Fever Time
"Great work, everyone!"
"Good job out there!"
The three artisans had thrown themselves into the work, and it took a solid four hours, but at last they succeeded in engraving the magic circle onto the nothing-but-bones Deimos.
None of them showed a trace of fatigue as they exchanged their words of thanks.
"Thank you all for your hard work."
Benya, who had been waiting nearby, came over to offer her own encouragement.
"Oh, it was nothing, miss. Honestly, it was a fun job."
"It's not every day you get to lay hands on a Deimos."
Diego turned back to Simon with a gentle smile.
"Well then, time for its master to fire it up, don't you think?"
"Yes, sir!"
Simon closed his eyes and connected to the Deimos's residual consciousness. The skeleton, reborn in his own Jet-Black, twitched and began to stir.
A high-rank monster really is on another level. The resistance is stronger than I expected.
But if there was one thing Simon was confident in, it was undead control. He channeled a fierce, insistent will into the skeleton again and again.
Get up!
Thump! Thump!
The Deimos's bones, as silent as fossils until that moment, began to jerk and leap. It overflowed with power and vitality, like a massive fish hauled fresh from the sea.
"Whoa!"
Benya and the artisans shouted aloud, and even the warehouse workers watching joined in.
I actually did it!
And Simon's chest swelled with more pride than anyone's.
He had been involved in every step, from sourcing the materials all the way to carving the final magic circle. This was the first undead he had ever put his hands into from start to finish like this.
"Careful! You're knocking everything off the shelves!"
But the power overflowing from it was overflowing a little too much.
There wasn't a drop of water in the place, yet the Deimos thrashed and bounced about as it pleased, shaking goods off the shelves and knocking over buckets.
"S-stop it!"
It was a genuine nuisance. A flustered Simon approached it, sweat beading down his face, only for the leaping Deimos to smack him across the cheek with the bones of its tail.
The moment Simon went down, Benya and the artisans erupted into laughter.
"The first time an undead wakes up, it panics and acts strange. We in the trade call it fever time."
Simon belatedly remembered the first time he'd ever raised a Skeleton Archer — when its skull had bitten down on his arm.
"...You c-could have mentioned that a little sooner!"
"Sorry. It's just so normal to us."
Left alone, the thing looked ready to rampage around the warehouse all day long. When Simon tried to approach it again, the artisans held him back.
"Let it be until the frenzy wears off."
"It'll calm down in a few hours."
But that would be a hassle for the Vanilla people, and he couldn't just wait around until then.
Simon issued an Absolute Order to the Deimos.
Stop!
At once, the thrashing Deimos fell still, as if by magic.
But Simon didn't let his guard down. He spread both arms in a gesture of peace and took a careful step forward.
Sooo.
He extended his right hand, palm open, and advanced slowly. Thankfully, the Deimos stayed put.
Gently, Simon ran his hand along the ridge of the Deimos's snout.
He could feel its residual consciousness gradually settling. As if it, too, had recognized its master, it didn't reject Simon's touch and released its wariness.
Gathering his courage, Simon drew closer, knelt down, and wrapped his arms around the Deimos, stroking down along its torso.
Gasps of admiration burst out from all around.
"...He's actually good at this."
"Kizen kids really are different from the seedling stage."
Once the Deimos had calmed, Diego came over.
"Now that you've got control down, let's test that technique while we're at it. I told you how it works, right?"
"Yes, sir. I'll try it right now."
Simon rose to his feet and closed his eyes.
The presence of the Deimos's consciousness and the Jet-Black-powered magic circle came into sharp focus.
Simon activated one of the circle's runes with Jet-Black, then issued his command.
Ocean Current Cannon.
The instant Simon's order fell, the Deimos flung its jaws wide open. Jet-Black gathered within in the shape of a ring and began sucking in everything around it like a whirlpool.
Simon pointed at a patch of empty space.
"That way!"
FWOOOOM!
The blast of wind-fire roared from its maw. The backwash whipped everyone's clothes and hair wildly about. The wind dissipated midair, scattering before it ever hit the wall.
