Corpse Explosion
"Could it be... that Pion person — is he actually Simon?"
"......."
Meilin stared blankly for a moment, then burst out laughing.
"Ahaha! What? Simon? As if that could ever happen!"
She doubled over laughing, clutching her sides. Camibarez and Dick exchanged bewildered looks.
"But I mean, Cami, it's not like your theory is completely baseless, right? The timing does kind of match up."
"Absolutely not."
She lifted her head, her expression dead serious.
"Absolutely, a-absolute-ly, ab-so-LUTE-ly! It is not Simon."
"I-is that so?"
"For one thing, his build and height are totally different, and his voice and the way he talks were different too! Ugh, it's actually embarrassing that I'm even explaining this."
She wiped the tears welling up at the corners of her eyes.
"You can just tell at a glance. Simon isn't that kind of... image."
"What kind of image?"
"Well, you know, the image that just pops into your head when you think 'Simon.' Upright, easygoing, diligent, smart."
Camibarez's eyes sparkled as she jumped in.
"Yes, exactly! Kind! Gentle! Considerate! Nice! And every so often he's tough and passionate, and—"
"?"
"A-anyway! Why do you ask?!"
Meilin crossed her arms with a grave look on her face.
"But Pion, that man — how do I even put it. He's absolutely terrifying. He was so scary I couldn't even meet his eyes properly."
"Y-you, Meilin?"
"Yeah. If I had to describe the feeling of him..."
She mulled it over for a moment before speaking.
"A tyrant? Like the kind of person who'd get seriously offended by everything and, if things went wrong, would flip the whole table and start killing."
"...Ah."
Camibarez overlaid what Meilin had just said against her image of Simon.
They didn't fit together at all — so poorly, in fact, that it was almost jarring.
"...I don't think it's him, then."
"That's what I've been saying. Explaining all this in the first place is a waste of time."
"Hmmm—"
Dick crossed his arms.
'Then again, watching him quietly, it's not like that side of him is entirely absent...'
"Anyway! Enough of that!"
Meilin turned her head.
"Why on earth is Simon so late?!"
With an anxious face, she stared down the long line of students snaking away from the camp. At this rate, Simon wouldn't even get his inspection before the practical assessment time ran out entirely.
"S-shouldn't we go look for him?"
"That was the plan if he didn't show in ten minutes."
Dick shrugged and stretched out a finger.
"No need for that~"
In the direction Dick was pointing, Simon was sprinting toward them at full tilt, drenched in sweat.
"Simon! Over here, here!"
"Ugh, I can't live with that idiot, seriously! You said you escaped, so what took you so long?!"
"Simon! Thank goodness! Are you hurt anywhere?"
Simon arrived in front of the three of them, gasping for breath.
He rested his hands on his knees and panted a few times, then immediately flung open his subspace.
"For our assignment — let's use this."
What Simon pulled out was a body wrapped in white bandages. It had been stored in a freezer of some kind, covered in a thin layer of frost and cold to the touch.
Simon quickly unwound the bandages.
"Wh-what is that?"
"It's not a person."
Simon explained.
"A monster called a Baekgwi — a White Demon. We're going to turn it into a zombie."
"Wow!"
Meilin jumped up and down on the spot, overjoyed.
"That's top-grade zombie material! How on earth did you get your hands on something this rare?"
"It was in the basement of the mansion where I was being held."
"You were thinking about the practical assessment while you were captured by corpse freaks? Hahaha! Gotta hand it to you."
Simon scratched his head with an awkward smile.
"Just lucky, I guess."
"Alright, no time to waste — let's get started!"
The four of them gathered around the Baekgwi once more.
Once again, Simon took the lead. Rolling up his sleeves, he spoke.
"Starting now."
Embedding the magic circle went smoothly this time. Having already gone through his trial and error back at Prince's mansion, he was able to finish the work far faster.
Flup.
The moment the magic circle completed, the former Baekgwi sat its zombie body upright. Only then did the four of them cheer and slap their palms together in a high-five.
"Students over there! Assessments are closing now!"
A TA's voice rang out.
"Yes, sir!"
"We're coming!"
They stowed the zombie in the subspace and slid into the very last line of the queue just in the nick of time.
"Ah, I'm a little worried."
Meilin anxiously nibbled at the tip of her finger.
"It's bothering me that we couldn't fully bring out the Baekgwi's racial traits at the end — it just came out like a regular zombie."
"It'll be fine."
Simon answered with an easy smile. Just then, his gaze drifted to the dirt smeared across Meilin's uniform.
"Hold still. You've got dirt all over your back."
Simon carefully brushed the dust from her uniform.
Her eyes drifted to Simon's arm. Having just rolled up his sleeve, the muscles and veins stood out prominently.
Meilin caught herself imagining those strong arms wrapping around her waist.
When Pion had held her, his arms had been about that thickness, too...
"&%$@^*@$!!!"
Her face burning scarlet, she let out a bizarre strangled noise and stumbled backward.
Simon, who had been innocently brushing off his friend's uniform, froze mid-motion. Then he lowered his hand, looking sheepish.
"Ah, sorry. I was just—"
"Huh? N-no! No! It's not like you startled me."
She brushed it off with a vague mumble, then stole a glance at Simon.
There he stood, avoiding her eyes, scratching the back of his neck in embarrassed apology.
And she remembered Pion — the way he'd viciously kicked away that lecherous old man, staring her down with a gaze as cold and deadly as a machine's.
'.......'
She was certain.
She could feel even the faint sliver of doubt Camibarez had raised dissolving away, clean and complete.
Really — the two of them looked nothing alike.
"Students, come in."
Before long, it was Group 7's turn.
Aaron, dressed in his black coat, settled lazily into his chair, and the four of them bowed with crisp formality.
