Necromancer Academy and the Genius Summoner-Chapter 296: Episode

In the Outskirts of Kelso.

From this vantage point, the collapse of the barrier was even more spectacular. The grand, magnificent wall shattered and rained down like shards of glass—a rare and breathtaking sight. A young woman watched it all with an impassive face. Dressed in a black robe over a white uniform, she stood with her hands shoved in her pockets, her eyes a storm of conflicting emotions.

"...La-Lady Lethe."

Beside her was Lirinet, her dormitory roommate. She, too, wore a brown robe and, after a nervous glance at Lethe, spoke cautiously.

"A-Are you sure this is the right thing to do? Letting a Saintess die like that."

"I don’t know if it’s right, but it’s correct," Lethe retorted cynically. "A middle-aged man turned into a Saintess with drugs? Ha! There’s no way Efnel would ever acknowledge something so filthy."

"St-Still, the fact that they dispatched paladins must mean they acknowledged her to some extent."

At Lirinet’s rebuttal, Lethe fell silent for a moment before speaking again. "Fine, I’ll be honest."

Lirinet gave her a questioning look.

Lethe tucked a strand of white hair behind her ear. "Honestly, no matter what anyone says, I’m the most likely candidate for Saintess on this continent. I’d rather sabotage the whole thing than let some bizarre fake steal my chance. Happy now?"

"...I-I don’t think that’s it, either."

Lirinet’s timid counterargument ignited a fire in Lethe’s eyes. "Oh, really? If I say that’s how it is, how is it not!"

"That blue-haired boy from Kizen."

Lethe froze. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"You did it for him, didn’t you? When he said he was going to Kelso, you reacted so fast you even stopped the paladins." Lirinet’s voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. "And that letter you got in the dorm... wasn’t that from the Kizen boy, too?"

"...Honestly." Lethe let out a hollow laugh. "Lirinet, your problem is that your mind only ever goes in ’that’ direction."

"A-Are you going to deny it?"

"Here, look at my face." Lethe turned to face her. "Tell me, what reason would I have to go that far just to help a necromancer?"

Lirinet silently pictured Simon. He was a necromancer, but he was undeniably handsome. "You must li—!"

"I’m warning you, think before you speak," Lethe growled, cutting her off just in time. Lirinet immediately clamped her mouth shut. Lethe stepped closer, her face inches from Lirinet’s. "You’re my roommate, right? So tell me. Do I look like the kind of person who falls head over heels for some guy?"

Lirinet racked her brain, trying to recall any man who had ever been involved with Lethe. Lethe and men. Scenes of Lethe with men... Hitting, kicking, hitting, slamming their heads into walls, hitting, kicking, hitting, kicking.

’Ugh.’ No matter how hard she tried, nothing but violence came to mind. This woman really was...

"I-I misspoke!" ’Hopelessly, utterly removed from romance!’

Once Lirinet admitted her mistake and apologized, Lethe coolly turned her back. "As long as you understand. Let’s go, Lirinet."

"Yes, Sister!" Lirinet chirped, her usual cheerfulness returning as she latched onto Lethe’s arm. "Hehe! Of course! There’s no way you’d do that, Sister Lethe! A woman who treats men like punching bags for a good workout, what would she—!"

"...Stop with the subtle digs."

"Okay," she chirped.

In any case, this neighborhood was crawling with too many necromancers for comfort. Just as the two were walking away from the village...

A man in a white robe, the stark opposite of Lethe’s black one, was walking from the other direction.

They passed each other, their black and white robes brushing for a fleeting moment.

Lethe froze and whipped her head around. "Wait, Si—"

But it was too late.

"Look at this, Simon!"

"Hey! Have you ever seen someone with the same Jet-Black color as you?"

The boy was surrounded by people—friends his age, chattering away boisterously.

"Sister Lethe!"

The sudden shout made her quickly turn back. Lirinet was pouting at her.

"How many times do I have to call you before you hear me!"

"Ah, um, my apologies."

"I said let’s go buy something to eat over there! Hurry up!"

Lethe forced a smile. "...Yes, let’s go."

After replying, she glanced back one last time. The man in the white robe had vanished as if he were never there.

---

Simon safely swapped places with Erzebet and rejoined his teammates. In the meantime, the situation was being swiftly managed. Sasha was immediately taken to a treatment center and scheduled for teleportation to the Dark Alliance for a more thorough examination. Though she hadn’t regained consciousness, her life was thankfully not in danger.

The Neutral Zone’s defense force began to arrive, assessing the situation and recovering the bodies. As news spread that a priest named Figaro, seeking the Saintess’s power, had trapped and massacred the villagers, the entire Neutral Zone erupted in outrage, and hostility toward Efnel surged.

Efnel’s response was one of bewilderment. Fortunately or unfortunately for them, the paladins sent to Figaro had been ambushed and neutralized by Lethe, allowing Efnel to completely deny any connection to him. They issued an official statement clarifying that they had never recognized him as a Saint and that this was an act of personal terrorism.

Kizen also dispatched the Crows to Vengeance to assess the situation, and Team 7 was questioned. At headquarters, a debate raged over whether to classify Simon and Team 7’s mission as a success or a failure. It was then that, surprisingly, Vengeance and Agent Block stepped forward to defend the students.

