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

"Today, let's try summoning the dead."

When you think of necromancers, what comes to mind first for most people?

They'd first think of raising the dead and commanding them at will. And this ability is called 'summoning the dead.'

"Last week we only learned the theory."

This time there was no skill book. So he couldn't learn it immediately.

It wasn't much of a substitute, but there was something that helped.

A certain hunter in Ferda's memory.

'A-rank Hunter Jeff Grayson.'

One of the few friends he could trust to watch his back and a necromancer who was among the world's top ten.

His specialty fields were summoning the dead and spiritualism. Among them, he was a hunter who showed outstanding talent especially in summoning the dead.

'He was quite the talker.'

Jeff Grayson was an incredible chatterbox.

During break times or when the atmosphere became quiet, he'd babble incessantly. It would be one thing if his chatter was interesting, but it was only terribly boring topics. Because Jeff Grayson always only rambled about 'necromancy.'

'I really hated listening back then.'

And he was so bad at reading the atmosphere.

The team atmosphere had turned cold because of him more than once or twice.

Just recalling those times brought on fatigue.

'But thanks to that, it helped.'

He'd listened to necromancy lectures daily as if being brainwashed. That's why he remembered. Of course, only the very basic parts.

Recalling old memories made him burst into laughter.

"Ferda."

Just then, Silvan's voice was heard.

"What should I do first now?"

With dead rats before him, Silvan's eyes sparkled brightly. Seeing this, Ferda dredged up Jeff Grayson's memories.

What would that guy have said? Right, he definitely said something like this.

'How to raise the dead? Simple. You know magical beast corpses? If you press nether mana tightly into them, you're already halfway done.'

"First, you need to fill it with magic power."

Recalling old memories, he continued giving instructions step by step. Silvan also faithfully followed Ferda's words.

Tremble—

When magic power was imbued, the dead rat's limbs trembled finely.

But that was all. It didn't spring up or move again.

"Huh? It's not working?"

Silvan tilted his head and looked back this way.

Ferda shrugged and answered.

"You can't just fill it with magic power. Think about moving this."

"Move it? How?"

At the follow-up question, Ferda once again borrowed Jeff Grayson's help.

'Everyone's played with dolls when they were young, right? It's exactly the same. Just think about holding it in your hands and moving it. It's not working? That's unfortunate. That means you have no talent.'

But it wasn't very helpful. No matter how much he recalled, that was all there was.

"Umm, think of playing with dolls."

"Dolls?"

"Yeah. So what this means is..."

Since he hadn't heard much, there wasn't much to tell either. As Ferda, at a loss for words, was racking his brain.

Something completely unexpected happened.

Squeak! Squeak squeak!

One dead rat sprang up. Though it had a hole in its chest, the rat sniffed the ground and quickly circled around.

"Wow, it really works."

Then Silvan muttered quietly.

An expression of wonder. The revived rat moved and stopped repeatedly according to Silvan's gestures.

Meanwhile, a system message appeared.

=====

[Notification]

*'Silvan Arcdute' has acquired a new ability.

*Ability name: [Resurrection of the Dead]

=====

Along with a message that he'd gained a skill.

Ferda watched this scene blankly.

'Was it originally that easy?'

Even Jeff Grayson, who had Hero-grade talent, said it took him a full day to first revive a corpse. But he understood immediately just from hearing the word 'playing with dolls'? Moreover, he revived the dead without even failing?

'And Resurrection of the Dead, no less.'

According to his memory, Resurrection of the Dead was a higher-level skill than summoning the dead. Since Ferda wasn't a necromancer, he didn't know what the difference was.

Anyway, it was a speed that far exceeded common sense.

"Ahem!"

He was surprised, but he couldn't keep standing there blankly.

Ferda patted Silvan's shoulder encouragingly. As if he'd expected this kind of situation.

"Well done. That's how you do it."

"Yeah. It's easier than I thought."

Silvan grinned.

"Then what should I do next?"

Next? Originally, he'd planned to just do this and go back today?

But that became impossible. It would be a waste of the time it took to come here to go back after just doing this.

After consideration, Ferda made a decision.

It couldn't be helped. He'd have to move up what he'd planned to do tomorrow.

"Let's expand the scale a bit."

"What does that mean?"

"We're going to revive everything here."

Ferda grinned.

This would be somewhat difficult. Even excluding the one he'd revived, there were fourteen corpses.

Moreover, Ferda added one more condition.

"And you need to be able to handle them all freely."

"Freely?"

"It means you should be able to do various things like with the first one."

Reviving multiple dead was simple.

Jeff Grayson was also capable of turning up to forty corpses into zombies.

However, making them and controlling them were separate things. The more minions you commanded, the thinner your concentration became.

'Precise manipulation becomes impossible.'

You could only give instructions like attack, defend, protect at most.

You couldn't make them do actions like sniffing the ground or rolling around like earlier.

'Jeff Grayson's limit was three.'

Based on zombies, what Jeff Grayson could freely control was just three. And that was a result obtained through constant training.

No matter how much of a mythical-grade talent it was, it would be impossible in just a day or two.

