Chapter 3
***
Click.
Rowley, having revealed his true colors, drew his knife.
The well-worn blade gleamed sharply.
Swish. Swish.
Simultaneously, two rough-looking men approached from the front, and another from behind Simon.
"...Well, it doesn't really matter who you are. And the fact that you've fallen into a trap remains unchanged."
With his comrades gathered, Rowley's expression relaxed as he beckoned with his finger.
"Put everything you have on the ground. Your backpack, clothes, everything, down to your underwear."
"Underwear too?"
"What's there to be ashamed of? You can pick out new clothes at the market."
Rowley pointed to a pile of trash behind them.
The other gangsters chuckled in agreement.
"Right, that's a Langerstein specialty. Who knows, you might get lucky and find a box."
"As long as you cover your vitals, you'll avoid jail time."
Simon replied with a bright smile.
"I refuse."
"...."
Rowley and his companions' expressions darkened.
"...This kid."
"This country bumpkin doesn't seem to grasp the situation. Do you think we're joking around?"
The man to Rowley's right strode towards Simon.
"A brat like this needs to get stabbed to learn his lesson."
"Hey, wait!"
Ignoring Rowley's voice, the man lunged at Simon, drawing a dagger from his waist.
Swish.
Simon shifted his center of gravity fluidly, opening his right shoulder.
The dagger sliced through the air, and Simon, spinning to the side, calmly grabbed the man's wrist.
Crack!
He applied force, bending the man's wrist in a direction it shouldn't bend.
"G-Gyaaaaaah!"
Dropping the dagger, the man collapsed to the ground with a horrific scream.
Simon kicked him squarely in the face and said,
"We have them in our territory too. People who mix in with the good villagers and extort protection money and other such garbage."
"...You, you little bastard!"
Simon brushed off his hands.
"Cleaning up that kind of village trash is the duty of a lord's heir. Seems like this neighborhood has a lot of them too, so as someone in the same line of work, I thought I'd do some cleaning up."
"...A noble, huh?"
Rowley raised his arm and signaled.
Five more gangsters emerged from the end of the alley.
"Then we can't let you go all the more."
"...."
Simon calmly loosened his muscles.
He had expected only two or three, but they were more numerous and organized than he anticipated.
Facing eight armed men empty-handed.
Even for Simon, this number was honestly a bit overwhelming.
'I'm sorry, Father. My arrival at Kizen might be delayed.'
Simon lowered his stance with a serious expression, and the gangsters tensed, gripping their daggers tighter.
A volatile situation.
Just as the fight was about to break out, anyone could have lunged at any moment...
"Found you!"
The voice of a third party, someone who shouldn't be in this alley, echoed.
Everyone's gaze shifted towards the source of the sound.
Step. Step.
Someone was emerging from the dark shadows of the alley.
A girl with jet-black, glossy hair, a face that still retained a youthful air, and crescent moon earrings as red as blood.
Simon guessed she was around his age or a few years older.
'And what's this now?'
Rowley bit his lip at the appearance of the third party.
What was the guy blocking the rear doing? He was nowhere to be seen.
"...This doesn't concern you. Get lost."
Despite Rowley's warning, the black-haired girl scoffed, as if amused.
As she approached, the gangsters nervously stepped back.
An instinctive, primal aversion and fear.
They couldn't pinpoint the exact reason, but this girl exuded a dangerous aura.
"Don't be scared."
Rowley spoke as the gangsters began to waver.
"It's 8 to 2. We'll take care of this quickly and leave Langerstein before the guards arrive."
Hearing this, the girl smiled faintly.
"8 to 2? I don't think so."
Rustle. Rustle.
As if responding to the girl's movements, the trash piles and bags scattered throughout the alley stirred as if alive.
Bone fragments emerged, tearing through the bags.
"Do you guys know?"
Click. Clack.
The bone fragments began to fit together.
Bones of different sizes and types creaked, gradually forming bodies.
"That the building up ahead is a bone shop?"
Rowley and his companions paled.
At that moment, the same word flashed through everyone's minds.
'...Necromancer!'
Click! Clack!
In an instant, over twenty skeletons surrounded the gangsters.
Frozen in terror, the gangsters couldn't even breathe.
"Cough!"
"Gasp!"
The approaching undead embraced the gangsters with their arms and legs, immobilizing them.
The undead rattled their bony hands across the gangsters' faces or gripped their chins.
"What shall we do?"
The girl smiled seductively.
"My children need new friends."
Click!
Click!
The skeletons clicked their jaws and palates in agreement.
Some gangsters foamed at the mouth, while others felt their pants becoming damp.
'...Amazing.'
Simon was also astonished.
Although their construction was inferior to Richard's skeletons, the ability to repair the bone fragments scattered around and create over twenty instant undead was impressive.
"W-We didn't recognize you, Necromancer-nim! Please, have mercy on us!"
Rowley trembled, bowing his head.
