At Simon’s request, Lethe let out a disbelieving laugh.
"That’s hilarious. You asked so matter-of-factly that I almost showed you."
Simon looked puzzled.
"You and I are enemies."
She pointed at Simon with a chilly gaze.
"Please, consider our positions. I am Efnel’s Selection No. 1, and you are Kizen’s Special Admission No. 1! We are only joining forces now for Ms. Anna’s sake. If it weren’t for her, I would have slit your throat several times over by now! Got it?"
Despite the graphic expression, Simon just smiled. This only infuriated Lethe more, and she raised her voice.
"Are we friends or something? You ask me to reveal my strength so easily? Your request is rude!"
"I’m sorry if it felt rude."
Simon bowed his head. At that, Lethe flinched and blinked. She had expected him to keep grating on her nerves with that smiling face, but she hadn’t anticipated him to apologize so readily.
"Then how about we make a deal?" Simon proposed.
Calming herself, she asked indifferently, "What kind of deal?"
"If you share your information, I’ll share something of equal value."
"Ugh, you really want to die."
Her eyes turned sharp.
"Do you think I’d fall for a trick like that?"
"Then I’ll go first. After I reveal my information, you can decide if it’s worth a trade. How about it?"
She crossed her arms, a smirk playing on her lips. ’How predictable.’ She could just listen and then walk away. It seemed Simon still thought of her as a person with a conscience, but he was sorely mistaken. The teachings at Efnel were to never show even the slightest opening to an enemy.
"Fine. Go ahead."
Simon nodded, his expression turning serious. Lethe suddenly felt a pang of nervousness. What was he planning to reveal that made him so confident?
"The truth is, I’m a Legion Commander."
The unimaginable statement made her jaw drop. The color drained from her face, and she stared blankly, her posture collapsing.
"There. I revealed it. Now it’s your turn."
"D-D-D-Don’t be ridiculous!"
She shot up from her seat.
"A Legion Commander at seventeen? Bullshit! If you were really a Legion Commander, there’s no way Efnel wouldn’t know about it!"
"It’s true, though."
"Then show me proof!"
Simon said with a smile, "That would be after you show me your corresponding information."
Lethe growled in frustration.
A necromancer and a priest, crossing the border together. It was an unforgivable act in both Kizen and Efnel; the moment either of them spoke about the other, their heads would roll. They were bound to keep each other’s secrets.
Considering this, Simon had casually dropped the Legion Commander bait. In truth, it seemed unlikely he could avoid using that power on this trip. If he was going to be found out anyway, he might as well use it to extract information from her.
"If you don’t want to show me, we can just end it here," Simon said shamelessly.
She glared at him venomously, but Simon didn’t flinch.
Eventually, Lethe sighed and stood up.
"I shouldn’t have said anything. Talking to you feels like getting tangled in an endless vine."
With that, she activated her Efnel Subspace. The air split open, and a brilliant light poured out, from which a creature soon emerged.
’That’s!’
Simon hadn’t thought he would get anything more than a confirmation. But this was beyond his imagination.
It really was...
"...A dragon?"
A beautiful white dragon, boasting dazzling, prism-colored scales, revealed itself. It seemed to be a hatchling, as it wasn’t very large.
The baby dragon, seemingly enjoying the fresh air, flew freely through the sky. When Lethe extended her arm, it approached as if it had been waiting and coiled its body around her limb. The dragon nuzzled its head against her cheek and then licked her face.
"Ahaha! That tickles, Ran!"
"Ran?"
"That’s his name." The dragon, which had been acting cute with Lethe, spotted Simon.
It then slowly uncoiled from Lethe’s arm and opened its mouth. She said urgently, "Ah, be careful! Divine Beasts are hostile to Jet-Black, so it might bite...!"
Ran started licking Simon’s cheek as well. When Simon stood perfectly still, Ran circled his body, observing him. When Simon tentatively extended his arm as Lethe had done, Ran approached as if waiting and coiled around it.
