The man came down from the chair and looked behind him.
"In the end, Simon will be the one to make the choice, so wouldn't it be right for us to let him decide?"
Both the presidents of the Curse Research Society and Saddam clicked their tongues. The man came forward and put his hand to his chest.
"I'm Andre, the third prince of the Dresden Kingdom. And Noble is a gathering of those in power who'll rule the Alliance in the future.
A prince…! There was royal blood in Kizen?
As Simon was about to pay some respect, Andre raised his hand to stop him.
"You don't have to. In Kizen, the only thing that differentiates people is their skills."
"Ah, yes."
"Going back to my main point, Noble is a gathering that builds on and looks at the larger picture of the Dark Alliance’s territory. It costs a lot of money to get what we want from each other diplomatically while representing our respective areas after we become adults, but aren't we purely here as students now? I think there are things we can promise while we're still here."
A glint passed over Andre’s eyes.
"We, Noble, move the continent as students."
So that's what it meant to be a club of people with authority. Simon nodded.
"All the students in Kizen want to join Noble, but the conditions are strict. Your parents must be nobility above marquis, or of equivalent financial or militarial power. Your peer, Elissa, also joined our club."
That Special Admission No.7 who sails phantom ships in the sky? Simon thought it somehow suited her.
"But I don't have anything that can be called power."
"No! You're also qualified for the condition of the membership. There's an extra provision that says the special admission no.1 is—"
"Gosh, you're so talkative. Forget about that."
The president of Saddam stepped forward, shoving away Andre’s face. He waved his finger around and shouted about how a commoner could dare to be so rude, but she didn't even pretend to listen to him.
"First-year, if you join Saddam, we'll teach you how to use the blood that you have, SM-1, to its fullest potential, granting you infinite jet-black."
This time, the president of the Curse Research Society stepped forward.
He activated a mana projector that he took out from his pocket. Then, a picture of an undead with eyes that looked like rotting trees appeared.
"This is a rare species, Curse Undead Byron. We already have it, and if you wish, we can give it to you for free. We'll also teach you how to operate it."
"Hey, you!"
"Curses is a study that goes hand in hand with being a necromancer, and its useful in a wide range of scenarios. If your Summoning is combined with Curses, it can create synergistic—"
"Move!"
Prince Andre pushed them both out of the way and took the center.
"What use is all that to you! People keep prattling on, saying power this, power that! In the end, isn't doing our utmost to survive in this place the ultimate way to guarantee power in the future? Joining Noble is the fastest way to reach your ultimate goa—!"
"Get out of my way!"
"You get out of my way! And take a shower or something. You stink!"
"That's just how I am!"
The three seniors started fighting amongst each other. Simon sighed a little and bowed his head politely to them.
"I'm sorry. I want to have some time to think about it."
Simon left those words and turned back in the direction of the dorm.
The three looked at Simon's back as he left, and each of them smiled confidently.
'He's definitely coming to our side!'
* * *
He didn't really think much about the clubs.
As soon as Simon returned to the dorm and unpacked his things, he went straight to the forbidden forest and crossed over to Pier's ruins. After taking out all the skeletons and corpse spiders from his subspace, it was finally “it’s” turn.
[Hurry up! Bring it out, Commander!]
"Alright."
He opened the subspace and carefully took out the Overlord.
'Whew. It's still insane no matter how much I look at it.'
Pier and Elizabeth, as well as the skeletons and corpse spiders around them, looked at it in curiosity.
However—maybe the Overlord had a vigilant personality—it waved its long legs in the air and threatened the undead that were approaching it.
'But for real, it's fascinating.'
The kraken, reminiscent of an octopus, squid, or jellyfish, was a boneless mollusk monster.
But to think that a necromancer was able to move it as it was made of bones. It looked like an octopus model made out of assembled bones.
Simon touched the kraken's leg.
According to Pinch's explanation during the tour, at first, the bones of the kraken were too soft, so they did a cold treatment and injected a large amount of the hard, resilient metal called mithril into its bones, which was a stroke of genius. A flexible, yet sharp blade was made just like that.
'Alright.'
Simon connected to the kraken's thoughts and tried to move its legs. Seeing it swing its legs in the air at his will was refreshing.
It was his first time with this type of monster, so he was still unskilled in controlling it, but he felt like he'd get the hang of it with a little bit of practice.
[Would you like to test it?]
Before Simon realized it, Elizabeth had grabbed flat pieces of rocky debris and waved her hand.
[Think of this as a target and try hitting it!]
Simon smirked and stretched out his right arm.
Fwooooosh!
A tentacle shot out at frightening speeds. When the direction swerved in the middle, Elizabeth got startled, having to take a step back after throwing the rock in the air.
