Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner

Everything was dark.

Simon's head began to ache and dizziness washed over him as he felt disorientated inside the darkness. He had no way of knowing which way was up or down, and he had completely lost his balance.

It must've been at least ten minutes since he entered the card, and yet the darkness remained.

Then…

[1 person entering the attacking team.]

[All members of the defense team (15/15) have entered.]

[All members of the attacking team (15/15) have entered.]

'!'

Finally, a new message popped up. It looked like all the attacking team had entered, too.

[Welcome. You are now one of the 'Guardians' of the Aeon Kingdom.]

It was nice to be a guardian, but what mattered most to Simon was this nauseating darkness ending.

[What took you so long?]

Just then, a hand came out from the pitch darkness.

The white, slender hand grabbed Simon's hand and pulled him over.

[Over here, dumbass.]

Simon could see light blue hair fluttering in the darkness.

As if charmed, Simon grabbed the hand and crossed over to the other side.

Whiiiiiiiiiish!

Blinding sunlight stabbed his eyes, and a cold breeze ruffled his hair.

The first thing Simon saw when he emerged from the darkness was a beautiful girl with hair the color of the sky spread around him.

"Let's go, Simon!"

Said Meilyn with a wink. Next to her, Rick, who had entered inside a water droplet, laughed while supporting the back of his head with his arms.

"You were the 15th person to come in! It was a close call, but 'Operation: Firework Signals' was a success, too!"

When Simon looked around, he saw other students surrounded by transparent water droplets.

There were 15 people, including Simon himself.

All of them were on the defending team.

"Let's go!"

The water droplets shattered, and the 15 students began to fall down.

Simon's eyes widened. Below him was a large castle, standing like a tower.

It was the castle Rick had drawn on the board, brought to life.

Simon couldn't help but let out a gasp. And then, he laughed pleasantly.

"After all, you're still a kid."

Meilyn let out a small laugh.

Soon, their descent slowed, and all 15 defending team members landed on top of the castle. The air smelled like old bricks, with a hint of gunpowder appearing every once in a while.

'So the villagers of this world aren't humans, huh?'

Every one of them were human-animal hybrids. 'Rat humans', with rat ears and tails. Although they were far from the monsters known as island rat men.

'Endolas Vaudeville sure likes animals…'

The full-grown adult of this species stood at the height of Simon's waist. Their weapons in their hands were small, and their houses were small, too. They were running around the castle nervously.

A soldier was getting scolded by his senior for dropping their quiver, a child soldier was writing a letter to someone before the battle, and an old man had oil stains all over his face.

Every little scene was so meticulously alive.

It was so realistic that it felt like they had been dropped into a real war.

"Oh, Carrot!"

"Mirie! It's been a while!"

Meanwhile, the students were greeting familiar faces. When Simon looked around to see if he recognized anyone,

"Ah!"

He spotted one familiar face, a boy with glasses.

"Fitzgerald!"

A fellow 'mutant' club member.

He was as much of a bookworm as ever, still holding a leatherbound tome in one hand even in a situation like this.

"Simon."

He closed the book in his hand, [A small ball launched by a bluff], and approached. The two casually shook hands.

"Nice to see you here! I'm glad we're on the same team."

"Yeah, me too."

Not knowing anyone, Meilyn snooped around Simon with her hands clasped behind her.

"You know him?"

"I do."

Simon took a step back and introduced the two of them to each other.

"This is Meilyn Villenne. She's from Ivory Tower. And this is Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald…"

"Ingels."

Meilyn's eyes widened at Fitzgerald's blunt response.

"Ingels? You mean, the Ingels family?"

Judging from how Meilyn reacted, it seemed like a big family. The two shook hands rather formally.

"It's been a while since I encountered a person from such a great family."

"Not as great as the Villennes of the Ivory Tower."

As the two children of high nobles clasped hands, Rick joined in from the side.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Rick Hayward."

Meilyn frowned.

"You stay out of this, commoner! So undignified."

"Undignified, huh? Says the daughter of a noble who spills food all over herself while eating. "

"Wh-When did I—!!"

As the students joked and laughed to ease the tension, the palace gates opened, revealing a bald man in armor.

