The Academy’s Ankle Reaper – Chapter 132

“Hehe… that was boring…”

“Since it was boring, take a look at the item.”

I pulled out the Cursed Weapon that was hanging at my waist.

Not only was it sheathed, but I also unfastened the seals tied with strings at the seams one by one and drew out the sword.

As I did, the Cursed Weapon, finally freed from its seal, erupted with a thick curse in all directions and roared.

[“How could I spend days locked up by that damn seal… I cannot forgive this!!!!!”]

“Uhh?? What is this??”

Amy shrank back at the overwhelming power of the curse, but Kirké was unfazed.

“Ooooh, this is…!!”

She looked flushed, as if she’d seen her first love, fidgeting as she gazed at the Cursed Weapon.

Kirké, the Necromancer, instantly recognized the true value of the weapon.

“Where on earth did you find such a treasure, huh??”

As soon as it was in Kirké’s hands, the curse emanating from the weapon quickly subdued.

It seemed to understand where it was being handed off to.

[“Aaaaah?! It’s a Necromancer!!! I… I was wrong, please don’t hand me over to that girl!!”]

The Cursed Weapon screamed late, but it was already too late.

“Well, now you’re hers.”

“Hehe, since it doesn’t even have a name yet, shall I give it one…? How about ‘Barbie’ since it looks so cute?”

The curse emanating from that… no, Barbie was already under Kirké’s control.

Barbie was a weapon housing a powerful curse, but Kirké handled it as if it were nothing.

“What do you think? It’s an incredible treasure, right?”

“Hehe, what should we do with this… I’m so excited… If you brought this knowing its worth… it must be quite the request, huh?”

Kirké, fiddling with the Cursed Weapon, squinted her eyes.

She seemed curious about the magnitude of the favor I was about to ask for.

I was indeed asking for something quite significant, so I said confidently.

“I’d like you to find the hideouts of the Demon Church scattered across the continent… especially the location where the Demon Bishop is hiding.”

“Hehe, you’re really asking for something tough… It’s hard to search the entire continent, but I’ll do what I can. Demons are enemies to us too…”

“Can a Necromancer do that??”

“Of course… Finding traces of demons is one of the things Necromancers are best at… right?”

Demons collect souls as payment during contracts.

The reason they receive souls in exchange is that demons enjoy feasting on them.

Even if they weren’t aware, they naturally devour the small souls floating around without needing to emit Mana.

Whenever demons or fallen humans stay in a place, a void of power inevitably occurs.

The stronger they are, the larger the void created.

A tiny void from regular demons might be barely noticeable, but simply having a presence like that of a Demon Bishop generates a massive void.

Even if the void is colossal, ordinary people wouldn’t notice it.

Only a Necromancer can seek out this void.

Even if the Church knew this method, they wouldn’t dare to use it.

While they don’t actively suppress the already rare Necromancers, the doctrines of the Necromancers and the Church greatly differ.

How can the Church, which promises a happy afterlife for good deeds, work with Necromancers who raise the dead?

“But… wait a minute.”

Just as I was about to continue the conversation, Amy suddenly stopped.

“Why?”

“You said you’re searching for a base of the Demon Church… right??”

“Yeah, I’m looking for a base. But finding the one with the Demon Bishop is easier.”

“Since you mentioned raiding… does that mean we’re charging into the Demon Bishop’s nest??”

“Looks like it, huh?”

Thinking back, I realized I never mentioned actually catching the Demon Bishop.

When Amy realized we’d be fighting a Demon Bishop out of the blue, she trembled, so I patted her back to calm her down.

“Come on… you’re confident, right?”

“To some extent?”

Having taken down Belphegor’s Demon Bishop once, it seemed quite doable.

I figured we’d be all right.

“Hehe… You’ve really grown… to think you’d show up after so long and intend to smash a Demon Bishop… You may not have grown in size, but your potential has certainly expanded.”

“Did I need to add that last part?”

When I threatened her in anger, Kirké casually shifted the subject.

“The important thing is finding their locations. We can’t be completely without clues, right? Otherwise, it’s like looking for a needle in a desert. You need to narrow down the suspicious areas a bit for us to find something.”

