Chapter 76

Chapter 76

Spendthrift Necromancer (76)

Second Arrangement (2)

Banshee.

Unlike Specters, ghost-type undead that fought in close combat, Banshees used magic. High-ranking undead comparable even to Liches.

And a Banshee Queen.‘She'd be a Mage.’At minimum, a Mage had to die and rise again before they could become a Banshee.

His destination was the Magic Department.

On the way, he looked at a lamp placed along the road. His face reflected in the glass.‘Same as when I was Baek Socheon.’His name was Kern, but his own skin had been overlaid onto the role.‘Well, only the name changed to Kern…….’He accepted it.

He stopped a man cleaning outside.

“Excuse me.”

“……

Yes, what can I do for you?”

“Where do they teach Mages at the Academy?”

“Over that way, sir.”

The cleaner carefully pointed out the direction. Apparently he'd seen the Academy uniform and was watching his manners. Minwoo asked him one more question.

“Thank you. By the way, what do you think about Necromancers?”

“……

Necromancers? What are those?”

The cleaner tilted his head as though he'd never heard the word.

Minwoo explained a little more.

“Are there any Mages who summon undead?”

“……

Summon undead? Is such a thing even possible? I'm not very learned, but I've never once heard of a Mage like that.”

Kim Minwoo tilted his head.‘Are there no Necromancers in this world?’That seemed strange. Wasn't this the same world where the Death Lord had once run rampant?

The Death Lord was a Necromancer.

Naturally, he must have summoned undead all over the place.

And yet Necromancers didn't exist at all?

Two possibilities came to mind.

First, they'd been exterminated so thoroughly in the past that even ordinary people's memories of them had vanished.

He'd seen Necromancers get purged more than once, so that wouldn't be particularly strange.‘The second possibility…….’Magic capable of summoning undead simply didn't exist.

In that case, perhaps the Death Lord himself had been the first Necromancer.‘If it's the first one, all my Skills are sealed.’He looked at the cleaner.

“Then are there people who deal with corpses, or use gloomy kinds of magic, anything like that?”

“Uh…… Mages of the School of Death do things like that.”

“School of Death?”

“Yes. I've heard they use corpses, curses, bones, poison, things like that.”

“Thank you. I'll be going.”

A building stood in the distance.

When he entered, guards were standing inside. One of them noticed the badge on Minwoo's clothing and tilted his head.

“Swordsmanship Department? Classes should be underway right now. Why are you here?”

“Is there a student named Merhen here? Professor Charles asked me to bring her something.”

He borrowed Charles's name.

Apparently the guard had heard of him, because without much suspicion he walked to the counter and spoke with a female employee.

A moment later.

“She is. However, she's currently in class…….”

“I'll wait.”

Minwoo nodded, then approached the woman behind the counter.

“Excuse me.”

“Yes?”

“Do you teach anything related to the School of Death here?”

“We do.”

“Then can students transfer departments?”

“……

Transfer departments?”

“Yes. I want to become a Mage in that field.”

If Merhen was here, then if he could transfer departments, he should.

Staying close to her would at minimum help him discover the clear method faster.

That was also why he'd asked the cleaner whether there was any branch of magic he might have some overlap with.

At least the School of Death overlapped with him in one area: curses.

Transferring would be easier than trying to enter some branch of magic he couldn't use at all.

“Judging by your badge, Lord Kern, you're only a second-year. As long as you pass the exam, you can transfer freely.”

“What kind of exam?”

“For a Death Mage…… one moment.”

She checked some documents, then looked at him.

“You can be evaluated by Professor Wellington. The test will examine your aptitude. His office is on the third floor. You can visit after classes end.”

“Thank you.”

After waiting a while, a bell rang.

The entire building became noisy.‘Class over?’He headed to the third floor.[Professor Wellington's Office]

He read the sign and knocked.

“Who is it?”

“Kern from the Swordsmanship Department. May I come in?”

“……

Come in.”

