Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner

Chapter 241

'What the hell is going on?'

The streets of Langerstine had turned into a war zone in the blink of an eye. Simon felt his body and mind freeze as he tried to process everything that just happened.

'Okay, what if I say that a terrorist attack could actually happen in the middle of Langerstine. However, the one who caused it wasn't fanatical priests… It was none other than Lorain!'

Pzzzzzt!

The battle was fierce. Lorain moved like a flash of red lightning, and pure white feathers were trailing behind her like guided arrows. But they fell one by one with every slash of her red dagger.

Whirrr!

While defending with her main hand, she flicked the wrist of her offhand, and the dagger held within it moved so fast it disappeared.

Clang!

The dagger reappeared right before Serene, blocked by the shield protecting her.

"I won't stand idle and watch your shenanigans any longer!"

Said Lorain, her eyes beginning to glow.

"And what are you going to do about it?"

Replied Serene with a cheeky grin.

A red beam of light fired from the void that opened up behind Lorain, clashing immediately with a stream of feathers from Serene.

Neither of them gave an inch.

Simon, seeing that matters were only getting more and more complicated, shouted,

"Lorain, wait! I think you're misunderstanding something!"

Lorain's creepy red eyes flicked toward Simon, but quickly moved back to focus on the battle against Serene.

"Lora—!"

Grab!

Two skeleton hands suddenly launched forward against Simon's shoulders, sending him flying and pinning him to the wall of a nearby building.

'Lorain's skeleton?'

No matter how much he tried to move, it wouldn't budge. Simon put his brain to work while being pinned.

'Lorain doesn't want me to get involved in the fight, and at the same time, she doesn't want to listen to me. Why?'

It didn't seem like she was just blinded by rage, like she was telling Simon to stay out of this.

After quickly racking his brain, Simon came up with an answer.

'She thinks that I'm being mind-controlled by Serene!'

The pieces of the puzzle finally came together. Simon lifted his left foot and put it against the wall of the building.

'Open!'

The Overlord's tentacles shot out of subspace, slicing right between the joints of the skeleton holding his shoulder, neutralizing it.

Back on the floor, Simon blocked out the chaos around him and focussed only on the clash between Lorain and Serene.

'Then, the best I can do in this situation is…'

Pulling a short sword out of his subspace, Simon charged at Serene.

Serene, who had been frantically fighting Lorain, was surprised by the sudden attack from behind and tried to fight back, but…

'Simon?'

He had wrapped his left hand around her shoulder and pulled her back, holding his short sword to her neck.

"!"

Seeing this, Lorain stopped in surprise.

The battle between two seemingly unstoppable giants had finally ended.

"Oh my, how bold of you~"

Serene was rather pleased and burrowed into Simon's arms.

'Please, at least pretend to be nervous!'

She really was beyond saving.

Simon's head was pounding, but now that he had paused the fight, he had to take his chance.

Simon looked at Lorain and declared with the utmost seriousness,

"Believe me, Lorain, I'm not brainwashed."

She gritted her teeth.

"How can I believe that? What if this whole lame hostage situation is also staged by Serene?"

They were finally talking things through, but Lorain still hadn't let her guard down.

"Then let me ask you the opposite. How can you be so sure that I am brainwashed?"

"Well, it's odd that you two are suddenly pretending to be lovers after not having much of an interaction at school, and most importantly, Serene was making you sign a curse contract! Nothing could be clearer than that!!"

A curse contract was a terrifying item that triggered a curse if the holder broke the contract.

Only now did Simon realize what Lorain had misunderstood.

"See with your own eyes."

Simon took out a skeleton from his subspace and retrieved the documents that had been dropped long ago.

Still wary, Lorain examined the papers the skeleton handed her while periodically looking up to make sure Serene wasn't doing anything.

It wasn't a contract, but a simple supply order with a name and address on it. All the passion drained from Lorain's face.

'I thought it was a curse contract when she made Simon write his name.'

She wasn't able to see the details of the paper with the telescope, but her heavy suspicions toward Serene drove Lorain to attack.

It was like seeing a drug addict pouring a strange powder into their mouth. There's no guarantee what it is, but you can make a good guess.

Her only concern was stopping Simon from signing papers that would force him into the Ivory Tower.

Lorain pulled out a communication crystal ball before telling her subordinates,

"The fight's over. Back off."

* * *

* * *

At Lorain's command, her servants immediately retreated behind the thick cloud of explosions they entered with.

Fortunately, neither Lorain's servants nor the Ivory Tower people appeared to be injured.

They had kept their strengths in check, knowing very well that any casualties would complicate things immensely.

"I've already reported to the city of Langerstine and the royal family. Focus on the cleanup. Estimate the damages and see if anyone was caught in the crossfire. I'll send in all the men on standby to clean up quickly. I will also contact the Ivory Tower myself for them to lend a hand."

At her command, the servants scattered.

"Heyy~ No fun. Do we really need to stop a fight just because it was from a misunderstanding?"

Serene wore a satisfied smirk, beckoning for Lorain to approach.

"We both don't like each other anyway, so let's just keep going."

"If you want to fight me that badly, do it in Kizen."

Lorain strode over and grabbed Simon's wrist.

"Let's go back, Simon."

"Go back where?"

Serene grabbed Simon's other arm. Suddenly, Simon was stuck with both arms being pulled in opposite directions, unable to move.

"Simon and I have a business to attend to~"

Declared Serene, tugging on Simon's arm.

Lorain's permanent poker face remained unfazed.