Of course, he was also a rat-human, just like everyone else here.

"Squeak squeak! Dear Guardians! We've been waiting for you!"

Rick raised his hand and greeted him warmly.

"Woah! Old man Yomong! Hello!"

It was almost like greeting an old man in the neighborhood. The eyes of the man called Yomong widened.

"S-Squeak? I haven't even introduced myself yet. How did you know my name…?"

"Ah! Didn't I tell you? I'm actually a psychic! I can read people's minds. Let me see if I can guess your next line, too!"

Said Rick, bowing politely.

"Squeak squeak! His Majesty is waiting for all of you. Let me guide you into the palace."

"Hm!! H-How did you?!"

Meilyn pulled on Rick's ear.

"Stop doing that. It's embarrassing us!"

"Ow! Ouch! You're gonna rip my ear off!"

Fitzgerald blinked as he watched the two of them quarrel.

"A fight?"

Simon smiled bitterly.

"…Our group is kind of just like this."

* * *

* * *

There was a little bit of commotion, but the 15 students were safely escorted into the palace by Yomong.

As expected from a kingdom's palace, it was quite huge. The central hall alone could easily fit several thousand people.

'There are villagers in the palace, too.'

Women and children ran about, and food was being served at numerous stations.

"Squeak. This way, please."

Soon, they were facing a rat-human with a benevolent smile, sitting on the throne of this great palace. Like the other villagers, he had rat ears and was wearing a crown beneath them.

"Squeak squeak! Welcome! Righteous guardians!"

The king stood up from his throne and greeted them with a weighty voice. The villagers, who were receiving their food, turned and cheered as well.

"Your appearance is all according to the prophecy! The whole of the kingdom has been waiting for you!"

The guardians. In this setting, the students were otherworldly warriors sent down by the creator.

They were all legitimate commanders authorized to lead the soldiers in the name of the hing. They were also guaranteed escorts of numerous soldiers.

While his ears were focussed on listening to the king, Simon's eyes looked to the people being fed, the lines so long that they reached the end of the throne room.

Perhaps Meilyn was also curious about that, so she raised her hand.

"Your majesty, why are those villagers in the palace?"

"Squeak squeak! I shall show you myself!"

The king brought the students and led them behind his throne.

Rustle!

Behind the throne was an underground space made of dark rocks. Old men, women, and children were gathered in it.

"This is an obsidian cave. Squeak."

The king explained.

"It has been here since before the founding of our glorious kingdom. It is also why Aeon Castle is positioned on such a defensible vantage point. Our ancestors built it on top of a mountain range and obsidian mines."

It was so wide and deep that light vanished long before one could see the bottom. On every floor, citizens were sitting down, cowering.

Simon walked over and tapped the rock with the back of his hand.

"Is it really safe here? It looks like it could collapse when the war happens."

"Squeak squeak. Do not fear. The obsidian mines are the safest place in the kingdom. These walls are so durable that, even if the entire castle were to collapse, my subjects will be safe inside the mines."

Simon nodded.

He wasn't sure about how exactly obsidian may've been modified in this fantasy world, but from the little he knew, obsidian was known for its high durability.

This time, another student raised his hand.

"What if the enemy breaks into the mines and comes up to the king?"

"Squeak squeak. There's no need to worry about that! The only entrance to the mine is right here. The royal palace at the very top of the castle. That is why I had gathered all the citizens inside the mines."

The king placed his hand on his chest with a stern voice.

"I plan to die on this throne. I will never use my people as a shield."

"…Your Majesty."

Meilyn looked slightly touched. Rick gave a thumbs up.

"You don't even have to worry about them coming this far!"

"Squeak! Of course. The evil Khan kingdom will be attacking us in a matter of hours. They are coming to plunder and pillage our lands, and all that remains is this capital. All of our people are ready to fight to the death."

The king turned to the students, his expression gravely serious, and continued,

"Please lead the soldiers and defend against the enemies. If we can hold out this day, no, half a day, then the reinforcements will arrive! Squeak!"

Rick replied as a representative, hitting his chest.

"Please, just count on us!"

* * *

The difference in numbers was absolute.

Two thousand against twenty thousand.

