Having completed his mission for Kizen and witnessed the painful history between Meirin and Serne, Simon returned to his room. The sixtieth floor was so crowded that he had to share a room with Merida again, a space Mird had barely managed to secure. He laid a blanket on the floor and stared blankly at the ceiling.
’Oof.’
His mind was in turmoil. He finally understood why, at the beginning of their first year, Meirin would grow so cold and venomous at the mere mention of Serne’s name. Meirin had never liked to talk about her, and the little she had said was that Serne’s talent was so overwhelming that the adults had rewritten the tower’s laws just to hand her the title of Tower Master. Simon had assumed they were simple rivals whose relationship had soured over the succession. He never imagined the betrayal ran so deep.
’Why did Serne deceive Meirin? Did she suddenly become greedy for power? Or was it something else...’
His thoughts were interrupted by a loud thump. He turned his head to see that Merida had fallen out of bed.
’...Huh.’ Simon turned away, deciding to ignore it. He considered putting her back, but he knew touching a deeply sleeping Merida was a terrible idea. He tried to resume his train of thought, but then...
"Uuuungh—"
Merida rolled across the floor and latched onto his leg.
Startled, Simon sat bolt upright.
"M-Merida!" She used to hug a pillow; now she was using his leg as one. He shook her shoulder. "What are you doing? Ugh, let go! That hurts."
"Uuungh, Brother Phantastus..."
She began rubbing her cheek against his leg. Simon froze, horrified.
"Take me with you... Zzz."
Thankfully, she went still. Seeing her suddenly quiet, Simon let out a deep sigh. ’I guess that’s it for sleep tonight.’
It wasn’t long before she let go of his leg and lay straight on the floor, fast asleep and snoring softly.
’Before she causes any more trouble...’
Simon grunted and lifted her into his arms. Almost reflexively, Merida’s hand shot up and touched his forehead.
’Sleep.’
’Agh!’
With a dull thud, Simon staggered and collapsed. Merida, who had been in his arms, now had her eyes half-open.
"It’s not even morning. Don’t wake me up."
Simon rubbed his bruised knee.
"And what about you waking me up? And could you please stop casting curses on me out of the blue?"
"Sorry." Merida snapped her fingers, and the ’Sleep’ curse vanished. She climbed out of his arms and onto the bed, lying face down. Simon was about to lie back down when he noticed her staring.
She was on her stomach, watching him intently.
"What?"
"Where do you go every morning?"
A slight tremor ran through Simon’s shoulders. ’Did she know all along?’
"The bathroom..." The words tumbled out before he could think, and he immediately wanted to smack himself.
"There’s a bathroom in our room."
"N-No! It’s just... you know. A guy and a girl in the same room, it’s a bit awkward. The smell and all."
"We shared a room yesterday, too." He could feel his excuses getting lamer by the second. His first lie was already beyond salvaging. But...
"You must not disclose this information to your partner, student Merida."
He couldn’t tell her about the secret mission. As Simon’s mind raced, she spoke again.
"If you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to." She turned over and lay down properly on the bed. "Everyone has their secrets."
A quiet silence fell between them. Simon was inwardly grateful for her unexpected consideration.
"Earlier," he said, trying to change the subject, "you were sleep-talking about Senior Phantastus."
No answer. ’Could she be flustered? Her?’ As the silence stretched on, Simon grinned.
"You must really like your brother."
He couldn’t see her expression. After a moment, she whispered, "Shh. It’s a secret."
’The cat’s already out of the bag.’ Seeing Merida flustered was a rare and amusing sight, and Simon, who had been on the receiving end of her antics for days, felt a mischievous urge.
"Senior Phantastus stayed at my house for a while. When he was passing on the Student Council President position, he mentioned you."
Merida shot up, all traces of sleep gone from her face.
"What did Brother Phantastus say?" Her tone was as flat as ever, but he could feel the intense emotion simmering beneath it.
Simon smirked triumphantly.
"It’s a se—"
A curse flew out of nowhere and slammed into the wall next to his head with a thwack.
"If you answer ’it’s a secret,’ I’ll curse you," Merida warned, her voice icy.
She was dead serious when it came to her brother. Remembering what had happened to Mird, Simon broke into a cold sweat.
"He said... for your sake..."
"He asked me to make this a good school."
Her arm dropped with a soft thud. She flopped back onto the bed and pulled the covers all the way over her head.
’Could it be? Is she embarrassed?’
The blanket rose and fell several times as Merida squirmed beneath it. Finding an unexpectedly cute side to her, Simon stifled a laugh.
"My brother Phantastus..." Wrapped in her blanket like a caterpillar, she peeked just her head out and looked at Simon. "Why would he choose you as the Student Council President? And even give you his ’Sleep’ magic."
