The Academy’s Weapon Replicator - Chapter 126

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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 Duplicator — Episode 126
Chapter 39: The Conference
The Capital Silester was the most densely populated region across the continent.
Of course, being a capital city alone accounted for much of that, but with monsters capable of surging in from beyond at any moment, the people’s reasoning was simple.
‘Where the Emperor resides is safest.’
Driven by this straightforward logic—and indeed, a very sound one—crowds had flocked to the capital.
And in the most congested commercial district of this capital.
In the concealed basement of a small tavern wedged between buildings, those who had been summoned gathered.
It was a meeting of Indus, the commoners’ organization.
“Why did you call us to such a crowded place?”
Following the tavern keeper’s guidance down into the basement, Kraken voiced his complaint the moment he arrived.
“Supposedly we’re keeping a low profile these days. We did stir things up too much lately.”
A man with a prosthetic arm on his left side spoke. The prosthetic was nearly mechanical in nature, moving freely with a sound like clicking gears.
“Thomson, is this what you call keeping a low profile? There are that many people outside.”
“To hide a tree, you hide it in a forest. People are harder to spot where there are crowds, aren’t they?”
“Why would we even hide a tree? By the time we dig it up and haul it off into the forest, everyone will have noticed.”
Thomson exhaled in a soft laugh. Kraken simply didn’t know idioms or proverbs.
Just then, a young girl beside him spoke. She was so small—barely half the height of an adult man.
“Don’t worry. The meeting location changes every time. I’ll always have the optimal place prepared.”
“Not that I doubt your ability.”
Kraken shrugged his shoulders and took a seat at the central table. Everyone else was already there.
“Then let’s begin the meeting.”
The one who spoke was a man in armor. His entire body was encased in seamless armor, so that neither his face nor his physique could be seen beneath. True to his appearance, his voice had an unpleasant metallic quality.
Kraken glanced around the room and spoke.
“Where’s the leader? Are you chairing today’s meeting, Skyler?”
“He’s at another meeting. A different one.”
Thomson answered. Kraken clasped his hands and placed them behind his head.
“Zodiac sure stays busy.”
Unperturbed by Kraken’s gesture, Skyler continued. With each movement, his armor clanged against itself with metallic chimes.
“Armel was caught.”
“What an idiot,” Kraken answered instantly.
Thomson propped his chin on a clenched fist and spoke. “Armel being an idiot is beside the point. Now we can’t even conduct covert operations. We no longer have someone who can erase memories.”
Kian supplemented his words. “There are limits to covering our tracks. Spinning rumors like ‘This wasn’t Indus’s doing—the perpetrator just claimed to be from Indus’—that can’t work forever. Especially after the Serf incident. If it were just about framing Frontdier, we wouldn’t have needed to make such a mess of things.”

Thomson sighed and shook his head.
“I’ve told you. That one’s just obsessed with murdering nobles. If he can’t destroy a noble’s reputation his way, he won’t rest until he sees them dead with his own eyes. He’s not in his right mind.”
“That’s not something we should be saying,” Kian said with light sarcasm.
Skyler looked toward Kraken.

“Kraken, what happened with Serf’s business card? Didn’t you say you were going to run various tests on it?”
“Oh, that.”
Kraken pulled out a stack of papers from his pocket and placed them on the table. They were Serf’s business cards.
“I can’t use this.”
Thomson tilted his head at Kraken’s blunt expression.
“Why? You went through all the trouble of bringing them.”
“First, it mostly doesn’t work. Seems like having a strong will doesn’t indicate the degree of one’s power.”
“But it worked on the Imperial Palace knights, didn’t it?”
Kraken shook his head.
“Those people Gregory gave cards to were mostly apprentice knights, and every one of them was involved in petty crimes. Then again, they probably followed Gregory’s instructions because they had something to hide. Dirty bastards.”
“That’s not something we should be saying either,” Kian pointed out with another jab.
Kraken continued. “Nearly everyone can resist it completely, but most people can still restrain their own bodies to some degree. How long they can hold out varies from person to person.”
“Well, that was true for us too.”
After obtaining these business cards, Kraken had tested them individually on the Indus members here.
Thomson had completely lost his memory. Kraken had resisted but couldn’t move. Skyler felt strong suppression but was able to carry out everyday activities. Kian acted as if unaffected, though he claimed to ‘feel the influence’.
“Look—I completely lost my memory. If that were because of power level, it wouldn’t make sense, would it? I’m the strongest here.”
“Maybe Thomson’s mind is just weak? Perhaps lacking in mental fortitude?”
“Kill me, Kraken?”

