The Name in the Archives
The Deadly Poison class that had caused no end of uproar finally came to an end.
Byeolya, who had put the world's finest elites through the wringer on her very first day, stretched luxuriously and strode out of the Poison Studies Hall wearing an expression of deep satisfaction.
"Professor!"
At that moment, a long-haired woman came hurrying after her. She was the Head TA, second only to Francesca herself.
Byeolya grinned, baring her sharp triangular teeth.
"Ahh, good work today."
"Professor, um... the thing is."
After a moment of hemming and hawing, the Head TA asked cautiously.
"Are you planning to run this same class for the other sections tomorrow?"
"Of course!"
"Th-then, starting with the second session—"
"Obviously I'll pump them full of new poisons! Did I not say so?"
The Head TA broke out in a cold sweat.
What on earth am I supposed to do with this woman?
She couldn't defy the person who had taken in hopeless TAs like themselves when no one else would, but letting her push through this insane curriculum would provoke the students beyond all reason.
And these were no ordinary students. They were the children of the most powerful figures imaginable—heirs of great houses, grand generals, chancellors.
How would the parents react when word spread that Kizen was feeding poison to the children they had raised like forbidden treasures?
After much agonizing, the Head TA steeled herself and decided to speak frankly.
"I understand the intent and purpose behind your lessons. But these are first-years who know nothing yet! And some of them rarely use Deadly Poison at all in their day-to-day work. I know this is a pre-war curriculum, but wouldn't it be better to attempt training like this after they've grown a little more...?"
"Hahahahahaha!"
Thunderous laughter erupted without warning. Every time Byeolya's shoulders shook, specks of iridescent sand tumbled from her body, and the TA hastily retreated a step.
"You said you understood the intent and purpose, didn't you?"
"Ah, yes."
"Then that settles it, doesn't it? I know what you're all worried about, but if all you do is watch your superiors' faces, you'll never accomplish anything. I'll take full responsibility, so just trust me and follow along."
Byeolya clapped a hand on her shoulder and grinned.
"Got it?"
"...Yes, Professor."
Having given the Head TA's shoulder a light pat, Byeolya turned and walked away.
Exactly thirty seconds after she vanished, the other TAs who had been hiding came swarming out.
"So? What happened, unnie?"
"Madam! She said no, didn't she?"
The Head TA shook her head at their questions, and sighs and lamentations rose from every corner.
"...Haaa. Why is it that every Deadly Poison professor ends up a lunatic."
A male TA leaned against the wall with hollow eyes and pulled out a cigar.
"The first professor died, the second one became a Saintess, and now the third one's a wild steppe savage."
"Oppa. Smoking is prohibited on campus."
"You think I'm actually going to light it? What did we ever do to deserve serving these people?"
The morale of the TA staff was visibly scraping rock bottom. Then the Head TA spoke in a serious voice.
"Put it away."
The male TA flinched, mumbled "yes ma'am," and stuffed the cigar back into his pocket with a sheepish look.
The Head TA looked around at everyone and spoke up.
"If those are the professor's orders, there's no other choice. We follow. But we need to act as lubricant as much as possible—ease the students' grievances along the way."
"Easing their grievances, you say...?"
"What exactly do you plan to do?"
Facing her juniors' questions, the Head TA answered with a grim face.
"We'll suggest she lower the poison concentrations, and keep each session down to two or three sets. That way we can create the impression that the professor is adjusting the dosage out of consideration for the students. I'm going back to see her again tomorrow."
The TAs nodded.
Today's classes were finally over.
Simon wasn't in the best condition, but he had decided to visit the Mutant clubroom for the first time in a while. He'd promised Toto they would greet the seniors together, and a promise was a promise.
This place looks just as shabby as ever.
Stuck to the clubroom door was a sheet of paper with Mutant scrawled across it in crooked letters. It was so tattered it was about to fall off, so Simon pressed it back down with his palm before knocking.
"Simon Polentia here."
Somehow, though, there was a commotion inside. Assuming something had gone wrong again, he carefully opened the door.
"It's getting away!"
"Catch it!"
Something really had gone wrong.
A jet-black skeleton was rampaging and bolting for freedom, and Toto, who lunged to grab it, took a kick square to the face. He went flying back into the wall, gushing nosebleed from both nostrils.
"Aaah! Stop right there!"
Behind it came a cream-haired girl, sprinting in pursuit, her face caked with charcoal-black powder.
Second-year Benya Vanilla. Granddaughter of the chairman of the Vanilla Group, a giant in the undead industry, and president of the Mutant club.
The moment she spotted Simon, she shouted as if this were perfect timing.
"Hey, soldier! Stop that thing, quick!"
The rampaging skeleton was whirling a pair of twin axes wildly through the air—a perilous display of acrobatics. Every axe swing shattered a nearby water tank, sending yellowish fluid streaming everywhere.
Some of it splashed straight into the mouth of Toto, who happened to be sprawled on the floor beneath.
"Uwaaagh!"
Thud! Thud-thud!
The rampaging skeleton charged straight for the door Simon had opened. Simon dropped into a combat stance and called out.
"Senior, may I break it?"
"Absolutely not! That thing is one crucial step toward world conquest! Subdue it with as little damage as possible!"
"?"
Toto, having risen and dodged the dripping fluid, wore an expression of pure disbelief.
Is that really something you can subdue without damaging it?
"Understood."
Simon stretched out his right arm, and six Overlord tentacles shot forward with a sharp hiss.
Before the skeleton could even swing its axes, two blades passed cleanly through the joints between its arm bones. The remaining tentacles each carved through the joints of its legs, chest, and neck in a single stroke. The skeleton's body scattered into a heap of bones.
Crash!
