Chapter 310
On the way to the Mutant clubroom with Toto.
From Simon's point of view, Toto was a good friend he could talk to without any burden, anytime.
They were aiming for the same subject, and with Summonology as a clear common ground, there was always plenty to talk about.
"The last Summonology performance exam was way too hard, I think!"
Walking side by side, Toto spoke with a face full of anxiety.
"It's hard enough to make a single Skeleton Mage that can conjure even a tiny flame, but now they're saying creation! Creation! It sounded like they won't give points unless it's something brand new, so I'm worried!"
While passionately complaining about the difficulty of the exam, Toto glanced sideways at Simon, gauging his reaction.
"Ah, don't you think so?"
Simon replied with a gentle smile.
"I think the same."
"Right, right!"
Happy that Simon agreed, Toto smiled with a face of relief.
"In that case, Simon! What are you going to make?"
Simon smiled back as he answered.
"A lich."
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
Toto, who had been walking just fine, tumbled noisily to the ground, rolling once on the floor.
"A-are you insane?!!"
Lifting his head abruptly, Toto's voice cracked in surprise.
Two passing female students heard it, covered their mouths, and chuckled softly.
With a face turning tomato red, Toto glanced around nervously before speaking in a small voice.
"A-a-a-are you serious? I already think Overlord or Deimos isn't exactly normal, but that's just too…!"
Simon pulled out a book Aron had given him from subspace.
"I even got a book for it. I'm going to take my time and give it a try before I move up to second year. The bigger the dream, the better, right?"
"…I think even a big dream should have some limits."
Getting up and brushing off his uniform pants, Toto looked at the book in Simon's hand.
"『Lich and Life Vessel』? Where did you get that?"
"Professor Aron lent it to me. He said if I can at least make the basics of a lich, he'd take a look at it."
Hearing this, Toto's eyes lit up, but then turned into an expression full of longing and envy.
"…I-I also want to at least set foot in Professor Aron's lab once."
To that, Simon replied in a soft voice.
"You should try visiting. Professor Aron might look like he finds everything troublesome, but he actually likes students who want to learn more than you'd think."
"…That's because you're Special Admission Number 1, the ace of Summonology. If I went, I'd probably—"
Simon gave Toto a firm pat on the back.
"Hey! Have some courage!"
"Uwah!"
Even though it was just a light pat, Toto's small body staggered forward several times.
"If you really can't go alone, I'll take you with me the next time I visit Professor Aron's lab."
"R-really?!"
Toto looked at Simon with eyes full of gratitude.
"You're truly my role model, Simon! You're talented, handsome, and even have a great personality, the complete three tools…!"
"…Please, don't say that between friends. It's embarrassing."
Before they knew it, the two had arrived in front of the Mutant clubroom. As always, the exterior was shabby.
On the door, a piece of paper, ready to fall off at any moment, was flapping, with the crooked word "Mutant" written on it.
Simon lightly pressed the paper back into place as he spoke.
"I'll knock."
Toto was busy checking his hair in the nearby window. Once he finished grooming, he nodded.
Knock knock.
"This is Simon Follentia! Toto's with me, too. We're coming in."
The two opened the door and entered the clubroom. Immediately, a hearty burst of laughter rang out.
"You're here! My comrades!"
The girl, showing a bright smile with her teeth, was the club president, Benya Vanilla.
She had a map of the continent pinned to a portable blackboard and was enthusiastically explaining something, while a boy sitting on the sofa was listening.
'It's been ages since I saw him.'
A boy wearing glasses that gave off a scholarly vibe, with a closed-off, rigid expression.
On his lap were two books, 『Why Do Men Even Have Nipples?』 and 『How to Explain to the Idiots of the World with a Smile』.
Simon greeted him warmly.
"Hey, Fitzgerald."
Fitzgerald from Class M. Simon had almost forgotten his face, but he was actually a fellow club member alongside Toto.
"Yeah."
Fitzgerald adjusted his glasses and looked at Simon.
"Almost forgot your face."
"…My point exactly. I thought you quit the club."
"I attend two to three times a week."
It seemed their schedules just hadn't overlapped. Fitzgerald put his books down beside the sofa and turned his head.
"Please continue your explanation, President."
"Got it! You're full of enthusiasm, Glasses Comrade!"
The two were discussing that same strange "world domination" topic again.
Looking at the map, the current conquest target was Shahed, one of the Four Great Kingdoms.
"So, in Shahed's northern region, they can't do anything when it's snowing heavily!"
She tapped the blackboard with the pinned map.
"So we'll create an undead to pull sleds and conquer Shahed!"
"Who will be pulling them?"
"Of course, we'll turn the local reindeer into undead! Don't you think they'd have good resistance to the cold?"
"If you want to expect cold resistance, a ghoul form that retains fur would be more advantageous."
It was basically meaningless chatter.
It looked like it would take a while to get a word in with Benya, so Simon decided to wait while repairing his Overlord.
After placing his book on a nearby shelf, Simon sat on the floor, pulled out the Overlord's tentacles from subspace, and took a rag and slime lubricant from the shelf.
"I'll help too, Simon!"