The girl uncrossed her arms, her expression becoming slightly serious as she asked,
"State your affiliation."
The skeleton holding Rowley began to slowly scratch his neck with its bony hand.
As five trails of blood trickled down his neck, Rowley squeezed his eyes shut and shouted,
"Clayven! Clayven gang!"
"Ah, I've heard of them. Quite a large organization for just picking the pockets of poor outsiders."
She placed her hands on her hips and declared in an icy voice,
"Tell Clayven himself. From his hideout, with his head on the ground and his hands behind his back, he will crawl to the guards and surrender."
Rowley's face turned white.
"P-Please, have mercy...! Just turn me into an undead instead!"
The girl's expression twisted fiercely.
[Are you ordering me around?]
Rowley's body stiffened in fear at the otherworldly voice.
She exhaled softly and returned to her normal voice.
"Sending decoys won't work. If his face isn't sufficiently ground when I check, then in the name of Kizen, I will erase your entire organization from existence."
The moment the name "Kizen" was uttered, all the gang members paled and lowered their heads.
Rowley, seemingly resigned to his fate, replied,
"...I understand."
"Get lost."
As the skeletons retreated, the gangsters fled as if they had been waiting for the opportunity.
Watching their retreating figures, she clicked her tongue.
"Thank you for your help."
Simon bowed his head in gratitude. The girl finally turned to Simon, as if just noticing him.
"Simon Polentia, right?"
Fortunately, there was no hostility in her tone as she smiled and asked.
Simon quickly nodded.
"Yes, that's right. If you don't mind, may I ask who you are...?"
"Who else would I be? I'm your real guide."
Simon's eyes widened.
Then, this person was...?
At that moment, she grabbed his wrist and pulled him along.
"Let's go, Mom's waiting."
"...Mom?"
***
"Mommy!"
Behind Langerstein's main square,
The girl who had brought Simon was squatting, diligently wiping cream from a child's mouth.
The child whined and turned their head away, but the girl's hands were firm.
"I told you to wait patiently! You always get lost!"
"But! They were giving out free ice cream samples in the square!"
And the identity of the child being scolded and having their mouth wiped by the girl was none other than Nephtys Archbold, the apex of all necromancers and ruler of Kizen.
The Witch of Death walking around with ice cream smeared on her face... Simon was extremely bewildered.
And what bewildered him even more was that the girl who had saved him was calling Nephtys "Mom."
They were mother and daughter? No matter how he looked at it, they looked like sisters at most.
And if he had to choose a mother, rather than the 10-year-old child-like Nephtys, the girl would be...
"Simon?"
The girl was looking at him.
"You just had a weird thought, didn't you?"
"N-No."
The girl glared suspiciously at Simon, then turned away haughtily.
...Her intuition was sharp.
"You've had a long journey, Simon!"
Nephtys trotted over to him.
Although she appeared as an innocent child, her true identity was a monster among monsters, having lived for over 300 years and plunged the world into terror. Simon politely bowed.
"I greet the master of Kizen."
"Whoa, you don't have to be so formal."
She chuckled and waved her hand dismissively.
"It's our first time seeing each other since Leshill. Did you learn anything from Richard?"
"Ah, yes! A little, but..."
Simon immediately extended his palm.
Activating his Core, he channeled his mana and extracted Jet Black.
The Jet Black immediately flowed through his arm and onto his palm.
Swoosh.
Simon's unique Jet Black, with its slight blue tinge, flickered like a flame.
Nephtys and the girl simultaneously stepped closer and their eyes widened.
Seeing them like this, they did seem like mother and daughter.
"Wow."
Their eyes sparkled, gazing at it as if appreciating a beautiful work of art.
"It's been a while since I've seen Jet Black with a blue hue."
"But it still has the properties of mana. The flickering like flames means it hasn't fully transitioned from its gaseous state."
"He needs to learn how to use his Core more effectively."
The two exchanged brief comments and nodded.
"That's enough, Simon."
Simon deactivated his Jet Black and stood up straight.
"No need to be so impatient. Kizen is a 'school,' after all, so you'll be able to learn much more."
"Yes, I'll keep that in mind!"
"Then, Lorain?"
Nephtys patted the girl's bottom and said,
"Please take care of our new student."
"...Mom always makes me do all the work."
The girl pouted and grumbled, but Nephtys turned away without acknowledging her.
"I'm going to have one more ice cream and then return to Kizen! See you later!"
"Oh, honestly! Mom!"
With that, Nephtys disappeared as if fleeing, leaving the two alone in the square.
Sighing softly, the girl turned to Simon.
"Can't be helped. I'll introduce myself again. My name is Lorain Archbold. I'm a student at Kizen, just like you."
"I'm Simon Polentia from Leshill! It's a pleasure to meet you again!"
"Good. We've lost a lot of time, so let's get going."
"Where are we going?"
Lorain brushed back her hair and replied,
"It's a new semester, isn't it? We're going shopping."
***
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