Simon crossed his arms.
"I know. I’m genuinely curious about that myself."
"I was curious, too, so I tested you before the dispatch."
"And what were the results of your test?"
Merida’s eyes narrowed sleepily.
"I can’t accept it. I don’t accept it. And I won’t."
’I’ll probably never be able to convince her.’
"If he was going to pass the presidency to a second-year..." Merida continued, her expression sullen, "I thought he would give it to me..."
Simon closed his eyes for a moment, then spoke.
"I debated whether or not to tell you this. Senior Phantastus also said something else about you."
"I thought for sure you’d recommend your little sister for Student Council President."
"Haha! My sister’s vessel is too small! She’s too conscious of living in my, Phantastus’s, shadow to lead her own life! Her talent surpasses my own, but her mindset is the problem."
Hearing this, Merida’s expression turned serious.
"...Lead my own life."
"From what I’ve seen, there’s some truth to that," Simon said with a shrug. "Your main skill, ’Sleep,’ and your next main skill, the Jet-black Water Flow System. They’re all just copies of your brother’s style, right?"
"Do you have any original techniques of your own?"
Merida pouted.
"I don’t need any. My brother’s techniques are enough for me."
"There’s your answer." Simon waved his hand with a wry smile. "Before being Phantastus’s little sister, what kind of necromancer is ’Merida Hugh Ikel’?"
"I think that’s where you should start," Simon offered. "If you live a more proactive life, maybe your brother, Phantastus, will see you in a new light."
Merida fell silent, seemingly pondering his words, before muttering, "How arrogant."
The single word, spoken from within her blanket cocoon, was so unexpectedly blunt that Simon couldn’t help but let out a small laugh. "My apologies if it came across that way."
She shifted, turning to the other side of the bed. Simon settled back, resting his head on his arms and closing his eyes.
He sighed. He had managed to lift his spirits with the amusing tale of the Ikel family, but his mood soured again at the thought of Meirin and Serne. He wished their relationship could be as straightforward as the one between Phantastus and Merida.
The next day, all hell broke loose.
"Get up! Hurry!"
"We need you to move!"
A crisis had erupted within the 60th-floor block, specifically on the 68th, where Simon was staying.
"It’s a dungeon history reenactment on the 68th floor!"
"Of all the times for this to happen, it had to be during the festival!"
Simon and Merida, having not even had breakfast, were whisked onto a magic circle elevator under Mird’s frantic guidance.
"What’s a history reenactment?" Simon asked.
Mird, his face grim, drew his staff. "The dungeon is trying to recreate an event that happened in this tower."
"What kind of event?"
"What other event would a dungeon like this have experienced?" Mird’s eyes were grave. "The great massacre that occurred three hundred years ago, the moment the gate opened."
The elevator shuddered to a halt with a clank. As the doors opened, a blast of scorching heat and a shower of embers washed over them. All three threw their arms up to shield their faces and stumbled back.
"This is...!"
Flames licked at the walls and ceiling, and the floor was swarming with monsters. The scene before them was a vision of slaughter, with people dying in pools of their own blood.
"Don’t be fooled," Mird warned. "The people you see dying are all illusions."
’So this is a history reenactment.’ The scale was on a completely different level from the other anomalies Simon had witnessed in the tower. The entire floor was an inferno, teeming with monsters.
’How terrifying.’
It was a relief that this dungeon was confined to the tower. If it had ever escaped and learned more of the continent’s history, the world might have been engulfed in flames, its most horrifying moments repeating for eternity.
"Ugh, but why do we have to go?" Merida asked, rubbing her sleepy eyes.
Mird, whose nerves were stretched taut, snapped. "You’re a dispatch student getting paid! Of course you have to help—!" He cut himself off, belatedly realizing who he was talking to, and immediately began to bow and scrape. "I-It would be an honor if you would help us!"
"Let’s go," Simon said, taking the lead.
Members of the Ivory Tower were already locked in combat with the monsters, and even the Ivory Tower Kids, like Mird, had joined the fray. A surprising number of festival guests had also thrown themselves into the battle.
"We’re in luck! We get to experience the legendary history reenactment firsthand!"
"Let’s enjoy this!"
As Simon had learned since the first day, the guests here weren’t exactly normal.
Dozens, no, hundreds of alien-like monsters poured endlessly from the flames. Their primary targets were the gray, spectral figures of the past, but when the Ivory Tower mages attacked, the creatures turned on them with equal ferocity.
"We must stop them on this floor!" a man from the Ivory Tower shouted, directing the battle. "To think it would replay the tower’s tragedy for us to witness! But we will be victorious! Just as we were three hundred years ago!"