“See?”
Thomson growled at Kraken, then paused as if something had just occurred to him. “But what about the Emperor? There’s no reason he couldn’t resist even if I’m being controlled.”
“But what about the Emperor? There’s no reason he couldn’t resist even if I’m being controlled.”
One corner of Kraken’s eye twitched at the remark—so utterly absurd that his human form flickered slightly out of shape.
“How exactly would you deliver a business card to the Emperor? Thomson, is it a lack of patience, or have you simply never had much intelligence to begin with?”
“Christ, I’m just talking possibilities here. What’s stopping us? Keep talking like that and I’m seriously losing another life. Didn’t you say I was already down one?”
Heh-heh—Thomson laughed. Kraken’s eyes flashed, and he fixed the man with unmistakable murderous intent.
Skyler, who’d been watching, lowered his head with a sharp click and spoke. “The business card wouldn’t work on Bartelo Terste anyway. And if it did, he’d lose consciousness instantly and go blank—like a corpse with no light in his eyes. Who’s going to follow orders from someone like that? He’d be found out immediately, and we’d be lucky if we didn’t get traced back.”
“Our goal isn’t to kill the Emperor. If Bartelo dies, another will take the throne. We’re trying to dismantle the very seat of ‘Emperor’ or ‘nobility’ itself.”
Kian’s clarification. Both Kraken and Thomson snorted through their noses.
Kraken held up the business card and shook it. “That being the case, we can’t use it. We don’t know who it’ll work on or how well. All we know for certain is that it seems to always work on ordinary people with no Aura or Mana at all. So that’s where we have to shift our thinking.”
“Besides, the only command we can actually execute now is ‘Kill Frontdier.'”
Serf was dead, and the voice stored in the recording was singular. For Gregory’s purposes, that single order would have sufficed, but—
Kraken exhaled slowly.
“Really, I can’t fathom why Serf didn’t put this to use while he was alive. If he couldn’t target the upper ranks, he could’ve made millions of cards like this and commanded the lower rabble.”
“Do you have any idea how long it took him to make a single one? Over three days. Nearly every waking hour poured into it, and that was after he’d cut down the time. Originally it took over a week.”
Thomson said this. Kraken was startled by the revelation and quickly checked the count of business cards he possessed.
“…So I have about three hundred or so right now. He must have worked quite hard.”
“That fellow probably intended to do something once he accumulated enough, but now there’s no way to know what it was.”
Mm. Everyone seated at the table’s gaze turned toward the business cards.
Their thoughts aligned perfectly. Frontdier.
He’d killed Serf. He’d burned away one of Kraken’s lives. He’d captured Armel.
Every strange incident that had occurred recently within Indus was connected to Frontdier.
Kraken’s eyes darkened.
“…Really, I’d like to kill him.”
“No.”
Kian answered immediately.
“Someday it’ll come to that. But not now.”
“I understand. He’s a Sacrifice for Revolution, is that it? But can we really manage it? He’s definitely gotten stronger than we anticipated.”
“Getting stronger isn’t the problem. Clearly, that man knows something. Otherwise, there’s no way he could respond so perfectly every single time.”
Thomson spoke. Everyone agreed with him.
Frontdier clearly knew far more about Indus than they’d accounted for. While they prepared their revolution, it was as if Frontdier were simultaneously preparing his countermeasures against it.
Frontdier, who knew far too much.
Could there be an Information Leak?
“…A Traitor within Indus?”
“They’d know what happens if you betray Indus.”
“Perhaps. But if they desired something worth more than their own life, it becomes possible. How many people are there who don’t fear death? We’re among them, after all.”
While the others conversed, Kraken examined his own thoughts.
‘…There was a girl from Mangot.’
The woman who’d used the Needle to sever Kraken’s left hand. Definitely a woman from Mangot. The way she’d moved made it unmistakable.
Mangot had aligned with Frontdier? Mangot had shaken hands with a high nobleman?
‘No, that can’t be.’
They too wanted something from Frontdier. There was no way the impoverished Mangot would help an imperial nobleman out of goodwill.
Kraken opened his mouth.
“Mangot has attached itself to Frontdier.”
Everyone stopped talking and looked at Kraken.
Kraken smiled. Like a crescent moon. Still, a smile not quite human.
“Whatever Mangot wants from Frontdier—wouldn’t we need it too?”

