Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner

Roke Island.

With all of the first-year students out of town for their dispatch evaluations, the professors had been summoned.

The professors of the first-year classes were gathered in the central banquet hall.

"Ugh, I said I don't want to wear shitty things like this!"

At the banquet hall’s entrance, a Poisonous Alchemy professor was throwing a tantrum. It was Professor Belya.

In addition to her usual rags, she was wearing a black suit jacket draped over her shoulders and proper pants.

"You're embarrassing me, so just shut up, please."

Next to Belya was the Professor of Combat Dark Magic, Hong Feng.

"Are you planning to see Nefthis in that weird outfit, if you can even call it an outfit?"

Belya scoffed.

"She was rumored to be a freak from Kizen. What happened? Seems like she’s adjusted just fine to life in the city, huh?"

"Don't talk so insidiously."

Said Hong Feng, a seriousness present in her tone.

"I've told you before, haven’t I? This place is worse than the grasslands we grew up in. If you show the slightest sign of weakness, they'll pounce on you worse than those dholes from back home and bite your head off. How long do you think they'll go easy on you because you've lived in a different cultu—"

Click.

Just then, the door opened and a dignified, elderly man stepped inside.

"Ah, ladies. Good evening."

It was the Professor of Mechanics of Jet-Black, Professor Eric Aura. Spotting the sisters, Hong Feng and Belya, he lifted up his hat to greet them.

Just as Belya was about to reply with her typical rudeness, Hong Feng stepped forward with lightning speed and poked the pressure points on Belya's neck, silencing her.

"Hello, Professor Eric!"

She then faked a friendly smile, clasping her hands together.

"It's so hard to see each other these days!"

"Hahah! It's because everyone is so busy preparing for class. BDMAT or something, you say? It takes time to adjust to changes as you get older, whew."

Eric faced Belya.

"In particular, I'm hearing a lot about your remarkable performance. I hope you'll continue to teach the students well."

Belya could only let out small exclamations like 'Agh!', or 'Ugh!', since she couldn't speak. In the meantime, Hong Feng and Eric exchanged a few perfunctory words and then casually parted ways, Eric heading inside another room at the end of the hallway they were in.

Tap! Tap!

Belya punched Hong Feng in the back and pointed at her neck with a ferocious look on her face.

Hong Feng let out a small sigh and used the tip of her index finger to release the clogged pressure point.

"Ah! Ah!"

Her voice finally came out again. Belya raised her eyebrows, glaring at Hong Feng.

"You've really gone nuts, haven’t you? I'mma melt you from head to toe!"

"We should hurry inside as well. Nefthis could arrive at any time."

Hong Feng pushed the back of the fuming Belya, taking her into the banquet hall.

The interior of the banquet hall was extremely luxurious. Wine and simple refreshments were being served at round tables, and several professors were sitting around, chatting.

At the appearance of the two female professors, several professors stood up and politely offered for the two to join them, but Hong Feng declined with a smile, taking a seat in the farthest corner. It was there she sat down the terrible bomb of poison that could explode at any moment.

"I'm begging you, please just behave."

"Tsk."

Belya frowned and placed her legs up on the table, but was immediately reprimanded by Hong Feng.

‘You can't do this, you can't do that.’

Letting the annoying sister's nagging go in one ear and out the other, Belya ordered the servants to bring them drinks. The pants she was forced to wear by Hong Feng had turned into some kind of punk statement thanks to the holes made from the poison.

"Nefthis is making her entrance!"

Just in time, the organizer had appeared.

All the professors rose from their seats.

Accompanied by Vice-President Jane, a small girl with flowing silver hair entered the banquet hall while waving.

When she saw the professors, she smiled broadly and waved to them.

"Hyallo everyone! How are you guys?"

The professors responded by politely bowing.

There was a large, comfortable-looking chair at the center of the stage in the banquet hall. Jane skillfully slipped her hands under Nefthis' armpits, scooped her up, and set her down in it. She then stepped back, standing behind the chair with her hands folded together.

"Seems like all the professors in charge of the first-years are here."

Jane spoke, looking around. She glanced at the sisters at the end of the room, Hong Feng and Belya, then returned her gaze to the center.

"We're here to hold a discussion in regards to the BDMAT. We'd like to hear the professors' honest opinions."

"Yeah! Yeah!"