Ooh—! The watching workers let out low murmurs of awe.
"When a monster dies and becomes undead, it loses the skills and abilities it had in life."
Diego said.
"But you helped it along so well, Simon, that we salvaged as many of its functions as possible. The most crucial one, the Ocean Current Cannon, made it through intact. Test it in actual water and you'll get a real feel for its power."
"Ah......"
The sea unfolded in Simon's mind.
He imagined surging through the currents alongside the Deimos, then sweeping his opponent away with a single cannon blast.
Just thinking about it sent a thrill down his spine.
Underwater combat doesn't scare me anymore!
Of course he hadn't even been able to test it yet, but Simon could feel confidence pouring out of him.
He turned around and said,
"This is all thanks to you seniors! Thank you so much."
The artisans smiled with satisfaction.
"We learned plenty ourselves."
"You made things easy on us, young Simon."
Then Diego cleared his throat with a great ahem, glanced sideways, and muttered quietly,
"I'm sorry about earlier."
"......Sorry? For what?"
"For being so touchy about it."
The two juniors beside him burst out laughing at full volume.
"Ah—! Please don't worry about it! I'm really, truly fine!"
"Softie."
Diego came over and slung an arm around Simon's shoulder.
"If you ever need work down the line, come by any time. You'd be welcome here whenever you like."
"Ah, come on, kid. Just quit Kizen and settle in here! We'll make you rich!"
"If it's you, Simon, we'd welcome you with open arms."
Suddenly the bearded older men had surrounded Simon, all of them trying to poach him into working with them.
Simon stood there stiff as a board and shot Benya a desperate, pleading glance — save me.
"What on earth is wrong with these men."
Benya strode over and extracted Simon from the crowd.
"When we first called you here to put you to work, you looked like death itself. And now look at you."
Diego laughed heartily.
"That was then, this is now. Are you already trying to snap up our most trusted man?"
"I'll hand in my resignation if you take Simon into the business side! He was born to be an engineer!"
Simon's expression turned bewildered. The three of them were already talking as if he'd joined Vanilla.
"Well, speaking personally—"
Benya rested a hand lightly on Simon's shoulder.
"I'd say he's a fish far too big for us to catch and keep."
Diego laughed.
"Haha! Too big for the mighty Vanilla to keep? So what — you think he'd go off to Kizen headquarters or the Ivory Tower or something?"
Simon just scratched the back of his head.
After finishing his tour of the fish market and returning to Kizen, Simon sat down to write a letter first thing.
Dear Mom,
First, he asked after Anna and Richard, then wrote about how he'd been doing lately. And beneath that, he added a small postscript.
Do you think there might be a way to send a letter to Lethe? There's something I'd like to tell her.
And directly below it, he wrote out the message meant for Lethe.
A brief greeting, and then — since it was unlikely but possible the letter might be intercepted along the way — he omitted everything else and explained only the core of the matter.
You remember the evidence we got from the train? Please check whether the name "Judas" appears anywhere in it.
Something about the name Judas had been nagging at him, and as he combed through his memories, it came to him — he was almost sure he'd seen something like it on the divine train.
To be more precise: back when the Blood Heaven Cult had come to hijack the divine train, Simon had defeated their bishop and obtained a bundle of documents and evidence.
That was exactly it — he wanted someone to search those materials for the name "Judas."
Setting down his quill, Simon stretched his arms high and stared up at the ceiling.
Lethe must be doing well at Ephnel. Is she still holding on to first place? Has the baby Ran grown a lot by now?
There was a mountain of things he wanted to ask, but he decided to hold back.
Simon slipped the letter into its envelope, sealed it neatly, and dropped it into the dormitory's post box.
For the rest of the weekend, he practiced handling the Deimos. If he took it back to the sea he'd visited before, it was guaranteed to draw every eye, and exposing his full strength there would do him no good — so Simon buried himself in solo practice on a deserted stretch of shore.
And so, the next morning.
A new week arrived. Jane's announcement turned the student body upside down from the very first class of the day.
