I Became The Academy Necromancer

Picking up a drink, the Dark Spiritualist gestured for me to start, but I shook my head.

“It will be a waste if we spend this time while getting drunk.”

Hesitating at my words, the Dark Spiritualist sighed and returned the bottles and glasses to their original positions.

Then, perhaps because there was nothing else to do, the Dark Spiritualist awkwardly broke the silence with a random question.

“Did Han So take it well?”

She didn’t seem particularly curious; however, I answered the question anyway.

“Yes, he said as a martial artist, he would continue to fight the Demon Lord until the end.”

Once again, I felt grateful towards him, but the Dark Spiritualist’s expression changed subtly.

“But is that really possible?”

“I understand how you concluded that we are fakes. But ultimately, that means we are creations of Lehric.”

Just like how Lehric established the Dream Demon Manor, in the end, they, too, were Lehric’s creations.

“Can we really stand up against Lehric?”

It wasn’t wrong.

Alright, to be honest…

“It is probably impossible.”

It was definitely impossible.

The Demon Lord of Deception must have done this several times.

Of the Champions who stayed in Room 110, many must have fallen victim to the play staged by Lehric, tricked into killing each other. However…

There must have been times when those people tried to fight against the Demon Lord, like we were now.

“In the first place, it is technically impossible to defeat Lehric now. I don’t have souls I can control or the Holy Grail to use.”

“Holy Grail?”

Upon hearing the words ‘Holy Grail’, the Dark Spiritualist looked slightly bothered, but since she said nothing, I continued.

“However, fortunately for us, Lehric is not a Demon Lord obsessed with battle.”

He was not someone who found amusement through battles like the Demon Lord of War, Valkyria or the Demon Lord of Pride, Dune.

Lehric actually found excitement and pleasure in deceiving and tricking others.

“But won’t he just kill us all if we make a mistake?”

There was that possibility too.

However, that was if Lehric was a human.

What I learned during the recent battle with the Demon Lords was that they showed fanatical obsession towards their deepest desires, but they did not hold much attachment to other things.

“What Lehric desires is not my life. He probably just wants me to follow the script and reach the ending of the Dream Demon Manor he has prepared.”

“Hm.”

“So, on the contrary, we just need to give him an ending he does not want.”

“An ending he doesn’t want?”

“I will explain that later.”

There was no need to explain it now, and wouldn’t it be a waste of time?

The Dark Spiritualist seemed to understand my intentions and she stopped probing further.

A brief silence lingered once again. Unable to remain still, I naturally took out a black gem from my pocket and handed it to the Dark Spiritualist.

“This is…”

Lemegeton, the object the Dark Spiritualist had been searching for desperately, was something I obtained as soon as I arrived at the Dream Demon Manor. Now, I knew that this, too, was not real but some sort of replica that could only be used here.

The Dark Spiritualist reached out to Lemegeton, and swallowed nervously on realizing that it resonated with her.

She was now experiencing the result of having injected the blood of the girl, who received Lemegeton, into herself.

“So, it really exists.”

Even as she spoke, a bitter aftertaste tinged at the end of her words.

She had finally laid her hands on the treasure she had longed for so eagerly, yet the realization that it was just an illusion left her feeling dejected.

“I have actually handled the real Lemegeton several times. You can consider this to be exactly the same as that.”

“You’ve handled real Lemegeton? Does that mean you found it?”

“Yes. Thanks to that, I was able to make you my teacher.”

She then said that she now understood why she had taken me as her apprentice in a soft voice.

After taking a deep breath, I spoke up.

“This might sound selfish, but I have one personal request.”

I knew what I was about to do to the Dark Spiritualist, who sat by my side, would be cruel. However…

“Could you listen to a story of mine?”

“A story?”

Regardless, this was a story that I could only tell the current her right now.

“It is about how the connection between you and me began, starting with the gem given by the Demon Lord of Deception.”

Then I recounted our unexpectedly long story.

***Booongggggg!

The long echoes of the bell signaled the end of yet another day.

My throat felt parched from speaking so much, which was uncharacteristic of me, yet I remained seated, waiting for the Dark Spiritualist.

She had just learned that the Lemegeton she had searched for so desperately, was actually a mere tool for the Demon Lord’s antics.

I also informed her that she vaguely regretted walking the path of a Necromancer, which she had pursued so diligently in the past.

And lastly, I also told her about her own death.

It must have been quite difficult for the 18-year-old Dark Spiritualist to accept, but I told her everything without hesitation—everything that the Dark Spiritualist and I had experienced.

In the end, it was a story about her, who had accompanied me longer than anyone else. She was the same person, yet she was also someone else at the same time.

“…”

She lowered her head until her face was hidden behind her hair. It was a lot for her to process.

She could resent herself for dying so meaninglessly or even get angry at me for revealing such a cruel story so casually.

“Why?”

As I considered these various possibilities, what she displayed was the determination not to retreat, despite the subdued and gloomy emotions that lay low.

“Why did you tell me that?”

It was a valid question.

There was no need to tell such a cruel truth to the current Dark Spiritualist.

