Nightmare Realm Summoner

”What?” Claire exclaimed, with far more disgust than Alex felt appropriate for the situation. ”Are you serious?”

There was genuine distaste in her words. She looked as if she’d taken a bite out of a rancid worm. That, more than anything else, set Alex on edge instantly. He hadn’t felt like being a necromancer was necessarily such a terrible thing.

After all, dead people were dead. Re-using their corpses was just a little bit of recycling. There was no way Mite was strong enough to be straight up bringing their souls back from the lands beyond. Sure, the job was a little gross, but it really didn’t feel like that big of a deal.

But Claire’s reaction was real. Or, at least, it seemed real. It was always hard to tell with her.

Alex sent a sidelong glance in Mite’s direction. He didn’t seem like some horrifying evil presence… but it was hard to imagine many things eliciting such a horrified reaction from Claire. She normally had far too good of a grasp over her emotions for something like that to happen.

Shit. I want to ask what the hell is wrong with being a necromancer, but with reactions like this from both of them, I’d look completely clueless if I did. That would definitely give me away as not being from the Starfallen family. What a pain in the ass.

Let’s see. They both think necromancers are something horrible. So if I word things right, I could just sound like some arrogant prick that doesn’t care about other people’s weak, insignificant powers. Maybe I can get some information that way.

”Necromancy is hardly worth getting that worked up over,” Alex said derisively. ”Though if Mite isn’t able to do the job he promised, then we’re going to have a problem.”

Mite could be the damn tooth fairy if it meant we got that teleporter. Though, now that I think about it, necromancers aren’t exactly well known for building shit. How is he going to build anything?

To his surprise, it was Claire that sent him a disgusted look.

”That’s just gross. Why would we want someone like that in the town? We have standards.”

”Building materials are building materials,” Alex said with a one-shouldered shrug. ”And we are of limited resources. No reason not to take advantage of the one thing we’re going to have a whole lot of. Corpses.”

”Gross,” Claire said. She definitely didn’t seem like she was acting. ”I can assure you that we most certainly do not need to do anything like that. No desires could ever get so strong so as to reduce me to such a level.”

Alex stared at her. He glanced to Orchid, but the mage looked just as confused as he did.

”Uh… desires?” Alex asked. ”What are you talking about? This has nothing to do with desires. It’s about protecting the town.”

”It has absolutely nothing to do with protecting a town,” Claire said, sending a baffled look at him. ”If anything, keeping someone like that out of the town would be the best way to protect it.”

Alex’s brow furrowed. ”Claire, what exactly do you think Mite is?”

”A necromancer, of course.”

”Describe it with a different mix of words.”

She blinked, then thought for a few moments before speaking again. ”Someone who does… vile acts to dead bodies.”

Goddamn it. You have to be kidding me. I’m pretty sure Claire isn’t actually thinking about a necromancer, but I can’t exactly take the risk.

”One moment,” Alex said to Orchid. He looped an arm around Claire’s shoulder’s and lowered his voice to a whisper. ”I’m going to need you to be a little more explicit with exactly what it is you think a necromancer is. I think we might have a possible mistranslation happening, but I need to know for sure.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

”A necromancer copulates with dead—”

”Right,” Alex said sharply, unsure if he was relieved or exasperated. If the System was going to offer translation magic, then the least it could do was make sure the magic actually worked properly. ”Nope. That’s not a necromancer. Not at all. That’s a necrophiliac.”

”You said the same word twice.”

”Different,” Alex said firmly, still in his muted tone. ”Necromancers bring the dead to life. Necrophiliacs boink dead bodies.”

Claire tilted her head to the side.

Alex’s eye twitched. If he hadn’t known better, he would have sworn the System was screwing with him. The confusion in her eyes made it evident his intent had not gotten anywhere near properly translating through. Evidently, it wasn’t completely up to date with modern slang — or perhaps it just didn’t care.

”Necromancers raise the dead. Necrophiliacs screw corpses.”

Claire’s cheeks went bright red. ”Oh, shit.”