Ferda was certain of this.

And his certainty was shattered in exactly 10 minutes.

Squeak! Squee! Squeak squeak squeak!

The underground waterway was filled with the cries of a rat swarm.

From ones rolling around on the ground to ones doing handstands, ones sitting cross-legged to ones swimming in the rotten water.

Each one seemed to move as if it had its own consciousness.

"..."

Ferda was at a loss for words.

He just stared blankly at this scene with his mouth hanging open.

But the surprising events weren't over yet.

=====

[Notification]

*An extra skill of [Resurrection of the Dead] has been unlocked.

*Extra Skill: [Absolute Obedience]

*Effect: The dead revived by the caster obey all commands of the caster. However, please note that beings with the same grade as the caster can cancel [Absolute Obedience].

=====

He'd even gained that hard-to-obtain extra skill.

All of this had happened in just one hour. Ferda called Silvan with a slightly trembling voice.

"...Silvan."

"Huh?"

"Are you feeling tired or anything? You're not dizzy either?"

He asked while pointing at the swarm of fifteen rats.

Silvan shook his head with a smiling face.

"Yeah, it's surprisingly manageable."

No signs of difficulty could be found.

His face wasn't pale, and he wasn't breaking out in cold sweat either.

It really meant he wasn't having a hard time.

And to top it off, he said something unbelievable.

"I think about twenty would be no problem."

"..."

If Jeff Grayson had heard this, he definitely would have said:

This is why those called geniuses...

"I-I see."

After roughly nodding, he clenched his fist tightly.

He was happy about his student's rapid growth, but by now, he felt a bit competitive.

'Twenty, you said?'

He'd spoken so confidently—shall we test if it's really possible?

Gritting his teeth, Ferda went rat hunting again.

***

The result was Ferda's defeat.

Thirty-two total.

That was the number of rats Silvan could handle 'freely.'

"Phew, more than that is a bit difficult."

Watching Silvan sigh.

Ferda couldn't quite close his mouth.

That made sense—it was his first attempt. No matter how much they were rats, zombies were zombies. But he was controlling thirty of them at will?

He newly felt the greatness of mythical-grade talent.

"Still, it was fun."

Like a child who had played with toys to his heart's content, Silvan smiled brightly.

"That's fortunate."

Ferda, who was facing him, also burst into laughter.

Right, if Silvan was satisfied, that was enough. Also, having outstanding talent meant he could reach the peak more quickly.

Good things are good.

Ferda decided to think that way.

"What do you want to eat for dinner?"

"Umm, duck!"

"You're really into duck these days."

Exchanging trivial conversation on the way back to the mansion.

Then suddenly, the outer wall of the sewer vibrated finely.

"...Silvan!"

Sensing something strange.

Ferda urgently grabbed Silvan's arm and pulled him. Almost simultaneously, part of the wall collapsed.

Rumble—!

The collapsed debris blocked their path as dusty clouds rose.

The passage wasn't blocked or anything, was it? That would be troublesome. Ferda narrowed his eyes and watched the scene ahead.

After a moment, when the dust cleared, Ferda's worry turned out to be groundless.

"Phew."

The debris from the collapsed wall was quite substantial, but fortunately, the passage wasn't completely blocked. It looked like two people could easily pass through.

Ferda looked back at Silvan with relief.

"Are you okay? You're not hurt anywhere?"

"Mmm, I'm fine. But..."

Silvan, who had nodded, turned his head.

His gaze was directed toward where the collapsed wall had been.

"The specters say there's something over there?"

"What?"

"Beyond there. They say there's something incredible."

Something incredible? Ferda made a puzzled expression.

These were words from specters with Hero grade. It wouldn't be meaningless talk. After brief consideration, Ferda decided to check it out. He could just pass by, but it bothered him strangely.

"Wait here for a bit. I'll go take a quick look."

"Yeah, be careful."

With Silvan's send-off, Ferda turned around.

He cleared the collapsed debris and stepped beyond the wall. It was dark and hard to see, but he wasn't worried. He'd brought a lantern knowing this might happen.

Whoosh—

Light instantly illuminated the surroundings.

Beyond the wall was quite spacious. However, there was one peculiar point.

'It's more aged.'

The collapsed wall was about a hundred years old.

In contrast, this place looked at least several hundred years old. That meant it was a place that had existed long before the closed underground waterway was built.

Thud—

Then something caught his foot.

A slightly raised threshold. When he held the lantern to it, it looked like an entrance leading somewhere. A tightly locked door was visible afterward, but he didn't need to worry about how to open it.

Crash!

Because it was quickly solved when he kicked it with a foot infused with mana.

The smell of magic power came from the broken door gap.

A damp, unstable, and musty smell.

Ferda's eyes narrowed.

It was a familiar smell to him.

"This is..."

He reached out with a dubious expression.

At the same time.

Crackle—!

"Ugh."

He felt stinging pain.

And after a while, a system message appeared.

=====

[Notification]

*Hidden dungeon [???] discovered.

*Information cannot be obtained until exploration.

=====

"...Dungeon."

Ferda's eyes sank low.