SSS-Rank Hunter Reborn: Private Tutor to the Count's Bastard Son

End of April.

When the flowers that had been in full bloom began to fall one by one.

Ferda sipped his coffee while basking in the warm sunlight. The aroma that calmed his mind. With a pleasant smile, he gently raised his head.

It had already been a month since entering the Count Arcdute household.

Quite a lot had changed during that time.

Clang—!

"I-I surrender."

The page who had dropped his sword knelt down.

Standing before the page was none other than Silvan. The page trembled at the emotionless look in his eyes. If left alone, he'd foam at the mouth and faint.

"Sparring over!"

Fortunately, the watching knight intervened in time. Silvan withdrew his gaze from the page as if nothing had happened.

"Magnificent. Your skills have improved considerably."

The knight expressed honest admiration.

But there was no change in Silvan's expression. He just nodded slightly. The awkward knight scratched his head and then vented his frustration on the innocent pages.

"Today's training ends here. What are you doing over there! Stop slacking off and quickly clean up the equipment!"

At the sudden scolding, the pages moved busily.

Leaving them behind, Silvan headed toward where there was tree shade. Where Ferda was.

Meanwhile, Ferda, who had been sipping coffee, also noticed Silvan's approach. As he raised his head and met eyes with the approaching Silvan, Silvan suddenly asked a question.

"Is that good?"

"I can't get enough of it."

He'd enjoyed drinking it when he was on Earth too.

As he grinned while holding his coffee cup, Silvan's eyes sparkled.

Eyes full of curiosity.

"I want to try some too."

"No. It'll stunt your growth."

"Tch, then what about Ferda?"

"I'm already grown up, so it's fine."

With that trivial conversation ending.

Ferda downed the half-cooled coffee.

Meanwhile, Silvan approached and sat beside him. Then he looked up at Ferda with his mouth tightly shut. As if hoping for something.

Seeing this, Ferda chuckled. He knew what Silvan wanted.

So he immediately patted Silvan's shoulder.

"Well done. You've become quite skilled."

"Hehe."

Only then did Silvan make a satisfied expression.

Seeing that face, a smile formed on Ferda's lips too.

Earlier he'd said a lot had changed since coming to the Count's household? Then the biggest change among them could definitely be said to be Silvan.

Recently, he'd been growing day by day to the point where it was remarkable.

'He's become quite familiar with using Death Eyes too.'

Now he seemed to have grasped the activation principle. He'd used Death Eyes on the page during the earlier sparring too.

And one more thing. Recently, Silvan hadn't lost a single sparring match. He'd achieved victory even when not using Death Eyes. The reason was simple.

'Dignity of a Necromancer.'

No matter how much the Eyes of the Moon suppressed his negative energy, Silvan's dignity as a necromancer was mythical grade. When clashing swords or having a battle of wills, negative energy unconsciously leaked out.

It was only a small amount of negative energy, but it could still make movements sluggish or intimidate opponents.

Moreover, Silvan's sparring opponents were just pages.

It would be enough to create openings.

'And his swordsmanship skills...'

Unfortunately, they hadn't improved a bit.

Because Silvan had absolutely no talent for swordsmanship.

This probably wouldn't change in the future either. Even John Mavin, who was called the Sword God, had thrown down his sword several times while trying to teach him.

Meanwhile, Ferda raised his head. Because the noisy surroundings had become quiet.

An empty training ground. It seemed everyone had already left.

"Shall we head back too?"

"Let's do that. I need to wash up and eat quickly."

Silvan smiled while rubbing his belly, probably hungry.

Well, he'd sparred three times today, so it was natural to be hungry. Also, considering his age, he was in his prime growth period, so it would be better for him to eat a lot.

"But Ferda."

"Yeah?"

"Are we going to 'that place' again today?"

At those words, Ferda stopped walking abruptly. Because he realized where the 'that place' Silvan mentioned was.

After looking around briefly, he soon nodded.

"We should. Why? Want to rest today?"

"No, if we're going, I think it would be better to pack a lunch."

"Hmm, that's true too."

Eating at the mansion unexpectedly consumed a lot of time. After brief consideration, Ferda soon made a decision.

"Then shall we ask Aaron to pack a lunch?"

"Yeah! With lots of duck meat!"

Silvan smiled brightly.

***

Beneath Count Arcdute's castle, there was a waterway.

A place that collected and drained wastewater used in the castle. If you went further down from here, another old underground waterway appeared.

An area that had been closed off a hundred years ago. The only ones who knew of this place's existence were the butler family that had served the Count's household for generations and Count Arcdute himself.

But now there were four people who knew of this place.

Because Ferda and Silvan had been added.

Thud thud—

A passage reeking of foul odors. Right beside it, rotten water pooled like a swamp. While listening to the sounds of rats scurrying about, Ferda and Silvan walked.

"Ugh, this place always feels like it'll rot my nose."

Silvan muttered while covering his nose.

It was much better compared to when they first came. Back then, as soon as he set foot in here, he'd tried to run away without looking back.

"Still, there's no place better than here for training."

"Ugh, that's true, but..."

