The next day.
Simon was climbing a mountain ridge with a heavy bundle of firewood on his back. Sweat poured down his face, and ragged breaths escaped his lips.
’Kugh!’
Finally, he couldn’t hold on any longer and collapsed. The wood he had painstakingly gathered tumbled down the steep slope.
His heart hamred against his ribs as if it would burst, and the veins all over his body swelled fiercely. His muscles scread, threatening to tear. Simon placed a trembling hand on his chest and activated his black magic.
’Calmly.’
As he channeled the black magic of the Rune of Calm, the tremors in his body began to subside.
Phantastus’s voice echoed in his mind.
’”I’ve placed an activation curse on you, successor.”’
’”The harder you work, the greater the strain on your body will be. Whenever you reach your limit, endure it by soothing your body and organs with a calming curse! This is also an important part of your training!”’
Simon’s hand slid into his pocket, his fingers closing around a small pill.
’”If you truly cannot bear it, take this. However, the lesson on the Sleep curse will end the mont you do.”’
Simon stared at the pill for a mont before silently returning it to his pocket. He let out a long sigh.
’He’s a good person, but a harsh teacher.’
If Phantastus hadn’t given him the pill in the first place, he wouldn’t have this dilemma. Simon staggered to his feet and went down the hill to retrieve the fallen wood. Stubborn determination flickered in his eyes.
’I will never give up!’
---
"Young master! Thank you ever so much!" an old woman said.
"It’s nothing," Simon replied as he set down the firewood. He had brought it for an old woman who lived alone, far from the center of the territory.
"I’m sorry, Simon. It’s because of my leg..." The old woman’s son, who originally perford this role, was laid up in bed, his leg wrapped tightly in bandages.
"Please, don’t worry. You must focus on getting well." Simon smiled, wiping the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. "If you need anything else, please do not hesitate to call on !"
With that, Simon waved goodbye to the mother and son and departed. He crossed the mountain again, repeatedly casting the calming curse on himself.
Just as he was almost ho, he heard the sound of children’s laughter.
"Uncle Phantastus! Over here, over here!"
"Gotcha!"
Phantastus, carrying two village children on his sturdy shoulders, caught the third fleeing child. He set the child down on the grass and tickled them, and the three children erupted in uproarious laughter.
’President Phantastus?’
Just as Simon was about to approach, he heard a voice from across the path.
"Phantastus! Thanks for helping with the work today!" A village resident nad Charles waved.
"Of course I should help! Hahahaha!" Phantastus gave a thumbs-up in his direction.
"You were helping with work in the territory? And looking after the children, too," Simon said as he revealed himself.
The children clinging to Phantastus brightened up when they saw Simon.
"It’s Brother Simon!"
"Brother Simon!"
The children climbed down from Phantastus’s body as if it were a tree and ran to Simon. Simon smiled, stroking their heads.
"Hmm! I’m indebted to Leshill, so isn’t it only natural that I help out!" Phantastus laughed cheerfully. "More importantly, how goes the calming training?"
Simon silently took the pill from his pocket, rattled it for effect, and put it away. Phantastus smiled in satisfaction and cast a cancellation spell to remove the curse.
---
After a short break, Simon climbed the mountain again with Phantastus. It was a secluded place with a high concentration of mana.
"I’ve completed the magic circle as well." Simon held out his palm and raised his concentration.
’Sleep’
A circle of Jet-Black unfolded, and the magic circle quickly ford with the ’Rune of Calm’ at its center. Phantastus stroked his chin and observed it.
"You learn remarkably fast! As expected of my successor!"
"Thank you!"
"Hmm. Then shall we have a taste test?" He sat on the ground with a thump.
"A taste test of what?"
"Your Sleep. I intend to taste the slumber you create!"
He wasn’t sure exactly what that ant, but he figured Phantastus would allow himself to be struck by the curse.
"The maximum stack for Sleep is five! Stack it all five tis and put to sleep."
"Yes, sir."
Simon moved behind Phantastus. As instructed, he created the Sleep curse on his palm and pressed it to Phantastus’s back, again and again.
After the fifth ti, Phantastus fell to the ground with a thud. Soon, he began to snore.
"...Oh."
Though dubious, Simon looked down at his own palm with an expectant expression.
"Was it a success?"