Minwoo entered the office.

A gaunt man wearing round glasses stared at him.

“What business does a Swordsmanship student have here?”

“I want to become a Death Mage.”

“……

But you're a Swordsman?”

“Yes. Is that a problem?”

“No, not exactly…….”

Wellington tilted his head.

The School of Death was one of the branches avoided even among Mages.

By the nature of the discipline, handling corpses all day was routine.

Naturally, practitioners carried a foul smell everywhere, and the magic they used wasn't pleasant to look at either.

Was it at least exceptionally powerful compared to other schools?

Not particularly.

And now a Swordsman candidate who wasn't even a Mage had come here wanting to become a Death Mage. Of course Wellington found it strange.……

Well, if the boy wanted it, what could he do?

Professor Wellington pulled out a pure-white crystal sphere.

“This orb measures aptitude for Death. If you have the right aptitude, it will turn black. Place your hand on it.”

Kern planted his hand on top.

Even then, Professor Wellington expected absolutely nothing.

Every so often, Swordsmanship students like this showed up.

Becoming a Swordsman wasn't easy.

You had to train yourself to the bone all day and swing a sword until your hands bled.

After doing that for a year or two, the urge to run away to another department became overwhelming. Especially for students without talent.

The department those students usually chose was Magic.

Every branch of magic had its own aptitude, and if they were lucky enough to possess one, they could be educated as a Mage.

It was a profession where you sat at a desk and studied, so it probably looked wonderfully comfortable.

And it was just as prestigious as being a knight. But how easy was it to discover magical aptitude?

You might find one person in ten thousand. Even then, most only produced such a faint reaction that they were useless as Mages.‘Probably running away.’He'd likely failed to find aptitude anywhere else and finally came all the way to the Death branch.

Then.

“……!”

Wellington, who had been watching the crystal with bored eyes, suddenly stared wide-eyed.

The formerly white orb had changed.

Pitch-black!

“Oh, it really turned black.”

“M-My god!”

Wellington's hand trembled violently around the crystal sphere. He had never seen or even heard of aptitude this strong. He urgently grabbed Kim Minwoo's hand.

“Y-You're going to become a Mage, right?”

“Yes.”

“Good! Excellent choice! Holding a sword with talent like this is a loss for the entire continent! You need to learn Death Magic!”

“So I can change departments?”

“Of course! Absolutely. By the way, how were your grades?”

“Was I last? That's what I heard.”

At those words, Wellington grinned.‘Getting him out won't be difficult either.’Sometimes, when a student tried to transfer departments, their current department would object and make things annoying. Usually that happened when an excellent student tried to leave.

But this was different.

He was dead last.‘Come to think of it, I heard there's some infamous problem child in the Swordsmanship Department.’A child from a prestigious family who wasn't merely always last place but apparently behaved like trash too?

Rumor said he'd gotten into the Imperial Academy through connections.

His name had been Ker…… something.

“Your name is…….”

“Kern.”

“Ah…….”

“Why?”

“Nothing. Go pack your things in the dormitory and come here. I'll assign you a room immediately.”

Wellington answered quickly.

None of that mattered.

What mattered was that a powerful future Master of the School of Death had just appeared.

Since Kern was a famous problem child, transferring him shouldn't be difficult either.

That was what Wellington had thought…….

“I'll say it again. Kern is the hope of our Swordsmanship Department. Never! I absolutely cannot approve his transfer!”

“……

Excuse me?”

“I said I won't let him transfer!”

“I heard he's rather…… infamous?”

“Of course he's famous! He defeated a professor one-on-one!”

“……?”

“You haven't heard yet?”

“This is the first I'm hearing of it…….”

At that, the head of the Swordsmanship Department nodded.

“He defeated Professor Charles in an instant earlier. Charles himself acknowledged it. Kern is unquestionably a once-in-a-millennium genius.”

Wellington's face stiffened.