Chimed in Nefthis, nodding her head.

Jane's head moved.

"Then, first, let's hear from Professor Dunkun, who requested for the meeting to take place. You may speak."

Professor Dunkun, who taught Poisonous Alchemy to other classes, rose from his seat.

He had recently been in a very bad mood because of his students' insistence on listening to Belya's lectures instead.

"Ahem! Hmph! Let me cut to the chase."

With his thick brown beard, he opened his mouth while taking a look around the room.

"Five BDMATs are still too many."

Some professors nodded silently. In fact, this had reached a certain level of consensus among the faculty.

"I think anyone can relate to this if you're in charge of any first-year class."

Dunkun talked wildly with an aggrieved expression.

" 'Is this related to the BDMAT?', 'Will this be applied to the BDMAT?’ Anything we do, the students only ask about the tests. As an educator, I'm getting sick and tired of it!"

His eyes furtively moved to glance very quickly at Belya, who arrogantly sat cross-legged.

"In fact, the difference in the concentration levels of the students in classes that actually involve the BDMAT and those that don't is quite large. I think there's something wrong with this! It's like the tail is wagging the dog!"

This time, Dunkun looked at Nefthis, who was sitting in her chair and smiling.

Seemingly in a good mood, she was swinging her legs underneath her while humming softly.

"I understand why you revived the BDMAT, which would normally start in the second year, and implemented it for the first-years! It was well-intentioned. It weakened the anti-Kizen faction, and it has had some positive effects on the students. However!"

Dunkun's voice was slowly getting louder and louder, and spit started flying out of his mouth.

"Now, we are starting to see the side effects. The most important factor is that our curriculum is being neglected! Students only think of using dark magic for the BDMAT, not pursuing the dark magic and knowledge in the textbooks! This kind of lopsided thinking can only have a negative effect on the development of students, who are still young!"

"Certainly."

Another professor intervened. It was a tall and thin female professor.

"Professor Dunkun somewhat exaggerated it, but it is true that the BDMAT is all that's on the students' minds. Wouldn’t you agree? It's stimulating, it's fun, and it's a stage to raise one's own reputation in front of a large group of people. Everyone couldn't care less about the actual lectures. Kizen's curriculum has never been treated so poorly before."

"Mhm, that's right. I think the BDMAT should be discontinued to improve the quality of the students!"

"To begin it with, the BDMAT itself was a way to correct the biased public opinion caused by the Saintess incident! Now that public opinion has stabilized, I see no reason for it to continue!"

Several professors expressed opposition to the BDMAT. Most of them were textbook-oriented professors, or professors who valued good theory and academic achievements.

Of course, there were also some professors who disagreed.

"The BDMAT in the first-years is the biggest hit event of Kizen this year. There will be a lot of backlash if we cancel something so important without good reason."

"There are a lot of positives about the BDMAT as long as you look at it as part of the classes, and not just as a test."

"The kids’ attention spans changed as well. Isn't combining the applied BDMAT issues with the theoretical textbook learning a basic skill for a professor in Kizen?"

There were definitely professors who valued the BDMAT. Most of them had achieved significant results with BDMAT-customized lectures.

* * *

* * *

Then, one hand was raised.

"May I make a comment?"

The noisy banquet hall fell silent in an instant.

Bahil, the Professor of Curses, slowly stood up. The suit he wore was white as snow.

Nefthis was smiling as well.

"Yeah, go ahead!"

"But… first."

Bahil walked over to Nefthis and fumbled with his suit.

Then, as if he were handing a flower to a lady…

"It's ice cream!!"

He held out a flower of ice cream.

Bahil was the only person in the world who always carried ice cream in a subspace enchanted with ice magic, just in case he ran into Nefthis.

"Sigh…"

While Jane sighed heavily with a disapproving look, Nefthis' eyes twinkled.

The moment she grabbed the ice cream and opened her tiny mouth as much as possible to take a big bite—

Grab.

Jane, standing behind her, snatched it away.

"You promised you'd only eat five a day. I'll be confiscating this one."

The ice cream was taken away, and Nefthis took a bite of air. Of course, she couldn't taste anything.

Her smiling face began to stiffen. Her lips quivered in disbelief, and her big blue eyes radiated sadness.

"My ice cream!"

Nefthis resisted furiously and began to beg. Jane, of course, didn't budge, and raised her hand holding the ice cream over her head.

