The following evening, in the Summoning Department dormitory.
The second-year Summoning students were gathered in the lobby, a low buzz of conversation filling the air. Before them stood two bulletin boards, finally posted with the long-awaited Mission Evaluation request forms.
"Excuse me." Simon squeezed through the crowd to stand before the boards. Spotting Toto flailing in the throng, he grabbed his hand and pulled him free.
"Th-thanks, Simon!"
Simon gave a faint smile before his expression turned serious again as he scanned the bulletin boards.
’It’s just as Professor Aaron said.’
The easiest white requests were gone. The majority were blue, with a fair number of red requests for the Neutral Zone also visible. But what truly captured everyone’s attention were the few, highest-difficulty ‘black requests’—missions that led straight into the Holy Federation.
Whispers echoed around him.
"...The black ones are on a whole different level. There’s even an assassination request."
"An espionage mission? It says we have to infiltrate and pretend to be residents of the Holy Federation."
"A necromancer would be found out instantly."
"Guaranteed execution by an inquisitor."
Simon listened to their chatter with a quiet smile. An espionage mission within the Holy Federation. He was confident he could handle it, but right now, something far more important demanded his attention.
「Tarados, large-scale cleanup required.」
He was going to Tarados. He would track down the group that had abducted Kal, and if they had a base, he would destroy it and bring him back. To gather all of his father’s Ancient Undead and to stand against his nemesis, Magnus, he had to find Kal’s other half, no matter the cost.
’I hope there’s a request that takes place in Tarados.’
Simon meticulously scanned the boards. The names of various territories—Langerstine, Arnish, Parona, Hob—flashed by, but Tarados was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps because it was so remote, there were simply no requests for it.
"Simon! I’ve decided on this one!" Toto announced, holding up a blue request form he had pulled from the board. "Monster Colony Subjugation!"
"Oh, you picked a tough one." There were more standard missions, like escorting dignitaries or guarding merchant caravans. A colony subjugation was a fairly difficult choice for a first mission.
"Want to do it together?" Toto asked, his eyes shining.
"Sorry. I’ve already decided on a mission."
"Oh, well, if that’s the case, it can’t be helped!" Toto hurried off to persuade Fitzgerald, while Simon refocused, intently scanning the request forms once more.
’Is there really nothing?’
He had already checked all the requests in the front and was now sifting through the ones pinned underneath.
’Ah!’
He had finally found it. Among all those requests, there was just one.
> ’Registered Request:’ Corpse Separation
> ’Request Rank:’ F
> ’Request Reward:’ 5 Gold
> ’Request Location:’ Dresden Kingdom, Tarados Territory
> ’Details:’ Provide labor for monster corpse separation.
> ’Special Note:’ 1168798164
’What is this?’
It was what students called a ‘cakewalk’—a mission that involved simple labor with no risk whatsoever. But such requests were usually on white forms; it was extremely rare for a blue request to be ranked F.
’Corpse separation.’
Simon tore the form from the board and examined it closely. It was the only request for Tarados among countless others. Above all, the special note bothered him.
Special Note: 1168798164
"Simon Polentia."
As he focused on the request, his name was suddenly called from the side. He lifted his head to see Hector, towering like a mountain with his arms crossed.
"Hector?"
"Get rid of that guy before the upperclassmen find him," he grumbled, gesturing behind him with a bored expression. Simon turned and was startled by the sight.
’Kajan!’
Kajan, a student from the Martial Arts Department, was casually strolling into the dormitory. A few students had already noticed him and were whispering among themselves. While it wasn’t against school rules for a student from another department to enter a dorm, it was an unspoken taboo among the students.
’I asked Kajan for a favor, but I didn’t think he’d come to the dorm in person!’
Before trouble could erupt, Simon quickly moved toward Kajan.
"Who’s there!"
He was a step too late. A third-year heading to the common kitchen heard the second-years’ murmurs and bellowed, "Martial Arts Department? Which brainless bastard—!"
"It’s been a while, Daniel." Kajan’s casual tone cut through the air as he scratched the scar above his right eye. Although he wore the red mark of a second-year on his collar, the third-year’s face fell.
"Ka-Ka-Kajan? I-it’s you?"
"Been well? We were in the same class as first-years." Kajan approached, hands stuffed in his pockets. The second-years watched, puzzled. A third-year senior, who should have been a god to them, was trembling in fear before a second-year.
Kajan Edvalt, the only student in Kizen to be held back a year. An undefeated duelist, a ruthless personality, and a name that had become taboo among the current third-years due to a violent incident during his first year—especially for the few who had been in his class back then.
"Something you want to say, Daniel?"
To them, he was an object of terror. At Kajan’s grim voice, the third-year stammered, "N-nothing at all!" and fled the lobby.
"Hmph." Kajan scratched the scar on his eye.
"Kajan!" Simon quickly approached and grabbed his shoulder. "Too many people are watching. Let’s talk outside."
"Alright."
The two stepped outside the dormitory. Kajan immediately handed Simon several request forms.
"As you asked, I’ve sorted out the requests for regions near Tarados."
"Fortunately, it looks like I won’t need a detour." Simon grinned, showing him the request form for Tarados. "There was just one posted on the Summoning Department’s board."
