The Young Count and the Exhibition
Riding out of the estate in a carriage with Shun, Simon bowed his head across the seat.
"I sincerely apologize for my breach of etiquette earlier, my lord."
Shun waved his hands cheerfully at Simon, who was sweating bullets as he apologized. "Oh no, no, it's fine! Like I said, just talk casually when we're in private like this!"
"I—well, I really shouldn't……."
"It's more comfortable for me too! Got it?"
"A-all right."
Shun was an energetic, laughing boy. He was called a Count, but he felt far more mischievous and down-to-earth than the typical noble children Simon had met.
Simon didn't bother asking why a boy so young had inherited both a countship and an enormous fortune. In cases like this, the answer was always the same, painfully obvious one.
So his parents passed away early.
A boy who had received his title while still a child and now governed Blue Harbor. Simon found his curiosity about Shun growing by the minute.
"That's Sarah Beach over there, the one with the most tourists! And that alley over there has a huge shopping district, and……!"
Pointing out each landmark visible from the carriage window with his little fern-like hand, Shun explained them all one by one. His excited voice was brimming with love for his territory, and Simon played along, chatting about this and that as they rode.
"My lord, we've arrived at the exhibition hall."
The driver's voice came from up front. Shun's guided tour had been so interesting that Simon hadn't noticed they'd already reached their destination.
The moment Simon opened the carriage door, Shun shot out like a cannonball.
"Wait, Shun! You'll trip and fall!"
Simon scrambled out after him in a panic—and sure enough, Shun lost his balance halfway up the steps and toppled backward.
Simon, who had been rushing up behind him, slipped his arms under the boy's armpits, lifted him clean off the ground, and set him down safely at the top of the stairs.
"Whoa!"
Shun flashed a grin. "You're good at this, Simon! Yeah! Keep it up just like that!"
"……"
Letting out a sigh of relief, Simon managed a strained smile. Somehow, he had the feeling this Mission Period was going to be exhausting.
"Count Shun, welcome."
The guards stationed at the exhibition hall stepped aside to let them through. Shun spun his little body around and beamed, puffed up with pride.
"The exhibition officially opens the day after tomorrow, but just this once, I'm showing it early—specially for my bodyguard!"
"Right. Thanks for that."
Creeeeak.
The great doors swung open, revealing the exhibition hall inside. Simon's eyes went wide.
This is……!
The next-generation undead exhibition held in Blue Harbor.
Blue Harbor was an island that had been cut off from the continent for so long that it had developed its own isolated ecosystem. Because of that, it was home to a great many "unique species" found nowhere else.
The exhibition showcased next-generation undead still under active research, centered on undead crafted from Blue Harbor's native monsters. Simon could feel his own eyes going wide all over again.
Where do I even start looking!
The 'dinosaur-type' skeleton occupying the largest space at the center of the first floor was overwhelming in its sheer presence. One look was enough to think that if such a skeleton ever attacked, an enemy's fighting spirit would simply snap in two.
But.
Looks like they never solved the lower-body balance problem of supporting its weight.
Jet-black chambers connected throughout the exhibition hall were propping the dinosaur skeleton up, keeping it from collapsing. Developing a giant skeleton was all well and good, but until the lower-body issue was resolved, it would be useless in actual combat.
While Simon was distracted, mentally drafting the report he'd submit to Kizen, the boy standing beside him had somehow vanished from view.
"Shun!"
Simon whirled around in alarm.
"Grrahahaha!"
At some point, Shun had climbed on top of one of the animal-type skeletons inside the hall.
"Hyah, hyah! Let's go! Charge!"
Shun slapped the skeleton's back with his palm, over and over—and the skeleton turned its long neck to look back at him.
Th-that's dangerous!
It wasn't just a simple display piece—summoning magic had clearly been applied to it.
Feeling the blood drain from his entire body, Simon sprinted over. Catching the safety fence with one hand, he vaulted clean over it and channeled jet-black into both legs.
Dark Step!
The instant Simon launched into the air, the skeleton spread its jaws wide and lunged toward Shun.
I'm faster—!
WHUMP.
Simon's outstretched arms, meant to shield the boy, sliced through empty air. A green liquid had already wrapped around Shun's waist and carried him away, and Simon smashed face-first into the skeleton.
