The Academy’s Weapon Replicator - Chapter 130

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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 Replica Artificer of the Academy, Episode 130
Chapter 41: Field Trip (2)
The day of the field trip.
Multiple buses, prepared in advance, lined the athletic grounds of Constellation Academy in neat rows.
To reach Cropol, they would need to take the Aerial Train, but first they had to board a bus to get to the train platform itself.
The students of Constellation boarded the buses sequentially, class by class.
“……Excuse me?”
Aten stopped in the doorway of the bus and turned back.
Behind her stood Frontdier, waving his hand. Kora stood beside him.
“The next bus?”
“Yeah. The volunteer work is a separate group activity.”
Aten glanced at Jane, the teacher standing nearby.
Jane nodded in confirmation.
“Frontdier will wait for the next bus and then depart with the other instructors. I mentioned this to you before, didn’t I? You won’t see each other much during the field trip.”
“But still…….”
“Aten, please get on. The schedule is quite packed before we arrive in Cropol.”
Aten felt herself nudged along and reluctantly boarded the bus, though her eyes remained anxious as she looked back at Frontdier.
He continued waving with that easy smile of his.
“Don’t worry. The next bus won’t be long.”
“……Understood.”
Aten turned away, resigned, and took her seat on the bus.
As the bus pulled away slowly alongside the others, Frontdier exhaled a light breath through his nose.
Meanwhile.
“Aster, look! We’re on WizardView!”
Inside the second-year bus, Runia thrust her SagePhone screen excitedly at Aster, sitting in the next seat.
Just as she said, the news was filled with stories about Constellation’s field trip.
Runia’s eyes gleamed as she spoke.
“Since Constellation students have a high probability of becoming famous Professionals or taking high positions, the regions chosen as destinations draw enormous interest.”
“Now that I think about it, I think I’ve heard similar talk from an upperclassman.”
Aster said this while leaning over to see the phone screen with Runia. As he noted, Constellation’s field trip was a major spectacle in the empire every year.
Particularly high was the interest in first-year students, who would be showing their faces publicly under the Constellation banner for the first time.
Every kind of media was covering stories about them.
“Oh, what? Haha! There’s stuff about you too, Aster!”
“Ugh.”
Gossip about Constellation had spread through the community, and Aster was prime fodder for everyone’s speculation. Outstanding ability, exceptional talent, striking appearance—there was no reason for people not to talk about him.
Aster felt a flush of embarrassment and looked away.
“There’s Elody too, and oh, even Aten. What about me? Hmm…….”
Runia pouted and swiped through the screen, searching for mentions of herself.
“……Huh?”
Then she noticed something odd and her hand paused.
“What? Did something about you come up?”
When Aster asked, Runia shook her head.
“No, but there’s a lot of stuff about Frontdier.”
“Huh?”
“A lot, actually.”
Aster looked at Runia’s phone again.
There was Frontdier’s name, his face, personal details like height and weight—everything laid bare, including which family he belonged to.
Most of it was praise; some bordered on adulation.
Runia’s expression turned sour as she muttered.
“What is this, since when did he become popular in Cropol?”
“……Something’s off about this.”
“What do you mean?”
Aster stared quietly at Runia’s phone for a moment, then decided something and took out his own, opening the search.
There was indeed an abundance of posts about Frontdier. In terms of frequency, he was right behind Aster and Elody.
Moreover, even if the praise about Frontdier was overwhelming, the information itself was sparse and indiscriminate.
Photos of Frontdier from the front, side, back—every angle imaginable—and an oddly large number of posts mentioning his name.
“Elody, about Frontdier……”
“Yeah. I saw it too.”
Elody, sitting diagonally behind, nodded at Aster’s words. She was just then checking the posts herself.
This sudden, widespread revelation of information about Frontdier was unnatural. They were things that hadn’t been hidden, but something about it felt off.
‘Did someone want the citizens of Cropol to remember Frontdier?’
……But wait a moment.
“……But, Aster.”
“Hm?”
“Why are you telling me about Frontdier? If you wanted to hear about him, Selena’s right there.”
Elody narrowed her eyes and looked at Aster. Aster tilted his head and scratched his cheek.
“……Now that you mention it, why did I?”
Rather than hearing some concrete reason, Elody found Aster’s reaction in that moment far more troubling.

