Chapter 287
The darkness of the forest was unusually thick.
In the middle of the woods, where the eerie hoot of an owl echoed, the carriage carrying Simon and his party finally came to a halt.
The horses pulling it had reached the limits of their stamina.
Although their wounds had healed, the animals seemed so exhausted that they collapsed to the ground and refused to move. There was no choice but to either camp for the night or abandon the carriage and continue on foot.
If they camped, they would have to first make sure there was no danger nearby. So Simon volunteered to scout the surroundings alone.
'No droppings or footprints. It doesn't seem like there are any monsters close by.'
Rustle—
Just then, he saw the bushes shake. His hearing was on edge in the nighttime stillness, so Simon instantly fired a round from the Bone Armor–Handgun mounted on his arm.
Thud!
A breaking sound followed, as if something had shattered upon impact.
Simon hurried over to the spot.
Pushing aside the foliage, he found something white and mechanical. A bone was lodged in the middle of its torso, and when he pulled it out and checked inside, a holy magic circle was inscribed there.
[A creature.]
It was something Feer, who was experienced, recognized at once.
[It's a type of summoned beast that priests use for reconnaissance.]
'So Efnelle really is tracking us.'
[Keh-heh-heh, If they've sent creatures ahead, that means they still have some distance to cover, but they'll catch up soon enough.]
Simon nodded.
'We'll have to give up on camping and move right away.'
* * *
Meanwhile, at the front of the carriage, two opinions were clashing sharply.
"At the very least, we should rest well tonight and leave in the morning!"
Maelyn was insisting on camping.
"Given the urgency of the mission, we should move immediately. Wake Sasha up."
Seiyur argued they should continue on foot if necessary.
"That's ridiculous! What can we even do coming out of the forest without the carriage? And Sasha's injured!"
At Maelyn's shout, Kamibarez timidly nodded in agreement beside her.
Sasha was clinging close to her side.
"If she can't move, then one of you can carry her."
"No, that's not the problem here!"
Maelyn squared off against Seiyur in earnest.
"Maybe not for you, agent, but we fought just a few hours ago. Everyone's exhausted! And if you'd been carrying the communication crystal linked to the Vengeance headquarters from the start, we wouldn't even be having this argument! We could've just called for support!"
"In the midst of an urgent battle, I dropped it from my person and lost it. It seems the heavens didn't favor us, but such things are among the many variables in the field."
"You didn't lift a finger to help while we were fighting, and now you talk about urgency…!"
Seiyur shook his head sharply from side to side, then brushed his bangs back with the back of his hand.
"If you keep undermining team cohesion like this, you should be prepared for the lowest possible score, Agent Maelyn."
Maelyn's fists trembled.
She couldn't just punch him.
As suspicious as he was, there was no proof to expose his lies.
Step, step.
At that moment, the sound of someone pushing through the grass was heard, and Simon, back from his scouting, arrived.
"What happened?"
Sensing the awkward atmosphere, Simon asked,
"Simon! Say something here!"
Maelyn came over and whispered quietly to him.
"He keeps insisting he's right no matter what. Keeps throwing around talk about scores to push me down!"
Simon nodded without argument, then stepped toward Seiyur.
"First, to report the results of my reconnaissance, I don't think camping is an option."
When Simon sided with Seiyur, Maelyn pressed her lips into a thin line, while Seiyur smugly flicked his bangs.
"As expected. Agent Simon is reasonable! For the team score—"
"This was out there."
Simon opened his palm to reveal what looked like a fragment of a doll.
Everyone's expressions stiffened.
"Th-this is a creature, right? So they really are after us."
Dick spoke with a troubled look, and Simon nodded as he dropped the creature's remains to the ground.
"Before we fight the priests, we should deal with an internal problem first."
"An internal problem?"
"Yeah."
Simon turned his gaze.
"Agent Seiyur."
"Yes?"
"Did you really lose the communication crystal, or did you never bring it in the first place?"
