Ch.324324. The Necromancer of the Academy

Death passed through Greyfond.

That was the only way to describe the day. The sky had darkened, the screams of ghosts had fallen silent, and a cool night breeze like waves on a sandy beach was sweeping away the ominousness that remained in Greyfond.

“……”

A boy looked down at the cityscape that had survived the calamity from the highest place.

Owen Baltani’s hands were still trembling.

Not because the man he had trusted and followed had betrayed the royal family and left.

Nor was it because he felt fear seeing the ghosts that man led.

The boy was overwhelmed.

‘Spirit Master.’

How broad the back of the man he had been following was, how heavy the weight he carried.

Owen felt like he had only just realized it.

And all the resolutions he had made until now seemed ridiculous.

He had worked hard to follow in Deus Verdi’s footsteps, but now that he truly felt the difference, he was filled with certainty that he could never do it.

‘How on earth should I…’

When Deus was imprisoned, Owen had visited him many times seeking guidance, and each time Deus had listened to his concerns.

The conclusion was always the same.

Work hard.

Do your best.

Play the piano, and help restless ghosts or born monsters find peace.

He thought he just needed to continue playing to make them feel joy, emotion, and relief.

He thought if he kept working hard, he would eventually be able to fill Deus Verdi’s place.

He thought he would become a man worthy of the name Spirit Master.

‘This is…’

It didn’t seem possible at all.

The boy was terrified.

Looking at the gap between himself and his master who had become death incarnate, Owen honestly wanted to run away.

His heart was about to break from the extreme difference.

He felt a strong urge to distance himself from the piano behind him.

“Hey, kid.”

A light girl’s voice came from behind him. It was a girl Owen knew.

“Ah, Miss Aria.”

Aria Rius and Elenoa Luden Griffin.

The two girls were looking down at Owen with their shoulders confidently squared.

“What… brings you here?”

Owen wore a bewildered expression as he looked at the girls who had suddenly come to find him.

They had conversed a few times, and last time they had asked for help, so he had started playing a bit earlier than usual.

In truth, Owen found the two somewhat uncomfortable.

“We’re going to the professor. You come too.”

At Aria’s words, Owen jumped to his feet. He stammered as he asked again.

“To, to the Spirit Master?! Do you know where he went?”

“She says she knows.”

Elenoa folded her arms and pointed her chin at Aria as she spoke.

Owen wondered how on earth she could know the destination of the man who had left leading death.

Aria grinned and answered.

“If it’s where the professor would go, it’s obvious. After all, the professor is moving while riding along with fate.”

Deus Verdi is trying to use fate according to his own intentions.

Then it was natural that he would choose the best place that fate wanted.

What he was doing was similar to a shaman performing spirit possession.

In the place that could be called the best location, he was hoping for fate to dwell within him.

“You, you know such a place?”

“More importantly, are you coming or not?”

Aria asked again, with the intention of not telling Owen if he said he wouldn’t come, and his expression darkened once more.

The hesitating boy asked in a tearful voice.

“If I go… what difference will it make?”

He truly didn’t know.

How could he, who could only play the piano and give pleasure to spiritual beings, a powerless performer who could only tap on keys.

He wondered what help he could be to his master who had come so close to the noun ‘death’ in a human body.

“What are you saying.”

“You helping Deus? We’re not even sure if we can.”

The two girls’ words struck Owen mercilessly.

“Help the professor? Do you think that’s possible? I think we might just be able to lend a hand at most.”

“Do you think Deus made plans that would change depending on whether you or we go? You’re underestimating him too much.”

“……”

Then.

Then why were the two girls following him?

The question rose to the tip of his tongue, but the girls answered before he could voice his doubt.

“We’re going to learn.”

“Why did we make this offer to you? Because we’ve been looking at the same back, learning, and growing, that’s why we’re making this offer.”

“Ah…”

Owen finally understood the two girls’ intentions. It would be nice if they could help Deus Verdi, but if that wasn’t possible.

They would watch all his actions, take them in with their eyes, bury them in their hearts, and learn.

If they could grow and gain insight from what they saw, it meant they could give another meaning to the path of the man who had been a Spirit Master.

“Are you coming?”

Aria asked, tilting her head.

By now, Owen had long since wiped away the tears that had welled up in his eyes.

“Yes.”

The boy nodded vigorously.

Aria and Elenoa welcomed the boy with smiles.

“Then get ready.”

They turned around.

The place where fate dwells.

The center of the story.

Where everything began.

And where everything will end.

“To the Academy.”

* * *

Having arrived at Robern Academy, I looked up at it with emotion.

The same scenery shown when starting the game, Retry.

Though I had seen it many times, I don’t know why it feels so new today.

[The Academy is quiet.]

[The city is deathly silent too.]

The Dark Spiritmaster and Stella were right. The surroundings were as quiet as if no one was there, but I could feel the breath of many people.

On my way here, I continuously flaunted my presence.

The souls swirled around me like a whirlwind, sweeping through the kingdom’s territory, and except for a few people who challenged me saying they would resist, everyone else held their breath, kept quiet, and waited for me to pass by.

