The Sea Awaits

After all the back-and-forth haggling, Simon had ultimately secured the exclusive exploration rights to the dungeon.

The Queen and the treasury officials had reacted to his choice with a hint of surprise. They had been half-dreading that he would push hard enough to demand rights to one of the kingdom's largest dungeons — one they were even now preparing to assault — so Simon's pick had caught them off guard.

The White Tomb Dungeon.

It earned its name when a dungeon gate was discovered inside an underground tomb built of white stone. Several assault teams had been dispatched over the years, but every one of them had failed at the very first step: getting through the gate.

Whether some special secret lay hidden inside, no one had ever passed through. By now the assault teams had withdrawn entirely, and archaeologists were investigating the mystery of the dungeon's sealed entrance instead.

They had been at it for ten years running — the dungeon had become about as useful to the kingdom as a fifth wheel. So when Simon claimed it for himself, the kingdom, though still wistful about the place's potential value, found it an offer they could accept.

There was one condition, however. The moment Simon took his exclusive rights, every archaeologist would be withdrawn, and none of the intelligence the kingdom had gathered over the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠years would be shared with him.

Simon would have to unravel the dungeon's secrets entirely on his own.

The Queen and her officials were firmly convinced there was no way Simon could solve a riddle that had stumped everyone for a decade, and they quietly expected him to come crawling back, surrendering part of his exploration rights to the crown in the end.

Simon had Pier. The truth was, Pier already knew the dungeon's secret.

And so Simon was promised the exclusive exploration rights, signed the paperwork, and prepared to return to Kizen. There was no time to enter the dungeon right away, and the threat of Magnus still loomed — he planned to take things slowly. The reward of 2,000 gold had been paid out without a hitch, too.

A short trip, but a full one.

That was Simon's own assessment. Granted, it had been mentally exhausting, wedged as he'd been all day between Serne and Lorraine's constant friction.

That afternoon, Simon rode a teleportation circle back to Kizen. After parting ways with the two girls and reaching the dormitory, he found Room 409 completely empty.

Looks like they're both still on their missions.

Today was only day three, so he figured he wouldn't see them until tomorrow, the final day.

He was leisurely unpacking when he finally noticed the note stuck to the desk. The scrawl — like earthworms crawling across the page — was unmistakably Dick's.

Beneath the message was an address in Rochest.

Curiosity flickered in Simon's eyes.

Strategy meeting?

The moment Simon returned to Kizen, he changed his clothes and headed out to Rochest.

As dusk settled over the city, streetlamps powered by mana bulbs flickered to life on every corner.

Still crowded, even at night.

During the mission assessment period, curfews and other restrictions were suspended, so the nights of youth rolled on uninterrupted. Besides, once preparations for the third BMAT began in a day or two, everyone would be run off their feet — the unspoken consensus was to burn the holiday wisely while it lasted.

"So this is the place."

Simon arrived at the address from Dick's note: an ordinary two-story family home. The address pointed to the second floor, and as he climbed the stairs, he could already hear the ruckus inside.

"Coming in."

Simon knocked on the wooden door, but got no answer. The din from inside seemed to be swallowing the sound of his knocks entirely.

There wasn't even a lock, so he carefully pushed the door open and stepped inside.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Ah."

It was a cozy log cabin. Outside, the night wind had been biting cold, but stepping into the warmth felt wonderful.

Mrrrow!

The instant Simon entered, small black-and-white kittens came bounding toward him, one after another.

Huh? What are they doing here?

They were the kittens Camibarez kept in the girls' dormitory. As the cats clung to his feet and nuzzled against him, all his accumulated fatigue seemed to melt away.

Simon crouched down right where he stood and scratched their bellies.

"Hey! What are you doing?! If you're late, hustle in already!"

It was Meilin's signature bark — thoroughly familiar by now.

"Simon~"

Camibarez poked her head out and grinned. "Hi there!"

"Hey, Kami! So everyone's already here."

"Yep! Meilin and I got here this morning."

Simon changed into indoor slippers and stepped into the room, the cats trailing after him with little mews. Dick, sitting at the desk, waved with a grin.

"There he is."

A fireplace beside him crackled with burning firewood, and the table was laid out with simple snacks and wine. The plush sofa was buried under stacks of books and tools for drawing magic circles.

"What's all this?"

Dick spread his arms wide. "Strategy meeting! I booked this place for the whole day. Everyone's sleeping over tonight!"

"A strategy meeting for what, all of a sudden?"

"Guess you haven't heard yet."

Meilin turned to Simon and continued. "The theme for the third BMAT has been announced."

Simon's eyes went wide. "It—it's already been announced?"

"MWAHAHA! Who am I? None other than the great Dick, fastest to the scoop—"

"Stop showing off! Almost everyone already knows by now."

Dick hung his head with a sulky look at Meilin's scolding. "Sniff... this is not the cutthroat war of information I'd been hoping for!"

