The Naive Mercenary King and the Freshman Girl
“Been doing well, Arthur?”
The moment Arthur laid eyes on Simon, his pupils welled up with emotion.
“Simon!!”
He lunged forward and wrapped Simon up in a crushing bear hug, squeezing the air right out of his lungs.
“I missed you! I can't believe we're meeting again so soon! I was so disappointed that we didn't even get a proper goodbye on the Parona Peninsula!”
“Whoa, hang on!”
Simon let out an awkward laugh.
“Calm down, Arthur.”
Only then did Arthur release him and take a step back. He wasn't particularly large, but his strength and stamina were something out of a gorilla.
“Let's sort out this situation first, then talk.”
Simon looked around. Gang members lay sprawled everywhere, while others, pinned in place by his Bone Armour against the walls, writhed and groaned. Two more of them were fast asleep under his Sleep spell.
Simon spoke up.
“I'm going to ask you all a few questions now.”
As he walked toward the gang members fixed to the wall, he opened his subspace.
“You've heard the rumors about necromancers, haven't you? If I don't get satisfying answers, I'll turn you into something that can never die.”
Zombies came spilling out, moaning uuuuurgh, drool trailing in long strings from their mouths. The gang members' faces drained chalk-white.
“Y-you bastard!”
One of them screamed in defiance.
“Go ahead and try! If you lay a hand on civilians, do you have any idea what punishment a necromancer faces—!”
Simon, expressionless, slipped off his outer robe to reveal the black uniform beneath. When they saw the Kizen crest emblazoned across his chest, their faces stiffened even further.
A necromancer belonging to Kizen.
Even first-year students held investigative authority within the Dark Alliance.
“Now, first question.”
Simon adjusted his robe again and continued.
“Tell me your affiliation.”
“………”
They desperately avoided his eyes and kept their mouths shut. Simon let out a long sigh.
“I didn't want blood on the very first question.”
The moment those words left his mouth, the zombies began shuffling forward, jaws stretched wide open.
“N-no! Simon!”
Arthur grabbed him in alarm.
“Even if you're with Kizen, you can't kill people!!”
Seriously?
Simon shot Arthur an exasperated glare. Obviously it was an act. What was he supposed to do if Arthur fell for the trick before the enemy did?
Then something unexpected happened.
Arthur's desperate intervention—scolding Simon at the top of his lungs—ended up stoking the gang members' terror. Convinced they were about to be slaughtered for real, they all trembled violently, twisting their limbs like they were having seizures.
These people are absolutely terrified.
“Let go, Arthur.”
Simon decided, on instinct, to make use of Arthur's performance.
“I'll just tear a few of you apart as an example.”
With Arthur shrieking in horror and the zombies drooling as they closed in right under the gang members' noses—
“What is that guy DOIIIIIING?!”
Someone finally couldn't take it anymore and screamed.
That guy?
Simon's eyes sharpened.
“Hurry up!!”
“We're all going to die for real at this rate!”
Were there other comrades hiding nearby? Simon scanned his surroundings, but there was no sign of anyone else.
Hm?
Then he noticed something black and glinting beneath the shirt of one unconscious gang member. He hurried over and pulled the fabric up—and there it was: a vividly drawn magic circle etched into the man's body.
Shhhhhhhhh—
And then.
The man's body scattered into dust and vanished.
What the—?
Shhhhh—
Shhhhhhh—
The same thing was happening to the other gang members. Every last one of them was dissolving away like grains of sand.
Oh no!
Simon whipped a single black feather from his coat and swiftly tucked it into the clothes of the last gang member still dissolving—the one under his Sleep spell. The man soon vanished along with the feather, and every one of the gang members disappeared from the scene.
“Wh-what just happened?”
Arthur looked around in bewilderment. Simon dusted off his hands as he answered.
“Looks like there was a necromancer on the other side too.”
What had just been etched into those men's abdomens were Perpetual Magic Circles.
To implant Perpetual Magic Circles—which channeled jet-black power—into ordinary civilians who didn't even possess a Core... each use probably shaved half their lifespan away.
What are they after?
These were no common bandits.
A suicide squad numbering in the dozens. And all that half a lifespan bought them was the ability to vanish without being captured.
“Arthur. Any idea why those people were after you?”
Arthur, who had been staring blankly around, quickly collected himself and answered.
“Uh, no. I just followed them because they said they were guides my comrades had hired.”
“……You really are something.”
Simon smiled dryly.
“But Simon! Were you really going to turn those people into undead back there?”
“Obviously it was an act.”
“It was an act? Whoa! Whoa! Oh, so you were just scaring them to shake information loose! You totally fooled me!”
Simon scratched the back of his neck.
If you really make it into Kizen, you're in for a rough time.
The two of them walked together, trading stories about what they'd been up to. Arthur had arrived in Langestin the day before, he said, and spent the entire day lost and wandering.