Like that.

Loudly yet quietly.

I arrived at Robern Academy.

The place where the story begins.

The game Retry starts with Aria Rius enrolling. Most of the overall storyline took place at the Academy.

And the last.

The final ending of the second playthrough.

The place Aria Rius chose when she committed suicide was her bedroom in the Academy dormitory.

My grandmother once said.

The gods have places they like, so when performing rituals, finding a spiritually potent place makes them much more effective.

Strangely, grandmother’s words applied to the current situation as well.

Robern Academy, the place chosen by fate.

I chose this place to draw it out. There’s no place it would prefer more than here.

After all this, it came back to this place.

“……”

[That’s…]

[Ah.]

And a woman who knew I would come was coldly welcoming me.

“Deus Verdi.”

The woman was wearing a navy blue coat.

As summer passed and the vacation ended, the Academy had not reopened.

It was an outfit that suited the chilly atmosphere.

When she expelled me from the Academy.

Just like then.

Erika Bright was welcoming me.

“My fiancée.”

Several professors visible behind her. They all feared me but were also relying on Erika.

“Is this a welcoming greeting.”

As I walked through the main gate into the Academy, magic that Erika had prepared surged from all directions.

Golden mana struck the air with a sizzling sound, and countless yellow butterflies began to flutter around her.

It seemed she had made contracts with spirits who had lost their king after the Spirit King perished in the previous battle with Raizer.

The woman who had shed tears for me in prison was nowhere to be seen.

It seemed Erika had much more talent for acting than I did.

Well, that’s why she could be so resolute and maintain her composure when expelling me.

“Erika Bright. As an authority on light magic, the youngest of the Bright family, a full professor at Robern Academy, a servant of the kingdom, and also your fiancée.”

Creak.

Erika tightened her white gloves, and golden light leaked from her fingertips.

“I take responsibility to eliminate the traitor Deus Verdi, who has threatened the continent.”

The golden butterflies soared upward. The spirits shot toward me like a downpour, and soon transformed from butterfly shapes into a single sword, but.

[Should I block it?]

As the Dark Spiritmaster extended her hand and spread a protective spell, they bounced off helplessly in all directions.

Woong!

Meanwhile, light mana rippled in both of Erika’s hands. It took the form of a spear.

The spirits were a distraction.

True to her title as a light magician, she reached me like a flash of light and simultaneously thrust the spear with unskilled hand movements.

[Oh?]

Crack!

This had enough destructive power to surprise even the Dark Spiritmaster.

The magic created by the Dark Spiritmaster to protect me from the phenomenon of death.

It was gradually cracking under the light spear created by Erika.

[…!]

The Dark Spiritmaster, who had been thinking somewhat lightly until just now, became serious.

She extended both hands forward and concentrated again, but Erika’s eyes, visible through her flowing blonde hair, had already read the possibility.

‘I see.’

A faint hope rising.

Seeing that, I couldn’t help but feel a bitter emotion.

Just as the Dark Spiritmaster had created a protective spell to protect me.

Erika too had created this magic to save me.

The protective spell used by the Dark Spiritmaster was already known to the kingdom.

The overwhelming defense that even Coltman, the great Black Mage of the Zerman Kingdom, couldn’t penetrate and was repelled by.

Erika had proven before many witnesses that she could break through it.

‘If that’s the case, the kingdom will have no choice but to value her highly.’

What Erika was showing now was a kind of performance.

Later, when the army would flood this place.

She was demonstrating her competence, saying to put her at the forefront.

The collision between a shield meant to protect and a spear meant to protect.

It contained a poignancy that was hard to witness.

Crack!

The moment Erika’s spear finally broke through the Dark Spiritmaster’s shield and thrust inside.

My hand moved.

“Kugh!”

A blue flame mana bullet hit Erika’s defenseless body.

She was thrown backward and rolled on the ground, somehow struggling to get up again, but.

The ghosts following me began to surround and lift Erika.

“Kyaaaah!”

A wave that impacts people’s minds.

Both she and I knew we couldn’t hold back here.

So we fought without the slightest retreat.

And finally.

Erika looked at me and fainted.

That act, as if wanting to take in a little more of me with her eyes.

Since my escape, it had pierced me more painfully than anything else.

I passed the unconscious Erika and headed toward the Academy.

The vacation had ended, but the Academy had recognized the seriousness of the situation and had not reopened, so there were only a few professors.

They began to flee in fear.

I didn’t chase them.

I just watched as the dean and the school nurse Karen took the fallen Erika away.

Though I had spoken words to sever our ties.

Not bringing the engagement dissolution papers.

That was her last bastion and resistance.

And in a way, it could be called the most blatant confession.

Her determination not to break off the engagement even in this situation.

Before.

At the entrance to the main building where I had my last conversation with Erika when I was expelled from the Academy.

I slowly turned my body and spoke to those fleeing.

“Come.”

My fiancée had worked hard to set the stage.

I should try my best too.

“Here, at the Academy.”

No longer as a Spirit Master.

“I shall welcome you all as a Necromancer.”