"They’re coming!"
A fierce battle raged at the front lines. It was fashionable for the Ivory Tower’s necromancers to wield staves like mages of old, and spells erupted constantly from their tips. Simon, Merida, and Mird skirted the most intense fighting, circling around to the side.
"As students, we’re ’scouts’," Mird explained. "The ’core’ causing this is somewhere on this floor. If we find and destroy it, the reenactment will stop!"
"Are we allowed to destroy it?" Simon asked.
"Well, the official rule is to leave it to the adults and fall back," Mird admitted. "But wouldn’t it be better if we could handle it ourselves?"
The three of them sprinted through the roaring flames.
"There! I found a core!" Merida shouted, pointing.
A pulsating core was embedded in the wall. It was slightly larger than the others they had seen. Mird raised his staff.
"I don’t know if this is the right one, but...!"
Black lightning crackled at the tip of his staff and shot forward. The bolt flew true, but with a low rumble, several four-legged monsters leaped into its path, absorbing the blast with their bodies.
"No need to rush!" Simon called out. He darted through the chaos, incapacitating monsters with the ’Sleep’ curse.
Mird’s eyes widened in amazement. "Whoa, how did you stop them?"
"It’s a ’Sleep’ curse!"
"Curses actually work on them?"
Just then, Merida stepped forward. "Simon."
"Yeah, what is it?" Simon replied, shattering a monster’s torso with an elbow strike before spinning to put another to sleep.
"I’m going to prepare a wide-area curse bombardment. Cover me."
With a soft flutter, she pulled a blanket from her subspace. A perplexed smile touched Simon’s lips. "...You ’are’ preparing a wide-area curse bombardment, right?"
She climbed onto the blanket and lay down. A moment later, she activated an anti-gravity curse and began to float gently in the air. Mumbling softly, she closed her eyes and drifted into a deep slumber. As she did, the magic circle drawn on her blanket ignited.
A sudden chill shot down Simon’s spine. Spreading out from Merida, countless magic circles materialized across the ceiling like a meteor shower.
’Phantastus Original - Trance’
Tossing and turning in her sleep, she began her assault.
A deluge of curses rained down from the magic circles. Every single one was ’Sleep’.
"No way!" Mird cried out, utterly astonished.
It was an indiscriminate bombardment, compensating for its lower accuracy with sheer, overwhelming volume. In an instant, dozens of monsters were frozen in place, caught in a magical slumber.
"Nice one, Merida!"
Simon kicked off the ground and charged. The storm of curses from above intercepted any monster that tried to approach him.
’Incredible. She had a move like this up her sleeve the whole time?’
She wasn’t ranked fourth overall for nothing. If he had faced her in the dueling evaluation, he would have been in serious trouble. The moment she fell asleep, she transformed into a devastating living artillery, capable of unleashing an infinite barrage of curses over a vast area. Her habit of firing off curses while she slept was likely a side effect of this very technique.
Simon drew his artifact axe from his subspace. The monsters guarding the core were caught in the downpour and stopped dead in their tracks, allowing him to advance unopposed.
"Bone Armor."
Countless bone fragments swarmed over Simon’s body, transforming him into a hulking giant. He grew several heads taller, his frame swelling until he resembled a walking fortress of bone.
’Bone Armor - Heavy Armor Type’
With the thickened right arm of his armor, Simon gripped the axe. He swung it at the core with every ounce of his strength.
The entire 68th floor vibrated. The single blow sank the axe halfway into the core.
"One more time!"
Simon reared back for another swing. The remaining monsters that desperately lunged to defend the core were instantly caught in Merida’s storm of curses and neutralized.
’...Amazing.’
Mird’s arms hung limp at his sides, his face a mask of disbelief.
’Why is it that even when we spend five times the money, we can’t even touch the heels of the Kizen kids!’
The Tower Master’s words, spoken to the assembled Ivory Tower Kids, echoed in his mind. He had thought it was an exaggeration, just a harsh lecture to instill discipline.
But...
"Arghhhh!"
With a deafening roar, Simon’s second, full-powered swing shattered the core. The monsters crumbled into dust.
"The history reenactment is fading!"
"Someone destroyed the core!"
"WHOAAAAA!"
Cheers erupted from all directions. Simon shed his fortress of bone, and Merida drifted down from the air.
’...This is Kizen.’
He would rather die than admit it, but the sight of the two of them standing victorious was so dazzling he could barely look.
They walked toward each other, palms open. And then...
They slapped their hands together in a powerful high-five. The force of the impact was so great it sent them both staggering to the floor.
"Let go!"
"You let go first!"
...Of course, they had their silly moments, too.

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