Necromancer Academy and the Genius Summoner-Chapter 413: Episode

A severe cold snap was sweeping through the resort. Snow flurries danced in the streets, and a bone-chilling cold made them shiver. Wrapping her arms around her shoulders, Lethe looked around.

"Well, it’s quiet," she observed.

"Yeah."

Perhaps it was the cold. Considering the size of the city and its reputation as a resort, it should have been bustling with people, but all the shop doors were closed, and only a few people bundled up in thick clothes walked the streets.

’Something has definitely gone wrong,’ Simon mused, his hand on his chin. Suddenly, his head snapped up. "Lethe, this way!"

Simon started running down the street, breaking through the biting cold.

"Hey, why are you suddenly running?!" Lethe grumbled as she followed. After passing several buildings and navigating a maze of winding alleys, an open view finally unfolded before them.

"Ah...!"

The sea was frozen solid. The entire ocean within their sight was a sheet of thick ice. Lethe’s expression hardened.

"The situation is much more serious than we heard." She rummaged through her traveler’s bag and pulled out a booklet. "It was originally a place like this."

A dazzling beach, sandy shores, people in swimsuits running and playing, and the snow-capped mountains visible above them. All of it had been in perfect harmony, but now, the scene from the booklet was nowhere to be found.

Simon looked up at the snow-covered mountains. He had once thought them a majestic and wondrous sight, like a painting, but now they felt different.

"Hey, how’s it look? Think we’ll have any chance of setting sail next week?"

Simon and Lethe’s heads turned. A sailor sitting at the pier was speaking to his companion, who tapped the frozen ice with the back of his hand and shook his head.

"Next week? Forget it. Looks like it’ll take at least a month."

"This is a headache. We’ll go bankrupt if we can’t move this shipment."

"Excuse me," Lethe called out, her snow-white hair fluttering as she approached the two men. "May I ask you something? This severe cold, the sea freezing over... when did it all start?"

"When did it start? Hmm. The weather’s been erratic lately, but it’s been about six months since the sea froze like this," the sailor replied with a deep sigh.

"Has this ever happened before?"

"Kula’s harbor is an ice-free port. That means it’s a natural harbor where the sea surface doesn’t freeze even in winter. Everything that’s happening in the city right now is a first in Kula’s history."

"The boss is right," the dark-skinned crewman added, climbing up a ladder to the pier. "All the barley in the village has frozen to death. The only route in, the sea route, is blocked. We’re trapped in this city, about to starve to death."

This time, Simon spoke up. "Besides the sea route, are there any other ways to bring in food?"

"Take a look. At those treacherous mountains." The crewman pointed. The city was surrounded by snow-covered mountain ranges. Except for this city, the only flat land, it was mountains on all sides and the sea to the south. "Even for a fortune in gold, there’s no merchant caravan anywhere that would cross those mountains to bring us food."

"That’s right," the sailor next to him chimed in. "And is that the only problem? The mountain monsters that used to only appear in the dead of winter are now more active because of the cold. Kula is hell right now." After lamenting their situation, he looked Lethe up and down. "Come to think of it, I haven’t seen you around before. Are you a tourist?"

Lethe didn’t bat an eye. "What kind of tourist would be here in this situation? We’re just adventurers."

"I see." He waved his hand dismissively. "If you have the skills to cross the mountains while avoiding monster attacks, you’d better get out of Kula as soon as possible. It might seem peaceful at a glance, but it’s a powder keg. Who knows when it’ll suddenly turn into a lawless zone because of the food shortage."

"Thank you for the advice," Simon said with a polite smile.

The sailor grunted and nodded. "Thanks to you folks for listening to the woes of a complete stranger."

---

They continued to gather information by exploring the city, but it was all more or less the same as what they’d heard at the pier.

"As far as I know, Kula is a town that lives off tourism and specialty products," Lethe said, walking with her hands stuffed in her pockets.

"What kind of specialty products?"

"Holy Water Leaves."

When Simon looked like he’d never heard of them, Lethe added in a relaxed tone, "It’s a plant used in major holy events and services. If you wash it clean and float it in water, it purifies impurities, and the components in the leaves turn the water white, which is a symbol of the highest quality holy water. It’s a must-have in places like the Grand Cathedral."

"Sounds expensive."

"It is. But in this weather, the Holy Water Leaf farms are probably all ruined."

The more they learned, the more desperate Kula’s situation seemed. Just then, a warm puff of air escaped Simon’s lips.

"It’s getting chilly. We should put something on, too."

"Good idea."

The two of them simultaneously opened their subspaces and took out robes. They were wearing the outfits Israphel had prepared, but of course, the finishing touch to any adventurer’s fashion was a ’robe’. It felt awkward to be an adventurer without one. Simon took out a white robe and put it on.

"Hm?"

Just then, Lethe was also putting on a white robe of the exact same design. A pleased smile spread across Simon’s face.

"Oh, that robe! That’s the one I bought you in the Holy Federation, right?"