It would have been better to lie vaguely and tell her that she was unexpectedly doing well.

However…

“Because it was necessary. Only then would you tell me about yourself.”

In order to be able to hear about the Dark Spiritualist, it was necessary for me to reveal my connection to her through these stories.

Clearly displeased with my answer, the Dark Spiritualist clenched her fist and slammed the table.

The impact was big enough to make the surrounding tableware and food rattle. The purple mana in her hand flickered like flames.

“So, why was that necessary? For what reason do you want to hear my story?”

The Dark Spiritualist had already predicted my response.

Her eyes reddened.

Her breath was stifled with heavy emotions.

Everything showed how much she was suffering at the moment, but I closed my eyes and answered her calmly.

“To understand the parts of the Dark Spiritualist that remain hidden from me.”

Knowing that I wasn’t referring to herself when I mentioned the Dark Spiritualist here, the 18-year-old Dark Spiritualist was enraged and gritted her teeth.

“Do you just think of me as a tool? Just to use me? Isn’t this your way of exploiting me to understand the real Dark Spiritualist you’re talking about?!”

She hit the bull’s eye.

Therefore, I did not deny it.

“It is not wrong.”

The Dark Spiritualist I knew often showed signs of wavering.

There were times when she would look doubtful while observing me practice Necromancy, disappearing for days before returning quietly.

That got me worried. What if one day, she suddenly disappeared forever just like that?

“I want to understand more about the Dark Spiritualist that I do not know through you.”

“If we want to quibble over this, in the end, that woman too is just like me! After all, she is also someone who is destined to disappear!”

Certainly, they definitely had something in common: the 18-year-old Dark Spiritualist who could only exist in the Dream Demon Manor, and the Dark Spiritualist who would one day close her eyes and find eternal rest.

However…

“That is the exact reason.”

“…What?”

“On the day the Dark Spiritualist closes her eyes to find eternal rest, I want to be able to comfort her and give her a proper farewell.”

“…”

“That is why I need to understand her.”

The Necromancy shown by the 18-year-old Dark Spiritualist and what I knew from my Dark Spiritualist were completely different.

A cruel aspect of her who simply used souls as tools. A ruthless female mage who took lives aggressively.

The Dark Spiritualist buried this past of hers deeply, to prevent me from finding out, but despite that cowardly move, I intended to uncover her secret in this manner.

“And this is also a way for me to remember you.”

“…”

The reason I was this cruel to her was to give meaning to her futile life, which only existed in the Dream Demon Manor, akin to Cinderella’s glass slipper with a limited time.

“I will not let you become a meaningless existence destined to disappear along with this place.”

“Ah-arghhhh.“

“This is the only memorial I can give you.”

At some point, tears began to flow uncontrollably from the Dark Spiritualist’s eyes as she covered them with both hands.

She acted as if she had to endure such cruelty and lay everything bare for the sake of the Dark Spiritualist I knew.

I also spoke as if she had to sacrifice herself for the sake of the real Dark Spiritualist.

In a way, you could say that I was a cruel man.

However, as the Soul Whisperer, there was nothing else I could do for the 18-year-old Dark Spiritualist in front of me.

She would disappear regardless.

Yet, she had to at least leave a trace of herself.

Just like Han So, who chose to die as the War God.

I wished that the Dark Spiritualist would also close her eyes in that manner.

“You!Y-You son of a bitch.”

I did not deny that it was an act that would make her resent me.

“I didn’t want that kind of thing.”

I knew that it was selfish of me to claim to act for the sake of the Dark Spiritualist.

“The current me, influencing the future me… Is that the only meaning of my existence? My significance?!”

Apart from that, I was sorry that there was nothing else I could do for her.

“Do you think just something like that will comfort me? Asking me to leave a trace??”

The Dark Spiritualist crouched down slowly as her tears continued to flow.

Despite various emotions rising from her trembling shoulders, her tears did not cease.

Nevertheless, she forcibly held back the sobbing voice and glared at me.

“You…”

The Dark Spiritualist swallowed her breath.

“I really hate you, Deus Verdi.”

She then spewed her resentment towards me.

“I hate you for telling me such a cruel truth. I hate you! That the value of my existence will end with just that! I didn’t want to know that!”

However, other than this, the 18-year-old Dark Spiritualist could leave nothing else behind for the world outside.

It was not enough for me to simply bury the memory of her within my heart.

If this girl had some influence on the real Dark Spiritualist, I wondered if the 18-year-old girl before me would remain within the real one until the very end.

“You cold-hearted bastard.”

“Even if it hurts, I still want to give you a chance.”

Not just disappearing pointlessly, but having the opportunity to leave something behind as the 18-year-old Dark Spiritualist.

“Because to me, you also are the Dark Spiritualist.”

“Damn it.”

She struggled with her resentment towards me and the agony of discovering the truth for a little longer.

However, even if it was truly just a little bit…

“…”

Eventually, after all, her feelings of resentment were laid bare…

“Please, can you do me this favor?”

Only a handful of sincerity from a girl grateful for being remembered would remain.