Chapter 300
"This place is dangerous, get out quickly."
"P–Professor!"
Aron said that to Simon, then jumped out the window where Magnus had escaped.
There, Magnus stood perfectly fine. Aron landed a short distance away, and the two men faced each other.
"It's been years, Professor Aron."
Magnus spoke.
"In the past, you were an eager rookie professor, but now… your atmosphere has changed quite a bit."
"…You're as much of a problem child now as you were back then, Magnus Alban."
A huge wave of hostility shimmered in Aron's eyes.
"The crime of a student killing Professor Keyzen cannot be erased. And after doing such a thing, you dare think of coming to this island."
"Pathetic words."
Magnus sneered with clouded eyes.
"A professor weaker than a student deserves to die."
Aron's lips parted for a moment, but then, as if arguing was a waste of time, he raised his arm.
"Why have you returned to Keyzen?"
Kugugugugugu!
From beyond the dormitory rooftop, two massive Undead Battleships made of bone revealed themselves.
The lower sections of the battleships opened, and countless embedded red skeletons poured out.
"Undead Battleships, huh."
Magnus looked up at the sky.
"With the high-grade hive magic installed in the battleships, you coordinate all subordinate undead, distributing the caster's commands to the lower entities. That way, you artificially increased the number of undead a necromancer can control. This kind of thing is really—"
Magnus's lips curled into a grin.
"—pathetically boring."
Kazhak, kazhak, kazhak!
Beneath his feet, countless shadows with eyes and teeth began to spill out.
"A necromancer with a numerical limit? What's the difference between that and a chef without arms? I almost wonder how you manage to drag on your pathetic little life without succumbing to self-loathing."
'Legion, huh.'
Aron gave the attack order.
From the Undead Battleships, the flying red skeletons began pouring endlessly toward Magnus.
But the shadows beneath Magnus sprang out in great numbers, jaws snapping open as they devoured or swatted away the skeletons.
"Try harder."
Magnus smirked, watching the remains of red skeletons scatter across the ground.
"How much is each of those skeletons worth? Looks like you've already burned through several days' wages."
Aron swept his arm through the air.
"!"
Magnus's pupils widened slightly.
In addition to the original two Undead Battleships, another one was approaching from behind him.
"Unless you're a Legion Commander, every human eventually hits a limit in 'numbers'."
The four battleships opened their entrances.
"That's why humans struggle to overcome those limits."
The red skeletons poured down, dyeing the sky crimson like a swarm of red locusts.
"And in the process, they develop endlessly."
Fwhiiiiiiiiiiish!
The flying skeletons circled around Magnus, forming a red vortex.
Magnus' tongue clicked.
"It's a rare sight, but what exactly do you plan to do with these small fry?"
Then, the circling skeletons suddenly froze in place.
Magnus looked around, wondering what had happened, but the real situation was occurring beyond that.
All the ships began to split open into four segments like flower buds. Inside was a massive magic circle filled with Darkness.
'The battleships themselves were one giant magic circle!'
Kwoaaaaaaah!
From north, south, east, and west, beams of destruction surged toward Magnus. Magnus poured out shadow monsters, wrapping them around himself like a defensive wall.
"This is… a bit surprising."
While Magnus remained in place, focused entirely on defense, the previously stationary red skeletons all ascended into the sky.
Each body broke apart into hundreds of bone fragments, then reassembled together, connecting into an indescribably massive structure.
It was an upside-down tower.
"Now, get lost."
Aron lowered his arm and continued,
"Damn disciple."
The inverted tower made of skeletons descended toward the grounded Magnus.
Magnus' shadows leapt out in the hundreds to wrap around and collapse the tower, but the tower tore through them, smashing his skull and slicing through his chest as it drove all the way to the ground.
Kugugugugugugugu!
Half the tower embedded into the ground, and a thick cloud of dust completely enveloped the area around the men's dormitory.
"…Wow."
Like the other students, Simon, watching from the window, could not close his mouth.
[Khhuhuhuhu! Not bad!]
Even Feer, who was rarely generous with praise, said so.