"Thanks."
While Simon and Toto were repairing the Overlord, Benya's gaze shifted from her world domination discussion to Simon's book.
"Oh! That book!"
She ran over quickly, picking it up.
"『Lich and Life Vessel』! My grandfather wrote this!"
Her grandfather was none other than the current chairman of the Vanilla Group.
"Senior, by any chance."
It was pure luck, but Simon wasn't about to miss such an opportunity.
"Are you aware of the first-years' current Summonology assignment?"
"Glasses Comrade told me. It's the creation of a magical-type undead, right?"
"Yes, I want to try making a lich!"
Fitzgerald, who had been expressionless, blinked in surprise, while Toto shook his head vigorously.
"As expected of you, Comrade!"
On the other hand, Benya clapped her palms together with a smile.
"Isn't your passion for world domination burning a little too hot?"
"…Haha."
"Good! It's not impossible to conquer! I'll explain about liches!"
She temporarily removed the map from the portable blackboard, and picked up a piece of chalk.
"There's something called the 'three elements' for liches."
She wrote on the blackboard: Life Vessel (Heart), Skull, Staff.
"The hardest material to obtain is, of course, the heart that will become the Life Vessel!"
She drew a cute little heart symbol under the word 'Heart' and continued.
"Not just any heart can become a Life Vessel. You need a somewhat special heart!"
"Could it be possible to get one from Vanilla?"
"It's possible, but Life Vessels are almost always custom orders. There's no stock, and if you request it, they'll prepare one from the remaining inventory. The cost will also be considerable."
Simon nodded, and she moved straight on to the second element.
"Next! The second is the skeleton that will become the lich's body. Especially the skull, it needs to be special enough to withstand immense magical power. This one's a bit tricky too."
Benya then pointed to the staff.
"The third is the staff! These days, necromancers tend to avoid staffs, but a lot of the older generation still use them. And when preparing a special black magic, they'll take one out to use."
She waved her finger in rhythm as she explained.
"Whether it's a Lich or a Skeleton Mage, for magical-type undead, it's practically an essential item. Undead have poor spatial perception. So using the staff's magic stone to cast spells through the staff gives the best balance."
"Understood, senior."
Fitzgerald nodded and adjusted his glasses.
"In conclusion, you mean that gathering the materials for a lich is close to impossible."
"To be honest… yeah, pretty much? And even if you have them, there's no guarantee of a 100% success rate."
Simon thought for a moment, then spoke.
"Senior, do you remember the skull of the skeleton I entrusted to you last time?"
He was referring to the skull of the ancient undead, Magnus, that he had obtained in Deathland.
"Hm? Ah! I remember!"
"How about that for the lich's skull?"
She paused, thinking.
"Hmm~ Honestly, I've already extracted almost all the data I could from it. I was preparing it for a melee-attack type skeleton for you, but I'm not sure how it'd be for a lich. Should I bring it over?"
"Yes! I'd like to check it out. And as for the Life Vessel and staff…"
Those would likely have to be purchased.
After thinking briefly, Simon spoke.
"By any chance, is Vanilla interested in the corpse of an Abyssal Horror?"
"Huh?"
Benya blinked.
* * *
When he was dispatched to the Neutral Zone.
There was a conversation he'd had with Dick while working in Vengeance.
—That Abyssal Horror, you killed it, so the rights to it should be yours. Isn't it a waste? It's bound to be expensive.
It was about the corpse of the Abyssal Horror.
Simon had killed it, but since the corpse had fallen to the bottom of the sea, he thought retrieving it would be impossible.
—If you hire a professional salvage company, I bet they could bring it up! They're the kind of people who recover even old shipwrecks with no problem.
Dick sounded confident.
—It's been in the sea for over a week. Wouldn't the fish have eaten it all by now?
—You're going to use it as undead anyway, right? You just need the bones and special organs.
Simon knew very well, as Dick's roommate, that if there was one thing Dick had a perfect nose for, it was money.
In exchange for taking 5% of the total revenue, Dick offered to handle the contract with the salvage company and make all preparations to recover the Abyssal Horror's corpse.
Simon didn't see a problem with it, so he delegated the work to Dick, planning to request either that Vanilla purchase it or that it be put up for auction once recovered.
—That's a good idea. I'll decide after seeing the state of the recovered Abyssal Horror.
Benya's response was favorable as well.
Whether Vanilla took it or it went to auction, it meant money. And Simon planned to use that lump sum to buy the Life Vessel and staff for the lich.
'I'll prepare that part separately.'
—Vwooong! Vwoooong!
Simon stroked the head of the stuffed bear — in truth, the divine beast Akallion — that was acting cute on his dorm room desk.
Here in Keyzen, unless Simon imbued it with holiness, it was no different from a wild animal or monster.
'Professor Farahan would be shocked if he knew, right?'
Though he had planned to wait until after his tutoring job, Simon decided to arrange an early morning appointment with Farahan tomorrow. The lich project aside, he couldn't neglect the holiness aspect either.
'If I end up fighting Magnus someday.'
Simon looked quietly at his own fist.
'Holiness might turn out to be the greatest key.'