The Academy’s Weapon Replicator - Chapter 108

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Academy’s Weapon Replicator 108
Chapter 31: Rumor (6)
Elody and I launched skyward, landing on the building’s rooftop.
From above, I could see at a glance which students were controlled and which remained free—the lucid ones were visibly panicked.
……Still, there were far more controlled students than the others. They’d spotted me and begun filing into this building. Which meant I couldn’t stay here long.
“Frontdier, you’ve finally turned the entire student body against you?”
“Finally?”
As if I’d planned any of this.
“I’m joking.”
Elody looked down at the students below as she spoke.
“……Those faces are familiar.”
“You remember them.”
Elody nodded at my words.
She’d been there during the Cottage incident, so she knew what Serph could do.
Elody asked quietly.
“Is Serph Daniel still alive?”
“……I don’t know.”
The ability controlling these students is definitely Serph’s. I heard his voice just now over the broadcast.
But something doesn’t sit right. Not only haven’t I seen his face yet—I still don’t believe he’s alive.
……Perhaps I simply don’t want to. The Divine Rank bow, Criselacatos, never misses.
“Fighting him before was troublesome enough. Knockout doesn’t work on his victims.”
Elody murmured the words. It was true—people under Serph’s control couldn’t be knocked out. More precisely, they were already asleep. They must feel like they’re wandering through a dream.
The thought struck me as odd, so I asked.
“Now that I think about it, you’re fine. If you’d been an enemy, it would’ve been genuinely chilling.”
Of course, there were a few other clearheaded students besides Elody. Had she simply been lucky enough to slip through?
……
But Elody fell suddenly silent. Her mouth opened and closed, opened and closed. Her ears seemed to have flushed red.
Finally she forced the words out.
“……I’m the one spreading the rumor about you.”
“Huh?”
“The person spreading rumors about you is also handing out Serph’s business card. Because ‘Indus’ has high credibility. He probably gave a stack of cards to one person.”
“……Ah. So the person who got the card redistributes it to their friends and acquaintances. To bolster the rumor’s credibility. That way the number of people receiving the card grows exponentially.”
Elody nodded.
“Which means the subjects of the rumor would never receive a card. Those spreading it and those wanting to know the truth are different groups.”
An interesting rumor is entertainment in itself for students. So they want to spread it.
From their perspective, the longer the rumor’s truth stays hidden, the better. Once it’s revealed, the fun ends.
That’s why the cards go to those who can keep the rumor alive—never to those at its center.
……But then.
“Ah, so you do know. What rumor’s been circulating. Listen, until just now I was trapped dealing with it—that you and I are dating—”
Whoosh—
Flames burst into the air before me. Even two steps away, the heat seared against my skin.
Elody’s eyes flashed.
“It’s false, so it ends today.”
“……Right.”
Why the anger? We feel the same way about this.
But Elody muttered something under her breath, her gaze darkening.
“As long as it’s not that, other stories can spread. They’re true anyway.”
“……What?”
That’s when I heard footsteps thundering toward the rooftop entrance.
I narrowed my eyes.
“The controlled ones got here already?”
“Probably.”
Elody nodded.
“Frontdier, do you know where Serph might be?”
“……Yes.”
“Then go find him. I’ll handle the students.”
I nodded.
My immediate destination was the Broadcasting Room. That’s where Serph sent out the broadcast.
It seems both Serph and Gregory want me dead.
Given how elaborate this operation is, they won’t run. They’ll stay to finish me off.
……But how am I supposed to get to the Broadcasting Room from this rooftop? The door will have students coming through it, so I can’t go that way.
“Don’t worry about that. Just go already. The Broadcasting Room building is close—land on the ground and run west, you’ll be there in no time.”
Elody spoke while drawing up Mana.
……Right, by “land,” she means jump off this building, doesn’t she?
I stood at the edge of the building and looked down. This was, what, a five-story structure?
It’s certainly nice that my Reputation has risen in Elody’s eyes, but I wish she’d remember that my abilities come with conditions attached. Though she probably shouldn’t know that.
‘All right, this time I’ll use Menosorpo for sure,’
That’s when it happened.
Far across my field of vision, someone on the ground was casting magic.
At this distance, there was no mistaking it—a brilliant white silhouette.
It was Aten.
Frost Magic Form 1
Range Enhancement, Sustained
Emergency Escape
A long slide had formed, connecting the rooftop to where Aten stood—one unbroken path of ice, of course.
“What, you were waiting for Aten? I was wondering why you were just standing here. I can’t tell how much you know.”
Elody had a note of reproval in her voice.
……Right, I’ll just let that one pass.
I stepped onto the ice slide. It was cold, but bearable.
“All right then, I’m going! Take care, Elody!”
“Now go! And watch out for the teachers! The fact that they haven’t been dealing with this so far means there’s a good chance one of them is being controlled too!”
She was right. I nodded and leaned into the slide, pushing with my hands to commit myself to the descent.
“Wheeeee~”
“Could you at least be quiet about it?!”