[For a mere summoner, not even a Legion Commander, to be able to do this much!]
Soon, all the skeletons returned to the Undead Battleships.
Aron raised a gust of wind to clear away the dust, then walked toward the completely shredded body of Magnus.
He touched Magnus' crumbling torso, deep in thought.
"Professor!"
At some point, Simon had jumped down from the window and was approaching him.
"Are you alright?"
"I told you to stay back."
As the Bone Armor surrounding Aron receded, he returned to his usual attire of shorts and slippers.
His rough beard and unkempt leg hair were visible.
Amused by the strange contrast, Simon smiled.
"You handled it, didn't you? What about Magnus?"
"That was a fake."
Aron spoke.
"A kind of biological clone."
"T–That was a clone?"
Simon's jaw dropped.
Strong enough to have defeated Kajan, and it was just a clone?
"I've heard the 5th Legion has an Ancient Undead called Alaze, who's quite versatile."
Aron rose to his feet.
"If that Alaze and Magnus combined their strength, something like this wouldn't be difficult. From the start, don't expect a Legion Commander to be reasonable."
"..."
Then Aron stepped forward, grasped Simon's shoulder, and asked,
"Any idea why Magnus targeted you?"
Simon felt a twinge of guilt inside.
"Magnus is extremely dangerous. He's a maverick outside the control of both the Dark Alliance and Keyzen Headquarters, and no one really knows his whereabouts. How did you end up entangled with someone so dangerous?"
"I–I don't really know."
Simon put on the frightened look of an ordinary student.
"It was my first time meeting him."
That part was actually true.
"What did he say?"
"Something about undead wavelengths, but it was too complicated for me to understand."
"…And that bleeding student from earlier?"
"The dormitory staff took him to the infirmary. I was going to go check on him."
"Understood."
Aron opened a magic circle, collecting Magnus' fragments, then trudged away.
"I'll report to Lady Neftis. Rest."
* * *
Washburn Mountain Summit.
The Demon King's Castle.
Inside the old castle, in a vast bathhouse, an undead entered. A zombie butler in formal attire let out a deep sigh.
[The bath is a mess again.]
In the tub, a long-haired man leaned back, bleeding.
The sulfur spring he was soaking in had turned into a sea of blood, as black and crimson lumps of flesh oozed endlessly from the magic circles on his chest and abdomen.
"It was fun, so that's enough."
Magnus replied in a languid voice, rising to his feet. His thin body was drenched red with blood.
"Clean it."
Undead carrying cleaning tools swarmed in, draining the water and clearing away the remnants of flesh.
Magnus threw on a gown and took a sip of water.
[Did you gain anything from it?]
"Other than a reunion with my old teacher, there's nothing worth calling an achievement. I was interrupted before I could even exchange a few words with that Simon fellow."
Magnus' lips curled upward.
"But I did get a feeling."
[A feeling?]
He recalled the moment he first faced Simon.
—Who are you?
It was quite striking.
The moment Simon saw him, he was burning with pure rage.
Skipping over any bewilderment at the situation, or thoughts about the culprit who had done that to his roommate, or any sort of questioning, he simply lashed out in anger first.
Magnus thought that was unnatural.
"Loraine Arkbold must have been a bluff concocted by the Witch of Death. The 7th Legion Commander is Simon Follentia."
[You're certain.]
"Almost."
The zombie butler adjusted his glasses and closed his eyes.
[But your actions this time were too hasty. The Witch of Death will surely track down and eliminate our collaborators inside Keyzen Headquarters.]
"Oh, are you blaming me?"
The zombie butler let out a dry chuckle.
[After all the years I've been with you, my lord, of course not. I'm simply reporting the results that followed your actions.]
Dripping water as he walked, Magnus took a seat on the skeletal throne. The zombie butler handed him a towel.
[How did it feel to return to your alma mater?]
"It was a fine bit of entertainment."
Magnus said with a sly grin.
"But,"
[?]
"It seems there's someone else preparing something in Keyzen besides me."
[Is that so.]
Magnus rested his chin on his hand.
"They seem to be aiming to pull off something quite big. I'm rather looking forward to it."