* * *

Fortunately, I was still able to attend Constellation Academy the next day. Taking time off right after the incident Kora caused would be too conspicuous. Anyone who knew me would suspect I’d gotten tangled up in another incident, and—
Well, the suspicion wouldn’t be unfounded.
So I managed to dodge Aten’s intensely suspicious gaze. After all, what Aten had actually seen was Angen’s youthful face, not mine, so by playing ignorant I avoided any further questioning.
And a few days later, Kora became a managed subject of Constellation Academy.
Even as a managed subject, little changed. They simply equipped him with an Auxiliary Artifact to restrain his Rampage, and set an Alert Magic spell that would notify the Academy immediately if he broke through and Rampaged anyway.
Kora didn’t cause much trouble as long as he didn’t Rampage. His magic was nearly all failures anyway.
‘No wonder Kora was so desperate to be a mage.’

Kora had no memory of what happened thirteen years ago, but his body seemed to remember it all the same. In fact, when he was in his right mind, he showed considerable reluctance to use his own strength.
He disliked fighting bare-handed, and he wanted to protect Quinie. Was magic the result of that resolve?
‘If the White Tiger Power were fully awakened, magic would be possible too.’
Kora was still growing, and he was half-human. Whether he would truly awaken the White Tiger Power remained uncertain, but when that time came, his worries would actually diminish. A complete White Tiger would never be ruled by instinct.
……And one more thing.
This was an additional directive that came after Kora became a subject of management.
“Good morning, everyone.”
Teacher Jane entered looking utterly exhausted.
Why did Jane’s face seem to hollow out more every time I saw her? Why did she always look at me with resentment whenever she stepped into the classroom?
Could it be that I’m somehow involved in Jane’s exhaustion?
Ha, that couldn’t be.
“We have a new transfer student in our class today.”
Jane spoke, and someone entered.
I already knew who it was, but the moment I saw him, I felt just as tired as Jane.
“His name is Kora. Kora is younger than you all, but he’s been admitted due to special circumstances.”
Kora was actually older in age. But why this class? Was it because of me?
Ha, surely not.
“Huh! Glad to be here!”
Kora placed both hands on his hips and spoke proudly.
Thinking of the trouble he’d caused just days ago, I wanted to smack the back of his head right then and there.
“I’m Kora, and I’ll be studying with all of you from now on! It might be tough to keep up with my abilities, but please don’t feel inferior……”
Kora, prattling away so arrogantly, suddenly caught sight of me. The moment his eyes met mine, they widened in an instant, and all that swagger drained away from him.
“I look forward to working with you all.”
And then Kora bowed deeply and formally.
……Could it be.
‘He’s intimidated by me?’
Memory or not, one thing was certain—Kora’s body remembered remarkably well.

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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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