Everyone turned their eyes toward Seiyur at Simon's words, and he frowned in displeasure.
"What is that supposed to mean all of a sudden? Agent Simon?"
"I'm asking whether you're truly the mentor necromancer"
There had been plenty of oddities.
When they first arrived in the Neutral Zone and Simon sought him out to talk, he'd glimpsed the writing on a letter—it was faint, but the name written there wasn't Seiyur's.
Also, when priests attacked Sasha's home village of Kelso, the ground had split, smashed apart, and turned to chaos—but when they returned later, it was completely restored.
The local villagers had been far too calm, too. Even if it was a lawless zone, for a battle to break out inside the village and people to sit on mats selling goods like nothing happened, it was strange.
On top of that, Seiyur had not joined in the recent battle, and the communication crystal that would prove his identity was, conveniently, said to have been lost.
Everything about him was suspicious.
Simon hadn't pressed the matter before, but now, with Efnelle's attack imminent, he decided it was better to eliminate uncertainty.
Hearing Simon's words, Seiyur gave a hollow laugh and shrugged.
"It's all speculation, just your delusions, Agent Simon."
"..."
"We're doing fine. We've secured the stolen target, haven't we? I don't see why you'd break trust between agents and destroy our teamwork at a time like this. If you keep this up, I'll have no choice but to give you the lowest—"
"You can."
Simon's blunt declaration made everyone's eyes widen.
"In return, I'll make this statement to the Keyzen disciplinary committee. Agent Seiyur was never qualified to be my mentor in the first place."
"What?"
Simon raised his head.
"I'm challenging you to a duel, Agent Seiyur."
"Simon!!"
"Hey, hey! What the hell are you doing?"
Kamibarez and Dick tried to hold him back, but Simon smiled and signaled them that it was fine.
"Keyzen is a meritocracy. If someone weaker than me is my mentor, I think the school will side with me."
"That's not something I can ignore."
Rumble rumble rumble rumble!
A massive Darkness surged from Seiyur's body.
"I am a Necromancer, officially ranked third in the Alliance, and a member of Vengeance! I will not tolerate any further insults!"
As Simon began to slowly draw up his own Darkness, Maelyn panicked and grabbed his hand.
"You said Efnelle is coming! This is no time for us to be fighting each other!"
"I'll end it quickly. Don't worry."
Simon spoke in a calming tone, then stepped toward Seiyur.
"This is your last chance, Agent Simon!"
He gave a solemn warning.
"I have been granted lawful command authority over you by Keyzen. Apologize at once and obey my orders!"
"If that's what you want, then show me your skill."
Simon took another step closer to him.
"How dare you!!"
Seiyur spread a magic circle over his palm, then unleashed black magic. From behind him, thick smoke poured out like a cloak, spread across the ground like a carpet, and from it, the hazy forms of giants rose up.
Dick let out an involuntary exclamation.
"That's Invocation from Spiritology! And six of them at that!"
By comparison, Prince Andre, a second-year at Keyzen whom Simon had fought once before, had only used a single summoned form, but Seiyur had brought out no less than six.
"This truly is your last chance."
Seiyur pushed his bangs up with the back of his hand and raised his chin, looking down at Simon.
"Stand down."
Simon ignored him and simply kept walking. Seiyur's pupils trembled—he had expected Simon to back off by now.
"A-hem! Ah, it's not too late yet! If you retreat now, I'll make an exception and forgive—!"
"Let's continue. It's a duel, isn't it?"
"This is really, truly the last chance!"
As the situation suddenly took an odd turn, the four onlookers blinked.
"Don't test my patience! Stop right there, Simon Follentia!"
Simon ignored him, and Seiyur finally dropped his arm in a sharp motion.
"Give up!!"
The six summoned forms swung their weapons.
Whoosh!
And stopped just short of Simon's neck, making his teammates cry out in alarm.
But Simon went a step further. Boldly pressing his own neck against one of the weapons. Yet instead of blood or a cut, his body simply passed through it.
