The Academy’s Weapon Replicator - Chapter 119

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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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Academy Weapon Replicator – Episode 119
Part 37: Memory
Quinie suggested that the three of us enter the Roach Residence.
She said Cora would settle down once we were inside.
I was skeptical, but she was right. The moment Cora sat down at the residence’s table, she deflated like a punctured balloon.
“So… Cora is the one who spread the rumor at Constellation Academy?”
“Yeah. Or more precisely, Cora was probably the rumor’s starting point.”
Quinie stated it flatly.
But I couldn’t quite accept it.
The Magic Poster written on the corridor wall was a fairly advanced spell. It had bounced off Quinie’s mana, and she’d said that even she would need someone like Edwin to dispel it.
“How could Cora have written a Magic Poster of that caliber?”
“She didn’t make it herself, of course. But Cora is quite popular at Constellation.”
“Wait… Cora attends Constellation?”
“No. But she visits me fairly often. She can hide her ears and tail.”
At Quinie’s words, Cora huffed and turned her head away.
But her ears and tail had vanished. Or rather, they’d become invisible. She disliked me, but apparently she wanted to show off how she could hide them.
“It’s Invisibility Magic. She doesn’t cast it herself—it’s the effect of an artifact she carries.”
Once Quinie mentioned it, I could see Cora was indeed wearing a bracelet on her left wrist.
Quinie spoke as if testing me.
“That’s familiar to you, isn’t it? Invisibility Magic.”
“Ah… yes, of course.”
I almost asked what she meant, but then I realized she was talking about Weaving, and quickly agreed.
Right. Everyone who’s watched me fight must think I’m using Invisibility Magic.
“But what does popularity have to do with anything? Why is she even popular in the first place? She’s so loud.”
“Hey! What do you think you’re saying! How much older than you am I!”
“What? Really, is that true?”
Quinie nodded.
“She’s older than me too. She carries White Tiger bloodline.”
Cora puffed out her chest with a grunt.
“So you should use formal speech.”
“No.”
“Didn’t you just hear me! I’m your senior! Respect based on age differences is a principle we must maintain rigorously!”
As if I care.
Nearly everyone I’ve fought so far has been older than me. Rohwald Lief was the only one I briefly scuffled with who was my age, and then there was Elicia.
What does age matter to someone like me, who calls the Empress herself “Ms. Philly”?
“Besides, Quinie doesn’t seem to use formal speech with you either.”
“Well, Quinie is fine.”
A principle that changed as she pleased.
I turned my attention back to Quinie and continued the conversation.
“So what about being popular?”
“Cora must have asked someone to put up the Magic Poster. Since Cora visits me, she’s naturally popular with the third-years. And the third-years at Constellation aren’t incapable of installing that level of security on a poster. Especially if it wasn’t done alone.”
At that, I looked at Cora.
Cora wasn’t looking at me, but she was blinking rapidly with an extremely guilty expression on her face.
Quinie narrowed her eyes as she regarded Cora.
“There are very few people who know my weaknesses. Apart from you, Frontdier, there’s barely anyone left.”
“…
…”
I watched Cora silently, and Cora continued to avert her gaze.
Then, unable to bear the prolonged silence, she squeezed her eyes shut and began to tremble,
“Fine! I did it!”
Smack!
I struck the back of Cora’s head as she shouted with such shameless confidence.
Though I hadn’t planned it, I felt no regret whatsoever.
Cora clutched the back of her head and trembled as she cried out at me.
“Hey! What are you doing!”
“What are you talking about? You know what that information means to Quinie.”
“I, I thought everyone would assume it was just a baseless rumor, so it would be fine! I didn’t think things would blow up like this. I was shocked when I heard the poster was still there. It won’t erase, and… besides, what I said and what’s written on the poster are different.”
Different wording?
I asked.
“What did you originally say?”
“I only said something like ‘Quinie really hates killing people.’ Back then everyone was just chatting and having fun with the rumors going around. So I joined in, and then… well. But the poster had it written completely differently.”
Quinie and I locked eyes.
“…Though the words written differ from what you said, what would you say is the probability that by coincidence it’s actually closer to the truth?”
“That makes no sense. Besides, what Cora said sounds like she’s just appealing to the fact that I’m a good person. It was completely off-base.”
……Not entirely off-base, though. Quinie is fundamentally virtuous. She’s just working hard at pretending otherwise.
“Then the person who wrote the poster must have known the truth from the beginning.”
“Exactly. They just made it look like they did it after hearing what Cora said. To frame Cora as the culprit if things went south.”
Quinie and I looked at Cora.
“What, what is it with that look?”
Quinie spoke up.
“Cora, this is simple then. When you brought up that story, who was listening? Or rather, someone among them must have deliberately brought up the Magic Poster. Who was it?”
That’s right. That person is the culprit. If Cora didn’t know about the Magic Poster, then whoever brought it up—the one who guided the conversation to spread Cora’s rumor.
Cora chuckled and placed her hands on her hips.
“That’s easy. That person was clearly,”
As if savoring our attention,
“…who was it again?”
She said something stupid.
At that moment, I was genuinely irritated.
But right after, seeing Cora’s expression, my annoyance cooled a bit.
“…Who, wait?”
Cora furrowed her brow and, oddly, brought her hand to her lips as she rummaged through her own memory.
“…I can’t remember.”
“Huh?”
Even as a long stretch of time passed, Cora couldn’t recall the culprit.