Ow!
Clutching his face, Simon crumpled to the floor.
"Is that any way for a self-proclaimed bodyguard to behave—getting distracted like that?"
A man was approaching through the dim lighting.
Long, slitted eyes with prominent lashes, small nostrils, an unusually long mouth. One hand was tucked in his trouser pocket, while his other arm had transformed into a liquid of some kind—the very thing holding Shun aloft.
When the man set Shun down, the boy's face lit up as he shouted, "Uncle Finch!"
The man called Finch reverted his arm back to normal and ruffled Shun's hair. "You have to be careful, all right? There are undead here that move. It's dangerous."
"I told you, I'm fine! Oh—I should introduce you!"
Shun pointed at Simon. "The strongest bodyguard in Kizen! Simon Polentia, Special Admission No. 1!"
"Hmm."
Finch stroked his chin, looking Simon up and down. Then he smiled pleasantly and extended his right hand. "The name's Finch Nikiman. I'm a necromancer too, you see."
"Simon Polentia."
The moment Simon gripped Finch's hand to shake it, the man's hand melted limply away. Simon was startled inside, but he kept his composure and said nothing.
"Hahaha! Just a joke, just a joke!"
Finch restored his hand to normal, gave their shake a little waggle, and tucked it back into his pocket. "You're a first-year here to earn some pocket money, aren't you? I don't know what naive notions brought you to this resort island, but whatever else, you ought to do your job properly. Don't you agree?"
It was a rebuke: protect Shun properly. Simon raised his clenched fist to the left side of his chest and bowed deeply.
"Please forgive my lapse, my lord."
Of course, the head he was bowing to was not Finch's—but Shun's.
"……"
Finch's eyebrows twitched.
"Ah, Simon! What are you doinggg!"
Shun grabbed Simon by the trouser leg and shook it. "And Uncle, stop scolding my bodyguard! It was my fault just now!"
"Ha ha, scold? It was merely advice for a junior."
Finch wiped away a thin sheat of sweat and glanced sidelong at Simon.
Well, well……?
Simon had taken him for a pampered, sheltered young lord, but the boy had more backbone than he looked.
When Simon lifted his head, Finch cleared his throat with a cough. "So. You're Kizen's Special Admission No. 1?"
"Yes."
"The expectations surrounding you must be enormous, then. As your senior, let me offer one piece of advice—don't assume that everything they teach you at Kizen is gospel truth. Frankly, even Kizen has gone rather off the rails these days. It was legendary in the past, but the current teaching methods feel terribly outdated and hidebound……"
"Forgive me, but Senior Finch."
Simon cut him off. "Are you a Kizen graduate?"
"……"
The corners of Finch's smiling mouth began to writhe.
"Ahem. No, I started at Aland, the public necromancer academy."
"Oh, I see. How interesting."
"You'll run into them before long anyway, but the top students from Aland, Sierra, and Moiran sometimes transfer to Kizen through the transfer admission system. In every respect, they're more capable than the native Kizen students!"
Simon smiled sweetly. "Wow, that's incredible! More capable than Kizen, no less. In that case, wouldn't there be no need to bother transferring to Kizen at all?"
……This little—!
He was pretending to be innocent while smiling, but every word was a deliberate scratch on the raw nerve.
And he couldn't openly badmouth Kizen, either—so Finch had no choice but to swallow his anger whole.
"Ahem. Everything has its own strengths and weaknesses. Isn't that so?"
"Yes, sir. Exactly so."
"Uncle Finch! Come on, come on! You said you'd introduce us to the undead!"
"Ah, right, right."
Finch hurriedly fixed his expression. "Let's leave the student-level talk behind, shall we? Graduation is where a necromancer's true career begins, no? From this point on, I shall show you the domain of professionals."
"I look forward to it."
As Simon said this, he rested his hand lightly on Shun's shoulder. When Shun looked up at him questioningly, Simon only smiled and said nothing.
Except—
Run off again and you're in trouble.
That was the look he gave him, smile and all. Shun shivered, feeling an inexplicable chill.
"Now then, honored guests. Allow me to begin with this piece."