"The students are not at fault," they argued. "This is entirely a failure on Vengeance’s part."

They explained that Figaro, who had abducted Sasha, possessed skills equivalent to at least a 3rd-Circle necromancer, making it impossible for the students to have stopped him. They insisted that if their staff had been properly managed and a competent mentor assigned, the outcome would have been different. Kizen headquarters acknowledged this, and in the end, only Vengeance faced disciplinary action.

"I-I’m so sorry. It’s because of us..." Kamibarez and the others apologized, but Block reassured them. He insisted it was their mistake and that the organization wouldn’t be dismantled, given its long history of service to the Neutral Zone.

Seiwyr, now a target for disposal by both Vengeance and the Dark Alliance, was summoned to the Alliance. The students’ responsibility for the Kelso incident was nullified, but they were required to complete one more mission to fulfill their evaluation requirements. This time, however, they would be properly accompanied by their original mentor, Agent Block.

"Our next mission is the complete annihilation of the Sentinel Gang," Block announced. "It’s galling that they took a request from Efnel, so we’ve decided to use this opportunity to uproot them for good."

Despite having to undertake another mission, the members of Team 7 were in high spirits. After their experience with Seiwyr, working with their original mentor felt like a breath of fresh air. Block was a legend in the field, a man who held the Neutral Zone in the palm of his hand and was Vengeance’s most representative necromancer.

But as thrilled as the students were about the change in mentor...

"Agent! Have some of this," Meirin offered sweetly.

"Huh? Oh?"

...Block was even more thrilled.

"You mean you thought of me, too? Th-Thank you. Thank you so much!"

Block suffered from a severe case of ‘fear of teens.’ He hadn’t slept properly for days after hearing Kizen students were being dispatched, and the Seiwyr incident had only made him more anxious. But now that he was actually interacting with them, they were nothing like the rumors. He’d never met kids so kind and smart.

"So! What happened next? Tell us more!"

When Block shared stories of his past in the Neutral Zone, the students’ eyes lit up, and they begged him to talk all night.

"Are you really that curious? It’s just an old story..."

"Yes! Hurry!"

Unlike Seiwyr’s fabrications, Block’s stories were genuinely thrilling, real-life experiences, so the students’ rapt attention was only natural. Unaware of this, Block was simply dumbfounded by their reaction. And so, as he spent time with Team 7, he found himself overcoming his fear of the younger generation and bridging the generational gap in real time.

---

At the Sentinel Underground Hideout:

"Hnngh..."

The slicked-back-haired captain of the Sentinel Gang, the man who had orchestrated Sasha’s kidnapping, groaned as he lay back in a chair.

’To think I’d end up in prison in my lifetime.’

He had been defeated by the young necromancers from Kizen and handed over to the Neutral Zone’s defense force, but his subordinates had paid an enormous bail to get him out.

"Captain! We have a huge problem!" A gang member burst through the door, shouting.

The captain’s face contorted in a scowl. "What’s all the racket now? My head is pounding."

"N-Necromancers...!"

The gang member’s eyes rolled back as he collapsed. Behind him, a girl with sky-blue hair sauntered in, a sweet smile on her face.

"Hello? We meet again, mister."

The captain shot up as if he’d seen a ghost. "You’re that...! The necromancer girl from Kizen!"

The other gang members scrambled to their feet, pulling out knives with menacing glares. Meirin nonchalantly unfolded a prepared magic circle and floated it toward the ceiling.

‘Pierce of Blizzard.’

Ice awls shot from the ceiling in every direction. The charging gang members were either sent flying by the impacts or left rolling on the floor.

’HISS!’

A green poison began to snake its way through the basement.

"Hahaha! Poison gas, coming through!"

Dick and Kamibarez made their entrance. Dick threw enchanted nets and spread sticky poison on the floor, while Kamibarez fired a barrage of Blood Bullets, occasionally displaying surprising martial arts skills despite her small frame. The hideout, being a confined underground space, became a death trap. As the poison gas spread, dozens of men collapsed in an instant. In stark contrast, the young necromancers moved through the toxic haze without masks or any equipment, completely unharmed.

"Damn it! H-How did you find us!" the captain yelled, his face grim as he ducked behind a sofa. "Where are all the guys who opened their cores?!"

"Agent Block went to see them."

A voice suddenly spoke from behind him. The captain’s heart plummeted as he spun around. The blue-haired boy who had captured him, the one who had haunted his nightmares ever since, was walking toward him.

"They’ve probably all been taken care of by now. Agent Block is a 3rd-Circle powerhouse, after all."

"Ugh, you bastard!" The captain drew his sword, his expression hardening.

"Ah, and the fact that you were released on bail? That was my idea." Simon smiled. "I needed to find your base, you see."

"You son of a bitch!!"

The captain charged with his sword, only to be sent tumbling across the floor by a swift kick from Simon.

"Threatening residents, extorting protection money... It’s time to put an end to all this." Simon climbed on top of him, cuffing the captain’s wrists.

The Sentinel Gang, an organization that had stood for twenty years, crumbled in a single night.