The misadventures of the necromancer

Seres stares ahead, unsure what to make of what he’s seeing. And judging by the half-open mouth of Adar beside him, he’s not the only one. Every time he thinks he’s starting to understand Nero, something like this happens.

Nero stands with his eyes closed, incredibly close to Sena—barely a hand’s width separating their faces. Their hands are raised, palms pressed against each other.

Nero’s expression shows he’s concentrating on something. At the same time, poor Sena’s face is flushed red. Clearly embarrassed and confused by the whole situation.

Moments earlier, Nero had suddenly come out of his room, where he had locked himself in after they arrived. Seres had assumed he was deep in one of his usual mumbling meditation sessions, as he and Adar called them.

The four of them had been discussing their day when Nero appeared, going straight to Sena, and began instructing her on how to position herself. Visibly confused, the girl followed along until Nero pressed his hands against hers and closed his eyes, leaving them like this.

“Anything?” Nero asks suddenly.

Sena shakes her head lightly in a clear no, then realizes he can’t see her with his eyes closed and quickly says aloud, “No!”

Nero pulls away, opening his eyes and bringing a hand to his ear. “No need to be that loud.”

“Sorry,” she says timidly, starting to lower her hands.

“I didn’t tell you to lower them. I need to try a few more things,” he scolds, making her slowly raise them again into position, her blush deepening.

He presses his hands against hers again and closes his eyes. The only difference now is that he starts tapping his right index finger against her palm.

Seres looks at Adar, wanting to ask, What is going on here? Fortunately, his friend understands immediately and shrugs as if to say, How should I know?

“Well?” Nero asks.

“Yes,” Sena replies.

All eyes turn to her.

Even Nero looks surprised and pleased. “What?”

Sena lifts her left hand slightly, where his right hand rests, and answers timidly, “Your finger tapping.”

Nero’s pleased expression disappears, while Seres can hear Adar beside him trying not to laugh.

Saca steps in, slightly irritated. “What is she supposed to feel in this situation?”

Nero brings a hand to his head and scratches it. “How should I know?” Which is certainly not what any of them expected to hear.

Before anyone can react, he continues, “A headache… an itch… maybe seeing a light…” He pauses, clearly thinking, then adds, “Considering what I’m trying to teach, something with light would make sense.”

The answer makes no sense. But considering it’s Nero…

It's Adar that goes and asks, “Teach!? What are you doing?”

Nero keeps looking at Sena, who shifts slightly under his gaze, still thinking to himself. But thankfully, he does answer.

“Considering the risks we’re taking, you need something more… So I’m seeing if I can teach you guys some spells.”

Seres’ heart races at those words. Nero… teaching magic?! Is this really happening?

“But how does this teach magic?” Adar asks, gesturing at the strange setup.

Nero barely pays attention, lost in thought, but replies, “Yes, you’re right. It would be better to have some spellbooks!”

The comment is light, but significant. Spellbooks are rare. Even at the inn with his old master, there had only been half a dozen. Losing them had been a tragedy. Though Seres suspects Nero wouldn’t consider them important compared to his own spells.

“But this should also work,” Nero finishes with a puzzled expression.

“Spellbooks!? Like in the storybooks that magically teach spells to whoever opens them! Sena exclaims, wide-eyed.

Seres and Adar exchange amused looks at her naïveté, and judging by Saca’s expression, she shares the sentiment. If such books exist, they would be ancient artifacts, worth more than all of them combined.

Real spellbooks are just normal books explaining how to cast spells, useful for learning, but nothing more.

But Nero simply replies, “Of course.”

As Seres’ jaw drops, Nero continues, “How else would it work? A spellbook… well, as the name says, is guaranteed to teach a spell and even gives some experience.”

“Otherwise, you’d have to try for years. Which would be incredibly boring.”

In a way, it’s shocking, but honestly, if anyone would consider magical spellbooks normal, it would be the powerful necromancer standing before him.

Considering this, it even makes sense. How else could someone as young as Nero have the spells he does?

“But this should also work…” Nero mutters, even more focused on his own thoughts.

“Should work?” Adar questions, intrigued by the expression.

“Yes. It should at least teach the spell… maybe even give some experience. Of course, it would cost some of mine. But it should work…” Nero replies, sounding frustrated.

“You can teach your spells like that?” Seres exclaims, stepping forward, heart pounding. While imagining himself raising the undead and casting fireballs just like Nero.

“Don’t get stupid ideas, Blondie,” Nero interrupts coldly, and with a hint of amusement.

“I can’t transfer spells you can’t use.”

The statement crushes Seres’ expectations. But it also confirms that if he ever becomes capable of using one of Nero’s spells, he might convince him to teach it.

“Even a spellbook only gives access to the spell. Having one you can’t use is… incredibly annoying,” Nero continues.

“So what can you teach?” Adar asks.