Thankfully, he still had the note with his address written on it.
“It's close from here. I'll walk you there.”
Arthur beamed.
“Ahhh, you saved my life! Langestin's streets are so confusing I have no idea what's going on!”
“I had a rough time with it my first year too.”
The two strolled side by side, chatting away.
“So what brings you to Langestin, Simon?”
“Just a bit of school business.”
“Oh, right!”
Arthur bowed his head sharply.
“I'm sorry! Let me fix how I'm addressing you—Simon, seonbae-nim!”
“Huh?”
“I'm actually starting at Kizen tomorrow! Hahaha!”
So Arthur really was a Kizen freshman.
Every outsider boy and girl wandering lost around Langestin at this hour was probably a Kizen admittee.
But then—
“Why do you ask?”
“Ah.”
Simon, who had been basking in a warm, fuzzy glow, cleared his throat in embarrassment.
The truth was, hearing the word “seonbae-nim” out loud for the first time had left him a little giddy.
“Just surprised me, that's all.”
“Hahaha! I bet that startled you! And get this—I'm getting in through Special Admission!”
Well, that figured. The man was the reigning Mercenary King.
From what Simon had seen at Parona, he had plenty of combat experience and remarkable talent besides.
Love him or hate him, he was a prime candidate for Special Admission No. 1.
“Actually, I'm a Special Admission student too. Got in as No. 1.”
“Ooooh! What a coincidence!”
A green Kizen freshman who knew absolutely nothing about the world.
Simon could see his own self from a year ago reflected in Arthur. It made him all the fonder of the kid.
The more he talked with him, the deeper he felt himself sinking into nostalgia.
“Did you buy your textbooks yet?”
“Nope! I was planning to hit the bookstore today.”
Simon gave a little cough.
“Well, I'm headed to the bookstore too, so if you'd like, I could show you the—”
“Ah, sorry, seonbae-nim!”
Arthur grinned brightly.
“I promised my mercenary buddies I'd go with them!”
A bead of sweat rolled down Simon's temple.
“R-right. Well, can't be helped then.”
“Oh, look!”
As it happened, Arthur's companions were visible in the distance—dressed, unmistakably, in mercenary garb.
“Arthur!!”
They came running in a pack, then immediately started laying into him—what took him so long, stop making them worry like that.
Simon watched from a short distance away. It was plain how deeply they all cared for Arthur.
“Thank you for bringing him back to us.”
One of the mercenaries, a woman, stepped forward and greeted him.
“Not at all. I only did what anyone would.”
Simon raised a hand toward Arthur.
“See you tomorrow, on the ship to Kizen. Arthur.”
“Yep! See you then, Simon seonbae-nim!”
Having delivered Arthur safely to his comrades, Simon wandered the streets of Langestin in his robe, at a leisurely pace.
Today was a free day.
He could do whatever he pleased. And being a Kizen student, he kept spotting students here and there who looked like incoming freshmen.
Which subjects they were planning to declare, whether they'd get to meet the professors they'd always admired—now and then he even caught a garbled rumor that made his mouth itch to correct it, but he held his tongue, afraid of being treated like some weirdo.
He arrived at the bookstore.
Kizen textbooks were sold exclusively at certain shops, and this one was, unsurprisingly, swarming with what looked like Kizen freshmen.
Brings back memories.
Boys and girls from every corner of the continent, all of them poring over the textbook lists that came tucked inside the envelopes holding their Kizen admission certificates, picking out their books.
“Toxicology? That's a fun name for a subject!”
“Ugh, look at this illustration. That skeleton is terrifying.”
“I don't think I could touch that~”
As Simon wandered the aisles, a fond smile kept creeping onto his face.
Adorable.
Now that he thought of every one of them as his juniors, they couldn't have looked cuter. Like newly hatched chicks, utterly clueless about the subjects and the professors alike—snatching up books into armfuls and scurrying off to the counter.
Plenty of them had already made friends in the store. You could see it: someone would approach with a “You're a freshman too, right?” and they'd hit it off on the spot.
Ahem. Enough gawking—let me take care of my own errand.
The second-year textbooks were shelved deeper in, past the entrance. Simon ambled back at an unhurried pace and pulled out the ones he needed.
Intermediate Major: Summoning. Author's name checks out.
He decided to buy all three of his major textbooks here. For the general electives, there was no telling how course registration would shake out, so those he'd have to buy in Rochest.
Simon was tucking the textbooks under his arm and heading for the counter when—
“Nnngh! Hnngh!”
He spotted a girl standing on her tiptoes, straining and grunting as she tried to pry a book off the very top shelf.
Simon recognized a freshman on sight and walked over.
“Want a hand?”
The girl glanced at him sidelong and went right back to her struggle.
“I'm fine.”
