Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner

Chapter 251

"Pant! Pant! Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

The white-haired kid cried.

Around him, three neighborhood kids stuck out their tongues as they taunted him.

"You're the only one with dark skin, Laheim! Dark skin!"

"I'm dark because my mom is dark!"

"It's weird. Laheim is weird!"

The child called Laheim shouted, tears dripping down his face,

"No! I'm not weird!"

"Laheim's skin is dark!"

Dash!

The bullies paused as they heard someone running quickly to the scene.

"You guys making fun of him for that?"

Pow!

"That is even weirder, you dumb, stupid poopies!"

It was a small girl about their age who appeared out of nowhere and kicked them in the skins.

A girl had beautiful light-blue hair, her skin white as the snow falling around her.

"She hit Roha!"

"Who are you?!"

The three kids charged at her, but there was nothing they could do about the vicious girl. She flailed her arms wildly and kicked them again.

The kids ran away in a panic.

"Don't mess with me, you bastards!"

She cursed at the backs of their heads as they fled, then turned back to the victim.

She saw Laheim, still slumped in his seat and dazed.

"Stop crying! Stop it! now!"

"…"

Laheim stopped crying, not because he was more comfortable, but because she scared him too much for him to think about crying.

She was pleased with how obedient he was to her commands.

"You're the son of the Lord of Snowfield Castle, Laheim, right?"

She held out her hand. Laheim stared at it in horror.

"My name is Meilyn Villenne. I am the official heir to the Ivory Tower, and when I grow up, I will be Lord of the Ivory Tower!"

Laheim remembered that the people of the Ivory Tower would be visiting the Snowfield Castle today. He had been told by his father to hide in a quiet place until then.

He timidly replied,

"Y-Yeah. However, I'm not the real son, but—"

"If your dad's the lord, then you're the lord's son!"

"I could never be the lord!"

"So what if you can't! Just play it bravely!"

"I have dark skin."

"Ah, you're pissing me off!"

She kicked Laheim's shin as well.

Laheim squealed, grabbing his leg as he jumped around on one foot like a chicken.

"Don't be weak, just come with me! Your parents and mine are waiting."

Meilyn grabbed Laheim's hand and dragged him along. Laheim panicked.

"I-I'm not supposed to go!"

"Why not? You're the lord's son."

"…"

Laheim hung his head low.

"Because I'm the son my father wants to hide."

"…"

"Because I'm not the one who'll become the lord. It's my older brother."

Meilyn let go of Laheim's hand and spun around to face him.

Even after putting her hands in her lap and leaning in, Meilyn was taller. Laheim fidgeted with his hands, eyes darting all over the place.

"My dad told me to never let my guard down."

"Wh-What?"

"I'm the official heir, but I only took the position because the current Lord of the Ivory Tower had no children. Anyone is my competition, and anyone can take my place, so I must be vigilant and be better than anyone else."

She clenched her cute little hands.

"I will be the next Lord of Ivory Tower, and I'm not going to let my guard down!"

"…"

Laheim blinked repeatedly.

"And neither should you. It doesn't matter if your father hates you, or if you're dark-skinned, or whatever. You can be Lord of Snowfield Castle, too."

"…M-Meilyn."

"So let's go."

Meilyn grinned and took Laheim's hand, pulling him to his feet.

"Keep challenging the future. I'll keep on protecting you. And when we grow up, you will become the castle lord, and I will become the tower lord."

"…"

She lifted the hand that was holding his.

"You promise?"

If he went into the palace now, he would be rebelling against his father for the first time.

'He calls me a disgrace.

He's been hard on my mom, too.

I want to protect my mom.

I wonder what I can do to protect her.

When I become the castle lord…

I would be the highest person in the castle.

No one will be able to hurt my mom.'

"Sure."

Laheim lifted his head and locked his pinky with Meilyn's.

It was a snowy afternoon.