“From the spells I have access to, only the light orb and Will of the Flame, you might meet the minimum requirements. And even that is debatable in the case of the Flame.”

“So that’s not very useful, is it?” Adar retorts.

“On the contrary! If all of you can competently use The Last Light of Magic, that would be by far the most useful thing possible,” Nero states firmly.

They all look at him, waiting for an explanation. A spell that only creates a ball of light, with no offensive power, doesn’t seem useful beyond illumination.

“Well, we have the simplest function: light,” he says, looking around, frustrated at their disbelief. “It is useful!”

“And it shows you can use magic, which makes potential attackers hesitate. That can be very useful if you need to run, or gives you an opening to attack.”

“And finally, and most importantly, it’s a literally brilliant way to signal for help.”

They all nod. That’s exactly what happened when he, Adar, and Saca were attacked by the Clue. Seres had cast the spell to call Nero, and the display of magic made the attackers hesitate, buying time for Nero to arrive and resolve the situation.

“But Saca and I don’t have magical powers,” Sena objects, as if she’s found a flaw.

“I already explained that everyone can use magic,” Nero replies, annoyed.

Adar raises a hand. “You told Seres and me that. You never repeated it since the girls joined us.”

Nero turns to Sena, slightly embarrassed. “Well, in that case, I’ll explain now…”

He straightens and begins:

“Everyone can use magic. Or rather, everyone has some magic within them. You just have to learn how to use it…”

He pauses, thinking.

“And that’s done through spells. Which is the annoying part, because normally it’s difficult and time-consuming to learn them. And it depends a lot on luck.”

“Which is what the mechanism I’m trying to use should fix.”

“And this works?” Adar asks skeptically.

“In theory. After all, it’s meant to let N...” Nero stops abruptly, clearly about to say something he shouldn’t.

“To let people who don’t know spells learn them and become more useful,” he finishes slowly.

They all glance at each other. He definitely didn’t say what he was about to.

Silence lingers until Adar speaks again.

“And you know how to use that… mechanism?”

“Probably,” Nero answers hesitantly.

“Look, considering those disappearances, this is the best idea I have to give you a little more safety,” he concludes.

“What are you planning to do about those disappearances?” Saca asks, addressing that particular problem.

“Absolutely nothing,” Nero replies bluntly.

“Nothing?” Seres asks, genuinely surprised. He had expected Nero to be plotting something dramatic. Finding the culprits and destroying them for dreaming of causing problems next to him.

Nero looks at him with a raised eyebrow, the look that says he thinks Seres is an idiot.

“Grumpy, people are disappearing in the city. What’s your first suspicion?”

Adar thinks carefully before answering, even glancing at Seres.

“…Necromancy.”

“Bingo!” Nero says. The word is strange, but Nero's tone makes the meaning perfectly clear.

“Of course, it’s not the only, or even the most likely, possibility. But it’s one that would surprise absolutely no one.”

He scans them all with a heavy look.

“Now, I could ask if anyone thinks it’s a good idea for us to get close to necromancers…”

He pauses, but doesn’t wait.

“But no, instead, tell me this, Grumpy… Do you believe there’s any chance I could handle a situation like that without drawing attention?”

He doesn’t wait for an answer.

“In a city where I don’t know people… where I’d have to approach who-knows-how-many… and in the end, I’d certainly have to use magic.”

“No!!” Adar answers emphatically, and no one disagrees. At best, Nero would set something on fire. At worst, he’d reveal his necromancy.

Even the girls nod.

Nero sighs heavily.

“So?” Sena asks.

“So, the boys will try to teach you the way they learned The Last Light of Magic…”

“And you’ll teach us, Flame Will?” Seres jumps in, eager. After all, he will finally learn one of Nero's spells.

“No. You’ll train the light orb too,” Nero says, crushing his hopes again.

Seeing his disappointment, Nero explains:

“Even though it looks simple, it requires a good affinity for fire,” he says, looking directly at Seres. “Which I suspect neither of you has.”

“So you’ll need to improve your casting ability to compensate. And the only way to do that… is by casting spells.”

Seres remembers how Nero once forced them to train the spell repeatedly. But since their reencounter with Sorana, they hadn’t practiced much, trying to avoid revealing themselves as mages. And The Last Light of Magic does draw attention.

But that does give him an idea. "Can't I use Antor’s Gift to train instead?"

All eyes turn to him while Nero's voice answers. "In theory, yes. But we don't have fish for you to train with safely. So you'll do with the lightball."

Adar, next to him, let's out a sigh. That Seres feels is a bit much. Yes, he added some trouble raising the undead before. But he is getting better!

The only good point is that Nero didn't completely put down his idea. Only point out that it is safer to use fish, as when they were at the lake.

“Meanwhile, I’ll see if I can figure out how to transfer these damn spells!” Nero mutters, heading back to his room.

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