* * *
The Magnus incident had come to a close.
It was a great relief that there hadn't been many students in the dormitory.
Keyzen Headquarters issued a summons order for Magnus to be investigated. Of course, there was no way he would comply, and it seemed the Crows were being mobilized to track him down.
Now that Keyzen's watchful eyes would be firmly on Magnus, it was by no means a bad thing for Simon.
Meanwhile, Simon went to the infirmary to visit Kajan.
"Student Kajan was already discharged."
"What?"
At the infirmary, he heard something unexpected.
Normally, the Keyzen infirmary was famous for keeping injured students around stubbornly, yet they had discharged Kajan right away.
Simon headed to the duty office of the 1st-year boys' dorm, where Kajan had returned.
"Ah, Student Kajan said he needed a place to bathe."
"B–Bath?"
After being covered in all that blood, a bath?
It probably wasn't a normal bath, more likely, he went to pour that 'strange potion' over himself. Kajan always poured that steaming potion over his body whenever he got injured.
"The boys' dorm doesn't have hot water right now, so we told him to try the staff bath in the 2nd-year girls' dormitory."
Simon's expression twitched.
"G–Girls' bathhouse?"
"Yes, I heard orders from the top were to give Student Kajan full cooperation with anything."
So, being close to Neftis really was something different.
Accepting that, Simon immediately headed for the 2nd-year girls' dormitory building.
Shwaaaaaa.
Sure enough, when he arrived at the staff bathhouse for women, the sound of running water could be heard.
Simon hesitated for a moment in front of the "Women's Bath" sign, but decided that as long as there was no one else inside, it should be fine. He steeled himself.
He lightly knocked on the bathhouse door.
"K–Kajan? Are you in there?"
With the sound of water, there was no way he could be heard. Just in case, Simon cracked the door open slightly and peeked his head in.
Shwaaaaaa.
Since it was a bath used only by staff and not students, it was small. There were no separate locker cabinets for undressing, as soon as the door opened, a cloud of steam appeared.
There was only one tub. Through the steam, a gray-haired man was pouring potion over his body.
It was Kajan.
"…Simon?"
His voice sounded weary. The bathhouse floor was a mess of water, blood, and potion.
"A–Are you alright, Kajan?"
"Yes."
"I'm coming in."
Since it had come to this, Simon decided to wash as well.
He undressed, placing his clothes in a basket like Kajan had, and approached.
"I'm sorry, Kajan. You got dragged into trouble because of me…"
"Why are you apologizing?"
Kajan lightly scratched the wound by his eye with his fingertips.
"Protecting you is one of my duties. Getting injured on a mission is natural, so there's no need to apologize."
Simon helped pour potion over Kajan's body. When he poured it over a gaping wound, steam-like vapor rose as the wound began to close.
But like the long scar on Kajan's face, the healed wounds left scars behind. His body was covered in them.
Once Kajan finished recovering, he sank into the hot tub.
Simon took out cleaning tools and began tidying up the bath, which had been left a mess with blood and potion. Since they had borrowed the women's bath, cleaning up at least seemed the right thing to do.
Scrub, scrub.
As he wiped the potion stains from the floor with the bath squeegee, Simon spoke casually,
"Kajan."
Kajan nodded from within the hot bath.
"Since the start of the second semester, it feels like you've been avoiding me."
"..."
They had barely spoken recently.
Whenever Simon came into Room 409, Kajan was always asleep.
In the first semester, Kajan had gone out every night because of the Saint incident, but even after that was resolved, he continued to go out.
"I'm not avoiding you on purpose."
Kajan replied.
"I'm on a mission."
"…But there are no priests left on Roke Island anymore. What mission is it?"
"What kind of fool would reveal a mission to an outsider?"
Outsider? Simon's face fell.
"We're roommates, and we fought alongside each other against the Saint, remember?"
"Work is work, and private matters are private."
Simon sighed heavily, rubbing his forehead at this blunt senior.
When would he ever manage to get closer to this person?
"Actually, I should be the one asking you."
Kajan said then.
"You've been hiding something and worrying about it, haven't you?"