As if this position was comfortable, Ran shook its head from side to side in delight. Simon’s eyes sparkled.
"It’s so cute."
After only seeing skeletons, zombies, and corpse spiders at Kizen, seeing a Divine Beast like this was honestly refreshing.
"Over here, Ran!"
As Simon ran across the grass, Ran excitedly followed, doing somersaults in the air. Watching the sudden game of tag, Lethe let out a hollow laugh.
’What’s this? This is the same creature that usually breathes fire at the first hint of Jet-Black.’
It seemed the Divine Beast was taking a liking to him because it could sense his Divinity. Still, a necromancer bonding with a Divine Beast... Just how many times was this guy going to surprise her?
"Ran. Come back now," Lethe said, extending her arm.
But Ran pretended not to hear, busy playing with Simon. The necromancer and the Divine Beast were hugging, rolling around in the grass together.
"Hey, don’t pretend you can’t hear me! I said come back!"
She tried getting angry, but she was ignored again. In the end, Lethe had to run over and pull Ran’s tail to finally separate them. Ran kept whining and trying to get back to Simon, so she had to hold it tightly in her arms.
"Haha."
Simon, feeling a bit smug, said, "I guess Divine Beast Studies doesn’t really improve your bond with your Divine Beast, huh?"
"Shut upppp!"
Lethe shouted, uncharacteristically embarrassed. To be disgraced like this in front of the man who could become her most threatening enemy was unbearably humiliating. In the end, she sent Ran back into her Subspace.
And Simon began to think about Lethe in a new light. The already powerful priestess... if she later learned to properly command a dragon, just how strong would she become?
"Ahem! Now! It’s your turn again. Proof of evidence that you’re a Legion Commander..."
"Whoops, let’s stop here."
"Where do you think you’re going, you bastard!"
Simon turned back and gave a slight smile. The information exchange was one-for-one. That was all they had agreed upon. Stopping the deal was his right, as the one who presented first.
"I’m no longer interested in any information you have... To be honest, I don’t have my Ancient Undead with me right now, so I couldn’t show you even if I wanted to."
"Go to hell! You damn scammer! All necromancers are the same!"
"I’ll make you your favorite omelet when we get home."
"Don’t try to win me over with food like I’m some kind of a pet!"
Day fifteen of vacation. Two days left until the trip to the Holy Federation.
Though it was vacation, Simon’s life was far from restful. He spent his days in a whirlwind, learning white magic from Lethe and ‘Corpse Explosion’ from Richard. In the midst of it all, he also carried out his duties as the heir to the Leshill domain.
Simon also continued the training Richard had first proposed: crossing the mountain range with cursed artifacts on his arms and legs. While climbing the steep mountains, he would practice turning Divinity on and off with his left hand. With his right, he would read a book on the culture of the Holy Federation.
As if possessed by the ghost of someone who had died from not studying enough, Simon’s efforts seemed to stimulate Lethe as well. Outside of the time she spent teaching him, she began her own personal training.
As Simon was climbing the mountain range toward the next village, he saw two mountain goblins loitering up ahead. They were the very monsters the residents had been feeling threatened by recently.
The goblins spotted Simon and charged. He stopped and easily assumed a combat stance.
It wasn’t even a warm-up. In a matter of seconds, the two monsters were dead on the ground.
’Class 2 monsters are really easy now.’ Brushing off his hands, Simon placed his palm on the body of a fallen goblin.
’Summon Zombie.’
For Simon, who had zombified the Hundred Ghosts in Deathland, a goblin was a simple matter. A moment later, the magic circle was complete, and the zombified goblins staggered to their feet.
-Grrr! Grrr!
The sudden sound of barking made Simon look up. A ‘Green Gnoll’, a known predator of the mountains. The creature was licking its lips at the sight of the goblins’ shed blood, apparently drawn in by the scent.