"It is against school rules to come here without reporting to Kizen."

"But you're out here as well, aren't you? Does being Nefthis' daughter give you some special privileges?"

"The most important thing to do now is confirm that Simon hasn't been brainwashed."

Lorain stared at Simon.

"What was all that before, like feeding her cotton candy, running ice-cream errands, cuddling, and all that?"

"…!!"

Hearing Lorain listing off everything that happened, Simon turned red.

"D-D-Did you see all of that?"

His voice shook with fear.

Lorain lightly nodded her head.

"Th-That's a misunderstanding! What happened is—!"

"Hey now, why are you asking such an obvious question between a man and a woman~?"

Slyly answered Serene while hugging Simon's arm.

"We have business to attend to. And it's related to an official mission. We'll return when we're done, so mind your business."

"How can I mind my business when you have a history? If it's related to a mission, then report it."

As if she had been waiting for Lorain to say that, Serene pulled the letter out of her pockets with a mischievous smile.

"Tadah~ Simon and I have been invited to a royal ball in the Dresden kingdom! An appointed mission for the S.A.1 and 2. It's no wonder. The royal family wants the best pair of first-years, right?"

"…"

Lorain shut her mouth immediately, and Serene added triumphantly,

"Do you understand? We're going to go buy clothes for the ball now. A lot of people will see Simon and the successor of the Ivory Tower walking together~ It is only natural for them to see how good of a pairing we make. After the ball, people will discuss Simon and the Ivory Tower's relationship!"

Lorain stopped listening around the middle of Serene's speech and pulled back out her communication crystal ball.

As she heard it connect, she said,

"Yes, mom."

Serene's eyebrow twitched. But she quickly put her calm mask back up and flicked her ivory hair behind her ear.

"How lame, asking for your mom first when you're 17. Ah~ well, should I call my dad after not talking to him for so long?"

Though not her biological father, Serene's father was the current Lord of the Ivory Tower.

But Lorain wasn't listening.

"Yeah, yeah, alright."

She ended the call and looked at the two of them.

"That ball? I'll be attending, too. The royal family is going to appoint me later today."

Simon feigned a smile. So this is what having influence is like.

Lorain crossed her arms and continued,

"You said you guys are shopping for suitable clothes, right? Now, the three of us can go together."

"…"

Serene pouted in annoyance.

* * *

In the end, the three of them did go clothes shopping together.

They went to the biggest and most expensive store in all of Langerstine.

'Where am I? Who am I?'

But the whole way to the store, Simon felt the pressure building between the two girls on either side of him, and he was quickly getting tired.

Serene was using Simon to get on Lorain's nerves, and Simon constantly had to make sure Lorain wasn't about to snap.

Death would be kinder than this.

'I miss my groupmates already.'

When he was with the three members of Group 7, he could relax and laugh. With Lorain and Serene, on the other hand, he felt like he was serving two incredibly high and demanding bosses rather than friends of his own age.

The energy was being sucked out of him in real-time.

"Simon! What do you think?"

Serene came out wearing a gorgeous wine-red dress.

"Looks good on you."

"Is that all?"

"…Beautiful."

Serene had chosen a bold outfit that showed off her femininity. She deliberately picked ones that showed her cleavage or thighs, and she was enjoying standing in front of Simon and watching his reaction.

Simon urged her to dress more modestly, as they were going as students.

Lorain, on the other hand, was quietly picking out her outfit.

Her outfits were also quite extreme in a sense. She kept on picking pastel pink dresses or frilly ones that would better match a fairytale princess.

To be honest, it didn't really fit her cold vibe.

"Why are you only picking those kinds of clothes?"

Unable to bear it, Simon had to ask.

"It's my taste."

"…"

Simon couldn't say anything after that.

"What a waste~ Your taste in clothes stopped growing when you were a child, huh?"

Saying that, Serene was dressed in a leopard print dress with a black fox fur trim. She picked up a fan, spread it, and obnoxiously laughed as she put a hand over her mouth.

Simon said,

"…And can you tone down that 'taste' a little bit?"

"Ah! That one looks cute!"

Serene ran off, not even pretending to hear. The dress that she found 'cute' was another one that showed an excessive amount of skin.

Simon sighed.

"Since I was a little girl…"

Lorain, who had just pulled out a frilly outfit, quietly said,

"My mom dressed me in nothing but dull, formal clothes and took me to places. So I'm kind of tired of the dull stuff."

"…Ah."

Eventually, a professional clerk picked out an outfit for Lorain.

It was a vintage and tidy black dress. When she walked out of the fitting room, the clerk, Simon, and even a passersby felt their jaws drop.

'Wow, she's like a totally different person!'

She carried the air of a sophisticated adult, not a 17-year-old girl. And most importantly, it actually suited her.

Maybe it wasn't that Nefthis wanted to only make her wear dull clothes, but that the style suited her so well that she had no other choice.

Lorain looked at the pink princess dress wistfully, but once Simon and the clerk flooded her with compliments on how good she looked, she managed to avert her longing eyes.

"Oh, you are buying clothes as well, right?"

The clerk turned to Simon next. Without much hesitation, she pulled out two tuxedos, compared them, and handed one to Simon.

"Would you like to try this one?"

Since it was his first time buying something like this, he complied and went to the fitting room.

A few minutes later, Simon appeared, fully dressed in a tuxedo.

He fiddled with the bowtie and then asked,

"How do I look?"

"…"

"…"

Serene, Lorain, and the clerk were silent for a while.

Then, Serene quietly pulled out the money to pay.

——