Kajan tilted his head. "That’s unexpected. I heard Tarados is a closed-off and impoverished territory. I didn’t think they’d have the funds to submit a request to Kizen."
Requests involved a hefty registration fee on top of the reward paid to the students. After all, they were still hiring Kizen, even if it was just a student.
"But look here. There’s a strange string of text in the special notes section."
"1168798164." Kajan pinched the request form between his index and middle fingers, held it up, and looked at it. "It’s a code."
"What?"
Without hesitation, Kajan tucked the request form into his robe. "I’ll have it decoded by tomorrow."
Simon let out a wry smile. "I’m leaving this weekend, so you can take your time."
"I’ll have it done by tomorrow."
Was it just his imagination, or did Kajan seem to be enjoying himself, thrilled to have a code to crack?
As the two of them were talking, a student was hiding behind a nearby wall, eavesdropping on their conversation.
"Hmm, so that’s how it is?"
In the deserted woodshed behind the Summoning Department dormitory, Serne sat with her legs crossed, reigning like a queen. Her slightly damp, ivory-colored hair was tied back with a ribbon, as if she had just washed it. She wasn’t sitting on a chair, but on the back of a student lying facedown on the ground.
’S-scary!’
The faction member who had come to report to her was trembling in fear. A feather was stuck in the neck of the boy on the ground, and a scrap of paper with the words ‘I will never hit on you again’ was stuck to his face.
"So, during the Mission Evaluation this weekend, Simon and Kajan are planning to go to Tarados, hm?" Her tongue flickered out. "I’m not sure why they’d go to such a shabby place, but this might be my chance to put Simon in my debt and get a stamp on my coupon."
"Coupon?" the reporting student asked, lifting his head. "What does that mean, Serne?"
"Oh, it’s just a little thing I do." Serne smiled sweetly. "But did I give you permission to ask me questions?"
A feather shot from her fingers with a soft ’thwip’ and embedded itself in the back of the student’s neck. His eyes glazed over as he began making monkey-like noises, scratching his chin and wandering around aimlessly.
"I don’t know why people have to be so recklessly curious around me." She took a sip of wine, amused by her classmate’s antics. Her dangerously narrowed eyes glinted with a peculiar light.
In a dark basement, a woman whose face was perpetually cloaked in shadow walked forward. Even if a light were shone directly on her, her features would remain unseen. In fact, no one here had ever seen her bare face.
The men waiting nearby bowed their heads. "Welcome, Lady Nirti."
"Yes." She raised a hand to acknowledge their greeting.
"You’ve returned from Langerstine quickly."
"The experiment is my top priority. How are today’s test subjects?"
"We’ve secured twenty. Some are in good condition."
"Good."
The presumed test subjects, gaunt figures in white patient gowns, walked with their hands bound. Their eyes were unfocused, completely devoid of the will to live, each step a heavy, difficult effort.
"Hurry and prepare. We need to move up the experiment date to meet the elder’s instructions."
"Yes, ma’am!"
They dragged the people in patient gowns away. The woman with the shadowed face turned her head to look at something in a large container in the darkness.
A slimy green lifeform writhed inside. As if mesmerized, the woman placed her palm on the glass, an immensely satisfied smile spreading across her lips.
"I’m glad you fell into our hands, Ancient Undead. I’ll make sure your suffering is not in vain."
’Gurgle!’
It thrashed as if in anger, but trapped in the container, it could do nothing.
"Lady Nirti!" This time, heavily armed soldiers ran up to her.
"What is it now?"
"We’ve captured an important member of the Tarados Revolutionary Army!"
The soldiers forced a young man, covered in the marks of harsh torture, to kneel before her. But the revolutionary was smiling, and the soldiers wore troubled expressions.
"What’s going on?" Nirti asked, reading the atmosphere.
"F-forgive us. We’ve blocked all external routes, but they somehow managed to get a message out. It seems they’ve sent a request to Kizen."
Perhaps that was why the revolutionary was smiling, even as blood dripped from his wounds.
"To Kizen?" Nirti’s reaction was one of surprise. "What reason would a benefactor with enough wealth to move Kizen have to side with these beggars?"
"W-well, it’s not a formal request. It’s that thing... where they assign missions to Kizen students..."
"Students?"
"Hahahahahaha!"
Nirti burst out laughing before he could finish. "What? Mere students?" She approached and grabbed the revolutionary’s hair. "This is absurd. Did you really think a little game for students could liberate Tarados, when even the crows wouldn’t succeed?"
"Ugh!"
"I swear it," she hissed, her bloodshot eyes simmering with an immense, indescribable hatred. "Until this experiment is complete, I will use every last person from Tarados as a test subject, leaving none alive. Light will never find this land. Ever."
She flung the revolutionary aside with a sickening thwack and turned her head. "Prepare the troops, just in case. And aren’t those student missions just glorified sightseeing trips anyway? When they arrive, give them some satisfactory result to keep them from getting too close, and then send them back."
"Yes, ma’am!"
Her eyes flashed. "Yes. No one can stop my plan."
"Ugh."
Simon, who was talking with Kajan outside the dormitory, suddenly winced and dug a finger in his ear.
"What is it, Simon?"
"Oh, nothing." Simon lowered his hand and smiled sheepishly. "My ear just started itching."

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