Necromancers living in this era all hide in the shadows. The power to handle the dead was enough to cause people's revulsion.

In other words, to practice necromancy, you had to do it in places where others weren't around. That's why Ferda had designated this place as Silvan's training location.

Also, there was one more reason he'd chosen this place.

'This place overflows with negative energy.'

Was it because not a handful of sunlight reached here?

This place had particularly abundant nether mana. Much more than the cemetery near the mansion.

That's why he'd chosen this place.

'Thanks to that, I learned about a good place.'

The first to discover the closed underground waterway was Silvan Arcdute from Season 5.

Silvan, who had stolen the Eyes of the Moon, accidentally discovered this place while avoiding the Holy Kingdom's persistent pursuit. After recuperating here for two weeks, he'd left the Count's territory again.

'Now this place will become a foundation.'

In Season 5, it became a hideout, but not this time.

Training in the closed underground waterway would make Silvan into an even more powerful necromancer. No matter what happened, he would definitely make it so.

'Strong enough that no one could ignore him.'

Even if that target was the Holy Kingdom, they absolutely wouldn't be able to ignore him.

Ferda renewed his resolve once more.

Stop—

Meanwhile, he suddenly stopped walking.

When he held up the lantern illuminating the underground waterway's darkness, something strange was visible.

Whitish things circling around Silvan. They were specters.

"Silvan."

"Yeah?"

"Those specters seem to like you quite a bit."

At Ferda's words, Silvan also stopped walking.

Then he scratched his cheek with an awkward expression.

"Mmm. I told them they didn't need to follow me, but they insisted they had to."

Along with Silvan's answer, the specters circled around him as if dancing.

"They say this place smells dangerous."

"Dangerous smell?"

"Yeah. I don't really know, but that's what they answered."

This was a place overflowing with nether mana. So he'd thought they'd followed excitedly, but they said it smelled dangerous?

Ferda looked around with a puzzled expression.

The quiet underground waterway. He couldn't sense any presence. At most, there were just rats running around.

Eventually, Ferda lost interest. Instead, he turned his head back to Silvan.

"Speaking of which, there are three specters with you right now?"

"Huh? Can Ferda see them too?"

Silvan asked as if surprised.

Ferda shook his head.

"No, I can't see them since I haven't learned necromancy."

It was true. To his eyes, the specters were nothing more or less than whitish smoke.

'However...'

He could tell they had high 'dignity' compared to other spirits. The three specters were emitting strong presence. This level would be at least Hero grade.

'...They don't seem harmful yet.'

But if they touched even a fingertip of Silvan's?

He'd deal with them immediately. As a teacher, he couldn't stand by and watch his student fall into danger.

Ferda's eyes sank coldly.

Just then, Silvan's voice suddenly rang out.

"Hehe, then I'll explain. The way they look is..."

Silvan described the specters' appearances in an excited voice.

From a specter that looked like a heavily armed knight to a writhing specter with seven eyes, and a specter with sharp thorns like a chestnut burr.

None of them looked normal. But it was fine since Silvan seemed happy. As Ferda chuckled inwardly, the explanation had ended before he knew it.

"But since they don't have names, it's inconvenient to call them."

That was true. Just because it had sharp thorns didn't mean you could call it Spiky. But Silvan voiced the names he'd actually thought of.

"So from now on, I decided to call them Hardy, Squishy, and Spiky."

"...Won't the specters get angry if you call them that?"

They were specters with Hero grade dignity after all.

Even he would get angry if called such names.

"Hmm, is that so?"

Hearing Ferda's words, he had a point. Silvan soon turned his head. It was to ask the specters' opinions. But the specters' answer was faster.

[I am now Hardy.]

[Squishy. I like it very much!]

[Please call me Spiky from now on.]

The three specters spoke in unison without anyone going first. Seeing this, Silvan tilted his head.

"They look extremely satisfied?"

"Haha, that can't be."

It must be a joke.

Ferda chuckled.

While continuing to talk about the specters as they walked, both their steps stopped once more.

"Let's see. We did it around here, right?"

"Yeah, the specters say so too."

The place they'd arrived at was the center of the underground waterway.

It was also where nether mana gathered most. Having reached their destination, Ferda put down his backpack.

Then he turned to Silvan and spoke.

"Wait here for a moment."

Ferda lightly patted Silvan's back.

He soon turned around.

"I'll catch some class materials."

With those words, he loosened up his body.

What he'd use as materials were the most abundant life forms in the underground waterway. Namely, 'rats.'

Squeak! Squeak squeak!

The screams of rats could be heard from here and there.

The reason he chose rats as materials was simple. He could catch them without much effort. And one more thing.

'If I used corpses as materials...'

Two problems would arise.

First, they weren't easy to obtain, and cleanup was difficult. The next problem was Silvan's mental state. No matter how much of a necromancer he was, he was still a thirteen-year-old boy. Therefore, he might feel repulsed by handling human corpses.

'So this is fine for now.'

He collected the bodies of rats whose breath he'd cut off.

After a moment, a total of fifteen corpses were gathered together.

Thud—

After throwing the corpses on the ground.

Ferda turned to Silvan and spoke.