* * *
The sight of dozens of students pouring through the building entrance and scurrying upward was unsettling in itself.
The students still in their right minds recoiled in fear. Their expressions were clearly anything but normal.
Rohwald was among that procession, and his presence was precisely why the other students gave them an even wider berth.
“Hey, Rohwald, where are you going?”
Though there was always someone who paid no mind to such things.
Aster was startled by the sheer number of students in the column, but he turned to Rohwald, who stood among them, to ask what was happening.
Of course, Rohwald—who had lost consciousness—simply walked on in silence.
Aster watched as Rohwald passed by him without responding, moving steadily forward.
Then he caught the sound of Rohwald muttering something under his breath.
“Frontdier……, kill him…….”
“Wait. Hold on, hold on, hold on.”
Aster immediately fell in step beside Rohwald. His words and tone were far too unsettling to ignore.
“Kill Frontdier?”
“……Kill him…….”
“──I see.”
He’s not in his right mind.
Having made his assessment in an instant, Aster drew his sword from its sheath and positioned it to block Rohwald’s path.
“You can’t go any further, Rohwald.”
“…….”
Rohwald’s unfocused eyes turned toward Aster. Looking into those eyes, Aster was certain. Rohwald had succumbed to something. Probably all these countless students had.
“Frontdier will handle the rest of them just fine, but not you. You’re too dangerous even without your senses. And even with them, you’re a headache.”
“……Obstruction…….”
Rohwald’s expression warped. Veins bulged at his temples, and the muscles beginning at his neck became prominent. His entire body swelled slightly.
The expansion was visible to the eye—simply by tensing his entire frame.
“……I never thought it’d come to a fight like this.”
It was always Rohwald who was itching for a fight first, yet here Aster was the one picking the quarrel. There was an irony to it that wasn’t lost on him.
Aster’s sheath began to shimmer with a blue radiance. The vivid hue had become clear enough that even those without keen perception could see it.
It was Aura—mastered during the recent break and now manifesting at will.
He had decided not to use Divine Power. Aster’s purpose was to restrain Rohwald, not to wound him.
Could he subdue someone of Rohwald’s caliber without serious injury? Even without his wits about him.
Yet Aster smiled without fear.
“I haven’t had a chance to test how much stronger I’ve become.”
Rohwald took a combat stance. Though his consciousness was gone, his body remembered the movements. Aster drew his sword back and lowered himself, keeping the sheath in place.
“A good opportunity.”
Moments later, the two of them surged toward each other as if tearing through the very air.

* * *
I ran toward the Broadcasting Room alongside Aten.
“Menosorpo.”
I activated the spell circle and shoved back the students who came at me with a shield of force.
There were still plenty of students targeting me, but with Aten’s help, I managed to hold my ground.
Aten, who specialized in Ice Magic, proved invaluable in holding back the students without inflicting serious injury.
“Thank goodness you didn’t receive one of those business cards either!”
“I’m one of the subjects of the rumor myself, after all.”
Aten answered as we ran together. That perpetually composed face of hers was actually reassuring in a situation like this.
“But Frontdier.”
“Hmm?”
“Do you wish to enslave me?”
I turned to look at Aten at this absurd question. I thought perhaps she was joking, but her face remained entirely unchanged.
At times like this, that calm expression of hers was downright terrifying.
“…That’s… a joke, right?”
“It couldn’t be. Most of the rumors about me were along those lines—that I’ve been compromised, that I’m being blackmailed, that sort of thing.”
Yeah, I know that already.
I just fought Rohwald over exactly that.
“So I thought: perhaps you secretly desire something like that. You know the saying—where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”
“Well, for starters, I’m not a fireplace with smoke pouring out of me. I don’t desire anything like that.”
Enslaving the Empire’s princess? That’s the kind of fantasy you’d need to stretch logic itself to justify.
“But wouldn’t it serve as sufficient reason?”
“What do you mean?”
“More and more students have begun questioning why I follow you around. However, if I were being blackmailed, their questions would be resolved.”
“You want me to actually enslave you just to answer their questions?”
Is this some kind of philosophy? Give people who hate you without reason an actual reason?
Add the detail that I’m blackmailing Aten into following me around, just to provide a convenient explanation?
“That’s nonsense. I won’t treat you that way—it’s not something I can do.”
“…I wouldn’t particularly mind,”
“Quiet!”
This is strange. Aten shouldn’t be unintelligent. Yet in certain peculiar ways, she consistently misses the mark.
And the actual solution to this whole situation was far simpler, wasn’t it?
“In the first place, you could just stop following me around!”
“That proposal has been rejected.”
This girl.
“Well, your opinion is rejected too! Slavery—that’s not something to joke about, even in jest!”
“It wasn’t a joke. There was about ten percent sincerity in it,”
“That’s what qualifies as a joke!”
“…!”
Aten’s eyes widened as she looked at me.
“Is that what you meant?”
…Ah.
I wish Serph would hurry and show himself. I want to beat him to death.
Not because of the emotion that just flared up—this has been building from the start.
…I’ll tear him limb from limb.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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