Just then, Phantastus, who had been sleeping soundly, began to toss and turn. He scrunched up his face, rolling restlessly from side to side. He scratched his stomach and even hugged a nearby tree.
And after five minutes.
Phantastus woke with a gasp. Simon approached him in surprise.
"H-How was it?"
"Hahaha!" He covered his forehead and chuckled slightly. "It still has a bitter taste. I had a nightmare for a mont!"
"A nightmare?"
"Yes! I dread of my second day at Kizen!" Phantastus wiped his face with his palm. "In Cursology class, I was the only one who failed Exhaust while everyone else succeeded, and in Combat Magic, I couldn’t even do the Jet-Black Step, so I was the only one to fall into the water! I could hear my classmates’ laughter. And during dueling practice, I was brutally beaten by a girl I had a secret crush on. She ground my face into the dirt and said..." His mouth opened. ’You’re trash.’
Simon’s face contorted.
"Did that... really happen?"
"Hahahahaha! It’s all in the past!" Phantastus stood up, brushing off his backside. "In the end, all those trials beca fuel for my growth!"
There was certainly no regret or disappointnt in his voice.
’He truly is an amazing person,’ Simon thought, his eyes beginning to sparkle.
"Ah, for your reference!" A mischievous smile spread across Phantastus’s face. "That girl who stepped on and insulted during practice beca my vice president two years later!"
Simon burst out laughing.
"That’s hilarious! Your stories about Kizen are incredible."
"You think so? Hahaha!" Phantastus also laughed, his shoulders shaking with mirth.
"Now! It’s your turn."
"My turn?"
A Sleep magic circle unfolded on Phantastus’s palm. It wasn’t the complex magic circle he had shown at first, but the simpler, basic version he had taught Simon.
"This ti, it’s your turn to be struck by Sleep!"
"W-What? Why all of a sudden?"
"To cast a good curse, one must feel and experience it firsthand. Of course!" Phantastus charged without warning. "You can resist if you can!"
Phantastus’s right arm brushed past Simon’s shoulder. A touch-activated curse. Simon instantly felt the effects of one stack of Sleep, and his vision swam.
’The drowsiness...!’
An incredible wave of drowsiness washed over him.
Dodging the left arm Phantastus swung, Simon quickly backpedaled. He tried to form a magic circle for a counterattack, but—’Ugh!’
His concentration wavered. He was as tired as if he had been awake for a month straight. He couldn’t even think about forming a magic circle; all he wanted was to sleep. The intense urge to sleep dominated his entire body.
"Your movents have grown sluggish!"
Phantastus instantly closed in and struck Simon’s thigh, making it two stacks. He spun, touching Simon’s arm for the third.
His eyelids felt as heavy as lead. He wanted to drop everything and just sleep.
’Get a grip!’
Before he even knew how it happened, he was hit again, bringing the count to four stacks. He was reaching a point where fighting was impossible. Strength drained from his limbs, which began to slip from his mind’s control. The encroaching slumber was so sweet, so alluring, that it crowded out every other thought.
’Ughh!’
To sleep in the middle of a battle was death.
’Is my body, in that sense, so desperately craving death?’ he wondered. He was realizing what a truly terrifying curse this was.
"Alright! Now for the fifth and final stack!"
Phantastus’s arm ca closer. Fighting back with sheer willpower, Simon ducked to evade the blow, then swung his leg up in a powerful kick.
The kick whistled through the air. He aid for the chin, but Phantastus tilted his head back, dodging it easily. Simon imdiately spun, preparing his next kick, but—
A hand shot out and grabbed the back of his head, plunging him toward the dirt floor.
"Sweet dreams."
As he was buried in the dirt, the sll of soil washing over him, Simon lost consciousness.
---
’Chirp! Chirp, chirp!’
The song of mountain birds stirred Simon from his slumber, and his eyes flew open. He was lying sprawled on a grassy field. With a soft rustle of grass, he reached up to touch his forehead.
"Ah..."
"How was it?"
He turned his head toward the voice and saw Phantastus leaning against a tree, a gentle smile on his face.
"Was it not a sweet sleep?"
He hadn’t dread. Or had he? More importantly, his mind was incredibly clear. He was in peak condition. Vitality coursed through his veins, and a pleasant warmth spread through him even as he lay still.
"Um..." Simon answered, his voice still heavy with sleep. "It really was a sweet sleep."