* * *

Crash…

"…"

Waking from a flashback, Laheim—lying on a sunbed in the middle of the beach—held up an ornate golden medallion.

It was the symbol of the top.

Laheim was no longer a child of a concubine nor a legitimate successor.

He was now the Lord of Snowfield Castle.

'I have earned the title by constantly challenging the future.'

He lowered his medallion and closed his eyes.

For now, his mother ruled as was tradition for a child, but when he graduated from Kizen, he would rule Snowfield Castle.

'But you couldn't protect your title.'

He had heard before that the official successor to the Ivory Tower was Serene Aindark.

And every year, the Ivory Tower was required to enroll one child to Kizen who was at or nearing the age of 17.

This year, Serene Aindark, the successor, enrolled as an Special Admission. From that point, Laheim shut out all thoughts of the Ivory Tower, letting the school days go by and concentrating on his work.

'But Meilyn was admitted this year. Did she take the exams and get in privately, not through the special enrollment program from the Ivory Tower? Why?'

If she had been admitted next year, she would've gotten great benefits and would've taken the student oath as the best female student of first-years.

He questioned why she enrolled this year.

'No, such things don't really matter.'

He would get to meet her. He would get to spend three years with her.

The reason he hadn't gone to see her until now was so he could be honorable the next time they met. Now that he was a lord and achieved his goal, he had nothing to be ashamed of.

"Stop, stop! Agh! You're really hitting me!"

"Stop right there, you damned commoner! You're dead meat!"

Laheim's head snapped toward the commotion.

'…Meilyn!'

A female student with light-blue hair and wearing a similarly colored swimsuit was chasing after a male student with flippers in both hands.

"All the blueprints we made by pulling an all-nighter got wet because of yoooouuuu!"

"Woooaaah!"

"Get over here! Right now!"

He was sure it was her.

That light-blue hair, those blue eyes, and that unruly personality. It was the exact same as that fateful day...

Smack!

That was when Rick went sneaking through the side of Laheim's sunbed, and Meilyn running after him, bumped into Laheim's shoulder, making him trip.

"Ouch! Honestly."

Meilyn rubbed her bump while squinting one eye. Then, she glared at Rick, who had escaped.

She gritted her teeth, stood up, and held out her hand apologetically to Laheim.

* * *

* * *

"Hey, I'm really, really sorry! Are you okay?"

A smile tugged at Laheim's lips as Meilyn bent down to offer a hand.

It had been a while since he was in this position. And he figured she'd just bumped into him on purpose.

"I'm fine."

Laheim took her hand and pulled himself to his feet.

He'd been so much smaller when they were kids, but now that he was a man, he was a head taller than her.

Blood rushed to his face.

Though her looks from the past remained, Meilyn had grown to be dazzlingly beautiful as a woman. He stretched out his hand to shake hers formally again, giving her a dashing smile.

"Reminds me of the old days. How have you been, Mei—"

But making his outstretched hand awkward, Meilyn walked past him.

"?"

Laheim looked back. Meilyn was chasing after the boy, who was going far away again.

"This time, I'm not going to let you get away with it! I'm going to catch you! I'm going to smash your head into—!"

Sshhk.

Laheim, with his back turned, pressed down on the jet-black beneath his feet and shot off in a flash, catching up to Meilyn.

"I didn't expect to meet you here."

"Woah! You startled me!"

"Don't you have something to say to me?"

She stopped walking after Rick. Laheim followed and stopped walking as well.

"What do you want? I apologized earlier."

Now that he had her full attention, Laheim felt better.

He asked,

"Why didn't you come to talk to me?"

"About what?"

"That you got into Kizen. Even if I didn't know, you would've because I'm a Special Admission student."

She blinked a few times, then snorted and sneered.

"Oh, yeah, it must be nice to be an S.A.."

She turned around, flicked her hair back.

But Laheim appeared in front of her again, interrupting her.

"Don't you remember what happened between us 10 years ago?"

'Ugh, dammit. This bastard!'