Ka-thu-thu-thud!

Just then, there was a loud noise from the corner seat.

Belya jumped up and shouted in horror.

"Wh-What is the meaning of this?! Vice-President! Do you really want us all to die?"

“…What?"

"Give that back right now! Can't you see that monster is raging?!"

Belya stared at Nefthis as if she saw a horrible monster.

‘…What the hell is she talking about?'

Jane sighed and placed her hand on her forehead.

One would wonder what the chances of so many fools gathering in one place was.

And to think that these are the world's greatest necromancers… A small-gathering in town would have more discipline than this.

Jane unwillingly returned the ice cream to Nefthis. She calmed down after having received the ice cream, and Belya sat back in her seat with a feeling of relief.

"Let's continue the discussion, then."

As if used to it, Bahil spoke with a relaxed tone and returned to his seat. It seemed like he hadn't lost his pace at all due to the commotion.

"I believe there's a lot of valid points to both sides of the argument. The BDMAT has greatly improved student motivation and performance. The concern that textbook content and theories are becoming stale, and that the professors are prioritizing BDMAT over truly teaching the knowledge. Yes, it's all valid."

Bahil shrugged.

"If we try to look at this in a different light, it means that both ideas, the pushing of the five BDMATs and ending it immediately, are both too extreme. We have to compromise."

The crowd turned silent at that. Bahil looked Nefthis in the eye and continued.

"Here's what I propose."

Bahil suggested combining the 4th and the 5th BDMAT.

However, with one hundred candidates to be eliminated, he also suggested significantly increasing the test length to four days and five nights.

"I don't know."

Jane was the one who responded first.

"After the 5th BDMAT, there's also the second-year promotion exam. I think two big back-to-back exams would put too much pressure on the students."

Dunkun, the one who opposed the BDMAT, carefully spoke while checking Bahil's reaction.

"If we combine the two tests, wouldn't that only make the BDMAT more important?"

Just then, another hand was raised.

"Could you please hear me out?"

It was Walter, the new Hemomancy professor who had stepped in as Silage's replacement.

Jane nodded.

"Go ahead, Professor Walter."

"Thank you."

Walter bowed his head and began to explain,

"Let's try to continue with the BDMAT, but try to do it simultaneously along with the regular season of performance assessments."

The professors found themselves nodding in agreement as he elaborated with the details.

"Hmm!"

"That doesn't sound bad."

And thus, Walter's proposal was overwhelmingly supported by all the professors, including Bahil.

A new wind of change was blowing through Kizen.

* * *

"Huzzah!"

"You guys didn't forget anything, right?"

It was now the last day of their Vengeance dispatch. They'd grown attached to it already.

“…Huff, I see. You guys are going back to Kizen now."

In front of the Vengeance lobby, Agent Blake and his secretary were waiting.

Blake was sobbing and wiping his eyes with a handkerchief.

"Oh, why are you crying, Agent?"

Teased Meilyn as she approached with a smile. Blake blew his nose into his handkerchief.

"I was lucky to have nice guys like you. I'll never forget what happened this week."

"Neither will we, Agent!"

Blake being unable to speak because he was too occupied with crying, his secretary sighed and explained instead,

"A servant from Kizen has prepared a teleportation magic circle in the front yard. You can now return to Roke Island."

“Thank you as well, secretary!"

The secretary lightly shook hands with Simon and Rick and hugged Meilyn, laughing rowdily. Their personalities were quite fitting, so they spent the days like siblings.

"Secretary!"

This time, Camibarez rushed in and hugged the secretary. She had teary eyes, too. Perhaps Blake's tears had influenced her.

The secretary gently stroked Camibarez' hair.

"It's important to survive in Kizen, but I don't want you to lose yourself."

"Yes! Thank you, secretary!"

Camibarez smiled.

"Take care of Sasha for us!"

"Of course. Agent Blake and I will be responsible for her and take good care of her."

Blake agreed to be Sasha's godfather and guardian. They would see her as soon as she became well enough.

While everyone was saying their goodbyes,

"Oh."

Meilyn's head moved.

"Isn't that over there Agent Seiwirr?"

The shoulders of Seiwirr, sneaking out of the back door with his office belongings, jumped up to his ears like a shoplifter who’d been caught stealing.

——