The X Mark
"Hurry up! This way, my friends!"
That evening, Simon stopped by Rochest with Benya. The purpose of their visit was to meet Gallen Eclipse, the craftsman who had created Simon's subspace.
'But why are we running?!'
Having too much energy could be a problem in its own way.
Even with a tight schedule, Benya laughed a booming "HAHAHA!" and greeted every single Rochest resident they passed. The townspeople knew Benya of the Vanilla family without exception.
"By the way, sunbaenim."
"What is it, my friend?"
"Leaving Rochest on a weekday is against the rules, you know. Is it really okay to walk around with our identities on full display like this?"
They had changed out of their uniforms and put on robes and hoods specifically to avoid catching the eye of school officials, and yet Benya was waving and greeting every passerby.
Benya flashed a bright, white-toothed smile.
"Of course it's not okay!"
"……?"
"If we get caught, well, we'll just call it a vacation! Take our punishment, get some rest, and come back!"
Was it second-year confidence, or simply the way she was born? She remained a person who was hard for Simon to understand by any reasonable standard.
Fortunately, they made it to their destination without incident.
The agreed meeting place was a small café in the city. They ordered drinks, carried them upstairs, and found a man sitting at a table.
A middle-aged man wearing an out-of-fashion coat in the colors of fallen leaves and a fedora.
The moment he spotted Simon and Benya climbing the stairs, he rose to his feet with a beaming smile.
"Hello, Gallen!"
Benya waved first in greeting. The man removed his fedora, laid it neatly against his chest, and bowed his head.
"It's been a long time, milady."
"……."
Simon and Benya both froze mid-sentence. The instant Gallen lifted his hat, the bald crown of his head was laid bare before them—the thin strip of hair on the sides only made the barren expanse feel more desolate.
Simon shut his eyes. Even the irrepressible Benya failed to find her voice and glanced away.
Gallen, apparently noticing nothing at all, put his hat back on and turned to Simon.
"Then you must be the student……!"
"Yes. I'm Simon Polentia of Kizen."
"Ah, a pleasure to meet you!"
The two shook hands.
"I heard everything! When I learned that the buyer of my greatest masterpiece was none other than Kizen's Special Admission No. 1, you can't imagine my astonishment! Haha! As a man of this trade, there is no greater honor!"
"The honor is mine. I've been putting the subspace to excellent use."
The three of them took their seats and the discussion began in earnest.
"Milady has explained the situation to me. You'd like to commission a dedicated subspace this time."
"That's right!"
"I'd like to see this undead for myself, if I may. Would that be all right?"
"Of course."
As it happened, no one else was on the second floor, and the space was roomy enough. Simon drew out the Overlord at once.
"Ohh…… so this is it!"
Gallen could barely contain his excitement. Even Benya, who had gotten her fill of it just yesterday, had a gleam in her eyes.
Simon lightly flexed the legs, feinting a strike against an imaginary opponent.
"Like this. I'd like to extend the legs alone out of the subspace to attack the enemy."
"Haha, impressive. Very impressive!"
The excited Gallen returned to the table and produced a pouch from inside his coat.
He upended it, spilling the contents across the table in a cascade—rings, earrings, necklaces, and assorted accessories.
"This one! Or perhaps this?"
Curious at the sight of him sorting through the jewelry, Simon leaned in.
"What are all of these?"
"Ah—every product here is a subspace!"
Simon's eyes went wide. Dozens of mansions were, at this very moment, sitting on the table.
"To be more precise, they're all 'shelved works' that never made it to official release. I never make the same product twice. Whenever new inspiration strikes, I build it first—and these are the ones I shelved over practicality concerns."
He held up a sleek ring and looked at Simon.
"I hear you're short on time, Student."
"Yes, I have an important evaluation coming up soon……"
"I can remain on Roc Island for about four days. To finish a subspace within that window, I think it would be wiser to convert one of these shelved works into your dedicated subspace rather than build a brand-new piece. That way the price comes down considerably, and I can complete it on schedule."
Simon's eyes widened.
"You can really do it in just four days?"
"I'll give it my very best. In exchange, there are a few things you'll need to agree to regarding the product."
Gallen said:
"First, a dedicated subspace is a thoroughly bespoke product, so I cannot recommend using it for any purpose beyond its intended design. Second, since it will have to produce output far beyond its normal specifications, there may be risks from overload. Even I cannot know exactly what those risks are until the work is complete. Are you agreeable?"
What Simon was buying was something unobtainable anywhere on the market. And if the risk stemmed not from a product defect but from deliberate overload, it was more than reasonable enough to accept.
Simon nodded.
"Sounds good. Then, as for the price……"
As he spoke, Simon stole a glance at the subspace ring on his right hand.
A standard model cost 5,000 gold—so how much could a custom piece possibly run? He had exactly 1,000 gold to his name.
Gallen, too, seemed to give the matter some thought, closing his eyes.
"You'll give me a good price, won't you, Gallen?"
Suddenly Benya barged in with a thump!, planting her elbows on the table, cupping her chin in her hands, and flashing her sweetest smile.
"If not for my sake, then."
'This absolute lunatic.'
Simon groaned inwardly.
Stop it, sunbaenim, please…… that trick doesn't work in a business negotiation……
"Ahem."