She'd bought a swimsuit as a treat to herself, and now she was starting to regret it. This was the fourth time she had been asked out today.

She didn't realize it, but Meilyn had become the most beautiful flower on the beach. Every passerby would give her a glance.

But Meilyn was getting increasingly annoyed at being interrupted every time she tried to do something.

"Hey."

Meilyn blurted out.

"Your pickup lines are so fucking old. Do you realize how lame that sounded?"

"…Pickup line?"

"Get the fuck away from me."

Letting go of Rick, Meilyn strode off toward the shade where Camivarez was waiting.

Laheim stroked his jaw.

'Is she purposely pretending to not remember? I mean, I guess it can be quite embarrassing. Since I've become a lord while she couldn't defend her position as the successor…'

He chuckled.

'There's a cute side to you, too, huh. I'm starting to like you even more.'

"Laheim!"

Just then, his friend and group member came running in panting.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to train the members this afternoon!"

"Something came up… Tell them to do it on their own."

Said Laheim, annoyed, as he waved his hand dismissively.

"Oh, by the way? Tell Beldina I'm breaking up with her."

The groupmate's jaw dropped.

"Wh-What? So suddenly?"

"Yeah, I don't need her. In the end, she probably only went after me because I'm the Lord of Snowfield Castle."

Removing his white cap, Laheim ruffled his hair before placing the cap back on his head at an angle.

"Now I'm going to go find my true love."

"L-Laheim!"

Watching Laheim run away, his groupmate withdrew his outstretched hand in despair and scratched his head.

'That… That human trash! Handsome bastards all behave the way they look, after all.'

He was sure Beldina would be crying for the rest of the day after he told her the news.

Figuring that their training today would be done for, the groupmate turned away.

* * *

Laheim followed Meilyn persistently.

"What are you doing this evening?"

"Do you really not remember, or are you pretending not to?"

"What class are you in? I'll pick you up tomorrow."

Meilyn's head throbbed.

She'd said no, but this Laheim guy was persistent.

Especially when he condescendingly winked at her. She was tempted to gouge out his eyes, show him what he looked like, and put them back.

In her experience, the best thing to do was completely ignore these kinds of men. Paying them any attention, whether in annoyance or anger, would only make them more annoying.

"Are you doing this because you couldn't become the successor?"

But…

"Oh, don't worry. I'll try to tell the Ivory Tower and speak positively about you."

There was a line that no one should cross.

Ka-to-to-to-toosh!

Spikes of ice jerked out around Meilyn.

Laheim immediately flung himself out of the way.

"Didn't I…"

Fury flared in her eyes.

"…tell you to shut the fuck up?"

"Hmm."

Laheim brought a finger to his cheek. Blood trickled down it. He caught a droplet on his fingertip, licked it off, and smirked.

"Yeah, now this is getting interesting."

This time, jet-black began to ooze from Laheim's body.

"Just a reminder, you attacked me first, alright?"

His body disappeared in a flash of light.

Meilyn immediately stretched out her arms to create ice in front of her, but Laheim lazily appeared behind her.

"Haha, I got y—!"

Swiiiiiiiiiiish!

Something came out of nowhere between them, startling Laheim. He put his hand in front of his chin to block.

The sole of a shoe rising up was narrowly blocked, and the sand around them was pushed back like a fountain.

"Hm."

Laheim's hand trembled slightly as he caught the kick.

"Who are you?"

A boy with a basket on his head, a shade pole in one arm, and tongs and a frying pan in the other stood in front of Laheim with his foot raised to kick.

"Simon!!!"

Meilyn's face lit up.

Using the encouragement, Simon brought his leg back down, tossing up everything in his hands before spinning once and kicking directly into Laheim's guard with his other foot.

Slaaaammm!

Laheim was pushed backward, and Simon relaxed his stance, spreading his arms wide.

The things that he threw upward settled back down into his arms and around his head.

"Are you okay, Meilyn?"

——