"Now ’that’ is what I call a delicious sleep!" Phantastus declared, spreading his arms wide. "You were only out for about ten minutes, but doesn’t the world look different now that you’re awake?"
"It certainly does." Simon rose to his feet, unwilling to waste this surge of energy. "Then, if you’re ready, let’s begin the next training session!"
"Hahahaha! That’s the spirit, Successor!"
---
The lessons with the cheerful Phantastus were a daily delight. Of course, his training wasn’t the only thing on Simon’s schedule.
"Are you ready, Simon?"
Anna, who usually confined herself to the kitchen, had her hair tied back tightly as she oversaw Simon’s divine beast training. The power of the forr ’Saintess of Miracles’ was undeniable; with a simple gesture, she cast a mana barrier over an area the size of a training field. It was designed to block both presence and divinity—an essential precaution here in the Dark Alliance.
"I’m starting, Mom!"
Simon tossed Whitey and Blackie into the air, their forms shimring with divinity. He then imbued Akallion with the sa holy power, causing the beast to swell in size. He fitted Akallion with the special reins for divine beasts he had received from Israphel before climbing onto the chariot that descended in a halo of light.
"Let’s go!"
The mont Simon pulled the reins, the chariot lifted off the ground and soared into the air. A brilliant divinity, reminiscent of the sun, ford a radiant circle, and the chariot and Akallion alike were wreathed in white sparks.
"Run, you three!"
Simon’s body shot forward like a streak of light. His scream—’Aaaaaah!’—echoed across the field. The speed was still insane.
"If you hit the barrier, you fail, Simon!" Anna shouted from below. "Don’t be afraid of the speed! Focus on your bond with the beasts!"
"Yeeeeeeeeeees!!"
Like a single beam of light, Simon zipped around inside the barrier. After so ti, Anna cast a large divine barrier on the ground below.
"Finish it here!"
The chariot, which had been careening through the air, ca to a sudden halt. Then, it transford into a bolt of lightning and crashed into the divine barrier with a deafening rumble. The paralyzing ability was powerful enough to have incapacitated the dungeon master, Karisa, in a single blow. A mont later, Simon was rolling on the ground, holding the cats and Akallion, now shrunken to their normal sizes, in his arms.
"Simon! Are you okay?"
"...I-I’m fine, Mom!"
’ow! ow!’
The divine beasts also seed thrilled to have run around after so long. Simon shot to his feet, a wide smile on his face.
"I think I’ve got a feel for the speed now!"
"Good. Let’s do so more training to get you more accustod to it."
And so, his mornings were spent training in Divine Beast Studies with Anna, while his afternoons were dedicated to sleep training with Phantastus. In the evenings, however, chaos training with Richard awaited him.
Gripping the Chaos Spear, Simon launched a fierce offensive. Richard t his assault, dazzlingly wielding a spear forged from pure jet-black.
’Clang! Clang! Clang-clang-clang!’
Every ti father and son swung their spears, a violent spray of violet and black sparks erupted between them.
"Simon! You are now the Student Council President of Kizen! Do you understand the weight of that responsibility?" Richard demanded, deflecting Simon’s chaos before thrusting the tip of his spear forward.
"Of course!" Simon ducked his head to dodge, simultaneously lowering his hand. Richard easily sidestepped the violet spear that fell from the sky, took a step back, and then charged forward. "Countless challenges will co your way!"
The eyes of the father and son t head-on as they locked spears in a brutal contest of strength.
"The third-years will resent you, and the second-years will be looking for any opportunity to usurp you! The faculty will constantly test the new president. You’ll face endless provocations and challenges throughout the sester! What do you think is the most essential tool for overcoming all this?"
Simon’s eyes hardened as he spun his body.
’Vwoooosh!’
The Chaos Reaper, hidden in his shadow, swung its massive scythe. A violet scar tore through the air, and the surrounding trees were sliced clean through.
"Strength." Simon readjusted his grip on the Chaos Spear and smiled. "The most essential thing is ’strength’."
"Exactly, Simon! The sester is just around the corner." Richard held up his fingers. From the ground, the ghouls under his control staggered to their feet. "For the rest of this break, give it your all! Beco a man worthy of being the Kizen Student Council President!"
"Yes!"
Simon kicked off the ground and threw himself at the swarming ghouls.
User Comments
0 comments from readers