Lethe looked startled as she turned to Simon, her face flushing beet red as she hastily hid the robe behind her back. "Wh-What, you bastard! It’s just a coincidence that I pulled this one out of my many robes!"

"Really?"

When Simon smirked, Lethe stammered, "R-Reverse your robe!"

"Huh?"

"Reverse it to the black side, you idiot! I’m wearing the white one!"

"Why? It’s my choice how I wear my clothes."

"No! If we wear them like this, it’s...!"

Just then, two women passing by saw them and giggled.

"Hey, look at those kids over there. They’re wearing matching couple outfits."

"Ugh, it’s annoying, but they’re cute."

It was a quiet whisper, but Lethe, who heard it with uncanny accuracy, turned red all the way to her earlobes. She lunged at Simon and tried to pull his robe off.

"H-Hey, what are you doing all of a sudden?"

"Hurry up and change it to black!"

When Simon kept resisting, Lethe slammed her forehead into his chest. ’Thump!’ Simon grunted and took a step back.

"Hey, if you’re so bothered by us having the same robe, why don’t you just take out a different one from your so-called ’many robes’!"

"N-No! Don’t order me around! A necromancer like you has no right!"

"You just ordered me around... Aack!"

The two of them bickered on the street for a while.

"Hah... Hah..." After a fierce struggle, Lethe, having pushed Simon against a wall, finally managed to strip the robe off him. The struggle had been so intense that Simon was sitting in a disheveled heap with his legs spread, and Lethe was kneeling between them, tightly clutching the stolen robe. The sound of their ragged breaths mingled in the cold air.

"You’ll freeze to death doing weird stuff outside in this cold!" a group of men, drunk on rum, laughed heartily as they passed by.

Lethe, whose neck had turned bright red, scrambled backward. "Ugh! So childish! Why couldn’t you just change it? What was all that for?!"

Simon straightened his messy hair. "You just lunged at me, so I was surprised. And is that something a Saintess who forcibly strips a man’s clothes off in the street should be saying?"

"Shut up! Don’t you dare even say the ’S’ word!" Lethe reversed Simon’s robe to the black side and then shoved it into his chest. "H-Hurry up and put it on so we can go. We don’t have time to mess around." Then she shot up and stomped off into the distance.

Simon had no choice but to put on the reversed, black robe. He had planned to walk around in the white one since he was in the Holy Federation and had to pretend to be a priest.

"Hey, are you going to investigate or not? Stop dawdling and hurry up," Lethe called, glancing back at him. She must have felt a little sorry.

Simon just smiled quietly and followed her.

---

"It’s a real problem that there’s no food in the village."

"I saw a pack of monsters moving down from the mountains last night! I think it’s a bad omen."

The two of them jotted down the information they gathered from their inquiries in a notebook. As they continued to wander the streets, they heard a faint cough.

They saw an elderly woman sitting on a straw mat, wrapped in a tattered blanket. A crystal ball was placed in front of her. It seemed to be a fortune-telling stall for tourists, but with no tourists, she probably had no income. Seeing her waiting for customers, shivering in the cold with a haggard face, he felt a pang of sympathy.

"Wait here for a moment," Lethe said. She strode over to a nearby shop that was open, spoke with someone inside, and came back with bread and beef jerky.

"Pardon me," Lethe said, kneeling on the old woman’s mat with a warm smile. "We’re a bit short on money, but would you perhaps accept food as payment?"

As Lethe tore open the bag and laid out the bread and beef jerky, the old woman’s eyes filled with tears. "Thank you! Thank you so much!" She then began to eat the food ravenously, as if she had been starving.

"You eat, too," Lethe said, chewing on a piece of beef jerky. It was a slightly late lunch.

Simon, sitting next to her with a piece of bread, said in a small voice, "I’m seeing you in a new light. You do have a Saintess-like side to you..."

’Thwack!’

Lethe’s fist immediately struck Simon’s arm. It was a full-force blow and hurt like hell. Simon had to clutch his arm and cry out in silent agony.

After their meal, the old woman, looking much better, picked up her crystal ball to work. "Hehehe! Now then, what kind of fortune shall I tell..."

"No, it’s not a fortune. There’s something I’d like to ask you." Lethe asked about the strange climate and severe cold affecting Kula. They received a slightly different answer from what they had heard from others.

"This is all because of the curse of Esquille."

At the mention of Esquille, Simon and Lethe’s eyes lit up. Esquille was the very village they were about to visit as tutors. The old woman’s wrinkled finger pointed toward the heart of the snow-capped mountains.

"The grudge of Esquille against the people of Kula has become a curse, driving Kula into a hell of severe cold."

"A grudge?"

"The people of Esquille originally lived in Kula, too. It was decades ago."

However, the rest of the story was more like gossip and wasn’t very helpful.

"Well then, since I’ve received payment, I must tell your fortunes." The old woman looked back and forth between Simon and Lethe’s faces and smiled slyly. Her profession had taught her how to handle tourists. "Then, a couple’s reading..."

"If you must, please do them separately," Lethe said curtly.