The Academy’s Weapon Replicator - Chapter 121

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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 Duplicator Chapter 121
Part 37: Memory (3)
9:52 AM.
The third-year Classroom at Constellation Academy, after one theory lecture had ended.
Quinie kept fussing with the Glasses perched on the bridge of her nose—they felt wholly unfamiliar.
“Oh? Quinie, did you buy Glasses?”
Anne, her friend, approached and asked.
“Yeah, my eyesight seems to have gotten worse.”
Quinie brushed it off with a comfortable lie.
Of course, Quinie’s vision was perfectly fine. These Glasses were prepared on Frontdier’s instructions.
“They really suit you though. Shows that your face pulls off anything.”
“Stop.”
The praise rang hollow, and Quinie waved her hand dismissively.
She checked the view through the Glasses again.
‘A bit distracting in my field of vision, admittedly.’
Quinie confirmed the lower left corner of what she saw through the Glasses.
[9:52:32]
Hours, minutes, and seconds—always visible in the lower left of her vision.
‘So if this timestamp suddenly jumps forward, that means my memory’s been erased, right?’
When he—that man—wipes her memories, those same seconds vanish. From her perspective, it would appear as though time had simply skipped forward.
‘Who exactly is he?’
The masked man was likely a Constellation student.
She didn’t know his exact purpose, but Quinie understood she didn’t have many reasons to be targeted.
Either the Biet Clan’s ‘assets’, the Clan itself, or perhaps the revenge of another family whose dark crimes had been exposed because of her.
‘But the way he brings up my old stories—it seems he wants something from me.’
Especially with that lie, blaming Kora for the incident.
Thinking about it made her head throb again, but that was a problem for later.
Once she caught him, she’d know everything.
‘……But these Glasses.’
They’re far too obvious.
Quinie normally didn’t wear Glasses.
The day after meeting him, and suddenly she’s wearing Glasses she never normally wears—would he really approach?
Besides, Glasses that could read time down to the second weren’t common models. This one, hastily prepared, might already be known to him.
Quinie felt uneasy in her heart, but dutifully kept checking the clock anyway.
It wasn’t as though Quinie herself could think of any better alternative. In any case, if she wore these Glasses, he’d be wary and unlikely to use his ability carelessly. At least that was some comfort.
Ding— dong— dang— dong—
The bell rang, signaling the end of break time.
Afterward, Quinie pretended to focus on class while checking the clock. She did the same during breaks.
But morning classes, lunch, and afternoon classes all passed.
Even after school ended, the clock never skipped ahead or jumped.
As expected. The plan had failed. He wasn’t coming near her.
Buzz—
Then Quinie’s phone rang. A text message had arrived.
As she’d half expected, it was from Frontdier.
[Senior Quinie.]
A message that sounded almost like a greeting.
Probably asking her to report the situation. Quinie gave a wry smile and typed her response.
In the middle of writing, ‘The plan failed. The clock showed nothing strange,’ another text came in.
The next message.
[I found him. Thanks to you.]
“……What?”
He found him? How?
Thanks to her? Why?
Confused, another message arrived while she was still trying to make sense of it.
[Senior, so I have one question.]
She didn’t respond this time. Frontdier’s words made so little sense that her mind was too busy sorting through the confusion.
Meanwhile, the next message came through.
[Is it a lie that Kora is coming today? Or is it sincere?]
“What?”
Even stranger now.
If I tried to piece together the message as best I could understand it.
Quinie had told someone about Kora today. And the fact that Frontdier was asking me to verify it meant, in other words—
‘I’ve lost my memory?’
Chills ran down my spine at the realization that came too late.

* * *
The night before.
I sent a text to Quinie and then relayed its contents to Gregory.
[Glasses for Quinie?]
“Right. If someone loses their memory, they’d forget all the time that passed with it. From the perspective of someone who’s lost their memory, it would seem as if time had skipped forward.”
You can make someone lose their memory, but you can’t erase the time that’s already gone by.
If one could always check the time, even if they couldn’t prevent losing their memory, they’d at least be able to confirm that they had lost it.
——But in fact, that’s not how it works.
“…or so Quinie would think.”
[What? So in reality it’s different?]
“It is. That bastard’s ability doesn’t wipe memories clean. He erases only himself from those memories.”
According to Gregory’s report, Quinie remembers her own necrophobia as stemming from a wolf attack.
‘But I’d wager the person who died in that incident was actually Kora.’
Kora, who carries the blood of the White Tiger. If she had a mind to, killing multiple people would be nothing for her.
But the probability is high that it wasn’t by her own will. The masked man must have driven Kora into a rampage by some means—magic or poison, doesn’t matter.
In any case, Quinie didn’t forget that incident entirely. That is, her memories weren’t erased outright, but rather restructured without the masked man and Kora in them.
In the process of erasing his own existence, the masked man took Kora with him.
“So no matter how much Quinie stares at a clock, she won’t notice anything amiss. It’s not that all her memories vanish—it’s just that one person disappears from them, and her mind fills in the empty space on its own. It’s impossible to suspect your own thoughts.”
[Then why did you tell Quinie to get glasses? It won’t help at all against his ability. If anything, it’ll make her overconfident, and—]
The raven stopped mid-sentence, falling silent.
Gregory himself had realized it. The sight of a raven’s beak moving busily only to snap shut mid-thought was quite rare.
I spoke.
“Exactly. She’ll get overconfident and use her ability without hesitation.”
Quinie’s precaution is a misguided response to the masked man’s ability.
I’m laying bait where Quinie mistakenly believes she’s protected.
“That bastard seems to think he’s rather clever.”
Let’s see if his thinking matches his confidence.

