The Academy’s Weapon Replicator - Chapter 131

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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 131
Chapter 41: School Excursion (3)
“What!”
“No, what!”
This time, some of the teachers couldn’t hold back and voiced their shock.
Malia spoke.
“……Frontdier, the Zodiac are the twelve strongest individuals designated by the Empire. They wield power greater than that of high nobility, and their personal strength far surpasses ordinary measure. Why would any of them belong to something called Indus? That would mean throwing away their own power and authority.”
That was true. On the surface, Indus presented itself as an organization for the rights and welfare of commoners.
Because of this, the teachers viewed Indus’s movements as a violent reform—commoners attempting to threaten the positions of nobility through force.
But Zodiac? Why would someone already seated at such heights help commoners with their reform?
To that, Frontdier replied.
“What Indus seeks is revolution. The overturning of the current class structure.”
“Right. So the Zodiac—”
“Indus aims to overturn all class structures.”
Malia blinked, struggling to grasp Frontdier’s meaning.
Then her eyes widened.
“……You mean, even the Emperor?”
“Yes.”
Frontdier continued calmly.
“Their goal is to dismantle every hierarchy that distinguishes between Emperor, nobility, and commoners. In other words, they wish to bring about anarchy within the Empire.”
At those words, everyone fell silent.
Frontdier’s statement was far grander than anyone had imagined.
Meanwhile, Frontdier’s words continued, indifferent to the atmosphere.
“Precisely because the idea is to overturn all class systems, anyone—even a Zodiac—could theoretically join, unless they are the Emperor himself at the very top.”
Pascal asked.
“What does Indus truly want? Are they actually pursuing complete equality throughout the Empire?”
At that question, Frontdier smiled.
Whether intentional or not, that languid smile seemed to diffuse some of the tension that had accumulated in the conference room.
“Most of the people belonging to Indus likely believe exactly that. They believe they are engaged in something noble. Even the leadership probably thinks so. But the Leader—the Leader does not harbor such thoughts.”
“Then what?”
“The Leader of Indus merely wishes to establish a new hierarchy to suit his own tastes. Not called Emperor, yet wielding power identical to one; not called nobility, yet possessing authority and rule no different from theirs. The abolition of class structure is merely a pretext—a tool for establishing hierarchy anew.”
“……So during the period of anarchy, they intend to take the lead in establishing a new government.”
“Precisely. The groundwork is likely already nearly complete.”
The slogans of standing with commoners, all manner of work aimed at improving their image—it was all for this purpose.
“Now listen, Frontdier.”
At that moment, the teacher Isamaya spoke.
“You’ve been going on and on about the Zodiac, the Zodiac—do you actually know which one of them specifically is a member of Indus? This isn’t just bluster, is it?”
“Of course I know.”
“……Oh?”
Frontdier rolled his eyes, and a hint of amusement flickered across his face.
He seemed about to say something rather frightening.
“Interestingly, I’m the only Zodiac the Headmaster hasn’t met face-to-face—or so it appears, I am the only other one.”
“……You’ve seen a Zodiac’s face? When could you have had such an opportunity—”
Isamaya trailed off as realization dawned on her. Her face paled.
There was one. A Zodiac Frontdier had encountered.
The Fake Misteltain Incident. At the Nobility Council.
“Correct.”
Frontdier nodded.
“The Leader of Indus is Heldre, one of the Zodiac.”
Thud!
Someone struck the table in shock. Some trembled faintly; others’ breathing quickened.
Heldre of the Zodiac.
Those who bore the title of Zodiac were formidable warriors of different calibers. But Heldre was different—not in strength or weakness, but in character.
All who had ascended to the ranks of Zodiac had distinguished themselves in the war against Monsters.
To have distinguished oneself meant, in other words, to have slain countless Monsters. By this measure, Heldre’s merits were unparalleled.
That is, if he had not been the Empire’s most dangerous criminal before the Monster war began.
Before the war, Heldre had been a killer—a madman consumed by slaughter. In the current age, Lenzo, known as the Feast of Chaos, bore the closest resemblance to what Heldre once was.
After the Monsters were driven back, the Empire had directly granted Heldre the position of Zodiac, and he had grown quiet. Everyone believed he had truly changed.
Now in his later years, Heldre even appeared to have cultivated a semblance of benevolence in recent times.
“……Frontdier de Roach.”
At that moment, Osprit spoke in a grave voice, using Frontdier’s full name without the prefix “student” or “sir.”
When Frontdier looked up at him, a cool voice emerged.
“How do you come to know so much?”
It was clear that Frontdier knew far too many things.
As if he were himself a member of Indus.
Of course, no one here harbored such suspicions. If he truly were Indus, his conduct thus far would be far too strange.
Still, he had to account for where exactly he’d obtained such information.
Frontdier paused for a moment, then spoke slowly.
“I have been investigating Indus for a very long time.”
Looking into Frontdier’s eyes as he spoke, Osprit was struck.
He sensed the tremendous weight of time embedded in that gaze—the eyes of someone who had endured countless attempts and failures, regret and abandonment.
“I have examined endless records to uncover Indus’s true nature. There is no place I have not visited, no deed I have not attempted. I cannot explain each detail individually.”
‘……Wait. Hold on.’
Hearing these words from where she stood quietly in the background, the librarian Ainen remembered something.