Alex released her shoulders and cleared his throat, adjusting his clothing. May and Aaron peered at him. It was clear from Aaron’s choked expression that he’d also managed to deduce where Claire’s confusion had been.

Somehow, perhaps by some miracle, Orchid still seemed confused.

”I didn’t overhear you correctly,” Claire said, clearing her throat into a fist. She’d managed to wrestle down the color heating her cheeks in an impressive feat of self-control. But even though she looked nearly normal, Alex could still see the faintest traces of embarrassment lingering on her.

”I see,” Orchid said, not sounding like she saw at all. ”In that case—”

”I don’t see how this is a big deal. As Alex said, so long as Mite is capable of actually creating the buildings we need, then it doesn’t matter what he is,” Claire said. ”And he said he had an engineer-adjacent class. Were you able to see his exact class?”

”No,” Orchid admitted. ”But I was able to see a lot. He’s definitely a necromancer.”

They all fell silent for a few moments to watch Mite. He was walking in circles around the Warp Relay, studying it with features so intent that it was hard to believe he was anything but someone who loved architecture. Alex had never seen someone give that much of a shit about a building before.

He might be a bit young looking, but Mite definitely fits the bill of someone who builds buildings. He seemed to have a decent understanding of how things worked as well. Why go through all that hassle if the only thing he was after was the egg?

”Odd,” Orchid muttered. ”Perhaps I am lacking in my understanding of the class. Maybe my identification was incorrect? I didn’t get the full information. There’s a chance I misunderstood something, but I am certain his class is at least close to that of a necromancer.”

”Well… maybe he’s a necromancer that can build,” Claire said. She hesitated for the word on necromancer, only pausing for a moment to make sure she’d said it right before she continued speaking again. ”So as long as he didn’t lie to us about being able to help, there isn’t an issue. We just have to make sure nothing starts stinking the town up. His puppet smelled fine enough to me.”

Orchid’s brow furrowed. ”Huh. That’s true. I didn’t smell anything. How odd. Necromancers do tend to have a certain… stench to them. Perhaps he has a way to conceal it.”

”I can sniff him,” May volunteered.

”That won’t be necessary,” Alex said with a shake of his head. ”For now, I think it’s fine to just sit back and observe. We really don’t have the resources to waste kicking someone out just because his class is a bit odd. He’s just studying the Warp Relay right now. If he necromancers a teleporter to life, then that’s fine by me.”

”That… is not typically how necromancers work,” Orchid said, but she didn’t press the matter too hard.

”Alex is right,” Claire said. ”Orchid, keep an eye on him for now. No point being stupid. He isn’t exactly tied too closely to us right now. Make sure he doesn’t do anything that could screw the town over. In the meantime, I need to meditate. I don’t want to face the Region Boss without spending the energy I’ve been gathering up.”

”Same here,” Alex said, though he had an entirely different direction of advancement in mind. Claire was probably going to be pushing her level up to get higher in the Initiate Stage, but he’d gotten some new abilities recently.

Now, his focus was entirely on reinforcing his Mind Palace even further. Something told him that this upcoming fight was one in which endurance would be vital. He was going to need to be able to tank as much damage as possible and keep going if he wanted to have a fighting chance against a Region Boss considerably more powerful than he was.

”I’ll keep an eye out. Just don’t take too long if you can avoid it,” Orchid said. Her tone made it abundantly clear that she didn’t trust Mite.

”We’ll help,” May volunteered. ”I’m really persuasive. He’ll tell me what he’s doing.”

”Persistent,” Aaron corrected. ”You’re really persistent.”

His words fell on deaf ears. May was already heading off. Aaron hurried after her, and Orchid followed a few moments later.

Alex and Claire exchanged a glance.

”It’ll be fine,” Claire said. She didn’t sound too sure of her own words.

But, in the end, it didn’t matter. There was nothing to do here but wait and watch — and Alex had some gathered power waiting for him to cash it in. The two of them headed for the lodge so they could find a quiet place to meditate.

It was time for Alex to pay his Mind Palace a visit.