Leaping through the bones still flying through the air, Simon caught the all-important skull in his arms as he landed.
"Here you go."
"Oh, thanks!"
Benya snatched the skull and lightly tapped the magic circle inside it. The skeleton's head, which had been thrashing about as if it would bite her fingers off, went still and calm, as though a sedative had been administered.
"Whew. That was a close one. Thanks, thanks~"
Benya clattered over and set the skull down on the table. Toto, who had watched Simon's performance from point-blank range, couldn't close his mouth.
His Overlord control is way cleaner than before. No—more than that, how does he stay that calm in an emergency? We're the same age, but he's lived through things I haven't!
Uncomfortable under Toto's shining gaze, Simon pretended not to notice and picked up the skeleton bones scattered across the floor.
Once he'd gathered them all and laid them on the table, Benya spoke up.
"Want to help me put the bones back together?"
Simon's head shot up.
"Oh, really? Are you sure it's okay for me to touch them?"
"Of course! That means our soldier gets to contribute to world conquest too!"
...She still hasn't given up on that.
For the record, club president Benya's dream for the future was 'conquering the world with undead.'
The two of them began assembling the skeleton at speed. Benya was impressive enough, fitting bones together by pure instinct without even glancing at an assembly diagram—but Simon's skill in assisting her was equally superb.
"Number 8, number 14."
He tracked down and lifted every bone she named without a moment's hesitation. Once he'd gotten a feel for it, he started preparing bones in advance and handing them over before she even asked. By the end, when Benya finished the right leg bone, he'd already moved on to building the left leg on his own.
"Wait, didn't numbers 75 and 76 get swapped?"
"Oh! You're right! Sorry, sorry."
He even managed to catch a mistake made by the granddaughter of the Vanilla family itself.
The two worked in astonishing sync, assembling the black skeleton piece by piece.
"Done! Our soldier makes a fine support, too!"
"Thank you, Senior."
With the repairs finished, Toto joined them once he'd finished cleaning, and the three took a light break over glasses of juice.
As Simon heard the story, the newly developed skeleton's lingering consciousness had a habit of going berserk at the slightest provocation, which was a constant headache.
"This is a skeleton that doesn't exist anywhere else on the market, right?"
"You bet! I can't mass-produce it, so there'd be no point selling it. I'm thinking of keeping it for personal use, but the thing's got a vicious temper, so it's not easy. Still, it's been productive in a lot of ways."
Benya looked pleased. As thanks for helping clean up the mess, she told him to ask for anything he wanted.
"If it's all right with you, I'd like to build a personal skeleton of my own. Could you take a look at my materials?"
"Oh, yeah? Go ahead and bring it out."
Simon, who had been eyeing the black skeleton, promptly pulled a single skull out of his subspace.
"Wh-what is this!"
Benya leapt to her feet and lifted the skull up.
"I can feel it! This is an incredibly powerful undead!"
That it certainly was.
It was the skull of Swordmaster Manus, the opponent Simon had faced back when he went to Deathland.
"But the core and the consciousness are completely gone."
She peered inside the skull as she spoke.
"Like this, it's nothing but an empty shell. I can't tell what kind of undead it was, but this one will probably never fully reclaim the power and memories it had in life. Still, it looks like there's enough here to work with. Hmm."
She mulled it over for a moment, then set the skull down.
"If you're willing, we could send it to Vanilla headquarters and carry out the research there. Shall we do that? If the results are good, you'll get a skeleton that's entirely yours, and even if we fail, I'll pay you a standard research fee. What do you say?"
There was no reason to refuse an offer from the top firm in this industry.
More than anything, Simon had been carrying the skull around all this time without being able to do a single thing to it. From here on, he felt, this was the realm of professionals.
"Then I'd like to ask you to do it. How long will it take?"
"Who knows~ This is a genuinely extraordinary undead. If it drags on, it could take a year or two."
Simon made a slightly dizzy expression. That's practically a graduation gift.
Still, Simon knew firsthand just how strong the Swordmaster's skeleton was. If Vanilla couldn't handle it, he figured no one else could either.
"Then let's do it. Please take good care of it, Senior!"
"Leave it to me!"
The next morning.
Simon woke with a washed-out look on his face.
...Ugh, my head.
He'd been fine while he was at the clubroom, but after returning to the dormitory and falling asleep, the poison had apparently spread through him again—he'd had to throw up in the bathroom several times and suffered diarrhea on top of it. Groaning in misery all day, he hadn't even slept properly.
First things first—pull myself together.
Lying in a comfortable position on his bed, Simon began his mana breathing, cycling the jet-black through his body to steady himself. After thirty minutes or so, he felt a little better.
He checked the clock—it was the small hours of the morning, and Dick and Kajan were still fast asleep.
Well, no chance of falling back asleep now.
His mind was wide awake. In the end, Simon washed up in the bathroom, changed into his Kizen uniform, and stepped out of the dormitory early in the morning.
The place Simon visited was the library. Henchmen were busy cleaning in preparation for opening.
As Simon stood there hesitating, the henchmen kindly told him the reading room had already been cleaned and he was welcome to come in.
Simon wasted no time in heading straight for it.
"Yona. When you return to Kizen, search the archives for that name."
The reason he'd come to the library was his desire to learn about his father Richard's activities during his days as a Legion Commander.
After quietly getting the henchmen's permission, Simon began digging through the shelves.
For starters, there wasn't a single book with 'Yona' in the title.
Left with no alternative, he gathered every book he could find on Legion Commanders, stacked them into a tower on an empty desk, and sat down. Then he pulled out the topmost book and started flipping through it.
The History of the Legions
And the moment he opened it, the name 'Yona' appeared in a subheading.
Found it.
With a pounding heart, Simon turned the page.