* * *
The next day, I gave Gregory his instructions as planned.
Or rather, I tried to.
……
“Is something wrong, Frontdier?”
Aten asked, watching me stare silently at the raven.
We were in the Classroom.
For my plan to proceed, I needed to keep receiving reports from Gregory.
Here in this classroom, right beside Aten.
‘…Damn.’
I had no idea what to do.
“When the bell rings, proceed as planned. Report back regularly.”
[Understood.]
I spoke to Gregory, and the raven opened his beak to respond, even using formal speech as if acknowledging my intent.
“Huh? What?”
Aten looked between me and the raven in shock.
“D-did the raven just…speak?”
“Yeah. I’ve been working hard on my Taming.”
A sufficiently skilled Tamer can teach animals to speak.
Especially with a creature of high intelligence like a raven, it’s a relatively simple matter.
But that’s something only an exceptionally advanced Tamer can do, and even then it takes considerable time.
In my case—
“When did your Taming skill reach that level? Wait, that doesn’t even make sense. Is this a talent? Divine Power?”
This was the reaction I’d expected.
I pulled the corners of my mouth up into a confident smile. I’d recently learned from Selena what a natural smile should look like, though I wasn’t sure if I’d gotten it right.
“Talent, Divine Power, et cetera. You could say it’s the ultimate result of blending everything you could possibly imagine.”
I spoke off the cuff.
But Aten brought her hand to her lips, her brow furrowing with genuine concentration.
“Talent, Divine Power… the ultimate result of combining everything…”
Aten, don’t mutter so seriously like that.
Hearing it aloud, I realized just how embarrassing what I’d been saying sounded.
“Now then.”
I looked at Aten and asked.
“Do you know how to cast the Wind Whisper spell?”
I was openly dragging Aten into this matter.
Aten nodded.
“Use it right now.”
At my words, Aten spread her hands without question.
A soundproofing spell where only my voice, Aten’s, and Gregory’s could be heard by one another. Wind Whisper.
I confirmed it was working and looked at the raven.
“If you discover anything, report it immediately. Even during class is fine if it’s urgent.”
[How will I confirm that he’s using his ability?]
“…I explained all of that yesterday.”
[My apologies. My memory is rather hazy. This raven.]
This creature—anyone could tell he was asking a question meant for Aten to hear. In fact, Aten was watching the raven intently, her eyes gleaming with interest and curiosity.
I exhaled and spoke.
“You don’t need to confirm whether he’s using his ability. What matters is the content of what he says.”
If he sees Quinie wearing Glasses, he’ll definitely approach her. He’ll believe that Quinie has misunderstood her own ability.
Of course, since that’s actually true, he has no reason not to believe it.
Quinie is popular. That means she’ll speak with many people.
What matters is what they talk about.
Who brings up the subject of Kora.
‘The fact that I don’t know Kora means it’s almost certain that Kora has been eliminated from the game.’
In other words, he’s targeting Kora before Quinie. Kora is the greatest obstacle to his plan.
“Find the person asking about Kora. If they ask things like when Kora will visit Constellation again, that’s a hit.”
[I see. Truly worthy of you, Master.]
This bird’s enjoying himself now.
Ding— Dong—
The class bell rang, and the raven bowed his head respectfully.
[Then I shall carry out your orders.]
Watching the raven fly away as he spoke, Aten’s eyes were shining with a light they’d never held before.
And Gregory was undoubtedly enjoying himself too.
I looked dumbly at Aten, who was still watching the departing raven, and asked.
“Aten, are you all right? You don’t even know what’s happening.”
“I’m fine. It seems like something important, so as long as you’re not committing crimes, Frontdier.”
After saying that, Aten gasped and looked at me in alarm.
“Wait, I’m not an accomplice to something criminal, am I?”
“No. Of course not.”
“Right. I was just joking.”
Yeah. That’s what a joke is.
Aten had just learned what a ‘joke’ was.
“Because I trust you, Frontdier.”
…And just added ‘inducing guilt’ to her skillset.

* * *
And after some time had passed.
[I have a report.]
It was after school when I finally got results.
The raven flew to the window and opened his beak.
[I found the person asking Quinie about Kora’s whereabouts. They even asked when she would come—it was quite blatant.]
“Good. What did Quinie say in response?”
[She answered that he was coming today. However, I cannot be certain if it was true. At the time, Quinie was surely suspicious of everyone approaching her.]
Quinie would naturally be wary of anyone asking about Kora.
So she might have lied, or she might have told the truth to draw him out, trusting that she’d be able to pinpoint exactly when her memory disappeared. Either was possible.
In any case, he’d taken the bait.
“Then right after asking, he must have done something to make Quinie lose her memory. Did you confirm that too?”
I asked Gregory.
If he had asked about Kora, he would naturally have taken steps to erase her memory afterward as well.
[……That was it.]
Yet Gregory, uncharacteristically, fell silent.
[From what I observed with my own eyes, the creature touched Quinie’s arm with a single finger.]
“……That’s all?”
[Yes.]
I narrowed my eyes.
So the condition for making someone lose their memory was nothing more than a brief physical contact?
‘No. It might be a shorter memory span, so the conditions are relatively simple.’
……Even so.
It was a moment when I truly grasped the terror of Divine Power.

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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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