"Anyway, is this intel for sure?"

"Yes! Absolutely certain!"

This time it was Camibarez who answered, clenching both fists tight. "The theme of this exam is... the sea!"

According to her, a large-scale magic circle and an underwater testing ground were being constructed in the ocean not far from Roc Island.

"The sea...!"

His head rang. An exam held at sea — he'd never even imagined it.

"We dug through everything — Kizen's shipments of materials, the personnel they're moving, every last detail — and it's confirmed," said Dick, arms folded behind his head. "But Kizen headquarters is enforcing a total lockdown on the test site, so nobody knows yet what kind of exam we'll actually be taking out there."

"But the sea theme itself is certain."

"That's the one!"

The moment Simon stopped to think about it, his mind went blank.

How am I even supposed to fight at sea?

Now he understood why they'd called an emergency meeting. He had no real grasp of what underwater combat would demand.

To be fair, Simon had fought at sea once before — back on Blue Harbor Island during his second mission assessment, against the traitor Pinch. But he'd been wearing Pier then, and it had been more a battle aboard a ship than a fight in the sea itself.

"The ocean is a necromancer's nightmare," Meilin explained. "Jet-black magic circles struggle just to hold their cohesion underwater and scatter at the drop of a hat. The dark magic we can use is limited, and long-range projectiles like jet-black arrows slow to a crawl in the water. Most of the undead we can command are vulnerable to the ocean's salinity — and as for skeletons, you can basically write them off entirely. Bone is lighter than water, so they'd just bob around like corks."

Simon's expression turned grave as he listened.

"And on top of all that... how are you supposed to breathe underwater?"

"Right. Breathing is the biggest problem of all," said Camibarez, hugging the kittens to her chest and rocking them gently. "If it's an exam where we fight from aboard ships, wouldn't that be okay?"

"There's zero chance it's a naval battle."

Dick grinned darkly. "Kizen's been vicious for as long as any of us can remember, hasn't it? These are the people who wouldn't blink at teleporting us to the bottom of the ocean with our hands cuffed."

"H-handcuffs...?"

Camibarez went pale. Meilin pressed a finger firmly against Dick's forehead and cut in. "Enough with the crazy talk. We need to prepare for underwater combat no matter what. Even if the theme is surface warfare like Kami said, we have to be ready for the moment we fall into the water."

"Right, that makes sense!"

Camibarez nodded, and Simon echoed her agreement. Meilin clapped her palms together with a smack, drawing everyone's attention.

"Then, as group leader, here are my orders."

She pulled one of the books from the mountain stacked on the sofa and opened it. The title read So You Want to Survive the Ocean? A Necromancer's Guide!

"Now that Simon's here, let's start from the top. It's not that there's no dark magic for use in water — it's just that all of it involves advanced formulas only upperclassmen ever learn."

Simon took the book and studied the diagrams himself. It was a magic circle for creating makeshift gills, packed with formulas he'd never seen before. A quick once-over told him that building it would require learning a rune called Paradox Flow, which in turn had prerequisite runes he'd need to master first.

"The other books are mostly the same."

"Feels kind of unhelpful, honestly."

"Haha! What did you expect? That's necromancers for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you!" Dick chimed in. "Necromancers are pragmatists by nature — we each develop the best circle we can make ourselves. Unless it's an official textbook, beginner-friendly dark magic is rare enough as it is, and beginner-friendly underwater dark magic is practically impossible to find!"

"So you're saying we have to build the dark magic for this exam ourselves?"

"Exactly! See, you learn fast."

"Now then," Meilin said, looking around at her group members, "top priority is a dark magic spell to help us breathe underwater. Beyond that, we need underwater offensive dark magic to intercept enemies at sea, and dark magic to help us move quickly through the water. The exam could be this week or next, so let's move fast."

Meilin assigned each of the three a role and divided up the work.

"Alright — begin!"

Simon and Meilin took on the most critical piece: the breathing circle. They spread out the books borrowed from the library and set about extracting only the most essential formulas. Once the circle was built, they planned to run a simple test, then bring it to a professor or TA for a full stability inspection.

"How'd you even manage to borrow all these books?"

At Simon's question, Meilin smiled smugly. "The second word of this reached a commoner like me, I sprinted straight to the library."

The three of them had swept up every book on sea-related dark magic they could find. Apparently some students had even gotten there and gone before they did.

"The latecomers arriving at the library now must be panicking."

"Good work."

Simon started by examining the circle Meilin had drafted. "This one's an air-tank design — the circle stores a supply of air."

"Mm-hmm."

"But if we want the circle to hold up underwater for long, shouldn't we add formulas to reinforce its cohesion?"

She shrugged. "There's no room left for that. Look at the circle — it's already packed solid."

"Then let's rework the unnecessary structure to free up as much space as possible. Starting with converting the complex jet-black circuits into straight lines."