That was what she said, but with sweat beading on her forehead and her constant groaning, she looked anything but fine. Worse, the bookshelf was wobbling, and the books stacked on top looked ready to come tumbling down on someone.
Simon strolled over unhurriedly, pulled down the book she was reaching for, and set it lightly atop her pile. Then, pretending to notice nothing, he ambled off toward the counter.
“……Thanks.”
The words of gratitude caught him mid-step. He turned to find the girl, lips pushed out in embarrassment, offering her thanks. Simon turned fully around and smiled.
“Don't mention it.”
“Hm~”
She came clomping right up to him.
“Hey, you're a freshman too, aren't you?”
“I'm a second-year.”
“Bwahaha! Quit lying!”
She laughed cheerfully and smacked him on the forearm.
“One look and I can tell we're the same age!”
Fair enough, technically. Second-years and first-years were only a year apart—of course they were the same age.
“Ahh, I can't wait for the entrance ceremony. Can you?”
But the girl had already made up her mind, all on her own, that Simon was a freshman.
“Aren't you excited?”
“Of course I am.”
Considering my friends and I are the ones putting that entrance ceremony together.
“I can't believe I'm actually going to Kizen! I still can't believe it!”
She rattled on without giving Simon a chance to get a word in.
“I came from really far away. From the Aeron Estate, in the Carlos Kingdom! Where are you from?”
“Leshill, in the Baldwin Kingdom.”
“Leshill? Never heard of it. Anyway, looking forward to it! I'm Heidi Ferris.”
She stuck out her hand. Simon hesitated a moment, then took it.
“I'm Simon Polentia.”
“Hm? I feel like I've heard that name somewhere.”
She pumped his hand vigorously a few times, then looked him over with a grin.
“Heh heh, first time holding a girl's hand?”
“N-no, that's not—”
“Suuure it is~”
Heidi was a mischievous girl. She chattered away as they walked, and then she spotted something glinting red beneath the edge of Simon's robe.
“Ooh, pretty. What's that?”
Simon answered plainly.
“The symbol of a Kizen second-year.”
“Oh, come on! I said quit lying!”
“……It's true, though.”
She burst out laughing.
“A blockhead like you, a second-year? Do you really want to hear me talk politely to you that badly? You think I'm going to fall for your little scheme?”
“No, that's not—”
“The second-years are already on the island, you know—what was it called? Luku? No, Looke Island! Did you think I wouldn't know that?”
“It's Roc Island. And I'm here to lead the freshman—”
“AHAHAHAHAHA!”
By now she was clutching her belly, laughing herself silly.
“Oh my gosh! What is your deal? You're hilarious! Doesn't even sound convincing to you, does it? That excuse?”
Well, he supposed she had a point. Student escorts were normally professors, not second-years, after all.
Simon decided it wasn't worth the effort of hammering the point home.
She'll believe me when we meet on the ship tomorrow.
And with that, they rang up their textbooks.
Simon had wanted to show Heidi his second-year purchases, but so many freshmen had crowded in that a line had formed, and Heidi was directed by a clerk to the neighboring counter to check out instead.
“Well, nice meeting you, hey.”
Heidi said it outside the bookstore.
“If we run into each other at school, play it cool like we know each other.”
“Will do.”
“Anyway, my mom's waiting at our lodging, so I'm off!”
Heidi waved and dashed down an alley. Simon waved back.
“See you tomorrow, Heidi.”
“Yeah!”
One of Langestin's signature alleys—cramped, shabby, and labyrinthine.
Heidi emerged from the bookstore and marched along with a textbook hugged to her chest and her head held high.
“Ahh, that Simon kid really cracks me up.”
She was still riding the afterglow of the friend she'd made in Langestin that day.
“Then again, I'm a little worried~ How is a kid that green and awkward supposed to survive at Kizen? Maybe I should look out for him a bit.”
Click.
Something dropped nearby. She turned her head toward the sound, then resumed walking.
“Must be a lot of rats. Ugh, I hate big cities.”
She picked up her pace.
Click.
Tap.
Thud.
But then strange footsteps began echoing all around her.
Too loud to be rats.
……Those aren't rats, are they?
A stranger was a stranger no matter what, and a creeping dread slowed nothing and hastened everything—her footsteps grew faster and faster.
Tap.
Tatatatatap!
Before she knew it, she was sprinting down the alley at full speed.
Through the maze of narrow lanes, she could see it in the distance: the wide-open boulevard where carriages rolled past.
There! Almost there—!
Grab!
Her vision went dark. At the same moment, she felt something coarse pressed hard over her mouth and nose.
“Mmph! Mmph!”
She thrashed violently—but her consciousness grew hazier and hazier, until at last it went out entirely.
All around her stood a crowd of people draped in hooded robes.
Shhhhhhhhh—
And moments later, their bodies scattered like powder and were gone.