Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner

Simon and Camibarez teleported back to Kizen.

The students who came in first had already lined up, waiting to be evaluated, and Simon and Camibarez also lined up behind them.

'Looks like everyone had to struggle.'

Looking at the rips and tears in everyone's clothes, no one came out of the assessment unscathed.

The students who had returned from the fierce battle had brought the corpses of various venomous monsters.

There were dead toads, giant moths, spiders, and even a giant water snake.

In particular, Camibarez was afraid of the centipede monster of the students in front of them, so she was hiding behind Simon.

The line quickly shrank, and it reached the pair in front of them.

When they saw the centipede they had brought, Belya and the assistant teachers exclaimed in amazement.

Other students came around to watch, too.

"Hey, you did a great job! How did you hunt it?"

The male student answered Belya's question.

"First, I made the monster spit its venom at us, then ran away. In the meantime, my partner collected the venom, made an antidote to fight back, and we won."

"Cleverly done."

The assistant teachers were checking out the antidote. They dropped the centipede's venom and the antidote together on a piece of paper, then whispered to Belya.

"Mhm! The antidote is okay, too. We'll check the video, and if we don't see anything wrong, you'll get at least an A."

"Thank you!!"

The male student and female student cheered enthusiastically and hugged each other in celebration. Then, they pulled away from each other with a blush, belatedly realizing what they'd done.

Seeing this, Belya broke into a dumbfounded cackle.

"Look at these little bastards doing all sorts of things. Make sure to go straight to your dorms after class, not anywhere else, okay?"

"W-We won't go anywhere else!"

There were howls of laughter from all around. However, those who weren't laughing were gazing on in envy at the first pair to receive an A.

"Okay, next!"

The chief assistant teacher flipped the file in her hand.

"Simon Pollentia, and Camibarez Ursul— Gasp!"

There was a commotion at Simon's shredded attire and the pair of Desert Scorpions in Simon's hands.

"How can a desert scorpion be that big?"

"On top of that, you guys caught two of them!"

Their reactions weren't bad. It seemed like Simon and Camibarez hunted a bigger and stronger one than the teachers thought.

"Aren't they supposed to be this big?"

Asked Simon.

"Nah, they're usually half this size. Didn't you guys get hurt hunting these?"

"Mmm… Well, I did almost die."

Simon laughed comfortably as he said so, but Camibarez, next to him, closed her eyes as if she was afraid to even recall it.

The assistant teachers lifted the broken off claws and tails to examine them. Although the creatures were now nothing but remains, they could still estimate how big the desert scorpions they hunted were.

Some assistant teachers approached with tools to collect the venom. Seeing that they were being careful not to splatter venom on themselves, Belya stood up.

"Forget it. I'll taste it myself."

She licked the venom from the remains of the desert scorpion's body with her bare tongue.

Next, she took Camibarez's antidote placed on a vial, dipped her finger in it, and placed it over her tongue. Then, she swallowed, smacking her lips.

"Oh! That's pretty good!"

"Thank you, Professor!"

Said Camibarez, bowing her head.

There was no kit in the world that could identify poisons as reliably as Belya's tongue.

She smirked, flashing her jagged triangular teeth.

"Well done, both of you. I give you guys an A+."

"Woahh!"

Simon and Camibarez let out a cheer of joy and hugged each other. The assistant teachers gave them a look that seemed to say, 'Here we go again.'

"…Sis."

One of the assistant teachers glanced at the chief assistant teacher.

"Yeah. I'll be damned if I do the next performance assessment by pairing a boy and a girl."

The chief assistant teacher sighed, feeling a sting in her side.

Still, she smiled on in delight, seeing the two of them in pure joy.

"Well done! Return the necklaces, then you may leave!"

"Okay, Teacher!"

* * *

After proudly achieving the top grade, Simon and Camibarez decided to wait for Meilyn and Rick instead of returning to the dormitory immediately.

Meilyn and Toto had gotten a B+, which wasn't too bad after all that fuss.

"…Toto?"

However, after only half a day, Toto was staggering, looking almost like a skeleton.

"S-Simon."

Toto walked over to Simon and said with the frailty of a dying man,

"How did you survive all this time with Meilyn? I may as well have resurrected myself at this point…"

"Hey!!"

Shouted Meilyn, her face flushed red.

"Weren't you guys talking about me behind my back again?!"

At the sudden appearance of Meilyn, Toto cowered like a little rabbit standing before a predator.

Simon smiled and asked,

"Isn't Meilyn kind?"

"Sh-She's kind and all, but… she makes you… a little mentally exhausted…"

"R-Really? That doesn't happen when she's with me, though."

"That's because you're—"

Toto tried to stop himself in time, but it was too late. Meilyn came running in, handing him a jet-black-infused knuckle sandwich.

Rick and Kathryn's team were back, too. They got a pretty average grade, a C+.

Kathryn complained to her group mates about how hard it was, but Rick was grinning as he stretched his back.

"Ah~ that was so fun! I wish all the performance assessments were like this!"

The students shook their heads as they looked at Toto and Kathryn's reactions.

"So Simon and Cami were what kept them together."

"I know, right?"

"I hope they never leave Group 7."

"Do you want to die?!"

Meilyn ran over them with a reddened face to punish them.

There was a roar of laughter.

Then a yelp of pain.

* * *

* * *

And so, the performance assessment for Poisonous Alchemy ended without incident.

After resting well for that night, Simon entered the library early in the morning with his textbooks.