The attackers outnumbered the defenders 10 to 1.

Although they had the castle, it could be seen at a glance that this old, dilapidated castle was far from a solid fortress.

Since the castle was built with the tiny limbs of the rat humans, it was fairly small, the gates were worn, and the walls were low. Of course, it would be a reasonable size for rat humans, but necromancers could easily scale those walls using jet-black.

It was a setting where the defending team would almost always be pushed back, but time was on the defending team's side.

Elaborating more about the siege, Rick talked about what he experienced from both victories the Aeon and Khan kingdoms, and he also mentioned that the ending conditions were fixed.

If the reinforcements of the Aeon Kingdom arrived after the defenders survived for long enough, then the defending team won. If the castle fell and the king died first, the Khan Kingdom won.

"Then, let's spread out!"

Leaving the palace, the students agreed to meet up again in two hours after taking a quick look around the castle and checking the crucial points.

"The castle's structure, supplies, food, and more, keep changing every game. We need to check them every time."

Sometimes there was a giant catapult. Other times, there was a reinforcing coating that defenders could apply to gates, a moving defense tower, or a flying horse.

Simon decided to go around the castle by himself. Rick agreed and told him some checkpoints. Simon was told to go down the palace and check out the battlements, and also the supply warehouse along the way.

Simon came down the castle stairs and looked around.

For a castle built on top of a mountain range and mines, the ground was hard to see, and the hill it stood on was steep.

It was a good place to defend, but Simon felt there could be a lot of people who fall to their deaths while going about their daily lives.

'Ah, found it! The supply warehouse.'

Without difficulty, Simon found the warehouse, a key checkpoint, and headed inside.

Rick said that all the supplies here were able to be used in a multitude of ways. Simon rummaged around to see what he could find."

"Mister, what is this?"

Simon held up a black ball that looked like a fruit in a box. The warehouse keeper looked at it and said,

"It's an oil fruit, guardian! There is vegetable oil inside it, so if you crack it open and light it with fire, it burns well. You may take the rest of it, guardian!"

"Is that so?"

Simon smiled as he stored it into his subspace.

'I think I'll go with fire spells for the skeleton mages this time.'

It had been nearly a week after his creation of the first skeleton mage and, today, the third BDMAT.

In the meantime, Simon's summoning magic had improved by leaps and bounds.

"Everyone, come out."

The subspace opened up, and eight skeleton mages prostrated themselves.

Simon conjured a magic circle.

Whirr!

The first magic circle.

Whirr! Whirr! Whirr!

Then a second, third, and fourth magic circle.

Simon moved his fingers, skillfully controlling the magic circles in the air. The circles printed out different numbers in front of him.

{Simon Original - Magivv System}

Of course, it was inspired by the Magiste system he had seen in the Summoning classes.

Soon, Simon's Cloud flowed out and acted like wires, connecting the magic circle in the center to the skulls of the eight skeleton mages.

The currently registered spell on the skeleton mages was a jet-black ice elemental spell: 'Frost Bolt'.

"I'll change it to 'Dark Blaze', a fire spell."

As Simon controlled the magic circle in the center, the magic circles engraved on the skeleton mage's skulls began to change.

Originally, changing the skeleton mage's registered spell was extremely tricky, but Simon had his Cloud. By utilizing it, he could simply overlay the configuration of the central magic circle onto the skeleton mages.

Whirrrr!

"Application complete."

Simon turned off the magic circle and the cloud. He decided to make one mage use the skill as a test.

"Dark Blaze."

Fwooosh!

A magic circle formed on the staff lifted up by the skeleton mage, and flames spewed from it.

Simon nodded in satisfaction.

"Alright, let's go."

Rattle! Rattle!

Simon led the way, and the undead mages followed.

As he walked through the streets, some of the rat people around him began whispering in fright.

"…H-He's scary, squeak."

"Squeak squeak! Still, guardians are our allies, so that's a relief."

Simon made the skeleton mages to form a line behind him so it was clear they were under his control.

'While I'm at it…'

Simon looked toward the castle as if reaffirming his resolution.

'I'm definitely going to make the Aeon Kingdom win, and win the top prize as well!'

——