"So you're the last group."
"Yes, sir! Group 7!"
Meilin, the group leader, answered on their behalf. Aaron gave a slight nod.
"Show me."
Simon opened his subspace and brought out the zombie they'd made from the Baekgwi.
Ooooh—
The TAs, recognizing the Baekgwi, let out low murmurs of admiration. Aaron even straightened up in his seat.
"Where did you find this?"
"It was in the basement of an old mansion on the outskirts of Deathland, sir."
"Well found. A Baekgwi, no less."
Aaron rose and examined the zombie's body from every angle — prying its eyes open with his fingers, even sniffing its breath.
Then, when Aaron asked about the formulas they had used to create the zombie, Simon recited the answers one after another.
"And why did you omit the duration formula?"
"Because of the unique nature of Deathland as a region, sir. We took into account the fact that things don't decay there."
Aaron turned his head toward the other students.
"Why did you exclude the corpse-poison effect, a key component of any zombie?"
This time Meilin answered.
"The Baekgwi is a cold-attribute monster. We judged that its infection effect through corpse poison would be diminished."
"Not bad. Who ran the Actomycin check?"
"Th-that was me, sir!"
"Explain the state of muscular rigidity before and after the summoning spell."
Aaron posed a question each to Camibarez and Dick as well. The two of them were nervous, but answered without much difficulty.
Aaron nodded and settled back into his seat.
"The material was exceptional to begin with, and you all processed it to the highest standard you were capable of. It looks a little hastily made, but this passes."
At those words, the four of them secretly flinched.
A TA handed Aaron a file folder and a quill. Aaron ticked off all four of their names.
"Group 7 receives an A+. Dismissed."
"Wooo!"
The four of them threw their arms around each other and erupted in cheers. Even the TAs gave a light round of applause.
"All students, assemble."
With Group 7's assessment complete, Aaron stepped outside the tent.
The students who had been proudly showing off their zombies outside came swarming over and snapped to attention. Students who had finished their evaluations quickly streamed out of the rest tents as well.
"Good work, all of you."
Aaron looked around at the assembled students.
"I imagine this practical assessment has taught you a great deal. Some of you are probably cursing me right now, wondering why I would make you do something so horrifying."
Several pairs of eyes darted about.
The corpses of Deathland did not decay — every single one of them had been preserved in perfect condition, just as they were in life.
Turning such a corpse into a zombie was the kind of experience that could leave deep scars on some of the students.
"Some of you may point out that my teaching methods are outdated. We live in an era where you can stroll into town and buy a zombie or a skeleton outright if you have the money. But you are Kizen students."
Aaron's eyes grew serious.
"As elites in this field, knowing your roots and understanding your fundamentals matters more than anything. Brushing aside tradition and heritage as obsolete relics under the banner of 'practicality' is the act of a fool. However lush its leaves and blossoms may appear, a tree with rotting roots will not survive the storm."
Aaron walked slowly in a circle around them.
"I suspect this peace will not last forever. A necromancer who flounders, unable to raise a single undead because his corpse factory or supply base was destroyed by priests — such a man has no right to call himself a necromancer. Whatever situation befalls you, stay cold and level-headed, and establish the most efficient means at your disposal."
His eyes flashed.
"If there are no corpses to be bought, go to the nearest bombed-out village and turn its dead into your army. If your numbers fall short, raise your fallen friend's body and win anyway. That is practicality. That is what it means to be a necromancer."
Flutter!
Aaron swept his coat behind him as he strode away.
"All of Class A — take out every zombie you brought back from Deathland. The ones that weren't assessed, the failures, all of them."
"Yes, sir!"
The students did as they were told, laying out every zombie they had gathered in Deathland from their subspaces.
When the TAs finished their checks and nodded, Aaron stomped the ground hard enough to make it boom.
WHOOOOOSH!
A jet-black magic circle spread outward from his foot, blanketing the entire camp. Flames kindled in the zombies' eyes — and then, all at once, they broke free of control and began to run.
'Ah!'
Simon's Baekgwi zombie and guard zombie were no different.
'My mental control's been severed! Just this easily...?!'
It was a fresh reminder of the sheer might of a Kizen professor.
Every zombie in camp poured into the open clearing. They piled and clumped together, forming one enormous mound.
"Here's some unfortunate news for you all — the zombies brought out of Deathland come with a side effect."
Aaron spread his palm. With a sound like clicking gears, a jet-black magic circle began to assemble itself.
"Take them beyond Deathland's borders, and they intermittently fall into states of extreme aggression. Far beyond what you students can control with your mental commands — the moment you cross the border, the school confiscates them all."
At last, Aaron's magic circle completed, scattering pure black light. Watching it, Simon's shoulders trembled violently.
'Why?'
He could tell, instinctively, exactly what dark magic Aaron was unleashing.
"Corpse—"
He clenched his fist, lips moving.
"—Explosion."
Every zombie's core blazed with colossal light —
and detonated in unison.
As searing heat swept out in all directions, the students screamed and crouched, shielding their faces with both arms. Their uniforms whipped about chaotically, and the trees swayed and shuddered.
"......Ah."
Simon drank in the sight with eyes stretched wide. All thought of the Baekgwi he'd borrowed from Prince flew clean out of his mind.
Against the pitch-black night sky, ash and black detonation bloomed into mushroom clouds and scattered on the wind. The other students, too, stared upward with their mouths hanging open in a daze.
It was as if the world itself had turned to ash and was swirling into the sky.
He was so utterly overwhelmed that no thought could form at all.
Aaron bowed his head like an exorcist offering a prayer for the dead, then turned away.
"Did you find it beautiful?"
Aaron smiled.
"If even for an instant you felt that — then you have taken your first true step as necromancers."
Simon's heart began to pound.