But Gallen, unexpectedly, was wearing the fond smile of a doting father.
"Truth be told, milady, even without your asking."
Gallen turned his head toward Simon.
"Simply having Kizen's Special Admission No. 1 use my products is tremendous advertising. I've decided to take that into account."
"Good job!"
Benya spread her palm with a radiant grin. Simon, equally thrilled, high-fived her and turned back to Gallen.
"The deposit will be 500 gold."
Gallen said.
"Depending on the materials, magical effects, and costs that go in afterward, the price may rise by a few hundred gold. We'll set the maximum at 1,000 gold. Do we have a deal?"
This was a subspace that Gallen was crafting for Simon alone—and at this price, it wasn't just a good deal. It was an outright steal. His budget was squeaking by, but it held.
Simon nodded quickly, before the man could change his mind.
"It's a deal, Gallen."
The negotiations had gone smoothly.
Gallen decided to begin work at once, while Benya stayed behind in Rochest to finish some errands before returning to Kizen.
Simon walked the night road alone.
"What a nice night~"
Perhaps it was anticipation for the new subspace swelling inside him—even the cold night breeze felt pleasant. Even the sound of leaves rustling in the wind, shhhhh, rang refreshingly clear.
All he had to do now was watch out for the sentries and slip back into Kizen. This wasn't his first or second time sneaking out of school, so even the midnight road had started to feel familiar.
[Boy.]
Pier addressed him.
[You paid a hefty sum without hesitation to a man you'd never met. Is this Gallen fellow trustworthy?]
"More than anything, it was Sunbae Benya's personal connection."
A gathering arranged by the daughter of the Vanilla Group's chairman—Simon considered its reliability beyond question.
And Gallen was a heavyweight with a known name in the trade. The odds of him cheating a Kizen student out of 500 gold while making an enemy of the academy were as close to zero as zero could get.
'The price aside, whether he can actually deliver on time is what matters.'
There was a reason the subspace needed to be finished quickly: his next Duel Evaluation opponent was none other than Special Admission No. 10, Malcolm.
Malcolm would be the first Special Admission student Simon had ever faced. Simon had become No. 1 through Nephthys's recommendation, but every Special Admission student was selected for proven results and proven skill. Their strength went without saying.
And according to what Dick had told him about Malcolm, Dick had explained it with a memorable example:
"There's a well-known senior among the second-years who runs a betting pool. Apparently the second-years pay a lot of attention to first-year Duel Evaluations and bet money for fun—and when I looked at the win rates, it was pretty shocking."
At that moment, Dick's face had been stiff as stone.
"Malcolm's win rate is over eighty percent overall. That's a genuinely, genuinely bizarre case. Think about it—the seniors have never seen your skills with their own eyes, right? With no information available, common sense says Special Admission No. 1 beats Special Admission No. 10. For the odds to skew that far, it means everyone has something concrete backing their certainty in Malcolm's victory."
A student wager placed half in jest couldn't be called highly reliable, but Simon didn't think it was something to dismiss out of hand. This Duel Evaluation was not going to be easy.
To secure victory against Malcolm, the Mud Golem and Skeleton Archers alone wouldn't be enough. He had to raise the Overlord's operation to a high level by any means necessary before the day of the evaluation.
'Once I'm back, I'll put in exactly three more hours of Overlord training……'
—Keeririririri!
That was when it happened. Right in front of Simon, who was heading toward Kizen, one of Erzsebet's Corpse Spiders appeared.
Simon crouched down to meet the spider's gaze.
"What is it?"
—Kirik! Keeriririri!
The Corpse Spider swept its two front legs across the ground, scratching out an X.
At the sight of that mark, Simon's heart plummeted.
A Corpse Spider's double X mark meant one thing and one thing only.
'……A Priest has appeared!'
The memory of that night beneath the full moon was still vivid.
Running from the sentries with Camibarez, stumbling upon a Priest at prayer to his god, and nearly being killed for it.
Those chilling eyes beneath the hood were something he would never forget for the rest of his life.
'Pier!'
[I received the report just now! Make for the forest!]
"I'm leaving as well!"
Simon stomped his Jet-Black right where he stood and sprinted toward the Forbidden Forest.
As he tore through the underbrush in a frantic rush, Nephthys's words surfaced in his mind.
"Remember the Cyclops evaluation? The one your group faced was exceptionally strong—not because of drugs or curse side effects from its capture, but because someone had tampered with it deliberately."
Simon had already sensed that the Priest's monstrous forces were creeping ever closer.
So he had stationed Erzsebet's Corpse Spiders throughout the Forbidden Forest, with orders to notify him the instant a Priest appeared.
The next step would be for Erzsebet to shapeshift into someone connected to the Priest and wrench information out of him.
If she was discovered or failed, they would either subdue the Priest or fall back, inform Lorraine, and investigate every route into Kizen.
"Hah! Hah!"
He could not let him escape this time. The moment Simon, gasping ragged breaths, plunged into the middle stretch of the Forbidden Forest—
Kukukukukukukukung!
In the far distance came a colossal detonation, followed by the groan of trees toppling.
The situation had gone sideways.
The battle had already begun.
'……You have to be safe! Erze!'
Their opponent was a powerhouse on the level of a professor.
Simon stomped his Jet-Black and ran at full power.