’Perfect timing.’
A Green Gnoll was a Class 3 monster, stronger than a goblin. He had been wanting to practice ‘Corpse Explosion’ in a real fight, and the perfect opponent had just appeared.
Growling, the Green Gnoll lowered its stance and then charged forward. Simon connected to the zombies’ consciousness and issued an attack command.
As the zombies grabbed onto the charging gnoll, Simon extended his right hand and prepared a magic circle.
’The principle of ‘Corpse Explosion’ is the explosion of the ‘core’.’
Richard’s voice echoed in his head.
’Whether summoned or naturally occurring, all undead possess a core. In the case of summoned undead, the ‘summoning magic circle’ that moves the zombie serves as the core.’
Depending on which zombie he wanted to detonate, the type and difficulty of the formulas in the ‘Corpse Explosion’ magic circle varied wildly. Simon interfered with the zombie’s summoning magic circle and finished his preparations.
"Corpse—"
The moment Simon activated the magic circle and was about to clench his fist...
The zombie’s head was torn off by the gnoll’s sharp claws. Its chest was also slashed, damaging the magic circle.
’Oops.’
The black magic was canceled. After kicking away the other zombie, the Green Gnoll charged straight for Simon. He lowered his arm with a disappointed expression.
’I was so focused on ‘Corpse Explosion’ that I neglected to control the zombies.’
Practice and a real fight were two different things. He needed to experience more variables and mistakes to reduce errors when it truly mattered.
Simon was grateful for the valuable experience and lowered his stance.
The gnoll’s sharp claws sliced through the air. Simon’s body deftly dodged to the side as he prepared white magic with his left hand.
’Strength’
’Haste’
Divinity tinged with red and green wrapped around Simon’s body.
The gnoll, its attack having failed, planted a hand on the ground and bent its knees to leap again. Faster than it could move, Simon’s knee slammed into the gnoll’s face. The creature’s face contorted as it was sent flying, kicking up a thick cloud of dust.
’A Priest’s blessing.’
Newly impressed, Simon looked down at his enhanced body. He’d have to test it in a direct clash to be certain, but he felt it was easily on par with a necromancer’s curse. It would be a real pain to face a Priest who came at them wrapped in blessings from the very start.
The enraged gnoll kicked off the ground and lunged. Simon held out his left hand.
’Shield of Protection.’
A translucent shield of Divinity materialized in front of Simon, blocking the lunging gnoll’s body with a loud ‘thud!’
’Dispel.’
As Simon spun in place, he dispelled the shield. The barrier vanished, and a piercing kick slammed into the gnoll’s torso as it hung suspended in mid-air.
The gnoll spat blood as it flew several dozen meters before collapsing. Its injuries looked severe, but its fighting spirit remained unbroken as it staggered back to its feet. But Simon’s attack wasn’t over yet.
The zombie that had been knocked back earlier grabbed the gnoll from behind. Having dispelled the blessing on his body, Simon now raised his right hand.
"Corpse—"
It was caught perfectly. As the gnoll struggled in the zombie’s grasp, Simon clenched his outstretched right hand into a fist.
"—Explosion!"
’KABOOOOOM!’
The zombie holding the gnoll by the scruff of its neck erupted in a dark blue explosion.
A moment later, the gnoll’s body collapsed, its head blown clean off and its torso shredded.
"Whew... I won."
Simon finally allowed himself to relax as he approached the fallen creature.
"It’s too damaged. Useless as a zombie."
A first-rate necromancer could raise any corpse, but Simon’s ‘Summon Zombie’ was not yet at that level. For now, he stored the mangled body in his Subspace.
"Alright, let’s get going."
After visiting all the assigned villages, Simon was finally on his way home.
"Lethe?"
She was waiting for him in the yard, arms crossed. She swept her white hair back with her fingertips and announced, "Get ready. We’re crossing into the Holy Federation at dawn."

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