Cursed Alliances

[1]


*Crumble, crumble* . The dragon's body we were standing on started shivering, showing it wasn't dead but still alive after being slashed in a vital part of its body and even after receiving Rebecca's knuckle punches. It was still able to move. And with only ten minutes to leave the area, it was clear it wasn't safe to be here. Rebecca was specifically sent for our retreat.

Imeki whispered, coming close to my ears, "Master, if we don't get a dragon puppet, at this point it will be difficult for us to participate in the tournament."

I nodded, thinking about what I could do, but Rebecca noticed and took a huge sigh. She had good ears and was able to hear Imeki's whisper. She wasn't looking calm and smiley as she always did and this time she had a serious look on her face.

"Arnes, the principal already told me your dark secret, and after hearing that it's true, I am scared knowing you are a cursed mage. But even so, it's the principal's order, so don't worry I won't go against you, so you can use your necromancy magic freely as you wish," Rebecca declared with a sharp glare.

Rebecca wasn't on guard near Arnes when she met him before because she didn't know his dark secrets and treated him as a VIP guest. But as the principal's secretary, she had the right to know one day. The principal thought it would be safe to tell Rebecca as she was trustworthy and wouldn't reveal his identity as a necromancer. Rebecca was indeed shocked after hearing it, and she had the usual reaction like anyone would have upon learning about a cursed mage who uses dark magic.

Arnes gulped as he understood that Rebecca wasn't acting soft like she usually did before. Seeing this, Imeki frowned as she understood what was going on.

With only nine minutes left, I guessed I had no choice but to try summoning a corpse. If this is a dragon's residency, I am sure we would find a dragon's corpse.

"Imeki, stand aside... also Rebecca-san, since you already heard from the principal, I don't have to act indifferent."

Arnes put his hand on the ground, forming a purple magic circle to summon a corpse like he always did, but it was a wild owl corpse. He tried several times, but only small wild animals or bugs corpse came out.

"Ah shit, I failed again. Only four minutes left. Hahahaha, this is challenging."

"Master, don't get worked up and take deep breaths," Imeki tried to calm down Arnes, who was running out of time to summon.

He put his hand on the ground again, forming a magic circle. Wings started to levitate up through the circle, and the circle suddenly grew to the height of a transport bus. It had a long tail, small hands, pitch black color, and a horrible smell. It was a dragon corpse.

"T-This corpse is kinda small? Why is it so small compared to what we saw that day in the school stadium?" I felt dissatisfied. Needless to say, it was a dragon corpse, but it wasn't what I expected.

"Master, once more, this corpse is unusable." Even Imeki had the same thought as Arnes.

"Yeah, right, I have to dispel my necromancy magic from this corpse... hold on." As I walked towards the puppet corpse I summoned, I tried to move its wings and it moved as I commanded. Feeling dissatisfied with its size and condition, I put my hands on the puppet to dispell my necromancy magic from it, but suddenly a blue magic circle covered my feet along with Rebecca and Imeki, interrupting my magic. It was Rebecca's teleportation magic, which teleported us with its magic circle to the principal's office along with the horrible dragon corpse I pulled out.

[2]

"Arnes, what have I ever done to you that you keep destroying the academy's property?" The principal looked pissed at Arnes. Rebecca went and stood beside the principal in a formal manner as part of her maid duty. The corpse, which got teleported with us, messed up the principal's office. The bad smell covered the room, and the bookshelves that were stacked up fell down as we got teleported with my bus-sized dragon corpse summoned puppet.

"M-My apologies, master. Time was running out, and I didn't know Arnes was going to dispel his necromancy from the corpse. I took my priority of teleporting them safely as you commanded me." Rebecca bowed apologetically towards the principal.

"Raise your head, Rebecca, it's alright. Also, Arnes, you don't need to dispel necromancy magic from the corpse. I know someone who can help with the rotten look of the corpse and for now use this corpse for upcoming battle in the tournaments."

"Rotten look of the corpse?" Imeki replied with curiosity.

"Well, it's more like someone I know can use illusion magic to make it look like a real dragon. The corpse right now looks way too difficult to even understand that it's actually a dragon. With no eyeballs, tattered wings, and one broken leg, it looks awful, honestly, haha." The principal laughed with her cool demeanor.

"Oi, principal... wouldn't the person who will use illusion magic on my puppet know that I am a necromancer?"