‘……When did Frontdier start changing, becoming different from everyone else?’
He first revealed his keen insight during the “fake Misteltain incident.”
Before that, Frontdier had looked at the image of Misteltain that people knew and called it “fake.” Ainen, being a librarian, had wanted to test this, and that place was—
‘The Library!’
Before that, Frontdier had never visited the Library. But the day before the Misteltain incident was different. Ainen, as a librarian, was both a curious scholar and an information gatherer with an extraordinary memory.
Just now, Frontdier had said he examined endless records.
Could it have been since then? Had Frontdier already caught the scent of Indus from that moment?
‘Then was his contradicting the lecture about Misteltain deliberate?’
She didn’t know if Frontdier truly understood Misteltain’s original form.
But by bringing up the story beforehand at Constellation Academy, Frontdier had gained some credibility for his audacious act of smashing the coffin in which Misteltain lay at the meeting.
Ainen hadn’t been present at the meeting, so she didn’t know exactly what Frontdier had done there, or whether he’d even spoken with Heldre.
Yet if he’d committed such an audacious act, it was certain that Heldre would have reacted in some way.
‘Frontdier imprinted himself on Heldre!’
Then why?
Even if he’d suspected Heldre from that point forward, Frontdier wouldn’t have needed to expose himself like this.
If Heldre might take notice of Frontdier and take some action against him,
‘……The Cabin!’
Once her thoughts reached that point, Ainen was already seized by a chill close to cold terror.
Malia’s thoughts ran along a similar path.
‘Could Frontdier have gone to the Cabin alone on purpose to draw out Heldre’s subordinates?’
Looking back on it, even Malia—who had learned of Frontdier’s actions later—found them strange.
There was no reason for him to visit the Cabin now, a place he’d only gone to as a child with Elody.
But if that visit had been a lure for Heldre—
Taking advantage of Heldre’s difficulty in moving himself, drawing out his subordinate—
‘Then that subordinate was Serf Daniel.’
It wasn’t that Serf had come looking for Frontdier; Frontdier had lured Serf out.
And Serf had died. By Frontdier’s hand.
She didn’t know through what process he’d killed him.
‘Frontdier, what have you done?’
Just now, Frontdier had said he’d attempted every deed.
If Frontdier had truly done this to extract information about Heldre, he would never have killed Serf gently.
If a considerable portion of the information Frontdier now possessed had come from Serf’s lips—
……one could scarcely imagine what interrogation he’d subjected him to.
Meanwhile.
‘Frontdier definitely went to Taeibun during the holiday.’
Jane was thinking along a different line.
The fact that Frontdier had gone to Taeibun during the break was quite the topic of gossip within Constellation Academy.
From what Jane had heard from Aten about the reason,
‘He said he had something to bring back.’
Something to bring back.
Taken literally, he’d left something in Taeibun.
At first, she’d assumed it was an object.
But if it had actually been not an object, but a person—
‘……Did he go to meet with Grobel?’
In fact, Frontdier had a record of meeting with Grobel at the prison. She knew this because she was his assigned advisor.
Grobel, the one Serf had hired as a mercenary.
Perhaps I could glean some information about Indus from him.
Frontdier had just said he’d been everywhere.
So that’s why he went to Taeibun. That hellhole.
“…….”
“…….”
“…….”
Silence fell suddenly over the conference room. But it was a silence laden with meaning.
Pascal glanced around and shrugged.
“Well, I’m not entirely sure, but it seems like the other instructors are actually convinced by what Frontdier said!”
He was right. Pascal had hit on it exactly.
Ainen, Jane, and Malia de Roach in particular were looking at Frontdier as though he were some kind of monster.
At that, Rector Osprit smiled faintly.
He called on Frontdier as though testing him.
“Frontdier.”
“Yes.”
“May I ask you the question I posed before?”
“A question?”
When Frontdier repeated it back, Osprit’s smile grew more mischievous.
“You don’t have a good reputation, yet you’ve been hiding all of it. Why?”
That had been the question when Frontdier and Osprit were alone together.
But since most of what had passed between them was their secret,
Frontdier tilted his head once and answered more simply than before.
“Because I am weak.”
Those four words.
The instructors seemed to lower themselves as though weight had settled upon their shoulders.
Now it became clear.
Frontdier’s eccentric behavior up to now. There was a single thread of logic running through it all.
Judging by what he had shown thus far, Frontdier clearly possessed talent as a Constellation Academy student. Everyone had witnessed that at the end-of-semester exam in the first term.
Frontdier was not incompetent. He had simply been holding his breath.
To catch Indus by the tail. Willingly bearing the epithet of “human sloth.”
Only when rumors began circulating that he would be expelled from Roach did Frontdier move. He had laid himself as bait before Indus for an extraordinarily long time.
Whether he had truly been sleeping every class period with his head down, or whether he had been concealing a cool, sharp gaze behind that hidden face and waiting for his moment—that had now become unknowable.
“Then, Frontdier, how are you to stop Indus’s plan? If you’re attacked in Cropol, things will go according to Indus’s design.”
Now they knew Indus’s true intentions. It was time to stop them.
But this time Frontdier’s face had grown unexpectedly refreshed as he spoke.
“Ah, that’s simple.”
“Simple?”
Frontdier nodded.
“I simply won’t go to Cropol.”

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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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