As a necromancer affiliated with Blue Harbor, Finch was a pioneer in next-generation undead research. Of the hundred works in the exhibition hall, twenty were his.
Listening to Finch's explanations, Simon had to admit he was genuinely impressed.
Setting aside his personality and character entirely, there was no faulting his skill. Using Blue Harbor's monsters as materials, he had built undead with inventive functions and consistently high quality.
Still, maybe because this is an exhibition of completely novel undead, it falls short on the practical side.
Some of the undead were so baffling that Simon couldn't conceive of any use for them at all. So he offered what shallow knowledge he had, pointing out the shortcomings.
"Wouldn't it be better to cover this Rocker Worm Skeleton's tail with protein or chitin rather than forcibly joining it with bone? As it is now, a few good swings would overload the joints and ruin it, wouldn't it?"
At Simon's remark, Finch flushed red and reacted with exaggerated sensitivity. "My, my! What does a mere first-year know? Every design choice has its reasoning. Spouting off ideas left and right without thinking them through doesn't solve the practical problems, you know!"
"Ah, my apologies for intruding."
Finch pulled a notebook from his pocket. "So—exactly which parts would you cover in chitin, then?"
"?"
And so they made a full circuit of the exhibition hall, trading remarks like these. Shun, apparently having already exhausted his attention span, was yawning hugely at every turn.
Watching him, Simon poked the fragment of Pier hanging from his uniform.
Pier, are you there? I need a little help.
[What is it now?]
While Finch rattled on with his explanations and Shun yawned again and again, Simon unhooked Pier's fragment from his uniform and held it out to the boy.
"Shun, look at this."
"What is it?"
"Poke it, and it moves."
Shun prodded the fragment with his fingertip, over and over—and Pier cried out in alarm.
[What is this sorcery! I am no toy!]
"Whoa! If you tickle it, the skeleton's mouth goes all wobbly!"
"Neat, right?"
[Boy! Release that thing from me at once!]
"What happens if I pinch it like this?"
After playing with Pier for a while, Shun quickly recovered both his focus and his good mood. Thus they climbed all the way up to the fifth floor of the exhibition hall.
"And now, I unveil the highlight of this exhibition."
When Finch pulled away the white cloth covering it, something like an enormous fish tank emerged. Inside was a skeleton of a form none of them had ever seen in their lives.
The body resembled an alien life form, as if a jellyfish and an octopus had been fused together—except the body was made of bone, with soft, slushy fluid mingling around it to hold its shape.
Most remarkable of all was that the jellyfish monster's long limbs were made of pure bone. They looked like mechanical legs with perfectly interlocking joints, but they were unmistakably bone.
"The Mollusk Undead Overlord."
Finch said it with every trace of amusement wiped from his face, entirely serious.
"The material is a deep-sea monster—the Kraken. Its outward form resembles the mollusks of the deep sea, but remarkably, its vital core components are constructed of bone, which satisfied the conditions for a skeleton. And what's more—this specimen is not yet fully grown. No one has ever captured an adult Kraken."
Finch placed his palm on the magic circle. With a deep hum, the Overlord began to move.
Insane……!
Simon was too stunned to manage his expressions at all.
The six long bone limbs moved with total freedom, like the flexible tentacles of a mollusk. He had never known bone could be that smooth.
"It possesses not only speed, but cutting power as well."
Finch drew an iron plate out of subspace and held it above his head. The Overlord noticed it and moved its limbs.
Shaaak.
One long limb swept out of the tank and carved a straight line through the air—and the iron plate split cleanly in two. The second limb followed, skewering the center of the falling halves.
Wow. Just… wow.
As a student of Summoning, this was torture. A masterpiece of an undead was right in front of him, and he couldn't touch it.
At Finch's signal, the waiting staff draped the cloth back over the tank.
"Senior Finch."
"Yes? A question?"
"If someone wanted to buy this undead, roughly how much would it cost?"
Finch smirked and put his hands on his hips. "Is that a question from a Kizen student? Or—"
"No, no. Just my personal curiosity."
"Well. This is a research piece of astronomical value, it's not for sale, and it isn't even mine to sell. But if you insist on a number……"
Finch thought for a moment, then spoke.
"It would fetch no less than 10,000 gold."