"The 3rd BMAT examination is scheduled for the end of this week."
Aaah—
All around the room, students groaned under the weight of it or clutched their heads in despair.
Everyone in the school already knew this semester's theme was the sea, but the actual business of fighting in the water was a formidable problem in its own right.
The sooner the exam gets here, the better.
Simon, meanwhile, had come back from the Ballot Fish Market with a new summon in hand and confidence to spare.
Though truthfully, it wasn't so much the exam he was looking forward to as the chance to finally put his Deimos skeleton to use in the field.
"And there is one more important announcement."
Jane said, turning to the next page of her documents.
"A Duel Evaluation will be held once before the BMAT."
Aaaaah—
Laments burst out from every corner of the room. The BMAT alone was crushing them, and now a Duel Evaluation on top of it.
"Man, Kizen's schedule is famously brutal, but isn't this just excessive?"
"We're already dying from the sea-adaptation training."
The reactions ranged from helpless to exasperated, but Meilyn just snorted through her nose.
"Just fight the way you always do. Everyone's being dramatic."
Simon nodded in agreement.
"Yeah. Let's just do what we always do."
"There go the High Squad kids! Confidence of a different breed."
Dick said with a grin. Simon and Meilyn were currently in the High Squad, riding a win streak.
Dick and Camibarez, on the other hand, had slipped a few times and were still stuck in the Mid Squad.
"Our Cami's moving up to the High Squad this time, right? Your skills shot way up over the break."
Meilyn said, eyes sparkling.
Camibarez gave an "Ahaha" and an uncertain smile.
"I honestly don't know yet...... Actually, I like the Mid Squad just fine! I don't want to fight Simon or Meilyn!"
"Hold on! What's that supposed to mean? The Mid Squad happens to have me in it — Dick Hayward, veteran of veterans of the mid ranks!"
"I'll fight you hard, Dick!"
"Hehehe! You know there's no going easy on a girl, right?"
Dick declared war with playful jabs at the air. Camibarez answered in kind, albeit clumsily, throwing adorable pretend punches of her own.
Meilyn squealed about how cute she was and squeezed Camibarez in a crushing hug, startling a shriek out of her.
As the students chattered away over the next set of handouts, Jane let it go on for a while before speaking again.
"Quiet."
One word from Jane and the classroom fell instantly silent.
"Pairings for the Duel Evaluation will be posted in the men's and women's dormitories this evening, so be sure to check them. Students in the Lowest Squad should focus on the Duel Evaluation above all else; the rest of you, go all-in on the BMAT and bring back good results. That is all."
"Thank you, Professor!"
Jane let them out early today. Everyone was laughing and chattering as they gathered their things when—
"Hey, everyone! Could you spare us just a moment?"
Claudia Menzies and her friends stepped up onto the lectern platform.
"Unbelievable. She's really at it again."
Meilyn muttered in disdain. Claudia's eyes met Meilyn's, but without any need to decide who went first, the two of them turned their heads in opposite directions.
"As you all know, we ran a boycott of her classes for the entire past week — and yet Professor Byeolya went ahead and forced the poison-ingestion lessons anyway."
Claudia raised her voice. Even as she spoke, Hector and his faction were getting up from their seats and filing out of the classroom.
Claudia had been waiting quietly, keeping a wary eye on Hector — but the moment he was gone, her voice rose even louder.
"This isn't just ignoring the students' voices — it's a declaration that they intend to crush our basic rights. If you walk into the next class, Professor Byeolya is going to force poison down your throats again. No — she might feed us nothing but poison for the entire year. And above all, the poison we're being made to swallow has no verified source whatsoever. How are we supposed to know what side effects it has? We could be suffering them for the rest of our lives. I'll say it plainly: that class is a genuinely insane thing to do."
Whoosh—
Just then, the classroom doors burst open and students from other classes came pouring in.
All of them were students boycotting Byeolya's class.
"Once more — no, I'll beg you as many times as it takes."
Claudia said.
"For the sake of all students' rights, please join us in boycotting Professor Byeolya's class."