* * *
After sending Cora and Quinie off, late into the night, I thought for a moment.
……Truth be told, I’m still about ten percent suspicious of Cora.
Cora is like a puzzle to me.
Most of all, I’ve never seen her. Not once when playing as Aster.
That made sense, really. There weren’t many occasions for a third-year like Quinie to meet Aster. I only encounter Quinie after she graduates.
In fact, this world’s Aster probably knows almost nothing about Quinie. She’d only be familiar with the nickname “Little Demon.”
But because Beast-people are so extraordinarily rare.
And with cat ears and cat tail like that… oh, a White Tiger, right.
Anyway, since I’d never seen a Beast-person as distinctly Beast-like as that even during the game, Cora’s presence is remarkably vivid.
Even if I hadn’t actually met Cora, it seemed likely I’d heard rumors about her somewhere.
“Frontdier.”
“Yeah?”
“I’ve solved them all.”
I examined the paper Selena handed me.
It was practice where I’d write simple words in the Ancient Language and Selena would guess their meanings.
There were about ten problems, and all of them were correct.
“Well done. You got them all right.”
“Thank you.”
Selena answered flatly. Still, the tension around her eyes eased, and a very small smile curved her lips.
……I think I’m finally starting to read faces a bit.
“Selena, what does Mangot say?”
“He’s very pleased. He says a complete interpretation of the Ancient Language is within reach now.”
Hmm. He’s thinking like that, is he.
If you hold dreams too large, you should wonder if it’s really still a dream.
“Right now Mangot is trying to apply the basic knowledge of the Ancient Language I passed on to his interpretive work.”
“I see. Quite industrious.”
“…Is that all right with you?”
“It’s fine. He won’t be able to solve it with just that anyway.”
“I beg your pardon?”
Selena looked at me in surprise.
“Surely… have I been learning something false all this time?”
“No. Only that what you’ve learned so far won’t allow you to decipher the Ancient Language. With just the fundamentals you have now, you can’t discover the rules of the Ancient Language. There’s no connection between them at all.”
To put it bluntly, it’s like learning only the word ‘apple’ and then trying to decipher ‘fire.’ It’s impossible to match things that have no consonant or vowel relationship whatsoever.
“…But if I continue to learn like this, won’t I eventually come to understand even that?”
“Of course. When that time comes, I’ll tell you myself. But starting now, don’t let Mangot know any of this. Tell him I won’t teach him the Ancient Language.”
I’m operating under the premise that I’m currently enchanted by Selena and teaching her the Ancient Language.
So refusing to teach her further because I’m worried Mangot will find out everything is hardly strange at all.
“That won’t work forever, though.”
“Then I’ll set conditions. If those conditions are reasonable, I’ll consider it.”
“……!”
Selena fell silent at my words, then her eyes widened.
She’d grasped my true intention.
I would hold the Ancient Language in my hands and shake Mangot with it. And they wouldn’t even realize they were being shaken.
And now she understands—I absolutely need Selena herself for my plan.
“……I understand.”
But Selena said nothing more, returning her gaze to the Ancient Language I’d written down.
She still hasn’t decided which side to take.
“The Ancient Language is quite fascinating, though. So insular, and even if you record it, the record has no meaning.”
Selena changed the subject. I followed her lead.
“That’s right. The ancient mages didn’t want knowledge of magic spreading. So they needed ‘records’ to organize their thoughts, but they hoped those records wouldn’t persist forever. That’s why they needed a language that would become incomprehensible with time.”
“What a waste. To record something only for it to disappear.”
Selena picked up the paper and examined it carefully. Right now it’s interpretable because my Mana is infused in it, but as time passes, that voice too will fade and become utterly unintelligible. Selena remembers what it means now, but eventually she’ll forget it altogether.
“……Erased records.”
“Pardon?”
I’d murmured it absently. Selena asked me to repeat myself, turning to look at me, but—
I had no time to answer. A thought had seized me.
Records and memory.
Cora, who cannot remember the criminal’s face.
The criminal, who knows Quinie’s weakness.
And this being called “Cora” that I don’t know.
“…….”
I closed my mouth.
Slowly. Very slowly.
To settle the chill creeping down my spine.

* * *
Quinie sat alone in her room at the Residence, lost in thought.
One crucial problem remained.
“How does the criminal know my weakness?”
Even if Cora recovered her memory and identified the criminal, it would be useless if she couldn’t answer this question.
What if this information was circulating through a relatively common channel?
“Somehow I have to meet the criminal and extract that information.”
Quinie leaned back against the chair.
Would she have to torture him once she caught the criminal? The very thought left a bitter taste.
“I wish the criminal would just confess on his own.”
With that sigh, she glanced toward the window.
Outside, a man wearing an inverted mask was hanging there.
“……Huh?”
The mask bore a smiling face, its eyes and mouth mere crescents pasted on carelessly. Worn upside-down, it was utterly grotesque.
No—that wasn’t what was grotesque.
“Who the hell are you?”
Why was such a thing outside her window……
“Hey, Quinie.”
The man raised his hand like greeting an old friend.
“Who are you?”
“What? You don’t know? You really don’t know?”
His tone dripped with irritation.
For a man, why was his voice pitched so high?
“You’re wearing a mask and expect me to know who you are? That’s absurd.”
“No, that can’t be right—you’d know just from hearing my voice. You should know. You have to know.”
Just from hearing his voice?
It was certainly a distinctive voice, memorable even—but Quinie had never heard it before.
“You haven’t heard it before.”
At that moment, as if he’d read her very thoughts—
The inverted mask spoke.
“It was erased from memory, Quinie.”

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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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