"I mean... we can't help it... The tournament is in five days, and it's not like there are chances of you even summoning another good dragon corpse. Probably because the mercenaries practiced battle with the dragon and made them flee the mountain. So, of course, we can't get our hands on a fresh corpse right after killing one." The principal's tone showed utter disappointment.

So another person will know about my necromancy... Only Imeki, the principal, and Rebecca know about my curse. I wonder what kind of person will know next and what her reaction will be. Rebecca, who had a positive relationship with me up until now, is acting weird towards me. Imeki is my familiar, so she knows about me as I told her about myself in these few days. She showed no sign of disgust or fear after learning about me. All she could say was, "Understood."

After talking about the upcoming tournament and small chit-chat with the principal, Arnes and Imeki got back to their dorm.

[3]


"OI!!! Imeki, why are you trying to kiss me?"

"Huh, but master, aren't you the one who told me to turn back into a sword just because you wanted to see?"

After getting back to the dorm, it was midnight. Arnes was having trouble sleeping, so he wanted to test out Imeki's sword form, like she turned into during the battle with the dragon. But for that, they needed to make a mana channel, which could only be done by kissing or other ways that weren't tried yet. Arnes didn't remember much of it because inside the dragon, the heat was making him lose his mind, and he doesn't actually remember the process.

"H-huh? Kiss? Oh, I see... mana channeling... Let's try holding hands... ah, it doesn't work... hmm, hugging doesn't work either."

Arnes was trying to find out different ways to do mana channeling with his familiar Imeki, but nothing worked.

I put my hands on Imeki's white hair. It was smooth and silky, slipping down my fingers. Slowly, I brought my face close to Imeki's. She looked small, just like a cat, cute. Her white eyelashes were like art. Slowly, her lips got close to mine like a magnetic pull was going on, but I stopped. I felt wrong getting worked up. It would look like an excuse just to do mana channeling, having different urges to kiss Imeki. So I pulled my body back to stop myself and went back to bed again, pretending to sleep. For some reason, I felt like Imeki was disappointed. Maybe she wanted to test out her transformation power? Well, who knows... for now, I will just pretend to sleep, killing my bad thoughts.

[4]


<Day before the tournament>

Days passed since I got my rotten dragon puppet. I trained in sword arts with Imeki along with controlling the griffin and the dragon with my necromancy magic. Kerfern and Tsuki, as a duo practiced alongside us. And today, someone sent by the principal will meet me to camouflage the corpse with illusion magic. This person would be another to know about my curse and a companion. Here I have been, waiting for an hour with Imeki in this botanical garden's shade built in this academy. It had a shade made with white pillars and a table with a coffee-serving system, and it was off-limits to commoners. It looked like something out of a royal palace.

"Master... I am getting bored. Why isn't the person arriving? Are we getting pranked or is this even the right place?" Imeki frowned in consideration.

"I don't think so. According to the principal, this is the right place. The person himself told us to meet him here. He must be some kind of noble to pick a place like this. I don't even see any person around us maybe he is late?"

"I think that person is probably old and suffering from dementia to forget about the meeting." Imeki, showing her real side with no more robotic expressions, made her own jokes.

"Who is suffering from dementia, may I happen to confirm it?" An unfamiliar voice rang out from the right side of our view. The person appeared from nowhere. We didn't even hear any footsteps or feel a presence. She appeared out of nowhere, a girl who looked like she was from Eerngland Kingdom, showing her sun-like blonde long twin-tail hair touching her hips. She wore a black gothic outfit with red fabric, looking expensive. Along with her was a pink-haired woman, one eye covered with bangs, mature-looking beauty but gloomy. It was only after the presence of the noble that we realized someone else was with her.

The shade had two chairs, cushioned like a king's throne. Imeki stood up from the other chair where she was sitting, standing beside me as the person we were waiting to meet made her appearance. The blonde girl sat and clapped, and the gloomy woman started preparing tea with the teapot on the table and the utensils that were already prepared. We could smell the aroma.

"Now then, cursed sinner, are you trying to make me a sinner like yourself by helping you?" The blonde girl made a wide grin with her sarcasm.

I knew she wouldn't want to work with me after all, because I was cursed, and nothing goes as planned in my cursed life. I sighed, looking up and mumbling, "Ah well, not again."



To Be Continued...