clutched her forehead and groaned.
“We worked so hard! Cutting down on sleep and study time, staying up all night running huge events like the Dark Emperor, keeping everyone’s opinion of us high! And now they’re saying they’ll take all of our results away? Isn’t that too much? Just because they’re seniors?”
Of all people, it was the vice president who had poured the most love and effort into this student council.
So her sense of loss seemed the greatest.
“B, but still!”
Kamibarez forced a smile, fluttering her bat wings.
“We’re not parting forever, are we? We’ll keep seeing each other even if our majors are different, and once we’re third-years we’ll be together again!”
Maelyn silently hugged Kamibarez, and Kamibarez gently patted Maelyn’s head to comfort her.
It was then, when the mood felt heavy—
“Wait, hold on! Think about it!”
Dick suddenly jumped to his feet.
“Why’s everyone assuming we’ll just get kicked out? What if Simon wins against Senior Aizel in the duel?”
“……”
“……”
The student council members stared at him. Maelyn let out a deep sigh.
“Don’t dump impossible pressure on Simon.”
Dick broke into a sweat.
“N, no, I mean… there’s always a chance, right? I’m just saying, don’t throw away all hope!”
Even in Keyzen, which idolized pure skill, the wall of “year” was absolute.
Spending one more year at Keyzen, or one less, created a massive difference. The knowledge, experience, and growth gained within that year, the gap was immense.
‘That’s true.’
Back in his first year, Simon had only been assembling the most basic Ratman Skeletons. Now, he had created a Lich, a Dullahan, and was even setting his sights on assembling a Bone Dragon.
When he thought back to his first-year days, he felt just how crushing the difference in year-levels was.
Truthfully, Simon felt much the same as everyone else.
At the Dark Emperor event, he had seen the fight of “Ballack”, the third-year runner-up.
Honestly, without drawing on the power of a Legion Commander, he didn’t think he could win.
And now his opponent was Aizel, even stronger than Ballack.
‘It won’t be easy.’
As Simon folded his arms and sank into thought.
“President!”
Clatter!
The door to the student council room burst open, and students wearing golden badges strode inside.
“Are you here?”
Everyone’s eyes widened in shock.
‘Third-years!’
‘Already?’
A group of third-years had arrived, and among them were figures counted in the Top 10.
“Hello, President.”
Leonard, the representative of the Summonology Department, smiled and waved at Simon.
“Hello.”
Simon greeted him as well, looking straight ahead.
“Our Aizel has something to say.”
With those words, Leonard and the third-years stepped aside.
Step—
Step—
With slow footsteps, someone walked forward between the parting third-years.
‘The current strongest in Keyzen, Aizel Bringer.’
Simon rose to his feet.
This was a figure shrouded in rumor, someone he had never once met before.
Putting aside all other circumstances for the moment, Simon, as a fellow necromancer, felt his curiosity stir.
‘Just what kind of person is he?’
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