The tentacle went up as though chasing it, and pierced the center of the rock.
[Th-That startled me, Commander!]
"Ah, sorry. I'm still not used to the controls yet."
However…
He had only controlled the Overlord once, but the feeling was so special that it was thrilling. It was very fun to control.
[Although it's an oddball, neither power nor speed is flawed. It's definitely an undead that holds strength worth its price. But!]
[The body's defense capitalities are almost non-existent.]
They certainly were. Since the Overlord wasn't an undead that existed in the natural world, it couldn't form just with its bones.
As such, the researcher put a lot of artificial elements into it, so if the body were to be attacked directly, it’d be destroyed.
[If it's destroyed, it'll most likely fail to restore with all the unnatural additions.]
The original creator, Pinch, was no longer around, either. If it got destroyed even once, that was the end of it.
The Overlord was a species that couldn't use Restore, an ability unique to skeletons.
[You'll probably have to go through a lot of trial and error to use it at 100% in practice. But it can't be helped. The Overlord is a one-of-a-kind undead that only you, Boy, own!]
"…A one-of-a-kind undead."
[Yeah! So no one can teach you how to use it. You'll have to find the right operation method for the Overlord yourself!]
"You're right."
Simon folded his arms and went deep into thought.
"Ah! Then how about this?"
Simon put the Overlord back into the subspace.
"If it’s at risk when exposed to attacks, I just have to put its body into the safety of the subspace. And!"
Simon pulled the virtual lever again.
"If I open up the subspace like this and take out just the legs…!"
Simon gestured into the air, but it didn't come out. He tried giving more and more orders, but the Overlord remained silent.
"What? Why isn't it listening to m—"
Fwoooooosh!
Suddenly, the Overlord's legs stretched out from the subspace and rammed the wall of the ruins in front.
Bang!
The tip of the tentacle broke the wall and pierced in deep.
'Wow.'
[Splendid!]
Simon felt thrilled, and ordered the Overlord to retrieve its tentacles. But again, the Overlord remained silent.
[Since it's in the subspace, the mental connection isn't so smooth.]
Said Pier.
[Since the kraken isn't an entity that can become a skeleton to begin with, it has a weak ability to transmit thoughts. On top of that, since it's inside the subspace, the effect will be greatly reduced.]
'Mm.'
Its power was certain.
However, it was like a crossbow that doesn't shoot its bolt even when the trigger is pulled. It was too uncertain and too huge to be used as a main weapon if it wouldn't attack, even after ordering it to do so multiple times.
"There's a lot of room for improvement and research."
Still, Simon's heart raced.
It was up to him on how to use this powerful material. There was plenty of room for improvement.
* * *
Simon, having spent time practicing how to operate the Overlord at Pier's ruins, returned to the dormitory.
There was a note from Rick on the desk. He was telling Simon to come pass by, since the group members were studying in an empty lecture room.
Simon immediately grabbed some textbooks and headed to the building Rick had noted.
Outside, the last-minute pushes of the seniors trying to get juniors to join their clubs were still in progress. As far as Simon knew, the club membership registration ended tomorrow.
'Clubs, huh?'
It wasn’t like Simon wasn't thinking about it, but there hadn't been a club that roused his interest so far. Also, he was already heavily focussed on the Overlord.
"…Hello."
Simon turned his head in surprise at the sudden voice he heard despite not realizing there was anyone around.
A male student with thick bags under his eyes and a hunched back approached him. Simon looked at the red mark on his collar and bowed his head.
"Ah, yes senior? What is it?"
"Please take this… If it's alright with you…"
He handed out a flyer.
"It'd be nice if you could pass by… but I know you won't come so… Ywaaahhhh."
He yawned and went to another place.
Simon thought that person was odd before then looking at the flyer.
Special undead research society: Mutant
It was kind of a weird name. And among the clubs Simon was offered to, it was the first club related to Summoning.
'I wonder what exactly they do here?'
"Huh? Hey! Simon!"
A smiling face was seen in the hallway. It was Meilyn.
"Why are you just standing at the door? Come in!"
She slapped Simon on the back.
Then Simon groaned in pain and fell to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut.
"Hey, hey! What's wrong with you?!"
She got startled and stepped back.
"I still… have injuries…"
"I-I-Injuries? You should've told me earlier, you dumbass!"
"…You didn't give me any time to tell you."
Rick and Camibarez opened the lecture room door to see what the ruckus was. They both were midway through eating snacks.
"…?"
The two saw Simon, fallen on the floor, and Meilyn, who had turned red and was stamping her feet out of confusion.
"Meilyn…"
Rick shook his head.
"So you ended up harming your own friend, blinded by the grades and jealousy…"