"Are you an idiot?! What is this, an attack spell? Turn the circuits straight and all you've got is an air rifle!"

"We can split the circuits at the end. Hold on."

Simon flipped through the books hunting for relevant material. "Kami! Could you find an example of circuit branching for me?"

"Yes! On it, Simon!"

Camibarez was in charge of research and offensive magic. She'd spread her books out across one side of the room and was sitting right in the middle of them, turning pages earnestly.

"How about this one?"

"Oh, nice — found it fast! Thanks!"

Simon took the book, laid it open, and revised the diagram with his quill. "Let's build it right away."

Meilin raised the circle into the air according to the diagram and fed jet-black into it — and a spot where the jet-black leaked out mid-flow soon revealed itself.

"Failed. It's bleeding jet-black everywhere."

"There's resistance along this line, so the damage keeps stacking. One sec."

The four of them threw themselves into developing underwater magic circles in a whirlwind of chaos.

While Meilin reviewed the runes, Simon took a breather and picked up the unopened bottle of wine on ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the table. "Mind if I have some of this?"

"Ohhh, drink up! Help yourself!" Dick nodded.

Simon poured just enough not to get drunk, took a sip, and nibbled on some snacks. Truthfully, he'd missed dinner and was starving.

"Hey, Simon! Come look at this!"

"Yeah, yeah."

Two hours flashed by, and the night deepened. In the easy, free-flowing atmosphere, the circle development rolled on.

"PWAHAHA! Look at those two!"

Dick pointed with his fingertip. Inside a pot, two kittens had curled up together, fast asleep in each other's arms.

Meilin and Camibarez clasped hands and shrieked with delight. "Too cute! I can't—!"

"Haaaah, a direct hit to the heart."

"Shall we take a break?"

At Simon's suggestion, the two girls bolted for the kittens at a dead sprint. Dick flopped onto the sofa and shut his eyes — only to be jolted awake moments later by Meilin whacking him on the back.

"Simon! Please take a look at the attack spell I made too!"

"Sure."

Camibarez's creation was a modified version of the jet-black arrow — she'd already gone ahead and named it the Jet-Black Torpedo.

Dick sidled over to gawk, then let out a whistle. "Ooh, solid design! Let's give it a test run."

"Wh-where?"

Dick ran to the bathroom and started filling the bathtub.

"HEY!!"

Meilin yelled at the sight. "I told you not to! Somebody's going to get hurt!"

"Fus-ro-dah!"

When Dick bellowed in a woman's voice, the pepper shaker Meilin hurled flew straight for his forehead. He dodged nimbly. "Oh come on, it's not dangerous — it's about as strong as a jet-black arrow! I'll take responsibility!"

A little later, Camibarez stepped into the tub and spread her magic circle beneath the surface. At first the jet-black kept scattering in the water and she failed repeatedly, but as her proficiency grew, the cohesion firmed up — and she succeeded in forming a circle underwater.

"Good! Now fire it!"

Across the tub, Dick stood by with a defensive circle already deployed. Simon had come to watch, and even Meilin — stubbornly pretending not to care — was eventually peeking out from behind him on tiptoe, curiosity winning out.

"Jet-Black Torpedo!"

WHOOM!

The projectile Camibarez fired shot through the bathwater with a whoosh! Everyone gasped in admiration.

"?!"

Then, all at once, the torpedo — hurtling dead ahead — struck Dick's defensive circle. Instead of shattering, it kicked upward and leapt out of the water.

It smashed directly into the mana bulb mounted on the bathroom wall with a thunderous BOOM!

"WAAAGH!"

"KYAA!"

Dick and Camibarez scrambled out in a panic. The mana bulb shattered and rained fragments onto the floor, and Dick tripped over the edge of the tub and went down with a crash.

"I can't live like this! I TOLD you not to, you walking disasters!"

Even as she raged, Meilin's mouth kept twitching into a grin. Simon was no better.

Camibarez bowed her head deep. "I-I'm so sorry."

Meilin gave her hair a gentle ruffle, then shot Dick a glare. "This was a test experiment — this is entirely the fault of a certain someone who deployed his defensive circle way too thick."

"...Wow, look at this blatant favoritism. The injustice is unbearable."

Even as he grumbled, Dick climbed back into the tub to inspect the light fixture. "Phew, dodged a bullet! No hole in the ceiling — just a busted bulb."

He cleaned up the debris, pulled a fresh bulb from his subspace, and replaced it. When he activated the magic circle in the ceiling, light sprang back with a pop!

"And I upgraded you to something better than the cheap ones they sell in shops! That should keep the landlady happy, right?" Simon said with a grin.

"Still, be sure to tell the owner."

"Ah, obviously. She got a free bulb upgrade — time to haggle the rent down even further."

The whole room burst out laughing.

And so the night of the strategy meeting grew deeper.