“I know. For now, focus on these two areas.”

“Hehe, I guess you’re making sense for being a descendant of giants.”

No matter how skilled Kirké was as a Necromancer, searching the entire continent without any clues would be impossible.

She needed a range to narrow down on, so I pinned two locations on the leather map in her room.

These were the areas where I suspected the Demon Bishops were hiding.

The reason for my suspicion was straightforward.

‘These two spots are the most likely to harbor those guys based on the starting point of the original story from the ‘Academy’s Devil Slayer.’

Most useful information based on the original story has long been obliterated, but I still acted on that foundation.

This time, I truly hope I’m right.

Otherwise, it would be troublesome.

If I talk all big and fail to find anything, I’d end up being a pitiful figure just sulking.

If I made a big deal around the Saintess and failed, she’d surely go out of her way to comfort me.

“What can I… do?”

Seeing Kirké and me efficiently carrying out the tasks, Amy timidly asked again.

She seemed to wonder why she even had to be involved despite how well we were doing.

“Amy, you have something even more important to do. Based on the information I’ve found, she’s going to significantly narrow down the range. Then, we’ll need your help to pinpoint the location much more accurately.”

“Couldn’t that be asked of the Inquisitioners?”

“If the Church people get involved, they’ll immediately relocate. You can figure it out just from the traces left behind, right?”

“Yes, I’ll give it a shot.”

Once I clearly articulated what I needed her to assist with, Amy clenched her fists.

“Hehe… So shall we start right away…?”

With those words to kick off the work, she laid the pinned map on the floor and began preparing her necromancy.

As she opened several vials and chanted unknown incantations, a black shadow—which could be mistaken for Mana—creeped up and enveloped the map.

After a while, the shadow that had been shaking up the map stopped.

“…That’s it.”

Kirké, her eyes half-open, pointed at the region where the pins were placed.

The entire map was black, except for one spot where a hole had appeared.

“Good thing the location was correct. I’ll handle these two and come back once I find the other leads.”

“Good thing?”

“I was feeling a bit uneasy.”

When I said “good thing,” Amy was taken aback that I felt uncertain.

“Hehe, suddenly doing something like this… are you planning to uproot all the demons in this continent?”

“It’s easier said than done. But who knows when that’ll happen? Let’s meet again next time.”

I firmly remembered the location marked on the map.

As I folded space again and dashed off, the space stretched.

——————————————

After Atlas left, Kirké sat alone puffing on her pipe, recalling what he had said.

“He’s dead, that guy. Up and died on his own, huh?”

When I first heard that Cronos Titan, the head of the Titan House, had died, I thought, “Oh, really?” But after a moment, something felt off.

“Dead…? That’s strange… It shouldn’t be like that…?”

No matter how much she thought about it, Kirké found the statement odd and fetched a small square wooden box from a shelf.

Upon opening the box, the sides unraveled like a puzzle, transforming it into a hexagonal board.

The board was filled with various geometric shapes, and Wendy was touching them with one hand while gripping what appeared to be shards of beast bones with the other.

“If that guy… really is dead…”

A bluish flame flickered in Kirké’s eyes, and the shards she held leapt onto the board.

“Appear, Titans’ descendants, at the boundary of life and death… Let us have a long-overdue conversation, opening up my heart for the first time in decades…”

Flames danced across the geometric symbols drawn on the board.

Using ‘Necromancy,’ one of the most powerful skills of a Necromancer that allows conversation with the deceased, she attempted to call forth the already dead.

“Ugh?!”

Kirké’s waist bowed like a bowstring.

Sweat poured down her forehead, and her body quivered.

If she had succeeded, there would have been no backlash like this.

She had failed at Necromancy.

As a skilled Necromancer, the only two major reasons for her failure in the procedure would be that the target was not a ‘deceased’… or perhaps for some reason, even the soul of the deceased had not remained…

“Hehe… whichever it is… this is amusing.”

Kirké subconsciously let out a laugh.

Either way, it seemed that things were about to get very interesting.