Professor Charles was famous even within the Swordsmanship Department for being highly skilled.‘This won't be easy…….’Only now did Wellington understand why the department head had suddenly started resisting with his life.

Even so.

“What should we do, then? We absolutely must transfer Student Kern.”

“Why is the Magic Department making such a fuss about recruiting a knight candidate? Did you discover some aptitude in him?”

Wellington nodded gravely.

“He is virtually guaranteed to become the next Master of the School of Death.”

“……

What?”

The department head's face hardened.

Guaranteed to become the next Master?

Only now did he understand why Wellington was fighting so desperately.

He wouldn't want to let a talent of that caliber go either.

“Student Kern himself also wants this transfer very strongly! Surely you understand that the student's own wishes matter most.”

“Ahem…… To begin with, I also question why Student Kern wants to transfer at all. We should at least hear his reason first.”

“Fine. Call Student Kern here.”

Wellington brightened.

There could be any number of reasons.

But one thing was certain: Kern had personally sought out the Magic Department.

So Wellington had nothing to fear.

Soon, Kern entered the department head's office.

“Hello.”

“Yes, Student Kern. I've heard you wish to transfer departments.”

“Yes.”

“Why exactly?”

“Does it matter?”

“If Student Kern leaves the Swordsmanship Department, it will be a tremendous loss for the entire Empire. I need to know why.”

The department head spoke solemnly.

“There's nothing left for me to learn here.”

“Nothing, left to learn?”

“I can beat the professors. What else am I supposed to learn here? I don't intend to waste any more time. Let me go.”

“……

You seem to be misunderstanding something.”

The department head slowly released his aura.

“The Swordsmanship Department is vast, Student Kern. There are still many people here capable of teaching you.”

“Then call all of them.”

Kern dug lazily in his ear as he spoke.

“Let's see if that's true.”* * *Every student in the Swordsmanship Department gathered in one place. Of course they did—a massive event had erupted.

A showdown between the infamous problem child Kern and the Swordsmanship Department faculty!

Every class had stopped because all the professors rushed over, so the students were free to watch from a distance.

“My god.”

“How many have gone down already?”

Starting with Professor Charles, who demanded a rematch, then Professor Hemington, Professor Milanol…….

Every famous professor who stepped forward found a sword at their throat before even fifty exchanges had passed. The same was true of Department Head Arnold, who came out last.

He at least fought fiercely for nearly a hundred exchanges, but even he couldn't escape the sword-at-the-throat ending.

“See? Nothing left to learn.”

“H-Haha…….”

Arnold laughed hollowly.

In his youth, he'd served as vice commander of the Imperial Guard Knights.

On top of that, he'd watched Kern's swordsmanship closely during every battle against the professors beforehand.

And he'd still lost.

There was no excuse left.‘To stop this boy…….’Would it take someone at least on the level of an active Knight Commander?

As a retired old man who'd already stepped away from the front lines, Arnold simply couldn't handle this young man.

“Do you truly have to go?”

“I truly have to.”

“Even if I were willing to give you everything for your sake?”

Until moments ago, Arnold had merely thought, I can't lose an excellent talent.

Now it was different.

The thought of letting this genius Swordsman before him go was bitter enough to make him feel sick.

Arnold's eyes turned pleading.

“I still can't take Magic classes if I stay here.”

“Can't take them?”

“Wouldn't I have to attend only Swordsmanship classes?”

At that moment.

Arnold's eyes flashed fiercely.

“What you want is to take classes from another department?”

“More precisely, only the classes ‘I want’ to take.”

He planned to attend the exact same classes as Merhen. If he could do that, the name on his department badge didn't matter. He had nothing to gain from either Magic or Swordsmanship classes anyway.

“I see. So that's what you mean…….”

Arnold's calculating gaze shifted toward Professor Wellington in the distance.‘They'll compete.’If he set the two sides against each other, maybe something useful would come out of it.

That was why he'd set up this whole situation in the first place.

Kim Minwoo smiled quietly.