He had recently gotten into the habit of waking up early in the morning. It was refreshing to go into the library when there weren't many people around, too.

"Huzzah."

Simon sat down in his usual favorite seat, surrounded by bookshelves, and opened Bahil's custom Curses textbook.

He had learned Indolence, the curse of painlessness, and Hostility, the curse of enmity. Now, he had two more to go before he could use Compellonia.

Just when he was about to take his quill out and study the next curse…

'Ugh.'

A person he didn't want to see appeared in the library. Simon quickly ducked down and lifted his book to cover his face.

'…Professor Walter.'

Professor Walter was chatting in the library, surrounded by a throng of female students.

Walter had been appointed to the faculty with the recommendation of Silage, who was away on an important mission. For a rookie professor, he was surprisingly skillful at leading the class.

He was also rather enchanting, his brown hair reminiscent of fallen leaves, his face that of a sculpture, his horn-rimmed glasses perfectly accentuating his sharp jawline, and his voice soft and friendly.

As could be seen from the reactions of the girls talking to him now, he was more approachable than any other professor at the school, and he had built up a strong sense of trust.

'Hmmm.'

Of course, in many ways, Simon was suspicious of him, but he tried not to show it.

After all, it was through him that he'd gotten the Cloud that Silage had developed, and he'd been offered to be his direct disciple.

'Maybe I'm just being too sensitive.'

"How diligent of you, studying so early in the morning."

Simon turned around in surprise. Walter, who had been chatting with the girls, appeared right behind Simon.

"…H-Hello, Professor."

Simon greeted him with a forced smile.

"Your heart is beating fast and irregularly."

Said Walter with a gentle smile.

"I'm sorry if I startled you."

"N-No."

Simon quickly regained his composure.

He even had to manage his heart beats to feign composure with this man.

"How's the Cloud these days?"

"It's good."

Simon replied with a soft smile, just like Walter's.

His eyes flicked briefly to the fountain pen tucked into the front pocket of Walter's suit, then back to his face.

"I was able to attain good grades in the BDMATs thanks to the skill as well."

"Haha! I'm glad to hear that. I've been able to stand proudly among the professors thanks to the active performance of the S.A.1."

His voice turned to a whisper.

"Have you given some thought to my offer, then?"

He seemed to be referring to the offer to be his direct disciple. Simon shook his head.

"I'm sorry, sir. I haven't changed my mind yet."

"I see."

Walter lightly placed his hand on Simon's shoulder.

"Good luck with your studies, andI'll see you in class."

As he walked away at a leisurely pace, Walter suddenly looked back and said,

"I've prepared a lot for this class, so it should be fun."

You could see several students speaking to him striking up friendly conversation with him wherever he went.

Simon stared at Walter's back for a moment, then lowered his head and returned his attention to studying curses.

* * *

The first class of the morning was Hemomancy.

As usual, the four members of Group 7 huddled together and talked.

"I'm most worried about the performance assessment in Hemomancy."

Sighed Meilyn heavily, resting her chin on her hand.

"A dark spell involving the heart… Doesn't that sound a little too hypothetical?"

Simon and Camibarez nodded. Rick chuckled and crossed his arms.

"I have an idea that is perfect for you. You know, a spell that creates a cold heart! It allows the caster to not freak out no matter what kind of scary story they listen—"

"Please use your brain, and then your mouth. Or preferably just your brain,"

Said Meilyn with a sour expression. Rick rolled his eyes.

"By the way, you do realize that you've been a little cranky lately, ever since your performance assessment in Poisonous Alchemy, right?"

She immediately exploded.

"Hey! What did I do? I'm being normal!"

"Look, look. You're getting mad again."

Rick turned his head.

"On the other hand, look this way. What happened to you two for you to grow so much fonder?"

Said Rick, looking at Simon and Camibarez sitting next to each other.

Camibarez leaned slightly toward Simon, then straightened herself up, startled by the comment.

'…I would've gotten an A+ if I'd also gone with Simon!'

The moment Meilyn was about to say something else rude, Walter walked into the classroom.

As the students quickly straightened up and sat down, he held up the attendance book and said,

"Class A! Let's check the attendance, shall we?"

He called out each student's name in an amiable voice.

"Carrel Oxarar."

"Here, sir~"

"Claudia Menzies."

"Here."

"Hector Moore."

"Present."

There was quite a difference between the female and male student's answers.

After checking the attendance, Walter looked around the room and said,

"You're all having a hard time with the performance assessment bombarded on you, right?"

Every single student in the class shouted, "Yes!!" in unison.

"I know I can't help you out directly, but I'd like to take some of the pressure off of you, at least for hemomancy."

Then, one student shouted out,

"Your performance assessment is also difficult, Professor!"

"That's right!"

"Hahaha!"

Walter laughed out loud, and the other students laughed, too.

Walter's class was the only one in which they could interact with a professor in a friendly, joking atmosphere.

"Don't worry too much. You just need to follow the lesson well."

Said Walter gently.

"Today, we're going to learn a special skill involving the heart. Who can tell me the importance of the heart in terms of Hemomancy?"

Several answers were given immediately.

The supply of blood, the circulation of blood, the maintenance of the core, and so on.

Walter nodded.

"The heart, which distributes blood and jet-black throughout the body, is the most important organ in the human body. Many necromancers study this heart to unlock its hidden power."

Walter pulled something from the table.

"One of the results is this item you're looking at here."

Simon's eyes widened.

'A-A syringe?'

Something very suspicious-looking came out of it.

'Is he planning on using that on a student??!'

——