"Illusion magic."
Simon reached out toward the body of a summoned form, but again his hand passed straight through. The eyes of all who were watching went wide.
"You've been deceiving us from the start, showing us illusions, from the blank letter to the battle with the priests in the village."
"Kh…!"
Seiyur's face flushed red as he stumbled back, then turned his back and began fleeing into the forest.
Swish!
In that instant, an enchanted rope whipped through the air and bound Seiyur's legs.
With a grunt, he crashed to the ground.
"Where do you think you're going~"
It was Dick.
Seiyur was dragged along the ground, still face down, until he was pulled back to where the students and Sasha were.
"W-wait, Agent Dick! Surely you'd believe me—!"
"Ah, the more I think about it, the filthier this feels."
Dick ground his boot harshly into Seiyur's back and spoke coldly.
"Were you playing us from the very start?"
"Urgh! N-no, that's not—!"
"Step aside, commoner."
Maelyn approached, clenching her fist.
"I have business with him too."
"H-huk!"
"Hold on, guys."
Simon intervened, Maelyn whipped around and shouted.
"Hey, don't stop me!"
"Let's hear the full story first. Then we can beat him."
"So beating him is a given?!"
In the end, the man who claimed to be their mentor was restrained by the students, bound tightly in rope, and forced to confess the truth.
Seiyur was a rookie, only one year into his time at Vengeance. His claim of being a rank 3 necromancer was a lie, he was a rank 1 novice. Of course, his claim to have graduated from Keyzen was also false, he was a dropout from the Aland Necromancer School.
As a professional necromancer, he was below average in most areas, but in one field—Illusion Arts—he had been recognized, and was assigned to intelligence missions for Vengeance.
However, for all his arrogant posturing, he was full of mistakes, and his reputation in Vengeance was that of someone with no real value.
After being chewed out by Vengeance's president and told not to even dream of promotion to rank 2, he learned that his name was on the list for the upcoming round of layoffs. If he was fired from Vengeance, with that record on his file, he was certain no one in the necromancer industry would take him in.
He had to survive. And to survive, he had to achieve something big.
At that time, two major missions had just come into Vengeance.
The deployment of Keyzen students, and the retrieval of a promising saint candidate.
Seiyur had a flash of inspiration. If he was going to be fired anyway, he might as well succeed in both missions himself.
He lay in wait in the village for the Keyzen students to arrive, then the moment they entered the Neutral Zone, he cast illusion magic to draw them to him.
He then deceived them into believing he was their mentor, and had them carry out the crucial task of securing the saint candidate.
His plan was to leave the mission entirely to the highly capable Keyzen students, while he hung back under the guise of 'education' and stayed safe. As expected, they lived up to their Keyzen reputation and succeeded in securing Sasha.
He believed that once he returned to Vengeance HQ and declared the mission a success, the way his boss and colleagues looked at him would change entirely.
"…Completely insane."
But now, his identity was exposed, and he found himself bound hand and foot with rope.
Maelyn squatted down in front of him and spoke coldly.
"Do you think Keyzen is a joke? Do you think the mission is a joke? Do you have any idea what kind of hell you've put us through for your own greed?"
"I-I'm sorry."
The man who had acted so high and mighty moments before was now groveling on the ground, pride completely discarded in just a few minutes.
Maelyn glared at him with a look that showed her anger wasn't fading. Dick added his own comment.
"Why don't we just say he got taken out in the fight, tie him to a tree, and let the monsters have him?"
Tears quickly welled up in Seiyur's eyes.
"P-please spare me! I've committed a grave sin! My life—please, just spare my life…!"
At that moment, Simon stepped forward.
"I'd like to press him further, but we don't have the time. We need to get to safety before Efnelle's pursuit intensifies."
With that, Simon looked at Seiyur.
"Agent Seiyur, there's something I need you to do."
"Wh-what is it? If it will save me, I'll do anything!"
Simon's smile turned devilish.
"You're going to be the decoy."