* * *
A few days earlier.
Constellation Academy was abuzz with anticipation for the upcoming Field Trip.
For students always worn down by classes and training, the Field Trip guaranteed genuine rest. Constellation’s Field Trip focused deliberately on ‘leisure’ after all.
The preparations for the Field Trip proceeded methodically.
The students’ moods brightened accordingly, and within Constellation, the air shimmered with their eager expectations.
Yet as always, beneath the lights that illuminate bright days, darkness lingers.
“Let us commence the meeting.”
A grave conference was underway in Constellation’s meeting chamber.
When Osprit declared the meeting open, the central table blazed with blue light. The radiance twisted into bundled lines, gradually revealing a map that marked the distance from Constellation to the resort destination of Cropol.
Everyone stood for this meeting. They needed to examine the map and synthesize everyone’s ideas to establish their plan.
“The Headmaster is being quite proactive, I see.”
Jane smiled warmly.
Osprit spoke.
“I despise cockroaches.”
It was metaphorical, but the meaning was unmistakable.
Osprit lifted his gaze toward Frontdier.
“Before we begin, as mentioned earlier, Frontdier de Roach will be participating in this operation. He is undertaking a very crucial role.”
At Osprit’s introduction, Frontdier bowed his head.
The sight of a student in uniform mixed in among the assembled teachers was decidedly incongruous.
His mother Malia glanced at Frontdier and spoke.
“It seems risky to have a student participate.”
“No need to worry. Frontdier will be in a perfectly safe position.”
At that, Malia’s concerns eased somewhat.
Jane opened her mouth next.
“Do you truly believe Indus will make a move during this Field Trip, Headmaster?”
“The odds are quite high. Most of Constellation’s students and teaching staff will be away from the center at this time. It is certain that Indus will respond in some manner. Whether their move is aggressive or measured remains to be seen.”
They nodded, and Pascal was the next to speak.
“Then……the most vulnerable position would be here, I suspect.”
Pascal pointed to a specific location on the map. Everyone’s eyes narrowed as they regarded it.
“The Aerial Train…….”
A sheer cliff. An abyss that plunged downward into endless darkness. The iron rail suspended in the air that bridged the vast chasm.
Should Indus attempt to strike at Constellation, the moment the students traversed this train would be most perilous.
“To reach Cropol, the Aerial Train is an absolute necessity. Will we be able to mount a complete defense?”
“Defensive Magic is fully in place. A scratch would be unlikely from any ordinary assault.”
“Of course, preparations are also being made for the track itself——”
The teachers discussed among themselves, working to ensure they could respond perfectly to any external attack that might occur during the train’s passage.
Osprit, who had been listening quietly to all this, opened his mouth.
“Now then, Frontdier.”
He suddenly addressed Frontdier directly. All eyes turned toward him.
“What are your thoughts on this?”
It was a remarkable moment. Osprit had granted Frontdier direct speaking rights, when he was meant merely to observe.
Frontdier spoke slowly.
“The defenses should certainly be thorough. However,”
“However?”
“Nothing will happen on the Aerial Train.”
Everyone was startled by Frontdier’s words.
Teacher Isamaya asked.
“Nothing will happen? You mean the Constellation students will simply pass through peacefully, and you’ll merely watch over them?”
“That is my assessment.”
Isamaya tilted her head in confusion at the claim.
Pascal asked.
“Why do you think so?”
“They don’t want Constellation students dead. More fundamentally, they’re hoping the students will kill someone else.”
“……A Constellation student killing someone?”
“Right now, they possess an item that might make that possible.”
Everyone’s eyes widened at Frontdier’s words.
“A Business Card!”
Frontdier nodded.
“It’s the item Kraken went to such lengths to obtain from Constellation. They’ll use it without question. But now the only command they can issue is ‘Kill Frontdier.’ Besides, after the recent incident, Constellation students are extremely vigilant about Business Cards. It probably won’t work on them anymore.”
“Then what do they do?”
“They reverse the strategy. Instead of targeting students, they scatter Business Cards among Cropol’s citizens. Before that, I’ll need to make sure the citizens of Cropol recognize my face. There will be plenty of ways to do it—everyone carries a SagePhone these days.”
“……Now that you mention it, there have been quite a few stories circulating about you recently.”
Pascal observed.
For the Business Card to take effect, those who receive it must know who Frontdier is.
Of course, the viral spread of information through phones won’t last long, but a few days should be enough.
“When the students arrive in Cropol, the citizens who received Business Cards will try to attack me. Those trying to stop them will be injured, and there will be those stirring up claims of Excessive Suppression. But that’s not really the important part.”
“Right. What matters is that the students get pinned down.”
At Malia’s words, Frontdier nodded.
“To subdue the citizens without letting them get hurt, my hands and the other students’ hands will be tied. And to resolve that, the teachers will have to step in. In those few seconds to a few minutes at most—that’s when they’ll move to achieve their real objective.”
“Their real objective?”
“I’m not certain. But probably.”
Frontdier said so and lifted his head.
He was deliberating. Whether to say this now. If the timing was right.
It was obvious that Indus would move faster than the game suggested for their Revolution. After Armel’s capture, the means to cover things up had become scarce for them.
Since Indus’s plan had been revised, Frontdier couldn’t know all the details, but based on what he did know, he could trace their operational logic.
And when he did, Indus’s first stepping stone for their Revolution probably wouldn’t change.
“They’re going to target the Headmaster.”
“……!”
The air in the conference room grew heavy.
The Headmaster—Osprit, the Zodiac—in their sights.
If Frontdier’s words were true, then Indus was far more reckless than anyone had thought.
“……How could they possibly target the Headmaster? How dare such people even dream of it.”
Isamaya’s voice sharpened. For all of Constellation held absolute faith and trust in Osprit.
Understanding this, Frontdier spoke in an intentionally cold tone.
“……They have a ‘Zodiac’ of their own.”

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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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